Summer Holiday - Day 3 (Chesterfield - Bakewell - Stoney Middleton)

I arrived in Manchester and tranferred to trains to get to Chesterfield. After lunch, we headed to Bakewell for the afternoon. I sampled a Bakewell pudding for the first time (or at least the first time in my memory!). We also visited an embroidery shop...dangerous to the wallet! ;)

On our way back to Chesterfield we stopped by some well-dressings in Stoney Middleton. These are made from wooden boards covered in clay and then flower petals are imbedded in the clay to create pictures.

That night we visited a local pub called the Cock and Magpie for dinner.

Summer Holiday - Days 1 & 2 (Iqaluit - Ottawa - above Atlantic Ocean)

The journey began with a flight down to Ottawa. That evening the Shad gang gathered at East Side Mario's for dinner and to catch up before people head out in various directions.

The next morning I joined the choir for a quartet and had hamburgers at my brother's place. I did some last minute shopping and then headed to the airport for my overnight trip to England.

Trip further north

On July 14, I got to go up, up and to the top of Baffin Island. I accompanied colleagues on a visit to the closed Nanisivik Mine site. Here are just a few of the interesting pictures I managed to take. They're a little out of order thanks to the upload function on my blog. ;)

One year...

So, as of today I've been living in Iqaluit, Nunavut for one year. People have mentionned that I should do a post on how I feel after a year. At times it's hard to believe that it's been a year, but at others it seems like much longer.

For instance, one of the landmarks that first struck me when I arrived was the igloo-like building of the Kamotik Inn. It was a restaurant from the 1970s that was rumoured to be closing on and off again for a long time. Rumours proved true this weekend...the K-Inn was there on Friday, but torn down and completely removed when I wandered by its former location this lunchtime.

The St. Jude's Cathedral is also progressing onwards. I first visited Iqaluit for the official groundbreaking of the Cathedral. Last summer it seemed to remain mostly the same, but this spring they've started building upwards. The hope is that the Cathedral will be ready for services on Christmas Eve of 2009.

On a more personal front, I've managed to do some interesting traveling in the past year. As of May 2007, I had never visited any of Canada's three territories. I can now say I've visited Nunavut (and live here!!) and the Northwest Territories. In September 2007 I stopped in Coral Harbour, Chesterfield Inlet, Rankin Inlet and Repulse Bay. In November I went to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. In January I travelled to Vancouver for a tradeshow. At the end of February I was in Toronto for another show. In April I went to meetings in Baker Lake - the geographic centre of Canada! That's pretty good when you factor in my trips to Kansas and Virginia for holidays as well!!

I've sung in several Iqaluit Community Choir concerts, including wearing an amauti for the singing of O Canada in three languages (Inuktitut, French and English) on Canada Day! At church I'm starting to sing solos during communion services and am helping the organist pick out new pieces to learn with the group.

I've even started playing softball in the past few weeks...the aches and pains won't let me forget it!

I still go to the movies quite frequently. I've wound up seeing quite a few films that I otherwise would not have due to lack of options, but I've realized that I'm not as scared by all the action films as I used to be. Pushing the envelope and all that. ;)

I've made some headway with work projects too. Completing publications like the Nunavut Overview is definitely rewarding. Meeting Nunavummiut and industry leaders through outreach activities is also great.

I've also met a great group of people. Nunavummiut are friendly and welcoming. People come and go so much that we're always meeting new people and learning new things.

What more can I say? Until next time...

Pictures from Baker Lake

For those who don't have access to Facebook, below is a link to pictures that I took during a trip to Baker Lake, Nunavut, in April 2008. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=114440&l=7ac5f&id=741685633

Revealing the landscape...

In the past month, Iqaluit's landscape has changed significantly. The snow in town is mostly gone, and the snow and ice in the mountains is melting away. Below are pictures from a recent treck to the Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park at the end of May. A friend from Toronto was in town and we strolled and picnicked in the park.

A quick storm

Storms seem to whip through here. This morning the weather was calm and mild at about -7C. By lunchtime, the winds were up to 50km/hr. Then we had snow blowing and the power went out! Aww joy. An hour or so later the wind was calm again and the temperature was up to -2C!!

Meanwhile the days are getting longer quickly. I created a makeshift blackout curtain for my bedroom this evening and also shifted my bed again so that I'm less likely to be awakened by the light in the morning. I didn't seem to have this trouble last summer when I moved here, but I guess the "gradual" progression into longer days is affecting me differently having had such short days not very long ago.

Hopefully I'll get some restorative sleep this weekend before the busy week ahead. Next week Iqaluit hosts the 2008 Nunavut Mining Symposium. The following week I'm heading to Baker Lake for some public meetings (provided bad weather doesn't prevent us from getting there). The week after that I'm attending a conference in Ottawa! Busy, busy, busy!!!