Our first trip home

We just booked our first flight home since being up here. (Of course we aren't counted his medivac since that wasn't planned OR booked!)

After getting over the sticker shock (it's almost $5K to fly home) we managed to book our flights.

We're coming home on the 17th, we'll get into Toronto later at night. And we're leaving right after Christmas. Remember that we'll be home again in February for the nuptuals.

We're making a schedule and checking it twice, so make sure you speak up if you want to see us!

extremes in weather

Over the last week or so, we've had some extreme weather. We had some wild winds again, the white caps on the lake make it look pretty cold.

A late fall rainbow appeared down by the lake.

And this is the view out the window currently:

so why'd we do it?

We get this question a lot. Especially from people down south.

Initally, we'd honestly say it all had to do with his career. It was also our chance to do something wild and adventurous.

What we didn't expect was how much we'd enjoy the experience.

It's quiet moments on our 'mountain' or at the lake, or even just standing under the zillion stars.

It's the local kids who always want to stop and chat. They're so curious about our lives, and Squire. The other night, after I stopped to let them hold onto Squire's leash and take her for a walk, three young girls out of a large group even gave me a hug!

And with the current snowy weather, it's been a riot watching Squire nosedive into snowbanks and attempt to catch bunnies.

So while we came up here for his career, it's certainly been more rewarding that we ever thought.

I'm dreaming of a white Thanksgiving

So I woke up this morning, and there you go, lots of white fluffy stuff falling from the sky. I'd be more explicit but most of our readers are from southern Ontario and we need to be cognizant of their sensitivities. This is a family blog after all, and some words you don't mention before November.

Honestly, none of it actually stayed on the ground, so I don't know for sure that we'll have a white Thanksgiving, but I'd bet quite a bit on a white Hallowe'en.

Lately I've been trying to pick up the local lingo. I can now have the following theoretical and pointless conversation:

Me: Good morning!
Someone: Good morning. How are you?
Me: I'm good, thanks, how are you?
Someone: Cold.
Me: Sorry!

Of course any time I have this conversation its because someone is indulging me with the seven or so words I've learned so far. The nice thing is that the folks at work are having fun teaching me new words when I ask.

I've found a lot of people have a great sense of humour in Baker Lake. People seem to love laughing here. For instance, the first word I learned was "good morning", or "u'bla'kut" (spelled more or less phonetically). The thing is, if I mis-pronounce it, I'm actually saying "spread your legs". The women at work got a kick out of explaining that to me. So, suffice to say I'm pretty careful about my enunciation there.

Speaking of amusing translations, apparently "its cold" (again phonetically) is "icky". I said its the same thing in English.

Quick list of interesting and amusing things going on these days:

• We've gone nearly a month without grocery shopping. Its amazing what you can do with a freezer and high food prices.
• The house across the street perpetually has a bicycle on the roof. I have no idea why.
• I think there may be more dogs in Baker Lake than people.
• The children here are never afraid of strangers, only strange dogs.
• Since we've been here (eight weeks) we've had 3 water outtages, 2 water-heater failures, 1 satellite dish failure (on Leafs opening night!) , the local water-pumping house has broken down (forcing us to conserve, which we did comfortably) , 1 furnace failure, and if you don't flush the toilets just right, those sometimes fail too. Just part of the fun though :)

Things we're looking forward to soon:

• Figuring out how to get Internet access on MY computer (instead of just her laptop...the trials I've been going through with wireless ethernet cards and my operating system are epic-worthy)
• Getting our Sobey's sealift bulk shipment...presumably in the next week or two.
• Finalizing our plans for our Christmas trip back south.
• Foodmail grocery order tomorrow! (I'm out of tea...help!)
• Learning how to make mash-potato-stuffing (if you don't know what I mean, don't ask. If you do, send us the recipe so we can survive Thanksgiving!)

~ he

first day of fall?

So on the calendar and lunar cycles, it may say that it's officially the first day of fall. Apparently it arrives at 5:18 EDT today.

However, the locals have been saying that September is fall here, to expect snow at any time during September, and that winter starts officially in October.

So, September 22, 2009, first day of fall, is our first day with any kind of accumulated snow.

I went out with Squire this morning, and thought 'wow, that's a pretty heavy frost'. As I'm standing there while she finds the perfect pee spot, I thought to my self 'hmmm, that frost is falling in an awful snowlike fashion....'

It's not a lot of snow, I don't even know whether you can tell in pictures (I'll try to post them at lunch break.) But teeny tiny flakes are still flitting past my window here at work.

First day of fall up here feels an awful lot like the first day of winter.

fall colours, nite skies, and special deliveries

Random photoiness from the last few weeks here. We've been completely negligent in our posts. You'll have to forgive us, as you know internets were infrequent. But we now have a permanent connection, so *fingers crossed* posts should be more frequent.




There are lots of really interesting local plants. This little plant goes up the side of Mount Baker Lake, and the whole sections of the side of the hill are red right now with colour. Although we won't see the leaves changing colour, there are definite changes in the foliage up here too.




Oftentimes, the moon is really pretty up here. OH! And we saw northern lights the other night for the first time. I took a picture of that too, but um, well, it's just a black sky in the photograph. I'll have to play with settings to see if we can't get some good shots.



So it wasn't quite Santa Claus (although there were times we thought about enlisting his help... how busy could he and the team be? It is only September...) but it was still kinda like Christmas morning when we finally got our stuff. About 50 boxes came the first day, and another 40 or so the next. Glad to say that everything made it up ok ('he''s computer fan is slightly damaged but still functional), and we're really enjoying having the ammenities of home. Never thought I'd miss a slow cooker, our books, and my shoes so much.

Mount Baker Lake

Ok... so not really a mountain, but it's a pretty big hill with an awesome view overlooking the town and the lake.

It's always really picturesque up there, no matter the weather. There's a well kept trail that runs up the back side (the local kids climb up the face) that's great for jogging up. You can pretty much see the entire town from up there, including the airport and the hill behind it.

It's become a popular choice for weekend excursions (coffee in tow... not quite Tim Horton's, and it costs about twice as much as Timmies.) Even during the week, Squire and I will often head up there on a walk.

A bit of Baker Lake perspective... the big blue building on the right side of the photo is his office, on the north edge of town. Our house is on the road in the centerish of the photo. Oh, my office is on the exact opposite side of the mountain from our house/his office.....




An example of the difference in culture up here:

#1. Dogs as pets are super cool. So are you if you have one. Kids come running from miles around, and will follow you around town for hours, just to hang out with your dog. Without fail, the first question is "does it bite?" almost always followed by "what's the name?" Kids up here may not be too sure on child vs car etiquette, but they are certain of child vs strange dog etiquette.

#2. Strangers aren't scary. Kids have *no* fear of strangers. They are extremely friendly, and very willing to share their name, where they live, and all that other personal information that kids back south are taught never to share.

Anyway, these two local boys followed us up the hill, and then asked to play fetch with Squire.