Didn’t want to share this story until Karen, the bishop’s
wife, came home. However she arrived
back on Saturday and knows what happened. When we arrived at the airport in Iqaluit we were handed a
bunch of keys including the parish office. Mike decided he would like a look in
the Cathedral, so we headed over, opened the door, walked in and set the
burglar alarm off!! Then the police turned up while we were frantically trying
to find out who knew the code for the alarm. Thankfully the code was found and
the police didn’t haul us off to jail. J
It turns out the bunch of keys signifies that we are the caretakers of the
parish hall and Cathedral while the Dean is away up North with his family.
The supermarkets are well stocked, however there is no
proper chocolate and no wine! Actually I miss the chocolate most. There is no
off licence in Iqaluit by law. Decaffeinated coffee is also hard to get hold of
and the only brand of instant is N*****e. (I won’t give them the pleasure of
free advertising). We stupidly bought some instant decaff and although it
tasted ok it made us both feel rotten. Serves us right for buying N*****e. Don’t buy the stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Food needs to be made with love and not
exploitation!
While I did learn how to make soup for seventy people on
Monday, there are loads of people helping out in the soup kitchen and I am not
going to volunteer to make soup. I will only do it if I am asked. We are here
to rest. The soup kitchen was just very overwhelming at first and a friendly
place to go when we knew no one. It is also just next door to us.
Today we headed out for our first picnic. We headed out to
Sylvia Grinnell Park in a car which has been leant to us. I spent at least half an hour just watching
the ice flow down the river. We then had a long walk through an almost mythical
landscape. We passed boulders of ice, still pools, and a powerful river in full
spate. The colours are amazing. Occasionally the ice is blue or green. The
river is green – possibly as it is flowing over ice. Small rocks are
occasionally bright pink and some are splashed with orange lichen. The plants
are only just starting to grow again. There are soft willow flowers on branches
clinging to the ground, tiny inch high rhododendron plants flowering purple and
other purple and yellow flowers sporadically dotted amongst initially dead
looking plants. Although on closer inspection they are starting to bud and even
flower. The lichens are gorgeous, bright orange, pale yellow and greeny grey.
There are also about fifteen tents dotted about the landcape. They are not
currently occupied, so I suspect their owners work during the day and come out
onto the land for the evening and night.
I do miss my kids and family, which I knew I would. I was
under no illusions about coming here. I knew it would not be easy, even though
it is also a great opportunity. Having the car is a big help as we can get out
into the wilderness more easily but the furthest you can drive in any direction is three miles. It is good to have more time to read and to read
the Bible. I also brought books written by the Iona community. Books by members of the Iona Community tend
to focus on God’s care for those in need and the beauty of God’s creation. Jan
Sutch Pickard writes beautiful poetry on nature and passages from the Gospels.
I also have a novel on the go by Alexander McCall Smith.
 |
| Snow on the beach near the town. |
 |
| On the beach on the way out of town, taken on Tuesday 23rd |
 |
| Lichen on the rocks by the sea, out of the town, on the way to Apex |
 |
| Tiny flowers |
 |
| Sylvia Grinnell River |
 |
| Further down the green icy river |
 |
| Mike at a safe distance from the river |
 |
| An Inuit marker of good hunting ground - by the beach on the way to Apex |
