Monday, January 23, 2017

DIMA

     My job as Local Administrator had me doing many different things. It may not have been that time consuming but there was a great variety of things to do.

     I was the government contact for all government business. On the opposite side I contacted the government for all local business. There was lots of ordering and then maintenance for school, shop ,houses and power.

     We had a diesel generator producing power. We had two identical Diesel's. One would run seven days and then be serviced and the second would run for seven days. So Our mechanic would go out for holidays and I would look after the diesels. They had to be checked numerous times a day and then serviced. Guess who got the job? Me!

    One job I really enjoyed was buying soapstone carvings. Several afternoons a week I was open for buying soapstone carvings. The government gave me a monthly $2000.00 to buy carvings. So the learning curve was steep as far as pricing carvings was concerned. Most carvings were in the $10.00 to $20.00 range . There were a few good carvers and their pieces went for much more. I bought one carving for $1200.00. You should have seen the look on her face when I said $1200.00 She could buy 2 skidoos with that money. O emember the Inuit would say something like sikidoos

    Before the ship came in I had to tag and wrap all carvings...big job and not fun. If you wanted to buy the carvings from me the price was doubled.

   I also oversaw soapstone mining. 4 guys would go out in the winter, build an igloo and work for a week. They picked and pried the stone out of the rock. There were big and little pieces and all could be used. The rock was hauled in with sleds and skidoos.

    There were weird problems that came up. The government kept asking about a child and wanted me to identify the child. Families were paid family allowance. The government had been paying for this child but somehow did not identify the child. I would get a letter to check. I would go to the family and ask about this child. They would shake their heads and say they knew nothing about it. After two years they looked at each other and discussed. It was a baby that had been born out on an island and the baby died. Now the government had to get the overpayment back. 

   Any government people who came through stayed at my place. One very interesting person who spent a week with us was Fred Breumer a well known writer on the north. We learned so much from listening to Fred for a week. Another interesting guy was a French dentist who was doing research on teeth. He came every two years. He didn't speak English but we understood his Parisian French almost perfectly. We had difficulty with Quebecois French.

   We had surprise visitors when planes landed because of bad weather. Two twin otters landed one day. They had floats but there was no open water so they landed in the snow which was an amazing thing to watch. We were expecting to witness a crash. They made  an excellent landing and then took off the next day.

    There was something different every day that made things interesting.

     Now the Inuit would tell you something and say "Dima." Dima meant "I'm finished", "I have nothing more to say."

     So with this post I'm finished. It's been fun to reminisce with you.

    I will set up a question post in a couple of days.




28 comments:

  1. Oh, thank you for showing some of the carvings! Are these pieces you bought for yourself to keep?
    What an interesting tale you have told us. Thank you.

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    1. We bought these for ourselves and a couple of smaller ones. We also bought quite a few for gifts.

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  2. I think I could read anything you'd write on this topic, Red. It's fascinating. Not many people have had this kind of life experience, and of those, not many write about it.

    And please, if you can, write about getting up close and personal with beluga whales! Thank you in advance :)

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    1. It's surprising that there are quite few good books about northern people. I will think about the beluga story.

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  3. Oh my goodness. I can't even begin to imagine living this adventure!

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    1. I was raised on a farm. Much of this was easier for me as I'd worked with machinery and worked outside.

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  4. i think you are living a very interesting life ,though with so many responsibilities.
    i am glad that you liked the writer 's company and a also company of dentist who could not speak English.
    looking forward to your next updates .

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    1. I should do a post on Fred. I forget the old dentist's name.

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  5. It looks like The Local Administrator grabbed himself a couple of great soapstone carvings. Every job needs its perks.

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    1. The local administrator also avoided red tape and bought directly from the artist. In that way the artist got twice as much and they were very pleased that we chose their carving.

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  6. What a wonderful post. Your journey is amazing. Wow!

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    1. I don't think I could have continued much longer as fatigue sets in.

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  7. What an adventure you had back then. And I'm with Linda Reeder: thanks for sharing some of the soapstone pictures. :-)

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    1. We wish we'd bought many more soapstone carving when we were there. when you handle carvings every day you lose sight of the long term.

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  8. What a rich life. You certainly could do a collection of short stories.

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    1. I should check back over the blog as I've written about this area before.

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  9. What an interesting time.Buying the artwork would have been tough to set a price on it

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    1. They were comfortable with my prices. Many times the pieces were similar. One old guy churned out many pieces and most of them were similar

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  10. Buying the carvings sounds like a lot of fun! Who kept the carvings, ultimately? Did the government keep them for a museum or something? It's interesting that you understood Parisian French more readily than Quebecois French. I would think, being Canadian, you'd pick up the latter more naturally!

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    1. The government had a wholesale outlet so the carvings ended up in the commercial world. then the prices really went up. A few of these did end up in various museums. We don't hear much French in the west. We hear more German and Dutch here.

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  11. I love soapstone carvings and own several.

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    1. It was fascinating to watch them carve.

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  12. My parents had one of those carvings. I think my dad still has it.

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    1. I think many people bought soapstone carvings and the the price went up and the carvings were sold overseas.

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  13. Loved reading this Ted. Those carvings are really something. Thank you for sharing.

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  14. An amazing journey in your life. Those carvings are pretty amazing!

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  15. I love those soapstone sculptures very much too. I bought a small polar bear at my visit to Canada, I remember it was very expensive.

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  16. What an amazing job you had! I remember my husband showing me a soapstone carving he bought in Alaska decades ago. They are so beautiful. How wonderful that the government trusted you to make these decisions. I would be afraid to, not knowing what would constitute valuable from sort of good art.

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