DAY 2

I went to the school carnival last night and saw what seemed to be most of the community --- a growing community, it's not hard to miss. SO many kids! I was put to work at the "Fish Pond," a game for the wee ones, taking tickets and giving out rods. It was a blast seeing all of the little ones' faces light up with their little prizes. Also, it was a joy to see all of the babies and toddlers snug as bugs in their mothers' amauti. The amauti is the large hood on the back of women's parkas, in which their babies sit, stand, or sleep. Warm, as they've got body heat from their mothers, and safe from harm's way. (They actually don't sit in the hood, they sit inside the parka, so the hood can be put up and the little one can see over mom's shoulder.)

As for today... What a day, what a day! Paul and I went out for a ride this afternoon on his snowmobile and met up briefly with Toby, Mireille and Bryan, who were cross-country skiing. We then went on to see more of the shoreline, where the multiyear ice is raised up off of the ice surface making it quite a sight. (Again, I took photos.)

We also saw Elder's grave. Elder was an English sailor from Captain William Edward Parry's expeditions who died in 1823. At his grave is a marker made from local limestone, very nicely engraved. Parry's expeditions on the navy ships Fury and Hecla marked the first direct contact between the Inuit of the area and Europeans.

Then we went out to the sea ice to look for Paul's friend Michael, as we knew he was out with his dog team, and we wanted to see them in action. Well, we saw their tracks and followed them and soon after ran into them. Michael was on his way back to town to find someone to give a hand to Annie, who had gone out hunting with her son and his friend, and her snowmobile had died on her. So, things worked out fortuitously for everyone: Paul went out and picked them up and pulled them home, and I went home with Michael and his dogs! A dogsled ride on my 3rd day here!! Very cool. After being on the skidoo, which was pretty excellent in itself, because the scenery is all very unique and new for me, and you can see forever... oh, where was I? The skidoo, it's loud and you're breathing in gas fumes, at least if you're on the back, and those aren't issues on a dogsled, obviously. It's so quiet. You only hear the crunching of the snow under your sled (qamutiq) and Michael's calls out to the dogs every once in a while. (I can't really describe those, but there are certain sounds made for certain commands, and then to just pick up the pace a little, he calls out the lead dog's name, Ulu, in a really high pitch)--- Along with the conversation, of course.

The snow sounds different up here. It's so dry. I'm told that a month ago it had a different pitch to it (the crunching of the snow) because it was colder. Only a dogteam owner could pick out that sort of thing, because all alone, it's all you hear.

It wasn't that cold out today, only -8C, but Paul got me all geared up in his traditional caribou skin parka (qulitaq) "just for effect." Wow, those caribou must be warm animals, because their skins certainly kept me warm. Sealskin mitts, too. Yesterday, about 1/2 hr or so after a walk I was blowing my nose or something and wondered, " what on earth is that smell?" It took me a second to realize that it was the smell of seal, from the mittens. Odd, but the smell really grows on you.

Weird little anecdote: This morning I tried on Paul's japa (parka that's not made of skins, but has a fur trim on the hood) and after it was on he said, "You're not allergic to dogs, are you?" To which I responded affirmatively. This causes a clothing problem, you see, because the trim on the hood is made of dog fur (it's better for shedding snow than caribou, so often the qulitaq also has a dog fur trim on the hood). So, we have to make sure that I don't wear any dog furs, or I'll be crying for some reactine or claritin, which I'm not so sure one can get a hold of up here very easily. Now, I don't know about you, but I never thought my allergy to dogs would cause apparel problems!

Then, this evening, I had my first "country food," which is what one calls the food that's native to the region (caribou, muskox, seal, etc.). Toby made a caribou (tuktu) dish, which was very tasty indeed. The big difference is that they're not bled, like everything that we urban southerners eat, so it's a very rich flavour. Unique and very good.

Hmm... I think that's the update for the day.

Uh oh, I just looked outside, and it's almost dark, and up here at this time of year, that means it's getting terribly late, so I'd better sign off.

Later people. Hope all's well wherever you may be (from North Carolina to William's Lake,BC)

Lynn