I've never been big on New Years Eve. In fact, if I think back I probably only actually went out on New Years Eve about 4 or 5 times....if that. My favourite NYE on memory was in Alberta...Lethbridge. I think my parent's were having a party and the baby sitter was with us in the house. We stayed up late ate all kinds of fun stuff and played with play doh. That was a lifetime ago.

In lieu of resolutions I have come up with a Ten in Ten list that I am sharing with you.

Ten things to do in the next Ten years.....

1. Get PhD
2. Travel to Italy
3. Go parachuting, hang-gliding or bungee jumping
4. Learn to scuba dive
5. Buy a house
6. Learn another language
7. Get my motorcycle license
8. Compete in a triathlon
9. Find a hobby
10.Have a years salary in the bank

I also devised a list of ten things I'd like to accomplish this week...but that list is not for the general public. Fellow bloggers, I challenge you to come up with your own ten in ten list.

"For ere the battle, there appeared a most fearsome and strange sight in the sky." He paused. "Three suns did we see over us, shining full clear."*

Sun Dawgs....actually, Sun Dogs

Not a rare thing and definitely not only a Northern phenomenon but still worth a couple of pictures. Here's what a sun dog is...

...A sun dog or sundog (scientific name parhelion) is a relatively common atmospheric optical phenomenon associated with the refraction of sunlight by small ice crystals that make up cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. Sundogs typically appear as a bright and colorful patch in the sky at a position 22 degrees or more to the left and/or right of the sun. They are a halo....make sense? No, then google it.








Ice down in the bay. Pretty solid and the snowmobilers are out all the time enjoying themselves. Hmmm, maybe next year I should buy a snow machine...lol.



*From page 279 (chapter 9) of Patrick O'Brian, Desolation Island, NY: Norton, 1978

5 great things about -53!

5. "It's late." Getting rid of a date early...oh, it's dark out, I should go home now...(it starts getting dark around 2pm)

4. Bragging. Yep, nothing like telling people in the South you just got back from a walk outside. Cold? Nah, it's -32, -53 with the wind chill.

3. Bed head. When it is acceptable to wear a toque indoors you don't need to worry about brushing your hair before going outside.

2. Wearing my parka. When it's cold everyone looks like a blob in their parka's...no worry about those few extra pounds that you put on over the holidays, no one can see them until Spring.

1. Chill baby. In minus 30 temps it doesn't take long to chill a can of pop outside on my deck.

Thanks to those who sent Christmas wishes and kept reading over the holidays. CC, Ali, Edith, etc....it's nice to know that people are still interested in life up here. And if anyone is interested, I'm thinking of spending next Christmas in Alberta. Yep, I'm thinking of my feet propped up in front of a big fire, surrounded by--what's the male version of a ski bunny?

Another one bites the dust.

I may have mentioned that there is a new person in town whom I befriended and have been trying to introduce to Iqaluit. Yes, the same one who tried to fix my couch with chop-sticks. I wasn't sure he was going to make it when prior to moving up North asked me why I suggested he purchase a 'good parka' he didn't quite understand the concept of cold in the North. He does now. And he's leaving--yup, already.

They say you either love or hate the North. Well, he hates it. Me, I love it.

I think some people move to the North and expect big changes in their lives, and I'm not talking about the cost of milk. They expect to be happy when in truth they won't be happy anywhere...until they get a clue. You can't run away from your problems. Those of you who remember the fun I had in 2005 know that I debated for a long time before accepting a job in Pang. I didn't want to run away from my problems. And you know what...I didn't. And I'm super glad I made the move.

There are stories of people walking off the plane here in Iqaluit, walking inside to the ticket counter and buying a ticket out. Yep...total time of stay....less than one hour. I have no doubt it is not an urban legend, but is in fact the truth.

My time so far in the North 338 days. Time till I move South...no idea, I'm not in a rush to move.

Merry Christmas one and all.

Yes, I actually expect a couple of people to read my blog today...no, I'm not that vain to think they like me that much, but I know that once the gifts are open and the turkey is cooking there is often a lull and a "what do we do now?" time of the day...so I figure the internet is where they will head. If you think I'm wrong you should see my stats for yesterday.

Last year I was on Jennifer's European Vacation and spent Christmas day in London, England. It was fantastic. In fact I wouldn't have minded being back in Europe for Christmas this year. But, I elected to stay in the North and have a white Christmas.



Here's me last Christmas day laughing at myself while trying to take a picture of me...to prove that I really was in London. Of course it might be hard to prove anything other than my mental state from this particular picture.



The fantastic Indian restaurant that I got my Christmas supper from. Highly recommend it if you ever go. I actually ate there two days in a row I thought it was so good. But if you know me, you know I love East Indian, Thai, etc...



Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. I didn't really enjoy them all that much....but I had to try!

Today I will be having the traditional type Christmas dinner...turkey, potatoes, carrots, etc. No caribou, muctuck (sp?), raw seal or anything like that...just a combination of foods that we saw at the store and went...YES!...it should be interesting.

Here's some pictures of last night....now, who wouldn't want to spend Christmas day with us?



The doggies patiently waiting for Santa to arrive. Tiggie, Kuluk and L's stuffed dog in the middle, incidentaly the stuffed dog was hardest to pose.



L and I hamming it up for the camera.



And after a few glasses of Christmas cheer....but a good night was had by all.

Now, I had to drink last night. In fact, my sister requested it. I received instructions in my Christmas package from her...

"...remove stocking and hang somewhere visible for Santa to see. On Christmas Eve consume several alcoholic beverages, then remove gifts from bag #3. Shove twist, fold and bend to fit gifts into stocking. Consume more alcoholic beverages until you pass out. Christmas morning awake surprised to find Santa has come in the night!"

Well, the plan didn't quite go as scripted. I had several drinks, but L offered to do my stocking and I am doing hers....we will open them later this am when we get together for brunch. Sorry Kelly, I couldn't fulfill your instructions...but I'm sure the effect is the same.



Pictures of the Legislature Building here in Iqaluit. The lights look really nice. (Pics don't do justice....but hey, it was -35 with wind chill and I can't operate camera with my gloves on...). The words say Seasons Greetings in the four official languages of Nunavut. The fourth language Inuinnaqtun must have blown a fuse last night as it only says Ko...but you still get the idea.



Seasons Greetings from North of Nain.

Merry Christmas!

This may not be very exciting and really if you think about it, this is not out of the ordinary, but....I saw someone delivering Christmas presents yesterday on skidoo. Yes, a large number of people travel by skidoo here in the North and it isn't uncommon for people to shop, visit, etc by skidoo. But there was something about the image it left in my head that made me smile and want to share it with you.

The gentleman was bundled up in a lovely seal coat with big fur hood and in one mittened hand he held a bag of wrapped presents and in the basket on the back of the skidoo more packages ready for delivery. I let out a little chuckle and thought how appropriate that the gifts should be delivered by skidoo and not by car. Sure, dog sled might be a more romantic picture of the North, but navigating a dog sled through town can not be easy.

The temperatures have been crisp the past couple of nights. Hovering around -30 with a wind chill of -49 many of you are probably shivering just reading this. Bundled up in my parka the temperatures don't really bother me, though they will drain the battery in my truck within a few hours if I forget to plug it in....I haven't forgotten yet, but no doubt at some point I will. The air has a wonderful crisp dry feeling to it that I truly do enjoy.

Fact. Here in the North you go outside and feel cold, but the minute you walk inside you are warm. Down South you go outside and feel cold, and then it takes a long time to get warmed up. The dampness of the air seems to find its way into your bones, but that doesn't happen here. Instant cold. Instant heat. I love the North.

The week I went to Pangnirtung the phone calls started. "Did you get our box yet?" "Did you get your presents today?" The answer was always no, not yet. I thought it was sweet how concerned my parents were with me getting my Christmas gifts. True, I am the one who said that they should mail them the first week of November, but I knew that wasn't happening. Upon my return from Pang there was something in the voice that called to ask about the box that made me nervous. Apparently there were instructions and it needed to be opened right away.

I asked if they had sent up the dog. "No," came the reply, "but the cat should be there any day now." I had a funny feeling in my tummy...and oddly enough came down with a 24 hour flu (just in time for my birthday...yuck!)...anyway...the box. I was heading to Ottawa on Monday and the call came..."Did you get the box yet?"..."No," I replied, but Brian (nice young man working for me) has the key and will check everyday, that seemed to satisfy everyone. I arrived back from Ottawa still no box. So the tracking began and the phone calls continued.

The box had been mailed on December 4th and had been sitting in Montreal since December 7. From Montreal one must simply get on a plane and head North...apparently no one had mentioned this to my box. Finally, the box arrived on Tuesday this week. I rushed back to the office and opened it up...then immediately called home for instructions. The message I left was....

"I have the box. I believe I have what appears to be a tree, seran-wrapped to within an inch of it's life. What do I do?"

I had to put it together...see below.



Never has a box arrived with so many instructions and rules. "Open immediately." "Open soon." "Do not open till Christmas" And my sisters gift has a two sided page worth of instructions, but that is for another post.



No, they are not pods. This is the tree ready for un-wrapping.



The smell of tree hit me as soon as the seran wrap came off. It smelled great. And at least this time I was in the privacy of my own home and could sniff all I wanted. When I was in Ottawa last week I was hanging around a tree lot sniffing trees and for some reason getting a few funny looks.

My father should have been an engineer. He had cut the tree into two pieces, whittled away the bark and wood so that they could be re-connected using a copper pipe and some screws.

Although it has lost a number of needles, I don't think it has lost more than you would normally lose in the tree decorating process.



The finished product. My tree stands about 3 1/2 feet tall. It is beautiful. I have 200 lights on it....which may be a few too many, but it sure does look nice at night. The decorations are tin ornaments I purchased in Mexico a number of years ago, coupled with tin decorations I bought at Poundland (think Dollarama) in London last year. The star was purchased here in Iqaluit. My mom bought the lights and my dad cut down the tree. A wonderful effort from all.


Thanks Dad and Mom for the tree.

It's Parka time....

Yes, ladies and gentleman it's time to drag out the parka. Today at lunch I walked home in -28 degrees, -40 if you count the wind chill. I've worn the parka a couple of times since the beginning of November, but only when I was too lazy to warm up the truck when driving a friend home or when I was too lazy to change out of my pyjamas, however, that has now officially changed. Unless the temperature goes back up to around -15 I will be wearing my BIG red parka.

I love my parka. It's huge and I think if I really needed to I could probably share with a friend. It has a nice big fur ruff on the hood, coyote fur for those interested. Coyote fur is one of the preferred fur's for hoods as it doesn't ice up or collect condensation. Plus it looks cool. LOL. The coat has more pockets than I have figured out what to do with plus an inside belt to prevent the wind from blowing up the coat. It weighs a ton but it keeps me warm. I can go outside in temps like today with just a little t-shirt on and not notice the cold...at all. In fact, it is a tricky coat to wear indoors as it is easy to get too hot. My preferred method is to unzip to my belly button and then shrug it almost off my shoulders so that my front top half is out of the coat but the rest of me is still in it. Does that make sense?

There are a couple of problems with wearing this much coat, aside from the indoor temperature issues. When driving in the truck, there is too much coat for the seat, seatbelt and for when backing up...all I see is hood. When walking down the road my face is very warm tucked inside my hood, but I have no periphial vision...none. In order to cross the road I must basically turn my body to face right, then left and then quickly cross the street.

But I love my parka and have been looking forward to wearing it. The very cold temperatures generally mean clear blue skies...so for me...the colder, the better. Now that I am situated in my new apartment I am within walking distance of work the parka will come in handy again. But fear not, the truck has a spot that I can see from my deck and I plug it in when I get home so that the battery is fully charged and ready to go whenever I feel the need to go cruising.



Other two pictures were taken in Pangnirtung in February. This full length one, (with all the trees and wood, not to mention grass), was taken in PEI last January a couple days before I moved up North. Which reminds me, I'm have a party the last or second last weekend in January to celebrate my first year in the North...who's coming? Your presence is the only present required......

North of 60 again...actually, North of 66 for a while....



This sight might seem familiar to some. It's Pangnirtung. Look at the beautiful pink on the mountains. It was great to be back in Pang among old friends. I had a wonderful time and look forward to getting back in the summer (if not before). I was in Pang attending a trade show and promoting the training programs that my new job offers, but probably the most fun of the whole day was the cardboard toboggan race. Students were given a large sheet of cardboard, some string and duct tape. They had one hour to complete the toboggan's and then after lunch they had races. It was a lot of fun and everyone had many laughs during the event.








My new friend from the South, Dan offered to help fix my couch. His solution to the problem, chop sticks and a hockey lace I had on hand. While I appreciate his creativity and help in putting together the rest of my furniture I wasn't overly pleased with the couch solution. I have since brought in an expert and the couch should be ready for sitting on by tomorrow night.



I was in Ottawa last week. It was nice. The lights at the Parliment Buildings were great. My pictures didn't turn out so hot...but I just can't seem to get the hang of bringing my tripod with me.



There were lots of people out enjoying hte lights and trying to take pictures like me. It was all very pretty, but not overly festive...don't you need snow to really get in the mood.



The Chateau Laurier. I was there Monday night for a special reception and dinner. Let me say...the food wasn't so great. They were serving pork. I don't eat pork so I asked for the vegetarian meal. It was chick pea pancakes...tasteless and cold. The meetings were terrific however and I am glad I got to go. We were discussing human resource issues for Aboriginal groups in Canada. I hope I get to attend the conference in April...again at the Chateau Laurier, hopefully next time they serve chicken.



It might not look like much, but I thought this tree turned out kinda neat....again my education shines through...kinda neat...abstract tree. You will either like it...or not.

Never in my whole life have the hours of daylight, dawn and dusk been as important to me as in the past 11 months. My first year experiencing 24 hour daylight in the summer and only a few hours of daylight in the winter have been interesting. I am very happy that I do not live farther North where they haven't had any daylight hours in a few weeks, but I do feel I have survived the shortest, darkest days of the fall with my spirits in tack. (Of course the two trips down South probably helped!)

For those of you interested in the daylight process check out this website. I've posted it before, but it still interets me everytime I view it. Click on the city closest to you and see the difference in daylight between today and a week from now. We are at the turning point ladies and gentleman...very soon I will start to enjoy 10 more minutes of daylight each day....cool eh?

http://www.gaisma.com/en/dir/ca-country.html

Thanks to Marc for giving me the link last year before I moved North.

BTW, this time last year I was in Paris just about to head to Amsterdam. Oh how I wish I was in Paris again.

Pangnirtung.

I was in Pang last week. I flew out on Thursday and back on Friday. I along with approximately 60 other people attended a trade show in Pang.

It was great to go back and see old friends. I enjoyed the entire trip. Pictures to come later of the booths and events. I'm off to Ottawa tomorrow, returning Friday.

When I return I promise lots of pictures of the trip to Pangnirtung and of the Christmas lights in Iqaluit. There are so many homes decorated in town and the Legislative Assembly building looks incredible....my hard earned tax dollars at work...lol!

Correction.

I would like to apologize to all my readers. I lied. I previously reported that Christmas trees (real..once alive trees) could be purchased here in town for $70.00. I lied. That price is incorrect. The trees are $85.00 + gst. Can you forgive me?

When people ask if I'm getting a real tree....I laugh. At $70.00 it was a no...at $85 the answer is absolutely not. My friend Lindsay is getting a tree...a real tree...so I will go smell hers.

There will be lots of lights and other decorations up at my house so I'm sure the tree won't be missed...that much. I have a small artificial tree I think with the star it will top about 18 inches. I also have a 'beautiful' blue vinyl tree complete with vinyl decorations that I bought in Paris last year. It's so tacky it's cute. At least I think so.

Photos from the move....



Kitchen before I moved anything in...


View out of the window by the elevator in the building. This is on the Western part of the building. I live on the East side.


Night One. Bed on floor. Pieces of my new platform bed leaning up against the walls.


My new couch before the alterations.



The bathroom...always the first room I finish putting together...generally the smallest room as well...lol



Yep, i love my blues and greens. Thanks mom for picking up the mat for me. It goes perfectly.


The dresser, part of my first ever matching bedroom set. How's that for exciting?


My snowflake lights outside on my little deck...patio...outdoor space. Either way they sure look pretty hanging outside.


Dressed for the ball. Aren't my shoes amazing? Not a great close up of them...but trust me they are fabulous.


Merlot and email may not mix according to TLC...well, vodka and camera's don't mix either. Check out my fancy outfit. This is how you dress for the ball when you live in the Arctic....parka, boots and a skirt....lol. Boy did I look cool....