Port Town Ghosts

Recording pics

2009-10-12T15:03:00.007-04:00

We got eight tracks down in two days, thanks to the awesomeness of the guys. It was a really intense creative process, to have my simple tunes develop into arrangements and then recorded sound.

2009-10-11T14:07:00.001-04:00

Love, oh love, oh careless love.

It requires whiskey

2009-10-09T17:07:00.003-04:00

Happy Friday, long weekend and Thanksgiving.

I returned from Whitehorse reluctantly. Yesterday I had the post-trip exhaustion-bordering-on-hysteria vibe, so after work I had one beer, one shot and went to a special city council meeting about the five-year general plan. Just 'cause.

This is a fairly important topic as it is intended to govern planning decisions and the way they are communicated for the next term and some. I was a little surprised therefore that not a single city council candidate had seen fit to attend. Now, I understand there were a couple public meetings, and maybe that's their excuse. But would it have killed anyone to spend an extra hour soaking up more information, and a bit of a feel for council business to boot?

Anyway, back to Whitehorse, it was AMAZING. Capital letters. I am in love with the place. Work kept me busy, but I did get some time out and about, a short hike (like, half-hour short) and a house party. The place seems to have all the things that are awesome about the North, minus many of the things that suck about the North, plus an organic farmers co-op, awesome music scene and locally brewed beer. Dear god, what a revelation. I think I would maybe move there in a nanosecond. Huge fan, that's me.

Disclaimer: extremely negative

2009-10-02T10:30:00.005-04:00

When I was a teenager, railing against the establishment and itching to leave the crappy town I'd landed in, one of my favourite themes was "Corrupt White Men Run This Town," followed quickly by "The Roman Catholic Church Owns the Community Newspaper - Shitty." (The newspaper is literally owned by the diocese.)

At that age I was routinely told by teachers, priests, hockey coaches and store owners that I was a piece of shit "who would never go anywhere or amount to anything" and "nothing but a druggy slut." (Actual quotes - I guess they didn't like my Doc Martens.)

Now, when I see a story like this one turn up in the Globe and Mail, it alternately warms my heart and makes my blood run cold. From G&M, "Bishop urged to surrender on charges of child porn," updated Oct. 2:

In August, the Antigonish diocese reached a $15-million class-action settlement with known and alleged former child victims of sexual abuse by its priests dating back to 1950. At the time, Bishop Lahey, who was bishop of Antigonish for six years and was not implicated in the allegations, apologized to the victims and noted they were entitled to protection from priests.

"Sexual abuse, indeed any abuse, is wrong. It is a crime and it is a serious sin in the eyes of God. I want to assure you that for some time our diocese, like others throughout Canada, have been taking steps to protect children and youth," Bishop Lahey told a news conference.

Well, lo and behold, the same disgusting prick was caught crossing the border with a bunch of child pornography last month. More from the same article:

Bishop Raymond Lahey of the archdiocese of Antigonish was searched at the Ottawa airport as he re-entered Canada on Sept. 15. Officers found images "of concern" on his laptop, and seized it along with other media devices. He was released pending further investigation.

After a forensic examination revealed child pornography, Ottawa police charged Bishop Lahey, 69, Friday and issued a warrant for his arrest.

Huh, reading this post over even I am surprised at the amount of bitterness it seethes with. Issues much? Whatever. Burn that steeple down. Hell, take a couple of those abusive hockey coaches with you when you do it, please.

Travels

2009-09-30T21:36:00.003-04:00

I'm typing on the tenth floor of a downtown Ottawa hotel. Off the balcony I see locks, traffic and government buildings. I came down for a film festival, among other things, and tomorrow depart for other expanses.

The country's capital is slightly overwhelming. Public servants run around in business-wear, Blackberries and sensible-yet-fashionable glasses, saying things like, "my minister has requested" and "I'm so glad we got this discussion rolling."

Yesterday I overheard a couple discussing their impending engagement and wedding as one would a business deal: "well, that option is no longer on the table, but there are other avenues to explore" and "given our respective agendas, we may be able to manage a timeline like that."

Eeew.

Conversely, last week I was in Yellowknife, a city which is slowly growing on me. I got off the plane near suppertime, and checked into my hotel. This is the same hotel where I spent a number of miserable days fevered with swine flu earlier this summer. Afraid the flashbacks would start, I rambled to Old Town for a couple hours, admired the houseboats and the float planes buzzing up and down, and sat on a dock wondering at the yellowing leaves (trees!). I grabbed a bite at the bar at Bullock's Diner and, of course, ran into some folks I know from Nunavut, because the world really is that small.

To an outsider, Old Town seems pretty cool. People paint their houses sky blue with clouds or midnight blue with stars, or daub the trim of their shed bright red and nail art to it. There's public transit, healthy dogs and no litter. (My god, what a revelation!) Makes me wonder sometimes whether I would be happier living somewhere else, though I'm sure there's a catch somewhere, like sky-high property values or the incessant trampling of tourists.

Tomorrow I hit Yukon's capital for the first time. I'm really excited and still unpacked. That's all I really have to say about that. I'm going to stuff my belongings back into their bag.

Recording day...

2009-09-19T09:36:00.003-04:00

After a week of rehearsals, I'm heading into the "studio" this morning to record my first album. It's even crazy to write those words! Most of the material has been written since moving to Nunavut, banged out on my little guitar after a night on the town and so on.

It's been a really interesting, creative, intense process so far. These are my songs, and putting them out there leads to a real sense of vulnerability. Throwing them into the hands of other musicians even more so. The next two days are sure to be even more intense, but the guys I have playing with me have been awesome and supportive and really giving it everything they've got.

Well, whoop. Eek! Kate Nova records.

Grey skies, shining on me

2009-09-17T08:28:00.000-04:00

Am feeling more rocked than rolling this morning. If I employed the services of mascara it would be smeared.

Inspiration: strike now.

I just want to make pretty songs. Please?

Thanks and 'bye

2009-09-12T09:36:00.003-04:00

On Thursday morning I received news. A woman who was a very important part of my life for many years passed away. She was like another (slightly bad-ass) grandmother, who welcomed me into her home and her family in my teenage years when I really needed it. She sheltered many a musician, shared her fresh bread with all and toasted every occasion with a glass of whiskey. She was a character, often bigger than life. She lived rough years and spoke of it, and of having the courage to strike out on her own.

When I was in NS last it was a ridiculously busy trip. I decided I wouldn't seek out my friend, that I would catch her next time. You can't imagine how incredibly painful it is now to think I made that stupid decision. I wish, I wish, I wish I could thank her now for sheltering me all those years, for listening to me sing and encouraging me, for teaching me cribbage and to curse in Gaelic.

Marie, I hope that where ever you are you are surrounded by people who love you, that you have peace, many good stories and music.

Harvest to Table, Part 3: Summer's Last Supper

2009-09-09T12:12:00.000-04:00

Okay Town 3

2009-09-09T09:10:00.004-04:00

Hey Rosetta at the Elks Lodge last night: excellent. The lighting alone made me want to paint, and the music had me dancing like the end of the world. Way surreal to see a band of that calibre crammed onto the corner stage, with the dart scoreboard still lit up behind them on the wall.

Harvest to Table, Part 2: Just like Julia, except everything gets boiled

2009-09-09T07:27:00.000-04:00

Daizy's carrots became one with turnips, potatoes, herbs and onions from the greenhouse.

Harvest to Table, Part 1: We won't starve this winter

2009-09-08T17:15:00.006-04:00

Yes, that is seven pounds of red potatoes, grown in the Arctic.

Okay Town 2

2009-09-06T10:02:00.003-04:00

Last night felt fairly urban.

I split a night's performance at L'association des francophones du Nunavut with another local singer-songwriter, and the place was packed like homecoming weekend for a corn boil. We then trucked over to the middle school/temp concert hall to catch the end of Hey Rosetta, which was a pretty good show.

Had a loaded falafel and cheap wine manifested themselves then, the transportation would have been complete. Alas, no. I crashed by 11 p.m. like the old lady I am.

A ghost in my house

2009-09-03T08:16:00.002-04:00

I was the first one to the office this morning, letting myself in the heavy front doors to the rickety hallway lined with scientific posters. I really do love this place when it is still, silent in its eccentricism rather than crowded with the characters it both houses and attracts.

Today's light, too, is my favourite for photography, indolent with nostalgia for the summer just past. I made coffee and felt like everything I was doing would be for the last time today. I feel like something is going to change.

Returned

2009-08-29T11:18:00.002-04:00

Just returned from the Grand Family Tour 2009, a public affairs odyssey to introduce The New Husband around NoSco and beyond. Now exhausted and broke, I am struggling to remember what I am doing here in the first place. Oh the existential angst. Maybe I'll go to Northmart and then bunker down in the kitchen for the weekend. (We did get a booze order recently, so this is definitely a palatable option.)

Also passed my first stint as a wedding photographer for one of my dearest and oldest friends, who tied the knot with a beautiful lady last weekend outside the 'Nish. I will likely never do wedding photos again - too much responsibility - but I think everyone is happy with the results. I feel I captured the vibe appropriately, with unguarded moments as well as the standard posed fare.

I also got to be a witness at this shindig, and signed my name on the dotted line. Actually, four dotted lines. This was a huge honour, and had I not had to grab the camera again immediately, I likely would have been bawling my eyes out the whole time. Now we're all newlyweds in the same summer! I love this couple and I think they're going to have a great life together, so smiles all around. (Many captured clearly on my camera, thankfully.)

Okay Town

2009-08-18T22:33:00.005-04:00

Truly wacked

2009-08-18T18:37:00.003-04:00

There are military folks everywhere, snipers on the hills at end of Road to Nowhere. I saw half a fighter plane carted by on a trailer. Frogmen are swimming in the bay. Secret service men glare at me from everywhere. And Stephen Harper kicked all the researchers out of the Frob. What a lot of lameness. Would I feel differently if he wasn't a Conservative? I really don't know.

View from the window

2009-08-16T18:33:00.003-04:00

Paved with noisy possibility

2009-08-16T09:23:00.005-04:00

The Jello shooters were just fine, for those of you dying to know. In fact, I was already up when the paving machines rumbled to life outside my window at about 7:30 a.m.

I understand there's a short season to get these things done. I'll concede that the nice, smooth asphalt is pretty nice to drive on. But there's really no excuse for that kind of noise so early on a Sunday morning. Whether you're down with Jesus or not, it's obscene.

The paving is funny. When they first started laying it down, little kids stood about on the shoulders of the road, staring down at the sticky, black substance, maybe kicking it a bit. Their thought bubbles would have read, "What the heck is this stuff? I bet it will be fun to bike on..."

The New Husband, being a bit of an overgrown kid when it comes to dangerous sports like, say, bombing down hills on wheeled contraptions, carried his dirt-surfer around in his van for a couple weeks in anticipation.

And the mechanics, they're probably trembling in fear. No more potholes equals a cut to service calls.

Jello shooter assembly: 9:11 a.m.

2009-08-15T09:14:00.001-04:00

Fistful of greenhouse

2009-08-15T07:31:00.000-04:00

2009-08-14T17:05:00.001-04:00

There are weeks when my life revolves around a small box filled with confusing things. The desktop tells me that sometimes there is sunshine outside.

Ookpik unpacks

2009-08-13T19:06:00.002-04:00

Passport to crank (and then happy)

2009-08-12T17:30:00.004-04:00

A year or two ago there was a big ol' initiative to put passport photo cameras in all Nunavut communities. All except the capital city of Iqaluit, for some mysterious reason. I discovered this oddity months ago when I popped into Service Canada to ask where I could get passport photos taken. I was handed a crappy business card for a local cabbie, the "only person taking passport photos in Iqaluit."

I called the cabbie and was told the photos would cost me $50. When I pointed out that they cost less than $20 in the rest of Canada, he hung up on me. So I called Service Canada and lodged a complaint about the fact that their local office was providing free advertising for a carpet-bagger taking advantage of consumers in a service-starved remote town, and then I called Passport Canada and complained about the abysmal passport services in a capital city. I am positive this did nothing but amuse two clerks for about two minutes, but it satisfied me. I got them done for less than $20 the next time I was south and forgot about it.

Today the mobile passport office was in town doing their periodic visit. Yay, right? Except no one told those guys there were no passport photo services in town, so they didn't bring a camera. Consequently they've been turning people away left and right, as folks arrive expecting to finally have their passport photos taken. Gong show.

Personally, I got my renewal processed in about five minutes by a friendly and efficient Passport Canada employee and walked away pretty happy. He assured me they would be bringing a camera with them next time, and would report the fact there are no photo services available. My new federal hero.

Even better, when I came home to my nice new apartment I discovered flowers and a gift certificate for a massage on the kitchen table. My new husband also rocks.

Those balmy summer days

2009-08-09T08:21:00.007-04:00

Working where I do you can imagine I hear a lot about climate change. In fact, there is someone, right now, running around researching any fantastic angle of it you can come up with. Occasionally I wonder to what end, but in the end, knowledge is key, right?

Climate change was the big buzzword outside of the office recently as well, with temperatures soaring into the late 20s and long sunny days. I heard five-year-old children explaining solemnly how "climate change means all the animals will die," and well-meaning cab drivers tell me it would make "all the old people die." Office workers in coffee shops wondered simultaneously about the dangers of permafrost thaw and whether they could grow flowers on their deck. And I went swimming, in a bikini, in the Arctic. With a whole lot of other people.

Now of course it's back to normal, the growth of the greenhouse greenery has slowed to a somewhat glacial pace and I'm wearing pants. But I feel like I had summer, for, like, a splendid week. Regardless of whether or not it's a symptom of climate change, I feel slightly satisfied.