Sailing on the St. Lawrence on Remembrance Day

No, I'm not kidding, we were out on the St. Lawrence sailing on November 11th.  It was the nicest November 11th that I ever remember.  We went to the Remembrance Day service in Brockville and then Randy said.  What about a sail?

The temperature was 16C - 17C, sunny with maybe 15 knots of wind - really a perfect sailing day. 

sailing on the St lawrence

It was about 2:00PM in the afternoon when we got down to the yacht club.  Admittedly, Randy's sail boat was the only one still in the water, but out we went. 

It was truly a beautiful day.  We sailed for a couple of hours down to 3 sister Islands, over to the American side and part way down to our friends Dean and Bonnie's house.  

I am going to attach a video that describes the adventure best. 

Jacquie and I had a great time.  Thanks Randy for taking us out.  As a side note, I'm writing this blog on November 13th - we are back in Iqaluit and it's -8C and there's a blizzard happening outside.  Wow, its amazing how a 3 hours plane ride can change things.  :-)

Until we can get south to upload, watch our video at:  http://youtu.be/URG0wZXYNhY

National Art Centre Orchestra Visits Iqaluit

Iqaluit had a fantastic treat when the National Art Centre Orchestra visited our fine city as part of a northern tour that stretched from Iqaluit to Whitehorse with a number of stops inbetween. 

This 2 hour concert was filled with beautiful traditional classical pieces as well as some surprises that are native to the North.  The first surprise was an accordian player from Pangnirtang named Simonie Keenainak who played with the orchestra.  It was amazing how beautiful the two distinct sounds blended together.  He played a number of tunes including a couple of eastern jigs that all of the musicians had fun with that got the audience tapping their toes and clapping their hands.

Another northern type of music that is native to the north is the traditional Inuit music of throat singing.  There were 2 throat singers that regaled the audience with 2 pieces.  Again the amazing thing for me was how the orchestra blended in with the throat singers.

The most impressive part of the evening for me was Canada's number one violinist James Ehnes who played a 1725 Stradivarius Violin that is so precious it is said to be irreplaceable and virtually priceless.  His playing mezmorized the audience.  It was a treat and I'm sure, at the National Art Centre in Ottawa, he would have played to a sold out crowed at probably hundred's of dollars a ticket for the best seats in the house.  We had him playing in Iqaluit where you could virtually reach out and touch him in a School Gym of 250 people where the concert was at no charge.  AMAZING!!!!!!

A wonderful concert that Jacquie and I appreciated being able to attend!! 

Thank you to the Natioal Art Centre Orchestra!!

Surprise Trip to Churchill

Rob Aube (a colleague) and I were doing some travelling for work, needing to spend a few days in Rankin Inlet and then travelling to Arviat.  We had to meet a number of clients in each town and everything went well in Rankin Inlet.  We were scheduled to leave Rankin to be in Arviat at noon on Wednesday.   The plane was 2 hours late leaving Rankin and then to our surprise flew over Arviat and on to Churchill. 

Even though we had client appointments in Arviat starting at 1:30PM, it was interesting visiting Churchill.  They have a huge Polar Bear pelt in the airport.

While in the airport I noticed a gentleman selling silver jewelry.  In talking to him, I found out that he makes all of his own jewelry.  He is originally an artist from Montreal and moved from there to Winnipeg and then to Churchill.  I was impressed with the quality of his work and ended up getting my dear wife a little gift from Churchill.  

We didn't know if we were going to need to stay over in Churchhill, however there ended up being a flight back to Rankin Inlet that was given a 50% chance of stopping in Arviat.  So, we decided to take it and sure enough it landed. 

We bid goodbye to Churchill and although the stay was short it was interesting. 

Of course Churchill is known for polar bears and the only one I got to see was in the airport.

With the help of the district staff we were able to reschedule all of the clients we missed on Wednesday afternoon to Thursday.  We arrived in Arviat around super time on Wednesday and we had clients scheduled to 8:00PM.  Overall we had a very productive stay.