An Impromptu Music Extravaganza

This past Saturday (June 9th, 2012) Jacquie and I had the extraordinary opportunity to hear 5 amazing singers and musicians.  While we were out on the land at a small cabin aproximately 4 KM from the Iqaluit airport (See the previous blog) an inpromptu jaming session began that turned out to be amazing. 

Two of the musicians work with me at the Nunavut Housing Corporation.  Tim played guitar and sang a number of songs.  It amazed both Jacquie and I that he knew all of so many songs, from a wide range of genre's, like country, pop, rock and blues.  He has a great voice and is an acomplished guitar player.  Rob plays stand up base which he transported all the way out to the cabin. Jacquie and I have seen Rob play live with a few bands and he is an fantastic base player, one of the best that we have seen.

  Leanne and Tommy were out at the cabin.  Leanne is an ocupational therapist and Tommy is a geologist with the Government of Nunavut.  Leanne played a "drum box".  It was an interesting box that has strings inside of it that sounds very much like set of drums and has a different sound depending on where on the box it's struck.  She uses a set of fan drum sticks, which gives the drum box a softer sound.  She also has a beautiful voice and entertained us with a number of selections.  Tommy is a very accomplised guitar player and picked his way through many of the songs musical interludes with guitar solos.

Tom is in the forground on the right side of the photo

And finally we had a guitar player/singer that was also a good guitar player and had a great voice.  Jason is from the east coast and played a number of traditional down east, thigh slapping and toe tapping celtic songs.



The gang even allowed me to play and sing a few songs.  All in all it was a wonderful time where Jacquie and I were entertained by some excellent musicians and singers.
Here is a link to a sample of the music.    http://youtu.be/aN2hTujO1v0

Thanks to all for the beautiful music and the great time!!  :-)

The Cabin by the River

Jacquie and I had an amazing experience this weekend. We had the opportunity to travel out on the land to a little cabin that is situated on the shoreline of the Sylvia Grinell River.






The Trip out was an experience in itself. The trip was 4 KM and 40 minutes from the end of the Iqaluit airport runway. Our trip took us over the tundra on a path that was the most challenging to drive that we have ever seen. It is difficult to describe the drive out to the cabin. We went though streams, over bolders, up rock cuts, over bog, through mud and along the river at times on angles that we thought for sure would tip the truck.





Tim, one of the two owners who built the cabin, was our driver. Tim has been in the Arctic for 10 years and  he is an amazing character in his own right. He was a champion motorcycle driver in North America in the 1980's and still drives dirt bikes places where you cannot imagine. He is a certified motorcycle mechanic. He is an excellent guitar player and singer as you will see in the next blog, He owns a newer ford F-150 with a 6 inch lifter kit that was definitely a benefit for this trek. He is a very experienced driver who can manouever his truck in ways that go beyond your imagination. J and I had the thrill of a lifetime just making our way out to the cabin.





Once there, the views were spectacular. Adding to the fairy tale type surroundings was the fact that it was snowing hard on June 10th  and the river was raging because of the spring run off. There is a rugged natural beauty that is indescribable. The break-up of the ice has left some beautiful naturally formed ice sculptures along the river and this cabin is situated on the shoreline in the middle of it all.












The cabin is a three room (two bunk rooms and a main area) structure that is fully insulated,heated with a small oil stove and has a propane stove. Tim tells us that in mid winter at -40C, you crank on the stove and within an hour you need to open the windows because it's too hot. There is a small gas powered generator for lighting and any other electrical needs. At this time of year, it doesn't get dark at any time. The sun goes down about 11:00 PM and is up about 2:00 AM  and although the sun sets, it does so just below the horizon leaving us with a twilight rather than complete darkness.





Jacquie and I had an amazing experience and look forward to another summertime visit to the cabin. Thanks Tim for the wonderful experience!

To watch some of our trip click on this link to our trek video  http://youtu.be/0QEB2BjVm8o

Our Wedding

As most people know, that follow this blog, Larry and I exchanged vows and became husband and wife on May 12, 2012. The entire wedding weekend was amazing. We were blessed to be surrounded by our family and friends.

It is easily safe to say that all of our family played a role and contributed to our day. Thank you everyone!!! To our friends and family that travelled long distances to be with us, we can't thank you enough for being part of our special day.





We don't have our pictures yet, however this is a little taste of what's to come. We promitse to post a collage of pictures in the near future.

Polar Bear in Iqaluit

For the first time since 2008 we had a polar bear wander into Iqaluit. According to a friend of ours, that is the manager of CBC north, the Polar Bear came up onto the causway on May 26th. As a side note, the causeway is a finger of land that goes out into Frobisher Bay so boats can tie up during low tide.The Polar Bear came along the causeway onto shore. The polar bear was described as a healthy young male. It probably wandered into town from the pack ice where it spent the majority of the winter hunting seals. It was in the downtown part of Iqaluit on the shoreline when the wildlife conservation officers scared it off with flare guns.

Apparently the bear went back out onto the ice on the bay, crossed the bay and went onto land just south of the oil storage tanks. Although the conservation officers were fairly sure it wouldn't come back, a host of residents went down to the causeway over the next few days to see if the bear would venture back into town, Jacquie and I among them.

Although Polar Bears are seen quite frequently within 5 KM's or so of Iqaluit, it is unusual for them to venture into town. According to the CBC manager, the last one to come into was spotted up behind the hospital.

One of our goals of being in Iqaluit is to see a polar bear in the wild. Although this was an opportunity that presented itself, by the time Jacquie and I found out about it, the bear was long gone. Perhaps next time!



Note: This is not a picture of the polar bear in Iqaluit.

Building an Igloo

I had the opportunity and privilege to travel to Cape Dorset for work from March 19th - 22nd. While I was there there was a winter festival going on for the school children. One of the learning stations was the building of an igloo.
Two local elders made the igloo, which apparently is authentic igloo contruction if one gets stuck out on the land during inclement weather. These igloos are much smaller than the traditional "family" igloos and their purpose is to keep a hunter or traveller warm should they run into a blizzard or poor weather when out on the land.
They can be contructed in about 1/2 hour. The radius is about 6 feet and the height about 4 feet. A small entrance whole is cut on the down wind side and the cutout is kept as the door.
I wanted to thank the school children, teachers and elders who let me ask a number of questions and participate in the igloo making.

Our Februay Trip South

If there was one thing that Jacquie and I were looking forward to, it was our trip South in February. We were scheduled to leave Iqaluit on February 24th and return on March 11th.
Approaching February 24th, we watched the weather like hawks, hoping that the weather was going to be OK for the flight out. As it turns out, the weather in Iqaluit was fine. We hadn't even thought about the weather in Ottawa. When we got to the Iqaluit airport, we were advised that the landing in Ottawa was subject to weather and iffy at best. The alternate landing site was Toronto. As a matter of interest, making that declaration by the airline, relieves them of any liability should the plane not land in Ottawa and all passagers are on their own for accomodation in Toronto and probably travel back to Ottawa.

As it turned out, we landed in Ottawa, although it was in the middle of a snow fall. Randy Shearer came to pick us up at the airport and the usual one hour drive to Ottawa from Brockville took over 2 hours. We managed to get back to Brockville and had a lovely dinner at Randy and Liczy's with a few friends that they had invited.


The next morning we went to the bank to get Jacquie's engagement ring out of the safety deposit box. (it was actually my moms and looks great on Jacquie) We took it in to the Jewelbox in Brockville to get sized and purchased our wedding rings at the same time. Then off to the Royal Brock for a game of squash.

Saturday night we were in Guelph. It was Nadine's 26th birthday and Kelvin, Nicole, Jacquie, the birthday girl and I went out to the Borealis Restaurant in Guelph to celebrate (Since we had just spent a month of seeing the beautiful northern lights first hand, we thought the restaurant name was appropo.)

Sunday and Monday night we spent in London. We stayed with Jacquie's mom and Robin and had an opportunity to see her Dad, and Bette and her brother Muir, sister and law Kendal, and niece and newphew Adrienne and Quinton.
We had a wonderful time in London and a fair amount of it was spent on making wedding plans, visiting the venue, purchasing a suit, confirming the wedding dress selection and sitting down and chatting with the minister that will be presiding over the ceremony.
It is always a wonderful time visiting London and catching up with family. Thanks for your hospitality!

On Tuesday afternoon we left London for Toronto and stayed in a hotel near the airport. We were heading to Cuba the next morning for a fun filled week with Dean / Bonnie and John / Darlene at an all inclusive resort on the Northwest Coast. The adventures there will be the topic of another blog.
We returned home from Cuba on Wednesday March 7th and headed straight to Brockville.
I have neglected to let everyone know our mode of transportation. We had our KIA Rio5 for sale at Brockville Kia for a few months. Unfortunately, or should I say, fortunately, it didn't sell. So we decided to keep it and when we go south we will have wheels. So now we keep it at a storage facility and have it at our disposal when we go south. (Great idea Jacquie!!)
Anyway, back to Brockville to spend spend some time with our friends. We got back on Wednesday evening and stayed a couple of nights at Joe, Veena's and little Joe's. Thanks to little Joseph for giving up his room so Jacquie and I could be comfortable and thanks to Joe and Veena for your wonderful hospitality.
There was a flurry of activity on Thursday and Friday. We had to go shopping for supplies for the north, get to the dentist, write our FAC exam, play squash, go to our locker and definitely Jacquie and my favorite, meeting and spending valuable time with our friends.
A special thanks to Veena's mom and dad for a wonderful meal at their house on Thursday evening and Randy and Liczy for a fabulous meal at their place on Friday night. We really have such wonderful friends in Brockville and thanks to you all for your kindness and support.
On Saturday night we went out to dinner and Joe, Randy and I stayed out a little longer than the girls and went to the Dragon and then the Keystorm. We saw Sueling and Teresa at the bar and had a wonderful time catching up. Joe and Randy kept me up a little longer than I should have been up and when we got home, we realized that the clocks needed to be turned ahead. We lost an hours sleep. The flight back to Iqaluit was early the next morning, which meant we were on the road a 6:00am. Randy, bless his heart drove us to Ottawa and we managed to make the flight. Admittedly, I was a little under the weather until they served breakfast, then life took on a whole new positive outlook.
Our gracious thanks to Randy and Liczy, Joe and Veena for their hospitality. Also, to all of our friends that we saw and the ones that we didn't see this trip, thank you. See you again in May

Cambridge Bay

On January 27th I had the awesome opportunity to travel to Cambridge Bay. Now getting there from Iqaluit is actually a 2 day affair. The first leg of the trip was from Iqaluit to Rankin Inlet and then from Rankin to Yellowknife. Although I left Iqaluit at 5:00PM and its a 4.5 hours flight plus the stop in Rankin, I got into Yellowknife at 8:00PM because there was a 2 hour time difference.
The reason that's significant is that the liquor store and Walmart close at 9:00PM which gave me time to do a little shopping before retiring for the night. How pathetic has my life become when I was actually looking forward to going to "Walmart".

Sculpture at the Airport in Yellowknife

On Saturday (January 28th) I was back at the Yellowknife airport and on my way to Cambridge Bay. The hamlet which is the business centre for the Kitikmeot district of Nunavut has around 1500 residents and is situated 500 miles north of Yellowknife on Victoria Island.
It is known for its Muskox harvest each year. The harvest was to begin the week after I left. The governement is allowing up to 400 muskox to be harvested this year. I went to the Cambridge Bay meat processing facility. There were people vying for position on the harvest. They hire 15 or so hunters and 25 transporters with snowmobiles, since the muskox are killed about 15 miles from town. I purchased a muskox roast that we ate when we got home. It was a little dry and gamy tasting, however that could have been the way it was prepared, not having that much experience cooking muskox.

I worked in Cambridge Bay from Saturday afternoon until Thursday and was to fly out. Thursday the weather was forcasted to be iffy and although it started out Okay, it started to deteriorate by 10:00 am. My flight was at noon. At 11:30, we called the airport and was told that the plane was scheduled to land as usual. We drove out to the airport in very poor weather. The wind was 60 km per hour with gusts to 75km/hr. When we got to the airport, we were told that the pilot was still going to "attempt a landing". Lots of confidence in that statement let me tell you. In the last few moments prior to landing the pilot decided to fly by, therefore, I was stuck in Cambridge Bay for at least one more day. To be honest, I was relieved the plane didn't land since the weather was terrible and I would have been scared skinny on the takeoff.

I managed to fly out the next day at noon and back to Yellowknife. Since no flights go to Iqaluit on Saturday or Sunday from Yellowknife, I ended up being stranded there for the weekend.
Never having spent any time in Yellowknife, it was a wonderful opportunity to explore. Below is a picture of the old part of the city, overlooking Great Slave Lake.

I was able to do a little shopping in Yellowknife and all in all the Cambridge Bay trip was awesome. The next time, I'm hoping Jacquie and I can go together.