Meanderings of a Mermaid

When it's so cold the van won't start, the snowmachine never fails. For me it is the sunny days that call out to me to go for a ride. And yes, those are the colder days. But having lived and worked in the Arctic over so many years, I am well prepared to survive the deep cold. Boots are rated to -100 deg Celsius. Imagine that it is - 52 degrees. Then let's add some wind chill factor. We could get to -64, for example. Okay, now climb aboard a snowmobile and go fast into the wind - you then increase the wind chill factor by a fair bit. I won't even venture a guess. But you see where I'm going with this. Be prepared and know what you are getting into. heated visor, heated hand grips..... Riding in the winter is just so much fun. You can get to places that in the summer are so wet or bug infested that you can't get close. Large hills become much more approachable and long distances can be covered in a short period of time. Be careful to not go in further than what ...

The New Year came and found me at camp. Pardon some of the clutter in the interior shots, but not everything has been straightened out after the garage and studio were finished off. Like the antique boudoir table that is blocking off part of the bookcase. Where does one put a fancy Queen Anne boudoir at her camp anyways???? oh, and don't count the empty booze bottles piling up by the back door. Those are , uh, from a few visits ago. Yes. Get a load of the snow outside though. No wonder no one wanted to come in with me. All that digging. The road hadn't been plowed for a week and a half and so there was an old rut and about 20 cm of snow overtop . On the second last day I shovelled off the 30-45 cm on the main cabin, and the moment I finished (2 hours later) it began snowing again. No, the booze bottles are not from this time. Really. So on the final night it snowed about 20 cm of new snow. I was pushing snow for much of the 8 km out to the logging road. Three attempts to get...