new year in Cambridge Bay

the restaurant view of the frozen Arctic ocean

Well, 2015 started out with a huge bang in Cambridge Bay, and by bang, of course I mean two big blizzards in one week. Luckily the weather's settled down since, resting at a fierce temperature of -55 with the windchill on average.  It's cold, folks. The kind of cold where you look up and admire the pretty moon in the sky, and then rush on because it's too cold to linger outside for more than a few minutes, and if you stop to take a photo, your hands will get frostbitten. The kind of cold where if you grip the doorknob with bare hands, you'll instantly feel freeze burn. Even the snowmobiles are frozen and having trouble starting.

It's that time of year where you stay indoors, warm. Until you get driven out of your house because your roof vents are blocked and your house is slowly filling with the smell of sewage. Then you send your most unfortunate household member to climb up to the roof and clear the snow from the vents. My friend and I sat at her living room window, with binoculars, spying on her neighbours doing this, because sometimes that is what counts as entertainment for us.

Wait....how do I get in?

It's also that time of year where it's so cold that the vehicles often refuse to start. The automotive garage has been busy this week, with calls from truck owners who all need a jump start.

To make sure that our vehicle continues running smoothly, I went for a little drive out of town. Not very far out of town, of course, since I didn't want to get the truck stuck in the snow, but far enough to get out of town and lose sight of all "city" life.

I'm glad I went out. It's been a while since I've wandered out of town and been able to appreciate the tundra view.

the Distant Early Warning Station

Construction equipment waiting in the snow

The Canadian High Arctic Research Station, under construction

Beautiful Cambridge Bay

I love Nunavut. I love that I only need to walk a few steps out of town and then suddenly I am all alone in the tundra, lost in the beautiful wilderness that stretches on forever.

What I am especially grateful for, despite the astonishing cold, is that the sun has begun to rise again, painting the skies with long extended sun rises and sun sets. The sun still doesn't get very high in the sky, but it's lovely to see, since we missed it. And soon enough the days will grow drastically longer, until it stops setting in May.

a sunrise/sunset over the frozen Arctic ocean

We've also been getting some gorgeous northern lights at night, right outside my living room window.  I still haven't developed the knack for capturing them on film yet, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Also, beautiful moons

the view from my house

I didn't have a car when I went grocery shopping this week, so I pulled my groceries home by sled. I guess we've reached that part of the season now.

 

the arctic ocean, freezing up

Sometimes I walk into my kitchen and then I see a kite fly by my window. It's one of the guys in town, skiing across the ice in the bay while being pulled across by kite. That's the kind of stuff that I see from my living room window.

I also see gorgeous sunrises from my living room window

I may have mentioned last week that there were some polar bears hanging around town. It seems like  my neighbour may have found them after all.

life in photos

Hey! I'm still here. I have been busy writing other things (like this article on Iqaluit Pride!) and also, randomly enough, a couple of remixes. Mainly, though, I've been enjoying life in Cambridge Bay.

There's a polar bear hanging around just outside of town this week. He just seems to be hanging out around the cabins. I don't have any photos of him because I am too scared to go out looking for him.  But other people have seen him. Somebody in town asked, if the bear attacks, can I shoot the bear? YOLO, someone replied. Stand your ground.

It's interesting. I was reading a fascinating journal article discussing the polar bear as a metaphor for the traditional gender ambiguity that was prevalent in historical Inuit culture.  And then this polar bear appeared. So, maybe it means something.

Today, I managed to catch the sunrise and the sunset.

sunrise, over a frozen arctic ocean

sunset, over a developing tundra

However, this photo wins as the most Nunavut photo. All-terrain vehicle. Truck. Husky dog. Beautiful sunrise over a frozen ocean.

forever sunset

The Kitikmeot has been transformed into a land of perpetual sunrise and sunset.  The breathtaking skylines remind me of a poem I used to love reading when I was a teenager.

who are you,little i

(five or six years old)
peering from some high

window;at the gold

of november sunset

(and feeling:that if day
has to become night

this is a beautiful way)

- e. e. cummings

the last sunrise / the last sunset

The sun in this photo is both rising and setting in this photo. For the last few weeks, the sun has been barely rising, just peaking its face over the horizon to say hi before shooting down again.  "High noon" here in the high Arctic actually means beautiful sunrises and sunsets at lunch time.

Today is the last sunrise and sunset of the year. The sun rises at 11:23AM and sets at 12:14PM. After this, the sky will still get light, like it does at dusk, but the sun will not actually rise above the horizon again until January 12, next year.

By now I've forgotten what it's like to wake up to daylight. It's actually been almost a year now that I've been waking up in darkness. During the summer we sleep with the curtains shut because the sun is up all the time, so now we've just gotten used to rising in darkness.

My friend sent me a link on how to prevent the winter blues by being your own light. Some of it is excellent advice, like wearing warm sweaters and eating healthy vegetables.  Some of it is not applicable to the North, like going into the woods (no trees), lighting a campfire (no wood), watching the sunrise (no sunrise).  It is important though to take steps to combat the winter blues.  I've felt it; even though we have a SAD lamp, my body knows it's artificial sun and my body misses the days (okay, that one day) when we sat on the beach feeling the summer sun.  I feel tired. My body craves sugar, carbs, and all sorts of stuff to equip me with a warm layer of fat for the cold winter. I've started taking vitamin D supplements.

Luckily, winter also means we get to enjoy the beautiful night sky, which I really miss during the summer.  All last week, you could see the full moon in the sky, all day long. At night (and by night, I mean 3PM) you can see the Big Dipper, Orion's Belt, Pleiades, and even Jupiter near the moon.  And we're often greeted by the beautiful Northern lights, a sight that I will never grow tired of.

permanent daylight

Last night was the last night that the sun went down.  The sun set, and then the sun rose less than an hour later.  Now we will have permanent daylight for the next two months.  Good-bye night sky, I will miss you.



  as a side note, "permanent daylight" is my favourite song by Radiohead, my favourite band. I love it not only for its quintessentially Radiohead-esque lyrics, but also because the musical style is a tribute to Sonic Youth, my other favourite band, only Radiohead somehow does Sonic Youth better than Sonic Youth, in a manner that is succinct and refined.

the sunrises of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut

I've mentioned before how my commute to work these days are wonderful. It consists of a short ten minute, kilometre long walk along the frozen beach coast right as the sun rises. I often take the time to stop and take pictures of the day's sun rise, because every day the sunlit sky looks a little bit different.

Take these three photos taken from the same spot on three different days:

 

These two photos were also taken from the same spot on two different days:

and then you've got these two photos, taken on the same day, from two different spots:

more sunrise photos:

 

Wouldn't that make you almost look forward to going to work?

arctic sunrise photo: playground

We get some breathtaking sunrises here in Cambridge Bay. Right now the sun comes up just as I'm walking to work. Once in a while I'll share some of the scenery shots.

frozen playground on a foggy day   Happy Valentine's Day!