Spring?

The month of May is upon us.  This is the time of year we can finally see those flowers the April showers assured us of. The snow has melted away, tiny buds are appearing on the trees......

Wait a minute. We don't have trees.  We didn't have April showers, we had a couple of blizzards.  And if there are any flowers, they are hidden under two feet of snow. 

No one has put away their snowmobile yet.

A couple of weeks ago the temperature was about -5 degrees.  It felt like a heat wave!  Like a fool, I thought it was the beginning of a spring thaw.  I put away my sealskin boots and replaced them with my little Bogs (sealskin is water resistant, but I didn't want them getting full of mud).  By the next morning it was -25 degrees.  I dug the sealskin boots out again (have I mentioned they are the warmest boots I have ever owned?). I did this twice more before I figured out that spring is not here yet.  This week's temperatures (with windchill) are still averaging about -20 during the day. Thanks to the brief thaw, the roads are mostly clear of snow.  City crews have been out digging trenches so when the snow does melt, the water has somewhere to go. Without any grass, I am assuming spring here in Iqaluit will mean mud everywhere.

Hockey season is over, figure skating has ended, and the music society is on a break until camp later this summer.  The kids are spending lots of time enjoying the sunlight that refuses to go away until well past bedtime, but "go outside and play" only lasts so long before fights break-out and boredom sets in. What to do? 

Luckily, this ad appeared in Facebook last week:

My kids will be kept busy for 2 hours every Sunday afternoon?
AND this is one of the healthiest activities on the planet! What's not to love?

For two hundred bucks both my kiddos get four afternoons of skiing, plus gear. Hearing this, JJ got a little jealous.  "I'd like to ski, too!" So he volunteered to help out. Lessons are held out at Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park. 

Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park
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The first day was perfect for skiing--bright and sunny, with temperatures down to about -19. The territorial park is a wide open space, so the wind can be quite strong.  It's a bit of a balancing act to dress appropriately--a warm parka will mean you are sweating in the sun.  We went with layers and lined jackets but no parkas. 

There was an igloo-making course taught here this morning,

the students' igloos are what you see behind Coraline.

Pavilion in the distance.

Taking a break inside the pavilion.

Both kids loved cross-country skiing, and are super excited they get to do it for the next 4 weeks.

This is completely unrelated, but this fashion shoot was done at Sylvia Grinnell park.
Aren't these photos gorgeous?
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*** 

On Monday, Captain Jack asked if for lunch we could go to Grind and Brew.  It's his favourite hole-in-the-wall pizza joint.  (Coraline doesn't come home for lunch on Monday as she is at Crochet Club at school.)  JJ managed to get away from the hospital, so off we went.  I've talked about Grind and Brew before here--its a great little spot with decent pizza plus a lunch special (today's special was a hot chicken sandwich). We each usually just have a slice of pizza and a drink.  What grabbed my attention today was that there were two dogs hanging out inside the restaurant. I've seen this before, mostly in developing countries where animals wander in and out of various establishments. And that's what struck me.  In many ways, Nunavut is like a developing country.  It's a relatively new territory, poverty is rampant, addiction issues are common, and there is a community of "ex-pats" (in this case Canadians from outside the territory) who do a lot of the jobs that require higher education. There is also a huge effort to employ Nunavummiut (indigenous people from Nunavut). This is one of the few places in Canada where it is legal to discriminate based on race for jobs.  Most new job postings clearly state that indigenous people will be given first priority. In an effort to combat poverty there are government programs offered to fully fund post-secondary education and "learn on the job" programs only open to Inuit.

Doggies in the hood.

We're under yer table......cruisin' for yer scraps......

 

Norman Rockwell in real life: Captain Jack choosing which candy to buy.

Well, that's all I have for today. JJ's parents are coming to visit this week (more visitors!) and Mother's Day is coming up.  Will anything blog postable happen? Will spring finally come to Baffin Island? Check back to find out.