light, I seek the light

Well, I will open with one little song from my childhood days...

Red and yellow and pink and green,

purple and orange and blue,

you can sing a rainbow, a rainbow, sing a rainbow too.


Ok, that is in honour of my wonderful bruise I got last week! You should see all the colours I see, it is quite spectacular. I have informed my Mom that she really does need to find those ice grippers or I will be buying us each a pair from Mountain Equipment Coop here right away. And before I leave that topic, I now know why everyone doesn't get full arm-bands...that flesh on the underside of your arm is really sensitive. So Mom, you will be happy to know that I will not be getting a full arm band, but a partial is still possible :P~~ (for those who don't know me I currently have 4 tattoos with plans for numbers four and five)


Alright, this weeks topic has to be the fact that I am heading into winter up here. Everything has been going well, but it seems weird that it is October and I have officially hauled out the down jacket (due to the wind chill). The other fact that I have noticed is that it is dark when I get up in the am and is just getting light when I come to work at 8:30. Going home at 5:00 the light is fading fast. It is really weird, it feels like December on the Prairies! I am a little worried that this lack of light is going to affect me. But on the other hand I am so excited to experience a northern winter that I am just not sure how I am supposed to feel. Ah well, I guess I will just take things in stride like I have the rest of this move.


This week we had most of the office go to Yellowknife to attend a board meeting and the office seemed really quiet. But then again, how quiet can it be when they are doing construction? But I have to admit the rest have been pretty patient, they broke ground almost a year ago on the expansion and are really hoping that things get done soon so we can begin to occupy our personal offices soon. most of us are sharing office space and it can get pretty noisy with just us, never mind the construction.

I really should say I will try to write on the weekend instead of Fridays. But I will endeavor to write as often as I can ;) This weekend with Halloween and my belongings having arrived I threw a little party on Friday and it was totally fun! I will say that as a prairie girl I had way too much food (should have told people not to eat much) but whatever I will eat the leftovers.

Overall there were lots of people there, lots of conversations and lots of new friendships made. That is the goal of a party right? It was fun, and I was so glad of a dishwasher as I just popped everything in when people left around 12:30 and by the am I was done. I had a few pots to do but that didn't take long.

Saturday I did up the dishes and got dressed up for the kiddies :) I had about 25 kids come to the door in a variety of costumes...it was about -30 with the windchill so that was about right. After that I went over to Doris and Monique's for a fantastic dinner Michelle cooked up. We had roasted caribou that had been marinated for a couple days in this yummy concoction with gin and stuffed caribou heart. We also had caribou liver, I must say it was milder than beef liver! I don't think much of the caribou goes to waste with Michelle around ;) she is an awesome cook and we enjoy having her test recipes for us.

Sunday turned out to be a real recovery day. I didn't drink much this weekend, but lost some sleep and I am paying for that today even with the time change :) Ah well, it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it all. I also have officially unpacked the last box and we are moved in!! Ya hoo.

That being said a friend of mine from Ontario (Chad) brought up an interesting point. In my earlier posts I talk about how happy I am to be away from stores and being free of belongings but as soon as my stuff came I was ecstatic. Huh, who knew, I am still pretty tied to my stuff. we have started a little banter about that and he is taking a cool class in culture and society where they are doing a consumer community and culture fetishism. apparently "we neglect the social ties that compose our identities and replace them with belongings, hence the lonely individualism of our society. This is a theory that succeeded Marxism, but is still based on it". I hope I got all of that right Chad :)

It totally sounds cool and has got him to thinking about his ties to his belongings. And now with this knowledge, me thinking about mine...what made me so happy to see my stuff? My current thought on the matter is that I have missed the things in there that help me express who I am. I missed my collection of china tea cups, my fancy plates, my items that make a house feel like a home. Now why do I need these things...I don't know, but I know I do. Some items I unpacked are items that have memories (from my grandma who passed away, one jug has been in every home I have lived in). Some are liked because of beauty, my one of a kind blue plates from a glass factory in Montreal. Why do these things make me comfortable in my nest? Why is it that I need things from the past to be connected to my nest? My chinese sign is the sign of the rabbit who likes to create a comfortable home, is who I am made up partly from the way the stars alighned? Is this a learned behaviour? So many questions and not a lot of easy answers.

My current theory is that I think we need a sense of where we came from to be able to move forward. I believe that a mistake is only made when we don't learn a lesson when something appears to go wrong. We can't regret something that has happened because it made us who we are. So with that said, what has compelled me to feel at home with these "thing" now more than before...I don't know. Maybe I need to see these things to remember the lessons? I don't know, maybe we all need to sit and think on the topic. I will post more thoughts on this (and other interesting facts from Chad) he always has cool stuff he is learning or reading as he goes back to school for another degree.

I hope this finds everyone well and is a little food for thought this week as you contemplate your own home and ties to things rather than people. I know I will....

Hugs

Kel