Halloween Pictures

Wednesday, October 31, 2007












Halloween in Arctic Bay

Today has been a crazy day here at school in Arctic Bay - it's Halloween! The school has been transformed into a Halloween Bonanza. Each elementary classroom door has been decorated and there are little games going on in each class. Sadly, the high school students are having classes as usual, but that's OK, as I have my media classes in the afternoon and they (those that decided to show) are just working on their podcasts or just having a good time on the web today.

I've been upstairs several times snapping pictures of the festivities going on upstairs, so stay tuned for those to be posted later on this evening (or early this morning).

Trick-or-Treating here in Arctic Bay begins at 5:00pm (so it's going to be a mad dash home to get my running gear, a quick run out along my running path, and back home to hand out treats. Good thing that there are two of us that live there.. so I can take the second shift :-). Trick-or-treating lasts until 7:00pm and then we all head to the gym where there is a costume contest for the younger kids. There are several categories and many prizes. After the community gathering in the gym, there is a dance for the older kids / youth (+16), so I have a feeling tomorrow may also be a "lazy / catch-up" day at school to, as many of my high school students are planning to attend the dance.

Here's hoping that Halloween won't bring too many surprises :-)

From unfrozen to frozen

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Not too long ago here in Arctic Bay, the Bay was wide open (as in not frozen over):

October 10, 2007


October 19, 2007


And then the temperature dropped .... and kept dropping:

October 23, 2007


October 27, 2007


Happy Halloween!

What I Wake up to in the Morning

Sunday, October 28, 2007
These shots were taken just down a little embankment from my house ... essentially my "front yard":

Sunrise over The Bay @ 11:10 AM






Clouds over King George V

Early Riser Pictures

Saturday, October 27, 2007
Ok, so maybe not an early riser to southern standards ... but 9:15 am is early here in the North. This morning, before the town got too busy and I had students following me around asking to use my camera, I got up early to snap some pictures of both the moonset and sunrise. Not to often a gal from the South gets to see both the moonset and the sunrise in the same time span.

Moon at 9:59 AM


Moon at 10:16 AM


Sunrise at 10:15 AM


Sunrise


Frozen Bay


Skills Canada Cardboard Qamutiik Races

Friday, October 26, 2007
Today at school we had a cardboard qamutiik competition sponsored by Skills Canada. Students from grades 6+ were able to participate in building a cardboard qamutiik and race it against other qamutiiks built by others in the school on a track that Darcy and Nick made up on the baseball field near by the school.

For those of you down south who have no idea what a qamutiik is, it is a sled that is pulled by either sled dogs or by snowmobiles. Qamutiiks are made of wood. Qamutiiks have two skies. People use qamutiiks when they go camping and often pull qamutiiks when using skidoos. Children can make small qamutiiks for sliding. Sometimes people build little cabins on a qamutiik for added shelter.

Qamutiiqs


The kids had a great time building their cardboard qamutiiks (although, some of them looked more like krazy karpets than qamutiiks) they all had fun racing each other outside.









Community Feast

Last night, we had a community feast here in Arctic Bay after our Career / Trades show in the gym. I have to say, the experience of just being there was quite ... well.... I'm still wordless on how to describe it. So.. I"ll let the pictures do the talking:


Tuktu


Tuktu, Iqaluk and Maktaaq


Natsiq


Maktaaq



At the feast there was tuktu (caribou), iqaluk (arctic char), maktaaq (aged narwhale) and natsiq (seal). All of these meats were frozen raw, except for the maktaaq, which is aged then frozen, and the seal was freshly prepared in front of me. There was also some cooked iqaluk and deep-fried bannock.

Before we began the feast, one of the elders said a prayer thanking God / Spirits for the food and brining us together, and then, in the traditional Inuit way, the elders were first to select their meat from the feast. Soon after, everyone else was asked to join.



Traditional Male and Female Seal Pelt Winter Clothing

Birks in the Snow

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Sunrise.... Sunset. Sunrise... Sunset.

Sunrise @ 10:04 AM


Sunset @ 4:45 PM

Can we say BRRRRRRR

5 Day Weather Forecast for Arctic Bay


The Days are getting shorter, and the temps are getting lower

Let's go Shopping!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Welches Grape Juice


Tropicana Anyone?


Sunny-D!


Tim's Coffee