Happy 5th Birthday Benjamin!
0May 22, 2013
What so serious, Benjamin?
It’s your bIrThDaY…it’s time to party!!! 
Happy Birthday to you…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to YOU!!!!
HaPpY bIrThDaY Dear Benjamin….
Happy Birthday to YOU!
Dear Benjamin,
WOW, you are 5 already!!! Where did the time go? I hope you have a fantastic day today…
Yesterday it was snowing here in Pangnirtung…but it didn’t stay on the ground! (Can you believe it…snow the day before your birthday?!) It’s a sunny but cool day here… what’s it like in Ontario? I must admit…I can’t wait to hit the beach this summer! 
Happy Birthday Benjamin…hope you have a terrific day. Sending you heaps of love from the Arctic… I left a birthday gift for you and I think your mum and dad have it, so you’ll have to ask them for it!
Luv, Aunt Sarah
Long-weekends Rock!
2May 20, 2013
is has been a fabulous long weekend. On Saturday I went out with three friends to Iqalujuaq for a day of fun ice fishing! Then Saturday night I had a Game of Thrones Season 3 Marathon with my friend Kaitlin (well only up to episode 6…that’s all I could download before coming back north again!) We ended that about 3am, and the sun was still shining…after some sleep…we got up and watched movies all day long on Sunday! Today I’ve been working on a sewing project for my Yukon trip…and going to a friend’s house for dinner! Heaps of fun with friends….but today I wanted to share some photos from my fishing trip on Saturday!
I got up fairly early for a Saturday morning on a long weekend…and walked over to the beach and then out to the edge of the tidal ice to meet everyone else at 8am. (My friends live in different parts of town and it’s almost ‘impossible’ to get to my house without going over a few dirt roads…so it was easier for me to walk and meet them!)
There were a few slight adjustments before we took off…
Our first ‘quick’ break on the trail…time for some homemade muffins and a photo op! 
When we got to the ice…Mike had a ‘surprise’ for us… he had been cooking home-fries and bacon while we were driving! This was the BEST surprise ever…
The lake was pretty full of people fishing…it was a gorgeous day outside!
Mary had an awesome day fishing… she caught her first fish!
Mike caught the next fish…
I am holding a ‘tuq’…and i used it to chip away the ice that had frozen in an old fishing hole. It took a little bit of effort and muscle! 
We decided to go fish somewhere new…so stopped at this spot but the ice was really thin. You can see Markus and Mike using the tuq to check the depth of the ice. Usually you hit the ice 2-3x before deciding if it can hold your weight. You can see that the ice was pretty thin… so we went to a different spot. Later in the day we returned… (I was on the other side of this spot… and people had skimmed the ice/water and broken up all the ice.)
We went to this spot where the ice was a bit thicker…but still had some ‘open’ spots!
This was one of the funniest way to fish… lying flat on your tummy… when you can see the lure in the water, and the fish swimming by them. I saw like 5 HUGE fish swim by…but wasn’t able to get them! Markus and MIke went back over to the ‘open-poor-ice’ area… while Mary and I stayed behind to fish here, and well ummm suntan and chat!
Markus showed me how to gut a fish… I have done it before…but practice makes perfect!
At about 4:30 or so… we decided to cook up some fish… Mary was so hungry she almost ate it raw!
Chill’n waiting for the fish to cook… it was so worth it, nothing like fresh cooked fish out on the fishing lake!
Just taking random photos of reflections in sunglasses…
After enjoying the fresh fish we all decided to go back over to the spot where the ice was thin…
Mike and Mary were on one side of this spot… and Markus and I were on the other! (the first photos with the tuq and checking the thickness of the ice… were taken on the side Mike and Mary were on!) 
Just standing on a piece of thin-ice…
It was getting late so we decided it was time to go back and pack up the kamotiks and head for home!
A quick stop on the trail home… and a re-adjustment to the kamotik rope!
We did stop at “Toblerone” Mountain for a photo op! It was pretty awesome… evening! 
On the way home I saw my first Arctic Hare in the wild… and Mike who had been on the hunt all day…was able to shot it! So that means tonight I’m heading over to Mary’s house to have Rabbit Stew… I can’t wait!!!
Coming home winding through the tidal ice is always heaps of fun… because of the melting temperatures… there were a few ‘holes’ and cracks between peices of the ice. Markus maneuvered the machine through it like a champ!
I was home just after 9pm at night!!! It was a fantastic day out on the land. Thanks Markus and Mike for an awesome day, it was great to get out of town and go fishing! Even though I didn’t catch anything, it was still a fabulous way to spend the day!
* Mary took all the photos of me in this post! Thanks so much… 
** reminder for myself to clean the dust off the sensor of my camera before going out and shooting heaps of photos with blue skies! (sorry about the spots!)
Two Sticks
5May 17, 2013
by Sarah on the Road
in Family
I think my love affair with 2 sticks of red licorice started with a little help from my Gramma.
My Gramma (taken Dec 15, 2012)
My Gramma use to pack my school lunch from kindergarten until grade 3 or so. Those lunches in my early days of school were so amazing-often having way more food than I could ever imagine eating. Thinking back it could have been because I was a kid, and everything you remember when you were a kid was HUGE…but in reality they were just normal –not that huge to begin with. But I kind of think that they were just in face HUGE lunches!
I always remember opening my lunch box to surprises. Sometimes inside my lunch box was a handwritten note. Sometimes I was surprised by the food choices she had lovingly put inside the lunch box. Like hot-dogs in a thermos (with small jars filled with ketchup and mustard) with the buns in a baggie. Some days it was soup in the thermos or sometimes just a sandwich. Then there was fruit, or cut up veggies and dip. Then dessert- homemade cookies or other yummy things like Rice Krispy squares.
Why am I telling you all about these amazing school lunches? You might be thinking it has nothing to do with red licorice. But that’s the thing, because the last thing Gramma almost always had in our lunch was her secret ingredient to the end of a perfect lunch -2 sticks of Red Licorice.
As a kid I remember searching her kitchen, pantry and cupboards on the weekend or after school to find the source of the red licorice…but she was a good hider of the licorice and I never found it.
In high school I discovered the ‘cherry’ nib pieces… and then their long licorice pieces. I was in heaven. It is so much better than the ‘strawberry’ red licorice. Who am I kidding? Any type is good… as long as it’s fresh and soft—not hard! Well there is an exception to that… I really detest black licorice. (Yes, I know that’s the “real” licorice…but it makes my stomach turn.)
I got to go visit my Gramma earlier this month. Before I left her house…she gifted me with a present she picked me up from Costco. Can you guess what it was?
Yep… a HUGE box of RED LICORICE!!! I’m trying to keep it to 2 sticks after lunch…but I might be failing at that. It’s funny how a simple thing like a stick of red licorice brings back so many awesome memories.
Luv you Gramma, thanks for the licorice…see you next month!
*this post was not sponsored by Twizzlers and the opinions are all my own!
(**However, if you are associated with Twizzlers I really do like your product and feel free to mail me some!)
More of Our Canada
9May 14, 2013
For the last year or so a family friend, Nancy Gillogly, has been after me to submit photos for contests on the “Our Canada” Magazine. It’s a magazine that is part of the Reader’s Digest family. Last fall, I finally did submit some photos to a contest…and then promptly forgot about which ones I submitted. I didn’t win the contest and figured that was the end of that idea. But I felt like I was able to tell Nancy I submitted a photo! I think I’m one of the hardest critic on my own photography work. Yes, I do realize that I do take beautiful photos…but then I find myself looking at other photogs…and realizing that I have so much more to learn, grown and be. Maybe that’s just part of life’s journey…but it’s something I’m working on…actually believing that I can take a decent photo.
Fast forward to today… I have been away for about 3 weeks, and haven’t picked up my mail yet. So a trip to the post office was in order…and surprisingly I had a few awesome packages that weren’t bills! I had a package from “More of Our Canada”.
A few months ago, an editor at “More of Our Canada” contacted me to tell me that even though I didn’t win the photo competition…the magazine was interested in including one of my photos in the story “A Love Affair with the Forest” in their May Edition of the magazine!
I was so excited to see one of MY photos in colour and in PRINT!!! Yes, I’ve had photos published via Nunatsiaq News and CBC North BUT never in a magazine. So pardon my ‘newbie’ excitement!!! It’s the photo on the far left of the page…almost a full page spread!
I first blogged about my trip to the Capilano Suspension Bridge with my friend Ryan last summer. It was such a fun filled day! Go check out the other awesome photos and story from that day.
Here’s the photo one more time…
Thank you Nancy for convincing me to submit a photo, without your encouragment I never would have done it and wouldn’t have gotten published in a magazine.
Hockey Fever…
3May 13, 2013
Tonight I took a walk about 9:40pm to get a shot of the “sunset” for my FMS-Photo-a-Day Challenge. This is almost a joke right now because the it doesn’t really get dark anymore. Today the sun rose at 2:50am and set at 21:48…(FYI: this info can be found at Environment Canada’s website!)
I wasn’t sure what I was going to find…but stopped watching the Leaf’s -Boston Game 7, grabbed my camera and headed outside for some fresh air. (it was pretty windy.. and about -12C tonight as I walked towards the fjord.)
I shot some gorgeous shots of the Pang Pass and the rest of the Pang Fjord! 
But right in front of me was a fabulous hockey game… seems like Hockey fever has struck Pang! (can you see the people in the photo below?)
There was a big group of people on the ice skating and playing. Here’s a close up of the game in action! (I almost walked home for my ‘big’ lens..but the wind was too cold, so ended up just coming home and not returning!)
Seems like anywhere you enjoy a pick-up hockey game…even at 10pm on a Monday evening in the middle of a Fjord!
By the time I got home, I watched the final OT goal in the Leaf- Boston game… sad to see the Leafs loose, but excited to see what happens in round 2 of the playoffs!
