LeBleu Pack: Life, Love and Family

We've all heard the quotes, sayings and cliches about loosing someone you love and they sure hit home when you personally loose a close family member. My sis-in-law Laura, my brother's wife, lost her fight and it's heart wrenching. Craig and I flew down to Alberta to spend some time with my brother, our niece and family members. It was one of the most difficult flights I had ever done but was so glad to spend some time with them. The things I will miss about Laura are our phone calls, text messages and our mutual love of dogs.

We brought Molly & Blitz with us and Blitz constantly played with their 1 year old yellow lab, Harlow...and oh what fun they had. Craig, my mom, my oldest brother Mike and myself headed to Kananaskis Country and enjoyed an afternoon in the mountains. We stayed for about a week and in the end it was very difficult to leave.

Here are some pics from our Alberta trip.

Barrier Dam

Of course I had to get a picture of Molly and Blitz

in the mountains.

Yes the water was this colour - gorgeous!

Mom and Mike at Barrier Dam

Many water falls in the area

We stopped at this spot to take a walk in the canyon

We stopped on the side of the road to get a few pics

This pano was taken with my iPhone

This was how Blitz was in the vehicle with mom,

you could say he loves his granny.

Harlow

Craig wanted to take a short drive to All-Star Telescope just outside of Carstairs to get a filter for his telescope so he could look at the sun so mom and I tagged along. It's not your normal telescope store as it's out in the country and in a converted garage but it's the perfect spot for star gazing. There were some older buildings on the property so I asked the owner to see if I can photograph a couple and he said sure.

The next couple pics are from the plane heading home.

Long Point from the plane

It's been a bit of a crazy summer but we did manage to get together with Les, JS, Brendan and Matt while they were up here doing their Arctic char research. I always try to cook them a good ole fashion Arctic dinner, this time it was bbq Arctic char, basil pesto bbq caribou and slow cooked muskox with all the fixings. Of course after dinner out came the guitars and music books.

The boys at dinner

L to R: Les, Matt, Brendan, JS and Craig

Then the guitars came out...

and the silliness begun

Brendan, Marg and Les

Sing it boys!

A couple of years ago I won a day cruise on the Martin Bergmann and we finally connected this year. I was allowed to invite some friends so it was Craig, Kim, Marg, Matilde, Ryan and myself plus the Bergmann crew. We sailed off around 11:00pm a couple of weeks ago...yes 11:00pm and our destination was Melbourne Island, about a 5 hour trip there. We stayed up with the crew until 1:00am then we headed to our quarters to get some sleep. I think most of us didn't get much sleep that night and I think it was just the excitement of being on the ship. We woke to the smell of breakfast cooking thanks to Randy the Bergmann chef.

Once we arrived at Melbourne Island there was work to do, the crew needed to set up a weather station and Craig helped out. Marg, Matilde and Ryan went for a walk on the island while Kim and I stayed on the boat. I was feeling a bit woozy and tired so I headed back to bed for a rest and Kim hung out with the remaining of the crew. I felt so much better after a catnap and again Randy had lunch ready for everyone.

All of us really enjoyed our cruise and the Bergmann crew were so accommodating. We arrived back in the bay around 8:00pm exhausted but so so happy. I would like to thank Adrian and crew for such a great day...thanks for the great time and memories.

Here's some pictures of our cruise on the Martin Bergmann.

Here's our route to Melbourne Island

In case you don't know what she looks like here are

a couple pics of the research vessel, the Martin Bergmann

Leaving Cambridge Bay for Melbourne Island

Our sleeping quarters

Craig and I were on the left and Matilde & Ryan were on the right

with no one in the middle

Randy cooking up a storm for breakfast

Our morning views

If you look closely you can see Melbourne Island

in the distance

Marg and Craig checking out the view

Getting close to Melbourne Island

Kim checking things out as well

You wouldn't know we were in the High Arctic, beautiful

blue colour

Adrian, Yves, Daniel and Matt heading to Melbourne Island

with the weather station on board

The Captain wheel

Here's Matilde, Marg, Ryan and Craig heading to the island

with Matt and Daniel

Girl Power!

Matilde starting the motor

Adrian asked Craig and Ryan to bring their guitars

for entertainment on the way back

Adrian and Yves checking out a new instrument for the boat

Marg, at everyone's favourite place to be

Kim catching a little shut-eye

Daniel is Captain David's son

Our friend Adrian (a fellow Manitoban) with Craig

Captain David and Craig

Captain David, Matilde and Ryan checking out the

boat's instruments

Early next month I will be flying again, this time with Molly to help out Granny (my mom) as she is getting a full hip replacement. We will stay with her for a bit, wait of Craig and Blitz to arrive and then hit the road to Arizona. We will spend a good month in our southern home and looking forward to seeing our friends Norma, Debbie and Art there and of course enjoying the warm temperatures.

Since I have been not working I have been doing a lot of photography. My newspaper work has been mostly with Nunatsiaq News but a couple of weeks ago I was approached by Nunavut News North as they wanted to use one of my pictures of the Maud. I was so pleased to see my picture on the front page of that paper as I wasn't expecting that.

You can see how big the Maud is

The tugboat was hauling items of the Maud

A couple of days after that I received a message from Jeff, the photography editor from the National Post and he wanted me to photograph the Crystal Serenity cruise ship! We were leaving for Alberta early that afternoon so I had to rush to get out to gravel pit, take some pictures, drive home, edit them and email them to Jeff. I was so excited I could hardly think and thankfully I was already packed. While in Alberta Craig really wanted to get a hardcopy of the paper and much to my surprise one of the pictures was on the front page! I couldn't believe it. Online they used all the pictures I sent, here's the link and below are 4 of the 5 pics that I sent.

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/search/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com%2Fnews%2Fdo-you-live-here-all-year-nunavut-community-invaded-by-largest-cruise-ship-in-arctic-history&q=Cambridge+Bay

The Crystal Serenity is the largest cruise ship to

enter the Northwest Passage

It will only cost you a mere $21,000.00 to set sail on her

Yikes!

Passengers kayaking along the shores of the

Northwest Passage

Setting off back to the ship

The skies had been gorgeous up here, I really enjoy this time of year. There is so much colour but since we've been back home it has been cloudy and snowy...yes snowy. Thankfully nothing has stuck yet but Old Man Winter is just around the corner. Here's some pics of what the skies have looked like.