December 29th 2009

Christmas 2009 was a wonderful time. It started out with a potential for disaster on the home front. Buddy got into a wrapped box of chocolates on Christmas Eve afternoon (Fuzzy being the intelligent female she is did not participate in this very bad behaviour). He was quite ill and after a few hours of no improvement we headed to the emergency hours vet (read $$$). They put some goop in his eye that made him vomit all that was left in his tummy, syringed a charcoal treatment down his throat (and all over his white beard) to absorb residual poison, inserted fluids into his back, suggested an overnight stay (read $$$$$$) and told us he may not make it through the night:( We decided to bring him home and look after him with the knowledge that we might have to bring him back in if things got worse. The vet told me I had to use their special medical diet food and I told him I had issues with that. We discussed the crap ingredients in the special diet and he reduced the original 5 days to 3 days for how long I should feed this to Buddy. I went along with it and bought the food but you know I didn't use it. I was very thankful for all the good they did for Buddy. And I also confirmed for myself that despite the good intentions - that business is set up to make money and most of us are going to end up spending more than we really need to because we want to do what's best for our pets.
Happy ending, Buddy improved through the night and was pretty much himself the next day and completely himself the day after that.
So, onto the turkey. Our family is one of those that has Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation movie in our holiday history together. We have watched that movie several times over the years. So of course when cooking the turkey we always hope it won't turn out like the movie. Well, I read or heard a tip somewhere over the years about cooking the turkey breast side down to keep the white meat moist. So that's what I did. When Steve went to carve the meat.....he struck bone with his knife where he thought meat should be. He had a moment of pure terror wondering how he was going to tell me I had completely over-cooked the turkey.....then he realized it was "upside down" and felt a flood of relief that all was well. The look on his face when he told me what happened was priceless and this will be one of our family's traditional stories from now on.
My beautiful friend Kim sent me some pictures over the holidays to brighten my days. Looking at those pictures brought back to life the picture journal beast with-in and so I'm back here in Blog World. Thanks Kim, I didn't know if I would find my way back here ever again.
Love to all and hope your holidays have been filled with wonder!

June 28th

So, I suck at making life an adventure back here in Windsor. I had the best of intentions....have had at many points in my life.
I'm not sure what it is that holds me back here, well, I'm pretty sure it's me, but I'm not sure what part of me.
I have always been someone who looks at things and sees how they could be rather than how they are. I'm guessing I can use this time to appreciate what is available in any given moment rather than what might become available in the next.
Steve got a bike for me and Holly to use. I've gone for one ride and enjoyed it. I also realized I need a few more rides to get back in the groove of regular riding shape.
I've begun the process of starting a morning routine of a walk of some length with the puppies.
I read yoga magazines. I love the idea of yoga and a yoga lifestyle, the comfortable clothes, the beautiful flexibility of body, the mind-body connection. Somehow I need to make a commitment to including it regularly in my life.....giving myself the gift of a yoga lifestyle.
When I returned home Steve had a beautiful rose for me. He has bought me one new rose each week. It's a lovely reminder of what we've been through and why we're here. This week's is a pretty yellow rose.

I learned from the flower lady at the store that you must use a knife to cut the end of the stem when you get home. Flowers have a vein that runs up the inside of them just like our veins. If scissors are used you run the risk of clamping the vein shut rather than opening a fresh area for water to be drawn up. The other tip was that you need to leave the two leaves closest to the flower intact on the stem. The leaves draw up somewhere around 65% or more of the water, if you remove them the flower has a hard time bringing up enough hydration to keep it fresh and alive-like for any length of time.

My Dad and Jean are getting ready for their summer vacation. They are travelling across Canada to the west and north. I'm sure they will have lots of experiences to share when they get home.

I've been reading lots of books from the library. I'm enjoying the mystery genre more than I have in the past. I'm also enjoying some television shows that are more dramatic in nature as opposed to the reality tv I used to watch. Heartland is my favourite show of the moment. Merlin is another good one. This Sunday I watched one the American Girls movies, Felicity. I really enjoyed that too. Kind of returning to my Waltons roots I guess.

So that's that. The adventure part of my life has included figuring out how to keep the dogs out of the garbage and the fridge. The fridge seal isn't the greatest and once Buddy figures out how to get into something like that he gets pretty determined to consistently get in there. This week he ate a good bit of a 7-layer salad and a key lime pie - two separate occasions. I'm sure Fuzzy helped, but Buddy usually gets the blame for the really bad stuff. Anyway, they are both healthy and well. It's always a little alarming when they get into that stuff and eat way more than it looks like their little tummies can hold. But as long as they can puke, pee and poop I figure they will be Ok. That's Buddy in the pic section, healthy and well.

Love to all, be in touch soon.

June 5th

I'm feeling nicely settled back here in Windsor. I took a few pics to give you a glimpse of our space here.

Holly is pretty social these days and her friends come in from every available entrance to our apartment. Since we have the "livingroom" set up as our "bedroom" it's been a little interesting having 18 year olds streaming in through the patio door.

Today we took the bull by the horns and bought some curtains to section off this part of the apartment so we can all have our privacy. We also asked if they could all use the front door from now on:)

Steve and I took a trip to Walmart to pick a few needed items. We haven't had a vacuum cleaner in quite some time now. We were only going to look today but there was a Bissel model for $50 so we picked it up. It works really well. I had been sweeping the carpets but this baby sucked up a bunch of stuff that obviously had been hiding further down in the pile.

Walmart also had hanging flower baskets for $6.99 each. I chose 3 to hang from the ceiling on our patio. You can see them in the picture. You can also see our two little puppies at the bottom of the patio door if you look very closely.

We just got cheap curtains and tension rods for the separating part. I chose burgundy because I like it. I always thought it would be cool to live in a tent like the nomads in the desert. We get a sense of that now, it's pretty cozy.

Brady and Robyn just found out that they were approved for an apartment they really wanted to get in Orangeville. Robyn is going to have so much fun setting that place up! Brady has been doing a decent amount of surveillance type work lately and Robyn is working at Home Depot. I think they are getting off to a good start. Robyn's parents have been awesome for letting the kids and Diesel stay at their place while they settled into work. That has given them a good start at getting ready to move out on their own.

One of Holly's friends appeared at the back door today. He was here to get a haircut for the prom tonight. Holly was the barber. That reminded me of when I was in highschool cutting the guys hair, "Sure I can cut your hair, no problem......I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm sure I can do it." I was proud of her!!

Windsor is such a nice city. It's not an overwhelming place at all.

So, the pics today are: our patio, our room and our kitchen.

Hope you are having a great day!!

June 3rd

Hello from Windsor, Ontario! I made it home yesterday. I was pretty tired as I couldn't sleep during my travels. Dale from work drove me to the airport in Fort Simpson on Monday. I flew out at 5 pm. We arrived in Yellowknife about an hour later and waited a couple of hours for the flight to Edmonton. Arrived in Edmonton around 10 pm then waited to fly out of there at 12:30 am. I had purchased a Best Seller book from the Northern before I left on Monday thinking that would be the best way to kill those little waiting hours and it worked well. I chose a mystery and it passed the time nicely. I just have a few pages left to read today to finish the book. It's "The Calling" by Inger Ash Wolfe.

My most difficult time was on the plane from Edmonton to Toronto. I was tired but not in the mood to sleep and it was dark outside, the kind of dark I hadn't experienced for 3 weeks. I went through the moment of really hoping I was doing the right thing and mourning what I had left behind. I tested out my cd player earphones and they worked with the entertainment system on the plane so I watched a Canadian film for rest of the way back to Toronto. I didn't choose one that would lift my spirits at all, being the dramatic person I can be. I chose a film about an Eskimo man who was diagnosed with TB in the 1950s. He lived on Baffin Island with his wife and two daughters. A medical boat came in and everyone from the area boarded for an exam. He was found to have TB and had to stay on the boat to travel to Quebec for treatment while his wife and daughters had to go back home alone.....home was a tent on the land, he was a hunter and they lived a traditional lifestyle. The adjustment to life in a french city was overwhelming for him and his journey to wellness was not easy. There was more to the story but I'll leave it at that. The pictures of the northern landscape and people of course pulled at my heart even more as I was already in that place of longing. It was therapeutic to say the least and allowed me to shed the tears that needed to be released.

As I put my suitcases on the scale in Fort Simpson I gently pleaded with the powers that be that I would meet up with them again in Toronto. The young guy that was the ticket taker there assured me they would make it. And they did. They came off the luggage mover very close to the start of the luggage which was a nice touch since that had been a decent sized plane and seemed pretty well full of passengers.

Steve was waiting for me as soon as I got through the doors and it was really good to see him. We were both very happy in that moment and the moments that have followed.

Toronto was my least favourite part of this journey. After the beauty and peace of the north I was not in the mood for concrete and traffic. I fell asleep around Milton and didn't wake up until Belle River, about 20 minutes outside of Windsor.

I was wondering how I'd feel about Windsor after having such a negative reaction to Toronto, which in the past has never bothered me at all. Thankfully Windsor is still my "city of choice". I felt peaceful and at home as we entered the Rose City.

Coming home to a new apartment was a bit challenging. Again I wasn't sure what to expect. Brady had done an awesome job setting the place up. He had hung the art and set the rooms up really well.

I settled in and did a couple of chores that helped me feel part of the space. I rested off and on throughout the day. We were planning on having fish and chips for supper.....Windsor has an awesome fish and chip place, but I really felt like cooking dinner here. We have a bigger kitchen than our last apartment and it felt like the right thing to do. So we had a home-cooked meal, which we haven't had together in a while since I pretty much stopped cooking for anyone other than myself last January. I really enjoyed making the meal and Steve enjoyed helping and eating it:)

I slept really well last night and this morning started unpacking. The puppies are curled up on the bed resting. They were happy to see me also. They have really settled in here nicely, the set up of this apartment suits them really well.

It took us a bit of time to figure out how to get the wireless router set up.....being the non-techies we are. It was an easy job once the Staples guy told us what to do. So I am able to continue working with my little pink lady in the comfort of my living space.....whichever comfortable spot I find myself in at any given time. I highly recommend wireless to anyone who's set up can adapt to it.

Being away for the time I was allowed Steve and I to work on communication. Since there was no way we could be together in person we really had to talk everything through. We promised one another that we will maintain that communication to continue moving forward with our relationship and our hopes for our relationship into the future. Being such an emotional day we had good opportunities for practice and I was very happy with the results.

The pictures today are from the flight home. The plane is the one I flew on from Fort Simpson to Yellowknife, those planes all have beautifully painted tails, different animals on some of them. Then the polar bear inside the airport for all of us losers who travel to the north and don't see any living ones. And finally outside the Yellowknife airport. Yellowknife does not enjoy the same temperate climate as Fort Simpson. It was really cool there and Slave Lake was still mostly covered in ice. It didn't look stable, you could see crack lines from the air, but it was still mostly covered.

Edmonton was not as scenic from the air as Calgary. I don't feel the least bit inclined to want to go out of my way to visit there again. Calgary will always be a beautiful picture in my mind and I would love to go back there one day.

So, that's where everything stands as of right now. I am going to use this space to comment on life in general as I live it. I believe that we can experience joy and adventure in life wherever we are.

Love to all of you who are supporting me on this journey of discovery......

June 1st

Here it is, my last day in Fort Simpson for now. If Steve and I decide it would be good for us we may be back together.

I had a wonderful evening last night with a couple from work. They came up here one year ago from Orillia. We made plans to meet up at Mariposa in a month when they are back in Ontario on holiday. I want Steve to meet them.

I slept with my blinds open last night so I could wake up early this morning and enjoy the morning here. It truly is a place of beauty. The pictures today are from 5 am. What a way to start the day!

I'm thinking I"ll be able to see the landscape today flying into Yellowknife for sure and probably Edmonton too. I arrive at the Edmonton airport around 930, it should still be light out there.

Then hopefully I'll be able to sleep on the last leg to Toronto.

Hope everyone is happy and well........

May 30th

This was a wonderful night. I was able to see the first presentation of a film called, "Fighting for our Land, the determination, tenacity and love for the struggle of our future." This is a documentary prepared to educate Canadians about how the Dene people are going about their negotiations with the Canadian government. It was eye opening. These people, the Dene, are standing strong for their beliefs in such a powerful and beautiful way. These people through the direction of their elders have kept the negotiation process completely open to anyone who cares to be present. This is unheard of in Canada where most of these types of deal-making scenarios are played out behind closed doors. The people are standing for their desire to put into place what's called a Land Use Policy before proceding any further with land determination issues. This Land Use Policy puts in place guidelines for how the land is to be cared for regardless of who has ownership. In previous negotiations the Dene have put before the government proposals that would keep approximately 60% of their land as conservation land, the government said it could only allow 40%. How insane is that? I purchased a copy of this film and will be bringing it on my visits to each and every one of you so you can see for yourself what beautiful people live here and how our government still is trying to evade responsible action even in this day and age of "green living".

Kim, I kept thinking about your Dad and how he would find so many people that think like him and that have his mannerism and love for the land.

The Dene people are unique in this whole process and that explains the charm of this place. I am so excited to bring this back and show you all. People need to know what's going on and if so inclined offer their support of the process. This is a critical time as it's thought that by the end of this year some type of determinations will have to be made.

Today I took advantage of my time and captured the culture in as speedy a way as I could. During my lunch hour I raced to the local extended care facility where a local lady works. She does beadwork that I've admired on so many wallet/card holders here in town. She happened to have one with her so I purchased it and took her information for future orders. She will make moccasins personalized to your foot pattern, she gave me the fax number for her work so I can fax up feet patterns:)

Then I stopped at the hardware store to stock up on incense. That is not really a local thing, the incense comes from BC but it is the best I've ever used.

Next stop, one of the local ladies was having a bake sale/garage sale. She was selling bread and pies and buns and bannock and chili and doughnuts. I got some chili and bannock and doughnuts for my lunch. The bannock here is different than what I had in Whitehorse so many years ago but it was still very good. I'm not a huge chili lover, but I dipped the bannock in the chili and it was delicious.

My day was topped off with the movie showing this evening. I walked home and sat down by the river soaking in the waves rolling against the shore and watching the seagulls coast on the wind (I just read that back, I didn't actually "soak in the waves" I sat and listened to them rolling against the shore and brought that energy into my soul). Today was very rainy all day but tonight it has cleared and was so beautiful down by the water. The place where the two rivers meet is truly a sacred site. I don't think anyone who sees it could disagree.

I feel so blessed to have been offered the opportunity to spend time here. I believe I will be back. There is something very special about this particular place. I'm coming home right now to share with all of you what I've learned in my short time here and believing that I will be back at some point.

Tomorrow is inventory day at the store. Alot of the gang were working on inventory today and tomorrow for several hours we all will be working on it. I finish off the day on cash and that is my last shift at the Northern this time around.

On Monday I will do laundry, pack and head to the airport for the ride home.

One of the pictures is from yesterday morning, another one is from tonight and the other one is the only "wildlife" I've seen. Hope you enoy them!

May 28th 2009

Sorry for the break. A happening has occurred that I believe I have let everyone know about before posting it here. This picture was taken from my bedroom window about 10 days ago. most of the snow is gone now, there are just occasional places where there had been huge chunks of it left.

I am going back to Windsor next week. I did not expect it to happen so quickly but am being presented with an opportunity to keep our family together in a more positive way.

In the short time I've been here in Fort Simpson I have met some wonderful people. I was welcomed into the Northern family and feel that we will maintain the friendships that we've begun.

This is a place I would recommend to anyone who has ever wondered if the north might be for them. The way of life is just more relaxed, but not backward at all. The long days that I've been able to experience are just so cool. I got home from work a little while ago, it's now 11 pm and outside it looks like it might be maybe 7 or 8 pm down south. You can still maintain your own sleep cycle, it's up to you.

I have not seen any wildlife. I should probably be thankful for that.

Tonight after work the cutest puppy in the village, MacKenzie was out for a walk with her owner. I ran out to play with her. She is soooo cute. I will ask if I can take her picture to post for you all to see. It's not just her looks but her nature that's so cute.

I have to say decisions in my life lately have been so intense. But I wouldn't change any of them. The whirlwind events that brought me to the north included visits with my extended family.....brothers, nieces and nephew, Mom and Ken and Dad and Jean. Those visits were really good for me to know I want to build on that and make sure I see those people more often. It's a gift to have family and to have family that you like is an even better gift.

My girlfriends are some of the smartest women around. I feel so fortunate to be in their circle. I missed out on the last get together and hope to not miss out on any more.

I'm looking forward to spending more time than I have in the past with everyone, at least keeping in touch more frequently.

The traveling here showed me how much I enjoy travel. Being here on my own showed me I can do it. And deciding to go back home is showing me I can allow myself the opportunity to "do it right".

So that's it for now. I will get out and take as many pictures and gather as many stories as I can while I'm still here.

I plan on continuing the blog from Windsor. You know life can be an adventure wherever we are and I want to live my life like that.

Until next time......

May 24th 2009 - THE SPITFIRES WON!!!!!!

In case you missed the news today is a day in history. The Windsor Spitfires won the Memorial Cup. They are the first team ever to lose their first two games in the series and come back to win the cup. It is so exciting. Steve watched the game on tv and sent me pictures of the reactions at the end of the game. We were on the phone together for almost the whole game so I could know what was happening. Such a great day!!

Before the game started I met up with the Sunday Alpine Walking group. We walked to the campgrounds just outside of town and walked through the trails in the actual park. It was really nice. There is a cool north wind today however the sun is shining brightly. The others told me that in the summer you can rent a site for the night just to enjoy a campfire. That sounds good to me.

My room is still on the cool side. I keep easing the thermostat up trying to find the right compromise.

In the pics today I wanted you to see the hint of green in the trees as they start to release their buds. I don't know how well you can see it, but it sure is beautiful here in person. The other picture is a monument at the Sacred Grounds. I was with the other people when I took the picture so I will go back another day and read the plaque so I can tell you what it represents. The energy surrounding the area is charged with positiveness.

So it's been a great day. I hope you all are enjoying yourselves with whatever you find comes your way.

May 23rd

No pictures today. The camera needs new batteries so I'll get them in and take some pictures tomorrow when I'm out and about.
Today the trees are starting to show that new baby green aura. Up close you can't really see it, but in the distance where they're all standing together you get that gentle hint of green.
I came back to the house at lunch time today. It was a nice rest. The water was sparkling in the sun. Tomorrow I'll take another picture of the beach to show you all how much more ice has melted. It's really amazing to watch it disappear so quickly.
This morning pretty much at the start of my shift all the debit/credit machines went down. The manager made some calls and we found out the main terminal in Vancouver had no power so they couldn't service their terminals. Now in another place or time this would put a small town into a frenzy. Not here. People willingly went to the cash machine (that is run by a different server so they could still use that), accepted the charge of $2+ for the privilege of getting cash and paid for their groceries. I had one customer right near the beginning of the ordeal before we had signs up who was only prepared to pay with credit. She had no cash and was going to have to put her groceries back. Before you could even blink the three ladies in line behind her were all counting their cash to see if together they had enough to cover each other's food. What a community spirit.
I'm finding that my back doesn't get as sore if I stand in my sock feet for as much time as possible. I'm not sure how professional that is (I'm guessing not very) so I choose my times carefully. My back doesn't get nearly as sore by the end of the day when I'm able to do this.
I'll be back tomorrow with more Fort Simpson news. Tomorrow the Spits play the final game in the quest for the Memorial Cup, let's cross our fingers for them! GO SPITS GO!!!!!!

May 22nd pm

Just a quick note at the end of my day, I'm pretty tired all of a sudden. I took this picture at the boat docking area that I walked to today. This is what the boatyard looks like here, not too many yachts in the harbour. I guess the system is if you want to take out a boat you just leave a note saying you'll have it back later:)
So, Mom's question for the day, is the store open on Sundays?
The main store hours are: Mon - Fri 10-7 Sat 10-6 and Sun and holidays 12-5, these are the extended summer hours. We get an hour for lunch and two 15 minute breaks each full shift. The gas bar/convenience store is open until 10 pm during the week, and I'm not sure how late it's open on the weekends.
Have a good night everyone,

May 22nd

Greetings All, I might be a bit distracted as I type this edition of my blog, the Spits are playing in Quebec and it's looking good in the first period. We're ahead 2 - 0, YEAHHHHHH!!!

So today I slept in since it is my day off. Then I puttered around cleaning and tidying up a bit. Then I went off for a walk-about. I made it to the other end of the island. I walked for 2 hours. It was really nice. It's a nice warm day but not too hot to walk. I wore my converse runners but my feet were still sore when I got home. I have to find some kind of shoe that doesn't make me hurt somewhere.

The pictures above are from my travels today. The third is a stick that was on the sidewalk in that cool pose. The second is the local "bike park", I thought Brady might like that picture. It reminds me of the times I was able to watch him working on his bike tricks at the park and his homemade contraptions around the farm. The first one is the ice along the bank outside of town. The landscape of ice chunks reminds me very much of the Georgian Bay shoreline in Meaford, the difference here is in a couple of weeks the "ice rocks" will have melted and we'll have a sandy shoreline.

I think 3 or 4 mosquitoes tried their luck with me and I just swore at them and smacked them. Then they left me alone.

I picked up a couple more books from the library since I'm almost done the one I got earlier in the week and the library is closed on the weekends.

I went into the liquor store today to see what we have available here. Beer, wine and spirits are all available in the one store. Everything is behind the counter except for a small selection in the cooler. It looked like a good selection.

I stopped in at the hardware store again. I really like that store. They have the best incense I've ever used. Last time I was in I saw some mugs that I really liked made by a northern artist. This time I purchased one. They come with the insert that lets you steep loose leaf tea right in the cup and a lid to keep your hot drink hot. That's the part I need since my drinks seem to cool down too fast in my room. They have a really nice pair of moccasins that I'm keeping in mind. They look like they have been made for everyday wear.

Today I've been watching some tv and enjoying that. Here is a funny thing. We get about 10 channels and one of them is a Detroit channel! We watched the Detroit channels at home in Windsor all the time for the news, etc, so it's just another little piece of home away from home.

All in all it's been a good day. I hope everyone reading is well.

May 21st pm/pm

I wanted to make sure there was a picture for you to see the difference in the ice between last week and this week. This picture was taken on the 14th on the same beach where I took the picture today.

That's all.......

May 21st pm

It's a beautiful evening here in Fort Simpson. I wore my jacket unzipped walking home from work as the air is still a little fresh. I kind of got a chill at work on my lunch as our lunchroom is in the back where the loads get delivered and the big doors were open all day.

So many people in the store today were talking about cooking over their open fires. That sounds so good to me. I love bonfires. I think it must be a relaxing way to spend an evening cooking on a fire. Salmon rolls filled with crab meat were on special this week, two really nice sized rolls for around $5. That's what got people talking about the fires.

Ken wanted to know the price of fuel. I stopped to look at the pumps

on my way home tonight. Right now the price is 1.02 per litre for gas and diesel. Not so bad at all.

The first two pictures above I took tonight. I wanted to show you how much ice is melting on the beach. Once it melts there is a big jut of land that you can walk out into the middle of the river on. Oh, speaking of the river, in the paper last week there was mention of a concern of a community that lives on the Liard River. Apparently several bison drowned in the river, I think from the melting ice, and the residents there were concerned about their water quality. I forgot to ask where our water comes from but I'm guessing we have a mix of Liard River water and Mackenzie River water. I know it doesn't taste that good.

The other picture at the top is of a fire in the backyard of the Pentacostal church. I don't know if they were going to use it for cooking or if they're just burning rubbish.

The last picture is from this morning. I thought it was telling having the snowmobiles on trailers in one driveway and the boats on trailers in the next driveway.

That's all for now. I have tomorrow off so I'll probably go on a walk-about town and show you some of the other side of town.

Talk with you then.....

May 21st am

Good morning All, I'm pretty tired this morning after last night's evening shift. The new girl I worked with was really good. We both worked away and got rid of alot of dust in that place. You have to keep up with it all the time or else it just gets out of hand - and it was pretty much out of hand. I'm looking forward to seeing it this morning all bright and shiny.
We were washing the windows and cleaning the mats outside while the manager changed the outside garbage which was overflowing. Lorna asked if bears ever come to the store and he said......YES! So I will need to keep my camera with me all the time just in case. Lorna lives in town and she said the bears do come into town from time to time. She was driving with her husband last week on mainland and they saw a big brown bear along the side of the road. I think she said brown, it was either brown or black.
Kim question today is: why the company hires people from the south, aren't we taking jobs from local people?
Well, people here don't have to work alot if they don't want to. They only have to work a few weeks a year to get benefits. The Northern is always hiring local people but not too many stay on full-time and that's why they need to bring southerners up. There are alot of people from the east coast up here too. And it is retail. That's certainly not everyone's cup of tea:) We do have quite a few local people at our store.
Yesterday the guy who works at the golf course was in buying some supplies. He told us that they were having a lunch at the course yesterday, salad, stew and bannock for $10.99. I instantly got a craving for bannock which I have made but I don't think I ever got it to taste as good as when I had it with the family in Whitehorse. I'm going to have to ask around and find someone to teach me again.
That's all for now......

May 20th pm/pm

I just read through the comments that some of you have left. Thanks for giving me some feedback!
Mardi, where were you when you saw the Northern Lights?
Bry, thanks for the vitamin tip and the book, The Tenderness of Wolves (did I get the title right?) was good. It wasn't one that I was completely absorbed in but I looked forward to picking it up every night.
I asked around about wildlife today. Bears, beavers, one of the little weasel creatures, that was the list I was given. Apparently I have to go farther out of town than the golf course to see them:)

May 20th pm

This is my first split-shift day. I worked earlier today on front cash and covered breaks on the gas bar/convenience store. I go back to the gas bar/convenience store tonight for a 7-10 shift. With it staying light outside so late (past midnight) it's not so hard to be out late like that.

We got cable hooked up on the weekend. I haven't watched much tv at all. I spend my spare time on the computer, reading or walking outside. We don't get too many channels anyway.

The Windsor Spitfires (for those of you who don't know, I am a passionate Spitfire fan:) are playing in the Memorial Cup playoffs. They lost their first two games but won yesterday. They were not even expecting to make it to the finals this year so we are so proud of them for their efforts. We'll see how they finish these finals up.

Above are two pictures of the store, one from the gas bar view and one from the front on main street. The other two pictures are a shot down main street and the library. Not such scenic pics but maybe gives a sense of how laid back the town is.

That's all for now. I'm going to rest before my next shift. Take care everyone.

May 20 am

Good Morning~ The sun is shining brightly this morning. The river is such a beautiful shade of grey, kind of a pure slate colour if you can imagine that. I never really thought of grey as a "pure" colour before, but that's what comes to mind when I look at the river.
Today I will get some photos of downtown for you to see.
My Mom was asking about bugs. Everyone in town seems to be stocking up on mosquito supplies. On my way home last night I was stalked by a mosquito about the size of the circle my index finger and thumb make. I'll keep you posted as the season progresses.
I'm off to work, I'll touch base later....... wishing you all a day of Wonder!

May 19th pm

Well, I'm home from work. It was a good day. I'm ready to come home at the end of my shifts though. I've been working both on cash in the main section of the store and also in the gas bar/convenience store section. I really like the convenience store part since there's always something to do, coffee to make, dusting, sweeping, wiping counters. I like keeping busy and it's a bit easier out there. Today for no apparent reason the power went out twice. The first time was 10-15 minutes and the second time 5-10 minutes. We had to ask everyone to leave the store and then just wait for it to come back on. There was no bad weather or any other reason that we could figure out. Someone said a bird had hit a wire the first time but I don't know if I'm falling for that one.

Above is a picture of the outside of our house, my room inside and the view across the street. Your welcome Mom.

Tonight I made one of those Kraft pizza kits for supper. It was really good. I kind of remember having them sometimes when I was a kid.

I got another book from the library. Someone mentioned this one to me somewhere along the way while I was getting ready for this adventure and there it was on the shelf waiting for me today. It's called: Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay. I'll let you know what I think of it.

Now to address Kim's questions: we still were having some snow falling in the nights last week and it was pretty cold some of the days. The big chunks of ice you see in the pictures are huge in real life, they will take a while to melt down!

I haven't seen any wildlife. I've heard the bears are active. I'm not sure how much wildlife we get here on the island but I'm going to ask around and if there is some I want to see it! I may have to go hang out at the dump to see the bears, but I'll do it!

No I haven't seen Northern lights yet. I think they are not so visible if they are visible at all this time of year. I kind of think they start up again in the fall and run through until April. Apparently in town you don't see them as well as here by the water. I did buy a card for my cousins at the Yellowknife airport that has a beautiful picture of them though.

So that's the question and answer period for tonight.

Wishing you all a good night.....

Ton

May 19th a.m.

So, my Mom has so many questions and they are possibly things other people might want to know as well. I will go ahead and answer them here.

It takes me about 5 minutes to walk to work give or take a minute or two.

The picture to the left here is a site on the sacred grounds at the end of our street. The Pope visited this spot a few years back. You can imagine the meaning for the local people to have the Pope visit their little town.

Groceries are not as crazy in price as I was expecting. Some things are more out of whack than others. Yesterday I paid $14.99 for Tide laundry detergent. It is the 24 load size. We have really good sales, at least last week we did. Raspberries are on for I think 3.99 a pint (the little package of fresh berries). When we ring them in it says the customer just saved $8 so I guess usually that price is high. Strawberries, the larger plastic container of them, are 3.59 this week, usually 6.59. Margerine is pricey, the large container of Becel is 7+. The selection is really good. Down south I found an Almond milk that I really enjoy (the chocolate one) and we sell that here. Also soy milk and vegie burgers. I think it might be hard for hard-core vegetarians or vegans, but for us Flexies it's really good.

Yesterday, Victoria Day, was a holiday for me. I will get another day off later in the week also, three days off in total this week. I'm being brought into the whirlwind nice and gradually.

Well, I'm off to work now. I will take back the book I just finished to the library. The book kind of jumped out at me on the shelf last week. It's called The Tenderness of Wolves. When I got it home and started reading it I found out it is set on Georgian Bay in the time of Voyageurs, pretty cool!

I'll take a picture of my little home and the store for you all to see.

Be back later.....

Catching Up

This is a shot taken down the street and into the campgrounds. I think it was around 7 in the evening when I was out walking that day. If I walk to the north I am heading into town. There is a path along the river that used to

be a road but the bank is not stable enough to support vehicles any more. If I walk south I head right out of town. The Pentacostal church at the south end of the street. I believe the population is around 12oo. Fort Simpson is an island community but access off the island is available most times of the year either on the ice road or on the ferry.

Monday, May 18th 2009

It's Monday evening, 7:20 pm mountain time. The sun is still high in the sky. Have I mentioned how clear the air is up here? I arrived in Fort Simpson last Tuesday so I've been here almost one week. I missed "The Break Up" as it occurred on the Friday before I arrived. This is a big event when the ice on the river suddenly breaks and the river starts to flow. Businesses closed so everyone could come down and watch. Neighbours called one another around 5 am to say it was starting. By the time I got here the river was flowing freely. There are still huge chunks of ice along the banks and ice pieces floating along the river. The view from my window is of the Liard River and Mackenzie River meeting and joining on their path to the Arctic Ocean. For some reason it seemed odd to me to see the river running north. But I guess it makes sense with the earth being round and all. I had my first Nordic hike yesterday. We hiked outside of town along the golf course and through a field. It was really pretty. Next time I'll take the camera.