Whipped

JULY 11

TIRED....We read Lord of the Rings until 2:30 am last night. Mackenzie is enjoying is so much, she has decided to read it herself too. Hooray! She has always been the type to only read books she can read in one sitting. Quite a step for her. Bronwyn wanted to work on her novel and make cookies while we did more laundry, so she kept Estelle with her at the crew house, while the rest of us went swimming. It was sure easier without a baby in tow. I went down the waterslide and floated the 'river' with the other two 'E's and the big guys were happy to be footloose and fancy free. Keegan swam 40 lengths by himselfl.Then I swam 50 lengths by myself; we ate a hurried supper and headed back to the Rec Complex for the Northern Arts Festival.

The Northern Arts Festival runs for 10 days and artists from all over the North converge to display their skills and their wares. There is a gallery with beadwork displays, birch bark berry baskets (tongue twister!), bone and soapstone carvings, knives, Arctic clothing (including moccasins and the like), paintings, sculptures and more. Workshops are offered for those adventurous and talented enough to experiment. We watched a drum dancing demonstration. All their movements tell a story, and when we watched closely, we recognized them acting out canoeing and hunting. It's sort of like chanting, Indian-like, but with its own twist. Some ladies and little girls did throat singing. It was very guttural, and interesting. The highlight of the evening was when an older man, who only spoke Inukitut, took centre stage. He had a LOOOOOONG bull whip and showed his remarkable talent. He lined up 3 pop cans and-SNAP!-he sent the middle can flying, and the others remained standing. Then, a cigarette was set standing vertical on the floor and he cut just the butt off the end with his whip. Even more amazing, he did the same trick again, but with the cigarette pinned to the shoe of a volunteer who laid on the floor. The crowd roared, and Keegan was grinning from ear to ear.