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.