We had our official opening last Thursday, for a couple hours in the afternoon. I chained myself to the oven on Wednesday and baked (in addition to feeding clients), cookies, cake, scones, bannock etc. We cleaned and made sure the word got out. We decided to keep it short and simple, an opening prayer (everything opens with a prayer up here) and the local MLA, Levi Barnabas (his wife gave the prayer) said a few words and cut the ribbon along with my father and mother-in-law.
Then people toured around the building, and scarfed down coffee, tea and baking. Everyone had positive things to say.
There were quite a number of kids there, and I had to reign in my inner curmudgeon as they were climbing up the outside of the stair case and sliding down the maple treads, taking Travis toys for a tour and a couple of them kept pulling his bike out from the water tank room and trying to ride it. (Breath, breath. Go to your happy place, go to your happy place, go to… GET OFF THE GOD DAMN STAIRCASE!!… ahh my happy place)
All the baking went, and people left with their hunger and curiosity satiated. All in all, a grand Opening. And as a bonus, we had a family picture taken….
Comments
17 responses
Congratulations on finally getting the house finished!
Congrats from me too Clare, also for your tolerance and self control!
Hey Clare,
*WOW* Congratulations!!!:-)Looks GREAT:o)
I found myself both choked up and grinning when I read this. It has been so cool to be part of your journey! Congrats!
Excellent work! I can hardly wait to come up there and ride the bike and slide down the staircase myself. Aren’t you supposed to indulge your guests? Especially us foreigners who don’t know the local customs?
Clare, congratulations! This is very exciting. I’m hoping a book research trip will take me your way one day. By the way, the cake is beautiful! What does it say?
Clare, you have a gorgous family. You should be proud as it looks like you are in your family picture. Please explain the cake decorations
Clare, it looks fantastic. It would be beautiful no matter where it is, but it’s a whole league above many of the hotels within about 10 degrees of latitude that I’ve stayed in. I think this is a wonderful addition to Arctic Bay!
Thanks everyone for the kind words. The cake has our corporate symbol, or logo on it, created by yours truly. It is a stylized Gyrfalcon and the syllabics below say “Kiggavik” in inuktitut.
Clare–congratulations on the opening! Will you frame the family photograph and those of the opening to hang in the house where visitors can see them and reflect back in those future days to the changes since the first official day?
I love the corporate symbol – very elegant. Bravo and congratulations on the grand opening! Those of us who have followed your hard work and the love and enthusiasm for your life and family rejoice with you. Fantastic family photo – it shows how happy you are. All the best!
Sweet! Love the pics. Congrats on the grand opening. Hope you will be full all the time.
Love that light fixture in the last pic too, by the way!
Many congratulations, Clare! What a house!
Have you considered adding that cool logo to your blog? It’s mighty sharp.
Congrats! Also saw you in Nunatsiaq. Exciting times!
Wow, Clare, I didn’t check in for a few days, and you’ve gone a writing binge! Lucky for us!
Your place is gorgeous, the symbol is quite beautiful, but your family photo just knocks me out. Congratulations. Wishing you the absolute best.
Congratulations Clare! A handsome house and a very handsome family!
what a gorgeous house (like I knew it would be). Love the family photo, congrats on the grand opening Clare. Wishing you many more visitors in the future (and hoping one of them is me!)