Homeward bound

This is my last week in Kimmirut before heading south for at least a month at home in Nova Scotia. (Bill and pets to follow in a week.) So, for my last post to this blog I decided to include photos of some of my favourite places here, one of which is the kitchen table where we have enjoyed some fantastic meals from the sea.

Speaking of food, yes it is expensive in the grocery stores here but the Nutrition North program does help a lot by subsidizing the cost of nutritious foods such as milk, eggs, some fresh fruits and vegetables. Processed and generally less nutritious foods are quite expensive. For example, you could expect to spend close to $10.00 for a package of cookies, the same for 400 grams of cold cereal and $8.00 for a medium-sized bag of potato or nacho chips.

There were a few questions about my last post, which was about wild flowers. The only uses I know of for wild plants are that cranberries and blueberries are picked and eaten later in the summer. I have only been here three months and have not learned about local folks using wild plants in any other ways, although I'm sure they used to.

The Reversing Falls, pictured below, has become one of our favourite destinations. It is a very big tide here, almost rivalling the Bay of Fundy back home. As the tide comes back in at the Reversing Falls the fast water changes direction.

When the tide is at its lowest, at the bottom of the rapids where the water becomes calm and smooth is a wonderful place to find mussels.

What a meal - mussels fresh from the clean, cold Arctivc waters. Hard to beat.

 

They have these wonderful tents here that people leave up for weeks at a time to be enjoyed by the whole family just like going to the cottage down south. These are on a broad stretch of sand by the Reversing Falls.

 

The Arctic Char have just started running so I didn't have this pleasure before leaving. Arctic Cod, however, is very tasty too.

 

Nice brunch!

 

Standard equipment for an outing: cameras, binoculars, bear spray and sometimes fishing rods.

Something we do a lot of.....

This afternoon-long canoe trip was on fresh water, the inland side of the Reversing Falls.

Such bold beauty, and not a sign of people the whole time.

A beautiful old relic.

Nova Scotia friend Bruce MacNab came along on an afternoon paddle and hike to the beginning of Katannilik Park, the territorial park that follows the Soper River half way to Iqaluit. No fish were caught but the views were amazing.

 

The water is crystal clear.

 

Not far away is this expansive sandy beach.

In fact it is so huge it used to be where planes landed before the landing strip was built in town.

 

It would be wrong to spend time here and not mention the wonderful soap stone carvings that come from this area. First of all, Kimmirut is known for its beautiful stone. There is black soap stone and some with a kind of marbling of an amber or bronze colour running through. There is pink quartz and a magnificent variety they call apple green soap stone. Also Kimmirut is home to some very accomplished carvers.

Simmeonie Killiktee, who lives just up the road, is a wonderful carver. We are very lucky to know him and to have been able to buy some of his carvings.

 

 

So that's it for now. There is an awful lot about blog-writing I don't know. But it's been fun trying. I hope you have enjoyed the photos of life in Kimmirut.

Here I am pretending I know how to drive the second-hand ATV Bill bought. In reality just riding on back along some of these cliff-hanging roads is nearly enough to take my breath away.

 

It has taken a bit to get used to being here. A walk in town can be a muddy, windy experience. Temperatures have risen above 15 degrees Celsius only a handful of times over the summer. The mosquito season, while short, felt very real for the two or three weeks they were at their worst. Oops! They seem to be back. On the other hand, the air is fresh and clean, vistas are spectacular, culture is so interesting, and folks are friendly.

But now it's time to go home where people wear bicycle helmets and car seat belts, and separate their garbage. Where your water isn't delivered by truck and sewage collected by another truck. Where the sun sometimes gets quite hot and it matters if you comb your hair before going out the front door. Wonder if it will take me long to readjust.

 

 

 

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Wild flowers around Kimmirut

The wild flowers of Baffin Island are amazing. Little bursts of floral energy popping up in the most unlikely places. I have done my best to identify the flowers pictured below but can't guarantee 100% accuracy. My main reference source is Common Plants of Nunavut by Carolyn Mallory and Susan Aiken.

Seaside bluebells

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago while the plant was still compact. By now it may be sprawling out over the sand and a little less picturesque. Striking blue flowers and sturdy blue-green leaves, it is an unexpected beach comber's find.

Arctic poppy

Looks can be deceiving. Pale yellow flowers atop long thin stems may look delicate but this is a tough little perennial capable of rooting into rocky turf and weathering strong Arctic winds.

 

Arctic mouse-ear chickweed

Nothing I could say would be half as interesting as the name.

Just try and capture such a beautiful balance in your own rock garden. On the left is an Arctic poppy. White flowers to right of the rocks, I think, are Sandwart, a perennial.

 

An autumnal tapestry of mosses and rock seen in early August

A small pond high in the rocky hills is a good spot for these white poufs that I think might be Snow saxifrag. Cool, clear water

 

Mountain Heather

Low bushy plants with drop-shaped pink flowers. These have found a nice sheltered spot.

Mountain avens

A sign of late summer when in full bloom as seen below these white flowers with vivid yellow centres above dense green foliage stand out like floral fried eggs on stems.

Yellow oxytrope

Grey stems stretching out like spider legs are last year's growth.

Dwarf fireweed and dandelion which is called a "non-native invasive species" in this neck of the woods. Imagine!

Dwarf fireweed, a white member of the Saxifrage family I believe, and willow make a lovely natural garden in the school yard.

Don't know what this is, a type of willow perhaps, but it's awfully nice

More mossy textures on rock

Soft pink pin cushion of Moss campion, with small Arctic poppy

Arctic Thrift

Large-flowered wintergreen

Vibrant flourish of green

 

How can such a rocky face support green growth?

 

Willow tails

There are many many varieties of willows in the Arctic. Often they cling to the ground like ancient roots with no upright stem at all.

Our neighbour Ibelee commented while we were driving to gather mussels at the Reversing Falls one day that, over there in those willows, he sometimes saw ptarmigan gathered. The image of tall weeping willows pictured in my still southern-oriented brain made me giggle when I saw he was pointing at bushes a couple of feet tall.

However, not far away where Katanalik Park follows along the Soper River Valley toward Iqaluit temperatures are often warmer by 5 degrees and the willows can stand as high as 10 feet, the tallest trees on Baffin Island.

This is just a sampling of plants in the Kimmirut area. There are so many more, including grasses and sedges and others whose blooms have come and gone for this year. It's pretty exciting to hike the rugged hills and find such a variety of wild flowers tucked in around the rocks along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sealift and a Cruise Ship

Right up until the day before the sealift was due to arrive at Kimmirut Sunday, July 18 no one seemed to know if the harbour was clear enough of pack ice for the supplies to come to shore. Skies had been a dull grey for days with temperatures not rising above 10 degrees Celsius. Saturday morning however, the sun shone brightly and luck was with us.

 

But sunshine and good luck alone could not have managed the logistics required to successfully bring in the cargo received here that day. We all watched on as two barges and two tug boats pushed their way through the remaining pack ice, the cargo ship so far out to sea it could hardly be seen off in the distance.

Two boys peer out at the coming barges barely visible in this photo on the water. The two qamutiks in the foreground may be too old to be pulled behind a snowmobile next winter. I have been told this big wooden boat is used for collecting soap stone for local carvers but have not seen it in the water yet.

 

At a calm and steady pace first one barge, then the other, arrived at the sandy/rocky/icey shoreline. Kimmirut has no wharf. The force of the tug boats and skill of their crew were put to the test. First off were two heavy Volvo forklifts to clear away chunks of pack ice remaining in the way.

 

The tugs push to keep the barge in position while the ramp is in place.

The second barge carried 8 or 9 containers, known as sea cans here, that are removed by the forklifts.

 

 

Nothing to it, apparently.

 

 

 

Next day another sealift arrived. Happy days for Kimmirut. Now shelves of the Co-op and Northern stores are chock full, materials have arrived for the construction of the new duplex, and there are a couple of new trucks in town as well as several new four-wheelers.

By Wednesday the town was abuzz as things were looking just right for the cruise ship to arrive. And sure enough it did. What a sight to see after a long frozen winter. Close to 200 Adventure Canada travellers came ashore via three-zodiac shuttle.

 

It was really festive seeing large groups of people led around town by their young tour guides: To the Co-op store for bug hats as the mosquitoes had come out in full force with the warmer weather. Up the hill for a good stretch and hike along recently-watered dirt roads to keep the dust down for our visitors. Through the Parks Department Visitor Centre and tiny Soper House museum and shop to view the impressive selection of local soapstone carvings.

 

A sturdy tent of the sort now typically used by Inuit families going out on the land was erected in town. Inside two women used ulus to demonstrate sealskin cleaning.

 

 

Finished product ready to be stretched and dried outdoors.

 

Toward the end of the visit everybody was invited to the Akavak Centre, the school gymnasium, to see some traditional Inuit games. There was a drum dance, the Knuckle Hop, One-foot High Kick, and the Finger Pull, all pretty much self-explanatory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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