My 2015 Highlights

I thought I'd share some of my favourite memories from 2015.  January is always a month of renewal up here, not only is it the first month of a calendar year but also it's when we see our sun come over the horizon.  After being down for 6 weeks it is a joyful day when we see it again. We were also hit with a big blizzard in January 2015 and after the winds died down it left us with a huge amount of snow.

After the blizzard it leaves one to wonder why bother digging the truck out

Snow was just about higher than some houses

This is one of my employees, Alice showing how much we had to

dig to get the cube van out

The gorgeous blue ice was seen again last year

Our sun rising

Some fantastic looking skies over the Anglican Church

Ahhh February, the month of love. My sweetie bought me my first pair ever of beautiful kamiks for Valentine's Day.  The skies were still beautiful during the month of February,  I find the skies more interesting during the winter months than I do the summer.

Annual Valentine's photo

My kamiks

Blitz and I out on the ice

Molly heading into the sunset

Sure missing these boats this year as they sailed their way

back home last summer

This is the new airport sign that was designed using my photos,

it was a proud moment for me.

I had the opportunity to photograph one of my favourite Elders David Amegainek

Some good ole street hockey

March was an exciting time for Craig and I as we had purchased a vacation condo in Yuma Arizona.  We took a quick trip there to sign the paperwork, clean the condo and purchase a few items.  We also had to take care of a major Africanized honey bee problem we had in one of our roof drains.  I have never seen bees so large. Another highlight for March was one of our friends, Joan celebrated her 25th birthday so to celebrate her special birthday I photographer her around town.

Our home in Yuma - an ongoing project

 

I love this picture of Joan as it shows her playful side.

I had to come up with some creative venues, this one

was in front of a row of sea containers

Another hockey pic I love - taken on the bay

April was a month of playing in the outdoors.  Every chance we got we were out with the dogs either on the ice road or on the tundra.  I think after such a bad winter - lots of blizzards -  we had last year April was a great month to get out.

We weren't the only ones having some winter fun

Heading out on the ice road and climbing the banks was top on our list

Even Blitz and Molly had so much fun

The one thing you have to watch out for are the cracks in the ice,

Craig didn't even reach bottom on this one.

May and June brought a lot of excitement to the LeBleu Pack as I had rescued a couple of hour old puppies and took on the responsibility of hand raising them, of course with the help of Blitz.  He had took it upon himself to be the big brother of these two tiny boys. They had frostbite on their face and pads and I wasn't sure if they would make it. In May they came into our lives and in June they had left for their new forever home in PEI.  I couldn't of asked for a better home for these two and I am so happy that I keep in touch with their new family and I can watch them grow into such handsome young dogs. They are now named Bleu and Shadow and have a sister named Luna who is about the same age.

Just a few hours old and you can see the frostbite on their face and pads

Blitz looking after them

Baby Shadow with his face frostbitten

Bleu with his frostbitten pads

Feeding was at times messy

Just about ready for their new home

Baby Bleu

Baby Shadow

My last night with these two miracles

July brought us heavy rain, the Annual Polar Bear Dip, the vet clinic and some exploring. Every year I try to donate some of my time to help out with the vet clinic and this year was no different and it was good to see some old friends and make some new ones. The Polar Bear Dip gets bigger and bigger each year and I am happy to be on shore taking pictures of the brave ones diving into Cambridge Bay.

Surgery being performed at the vet clinic

The Polar Bear Dip participants

Our friend Adrian doing a bit of paddle boarding

With the heavy rains came some cool foggy days

Fishing out on the ice floats along the Northwest Passage

Blitz and I taking it all in

Even with the foggy days he found some treasures

A few days before the heavy rains came

Exactly the same place the day after the rain hit us

My top highlight for August was one I will never forget as I watched and photographed some peregrine falcon chicks grow.  It was an experience that will last a lifetime.  

A beautiful full rainbow over the bay

In September I was asked to do some photography work for Adrian Schimnowski from the Arctic Research Foundation. It was a privilege to be asked to do this work for him and I learnt a lot from this experience. Here's just a wee sample of the pics that I had taken.

Adrian in front of one of the labs as it was being moved

Setting up the solar panels on the labs

Cranking up the last of the wind generators

I even got to go on the Martin Bergman for a few hours

Texting out some equipment

October brought out the best of Mother Nature as she lit up the skies with the Aurora Borealis. Lucky for us there hadn't been a lot of snow fall and we could drive out where there wasn't much light pollution.

November we headed back to our vacation home for a full month where renovations were in full swing.  From landscape to painting to changing electrical receptacles to purchasing furniture there was never a dull moment.  It was great to spend half of this time with Craig's parents as they joined us in Arizona for a couple of weeks. We did manage to get a few day and weekend trips in and our biggest highlight was going to California to visit our friend Teri and the Hembree Pack and of course to bring our dogs to Forrest's Beach.  It was a memory that will last forever.  

Front landscape is completed

Dining room

Living room

Other side of living room

Our day trip to Salvation Mountain and Salton Sea

Bombay Beach

North Shore at Salton Sea

The old pier at Salton Sea

Playing on Forrest's Beach!

Our friend Teri

One of my favourite sunset pics from Arizona.

Of course December brought us back to our northern home and back to work. Thanks again to all my blog readers and for hanging out with me in 2015, here's hoping 2016 will bring as many great memories as 2015 did.

Talk soon!