Treena's Travels

This blog was set up to journal my experience of living in Nunavut and keep friends and family up to date on these happenings. It's a wonderful place, this hideaway in the north, and I'm loving my time here. An unforgettable place with unforgettable people. I'm lucky to be here.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Baker Lake, Nunavut, Canada

Sunday, October 15, 2006


Berry picking trip in September.


Neat sand pattern. I am sooo loving living near water. Big change from land-locked AB!


Cool picture of the town.


The boys playing at the coffee house.


Lynn, Greg and Chad at the coffee house.


An Inukshuk I found when I was out with some friends fishing.


A little guy in our class decided his turkey should have Chicken Pox and Pink Eye just like he did. Kids are such little thinkers!

Well, it's Saturday night and I just came home from the birthday party Tania threw for Chad. He's the big 4-0 tomorrow!! It was a nice evening; the boys played guitar, accordion, bongos, and the harmonica and we tried to sing along. I say tried because not all of us know the words to the songs. But, it was still a very good time. And Momma and Poppa Marsh (Tania's folks) are here so there has been a lot of excitement at the 12 plex as of late! :-) It makes me excited for when my mom will come to visit me in the spring. It's so nice to have company up here.

This afternoon something funny happened. Chad decided to scare Oliver by wearing his Caribou skin parka over to my place and pretend he was, well a monster I guess. Chad clawed at the door and then came bursting into the apartment and you could just tell Oli thought about protecting his territory and then... thought again! He ran to the couch growling with tail between his legs, and proceeded to pee on my couch. My brave little dog sure showed our intruder who was boss! Anyhow, after we got him calmed down and I steam cleaned the couch we had a pretty good laugh. Good to know I have such an effective guard dog. :-)

And while illnesses have been going around the community and I've remained healthy through it all, I have managed to get impacted wax in both my ears so now I've got muffled hearing and drops have to be administered several times a day to try and alleviate the problem. Perhaps my doctor actually knew what she was talking about way back when, when she advised me against using anything smaller than an elbow to clean my ears! Sigh.... Darn Q-tips.

As for the weather, we've got something new, for this season anyway. We now officially have snow on the ground! We had a mini-storm this afternoon and it was great! I am so excited for Christmas. It was all I could do to not pull out my Bare Naked Ladies Christmas album! I can't WAIT for our first storm day!! Although I suspect this will be a pretty mild winter because it's getting going so late this year and it's been getting milder each year.

As for what else is new, I've started a new exercise regime thanks to my cousin, trainer-extrordinaire, Stacey. All I can say is holy cow! I am one sore little girl! :-) But, it feels good. Stiff, but good.

Well, we may head out to the bridge to get water tomorrow so I better hit the sack. Coronation Street is on at 8:00 a.m. and I simply can't miss that! :-)

Monday, October 02, 2006

'Do not drink the water from the tap. If you want water, please see reception and we will give you some'.

This is the sign posted at the Baker Lake Health Centre. It doesn't invoke a lot of confidence in the water filtration system up here I'm afraid. So, I've taken to using nothing but Brita filtered, often boiled first, water. And, I've started getting my water from the bridge as many other Baker Lakers do. Water has never tasted so good!

As for life in Baker, not too much else is new. We've been reveling in a wonderfully warm fall and it's only been in the last couple of days that it's gotten chilly. We've had flurries several times but compared to last year it's darn near Florida here! And the other good news? It's the fall sweeps! I'm lovin' it. Boston Legal, Studio 60, ER, Grey's anatomy, House.. Sigh, better-than-mediocre TV makes my exercise machine a lot more bearable that's for sure!

Chicken Pox has swept the community and the kids have been dropping like flies. As well, we've had a lot of cases of Pink Eye up here. Now the Chicken Pox I'm not worried about. I had a fierce case as a young adult and, although there have definitely been cases where people have gotten them twice, I'm pretty sure I'm immune. Touch wood. But Pink Eye has me a wee bit uneasy so I've been washing my hands and disinfecting them pretty much non-stop! I have a renewed compassion for my sister who ended up with it last year the week before her wedding. Funny now, not so much then. :-)

In September we did here in Baker what many other schools in the country did; we went on the Terry Fox run/walk. It was a chilly day and there were flurries but it was a nice afternoon. Here is a pic from the event.














Friday night we all went to the high school to the Coffee House where staff and students get together and jam. If there's something I've developed while being up here it's an appreciation of music of all kinds. Last Sunday we went for brunch at the Nunamiut and a fellow was sitting on the couch playing the accordion while we ate. It was so great. Two years ago I wouldn't have had an appreciation for the accordion, but I sure do now. Talent comes in so many forms.

Other than that, I've spent the last week finishing up the DVD for the family reunion I went to this summer. One thing I can say is that if this interpreting thing ever runs its course for me, I think I'd like to try graphic design. It's a lot of work but I sure enjoy it.

One thing that has been a bit frustrating lately up here though is things being out of stock. International Express Post envelopes, stamps, hangers. Can you imagine that Baker Lake is out of hangers?! I've been trying to buy some since I arrived in August and, apparently, hangers aren't a hot commodity up here. Who knew?

I'd like to attach some neat pics I've taken over the past few weeks but the internet is, of course, not working very well. Will do so when I can.