All creatures great and small

I went to Juneau last weekend. It was such a great trip. I got to see whales leaping in the ocean during my Ferry ride. No pics of them though.
I spotted this little bird on a walk in Skagway. I think he was as curious about me as I was about him.

A little warbler I cough on a walk in Juneau.

A porky pine! They can be very funny to watch.

This was taken at the Canadian border crossing. It is pretty high up in the mountains. I counted about 4 humming birds at the feeder.

Fire and Ice

This is what happens when you leave your sprinkler on all night to early in the spring. I happened upon this lovely landscaping on my way to work the other morning.

The same night as the sprinkler incident this old house burned down. I used to get babysat hear by a lovely old lady when I was about 4. At that time it was a huge beautiful house with the nicest garden. It slowly became delapidated over the years and started to get a reputation as being haunted as it had that classic haunted look to it.

The icecicle tree

Buds on ice.

Crocuses

The first flower to bloom of the year in the Yukon is the crocus. I remember going on crocus hunts in the spring when I was a kid. I always look forward to their arrival. I came upon a hill full of them this morning.

Leaves and branches in a frozen pond.

Nice little birds.
I was with my friend's 4 year old daughter Maya when I took this photo. At first she was excited to see the little birds, then her enthusiasms wained and she said "Lowa it's time to go stop playing with the birdies now"

Stick Gambling

Stick Gambling was one of the events I managed to take in during the Canada Games. It's gambling game that is played by the Yukon First Nations. It's great to watch as they play to a specific drum beat. It's a game that has rhythm and you can't help but move to the beat. Again this is another blog where I wish I could blog sound.

There were about 20 drummers at one point and the beat was making passerby s come to see what was going on. My friend was in charge of drumming so I had my hand at for a while as well. Stick gambling drums have string across the top of them (as you can see if you look closely). This gives the drum a particular sound.

Each player has some kind of token or good luck charm in there hand and when it is there teams turn they hide there hands under blankets and come up dancing and waving there hands at their opponents. The opponents have to guess what hand the tokens are in and they win sticks from a pile in the center.



There is a lot of taunting in this game hear they are showing off there hands for the opponents caller to make her call. Meanwhile the opponent team makes dancing gestures and whopping calls to call the sticks back to them.

Hear the caller has made her call and is debating with a player as to what hand she had her token in. Looks rather intimidating. The North West Territories team ended up winning the championship.

Dani, Drips and Dogs

A Flower in the Mud!

I went back to the ice cave that my cousin and I made. It had sunk considerably and was melting rapidly. The ice formations still looked cool but the best part was the sound. The dripping water and the creek beginning to flow. Must learn to blog sound!
Drip, Drip, gurgle, gurgle

Dani bonding with my new dog. Yes that's right I got a dog. It is a trial basis for one month to see how my allergies do. She is the cooolest dog. She is very smart and very gentle natured. I'm trying not to fall in love with her to much in case I can't keep her.