Today it is misty moisty snowy rainy

Work is done for the day and I`m about to hop on my bike and head home but I thought I`d post first. A few notes about what is happening on my sojourn these days

1st of all - the bay is breaking up! Yes! There are large pockets of moving water out there and it really started happening yesterday. So thrilling! Those that get around on snow machines don`t like it but me - I love it. And it also means that pretty soon (maybe this weekend) they`ll have the Ice to Water Dance. Kazow!

2nd of all - my pal Deb is coming on Saturday and I`m taking two days off to play with her! Ron and I can`t wait to see her and show her where we live and just lie around eating and talking.


thirdly - I`m riding my bike! I`m still slow going up the hills and have to half-walk it to work in the morning but I can sail home in minutes. Who knew...?

photo of Muskrat Falls last fall....
finally - I might have just a bit of spring fever. okay?

It is a soft morning...

It is a soft morning and I walked to work - it really only takes me about 14 minutes unless I stop to take photos. I brought my camera today but didn't take one. If I don't take it I might see Snow Buntings or a bear (as if I'd take a photo of it if I were on my own).

Today I will be talking to my group of parents about the roots of family violence in First Nations and Inuit communities. Family violence, alcohol and drug abuse, poverty, physical and mental disease, high suicide counts, self-harm,  - all of these are symptoms of a much bigger problem - that of trauma. The communities I am working with have been traumatized by colonization. It is a deep spiral downward and it starts with a group of people who, in all probability, were also oppressed. The Innu and Inuit of Labrador were told in no uncertain terms that they were not worthy - their spirituality was ridiculed, their language and way of life taken away. This was reinforced by the residential school program across Canada and now it continues with the constant apprehension of children by social service agencies. Generations of families have been wounded in such a way that the only legacy being passed down is that of no-hope disease and all its attendants.

And I will sit with them and we'll talk about this and what is to be done. No-hope disease is highly contagious but despite feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the force of it I have not succumbed.  The families I meet are cheerful, matter of fact and intent on healing and repairing themselves, their families and their community. I'm in awe of them.

A different but still engaging life in Labrador

I am not the same person who started this blog when I moved to Labrador a year and a half ago. That first year was about the land and being mostly solitary. I walked sometimes two or three times a day. I had a few friends and lots of visitors from home. Ron was gone all day all week and I was lonely but I kind of like myself so basically good. It was strange not to work but I was busy - I learned to quilt, wrote daily, took zillions of photographs and drew. I meditated and cooked and read.

Now what? Since October I've worked. At first just filling in here and there but now full-time. I work at a treatment centre in Sheshatshiu - the Innu reserve across the bridge from where we live. I work with aboriginal families and help them get their lives together so they can maintain a family. I work with lots and lots of children in the community. I hang out at the school (k-12) on the reserve and am available so kids can chill out if they need to.  I bloody love my job! It is so brilliant that I get to do this. It is like a distillation of all my 63 years of learning and growing. I get to play and teach and draw and listen and meet them where they are instead of where anyone thinks they should be.

And the rest? Well, my walking has taken a big hit - this winter with its incredibly deep snow and constant -40 C temp would have done that anyway but I have missed it. I'm getting fat because although I'm not walking I'm still cooking and eating! I still take photographs (on my walk to work - where I'm fitting some walking in) and on the weekends. I've not been writing much - but I'm teeming with ideas and awaiting my YA manuscript back from a fella who has had it too long. I am not meditating enough and am making a commitment to change that as of May 1st.  So it's a mixed bag I guess but definitely worth it. Yesterday I was walking from the school to a group home to see some kids and I looked across the village at the Mealy Mountains (they look even closer from Sheshatshui) and I thrilled to be there doing what I was doing. Thrilled. I could be Jane Goodall or Stephen Lewis or any of those people who found their groove. The dream I had as a kid to join the Peace Corp or something like that - finally! I always thought I was living my life backwards and this proves it.

So I'll be by to comment on how it is going but this blog isn't my priority now - warning - to those of you who love consistency - this ain't it! I will come by though so check in now and then - there is nothing time-sensitive in my blog so ...

Blasted by Beauty

Today I fly out to Halifax for a much needed hit of grandkids and buds - of city and hustle. Here's what I'm leaving behind (as well as my dear dear sweet patootie).

Out today on the snow shoes with the gal. Heaven.

Forecast? up to 50 centimeters of snow...

Hi dear peoples - no excuses, just someone with different priorities these days...

...to get an idea of some of what I've been up to go to my writing site - there I tell more.

Here's some just of the past few months - out the bay, a gorgeous Bohemian Waxwing, and then the last couple are of Bella playing out in today's snow storm with her buddies (that we call Ginger and Laddie but have no idea what their actual names are)
The man is reading, I'm posting and soon I'll get writing...ah...a snow day.

Time and Time Again

Time and time again I fall into old ways. I lose my direction, my discipline, my good habits. Where do they go? To the land of good intentions where they languish and loll about, awaiting my recommitting to them. Or so I imagine.

Labrador continues to bewitch me - it is a cold old icy day though and my walk with the gal was short. Yes, I do keep that discipline. She cannot be ignored and put away - like my sketchbook, manuscript or sitting practice!

To be fair, much is going well. I've got a job working at a rehab centre. It is good work, meaningful and engaging. I know it will have moments of great frustration but I'm not there yet. I'm still just filling in here and there, making my way - so no true structure as of yet. Yikes! That might be a good thing too.

I've been doing a lot of sketching - joined an online skool (yep - that's how they spell it!) and have been having fun painting and drawing daily.

I just reconnected with a friend I haven't seen in about 14 years - we are going to exchange manuscripts - that'll be very good I think.

I've started a script with a local gal - we're going to put on a murder mystery evening set in the early turning of the last century. We'll put it on in February - on one of those bleak cold nights when all fun seems gone gone gone!

So I continue my sojourn in Labrador - making my way - not so solitary as I was last year. And as soon as this blasted ice goes I'll be back to long meanders on the shore and in the woods.

Here are some photos ~



the Mealy Mountains

 One Tree Island (yes it has three)

 Bella hunting fun

from the bridge on the way to work

 my friend Annie and I when she came for a short but sweet visit!

and as always - the glorious view from the beach ...

Thanksgiving and an anniversary of sorts at Uncle Dick's cottage

Well, it was around now that I came to live in Labrador and live a very uncomplicated life. I have liked it so much, despite missing family and pals. The beauty and simplicity suits me to a tee and I'm learning how to be a Labradorian.

This weekend we drove about 400 kilometers to the cabin that was built by Ron's uncle. Uncle Dick had wanted Ron to go with him last Thanksgiving but Ron was unable to as he had to meet my plane! Unfortunately Uncle Dick never did go as he became ill, dying in the new year. We decided that it would be nice to drive up and stay overnight and the lovely pal of Uncle Dick's who inherited the place agreed.

Here are a few photos including some of a wonderful fat little fox we saw coming home...