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May 28, 2026

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 Hello everyone: It is over.  Yes, really this time, 4 years in the great north has taught me so much, that now I think I am ready for the next part of my life--what ever that will be! Yesterday was certainly a time of reflection of what it is like to be Inuit, and what it is to be discriminated, and treated poorly.   If you open your eyes and your heart, you can see it, feel it and smell it by actually living it, day to day. The life these people live isn't what we imagine or momentarily see on the news. It is a people that are struggling to find their place in such a rapidly changing world. Last night was the biggest graduating class that the school has had in years.  9 students, including one girl, received their fully graduation, with 7 of them, including the young lady, moving forward to pre university in Montreal.  Pre university is where Inuit students hone their English and French language in preparation for post secondary education.  What an a...
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Saturday May 16, 2026

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 Happy Long weekend Wow--yesterday, beautiful and sunny, all snow off the roads, and walking without spikes!!  Today, minus 12, snow and a high wind with blizzard coming for the week!!  So much for my plan to walk over to the grocery store!!  My amazing neighbour, the guy in charge of housing resigned and left a few days ago.  Now, I have no way of going shopping.  I could get the keys for the truck, but I am not a good driver in snow--so I will have to make do for the next 3 weeks with what is left in my pantry.  Nick did leave me a present--he was contracted here by a Montreal based firm--and they provided him with internet--so I was able to use it, gratis.  He has left it on for me!!  Yahoo.  Thankyou Nick. The Quebec system does year end exams for grades 6 to 12/13 in English, French and Inuktitut.  May is the designated month for these tests.  My neighbour got the results back for math at the grade 6 level, and his class s...
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Friday May 1

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 Hello again Old man winter is not giving up!!  The blizzard began on Tuesday night, and did it ever howl!  No school on Wednesday.  By Thursday the winds had subsided, but not without leaving 20 foot mounds of snow that had to be cleared to open the roads.  So, another school closure.  This morning, it was blowing pretty good--about 50k, but I got suited up and headed out.  I usually go by the road, which is not too steep.   I got half way down, and then ran into the 20 foot snow bank--really not safe to go through, so home I came, and stayed put.  The school was open.  Most of the staff live on roads that were ploughed, so they were able to travel.  School was open. It is about 7 pm, and the wind is up, the snow is falling and blowing, and we have yet another yellow alert blizzard warning.  Looks like we will be in our little homes well into next week with the forecast.  It is not cold, about 10 below, but it is the...
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Friday April 17, 2026

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 Hello all A very busy week. The grade 4, 5, 6  Sautjuit class visited a Catholic School in Toronto in the fall, and this week, that class came up here.  21 students, grades 7 and 8, 5 chaperones, their teacher, and their district superintendent.  The weather has been very sunny and bright, but very cold and windy.  Unfortunately, the thermometer never climbed above 26 below zero, so the students were not allowed outside.  I had one of the teachers stay with me.  She had to ride to school every day in the truck because she couldn't walk on the icy snow and she couldn't stand the cold.  I hiked every day on my new ice dancing clips.  Boy--do they work well!  I can actually dance!! The focus was Inuit culture.  Each day, there were varying activities from sewing to animal skinning and story telling, for Sautjuit students and Toronto students.  There were no regular classes.  It was all culture. We had planned to take them se...
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