BBQ with Dan's Dad

Dan's Dad came to Igloolik last week for the vacation of a lifetime. Dan had a barbecue at Maren's cabin for him.


Dan and Noel telling an exciting story beside the qamotiq.


The group gathering around to eat. All of the prime spots were taken inside the cabin. Dan's Dad brought sausages, hamburgers, beef kabobs and chicken from the South. We also had a healthy feed of caribou that Dan bought when he was in Rankin.


One of the barbecues used. It is a good lesson for students in recycling and reusing.


We arrived first with Marty, Ellen and Larissa. We look tired because we had to shovel about 3 feet of wet snow off of the deck. Actually, Marty and I were the only ones who shoveled but the girls were exhausted just watching!


Gilles (Dan's Dad) did an amazing job watching the fire. The pit started about 2 feet deep but by the end of the barbecue, the snow had melted so much that you could have a buried a small platoon of soldiers inside.


Paul and Noel enjoying the view of the snow.


It was nice to see wood buring again!!!!!!!!

Dog sledding with Maren

A couple of weekends ago, Maren took Laura and I dogsledding for the day. We went across the entire Igloolik Island. Laura and Maren spent most of the time on the sled because I felt bad for the dogs when I hopped on. The snow was sticky and everytime I was on the sled, the dogs were going much slower.


Laura and Maren resting the dogs half way through our journey. Just keeping the dogs from getting tangled is a full time job.


Maren loves her dogs. She has had them since they were puppies.


The typical self-portrait while we were riding the sled.


I took this picture while on the snowmachine ahead of them. I took about 20 shots but this was the best one. Good thing the girls are smiling.


The view from the cockpit. I hope you like looking at doggie bum!

Land trip with students

Marty and I took our grade 8 classes to Avvaaja on Wednesday for their class field trip. We spent all day out on the ice and had a lot of fun. Here is a small collection of photos. I tried to omit pictures with students.

Some locals riders doing some hill climbs.






Our janitor, Louie, chiseling out an ice hole for fishing. This is a picture of him in our 2nd hole. We never broke through to the water. We started this hole after lunch and we ran out of time.


This was our first hole. We broke through over 6 feet of ice. It took almost 3 hours to get through.


This is what the hole looked like when the water started rushing in.


Alvin, our guide and SSA at the school, took Marty and I to search for ptarmigans (little birds like partridge). We didn't have any luck spotting any but it was fun driving around the tops of the hills on big rocks.


When Alvin went out earlier that morning, he had better luck and shot 5 birds. He donated them to some elders in town.


Kids had fun sliding down the hills.


A picture of base camp from the top of the hill. We had 6 snowmachines and we each towed a sled.


I got the "thumbs up" from Alexandra for a good trip!