i discovered a lovely, cozy cafe today. on the outside, it looks like a shack. on the inside it is comparable to any nice toronto cafe. homemade cookies were for only $1, same as in toronto. the music was nice. the decorations were tasteful.
oh, i plan to be there often. with my laptop. without the kids. ah, something to look forward to.

we also had lunch at a discovery lodge hotel. for mere $28 we ordered two cranberry juices and one order of french fries, chicken fingers, and salad. the food was good, i can't complain. it was the first time i ate junk food since we left toronto. i made sure i ate my lunch at home, though. i just can't justify $18 for 4 pieces of chicken and some fries.

we have the most yellow airport in the world, i am sure of it. it is very very yellow, and small. i can see it from almost every hill.

today i walked to the airport to get our weekly food mail. i love that i can walk to the airport. i love how my groceries arrive -- on a plane. in firm, neat cartons. they are certainly overpacked, and an old environmentalist in me cringes. yet every little plastic container is a surprise, and we do reuse the plastics.

i realised that i haven't eaten grapes or fresh strawberries, or cherries, or pears, since we arrived. or watermelons. i do order mangoes and avocados, though.

sh*t! i just realised that the 5 kg of apples that i ordered didn't arrive.

four months ago my kid threw her slipper into our solar system mobile and pluto, with its spike, fell off. who knew? certainly not me. (i am sure there were people who knew.)



how cool is THAT?

a small town diner. almost exotic. like in the gray, often depressing movies whose titles i do not remember. a wrinkled skinny french woman at the counter. ageless. smiling. for $7 we get an orange juice, a tea, a hot chocolate and a blueberry muffin.

a neighbour's cat is on my keyboard. small town.

i got to practice my french today. the driver of the cab we took was a blonde, 40 something woman from quebec. she said, "no english" when i flagged her down and said, "may we join in?" arguably a stupid question.

a cab ride in iqaluit is $5, no matter the destination. children ride free. there are no sitbelts. passengers are picked up on the way. most cab drivers are french. one italian.

"must. be. errrrrrrrrrr. difficult. for you. errrrrrrrrrr. to work. in english," i said in french. (i won't even try to write it in french, though).

she said, carefully articulating each word, that it was not difficult to drive the cab, but it was difficult psychologically, because she had been trying to learn english for 6 years now.

"grab a book," i sad. "sit down and study."

she said she was trying, but just could not.

i didn't know i could speak that much french. i must be a genious.

oh, did i mention, tee-shirt weather again? lovely, lovely, lovely.

it rained all night. loud on our metal roof. it did sound like drumming. they say that cliches are always right.

looked at and read Beverly Jackson's blog. feeling nostalgic for the first time since we moved here.

well, ania, snap out of it. you live in a beautiful place, and so who cares that it is closer to the north pole than to the rest of the world.

it is still raining. oh, and it is going to rain for the next 4 days, says my 5 day forecast. i miss my friends today. it is a day to go to a small caffe on the Danforth or in High Park, sip hot chocolate, watch umbrellas through the raindrops on the glass, talk about anything and everything, order a polish pastry or two.

maybe i need a hot chocolate or something.

arctic char. fish jumping out of the water in groups of dozens. none are hungry enough to be attracted by our metal bait.

a local fisherman comes over and gives us two fish. "i will catch more," he says.

"how do you know? do you want money?"

"no money."

other than that, he does not seem to speak much english.

we watch him fish. he is catching a fish every 10 minutes.

later we find out that he was snagging.

*

at home i clean the fish. at first i think -- this is not a big deal. i cut the head off, then the tail. i slice its stomach. i've never done this before. when i take the second fish out of the bag i suddenly shudder, scream, and drop it into the sink.

*

arctic char tastes delicious.




people fishing on the Sylvia Grinnell river

currently reading: Uhuru Street by M.G. Vassanji. hello Canadian literature. available at iqaluit centennial library. go nunavut, go.

inuksuit (plural of inuksuk) meaning, "to act in the capacity of a human."



inuksuit in the Apex park, July

for a second i thought it was the sun rising again.

the moon was huge, orange and perfectly round. this photo does not give it justice. anuri street.

sunset today around 9:30 PM. view from our deck.
my 4 year old was screaming: "NORTHERN LIGHTS!"

notes from june 28, 2006

iqaluit airport terminal is very yellow.

i expected it to be cold. perhaps that's why the sun feels unusually warm on my skin. its warmth is like a physical entity. it is 15C.

a small white dog named lulu runs unleashed between the two rows of chair in the arrival / departures area, which the only area inside the airport.

women carry their babies on their backs in simple vests that have pouches at the back and zippers at the front.

our suitcases do not arrive.

O. from the office drives us to the grocery store. we buy bread, milk, eggs, a can of smoked fish and a can opener. then she drives us to our new home.

from our windows we see the bay and hills.

i can't sleep at night because it does not get dark.

New stories up

read Evdokija's New Name in BuzzWords, and three flashes in FRiGG.

Road to Nowhere

The Road to Nowhere. street sign. Koojesse inlet to the right. in other words, the nowhere is to your left, but i am never there in the right lighting. fog over the road to nowhere.a small person walking to nowhere.

the road to nowhere in b&w.

fishing. fishing was fun. didn't catch a fish. didn't see a fish. but you have to understand. when i say 'gone fishing' it is like saying 'gone to the moon'. i've never fished as a child. never knew anyone who fished. it is all bright and new to me. things like going fishing.

walked to the Sylvia Grinell Park. 1 hour slow speed. down the hill to the river bank. fished a bit. i could hear the river flow. i could hear the waterfalls rush. my kids screaming. my kids laughing. we saw two airplanes landing. and a helicopter. that was on the way back.

last week i learned that the cloud formations are called cumulonimbus. just because my kid wanted to learn about clouds. we have cumulonimbus all the time here. the most beautiful cumulonimbus.

it was sunny and warm. tee-shirt warm. some mosquitoes by the water, but tiny ones. very little wind today too.

we might go fishing on monday. i want to catch one. i will probably be terrified of it, and scream, and drop it, but i want to catch one.

below are photos from a couple of weeks ago, at Sylvia Grinnell, on the National Park Day.

Our street--Antlers and Car

antles and car. just down the street. encountered on the first day.
















northern skies in june










arctic flowers















arctic poppy and purple fireweed









june

Fishing

Today we are going fishing.

I'm back on line. I will write something of substance tomorrow. Maybe. It is hard to have the internet back -- too many things to do, too many sites to visit.