Experience with Inuit Soapstone Carvings

        One of the more interesting experiences that I bumbled into in my life was to be in a position to buy soapstone carvings from Inuit carvers. As I've said before I spent five years in the Arctic. It was an experience that was a major influence in my life .

       In one remote settlement I was teacher, school principal and local administrator for the Canadian government. One of the jobs as administrator was to buy soapstone carvings from Inuit carvers. A program had been established before I arrived and I just carried on. I had a single signature bank account from the government which allowed me $1000.00 per month to buy carvings. Single signature because there was nobody else to sign besides my wife.

      Each week day I had an hour after school where locals could come to see me about Govt. business. Each day people would bring carvings. Now I had a crash course from the previous administrator on how to "evaluate" carvings. I looked at such basic things as size, finish, detail, shape and artistic expression. I was quite the judge! In the late 1960's most carvings were in the $12.00 to 16.00 range. Little seals and birds which were numerous and were about two bucks.  So you see the producer of the carving received very little as you are familiar with retail prices in stores.

      Some carvers had some artistic talent as they could look at a piece of stone and see something in the stone. Others tried to create something that was representative of some aspect of their cultural background. But many carvers just worked hard to produce something which they could sell to get some cash. When I arrived there was a pile of stone in front of each house. This stone had been brought in by ship and had come from a nickel mine at Sudbury Ontario. There was local stone but it was of rougher quality. It was harder and not easy to work with. I had one stone mining project while I was there where men went out for a week and by hand mined local soapstone. Tough work!

      So most of the project was basically a handcraft production. It was meant to give the people some opportunity to earn some money. As I said before some of these people had artistic talent.
  
     Much of what I learned was taught to me by the carvers. They were somewhat competitive. They didn't like to see someone play tricks on me. To polish the stone and make it shiny some people rubbed it with lard. I was told how to watch for this. You could smell it. Others polished with silver paper that was in cigarette packages at the time. They were quite interested to watch as I bought the carvings as I think they maybe had side bets with each other as to how much would be paid for each carving. Keep in mind these people did not speak English. I had an interpreter too help me.

     At the end of the year I had a small warehouse of carvings which I had to wrap and box up to be ready to load on the ship and send to Ottawa.

     I got to know each carver very well and appreciated the effort they had to expend to make a carving. I once tried to carve a little seal, but I gave up. So you can see that with the intensity of this experience I was deeply influenced in several ways.

    I did not buy very many carvings for myself. I have regretted not buying more. I  did buy carvings to give to my family for Christmas. I'm always surprised when I visit relatives and see a carving I sent them . It's like meeting an old friend after a long absence. When my step Mom and Dad died they gave me back the carving I gave them. I was really pleased to get the carving back.

      This carving was done by Ningiuk. He was a hard worker and wanted to support his family. However , all his carvings were mostly the same.

     Masiu  carved this piece. He was more artistic and had great skill. However , he didn't produce many pieces. He was an excellent hunter so spent much of his time hunting seals. His wife helped him in the finishing of a carving.

     This carving was different than many pieces produced and showed great skill in using the piece of stone.

All Old Guys Should Cross Country Ski

       Okay, here we go again! Another old guys should post. Yes, all old guys and girls should cross country ski if they have an interest and are able.
 
      Now just how old?" you ask. I have seen ninety year olds skiing up high in the Kananaskis. So they were able to ski up and also get down. These people were amazing. They just kept going. They had their hearing aids turned off so you couldn't talk to them.

      I started cross country skiing in 1970. Some years I've skied a lot and others very little. It depends on the snow cover we have. Some years we just don't get enough snow. I ski on groomed trails. In Red Deer we have two areas with groomed trails which gives us quite a few kms of trails. There are some interesting hills as both areas have some river escarpement.

    Tours with a group are very pleasant. We usually go to a mountain area and again ski groomed trails where terrain can be challenging. Going up takes great effort and coming down requires great skill as you are on a narrow trail between trees. You don't won't to wipe out.  Sometimes you are above the tree line so just deep snow to land in if you loose control. We can rent accommodations at a reasonable price in the middle of the week. One lodge is for handicapped people. Seniors are second in line if the handicapped groups are not booked.So great times on the trails and great evenings.

     Sometimes I just go out to the park behind my house and make my own trail. This way I can get ready and be on the trail in minutes. I can choose to go out when I have a few spare minutes. I can also go out in the evening. Don't worry about cold as your body produces lots of heat if you are able to put in the effort. After five minutes I never wear gloves as my hands are warmed up and stay warm.

     So I highly recommend cross country skiing as it gives a great work out and is pleasant on your own or in a group. You can ski until you're quite old if you keep your skills up and work on conditioning.

My Enjoyable Laidback Christmas Day

         My Christmas day was very low key but pleasant and enjoyable. In a previous post I briefly described the changes my Christmas day celebrations had gone through. My 71st Christmas is a continuation of the changes. Slow and steady change. No hard and fast lifetime traditions for this boy.


       This year there was only Home Farm Girl and I here for Christmas. Our day was fairly close to a normal daily routine. The old guy got up promptly at 7:00AM and made breakfast. By the time Home Farm Girl made it out for breakfast I was close to finished the crossword puzzle. When Home Farm Girl appeared we wished each other Merry Christmas. A highlight was when our daughter and partner phoned from Chicago to wish us a Merry Christmas. A two hour pleasant chat took place and only ended when they had to get their act together to be ready for the arrival of their only guest ...the mother in law.Usual morning chores were done.

      After lunch dishes were done we decided that gifts should be opened before we forget. Now I have to warn you, Home Farm Girl has been streamlining gift giving and wrapping for quite some time. She got tired of wrapping gifts and more tired of supervising me wrapping gifts so she began wrapping boxes which were stored away to be used again next year. Take a gift and drop it in the box...done! Open a gift?...Open the box. No wrapping paper all over the place. Now gifts for some time have been another development. Home Farm Girl squirrels away things that we buy on a normal basis. Of course , I'm easily fooled and forget what we bought. So what I find in the boxes are socks, slippers, shirts and what ever else that was bought throughout the year. Big surprise for me and low stress all around.


      So after this mini gift opening preparation for the Christmas dinner begins. Our dinners have been cut down for years. No more aspic, five cup salad Christmas pudding, fruit cake and shortbread. We're  down to the basics. This year we decided to have duck with orange sauce. It was super. The pecan pie from the store finished things off nicely
     So we celebrated with a minimum of stress and enjoyed life.

Merry Christmas from Hiawatha House

To all readers and visitors:

MERRY CHRISTMAS

From Hiawatha House

Winter Solstice: Good times are ahead

       People look forward to the winter solstice. People count the days until winter solstice occurs because it means that things will turn around...the sun will shine for longer each day.

      For thousands of years man has observed the winter solstice. They may not have been too exact as the the correct date and various societies may not have agreed when the solstice exactly occurred. The solstice meant new life or rebirth. In many places it also meant the start of the really severe winter weather. 

     We have identified a serious problem that some people experience when the days grow shorter. It's called seasonal affective disorder or SAD. Some people respond to treatment with light. Others require drug therapy, but many just tough it out and feel miserable. Once the solstice occurs they gradually feel better.

     Since I was raised on the bald prairie I saw sunsets and sunrises as the sun appearing or disappearing above or below the horizon. I was keenly aware  of the amount of daylight we received. People in the past were agriculturists or hunter gatherers and lived much of their time outdoors. They observed the changes and organized their activities according to the amount of daylight received.

    I spent a total of five years in the Arctic. At this time of year the sun did not rise above the horizon. We had beautiful twilight for two to four hours a day. On the Mackenzie Delta the sun did not rise from about Dec. 3 to Jan. 8. We always celebrated in some way when the sun came back up over the horizon. The Inuit and aboriginals usually had customs which involved visiting and feasting during the dark time. It was difficult to travel with limited light and trapping was a challenge because the animals were less active.

     So today I feel that it is a milestone. I can look forward to nicer times as there will be longer daylight and some warmer times. I just feel more cheerful. I hope you feel cheerful and happy as well.

Blue Christmas: Not all Christmas celebration is bright and happy

       For some people the Christmas season can bring sadness and in some cases great sadness. This phenomenon has always been recognized. Recently more is being done to recognize the situation and  deal with it in a formal public way.

      For some people this time of year brings stress and with that stress a degree of sadness. There is a tremendous hype related to Christmas. We have various gatherings to celebrate and enjoy the season. Some people may have difficulties financially because of obligations they feel they have to make. With all the celebrating going on it is more difficult to cope when one is really sad.

     Some people have lost a very significant person in their life and when the Christmas season arrives they are brutally reminded of their loss. In my previous post I told how Mike had dropped in and we talked about his wife and what they would be doing if she was still here. Mike is missing Eileen terribly at this time of year. This is the second Christmas for another friend whose husband died in July of 2009. Christmas is a sad time as she is reminded again of her loss.

     Some churches now have a Blue Christmas service for those who celebrate in a religious way. It helps when people with common situations can come together and formally observe their loss. The rest of us have to be mindful of those who have experienced losses recently and speak about the person who has died.

    Other people are advised to try to think not so much of themselves but concentrate on other activities. This is extremely difficult to do but it will work as if one takes the self out of the situation they may be able to concentrate on the joy involved in the season.

    One of my fellow bloggers has shared the story that they do not celebrate Christmas. The lack of celebration allows one member of the family to cope and not suffer severe depression. They are much happier because of the change.

    The song " I'm having a blue Christmas without You" certainly expresses the feeling that people can be sad at this time of year. I like Elvis's version best. I can't find when the song was originally written, but many people have recorded a version.

     I have never recognized a blue Christmas in myself, but I think some seasons have been less happier than others.

    So to those who are down at this time of year, there are people who are aware of your pain and wish that things could be better. Let me know if you have had a blue Christmas and what can be done to help a person during this season.

Christmas Food

        Last evening my friend Mike dropped in for a visit. Mike lost his wife in May and we got talking about the food they prepared for Christmas. He mentioned how they worked together to make lifte. I had never heard of lifte and was too embarrassed to ask him what it was. I went to wikipedia this morning to check. So lifte is a Norwegian flat bread. There are several different recipes for it and it is made by several ethnic groups. The preparation and baking of this food is some what involved. Eileen prepared the batter and did the rolling and Mike did the cooking. A special flat type of skillet is used for the cooking. In the old days of wood cook stoves the batter was cooked directly on the stove surface. I have never eaten lifte, but now I'm looking forward to trying some.

      When I went to highschool 75% of my classmates were Mennonite. Mennonites make something which is special called pfeffernusse which were roughly called pepper nuts in English. . It's a small ball shaped cookie which has ginger, cinnamon, cardamon and pepper.  All the kids would bring pepper nuts to school and trade them. Each of their mothers had a little different recipe so that was the reason for exchanging. They were very kind and supplied me with these treats. I've never forgotten how they shared this special Christmas treat with me.

     One seventh grade boy I taught raved about "holy bolley" . I'm not sure how it's spelled and he didn't know either. I also tried to search on the net for this so obviously my spelling isn't even close. He described the goody which he made with his grandpa. I'm sure that for this boy the enjoyment was from working with grandpa to make the special Christmas goody that they shared with family and friends. 

     A grade seven girl I taught was a very able baker. At Christmas time she would have a little bag of baked goods that she would give to each of her teachers. I will never forget the look in her eyes as she would give these bags of Christmas baking to her teachers. She truly experienced the wonderful feeling of giving. For the next two years I was remembered at Christmas with wonderful treats this girl baked and gave to us.

     Now I know that there must be thousands of Christmas cook books. Ethnic communities that celebrate Christmas have their special recipes. Any Granny who celebrates Christmas probably has a thousand good recipes in her head. One of the ways we celebrate Christmas is through food we share with one another.

    Now if my daughter was in on this topic she would go into great historical detail as to the origins of each food and the symbolic meaning. There's so much more than just the eating of good food.

    I hope you are able to enjoy the good Christmas food and also partake in the meaning of sharing these seasonal  foods.