Bound for the Barrens

In exciting news, I have been officially added to the Nunavut Blog ring with a month and a day before take-off. This is definately one of the biggest shifts in direction in my life - and I'm extremely excited. I'm excited to call myself a teacher again and I'm am also glad to be returning to the north.

Above, my grandfather is canoeing in some lake up in the barrens, possibly with the aid of a caribou - and herein lies the source of my northern blood - that itch for the great silence of solitude, the sense of wonder for the shimmering of the northern lights and my appreciation of wilderness. Was it in my mother's blood having been born in the light of the midnight sun herself or merely a childhood of stories about life in the barrens. All I know is that I have a sense of the rightness of my current direction - and most days you can't beat that.

I'm slowly gathering bits of knowledge about my new home - the internet is good for that. You'll notice a few things on the righthand side. There is a list of Nunavut Bloggers whose sites I've been visiting - I'm sure that this list will continue to grow. The first link in the list "NUNAVUT BLOGS" is a fairly extensive list of northern bloggers offering you everything from commentary on their day to day life to more details bits about the land and the communities themselves. There are some absolutely achingly beautiful photographs of this harsh land of delicate detail. Kluglanoch Corner has a large quantity of beautiful photos and Tales from the Arctic is another really good one off the top of my head, but there are several more and probably some that I haven't even stumbled across yet.

As for the northern lights, I've heard that July 11th or July 12th are the next most likely dates - but I'll keep you posted on that.

Jennith