Don't blink

I find it incredible how quickly the tundra changes from the deep blankets of snow to a carpet of moss, plants and flowers. Sometimes literally overnight flowers will appear where there was none before, as is the case on my short walk to and from work. There is also a large number of seabirds and other small birds that we don't see here in the winter - even geese were flying overhead a few weeks ago, although I can't imagine how it's worth it for them to spend all of that energy to fly to the top of Baffin Island!


The bay is beginning to break up, although you can still see the ice pan not too far away. Every day there is more and more open water visible at high tide. People are anticipating that the ships will arrive sooner than expected because everything has melted so fast this year. "Sealift" is more exciting than Christmas here, because this is the time when most of the city's supplies are brought in - everything from vehicles to toilet paper. Businesses do it, but individuals and families can also arrange for a shipment - furniture, canned goods, and beer are popular sealift items!!

THIS is what I do

Whenever I chat with someone from 'down south' about living in Iqaluit, I almost always get some version of:

"Yeah, but what do you DO, you know, besides work?"

You need to be creative, flexible, outgoing, and a little bit silly sometimes, but there are lots of things to do if you're willing to put yourself out there. After starting out this past weekend with no set plans, I ended up with an amusing and exhausting couple of days. Planting veggies at the greenhouse, volunteering for the food bank, hanging out in the sunshine, a firefighter carwash, impromptu meals, a bonfire, ATVing on the tundra, a picnic, dinner with the girls, and a little bit of work thrown in the middle!

Life up here is what you make of it, and the people you meet and the friends you make are ultimately what it's all about. I have met and become friends with some fantastic, interesting, and fun people - and feel very lucky for the experiences I have been able to share with them. Good times, indeed.

Hike...well, sort of.

So, I went for a hike on a recent gorgeous sunny day. The tundra is really wet from all of the melting snow, and there are still large pockets of snow in the hills so it's always an adventure - I often found myself knee-deep in snow unexpectedly! My friend Kelly and I decided to stop on a nice warm rock, and ended up staying there for over an hour because it was so awesome. This is a great photo of typical Iqaluit springtime 'sunbathing' - jeans & rubber boots! (and pagers too, unfortunately). We did manage to dust off the lichen eventually and continue on our way, but nothing could beat a catnap in the arctic sun!

May Long Weekend

Take one snow-covered beach...
(this was May 5th)

Add a few days of cloudless sky with sunshine....

And you get a lovely Victoria Day afternoon hanging out with your feet in the sand!


The big red boat was damaged on the rocks, and has been a fixture on the beach for years - it's a bit of a local landmark now. This beach is also the location of the original Hudson Bay buildings, one of which has been converted into an amazing little home where friends of mine live, and another into a gallery/art space. It's a fantastic spot with a gorgeous view of the bay, which of course will still be frozen for quite a while yet!

Sunny Saturday

A few snapshots from today. I spent the day enjoying the outdoors - dogsledding and flying kites. The sky was clear, the sun was shining, and the wind was blowing straight out of the north. It is definitely spring, but it is definitely still the arctic!!

The new neighbourhood

Another Toonik Tyme, and another igloo building contest has come and gone in Iqaluit. This year I was able to see some of the igloo construction, and then play around in them later. They are really incredible - beautiful, cozy, genius shelters from the elements. The men who built them used varying techniques as they cut blocks from the snow they were standing on, then stacked and shaped them together. Strong enough for a grown man to stand on, windproof, and insulating, the igloo was traditionally used as a seasonal home, an emergency shelter, and a hunting blind. On a sunny day the light filters through the snow so that there's a magical blue glow when you're sitting inside. I've been told that the body heat from a single person can quickly raise the temperature inside a small igloo to a fairly comfortable level.

A year in the life of....me!!

I recently celebrated my one year anniversary of being in Iqaluit. I gathered a bunch of wood (scraps from construction sites, as there are no trees!!) and, with the help of some friends, had a big bonfire!! It was a really fun evening, and a friend even took a short video and put in on YouTube!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok3i4J22T-I

All in all, I can't believe I've been here for a year already. It has really flown by - lots of work and lots of play. Going through some of my first posts on this blog, it really doesn't seem that long ago that I was marveling at all of the unfamiliar, unique and frustrating ways of life up here. While I do lament how far away from family and friends I am, I do not regret coming here. It has been an incredible adventure so far...