Monday, January 27th

It was dark when we arrived last night, but here’s where we are staying – the Krow’s Nest Inn.

It’s a very cold morning – minus 34 (minus 40 with the windchill). Yikes! Harriet phoned Bear Creek before we left to see if they would have any students. The teacher said yes, so off we went. Bear Creek is a small hamlet (population about 50) that is 60 km north of Buffalo Narrows. Sasdaze (Dene for Bear Creek) School is a one room trailer that has a total enrollment of 9 kids in Grades 1 to 6. It was so cold today that usually school would have been cancelled, but the teacher actually drove and picked four kids up so that I would have at least a few kids to present to. Normally I don’t get to learn the names of all the kids at a school, but I did today – 2 girls, Charlena and Elena, and 2 boys, Carl and Deandre, and their teacher Kelly Kwan. I really enjoyed it.

While we were at Bear Creek, Turnor Lake phoned and said their boiler was out so school had been cancelled. Harriet got on the phone and quickly arranged for us to go to La Loche instead. La Loche is a much larger community (population about 3000) another 40 km northwest of Bear Creek. The La Loche Community School has almost 900 students in Pre-K to Grade 12. I read to 59 Grade Threes. I was grateful that the Grade Three teachers dropped everything and accomodated me on very short notice.

The reading went well. There was one little girl who was full of questions about being a writer. I love questions.

When we got back to the motel, I bundled up and went for a short walk. Saw ravens and some boreal chickadees, but it was way too cold to go very far. Maybe tomorrow. This was the best picture of a chickadee I got – not great, but my fingers were already getting numb.

While I was out walking, Audrey came and switched vehicles with us again. They replaced the heater fan motor in Meadow Lake.

Tomorrow, St. George’s Hill and Dillon, and it’s supposed to warm up. Here’s hoping!

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.

I’m on my way home. Just me and one other person leaving La Ronge on the bus south this morning. This week was amazing. It had its challenges, but nothing I couldn’t learn from. I am so grateful to Harriet Roy for inviting me on this adventure and for driving me around, to Sharon Hamilton for suggesting me to Harriet, to Kathy Tenold for flying, driving and walking around with me and to all the schools who invited me in. It certainly was an adventure I couldn’t have afforded to do on my own – with all the flights, Harriet says the travel bill alone was between eight and nine thousand dollars!

Harriet also presented me with a Pahkisimon Nuye?ah Library System notebook and pen and portfolio AND a USB with all the pictures she and Kathy took of my presentations. What a thoughtful gift! Again, because of privacy concerns, I can’t share the pictures of the kids with you, but I have them, to remember Thomas, and Anthony and all the others I spoke to this week. And I’ve been invited back to tour the east side of the region next year! I’m already looking forward to it.

Wollaston Lake

Wollaston is a community that is built around a little bay. In the winter they use an ice road to cross, but any other time they have to drive around the end of the bay. We crossed the ice road to go to the elementary school from the airport, and drove around on the way back to the airport.

a pressure crack in the ice

ice road through Fond du Lac

The road at the bottom, going into town, goes to Uranium City. The road leaving town, at the top, goes to Stony Rapids. The ice road to Uranium City is only open from about the middle of February to April 1, so in March they (U City) have to have all their fuel for the year trucked in. There’s an estimate you don’t want to be too wrong on!

raven

Here’s the only kind of bird I saw on the trip. But they grow them big up there!

above the sunset on the way to Stony Rapids from La Ronge

Thanks for letting me share my excellent adventure with you!