The water/sky situation in the arctic

"A sunset, almost formidable in its splendor, would be lingering in the fully exposed sky. Among its imperceptibly changing amassments one could pick out brightly stained structural details of celestial organisms, or glowing slits in dark banks, or flat, ethereal beaches that looked like mirages of desert islands. I did not know then (as I know perfectly well now) what to do with such things--how to get rid of them, how to transform them into something that can be turned over to the reader in printed characters to have him cope with the blessed shiver--and this inability enhanced my oppression." --Nabokov, Speak, Memory

Maps

A quotation from James Salter

"Solitude. One knows instinctively it has benefits that must be more deeply satisfying than those of other conditions, but still it is difficult. And besides, how is one to distinguish between conditions which are valuable, which despite their hatefulness give us strength or impel us to great things and others we would be far better free of? Which are precious and which are not? Why is it so hard to be happy alone? Why is it impossible?"

--James Salter, A Sport and a Pastime

Nordvoll Part II

White Tailed Eagle (the European version of the bald eagle and with the largest average wingspan of any eagle!)
From Wikipedia: "The single confirmed case of an eagle flying with a human being involved the White-tailed Eagle. One June 5, 1932, Svanhild Hansen, a 4-year-old girl, was playing next to her parent's farm house in Norway when a White-tailed Eagle grabbed her by the back of her dress and flew with her to its eyrie. The eyrie was 800 m (2,600 ft) up the side of the nearby mountain and about 1.6 km (0.99 mi) away in flying distance. The eagle dropped the young girl onto a narrow ledge about 15.2 m (50 ft) below the nest. After being discovered by a quickly formed search party, the little girl survived with no major injuries, ultimately having kept her talon-pierced dress throughout her life."
Also, generations of these eagles like to use the same nests, even using the same ever-enlarging nest for more than 100 years.