The great outdoors

I spent a large part of the weekend outside - walking around town and out to the Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park just outside of town on Saturday, and dogsledding on Sunday. The walk to Sylvia Grinnell Park is not too long, and Saturday was a beautiful day so it was great to get outside. I was rewarded with a gorgeous view of.....white. White overcast sky blending into white snow covered tundra blending into a white frozen river!! Yes, all three of those things are in the photo above! Apparently it is really pretty in the summer, but I guess I'll have to wait a few more months to see it!

This is me, Sharon and Janine on the dogsled on the way out to the spot where we stopped for a snack and a rest. The photo below is on the way back (I'm in the middle!). I'm sure you can guess when we had the wind at our backs and when it was in our faces!!


The style of dogsledding here is very different from other areas of Canada. The dogs themselves are bigger and sturdier, making them able to pull more weight and withstand the elements, but they are also slower than their more southerly counterparts. They are hooked up to the sled differently too - each dog has their own long lead, and they are attached to one point so they end up in a fan-like formation. This lets them pick their own individual paths over the snow and ice and also lets the musher release them all very quickly in the event of an emergency (like a polar bear encounter). The sleds, or komatiks, are long and flat and the musher sits at the front with gear and passengers behind.

The dogs were playful and friendly before and after our trek, but when they were harnessed they were 'working', and we were told not to approach or pet them. The pack leader, Scott, is too old to pull sleds now but still maintains his alpha male status - he decided to join our expidition and ran beside the rest of the dogs, just with no harness, until the very end when he either got annoyed with all of the 'young' dogs or just wanted to get home, and he ran ahead of us!

Oh, and good news - the Astro Theater is open. $12 for admission, $5 for a regular popcorn...so pretty much the same as down south!!

A few more photos

An inuksuk

Part of the golf course!

Self-portrait

A raven

Toonik Tyme

My first Toonik Tyme is almost over, and even though I didn't get to see the igloo building (I was ice golfing) and the seal skinning was cancelled (it was too windy for the hunters) I still had fun. During the ice golf my team skipped two holes to hang out in an igloo and drink hot chocolate. It was -34 so we thought it was a great idea!! A few tips for if you ever find yourself golfing on ice: you need to account for a BIG bounce when you're chipping, the greens are REALLY fast, and just forget about the drivers....they don't work!!

I've also seen ski-doo races, a craft fair, ice sculptures, dogsled races and para-skiing. I've picked up a few tips now, so if I'm around next spring, I'll be Toonik-savvy!

Aside from the festivities, I'm still moving the furniture around in the apartment!! I'm trying to find a configuration that I like, that also works for hanging pictures....that's my new goal: get pictures on the walls. I have a few things I'd like to frame too, but frames are insanely expensive here. I know that I should just cut my losses and buy some, but I can't quite bring myself to give in to that yet!! Any bets on how long it takes me to break?!?

Lazy Easter weekend

So, I've been on call for 6 days now, and have only been called in twice - not too bad. I've relaxed about it a bit more now too....I no longer feel the need to carry my phone with me from room to room in my tiny one bedroom apartment. I'm confident I will hear it ring even if it's in the bedroom and I'm ALL THE WAY in the kitchen!!

I went to check out what movies were playing in the theater, called the Astro Theater, only to see signs that say "The Astro is closed". At this point I'm wondering: Closed for the night? Closed forever? Closed while whoever's working goes to have a cigarette? Around here, all of those are completely plausible answers. It turns out that the guy who runs the theater had to fly to Ottawa for medical reasons and no one wanted to take over while he's gone. How's that for 'small town' ?!! So.....the word is that it should reopen in two weeks, but no one knows for sure. I'm just happy that I have my own supply of popcorn, or this could have been disasterous!

The picture is the sign for the Caribrew Cafe, which is in my apartment complex. There is also the theater, a bar, a convenience store (it's only open until 6pm, which I don't find very convenient), a hotel with a restaurant, a sporting goods store, a swimming pool (the only one in town), and a pharmacy. Even though nothing in town is really far away, it's still nice to be able to go to these places without bundling up to go outside!

Toonik Tyme starts on Wednesday so I'm hoping to be able to see some really unique stuff. I've heard that it can be confusing to find out where things are being held, and at what time.....wish me luck!

Room with a view

So this is the view from my 5th floor apartment window......if I stand at the far right edge of the window and look to the far left.....otherwise I just see the rest of that brown building!!! But ravens like to sit on the edge of the building, and they can be kind of fun to watch....if you're really bored and don't feel like doing the dishes.... :-) Actually, the ravens are pretty cool - they are MASSIVE here, much bigger than I remember them being in Snow Lake. I can see why they play such a role in local legends.

This past weekend brought great excitement for me, not only because I went to the Legion again, but because my stuff arrived!! It felt like Christmas, with a lot more heavy lifting! I've still got a lot of sorting to do, but it definitely feels nice to open the door to familiar things every day. I'm trying to decide where to hang my paintings but I'm being thrown off by the thermostat control that is right in the middle of the wall, pretty much where I would want to hang something....argh!

Work has been extremely busy, but overall pretty good. I will be going on call starting Thursday night.....a new experience for me, in my ultrasound career. I'm pretty sure the novelty will wear off pretty quickly, probably the first time I cross the gully after being woken up in the middle of the night! I'll let you know how that goes....