Cape Dorset Skies

I guess our fantastic summer is over because the temperature has dropped dramatically. The fog has also rolled in and it feels like I haven't seen the sky in weeks. To cheer me up I thought I'd dig up some of my favorite sky pictures.




The sky here is an easy shot, even for a non-photographer like me. It's so beautiful all on it's own you don't need to know anything about aperture or shutter speed to make it look good.

What's in a name?

On the news the other day I saw a story about this woman in Arkansas who's pregnant with her seventh child. She's currently unemployed so she came up with the crazy idea to sell the rights to her baby's legal name on Ebay. She started the bidding at $150 and was apparently hoping to make over $25,000 or more to help buy a "trustworthy car and to relieve her sister's burden of supporting her and her cash-strapped family." To this I say, SERIOUSLY??

Well, I guess you could call it a 21st century method of pan handling. Should I actually give her props for creativity and the fact that she's at least trying to offer up something rather than just having her hand out? I guess I just think that she shouldn't be pregnant at all when she doesn't have a way to support the six children she already has. And what about the kid who could end up with some horrible name. I read one post that said that if they won the auction they would name him 'Mistake #7'.

Before writing this I signed on to Ebay to see what the bid was up to. However, since Fox News broke the story the auction has been removed. I will assume there was no winner since the auction was only scheduled to end today. I'd like to think that she got smart and pulled the add. Or maybe some sugar daddy (or momma) came out of the woodwork and helped her out with a new car, a bunch of cash and hopefully an IUD.

I did notice however that hers was not the only 'charity' auction going on. Another woman, a young mother of three, is claiming her car is dead and needs money to replace it. She's promising a picture of the new car and a thank you note for the winning bid and is hoping to get a Durango. I say again... Seriously??

So am I heartless? Am I the one that's out of touch for thinking that this is very tacky and wrong? I really hope that whatever happens, that poor unborn baby ends up a Timmy or a Johnny.

Achoo and sniff

Many of the northern blogs lately have been posting pics showing the beauty of the local vegetation. I can say for sure I assumed moving here would mean never seeing summer flowers again. Honestly, for me that was almost good news. I have suffered from horrible hay fever since I was very young and I thought I would finally have some relief. No trees or flowers in the summer would mean I wouldn't have to deal with itchy red eyes and the forever running nose.

Turns out I was wrong. There are many beautiful flowers here and my allergies are in full drip. My sneezing is constant and I'm driving Nick crazy. He hates my sneezes. I'm a strange sneezer. I'm sure relief isn't far off since I'm convinced summer is over. It was a better one than alot of Canadians so I won't complain.... as I reach for another kleenex.

The C.D.T.C.

Cape Dorset is a pretty small town. It's actually a hamlet which means it is a VERY small town. But these titles are dictated by population. If you look at the land area it's actually a pretty good size so getting from one end to the other is quite a walk with lots of steep hills.

What if you're too lazy to make the trek? Well, now you can get on The C.D.T.C! The Cape Dorset Transit Company. (That's the name Jen gave it.) The town started this service at the start of the summer and honestly, in the beginning I never saw anyone on the bus. I think it took a while to catch on but now it seems very popular. And by northern standards the price is right, just $2 to get anywhere in town. The designated stops include the Northern and Co-op and all stop signs. Yes, we have stop signs. There are always people waiting at the stores to get on with their grocery bags and I've even seen it bring people to the airport with their luggage before the flights.

I must admit that I had a good laugh when I realised that we have public transit but I now think it's a great idea. I see lots of the elders using it, people with small kids and today a girl with crutches. If you are a tourist here, it's a great way to see the whole town.

As for me, I'm lucky that our house is very centrally located. With the exception of my laziness and that big hill I have to walk up to get home I can easily get to all the important places on foot in just a few minutes. However, I won't say for sure that you won't see me on the bus on those cold and windy winter mornings when I just don't want to walk to the store. That weather is coming soon so I'd better start saving my Toonies.

Amendment: I wrote this the other night but was waiting for the pictures before I posted it. Since writing it I found out that the bus is only temporary. Cape Dorset is getting taxis on the next sealift so the bus service will be suspended when they arrive. I'm a little sad. I was pretty proud of our bus service. I wonder how many other northern communities have a bus.

A Close Call

A horrible scary thing happened to me today. I shutter to think of it but like all experiences you should try and learn from them.

It all started a few weeks ago when our laptop, which is our main computer started acting up. We got the odd 'blue screen of death' but over all it was still working ok. Yesterday the issue came to a head and Nick decided it was time to strip the computer and reinstall windows. That may not be exactly what he said because when he talks computer I hear 'blah blah, blah'. It's not that I don't care but the extent of my techie know how allows me to get my email, upload pictures and write this blog. Anyway, we went ahead and moved all our stuff to our external hard drive so it could be put back on the computer once the repair was finished. Then Nick did his thing and that brings us to today.

So today I excitedly sit down to move everything from the hard drive back onto the computer. I hook it up.... and nothing. I figure it's not plugged in to the wall. I check and it is. I turn it off then back on again. Still nothing. WHAT'S WRONG???? Then it comes back to me. I accidentally knocked the hard drive off the table when I was moving the computer earlier. OH NO! I broke it.

All of Oliver's baby pictures.... all the digital scrapbook layouts for his baby book.... EVERYTHING IS GONE. The tears begin, I'm devastated. What is the chance the hard drive dies on the same day that the computer gets wiped clean?? How can I be so careless that I dropped it.... again. Well, in comes my wonderful husband, riding on his white horse and saves the day. Apparently when he did his techie thing he was able to save the stuff on the computer so all the back up was not necessary. I didn't know that however so the panic was real.

The moral of this story is maybe it's a good idea to have a backup for your back up. At least this is a good moral if you are like me and are a bull in a china shop and don't seem to be careful with your things. I really don't mean to be careless. I like my stuff, I really do try and take care of everything but I have an uncanny knack of breaking things. My mom has been on me about this all my life. Well, I'd like to say that this has finally taught me a lesson. I'm lucky that the hard drive has a 2 year warranty so we'll get a new one and I'm on my way upstairs right now to get disks to download my pictures onto. Maybe I'll make 2 copies of everything just in case I scratch one.

Thanks Nick, you always come to my rescue. Naming you in charge of electronics was our best marital decision to date. I love you. And baby Oliver does too.

Oliver 2 weeks old.

Going Commando

This one is for the Grandmas.

My book tells me it's called 'Commando Crawling' because he's dragging himself along instead of being on his knees. Whatever you call it, he's on the move. I never know where I'm going to find him but he seems to really like being under the coffee table.

Watch out world, here comes Oliver!

Another milestone

I left O to play in his crib last night while I went to run his bath. I came back into the room and there he was... STANDING in his crib! This was his first time pulling himself up on something. Luckily, I was able to run for the camera in time to get the shot.

He's crawling now too. Oh boy...
The chaos begins.