On this day in Qaanaaq (a few years ago, now) it was -35.7 Celsius. Yep, got the photo to prove it.
It was quite normal to hit the minus 30s and of course, life went on. Just colder. I’m pretty sure that’s Baffin Bay behind me. 😉
Chris
greenland
The Ice Breaker Quandary – free story!
Here’s the Author’s Note for The Ice Breaker Quandary. I think it accurately describes what you’re letting yourself in for if you read this story.
The Ice Breaker Quandary is a short story featuring Constable Petra Jensen. It fits into the Greenland Missing Persons series, but can be read independently of that series.
You might recognise some additional characters, but this short story also introduces David ‘Dave’ Bennett, and was written as part of a reward for a Kickstarter campaign.
One word of warning… given the nature of this high stakes story, Petra is a little more intense than usual. And if this is your first introduction to Petra, well… Yeah, okay, I’ve got nothing. Good luck!
The Ice Breaker Quandary takes the Greenland Missing Persons series to a whole new level of quirkiness. Normal quirkiness (and a darker tone) will resume in the next book in the series.
Not quite a Ferrari!
Speed has never been my thing. My dream car has always been a Land Rover Defender, short wheel base. No, it’s never going to happen. But it’s still my dream car/truck/whatever. But in Greenland this was my Land Rover. 🙂
It came in several parts, and parts were never a problem. Although, getting all the moving parts to move, at the same time … yeah. Okay. That was a problem.
The gorgeous fella closest to the sledge is Vitus, Named after Vitus Bering, the Danish cartographer who worked for the Russians. That’s another story. But the Vitus in my team was a fantastic dog with a great personality. He did have a darker side though. I have a half-moon reminder of Vitus in the form of a scar on my right forearm. During a moment of excitement before a trip, the dogs had one of their pecking order spats, and I waded into the fray to try and remind them who I thought was boss.
They disagreed.
Vitus disagreed with his teeth.
To be fair to Vitus, he was going for Trip, or Piska – I don’t remember who. I just happened to get in the way.
Vitus bit through the sleeve of my insulated boiler suit, a thick fleece, thick fleece shirt, and a set of thermals.
I felt nothing.
It was -25C that day.
But I can tell you, I felt it after the trip. When back home and peeling out of very cold, very stiff layers, I discovered the blood, and the teeth marks.
Now, I guess the bite might have healed nicely if I hadn’t picked at it, but it was one of those learning moments I didn’t want to forget.
Chris
Kaffemik!
I’ve mentioned the Greenlandic tradition of the kaffemik before, and it features heavily in my books. In a nutshell, a kaffemik is a celebration open to the whole community in which family, friends, and literally people passing by, can come in and celebrate a person’s birthday, confirmation, or anniversary. Usually the guest gives a small gift to the person being celebrated and then cycles through three tables.
The first table is the savory treats with plenty of fish, frozen narwhal liver, walrus meat, polar bear meat, strips of dried whale meat, delicate strips of dried halibut – Jane’s favourite, and even chunks of blubber. In Uummannaq this was often served on a table in the kitchen, or even outside. In Qaanaaq we often sat on the floor and tucked into the most amazing fresh produce served on flat pieces of cardboard. Often there was a knife and you took turns to cut fresh chunks of raw meat from a freshly caught fish, for example.
I often left Jane at table one while I settled into table two – cakes and coffee! Amazing cakes, and really strong coffee.
Table three was for liqueurs and chocolates. I often thought of this table as the place where the hobbits from Tolkien’s world would fill in the corners. I also once got a call from Jane at work wondering if I had reached the liqueurs yet, and if I hadn’t then I definitely shouldn’t as there had been an emergency and they might need my blood at the hospital.
The rule of thumb is that you can stay seated at a table for as long as you like, but during busy periods at the kaffemik it is polite to move from one table to the next to make room for more guests.
The photo above is from our house in Qaanaaq when Jane celebrated her birthday with a kaffemik. It was kind of a kaffemik-light as we skipped over tables one and three, but the light was the most important part of this kaffemik. February 18th was the day the sun came back! The photo below is a last glimpse of the sun for the brief moment it appeared that day. But from the moment it first returns, the sun sticks around for 30 minutes more every day.
Pilluaritutsi Jane amma Lise!
And it’s just possible that this happened today!
The bridges of Qaanaaq county
Uummannaq has staircases – lots of them. Qaanaaq has bridges. I don’t remember ever seeing much water in the streams bisecting the village, but the bridges were handy.
The ice cap is just beyond the top of the ridge in the background. But if you turn around and look the other way, you see sights like this:
February is a busy time on the ice.
Yep, that’s still Herbert Island in the distance.
Chris
Valentine’s Day – four years later!
So this is pure indulgence, but before Seven Graves, One Winter, this happened:
“Konstabel Brongaard,” the officer said and stepped forward. “My name is Premierløjtnant Vestergaard. I’m the investigating officer for your case and you are now in my custody,” Vestergaard said and waved the policeman forward. “Cuff her, Maratse.”
Fenna watched the Greenlander as he walked towards her. About the same height as Fenna, he wore the classic Greenlandic look of casual indifference together with a matching swagger. Fenna studied him as he approached. She glanced at Vestergaard and then flicked her eyes back to the policeman. He is Greenlandic. He understands this place. She allowed herself a breath as Bahadur let go of her arm. He might understand me.
This is from Chapter 2 of The Ice Star, and it is Constable David Maratse’s first appearance in any of my books. He was a side character, but things took off from there.
I feel as though we’ve known each other a while now, but he’s still rather aloof, and still not very talkative. Although, every now and again, he has one of his loquacious moments, usually when I’m trying to describe something Greenlandic, and Maratse takes over and talks about it.
Anyway, four years ago on Valentine’s Day 2018 I self-published Seven Graves, One Winter, and the rest is history.
Damn, that sounds cheesy, but it’s true. 🙂
Talking of cheesy romantic stuff… cue silly “Arctic couples” selfie.
