Well here it is Monday evening, and the long weekend is over. It started out well with the arrival of my snowmobile. It appeared to have survived the trip okay. Trouble was, I couldn't buy any gas on the weekend, so I haven't had a chance to even start it up. Saturday evening the principal's wife invited the school staff in for Thanksgiving dinner. She really put on a spread and we all had a good time. I went to church on Sunday, then spent the rest of the day catching up on some things around the house and going into the school for awhile. Today was really nice with bright sun and mild temperatures around freezing. My housemate Keo flew out to a conference today and will be gone all week, so I hiked out to the airport with him. Then this evening there was a thanksgiving service at the church to give thanks for the safe return of two young men who spend a three days lost out on the tundra during the storm we had last weekend. All in all it was a good weekend. I'm sending two pictures: the first is a batchelor's cupboard (actually Keo's not mine!), and the second is of the kookik in the church. A koolik is a piece of soapstone shaped like half of a clam shell, in which whale or seal oil is burned. In the old days it was used for cooking, heat, and light, in the igloos. Now it is mostly used for ceremonial purposes. It is used in the church more or less like candles.
