Salt River

This week has been rather trying for me.  Stress at work and personally has been a bit overwhelming so when Charlie, the nice older gentleman (aka customer) who has befriended me, offered to take me for a drive to see salt river I figured why not. Fresh air and sunshine always chases away the blues.  The view was lovely and the birds were hamming up for the camera and all was lovely. 

I loved this cute little Chapel nestled in the birch grove.

As we sat a picnic table enjoying the view over a glass of wine a car pulled in to talk to us. Thankfully they were kind enough to let us know that there was a bear directly behind the cabin we were sitting in front of.

Sure enough this big old black bear was a mere 30 feet away...sneaking up from behind the building. Needless to say we hopped in the car pretty quickly and I think I drank that glass of wine way too quickly; especially since it's been over a month since I had a sip of alcohol and on the heals of a nutritional cleanse. Poor old Charlie got to experience a slightly tipsy Cheryl and a good laugh over our close encounter.

Since I was now in a silly mood, I shot a naughty picture.

A bear bum!

Orange Moon

Sitting on my sofa last night, I was amazed to look out my window and see a beautiful orange moon...not quite full but pretty darn close.  Even though my tripod is broken I thought "what the heck, I'll see if I can get some sort of picture."  So I grabbed my handy camera threw on my nifty little moccasins and trudged outside in my pjs. 

Oops...about a split second after I pulled my door shut I realized "CRAP" I had turned the lock.  So, now I'm outside in my pjs and slippers; with no key and no way to call anyone for help.  No problem I say, Donnie our Meat Manager lives right upstairs...So, apparently Donnie is a very sound sleeper.  Great if I ever decided to get a little frisky in my apartment...not so great if I need his help.

Looking rather foolish in my present attire and with a camera slung around my neck,  I approached a neighbour, who I have never met, but who was fortunately outside working with his wife (?).  This lovely young man rescued me by helping me break into my apartment.

I was starting to get pretty pissed that they still haven't come to do any repairs on this little dive, but in this case I was glad to still have busted windows as they came in very handy.

So thank you gorgeous young neighbour, you are my hero!

Oh ya, the pictures of the moon didn't turn out...but heres a picture of the crappy window.

Fire!

Sorry if I alarmed you.  I just got an email from my sister making sure I was okay.  Apparently there are forest fires ranging nearby.  Not really; when I investigated I found out they are at Slave Lake, Alberta which is only 200km North of Edmonton.  Easy to confuse since I am very near to "Great" Slave Lake. You would think they could get more creative with their names...maybe something like "Master" lake for the one here since it's clearly larger and more powerful.

Anyway all is well here as we are approximately 1000km away from said fire.  I have noticed in insurgence of firefighters in the area though.  I take it forest fires are an annual event in the North. I guess the risk of fire is a down fall of this area, but the "eye candy" of some of the firefighters just might make the risk worth while.

Skype...I'm loving it

It is so exciting to finally have high speed access again.  This has allowed me to start using skype to talk to friends and family.  What a great thing!

I can see my little nephew growing day by day as he zooms by the camera, watch my son's progress as he does his artwork and see the smiling faces and little idiosyncrasies that I so love in the people I am missing the most.  It makes being away from everyone much more tolerable.



While I was chatting with my son today, he was looking up fun facts on his computer. This one amused us both so much that I thought I would share it.

"It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's mouth. Then the frog uses it's forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again."  Disgusting but so amusing at the same time!

Trade Shows Fort Smith Style

Yesterday the town of Fort Smith held it's annual Trade Show.  Unlike the Career Fair in Cross Lake, this one started on time and was very well attended.  The sense of community here is amazing! Of course being a new person in a town of 2500 people it's hard to go un-noticed; still the people were so friendly and interested in what I had to say.  I do think I was probaly the best candidate at the store for this little PR event.  I actually lucked into it.  The store manager here double booked the tradeshow and the food inventory so he asked me to do the trade show.  I think I got the better end of that deal. What a pleasant change.

There were actually quite a few booths, from government and museums to outdoor adventures and arts & crafts.  This cute little card holder was made by one of my neighbours who had a booth just across from me. 

We even had entertainment.

With all the talking I did I had a sore throat and was loosing my voice by noon.  The trooper I am...I'm all better by today.  So although this wasn't like the big trade shows I'm used to from my past life, it was still an enjoyable day.

There was one booth there for the NWT Cree Language where I was given a nice little cook book. I thought you might enjoy this nice recipe for "Frog Eyes"...  (sorry I couldn't add in all the accents)

Mayokowatay miskisik

peyak minihkwacikan tohtosapopimehkan
peyak minihkwacikan kaskatiwasawaosihtsiwinikan
apihtaw minihkwacikan siwinikan
niso wawa
niso emihkwanis kiyikawenikan sewipahkwesikanihk
niso 1/4 minihkwacikan askipahkwesikan
peyak emihkwanis kapestewpayik
peyak emihkwanis siwihtakan
peyak mina apihtaw (smarties maskihis)

Cream tohtosapopime mina siwinikan mamawi. Iteha wawa. Iteha kiyikawenikan sweipahkwesikanihk. Asta askipahkwesikan, ke pestewpayik, siwihtakan mina apihtaw ohci maskihis. Itcha kwayes. Kitiskina peyakwawa ka sakaskiner emihkwanis eta kiya itominitit pahkwesikan nawacewinapisk. Ka makwahamihk kahkiyaw ohci miskisikak tahkohc eta sewipahkwesikanisak. Kakisiswaw nanto 350 degrees ohci ayinanew ahpo mitataht cipahikanis.

Now that I've impressed you with my Cree you can go to my recipe page for the english translation...okay I cheated with the Cree.

If you like these or are feeling more adventurous you can email me for the recipe for beaver tail or for Caribou Ribs (also good for moose I've heard).