Parents in Igloolik

My parents had a chance to visit during the Ontario March Break. Here is a small collection of the things they saw while they were here.


A picture of the family in front of the famous "junkyard" shed.


A Walrus head buried in the snow behind our neighbour's house. The tusks are small because it was a female.


Mom bundled up for the cold while she watches Dad and I build an igloo.


My Dad and I drove out to the Floe Edge. It is where the ice usually meets the water. It is also the favourite place for seals, walrus and polar bears. The wind shifted overnight and brought in all of the ice.


Polar bear tracks that we saw at the Floe Edge. A group that went out the week after saw a Mom and her cub.


Mom and Dad posing in front of a Bowhead whale skull that was harvested a few years ago.


Having a big beard=having really big icicles on your moustache!


Dad building an igloo. I took my class and my parents to build igloos with some guides that we hired from town.


Dad and I were in my shop class building traditional Inuit hunting knives with an elder from town, Abraham.


Fishing with $10 bills again. We retrieved these ones from the blue tarp section of the guys yard.


The luxury Igloolik taxi ride. The snowmachine and sled are much more reliable than our local taxi drivers. Dad still insists that the sled needs new "shocks".


Outside of a local hunter's house. He has about 5 seals that he caught. The eyeballs (all missing) are a delicacy and are usually eaten right away.


Here is Mom holding a Narwhale tusk. This ivory tusk is known as the canine tooth of the whale.


Dad at the Floe Edge. Not much scenery unless you like frozen water.


A bunch of us gathered at Maren's house with an elder, Susan, and our vice-principal, Jeela. They made tea on a qulliq (traditional Inuit stove) and told us stories of how life used to be.


My parents had a chance to observe the beautiful Northern Lights while they were here. This is one of the many shots that I took.


Mom is happy after playing her traditional Bone game. You have a bag of bones and you place a string inside and try to retrieve as many bones as possible. I think she had 2 in this picture (Laura had the record with about 15, I think).

Superbowl in Igloolik

I had a bunch of the boys over for Superbowl. We moved some furniture and set up the projector to watch the best game in recent years.


Here is Laura helping me with some of the prep work for the halftime meal. I did all of the work but she insisted and getting her picture taken beside the food.


Here are Laura and Steeler beside the big screen. The picture and clarity of the screen were amazing. Unfortunately, this picture doesn't do it justice.


Laura beside the big screen. I put in a vote to keep the projector set up for some video games but Laura over ruled. I guess I should be happy with my regular 27" TV.


Here are some people enjoying the halftime feast.


Fred (vp at elementary school), Jay (polar bear researcher) and Dan (high school teacher) grabbing some grub at half time. We made Superbowl Enchiladas and Steak Sandwiches. Marty brought over some meatball subs and potato wedges.


Dave has been a teacher at the high school since 1989. Here he is talking with Maren (grade 8 teacher at high school). It was great to have everyone over. I would just like to mention that halftime was the only time the women were allowed in the house. They were next door doing some scrapbooking until halftime when they "invaded" our territory!

Pics around town

I took some random pics outside yesterday because it was sunny (but definetely not warm). We lasted about 10 minutes on the ski-doo because it was so cold. It wouldn't have been as bad if I didn't have to take my hands out of my mitts to take these pictures.


These are a couple of Inukshuks built between the town and the airport. The middle one is about 20-25 feet tall and is the official symbol of Nunavut (it is on the flag).


This is the middle Inukshuk from the previous photo. Inuit traditionally used these as markings for trails. Everything is flat here and there are no trees so it is easy to get lost. On some trails to people's cabins, you see one of these inukskuks (in much smaller scale at about 3 feet tall) about every 50 yards or so.


An old abandonned sailboat located just east of our house. It is on shore but is covered by snow and ice.


This was earlier this week outside of our house. The sun was almost up when we went to school. In about a week, we will enjoy the same amount of daylight as Sault Ste. Marie. We currently have about 8 hours of sunlight.


An old Bombardier snowmobile. Not sure if this is from our town or just visiting. This was the first time we saw it and it was flying around in the fields. Looks very cool!

Return of the Sun Festival

The long winter darkness was not as bad as we thought it would be. Everyday, we had some twilight at noon and it was never completely dark for 24 hours. Annually, there is a festival called Return of the Sun that happens at the beginning of January when the Sun shows its face again (for about 2 minutes then it sets).

The Festival is a big deal in town and a very cultural event.


This is the lighting of the qulliq. It symbolizes the start of the "warm" season again and is the "olympic torch" of these festivals. Traditionally, the qulliq would be the only source of heat in an igloo. The wick would be made with Arctic cotton (a wild plant) and the oil from be scrapped off of seal meat.


The drum dancing competition was very interesting to watch. The gym was full of people and it was very difficult to get a spot close to the action.


This is my favourite picture. There was a red light shinning from the right side of the picture. It makes the drum glow!


This guy was the best dancer. It was a team competition. One person would dance with the drum while the other person would be on stage singing.

Random pics at Christmas

Here are some pics I took at Christmas of family. Sorry I couldn't upload a picture of all of you...the internet in the North is pretty slow sometimes. Hope you enjoy! Hopefully, I'll add more pics if I get the time.


Danno cooking up a feast on the BBQ.


Mom doing her share of the feast. She was defrosting the crab legs while Dan was on the BBQ. Surf and Turf!


My mom's cooking instructor, Memere. After 50 years of cooking, she still enjoys preparing the meal for reveillon. We are looking forward to her baked beans in the summer.


Pepere and Chantal at reveillon.


Kev and Munchkin at the new pad on New Year's Eve. He can thank Laura and I for bringing the chairs to London.


Mel and Isaiah. Mel works in Collingwood with me and we visited them at their home in Wasaga Beach on our way to London.


Elyssa with her favourite ogor, Shrek.

Jamie's birthday

We had a "social gathering" at our house for my birthday.

Here is a picture of Ellen and Jeremy. Ellen is the significant other of Marty (the fish smoking guy) and Jeremy just had a baby boy.


This is our principal Paul. He was "making tracks" at an early hour (check the clock) so we made fun of him until he stayed.


Doesn't Paul look happier staying at the party for longer?


Here is Jeremy's better half, Christy, with the new addition, Alexander. This guy was a monster and should make his dad proud as a football player some day. I believe he is only 6 weeks in this picture but, I also can't even remember what I ate for breakfast so am I to know?


The "piece de resistance". Laura comissioned Marty to make this birthday cake in honour of the Steelers National Championship. I hope Albidone is still checking this page and that is lips are watering up in Thunder Bay. The cake was delicious!!!

Games on the ice

During the return of the sun festival, there were activities planned throughout the week. On Tuesday, there were games on the ice for the kids


Here are Laura and I with one of my students, Sippora. This picture was taken at about 1:30 in the afternoon. We now have sunset at about 3 o'clock.


Here is the 2nd place finisher in the Inukshuk building contest. They had 10 minutes and the highest inukshuk won a prize. The winner was over 16 feet tall.


The folks made the blog. They are anxiously awaiting the winter cold of the North and have purchased new jackets for their adventure. I hope that they are aware that it is still cold in those jackets. We are expecting a blizzard as we speak and it was about -35 today without the wind chill.