Prelude

Prelude Lake is a park and campground about 30 km outside of Yellowknife on the Ingraham Trail. After a dinner of caribou stew Sheila, Brian and I take a ride. On the site there's an abandoned Aurora Borealis viewing area with huge domed cabins and bleacher-like seating with backs that recline so that one can look up at the sky. The majority of people who come to see the northern lights are Asians, primarily Japanese honeymooners. The Japanese believe the lights to be connected to the life-giving mysteries of conception and that a child conceived in the spell of the lights will be fortunate in life.

We stop by the Lakeview Cemetery. At 9 pm and overcast the light is diffuse. Many of the graves have low wooden picket fences around them - something I've never seen before except around a child's grave. A lot of the crosses aren't angular but look more medieval - wide at the top of the lines and tapering toward the centre. Aside from real and plastic flowers and rosaries, many graves have mementos. One has a full Tim Horton's coffee cup, rolling papers and a lighter. Other offerings include a mining hard hat, a drill bit, money, a hockey puck, etc. With the profusion of rock and the frost graves are pre-prepared in the warmer weather for the future cold months.