A Tranquil Evening of Dog Sledding…

Arctic spring… so beautiful. The bay is still iced over, and there’s still a lot of snow on the ground, but the tundra is peaking through more and more each day it seems. I was wrong about seeing the last of the snow though… it has pretty much been snowing all week, but only ever so slightly. It’s just a dusting of snow falling from the sky almost all the time! I was up really early one morning to let Parker out for a pee (Siu-Ling is away this week) and the snow was so fine, and it was catching the early morning light in such a way, that it looked like fairy dust falling from the sky, so pretty.

The best part of Arctic spring so far though has been the return of songbirds. First the snow buntings arrived (apparently two or three weeks early… what do they know and how do they know it??), and then more recently the ?? I can’t tell you how much more notable a bird singing in spring is when the landscape has been completely devoid of song, other than the odd squawk of a raven, for close to eight months. It stops me in my tracks. Even the ravens are feeling the itch though. I’ve seen several go by carrying nesting material.

So I mentioned that the Bay is still frozen over and in a previous blog, and that Siu-Ling’s sled dogs have been moved down onto the Bay for easy access to the ice. Last Sunday Siu-Ling asked if I would like to join her and David for an evening run and of course, I said yes. It was such a beautiful evening! So calm and clear. The sky was a beautiful, soft greyish-purple and the sun was setting to our right, casting a brilliant shimmer on the distant mountains.

And I discovered that spring dog-sledding is much more enjoyable than -50 below dog sledding in January! There are two main reasons for this… one, it’s just not as cold, and two, the run was on a flat surface, meaning there wasn’t as much of a need to jump off the sled and run up hill to make it easier for the dogs (which I really was not very good at) like on the rolling terrain we travelled in January. I was sitting at the back of the sled, propped up and snuggled between Siu-Ling and David’s bags. Because there were three of us, and being far more practised and far less clumsy than I, both Siu-Ling and David got off the sled at times for a run; but being six and a half months pregnant, I felt no such motivation. I was perfectly warm and perfectly content to just sit back and enjoy the scenery.

Siu-Ling’s lead sled dog Lewis was away for a couple days procreating with a female from another team… there are going to be puppies again! That meant that Siu-Ling had the opportunity to try out a couple of the other dogs in front, since Lewis is one of the older dogs on the team and will not be with them forever. It was pretty touch and go in the beginning, and the dogs got their lines in an awful mess, but I found it interesting to watch the dynamics of the team shift without Lewis. Dogs that are perfectly capable of taking a direction command completely lost it and flopped when faced with leadership. In the end it was one of last year’s puppies - you might remember Bo – that found his rhythm in the front. He was SO proud of himself when we got back to the dog yard. It was very cute.

Before the run we took Tua and Parker out for a walk... this is a very happy Tua!

Parker taking Tua for a walk... I couldn't believe she tolerated this so well!

Lillian enjoying a nice warm brew before the run.

All the dogs looking ready to get going.

The take off!

Beautiful evening...

The sun setting on the distant mountains... the image is so small here... it hardly does it justice. I think you can click on it to see a larger image... give it a try :)

Like I said, it was a little rough going at first and they got their lines in an awful mess. Siu-Ling attempting to get them sorted out so no one would get caught up on all the lines.

Beautiful shot of Giller... I think he is the most handsome of all the dogs!

Iqaluit from a far...

A while back you might recall a blog entry where I talked about sun dogs. There were some great examples of sun dgos during sunset the other day. The other one is hiding behind the hill.

Taima! (that means I'm finished in Inuktitut)

Three Generations of Corning Girls in Iqaluit…

My mom visited me last weekend. What a treat! It's so nice to be able to share my life and experience up here with family members. She arrived on Wednesday to a clear, sunny Iqaluit day. We started off her visit with a tour of town and wings at the local watering hole The Storehouse.

I think mom very much enjoyed her stay at the house where I am currently living. It is the grey house in the pcture below. We have a fantastic view of Frobisher Bay and on Thursday and Friday mom spent the day sitting in the cozy living room enjoying the view... oh yeah, and supposedly working from home... I wonder if she got any work done.

She was very facinated with the fact that all the houses are on stilts. I found this interesting since I am so used to it now, that it doesn't stand out to me as anything special or unique. No basements in Iqaluit! Only stilts...

This is the view from out back deck, a beautiful sunset over an icey town... its really pretty how the layer of ice over the snow catches the sun, though the picture doesn't quite do it justice.

I think mom was as much in love with Parker as I am! He's a real charmer.

From the back deck again... I love the clouds in this photo.

Like her husband before her, mom and I did a lot of hiking! I have a vehicle now, unlike when dad visited back in September, so at least we were able to drive to the prime hiking locations, rather than walking the whole way from town. Being six months pregnant, my ability to hike long distances has been drastically reduced.

One of the best spots in town for hiking and spectacular views is Sylvia Grinnell Park. Here mom is on the look-off over the Sylvia Grinnell River. The two waterfalls the make up the best fishing spots on the river are frozen over this time of year. It was a little overcast, so unfortunately you can't see the distant snow-covered mountains!

Down by the river... it was such a spectular shade of blue the this picture only begins to do justice.

I'm on top of the world! Whoo-hoo-hooooooo (name that quote)

Another great spot for hiking where I spent a great deal of time hiking last summer and fall is The Road to Nowhere. It looks a little different than the last time you would have seen pictures of it! We made two visits to The Road to Nowhere. During the first visit we got hit with a bit of a snow squall, so we didn't make it very far. Poor Parker was quite the baby about it, he was really cold and his coat was covered in slush when we finally made it back to the beast (my Ford Explorer).

It was a much nicer day for our second visit. This is looking back into town.

On the way back we decided to take a detour over a ridge and found ourselves on the edge of a steep bank of snow. Rather than trek back the way we came, we opted for the but scooch down the hill.

And this is mom recovering from the but scooch. We laughed like fools the whole way down!

Probably my favorite spot in town though is one of the high points looking out over Frobisher Bay. The Bay is still very much iced over as far as you can see. Another thing that pictures just can't capture is how spectacular the distance mountains are across the Bay. They are captivating, inspiring awe in me just about every clear day when they are visible, summer, fall, winter and spring. I just love them.

Mom meets a real Inukshuk!

Mom was really fascinated with the sled dogs. This time of year the dogs are tied up out on the bay on the ice. This makes from easy access to the open expanse of the frozen bay. We trekked out on to the ice a couple of times to see the team. The first time was just for a feeding, while the second time we watched Siu-Ling and her friend David get the dogs ready and head out on to the bay with the team. This is Tua in the picture below. She is the retired female that is living at the house right now. She grows on me more and more each day.

Mom and the dogs. She was a little reluctant to get any closer to them on the chain than she is in the picture. They can be quite brutish, especially when they are still chained, but they are fine once they are let loose for a sniff around.

Lillian flirting with Adam... she is such a flirt!

What mom was really interested in seeing was the process of getting the dogs all hooked up to head out for a run. Here you can see Siu-Ling and her friend David getting everyone ready to go. The dogs are all very serious at this point, other than Parker!

And hike! I think all the colored lines look so pretty on the white snow.

Just pulling out...

And off they go....

The other teams look on enviously... I think they would like to be heading out as well.

Mom was so inspired by meeting the dogs on the ice and watching them through binoculars from the house that she wrote a poem! She left it with Siu-Ling in a thank you card. Siu-ling, after reading it, said to me "I didn't know you mom was a poet!" and I said "neither did I!" I didn't get her creative permission to publish this poem, so I hope you don't mind mom!

Sled Dogs

Dogs… dots on the ice
Dogs on strings
Howling, yowling, prowling
Dogs, wait for the run.

Sleeping dogs… lie
On the snow.
Dogs covered in white
Jumping, growling, snapping
Dogs, wait for the run.

Dogs… white, fluffy, multi-coloured
Dogs, patiently waiting
Released, harnessed, bolt away, away
Dogs, on the run.

Dogs… panting, tired, exhausted
On the snow.
Make their way home
Hungry, sleepy, happy, smiling dogs
Dogs, home from the run.

I was pretty impressed! This landscape and way of life though is quite inspiring. I actually kind of wrote a poem myself... but its kind of in pieces at the moment. If I manage to make it flow I'll be sure to follow mom's inspired lead and share it as well.

On Saturday night, as a laugh, and as an opportunity to mingle with the community, we went to see Fred Penner at the middle school. Yes, that’s right, as in crawls-through-a-log-to-get-to-his-special-secret-forest-place Fred Penner. What was Fred Penner doing in Iqaluit you ask? There is an organization in Iqaluit called Alianait that has put great effort into arranging visits to Iqaluit from Canadian music talent. Fred actually put on a great show, the kids just loved him, and I’m not going to lie… mom and I knew pretty much all of his songs and sang along. There was actually this build up of anticipation for The Cat Came Back and I found myself feeling really excited when he finally sang it at the end of the show. Meeeoooowwwwwwww.....

Fred singing with one of the local day cares.

You might recall that I had my picture taken with Susan Aglukark when she was performing in town, so I told mom she had to go and get her picture taken with Fred. He was kind of busy signing autographs, so she just went and stood behind him. She looks so funny! I was trying to tell her to give him bunny ears, but she didn't understand me.

Mom was here for Mother's Day, so I planned a brunch with my housemate and friends. It was very nice, and it's kind of my first Mother's Day as well... kind of? This is Jonah playing with Parker. Isn't he precious in his puppy dog hat?!

Jonah has got to be one of the happiest babies I have ever met. There is always a smile on that sweet face!

Then in the evening I took mom out to The Discovery Lodge, which has the nicest restaurant in town.

On Monday I took the day off, so we had one last full day together. We took the opportunity to do some of the more touristy things around town. We visited the Nunavut Legislature building and the local museum, and several of the shops and galleries around town.

Mom's first encounter with a polar bear... very frightening!

All together it was an awesome visit with a super awesome mom! Happy belated Mother's Day to all the mom's out there who are listening!