Flying J's: ᐅᐱᕐᖔᖅ - upirngaaq

It's spring time in Iqaluit! Wahoo! Our temperatures are sitting around -5C and the sun shines about eighteen hours a day now. Even the icy wind feels warmer. Gone are the parkas, sealskin mitts and enormous boots. Bring on the winter jackets, ball caps and rubber boots.

As the snow melts, we're starting to see that Baffin island is one big sandy, rocky island. Currently, the roads and paths are mud. Josh and I frequently trip through what appears to be a frozen patch of water into ankle deep sludge. It's so hard to tell what's solid and what's not. Rubber boots honestly are a must.

One of the things I missed during the winter season was my sense of smell. It seemed that everything was too frozen to give off a smell. Even the exhaust fumes from snowmobiles seemed to disappear before I could get a sniff. Living in a smell-free world was starting to bother me. But, with the arrival of spring, new smells are slowly starting to emerge. A whiff of the salty ocean air blows by every now and again, reminding us that we live near the ocean. Yesterday I hiked along the shoreline and could smell the sweet dampness of mud and earth being warmed by the sun. It was delicious!

The bay is still frozen solid and the hunters can be seen riding all over it with their guns strapped to their backs. The boats that were frozen solid in ice are now near-victims of being washed away from the rivers of snow melt that pour down the hill into the ocean. Kids in bright rubber boots play with the hundreds of streams that have formed on the side of the road. Pot holes are being washed out and dug even deeper than last year...the water that fills them deceives drivers into thinking they're shallow. Tiny black and white snow-buntings fly in and out of the crevices of any rock face they can find. Freezie popsicles are on sale at Northmart. Frozen brown arctic grass and flowers appear from under the snow, as a promise of more warmth to come.