Moving Over to the New Blog!

I've started my new blog to keep track of my new adventures.

Visit From the Arctic to Australia for the latest updates!

See you over there!

Temperature: +5C
Sunrise: 7:01am
Sunset: 10:46pm

Trying to Keep My Head Above Water...

Ahhh!!!

We're getting down to the wire! 2½ weeks left before I fly out. Things have been crazy at work and I've done almost 20 hours of overtime this last week. That leaves a whole lot of time for... NOTHING.
Cue me freaking out...

A friend came over tonight to kick my arse into gear so that I could finally get a bit more done since the movers can't give me a quote or - of course - take my stuff until it's all packed. I'm almost there. I'd say if I do a bit more in the next two or so days I'll be ready... It's a lot of work... And it's a lot of work I'm not so thrilled to be doing myself. It's mostly because I severely lack the motivation to do it. There's so many other things I'd rather be doing like sleeping. I've also given up any hope (or illusion!) I had of having a garage sale which was evident by me letting my friend take home 3 rubbermaind bins (PLUS) of stuff home for free lol...

We had a crazy heat wave two weeks ago and now we're back to it being cold, rainy and miserable... There were even murmurings of the "S" word... That's right... Snow... I was kind of hoping to miss all of that lol. I'm actually kind of hoping that if I sleep late enough into the day I'll miss it haha
It's actually getting dark at night now which sucks. It makes me pretty sad to know that summer is definitely over (I know I'm moving but man, I love the summers up here).

So yeah... I plan to take a picture of the apartment when everything is all packed I just need to get it all packed...

I really wish I had a more exciting update!


Temperature: +5C
Sunrise: 5:59am
Sunset: 11:55pm

Yowza!

It's hot!!!

I missed what is typically the nicest part of the Inuvik summer - late June/early July. We had one really nice day during the festival and I missed it because I was inside all day. Since then it's been a combination of rainy and rather chilly (you know it's bad when you cheer when it's +16C!) so I figured that was it for summer. A few days ago I thought I noticed that it was a bit smoky (just enough that the sun was kind of orange) then the next day there was noticeable smoke in the delta and a faint smoky smell. Well, with the arrival of the smoke came some warmer weather and humidity (very typical).

This is what we're dealing with right now:

(taken from the site where I get my temp/sunrise/sunset stats 29C = 84F).

It's actually a little less humid right now than it was when I got up (hovering around 50%). The Arctic is like a desert so even 35% humidity makes it feel very muggy out.

I think I've acclimated too well to Arctic life and this kind of heat feels hotter than it should!

In other news, in exactly one month I'll be in Edmonton and officially moved out of Inuvik. I called to confirm my flight today (I didn't book it so I wanted to call to make sure it was for real lol). I still haven't done any extra packing. I need to get that done ASAP. I have a BBQ to go to tonight and then I might try to get a few things done.

Temperature: +29C (feels like +32C)
Sunrise: 4:42am
Sunset: 1:21am

One Week Down!

I've almost survived my first week back to work. It's gone surprisingly well - and quick! (the parts before and after work are kind of dragging though.. The house is quiet and boring! I of course have no motivation to pack or clean!)

This past week I got to meet a fellow knitter/Ravelry member while she was on her way home from an adventure of a lifetime - a trip to the north of Banks Island. We went out for dinner and I took her and a fellow research team member on a tour of Inuvik then we went and hung out by the river and got eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Fireweed close-up

I saw a grizzly bear in the back of a pick-up truck* (ENR I think?) drive through the first half of town on Wednesday. Of course CBC North hasn't updated on why that would be. Hopefully the newspaper has some juicy info this week. I was walking from my doctor's appointment to work when it passed me - it took me a couple seconds to register that it was 1. a bear and 2. not normal! I first though "dead thing in the back of a truck, nothing new" and then "!!!!!!! That's a grizzly!!!!"

(*to clarify, I'm pretty sure the bear was dead because it was just in the back of the truck - no cage or anything. I don't think they'd drive a sedated bear back into town.)


Temperature: +16C
Sunrise: 4:30am
Sunset: 1:25am

Surfacing After the Festival

Now that we're on the other side of the festival it seems like it went quickly even though during the festival things seemed to drag on. Things were different this year. Different in a bad way. People were grouchy and rude and there was complaining from the start. This was probably my last festival due to the move so I went into it with excitement. I was especially excited to see old friends and to see what they've been up to this last year. That excitement quickly drained after listening to person after person complain about such-and-such a thing not being perfect and listening to a few racist comments from artists from isolated communities. Then there was the high school politics that crept into things.
I think I'm only disappointed because I might not get a next year so my final festival was a little less than stellar.

On the upside, I made a few new friends, I got to see some fabulous art and I got to do some experimenting in my own art.

While I was there I decided to do some 3D needle felting. It's something that I've wanted to do for a long time but haven't really had the chance. What better time to do it when you're sitting there anyway? (all the "non messy" artists like sewers and even water colour painters can sit in the gallery and demonstrate their art).

I thoroughly enjoyed creating something new and pushing myself to try something on a whim (especially to try something new with a bunch of people watching!). Just to give you an idea of size, the tree is about 15" tall from the base of the tree to the tip of the longest branch.

Here's a blurry picture of my display at the beginning of the festival (my stuff is just the three large and five small pictures on the centre panel):

A few days ago it was moved to a different spot and I didn't really end up getting a good picture of it after (it turned out to be right beside the stage so I have a few shots from the closing ceremonies that have my work in it).

So there you have it! Now it's time to go back to a regular routine of work, home, sleep, repeat. I have a month of work left before I move. I'm going to take today to relax and sort out the emotions of the last 10 days and then I might get some packing done. Turns out I have a little more artwork to pack than I was anticipating.



Temperature: +18C
Sunrise: 3:38am
Sunset: 2:11am

It's Good To Be Back

You know how it's always great to go on vacation but it's almost greater to be back home in familiar surroundings? Your own bed, your own fridge, your own TV, your own bathroom (some people might not care about this but I can't tell you how happy I am to be able to use my own bathroom!).

Our trip was great even though it was a pretty emotional trip on a lot of levels (wedding, memorial, seeing family, parting ways for a while). I'm glad Glen and I got to spend his last few weeks in Canada doing fun, touristy stuff and visiting with family. The only bad thing about being back home is the fact that he's not here with me. I think it's helped that I was travelling the same day and I wasn't left in Inuvik while he spent a day and a half flying across the world. We both flew out of Vancouver the same day (he flew out a few hours later) and due to me having to stay the night in Whitehorse we both got to our destinations a few hours apart. Another thing that makes this whole thing easier is knowing HOW happy his family is to have him home. I'm glad they have the next little while together to get reacquainted before I arrive.
I'm hoping to keep myself as busy as possible the next month and a half (especially) so that I can enjoy my last few weeks with family in September. The arts festival starts tomorrow (!) and then after that's over I have about a month left of work before I fly out.
When I got home yesterday, my festival prints were already waiting for me and they are incredible. I'm not bragging about my actual photo taking skills (bad form) but my photos look the best that they can possibly look. I'm really impressed (impressed enough that I called the place I got them from to tell them). So I did festival inventory yesterday and got some groceries. Today I'm going to borrow the landlord's truck to go pick up some heavier groceries and that's pretty much all I have planned for today. Tomorrow is the opening for the festival and then it's pretty much 10-12 hour days demonstrating and catching up with old friends (someone described it as summer camp and that's exactly how it feels).

So, a recap of our trip:
We spent 10 days in Victoria hanging out with family and doing some touristy things. We went to the museum and an IMAX show (Ocean Oasis - unfortunately it was crappy), went whale watching on my birthday which was probably the highlight of the whole trip.

We also spent the weekend on Galiano Island with my Aunt & Uncle.

Bodega Ridge, Galiano Island

We were so lucky to have fabulous weather the whole time. I think it only rained once the whole time we were there. We also got to meet up with an old friend from Inuvik so that was also a lot of fun.

After that we flew to Edmonton and spent a few days in my hometown with my mum at her best friend's then drove to Fairview for my cousin's wedding.

The wedding was great. Typical Prairie wedding complete with perogies and cabbage rolls.
The day after the wedding we drove half an hour north to Hines Creek to do a memorial thing for my dad. He passed away in 1996 and we've been waiting to do something with his ashes (I was 12 and my brother was 10 so my mum wanted to wait to make sure we were old enough to make the right decision as to where the ashes would go).
My dad's grandparents homesteaded in the area and they are buried in a small cemetery just outside of town near the homestead so that's where we decided he should go too. My grandparents drove up from Edmonton to be there and my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin (the ones from Victoria --- it was my Aunt's son getting married) were there as well as an old friend of mum's. It wasn't a big thing, my Aunt read a passage and said a few words and that was pretty much it.

Glen and I spent the night in Vancouver and met up with one of his old school friends before our flights.
After staying at our modest hotel in Whitehorse, the room we had in Vancouver was pretty awesome - we stayed at the Sandman and got upgraded to a suite (?!!!) so besides an awesome king sized bed we also had a living room lol it was insane.

So yeah! That's pretty much it! It's taken me a few hours to get this done - between phone calls and running errands.

Also: thanks to Teri for hanging out in Whitehorse and keeping me occupied for a few hours! I hope you enjoyed the leftover sushi! I'm definitely craving it now!

Temperature: +18C
Sunrise: n/a
Sunset: n/a

mini update!

So I realised I forgot to write a "OK we're going on vacation now!!" post.

So yes, we're about a week away from the end of our vacation (and a week away from Glen and I parting ways for a few months *cries*). We're having a great time and have been extremely busy. Our internet access is really spotty but for some reason my laptop has connected to the wireless upstairs and has been working for almost an hour (this is a first!!).

So I'll leave you with this and hope that everyone is well. I'll hopefully have more updates and pictures when I get back north!

(yes I really did take this)