Lloyd's Puppies

While I am at it Ed took some pictues again of the pups.I really think Lloyd is thinking about getting one so he will have company when he is out in the dooryard. Remember not get too attached to them LLoyd.

A Beautiful Northern Saturday

Hey Everyone

It was a gorgeous day up here in Cape Dorset today. Probably the nicest saturday yet thus far. The crew went for a walk up to the falls at Q Lake and it was fantastic up there. My niece sent along some goodies from Woodstock NB earlier in the week and we enjoyed the hot chocolate, beef jerky, nachos, and ESPECIALLY the homemade salsa. Thank you very much Ellen, Andrew, Betty and Mike. I am attaching some pictures and I hope everyone enjoys looking at them.

Till later
Blake

Puppy Pictures and Other Things

Well everyone it is Thursday evening and that sound you hear like a semi tractor trailer slamming on his brakes is actually the wheels of the Cape Dorset Education system coming to a screeching halt. We have a sessional day tomorrow and I do not want to ramble on too long, besides, I have a ball game to go watch. Many thanks to Ed as I am attaching some pictures he took of some extremely cute husky pups and also some other pictures taken in and around the community.Take note of the big sealift boat that most everyones grub, that is, all except Chris's, but thats a whole other story.Hey gang just think 8 weeks from today we will getting ready to land in our home provinces to spend the festive season with our families. I can hardly wait till next Wednesday when I can actually say, " I am going home next month"

Ciao for now

Blake

Wednesday October 25th

Well it is the midpoint of the week but really we are further along than that. With a staff meeting and house sports tomorrow and a sessional day for Friday the week, as far as valuable instructional time is concerned, is pretty well done. One thing I forgot to mention in my earlier blog was the fantastic breakfast Peter prepared last Friday. Thanks Pete and everyone else who jumped in to give a hand. Peter is done in Cape Dorset in Decemeber and he is going to be sorely missed I am sure.
I also managed to change my ticket to go home for Christmas to the 20th from the 21st. I have to overnight in Iqaluit and I dont get home any earlier but it lessens the chance that the I will be delayed because of the weather.The girl, I think her name was Nancy, was very helpful and she is even refunding some money to me because I had not taken of an earlier discount.Thanks First Air for all your help. I am enjoying my time in Cape Dorset but it certainly would be depressing if I had to spend Christmas away from my friends and family. All the dry goods on the sealift have now been delivered. All that is left to arrive are the frozen goods of which I have ordered a crapload of. Also arriving yesterday was a nice little care package compliments of my sister-in-law Betty O and her daughter and son-in-law. There was all kinds of goodies and I especially enjoyed getting a couple of copies of the local paper. The internet makes it easy to get provincial, national, and international news but it is very tough to get any current news on your local community.Thank you Betty, Mike, Ellen and Andrew.
As I look back on the week it occurs to me that there are many things to be thankful for. Let us all pause and give thanks for the little things because they all add up.

Till later

Blake

Monday October 23rd

Well another weekend has slipped by. 9 weeks from today is Christmas but what the heck, who is counting. Went out for a walk on Saturday with Cecil, a teacher at the elementary school. We trekked up towards the waterfall. It looks pretty nice with the way the water is beginning to freeze up on it. The weather itself has been not too great. The roads and walkways are all muddy and sloppy so the walking is pretty cruddy. The personal taxi service my wife is operating on the Miramichi has been keeping her really busy. Between that and work she has very little time for herself. I am in the process of changing my plane ticket for Christmas to leave Cape Dorset on the 20th of December instead of the 21st. This solves two problems. It gives me an extra day in case the weather is bad and the plane is delayed and also if I can get to Ottawa on the 20th there is a possibility I can get on an earlier flight on the 21st and be in Moncton early afternoon instead of 11:00 in the evening. I had a couple of great meals on the weekend compliments of Jean and Donna. Thank you everyone for making Cape Dorset feel a little more like home. I truly cherish the friendship and kindness you have all shown. I wish the temperature would fall consistently below zero in order to clean up the mud.
The students have been for the most part pretty good. Marks go out this week and it is a short week with the students( staff meetings Friday). Next week there will be parent-teacher interviews so we will have 1/2 day with no students for sure. Maybe even a full day. I also bought a really nice carving on the weekend of a polar bear. It will make a nice gift for someone.
Thats all for now
Till later
Blake

Picture by Goo

Here is a photo of the drawing a mentioned in the earlier post.

Very Eventful October 17th

Well where do I start? First things first, landed at the school this a.m.to see that some of the village ( or is it hamlet) idiots had broken out numerous windows in the school. It must have been a wild night in Cape Dorset last night or the criminals were really bored. This was the most blatant act of destruction I had seen so far.I was displaced from my classroom and had to teach most of the day from the library which was a real inconvenience. On a more positive note my niece and her husband had a beautiful 8 lb 5 oz baby girl. Congratulations Mary-Rita and Dave. I also purchased a print from one of the local artists which really displays a good many characteristics of Cape Dorset. Well I am off to hit the hay.
Till later

Blake

The New Motel

Pictures of the new motel

October 15th

As I expected, the last week flew by with Monday being a holiday and all. Rumours were rampant in the community that our sealift was to arrive. The boat is definitely out in the harbour but it is just past noon on Sunday and there seems to be little to no movement. The shelves are getting pretty low on rations. I took the opportunity to go on the hunt yesterday for any signs of our sealift. The only sign of life Saturday was at rhe Northern and Co-op where there were tons of people around and also at the construction sight of the new motel.It is in the shape of an ulu so it is quite unique looking. I am now heading out to the school so hopefully the next time I post, the sealift will have arrived.

Till later
Blake

Locals on the Pond

Here is a couple of pictures of the locals on the pond

Tuesday After the Long Weekend

Well I survived my second loooong weekend in Cape Dorset. We are on the downswing now towards Chritmas. I have been up here away from my wife and children for almost two months and have not cracked up yet. It is the first real spell of cold weather and the pond next to my house has frozen over. The kids are now riding thier bicycles on it. It would be great to use to play some shinny on but unfortunately some of the local gillygoos decided they would cover it with rocks. Rocks every where. Unfortunately the ice was too thick and all they did was pepper the top with rocks.As I said earlier I survived the long weekend. I learned my lesson from the previous one and didnt hang around the school too long Friday. This did two things. It allowed me to get home early to watch the ball games and also gave me an excuse to return to the school on Monday in order to plan my week. So far the weather on the weekends have been no raving hell. It seems to blow a gazillion miles and hour on the weekends and it makes it not too appetizing to get out on the land.

Also I must give a kind thanks to all other bloggers for their kind words of support and pearls of wisdom on many such things.
Till later
Blake

Beginning of a new month

It's the start of October. Before you know it Santa Claus will have come and gone. Had a pretty decent week to finish off September. We had the Terry Fox walk at our school and everything went great. Nobody got ran over by the R.C.M.P. vehicle and the kids cleaned up close to 500 hot dogs.Was invited out to supper( again) and had a big feed of homemade beans and char. Thank you Chris, Leona, Ed, and Jean. You have made the time go by much faster than I would have originally thought it would. I also got a ton of marking and planning done on the weekend so all in all it was pretty prosperous. Well I am gonna head out for a walk and come back and watch the Sunday night football game.
Till Later
Blake