Frost and short days

It is still warm here --- but the forecast is calling for more seasonable temperatures (-16C) by the end of the week.  Yikes, that's what I wanted, right?   Still not much snow, but its fairly warm and damp, resulting in the most beautiful frost covered trees for the last two days...

We've also seen some lovely sunrises and sunsets over the past few weeks -- the days are markedly shorter.   You really need to make an effort to get out early enough in the day to take in your vitamin D!  And still another 6 weeks of days getting shorter.
 

Midnight Sun

when I started this post... the days were getting visibly longer.  we're both at new jobs, so we'd usually be working away and the next thing we would realize that we had missed the national.   very nice to have a longer evening... but not so much when its hard to sleep.  it stayed light ALL NIGHT LONG.  my friend kathie gave us some foil to put on our windows -- that helps, along with some heavy duty curtains.   now, less than a month after solstice, you can feel the darkness coming.  its still not dark, but it will be.  i was looking forward to experiencing both the light and the dark.  now, i have to admit that i'm scared about losing the sun. 

Lighting up the Night

The aurora borealis, the northern lights, was definitely high on my list of things to see up north.  I had seen a few great shows in Ontario, and I was really looking forward to seeing them up close.  And I was not disappointed!  We got a spectacular show the night I arrived and have been treated to some amazing shows since -- dancing waves across the sky, shooting spikes, reds and greens.  Unfortunately, I didn't learn how to capture them on camera until it was almost getting too light to see them.  My best shots are from late April, Rob's BD celebration at Hay Camp, a Parks' warden cabin about an hour from Smith.  I'm looking forward to trying to get some better/more shots next winter!