Second chance

So I had a rant set-up for this evening because I had a fairly frustrating day. And hey, I had at least one brilliant phone exchange today that simply needs to be repeated to be believed. But that's for tomorrow. Because as crappy as the day was, it took a turn for the better around 6 p.m. That's when Jen dropped me a line with some good news.

Some of you might recall that I vented a bit last month about not getting the Cape Dorset print we wanted at the sale here in Iqaluit. I'd resigned myself to not getting the print when Jen dropped me a line. She told me that Cape Dorset itself wasn't having their print sale until November. However, she wasn't really going to bother since there was nothing there this year that caught her eye.

I dropped her a line and did some polite grovelling, asking if she wouldn't mind going to the sale and get the print we wanted for us and that we would happily send her a cashier check to cover the cost. Jen did one better. She talked to the gallery and they agreed to let her act as my proxy. She could try and win the print. If she did, she would just give them my name. I'd call the next day, give them my credit card info and we'd get the print.

So today was the big day. Jen went to the show, drew #7 (meaning she picked 7th) and lo and behold, look what happened:



Owls and Moonlight by Ningeokuluk Teevee is now ours. And, as an added bonus, it's print #50 of 50. I don't know if it means anything, but it's pretty cool.

Just for the record, so is Jen. That's an awfully nice thing she did for us, although she told me she had a blast. I guess there is something nice about getting to win something, but not actually have to pay for it. She had fun, and I'm glad.

We now just have to figure out what we're going to do with it. Nobody in Iqaluit can frame it. I think there might be a couple of people around town who do some framing, but that's mostly posters and whatnot. This requires some special material to make sure the print is preserved properly.

We'd considered shipping it to Ottawa, get a framing company there to do it and we could pick it up on our way back from vacation. But I've heard framers in Ottawa are expensive and trying to get the frame and matte board straightened out over the phone and email would be challenging.

Barring any last minute changes, we'll probably ship it to Cathy's folks. The print is probably too big for them to handle (they run a small framing business), but they know people who could do the job for a reasonable price. Plus, they could help in picking the matte.

Anyway, it's all details. I'm sure it'll work out fine, although it might be awhile before we get to see it. The important thing is we got the print.

Thanks again, Jen. You know, this is a pretty cool little northern blogging community we have going here.

Last Five
1. Nothing and nowhere - Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton
2. Wicked girl - Band of Horses
3. Don't walk past - Blue Peter* (Can't resist some good old early 80s New Wave)
4. Northwest passage - Stan Rogers
5. Exit - U2