When I was a kid, I read a comic book, set in ancient times, long before the first bird field guide had been created. The people referred to a flock of geese in the sky in their traditional V as SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½˜A flock of honkers. A sure sign of springSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™. I loved the idea that they were called honkers because that is just what they are, and you can often hear them long before you can spot them in the sky.

According to Forbes Advisor, up to 50 per cent of marriages end in divorce. This means that a large percentage of future relationships will involve blending families together. ItSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s well known that any relationship will fail without nurturing, guidance, and a lot of patience. Divorce is hard on everyone involved and taking that step to create a new step-family is a big decision and one that should be well thought out from all angles.

Notes from the Trail with Nancy Vail

I suspect we are all grateful to see the snow disappearing and the air warming up. ItSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™s a great time of the year. New energy seems to come with the freshness of spring. It also brings back memories.

All is dark. I am small. I am at the waters edge. All around me is sky and the sound of gentle, still, water. It is night. I am so focused on what is in front of me that I hardly see the outline of trees SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½” dark silhouettes swaying in the quiet, still air, standing watch SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½” ancestors. Mountains rise through the night sky SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½” a far off horizon, tucked heavily behind the deep waters stretched out in front of me.

Setting out from his home in Hoarfrost River, located off of McLeod Bay on the East Arm of the Great Slave Lake, David Olesen reflects in his book Kinds of Winter on how his isolated living becomes even more singularly secluded over the course of four extended mushing trips.

This is going to be my last column for a while. My first column was sparked by former minister and MLA Michael Miltenberger writing about the next NWT election. I was hoping others would jump in. That didnSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™t happen. Now some people think NNSL is backing me as a candidate.

Since Earth Week just passed, I thought I would talk a little about some of my pet peeves. To be green and ecologically friendly to the planet, we must change the way we do things, and this involves changing the way we see or visualize them. For some reason very few garbage dumps are open to the public so most people donSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™t really get to see what a mess they are. In Yellowknife we are very lucky in that we can go to the dump and have a look around.

When I moved to Yellowknife in 2005, I knew absolutely no one. I didnSA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½™t even know Eileen Dent, my first boss in town. All I knew was her voice when I spoke to her on the phone wishing me a safe flight on my way up to become an anchor/reporter with CJCD.

Each year, on April 28, workers and their families come together at National Day of Mourning ceremonies across Canada, to mourn workers lost to workplace illness and injury.