Fort Albany, Wednesday September 28, 2011

It got up to 26C today which is comparatively hot when considering it's officially Autumn.
Another teacher and I just returned from a very refreshing dip in the Albany River - fed directly from James Bay. I couldn't quite get Belinda in; proving that she's smarter than we are. haha.







She did have a lot of fun getting the mud off me once we got home though!
Now she's helping me warm up a bit with her head on my toes. Such a sweet girl. Tonight we'll be putting up a baby gate to the living room, hopefully making life a little easier and the house a little more functional.

Fort Albany, Monday September 26, 2011

I just got back from viewing the spectacle that is the Northern Lights! They lit up the entire sky, dancing, shifting and changing colour. It flowed, burst and twirled.
Words can't describe the feeling of awesomeness and beauty.
Cameras were out in full force but I don't think anyone came close to capturing even the idea of them. Good night :)

Fort Albany, Sunday September 25, 2011

Today is my Mom's birthday so I thought I'd dedicate this post to brightening up her day. Enjoy!

 

 

Happy Birthday Mommy, I love you!

Fort Albany, Saturday September 24, 2011

As my grocery order came in yesterday evening I dedicated the morning to making salsa today. This afternoon I got together with another teacher and got our week's planning done all in one go. We also went for a couple of walks and I found out that there's actually a third store in town, just across the road from the Northern actually. Same stuff with similar prices, no idea how they survive.

Fort Albany, Thursday September 22, 2011

We've been getting a chance to see a lot of different 'wild life' on our walks lately. I think the picture to the right of the bird is a sandpiper and to the left is a cicada found on one of our evening strolls. Below, just last night we found some kind of salamander on the road. I think I took about a dozen pictures of the little guy before Belinda got the idea to lick him. He didn't like it very much.

Fort Albany, Saturday September 17, 2011

Well, Belinda’s streak of ‘fun’ has continued this week, including eating one and a half hamburger buns off the counter when I left the room, nibbling a wall-hanging, and pulling the table cloth off the table in order to more thoroughly chew everything originally on it - luckily I found the lamp balanced on the edge with the cord untouched.

So far, she has only had one successful day in knocking down a quarter of my make-shift blockade, gaining access to the living room and eating - a pencil. haha. Of everything she had a choice to chew on, I wasn't even upset!

Fort Albany, Wednesday September 14, 2011

The skies let loose all day today. I walked home for lunch and returned in a downpour. A little bit damp for the next couple of hours! I'm not even sure Belinda appreciated the effort - I came home this evening to find that she'd actually pulled off half the linoleum in the front hall. Who does that? lol. I suppose I forgot to mention, but I came home on Monday to find that she'd managed to find her way over the jungle of furniture I'd stacked in the living room doorway and tear down the curtains in the front windows. One of the panels survived and the other I've redesigned into a half-curtain for the kitchen window. I must say, she's doing her duty in being the household entertainment and my evenings are kept relatively full rebuilding the house :D
Because there were so many kids signed up for baking club I helped out making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies after school today. Most turned out okay! There's a fundraiser bake sale being held tomorrow evening so most of them are going toward that. Several of us teachers were asked if we could bake something for it as well so I came home and started in on some double chocolate cupcakes. Luckily for me, Mom was on Skype and I got her chocolate icing recipe!

Fort Albany, Saturday September 10, 2011

Another beautiful day with lots of walks, house work and school work. All the geese (or, Niska in Cree) have been heading South for the winter and the kids have started making bird calls - everything from a goose, to a duck or a loon. They're really quite good at it, but you can imagine the noise and mayhem..

The teacher pot luck was amazing and full of everybody's specialties. The lasagne was probably my favourite but someone also made a delicious Eastern hummus, two different types of amazing pizzas, a fresh platter of veggies and dip, and of course the classic macaroni and potato salads were ever-present.  Everyone did an outstanding job in the kitchen and it was hugely enjoyed by all. The apple crisp turned out well and seemed to disappear quickly so I suppose I did my job okay too! A few of us stayed a bit later and played some Xbox ... Connect? Bowling with no controller anyway. It was rather neat :)

Fort Albany, Friday September 9, 2011

It's Friday! We've got movie night in the library - or the 'evening staff meeting' as they say on the annoucements in the morning, and then I'm going to bed early. Big plans :D On the way back from school this evening a couple other teachers and I stopped over in the Education office to clear up some paperwork details and got called in ang given a pair of moccasins each. Apparently when you sign on with this school board they give you a pair of moccasins! I call it my signing bonus.

Fort Albany, Thursday September 8, 2011

I got to see a seal today :D He was sunbathing at the end of a dock where Belinda and I take our afternoon walk. I thought it was a grey paddle boat pulled up out of the water until a looked for the third time. haha. Out of about 10 pictures, this one is by far the cutest. Have a good evening- I know I will; found a jar of Butter Chicken sauce at the Northern store for $7. mmmm...

Fort Albany, Wednesday September 7, 2011

Just as Belinda and I were walking out the door three girls were coming up my steps handing out church pamphlets. They quickly quit their assigned task and joined us on our walk, taking it in turns to hold Belinda's leash; each more responsibly than the last. By the time we reached our usual destination we'd been side-tracked by the regular red squirrel constantly badgering Bel with who-knows-what type of profanity. Well they had the stare down of their lives this evening. I couldn't budge Belinda unless I picked her up and physically moved her myself. At least I got a picture of the little bugger! (The squirrel, not Belinda!)

Once we reached the water, we found two fishermen soaking up the last rays of the day. The girls begged off to try their hand at it and wouldn't you know, the second girl in on her first cast caught something! By the reaction of the fisherman who'd lent his pole, it very well may have been the first catch of the evening! haha!

Fort Albany, Tuesday September 6, 2011

It was back to school we went today and what a day-after-a-long-weekend it was :) No one seemed able to settle down and everyone was just itching to get out of there at the end of the day - teachers included! Alas, our official start of the year staff meeting was scheduled so departure was delayed somewhat. I've joined a couple committees now though and several confusing items have been made clear, so it was doubtlessly a very useful meeting!

Belinda and I have been enjoying our walks profusely and now that we have officially moved ourselves down to Unit 10 we are more easily able to slip down the road without drawing the unwanted attentions of Squatter and Crazy Dog. We've got a short zig-zag walk down to the water that we usually get to about three times a day and the view, without exception, is always worth the slippery walk down.

Fort Albany, Sunday September 4, 2011

It's rainy and terribly chilly out today. It's the first day I've had to turn on my heat and wouldn't you know it - Belinda loves it outside! I swear I saw some snow mixed in with the rain...

Yesterday was lovely though. A few of the teachers got together after a day at the school and went out for about a three hour hike up to the Point in the vain hopes of sighting some seals.
Being so excited for the long weekend, us teachers also decided to cram in a bonfire out behind our houses last night. There's a fire pit per every two homes so it's a very good ratio. What reason we would have to have them all going at once I have no idea but hey, they're there! I'd also gone on a bit of a baking binge and made brownies and chocolate chip peanut butter cookies. Tonight a few of us have plans for a little get-together for dinner and another hang-out so I'm thinking of trying my hand at apple crisp using Red Delicious apples if the Blue Corner Store is open.

This picture off to the left is of two neighbourhood dogs that have, over time, been adopted by one teacher or another as we switch every year. Although they both have very strong German Shepherd features, almost all the dogs around here are said to be crossed with some wolf and/or husky as well. The black one is generally known as the Crazy Black Dog and the lighter one just happens to be Alpha on our block and goes by the very quiant name of Squatter. Until very recently she's been the dog producing new litters of puppies for this side of town.

Fort Albany, Friday September 2, 2011

As it's now Friday we managed to hold our weekly, Friday night 'staff meeting', meaning we got together in the library to watch a movie and eat popcorn. This evening we voted on Taken and it was really much better than I first thought. I started it a couple of years ago and couldn't get past the first 15 minutes - it gets better :)

Today started out beautifully and thanks to Belinda, I often get to see the tail-end of Sunrise with my morning coffee before heading out to work. This morning was especially radiant so I promptly took the opportunity to capture and log it for all of you who get to see it highlighting the 401 and similar such landscapes. Enjoy! And know that if I'd had my camera on me this evening you very well may have seen an equally spectacular shot of Sunset :)

As everyone gets more comfortable with each other and the overall expectations, the work is getting slightly easier if not more understandable and less overwhelming. Math Centres was a big hit with the kids and got a unanimous vote to repeat per week so that's encouraging! And at home, Belinda's also getting more comfortable with the life of an 'indoor dog' and I think showing clear indications of preferences toward the lifestyle!

Fort Albany, Thursday September 1, 2011

Good Morning! Well the week is half over and as busy as it's been, it's going well! We're still in Unit 1 but plan on moving down the road over the weekend. By then the internet will be up and we’ll have the time to shuffle the items from here to there; they’ve somehow managed to accumulate surprisingly quickly!

There was a heavy fog this morning so I took some pictures of the webs on my front porch.

It made it quite cool, though I think Belinda took special enjoyment from it. Her coat is outrageously thick, the remnants of which I’m sure I’ll find covering the floors in no time.

Anyway, off to work, I’ll add more later :D