Tag Archives: weather

Cold in the Cabin

It is a cold day today and I am glad I was provided with a teacherage to bring my family together. The girls have their rooms, and my wife does not have to deal young people coming in and out of our oldest daughters house.

It is 15 ᴼC, 23 with the windchill. My daughter and I were staying at the cabin while my wife and other daughter stayed at our oldest daughter’s house. Right now, I would be busy keeping the cabin warm for my daughter by making sure the fire was going. Having those thoughts reminds me of the struggles (my struggles) at the cabin we lived in at the trapline when I was a child.

The mornings were always cold, even if nimosōm put a fresh birch log in the stove to slowly burn through the night, it would be cold. There would be the odd time when the weather would be nice, but those days were few and far between. It was better than living in a tent, which we had done before the cabin was built, so it was good. A cabin beats an old canvas-tent anytime.

I was too young to make the fire at the time, but many times the fire would already be going by the time I got up. It was a nice surprise to wake up to. Nimosōm was already getting pretty old at the time but his pride would not stop him from being the man and taking care of what needed to be done. My father was the same way, when we moved into the house in Hall Lake, he made sure we always had firewood.

He would use his skidoo to get wood. Later as I got older, he would set up the wood in the bush and have me make the trips to haul the logs back to the house. Those were fun times because I got to use the snow machine. A few times I had to take my little brother because he was a King or something.

I am not sure what kind of chores my sisters did. I am not even sure if they did anything. I would ask, but I am sure they have some tall tales about how much work they did. Besides, I am sure they did not know what kind of chores I had to do, which included hauling water from the lake and chopping wood. I love my sisters of course, and I am sure they had much work to do, I just did not pay attention.

It is windy outside right now and maybe that is what is reminding me of the past. The crisp-cold air and icy wind would easily freeze the nose and earlobes. We always had plenty of knitted mitts and toques so we would be good and warm as long as we remembered to take them along. It would be easy to forget when it was not so cold and being excited to go sliding. It would not take long to realize we had to run and get the toques we needed and run right back to the hill for more fun sliding.

I remember my earlobes would freeze and later swell twice the thickness they were before and were quite tender. My mom would tell me I should have learned by then that I should remember the toque, at least I always remembered my mitts.

Today is November 11, 2020, Remembrance Day. A day to remember our veterans. Have a great day.

my grandfather – nimosōm

my mother:

nikāwiy

nimāmā (the way we say it here, northern sask)

my father;

nohtāwiy

nipāpā (the way we say it here, northern sask)

My younger sister and my younger brother (one term for both) – nisīmis

nimosōm owāskahikanis – grandfather’s cabin

thōtin – it is windy

tahkāyāw – it is cold

 

IMAGES:

Mitts – Image by Trang Le from Pixabay

Snowmobile image – Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Firewood – Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

It is winter – īpipohk

I did this video for my Facebook page last year. It came with no translation, but I decided to include it this year. The original comments show varying interpretations and they sound better than mine.

aski māna mithonākwan kā pipohk
kōna māna mithonākoso
īthikohk māna īwāpiskāk aski
āskō māna macikīsikāw
kā tōsāmi mispok, īyati āthimahk pimohtīhowin
nanisīhkāc kāpahkisihk kōna, kwayask mithonākoso
ikwānoma kwayask kitāti māmispok
nākatāpimisok nitōtīmak

The earth looks nice when it is winter
The snow looks beautiful
The earth is so white
Sometimes, the weather is bad
When it snows too much, travel is difficult
When the snow falls gently, it is very beautiful
Now it is going to start snowing more

Take care of yourselves, my friends

 

ī – miskwamīwik mīskanaw – The road is icy.

Past my vehicle, the driveway looks very dangerous,  I just have to be careful.

ī – miskwamīwik mīskanaw – The road is icy.

aswīthihta īkā kita sōskopathīyin miskwamīhk – Be careful not to slip on the ice.

 

Source – http://sapir.artsrn.ualberta.ca/itwewina/ 

I slipped on the icy driveway – ī – sōskopathiyān ita kā miskwamīwik mīskanās

I slipped under my vehicle today, hurt my shins, but it’s all good.

ī – sōskopathiyān ita kā miskwamīwik mīskanās – I slipped on the icy driveway (small road/trail)

Source – http://sapir.artsrn.ualberta.ca/itwewina/ 

 

tihkisiw kōna – The snow is melting

I stepped out and took this picture of my backyard.

tihkisiw kōna / kōna  tihkisiw – The snow is melting

ī – namihtāt atim – a dog has left tracks

nōkwan thīkaw – the sand is showing

 

Source – http://sapir.artsrn.ualberta.ca/itwewina/ 

Weather Terms in Woodland Cree (TH)

The following weather terms are in Woodland Cree. The audio clips are much clearer than before.

mispon – it is snowing


You can’t really tell but it is raining in the picture.

kimowan – it is raining


This picture was edited because I have no pictures of when it was hailing.

miskwamiy-pahkisin – it is hailing


kitowak – there is thunder (thunderbirds are calling)


wāsiskotīpatho – lightning storm


kaskawahkamin – it is foggy


Contributed by my cousin, Alice Roberts.

kaskawan – there is fog or mist


thikwaskwan – it is cloudy


wāsīskwan – sky is clear


thōtin – it is windy


tahkāyāw – it is cold


kīsopwīw – it is warm


kisāstīw – it is hot


athwāstin – it is calm


maci-kīsikāw – it is a miserable day



tahkithōwīw – there is wind chill

I took all the pictures shown on this post because I could not find an affordable stock online that I could use. I hope you enjoy this post, it took me a long time to get it done, but here it is.

Thank you for visiting.