Posted on November 14, 2019 under Thursday Tidbits with one comment

“Mussel” Beach

 

While I would hardly consider myself a couch potato, I can be as lazy as sin if left to my own devices.

I love to walk. Since I retired four years ago, I have started every day with an 8Km-10Km walk. Since completing the Camino in May, I have also done a weekend walk typically covering 30-35Km. One of my summer walks covered 50Km which I have discovered is my limit! With winter setting in, the long walks will take a hiatus. My winter Sunday afternoons and evenings are usually filled with watching sports and eating sweets.

Now that I am in Northern Quebec, I’m re-evaluating my weekend protocol. For one thing, I don’t have a television… yet.  Streaming movies or sporting events can be challenging as the internet signal is not always strong.

On my first day of school last Thursday, I discovered that there were some active walkers in the school which was music to my ears. The school has an outdoor adventure program. Several students are in training for a five day wilderness expedition to be held in the dead of winter. Temperatures can get into the -50s. On Saturdays, a few staff members and the students go for a long walk and once the snow gets a bit deeper, they will cross country ski. I was invited to join them and eagerly agreed. The good news is that it was a fantastic experience. The bad news is that my winter wardrobe is totally inadequate for the weather conditions in the north.

There are seven lakes separated by patches of tundra that eventually reach a bay. Our walk last Saturday traversed the (mostly!) frozen landscape. It was quite cold and the wind was at our back on the outward journey. The students were in great spirits and the air was filled with laughter and snowballs.

By the time we reached our halfway point, I wasn’t quite frozen but there were hints of rigormortis setting in. To the rescue came V, the young woman who has admirably and professionally led my class at school after the departure of my predecessor. She and her colleague, L, have been showing me the ropes as I adapt to life in the classroom after a considerable absence.

She handed me two small packets of LittleHotties hand warmers which I put inside my gloves. Instant nirvana. Even though the return walk was considerably colder, having warm hands made all the difference. My need for a proper winter coat has moved to the top of my “to do” list. (A local woman has agreed to make me a coat this week. I will model it once it’s done). When we got back to town, I went immediately to the Coop and purchased a pair of proper winter footwear… “Good to -40”!

On Sunday, a handful of the staff went for a long hike, something they do every week when the weather permits. After the previous day’s bone chilling walk, I was going to take a pass until my neighbour graciously loaned me a real winter coat and neck warmer.

We walked around Wakem Bay at low tide and meandered through the mountains and valleys for nearly four hours. The landscape was ever changing and the scenery simply staggering. So was I! My bad knee protested loudly but I was so glad that I went.

Monday was a holiday. I was still waiting for my personal effects to arrive from home so I only had a handful of clothes. In order not to get suspended from school for malodorous attire, I decided to wash everything except my pajamas. My apartment has a brand new Whirlpool wash machine. It is so new that the plastic wrap was still on it when I went to do my laundry. It didn’t come with an instructional booklet but having done laundry my entire adult life, I didn’t think that this would be problematic.

Wrong.

This is not a washing machine that needs a NASA engineer to figure out. I loaded up the machine. I closed the lid and hit the start button. It started to make sounds like R2D2. I couldn’t hear the tub filling with water. That’s when I discovered that the installers hadn’t turned on the hot and cold water taps. I hit the start button and nothing happened. There was a small dribble of water but at the rate it was entering the tub, I would be back in Nova Scotia for Christmas by the time it filled.

The washer and dryer are in the bathroom. I sat on the toilet and pondered my conundrum. I wondered how I would explain to my colleagues and the children in my class the following day why I was wearing pajamas to school.

YouTube! With the warranty card in hand along with the model number, I did a search and found a video which didn’t help one bit. I then went to the trouble shooting section. I should have known after years of computer malfunctions that unplugging the wash machine for a few minutes would do the trick. In addition, I had to open and close the lid of the machine 6 times in 12 minutes in order for the electronics to re-set. Bingo! It worked.

Happily, I was able to return to school on Tuesday wearing clean clothes with my dignity intact.

Have a great weekend.

 

 

Posted on November 7, 2019 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

Magnificent Kangiqsujuaq at sunrise

 

“Is it safe for me to go out walking early in the morning?”

Most of you know that I’m an avid walker so it should come as no surprise that this is one of first questions I posed to my new best friend from Kangiqsujuaq, ADF.

“If you stay within the boundaries of the town, you’ll be fine,” was her reply. For a newcomer to the north, this is kind of what I expected her to say. “However, should you decide to wander beyond the town, make sure you carry a knife.” This comment immediately got my attention.

I have to admit that the last two weeks have been a gigantic blur. Early in the fall, I was trying to map out my plan for the winter months. Staying at the apartment binge watching “Suits” and perfecting the art of cream pie making weren’t going to cut it. I narrowed down my options to teaching in the north or volunteering in Tanzania. It would be hard to fathom two options more diametrically opposed.

A few weeks ago, the north came calling and I answered. In a whirlwind of activity, I was offered a teaching position in the Nunavik region of Northern Quebec. I completed mounds of paperwork, packed my personal belongings, and hopped on a plane (s) – the entire trip required five different flights.

On the flight from Montreal to Kuujjuaq, I sat with a film maker. She was traveling to Northern communities to screen her new movie, “Restless River” based on the Gabrielle Roy novel, “Wind Flower”. Although she is from “down South”, she spent the better part of four years in Nunavik researching and filming the movie. Of course, I asked her for advice, something I have been doing routinely lately. Her answer was pretty simple. ”Enjoy the experience.”

I changed planes in Kuujjuaq and ended up in the very front row (no, it wasn’t business class but I lucked out on the Halifax to Montreal leg by occupying a seat in business class). My seat mate, ADF, looked at me and asked,”Are you the new teacher in Kangiqsujuaq?” I guess bad news travels fast! She kept me spellbound for the next three hours as she has been teaching in the school where I was heading. A challenging pregnancy is forcing her to move closer to home in the south.

Not only did she provide me with tons of useful information about the school but she also told me quite a bit about herself. When she’s not up north, she lives “off grid” in southern Quebec. She is extremely talented with her hands. She is a carpenter but can turn her hand to just about anything including skinning a polar bear! Yup. Not all that long ago, she learned the fine art of removing the hide from a polar bear. The beautiful parka she was wearing, she made with her own hands.

It was dark as we approached my new home community. We couldn’t see Wakem Bay below but ADF and the flight attendant were having a spirited conversation about the beluga whale hunt going on in the waters below. Apparently the belugas come into the bay twice a year and local hunters hunt them for food. Apparently the meat is very tasty. It is chilled and eaten raw. I suspect that I will be partaking of this delicacy very soon.

We were met at the airport by two staff members of the school. I was immediately taken to the local Coop so that I could get a few things to keep me alive in order to show up for school today. I got a quick tour of the school and was taken to my apartment. It is probably three times the size of my apartment at home. It was designed for a family and has four bedrooms on two levels, a sunken living room and a very spacious open concept kitchen, dining and living area. The staff person who got us at the airport also gathered up a few supplies, including some of her homemade soup and spaghetti sauce. I feel at home already.

So why do I need to carry a knife on the outskirts of town you ask? Polar bears.

My education is just beginning!

Have a great week.

P.S. A shout out today to my daughter, Betsy who will be blowing out candles after work!

 

Posted on October 31, 2019 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

 

24,918 sunrises and counting. None more spectacular than the one pictured above, taken with my IPhone this past Monday.

I can’t claim to have seen every single sunrise in my 68+ trips around the sun but I’ve seen a lot of them. Even when the sun doesn’t shine, you know it’s up there behind the clouds. It’s amazing when you’re flying somewhere. You can be experiencing the worst weather imaginable on the ground but before your plane reaches cruising altitude, the sun envelops you.

I’m a self-professed morning person. This is easily understandable when you grow up in a family of 10 with just one bathroom. You learn at a very early age to get up early and make a mad dash for the bathroom when it’s your turn lest you be s..t out of luck!

The rhythm of my life can be traced to early mornings.

It started with minor hockey when we would lace up our skates at home and walk through knee deep snow en route to the old Memorial rink. If Frank McGibbon hadn’t arrived, we would all muster in the boiler room to keep warm. I can still taste the sulphur in the coal.

Next up was my life as an altar boy. I served many early morning masses, including priest retreats. I also served private masses for the late Father Bernie Roddie.

My teenage years in the summer were spent at the local golf course. I would be up before the birds making my two egg salad sandwiches which were the only thing I would eat during the day. I played till my hands were raw, caddied, hunted for golf balls and eventually got a gig working in the Pro Shop. We lived 2.5 kilometres form the course. In addition to walking around the course all day, I walked to and from the course (uphill both ways?!) carrying a handful of used clubs.

I never had my own newspaper route but occasionally subbed in for one of my brothers. The deliveries started at 5:30 in the morning requiring first, a stop at Oak Manor, to pick up the papers and say hello to Ray Simpson.

When I got married, I would be up very early to read the morning paper while nursing life-saving coffee. As the years tumbled by, I started journaling in the wee hours, chronicling the daily lives of an ordinary family. Three binders with my hand written observations is a prized possession.

I became very active in my community serving on many boards and committees as well as town council and the school board. Breakfast meetings were all the rage back then and it was not uncommon to be sitting at a table at 6:30 a.m. with a coffee and a muffin discussing the pressing issues of the day.

My next serious addiction was fishing. After hunting for night crawlers the night before with my children, I could be found in the South River at 5:00 in the morning waiting for the sun to rise and the fish to bite. I have so many fond memories of the serenity and the beauty of these outings. Catching fish was secondary.

Later in life, I took up running and for the better part of 10 years, I pounded the highways, byways and backroads of Antigonish with arguably the greatest long distance runner Antigonish has produced. Charlene Druhan taught me about grit and determination. Whining was dealt with swiftly and irreverently! Charlene won her age division at the Boston Marathon a few years back against the best women from around the world. It was on these long walks that I really started to notice and appreciate the wonders of nature.

And then, purely by accident, at the age of 60, I discovered writing and most of you know how I spend some of my early mornings. But I don’t start penning my musings or tidbits before my morning walk. When my body finally protested after running several marathons, I took up walking and every day starts with a long, brisk walk. Most of my daily walks on the Camino started at 5:30 in the morning.

As you may have surmised, I am not a nighthawk so don’t bother trying to rouse me after 9:30 p.m.

None of us know how many more sunrises we will be granted.

Appreciate every one while you can.

“What I know for sure is that every sunrise is like a new page, a chance to right ourselves and receive each day in all its glory. Each day is a wonder.” Oprah Winfrey

Have a great day and Happy Halloween!