Sunday, September 23, 2012

The Place I Call Home

Since I just celebrated my two year anniversary of living in the high Arctic I though I would do a little reminiscing.   Some of the photos may be a repeat of our neighbourhood and our little village of 1600 people and others are brand new. 
 
Cambridge Bay had another visitor yesterday, The Octopus, not the 8 legged kind but Paul Allen's 414 foot mega yacht.  I had the privilege of selling muskox and Arctic char to them and meeting the helicopter crew when Marg and I delivered the goodies.  It came closer to the shore today so I headed out to photograph it...it was amazing.
 
After I delivered the goodies I grabbed the dogs and headed towards Mt. Pelly.  All of the animals have turned from brown to white, seen a few Arctic foxes & hares, snowy owls, swans and a cute little lemming.  I drove across the bay to shoot the Maud, Stone Church and the Eagle.  The narwhals are also back in the bay and the hunters are in full force everyday trying to catch their limit.  I didn't get any good shots of them but I did include a couple of OK ones.
 
The Martin Bergmann returned from their expedition, they were searching for Franklin's lost ships.  Sir John Franklin, 59, left England in 1845 with two ships and 134 crewmen bound for the Northwest Passage.  Sadly, the entire expedition were lost. The Martin Bergmann will again call Cambridge Bay it's home for the winter.  To find out more about their expedition, search on CBC.ca, Canada.
 
Temperatures have been relatively nice here in the North with temperatures sitting around 5'c.  The sun rose today at 6:46 and will set at 18:59.  We still have another couple of months before we experience 24 hour darkness.
 
Talk soon!
 
 This lemming came for a visit while I was taking pics of the Arctic hares
Young Arctic hare
This cutie belongs to our neighbour
This handsome boy belongs to me
Narwhals are back in the bay
Not a great shot but you can see the tusks
A gull having some whale for lunch today
The new KIA (Kitikmeot Inuit Association) building
Green Row - a place to stay while visiting me
Inns North - another place where you can stay
The Northern Store where we do most of our shopping
The RBC bank and the Co-op
View from our driveway looking towards the water
View looking the other way
See how close we are to the water
Our home
Helen showing off her beautiful sunburst parka and the Nunavut flag
Loads of waves in the ocean yesterday
The Octopus
Some of the crew coming in
Getting closer to shore
A crew member bringing in some luggage
And they're off
Helicopter coming in for a landing
Safely landed, you can get an idea of how big the yacht is
Fishing boat along the Arctic Ocean shore
The remains of the Old Stone Church
The Martin Bergmann back from their Franklin expedition
 The Eagle - abandoned ship
The Famous Maud
The newly erected stone Carin in front of the Maud




 

Old sewing machine from the Maud - simply cool

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

A Long Time Coming

I must admit this blog entry is way over due and my apologies to my readers.  I do have many excuses for not doing this entry sooner; extremely busy at work with our annual Arctic char harvest, meeting the Canada's Prime Minister Steven Harper and his wife Laureen, Leona Aglukkaq and their entourage, meeting the Google team, receiving our annual barge order,  cruise ship tours, Canadian Coast Guards, birthday celebrations.  I have also been asked by the caring volunteers of Diamonds in the Ruff, CamBay's first animal rescue to join the team, how could I say no?
Ever since I moved up here (two years ago on September 16th) I have never been so busy.  I thought moving to the far north would slow my life down but it's far from it.  Don't get me wrong I love my life but I am glad that things have come to a normal pace, whatever normal is.
So without further writing I will let the pictures tell the story of my life this past month.
Talk soon!
 Stephane and I meeting Steven Harper, Laureen Harper and Leona Aglukkaq
Presenting my photo book to the Prime Minister
 Leona and I
 Craig meeting the Prime Minister
Al and Bernie renovating Cambridge Bay's first animal shelter
The amazing volunteers for Diamonds in the Ruff
The Google bike!  We are the most northern community on Google now.

Float plane coming in with a load of Arctic char
 The first barge of the season from Hay River, NT
The Martin Bergmann just about ready to search for the Franklin Expedition

There was time for some play


Miss Molly enjoying a nice fall day
Blitz pointing at a lemming
Crazy Blitz
Handsome Blitz
Hannah Banana
Arctic Swan
Yay the arrival of our barge from Montreal, PQ!
Our barge order
Heading out to our fishing camps
Still love the beauty of the Arctic
The shores of Wellington Bay (Ekalluk River)
The Camp
Many gulls along the shoreline

Waiting for fish scraps

Our fishers from left to right, Nathan, James, our lead Jack and Ivor

Heading out to check the nets
Coming back with a load of fresh Arctic char

James cleaning the char
Jack showing us how it is done
Loading up the dressed char to meet the float plane
Float plane arriving - very close to camp
Heading out
Meeting the float plane
Nathan, Jack and Ivor taking us back to our plane

My Amazing Happy Cake that Natasha made for me
One of the best presents from my friend Marg
My present from my hubby - new wheels!