crystallized underside

I've been terrible at keeping everyone up-to-date on my life in the North and my experience as a Daycare Manager. I mostly have J.K. Rowling to blame for that over the past few months, as Harry Potter was stealing all my time.

Anyway, a while ago I went for my first walk on the frozen ocean with my family, and here are some pictures I snapped while we were out there. It was the first day that it really started to feel like spring (-15, mild wind).

Clear enough to see the inside wall of the cracks. Super thick ice! 

I just couldn't get over how breathtakingly beautiful the snow looked glistening in the sun.

We came across some ice that had formed over an air pocket. After smashing it to pieces, we flipped the ice over to discover a crystallized underside.

The geometry and natural beauty of the earth is spectacular (you've got to click this to see the full version!)

Long weekend

I haven't just had a busy work week, it was also a very busy weekend. With all of the beautiful summer weather and the Civic Holiday, I had plenty of time to spend with my family, and a lot of that time was spent out on the water. 

Saturday morning we went out with some friends to do some fishing. Most of us ended up catching cod, which we battered and fried for dinner, along with homemade chips and some veggies. 

Sunday we managed to get Mom out on the water to see some nets getting pulled out. We also enjoyed a nice picnic on an island. 

Courtesy of brother

Courtesy of brother

Monday, the holiday, we were invited to boat up the river and hike to Bloody Falls. We pretended to fish for a little while, even though the fish weren't biting. The hike was gorgeous.

The water was so glassy, we had a nearly perfect reflection.

Ran in to some bear paws!

Arctic Experience

Tonight I had my very first truly arctic experience out on the ocean. A friend of my brother-in-law took us out to do a little bit of fishing. We went to 3 different spots. The first 2 we abandoned by other fishers and all fish. The 3rd spot was swarming with fishers, char and mosquitos! I can't express enough how awful it would have been had I not had my bug jacket with me.

Anyway, I'm not great with words, so here are some pictures from the evening.

As we were leaving the dock, some of the kids were swimming (it was only about 15 degrees outside)

Off we go...into the rain!

Yay, the first sign of fishies!

Even Chevy wanted to get a glimpse of the first catch of the night!

The sun starting to set.

This char photobombed my picture of the sunset.

This is what I wanted the real picture to look like..

I was really digging the silhouettes of the other fishers. These guys had their tent out to camp for the weekend.

If you look closely, you can see the robot-esque Inuksuk on the island.

I thought we were leaving the setting sun behind us.

See the mosquitos?

Can you really blame me for staying up late to see this?

I don't think so!

Oh yeah... I did catch my very first arctic char, which I will post about tomorrow after I've had the chance to cook it and taste it!

From Start To Finish

 This was the progression of my day... minus a few things that don't make for interesting photos.

Sadly, I did not win.

The sun has started setting earlier in the night (11:30), compared to 2:30 a.m. last week. Tonight it's exceptionally beautiful.