The Adventures of Lynne

The Characters: Kate and Phoenix Kate is a beautiful, strong and gentle lady that works for the Federal Justice office of the Northwest Territories and is a much qualified Search and Rescue volunteer Phoenix is a 23 month old German shepherd cross that is in training to become a search and rescue dog. He's so smart, and I got to help Kate with his training, by hiding objects for him to search for and by being the "victim" he needed to find. He will be tested in September 2020, to become a qualified service dog Lynne is the grateful adventurer The Setting: Great Slave Lake, North Arm See the north arm? We went along the north shore starting in Frank Channel back to Yellowknife. The route was approximately 130 km. Great Slave Lake is the fourth largest lake in Canada after Superior, Huron, and Great Bear. It is massive, huge, gigantic, magnificent. Kate and I were connected by Mike and we became immediately connected and  grateful to have found e...

I write to you from the Inuvik airport, ready to fly to Yellowknife for a canoe trip with Kate. I didn't meet a polar bear (whew!) , or a grizzly (whew!) but on my trip I did see some arctic creatures. A ground squirrel, tundra swans, ptarmigan (2) and a teeny bit of the backs of some beluga (swimming, not the muktuk I ate) My 5 days at Jak park were very cold (4 degrees at night), raining and windy. My gear got packed up all wet. It's part of the adventure. Now I know that I'm not a wimp!

I've been in Inuvik now for just over a week. I've been staying at Happy Valley Territorial Park which is actually right along the edge of town, so I've been enjoying the activities and events within the town. When I first arrived, I thought that I had made a mistake, deciding to stay for two weeks. Now I feel like it's not quite enough time to absorb all that the town has to offer. For example, when I first arrived I found the utilitarian buildings and lack of landscaping, oddly coloured and unpainted buildings a bit offputting (can I say ugly?). I understand that the buildings are indeed, simply shelters and buildings in which to conduct business, and there is no European standard of pretty buildings and yards. The Inuvialuit people don't really care about these things. Beauty comes to them through traditional ways. Now that I've been here awhile, I have seen the beautiful places. Suddenly, the house with an uncluttered yard and a box of flowers ...

Yellowknife is a beautiful place! Unfortunately, there was a lot of smoke at first from a forest fire in the neighbourhood--it was quite a surprise when getting off the plane! Apparently the fire was about 40km away and sometimes blowing toward Yellowknife. It had abated in 2 days. My first night there, I met Leone and Clem of "Buffalo Nights Bed and Breakfast." Clem actually hunts buffalo, but hasn't for a while since it's too much meat. There was a gigantic taxidermied head of one of the "little" ones he got. The view from their house overlooks Great Slave Lake from a high rocky hill. So gorgeous! I stayed at Fred Henne Territorial Park for 5 days, on a rocky hill. I read 4 novels sitting down at the beach of Long Lake, which is, of course, long and also shallow and chilly. I took a picture of my first coffee made. I still didn't have fuel, so I got boiling water from the gatehouse. I placed it so you could see the veins of pink ...

The first weekend after school was very busy, packing up my home of 26 years and saying good bye. I couldn't have done it without the help! Thanks to Jannie, Emma, Lea, George, Donna, Richard, Jean, Cait, Kevin and Patricia, I became homeless in a gentle way. Thank you everybody!    I  got by with a little help from my friends...   (click here) On Canada Day, Kevin and I went to Rattlesnake Point, Crawford Lake and the Royal Botanical Gardens. What a lovely day! From July 2-5 we went camping with the O'Neill kids at the Pinery. What a beautiful beach, and even though we got sunburned, we both enjoyed being with the kids. While waiting to acquire my Chinese Visa in Toronto,  I stayed in luxury at Stephanie's house. This was the pillow on the bed. It was perfect.  When I got the visa, I took the Ontario Northland to Sudbury for a love-in with my Mom and my paddleboard. Mom helped me reduce my backpack load by 15lbs! It is now a mana...

Here's the new ship leaving a month later than previously arranged. It is also attached to vesselfinder so we can always track where it is. Imagine a little person on the deck. That will be me!   CMA CGM HYDRA, Container Ship - Details and current position - IMO 9356309 MMSI 215140000 - VesselFinder

Just a reminder to myself, that things this year will not always be perfect. I was preparing Alice's camping backpack that I want to use for the year and realized that there was a broken clasp. I took it in to MEC for repair. It will take about 6 weeks! Good thing I noticed when I did and good thing I can get it back before the adventure starts in 6 weeks! Anyway. who wants perfection? What kind of adventure would that be? Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.       Salvador Dali