Snowfall & Bonfire

Arctic Bay finally received the first snowfall of the 2013-14 winter season on Saturday, October 12, the day after high school graduation.  A nice way to welcome the long Thanksgiving Day weekend.  Snow had sporadically fallen earlier in the month but it melted in just a few hours.  This time, however, the snow was here to stay.  It was strange, as well as exciting, to wake up to the sight of falling white, when just the day before, the ground was still exposed.  Now it was covered by a thick layer of snow with more falling from the sky.  Snow must have been falling all night.  The bay appeared to be fully frozen in ice but that wasn't the case upon closer inspection.  There were still many pockets of exposed water.

            

Even though it was Saturday and a long weekend, I had plenty of work to do at school.  I broke out my large and tough winter boots and Canada Goose parka for the slow walk towards the school.  I frequently stopped to take pictures of my surroundings.  A lot of children were outside playing in the snow, building forts, having snowball fights, and sliding down hills.  Adults were mostly walking and driving around, enjoying the sudden change of weather.  Skidoo owners looked the happiest.  I spent quite some time correcting school work and preparing lessons so that I would have more of a day off on Sunday.    

            

Arctic Bay Sunrise. October 14, 2013.

Monday, October 14 served another great piece of natural scenery for me to photograph.  While walking to school in the early morning hours, the Arctic sun slowly rose above the surrounding mountains and was positioned to the south of the bay.  I quickly took out my digital camera and snapped a few photos of the sun and the light reflecting off the ice in the bay.  The resulting photos were great.  The close up shot of the reflecting sunlight made it appear as if the ice were made of gold.  I only spent a few hours at school, prepping lessons for the upcoming week. 

            

The following weekend, I was put in charge of supervising the cadet bonfire near the airport.  It would be in the same area the army cadets cleaned up back in August.  There was a whole pile of collected wood we could burn.  In the early evening of Saturday, October 19, the cadets of 3045 Army assembled in front of Inuujaq School's gym, waiting to be driven to the bonfire sight.  I arrived in a red pickup truck, on loan from Lt. May, the corps's Commanding Officer.  I drove extra careful because this was my first time driving in the north.  An RCMP officer, armed with a 12-guage shotgun, joined us to provide protection against any aggressive wildlife (ie. polar bears).  After taking attendance and waiting for a few minutes, the cadets who showed up piled into the back of the red pickup and we were on our way. 

            

I led the convoy of two (pickup and RCMP truck), driving through town, past the Gas Station, and onward to the airport.  Following the gravel road wasn't tough but it was somewhat confusing to figure out where the centre median was.  Before getting onto the open road, I made sure all the cadets were seated in the back.  In the north, the cadets may be allowed to ride in the back of a pickup truck, but they're not allowed to stand when the vehicle is in motion.

            

Upon arrival, the cadets got out and started walking around the perimeter towards the bonfire site.  The senior cadets carried the most important supplies: hotdogs, buns, ketchup, mustard, and marshmallows.  I left the truck parked off to the side and walked at the back of the pack, making sure there weren't any stragglers.  While we slowly edged our way around the gravel runway, a First Air plane was being refueled and restocked on the airport's main apron.  From what I remember, this plane was continuing its journey from Resolute to Iqaluit.  Lt. May instructed me to hold off on lighting the bonfire if there was a plane getting ready for takeoff.  He didn't want the smoke to get in the way.  The first batch of wood was assembled when the plane was taxiing to the other end of the runway.  It turned around and rapidly accelerated before lifting off into the night sky.  We all waved goodbye.

            

Using pieces of an old newspaper as kindling, I lit them and placed them next to smaller pieces of wood.  They started to burn but the fire wouldn't spread to the bigger pieces.  Luckily, we had a jar of naphtha for 'insurance'.  I poured some and it got the fire going again for some time but I had to do two more times before the larger pieces of wood finally burned.  When that happened, everyone stood back as the fire rapidly grew.      

            

With the bonfire now at the right size, we broke out the hotdogs and marshmallows.  Unfortunately, we didn't have enough rods for roasting so we had to share.  The hotdogs and marshmallows that I roasted turned out okay but it was a challenge getting close to the fire.  The hotdogs and marshmallows were gone in about thirty minutes and all there was left were the hotdog buns.  In the distance, Arctic Bay was glowing, thanks to all the streetlights and houselights.

            

We stayed until 7:30pm.  By then, looking at the bonfire had lost its charm and the cadets wanted to head home.  The cadets extinguished the blaze by dumping mounds of snow.  The fire sizzled until it was nothing but small glowing embers.  Using flashlights and knowledge of the land, we hiked back to the pickup trucks.  The RCMP officer and I dropped off the cadets at their respective homes.  I returned Lt. May's truck at his house before walking back to my place.  I was glad that my first supervised bonfire had gone well.  Everyone had fun and no one was mauled by a polar bear.    

October 12, 2013