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....

The blizzard was crazy- warnings from Tuesday night until Sunday. We got out today and kids were playing on the pond- real feel -57 degrees Celsius!  It is so cold that the RCMP trucks are left running 24 hours a day in case they need to respond to a call. One of the officers picked up our grocery order from the airport after the plow cleared the drifts. For two full days visibility was limited to our front porch.  Warnings still in place! 

  https://youtube.com/shorts/-pyXd8_Ap8c The storm got worse after this and I actually could not open or close the door without Ian’s help. We are at home for the second day this week and really hoping to be back at school tomorrow. I don’t do sitting at home very well.  Finished the work I brought home. Started a professional book. Did three crossword puzzles. Took a nap. Started a novel... called or texted a bunch of people!!!!  Fingers crossed the blizzard blows itself out over night.

  It was a challenging week in Whale Cove.  I was touched again by the spectre of suicide, although for now we have support in place for the individual.  There was disclosure of domestic violence and other challenges of food insecurity and tales of violence in other schools in nearby communities that were frankly very scary.  Whale Cove has been very kind to us and today when we walked around we took all of the photos above.  We walked across frozen ponds that looked like cement, saw snow waves and climbed through the rocky terrain.  Ian climbed up to the Whale Tale and took a few shots.  Can you find me in the one in the bottom middle? It was a warm -27 today with brilliant sunshine.  The ice rink is open and kids were getting dropped off for hockey like in many a Canadian Town.  What an adventure!