This is your friend, Miak.  I hope this finds you well; I am doing good.  Now that The Long Day is nearly here, I can spend more time outdoors and help Father and Grandfather with the hunting and fishing.  It's not nearly as cold here, but the mosquitoes and "no-see-ums" can drive us batty.  They are really bad here!  (Yes, you can get mosquitoes, even up here in the Arctic!  We are not immune to their constant buzzing or annoyance!)

The only bad thing is this:  we don't see the northern lights as often.  O, they're still there; it's just you can't see 'em as well because of the sun being out nearly 20 hours a day.  If we do see 'em, it's only for a few hours before it starts getting light again and the sun reappears on the horizon.

All our family (and the dogs) are doing well: Mother, Father, Grandfather, Grandmother, even my brother Suhe (9) and sister Felicia, who is seven.  Then you also add Taniq, my cousin, who is three; she lives with us because her mother died last year from tuberculosis of the lungs.  So it's like I gained another sister.  

School ended last week; we are on summer break.  Don't know what we will do, but I will be helping my brother, Father,  and Grandfather with the hunting, repairing of the nets, fishing, and getting our traps ready and taking care of our twenty-plus sled dogs, to make sure they are fed, watered, and exercised every day.  

It is an explosion of color here on the Canadian tundra: the flowers and bushes are in full bloom and the wildlife is abundant.  Very pretty this time of year here in the Arctic.  

We may be going to the capital of Nunuvut for the Canada Day celebration, which is on July 1st.  We will be celebrating the arrival of summer with music, drumming, and singing, not to mention, dancing, plenty of food, and of course, parades, concerts, and fireworks.  I can't wait; I love the fireworks the best!

I will also be playing baseball and soccer with my brother and friends when I can get away from helping Father and Grandfather and taking care of my pesty little sister, as well as my little baby cousin, Taniq, who is 3 and is living with us.  I plan on getting a lot of fun in between the family duties.  

Too bad summer can't last longer; by August the days are already getting shorter, and the animals are already getting ready for the winter, gathering food and making their winter dens.  And that also means more responsibility as we get ready to set our traps and make sure our guns and stuff are in good working order to make sure we can get game for the winter.

Well, that's about all that is new here in Nunavut.  I will write in here again soon; until then, this is Miak  Ugliamakaquiak saying so long!  May the Great Spirit bless you!

~Miak.  :)

~To be continued.~