Into the night...

21 days till the shortest day of the year. The sun officially rises after I get to work (after 8:30am) and then sets at 2pm. Awww...the joys of living "North of 60".


I've now visited 2 out of 3 of Canada's territories, having just spent a week in Yellowknife. For some reason YK felt a lot like Cornwall, Ontario to me. While visiting the "big city" I got a haircut (only $35 including tip!!!) and did some shopping...it's dangerous to be that close to a Wal-mart and Shoppers Drugmart when you haven't visited them in 3 months!


I also had my cast replaced today for a smaller and tighter version. Below are pictures of the old cast...to give you a sense of the fun people have with markers and drinks at the end of a bonspiel! I like the "Curling Queen 07" one myself. ;)

Time...has it really gone by so much?

I hadn't realized it had been quite so long since I last wrote. A lot has happened since the end of September. I started to learn to curl, won a bonspiel, then hit my head...and then I broke my wrist!

It's also decidedly winter outside. Temperatures are rising and falling, but we've already had a few days with the windchill down to -32C.

I'm lucky that I had the day off work today to continue to get a handle on doing things with just my left hand. I also dosed a bit. Hopefully I'll be okay at work tomorrow. Wish me luck!

It arrived!

My Parka arrived yesterday!!! Here I am modeling the new coat that will keep me warm in the coming months! :)

Mining Week travels

This week I had the opportunity to visit four more communities in Nunavut. Flying across to the mainland, we stopped in Coral Harbour to refuel.










We then proceeded on to Chesterfield Inlet.








The second photo is of a hospital built in the 1930s.






The third photo showed how long the painted greeting had been there...since Chesterfield Inlet became part of Nunavut (and stopped being a part of the N.W.T.) in April 1999!!!
















The final photo was as we boarded the plane to head to Rankin Inlet for a night's rest.









We crashed for the night in Rankin Inlet and then had a bit of chaos finding out how and when we would be going to Repulse Bay.

Eventually it was sorted out. We got on board and headed out...

















We arrived in Repulse around 11am without any more trouble. Then we tried to get lunch, but no one at the local hotel knew we were coming! So, we bought lunch at the local co-op then went in search of the Hamlet Office and school.

We had some time to wander around Repulse Bay before the evening presentation. I got a nice picture of the sun starting to set over the bay.






I also took a few other pictures around town... I even made it to their version of NorthMart: Northern.





Finally, before we flew back to Iqaluit, our co-pilot "de-iced" the plan manually for us. :)

Times they are a movin' on

So, it's been a little while since I last wrote. We've been going through waves of coldness and mixes of snow/rain. Most mornings we now wake up to frozen puddles and a light layer of frost/snow on the ground.


For the past few weeks I've been preparing for Nunavut Mining Week and it finally begins tomorrow! Of course, they have to turn the power off in most of town tomorrow just to add to the excitement, but we will survive. After all, we have to use generators for power in the park anyway! So, tonight I must set alarms on none-plugged in devices in order to ensure I make it to the park on time. Activities include panning for gold, the rock doctor, surveying, and of course...hotdogs! Hopefully we'll get a good turn out. My pencils and activity books are ready to be distributed...hope that they actually attract our target audience! Anyway, I need sleep....and to figure out what to wear in order to stay warm, but also be able to move about easily tomorrow. Hope to have pictures to share again in the near future. :)

Ta ta.

Welcome to September in Iqaluit

September in Iqaluit is full of surprises?!? On September 6 we had snow. September 7 brought winds of 57 km/h (35miles per hour) with gusts of 74 km/h (46miles per hour)...I'm starting to think my face does not need exfoliation since I get sand blown in my face at high speeds anway! ;)

First week back at work since my trip down to Ottawa and Virginia has been busy. Preparations for Nunavut Mining Week continue at a quick pace. On Thursday I saw "The Invasion" at the movies...the three of us who went together were laughing most of the way through...hopefully we didn't bother the other movie-goers too much! Tonight I'm going to a bar/restaurant for dinner. Tomorrow is "sign-up day" at which you sign-up for recreation activities for the coming year. After that, I think I'll collapse for the remainder of the weekend.

Until next time...

More pictures from around Iqaluit

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I drove all over town taking photos. Here are just a few examples...


We started our trip by visiting Sylvia Grinell park. It seems like everytime I go there, there's a wedding taking place!


















We then headed down that side of the bay a bit and took some pics from that side...


















After that, I'm not sure which order we visited everything so these are in no particular order...


Here are a few from down near the Hudson Bay Company buildings. I took some at this location when I was up in June and there was tons of snow and ice around still...now it's clear.

















We drove near the water basin and snapped a few pictures of the dam.














We also drove all the way to the very end of the Road to Nowhere!














We got some very picturesque views near a lake.

















We took a few photos near the cemetary too.













Needless to say, it was a nice day with lots to see.