Tag Archives: Northwest Territories

A Little Laugh Turneth Away Wrath, Happy Holidays!, musings, Photography

Sliding on a Slippery Icy Road

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Here is a northern take on Winter Wonderland (my apologies and salutations to Felix Bernard).

Doorbells ring, are you listening?

In the lane, snowplows glistening

A breathtaking sight

We’re trying tonight

To stand up on a slippery icy road

Gone away is the sand truck

Here to stay is a cold front

It screams a north gale

As we plod along

Sliding on a slippery icy road

In the meadow we will build a shelter

And crawl inside to get out of the wind

You’ll say are you freezing

I’ll say not now

But that’s a possibility later on

In a bit, we’ll perspire

As we sit in the fire

We’ll thaw and we’ll stretch

Sam McGee at his best

Sliding on a slippery icy road

In the meadow we can build a shelter

And pretend that winter is all done

That’s quite a feat of self-deluded nonsense

But that’s what happens when you’re freezing cold

When it snows, watch for frostbite

When it blows, get a tissue

We’ll frolic and play, the northern way

Sliding on a slippery icy road.

A little northern humour. 🙂

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Commentary, musings, nature, Photography

Sunset Magnificence

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A recent sunset in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, produced this photo.

Because of our geographical position in the north, our sunsets are intense, brilliant, and relatively short. And, of course, as we head into winter, that effect becomes more pronounced.

At 62.5° N latitude, Yellowknife sits in the middle of some of the most spectacular light shows in the world, not the least of which are these dazzling sunsets.

Greetings from the extraordinary light shows of NWT. 🙂

Commentary, musings, nature, Photography

Visual Coffee

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This was a recent morning scene.

I hadn’t had coffee yet but the bright morning sun helped me to get going.

Alas, as of a few days ago, this sunny weather turned. It has been a mixture of watery snow that has turned to snow that has turned to rain.

Inevitably though, whatever comes out of the sky over the next couple of weeks will be snow.

That’s the way of the north.

And it will stay for a bit, at least until March. And it will look like this.

Cold, crisp, clear.

🙂

Commentary, musings, nature, Photography

Say Good-bye to Autumn

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Here in Northwest Territories, autumn moves quickly. Three weeks ago, the leaves were just starting to turn.

Now the yellow is darkening to brown and black and almost all the leaves are on the ground.

We are about to head into the Northwest Territories’ best season – winter. Gleaming with atmospheric pinks and blues and a low sunlight that bounces off ice particles in the air, the sky is suffused with gentle colour and undulating sparkles.

Here is a favourite winter photo from a couple of years ago.

The Aurora Borealis is amazing, but like the variety of us, it’s not the only light show in town.

Greetings from the remarkable northern lights – of all kinds. 🙂

Commentary, musings, nature, Reblogs

Autumn Bison

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The bison have been massing and eating as much as they can. Not that this is unusual; that’s more or less what bison do, but there seems to be an urgency about them that I didn’t note last year.

An elder told me that they are getting ready for a particularly long winter, and that’s why they seem so much more desperate this year.

I took these images from a moving vehicle and so the quality isn’t great, but we didn’t want to stop in the middle of a herd like that. Bison have been known to charge a car or truck, and despite their size, they can move quickly. Many of them (these are wood bison) are 1000 kg (about 2200 pounds), so I really wouldn’t want one headed my way.

Right now, some of them will just stand in the road to take a break from eating, so vehicles will have to stop and wait for them to amble away. On a recent trip, we waited a number of times at a safe distance, one that would allow us a chance to evade a charge. One of the bulls we saw, a massive animal, kept putting his head down and staring at us. We reversed slowly. Sometimes, backing up is the better part of valour, including in our dealings with other humans. 🙂

We eventually got to our destination, but it took longer than usual!

Greetings from the wood bison of Northwest Territories.