An Ode

Hello everyone,
A few years ago we lost one of the most interesting minds of our time. I wouldn't go as far as saying one of the greatest, nor would I commit to anything other than to state that he possessed a very interesting mind. Upon his sudden and unexpected death, I felt sorrow, and a deep loss. I will miss the novels he failed to write and I miss the idea of a world where I could sit and have a pint with him on a Thursday afternoon and discuss a $2,000 dollar gadget that could achieve the same thing as a $2.00 calculator but without any of the style. I have spent many hours of my life (cumulatively, during the tedious moments) considering one of his line's; "the ship hung in the air much the way a gold brick doesn't".
He died shortly before the fulfillment of one of his dreams, the production of a movie based on his works, after 17 years of pitching, it was finally made, and he died shortly into production. I'm not sure this was a sad occurrence, although the movie was not without its merits, many of us grew up with the written word of his vision and the movie could never stand up to 20 years of reading and rereading his works.
Upon my birthday I just wished to express my gratitude to the spirit that created one of the most interesting collections of works I have encountered in the first 39 years of my life. I do not wish to diminish any of the other great loves of my library, from Chaucer to Shakespeare to King, however this man certainly had the gift of the incredibly sublime to create a wonderful experience for all his readers.
Thanks to everyone for the tiny brilliance they bring to their corner of the world, we can all create a blinding light. Remember to appreciate the small smiles in a day.
Take Care
CG

Another Sunday, more bad weather.

Hello everyone,
Its been awhile since we discussed the conditions here and since I keep hearing about the southern weather I thought we'd let our friends know what they are missing.
The sun is rising about 4:00 am (I'll never understand why the north subscribes to daylight savings time) and is turning dusk around midnight. Today the wind is coming from the south at about 50-60 kph leaving the windchill around -17, but the actual temp is only a couple of degree's below zero. We're about a month from the bay thawing and that means with the nice temps that everyone is spending their free time out on the land hunting geese and camping. Snow geese and Canadian geese are the foods of the season. We've even seen a few flies around, although they are moving slowly. It always seems strange to me to watch flies crawling across the snow.
There have been a few recent challenges in this area at work as well. A couple of managers from Inujuak failed to return from vacation so the store is encountering staffing troubles (especially at this time of year), meaning they have had to pull their butcher to work the grocery dept, meaning no more fresh meat for us. The store manager in Sanikillajuaq died suddenly a few days ago, mean just adding to the difficulties in this area. Also the store manager and grocery manager in Salluit have given their notice as they are planning on returning south in June. Our manager here in POV has reluctantly accepted the position to move up there and take over this store. As well as another couple of personal issue's for other managers that means we are running at about %50 staffing throughout the whole district. We have no idea what this will mean for us but I would assume that there will be another round of changes and moves across the district very shortly. Such is life and work in the North.
Hopefully the wind will die down a bit today and I'll be able to take some photo's to add to this post.
Take Care
CG

The beginning of summer

The family that dresses the same.... well, its just sad really.

Saturday morning of the May Long weekend. Locals aren't even heading out on the land to catch a few geese.
Probably just too much digging to rescue you qamituq from the drifts.

"Everyone would gather
On the twenty-fourth of May
Sitting in the sand
To watch the fireworks display
Dancing fires on the beach
Singing songs together...
Though it's just a memory
Some memories last forever"
RUSH 1975
Lakeside Park

Hello everyone,
I was invited to join a old friend at his place (in the south) this weekend for a BBQ and some imbibing in some of our favorite beverages. The idea of such activities while looking out the window right now seems to verge on the absurd. We had a little storm on Friday night and Saturday they made the perfect BBQ weekend seem a million miles away, or at least a thousand. Since we are in Quebec, we don't even get to have the extra day off, I guess at some point in the past Quebec turned down Victoria day in favor of Baptiste day.
This week I also has my first Northern dental work. I had a root Canal performed in the local hospital. Now normally I have lowered expectations of services available in the far north. I did have the idea that they were capable of performing this procedure since they recommended doing it here. Half way through the procedure (after they had drilled my tooth away and scraped out the nerve they informed that they lacked a piece of equipment to actually finish the procedure but next time I was in the south they could just finish it off, I would only have mild pain until then. I then informed them I hadn't been south in nearly two years and didn't think I'd be going in the near future either, at which the response was "WHY?". working for the Northwest company gets you a extra week of vacation against your southern counterparts and a few other advantages but compared to the other southerns up here we get the short end of the stick. Teachers frequently get up to 4 or five trips out in a year, police the same, nurse's usually work 3 to 5 week rotations with the same period spent down south.. due to this common misconception that every quallanut up here is merely days away from leaving leads me to a few months of pain. Such is life in the North.
I hope everyone down south is enjoying their get-together and keeping out of the sun.
Take Care
CG

What on the News today?

The inside of the Twin Otter taken from the second last seat. Awe inspiring isn't it, the aesthetics is only surpassed by the personal attention you get. Mainly due to the fact that your ticket taker, seat assigner, steward, and baggage handler are all the pilot.
These are the photo's from our move that we have been delaying due to technical difficulties. This photo show;s the ice breakup that was already present at the beginning of April on the Hudson Strait. Not a good sign for the north.
More of the ice break-up. Here you can see previous break lines as well as new one's showing the break up has been happening on and off for awhile.
Riding in the relative luxury of the Dash-8
The view from my seat in the Twin Otter, You can see our luggage and animals in front of the cockpit (possibly a security measure? You can't hijack the cockpit till you get over the animals.)
Looking back from my seat at the Christopher and Melissa at the back of the plane.
The View

Hello everyone,
Last night before going to bed I switched on the news. It was from a local in the states, I presume Boston, due to the mentioning of Beacon Hill. For the top 12 minutes of the 22 minutes standard schedule, Nothing other than local murders was discussed, Man shoots cop, then is shot by passerby, woman with knife shot in the street, two dead in suspected crack house, 18 year old shot in drive-by like shooting.
Yesterday in Puvirnituq, there was also a rash of shootings, and many were killed. Of course the major difference is the only thing shot here were geese, and the worst consequence of this may have been that someone had too much to eat and went to bed with a stomach ache. Surely, nothing to lead off the evening news, but you sleep better.
Take Care
CG