our first sea lift container was delivered to our door today. it's so cute, i have to take a photo. a ply wood box, 1.24 cubic meters, 444 kg -- says so on the label. (craig, if you are reading this -- here you go. my personal '444'.) full of goodies from costco. raspberry jam. check. calamata olives. check. social tea cookies. check. 100 kg of flour. check. and other stuff too good to be true.


groceries: $ 822
personal shopper and packer in ottawa, 4 hours: $120
transportation from ottawa to the sea port in montreal: $150
booking sea lift: $30
marine transportation to iqaluit: $350
to the door delivery:$60

still cheaper than bying locally or ordering via food mail -- priceless.

read my post at the canadian writers' collective. i capitalise there. they make me to.

snowing. for real. some (not much) on the ground. several days ago we collected wildflower seeds to plant around the house. we better plant them now. at least the kids are eager to go out.

okay, it is stopping. turning into rain. i am relieved. that seed picking wasn't easy, with a 30lb toddler sleeping on my back. i'd hate for them to go to waste.

so the snowfall lasted for what, 5 minutes.

*
seed collecting was even more satisfying than berry picking. a bit of a mystery as well -- some dry brown flowers i could not even identify.

still snowing, actually. i need to stop typing, have breakfast, and get out with the seeds.

berry picking today...
5C with no wind is WARM.it's been drizzling all morning, but now it is actually sunny. i'm tempted to walk there again, take photos with the better lighting. kids are tired, though.

berry picking. blueberries and mountain cranberries, which are lingenberries. there is another berry, looks black. it is edible, but very bland.

the weather -- in toronto, you don't go out in this kind of weather for fun. not with the kids. light to medium drizzle. windy. cold.

in the arctic my ideas about weather have changed. i am only too aware that soon it will be dark for most of the day, and 'light' would mean an hour of grayish fog. it will also be cold. not chilly like now, but really cold. since it wasn't pouring, the weather was just right for going down the road of nowhere.

the hills have changed their colour. the are patches of are brown, orange, red, yellow. like a haphazard quilt. from far away they look soft and cuddly.

after the rains there is a lot of green moss. “it is like jumping on a mattress in your socks,” said my 4 year old. yeah, that soft.

we have a cup full of berries. with some lichen and leaves. tastes delicious.

environment canada says it is going to rain for the next 5 days.
*
in a town of 6 or more taxi companies and seemingly hundreds of taxi cabs, i waited for a cab for 45 minutes, in the rain. okay, i am being melodramatic. i was on a tiny porch of a closed community center, so technically i was not in the rain. but try to explain this to a 4 year old.

then we ran to the nearest crossroads to try to stop a car. and then a cab came. not ours, though. we took it. we were in Apex, 1 h walking from home.

the driver was from Ethiopia. here for 2 years. not a single day passes without him thinking of getting out. the money is good, but the expenses are high.

yesterday was the Mass Registration. this is when all the clubs, organizations and groups present themselves in the Arctic Winter Games arena. i had a table booked for my Natural Parenting and Breastfeeding Support group. i was between the quilting table and the speed-skating table. across from the dancing table. the dancing table was the most fun, because a small severely balding man in jeans danced with two asian women. they kept a healthy distance from him, though.

a girl scout lady and a public health nurse gave me thumbs up. men strained to read my sign and then jumped away, as though stung. hellooooo! breastfeeding is not a dirty word.

most parents with babies walked by. one said she already got all the support she wanted, thank you very much. this is actually what she said, "I already got all the support I wanted, thank you very much." geez. it is not like i was making her to sign up.

an elderly inuit woman tsicked (is this a word?) me for not conducting my group in inuktitut. "i will find someone to translate the sign," i said. i felt embarrassed. she gave me a cold stare. "but you can't lead your group in inuktitut, right?" right. can't.

7 moms signed up for my group. two were enthusiastic. one said she wished i was there last year.

there was a writing table too. i signed up for something, i think to be getting an email if a writer comes into town with a workshop.

i also signed up to get set up for composting.

all the presenters were southerners. 99% of people signing up were southerners. i think only about a hundred people came during the 4 hours that i was there.

note: southerners in iqaluit are people from the rest of the world who are not native to the arctic. not people from mississippi and alabama.

The Per Contra Prize for Short Fiction. deadline january 8, 2007. $1000 grand prize. check the details.

Per Contra is a pleasure to dive into. preferably with a cup of green tea (or coffe, if you prefer. or hot chocolate.) fiction, poetry, arts, interviews -- i never know where to start a new issue.

what can i say. i have a soft spot for Per Contra. my first ever publication, Snowrise, is in its second issue. not only that, but Miriam N. Kotzin invited me to submit, after reading it on zoetrope. this was when i had not a single publication credit. not only that, but my story is in the same issue with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose novel Purple Hibiscus i loved. i'm so thrilled to be in Per Contra.

i have way too many links in this post. over.

line editing. i got blurbs! from my two wonderful clients.
_____________________
Ania provides insightful, extensive and creative editing services. She’s given me invaluable assistance and has the ability to pinpoint flaws in astraight forward and forthright manner. Ania offers clear and comprehensive suggestions in a professional and non-threatening style. I would recommendher to any writer who desires an intelligent and objective viewpoint and hopes to improve his work.

Peter Sarno, graduate student

____________________________

Ania,

Thanks for all of your help on my flash "Patrimony". Your patient encouragement and your honest critique of what worked and what did not, helped me to take this from a rough draft to a finished product. I was pleased to learn that it has been accepted for publication in the spring issue of "Antithesis Common" (even though I did not take your suggestion to axe "beloved"). Thanks again I look forward to working with you in the future.

Len Joy

____________

wind gusting to 70km/h. i could feel the sofa shake and tremble under me.

it is snowing.

it's snowing. it is raining, but some of the raindrops, well, aren't raindrops, but tiny snowflakes. it smells like winter.

line editing. two people on zoetrope liked my reviews so much that they hired me as their line editor. they think i am good. i LOVE line editing. almost as much as writing. and i need cash for stamps, for all these SASEs. and envelopes. and stuff. so if you want a line editor, i am good and responsible, and i don't miss deadlines no matter what. but beware, some say i am anal. (i am).

i'm reading The Time in Between by David Bergen. i'm loving it.

how familiar everything is already. how comforting. the first turn of the road when i walk downtown, and i see the bay. every time different. low tide, high tide. the sky. the light. today the sky was grey, but somewhere far, over the water there must have been a crack in the clouds, because the sunlight was pouring through. there was a thin, brilliantly white band, almost blinding, at the far end of the bay. the hills above it were ephemeral, gauzy.

the second turn of the road and i see the town. i was surprised at how good it felt to see it. as though i belonged. as though i've been here forever.