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A Bucket List Trip

Last month I went to Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay. Why? People ask why. It is the self-proclaimed polar bear capital of the world. I have always wanted to see wild polar bears and it seemed like the closest place to do that. I had to swallow my distaste for flying (haven’t flown since before covid) and drive to Vancouver, fly to Winnipeg and then to Churchill. It all went smoothly. I was happy to be in Canada where all the people were very nice.

My guides at Churchill were Michael and Erik Bertelsen, Wild Outdoors Photography Tours. I highly recommend them if you are looking for a tour that concentrates on photographers getting their best shots. Both of them seemed to have intuitive knowledge of where the bears would be and where they were going. I was there for twelve days and I hesitate to say how many images I brought home. I’ve been home for over a week and a half and am still not quite done processing images.

Here is a small sample of polar bear images. There will be more. And also ptarmigan, arctic hare and Snow Buntings. And maybe a few photos of Churchill, itself.

Fall in the Mountains

Willow and I finished up our volunteer time in the mountains last week. The fall colors were coming on strong. Weather was a mix of damp and dry days and we had a short snow squall. We enjoyed lots of time on the trails, remembering the times we shared them with Sky. The night sky was illuminated by the waxing gibbous moon. It’s a beautiful season.

Last Night’s Moonrise

It was pretty stunning.

Shy Pikas

I’ve had the hardest time finding pikas this year! I finally found these two last week and they were very camera shy.

Rest in Peace Old Friend

Rest in Peace Old Friend

August 17, 2013 – September 30, 2025

Almost exactly twelve years ago, Ken woke up one morning and said, “Did you see what was in the paper last night? Labrador puppies in Riverside!” I knew we were in for a long day. After Sam, our original lab, had passed in June, we had agreed to get another labrador retriever. And here was the opportunity. If you’ve ever gone to see puppies, you know it’s nearly impossible to resist them and a couple weeks later, we brought home little Sky. Night Sky Star Shine. She was a dog who lived to please us. She was powerful and worked as hard as she could at whatever she knew to be the task. She worked through pain and rarely let us know how much it hurt. If she’d had better trainers, she would have ribbons for everything. She was the last of the original Good Girls’ Club. She was an excellent retriever, an entertaining and sometimes good agility dog and a great companion and adventure and travel partner. And she was the best dog at the stick game. Even in her last couple painful weeks, she went out of the way to show the others how it was done. She was a good dog.

I miss her so much.