Looking back on a great 2013!

2013 was a fruitful and busy year.  We crisscrossed the continent several times, for weddings, wakes, and work.  Admittedly, our eco footprint is heftier than usual, as is our sky miles account.  But all the time with family and friends, lots of home-preserved food and successful fishing and hunting seasons do help balance it out.

Here's a snapshot of 2013, and our best wishes for 2014!


Bethann & Jerod

        

While Jerod was braving the winter at his field site (right), Bethann 

kept busy reporting on Quebec City events such as the annual flapjack 

breakfast at the winter carnival (right), sleigh races and ice canoe races (below).

Dog sledding is a great way to pass a winter afternoon outside the city, unless, of course,

you're on assignment to photograph Canada's Prime Minister when he visits Quebec.

By the time spring rolled around, we were hard at work in Saskatchewan, 

collecting data for Jerod's final field season.  While we were out there, Bethann did a photography contract for Prince Albert National Park!  We also have lots of blog posts 

with plenty of photos from the summer, available here for your viewing pleasure.

Half-way through our road trip back to QC (2472 miles/3978 km), we stopped in Minneapolis for an Ecological Society of America conference. We enjoyed
lots of interesting talks, new contacts, and developed several new project ideas.

 

While we were in the state, we also spent a few days fishing and hanging out with
Jerod's family in Talmoon, a little blink-in-the-road in northern MN.
We came home with a hefty supply of bass and pike - great for winter meals. 

Bethann covered the Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec again this summer, a fun
assignment for two reasons - this race is in the same level of bike racing as the Tour
de France and one of her photos of last year's race received an award!

One of Bethann's favorite assignments this year was the annual Military Music parade.

 A little more newspaper fun - the Bordeaux wine festival and the annual

local brewing festival.  Imagine our surprise to discover a bison head there!

Autumn in Quebec City was beautiful and busy.  

In Montana, we were reminded why the state is called the Big Sky Country
by this Thanksgiving Day sunset over Grandpa's barn.  We also enjoyed
lots of hiking, (successful) hunting, eating, and time with family and friends!

We went hiking near the Virgin River Gorge with Jerod's dad (pre-Christmas).

We also baked some of the cookies that have become a multi-generational 

tradition on Jerod's side of the family.  Can you spot the cookie monster?

In Phoenix for Christmas, we went to Organ Stop Pizza, which boasts
one of the world's largest Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organs.  It is an
astonishing feat of music engineering!  Check out the website for videos,
like this one of Scott Joplin's The Entertainer, and this one of Handel's Messiah. Every sound you hear is made by the organ, controled by the organist,
using the nearly 800 stops and buttons available on the main console!

We took a couple of hikes up South Mountain, a desert preserve smack 

in the middle of Phoenix, and visited Arizona's only olive orchard and 

olive oil production facility.  Pretty neat to see what can grow in the desert!

Warmest wishes for 2014...

when we plan to publish a handful of "back-dated" 

posts with lots more photos from some of the 

adventures we briefly mentioned above.