Walking in a Winter Wonderland

While St. John's, NL and the rest of the Avalon Peninsula is dealing with the aftermath of another storm and enjoying a snowday here in Goose Bay, NL we are enjoying unusually warm temperatures. I removed my hat, mitts and scarf this morning on my walk to work as it was just too warm! I must admit I am quite enjoying the outdoor activities Labrador has to offer. I am looking forward to ice fishing and hopefully dog sledding in the coming weeks.

Last week at work was quite a busy one as our latest issue (Floaters, Stationers, & Livyeres - 39.4) which is based on the Labrador fishery arrived and we spent most of the week stuffing, sealing and stamping envelopes and making up retail packages. Once these were dropped to the post office and retailers' shops the office looked a little bit empty! I also attended my first marketing meeting and learned a bit more about some of the other events Them Days has hosted including their summer walking tours.

My co-worker made my day on Tuesday when she brought in a feed of smelts, mashed potatoes, and homemade pickles. After a week straight of ham sandwiches from the cafeteria the taste of a homemade lunch was a welcome change!

On Wednesday evening a small group from residence went out to open mic night at the local bar. My roommate Martina and our friend Greg sang and played quite a few tunes. They were so popular that Martina was asked to host the open mic night in two weeks time so if you're in Happy Valley-Goose Bay on January 27, 2016 drop into Grafters.

On Friday my boss, Aimee, and I went to an elder's social held at the Nunatsiavut Health and Social Development Office. The elder's social was a drop in lunch so I said a little bit about the project before joining a table and talking with some elders. I ended up with contact information for almost twenty people. This will be great for getting smaller groups together to look at pictures from one community to identify the people and places in the pictures. We were also lucky enough to be feed lasagna, salad, ice cream cake and tea and welcomed back any time we'd like. The group was extremely friendly and it was great to get out and meet some lovely locals. 

The weekend was filled with a few winter activities. On Saturday morning I went for a quick snowshoe behind the residence on the skidoo trails before brunch in the cafeteria. Today I learned that the community is lighting up a snowshoe trail across the street from residence a couple evenings during the week so I'm hoping to take that in Thursday evening. Martini, Tyus (from res) and I also went skating Friday and Saturday night at the outdoor rink. The rink is up on the base and is maintained by the local community and while we were there Friday night two people showed up to snow blow the ice which left the ice nice and clear. 

The weekend nights were spent with a group from res talking, playing music and learning card games. I'm including a picture of the crazy Crazy Eight rules I learned from Brandon. They were the rules he played with in the paper mill in Corner Brook and they are a step up from the ones I usually play with.

This week I have settled in to the archives and I am trying to sort through our Avis McCurdy Collection. While 30 pictures have captions with names and dates the majority of the pictures have no information. It is going to be interesting to see what I can find and how many pictures can be identified. Here's to another full week in the archives! Fingers crossed we identify some more.