The end is near

The end of my time up north is near. Only 9 days left and I will be a citizen of the south once again. I've been having many mixed feelings over the last few months and days ranging between tears of leaving and utter excitement of returning to the land of retail.

The last few weeks I've been trying to overcome some of the symptoms that bother me during early pregnancy, but as I come into the second trimester, I'm starting to feel better and running out of excuses for not blogging. I still have a few good stories to tell while I'm still a member of the north club, and once I step back through the wardrobe, no one will believe me.

So, only 9 days left to tie up loose ends, pack and say goodbye to everything I've called home over the last 3 years. On one side, I'm convinced we're not leaving and I'm going about business as usual. On the other side, I'm having a melt down trying to cram in as much as possible before we leave because I'm frightened to death that we're never coming back. I'm trying to get out of the house as much as possible and just look at things, you know the way you would look at something on the first day you arrive. I've been here long enough that the scenery has become somewhat second nature to me and I don't want leave taking it for granted. I've also been out a few nights just sitting and watching the northern lights. I'm worried it will be the last chance to see them so brightly. I keep saying to Nathan "we'll come back, right? Maybe at the end of your career?". I just don't want it to be over, forever. I guess we'll just have to sit back and see where life takes us. Hopefully it will include another tour of the north, maybe even another northern territory. What I do know for sure is that the north is in my blood. It doesn't matter how excited I'm to get back to family, friends and Starbucks. I'll always be split in two. It's kind of depressing. This is pretty much how the story goes for most who live up north for any period of time.

Here Ezri is trying to help us get organized for the move.

August Nights

It's about time I updated this thing. Frankly I'm getting nauseous every time I'm loading my blog and seeing the previous post with the greasy army ration photos. Well I'm actually getting nauseous a lot these days as I find myself pregnant again. Yes, already. It wasn't planned, but we do want two and why not have them both experiance a part of Nunavut, even if baby two is only going to experiance it in my tummy. So here I have been suffering again, almost like a 3 month hangover. Lets just say it's been hard, especially along side having an 8 month old crawling around and putting her hands into everything. I've got two more weeks until I hit the second trimester and I'm counting down the seconds. This is the time I started feeling more like myself with the previous pregnancy.

Meanwhile I've at least been out taking photos. We've just started getting night again and I took the opportunity the last few nights to go out scouting for the northern lights. We've had really clear nights and peaceful weather, the perfect recipe for shooting some photos.Last night I took Morena out along with me, we had a great time. And yes we are wearing Parkas. I guess we both figured we'd be out for a long time and you always dress warmly when you live in Nunavut. Meanwhile, it was so beautiful, that we were unzipping and taking off our Parkas. It does add a more authentic look however along with the northern lights in the background. Morena made her own parka last year, we both started one at the same time. She finished hers in about 10 seconds and I've been struggling with mine all year, it's just almost done. If it wasn't for Meaghan, it would never get finished. That piece of crap I'm giving to my wonderful sister in law Jen, and then had Meaghan make a good parka for me. Actually the parka I helped to make isn't too bad at all because Meaghan helped me through the whole thing, Jen is going to love it. I will post up photos soon.
I just wanted an excuse to wear my hot new parka before moving back south, where I will have to wait until NEXT winter because I will be too fat with baby number two to wear this beautiful piece of artwork.

Romantic candle light dinner with army rations

When Nathan offered to make dinner the other night, I was so elated that it didn't matter to me what we were going to eat. Somewhere along his busy work day, Nathan had come across some army rations and was so excited that he immediately bust into the ration package to explore it's contents. He had come home with a few options of breakfast, lunch & dinner. They all tried very hard to appear much more extravagant then what the preserved packages inside actually were. This option below was a "Lunch Menu No. 2", Mmm already sounds delicious. Then it goes on to list that it's a "Beef Macaroni Chinese Style", whatever that is. It does sounds like the army came up with that idea, lets just mix whatever is leftover together.

The contents of the ration box below includes:
1 Package of SCRUMPTIOUS beef Macaroni Chinese Style, 1 Package of apple sauce, spoon, salt, pepper, wetnap, Chiclets (yes, the army wants you...to have fresh breath), one Worthers original (thank god, I mean what would you do after dinner if you didn't have a Worthers? Subsequently I passed on my mine because it was in Christmas wrapping), everything you need for tea and coffee, jam, peanut butter, a packet of bread, napkins, juice chrystals, one plastic bag cup used for hot and cold beverages, a chocolate bar (sorry, not shown in photo because someone ate it in the 10 seconds it took to open the package and set up this photo), and lets not forget 1 "How do you rate this meal" survey.

Here Nathan is hard at work with the meal preparation. Packages need to be boiled.

Nathan also made us drinks from the flavored crystal packets in the cups that come along with the rations. Even though we were home, within reasonable reach of real cups, it was important to experience everything. Yes, I drank out of this Ziploc bag below, and yes it was very challenging. Remember though, I'm not complaining, because Nathan prepared everything

I decided to go with spaghetti and meatballs, and can honestly say it wasn't bad. A little like zoodles. The brick of bread there was another story. It just didn't seem right to eat bread that was probably older then Ezri.
Nathan went with a chicken in a sauce and mashed potatoes. The potatoes where a powder to begin with and the instructions noted that you could add in the coffee mate packet to intensify the creaminess. So. Gross. Especially because he didn't mix it up really well and when I went to try a bite (try everything once I say), it was completely powdery.
Found directly under "bread", "Do Not Eat". Exactly. Sure, they mean don't eat the package, I guess in a crunch those army guys get really hungry. My theory is that if your hungry enough to think about eating the package, your probably too hungry to read.After consuming two meals, breakfast & dinner in ration form in one day, Nathan didn't feel so great. That was the end of the rations in our house.

This place is so beautiful

What you can't see are the HOARDS of mosquitoes! I didn't want to spray the baby with deet, so I sprayed the area she was sitting. I know, not really environmentally friendly to spray a bunch of beautiful flowers with bug spray. We could only shoot in one spot for a few seconds and then we had to move. Although there are numerous quantities of arctic mosquitoes, they are as slow as zombies. This gives you a chance to stand still for a few seconds before you are swarmed, then you can out walk them and be clear for a short time before they catch up again.




These purple flowers are called Dwarf Fireweed, as I learned on Clare's blog yesterday. Here is a closer look.

Almost 7 months

The summer sun was shinning brightly the other evening, warming up the kitchen while I was feeding Ezri her evening meal. I caught a few shots before the sweet potato ended up all over her face and up her nose.

Polar Bear Swim 2009

I have made this a yearly event, throwing my semi-naked body into the frigid grasp of the arctic ocean. For no good reason. I've done it 3 times now, missing out only last year because I was about 4 months pregnant and it wouldn't have been the best activity to partake in. You can read about 2007's dip here.

I'm sure it seems not a big deal to you people down south in your comfy warm climate, but first of all it wasn't the warmest day up here and secondly as Meaghan puts it on her blog, "reminder the ice just melted about 2 weeks ago". There is still snow in various areas as well. It's cold and the water is even colder then you can imagine, unless of course you've gone in before, in which case you totally understand me. So yeah, it's brain freeze cold. It is the arctic ocean.The trick here is to "dip", not actually swim. Run in, run out. This time I wore shoes instead of crocs so I didn't have to turn right back around and search for them floating away. This time I used my brain. Get in, get out, don't dally around.
In case you were wondering how cold it was, here is a close up from the photo above. I think our faces say it all, (*insert swear word here*)!It was a good time, I'd do it again. I can't explain why, as the part of my brain that's supposed to make sense of things isn't making the decisions when I'm running into the arctic ocean.

Don't forget to check out Morena's post about our adventure, as well as Meaghan's.

Sleep walk.

I awoke early this morning to the sound of Ezri crying. I had forgotten to turn on the monitor and was jolted awake by the idea that I was hearing her cry from her room, rather then the monitor beside my bed. I jumped straight out of bed and then realized this was not an emergency. Ezri had put herself almost back to sleep immediately, but I was still wide awake. After a visit to the washroom, a BEAMING sun filled visit to the washroom, I took a small peak out the window and saw this:
Some of the stillest water I've seen up here. So I decided at 5am to grab my camera and walk down to the beach. I told Nathan I was going for a walk and he looked at me like I was nuts, rolled over and went back to sleep. I know someone who didn't think it was such a crazy idea. Tallinn was having a blast sniffing every rock and blade of grass from my house to the beach.It was the most calming feeling, there wasn't a sound or even a small breeze. Everyone was asleep tucked in their beds, even the ravens and dogs. It wasn't until a bunch of birds that sounded like ducks and seagulls combined started SCREECHING, breaking the silence that I remembered 3 summers ago around this time of year and hour in the morning there was a bear chilling out on the beach behind our house.

So Tallinn and I booked it back to the house and I went back to bed.

Shots

Today Ezri went in for her 6 Month shots. I documented the day with the NEW camera Nathan got me for my birthday. New camera you ask? Why do you need another camera? Well, let me explain. Firstly, let me point out that I do have 2 hands, so why not two? Second of all I wanted one of those little point & shoot cameras so I could take movies of Ezri, avoiding possible future incidents of holding my lap top over the bathtub trying to capture bath time. For most people this is the staple camera, for me it's a fun camera. My meat and potatoes camera weighs like 20lbs, so shooting with this 2 gram of a thing is like a party in my hands. Sure the image quality isn't what I'm used to, but I've had a BLAST taking photos today. (for those of you wondering, Kennie, Julie & Aleks it's a Canon powershot sd960)

So like I was saying we went to get Ezri's shots. Fun? Not so much.

To cheer us both up we took a little walk and shop in the Northern store. Ezri was incognito. Incognito from the sun. See what I'm saying about taking fun shots with a camera that doesn't need bulging biceps just to hold. I was able to take this shot with one hand. ONE!Here is also something I can not do with my SLR (easily), it's just too damn heavy. Take a shot of myself from above without risk of camera falling and crushing baby.

After shopping, we started to get a little cranky.Mommy to the rescue with a cookie. Smell that baby crack.Oh yeah, that makes it feel all better.


P.S Announcing another Nunavummiut Blogger. Morena at Babies & Bulldogs. Her little boy Oliver is Ezri's Boyfriend. And her Bulldog Tank is Tallinn's boyfriend. This is yet another CD blog. WE ARE TAKING OVER THE WORLD. Eat dust Arctic Bay! :)

The blogger formerly known as Jen of Nunavut

As you already know, I'm moving down south and therefore will soon no longer be "Jen of Nunavut", but Jen of MASSIVE city in southern Canada. I will want to continue writing and showcasing my photography. I figure I'm going to (try to) start a business when I get back south and I might as well start up a full fledged website that will allow me to blog and dabble in a photography business. So the question is "what in H.E. double hockey stick do I call it"?

I WANT your opinion. You can either vote on the side or leave me a comment. OR both, any suggestions are welcome.

Oh Sugar!

For my birthday Nathan and I took out some left over sugar from last year's sealift that had solidified into bricks. We had a bet how many bricks we could shoot through with a single bullet. Nathan won. No surprise.



You can see how solid the sugar actually was. It's too bad the now powdered sugar was unusable. Damn lead.

We then walked about 100 metres and shot at a target.
I hit all my shots on the board. Maybe not in the "important scoring section", but who's counting...it looks like I got an ear or nostril at least. That's worth a pat on the back.It was a good birthday.

Out to sea

I have to say this is the longest I've seen the ice in the bay stick around. It's almost the end of June and there is still a fair amount left to break up. People are taking advantage of it, using it to cross over to the mainland for fishing, or using it as a jumping off point to take their boats out beluga hunting. The other week a few hunters drove their snow machines down to the edge of the ice, parked them and jumped into their boat to go out hunting. Meanwhile I'm hanging out in my pajama pants on the couch when I notice that the 5 unattended snow machines have broken off and started floating out into open sea. Can you see from this photo below?
How about now?
I was shocked to see that everyone was taking a totally laid back approach. I had watched a few people prepare a boat and go out towards the drifting machines, to only see them head in a totally different direction and disappear. I expect they were going out hunting as well. Morena, Meaghan, Kim and I headed down to the park to catch a better look at the machines floating out to sea. Kim took this photo of the three of us, totally unplanned, wearing our babies, bjorn style.
I was prepared to say goodbye as I could noticeably see the ice moving towards open water.
I guess everyone was so laid back because they knew they would get their machines back and there was no point wasting time worrying or loosing out on hunting. Later that evening the ice came partially back in with the tide and EVERY SINGLE machine was saved (by loading one machine sideways on a fishing boat, driving each one back one by one). It was truley a happy ending.

INTRODUCING a new Nunavummiut blogger. I've mentioned Meaghan a few times on my blog, she writes about raising her beautiful daughter Mercedes and family life in the north.

Celebrations - June 21st

Two days ago it was Aboriginal day as well as father's day and it was a busy day making sure to celebrate both. The RCMP across the country celebrate Aboriginal day, in Nunavut each detachment throws a community BBQ. Who could pass up hotdogs, hamburgers, games and face painting even if it was cold and snowing. Yes it was also the first day of summer, let me repeat that it was cold and snowing. We all still had a great time. Especially Morena and myself, because we were cozy inside the garage doing the face painting.
Kids and elders alike were playing games, this one where you toss a rock and try to knock off another rock 15 feet in front of you. The prize was a basketball (if only we could have used that to knock over the stone it would have been a little easier). I had scoffed that this would be an easy game until I tried it myself and failed miserably. Over and over.Nathan catching a warm moment inside holding Ezri and giving my back a rest. That baby is getting heavy indeed. I guess their supposed to grow.
Later on in the evening we switched gear and had a "small" campfire out back. My gift to Nathan for Father's Day, letting him burn stuff. Here we are burning last years sealift create. It was in such a blaze that one of the rangers came over in a hurry worried that the Ranger's shed was burning down.
He was pretty pleased with his efforts. I had a few flashes from that movie Backdraft.

The Scoop

Usually when I disappear for an extended period of blogdom time, there is something going down in the land of Jen. My last large posting absence was related to keeping secrets, secrets about being pregnant. This time (not pregnant) it's news about Nathan getting transferred with his job. The big news is that we are leaving Nunavut, after 3 years. It's seems like this is a common trend with a few of my other favourite Nunavummiut bloggers as well. It's a bummer. It turns out we are heading back to Canada's deep south, back to starbucks and shopping. Maybe it's not all a bummer. I can tell you a piece of me is breaking off and won't be taken back with us south. The good news is that we get to spend the rest of the summer up here before we make our transition back into the hustle. That's right the south, where your hustling or getting hustled. It's one big pimp show down there. We are happy, however that we will be closer with family.This is Nathan and I, June 2006, when we first moved up to Nunavut. Don't say it, we've obviously gained a few pounds these few years. We all know that if your looking to loose weight, you shouldn't fool yourself into thinking the answer is up north where there are no fast food joints. There is plenty of yumminess, and you'll buy it no matter what it costs. Since there is no fast food, I have found myself a better cook, experimenting with many new recipes. I've been eating well these last 3 years.

Coming north and leaving again is a sob story I've seen and heard too many times now. I'm bummed it's my turn, and so soon. Unfortunately and fortunately Nathan's career takes us to many new and exciting places. It's hard to move, no matter where you have been living. As the story goes, when Nathan was starting his career, I told him that I would follow him anywhere, except I jokingly said "Not Toronto or Nunavut!". Turns out I really didn't know what I was talking about (big surprise!), Nunavut was a blast. I just hope that I don't have to learn my lesson about Toronto, too many people.

A lot of other bloggers have started other blogs to document their non-Nunauvt adventures. You can bet I will as well. I am worried however that when I move back down south I will have lost my identity. I will no longer be "Jen of Nunavut", but "Jen of Massive City where Jens are a dime a dozen". I have the entire summer to think about it. So don't think about dropping this blog yet because I still have a whack of adventures left in me.

Midnight

Snow machines coming home from fishing, crossing the bay back to town.