Singing in the Bay

This past Wednesday Cambridge Bay had the pleasure of listening to Gwenna Fairchild-Taylor and her students perform in a voice recital.  If you have been a long time follower of the blog then you might remember last year when she was up here and Craig played piano that evening for her.  Gwenna had been here again for a few weeks helping students with their singing voices.  The packed house even got to hear a couple of our local throat singers perform, what a treat that was. It was a nice evening of singing and music.

June is suppose to be a slow month at work but I have been really busy with customer's orders, getting the barge order finalized and getting ready for the spring fish harvest which will be starting early July.  We order all of our yearly supplies at once and will come by barge and shipments need to be in Hay River, NT before July 6th and then it should arrive to us at the end of August.

I have been trying to organize when I can bring Hannah to Winnipeg for a consultation with Dr. Bebchuk.  Between my schedule and his it is going to be a tough one.  He seen her radiographs and confirmed that she has hip dysplasia. She has many things going on so he needs to do an exam.  This past week she had a couple of painful days but today was an OK day for her so I took her and the other two to our favorite summer place.  It's a nice little valley with hardly any rocks that play havoc on their paws and the sun was shining brightly. She didn't do much, mostly just carried her ball around and laid in the sun. We were out for a couple of hours then spent the afternoon outside in the yard so tonight she is exhausted.

Craig will be home on Thursday and we will be celebrating his return and Molly's 10th Birthday.

Talk soon! 

 The venue - St. George's Anglican Church

Deanna singing 'Suo Gan'

Athyne doing a wonderful job playing

Great job Hope!

Our local throat singers, Donna and Sarah

The teacher, Gwenna

Tara singing 'Suo Gan'

Sky and Tara singing together

Another duet, Athlyne and Gwenna

Group shot

"Shorthaired Sandwich"

These Canadian Geese were not happy that we visiting their watering hole

The light coloured parts are ice under the water - crazy girl!

Still a bit of snow around

This is the pond where the dogs love to swim in but today only Molly was brave enough to go into the ice cold waters

Hannah relaxing

Blitz pointing at....

King Eider duck

One lucky lemming!  He went into his hole just in time.

Seriously Molly, get off the ice!

Hannah mostly did this today and it was good to get her out

Lovely spot to take the dogs out

Bachelorette

I am a bachelorette for the next couple of weeks as Craig is in Manitoba visiting.  We took separate holidays this time as our schedules didn't line up.  So it's me, the dogs and the cat for the next little while.  It seems kinda weird not having Craig around and we are all starting to miss him.

Yesterday Marg, Sheila and I headed out to see how far we could drive towards Mt. Pelly.  After a couple of spots where we were not too sure it was safe we made it to our destination.  We seen loads of birds but nothing with fur, oh wait we watched a lemming going in and out of his holes.  A very nice day with the ladies.

Today it was the dog's turn, even Hannah.  She didn't run as much as the Shorthairs but I think she had fun and getting some fresh Arctic air.  Molly and Blitz were busy hunting lemmings and playing ball.  Birds caught Blitz's eye and off he went while Molly found a 'kill' site of a goose.  She thought she hit the jackpot and before I got to where she was she was just swallowing a piece.  This evening the house is quiet...except for Hannah's snoring.

Talk soon!

Our ride to Mt. Pelly

The road was cleared

Still lots of ice on the lakes

An opening in the snow bank

Marg testing a low spot in the road...all safe to enter

Love the different colours of the ice, from green to crystal clear blue

Our destination...Mt. Pelly

Hannah enjoying the day

Molly found a good spot to rest

My handsome boy

Had to help Hannah up on the rock for the photo but Molly had no problem jumping up

Molly's great find of a goose kill site - check out all of the feathers/down on the ground

Blitz and his ears!

Typical site - the Shorthairs hunting lemmings and Hannah in the background wondering what  the fuss is all about

Blitz kept on coming back to this hole - must of been a fresh scent

Purple Saxifrage starting to bloom even with snow on the ground

Soon the tundra will be covered with these Purple Saxifrage

View of the bay

June 5th...My Sweetie's Birthday

Today is Craig's birthday and he actually took the day off, a personal day.  Marg and Cat met us for lunch at the lodge and Rebecca (our friend and the manager) surprised Craig with a slice of Happy Cake.  I was finished work early so Craig and I hopped on our ATVs for the first time this year and headed out onto the land.  What a beautiful day to be out.  We haven't seen the sun much lately but today it was shining bright in the skies.  We headed out of town as the road to the cabins were open and we could make it all the way to the water....hmmm should I say ice.  Thought we seen some seals on the ice but after looking through my big 500mm lens it was not.  We didn't much for wildlife except tons of birds and on the way home seen a lemming so we stopped and took a couple of pics of it and of course left it some almonds to munch on.

This past week we had to send Hannah to the vet in Yellowknife as she had been off her food.  It was very difficult for me to let her go all by herself, I couldn't get the time off work.  I'm not sure who was having a more difficult time with her not being home, me or Blitz.  He was so sad all he did was eat and sleep, no playtime. So after a week at the hospital and after many exams and tests my orthopedic dog has been getting worse plus she had laryngitis.  Basically she has bad arthritis from her shoulders down her spine to her hips where the vet mentioned hip dysplasia.  I have requested that her records and x-rays be sent to her vet in Winnipeg to see if she is a candidate for hip surgery.  If I can make her final years of her life more comfortable I would rather do it now instead of later when she is much too old.  For now we will give her some pain relief and live one day at a time...just like Hannah.

Talk soon!



 Cat, Marg and Craig having a Birthday Lunch

American Golden Plovers - look very closely

Our destination...The Northwest Passage

Still lots of snow on the ground and ice everywhere

Our 'road' to the water

Our view

I do love this spot

Craig soaking up the sun and looking out onto the Passage

My little lemming friend

The day Hannah came back home, everyone was very happy to see her.