Looking back as the year winds down, I discover that this has been a great month for the ol' blog. Second highest number of visitors ever. Yes, we are talking thousands. No big mystery, of course: people were keen to read about our Adventure Canada voyage Out of the Northwest Passage. And let's not kid ourselves: folks loved the related photos and, above all, the paintings by Sheena Fraser McGoogan, like the one to your left. Lots more turn up on Sheena's website.
To move into the number two spot, December 2015 narrowly edged out September 2014. That was when I found myself talking about the discovery of the Erebus, and also about John Rae entering Westminster Abbey -- my most visited post ever. As for the number-one month, that remains October 2013. Does anyone remember the 50 Canadians, Ocean-to-Ocean, Book Tour Extravaganza sponsored by VIA-Rail and Harper Collins Canada. Complete with a contest featuring a travel voucher worth $5K? From Toronto, we traveled by train first to the Pacific and then to the Atlantic. It was all in aid of 50 Canadians Who Changed the World.The most popular post during that run, and second most popular of all time? Three reasons why I hate Calgary. Go figure. But hey, that's enough about me. Let's talk about YOU. What do YOU think about me?

In Stromness, Orkney, the John Rae Society will unveil a plaque this afternoon (Sept. 30) at the Hall of Clestrain on the occasion of Rae's 202nd birthday. Born in 1813, yes! the explorer lives on. Awarded by Historic Scotland, the National Commemorative Plaque recognizes Rae for having solved the two great mysteries of 19th-century Arctic exploration.  He discovered both the fate of the Franklin expedition and the long-sought final link in the first navigable Northwest Passage. The nay-sayers are with us still, of course. But I told the story in Fatal Passage (2001), and that work has confounded its critics and Rae's detractors. In the photo above, we find antiquarian Cameron Treleaven, Inuk historian Louie Kamookak, and Our Hero in 1999, placing a plaque beside the cairn that Rae built in 1854 to mark his discovery of Rae Strait. To the right, we see the Hall of Clestrain (Rae's birthplace) as it appeared in 1998, when I saw it first.  Some basic preservation has been done, but the Society is striving to raise funds to restore the Hall to its original splendor:  www.johnraesociety.com.  Meanwhile, if you happen to be in London on Sunday Oct. 4, an evening service will be dedicated to Rae at Westminster Abbey, starting at 6:30 p.m. John Rae lives!