Thursday, December 26, 2013

Yellowknife's answer to Burning Man

OK, so maybe our little Boxing Day diversion isn't anywhere close to the scope and extravagance of the actual Burning Man festival, but it got me out of the house and standing around in the snow at -32C.

A couple of our neighbours had some dead wood to burn, so they decided to stage a little neighbourhood bonfire down on the ice of Yellowknife Bay. It worked - I'd say about 30 people showed up to celebrate the season and say hello to one another. It was a good bonfire, big enough without going over the top - my dad was a fire safety inspector, so I have a healthy respect for the flame.

My biggest concern was the slamming sound I heard right after they lit the fire. At first I thought it was a rifle shot, but I was early by a few days - in the North, people in some communities fire rifles to welcome the New Year. When I realized the ice under my feet was popping, I shuffled toward the shore. It's the same place I put my kayak into the lake in the summer, so I know it's only a couple feet deep. Except that it's -32, so it's frozen solid and no need to worry. So I shuffled back to the fire.

I lasted for almost an hour before my toes got too cold and I decided to go home. When I left, there was a ring of water around the dying fire and the people in charge were getting ready to shovel snow over the embers.

Wonder what they're planning for next year.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

An Evening with Northern Authors

Join us tonight at the Yellowknife Book Cellar for An Evening with Northern Authors, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Store-wide discount of 20% and lots of local authors to sign your books. Get a jump on the holiday shopping!

Monday, May 27, 2013

NorthWords 2013: Generation North

Join me, and ever so many other authors, at the NorthWords Writers Festival, which runs from Thursday, May 30, to Sunday, June 2.

Author/Designer Douglas Coupland will headline the festival, which will also include poets Anna Marie Sewell and Reneltta Arluk, and Teller and Writer Sylvia Olsen. Mystery fans can get their fix with Giles Blunt, author of the John Cardinal mystery series, as well as Vicki Delany and Barbara Fradkin, whose work I know from the rather fabulous Ladies Killing Circle anthologies.

I will be reading a new (very short) story at the Flash: Your 3 Minutes of Fame open mike, on Thursday May 30, from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the Greenstone Building. I will also MC A Touch of Fiction, readings by five authors, on Friday, May 31, from noon to 1 p.m., also at the Greenstone.

Be sure to check out the full schedule on the NorthWords NWT website and come out and join us!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Great weekend for the Northern Lights

There's been some news coverage today about the quality of the Northern Lights around Yellowknife this winter - lots of them, and great colours. This past weekend was particularly good, and as luck would have it, we were staying at Blachford Lake Lodge - great scenery and no light pollution. Some of the other folks staying at the lodge had good-quality cameras and took phenomenal photos. These are some I took with my little point-and-shoot.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

At least the frost is nice . . .

We've had a serious cold snap in Yellowknife this week - temperatures in the mid-minus 30s for the most part, dipping down to minus forty last night.

As compensation for having to deal with the exposed-flesh-freezes-in-thirty-seconds scenario, we've been treated to a beautiful display of hoar frost on the trees. It's lasted for days, and has built up a nice coating.

And yes, I did freeze my fingers taking these photos, but who could resist?