Build It and They Will Come Up the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway

Travel, Northwest Territories, Events24 Comments

November 15, 2017 marks the official opening of the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway, a $299 million 140-kilometre all-weather gravel road leading to the Arctic Ocean. This highway represents the final link of a transportation network spanning across Canada, connecting its people from coast to coast to coast.

Located at the top of the world in the Northwest Territories, along the shore of the Beaufort Sea, the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk (otherwise known as “Tuk”) and its 900 residents …

Deline Northwest Territories Indigenous Self-government

Travel, Northwest Territories, Everyday Life, Events8 Comments

September 1, 2016, is the effective date of the Deline Final Self-government Agreement, the agreement (modern day Treaty) which established the Deline Gotine Government, Canada’s first and only community-based Aboriginal public government, located in Deline, Northwest Territories. Deline is a small Dene community (population 550) situated along the shore of Great Bear Lake in the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories.

Over the coming days, there will be no shortage of news coverage on the …

End of World Travels and Back to Reality

Travel, Northwest Territories, Photography, Events31 Comments

Apparently it’s time for me to go back to “reality.”  This is what people at home have been telling me; as if my round-the-journey I just returned from was nothing but a dream. My sabbatical is over, my time is up and now I have to live a “normal life.” (What is “normal” by the way?)

Back to reality? Hold on a second, if I wasn’t already there, then where was I for the past …

Destination Yellowknife-Home Sweet Home

Travel, Northwest Territories, Food and Drink, Events10 Comments

For the past 5 weeks, I have been a visitor in my own hometown, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.  It’s a real strange feeling being here, not living in my own house, no Monday-Friday workweek to follow, no garden to tend to (and yet this is still my home).

When I left Yellowknife in April for my 10-month long round-the-world journey, I had no intention of coming back to Canada for a visit. But after …

Culinary Series Winemakers Dinner - The Rees Hotel

A Symphony of Flavors On Your Tongue – Rees Hotel Culinary Series

Travel, Food and Drink, Events12 Comments

After 30+hours of traveling from the other side of the world, there I was seated at the head table (wearing clothes that were not mine) with internationally-renown winemakers Erica and Kim Crawford (Loveblock wine). 

I had just arrived in Queenstown, New Zealand and was about to indulge in a 5-course degustation meal, part of The Rees Hotel’s Culinary Series Winemaker Dinners offered six times a year. This particular event was co-hosted by …

New York City PhotoPlus and Photo Walk

Travel, Photography, Events22 Comments

My recent visit to New York City (10th time!) was the most memorable of all (as a photographer)! While previous visits were memorable in their own right, this one was filled with several events and circumstances which made me pause, reflect and relish in the moment more than ever before. I will focus here on just one particular area of interest…What made this so memorable as a photographer? Read on…

I was in New York …

An Italian Wedding in Italy

Travel, Events18 Comments

Imagine, being immersed in the festivities of an Italian wedding in Italy, surrounded by wine, food, family, friends, and love….all the while not knowing a single person other than the groom, and not knowing the Italian language.

This was the primary reason for my 3rd visit to Italy. I traveled a distance of approximately 7,180km to attend my friend Andrea’s wedding. The wedding took place in a part of Italy that I had not …

Soccer Tuscany Cup - Italy

Tuscany Cup Victory Game for Cartagine59 Football Team

Travel, Events4 Comments

Tawna in Action at Tuscany Cup - final game for Cartagine59 football team

When in Florence, do as the Florentines…. instead of spending the day standing in long lineups for museums and finding my way through crowds of thousands of people, I did something quite different….I had the opportunity to attend the final match of the Tuscany Cup Championship (calcio/football/soccer) between teams “Cartagine 1959” and “Casellina.” The game was held in Montelupo outside of Florence, Italy, on May 17, 2014.

But… I wasn’t simply a spectator at the …