Last year, as part of the Pahkisimon Nuye?ah Library System’s Northern Reading Program, I was flown around the northern part of PNLS’s area to do readings in schools. This year we’re doing the western part of the area. The tour was actually last week, but I didn’t take my laptop with me, so I’m going to recount the trip over the next few days.

Sunday, Jan. 26th

Harriet Roy (Assistant Director and Northern Reading Program organizer for the Pahkisimon Nuye?ah Library System) is picking me up in Martensville today. Here’s where we will be going over the next week: (Hopefully you can move the points over from behind the legend with the little hand)

And here’s the plan:

Sunday: Get picked up in Martensville and drive to Buffalo Narrows, where we’ll be spending three nights.

Monday: Bear Creek in the morning, Turnor Lake in the afternoon

Tuesday: St. George’s Hill in the morning, Dillon in the afternoon

Wednesday: Canoe Lake in the morning, Cole Bay in the afternoon, then moving to Sandy Beach Resort just outside of Beauval for two nights

Thursday: Jans Bay in the morning, Patuanak in the afternoon

Friday: Beauval in the morning, Green Lake in the afternoon, then back to Martensville

Harriet is an extraordinary organizer and a great traveling companion. We left at noon and headed north to Blaine Lake then through Shellbrook, and Big River and on to Green Lake. It was just outside of Green Lake that the heater fan began to make a strange noise. When it’s a cold winter and you’re going to be traveling between small communities in the north, you don’t want to take a chance that your heater might not work. We carried on to Beauval where Harriet’s brother lives. He used to be a mechanic, so he took a listen and figured it probably wouldn’t quit completely but that we should get it looked at.

So Harriet phoned the office in La Ronge and Audrey Mark, the director, drove the two and a half hours to Beauval and switched vehicles with us. This meant we had to kill some time in Beauval but that was fine. We went and hung out at Harriet’s sister’s house. Audrey took our vehicle into Meadow Lake to hopefully be repaired and we carried on to Buffalo Narrows. We got in about 10 p.m. A long day, but great company. I’m looking forward to a wonderful week.

Tomorrow it’s Bear Creek in the morning, then Turnor Lake in the afternoon.