Spring time photos....

Now that the sun has come back to the mountains I am actually starting to feel some cabin fever.  It's almost like I can sense the suns rays themselves on the roof of our house.  When I do walk outside I have to take a moment to shade my eyes as they adjust to the intensity of the light reflecting a million times over on the icy snow crystals, which act as tiny tiny prisms.  The sunlight in the arctic even smells different then anywhere else I have lived.  It smells like crunchy lettuce and sharp metal....like warming dog fur and wet rust.  The sunlight can actually blind you in the spring it's so intense, and any skin exposed is almost instantly tanned.

But it is good to emerge from my grumpy hibernation.  In the next or two we will start going on trips to go ice fishing and to the trees to look for caribou and cottonwood buds.  Hopefully we will also be getting ptarmigans to use for art and for a tasty treat.

I find it hilarious and frustrating that I am already getting seed catalogs in the mail....

....Because this is what my garden looks like right now.  Those are rabbit, fox, weasel, raven, and dog tracks....And i think they might be invisible animals because I have yet o actually catch these animals back there. 

The sunlight.....burning the frost from cold willow branches

The snow is made up of an uncountable amount of tiny glass prisms.

A quick self portrait. 

Even my jewelry is inspired by what i see...here I scrimshawed the sunlight behind a willow branch, on baleen.