Proud to be Canadian

If you haven't followed the Olympics at all let me fill you in a bit.  This past week was an exciting week if you are a Canadian as both the men's and women's curling won gold and so did the hockey teams.  When you think of Canadian winter sports you automatically think of hockey and curling so it was fitting that we took gold in both events.  Molly and Blitz were cheering so loudly that they wore themselves out.

 

Go Canada Go

So tired but still holding the flags

 

I am finding it very hard this year to be here in February as for the past 10+ years Craig and I have always flown somewhere warm, either Caribbean or Florida, but due to Hannah we decided to hold off on any vacation.  The temperatures have been sitting around the -30'c mark and when you add in the wind chill you get -50'c or colder.  It's even too cold to take the dogs out, I tried to get a couple of pictures of Blitz and Molly but the Princess Warrior wouldn't even get out of the truck and Blitz lasted only a couple of seconds, just enough for me to get a shot of him.

 

At the golf course

I'm the King of the World!

 

One thing that is saving me is that the sun is shining just about every day, it now rises about 7:45am and is setting at 4:35pm.  It makes a big difference in how you feel when there is sun.  Miss Molly is catching as much rays during the day as she can and she actually follows the sun as it moves from one spot in the house to another. 

 

This is just after 1pm and she had to move from

one side of the couch to the other.

I know that I have posted her fuzzy feet in the past but

the fur is getting ridiculously long

 

Blitz was looking after Hannah yesterday, everywhere she went he followed her.  He only brought her one toy this time but when she moved from sleeping place to sleeping place and he was right there.  I find it amazing how animals react to another living being when it is ill.  Blitz has always been in tune with anyone who is not well and Hannah was having a rough day yesterday and he picked up on it right away.  Below are a few examples of him looking after Hannah.

 

Brought her a toy

Laying on her: she was uncomfortable

so she growled, he moved, she moved and...

this is where they ended up.

 

Craig, our neighbour Kim and I headed over to see the Cambridge Bay Drum Dancers practice last night.  Since Doug (Kim's hubby) is away on business we invited her over for dinner and then headed to our community hall to watch them practice.  It was great as Julia explained each dance to us and what it represented and gave us some history on each one.  It wasn't the full dance team and they were not in their traditional clothing but we loved every minute of it.  Here are some pictures and video of them during practice.

 

Drummers/singers are: Julia, Sarah and Donna

Dancers are: Owen and Trisha

Julia and Owen drumming while one of Julia's grand daughters looked on

Sarah taking her turn on the drum

Everyone singing while Viola took the stage. 

She is visiting from Iqaluit

Julia, Trisha and Sarah drumming and singing while Owen danced

Here is Owen taking his turn drumming and dancing

Trisha's girls

They know how to dance but we couldn't convince them to take centre stage

End of the evening Sarah modeled her beautiful parka, mitts and kamiks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perfect Sunday to do a puzzle

 

Talk soon! 

Community

This past week was filled with community events, starting off with the 15th Annual Kitikmeot Trade Show and ending with Cambridge Bay Coffee House Fundraiser for Youth Basketball.  Both events I attended and I must say for a small community of about 1600 people we sure come together and celebrate.

 

The company president, Darrin Nichol,  came out from Rankin Inlet on Monday and along with 3 staff members and myself manned the booth at the trade show.  I don't mind working the trade show as you get to meet people that you may have talked to over the phone, do business with and meet new people.   Tuesday evening was the banquet and to honour one of our long time board members Doug Crossley.  The meal was put on by Chef Andy and his students from the Arctic College and once again did a fabulous job at preparing the meal.

 

Myself, Darrin, Annie, Alice and Donna

Doug Crossley with his wife Anna Kaotalok accepting his award

 

Yesterday was another fun filled afternoon attending the Cambridge Bay Coffee House Fundraiser for Youth Basketball.  My friend Angie was one of the organizers for the event and whenever she is involved I also try to be as it is always for a good cause.  I couldn't help too much with the activities this time as I had two steroid injections in my left shoulder and I was not to use it for about 3-5 days.  I did donated some of my coffee table books with calendars for door prizes and I did take some pictures.  It was a family affair and it was nice to see so many residents out on a blistery day.  There were so many baked goodies that you could purchase and coffee, tea or juice and while visiting with friends you could also enjoy some local entertainment.  My friend Kim met me there and we spent the next hour or so chatting and just enjoying ourselves.

 

A great turn out for an afternoon of fun

Local entertainment

Tables of homemade goodies

Meet the all too serious Ivy, she is our friends Melissa and Jason's daughter

So cute with his lips tattoo on his cheek

My beautiful friend Kakolak Avadluk

Don't you just love her kamiks (boots)

This handsome young man asked me to take his picture - so I did.

Scott is Helen Kavanna's grandson

Members of the basketball team looking after the canteen

Some members of the basketball team and volunteers for the fundraiser

 

 

We usually go somewhere warm in February but due to Hannah we are staying put and I am finding it a bit hard as the temperatures are still very cold.  Today is about -52'c wind chill but the good news is that the run is rising about 8:20am and is setting at 4:00pm. Now only if that wind would calm down a bit we could take the dogs out for a run.  Last two pictures are of my seniors enjoying the warm Arctic sun on their old bones.

 

 

Talk soon!

Happy 5th Birthday Blitz

Five years ago today the most sensitive, loving and goofy German Shorthaired Pointer was born.  Eight weeks later, during a flood from Winnipeg to Fargo, my friend Sandy and I took a road trip to meet him for the first time.  As the saying goes it was love at first sight. I baked his favorite homemade treats yesterday, Pumpkin Biscotti and today everyone had a taste.  It was a bit too cold to head out for playtime with him so we all stayed home and ate biscotti.

 

Love me some biscotti

The smell was so overwhelming even Mocha had to check it out.

Blitz is like - not in this lifetime, their mine. haha

 

This s what a 'Birthday Biscotti Hangover' looks like

 

I stopped to talk to William Palvialok, (the man who built the inuksuk in the previous post), as his original one fell.  I was happy to see that he decided to rebuild the large snow inuksuk and was really surprised when I seen another one.  During our conversation we decided that a family photo was in order so I drove home quickly, put the groceries away and headed back with the Nikon. 

 

William Palvialuk, Annie Agligoetok and their children Sam and Lucy

Here the two inuksuk that the family built

 

This past week was a really rough week for Hannah, so restless and disorientated.  Her vet and I had an emotion heart to heart on Thursday as I need to do what is right for Hannah.  Craig and I will continue to live each day with her like it's our last and enjoy every second we have with her as we know her life here on earth is limited and precious.  I am not scheduled to fly out until mid-May but if needed I will make an extra trip with her.  She is still eating and drinking normally but it's her personality that is changing and I fear that I have lost the old Hannah somewhere.  Her restlessness and being disorientated at times is all due to her brain tumour and once her quality of life is gone we will have to make that very hard decision to let her go peacefully and with dignity. 

 

I am taking loads of pictures of her, more than usual and started to place the best ones into a different folder on my computer.  Here is one of her that I took this weekend.

 

 

Yesterday I went to check on her and found Miss Molly laying with her.  This behaviour from Molly is happening more and more these days but this time it was priceless.  I am not sure how they ended up with Molly's front legs wrapped around Hannah and when I asked her what was she doing this is the look I got.

 

Crazy eyes Molly

I moved to the end of the bed and Miss Molly shuffled her way up

to be closer to me but stayed beside Hannah.

 

 

Before Christmas I purchased 3 amaryllis, one white and two blood red, from our local Northern Store. One is a dud that is not producing a bud,  one I accidently broke while trying to straighten it and the finally one bloomed it's beauty this weekend.

 

 

Talks soon!

It Finally Arrived

The weather man has been forecasting a blizzard to arrive last night and into today for the past couple of days and while laying in bed this morning I heard no howling wind so I knew I had to get my butt out of bed and into the shower.  Craig took a personal day today in the hopes that we both would have the day off.  Going home for lunch today I noticed that the visibility had decreased from this morning and by 2:00pm we received the call that the town was shutting down.  Woot Woot!!!  I think that the whole town is happy because it's been about 2 years since we had a storm day. 

 

You have seen many pics of this boat and the old Hudson Bay Company house

and today you can't see the bay behind it.

Pic on the way home

One of the streets

Normally you would see the bay and the Loran Tower

I am about a block away from my work - the large blue building.

Did you notice the brave person walking in this?

Standing on our driveway looking at our neighbour's home

This snow is sticking to our windows

Blitz and I played a bit of ball when I got home

 

 

Nunatsiaq News has used a couple more of my pictures this past month which I am just thrilled about.  The first one is when the sun rose after 6 weeks of hibernation.  The clouds were coming in with the sun peeking above.

 



 

The next one is of this fantastic snow inuksuk that William Palvialok made.  It was located on top of a small hill, I say 'was' as it toppled down.  Not sure if it was due to the winds or vandalism, I am hoping it was the wind.  I will be printing him a copy as he was so proud of his structure.

 

 

I loved this inuksuk so much that last weekend I took three of my favorite people out for a photo shoot, Annie, Alice and her daughter Kayla.  As you know I do not photograph people much but I couldn't resist my little friend Kayla. 

 

This is the face I couldn't resist - my little buddy Kayla. 

 

Kayla and the inuksuk

Kayla and Little Annie

Two great ladies that I work with: Alice and Annie

I had to take this pic to show off their parkas that they made. 

The amazing thing is that Annie who is about 4 1/2 feet tall not only made her parka

but caught the wolverine that is on it.

Kayla watching the jet come in - I was driving and just grabbed the camera

Alice trying to hang on to Kayla

I told the ladies to hug each other and they started to laugh

Beautiful girl against the beautiful Arctic skies

 

I belong to a German Shorthaired Pointer group on Facebook and have became virtual friends with some of them.  For the second time the dogs and I received a parcel in the mail.  This time around was from my Alaskan friend Antje and the dogs were so happy to get the treats that she sent.

 

Here's Blitz trying to get into the parcel

Miss Molly opening her presents

Hannah wasn't sure what do it with them

Blitz sure did

Hannah ended up with all three of the moose antlers

Here they are with their presents from their Alaskan Auntie

She is also a photographer and sent me these wonderful greeting cards

 





Last Sunday Hannah was having a good day and the weather wasn't too bad outside so we headed out by the golf course to play a little ball.  Hannah of course fell numerous times but it was so good to be out with her and she really enjoyed herself.

 

Hannah playing ball

Blitz is waiting for me to pick up the ball to throw

Miss Molly bringing back the ball. 

The yacht in the background is one of two that are here for the winter

Watching everyone else play

Blitz and Molly

One tired dog after her outing

The seniors hanging out together

Blitz watching our neighbour clean off his snow machine

 

I leave you tonight with Fuzzy Feet Molly. 

Every winter the fur between her toes grow so long that they cover her pads.

 

Talk soon!