Sweet peas, and Midnight in Inuvik

 

Inuvik, Northwest Territories, lies at 68.36 degrees north latitude, above the Arctic Circle, and on the vast McKenzie River delta. It's a planned town, started in the 1950s to replace another across the river that was constantly flooded. 

Because of its northern location, Inuvik enjoys over 50 days of continual light during the summer, along with the opposite of 30 days of polar night during the winter. I took the above photo at 3 minutes before midnight on the 5th of August. Actual sunset was about 20 minutes later, very early the next morning. 

I set up my tripod in a little park overlooking the river, around 11:30 pm. Young children were splashing in the water, having a great time. A Muslim family with two young children were enjoying the evening. It felt very odd to me to not have any complete darkness throughout the night. During this portion of our trip we stayed in a hotel and were very thankful for blackout curtains. 

The temperature that day was a sunny 26 degrees Celsius (79 F). The next day was 14 C (57F), and the next even cooler. It warmed up again after we left. 

Construction in Inuvik must consider the permafrost. Buildings are raised on pilings. All services reach homes via an utilidor system which you can see above. Water, electricity, gas, and sewer run through above ground steel pipes behind the houses. 

Landscaping is minimal because of the climate, but I saw lots of pots of petunias in the north, bright and colourful bits of summer. 

An iconic landmark in the town is the "igloo church" - also known as Our Lady of Victory church. We took a very interesting tour through the church and were able to climb into the cupola with narrow stained glass windows. The cupola is lighted at night in winter and is said to be very beautiful. The shiny effect on the domed roof is created by diamond-shaped aluminum "scales". 

The growing season in Inuvik is extremely short, and not suitable for growing much food. An old hockey rink has been converted into a community greenhouse where members can have garden plots for a small membership fee and some volunteer hours. With 24-hour light for a couple of months, the protected gardens grow very quickly. We toured the greenhouse with a gardener who was very enthusiastic. 

But what about the sweet peas? We asked the tour guide to show us her garden, which she was happy to do. "But," she commented, "I don't know why my peas aren't forming big pods." It was her first time growing garden peas, and she had ordered sweet pea seeds. She had a lovely colourful array of flowers, and was quite shocked when I told her that all parts of the sweet pea plant are toxic. "I'll just pull them out, then," she said, "because I want to grow food." 

Once home again, I was very happy to see my own sweet pea flowers still producing a few blooms. Above are the last of them, and I've harvested the seeds to plant next year. The twisted pods in the photo are ones where they burst open on their own. Perhaps they will come up as volunteers next spring. I'll be happy to see them. 

For now, I'm still enjoying summer and am in no hurry to think about autumn. Today is our son's birthday, born on a sunny morning in the Ecuadorian jungle. We'll be getting together later in the month for a family party celebrating three birthdays. Today I plan to deal with all the apples that are falling off the trees! Applesauce, here we come!