Meanderings of a Mermaid

Well you know that the other half of the equation does not ever sit still. A lot has been going on here with the landscape and with building stuff.  Here is a view from across Turtle Bay of what 20 loads of gravel look like atop our landing. The footprint of the landing has not changed. But we have jacked up the elevation by almost two feet. The flooding of our lake is happening with more frequency (every year for some years) and we were unable to use our landing or dock,  Wouldn't you know it the lake has been dropping markedly every day since this gravel was brought in. I believe this is unusual for late July and early August. We can't seem to get a break with consistent water levels . We might have to take the big boat out of the water soon or else we might not be able to tie up at the dock anymore. Here is the generator shack being built. BS is using his engi-nerding experience to make something that will keep the new generator protected from rain. Also it wi...

Pretty soon, within the month, this new publication will be "flying off the shelves". Yes that's me, the author. It will be the first entire book I have written. I was invited to and paid to write it, but best of all I had tremendous fun doing it. The best part for me was deciding on the content and how to arrange it into chapters. It is being published by Inhabit Media and will be for sale through their website , http://www.inhabitmedia.com/ and through the various big name book sellers online. It's a technical book and unlike some other field guides that were published in this same series, I had to give more introductory chapters. It's true that most people do not learn much geology through grade school or highschool and so the "base level" of knowledge of the general public is very low. And this book is written at the level of a junior high school or high school student. The most challenging thing about writing it was the decision of what minerals a...

No photo today. Just a challenge for you to find the image of Elvis in one of the two Nunavut photos I posted the other day. A bit eerie. And as you can see, Elvis Lives On!

This photo I took maybe 4 years ago just outside the capital of Nunavut, called Iqaluit. I lived there for nearly six years and absolutely loved it. I'm walking my dogs on a high ridge overlooking part of the airport. Month of June I believe. [ and yes, that is the ocean that freezes up! It takes an icebreaker in the first week of July to actually get rid of it!] I wanted to tell you about a very special project I am involved with. I am the technical writer for a book on the minerals and rocks of Nunavut. Pretty much an identification field guide, but beefed up in some significant ways. The thing I am most excited about is that the book will be translated into Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit people. I believe it will be the first book of it's kind. The second significant portion is that there will be segments on the traditional usage of minerals and rocks by Inuit. Both these sections will be done by specialists in translation and in gathering of this information from eld...