Gemstones

On our trip to the park I found some garnet deposits. I believe they are the common almandine garnet's but a professional would have to confirm that. Last year a friend of mine took me to a spot were the rock was full of the garnets within the municipal boundaries. Spent most of a Saturday afternoon picking at the rock to get some of them out. I still have a cup full of them on the refrigerator. These types of garnet are fairly common in the world as far as gemstones go so their value is reflective of that. It's still a lot of fun to discover a deposit and if you have nothing better to do, go and hammer on the rock for a few hours and take home some souvenirs. The arrows in the picture below show the deposits of the garnets that have been exposed by the tides and weather. They really stick out if you know what to look for.

Trip to the Park

Michele, Dad and I made it back out to the park to explore. We had hoped to see some whales or seals but the only wildlife were the birds. Some pictures of the trip are below.

This little girl was having fun on some off the play equipment. She became quite the poser when she noticed the camera. She is wearing good Nunavut June clothing - Parka and rubber boots.

A view of the ice.


Canadian geese flying in formation that were way out at the flow edge. The wind was really strong all day so the pack ice has been blown out into the Davis Straight. You can just see it on the horizon.

Tourist!!
Dad and Michele trying to see if there are any whales. Dad is trying to take a picture off me instead off all the scenery around the Park. Can't blame him for his good taste I guess.

I think I won the camera war.

This picture is water laying on top of the ice that has accumulated from melting and runoff from the land. The water will absorb more heat than the ice speeding up how fast the ice melts.

A charter plane leaving the airport caring the Minister and Deputy Minister of Education. They were in town for the graduation of the current senior class.

That's my cutey.

The flowers are starting to come out for the summer.

I had heard that my boss (Timoon) was setting up a tent out by the tank farm so we headed over there to introduce him to my dad but he had already left when we got there. It was after 11:00 pm. Nice spot to set up camp.

Just before we left a fellow went by on a snowmobile. I don't know if I would be brave enough to go out on the ice with this much water on top.

The Old Man Part II

Well Dad finally made it to Cape Dorset. In order of the pictures 1- The plane arrives, 2 - After 14 hours of flying and needing a smoke, 3 - Relaxing on the couch. Nice to see my Dad after almost two years. Tomorrow is the 10 minute tour and some more photos. Can't talk anymore got to go.

Pangnirtung Flood

Take a look at the site Baffin Blogers. The link is on the right in blogs we like or use the link below in this post. They are showing pictures of the flood in Pangnirtung and the two bridges that are being affected by the permafrost being worn away. Pangnirtung is currently in a state of emergency because the town has been cut in half with water, sewer and dump on one side and the stores and offices on the other. Simply amazing what is going on there. Check it out.

http://www.xanga.com/Baffin_Blogger

Lucky Guy

As I was looking for a picture of my Mom & Dad, in our wedding photos, I came across the one below and realized what a fortunate, lucky guy I am. I Love You Michele.

The Old Man Part 1

My father will be here in two sleeps. Michele and I are getting excited because we haven't seen him for over 1 1/2 years. He is coming up to hopefully find work with Housing Corporation or with the local hamlet office. He is planning to spend the next four years or more here before going back to New Brunswick for semi retirement. I have already been asked to ask him to do some crackfilling when he gets here. I was told to drop him off from the airport and they will house and feed him. LOL. There are only a couple of experienced guys here and they always have more work to do than they can handle. He is a journeyman carpenter who ran his own contracting company from 1974 until 2006. With his experience he shouldn't have a problem finding work. Part 2 will be when he arrives on Thursday afternoon.

Distant Precipitation

There is always misinformation regarding the north and one of those is that the Inuit have 20 different names for snow. Actually all languages have different names for precipitation for example slush, blizzard, drizzle, downpour, hail, blowing snow, etc. are all names for rain/snow precipitation.

Well today as I was looking up the weather forecast for the week and the local weather conditions, as observed at the Cape Dorset Airport at 2:14 pm EDT today, state the weather condition as "Distant Precipitation". I guess the precipitation is coming down but it isn't very engaging. Yes I know that it probably means that there is rain/snow in the distant coming towards us or going by us but the description is what I find amusing. Distant precipitation LOL.

It is little things like this that put a smile on my face and remind me how much I love it here.

Midnight Sunset

Here are some photos of the sun setting at midnight. It doesn't get completely dark just a twilight for a couple of hours. Cape Dorset is just below the arctic circle so we don't get the bright sunshine 24 hours a day. But we still have to cover our windows with garbage bags or tinfoil to keep the sun out. I liked the way the sunset is reflected in the water puddles. The bottom photo is how pink the sky was about 15 minutes to midnight.

Snow In June

*sigh* It's snowing again.

Without Googling the answer, name the band that had an album titled "Snow in June"

*hint* Think up here and fish. :)

Answer is in the comment section.

Fog Sometimes Is Nice

I will let the pictures speak for themselves I don't have the words.