At That Very Moment

Yesterday I went for a walk on the Arctic Ocean. It's not everyday you can do that!

It only seems fitting that it was stinking COLD. To be exact it was -28 with the windchill. I know some people say "ahhh, windchill doesn't count" I'd like those people to come for a walk with me when the wind is coming straight at your face. It counts.

A friend and I were trudging through the snow and I was talking about going on vacation one time while we were living in Ft. MacPherson (another small Northern town). Ryan and I had walked into a large Southern grocery store and literally spent an hour just walking around the produce section. She was telling me about how last year she had gone on a much overdue vacation and her first stop was a hotel that had a fruit platter for guests to pick at. She said she spotted the most perfect banana. She described and I could envision it. To you it looks like a regular banana. To her it was more than that. It was a bright yellow, unbruised, never frozen banana. She said she started crying. I knew exactly where she was coming from.

Our community has been feeling pretty fortunate the last month or so. We have a new grocery store manager who is simply wonderful. You have to remember this is the only grocery store, the only store actually. He has been bringing in lots of "fresh" fruit and vegetables and believe me, it is not going unnoticed. Just the other night another lady was giddy telling me about how she picked up spinach at the store. She also told me that she told the manager to call her if it wasn't selling and she'd buy it all. There were even mango's there last week. This is a seriously big deal. Previous to this manager, I can tell you exactly what fruit and vegetables were available in town. Iceberg lettuce, cucumber, 4 tomatoes for $9.00, abag of three peppers, potatoes and onions. That's it. There was no squash, turnip or sweet potato in town for Thanksgiving nor were there were pumpkins at Halloween. So spinach and mango are a big deal. We even have whole pineapple............for $18.00.

I don't think I've ever talked about our phone numbers up here. It's another one for the "the truly Northern list". Essentially all you ever have to remember is 3 numbers. With 38 house phone numbers in town I'm sure most people know everyone's number. That is except for whoever has been calling our house in the middle of the night asking for Frank. Anyhow, everyone has 580-3_ _ _ Super easy for remembering. Just another example of our peaceful, cell phoneless, quiet life.

All that is about to change later this week though, because vacation is upon us.

Back to the crazy, hectic, world full of traffic, cell phones and texting..................hmmmmm that doesn't exactly sound like vacation does it.

I've never written anything in the past about vacation on facebook or anything like that until it has already happened and I'm back safe and sound at home, totally for safety reasons. Why tell everybody your NOT home. No thanks. But this time it's different. Everybody in town will already know we are gone, they'll also know somebody else is staying at the house with our two big dogs and I really don't suspect anybody from out of town to come rob us............what are they going to take???? and where are they going to take it???? Nope, not a concern.

Vacation starts Friday and it will involve travelling through 7 different airports one way, to eventually get to Halifax. On Friday we travel on a very small plane to Inuvik, NT where we spend the night. Saturday we go to Yellowknife, Edmonton and then Calgary. We'll be spending a few days there with family and friends and taking in some of the local attractions the the Zoo, Banff and a hair dresser. Yes, I'm excited for the Zoo, and Banff is always breathtaking, but I'm really looking forward to getting my hair done.

From Calgary we go to Toronto and then onto Halifax where we'll be for about 2 weeks before we head South for some fun in the sun. Hola, Mexico. It's crazy to think there could easily be a 60 degree temperature difference between Mexico and Paulatuk. It'll be nice to be on the warm side for once! From Mexico we go back to NS for another week and then head North all over again.

As strange as it is, I'm not quite ready for vacation. Of course I'm looking forward to seeing N with his grandparents again. The thought of it brings tears to my eyes actually. But I'm not itching for vacation like I had been in the past. I haven't had a big countdown going or anything, I don't have our suitcases packed, but I do have about 4 lists going about what to pack, what to do before we go, what our vacation "schedule" is, and another list of cloths that my Mom has waiting for N in NS. From looking at the list I don't think I need to pack anything for him. Other than "puppy", if we left Paulatuk without puppy we might have to turn the plane around.

Don't laugh at my lists. Not only do I love lists but it's a bit of a packing juggling act trying to figure out how much we are actually allowed to pack. Three different airlines, and all three have different weight restrictions....of course. The airline leaving Paulatuk has flyers posted around town stating that all passengers need to be dressed in full winter gear or they will not be allowed to board the plane. Fair enough, it's a small plane and heating is not at the top of the priority list. It can get get cold if your not up front with the pilot with the heat vent blowing right at you. Thankfully we are able to drop our goose down parkas with friends in Yellowknife. I LOVE my parka, but I don't want to be hauling that and -50 degree boots across the country.

As you can see I am still unable to upload pictures but hopefully I'll get a chance while we are in Calgary because I have some great ones.