This post was written on Thanksgiving, but due to lack of internet and then a modicum of work, I have delayed my posting and it is now 2 days After Thanksgiving, but you get the idea! Back at Meanook, there are more stories to tell after this....
October 10, 2011. I am basking in the most unexpected sort of happiness. After a long day in a burned bog, repeatedly trudging back and forth with 4 gallons of water strapped to each of our backs, field work is done for the day, and we have arrived at the Boreal Center for Bird Conservation on the north-eastern shore of Lesser Slave Lake. It hit 25 F on our truck thermometer this morning, but thankfully warmed up to the mid-50’s by the time we left the site. Heavy frost gave the appearance of snow before the sun rose to warm it. It was a great day for field work and we made the best of it - foraying to contented productivity with sooty faces and sore muscles. The sun is shining, the aspens are strikingly golden against the blue sky, the breeze is brisk, and it is the best fall can offer. The three of us have ‘The Nest’ to ourselves and it is beautiful here.
October 10, 2011. I am basking in the most unexpected sort of happiness. After a long day in a burned bog, repeatedly trudging back and forth with 4 gallons of water strapped to each of our backs, field work is done for the day, and we have arrived at the Boreal Center for Bird Conservation on the north-eastern shore of Lesser Slave Lake. It hit 25 F on our truck thermometer this morning, but thankfully warmed up to the mid-50’s by the time we left the site. Heavy frost gave the appearance of snow before the sun rose to warm it. It was a great day for field work and we made the best of it - foraying to contented productivity with sooty faces and sore muscles. The sun is shining, the aspens are strikingly golden against the blue sky, the breeze is brisk, and it is the best fall can offer. The three of us have ‘The Nest’ to ourselves and it is beautiful here. |
| The Nest at the BCBC |
The Boreal Center is located just north of the town of Slave Lake and it is a quick walk to a sandy, rocky beach along a grassy path. Dark clouds are on the horizon, but for now, the sun shines and the leaves dance in the trees, reflect the low angled sun, and spill out that unique fall smell that I wish someone would figure out how to bottle. Freshly fallen leaves and a crispness in the air make me long for slow cooked stews and fresh bread from the oven. Today is Thanksgiving in Canada and we plan to have Thai in town – but we certainly give thanks for the beautiful day we had and the awesome accommodations in which we currently reside.
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| Lesser Slave Lake (nothing Lesser about it) |
The common space in the Nest consists of a large open room with windows facing the lake and woods. A fireplace is the nexus, and is built of smooth light colored lake-rolled igneous stones and an earthy tan mortar. It is flanked by windows a floor and a half high. Everything is clean and fresh and inviting and each of us has found a quiet happy spot of our own to relax into. The kitchen is open to this Great Room, looks out to the fireplace and to the windows and a view of the lake through the trees, and hugs the bathrooms that join the two arms of bedrooms that extend out from the hub. It is a very friendly space. A fire and wine will be had tonight as the inclement weather blows in from the west.
We are here on our last trip of the year to Utikuma bog, and it is recovering rapidly from the fire. Mosses are returning and thriving. Cranberries populate the hummocks. Labrador tea and Leather Leaf shade low-lying cloudberries and lichens. Life returns, and it is terribly good to see. After so much fire destruction this summer and fall, to be reminded that life does go on and new beginnings sprout with tenacity, is a very good thing, indeed.
We are more than happy to be spending Thanksgiving, in any fashion, here at the Boreal Center in such a fall. It truly is something to appreciate.
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