Apology and Glove Making.

My phone broke so I don't have any pictures to share. And I'm sick so I don't really have any stories to share that aren't school related. Which are dull to non-teachers/confidential.

March 1-4 I'm going to Inuvik for a P.D day for an On-The-Land activity. We're going dogsledding, ski-dooing and I think a bit of Arctic Orienteering. So that will be a quality post.

I'm working on a pair of gloves that I started at the ladies sewing circle in town (which I failed to show up to on a regular basis because it was at 7 and I keep falling asleep). They're pretty amazing so far. Seal tops, cow hide palms and beaver cuffs. I hope to high five a vegan with them.

I do have a few pictures of that that Jana took:

Pattern Pieces

Cut out palms from old cow hide and seal pelts.

Tracing out the pattern onto seal skin

Working with a fantastic local to get my pattern pieces properly aligned with the pattern and direction of the fur.

With my cowhide to cut the palms. I wish I'd got to use the nicer dark leather, but it was all being used.

Stretching a beaver pelt. First you wet the skin and then stretch and nail it down to a board to block it. Once it's dried it's much much bigger. Yes there were many jokes to be made. Also if you've been to an old fur trading fort, know that the smell is beaver. Even 150 odd years later.

At the sewing circle ladies were also making muskrat hats. Here are the muskrat pelts all lined up. Once I'm finally done my first glove I'll add a picture.

The Skies

Long ago I lived in the mountains. It was beautiful and I never knew how beautiful the skies could be. When I moved to Alberta, specifically Drayton, a world of colours, sunrises and sunsets was opened up to me.

When I moved to Vancouver I realized how much I missed that wide open expanse of sky that goes on forever in the prairies and lights up with colour. I felt boxed in by the mountains and trapped by the forests and sky scrapers.

In the north, the skies are everything you could dream. I'll post pictures but they're not good enough. The closest you can get to experiencing them without coming up here is to view a J.M.W Turner painting. (Just google Turner Skies).

I posted this on facebook today:

"If you're always watching the ground to make sure you won't trip, you'll miss what's going on in the sky. This sounds poetic but is really just me being annoyed after realizing I've been obliviously walking under Northern Lights in the mornings. Finally saw a bit of them this morning and it was like CAUGHT YOU!"

I still haven't seen good Northern Lights, just green streaks.

But I do get to see Northern Sunrises.... And damn.

(I took these when the kids were at recess around 10:30 am)