Ol' Solstice Day

Yesterday was Summer Solstice, and National Aboriginal Day, so there was lots going on in downtown Whitehorse. I went down first thing in the morning, got my new $10 bike ready to ride, then went over to the government offices on main street.

This is the Head Chief for the Yukon Territory.


This is another important person, with Robin taking her picture.


The GG again.

Okay, then the bizarre portion of the day commenced. Right off the bat, there was a bannock baking contest. Somehow, and I really don't know how, my hosts convinced me to enter. I've eaten bannock maybe a half dozen times, and never ever baked it. My first experience with a deep fryer had been the night before when we had made some delicious curry coconut giant shrimp that required they be deep fried. So, bannock is definitely not my forte. After a few seconds of scrabbling around, finding someone who had a recipe, and memorizing it, I found myself equipped with measuring cups, a bowl, a spoon, and that is all.

Here's me learning the recipe. No crib notes were allowed, it had to come straight out of your head.

Moments later... Many of the people you see in this lineup of contestants are related to each other, strangely. This one family decided they'd all give it a whirl. I'm standing between family members here, and the woman to the left of the man beside me is his mother, I think. Talk about stacking the odds!


The chaos ensues!


The GG getting in on the action

A hilarious time for all. See that little piece of dough on the plate? That is one of my attempts at bannock.



Getting ready, getting ready!

Dropping the little guys to the judges. Here I am praying that my bannock doesn't make them ill.

The brave judges. Look at the expressions of delight on their faces!


The intrepid GG trying it out.


You can tell she loves it.


The judges deliberating. I have no idea what the criteria are for bannock, which may be why mine turned out looking like a deep fried raisin biscuit and the others looked more like fritters or doughnuts.

Everybody's a winner in the bannock baking contest!


See? I got a prize too, another one for my also-ran collection! This side says National Aboriginal Day.

Yup. "Bannock Baking" Contest indeed. I wonder if those scare quotes are there on the winners' medallions.

For those of you who have stumbled on to this site and don't know me, the whole prospect that I would enter a public contest to do something I have no clue how to do is really bizarre. I have to admit that once the nerves calmed down, it was pretty fun!

But that was only the beginning of the day. I still haven't taken any pictures of 2 mile hill, generally because I'm too busy trying to breathe and keep my heart in my chest to think of it, but I will. Anyway, after bannock came the hill on my new bike. Low blood sugar, the hill and jangled nerves were no match for my new bike. It should have go-faster stripes on it, it was so fantastic to ride.

Speaking of stripes, the White Stripes are coming to Whitehorse next friday. Why? I don't know, but I figured I'd put my name in the hat to see if I could win tickets to go. It would be fun even if I'm not the biggest fan. I might go anyway, just to photograph the hullaballoo outside the Arts Centre before they start.