In the Bleak Mid-winter

Leaf Rapids mine site

On December 4, I made a trip to Leaf Rapids with a co-worker, Esther, to pick up a few things that aren’t available in South Indian Lake.  It’s about an hour’s drive southwest of South Indian Lake.  Leaf Rapids was established in the 70’s as a unique copper and zinc mining town, but it has been struggling since the mine’s closure in 2002, with its population dwindling from 2000 to about 500.  Check Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_Rapids to read about its interesting infrastructure, with all of the town’s businesses and services under one roof.  There is a 24/7 cable ferry to cross the lake to get to Leaf Rapids.  On the morning we went, there was ice fog on the water which created gorgeous creations out of the trees at the water's edge. Beautiful.

Furs: lynx and marten

Avert your eyes, vegetarians, vegans and all-purpose animal lovers.  The Northwest Company buys furs from local trappers.  Our store’s buyer is Karen (also my main trainer in Administration).  The trappers bring in their furs, she inspects them, judges their value and pays the trappers accordingly, on the spot.  The furs are then sent to Winnipeg.  So far we have seen lynxes, minks, martens (members of the weasel family) and white fox.  There is surprising variation in the fur colouration and quality – dependent on the animal’s health and the time of year.  We know this practice has become controversial.  The way of doing and looking at many things is different here - partly cultural, partly historical; it is truly a mix of old traditions and adopted or imposed or methods and outlooks.  Complex issues. We're just here to observe and learn.

Merry Christmas!  The staff party.

Wolves have been sighted, stealing garbage and sitting on doorsteps.  A little too close for comfort, as much as we'd like to see one.  Apparently it’s not unusual for them to come into town at this time of year, probably looking for food.  So far we haven’t seen one, but it's always in the back of my mind when we're walking to and from work.  We may well see a wolf pelt or two come into the store at some point through the winter.

On December 7^th we enjoyed a staff Christmas party at the community centre.  The catering was provided by a local woman who just happens to be a fantastic cook!  What a feast!  Games were played and prizes won.   All members of the staff were presented with very nice gifts:  I received beautiful beaded slippers, and Dave’s gift was a pair of hand-made gloves beaded with the Habs logo.

Esther being entertained by
little Bryce

Esther and Dave with
Mrs. Clause (aka Pat)

On December 13th the store hosted "Ladies' Night."  The store was open for a few hours into the evening, to give the ladies a chance to do some Christmas shopping on their own.  It was a chaotic evening of sales and Christmas specials.  Cheese and crackers were served, roses were handed out, Mrs. Clause dropped by and lots of shopping was done.  Esther and I babysat one little guy for awhile so his Mom could shop - he seemed quite happy to sit with total strangers!  The biggest challenge of the evening was getting people to leave when the store closed ... so much shopping to do, so little time.  :)

It’s cold – December has stayed below -20 (-41 as I write this), with some days seeing a wind chill as low as -49.  A lot of snow fell during November, but during December we have been enjoying many gorgeous sunny days.   Of course, there isn’t much time to enjoy them – today, the winter solstice, sunrise was at 9:00 a.m. and it will set again before 4:00 p.m.

On that note – Happy Winter Solstice to everyone!  Hope you all have a safe and joyful holiday – many good wishes for 2014.

Early Afternoon

Settling In

Happily realizing we've completely lost our minds

How life has changed in the span of a month!  After several weeks of preparations, one night sleeping on the floor of our apartment in Red Deer after all of our furniture was sold, and one night in Edmonton near the airport, we were finally on our way.

Our three-legged flight from Edmonton to South Indian Lake on November 1^st was basically uneventful, although our stopover in Winnipeg was brief and Calm Air had to page us to get our rear ends on the plane so it could take off.  The planes got smaller as the trip progressed, and somewhere between Winnipeg and Thompson autumn turned to 

Somewhere over Manitoba

 winter.  As we climbed onto the 10-seater propeller plane in Thompson for the final hop to our destination, we began to realize that this was real – we were heading into the unknown and there was no turning back!  As we broke through the clouds on our descent  the young woman sitting behind me tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out South Indian Lake as we circled around to land.

Arriving

Scott, the manager of the Northern store that is to be our workplace for the next several months, met us at the airport.  We threw our luggage onto in his mud-coated red pickup, along with several boxes that we had mailed to ourselves from Red Deer.  It seemed odd to see them so soon; the addresses written in my own handwriting somehow looked out of place.  Scott was full of information, chatting away about the store, the village and the culture we were about to be immersed in.

We were soon taken to our house, a mobile home just a few feet from Scott and Esther’s, and just a two-minute walk from the store.  It’s a large, two-bedroom, two-bathroom trailer, nicely furnished and, happily, warm!  After taking us to the store to pick up some groceries, Scott left us with some paperwork and computer training modules to complete over the weekend, while we acclimatized to our new environment.

Our cozy home

Work started on Monday.  The store has the feel of an old-fashioned general store, selling groceries, camping supplies, toys, kitchenware, jackets... as well as furniture, appliances and snowmobiles on order.    Dave has been training in the grocery department while I’m training in administration – financial services (there is no bank in South Indian Lake) and post office mainly.  We’ll likely both be receiving some cross-training so we’ll be of use in other parts of the store as the need arises.  The business is made more complicated because of its remote location and associated logistical challenges.  As a rule, if something breaks (such as the store freezing units) someone has to be brought in from Thompson or elsewhere for repairs.  Bad weather may prevent the arrival of the planes and trucks that bring the goods and mail.  Some things are, not surprisingly, expensive:  nearly $10 for four litres of milk.  We are adjusting our eating habits accordingly!

Handsome Rye,
the dog next door

A word about technology:  it took two weeks before our telephone and internet were hooked up, and we were extremely grateful to be reconnected with the rest of the world!  Our internet is via satellite, which is slow on a good day and impossible on a bad day.  We are adjusting our expectations

Livin' in the woods

accordingly.

South Indian Lake (O-Pipon-Na-Piwin), Manitoba, is a Cree First Nations reservation community of about 1000 people, approximately 150 km NW of Thompson.  The Northern store is the only retail outlet and there are no restaurants, hairdressers, or dentists  No Timmies, no Canadian Tire.  A person has to be self-sufficient here.  The people are friendly, the weather is harsh, the landscape is beautiful.  There are lots of dogs.  And wolves.  And probably other critters we’d rather not think too much about.

And we're off!

Sorting

It has been a busy time getting ready for our new life in northern Canada.  Cancelling utilities, selling vehicles, forwarding the mail.  And many hours spent sorting through "stuff":  what to take, what to pitch, what to sell or give away.  A good exercise, really.  Lessons in detachment from material possessions are always good, in my book.  Some things we just don't want to part with, at least not yet.  So those things went into boxes and got shipped to our new home.  For example, I refuse to go through a northern winter without the down-filled duvet.  And that fantastic little green colander with the handy little pouring spouts - you don't really expect me to make spaghetti without that, do you?  The rather large framed Picasso sketches print that we both like but don't love enough to take - that found a new home in Red Deer.  And so it went.  Item by item, making a judgement call as to its worth, be it in monetary, sentimental, emotional or some other currency.  Too heavy to take; too many memories to leave; too expensive to throw away.  Causes one to think about how we value things, and why.  And in the end, with the clock ticking, a few things found their way unexpectedly into the dumpster as we simply didn't have time left for alternatives.  No decision is, in itself, a decision.

Sending

Today we finished cleaning the apartment; packing up last-minute things and entrusting them to Canada Post to get them safely to Manitoba; saying last-minute goodbyes to friends and former co-workers; purchasing a few more things we felt we just couldn't do without.  Final items were shoved into the bulging luggage (what do you mean I can't take four carry-on pieces?)  and loaded into the far-too-small rented Ford Fiesta.  Phew!  Suddenly it was all done and we were on our way to Edmonton.

On our way!

It has been harder than I expected to leave Red Deer; it has been good to us in many ways.  Our lives have been intersected here by many wonderful people, who I suddenly wish I had taken the time to know better. And that Alberta sky ... I will definitely miss that.  But off we go to new adventures - we catch our plane at 6:15 in the morning for South Indian Lake via Winnipeg and Thompson.  What awaits?  New home, new work ... and hopefully new friends and a feeling that we are making a contribution and have a place in our new community.

New Beginnings

It's happening!  As of November 1st we'll be living in South Indian Lake, Manitoba and working for the Northwest Company at the Northern store.  We'll spend a few months there for training as department managers, then we'll be sent by Northwest to a new community which will be our home for at least a couple of years.  Preparations are underway as we sell just about everything we own, purchase warmer outer and under wear and psyche ourselves for a completely different way of life.  :)

We will miss Red Deer, especially the many lovely prairie sunsets that we have enjoyed from our balcony.