places I've been lately, things I've been seeing

 

home movies

home movies from the 1930s from the Nova Scotia Archives

february photo a day challenge

I'm participating in the February photo a day challenge on Instagram and wanted to share my first photo with you here (I'll post the rest, too, in batches...it'll keep me honest and help me stick with this). I took this photo this morning on my way to work with my iPhone 4S. Gone are the sunrises. I'm generally leaving the house in daylight now, which is a positive sign that spring is on its way. This picture is of Canada Place as seen from the Seabus. We live in a beautiful city. Too bad I spend most days at work rather than exploring this amazing place. Looking forward to an impromptu long weekend...today is my Thursday. Yesssssssssssssssssssss...

back from montreal

Hello hello! It's been a while. I'm back now from a super fun one week vacation in Montreal and an overnighter in Vermont! New England and the east of this country is kind of paradise this time of year and I have lots of great photos to share once I do some editing. The one above I took from my Bixi (the inexpensive, convenient bike share program in Montreal) in Parc Lafontaine. In the meantime, let's take a look at my autumn to-do list. It's coming along nicely:

1. Go camping on the coast DONE

2. Visit a pumpkin patch (and conquer a corn maze while I'm there)

3. Bake a pie from scratch

4. Go apple picking

5. Visit friends in a different city DONE

6. Have a Thanksgiving feast DONE x 2!

7. Revamp the blog for a new season DONE

8. Knit something (I'm thinking chunky yarn and big needles) DONE

9. Go for a forest hike on the North Shore

10. Take photos with a new camera

11. Clean up the garden one more time

12. Walk home from work (it's a pretty long walk)

13. Ride the Stanley Park Halloween Ghost Train (Ivy and Jamie, I'm going to miss you guys this year!) DONE with Laura, Jeff, and Mike

14. Check out the Parade of Lost Souls (Halloween seems to be Vancouver's favourite holiday) - October 28


What did you get up to this past week?


Here's one of the songs that was part of our soundtrack during this trip. Enjoy!

jill's rad summer: the canadian arctic

Remember a few weeks ago when we visited Africa with my friend Carrah? Well, this last of the Rad Summer guest posts is pretty much the exact opposite of that in every way. Except that it, too, is about a place that many of us dream of visiting and may not have the chance to visit any time soon. And there are some amazing animals hanging out in these photos, too. Oh, and both posts include incredible photos!

I’m excited to write about my rad summer, because it ranked up there in the top few raddest summers ever. In fact, it just might take the top spot, as it involved an adventure of the kind that I always wished for but never really thought I would get to actually embark on.

the Amundsen and icebergs, Pond Inlet

my favourite poster from the ship -- so retro!

I am a geography student in Calgary, interested in the frozen parts of earth and how they interact with/influence climate and climate change. I got the opportunity to go and work with a consortium of scientists studying different aspects of climate change in the Canadian Arctic on board a Canadian Coast Guard ship, the CCGS Amundsen.  For a month, I lived aboard the ship with 40 odd scientists and another 40-ish crewmembers while we travelled up the east coast of Canada from Quebec City, to ultimately journey through the southern route of the storied Northwest Passage.

coast guard hauling the Rosette on board so we can test water 

My job was to test seawater for carbon dioxide concentrations. This is the instrument that took water samples from different depths in the ocean, called a Rosette.

From Quebec City, we sailed up the St Lawrence Seaway and then hit the open ocean off the east coast of Labrador, where I both saw humpback whales and experienced my first (and only, thankfully) bought of seasickness (tip: don’t try to do anything in 6 meter seas. The only way to avoid throwing up is by lying face down in your bunk).  

stormy seas! 

Off the coast of Baffin Island, we crossed the Arctic Circle. It is a really big deal to cross the Arctic Circle by ship and it is customary to initiate those who cross (only going north to south counts) into Neptune’s circle. I am forbidden by the law of the sea to give any more details, but let’s just say at one point I was doing jumping jacks outside at 4 in the morning while being sprayed with a fire hose of seawater….as I said, very serious!. The sun never really properly set north of the Arctic Circle at that time of year, so it was very hard to get to sleep at a reasonable time. The scenery was so amazing: I saw huge valley glaciers tumbling into the sea, crazy icebergs and even a few pieces of the Petermann Ice Island, which broke off Greenland in 2010.

Petermann Ice island

In the middle of my time aboard the ship, there was to be a small conference on the ship, so 11 scientists (myself included) left the ship for 5 days to free up some bunk space. We were flown to Resolute Bay, a tiny, predominantly Inuit, community of about 240 people on Cornwallis Island, at 74°N latitude. We spent the next five days at a research station, exploring, reading, watching movies and watching out for polar bears. Many people in Resolute still depend on traditional foods to supplement the very expensive (and in the case of produce, very limp) food flown in to the community weekly, so we saw lots of evidence of seal and whale hunting. One day, we went to a local woman’s house to see the skins she had prepared from animals hunted by her husband, including Muskox and Caribou (so soft!).

Finally, in the first few days of August, back on the ship, we sailed into sea ice, which I was very very excited about. The Amundsen is an icebreaker, so it is built to be able to travel through sea ice; I spent many hours on the front deck watching sea ice break under the bow as we plowed along. Ice breaking makes an ungodly sound like mermaids screaming their heads off or something, so that was a big disconcerting at first, but I soon learned to sleep like a baby through all the noise.

I also saw my first polar bear, just wandering around sea ice, hunting for seals. It was amazing to see a polar bear in the wild. My hands were all shaky and I was so excited. The captain stopped the ship and everyone on board just watched the bear for about an hour (apparently, seeing polar bears really never gets old. Awesome.).

My trip to the north was an eye opener in terms of appreciating just how big Canada is and gaining more of a connection to the landscape, people and climate of the north. The north really got into my bones, I think, and I am both excited to hopefully return in the future, as well as a little sad to know that the arctic is changing and may not look the same when next I see it.

So, that was the raddest part of my rad summer. Thank you, Sarah, for inviting me to do this post! 

Not only did Jill put together this amazing post for my blog, she is also the brilliant friend who made all of the rosemary peach jam that we gave out as favours at our wedding. Now that's a best friend! Don't you all kinda feel like you went on an adventure just reading about how Jill spent some of her summer? Thank you, Jill!!! Now move to Vancouver already!

There you have it, the end of Rad Summer 2011. We've been to Portland, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Osoyoos, British Columbia, Vancouver Island, Vacation Island, California, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, Seattle, Reykjavik, Iceland, El Paso, Texas, Calgary, Alberta, and now the Canadian Arctic. Rad, dudes. You go to some incredible places. Thanks for kind of taking me with you! I'll be doing this series again, so consider sharing your adventures here next year. Now, sorry, it's official. Summer is over.

mix tape: endless canadian summer

Summer is winding down. Days are hot but a little shorter, eating berries has become a slightly frantic activity, and this weekend feels like the perfect time to come to terms with all of this. Canadians have it in the bag when it comes to making perfect summer music, maybe because we fully appreciate these warm months. You know who else seems to do a good job of making summery music? The Swedes (go, Rebecka!)! Today is my last day at work before a much anticipated (and needed!) wedding vacation -- my first real time off since I started my new job after graduation. The wedding is a week from tomorrow (and it's about to get WEDDING-Y on this blog! look out!) and our friends and family begin arriving soon. What are you doing to hold on to summer this weekend?

Here, for your enjoyment in this last week of August, is the best mix of summer tunes mix I've made in a long time:

track list:

1. Runner • Daniel, Fred & Julie*

2. A Case of You • Joni Mitchell*

3. The Swimming Song • Loudon Wainwright III*

4. Passenger Side • Wilco

5. Let's Call It Off • Peter, Bjorn and John**

6. Putting the Dog to Sleep • The Antlers

7. It's Gonna Take an Airplane • Destroyer*

8. Clinicly Dead • Chad Van Gaalen*

9. A Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill • Jens Lekman**

10. Comfy in Nautica • Panda Bear

11. Atmosphere • Pink Mountaintops*

12. Staring at the Sun • TV on the Radio

13. I Just Wasn't Made for These Times • The Beach Boys

14. Don't Vote • Cass McCombs

15. Drowning • Langhorne Slim

16. All I Have to Do is Dream • The Everly Brothers

17. Don't Call me Whitney, Bobby • Islands*

18. When You're All Alone • Johnny and The Moon*

19. Party • El Perro Del Mar**

20. Don't Let it Bring You Down • Neil Young*

* Canadian

** Swedish

Here's the last mix tape if you're looking for more. I've been on a serious Canadian music kick lately. Okay, maybe not serious... Have a great weekend!

walk

Have I told you lately that I love this city? Probably not, it's been hard to love endless cloudy days and rain, but I do still love it. We went on a long walk last night and it felt like the sun was almost going to come out...almost. The community gardens are raging, filled with flowers, raspberries, and lots and lots of leafy greens (which are very happy with the cool temperatures). I'm not going to show you pictures of my garden plot right now because it could use some love (and fertilizer). Soon I'll share!

We visited our old neighbourhood and walked down to the beach, under the Burrard Bridge and along False Creek. We saw 1/1000th of what makes this city so awesome. I'm doing a guest post about an excursion over at Chelsea and Charlotte's blog There&Here in a couple of weeks. It's going to be hard to choose where to go, though I have some ideas... Vancouver has endless excursion possibilities. What do you love about where you live?

meet the new gilded cave explorers

I just wanted to share a little something that I've been working on for the Sadie shop: the gilded cave explorers. I've just discovered these new agate geodes which are fabulously light and still encrusted with beautiful crystals of all sizes and shapes. These three new gilded cave explorers have been treated to a ring of gold or silver, and nestled within you'll find animals and variety of cave exploring humans. I hope you like them. They'll be in the Sadie shop this coming Saturday!

nights in white flannel

I am sure that it is too late to order anything from this fabulous Canadian company that I'm about to introduce you to in time for Christmas, but New Year's Day might just be possible. Now, let me start by saying that winter is not my favourite time of year. I just don't like being cold! I am barely capable of getting out of bed on mornings when to be on the other side of my Hudson's Bay wool blanket would be to risk certain, well, discomfort. I thought there was no solution out there for my dislike of the cold, until I was in Powell River one fall and discovered Nights in White Flannel.

In my humble opinion, this is the ultimate in Canadiana. I definitely had sheets like the material they make their bedclothes out of and, as is shown repeatedly in their print catalogue, Nights in White flannel is perfect cabin wear. I can certainly imagine wearing an adult onesie (yup, dreams do come true!) at my Grandmother's farm in Nova Scotia. Or at our favourite getaway on Mayne Island. Now, you'll never get a picture of me actually wearing my onesie because although I ordered it thinking it would be fun and funny, it turns out that it is a little more funny-embarassing...but I still love it and do wear it pretty often. Each piece is custom made to fit you perfectly, which means loose and comfortable. I loved the customer service this company provided and urge you all to check out their website. These really are unique and comfortable pieces and I know that if you order something from them you will love it. And that name: Nights in White Flannel? You'll never forget it!