I'm still here...I think....

Wow, what a hectic couple of weeks! I cannot believe that I am still standing! Well, technically, I am sitting, finally, while I type, but you get the drift...

It began with the Loonie Sale on November 30th. It was a busy week just getting ready for that, as I always make sticky buns and pineapple upside-down cakes and things. (I'm getting a reputation here, and the first thing people ask now when there's a sale is if there will be sticky buns, LOL!) Anyhow, we had a very successful night followed by a Music Night for the kids, so a long and late day for me. I went from that straight into Christmas goodie bake mode for the Table sale. Stayed late after running practice every night to bake something yummy.

Meanwhile, I had scheduled baking with a purpose for my grade 10 class for their metric and imperial measure conversion test. They were not quite finished their work on Friday the 30th so I scheduled their test not on the Monday but the Tuesday. Woke up on Tuesday to a raging blizzard. No school. The kitchen was booked already for Wednesday so we rescheduled for Thursday. And woke up on Thursday to a raging blizzard. No school again. We did try to have school on Friday, we really, really did, but by 10:15 we gave up and closed again. Blizzard-level winds and white-outs from blowing snow. Reschedule. The kitchen was booked Monday and Tuesday, so I booked Wednesday. In the interim, I'm baking until 8:00 or 9:00 pm, doing Christmas cookies, sticky buns, gingerbread men, gingerbread houses, butter-tart squares, and so on. Tuesday, Tim comes up and asks if I really need the kitchen for Wednesday as he has turkeys to cook for the Daycare staff Christmas Party, and how long do turkeys take to cook? I figured about 4-1/2 hours for the average 5-6 kg bird and told Tim likely he could put the birds in at noon. That meant the grade 10's were good to go.

I went into the kitchen for my usual spate of after-school baking and there sat two 24-lb glorious birds. Not a hope in you-know-where that 4-1/2 hours would do it...So, I got up early Wednesday morning so I could prep the birds, and popped them into the oven at 8:15 am. Tim looks in, pleased that he didn't need to prep them,  and asks if he needs to check on them at all. I said that as the grade 10's would be still in the kitchen (we decorated the gingerbread cookies) I would keep an eye on them. Then he says he also has some roasts and what would I suggest? They were not such good cuts of meat, so I suggested pot roast. He looked at me a bit blankly and I said, Would you like me to pop them on at noon for you? Natch, he replied. I offered to make some gravy to go with, once they were done, which led to a conversation about what else was on the menu, and by 4:00 I realized that in effect I was cooking Christmas dinner for 60! It was delicious, the turkeys were perfect, I stayed for the party, wrapped up a tray of cookies for the gift exchange, and was complimented endlessly on how much everyone enjoyed the dinner. I got paid handsomely for the effort, YAY!!!, and I won a lovely box of chocolates at the gift exchange. Yummmmmm!

Thursday was a gift-wrapping opportunity at the Northern until 8:00 pm and Friday saw me packing multiple trays of cookies, bars, houses, men and marshmallow rice krispy "Christmas Trees" (thanks to my cool new 10-star set of cutters/moulds for such a purpose. The kids helped me set up tables, I turned on Christmas carols and we were set for the table sale aka Christmas Bazaar. We sold pretty much everything! Margaret (one of the teachers) had a guest at her place so she bought two trays of cookies as she had no time to bake. Her guests promptly ran over and bought some because they liked them so much. That was good advertising, LOL! And, with my happy earnings from the impromptu chef day, I bought  beautiful parka filled with local eider duck down made by my friend and VP Mina Rumbolt's aunt. It is very Inuk in style and the kids all said that I look just like them now. It is very slender (I was initially very hesitant to try it on as I thought it was too small!) and it fits like it was custom-made. A beautiful deep slate green-grey colour with silver grey fox trim. I must take a photo and post it.

So, yet another very late night. I don't think I left the school before 9:00 pm once in almost three weeks!

And my busy-ness isn't done yet. We (my room-mate and I) were offered the chance to earn some money for our sports teams by cooking a community dinner through a Health and Nutrition program. So today, we prepped and cooked all day getting ready to feed 500 people tomorrow...I baked and sliced 250 lb of ham, baked the first 500 tea biscuits and put about 800 cookies onto trays and wrapped them up and then still had my usual Movie Night...I am EXHAUSTED! Tomorrow we have 200 lbs of potatoes to peel, I have the last of about 800 tea biscuits to bake, and about 80 kg of vegetables to cook...

On the plus side, the past two weeks have seen us raise about $7000 for the Running Club, which is INCREDIBLE!!!. I have to check with Leah Meeko to see if the funding request for our sport shirts for the team has been approved. If not, then I think we will just go ahead and get them for the team from our account. I can't wait to see the "Paatsaali Running Club" in the school colours at the next race!

And just for fun, we have a Music Night next Friday, a Christmas Movie marathon on Saturday, and a Midnight Movie Marathon on the 28th. Just so I don't get bored with putting my feet up over the holidays...

So if I don't have time to write until after the big day, Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year for 2013!

TTFN!

Terri

Oh, my, what HAVE I done now? LOL!

The Running Club and I are always on the hunt for something new and challenging. As a result, I haunt the Running Room race website. I have been looking for our spring race. The past few days I have looked at the website for the Goodlife Fitness race on May 5th, 2013, in Toronto. It features a 5K , half marathon and marathon. The half goes down Yonge St from around Finch all the way to Ontario Place...very cool, even though I know AAAAALLLLLLLLL about that monster hill at Hoggs Hollow (Yonge and York Mills)...

...so I have officially REGISTERED for the half-marathon! Hurray and YIKES! all at the same time! The senior boys in the Running Club are very excited about it, and are too thrilled to know they will get a personalized race bib with their names as well as a Karbon technical wicking shirt and a medallion. (I'm registering them on Monday.) I'm going to buy the four of us a T-shirt that says, "At mile 10, I thought I was dead...at mile 11, I hoped I was dead...at mile 12, I HAD to be dead...at mile 13.1, I realized I was too tough to kill!" I LOVE it! The juniors are looking forward to their first 5K which will start at our finish line about a half-hour after we cross. I'll be bringing a chaperone who will occupy them while the seniors and I race our share, and we will cheer them on as they run their share. And perhaps a Jays game to follow up? Or a day at Ontario Place...I'll have to find out from Michael when Canada's Wonderland will open next spring...

So another chapter in the book, and an item off of my personal Bucket List at the same time. My life may be painful most days (in the hip, of course!) but it is endlessly exciting and challenging! I am so darned THRILLED!!!!

Me

It's beginning to look a lot like...ankle-twisting, wrist-spraining, slip-sliding, fall-on-your-kiester time 'round here.

And I bet you thought it was looking like Christmas, LOL! That too, I guess, but mostly we have a lot of ice on the roads. We had a fair bit of rain the past week and then lots of wind and below zero temperatures combined with a dusting of snow to create skating rinks on the roads. And not the kind you could actually skate on...that would be just too much fun to skate to school each day! No, this ice is just putting a thick coat of accidents-in-waiting on all of the rocks and gravel piles that make up our roads. Treacherous to walk on, but kind of fun to drive a Honda on. Makes cornering a breeze, LOL! One quick flick of the wrist and you turn a perfect 90*...just don't try heading down the steeper hills in town...

Training is going on as usual. I'm stuck indoors until there is enough snow to cover the rocks and then I can try my sneaker-sized "Stabilicers" along with my Extreme Run jacket. Oh, how I love the Running Room online! (They offer gift cards, Christmas hint, hint...) So, in honour of the training, here is a team photo we took. We're missing about 16 kids due to flu in the community, but I'm proud of these kids and their dedication!

We have a funding request in for some team track shirts that I designed in the school colours: royal blue, grey and black. The shirts are royal with white inserts, black lettering with a large grey outline and a logo design of grey and black running shoes. The kids are so thrilled at the prospect that if we don't get the funding, I'll just darned well order a set myself. They won't be able to keep one but we could use them for racing. If we get the funding, I'm ordering 50 shirts which means every racer for two years will keep a shirt and have some for our race meets. I'm as excited as the students!

We have a long weekend with Monday as a holiday to observe Remembrance Day. Terry and Marilyn and the students presented a beautiful servive Friday afternoon at the school. Congrats to all who helped, it was lovely! After dismissal, my crew and I did some cross-training. We're doing yoga stretching and ab workouts twice a week to build up strength and flexibility. I can almost press my forehead to my knees again. But the splits...not a hope! Apparently my thigh adductor muscles are happily shrinking and prefer to stay that way. We're arguing that one out at the moment...

Tonight is Movie Night as usual. We're showing |"Crocodile Dundee ", 1 and 2. I thought that teh kids might be able to identify with the culture shock of the city, and it's old enough that they may not have seen it before. Should be fun. I'm planning a Loonie Sale, Music Night and Christmas Bazaar in the near future along with a few Music Nights. I'm going to make two gingerbread houses for a silent auction at the Bazaar as well as have baking and a Toonie Table with items I picked up in Montreal at the Dollar Store. Just before Christmas Break, we're also going to do Christmas Cookie-Grams in the school. Should be fun. So, if you add all of these things in with the regular movie nights...can we spell "B-U-S-Y"? Or am I just plain crazy? Hmmm...tough call...

TTFN!

Terri of the North

Going full tilt, so everything is normal!

What would life in Sani be like if I wasn't busy nearly every minute? I may never know, LOL!

The week began with the arrival of the sea lift, always a cause for great excitement. My room-mate and I booked a couple of helpers to carry all of our supplies into the house, where I noticed something odd: I had a case of beets, a case of kidney beans, two cases of cereal, and cat food and cat litter, and about 11 cases of Jell-o for movie nights, 5 cases of cake mixes for auctions and cakewalks, 5 cases of icing, 3 cases of M&M's for Monster Cookies for movie nights, 3 cases of chocolate chips (ditto), and so on...Hmmmm...I think I see a trend here.....

We got the sea lift organized and the kids all helped unpack at the school. There went another couple of days. Running in the evenings, canteens at recess, I basically roll home in time to eat a late dinner, shower and go to bed.

Thursday night we had our Halloween Music Night (aka costume dance) so I stayed after school to do my make-up and didn't get home until about 12:45 am. Made the coolest costume though...

t's amazing the effect you can get with a piece of construction paper for an eye patch, two zippers (on sale) an egg, and a bottle each of liquid latex and fake blood! It grossed out so many kids, LOL! Love it!

The dance went well, and the Running Club donated a $50.00 cash prize for the best costume. I'll try to upload some of the pictures later. The two local stores also donated bags of Halloween candy for prizes, and the kids were happy.

Friday night we had more running, and then a community volleyball tournament. Naturally, the canteen was open and I shared with Badminton (my room-mate). We were crazy busy! I had thought ahead and ordered 21 packs of hot dogs which Stephen cooked and we sold. What a great idea it was! It earned lots of money for both groups.

I am headed back to the school today for (a) running; (b) jello- and cookie-making for Movie Night; (c) canteen for the second tournament night. I will be gone from 10:00 am to 1:00 am. You know, if the school had showers, I'd give up my house and officially move in!

Tomorrow I am going where else? back to school to bake some chelsea buns for Stephen's auction as well as a pineapple upside-down cake. Oh, and I may actually do some planning as well, and mark some papers...

One nice thing to note: I was chatting with some community members during the games last night and they comment on how much they appreciate the fundraising we do. What they meant was, we do a lot of things like the dances and the movie nights, and have sports clubs, and it gives the kids something to do and somewhere to be other than roaming the streets. The hard work we do is noticed and appreciated, which feels great! When the boys and I came back from the running trip, so many community members met us at the airport and thanked me for doing the trip. It means so much to the kids...Paddy is still talking about the sushi restaurant, LOL!

On a Running Club note, our training has begun for the half-marathon. I will be the weak link in the chain, and may just do another 10K, but I will train my darndest anyhow. Our spring trip is looking like a Toronto trip, with 6 junior boys and 2 senior boys. Hard to say for certain as few runs are posted yet for the spring. However, I'm very excited to be planning again, still, as usual...oi!

So, that's all for now. Time to finish my coffee, have my breakfast, and get off to the store for supplies and a deposit to the Running Club account.

TTFN!

Terri

Home again, home again...wait, weren't we already mechanical in La Grande?

So, I can say for sure that 5:15 am feels VERY early in the morning after a busy weekend. And of course, wouldn't Bank of Montreal choose THAT time to update their server and leave me panicking as to why my debit card wouldn't work? Oi...but it got sorted out and we were off to the airport by 5:55 am.

Good thing we left early...the security has never had more than about 10 people in line any time I have checked in for Air Inuit...today, there were close to 200! We did make it through before the flight, and with enough time to get Timmy's coffee and donuts. The plane even left early! YAY!

And then the curse of the "Terri-as-a-Traveller" took hold...

We had a generator light come on 2 hrs into the flight. So we took a precautionary detour to La Grande. I'm sure it was a curse, because I was thinking of the picture in La Grande from the senior girls' trip in June...and thought that I should have left my camera out to commemorate our group in Kuujjuarapik...well, I could have gotten the La Grande photo after all, LOL! We waited about 30 minutes and were back in the air.

No problem with our arrival in Kuujjuarapik. We picked up and dropped off some passengers, and were only a bit late for leaving for Sani...until the generator light came back on 15 minutes from home. Next thing we know, we're on route back to La Grande! We landed there just after 2:00 pm, and our apologies to those airport workers in Sani who were waiting for Tim's donuts as we sacrificed them to the greater good and rumbling bellies of the boys. And those of the coaches and support staff too....

To make a long story short, we did get a new generator and finally made it home just before 5:00 pm. So, with the way my luck has been with my flights lately, I'm not departing from the island for the rest of this year! I feel I owe it to the other travellers not to curse their trips, ha ha!

Anyhow, it was a memorable trip and a fantastic race by all participants. I am so proud of the team and what they have accomplished! It felt incredible to be able to showcase their hard work and dedication to other cities and provinces. Just goes to prove that distance, isolation, weather, and lack of resources should not hinder anyone in their attempts to be physically fit. We are looking forward to starting marathon mode next week. Or at least HALF marathon mode...we'll take the small step first!

So, on behalf of the Running Club, thanks for the support and hope you enjoyed our story!

TTFN!

Terri and the team.

A busy last day!

We managed to have a bit of a sleep-in after our big day yesterday. So we had to have a group meeting to decide what to do for our remaining time..."shopping" was the winner, and off to Walmart we went. The gang got one last nosh of McDonald's, and were even lucky enough to win some fries, pop, and sandwiches on the Monopoly game. I have to say, this trip has been full of the expression, "I'm so FULL!" :-D

After Walmart, we stashed our booty back at the hotel and walked down to the Science Centre. A gray, drizzly day but we survived, no one melted, and we had a great time.

 Jonah testing his sense of balance...

The equilibrium challenge... 

 The "dam" table, hee hee!

Paddy and Noah at the jumbo parabolic speakers...

 "What?" LOL!

 Brad passing on a few tips at the music invention convention...

 Brain power? Moving a ball with the power of alpha waves. So who was the most relaxed person?

A final look at our corner, right by Chinatown in the downtown area. Very cool,

 with some great architecture and some seriously delicious food!

And a quick revisit of the Haunted House tour from last night. More tour than Haunt, but both Brad and I saw the curtains moving in the haunted hotel room just as the guide (who was an EXCELLENT character actor) was describing the manner of the haunting...coincidence? Maybe so...imaha...maybe not!

We finished the night with another belly-buster dinner and a viewing of the newest creepy movie, "Sinister". The guys loved it, I sort of cat-napped a bit through it. Back to the hotel and early night because we will be up at 5:15 am...then home to Sanikiluaq. A great trip that the team earned with their training and hard work!

TTFN!

Terri and the tired troops.

More race pics....

Here's Paddy' finish in 0:54.02...

...and Noah's finish in 0:56.58...

...and Willie's in 0:59.53....

Jonah and Timothy finished in 1:21.37...

...less than 3 minutes ahead of me, LOL!

We went for dinner tonight to Reuben's Deli (yummm!) and had our Ghost Walk tour although my hip is sore, Noah was yawning all the way through, and I think I may lose a toenail. All in all, it was a GREAT day to showcase the talents in the Paatsaali Running Club, and to demonstrate that being cold, remote, and struggling financially is no excuse to not be fit! YAY Paatsaali students! You are AMAZING!!!!

(And many thanks to the Official Team Photographer, Brad Wutke!)

TTFN!

A VERY proud coach!

We did it! Rockin' the Race!

What a beautiful, cold, windy day! 0 degrees this morning with -4 wind chill, but we got up and ready anyways. We were at the park by 9:45 am, warmed up and ready.

Photo op at the park...all of the reporters were fascinated by our team's story and the flag we carried... and then we were off...

Paddy made it in 54 min, Noah in 56 min, Willie in 59 min, and Jonah and Tim in just over an hour. I made it in 1:24, which is almost 20 minutes faster than my time in Toronto! WOOT!

The "Awwwwwwwwwww" factor...my team saw me coming around the bend to the finish. They grabbed the flag, ran out to me, wrapped it around me and ran me in, cheering the whole way...I teared up, it was so incredibly wonderful! What an awesome group of kids!

I'll post more pics later when I have the time to wait for slow uploads...

After the run we had a very yummy sandwich provided by Lucky's Truck and the Wishmaker Foundation...BBQ Pulled Pork on a delicious crusty roll. Mmmmmmmm!!!! Just the thing for sudden unexplained appetites, LOL! Then we walked over to teh Olympic Stadium and went up the Montreal Tower in the funicular elevator.

We came home to the hotel for hot showers to warm up, a brief rest, and we're off to do a bit of shopping, enjoy a well-earned celebration dinner, and then go on a Haunted Ghost Walk of Old Montreal. WOOHOO!!!! We Rocked this day!

TTFN!

Terri and the Team.

Day 1-1/2...Nommin' our hearts out!

It has been a busy day, and we have hardly seen the hotel at all! Our day began with a complementary continental breakfast (hurray for freebies!) in the hotel dining room: muffins, fruit, juice, coffee, pastries, cereal, milk, yogurt, croissants...yummy and filling. We then gathered into taxis for the trip to the Running Room (Coin des Courreurs) to pick up our race kits. 

(I love just hiking the camera up and sneaking shots behind me from over my shoulder!)

The boys are a little leery now that they have looked over the course map..."We have to do it TWICE? It looks too big already for once!" But we're all very pumped.  I bored them with my shopping so the group headed over to Future Shop whilst I gathered my gear for (gasp!) winter running outdoors...I truly am nuts, I swear! I got a pay-as-you-go cell phone and we were in business. Mountain Equipment Co-op, Dollarama, Halloween stores, clothing shops and the like took some serious hits before we left to drop the booty back at the hotel. Out the door we went again, for lunch.

  Oh sushi, how we all love you! It was so incredibly delicious! We had salmon, BBQ eel and tuna niri, we had kandu rolls, dragon maki rolls, seafood tempura rolls, special rice, dumplings, chicken teriyaki, chicken skewers, vegetable tempura, and repeats on our favourites...Quelles stuffed students! It was all-you-can-eat, and we tried our best! The boys were in heaven, and Brad and I just kept repeating, "OMG this is SOOOOOO good!)

I think Jonah is onto me sneaking photos here...

Anyhow, we went off to our Laser Tag game and the gang had a great time and a great workout. They were drenched in sweat when they were done. I wisely opted to sit out and, um...guard the wallets, yeah, that was it, I had to stay out and guard all of our goodies! No pics of the game, but a pic of the awards.

Way to go, Tulugark!

More shopping followed, then a movie, and what is a movie without a visit to the Hurricane Simulator?

More shopping at another sports shop (more money spent for winter running, gad!) and then back to the hotel to rest up for the big day tomorrow! And to wait impatiently while the pictures upload...

We'll have race day photos posted tomorrow. I'm making Brad jog along with us to start so he can take some shots, ha ha! Knew I'd get him one way or the other! He keeps trying to find a scooter to rent, no chance, LOL!

So nite all and TTFN!

Terri and the team of trekkers.

Ha ha, we made it!

It tried to huff and puff, and blow our flight down, but we made it anyhow! Although we almost left without last-minute Louie...

We sat through several delayed departures from 1:00-3:00 pm, many anxious faces waiting at the window...

Our flight finally arrived and we went to Kuujjuarapik

There, we sat and watched as the fog rolled in (and thankfully out) and then the flurries blew in, and then out, and finally we were off. The people in Rouyn-Noranda, the scheduled stop, were unlucky this time. A computer malfunction at their terminal had us bypassing them and we got into Montreal just after 8:30 pm.

Checked into our hotel and now ready to prowl along Ste Catherines Street to see what's what.

Woot!

PS The hotel rooms are REALLY tiny but everyone has their own bed, hurray!

TTFN!

Terri and the troops

Day Zero-and-a-half

Wind gusts 70-90 km, rain and very low ceiling. Will the Twin Otter arrive at 2:00 pm? There is a very realistic chance that the answer is "No". Boo Hiss!

The entire trip may have to be cancelled and rescheduled later...major sadness here amongst us all.

Terri

The Next trip that STILL isn't...

What can I say? Day ZERO of the Running Club trip. We were fogged in. Again. GRRRRR!

Terri

The trip that nearly wasn't...

Well...what a rigamarole trying to get out for our PD training! On Wednesday, our plane was delayed leaving Salluit on its return flight. At 4:00 pm, when it SHOULD have been here, it was clear. At 4:30, the fog began to roll in and at 6:30, we were so covered in that the plane skipped right past us. Sigh. Call hotels, cancel bookings, rearrange all appointments. We got out by Twin Otter Thursday afternoon and got into Montreal at about 10:00 pm, enough time to go to bed. No shopping...

We had an uneventful flight to Iqaluit, for which we were thankful. My laugh came on the airplane. A young mom was trying to manage three very active young ones, one of whom was hysterical during the take-off and landing. The other two bounced all through the plane, and the steward stopped the older of the two. "What's YOUR name?" he asked. "You look like trouble!" The little one pondered this. "I do?" he asked, and then turned to his mom. "I thought you said I looked like Daddy!" I was still chuckling when we landed.

Our conference was good, and I managed to get in a couple of runs. Good news: my average running speed has increased from 4 mph to 4.7 mph, thanks to the hills here in Sanikiluaq! I'm looking forward to the big run coming up, and am contemplating taking on training for a half-marathon with my core runners. And what can I say about the lovely prime rib dinner we had other than YUMMMMMMMmmmmmmm!!!!!!

Then we tried to leave...we got as far as Kuujjuaq, where we found out (after waiting over an hour for a 20-min stop) that our cargo door was damaged and not shutting properly. YIKES! We could have been sucked out over the Frobisher Strait! We waited, and waited, and waited...finally got sent for dinner around 7:30, and when we got back to the airport we found out that the flight was cancelled and we were stuck for the night. Sigh...Call hotels, cancel bookings AGAIN, cancel appointments again, goodbye shopping and our one rest day...

I did get to Montreal about 2:00 pm, had a massage, ran out to Walmart and got my Halloween candy, hit the bank to deposit my travel expense cheque, and got to Staples to exchange my printer ink for the right kind. And the three gals did have a wonderful dinner together with a glass of wine or two...

And the Running Club takes flight again on Wednesday night to Montreal for the 10K run. We are all very excited, and I will post pictures and the events of the day as we take the Nunavut flag to yet another province and show off our dedicated students! YAY!

TTFN!

Terrt

Running to stand still....

We're in full swing now with the running club, and in the last two weeks of training before the big trip. Today we did what one student calls the "One-dump run"...a loop out to the dump, which is uphill for 2.5 km, then back and all around the outskirts of town (uphill another km) then back to the school. A total of 8.2 km...wow! My hip is sore, which is why I, standing still tonight as much as possible, LOL! At least I am not limping as much as I used to, and the cane is still resting unused for now.

Movie nights are back on, and the kids going out on the trip are doing a great job looking after the canteen and supervising for me. I manage the minutiae, such as any kids causing a ruckus. We have had a full crowd and it is nice to have something for them to do on a regular basis. Our recess canteen is also doing well, and we had a cakewalk on Friday after school. Music night will be on October 5th and that will be our last fundraising until after the trip on October 10th. The only disappointment, there won't be a chance to take the kids to a Canadiens hockey game. The boys are crushed...but we will at least take in some movies and play laser tag, so they will have lots to do along with the Science Centre, Montreal Tower, and the Insectarium!

I leave Wednesday on another 7-day travel jaunt to attend two days of training in Iqaluit. I leave on Friday for Iqaluit and return on Monday to Montreal, then home to Sani on Wednesday again. I have a day lay-over in Montreal each side, so hurray for time to shop for Halloween candy! I have a great costume idea, thanks to Katie, and the kids will be SOOOOOOOO grossed out, ha ha! We're having a Halloween costume dance with a music night, and I plan to wear it then.

Hee hee, I can't wait!

Anyhow, a short post today, and I will fill everyone in on details of my trip when I arrive in Iqaluit.

TTFN!

Terri the trekkin' traveller.

Home again, home again, Lickety-SPLAT!

So, some of you have heard the adventure, and seen the gruesome photo story, but let me retell it anyhow. It gets funnier as I picture it, but it sure was not so much of a thrill at the time!

Packed up after a great summer in Ontario. Went to clean the cat's litter box and I knew it was going to be trouble...there were no new "additives" in the pan. Tigger got packed into his carrier anyhow, and off we went. He left a puddle in the back seat of the cab. I mopped it up. He puddled when we got into the plane. I tried to mop it up but had few paper towels. He pooped. I apologized to all the passengers near us. Then he really let loose...ick! Stinky stress ball. So, out of the goodness of my heart, I thought it would be good to clean him and the carrier out when we got to Montreal. Into the bathroom we went.

I opened up his carrier and took him out, fully harnessed and safe (I thought). I pick up his carrier and start to shake out the droppings into the toilet, and Tigger managed to wiggle out of his harness and ran out of the stall into the bathroom. I quickly threw open the stall door and lunged for him. Before I got him, I managed to step into one of his poopy paw prints, and slid full-speed into the edge of the door (I had thought it was the toilet paper dispenser, but I realized after that I hit metal full-force). I did manage to grab him, and washed him off in the bathroom sink. Then I realized how tilted my glasses looked, and took them off. That's when I saw the goose egg on the side of my forehead where I had slammed into the metal door...OUCH! Ergo the "splat" in the title for today's post...

Over the course of the next two days, the bruising migrated across my face and eye, giving me one heck of a glorious technicolour shiner.

Lovely, ain't it? The bruise goes from my eyebrows to the bottom of my nose, and from the side of my nose across to my hairline. At least I got even with the poor fur-ball. As soon as we got into our hotel room I put his carrier right into the tub and started to run warm water. Poor Tigger...he tried so hard to back up away from the water but there was nowhere to go once he got to the end of the carrier, LOL! So he got scrubbed, then I dried him off, cleaned the tub, and scrubbed myself off! He was so stressed by the ordeal that he meowed all night long. Quietly, luckily for other hotel customers, but non-stop...I slept a lot on the plane from Montreal to Sanikiluaq! That flight was completely uneventful, for which I was eternally grateful!

I am busy at school, cleaning cupboards and trying to find where I put the work I had prepared in June. I took time to do some brief running yesterday and today. I had forgotten how persistent the wind is here...today, I ran in the rain (which was a surprise as the sun was shining when I left!) and uphill into a 40k wind...I must be (a) completely nuts, (b) very dedicated, or (c) bit of both and TOTALLY scary! LOL!

Well, I'm heading into the staff room now to nuke a bit of soup for lunch. Then back to the grind for another year at Paatsaali.

TTFN from the far north!

Terri

Would you believe...3 teaching days left!

Wow...another year has come and is almost gone! And what a year it has been.

Therre are only 3 actual days left of the academic year. Report card marks are in as of Wednesday. We have a Sports Day on Thursday, school clean-up on Friday morning and a picnic on the land in the afternoon. Monday is class clean-up and graduation. Tuesday is awards in the morning and report cards in the afternoon. And Wednesday is a PD Day and then a race to the airport to make the 4:00 pm flight. Home for the summer!

I am already working toward next term. I have my first few days planned. I have my first term's fundraisers booked. I have booked the four senior running club boys and I in for a 10K run...YIKES! I need to bump up my training!  I've ordered them to stay at the finish line until I finally get there, LOL! We're headed to Montreal on October 10th and will take part in the Wishmaker Run with the Children's Wish Foundation. And coincidence of coincidences, they are sponsoring 5 kids from Nunavut this year! What an amazing tie-in! And of course, we hope ot take in a Canadiens game while there...I have no shortage of hopefuls for the trip. And we are going to do a Ghost Walk through Old Montreal as well. Very cool just before Halloween...

Anyhow, this will likely be my last post until the start of the new term, unless something very noteworthy occurs. So have a safe and healthy summer all, and I will be back to you in the fall from the Belcher Islands in the middle of Hudson Bay.

TTFN!

Terri

The Running Club's Run!

We did it! I am sooooo proud of my girls! And we were the talk of the race with our Nunavut Flag...

People all stopped and asked if we came all that way just for the run. 

We were proud to say, "Yes!"

We all made it across the finish line, and none of us were last! Woohoo!

But we did look a little tired. (Or at least some of us did, no old people's names mentioned...)

Here's a shot of Diane crossing the finish line...

Lunch "on the land" so to speak, LOL!

The girls all got a free foot-and-leg massage. Then we headed back to the hotel for clean-up. 

Off to Value Village to shop. Dinner at Red Lobster to celebrate. A movie before bed.

And home tomorrow. It has been a fantastic trip!

TTFN!

Terri and the Pirates.

To the Zoo with the animals...er, the girls...LOL!

Today was a perfect weather day! Not too hot, gentle breeze, bright sun and blue sky. We took a taxi over to the Assiniboine Zoo after breakfast and walked around for our exercise in the fresh air.

The gift shop is always a good spot, and Diane models the latest in fashion accessories for us.

There were a fair range of animals, and tons of peafowl who made the loudest screeches I have ever heard from a bird. I tried stumping my cane at them, and the girls tried chasing them, but we couldn't get them to fan their tails out for us.

After lunch, we tottered around a bit more and then came back to the hotel for a rest.

We walked up for a quick bit of shopping to the Portage Place Mall where we ate dinner. I got my second chance to have sushi...omigosh I am in heaven!!!! The girls seem to be enjoying A&W.

We had tickets to the movie, "To The Arctic" in 3D at the IMAX.

And it was a good film. But the fun of the night was apparently to be had in the lobby, where they had a small "Hurricane Simulator". Basically, you pay $2.00 and let gentle breezes (in Sanikiluaq terms) waft over you. Of course, it had to be tried out...

Yes, it was fun!

We are back in our rooms now, the girls are visiting with some folks from home who are out on medical for check-ups. I thought I would be creative and write in syllabics on my run shirt to advertise our community. So I carefully wrote out "Paatsaali, Sanikiluaq, Nunavut" on a slip of paper and asked if it was correct. I guess Diane was distracted because she did nod, but the laughter started after I had drawn, in permanent marker, that I am representing "Paatsaal-ah" school. D'Oh! Oh well. At least I got the Sanikiluaq and Nunavut right. Two out of three ain't bad!

An early night, for the big event is tomorrow! Wish us luck! 

TTFN!

Terri and the troops.