Here Fishy Fishy

I had a wonderful time playing out on the land with my kids - exhibiting childlike wonder at seeing icefishing holes dug for the first time (by non traditional means). I felt amazement at the efficiency that our guides as they put-up and took down camp swiftly and without hardly uttering a word and did all the needed tasks and had some of the best caribou stew ever. The kids were awesome teaching me that I should point the fish north if I wanted to catch any more and that you had to make a sound that I don't remember well enough to translate into typed English letters to coax the fish closer. I even got to teach an impromptu lesson on cell metabolism entitled "why you need to eat if you want to stay warm". We were all in good spirits, in spite of the somewhat bitter cold - late April in general has been well below normal - hoping that this turns into a warm May. The ride up in the qammatiq was bumpy and I couldn't find a sitting position that was comfortable for both my hips and knees at the same time. My kids kindly insisted I ride the back of one of the skidoos on the way back, which was nice for actually seeing the world around me and considerably less uncomfortable. They were pretty great that way.

Its been a good week in general. As usual I'm left wishing there were more hours in the day, but I've been making a genuine effort to get adequate sleep this year even if it cuts into hobbies like painting, knitting or reading. (Yes Mom, I know you've been telling me this was important for years.)

The election is looming, but I've already cast my vote and really nothing in the campaign was likely to change my choices, but the end result is still fairly up in the air, and all I can do is hope for the best or at least the least of possible evils or the slightly less bad scenario - ooooh... optimism there, eh? But since it is quite out of my hands at this point I may as well wait, knowing that just as some people scheduled watching the Royal wedding at some ridiculous hour, I will be watching the Election Coverage Monday - this will be a nail biter, requiring hanging in until the polls in BC are counted. At which point, I may or may not opt to listen to the elected prime ministers speech.

And so here were are on Saturday morning... the weekend ahead of me and much to do... so off I go... and hopefully the weather will improve and I'll get back to going on regular walks. Until then... you'll be getting more pictures of knitting.

Sock it to them - Go Cannucks!

This is an ongoing UFO (unfinished object) - obviously this one is done, but its partner is only half done... sigh. One day soon, new socks for me.

The inspiration for this post is surprisingly an excellent newspaper article by Margret Atwood.*** I feel like I finally have a label for my political orientation - swing voter. I'll quote Ms. Atwood's definition, as she says it much better than me:

"Like many swing voters, I want to vote for values, not for labels. I don’t much care what parties call themselves or what they say they will do. I care about what they really have done, and the values they’ve demonstrated by their actions."

What parties are peddling, changes from election to election - and often enough what they peddle is somewhere between fantasy and shameless lies, but that is a story for another post. My preference is when possible to choose the best local candidate. I figure an election is a giant job interview for a large and varied in experience hiring panel. I want my parliament to be full of competent, caring, compassionate and passionate people. I want someone to represent me and my riding who will make me feel proud, not ashamed.**

The caveat is that we know that the party platform and their leader is a big part of what you are being sold. Often parties are selling a lot of the same options in the package. Sometimes the Liberals seem more like Conservatives and sometimes they seem more like the NDP. With party values shifting left and right over time, I am likely to shift my vote to the candidate/platform combination that I feel is in the best interests of my country or at least will do the most towards thwarting the least desirable outcome for my country. I think that makes me guilty of being both a swing voter and even worse a strategic swing voter - no brand loyalty - I'm going to need to be convinced each time and even then I might vote for my second choice if my first choice looks hopeless.* Regardless, I take voting very seriously and have missed voting only once since I turned 18.

If you haven't read Margret's article yet (to save your brain after my convoluted rambling), what she did is pair up vales she wanted vs. values she didn't. I think she hits a lot of nails on the head. ***** The truth is that I am proud of my country and the notion that Canada's are caring and responsible people and frankly, if my taxes are going to pay the salaries of 308 federal politicians, I'd like to get my money's worth out of all their talents and skills with all of them working together to make my country better. I also strongly dislike being lied to or being mislead. I expect politicians to have their ear to the ground, and be willing to change their policies when the hear Canadians disagree with it - even if it makes them look indecisive. I'd much rather a flip-flopping politician that listens to their electorate than one that will stubbornly push something through so they don't have to explain why they changed their minds. I want my leader's to have a positive vision for Canada and focus their time in parliament on achieving goals, winning future elections based on their strong leadership, rather than on how much money they raised to air attack ads and how much time they wasted in parliament trying to make the others look bad.

So, enough sermonizing, find the things that you want for Canada and vote for your vision or vote for an amazing local candidate that will bring skills and wisdom to our government. Mark May 2nd on your calendar and go and vote. There were ridings won and lost over as few as 17 votes last year - so your vote could count a lot.

***[I qualify this as surprising because I once went to the length of searching the university book store to figure out which Canadian Literature prof would not make me read Margret Atwood - which amusingly meant that I ended up with a white-haired, bushy eyebrowed professor using yellowed hand-written lecture notes from his Dalhousie days - which isn't to say I didn't enjoy the course because surprisingly I did (in spite of it being an English credit that I was forced to take because of my program). I might have to read something by Margret Atwood now - just to see what I missed. (suggestions welcome)]

** (I was in Wajid Khan's riding a few years ago - you can look his storied history on Wikipedia probably)

* {I tried out CBC's Voter Compass tool - which was kind of neat to see where my stance was relative to other parties. Some of the parties had stances on issues that surprised me too.}

***** and she probably hasn't been suffering through all the partisan fantasy ads being shown with hockey. I'm at the point that I have to mute the TV to repress the urge to throw something at it and I think one of the main reasons that I'm glad that this election is over soon is that I can go back to cheering for the Canadian teams without having the distraction of hockey complicated with reality. Go Cannucks!! Go Habs!!****

****[As I'm more optimistic about hockey than politics, next year I plan to be cheering for the Toronto Maple Leafs all the way to the Stanley Cup finals]

Sunny Days....?

I'm writing my blog while looking at a very long to do list.... I'm also eating ice cream after working out. I'm contemplating going to the advance polls to vote - that that requires me to complete a few more steps like brush my hair (okay, likely I'll be wearing a toque and a hood, so its not worth the bother, but you don't want to get into bad grooming habits, right) and putting on socks - that is definitely a necessity. I have a lot to write about, and nothing at the same time. The looming election has mostly left me feeling depressed. You can read whatever you want about my politics into that.... I hope that people go out and vote, that they take their time to read up about the parties, that they take their responsibilities of living in a democratic country as seriously as they do their rights.

We are following the playoffs, another possibly depressing topic as Vancouver is pressed to Game 7 by Chicago, so that leaves me not wanting to talk about that either. Montreal is also in a do-or-die sitch too.

My to-do list is both depressing and uninteresting, but I feel great having had a few days to catch up on sleep and stuff.

And thus... enjoy the pretty picture, its still really cold here, too cold for me to enjoy being outside - although I should be outside with my class this week - weather permitting. The normals are up to a balmy -8 C to -17 C, but thus far we are still in the -22 C range and windy to boot. Brr..... soon hopefully - spring will get here.

Changing Light

Already, the days have gone from short to long, and while its been a very slight shade cooler than temperature normals, and a week of stiff wind last week left it feeling even colder, the point has been reached where the coldest, harshest part of winter is behind us. Already, I'm impatient for weather that is warm enough to leave my hood down and spend a few hours outside (We've had some - including yesterday), but I'm looking for that -5 C to -10 C, relatively calm stuff that I don't need long underwear for. Sadly, by the time we get there, I'll be hungering for the temperature to crack 0 C. I agree with Townie Bastard, its not the cold, but the duration of it, but it doesn't usually get to me until I know spring is around the corner especially when people back home are starting to get their gardens ready for planting. I'll be fine I'm sure, and I won't be headed for vacation any time soon, but I'm looking forward to a few days off at Easter. I've been flipping randomly through some water colour painting books, and I'm dying for a spell of time off long enough that I can actually crack out the paints.

The sad part about the lengthening days is that they shorten up the Northern Light viewing period. I'm hoping for one last chance to get photos this Wednesday.

Otherwise, its been a very comforting and pleasant weekend. We took some time to visit friends and play kickball (Soccer-baseball as I knew it growing up) and even got 2 games of Euchere in - I'm a bit rusty since my highschool era of near daily play and deadly sharp euchere playing, but I enjoyed it none the less. I got in a reasonable amount of exercise and cooked some healthy food, although the fridge is looking bare for a lack of foodmail. I ate half of the last grapefruit (which I can get at the Northern) and other than that the vegetable contents of my fridge include a red pepper, broccoli, a few strawberries and a bit of spinach (all from the northern), 1 yam and assorted canned and bottled things - and a tonne of carrots that need to be used up. On the up side, the new Co-op opens this Wednesday, meaning hopefully that we finally have two grocery stores that carry fullish grocery fare. I miss foodmail and I don't feel like the reduction in price has made up for what I was saving shopping south, let alone the loss of choices. Still, I'm going to go talk to the managers there and see if I can convince them to add a few fairly unexotic items to their list (namely Source Peach Yogurt and low fat cheddar - well, fat reduced)

Its hard to believe that we are now nearly 2/3rds through April and rapidly approaching May - the time of waiting for 0 C weather - and then June - the scramble for end of year stuff and then onto the summer.... This year has gone so fast its hard to believe.

On the other hand, I'm sending thoughts out in all directions to many folk who have had sad or worrisome news - its been a week of thing after thing - so I'm sending out my vibes and hoping that its of use.

And how did it get to be 1/3 through April

I don't know where time is going lately - the longer days are lending me a bit more energy (I got up at 7:10 on Sunday). We've been doing this "Happy Hips" yoga lately, and while the last work-out we did was a bit more challanging than our ability level, I can definitely say that I'm improving. But I swear it was March just a day or two ago....

Yesterday was supposed to include a nice long hike (maybe to Blueberry hill), but with the wind a blowing and about 4 cm of fresh snow in the last 2 days - you couldn't see your hand in front of your eyes. Its still 46 km/hr today and tomorrow sounds bitter with 30 km/hr winds and a high of -23 C and a low of -30 C. (Just my luck, I'm going to be outside all day).

I've managed a small amount of knitting, I've stalled at 3/4 of the way through a pair of socks, but I've finished 2 dishclothes. I've been hungrily eyeing a bunch of new patterns, but I don't really see much hope of them getting done in the future.

Funny, I haven't blogged in weeks, and still I don't have a lot to say. Its been a quiet while. We played European Ticket to Ride on Friday night with some neighbours. The names of the cities are in language of the city themselves leaving me wondering where some of them are, but it plays well still. I guess its off to getting a pile of new units off (aka work) the ground and yoga and eating as healthy as possible.

Have a good day!

Fine Again

 

 

The weather-folk are gracing us with a wonderful week of warm, calm weather for us to get outside and enjoy the sunshine without the burden of heavy parkas, scarfs and fogged glasses and most especially without the fear of frost bite. It won't last, not yet, already the 7 day forcast is promising seasonally bitter weather early next week, but its been nice to get out and get some wonderful pictures of the stunning sunset last night. After months of wind chills consistantly in the range of - 30 C or colder, - 7 C is a treat that I appreciate more than I would +10 C in other times and places of my life.

The other obvious difference is sunrise. Granted I slept in by my standards, but it was actually light out when I got up at 6 am. The sun might not have been above the horizon, but I could see where I was going. Again, after of months of coming and going from work in darkness, the longer days are cheering.

Coming out of a long trudge of a winter of semi-brain hibernation, I am concerned to note that we are heading into an election and worried a bit at my own relative apathy (generally I follow elections with some degree of ferocity), but this time I feel as though investing myself in this process will only set me up for disappointment. I'm sure I'll come around, I care too much about my country not to find hope enough to care - maybe a few more days of long sunlight.

In other news, today is the last day of foodmail - so its a good thing there is a bout of good weather to temper bitter sweet thoughts of never seeing foods like parsley, basil, peach yogurt, low fat chedder cheese, or crimini mushrooms again in my kitchen and paying dearly for grapefruit, strawberries, spinach, tomatoes, peppers and squash.

But its life - it changes - sometimes in good ways, sometimes in poor ways and oftenest in ways that don't exclusively qualify as good or bad and on that note I should do something useful with my morning.

Working from a Different Perspective

Well, it would be wrong when it is so nice, not to take advantage of the day and go for a walk. (You know you've been living in the north too long when you think -18 C with no wind is warm, but hey, what can you do?) We did the sewage lagoon-graveyard loop. While this may not sound like a scenic tour, the graveyard has a spartan, solemn and thought provoking kind of aesthetic, although it is hard to visit without a touch of sadness. The sewage lagoon used to be the best place for seeing hare, caribou and siksik - although the latter is wisely still napping, and the first one can still be found there, it has been a while since I've seen a caribou.

Sunday, we didn't even see a Raven, although we did see some Arctic Fox tracks. But that's okay, the sunshine was enough to make the walk worthwhile and it was nice not to have to wear snow pants.

They moved the dish for Qiniq this weekend, and while I had received an email, I'd figured they were just warning about solar outages, so I'd ignored it - and then wished I hadn't once I'd heard the service was supposed to be out until Tuesday. Its amazing what not having internet will do - for me it meant actually doing a fair bit of work - and getting out for a walk and doing a bit of knitting and cooking.

I've finally got back into knitting after hardly doing anything this year - I still have a half finished pair of baby mitts and a lace scarf I started in the summer on the needles, but I went back to basics and knitted a very boring practical pair of socks. We'll 1.5 pairs of socks thus far. However, I'm about halfway through the heel flap and I anticipate having them finished by the end of next weekend.

Assuming that I don't spend too much time outside in this beautiful weather.... and if I do... we'll all the better. In the meantime, I've been eying some quick simple projects that require a bit more skill then my socks.

Mad Science

Well, perhaps more like mad about science! Its been a great 2 weeks of celebrating science and young, budding scientists with both our local and regional science fairs. (Its also my excuse for dropping off the face of the blogging world recently.) I even took a took of pictures, but all of them have people in them, so not much use blogwise.

Now that it is all over, I am excited that I'm caught up with things at work and I'm looking forward to the warmer weather, so I can hopefully get outside more - already the next week has a series of days with highs in the minus-teens, combine that with light winds or calm days and lots and lots of sunshine and its hard not to feel enthusiasm and optimism.

Hoepfully there will be more frequent blogs to follow... at the very least I'm knitting my first pair of socks in a long while and although they are pretty boring... they are prettty.

Science Faired - but still here

Its been a busy few weeks with Science Fair on top of the usual stuff. It was a good year with some amazingly well done projects and some great moments. A huge thank you to everyone involved, especially the students who did great projects, the teachers that helped them to get there and the staff and judges and local talent who made the evening wonderful.

I can stay long - just enough to admit that I'm watching the situation in Japan with a kind of horror and sadness - it scale of the disaster is mind boggling, but the Japanese have shown themselves to be survivors and I have faith in them to pull themselves out of this, but in the meantime its hard to think of all the individuals suffering even as the disaster continues with nuclear reactors threatening to melt down and continuing aftershocks threatening more distruction. My heart goes out to everyone there.

It seems to be a week for tough news. My thoughts also go out to all those who've had sad or worrisome news this week.

On a cheerier note, upon checking the weather normals - there is indeed hope for April being warmer - with only 4.5 days on average with minimum temperatures below -30 C and only 7.6 days on average with windchills less than -40 C. The daily average in Baker Lake for April is -17.4 C, with an average minimum of -22.1 C and maximum of -12.6 C. Those of you reading this in the south may whince on my behalf, but this time of year, one simply longs for it to be warm enough to walk outside without a hood up or a scarf on (so that your glasses don't fog up and your have a normal field of view. I should be able to switch over to my normal winter coat any time now.

So, as things are going, there is sadness and hope and I'm looking forward to the regional Science Fair.

Breaking News: George R.R. Martin has Release Date for "A Dance with Dragons"

Yes! It is true Geoff (I'm totally writing this post just for you).... the next book is nearly written enough that the publishers have declared a date.  George R.R. Martin even updated his Fire and Ice Update section!  (Those who have been here before will remember that he had a note saying he was sick of writing about how he didn't know when he'd be done and that he'd post only when he had something to update about) But it is not the last book in the series... so no promises that the series will ever get finished.

Having just read the Stieg Larsson books, you can't help but worry that a premature death my prevent Martin from finishing... lets hope not... as I really wish that the next book of that other series was published and not lost in the midst of legal battles.  Not to mention the 6 that apparently will never be written.

In other news, I am still around, but insanely busy for the next few weeks... likely to lay low generally with respect to posting. Its not really interesting busy, just plain old busy.

Its a whirlwind of a week ahead, going to keep kicking and hope my head stays above water.

Midnight Sonata

I apparently missed a surprise batch of Northern Light activity right after I went to bed last night. It seems to be a theme. Today, the issue is clouds, but there doesn't seem to be much coming up in terms of Northern Lights, although tonight it would be nice, since the temperatures have risen significantly.

Its a rare Sunday that I don't feel compelled to do a million things that I wish I'd finished on Saturday, but I was amazingly productive yesterday, and so I'm thinking I might get to take advantage of the calm winds and warm (-23 C) temperatures to go for a walk - eventually. In the mean time, I'm gathering some information and thinking about taking out my paints for a bit. I'm really looking forward to the weather becoming more tolerable. I don't mind cold, but there is a certain point where the cold seems unbearable and the threat of serious frost bite just too extreme to spend a long time outside. This week is the first time in a while that I've gone outside for the sake of going outside. On Wednesday, we did a stargazing night - thanks to one of our most energetic teachers - we got to see Jupiter and the moon. It was much more popular than we expected and hopefully we'll get a chance to do another one when it was a bit warmer. Then of course, was the 30 minutes or so when I walked out onto the lake to get some pictures of the Northern Lights - the moon is pretty fully, so I'm not sure the Lake was the darkest place, but it was nice to get out of town, even if it was only a few hundred feet out of town.

March continues to have generally bitter temperatures, but in April batches of pleasant winter temps start to become more frequent and May brings temps in the -10 to 0 C range - by June we start cracking the 0 C barrier - so hopefully, I'll be able to get out walking more and more in preparation for a summer of hiking. My goal this summer is to put a couple hundred km of distance on my legs - I know for sure that the Rockies are on my list. Not sure where else this summer, but beautiful hiking trails are not in short supply in this country. I'm also toying with the idea of maybe crossing the borders and maybe even an ocean to seek hikable parts of the great beyond. This is still in the works - so no idea exactly if, what or when. Look forward to excellent photos this summer though - since a definite criteria for any where I plan to go is an ample supply of beautiful landscape and opportunities for spending it outdoors. I must be sounding a touch house-bound. But after so many years running of spending my summers behind a desk, I'm looking forward to getting outdoors this summer and actually going camping... I spent only 3 nights in a tent - and those were more like stops on a long drive than actual camping - I'm not sure there was a campfire involved or much cooking. We reheated some left overs from a restaurant at one location. Not to say there weren't some decent day trips, but I really miss all those years when I lived outdoors for 2 months at Summer camp.

Finally a glimpse of the Northern Lights

So, finally the wind has died down in Baker and I was able to spend a bit of time outside when the Northern Lights were out. I think I missed the show the night before when I went to bed to early. If only they would turn up before bedtime, eh.

I think I set my ISO too low (200) - and so my exposures are too long and I've lost some of the details as I've used the computer to make up for it. I'll remember next time.

Anywho, today has been cleaning and organizing day... so I'd best get back to work at that... but I am alive and kicking and will hopefully have more posts as we move into longer days and warmer weather as slowly arctic spring takes hold.

Tourista in Iqaluit

On my first day in Iqaluit a week ago, it was beautiful and sunny and clear and I was able to snap a nice picture of the Territorial Legislature which is even nicer inside than it is outside. Its kind of fun the way that Iqaluit's new building are unusual shapes and bright colours - makes for an interesting and distinctive downtown. Still, in the end, I decided that I'm glad I don't live in the big fancy capital, I really like Baker Lake (Qamanituaq) best. Someone asked me if I wanted to move now, and I didn't need to hesitate, the vegetables are nice and I think that on a sunny day the topography would make a nice setting - but, in Baker Lake the people are friendly and they say hi even if they don't know you well. It sounds like a silly thing, but it makes a place feel a lot more like home. As for all the conveniences and restaurants, I think that I simply don't miss those things at all, certainly not enough to need them all the time. Half the time when I go out of the north, I don't even bother with movies or restaurants (although I do frequent the produce sections of grocery stores and Tim Hortons). Really, the only thing I miss when I'm in Baker is my family and friends who don't live here and well, they are a scattered lot, so even were I to live down south, there would always be someone I cared about that was too far away to visit easily. However, I may change my mind about this when Nutrition North officially replaces Foodmail, and I am no longer able to buy reasonably priced, quality produce.

There has been some movement, both at the MLA level and the grassroots level, to send a message to the government about the concerns on the program. I'm a bit confused. All in all, I think the two biggest questions are going to be how much more is shipping going to cost for healthy foods, and how much choice will we have. I seem to be getting mixed information about it. A few places are already feeling a terrible crunch as food prices skyrocket in the wake of the first set of changes - The CBC has an article on food prices in Arctic Bay.

As for me, there are no new pictures as a result of the better part of the last week being blizzard conditions. I think this is the most days in a week that we've lost purely for weather (we lost a few more when 2 out of 3 of the town's generators went down and everything was on rotating black outs) but we've basically been weathered out for 3/5 days now. Its particularly nasty this afternoon with bitter cold winds and fine powdery snow crystals. The kind of cold that I can feel even through my ancient but functional parka. The sky is blue, but I can barely see the blizzard sign, so I guess it would be nice if it wasn't windy - not sure where the snow crystals are coming from - I think we got fresh snow overnight - so I assume that is what is blowing around now - since it doesn't appear to be snowing. I was looking out over town and trying to imagine what it would have been like 100 years ago living in an iglu and possibly trapped for days before being able to go out and get food, and then having to go and hunt for it. It made me deeply appreciate my heated insulated apartment and warm clothes and gave me a new level of admiration for the people who thrived in this unforgiving land without even the comfort of wool socks.

Important Things to Do When In Iqaluit

After finally traveling to Iqaluit - can you say lame - I just had to make my way to Tim Hortons - and not only buy a doughnut and a coffee, but take a picture of both the food and the pretty little Tim Horton's sign on the outside of the Northmart. (To my credit, I was also excited by their selection and quality of fresh produce - not just a chain restaurant.) In my defense, I'm a former employee of Tim's and so it has a bit of a special place in my heart. I did enjoy the coffee and doughnut though.

In more current news, the wind is howling at 80 km/hr gusting to 93 km/hr (That means the wind would be going over the speed limit on Northern Ontario's 2 lane highways - at least when it was gusting, although not enough to likely warrant a ticket or pass many other vehicles - but that is another story). We've had school canceled for 1.5 days now, and seriously, there was no way that anyone was going to go anywhere this morning. Strangely, although the wind speed has increased, the visibility has improved, and I fully expect that it'll be a cold windy morning, but we'll be back to business as usual.

One new hobby that we've developed here is Norwegian - which is fascinatingly similar to English (considering that at no point in my many years of school did anyone suggest that there was any link between the two languages - and thanks to the antics of the Swedish Chef on the Muppets, I was led to believe that Scandinavian languages were entirely like gibberish and their weird consonant combos and funky looking vowels clearly were more closely related to Russian than English) - but nei! The pronunciation is a bit different, but often completely foreign looking words turn out sounding shockingly like their English counterparts... Take kaldt - looks strange, but its pronounced a lot like... cold. Anywho... I'll keep you updated as we find new and fun words since Norsk er et kjempebra språk (Norwegian is an awesome language). I'll also send some hats off to Google's translator - its been a good tool for fooling around and trying to figure out how some of the grammar works.

Jeg liker å lytte til vinden blåse under en blizzard (I like to listen to the wind blow during a blizzard.)

Jeg tar min kaffe svart (I take my coffee black)

Jeg håper den foodmail gjør det her snart (I hope the foodmail makes it here soon)

Togturen til Bergen ser vakkert (The train ride to Bergen looks beautiful)

Jeg skal gjøre noe nyttig akkurat nå (I should be doing something useful right now)

So there you go... :D Now if only there was a Google translator of Inuktitut.

Calm before the storm

Yet another storm warning is headed our way - although Environment Canada is admitting that they are not sure when it will arrive and how bad the storm will be - but I'll give them credit for communicating honestly.

Alternatively, I could be referring to the predawn, Monday calm of working at my computer before returning to the daily happy chaos that is teaching - not chaos as in disorganized random events, but just the noise and bustle and ever changing world of kids, co-workers and information that is just that much more stimulus than can currently be found in my near silent building with my coffee and biology textbook. Of course, one of the main reasons that I returned to teaching after training as an engineer is that I missed the level of interaction with people that teaching provides. Teaching allows me to better appreciate solitude and calm, while I found engineering often provided solitude and calm, but sometimes could result in days of day spent mostly with my computer and the joys (and frustrations) of working with ArcView.

So, cheers to quiet mornings made better by days spent with people - and while I sometimes miss ArcView, I've yet to regret my choice to return to the classroom.

We all leave from a yellow submarine-like airport terminal

I finally made to Iqaluit and back home to Baker Lake. It was a good couple of days working with some terrific colleagues and mentors. As for Iqaluit, I appreciated the experience of being somewhere new, but there is no place like home, even if I seem to have brought a touch of the flu home with me, leading to a quiet and somewhat tired weekend.

Which leads to a disappointing, ttfn, since my head is pounding and while I appologize for an extended absense (yet again), I do have some more pictures of Iqaluit to post and surely more to write when I'm not feeling tired. I promise... more stuff soon.

Comings and Goings

I just found a wonderful collection of healthier Baked Goods - thanks to my Mom - as well as some good healthy living/eating resources for different ages and such. Here is the link: http://www.nutritionrc.ca/resources/nrc-english.html.

I'm excited to try them out.

There is not much going on... I'm teaching subjects that I like... weather, mapping, the nervous system and fluids. A good mix of practical and technical.

But, not much to say today at all - save that my coffee is good, my mood is good and its still bitterly cold, but the coldness really hasn't affected me given my short walk to work and limited need to go anywhere else unless I want to. I guess the only thing I'm hurting for is fresh photos. I apparently missed a nice little spike in auroral activity last night. The next perdicted unsettled spaceweather is due Feb 1/2 2010 - I'll hopefully be in the big I, usually a better place for watching the northern lights than Baker (we are too far north) - so here's hoping.

Rainbows

If you are a straggling voter, dying to vote in the Nunies - there is still time - apparently there was a bit of confusion - and the polls remain open until 5 pm today. I would like to take all of you who have voted for me and sent me encouraging words. I enjoy sharing this small fragment of my life and its nice to know that people enjoy it.

As for day, its the first day in a while that I've accidently played the alarm clock game. I think the problem is that it is set too loud and now that the alarm clock has moved closer to my head - the loudness is having me react by immediately shutting it off before my brain has processed what it means. Tomorrow, I'll turn the volume down to something that is less alarming so I'll actually manage to wake up a bit more since I won't be diving to shut it down.

Ever Cold

I wish I had a picture that captured the eerie fog hanging in the bitterly cold air - this is as close as I can get, although you can just barely make out the exhaust hanging in the air near the trucks and ski-doos or the general fog in the distance. Since this time, its warmed up to a balmy -34C, however, the wind has picked up until nearly 30 km/h and so the resulting windchill is still near -50 C. Personally, I'll take cold and calm over chilly (if that is how you'd describe -34 C) and windy. We did see the northern lights, but by the time I was back near my camera they had faded. I'm still hoping to get a picture soon.

For those who don't follow my blog regularly, I've been honoured with a nomination with 4 other blogs - for Best Nunavut Blog 2010. The voting ends tomorrow afternoon, so anyone wishing to cast a vote for this blog or any of the 4 other blogs nominated for Best Nunavut Blog 2010, 5 blogs nominated for Best New Blog in Nunavut 2010 or 2 blogs running for Best Post 2010 - please go ASAP to The House and Other Arctic Musings and cast your vote.

I'd like to congratulate a wonderful and amazing friend on the healthy birth of her daughter. I'm having one of those days when I wish the North was closer to the South, so that I could go visit and meet the new interloper, but I'll have to wait until the summer. In the meantime, my brothers should continue to supply me with pictures of their wonderful and charming children.

In cooking news, I made Spinach Salad for the first time ever based on a recipe from "Icebergs & Belugas" by Helen Webber & Marie Woolsey. They are connected with a series of fly in lodges on Hudson's Bay north of Churchill, Manitoba. I love them because not only do the have the kind of wonderful recipes that you'd only get to eat at a first class bed and breakfast type place, but they, being fly in places, don't tend to use impossible to get ingredients. Seeing how my ability to aquire ingredients is limited by food mail and what is available in the northern - where there is a much better selection of french fries and frozen pizza then there is squash - it is nice to have a cookbook that doesn't require you to have saffron or fresh starfruit. The recipe: Spinach, Apple & Peacan Salad was modified to accomodate available items to: Spinach, Apple, Strawberry, Red Onion and Almond Salad with a Honey Dijon dressing - made of olive oil (6tbsp), Honey (2 tbsp), Dijon Mustard (2 tbsp), Lemon Juice (2.5 tbsp) and a bit of pepper - basically a doubling of their dressing recipe with a little extra lemon juice. This is the fourth book - Cranberries and Canada Geese, Blueberries and Polar Bears and and Black Currents and Caribou are the other three main books that they've put out and I've yet to make anything from any of them that went wrong. Their website can be found here. I wish I'd taken a picture of it before we ate it as I'm really hurting for photos right now.

I hopefully will have some more new pictures soon. Until the next time..... :D have a good rest of your Sunday

Superior Views

Sigh.... beautiful view of Lake Superior on a stormy day. This roadtrip is still one of the best trips I've ever done - everyone should tour the shores of Lake Superior in the fall - truly magnificent countryside and while I often refer to the trip as my "superior alone" tour - based on a neat t-shirt slogan with a single white pine shaped by the wind that I purchased as Superior Provincial Park - I wasn't really alone. I had my trusty travelling companion to haul camping gear, food and me. I guess I should thank her for putting up with my singing and sipping lightly on gasoline - making the whole thing quite affordable.

Today, we've managed to tidy up the appartment and organize a few more corners and make the furniture slightly more conducive to having more than one person in the room. It looks a lot nicer - I got a few more pictures up. Its still cold, but it really hasn't been that bad - since its been mostly calm. I'm hoping to try that trick with throwing boiling water into the air and having it turn to snow. I think I might have a few new pictures to pull out, so I won't have to dig into the archieves for photo part of the blog.