Wedding Cake and Longest Day

Last weekend, I upgraded from Dora cakes to wedding cakes. The wedding party didn't deliver the silk flowers, so I wasn't able to see it complete, but it was looking pretty good for as far as I got. I even had some help from an apprentice baker - but 'he' wants to remain anonymous.

I figured, since the longest day of the year, really is a LONG day up here, that I should get out and snap a quick picture for everyone back home who experiences a short longest day of the year. Squire and I were out for a walk at about 11pm, when the sun was just starting to set over the snow fence. Even once the sun goes down, it doesn't get dark - which can make sleeping difficult for a few months!

PS. Yes, Trev, there is snow in Nunavut in June! That snow at the base of the snow fence is probably still about 10' deep and will last well into July.

June Snow and Caribou Hunting

So, I guess mother nature forgot to check her calendar.... We got easily a few inches of snow over night (using that term loosely since we don't experience darkness in Baker right now...). And it snowed almost literally all day! Those big gorgeous fluffly flakes that belong on the front of Christmas cards. Then the wind decided it should pick up and blow all this fluffy snow around. It's gusting up to 70 km/h out there right now, and visibility sucks. Although it's not particularly cold, it isn't particularly nice out there right now, either.

But, jealous that the weather was the talk of the office, a herd of caribou decided it should stir things up. It wandered down the wide open tundra across the road from our office. I was sitting and enjoying a tea in the coffee room, when someone yelled down the hall that there was a herd out there.

Someone call 'he' quick!

By the time he made it to the office, the herd was migrating back out of town, but still visible, especially with binoculars. A few of us kabloonas decided we needed a closer encounter, so after stopping at home for the camera, we took off up the dump road.

We ran into these four stragglers before we hit the dump, but they weren't very friendly. Or photogenic for that matter! This shot was taken well back, and prompted an outcry for a telephoto lens!


At least 'he' was there for the action!

Following along the lines of Mantracker and Stormchasers, we decided to see if we can find the rest of the herd, and catch them... on film, of course!

We ended up heading out Meadowbank road, scanning the tundra for anything that moved. The only thing we found was a gigantic flock of Snow Geese... which apparently make for an awesome meal. Unfortunately, the only thing we brought back were these pictures.

Big 3oh!

I recently celebrated my big 3-oh. The girls thought I needed some help to fall over the hill.(Anyone who knows me well, though, knows I don't need help falling over anything!!)

And boy, oh boy, did we celebrate it in style! My girls collaborated on the planning and decorating and cooking and baking, and were assisted and supported by what seemed like most of the office! There was enough food to feed most the town, with chicken wings, kabobs, dips, a cheese tray, fresh bannock, a pizza tray, and rocky road bars, just to name a few.

My friend outdid herself on the cake! It was amazing.... and very tasty too. And someone even brought ice cream! Sheer decadence at $20 for two litres!!

The highlight of the night was a surprise for everyone; a recital from Mr. He of a poem he wrote for the occasion! I'm not gonna lie: I was a teary mess! But not the only one. What a great memento of a great night!

The Perfect Girl I Wed

OR

A List of my Wife's Faults, Except She Doesn't Really Give Me Much to Work with Here...

***

Why is Krista naughty?
Cuz she never learns at all.
She walks two feet and trips on air
and manages to fall.

She truly thinks it never rains;
the sun, it always shines,
And fixes any problem saying,
"It'll all be fine!"

And speaking of her temper, well,
I hardly think it's fair
To make me all forgetful with her
Smiles that make me stare.

And worst of all... her lies.
You think that "Thirty Years" is true?
I know damn well she hasn't grown
a day past twenty-two.

So even though this birthday's hers,
the best gift goes to Ted;
Another year to bitch about...
the Perfect Girl I wed.

IQ Day

Last week our office declared an IQ Day - a day for Inuit to get back to and to teach us kabloonas (white people) about their cultural routes.

We gathered at the office and made our way down to the ice, where a convoy of hondas (quads) and machines (snowmobiles) along with several kamotiks awaited us. Our destination was the point on the east side of town.

We spent the entire day out on the ice, 'jigging' for fish with a traditional ice fishing rod. We were able to try some frozen caribou meat, and later, a pretty tasty caribou stew. Bannock was fresh made on a Coleman stove out on the ice too.

As a group, we caught three fish (trout). Including this guy, who *almost* got away... I think our boss was glad to get his hook back from the fish that snapped his line.

The highlight of my day? Getting to drive the machine back to the office...!

Kickball!

This past weekend we challenged our friends and their families to a kickball game in the snow. (Kickball is like baseball, but you kick a soccer ball instead of swing a bat at a baseball.) We had about 10 players and 5 fans, so not a bad turn out. We were able to walk up the snow dunes over the fence behind home plate. The trip from home to first was downhill through soft snow and caused more than a couple falls. Going from third to home, you had to run through knee deep snow. We couldn't have asked for better weather, and we all lasted two innings. For those keeping score the Baker Lake Rockettes beat Baker Lake Kablamo 12 -4. Both 'he' and 'she' were on team Kablamo.

We all then headed back to our place for a bbq. 'He' bbqed hot dogs and hamburgers, and we had all sorts of salads, chilli, and carrot cake and macaroons for dessert. One young'un ate two hamburgers and three hotdogs!

We had to throw people out before 8 so that 'he' could watch Game of Thrones on HBO. We've read the books (a few times) and have been looking forward to this for awhile. There's even been a countdown on at our house for atleast the last two months: "Hey, did you know only 47 more days til Game of Thrones?" then "Guess what? Only 29 more days to my show!" and finally "Can you believe it's only 24 more hours til Game of Thrones?" The show was fantastic, we highly recommend it... and the best part? No more countdown!

Ice, Teeny Snowmobiles and Baby Girl Cake!

So, for the first time in our Baker Lake residency... we ventured out onto the ice this weekend. The photo is my artistic attempt to show how clean the ice is in certain spots and the cracks going through it. According to the Environment Canada data for last year about this time, the ice is about 6 feet thick right now. Interestingly enough, based on the data on that site, the ice will continue to grow in thickness until the end of May. Our friend was nice enough to pick us up and drive us out onto the Baker Lake 401 (the stretch of ice everyone uses to fly from one end of town to the other. I gotta say, it was completely eerie taking a Jeep out onto the ice, and even eerier walking around, thinking you're gonna fall through any moment. It was a pretty neat experience, but now we wish we'd brought our skates! We limped through the weekend after hosting the farewell party for our friend who returned south, but I was quick enough to grab the camera when the teeniest snowmobile went past! I figure the kids on the back are about 4 or so! And yes, they were driving themselves!

I got to do the girliest birthday cake thus far, when a coworker asked me to make the cake for her daughter's 1st birthday. I was pretty concerned, because I couldn't do a teddy bear I'd promised (complete lack of anything to make a nice brown coloured icing - everything I tried looked like something I might've stolen from a diaper!) but I ran into the proud mom and dad at the Northern, and they were over the moon!

We're looking forward to a possible kick-ball game in the snow this weekend, followed by a potluck bbq. I'll be sure to snap some photos!

Sun and Snow and Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

We've been having some gorgeous spring like weather here the last week or so. We remarked on the improvement from -60 to -40 and how gloriously warm -40 feels! Last week we were in the -20's and again couldn't believe the difference. Who needs a parka and mits at -20?? This week we're expecting temperatures in the -15 to -10 range... so break out the shorts and flip flops! Because of the awesome sun, we get some neat effects of the reflection off the ice. We delayed lunch one day to head out and see if we could get a decent picture. A friend of ours was in from Iqaluit this week on business. After hearing about the cakes I've been making lately, he demanded one of his own. Or something with chocolate chips.... Sounded like a challenge to me! So I created a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with Mocha Icing. Way too sweet for my liking, but our friends seemed to enjoy it, and it went pretty good with a couple of drinks and good conversation with our friends.