Spring, sprung, sprang!!

Spring in Churchill. I've talked about this already in my previous posts. But I have to say more about it and the feeling of this season returning to this previously frozen and icy land. I love Churchill in all of its guises- with snow on the tundra, with ice in the pools, with the blazing colours of fall, with the blowing blizzardy snow. But the returning of spring and of life is something special to behold. It started with the return of the brown to the ptarmigan. These cute little birds are all white in the winter- obviously so that they can blend in with the snow and hide from predators. They are also very precocious and will walk out fearlessly in front of you as you walk or run along the path.
Next came the Canada geese. These are large, long bodied birds, which are regarded as pretty good hunting in this area. They are tremendously noisy and honk loudly as they fly or run across the tundra. But the most exciting thing thus far is the return of the snow geese. These are smaller than the Canadas, white with black tips although some of them are "blue" all over. They fly over Churchill in huge numbers, always in a straight line or in a traditional V shape. Hundreds fly over at any one time and its a truly breathtaking spectacle. Add to this the return of colour to the tundra, the smell of the open sea as the bay begins to break up and the noise of the birds and frogs that has returned to this once silent land, and you begin to have an idea of whats going on.


With the better weather (+19 yesterday!!) comes a variety of different pursuits, with various people. One of my friends here, Krista, had her field assistant with her, Joleen, who had never been to Churchill before. So we trotted into town along with fellow friend Geoff. Fun was had going around all the gift shops that were open, trying to get to LaDunes castle, looking out over the bay and walking on the sea ice (or in my case falling on the sea ice!) We hung on the inuksuit in town and had coffee at that Churchill institution, Gypsys.
The following week we headed out to the shooting range for some training and target practice. With the return of spring and soon, summer, we have to be ever more vigilant for polar bears and particularly for the researchers who will be out in the field, a little savvy with firearms. So LeeAnn showed us how to manage the 12 gauge shotgun and Carley was kind enough to bring along her beautiful .22 and allow us all to have some target practice with it. The kick back from the shotgun was tremendous and I still have the bruises to prove it but fun was certainly had!

The funnest time that I have had recently was heading out to the fen with Krista, who is great to hang out with and fast becoming a dear friend. Her research project is on methane production in northern wetlands so her site is set up at the fen, a boggy wetland about 20 minutes drive from the study centre. The first day I went out with her in the afternoon and the evening. We took the quad and bombed easily along the road,getting to the fen in record time. On the way back I leaned back on the quad and gazed up into the blue blue spring sky. Flocks of snow geese were flying over head, the wind was in my face and the sun was warm. The snow was crisp and we were making great time. Best of all I was outside and it was beautiful. Does life get any more perfect than this?
The next day we got slightly stuck on the way out there, because the temps had risen just enough to make the snow slushy and hard for the quad to stay on top of. But it wasnt too much of a problem and we made it to the site. We were only there about 20 minutes and most of that is walking through the fen to get to the site. However, it was long enough to allow the snow to melt even more and then we really started to experience difficulties!!! The quad insisted on getting stuck in the extremely deep, and extremely soft snow! We could get no further than about 6 feet without getting stuck. We tried digging it out, we tried walking beside it, pushing it- nothing worked. Eventually in frustration we drove the quad into the fen to avoid all the sticky snow and took it to a part of the road that was clearer. Even then we had to dig trenches from the fen to the road, we got stuck once more and also had to do some walking a bit further on. But here's the thing- I HAD A BLAST!! I've possibly never had so much fun in my entire life! Of course it was hard work with much sweat put out and there were a few times when I would have sold my soul for just one drink of water. But it was beautiful weather out and I enjoyed the fresh air and the exertion. We had to keep a close eye out for bears but with one digging and one bear guarding that wasn't too much of a problem. FUN!!!! :-)

So that's been my week. I've made no secret of the fact that recently I've been living with some levels of despair, and that I've been saddened and alone. My heart is no where near being healed and I still have not managed to move on. But at least with good times and good friends like these, I'm reminded that life is always worth living, that good times always come after the bad, that its always darkest before the dawn. I hope that my dawn is about to begin.


Photos clockwise from top left- snow geese return to Churchill, shovelling snow to get the quad out, pretending to be all badass on a trip to the fen, shooting Bazs' .22 at the range, me with Krista and Jo in town.