Jack White of The White Stripes Meets...My Mom

Well we have all been talking about it for months; The White Stripes are to have a show in Iqaluit! I can tell you my respect for them jumped insanely just because they would travel hundreds of miles into the arctic to play a show. We all knew the band would loose money playing up here, rather then make it. Even though I didn't go to the show, I have been talking about it for months, to all my friends in the south and random people on the street; "arn't The White Stripes so amazing, promoting Nunavut, what incredible rock stars..." and so on! I even knew what day they were playing, yet even though I wasn't going to the show. This was the same day I was flying home from my vacation south, and was having the slightest hope that maybe I would catch a glimpse of them, even though I was only spending a few hours in the airport. Of course no chance, obviously one doesn't just see rock starts milling around airports. Meanwhile my parents were coming up from the south a few days travel behind me, for their first trip north. Their flying schedule worked out so that they would have to spend a night in Iqaluit and fly out the next morning. That afternoon after checking into the Frobisher, my mother noticed a white guitar laying against the wall in the lobby. Thoughts starting rolling through my mothers mind, the previous night before she was having dinner with my brother and he was telling her all about how this band was coming to play in the north just to see what it was like, then she remembered reading an article on the plane and seeing a picture of a white guitar in the magazine, things started to click together. She then made her way over to what looked like this bands roadie and asked him if he thought that she could get an autograph, he said it would be no problem. My mother then made her way over to two gentlemen sitting down in the lobby and asked "Now, which one of you is The White Stripe?" (I informed her after that she needed to make that plural; White Stipes, she is still calling them The White Stripe)
Jack White, a mega rock star, with amazing manners was then told by my mother that he was "just a fine young man," and wonderful for coming all this way up here to play a concert. She then had him autograph something for my brother and was off. I have recently been playing some of their music for her and she proclaims "I like them!"

A Blog Work Out

I figured it was about time I got back to another blog writing exercise. I have a lot running through my head, but have been currently unable to do anything except sit under the sun beside my sisters pool. Yes I am still south, and will be until the end of June.
The only small way that I can remotely connect this episode to the north is that I actually miss home. I know a lot of you Northern Bloggers feel that home is in the south, but for me, my first house with my very own family (Nathan & Tallinn) has been north of 60. So yes I consider the north my real home(for right now anyways). Maybe the extreme 38C weather down here has gotten to my head, but I am really ready to pack up this southern trip and head back to the more Jamaican (laid back) lifestyle I lead in the North. On this trip South, I have already bought 4 different pairs of shoes...what for you might ask? Two weddings, a pair of "city" shoes and one dog chewed sneaker replacement. Up North you would have no use for these shoes, lets just everyone admit that everyone walks around in insulated rubber boots. Now that's where the style and comfort is at.
Anyways lets get back to my wonderful family that I have with me living up North, who will be leaving me two weeks earlier to fly back home, and leave me stuck in the south where I might possibly buy yet another pair of shoes. It was just yesterday my one year marriage anniversary with Nathan. Here is a cute picture...awwwwwwwwwww.......

And here is our Baby boy Tallinn
Little does he know that yesterday we got a cat...uhoh...hope he doesn't get too jelous! It all happened all of a sudden, Nathan's Aunt talked to her cat breeder, who was looking for a home for his 2 year old male. I guess the little guy is being retired from his baby making career. We plan to give him a good home and lots of loving in his retirement years. Anyone have any advise on living with a cat? This will be my first! And the saga continues....

Mothers Day

Well lots has happened since I last posted...but don't all bloggers say that. I wanted really bad to post some pictures I took of an RCMP hockey Game, but I was waiting from them to appear in the paper first...however the Nunavut Papers are apparently not interested in wicked awesome images of the Premier of Nunavut, the MLA of Cape Dorset and The Head Nunavut RCMP member all playing hockey for a wonderful cause. Anyways that's my next story.

On a lighter subject, it's Mothers Day and we are back south on vacation. And what better way to spend mothers day then to drive up to see Tallinn's Mommy, Nuka. We had a quick visit to our dog breeders today and took Tallinn (he got to re-unite with his true Mommy and Daddy)!

Here is Nuka, who Tallinn gets his warm cuddly side from. Me Thanking Nuka for giving me Tallinn :)Here is Tricia, Nuka's 'Mommy' and the Malamute Family (Kodiak (dad), Tallinn and Nuka)
Father and Son playing

How do you do the voodoo that you do with that ulu

Or I guess I could just use it to chop up some caribou.

Hamlet Day

We had a great parade on Friday and Nathan drove the police truck at the very head of it. I was able to get some fun shots because I sat in the back of the truck. There was a feast and games later that evening where I also got some fun shots, but didn't let that interfere with me playing in some games. The adults played a game that I can't quite describe other then you roll a dice and if you got a three you would run into the centre of the circle and try and blow up a balloon. If someone else in the mean time rolls a three then you have to sit down and they try to blow up a balloon. I think the object was for you to blow it up so much that you end up popping the balloon. I don't really get the point of the game, but it was all smiles, laughing and cheering.

Here I am collecting my balloon, only just in time to sit back down again because someone else rolled a 3!

How to Pee on the Tundra

Out again, out again snowmobiling. Nathan's parents have been up for the last 10 days and it's been a blast. I took Nath's Dad out snowmobiling and I can only compare this trip to getting thrashed around in a blender. What exactly am I talking about? Well all of the snow has blown into a billion mogul hills that have hardened. I couldn't go more then 20km/hr because I kept launching off of these tiny hills and smashing back down again just to hit another one. My whole body hurt the next day!
But lets get to todays topic "how to pee on the tundra". First of all let me assure you I tried everything to avoid this, but at some point I gave up trying to avoid doing it. So the next question was how, when you are miles away from a potty, it's minus 20C out and your bundled up in your snowsuit? (hey why is it when you put on a snowsuit you have the urge to pee? Does everyone remember Robert Munsch's Book "I have to go!"?) My biggest fear was getting frost bite on my bum, but it wasn't too cold for the minimum exposure. Thank god I had a giant rock to hide behind! I am going to leave the rest up to your imagination but everyone should try this liberating experience! I feel like I could truly take on the world!
Here are some pictures from the trip!

I am Photoshop

Recently I have been without photoshop and have been unable to do any post production on my images. I assure you a lot has happened and I have a lot to tell, but it just wouldn't be worth anything without a picture. The new photoshop is out this month, so we'll see what happens...for the sake of this blog...honey if your reading, can you buy me a $1,000 program? :)

Amauti

The amauti (woman's parka) has a deep hood at the back in which babies and children are placed.

Here is my friend Christina and her beautiful baby girl Ainsley! She is styling the only way for mom and baby to travel: the amauti (spelled a MILLION ways as far as I have researched but pronounced A-moun-tee). A few of my other fellow Northen Bloggers are pregnant and I am totally jealous!! You can bet I will be getting one of these beautiful coats some day down the road... now to just convince Nathan that he really wants babies.

Why Winter SUCKS

Winter sucks.
Winter especially sucks in Nunavut.

Why do I have these terrible feelings? My aggression started while one day trying to zip up my Canada Goose Jacket getting ready to go snowmobiling. Oh wait, hold on, I couldn't do it up. After about 10 mins awkwardly trying to zip up the black marshmallow sack over my already fat from overeating to counter act the lack of light body, I finally just took it off, zipped it up and pulled it over my head. Then when I went to do up the last bit around my neck, of course, every time, (Com'on ladies) get my hair violently ripped off of my head. Every time! It doesn't matter what coat I am wearing, I might as well be bald! Why did I think that keeping long hair for the winter was a good idea..."keep me warm", I told myself. Well screw that, having long hair and wearing anything with a zipper is a health hazard!

I am sick of strategically thinking about how I am going to dress up before going outside. You can't just throw shoes on and strut out. There is no freedom. I long for the days of flip flops. BUT before that even happens I will need to drill down my sand paper feet. WHERE IS THE MOISTURE!

The house is stale, I burn my hand when I touch the cold door handle, electrocute myself when I turn on or off the light switches or anything else after I shuffle my feet on the carpet, and my face burns when I go outside. I am too cold outside and too hot inside.

So after I am bald, frost burnt and crispy I will just be about ready for spring.

More Then Words Can Discribe...

The Road to Nowhere My Winter Wonderland
The No-Mobile
Lost and Found
Arctic Coffee

A New Addiction

Addiction : Enthusiastically devoted to a particular thing or activity.

It's so extremely fun going out on the snowmobile. I went out last weekend for a little day trip and took some photos. I plan on going again Tomorrow and Sunday, as long as the weather is nice and predictable ( and I don't get anymore dreams about falling through the sea ice).

That's some Big ICE!

Someone Ran Away

Tallinn escaped today. It was heart wrenching. Currently he is sitting on the floor next to me, smiling with that characteristic Malamute smile, it's almost like a grin. "Yeah I ran away, but I am freakin cute and there nothing you can do about it"!

It all started when I walked Nathan to work today. We came outside and the dog was just missing. Normally we have him tied up on a lead that runs on another lead, so he has a large area to run. The main lead over time (and Tallinn pulling) finally gave it's last breathe and snapped. Tallinn then escaped still attached to the other 30 foot lead that was originally chained to the main lead (does any of this make sense?) Anyways he was gone...

I started looking for him on foot but found myself in a total haze thinking about my poor baby ( I know I am total idiot for my dog). Nathan finally took me out in the truck and searched for a bit before out of the corner of my eye, I saw my poor stupid just sitting looking at us. It was hidden at first but soon became more apparent why he was just sitting. He was stuck. The 30 ft lead he was still attached to had tangled itself around a child's bike and while dragging that the bicycle became lodged into a snow bank. His journey was at an end. As happy as I was to see him safe, my thoughts turned to Sunday morning cartoons. I saw a character that would be trying to escape some obstacle, however hindering the escape such character would end up with a bucket on foot, continued by a garden hose and then attached to a bicycle. Thus preventing any kind of escape.

He had a good run and probably enjoyed himself, but for his theft of one child's bicycle, puppy jail time is pending...

Back from Paradise

Nathan and I just returned from a month of Fun in the Sun. Well not exactly. When we were in North Bay it was a balmy -30, but at least I had some trees.

We had a great time with our families and I managed to explode a hole in Nathans Wallet the size of Texas! We actually had to purchase 2 new suite cases and a large rubbermaid container to control the amount of crap I bought (yes I have a problem). Whilst on the subject of Rubbermaid, did you know that's how Northerners travel in Style? I saw my first Rubbermaid take flight back in June when I departed for my Northern adventure. " Rubbermaid", I thought to myself, "Could this be done?". I knew right then and there that I would have to try this experience for myself and when buying another $60 suite case just wouldn't "jive" we opted for the only other way to travel: RUBBERMAID. It was an exhilarating experience I have to admit, however when the security woman threatened to cut off the web of silver duct tape holding the lid to the body, I panicked. (Everything worked after Tallinn (doggie) worked his charm all over her and she had no time for rummaging through our crap and passed it through.)

I guess I should probably talk about what we did in the South, but I figure this is a Nothern only blog and most of you who are reading it already know what we did. So here is a sum up;
On our trip out to the south my true love and I;

12 Liters of beer,
11 Starbucks Lattes,
10 Macdonald's Breakfasts,
Another 9 Starbucks Lattes,
7 Hours of just going down water slides, (Great Wolf Lodge, try it)
6 Stuff Crust Pizzas,
5 Times to the Dog Park (where Tallinn was humped multiple times)
4 Times shopping in the States
3 Times asked where Nunavut was (or in the case of the boarder guard "what" Nunavut was)
2 Lemon Drop Martinis with Lush Face Masks

and One extremely overloaded credit card

Until next time boys and girls....

Eyes match your PJs?

The one thing I can't stand about living here is the dryness. Who wants to wake up every morning with all of your mucus filled sensories dried up like last years bag of raisins? The only positive thing about living in a dry climate is that I left my frizz problem in the south! We have a humidifier running 24 hrs in the bedroom, but what can you do when the bits in the machine that are supposed to stay wet to add moisture into the air, dry up? I can't win! I will never complain about the humidity in the south ever again!

Tales of Christmas and More

The week started nicely, thoughts of sugar plums dancing in my head and candy cane lane with gum drop houses. Despite the lack of routine that I am used to this time of season, Nathan and I had a great Christmas.

It all started on Wednesday when the whole town went without power for the entire day! We were lucky to have the diesel generator at Nathan's work and we all ended up over there (all for our own reasons, for Nathan it was the microwave so he could eat some pizza pops, and for me it was the working coffee maker). Eventually our power came back on and we were able to get back to some normalcy. It was so nice to see that everyone in town took a very laid back position about their lack of power, despite the fact that it was -24C outside.

Christmas came shortly after and it seemed like every time we would sit down to dinner Nathan would get a call out and we would have to put off eating for a bit. However it all worked out wonderfully and Nathan managed to surprise me with wonderful presents that I never even saw coming. I think he must have woken up in the middle of the night to put out some presents. Tallinn did pretty well also, he has enough rawhide to hide in every corner in the house now.

That's brings us up to today, Boxing Day. Instead of spending my day online shopping for sales, Nathan took me out on the snowmobile. We headed to the other side of the island and I saw the sun for the first time in a month. We do get the light where we live, however it never seems to rise over the hill enough, so for some light therapy Nathan took me over the hill on the snowmobile. It was beautiful, but only when we were stopped, as I was too busy being nerve wrecked when we were moving because he was driving. We made it home in one piece, but nearer to the end he got us stuck in some loose snow and it took us a while to dig it out and maneuver the machine around to get out. I guess karma wanted to take revenge on him for taking me on a crazy bump filled ride, because as we returned home there was an adorable little puppy all by her lonesome looking for a home! She must have been only a month old and extremely tiny. The look on Nathan's face when I brought her home! I brought her in and gave her a bath, but at this point I was still calling her him. Nathan kindly pointed out that it was a girl and not a boy. I have only had male dogs so I guess girl dogs can look a little like male dogs at that early age, needless to say at least one of us knew what was going on. I cleaned her up and fed her and wanted to hug her and kiss her and keep her forever and ever! However there was the matter of Nathan. We obviously couldn't keep her and I had to find her a home. We ended up bringing her over to a local woman we know and she was more then happy to take the freshly cleaned puppy (no dog gets a bath up here, so when they do they look like the million dollar dog, slightly more attractive to take in). I am glad I know she is a warm place right now, but I would have loved to take her south with us and give her to a family where she would be the only child that got truck loads of lovin'. She was pretty cute, but as far as Nathan's concerned I need to keep my hands out of the puppy jar!

Polar Bears, Fluffy Friend? Or Deadly Foe, But Still Fluffy?

That's right I am against the Polar Bear, but only when it strolls into the main streets of town in the middle of day looking for a tasty snack that could be me! If it's me or him, I'd rather he be shot and made into a carpet! Does that make me a horrible person? You may not understand, but you haven't lived where I have. That's right I live in the arctic and do you know why people don't try to save fluffy from getting shot, because they would rather their children not be the tasty morsel stuck in between Fluffy's teeth!

Good Morning, and our top story this hour is that a land shark, or polar bear was seen sauntering into town. It was shot shortly after, just in front of the local grocery store, and all this before I even got out of bed. Do you know what it's like to feel like you might be causally eaten up whilst visiting the store where you get food to eat? Eat or be eaten? I'm sorry I thought I lived in sensible, proper, you don't have to worry about taking a walk in the middle of the day, Canada. Where the hell do I live again?

Don't get me wrong I love animals and would never mistreat the environment, I am the reuse, reduce, recycle, World Wild Life generation, but I also love my own skin! Rest in Peace Fluffy.

Christmas Fun

What a good boy Mr. Tallinn was to sit still while I took some photos (obviously there was a food bribe)! Christmas is fast approaching, so for all of those that I can't be with; MERRY CHRISTMAS!

On the Subject of Snowmobiles...

I had my first ride on a snowmobile the other day. It was frightening to say the least, except for the parts where I was driving and Nathan was tucked behind me away from the controls. I do not have need for speed. Up in the North, the snowmobile is a normal part of everyday life. Most people don't have a car, and most people don't need a car, as a car can not be driven out onto the land to hunt.

I would like to share with you what a snowmobile is like mind, body and soul. It smells like burning gasoline, feels like frozen leather (except for the acceleration pedal, a lever your thumb presses, that part gets really hot), and most importantly it gets you from point A to point B, where the baguettes are fresher and less expensive. The sound of a snowmobile can best be described as a very loud and irritating lawn mower and at night time when the air is is clean and fresh, you can hear every single snowmobile in town and it sounds like the 401 has opened a lawnmower lane! And because the snowmobile is so flexibly moved, there are new paths formed, where there were no paths before. Our neighbours have a snowmobile route that was forged right next to their house, it gets pretty noisy. Block the path you say? Well it's just not that simple. Think of a snowmobile as a renegade machine that goes where it wants, when it wants! If thou path be blocked, it will forcefully be pathed a new, so don't bother pissing off the locals. Nathan and I are extremely lucky though, we managed to get a place off the beaten path and rarely have any one driving around our place, it stays pretty quiet.

This morning Nath lent one of the RCMP snowmobiles to help the search for some lost hunters. It's an incredible idea that would seem scary to anyone from the south. Some people get up one day and decide to go hunting, get dressed, hop on their snowmobiles or dog sleds and head out onto the land. Not just any land, a land with out pit stops or hotels, and more importantly a land without gas stations along the way. These hunters will go out for days at a time and survive in 100Km/h winds and -40C temperatures in only what they have on. I heard a story (this took place in the south) on the news the other day of a family getting lost in the wilderness after running out of gas. The husband tried to make it to a local town to save his family, but died along the way, after only one day of exposure(of probably pretty moderate temperatures). I also heard as story of a group of inuit hunters(from our town) getting trapped on a piece ice heading out to sea. They had all been soaked through after a wave had hit them and still they managed to stay alive for days until they were rescued. It's just incredible the difference in how exposure effects people. But I credit the people up north with a certain cold toughness.

In the Meantime, back to the individuals who were lost today, there is this group up here called the "Rangers", a bunch of local people who know the land very well, and they will travel out on their snow mobiles looking for the lost ones. Nathan came home at lunch and said that they were at least a day out, hopefully they will all make it hope safely. If I know one thing, its that there ain't no Hilton out there, and the sun is almost gone. It's life or death out there and that's not just a saying.

Images

Here is my log of photos that I have kept since the day I arrived in the north. I sometimes find that I can tell a story better with images, rather then words. Here is the address to the site that has more of my northern images; http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h284/CapeDorset/ .

Lesson Learned

Every day the hours of light shorten. It's an extremely confusing thing for my body. I wonder if I am becoming depressed or if I am just lonely. I miss all of my friends, nights out and the amazing social life I left in London. Sometimes my biggest fault is that I don't want to do anything alone and in turn miss out on a lot of cool opportunities. I figured that the hardship of being without all of my friends should be some kind of lesson, so I declared to go out and have a good time on my own. The other night I took out my Crazy Carpet that I purchased from Canadiantire.ca and left the house. I originally purchase two thinking that I would have a partner to share the fun and excitement of hurdling your body down a hill with only a thin piece of plastic between your new fleece lined jeans and the rushing ground beneath you. But alas Nay Nay was working and I ventured out on my own. It's always more fun to have someone share in such an experience, but I had a good time on my own anyways. In the end it was good that I purchased two, not to share with someone else, but to have as a replacement after the first one was ripped apart by rocks. And what lesson have I learned, why would you need another person when you can have more stuff?