The House & other Arctic musings

New camera accessory experiment #1

Along with Leah's late Christmas gift's arrival in the mail this afternoon was a shutter release for my camera.  I had been anticipating this for a bit as there were a couple of photos that I'd like to try my hand at. One of these is star trails.  And this is the first attempt at it.

As you can see I have issues with focusing in the dark, but I'm going to give it another shot in a little bit. The House is only lit with ambient light from the House and from town, and there was an errant car drive by.  Exposure was 21 minutes at f5.6. The picture pretty much drained my battery at -27C.

I want too much

I worship far too often at the alter of consumerism. At some point in my life (and I suspect it was pretty early) I began to lust after far too many toys. The latest example? I want a new lens for my camera. Oh I can rattle off a number of reason why I really should have one, but ultimately it comes down to desire and nothing much more than that.

I've got a tiny bit of extra money in our personal account right now, thanks to a week of teaching down in Iqaluit, and there is a whole lot of things I should be doing with it (which includes saving it for a rainy day, or several) and right now I'm struggling not to spend it on a new lens. Struggle is the optimum word here. I know me, and logic doesn't enter into it once I decide that I want something. Actually there are two lenses I desire and what is probably saving my savings right now is I can't decide between them, that and I'm scared of what Leah would think.

The first lens is Canon's EF-S 10-22 f3.5 to 4.5 Zoom.  No more patching together panoramas together with this baby.  I could capture those sweeping vistas with one photo, not to mention take kickass wildflower in the foreground sweeping vista in the background photos. Of course I'd need a new polarizing filter to go with it. But don't you think it would look good on my little Rebel?

Of course the one I really want is Canon's EF 100-400 f4.5 to 5.6 IS  Zoom. Harder to justify because I've already got a zoom telephoto, but the Image Stabilizing feature, longer focal length and supposedly better optics make me want it.  I mean, how am I supposed to take better pictures of birds and wildlife without it?

See.  See what I've started. Lust, that is all it is.

New Music

Somewhere, in the Kines family archives, there is a home movie of my cousin Jack and I boxing. Two kids, arms flailing at each other, while my Grandfather refereed. My Grandfather was actually an accomplished boxer, during the war he won the gold medal for his weight class amongst the Commonwealth forces in England. 

But I digress, for this is actually about my cousin, or rather his son.  I've only recently found that Sean Peters is in a band out of Calgary, and they are quite good.  The band is called The Matt Blais Connection and they have a self titled EP out (available on iTunes). Check them out on YouTube or elsewhere on line.

I quite enjoy a couple of their songs, Beautiful Thing and (Oh!) What Can I Do. Strange there's no song about boxing though.

Christmas Parka and Amautiq

One of the great aspects of Christmas here is that there is frequently hand sewn gifts under the tree. Here is Travis' new Parka and Hilary's Amautiq.

Dark wings

I stepped out the door about the time the sun stood still yesterday. It was solstice, and had I been somewhere south of the Arctic Circle the sun would have appeared to have paused in its apparent movement south. But of course I live much farther north than the Arctic Circle, where terms like the "longest night of the year" have little meaning. The sun set six weeks ago, and it will be another six weeks before I catch another glimpse of it above the horizon.

It seemed darker than it should be for a little after 10 am, and I realized it was a heavily overcast day, I'd not see the beautiful blues and indigos of twilight. This indeed would be our darkest day of the year. The temperature, a relatively mild -24 was also meaningless as a cold wind from the west, blew the smoke from the stacks horizontally, and also hurried along a haze of light snow. As I moved away from the streetlight I pulled my jacket's collar tighter to my ears and turned my back on the wind.

The ravens were no where to be seen in the dark, no doubt foraging amongst the dog teams, and I decided that the nearest team was too far away for how I was dressed, but I headed that way regardless, hoping to see some wheeling in the wind, but there were none. I could see the teams on the ice, dark lines stretched out, and somewhere one of the teams howled, expecting to be fed or perhaps they saw one of the Arctic Foxes that have been foraging near town, drawn by the bounty of scraps after being let down by the crash of lemmings this fall.

I turned back up the hill, the wind stinging my face, thinking perhaps I should have walked into the wind at the start of the walk, and that my parka would have been a better idea than the jacket I was wearing. As I neared the House I heard the wings behind me and spun to catch the dark wings of a Raven, heading for the ice. Just a black blur driven by the wind against the dark sky barely lit by the sun reaching for the horizon to the south.

Just one Raven, but that is enough. They are my constant companions here, when almost all the others have left, or forage farther out on the land. They are my Birds of the Solstice.

The blog ate my homework

One of my favourite thinkers on the web, Dave Bonta, has a blog, Via Negativa, that continually astounds me. That he visits regularly and occasionally includes one of my posts in his Smorgasblog both amazes me, and makes me want to puff out my chest just a little further.

Via Negativa just turned five, which is 109 in human years, and Dave celebrates in fine style with a list of 25 things about Via Negativa. Go pay him a visit, it is always worth your while. 

My title, and the cartoon, are stolen from him. The cartoon is part of a regular feature of his, Words On The Street.

New holiday song favourite

I know I only posted my list of ten favourite Christmas songs the other day, but as of last night I have a new one.

O Holy Night in Inuktitut by the Grade One class of Inuujaq School.
Yep, that's my boy in the red track suit.

Public Service Announcements

Megan, she of Reflections in The Snow-covered Hills, has changed her blog's address. With the change in locations comes a great new look. If you're a fan, (and really why wouldn't you be?) make sure you update your link/feed.

I know that several of my readers are Tim Horton's fans. Timmy's is by far the biggest purveyor of coffee in Canada and has skillfully positioned itself as a Canadian Icon. The inestimable Julie Craves knows far more about coffee than I ever will. In fact, now that I think of it she knows far more about most things than I ever will, such is the cross I bear. While checking out her latest post at Coffee and Conservation (and if you are a fan of coffee and care about the environment you MUST read this blog, regularly. Seriously it isn't an option.) I found a link to a year old post about Tim Horton's and the environment. Very much worth a read, although the info is a year old and things may have changed (although I suspect not).

Best NWT Blogs

It is that time of the year, the time of year when the blog awards come fast and furious. Hot on the heels of the Canadian Blog Awards (and a tip of the hat goes to Fawnahareo's Place, the only northern blog to make the final cut, and the winner of third place in the Best Family Blog) comes the Best NWT Blog Awards.

There are several categories that are now open for nominations, including Best Blog, Best Post, Best New Blog, Best Photography, and Best Series.   Head over here to nominate your favourite blogs, and over here for a list of NWT Blogs.  Nominations are not restricted to the blogs on that list, but are open to bloggers who are from the NWT or blog about the NWT.  Winners will be decided by a panel of judges.

Good luck to all NWT bloggers out there. Now lets show them some love people.

The Ten Songs of Christmas meme

Although this post by the incomparable Townie Bastard isn't a meme in the strictest sense, I'm treating it as such.  Townie has shared with us his ten favourite Christmas songs, and I'm challenging you to do the same. Here are mine, which you may or may not agree with (but at least Snoopy's Christmas or the one by that group that did Ra Ra Rasputin isn't on it.)

1) White Christmas by Bing Crosby.  You could probably choose just about any Bing Crosby tune to include on my list, but this is my favourite of his.
2) Happy Christmas (War is over) by John Lennon. Perhaps over played, but who cares.
3) God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen by the Knox United Church Choir and congregation. Not a recording, only a memory.
4) Silent Night (7 o'clock news) by Simon and Garfunkel. While the news might be dated it still makes for a powerful effect.
5) The Huron Carol by Tom Jackson. A song that inspired an entire series of benefit concerts for the needy at Christmas, sung in that wonderful deep sonorous voice of his. That and my sister would disown me if it wasn't on here.
6) The Holly by Rita MacNeil.  I don't know, there is just something about this song that has resonated with me from the first time I heard it.
7) The Christmas Blues by Dean Martin
8) Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming by R. Carlos Nakai and William Eaton.  Some might be dismissive of this as New Age/Muzak but the entire Winter Dreams CD is unparalleled for the quiet contemplative times, after the kids are asleep, and the House is dark but for the lights of the tree.
9) Peace by Norah Jones.  It should be mandatory listening.
10) And finally one I don't know the name of, or the words to. By the Roblin Ukrainian Orthodox Church carolers. Really it is more for Ukrainian Christmas but for me it just is essential Christmas music. Or rather was years ago.

So that's my ten. Certainly more traditional than Townie's list, but I think I've trumped him by not having Snoopy's Christmas on my list.  As a bonus, here is a short, Christmas related True Crime story.

Every year in La Ronge we'd have what we'd call our "Christmas Babies", people that would do things so monumentally stupid that they'd spend Christmas in our cells. It never failed. Occasionally just before Christmas we'd have someone that we'd have to take before a judge to see if they'd be remanded in custody or not.

On one such occasion I was acting as the Crown for a show cause hearing, which to be honest was almost impossible to win that time of year. Everyone in court was in a good mood, and after the Legal Aid lawyer gave his arguements he smiled and said to the judge "I really love these hearings this time of the year, while you're making your decision I just sit back and hum I'll Be Home For Christmas" and sat down.  The judge looked at me and smiled, and I stood up and said "All I can say your Honour is that I much prefer I'll Have A Blue Christmas Without You"

In the spirit of the season I'm not going to tag anyone but everyone who wants to please feel free to continue the meme and give your top ten Holiday (whatever faith or secular ones work for you) tunes.