Memories- Missing the North

Our first selfie!

Brian and I are back at home now, taking care of all the details of daily life that we had put on hold. This idea of putting daily life "on hold" is most likely one of the marvelous perks of traveling.

David Marx, this one is for you!

I've been going through photos, reliving many of the memorable moments from this year's excursion to Churchill. I've come across some photos that probably should have been part of the blog, but perhaps didn't fit into one of the blog topics. Brian spent 2-3 weeks in Churchill before I arrived. I am including some of his photos  here that I think you would all enjoy seeing.

Aurora viewing out on the deck

The auroras were spectacular, and of course I have a few additional aurora photos of Brian's that just must be shared. Some of these had escaped my notice because there were so many photos to choose from. Honestly, I could spend hours just happily editing aurora photos in trying to recreate the magic of the night. It is not the same as being there, for sure, but the camera gives us the gift of better eyes. I still hope you all get to actually stand under the auroral oval to see the beauty that is above us- often invisible. Still, it is there.

Sword fighting under the aurora

Yes, you can see an aurora during the time of the full moon.

As I look at aurora photos, editing and trying to decide what to keep, I was surprised by how often the Big Dipper is sitting right in the middle of the aurora. In Churchill, where you are under the auroral oval, it is not unusual to have auroras in any part of the sky. In one of Brian's fish-eye photos which includes a lot more sky, you can actually see the Big Dipper on one side and Orion on the other!

Look for the Big Dipper and Orion on opposite sides.

Just included this because I love it. I think this was taken by Brian before I arrived.

Aurora in the backyard of CNSC with my favorite spruce trees

You can see the tilt of the trees from the prevailing winds, and the scarcity of branches on that side.

Brian captured this magnificent red fox on both photo and video. I hope to upload the video at a later time, or capture a better view of the fox.

You can see how gorgeous he is, and that he was not at all intimidated by the snowmobile.  In 2014, Brian got a glimpse of a red fox at sunset, and we did find his tracks the next day. Last year was the first time we saw Arctic fox, and we saw them on several occasions. Churchill is the southern reach of the Arctic fox's range, and Churchill is on the northern reach of the red fox's range. Last year was much colder, and therefore we saw more Arctic fox. Here is a photo of the Arctic fox outside the dining area at CNSC from our 2014 trip.

The Arctic fox is much better adapted to the harsh climate of the north, but the red fox dominates in size.  With a warming climate, the Arctic fox will be finding it much more difficult to compete for range with the red fox.

On March 26th, we headed back on the train from Churchill to Winnipeg. In Winnipeg, the weather was quite a contrast from last year- about 80 degrees warmer. Our LLBean Baxter State parkas were way too much coat, but we hadn't brought any in-between coats.

In Winnipeg, we had a chance to meet up with some of our Churchill friends and a few of the guests from the last Arctic Skies group.  It was a nice way to end the journey.

Brian and I finally got to visit the new Museum of Human Rights in Winnipeg. I think we will have to make a return trip, as we did not allow enough time to really explore all of the floors. Here are some photos from the outside and also one or two from the top.

A Statue of Mahatma Gandhi- He would be proud of this museum's efforts.

From this view, it looks like he is going to take the train home with us.

From the top, I could finally get a good view of this walking bridge across the Red River

 When I was here three weeks ago in mid March, the Red River was frozen, and there was a skating trail that went for a good long way. I actually walked across the river to explore the very edge of St Boniface, a subsection of Winnipeg.

From this view,  I could see the train station in the foreground, and the Hotel Fort Garry behind it.

Our good friends Roger Starman Woloshyn and his wife Dawn also took us on a day trip north of Winnipeg to Gimli, the Icelandic community located on the shore of Lake Winnipeg. Winnipeg's multi-cultural diversity is to be admired. We learn a little more with each visit. Anyway, on our outing through the countryside of Manitoba north of Winnipeg, some memorable sights were Lake Winnipeg where we saw someone ice kiting, we followed the winding Red River where the ice was in the process of breaking up, and we drove through Bird Provincial Park. The destination of the trip was a quest for walleye at Kris's Fish and Chips. Sometimes, walleye is referred to as pickerel, but evidently it is not the same fish we call a pickerel down here. So, a big thank you to Roger and Dawn for the Manitoba sightseeing adventure.

Ice kiting on Lake Winnipeg in Gimli.

Home safe and sound once again.  A tiny bit of snow still sits on our lawn, but it won't be long.

Final Days of Frosty Wonder

Our time in Churchill is coming to an end. I am a bit frantic to get in one last chance to take in all the wonder that Churchill offers. Sometimes it is a small wonder as in these icicle pics, sometimes it is the vast beauty of the frozen landscape, and we even had a picturesque morning with frosty trees thanks to the stillness in the air.

You don’t see many icicles in Churchill during the winter months, but this year brought a few days of warmer temperatures. Of course these days were followed by howling winds. Check out the icicles on the side of this older building. During our last days, Brian noticed (and photographed) this crazy icicle dangling from the edge of the roof. for three days we watched it sparkle as the wind blew it around.

With clear skies on our last days, I took several walks around the CNSC grounds to photograph the snow covered trees and the snow drifts sculpted by the wind. In one of landscape shots below, you can see the soft pink light of sunset on the tundra. The sun was on the other side of the sky, but all around is the gentle blanket of pinkish light.

This photo truly reflects how awesome this snow drift looked. It was very large!

On Tuesday morning as our last group was preparing to depart, I went outside to check some tracks left by a visiting animal- probably coyote. I noticed that the landscape was sparkling in the morning sun. The night before, the flags lay almost limp on their poles. This is such a rarity that I took a photo. Overnight, the vapor in the still air clung to every tree branch as frost. Such a pretty world!

It was our final day, and we headed to town to catch the train. I made one last trip to the beach on the frozen shore of Hudson Bay, and it was definitely getting closer to beach season. I could see the sand! I collected a few rocks for my rock baskets on our porch at Georges Pond in Franklin, Maine. I find rocks much easier to care for than plants

Karin takes her last look at Hudson Bay

This large crack was very close to the shoreline and several feet deep.

My beach buddy Karin and I made one last stop to admire the beluga whale sculpture in front of the town complex. On our walk to Gypsy's to meet the others, we found these cuddly little puppies who were very curious about us.

 We were all meeting at Gyspy’s for a final dinner, and then it was off to the train station to say goodbye to our northern family. It is always bittersweet to leave the north, but I do have the promise of little Charlotte and her new talent for winning smiles.

Auroral Awe- The Lights are Dancing

Brian has been kept busy taking aurora photos during the last week. Right after our amazing light show on Friday the 13th, we had 4 days of blizzard conditions with ridiculous winds. On March 17th, the aurora returned. At suppertime, it had looked pretty dismal for seeing any aurora, but the skies overhead cleared. The winds were still so severe that we dared not go more than a few feet outside the door.

As it turned out, we had a St Patrick's Day with plenty of green in the sky. Even better, there were pinks and purples too! What started out as a mild storm intensified to be the strongest storm of this solar cycle with a Kp factor of 8. That number tells how far south the storm will extend toward the equator. In Sturbridge, I believe we need a Kp of 6-7, but in Churchill you can often see an aurora with a Kp of 1. On this evening,  it seemed we were actually getting less aurora than was expected, but our camera told a different story. Never had we seen this much pink/purple in our aurora photos!

This photo has it all- aurora, rocket launcher, and birdfish CNSC logo!

According to Spaceweather.com, our wonderful skies on March 17th were the result of two solar events happening on March 15th. First a magnetic filament erupted, followed by a solar flare. A magnetic filament is an arc of gas on the surface of the sun that can last for months. It usually erupts and spews enormous amounts of solar matter into space. That is what happened this time.

On all of the following nights we were fortunate to have skies that cleared after dark, and also fortunate to have more auroras delivered to us by the solar wind. This was all from the aftermath of the St Patrick's Day excitement.

On March 22nd, a high speed solar wind stream brought us a spectacular evening of aurora viewing! In the afternoon, Andrew (one of our volunteers) built an igloo with some of our guests. After sunset, the Arctic Skies group had gone outside to view the crescent Moon and Venus setting over the igloo.

It was quite a site to see the Moon and Venus over the igloo, but suddenly an aurora appeared all around the sky. The next several hours were filled with majestic curtains of light. Just before I turned in, there were curtains of light in in every direction. From the corona (looking straight up into the curtain), there was a starburst of dancing light rays. One of the people outside with me commented that it felt like we were underneath a skirt of light.

Brian took this photo at 5 AM, and you can see a promise of dawn on the horizon.

Beach Day at Hudson Bay

One of my favorite places in Churchill is the shore of Hudson Bay. Each year, we have walked down to the frozen bay at the location I believe to be the town beach. Beneath the ice and snow, I can occasionally see the sand on the beach. The shoreline is strewn with large polished pieces of ice. I am not sure if there may be a stone in the center or not. On the day we visited, there was enough sunlight to reflect light on the shiny white surfaces.

This year, we were visiting after three days of incredible northwest winds. Brian and I were sure that the bay must be wiped out of snow by now. There was still some, but not as much as last year. The sustained high winds had created sculpted patterns in the snow, much like what you might expect to see in sand.

You can visit the blog post from last year to see how different the bay looked. Both years, even though quite different, I felt the same awe at the vast sea of ice before me.

At the head of the bay stands a giant Inuksuk. An Inuksuk is a stone landmark built by peoples of the Arctic regions, and they have ancient roots in Inuit culture. This one is a monument of sorts, or so it seems to me. I believe that ones found on the tundra would not be of this size, but I am not sure about that. It is fascinating to read about the history of Inuksuit (the plural of Inuksuk). That could be a whole blog post all by itself.
On the way back to CNSC, we stopped along the shore to take these photos. I think you can see what a beautiful place this is.