Weekend Reflections

Last August when I was up in the Arctic, we
had mostly wonderful weather.  At one
point, the temp even went up to 42°F (5°C)!
There was this one day, however . . .

[To see more Weekend Reflections,
visit James's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—A is for "Arctic"`

Remembering last year's wonderful trip
and the beautiful sights I saw:
like kittiwakes taking off from the very icy waters
of Burgerbukta (Burger Bay), with
Paierbreen (Paier glacier) in the background.

[To see more ABC posts—or join in
for Round 21 (!) of this great meme, go here.]

Skywatch Friday

This shot of a dramatic Arctic sky was taken
from a zodiac as we made our way
to a spot where polar bears had been spotted.

[To see more Skywatch pics, go here.]

Thursday Challenge—"open space"

No trees, no people—nothing but
350-million-year-old
mountains off in the distance.
This open space is Faksevagen, at
80°N latitude, up in the Arctic.

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—Z is for "zodiac"

Fellow travelers in one of the zodiacs on
our August Arctic expedition.  This 
was well into the trip—when we were comfy
enough in these shallow rubber craft to 
stand up in them (not the case at first!) and
to get in and out of them in choppy seas.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

I'm ending 2016 with this image of an
 old whaling boat up in the Arctic, a
part of the planet I visited for the first time
this year and that surprised me with its
interesting history and incredible beauty.
Happy New Year to all of you!

[To see more b/w images, visit
Dragonstar's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—X is for "extra X's"

When I saw this, I just saw X's—but
this is the mast that three men climbed
to board their dirigible in 1926,
and took off to be the first to fly over the
North Pole.  They made it, but
never knew that they had.

There's a plaque on the mast that
commemorates their accomplishment.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

Thursday Challenge—"rare"

On our Arctic expedition a couple of months ago,
on a day when we found ourselves in
the midst of a herd of reindeer, we were also
lucky enough to spot this Arctic fox.
Our guides told us that is very rare indeed!

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—T is for "tusks"

These creatures are so cumbersome on land,
and yet strangely graceful in the water.
Oh—and they're kind of nasty.  Just sayin'.
Still, I'm glad I was able to see 
them up (fairly) close.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

ABC Wednesday—S is for "stream"

And also for the island of Spitsbergen,
and Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago where
it's located.  And for surprised—I
never expected that the Arctic would be
as beautiful as it is.

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

Thursday Challenge—"clear"

This iceberg is actually clear, but it appears
to be blue because of its age.  Older
icebergs are more compact and absorb all the
colors of the spectrum except blue.
I still don't totally understand how this works;
I just know that it's beautiful.

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, visit Dale's meme.]

ABC Wednesday—R is for "reindeer"

These young reindeer are "play fighting,"
just practicing for the real thing.
We were hiking in a place called Alkehornet,
a meadow at the base of a high cliff
(alke = cliff in Norwegian), where thousands 
of Arctic birds were nesting.  In the meadow was 
a herd of about 25 reindeer—that 
(uncharacteristically) came very close to us.
The whole experience was pretty
special, to say the least!

[To see more ABC posts, go here.]

sea-kayaking

One more from the place where I took Saturday's photo:
This is Ida (Ee-da), one of our guides on the
Arctic expedition.  She is a barely-5-foot-tall Swedish
dynamo, who drove a zodiac, carried a
high-powered rifle when we hiked, is certified
in sea kayaking, and also specializes in
snowmobiling and whitewater rafting—she was one of 
my faves (and I have a few) on this awesome trip.

[Linking back to Monday Mellow Yellows.]

The Weekend in Black and White

The Arctic—beautiful, peaceful, unspoiled.

[To see more b/w images,
visit Dragonstar's meme.]

something old . . .

While we were hiking in the Arctic, we found
this fossil of a sea creature from long ago.
A guide told us that the fjord we were in had been
formed about 65 million years ago and we were 
standing on what had once been the bottom
of a huge deep glacier.  We followed
the rules (leave nothing, take nothing)
and left it just where we found it.

[Linking back to Macro Monday.]

The Weekend in Black and White

Here's one of the things I love about digital
photography:  When I was up in the 
Arctic, I must have taken dozens (maybe hundreds)
of pictures of birds, just hoping to
have a few that are any good.  I think 
maybe this one is a keeper.

[To see more b/w images, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Thursday Challenge—sun (#2)

At +/- 80° north latitude, this is what
the Midnight Sun looks like.
Toward the end of my recent journey in 
the Arctic, the sun did (sort of) set—
then rose 10 minutes later
in the exact same spot (and I still
don't quite understand how that works).

[To see more of the Thursday Photo
Challenge, go here.]

The Weekend in Black and White

An old boat that was washed up on the
beach at Skansbukta (bukta = bay in
Norwegian).  This is also the place where
some of us took a "polar plunge,"
which means what you think it does—and,
yes, that water was cold!

[To see more b/w images, visit Dragonstar's meme.]

Weekend Reflections

I hunkered down as low as I could get
in a Zodiak to capture this kittiwake coming 
in for a perfect two-point landing.

[To see more Weekend Reflections,
visit James's meme.]

Far, far away . . .

Longyearbyen doesn't just seem like the end 
—or I guess that would be the top—
of the world.  For a big-city (the one that's 
5,581 km away) girl like me, it
was both strange and wonderful, though I'd
probably go stir-crazy in 3 days.

[Linking back to signs, signs.]