Spring has Sprung.....Tuk Style

Ahhh.....daffodils!!

A few weeks ago, I was talking to Aunt Sherin and she was telling me that the daffodils in her garden were beginning to push up through the soil, making their entrance into the world to announce the arrival of spring in Barrie, Ontario.  Their sunny yellow petals make me smile and think of Greg's Grandmother Wilson, whom we affectionately called Grandma B.  She planted a bunch of them around her property years ago, and now that my in-laws own that lot, daffodils spring up all over, every year they get thicker and more plentiful, and their blooming makes my heart smile.  I am sure that the daffodils are out in full force now all over what we refer to 'up here' as 'the South'.

I was talking to my BFF, Jen Hinrichs and she said that the only snow left on her property was that which had piled up in the shady parts, protected from the sun by the house.  You can see old, dirty snow along the fence line, but anything touched by the sun as it gradually warms is disappearing. Even the tired, gravelly snow piled high in the parking lots of the big box stores is melting steadily, creating a constant trickle of water to the nearest sewer.  Spring has definitely arrived in Cambridge, Ontario!

My mom said that she went outside a few weeks ago in her winter coat to run some errands, and got all hot and sweaty while she was out.  Later on that day when she had to go back out for one additional item, she wore her spring coat and has been enjoying her lighter weight jacket ever since.  This means that spring has arrived in Sarnia, Ontario!!

Every year Greg's parents have a competition to see who can spot the first robin of spring.  This beautiful bird with the red breast is most definitely the herald of spring to many people across the United States and Canada who celebrate four seasons in the year!  A few days ago, Greg's mom spotted a robin industriously pecking at some old dead grass to use for nest building.  No doubt it will be filled with a few of its signature coloured eggs within no time at all!

As a child, spring had arrived for me when I was shoved outside in a new spring coat and rubber boots, still wearing mittens and perhaps even a hat, but happily clutching a brand new skipping rope.  My friends and I had to be careful when we played at first because the street cleaner hadn't made its first run through the subdivision to scoop up all the gravel from the winter snow ploughs and sanders!  Almost every year one of us suffered a bloody knee or worse when we rolled on the gravel and fell, another spring time ritual.  You had to be equally as careful when you were riding your bikes during this time of year, because the tires skidded on the gravel, too.  We kids were always so relieved when we heard the street sweeper coming around and our smarting knees and elbows (and sometimes chins if a face plant had occurred) rejoiced with relief!

While I reflect on the signs of spring in Ontario that I know and love so well, I became more curious to learn what signs of spring I could expect to experience in this neck of the woods so to speak, since we live north of the tree line!  Actually, in all seriousness, so many of the signs of spring have to do with growth, trees, plants, flowers and greenery, I was feeling a bit lost about what to expect up here.  Currently I am substituting for the High School English teacher, and so on Friday I asked the English students what their signs of spring were and they were very willing to share with me.  One guy who had lived in Edmonton for a while said that he missed seeing the tulips and daffodils but if you look around, spring does visit Tuk, too.

The view across the street from our house at 3:30 am on
April 28, 2015.  Notice the beautiful blue sky?
Once the sun sets, this is what it looks like now, sort of
like a long and drawn out dusk and dawn all blended
into one.  Even with the blinds pulled, it is
difficult to sleep these days.

The first and obvious sign of spring to everybody is the arrival of the sun.  At first it is exciting to actually have a few hours of daylight, but after a while the daylight becomes more of a commonplace occurrence again.  Once the sun begins to rise up here, we gain 10 minutes of daylight per day, until eventually, the sun just doesn't set and there is 24 hours of daylight. Even leading up to the first day of summer and the longest day of the year, the night time is only a soft dusk before the sun rises again.  As of the writing of this blog, the sun is setting around midnight and we are experiencing that dusk, which will just get shorter until it's only a few minutes long.  We are grateful for our window blinds, which are thick enough to block out the sun.  Those who do not have any blinds on their windows use tin foil, which may be a bit of an eye sore, but at least it's inexpensive!

Once the sun rises, the temperature rises.  A few weeks ago when I originally began writing this post, the average daytime temperature was about -15C including windchill, which is almost always a factor here.  Now we are hovering between 5C and -5C.  It is so incredible to leave our parkas and fur hats and gloves on the hangers and pull out what we used to call our winter coats, but now refer to as spring coats.  The kids still wear their snowpants to play out, as it is called.  Most of us don't worry about hats unless it's windy out, and our thick mittens are now lighter weight, again what most of our Southern Ontario friends and family would wear during the winter.  We feel so light and free compared to the weight of the parkas and our heavy, clunky boots.  Apparently, the colder the temperature rating on the boot the heavier they are!  We aren't dressing in layers anymore either!  Gone are the long underwear and the layers of long-sleeves!  It is wonderful!

Since the sun has risen and is up for extended periods of time, this means the temperature rises, so naturally the next thing to happen is that the snow begins to melt.  This has been an incredible sight to see, too, since we felt like the snow would never melt.  In January the snow made a hollow sound and even someone my size could walk on it without falling through it.  Now, the snow has melted not quite enough to go away just yet, although that certainly is happening with each passing day, but it is becoming looser and turning into packing snow!  This makes for some pretty entertaining snowball fights between us, and if you have ever been around Wilsons in the winter, snowball fights are inevitable and epic.  Even Charlotte has impeccable aim!

Greg's last trip down the ice road to get our van out.  If we
did not get our van to Inuvik before the ice road disappeared
we wouldn't be able to drive home for the summer
because the first barge (which is how we got the van
up here to begin with) doesn't arrive in Tuk until
the end of July.  

With everything softening and melting, we have said good-bye to the ice road, for which we were immensely grateful during our long, frigid winter.  It was lovely to drive to Inuvik and eat in an actual restaurant, shop in a few assorted stores, sit at a traffic light (the only one in town and from what I was told the only reason it was installed was because in order for the Ministry of Transportation to allow driving tests to occur in Inuvik, there must be at least one traffic light/intersection in the municipality.), and enjoy the amenities of a town that has an actual road leading to it.

The ice begins to melt in the rivers in Southern Northwest Territories (whew..there's a contradiction in terms for you!) and this causes the ice to break up and flow up toward the ocean.  The movement of the water underneath all the ice causes cracks in the ice and before long water starts to appear along the sides of the ice road.  When this happens, the ice road is officially closed for the season.  Sometimes things freeze up again and it can be re-opened for short periods of time, but as of the writing of this blog, the road is closed for the season and it won't be opening up again.  This, however, does not stop the locals from driving on it anyway!  Yesterday a gentleman with a transport truck drove up the wet ice road with a trailer full of windows, not exactly light cargo, dropped them off, and then immediately turned around and drove back to Inuvik, I am sure thanking his lucky stars that he made it alive.  Talk about taking your life in your hands!  Many local people I know say that it is fine as long as you keep going and your vehicle is high enough off the ground to allow for the splash.  Since our van is just that - a van, as opposed to a 4 x 4 pick up, Greg drove it out a few weeks ago and left it at the Inuvik airport.  I admit it really stinks not having our vehicle up here, especially for grocery shopping, but we make do.  Greg and the kids are definitely getting more exercise!  I wish I was, but my knee will not allow much walking at all these days.

This is Charlotte's team, two boys and a girl
per team, and they placed second
in the toboggan pull for her age group.
Yay for Charlotte!!
See how beautiful the sky is?

Another sign of spring in the North are Jamborees.  Each community up here takes its turn hosting a Jamboree weekend, which is a cultural celebration.  There are games for the kids and adults, including things like the toboggan pull, tug of war, snowmobile races, and all kinds of other fun, mostly outdoor events.  There are also lots of fun events in the community centre too, like jigging contests, talent shows and square dancing and drum dancing at night.  From what I have been told, Tuk's is typically the last one of the season and it is a great chance for the community to earn some tourist revenue.  We were all involved in different parts of Jamboree but it was Charlotte who had the best time of all because she placed second in her age group in the toboggan pull and won a gift certificate from the Northern Store, where she promptly bought herself a new Barbie doll.  The ice road held up for the weekend and although it was slushy, people from all over made the drive.  it was neat to see!

One student mentioned that spring to her meant the reindeer crossing.  In order for the herd to get to their traditional calving grounds, they have to be shepherded across the ice road so they'll make it in time for the births of this year's generation of reindeer.  It was an incredible sight to see and certainly a herald of the spring. See one of my previous blog posts for details of the reindeer crossing.

The annual reindeer crossing, when the reindeer are herded
from their winter feeding grounds to their spring/summer
calving grounds.  (Photo courtesy of Krista Cudmore)

Other signs of spring that kids have mentioned to me are the return of the birds.  The most important winged creature to return are the geese, which makes a lot of people begain to drool at the thought of a roasted goose. Apparently, there are robins up here, but we won't see them until the middle of May, and they only have one nest of babies up here before it's too cold to remain.  The grass, or whatever you would call it...the scrub.... begins to grow and before long the greens, yellows and reds will be in colour. It seems like a long time ago when we arrived in Tuk and we saw the community without snow, the bare pingos, and the ocean waters lapping along the side of the road.

One of the final signs of spring are bugs.  People up here detest the bugs and in fact, do not much care for late spring and summertime simply due to the insects.  They much prefer the cold and snow.  One of the elders up here said to me that an Inuvaluit man looks much like a fish out of water when he is standing on the land without snow.  I don't know if I believe this completely because there are people who are very excited to be going out to their Hunting Cabins and spending time out there, enjoying the weather and the companionship.  A lot of the people from Tuk have cabins at Husky Lakes, which is a few hours' snowmobile/boat ride Northeast of Tuk
.
In Tuk, we do not have a March Break.  We have a May Break, because May is the time of year when whole families will head off to their hunting cabins for a few weeks to hunt geese, fish, play and socialize.
As for us, it is just nice to put away our long underwear!

Happy Spring Everybody!!