Northern Adventures

So the call came from the Heath Centre that we needed to fly out to have Ian's wrist looked at.  All the travel was arranged and we hitched a ride to the airport with the local RCMP.  Great guy! You can see that we are quickly aclimatizing as Ian isn't even wearing his hat to go to the airport building from the car.  At the airport, it was great to know about 1/2 the people.  Pretty easy to get to know people in a 450 individual Hamlet.  Some of them were quite anxious.  We were asked if we were leaving.  Southern educators have literally left in the dark of night before.  Just packed up and left.  We reassured them.  The plane is in the next picture. The plane seats 22 people and was about 1/2 full due to COVID.  The flight to Rankin Inlet is only about 15 minutes.  Then we needed to go directly to the Health Centre there for the typical  hospital hurry up and wait scenerio.   They did another x-ray and discover...

    On Friday we heard at the school that there were Narwhals at the Flow Edge.  The Flow Edge is where the ice ends and the open water of Hudson's Bay begins.  Ian left school with several staff on ATV's and Snowmobiles.  The Flow Edge can be very dangerous and I even asked an Inuk Staff member to follow them to make sure they were safe.  By the time I left work to walk to the Post Office, they were on their way back having not gotten to the Flow Edge. Ian fell off the ATV he was riding and injured his wrist so it was a dash back to the Health Centre for X-rays before it closed.  The local Health Care workers don't think it is broken but it is really swollen and they have sent the x-rays to Winnipeg to be reviewed. If he needs a cast he will be flown out to Winnipeg.  Fingers Crossed that is not the next steps.  So, keeping busy while he rests and ices I made Naan bread yesterday and also finished my first ...

 These two pictures show the morning of my birthday, March 12, and then the evening of my birthday.  The Northern Lights were pretty spectacular at about midnight as it had been such a clear day.  As a girl who mostly likes to spend her birthday on the beach in Florida, it was quite a change!      There was another teacher on staff with the same birthday and so there was a dinner party and it was a great night.      I also had an opportunity to go down below the school into the basement.  There is a run off river that runs through there in the Spring and I wanted to see the area was clear.  Not that spring is coming any time soon.  And one last thought.  Food is so expensive and limited. It was really exciting to find fresh pears in the COOP.  As you can see this little buddy had travelled a long way to be my breakfast! 

 What with blizzards and COVID - March 1-5 was the first full week of school we have had where all students were to attend everyday.  We are COVID free and in stage one which in Nunavut means no masks, just enhanced cleaning protocols!  It has been an absolute Joy to work without a mask!  We also had confirmation that 75% of the adults in the community took the Moderna Vaccine!  So, fingers crossed we will continue healthy here in Whale Cove. Ian and I walked along the shore of the inlet today. In this photo he is looking out onto the water. We think the entire inlet is frozen solid as we do not see the mist that would indicate a water's edge.  The mist over Hudson Bay looks to be about 5-7 kilometres off the cost. Ian is trying to get someone to take him out to the water's edge in their snow mobile.  Distances are very difficult to judge.  Below is the view that Ian could see from the Rocky point.  The white expanse is the frozen water....