Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Image from The Telegraph

The great bowl-shaped waterfall of Iguazu lies on the border between Brazil and Argentina.

The many cascades that comprise the falls create spectacular sprays and the area is home to vast numbers of  subtropical rainforest plants. Local wildlife includes tapirs, jaguars, caymans, giant anteaters and howler monkeys.

Iguazu National Park has been a UNESCO heritage site since the early 1980s.

Virginia Falls, Northwest Territories

Image from panoramio

Situated in the remote Nahanni National Park, which has no roads, this gorgeous waterfall is accessible only to those who are willing to hike in or those who arrive at the day use site by air.
The falls is located on the South Nahanni River, a major tributary of the Liard. This waterfall and the whitewater river rafting are major attractions in the Northwest Territories.

Greenland ice cap melt creates waterfalls

Image from pbs.org

Seeing the water pouring off the glaciers is undoubtedly a seasonal phenomenon.

Still, it makes you wonder. Do they refreeze? As they recede, how fast are they raising the levels of the world's oceans?

In recent years, the tundra beneath the Greenland ice cap is being ever more exposed. Yet while arctic grazing animals fatten, polar bears lose ice habitat.

Now crops like tomatoes and strawberries grow above the Arctic Circle. Interesting. But considered from a larger context, isn't this rather bad news?

Niagara Falls

Image from Seven Natural Wonders

Three immense waterfalls are located on the Niagara River where it drops over the escarpment on its journey from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.

On the US side, American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are visible only from the Canadian side of the river, or from a viewing platform built for the purpose.

The Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side, are shaped as the name suggests. This is largest of the three waterfalls at 792 m high with a 53 m drop. Visitors enjoy approaching the falls from a small boat called the Maid of the Mist.

Long a destination for lovers and honeymooners, Niagara Falls is also a magnet for daredevils. Though a hefty fine is now imposed on anyone who attempts to take the risk of dropping over the edge in a custom made barrel, many have attempted it. Most, but not all of these have survived.

Stuart McLean, raconteur extraordinaire, tells the astonishing story of Roger Woodward, who, thanks to the carefree attitude of a well-meaning boatman, went over the falls as a child and survived.

The Long Way Home, by Louise Penny

Image from Louise Penny

In Number 10 of the Gamache series, someone from Three Pines has to die. Not just a passing victim, but one of the major characters who has endured from the beginning.

Gamache, now retired as Chief of Homicide from the Surete du Quebec and living with his wife Reine Marie in Three Pines, is bogged down in the midst of reading a mysterious poetry book. He sits on the Surprised by Joy bench above the village, unable to get beyond a certain page. There is a balm in Gilead...

Parked beside him on the same bench, the worried artist Clara Morrow waits for an overdue date with her husband. Why hasn't he returned? They planned this meeting date a year before, when they embarked on a trial separation. On the hill overlooking Three Pines, she sits beside Armand Gamache, unwilling to request his help. Until finally she does.

Beauvoir is still living and working in Montreal, handling his personal ghosts. When on a visit to his parents-in-law in Three Pines, he is asked by Gamache to help Clara find Peter, there is only one answer possible. Oui, patron. With some regret, he lets Annie go back to Montreal alone and joins Clara, Gamache and Myrna to seek the missing man.

Like Penny's other works, this is much more than a cracking good mystery. Its echoes probe deep into the human condition. Seeking humour in the midst of horror. Following one's calling. Facing oneself. Not mistaking movement for progress. Nole timere. Only after facing down the fear comes the salve, the boon, the peace.

Nole timere. Do not fear. The author will translate the Latin phrase. Or the French. Eventually. On the surface is the mystery, laced with humorous dialogue and gorgeous images of Quebec. This story is set amid the ferocious weather and landscape of a tiny settlement near the mouth of the St. Lawrence, on the remote Gaspe Peninsula.

The names of the fictitious villages, Agneau-de-Dieu and Tabaquen, conjure up the old Canadian nation of Quebec, and so do the mythic characters of the ferrymen, fishermen, and art dealers. Even the touristic eatery, La Muse, hints at something ancient and deep. The hardcover image is a painting by the iconic Quebec artist, Clarence Gagnon.

From the redoubtable Louise Penny, a book of many layered splendour. Again. She set out to do a series of ten books, but I doubt if Armand and Jean-Guy and Reine Marie and Annie are ready to bow out of the author's life -- or that of their readers -- just yet.

An obvious direction for future books would be to promote Beauvoir to main protagonist. A man now tempered by hard experience, he can forge ahead in the Surete. That way, Armand can step in from his retirement to help as needed.

Iona waterfall on Cape Breton Island

Image from digital journal

This is Saint Columba's Falls, on the Washback River Victoria County, on Cape Breton Island.

This is not a high waterfall, and it is easy to hike up and sit in the spray. The negative ions from a falls make us feel good.

At nearby Iona, visitors can also see the Highland Village Museum, which illustrates the lives of the early Gaelic settlers.

Nova Scotia was nostalgically named by them for their old country: New Scotland.

Unnamed Labrador waterfall and iceberg waterfall

Left: Image from travellocation

This forest waterfall, on the Eagle River in the Mealy Mountains, Labrador is too remote to have been given a name.

Below: This waterfall off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador drops from an iceberg. Image from icebergfinder.