last night:

The wind is gusting to 120km/h.

our blinds keep moving and rattling:

the houses across the street had their power out for several hours. There was a lull in the wind, and the power came back, but now their windows are black again. This is truly scary, as our heating is electrical, and the houses get chilled very fast. Our own power has been flickering on and off, sometimes for a few minutes, mostly for a few seconds, and there is no internet right now, but so far we have been lucky. I have extra clothing in the bedroom -- winter jackets, hats and mitts, for the kids, in case our power shuts down. The loud howling from the wind is spooky. With the kids asleep, the blizzard isn't 'fun' anymore. The house is shaking and creaking. Snow is finding cracks in the windows and piling up on the window sills.



We collected enough to make a small snowman.



The temperature is very high, -5C, though it feels like -25C with the wind chill, and at one point I wanted to open the door and stick my head out. The instant I turned the lock, the door flew right at me banging me hard on my head. Lesson learned. I convinced the kids that on blizzard nights we go to bed early, so this mean they will wake up early as well. I am wide awake and too anxious to sleep. I know this is irrational, as we are not in any danger, but the constant movement of the house and the overwhelming noise of the wind...

Lost power there. Still no internet. Will post it tomorrow. Going to drink some chamomile tea with honey and try to relax.

* * *
we woke up at 8:30AM and immediately lost power. it came back around 2PM. we stayed in the bedroom the entire time -- i ran out a dozen times for snacks, toys, and what not. since it was only -6C outside, the house didn't get icy, but it did get rather uncomfortably chilly. the wind kept gusting at 100km/h, but the sky was clear blue.

i wasn't able to find the local radio station on our little radio, our reception is poor. we need to get a satellite radio. and a thermos. and a non-electric heater (do they even exist?).

the power customer service line was not being picked up. i called several people but they were out, or their phones were not charged. in any case, i remain blissfully unaware what is happening with the power situation. is it back, or are they rolling it? i'm fully preparing not to have it again tonight.

our second blizzard. wind gusting to 100km/h. the weather hot-line is constantly busy. the noise in the living room is similar to the constant hum in an airplane during a flight, my monitor is shaking, and it is windy inside the room. if i stand by my living room window i get sprinkled with thin dropplets of water (or is it ice? in my house?). wild. we are going to have a blizzard party. would be more fun if my husband wasn't stranded in yellow knife.

teach an old dog a new trick (speedier uploading), and you get daily photo updates. but the weather has to be reasonable. like -29C, no windchill.

we had plans to see the biggest airplane ever (so they say) which is now in the iqaluit airport, undergoing some freezing temperature tests. the taxi driver said that he saw the plane fly north this morning. but it is supposed to return and stay here until monday. pics to come. weather permitting.

so instead we went to the post office. nada. not a single parcel. not even a postcard. then we walked to the visitors' center.

walking towards the bay, near the visitors' center




this street looks so cozy to me. it looks warmer than it is...



down by the bay






looking back from the shore. my shadow and my child, who wasn't so keen on my photographic endeavours. our Road To Nowhere subdivision is just behind that hill, 20 minutes walking, 40 with a 4 year old

around 4PM the sun is setting (photo taken from the visitors' center, where we watched a video on drum dancing)

we get out from the cener -- woah! full moon!



on the way home we check out the remains of the Snack.

the diner burned down last week. they say the fire department declared the grease fire under control and left. then the Snack burned down. don't quote me on this one, just things i heard.

as we were walking by a young inuk shook his head and said, no more Snack. i answered, what a shame. he laughed -- the drunks will have nowhere to go now late at night.

this was the aspect of the Snack not yet familiar to us. we had burgers there twice. small burgers. barely warm burgers. we still loved the Snack. it was open late, when everything else was closed. RIP, Snack.

last day of january -28C wind: calm

we go out for a walk


she is determined

inside the amautik, he is curious

we look at the snow barrier


kids are going back to school after lunch break
we think we will follow the snowmobile tracks



we are ambitious, we want to go up that hill

then we remember a little note we read in the local newspaper: wolves have been seen in Iqaluit and Apex. schoolchildren are being warned. the wolves are hungry and desperate. ouch. we return home. hot chocolate for everybody.

* * *

just before we came in, i took quite a number of photos, holding my camera in my bare hands. then i took my key out, ready to open the door. all of a sudden i could not move my fingers. my hands got so stiff i could not insert the key into the lock. i put my mitts on again, and tried to warm my hands up. in a couple of minutes i was able to open the door. and lock it behind us. wow. and it wasn't even that cold.

* * *


some photos of our first blizzard, a week or so ago:

we wake up to this

our front door

a raven hides from the wind on our deck

windows covered with snow, and crayon art on the glass

* * *
and on a completely separate and unrelated note: i made this, with no pattern, in 2 h. the last time i crocheted was in kindergarden. i'm pretty impressed with myself. i need to buy more yarn.

winter days...

i haven't had any time to write in the last weeks, and i blame it on my novel. when i mostly wrote flash, i always wrote flash, and i had the time. now i feel i need uninterrupted chunks of time. and i never have them. i thought i had one now, but i am too sleepy, and all i managed to do was to read my previous chapter, write a couple of sentences, and a short summary of the chapter that i was planning to finish today. it is better than nothing, but it is not enough, and i get antsy that i am not writing.

the binnacle micro fiction contest deadline is approaching, so maybe i should focus on something that is 150 words long. this feels more manageable, and i love the challenge. i was short listed last year, and the rumour goes that you get your copy of the deck of cards with the flashes on them only after you submit again. this is a joke, don't quote me on this.

my mentor from the humber school of writing correspondence course had mailed me my comments. they are not here yet. he thought i'd have them wednesday. nunavut is apparently not canada. oh, in so many ways too.

okay, i am going go force myself to write 500 words for my chapter. i can do it. i don't care if it will be crap. it will be crap that i can edit later.

now.

i am going to do it now.

the novel is moving along. slowly and steadily. not too slowly, actually. i am happy with the pace. a new structure has evolved, so the fist several chapters had to be restructured.

i feel i need to be printing everything out in order to have a better view, especially of the spatial stuff, but i'm also stingy with paper. gotta get over this block.

i also want to dig in the storage room and find my voice recorder, so i can record some passages and then listen to them.

interesting thoughts come late at night, when i am falling asleep, and i repeat them several times in order not to forget, but i still forget. maybe i should force myself to get up every time this happens, and type them up. though i hope the same thoughts will return when i am working on the relevant chapters.