changing weather

The past few days have been beautiful in Salluit. On Monday we were one of the warmest places in Canada. All the warm weather combined with the sun being back has energized us. On Monday we had a longer afternoon recess to enable the teachers to play outside with the kids. Me on a sled is a sight to be seen. I really didn't want to slide with the kids... I was happy taking pictures but when little Victor asked so nicely I couldn't refuse. Then I did not want to seem like I was favouring one child over another so I made many trips down that hill. Scared out of my witts. I was concerned about hurting myself or even hurting a child if I landed on one or two. I remembered similar fears when the gang in Digby would go on the golf course in Digby. Going down #2 with Peter Crofts legs wrapped around me... why wasn't I smart enough to make Peter sit in front so he 'd be injured?

The 30 minutes out with the kids was so much fun. Some of the little scamps would race to catch up with a speeding sled, jump on it and stay standing up while going down the hill. It is futile to spit into the wind but to yell at Aloupa to sit down is also futile. They would just look back and laugh. Charlie O was tearing down the hill when his tire flipped up into the air and he was thrown off. My heart was in my mouth. Then Abigail and Johnny's tire flipped over so that they were buried in a snow bank. Their faces were covered in snow. It was a magical 30 minutes. ( With the spring weather we have alot more snow... soft fluffy snow.)

This morning I was laying in bed loving all the sun streaming in my window by 7 am. I wasn't even annoyed when the phone rang at that ungodly hour. We all seem to hav e so much more energy now that the sun is back. It has been daylight for most of Feb but now the sun has real strenght. The Inuit are going to the mussel hole to pick mussels off the ocean floor when the tide is out. The tides are much like NS: very high, very low. Right now the spring tides are very extreme so it is perfect for mussle picking. We will be eating mussels with wine, mussels with butter, mussles in pasta dishes, mussels pickled, mussels baked...mussels , mussels,mussles.

I was going to head out to the shops...all two of them, this morning. My kids go to Culture class at 11 am and are not back until 2 pm. If I am in need of grocery items before the weekend I go during that time. But the wind has come up. Just as I started this blog it looked like a blizzard out there. But now it is just windy. The weather determins everything up here. Elisapie Issac, a young Inuk woman from Salluit, made a National Film Board documentary; "If Weather Permits". The weather determins if plans come in, if we get food, if we can walk to get the food, if we can go fishing, if we can go out of our homes... it determins everything. One thing I have learned is not to plan long term. I never even count on flying home when we are supposed to. It is too painful when the plans are changed. It is easier to take a more relaxed attitude... my friends who will read this will die laughing.... Pearl relaxed, Pearl not upset if the planes are cancelled...yah! Right! her brain must be frozen! I am better... but then I had a long way to go.

I can still scamper up and into the back of a half ton truck with no help. At age 58,while wearing huge northern boots and a heavy coat, this is something to be proud of. Balancing on the trailer hitch with one foot is not so easy. But the real difficult part is slinging that other foot up over the back of the truck, so I can plop in . Not exactly a graceful movement but I can do it and I am most proud of myself. Perhaps the heavy coat keeps me from truly hurting myself.

I had phone calls last night from both Dawn MacNutt and Cecile Doiron. These calls make my stay up here so much easier. Dawn is so funny, so kind. I miss her special insight into life. Cecile is still a major character. We have been running the roads together since we were 13. I often think of her mother scolding us but never telling the fathers what trouble we brewed up. The day she pierced my ears was a real adventure. There was blood over that entire bathroom. It's a wonder I didn't need a transfusion. But if Dr. Doiron ever did find out, all Cecile had to do was say: "Daddy do you want to go smelting?" That man loved to smelt and loved his baby daughter.

It is back to a blizzard again so I don't think I am going for my midweek walk. So difficult to get real exercise here.
Hope this finds you all well.
P