A bunch of pictures

In an attempt to send some pictures of the town of Iqaluit to my uncle, my computer has decided to fight back at every attempt to downsize the pictures for emailing. So I need to get creative. I'm putting them on the blog and everyone can enjoy them! It's just kind of a random sampling of life up here, more outdoor pictures than anything... but I hope others get some enjoyment out of them too! In completely random order...

This is a view of some of the town buildings, and the bay in the background. Before the bay had finished freezing over, you could often see the steam rising from the water on really cold days.
This is part of an elaborate local mural on the side of the arena.

The ravens... are everywhere. They enjoy dropping stuff on the roof (I think, that or they're crash landing, but they make a lot of racket!) They wheel and dive in the wind. They find all the garbage left out. To the north, they're like a combo of seagulls and pigeons... but darker, bigger, and smarter.
I went out one day for a drive, and found a whole group of sled dogs tied up outside of town. That's how they're generally kept. Seperated enough they can't fight with each other, but in a big group together, away from town. They are not pets, they're working dogs. (Though some people with sled dogs do treat them very much like pets, but in general... they aren't pets at all)

This was taken shortly after I got here. You can see the mud stretching out for quite a while. We get some of the most extreme tides in the world, second only to the bay of Fundy.
Winter by the bay.

Here's a shot of the hospital and some of the town behind it.


And finally, a couple shots of the town from up on the hill behind the hospital. (Taken in the fall, before the snow was staying on the ground)

I also wanted to update you on the fire alarm situation. I was scheduled to work that night, so an early wake-up call was not something I appreciated. Anyways, when I finally left the apartment that evening, all bundled to the hilt as I usually am for any long walks around town these days, I was a little surprised. Because as I stepped out the door, I was greeted by the smell of smoke. hehehe Uh-huh. Smoke. I looked around and noticed the window of the main floor apartment was wide open. It happens to be being used as a cookhouse for one of the large construction companies up here, and as soon as I saw that window, everything clicked. They probably burnt something! Sure enough, a little later I was talking to one of the other nurses who lives in the building, and he said some guy had apologized to him as he left the apartment when the fire alarm was going (he was headed somewhere else he could go and sleep in peace!). I'm sure that's what happened. Ya, so I work a night shift, come home, open the door to my apartment and it smells just a touch smoky/burnt. And I started wondering if somehow the smell from downstairs had made it's way to my apartment? But that couldn't be. All of my windows were tight shut, and there's no air circulation through the building except what creeps in through my vent above my stove or the fan in the bathroom. And that's just outside air (which makes standing near the stove on a windy day a little chilly!) So I ignored it and went about my business. When I ended up at the counter in the kitchen, I had a sudden revelation where the smoky smell had come from... I left the coffee maker on and burnt the coffee at the bottom of the carafe. OOoops! So ya, I'm definitely not so smart at times. But then, if I did everything right, life would be boring, right?