Sunburn

Apparently, light reflects off white and, um, well, burns your skin with UV rays. Who knew? Who could have predicted that? Two years ago, I was in Alaska for 3 weeks for a conference, a visit to Denali, and a trip out to a colleague's field site. I came back browner that I had been in 10 years. Those long days of bright sun at high latitudes really tans the ole skin!

These days, in Igloolik, the temps have been above freezing by about 1-3 degrees C (2-6 degrees F) for two weeks now. Birds have arrived. Geese and buntings. The streets are dusty and dirty. The melt reveals 8 months of trash hidden by the snow. With no consistent sanitation department, other than the one trash truck that comes by and empties our house trash cans, the trash is strewn all over town and everywhere. These are the things that bigger cities do that I never notice until they stop. (I believe there have been some sanitation worker strikes in some big US cities over the last 100 years or so that really highlight the importance of the job!).
With the better weather, many many people are headed out of town to camp, hunt and fish. At +3 C (37F), outdoorspeople can actually enjoy the fishing and hunting or just relaxing away from the dust of the town.
There's a road that leads to many of the townsfolk cabins and shacks along the water. One day I'd like to bike it, but this day was ATV. The vastness of the landscape is breathtaking. I hope to one day see other towns in Nunavut---like Pangnirtung and Pond Inlet because they are at the base of awesome mountains and fiords.

I also include an example of how living here really works for folks that make things work with few resources. What do you do when kids constantly vandalize, well, everything? You improvise with cheap solutions that are easily replaceable....and, we all know duct tape fixes everything!Read more