Canada Day, for many reasons, personal and otherwise, is a very special day for me. It is now, but hasn’t always been, a bittersweet day, and a day of certain rituals. I miss one of the rituals, now that I am no longer a member of the Force. I miss dressing in Red Serge, not only for any parade or ceremony, I used to make a point of working, at least a couple of hours, in Red Serge. I’ve chased people through the bush and even attended stabbings in Red Serge, and there is nothing like the look on someone’s face when you pull them over, and get out of the car in Review Order. Kind of makes you feel like Gordon Pinset in the Forest Rangers (You’ll either get that or you won’t, probably depending on your age and country of youth).
Today started as a normal day, up early and at the House for work. Kind of different day, I did some reno work, re-framing a door that Paul had built, waaaay back when… three inches too narrow. The trouble with this job is after it was done, it didn’t really look as though I had done anything.
I need to go for a walk by myself on Canada Day, spend some time alone, and today was no exception. I left the House and headed off towards Uluksan Point, where there are some old qarmat (sod houses), but I never made it that far, and I turned back home at the cemetary.
The wildflowers seem to be behind schedule this year, and I’m not sure why. It seems to me that it has been warm so far this year, but on the other hand we have had a lot of rain again, and the lack of sun may be slowing things down, as while the air temperature may be warmish, the micro climate at ground level probably isn’t as warm as it could be without the suns rays. Pure speculation as I really don’t know. At any rate, there are a lot of Purple Saxifrage, however everything else is spotty. There were a lot of Lousewort (Wooly?)Pedicularis sp. out in front of the house. 
In the shadow of the hills above town I found some Arctic Heather Cassiope tetragona in bloom.
It tends to grow where the snow drifts accumulate and this spot was no exception. Arctic Heather is used as firewood here and I love seal cooked over heather on a rock. Heather has such fragrant smoke.
Over by the cemetary things had progressed a little farther. There were a fair amount of Arctic Poppy Papaver radicatum. Not near as many as at its height of flowering, but closer to normal here than elsewhere in town.
I also found some Arctic Dryad Dryas integrifolia, and a pretty white flower that I think may be a saxifrage.
After supper we went over to Victor Bay for the games. One of the things I love about Arctic Bay is how much people play. At Christmas time everyone gathers everynight for two or three weeks at the gym to play games. Likewise on special occassions, including birthdays and holidays. Victor Bay is about four kilometres away from town, over a pass in the hills. It is where many people camp for the summer, living here in tents. Shortly there will be forty or fifty tents set up here. People getting away from the hustle and bustle of Arctic Bay.
The games vary, and these included a firefighter race, where you had run around a truck, don the gear and knock over a board with a stream of water before your opponent. There were egg tosses, where the farthest successful toss to a partner won, a mini fishing derby for Sculpin and others. They went on until 1:00 am. There was also BBQ’d hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone.
The sculpin that they catch near shore through cracks is a pretty cool looking fish, with a large mouth and dark colours above, but an orange belly with white spots. Given its mouth and cryptic colouring I’d just bet it is an ambush predator.
The games may have gone on until one am, but Travis and I left earlier than that, shortly after the bonfire had started. 
The fog had moved in, it was much colder, and Travis was a pretty tired boy by this time. Leah stuck around and came within three strokes of a saw of winning one of the games.
Travis and I? Travis hit the bed and was asleep before I read him the second book, and I spent the rest of the evening in quiet comptemplation until Leah got home.
Happy Canada Day.