The Silly Season

This has been a bit of a tough stretch for our family. The sun is everywhere.  All the time. (Well, most of the time.)  It is setting at 10:00pm, which means the sky is still light until about 11pm. Sunrise is currently 3am, which means the sky begins to lighten at 2am. This makes a grand total of 3 hours per day of total darkness. And it's just going to keep getting worse until the end of June. (I got these times a few days ago, last night when I was awake at 2am the sky was not dark).

from Google

About a month ago I put the blackout blinds back up. There are a lot of great ideas out there in terms of how to make rooms completely dark.  Things like, "have curtains that start at the ceiling" or "use wood valances at the top of the windows". In Thunder Bay, we have roller shades that slide between metal tracks on the sides of our skylights, effectively blocking 99.9% of the light. These shades are fantastic.

The type of shade we have back in TBay
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However, we do not own the house we are living in, and custom shades are quite expensive (not to mention there is no one in town who does them, so I'd have to custom measure every window and then install everything myself). I've thought about using sticky-back velro to stick curtains to the walls, but I'm worried it would pull off the paint when we remove it (again, not our house). To make do, we are back to using the temporary paper blackout accordion blinds we used last year (plus blackout liners behind curtains). This works far better than nothing, but there is some light peeking around the edges of the windows. JJ feels this is an acceptable compromise, and that the kids should learn to sleep with a little bit of light anyway (they shouldn't have to rely on the total darkness of a tomb in order to fall asleep).  For desperate times, we have masks that you wear over your eyes, but no one is really comfortable wearing them. (Sleeping with an elastic band around your head is also something that takes getting used to. I'd rather just get used to the light.)

Coraline's room with lights on.

Coraline's room at 3am.

Captain Jack's room.

And at 3am. For a boy who sleeps with a nightlight,
this isn't actually THAT bad.

I'm sure we will all adapt, but in the meantime we are experiencing the joy that comes with knowing that although we can (and will) adapt to our bedrooms becoming lighter in the middle of the night, it hasn't happened yet. We just need to be patient.  You know what's hard to be when you haven't slept in seven nights? Patient.

Everyone feels exhausted, so tempers are starting to flare.  For the past week, our darling CJS has been waking up at all hours of the night, then waking the rest of the house up (he is like a bull in a china shop). To try to help him out, JJ put a clock radio in his room so he will have some idea of what time it really is when he wakes up. The thought is he can go back to sleep instead of wondering if it is morning yet.  Captain Jack is so overtired he actually cried when I offered to get him something healthy from the fridge instead of yet another slice of pizza at lunch time (normally he never complains about having to have apple slices--he loves them!).

We were discussing all this with one of our neighbors a few days ago. A notice had shown up on Facebook about children playing at the bus stops and not getting onto the bus right away when it shows up at the stop. The bus drivers were threatening to stop driving the kids to school. My neighbor laughed and said "Oh please. This happens every year. It's the silly season!" Apparently, its not just us who are feeling cranky and "off", but everyone, students and bus drivers included. (Captain Jack's teacher has already cut down significantly on homework.  She says there's no point to assigning it, this time of year it simply doesn't get done. The kids are too tired and cranky.)

JJ has heard more and more about the "Silly Season" from around town and at the hospital.  I think calling it "Silly Season" is far more polite than some other terms I can think of to call it, most of which I can't type here in my "G" rated blog.

Another sure sign spring is here (besides the crazy sun) is that the chip truck is back!  It's not actually a chip truck. It's more....traditional food truck.  The Nanook Express sells various food items throughout the warmer months of the year.  Each day they post their location on Facebook. Locations vary, and include "in front of the beer and wine store", or "in the Nakasuk School parking lot" or "by the new post office warehouse". (Photos from Facebook.)

"Mamaqtuq" is Inuktitut for "delicious".

There is also an actual chip truck, but that doesn't appear to be up and running yet.

***

It is now 10:45pm on Saturday night.  JJ and I have just finished watching a movie and are about to turn in.  Outside though, I can still hear young children playing in the neighborhood. It makes it tough for me and JJ, because our kids still go to bed at their regular time.  (Slightly later on weekends.)  On school nights it seems most kids go to bed a little bit earlier, but culturally it isn't the same as what we are used to.  Many of these kids have never heard, "Of course you can't go outside to play this late.  It's a school night." Enjoying the daylight, even when it extends into the late evening, seems more important than school. Coraline and Captain Jack are confused by this. Coraline is jealous, wondering why children far younger than she is "get to run around outside until midnight" while she is stuck in bed. Captain Jack thinks the whole idea of kids being outside that late is preposterous, and hilarious.

A taxi driver was telling us once about the kids he picks up regularly on his nightly run.  Sometimes he just drives around with random children in the back of his cab. It gets them off the streets for a little while, and helps them to warm up. There seem to be more children outside, he said, on nights when the bars are busy. 

Earlier this evening the four of us were watching a TV show.  Suddenly we heard a child calling out to Captain Jack. We all looked at each other. Family members were accounted for...so who else was in our house? One of Captain Jack's friends had just walked in the front door, past our mudroom, opened the second door, and was calling to us. He wanted a glass of water. We invited him in to join us for cookies (the kids' bedtime snack). Earlier this evening two girls rang the doorbell asking to come in to use our bathroom. ("Sure. You know where it is.") I think JJ made sure he locked the door after the last "guest" left. I don't mind our house turning into a sort of "youth centre", but we don't want free-range children just walking in at all hours.

Kids playing in the evening outside. That's Coraline making her way
back up the hill toward me (and home). 

The little fort Coraline and Captain Jack have built from scrap wood.
You can see that the hill isn't as snow-covered as it used to be, but the lake is still frozen.

10:45pm, May 26. The sun has set, but the sky isn't dark yet.

Today the wind is gusting up to 50km per hour, and it's snowing (we are expecting to get 10cm by tonight). Even JJ is starting to become fed-up with the weather. On a brighter note: he and I will be traveling somewhere later in the week.  And it ISN'T to Ottawa!  Where could we be going? First person to guess correctly gets a tiny Inukshuk carving. (Mom, you aren't allowed to guess because you already know.)

In-laws at the Frob, May long weekend

I don't think I've told you all about the restaurant at the Frobisher Inn, and I wanted to show that it is possible to have a nice meal here in Iqaluit. We all went to eat dinner at the Frob on Monday night with NJ and Marie. (Remember, its "Frob", rhymes with "robe".)

Frob menu.

While we were there, NJ and Marie got all their souvenir shopping done.  As per usual, various artists walk through the restaurant hocking their wares.  I have actually come to appreciate this way of buying art: you get to meet the artist, the money goes directly into their pocket as opposed to a shop, and the consumer gets a better price. The first artist to stop by had jewelry. Marie picked up a pendant.

Marie looking at the jewelry on offer.
(What is the lady in the background doing? Charades?)

She also picked up a sealskin broach.

Decor at the Frob.

Coraline's Froburger.

My beef bavette with mashed garlic potatoes.

Then, along came a carver from Cape Dorset.

Carving of four narwhals from a single piece of stone.

When we got home we realized that after looking at all the artwork and enjoying our meals, we had forgotten what Marie's pendant was made of. Facebook to the rescue!  I took some photos, posted, and had a bunch of answers within minutes.

Got answers from 5 people: muskox horn!

A closer look at NJ's carving: Serpentine stone with caribou antler carved into narwhal tusks.
Carved from one large piece of stone.

As we do with most visitors, we also took JJ's parents to the visitor's centre. JJ is a map aficionado, he always has been.  At our house in Thunder Bay he has a large map chest where he stores his collection of antique and current maps (he is mostly into topographical maps as opposed to road maps, but he collects both).  He had a blast discussing the maps with his mom and dad.

Showing his parents a map of Baffin Island.

Getting into more detail with NJ.

I thinks maps are sort of interesting, in that they tell you how to get from place to place. I don't find them magical the way JJ does. What I did find interesting on this trip into the visitor's centre was this diagram of the "seasons" in the north. (You don't need to do what I did and try to also look at it upside down, I flipped it for you guys! Just keep scrolling.)

Right-side up.

And upside-down.

In the far north, seasons don't happen the way they do elsewhere in the country (for one thing, the Inuit have six seasons rather than four).  A lot of people from "the south" talked about Toonik Tyme as a "celebration of spring", but it really wasn't.  Spring certainly had not yet arrived (seriously-- the activities were dogsledding, skijoring, snowmobile races, etc.). It was the celebration of the return of the sun. Up here, those two things are not the same. 

In late May, (now-ish) as you can tell from the diagram, leads should be beginning to form in the sea ice. What is a "lead"? I first heard this term while watching "The Terror". For those of you who don't know, The Terror is a new TV series following the fate of the crews of two ships: the Erebus and the Terror. These ships were lost while looking for the famed "Northwest Passage" during the 1840's. The hunt for the Northwest Passage is of particular interest to JJ, he has been reading about it since he could read. When we saw this TV show was coming out I made sure to download it when Coraline and I were in Ottawa a few weeks ago. (Yes, even though we are here IN the north, JJ still wants to watch TV about it.) The ships became stuck in the ice, and after awhile (2 years?) the men attempted to walk to a settlement but never got there.  Scientific evidence shows that due to the cold and gradual decline of supplies (not to mention their canned food going bad), some of the men were forced to...ahem....eat each other.  (As if that weren't enough for suspenseful television, AMC has thrown a giant, evil, polar bear villain into the show as well.  Just because.....they can.) At any rate, in the show the men spend a good portion of time waiting for "leads" that aren't showing up in the ice.  I didn't really pay any more attention to the term until I saw it again at the visitor's centre on the diagram above.

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Diagram showing how leads form on sea ice.
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While we are not even close to eating each other, like the crew of the Erebus and Terror, spring can't seem to come quickly enough. There are signs of it: the crazy early sunrises (2:30 in the morning!), and the kids have switched to their regular winter coats instead of parkas when they go to school. We still don't see much sign of the ice breaking up in the harbour, and I'm eager to see icebergs floating around out there. 

Not too warm for snowmobiles yet.

NJ taking a photo of the sea ice in the harbour. If you squint you may
be able to see the city in the distance.

JJ and NJ walked up the hill behind our place one afternoon.

Although still cold, you can see that the sun has evaporated/melted snow from the top of the hill.
Spring is definitely coming.....

.....even though in this pic it still really looks like winter.

Most ice on large bodies of water (even the lake in the backyard) appears to still be solidly frozen. This doesn't mean the city isn't preparing--the thaw will come eventually, and with all this snow, the water needs to go somewhere. If the city didn't start digging, all of Iqaluit would end up a muddy swamp for much of the summer.  As it is, it is supposed to get so wet that there is a huge mosquito problem when the temperature rises. (Ugh!)

Front loader digging trenches for melt water.
Without these the whole city could flood.

Three days later: Once again it felt as though things were really warming up.  We even put the car windows down one evening so it wouldn't feel "stuffy" inside.  Turns out, that was premature.  When I got in the car the next morning blowing snow had covered the upholstery.  And the puddles had frozen over again. But, baby steps!  We're getting there!

****

Just in time for the May long weekend (aka May 2-4, or Victoria Day) we have FINALLY seen a real sign of spring.  We spent the weekend playing outside, walking the dog, ordering pizza, and enjoying the milder temperatures. 

I never thought I'd be so excited to see mud.

Captain Jack walking Buffy.

And then bigger, more impressive puddles.

These kids have hip waders on. They are in the ditch across the street
from our house.

A look at our street, plus Coraline! The sun is reflecting off the snow,
so even though it isn't that sunny it still hurts your eyes.

One of Captain Jack Sparrow's friends (that's our house behind him with the red roof).

For the first time in many, many months, the temperature is expected to go above freezing by the end of the week.  That would be amazing.  Its calling for 1 degree on Friday.  Woot!

Up next: we are traveling again!  Or are we? I don't know yet! Stay tuned as we figure it out.

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day flowers. 

Happy Belated Mother's Day! JJ's parents have flown up to join us for Mother's Day (plus a few more days). We weren't completely certain they would get here, as Saturday night we had blizzard-like conditions with blowing snow and poor visibility.  Luckily though, the weather cleared by Sunday morning.  The flight landed on time, yay!

It was a rush to get everyone home from the airport, fed, and then out to Sylvia Grinnell Park for the kids' cross-country skiing lesson at 2pm. (Remember--both flights that arrive here from Ottawa land at 12:30ish.) With waiting for luggage, BBQing hotdogs, and getting the kids to the park in time to get gear on, it was slightly tight.  Not to fear though--the kids put on their long underwear while JJ made hotdogs and I set the table. Everyone ate in a rush, jumped in the car, raced out to Sylvia Grinnell Park.......then quickly discovered that the park entrance was snowed-in due to last night's weather. In fact, there was a jeep already stuck in the deep snow.  JJ, his Dad (NJ), Captain Jack and Coraline all jumped out to help push/shovel it out. 

Much to the kids' disappointment, we managed to get the car turned around and drive back home (no skiing! Boo!).  When I checked my email, I discovered that skiing had been cancelled due to the poor driving conditions (the email had been sent out at 9:30am, but I had neglected to check...Oooops.) 

JJ and his Dad enjoying the fire (yes, even though it is
May we had a fire burning).

Buffer-bots enjoying the day.

So JJ's parents have already had the chance to experience the unpredictability of northern life. 

Since it is Mother's Day, JJ made dinner for me and his mom (who is also JJ, so we'll just call her Marie). He decided to barbecue again, this time steak.  Barbecuing here is always a bit of an adventure.  If the wind is too high, it becomes difficult to actually light the BBQ. It took a lot of effort (and NJ blocking the wind so JJ could work the lighter), but JJ cooked up terrific steak and grilled veggies. YUM!

Don't let the lack of parka fool you. It was COLD.
When he wasn't flipping meat, JJ ran inside to warm up.

Grillin' veggies.

While JJ prepared dinner, Coraline and Captain Jack played with their friends outside. 

Captain Jack trying to track down some
friends to play road hockey with.

If you can see them, this is Coraline and her friend Lilith playing on
the lake ice outside in the backyard.

Mother's Day steak. You probably can't tell,
but the glass dish is frost-covered from being
outside.

And veggies!

After dinner it was time for Mother's Day pressies. The kids had made cards and picked out gifts.  I received flowers from JJ (the pic is at the top of the post). Yes, we can get flowers from this awesome place in town called Baffin Flowers. They are expensive, but you can get them. And when your wife is starting to gripe about the snow that has been on the ground for EIGHT MONTHS, dropping too much money on flowers is a perfect thing to do for Mother's Day.

This store is amazing.

Baffin Flowers, sometimes called "Baffin Flowers and Gifts", depending on who you are talking to or where you are looking online, is this crazy store filled with a hodgepodge of "stuff".  Back just before Toonik Tyme started JJ's coworkers warned him to make sure everyone in the family had sunglasses.  Everyone heads outdoors for Toonik Tyme activities, and every year there are multiple cases of snow-blindness in the emergency department. The very same day JJ shared this with me, Captain Jack Sparrow came home at lunch time telling me all of his friends had sunglasses. (Of course "EVERYONE" had them, and he was the poor kid left out. Cue the sad music.)  Captain Jack's pathetic "but everyone else has them" aside, it really was a good idea for both he and Coraline to have a pair of sunglasses. They spend a lot of time playing outside (plus being snow-blind would cause no end of drama).

JJ and I both brainstormed about where we might find sunglasses in town. Arctic Survival Store--sure, but we didn't want to pay a lot of money for kids' sunglasses that would likely get broken or lost. Maybe Northmart? Arctic Ventures? I called both places, but they were closed for lunch. (Remember? Everything here closes for lunch.)  Then it came to me: Baffin Flowers. JJ was confused when I suggested it, but then, he had never been inside Baffin Flowers.  The place is amazing.  You can find weird children's clothing direct from China (wrapped in plastic), tea sets, stuffed animals, cheap makeup, plastic jewelry, Royal Dalton figurines, faux fur hats, socks, doilies, souvenirs, etc. Oh, and there is a little back room with barely room for a large fridge that has, of course, flowers. I called, and sure enough, they had sunglasses.  Captain Jack and I hopped into the car once he had finished his lunch, and voila!  Snow-blindness prevented.  The sunglasses cost $15 (they were Dollar Store quality, but what can you do).  

Inside the door of Baffin Flowers.

Canadiana.

"Mommy, this store has crazy-weird stuff!"

Shades.

To get back to Mother's Day--

Sideboard with homemade cards and presents.

The kids put a lot of time into making homemade presents for me and Marie.  I think its hilarious that both of them, without talking to each other, warned her about how cold it is up here.

Card from Captain Jack to Marie

"I miss you Grandma, you are so kind and thank you for
letting us in the pool. Also, I can't wait until you come to Iqaluit.
It is really snowy up here so bring warm stuff."

From Coraline to Grandma (Marie).

"But you'll get used to it."  Bah ha ha ha ha!

JJ's gift to me.  They are tiny inuksuk earrings made from ivory. (Ivory is ethical
when an Inuit hunter is making use of every part of the walrus he hunted.) JJ
also got a pair for his Mom made with baleen (whale teeth that filter krill).
A woman who works in the office at the hospital is married to a hunter
who makes these.

Also, we got fan mail!  In fact, fan presents! Candy! How exciting!

Isn't that amazing? I am so feeling the love. Warm fuzzies!

The kids also got gifts from Grandma and Granddad.
It's OK.  I can share my day.

That's Grandma (Marie) in the background behind Coraline.

I have to say though, that my favourite gift of the day was the cake JJ made for me and his Mom. He baked it this morning, then let it cool before frosting. He decided, for the first time ever, to write on a cake. He opened the icing tube and went to town.  Then he realized it was way more difficult than he thought it would be.  And he realized he wouldn't have room to finish what he wanted the cake to say. 

He was going for something like this:

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Instead, I got this:

Nailed it!

In short, best Mother's Day ever. (Later that night we both laughed until our sides hurt at that cake. I had to wipe away tears. It looks like he gave up after the first 'P', but had no choice but to keep going.) Up next: whatever happens over the next few days. Hopefully, it will be a post about how spring has finally reached Baffin Island. Fingers crossed.....