Party! Party!

So last Sunday was my birthday and it was a beautiful sunny day. First, I went on a hike to the Thule historical site and took some pics that I will put up once my internet speeds up one of these days.
I saw lots of inukshuks, a cabin and of course the Thule site, which is very isolated, but has beautiful scenery around it. It basically looks like a bunch of big grassy dips in the ground and you can see where they had tunnels for relatives to connect their houses to each other. The English part of the placard got pretty knifed up. Methinks perhaps someone has a grudge against the Southerners? Then we took a shortcut home, up and down the hills of rock. Rubber boots were not the greatest thing to be hiking with, especially because I could feel all the rocks under my feet, but they did end up being useful when one of the paths we were walking down was above my ankles in water and walled up by snow. So I would say 100% waterproof hiking boots would be ideal for Arctic summer hiking.
After our hike we went to Bill's to help him suture up his dog, Hudson. Hudson is the timid one of the pack, so Bill thinks he got picked on by the other dogs when they were fighting under the house. Maria, being a multi-talented nurse and dog-owner came to the rescue to fix up poor Hudson. My job involved holding down Hudson's legs, which was not an easy task. He had a gash down to the muscle on his inner thigh right near his...male part, so unsurprisingly the area was very sensitive. We also had a little helper, Kenny, one of the local kids who was in charge of giving caribou to Hudson to keep him occupied. Once we were done, we had a BBQ in front of Bill's house. We had Arctic char, shish kebabs and caribou ribs with wild rice. For dessert, Maria was sweet enough to make a pumpkin pie from scratch, which was delicious with whipped cream.
In the evening, the literacy students I had met the day before invited us for a game of the Settlers of Catan at Shane's (RCMP officer) place. I had never played it before, but it was lots of fun after I got the hang of it. It was the first time I've been accused of lying by an RCMP officer.

Surprise Party!
Today, we had a surprise retirement dinner for Shirley, one of the nurses whose worked here for 14years. So instead of seeing patients this afternoon, I was cutting cheese (ok that sounds wrong, but whatever) and peeling potatoes in the really tall guest nurse rooms upstairs, as in the ceiling is very high. It was tricky to keep it under wraps. She was confused why we canceled clinic for half the day today and why Maria said we couldn't do a telehealth today. Then Myrna, another nurse, got caught talking about the turkey she was making for the dinner. She covered by saying she was making it for Carole's birthday, which is conveniently this Sunday. But, somehow, even with all the clues we gave her, we were able to surprise her.
And of course I can't end without talking about dessert. Corey made an amazing ice cream sandwich cake that somehow survived staying in the fridge overnight. And Maria, the dessert queen, made a delicious trifle. It was a pretty epic dinner if I do say so myself.