“There are only two ways to live your life.  One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”  – Einstein

Pancake Ice

Slowly, the pancake ice is starting to form in the fjord. Our shoreline delineated by a thick band of frozen slush ice that stretches just about N-S. We are still able to collect plastic debris that is tossed up on the west side.

4 Polar Bear visits and a Polar Bear poop

The Polar Bears have found their way up to our hut, walking along this shoreline scattered with kelp. We’ve had 4 visits in 10 days and have been able to see their tracks while out on our snowmobile. They must be so hungry at this time since there is no ice => no seals => no food. We know they eat kelp, proof of this showed up yesterday with a clump of Polar Bear poop – so we collected a sample for Jon Aars at Norsk Polarinstitutt.

N26131

If you followed us last year you know that we had an epic trip to Recherchefjorden last April with a most memorable encounter with N26131 and her 4-month old cub. We spotted N26131 in July directly in front of Bamsebu, sadly without cub. We just heard the news that she has likely given birth to two new cubs near her den in Hornsund. She has a collar with a tracker so they know from her movements that she is likely with cubs.

This literally brought tears to our eyes. If we are lucky we will her again sometime in April. We also know that she is colder than normal with the warmer temperatures having made the dens vulnerable and the fate of the little ones uncertain. This is something they are still studying with a warmer Arctic becoming the norm.

The sun is soon coming back

The sun (150 million km away) is climbing its way back up over the horizon and soon another full moon will light up the sky. This gives our eyes plenty of space to wander. We notice every feature of the mountain range and the hills around us- their images root and anchor us here.

This.is.home. The reindeers, our neighbors where typically 5 of them are within sight unless there has been a Polar Bear around. The curious fox that dashes to and fro, our friend.

When we sit inside our cabin or stare out at our Arctic world- we feel a peace that we wish upon everyone. We inhale it, deeply and profoundly every day. We have food, shelter, warmth, purpose, clean air, wildlife and a sky full of possibility and wonder. We have bodies that are getting stronger from a routine of good sleep, clean food, Fitness bands, yoga and daily life. We have minds that crave curiosity, creativity and engagement. We are free. Our life here is a microcosm of the world “out there”. Everything we do and think can create the basis for freedom or paralysis. It is ours to choose. It is also yours to choose. All of us in isolation. We can both think of the many times where we made excuses for why we didn’t do this or that, those excuses become ‘freedom inhibitors’.

We don’t use excuses here at Bamsebu. The hurricane winds don’t care.

Definition of freedom

We were recently asked how our definition of freedom has changed since being at Bamsebu? So we ask you that question. How has your definition of freedom changed since Covid?

Our world pre-Bamsebu was full of choices that we didn’t always take advantage of. We have few choices here and we exercise all of our options. We have become masters of “seizing the day”. We understand that time waits for no one.

Limited by our own beliefs and thoughts

We are all mostly limited by our own beliefs and thoughts. With so much uncertainty still looming in the world- let’s just imagine that there will always be uncertainty. This is a great opportunity to expand our thinking minds and elevate our creativity to see what we can do with exactly what we have, from exactly where we are.

As we shared recently- we are not trying to save the world, but we are trying to share that the world needs all of us to actively participate.

With a wolf moon upon us, go for it ‘Howl at the Moon’!

We’ll be listening from exactly where we are at 77.30n 15.08e

xx  Sunniva & Hilde

INTERVIEW AND MEDIA

Interview with Hilde and Sunniva on BBC