Inuvikphotos.ca (Daily views from the NWT)

This might be the most obvious post of the year, but it’s nice to see the scenery become more arctic.

Here are some things I’ve learned about journalism in the winter.

1. Use pencils, not pens, when writing outside.
2. If that fails, just use a tape recorder.
3. Know that your camera batteries will die sooner because of the cold.
4. In order to preserve batteries, keep them close to your body.
5. Dress up!!

This happened somewhere between Tsiigehtchic and Inuvik on October 18. The wolf was crossing the road, and stared at me for 5 minutes from behind a tree, as I took its picture from the truck.

It was a profound experience.

(Sorry about the quality, by the way — I know it looks like a photo of bigfoot!)

Here’s a photo Lindsay recently snapped while I was typing, rather late in the evening.

It’s like a “Where’s Waldo” of our hobbies and interests — you can see the drums, library books, a drawing of George Orwell, a Weezer poster, etc.

We’re starting a high-school newspaper!

We had a meeting at Samuel Hearne high school last week, and many kids were interested. (Here is the aforementioned Sarah, who works at the Youth Centre.)

The word “Bomber” is local slang among kids, and they voted “Bomber pages” as the title.

These photos were taken at my friends Nathan and Sarah’s house on Thanksgiving.

They have a stuffed Muskox in the living room, which was left by the previous tenants!

(And yes, that’s a cigarette dangling from it’s mouth.)

Second pic is Nathan, the biologist. Very cool guy.

This snow melted within a few hours, but it was impressive to see it arrive October 5th.

There are no less than three stuffed polar bears in town. One at the airport, one at the library, and one at The Roost restauraunt.

Oddly enough, the third bear is wearing mitts that read “do not touch.” I think patrons of the restauraunt were trying to steal claws.

I should mention: Polar bear fur is very bristly and stiff. It’s not particularly soft!

There has been some rain lately and the town is covered in mud. Boots are necessary, with pant legs tucked in.

This happens every year around here, because of the rain.

In fact, it gets so bad that the Dempster Highway closes every year, at the end of October.

As said by a local person: “I like the winter. It’s very clean.”