Forest Walks and More Sunsets

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Happy Halloween everyone! 

This post will be slightly shorter, but filled with pictures because I have had requests for more images of where I live and my adorable puppy. 

I have been training Lily and taking her on a long walk almost every day and she is learning so quickly! She can sit, give her paws and even wait for her food until I tell her "okay". When we go on long walks, they are still in the community but we go more into the woods and on ATV or 4-wheeler paths. This way I am able to let her off-leash so she can run and play with her doggy friends if we walk together. My mom runs a wonderful small dog rescue in Massachusetts called Yellow Rose Animal Rescure (check it out here) and she sews bandanas and chew toys to fundraise for the rescue. In the picture below, Lily decided she didn't want to sleep all the way in her bed, and she is showing off one of my mom's bandanas! 


The picture below was taken on Sunday morning when my neighbor and I went for a long walk. It has been getting colder and colder, but still no more snow. The sky was huge, blue and wonderful to look at. Later in the evening it got more cloudy but I am glad we were able to take advantage of the sun. The rest of this week is supposed to be rainy and SNOWY!

Further on the walk is this beautiful look-out to see more of Lake Mistissini. The Lake is the largest fresh water lake in the province of Quebec and I see it from different angles all the time. As you can see, there aren't any leaves left on the trees and most of the trees are evergreen. Unfortunately a lot of the forest in the immediate area around the community has been cut to build new houses and to clear more area for housing. I have been told by several locals that even 3-4 years ago the community was much more lush and green. A large component was also a devastating forest fire that forced the community to evacuate more than once a few years ago. The area across the bridge now is much less green and still has a lot of ash and brush on the surrounding grounds. 


I can't get enough of the sunsets and the sky here so I took more pictures of the sunset on Sunday night. The first picture was taken directly outside my house, the sky was wonderfully pink and orange. It was breathtaking and changed colors every minute to create a beautiful sunset.

 This picture was taken 10 minutes before the one above, but it was taken by a friend of mine from her classroom window. You can see the track and field on the left and the high school on the right. In the middle of the picture are the sabtuans (the wooden structures with the white roofs). The students take their Cree Culture classes in these buildings, the girls in one and the boys in another. They are separated to learn traditional techniques and skills that continue to be used today. For example, the girls learn sewing, stitching and beading while the boys learn to carve wood and dry animal hides.

If anyone has any questions that they would like to me answer please send me a message or comment on this post!

Thanks for reading and have a spooky Halloween!

~Vicki

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