March B-R-E-A-K!

Home sweet home on Little Silver Lake

I checked the date! It was several weeks ago since writing. Unfortunately this is because my internet in Fort Albany was intermittent- on and off- mostly off. However, as it is now the middle of March Break and I am home, the internet is strong and all is well on the home front. 

I came home a couple of days early because my husband had a appendectomy on the Friday before the break and he needed me there to drive him home after his day surgery in Kingston. Modern medicine amazes me, and I am grateful. Within 24 hours he was up and about and able to make coffee for the two of us.

The clean driveway 

What I like about time at home is the ability to rest, relax, read, watch the news and decide on what tasks need to be accomplished. So I have shoveled snow (check), cleaned out drawers (check), sorted my retrieved items from India (check), shopped for groceries and cooked meals (check, check, check) and helped clean out the garage (check).

Ready for the grandchildren

I love spending time at home with my husband and of course the Mika. She is our fourth child who keeps us company and makes our hearts sing. She naps a lot, but when she is awake, watch out. A bundle of energy, she enjoys her life here at the lake.

The Mika in her usual spot

Anticipated highlights include visits from our two grandchildren for ice fishing and lunch with some neighbours. Right now gigantic snowflakes are falling outside so I am thinking that tomorrow  may be another shovel day before we travel to meet the grandchildren. 

This space- home!

Before I know it, I will be back in school, teaching and looking forward to the next break- a traditional goose hunting break in Northern Ontario, held sometime around the Easter weekend. It may be another opportunity to travel, this time out to Oklahoma to visit our daughter and her growing family. 

Time will tell. 

Until next time,


Bee Rich

Loving Winter

As one week rolls in to another I am fortunate to have time to reflect on life in a northern town. It is amazing how quickly time goes by when living in the moment. It also helped that this past week a day shorter than normal due to the Family Day holiday.

The students had an extended long weekend and came back to school on Tuesday morning ready and able to learn. Ten children showed up on Tuesday and Wednesday but three of them have since gone away for one to four weeks because spring break is coming in just two weeks.

The biggest story this week has been the gradually warming temperatures and sunny days leading to today's blizzard. As I write I am peering out the window witnessing the horizontal snow and wondering whether or not our school will be open tomorrow.

The storm is supposed to end by 3:30 a.m. tomorrow, so likely we will be back in class. Here are a few pictures of moments from this week that made me smile.

Snow banks along the side of the road

Full moon on the walk to school

Morning sunshine

Fun in the sun and snow

On Friday the teachers borrowed the van to go to the post office and the local grocery store and also got permission to drive to the next town on Saturday afternoon. The attraction was the Tim Horton's shop and a larger grocery store. It was my first opportunity to drive outside of Fort Albany. The route is along an ice road that crosses the Albany River three different times.

The road was a little bumpy, made worse due to a lack of shock absorbers in the van. In addition each crossing of the river involves a relatively steep hill down and up the riverbanks. It was an exciting trip with several other teachers and included a tour of the First Nation reserve of Kashechewan.

It is a serve yourself Tim's and unfortunately I poured my large cup of steeped tea instead of coffee. However, I did manage  a second cup with coffee thanks to a Roll up the Rim winner.

A gift from a thoughtful student!

A friend along the way

A sure sign of spring in some locations!

The days are getting brighter and longer. The children are once again outside for recesses and enjoying the fresh air and the fresher snow. King of the Castle is still a favourite game of children as nervous teachers look on.

The week ahead looks good. We have a Literacy Day planned which highlights Aboriginal authors, An art therapist and a volunteer chess teacher will be coming in to work with some of our students. I also hope to have a recent recipient of the Order of Canada, an elder from the community in to speak to the children about his book.

Everyday is an adventure. As I write the wind is blowing and it is snowing but in my heart and soul I am warm.

Wishing you a wonderfully warm week ahead.

Until next time,

Bee Rich

It's Been a Week!

You may be surprised to read another blog post just a week after the previous one. I am! Because we have Family Day tomorrow, today is like a gift. I can spend a day at the house remembering some of the highlights of the week that was.

Monday, February 11- A normal school day, filled with lots of fun and work and outside recesses. It is getting warmer outside! Monday night I attended a Sewing night put on my the local Women's Shelter (FAWS). I had hoped to make a hat, I went to the beading workshop instead, and it was challenging.

Hat making materials

Step one in Beading- prepare the materials

An example of a finished beading project- mitts!

Tuesday, February 12- School was closed in the morning because of a power outage. I thought to myself,  A free day to catch up on housework and cooking. A friend dropped in offering a ride to Kashechewan- a neighbouring town located across the river and only accessible by road during the winter. We drove over and ended up getting a coffee at Tim Horton's. While drinking and visiting we discovered that indeed the school would be open in the afternoon, so we headed back and the afternoon was quiet but productive in the classroom.

Wednesday, February 13- A half-day of school due to a Professional Development opportunity called the Great Moon Gathering in Timmins.  The children were dismissed at 11:30 a.m. after their early Valentine's party.

St. Valentine's Day in Grade 4- lots of love and snacks!

 The teachers boarded buses, trucks and cars to travel by ice road (over the muskeg) to Moosonee. There we caught the Polar Bear Express south to Cochrane. Next we hopped on the bus to the Travelodge in Timmins, arriving at 11:30 p.m. It was a long day but well worth the time, considering the next two days of conferencing and learning.

A stop in Moosonee for lunch and snacks

It was also my birthday, so I enjoyed the anniversary of my birth aboard a truck, train and bus.

Just a joke!

Thursday, February, 14- Up at 6:00., breakfast at 6:30 and taxi to Northern College in South Porcupine for the opening of the conference. It was a very interesting day, filled with a focus on Cree culture and language- more theoretical than hands-on, but again a good experience. It was a long day including several plenary sessions and information gathering workshops. Here are a few of the highlights in pictures:

Professor Dr. Emily Faries, dressed in traditional clothing 

she had to borrow because her luggage was lost on her trip. 

An excellent presentation

An original Treaty flag, belonging to the speaker's great-great-grandfather

In the evening of the first day there was a dinner and a traditional round dance with live music performers. It must be that everyone was tired because there were only a few people in attendance, and instead of round, it was more of a line. All of the dancers were from Fort Albany, including me, my friend Cathy, our principal Vibha and another family from the school. The music was superb and it was so enjoyable, I forgot take any pictures.

Following the dance we returned to the hotel for a good night's sleep and then arose for Day 2 of the conference. There were about 45 different workshops to choose from during three sessions. The highlight of my day was the Tamarack goose making activity which lasted all morning. See below for a bit of the process. The product (the final picture) was not bad for a first timer. I could have won a prize for the goose that looked least like a goose!

Creating a goose from the tamarack

The tools and materials

The process

These pictures show the materials required
and a few of the many stages of tamarack goose making

I went to a curriculum workshop after the tamarack session and lunch. The workshop was hosted by our local curriculum developer, Jim Hollander and entitled Our Stories. In it we were given several documents with some traditional stories collected from various Cree elders from the area. It was very worthwhile.

The closing ceremonies were inspirational and really encouraged everyone to work together to enhance the First Nations schools in our district. The opening prayer and comments were given by one of the elders.

After the sessions were over I met a woman in the washroom who was cleaning paint supplies. Several of my colleagues had attended her Art Therapy workshop entitled A Walk in the Woods.  Because they were so pumped up about the experience, I asked if I could take a look at the creations. She explained the process of visualizing a forest and then painting using large strokes with various brushes and sponges. Below are pictures of the final product.

Each of these pictures represents about a fifth of the mural

I took a city bus from South Porcupine to downtown Timmins and enjoyed a restaurant meal at a small but nice Chinese restaurant with a colleague, after which I happily returned to the hotel for the luxury of television. Our group was very fortunate in that we were able to spend a third night at the hotel and then had a charter flight from Timmins directly to Fort Albany. Below are pictures from the airport and the plane. Our charter was an Air Inuit flight, quite comfortable and quick compared to the truck-train-bus ride three days earlier.

A portion of our group

Our ride home back to Fort Albany

On board

A river from above

The view of the muskeg from the air

That brings me to today, a quiet Sunday morning and afternoon, probably followed by a quiet evening of rest, relaxation and reading while anticipating a Family Day holiday tomorrow. The plan is to spend a few hours at school and to go for a long hike as the day promises to be warmer. A balmy -22 C.

The week ahead- weather wise

Until next time,

Bee Rich

Snow Day- At Long Last!

I am very grateful for proper clothing!

Teaching in Canada again after several years of international teaching has been interesting, to say the least. While in Egypt, the Caribbean, Kuwait and India I often read and heard about the Canadian winter. I would smile to myself and say, So glad not to be in Canada! 

Since September I have been working in Northern Ontario, along the James Bay coast. Up until last week I was smiling to myself because, although there was snow, it was a reasonable amount and the town kept the driveways, walkways and roads pretty clear.

Something in one of the handbooks notes that the school will be closed if temperatures are below a certain temperature. However, even though the temperatures dipped to wind chills of -50 the school remained open, much to the chagrin of some teachers.

Rising Sun through the curtains at the house- the morning after the big Snow

At our staff meeting on Thursday after school it was announced that the school would remain open, no matter what...so when a snow storm including gusty winds and accumulations of up to 50 cm was predicted, we were all assured that YES! the school would remain open.

So on Friday morning, I woke up to howling winds and horizontally blowing snow. Honestly I could not see across the street. I thought to myself and even messaged one teacher that I wasn't going in. But then another teacher was without heat and had to walk to kilometer to school, so I thought I had better go with her.

It was absolutely the worst walk to school we have had this year. But we made it, despite strong winds, blowing snow and treacherous walking conditions. Not another person or vehicle was in sight.

You can imagine that we wondered if the school would be open. And to our relief, several other brave and dedicated (and some might say stupid) teachers did arrive, out of breath and sweating from the exertion.

Ready to work with smiles all around!

At 8:54 a.m. right after this photo was taken, we received an email from the principal that the school was closed. We looked at one another and thought to ourselves. We are here we might as well do some work to avoid coming in on the weekend. 

Just knowing that the children would not be arriving at school was a relief, considering the lack of visibility and road conditions.

In celebration of surviving our first snow storm of the year I invited the teachers on our street to dinner on Thursday night. Having the day off made making soup an option and it was enjoyable to share a meal with the seven others who again braved the conditions.

These pictures tell the tale- and although it isn't the deepest snow I have experienced, it was the prettiest on the day after!

My place!

The school 

My classroom window boasts the biggest drift!

The ambulance base- ploughed out- note the vehicle under the snow!

You might think that this amount of snow would keep people indoors for the weekend; however, the Peetabeck Pow wow was schedule for Friday night, Saturday and Sunday, bringing in folks from around the coast. Friday night was cancelled but early Saturday the dancers and drummers started to arrive. By 3:30 p.m. on Saturday the event was in full swing. Here are just a few of the photos from that event. Quite a contrast to what was outside!

Beautiful jingle dresses and other regalia

The head youth and adult dancers

Today the Pow wow is still going on, but I decided to stay home and prepare for the upcoming week. Our entire staff travels to Timmins by bus and train on Wednesday to attend the Great Moon Gathering, a two day Professional Development event.

Until next time,

Bee Rich

PS My curiosity got the best of me so I googled Pow wow and this is what I discovered on Wikipedia:

Pow wow

Social Gathering

My curiosity got the best of me so I googled Pow Wow and this is what I discovered on Wikipedia:

A powwow is a social gathering held by many different Native American communities. A modern pow wow is a specific type of event for Native American people to meet and dance, sing, socialize, and honor their cultures. Pow wows may be private or public. There is generally a dancing competition, with many different types of traditional dances, music and regalia, often with significant prize money awarded. Pow wows vary in length from a one-day event, to major pow wows called for a special occasion which can be up to one week long.