Christmas!

I've just got home from my fourth straight night of eating until my stomach hurts!! I have had a fun holiday season here - there is quite a few of us who are here without our families, so we have kept ourselves busy and made our own unique Christmas on the Island of Misfit Toys! I am still missing everyone from "down South", but am happy to be surrounded by great friends here.

This is a photo of my Christmas tree - tin stars and origami. I love it!!

Land of the midday moon

I just got back from a quick trip to Resolute Bay - the second most northern community in Canada. It is located on the southern shore of Cornwallis Island, and has a population of about 230 people. I went up to do ultrasounds for the people of Resolute who needed them, as well as a few patients that flew to meet me from Grise Fiord - the most northern community. We are just one day away from the winter solstice, and so I spent the last two days in total darkness, which was pretty cool to experience even though I'm glad it was only for a short time! I was so happy to get back to Iqaluit and it's few hours of daylight!! It was a short, but memorable experience - I'm happy to have gone, and I'm happy to be home.

This is a photo from the airplane window on the approach to
Resolute Bay - yep, that's the whole town -
and this was taken at noon!!
(remember you can click on the photo to enlarge it)

This is a narwhal tusk - super heavy, and SUPER cool!!
It's such a strange, amazing marvel of nature!

Me standing under a whale rib that was propped against a building - I couldn't fit it all in the photo because it was so huge!

I know I've already posted a photo of a bilingual stop sign,
but I love this one because it's handmade!!

Santa will soon be flying around pulled by reindeer, and I was flying around in a plane with a caribou on it's tail...almost the same thing, really....

A weekend on ice

I roped a few friends into curling in a bonspiel this weekend - they are all new to curling, and they all did great! We finished with a 0-4 record, but I think we had the most fun out of all the teams! I've also been curling in a regular league on Thursday nights. It's really casual, and people often switch teams so that everyone has enough people to play a game - lots of fun, and a great way to meet people.

I also went skating at the arena on Sunday, something I haven't done in well over a decade. I managed to avoid falling on my butt, so I consider it a success! It was just like I remember public skating to be like, right down to the tinny music coming out of the loudspeakers!! Unfortunately I haven't magically gained the ability to stop myself on skates....oh well, maybe in another 15 years.


Last weekend some of us got all dressed up and went out for dinner. It's not often an opportunity arises to put on a dress, so it we made the most of it!

Just a quick mention...as I am writing this it is -42 degrees with the windchill outside!!!