The Bitter and the Sweet

JULY 16

I took Mackenzie, Josiah, Diana, and Ezra swimming in the morning. Naomi’s been complaining of a tummy ache, Evangeline can always use the sleep, and Bronwyn is on a mission with her journal. Bronwyn has been cutting, pasting, drawing, and writing like nobody’s business. She is going to have quite a memoir by the time we’re home.

Mackenzie is on a mission of her own. She finished The Two Towers today, and is really eating it up. I haven’t been able to read it to the others, because every time I turn around, the book is in her hands. Not that I’m complaining.

I went for my swim early during the public swim time. It was quite a different experience from the adult hour, let me tell you. It was busy and the lane rope wasn’t laid out (even though it usually is). I had to veer away from floating tubes as people jumped and bumped over me, around me, and under me. It felt more like an obstacle course. I purposed to enjoy the challenge. The lifeguard must have seen me sputtering, though, because he pulled out the rope for me. “I feel greedy,” I said. He replied, “It’s better this way. You look like you’re swimming among sharks.” It was better, but still a challenge with the constant waves to swim against. Obstacles only make us stronger!

Vern informed us that the house that burned down had no occupants, so that was good news. On a sadder note, Vern said last week, in the wee hours of the morning,a 14-year old drowned in the lake below our campground. He knew the teen, and lamented the waste of such a young life. To make it even sadder, the exact same thing happened when we visited in 2007. I asked Vern if it was a common occurrence here, and he said "No, 2007 was the last time." How devastating for a small community.


We enjoyed another night at the Arts Festival. ArtCirq (Arctic Circus) from Igloolik, Nunavut performed. A decade ago, the town of 1500 had a suicide rate 4-6 times higher than Montreal. ArtCirq was formed to give children and teenagers a medium to express themselves. They did acrobatics, humorous ‘clowning’ and other things I cannot even describe. The place was packed and the kids loved it. But Ezra and Evangeline were quite distressed since we didn’t have front row seats and made their displeasure known. They were so vocal, I left with them, and Naomi, who still had a stomachache, and Estelle to go to the airport.

Kurt had relayed a message through Mackenzie that his plane would arrive at 9 PM. There was no plane. I went back into town to pick up the others who had been waiting for 20 minutes. Just then, Kurt called to say he wouldn’t be in until much later than he originally thought and told me to wait by the phone. Mackenzie made cookies anticipating his arrival. He finally touched down at 2 am. We taxied some other passengers home and after talking on the deck, and a bike around town, we got to bed at 5 am.