Lake Harbour (Dec 22/03) - Brushing the frost from the small window of the plane, Saa Qutaiquq suddenly pointed frantically to the snow covered land and sea below.

Saa Qutaiquq outside the plane after arriving home to Kimmirut. She was ecstatic. - Kathleen Lippa/NNSL photo

"The sea ice, it looks beautiful," she said softly. "It's trying to make ice. Soon it will be nice," she continued, making a smoothing-out motion with her hands.

On the other side of the small Kenn Borek plane, which seats about 18 people, another conversation raged between a journalist and a geologist about the science behind the freeze up.

For Qutaiquq, this short 30 minute flight was more than just a day trip. It was her only visit home to Kimmirut this year, and her first plane ride in 18 years.

"I am so nervous," Qutaiquq said, putting her hands on her chest.

Last year, Qutaiquq travelled from Iqaluit to Kimmirut by Ski-Doo.

It was a pretty smooth trip for the most part, she said. It took about six days.

"But oh, it was so cold," she said.

Iqaluit has been home for Qutaiquq for the last 30 years or so. Getting to Kimmirut isn't easy for her.

When she heard about the trip arranged by the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Society for the opening of the Soper House art gallery, she signed up for the charter.

Loaded with bags of gifts for her family in Kimmirut, Qutaiquq boarded the plane, full of emotion.

She talked of jumping on the back of a snowmachine as soon as she got to town, and all the people she wanted to see.

Qutaiquq did not attend the gallery opening. Although it may have seemed to visitors that the entire community of Kimmirut turned out for the festivities, many had their own family gatherings booked long before -- feasts at home and Ski-Doo trips around the hilly town.

At day's end, Qutaiquq turned up breathless outside the plane, as the Northern Lights almost made a straight line above the plane and beyond.

"I saw everybody," she said with a laugh. "It was nice, but too short."