one more sleep

Veiled by a thick layer of ice crystals, this last week disappeared into an icy haze. All the days were a strange shade of blue so bright you couldn’t even tell where the land and sky met. It was as if you were looking at a film negative, everything just blended into one, as did the days.

This past week was a busy one for me. Due to delays in flights, I ended up working a full day and ended up pretty wiped for the rest of the week and feeling a little under the weather. So for the entire weekend I slept and read books in my room, it was nice to just relax and not do anything. I really need to schedule more of these days for myself.

With the increasingly strong winds (20 knots sustained) this weekend, the overcast layer of cirrus clouds pushed out of Alert and made way for the blowing snow to strip away from the landscape and reveal its frozen gravel and rocky skeleton beneath the ice. It was definitely a bit of an adventure trying to take these photos as I had to run into the wind and could only remain outside for short periods of time without dashing back into the truck. With the wind-chill it was roughly -50.

Tomorrow, is the official sunrise therefore these are my final Sunday adventure photos that will only include the twilight. It truly is so exciting. You can only fully appreciate the light until you have gone without it for almost 3 months. I can honestly say I have never been as excited to see the sun crest the mountains and feel the warmth on my face. I really wish I was able to share this moment with those who mean the most to me, however you can bank on pictures! x

Pink

It was an exciting morning today as I crawled out of bed around 0700. I had my window cover open slightly and I could see the light from the blue sky pouring onto my bed spread. I smiled to myself knowing what this was to mean. The brightest time of the day here is just before noon so if this was anything to get excited about, I couldn't wait until lunch time!

I ran for an hour or so this morning and then went and had lunch. I gathered my winter gear and, armed with my camera, I headed outside. The sight was so beautiful it made me feel like I was thrust into a post card. Shades of pink and peach dancing along the outline of the mountains smoothly fading into the lightest of blues.

Over the past 3 months I have really learned to appreciate the small beauties in this frozen land and my goodness, it was so stunning today it almost brought tears to my eyes. I was truly wishing I could share this moment with those who mean the most to me this morning, the pictures - although lovely- are an understatement. The world sparkled and I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. The sun will rise in just over a weeks time and is about 4 degrees below the horizon right now, fyi.

I had a relaxing weekend and really took the time to reflect on all the things I am thankful for. However, with the coming of the sun, it brings many count downs for me. Eight days until I see a quarter of the suns disk, nine days until the official sunrise (which is 1/2 of the suns disk), twenty odd days until my replacement gets here and just over a month until my break from the Arctic begins. I'm feeling excited, hopeful and very blessed to have been able to enjoy the feeling of the light today shine upon my icy skin and know that the sun hasn't forgotten about me.

Happy weekend xo

*note I didn't take these photos of the arctic hare, I just thought I would include them as they were taken on this very day, one year ago!

CC177

Physically and emotionally this week I would describe as: Blue.

Those who know me personally will know how I attach myself to friends and people I spend my days with. Living in such a tightly knit community of just under 70 personnel, you're constantly in contact with everyone and I find you wind the people you "click" with very tightly around your heart. My heart is COVERED in strings and cords of all types and to be honest, I prefer it that way.

This week I had to say goodbye to some of my favourites. It always makes me sad so see such lovely and fun people leave the station but that's always the nature of the military isn't it? The beauty of it all though, is "goodbyes" really aren't "goodbyes" but merely a "see you soon". That's what I tell myself anyway so I don't get too upset...!

Other than my mushy intro, this week was quite busy. I worked quite a few long hours to bring in the CC177 that landed in Alert this week. It was a bit hectic as the flight plans kept changing, but over all I would say the week was a success. I started knitting a scarf, learned some new songs on guitar, got an extra day to spend with the departing friends and tonight is a PJ party with the station! Should be a very fun evening filled with laughs and making memories.

I hope you all had a wonderful week and enjoy the weekend. Remember to take the time to hug somebody you care about today and let them know what they mean to you. Those are the best kind of hugs and trust me, a hug goes a long way!

Happy weekend xo

Overjoyed

Recipe for a fun weekend:
1. Handstands in the snow

2. Admire the horizon 

3. Visit the Lancaster crash site

4. Stand on rocks and praise the sun

5. Draw hearts in the snow

6. Tumble down snow banks

7. Smile - big! 

8. Get frosted tips

This weekend was absolutely hands down the most fun I've had in Alert since my arrival here in December. The day was painted with a permanent dawn, filling the air with anticipation for the arrival of the sun. It was a balmy -37 degrees but that didn't keep me inside. The prospect of seeing what is around the station finally, was enough to make me jump into my snow suit and my fuzzy hat to explore into the disappearing shadows. 

I read this quote and particularly enjoyed its message "I promise to keep on living as though I expected to live forever. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul." I hope I never give up doing silly things that make me happy. Snow bank sledding on my bum, running around with sparklers and enjoying a weekend filled with laughs - what gets better than that? Not much!

I hope the message that people recieve from this post is that there truly is fun and laughs to be had everywhere, if only you take the time to be a little silly and let go of all your expectations for life and just live. I fell asleep with a smile on my face last night knowing that with each passing day more and more good things are yet to come. I'm so excited for everything! 

Have a wonderful day and Happy Monday!   

shades of blue

, A

The sun is about 8 degrees below the horizon right now so on clear days you can really see the sky illuminate for a few hours. I don't really have much to say today, just finished a 12 hour plane day and am curled up with a hot chocolate with marshmallows. About ready to go to sleep for the afternoon so here's a hot chocolate-y cheers to the light slowly making it's way back to Alert. x

that light in your eyes

This weekend, rather this Sunday, was exactly what I needed. Sunday I got up, did some yoga and had a shower. I had the biggest breakfast of all time (bacon strips and bacon strips and bacon strips… of course with maple syrup… lots of it I might add) and prepared myself to go ice fishing again for the second time since being here.

This time, as we pulled off the road and onto the beaten path, the twilight over the hills was just stunning. It was so blue it almost hurt your eyes, mesmerizing even. It’s funny how being in the dark can make you appreciate even the faintest glow of light. This made me reflect on the bad week I was having and realize that even in the darkest places in a persons soul there is still a bit of light. I found this Albert Schweitzman quote:

“Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being”

I really found truth in this statement when I spent Sunday afternoon with my favorite people sharing laughs, star gazing and running around with sparklers into the darkness. People are truly the spirit here and certainly this Sunday raised my morale enough that my cheeks hurt from smiling.

I saw a shooting star that afternoon and amazingly enough was able to capture it on my camera. As for my wish? I didn’t bother. My only wish last week was to find internal happiness again and there I did, in the dark, watching the light slowly make its way into my life again, one shade of blue at a time.

Winter Solstice

"December 21st is one of two days when the suns rays will strike one of the two tropical latitude lines. At precisely 12:30am (lcl) or 05:30 (utc) on the 22nd of December the winter solstice begins and we will have absolutely no light from the Sun in Alert. When the sun is 12° below the horizon, this means that the closest spot on Earth that's still bathed in direct sunlight is more than 800 miles away. All the light that you could see has struggled through 800 miles of air and around the curve of Earth's surface. It takes fully 1200 miles of air to fully extinguish the Sun's light and end astronomical twilight.

The Arctic gets just as many hours of sunlight as anywhere else on Earth — in fact, just a tad more. The reason the Arctic is cold is that the Sun never gets very high above the horizon, so its light always hits the ground at an oblique angle. The flip side is that the Sun also never gets very far below the horizon. Most of the time that the Sun's not up in the Arctic, it's skimming just below the horizon and yielding one or another flavour of twilight." (Sometimes invisible to the naked eye)

However, for today and the next few days there is no Astronomical Twilight effecting us here in Alert that means the best star viewing that I have ever seen. So awesome!