As you drive into Maine a sign greets you announcing that from this point forward everything will be "The Way Life Should Be". Certainly the natural beauty here makes me believe it.

I've done lots of lovely things here but I am most proud of this hike our daughters and I took up to the top of Mt. Cadillac in Acadia National Park. Although it looks like we were just willy-nilly clambering straight up the hillside, we were actually following a "trail" - a series of blue paint blotches blazed onto random trees and rocks. I am not ashamed to say that I was on all fours for parts of this three mile hike... I felt like I was at a climbing gym but without the comfort of being roped in and a cushioned place on which to fall... and it got really interesting in the places where water was rolling down the rocks we were trying to climb up... but since we had no map and no cell phone and no way to craft an alternative plan (the guys had promised to wait at the top) we had to keep going. We were scratched and dirty and bitten when we arrived at thesummit and very, very pleased with ourselves. The view towards the Atlantic and over the various bays, lakes and ponds was a lovely reward, one we richly deserved.

Back in the "World"

The train was only nine and a half hours late this time... That means I spent almost two whole days (and nights) (not that those are very long this far north) looking out the window. Once in Winnipeg I was slightly amazed to see so many cars zooming about and to hear so much mechanical noise. None of that in Churchill. Today I will wander around a bit in my chunky hiking boots and wearing all the clothes that don't fit in my suitcase. Given that it is quite warm here today I will rather stand out. Then it's off to the airport, to Chicago and from there to Baltimore where I'm looking forward to being reunited with my husband, one daughter and my washing machine. Photos from the train ride will go up later... but I really enjoyed my conversations with a Cree Nurse (a First Nation group), a student at the University of Winnipeg who is engaged to my zodiac boat driver (small world!) and a Belgian couple.

Out on the Ice...

We used zodiacs to get out among the mini-icebergs and were allowed to disembark on the ice floes... we also saw many many beluga whales...it was a fabulous outing. Prior to that I dug a 3 foot by 3 foot by 3 foot hole to uncover where some science samples had been buried. After the whale watching expedition we used the Ground Penetrating Radar once more...

Enjoy the pictures... there will be many more later.

The days are so long that they seem to have four chapters... before breakfast activities, breakfast, morning activities, lunch, afternoon activities, dinner, after dinner activities, lecture and bed. Ooops, that's ten chapters. When the sun doesn't set until after ten pm and it doesn't really ever get completely dark (although it was hard to see the horizon at two am) there is lots of time in which to do things. The weather changes really fast too, so it seems like every time we go outside it is a completely new day. We've seen it go from blue skies to rain, to cloudy, to clear all in one day so that each time we step outside is a new adventure complete unto itself, disconnected from any other unit of time. That's the one thing that's a little different here. You can't go outside when you want. Even the smokers can't just sneak outside for a little puff. A group of two or three are allowed to step out together, and sometimes I'll see a small cluster of people chatting and enjoying the sun right outside our back door. They won't have a gun with them because they are two steps from the door. (and yes, bears have come right up to the door, too, so even they are constantly watching) Every place else we go, we go as a group and we take a fire arm. We also record our destination on a white board and have a radio with us. If our van were to break down, people would know where to find us (roughly) and we'd be able to call for help.

Lately we've been working a lot for the tree scientist... he buried bags of spruce needles in the tundra, forest and forest/tundra transition zone a year ago. Now he's got us digging them up, cleaning them up and drying them out. In some places we're brushing aside snow to get at ground that is frozen solid. We're also "deploying" plant root simulators that will adsorb ions and give him an idea of nutrient transfer in these different ecosystems. Lots of opportunities to go to beautiful sites and see fabulous birds and wildlife. Here are some recent pictures, including some from the Eskimo museum.

A day at the Beach, Churchill Style.

We really don't worry much about fashion here. The answer to, "What should I wear?" is "Everything". Today I had on (in order, from inside to out) Cashmere Vest, Turtle Neck, Long Sleeved T Shirt, Sweatshirt, Gortex Army Rain Gear. On my feet, four pairs of socks, "gum boots" (knee high rubber boots), Jeans and Gortex Army Rain Pants. When we went out to our afternoon site we hiked, forded a stream, climbed over a snow drift, sogged through the bog, ducked through the trees and crossed the tundra. I wasn't the only one to take a "booter" (have the water go inside your boot) but since your feet go numb almost immediately, it isn't too bad. And I had a grand time watching the weather front approaching, digging up samples and doing the same trip in reverse in the rain.

When it rains really really hard.. like the sideways rain we had the other day, we stay indoors and measure spruce needles. Reallly! Steve Mamet is working on his PhD about the advancing (or maybe not) tree line. He's collected spruce needles from trees in different zones (maybe the word is biome) like forest, tundra, forest tundra mix and collected them from different points on the tree.. the subniveal level (the part that's covered by snow in the winter), the abrasion zone (the part that's blasted by wind-driven snow) and the canopy (the very top of the tree). He's also been careful to collect from three different orientations on the tree... north west, south and east. And he's done all that on 7 different sites. So, three zones, 7 sites, 3 wind directions, 3 points on each tree... do the math ... that's a LOT of little envelopes of spruce needles that need to be measured. And he's got at least two years worth of data. So measure with little rulers and tweezers, filling out spreadsheets for others to enter.

This actually turned out to be fun in a repetitive and tedious sort of way. I tunes and smart funny people made all the difference. Yesterday, after dinner, after drinks and after a talk about Peat Plateaus & Palsas, we sat down and did some more just because. That says something right there. (It probably says that we're all nuts)

You can see that we had a hard time even getting to the fen measurement site.