Kathleen Lippa
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (May 24/04) - Sure it was cold outside for Hamlet Day May 6 in Baker Lake, but Florence Nagyougailik, 11, wasn't.

"Nice and warm:" Florence Nagyougailik, 11, of Baker Lake dressed up for Hamlet Day, May 6. - photo courtesy of Lyall Ford

In a caribou skin amutiq made by Martha Tickie, caribou skin mitts, a beaded head piece, and sealskin kamiks, Florence said she was "nice and warm," and enjoyed all the games in celebration of her hometown, a place she has lived all her life.

Florence is in Grade 5, and a straight "A" student.

Her best subjects are the ones where she gets "to make things," and her mother (who worried she was boasting too much about her family) says her daughter has the talent to be an artist one day if she wants to be.

Florence has even started really getting into the accordion which she says she plays "a little bit," but it takes time and practise to push those buttons, and sometimes her fingers can't reach all those notes.

Her mother, Barbara, has started getting out there, playing the accordion in public.

"I'm coming out of my shell!" Barbara said on the phone from the family home in Baker Lake.

Music is a big part of the family's life. But so are sports.

When it comes to having fun, Florence likes square dancing and playing outside.

She likes watching hockey, not playing it. She leaves the game in the capable hands of her talented father, Ronnie; and her brother, Solomon, who returned from the Arctic Winter Games this year more convinced than ever that he wants to go professional and make it into the NHL.

Florence also has two sisters, Valerie, 7; and a baby sister, Anne Rose.

Barbara, the typical proud mom, hesitates to talk about her family too much because she knows too much pride is not good. But she can't help mentioning that her mother was an artist, her father a carver.

Florence may follow that path, but her young daughter has many years ahead of her.

"I like drawing," Florence said. "Mostly faces. It comes from my imagination. And from the old days. I use a pencil. And pencil crayons for colours."

She isn't a bad young model of traditional clothing, either.

Last week, wearing the caribou skin amutiq, caribou mitts and borrowed scarf, Florence came in third place at school in a traditional clothing contest.

But normally she dresses like any other Grade 5 student anywhere in Canada.

"I get my parka and snow pants at the store," she said.