Text 3853, 94 rader
Skriven 2006-07-26 21:49:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: Wedding Daze 1
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We have just had a most glorious five day celebration. It started
Thursday with a gathering of the clans, then a birthday celebration on
Friday, the wedding Saturday, followed by another (midnight) birthday
party. Sunday and Monday were more relaxed and less structured but
equally enjoyable.

Among those gathered for the wedding: Ray's father and step mother, plus
his paternal grandparents, Michelle's parents, a sister, her husband and
two kids from Winnipeg, Roslind's mom and stepfather, one old high
school friend each, plus the local crew. 30 of us in all. And of course
at the reception later, another several dozen aunts, uncles, cousins,
friends and coworkers converged.

Michelle's dad, Leo Letourneau, is a most charming and erudite
polylingual professor of education. I'm not sure if his undergraduate
studies were in religion,language, history, music or possibly all four
as he seems equally knowledgeable in all these fields. His knowledge of
music is both eclectic and extensive, from French and Spanish medieval
folk songs through 19th century opera to 20th century pop. A fascinating
conversationalist and an entertaining addition to any party.

Grandfather Helge Eskelson was a pioneer bushpilot who lived in
Yellowknife for much of his career starting in 1945, the first year the
gold mines were open full time. His wife Lois is one of the founding
members of the Daughters of the Midnight Sun which started off as a
service organization and is now a historical society. (She made a
donation of some much appreciated artifacts to the museum while she was
here.) The Daughters, among other things, built a free public bath house
back when there were about 6 women here and 1200 men, most of whom lived
in tents or shacks without plumbing. They also initiated the Festival of
the Midnight Sun which still runs every summer solstice. Most of their
children were born here including Ray's dad. Together they have a wealth
of colourful stories about the primitive early days of Yellowknife.

(The six women were Lois, the first doctor's wife who was a nurse, the
mine manager's wife, an early merchant's wife and two single women who
both owned small restaurants and were VERY successful hookers and
bootleggers... but I digress.)

Michelle's niece, Natasha, is Neekha's age and equally smart, pretty and
sassy. They hit it off really well and in tandem are quite a force of
nature.

On Thursday we gathered at Ray and Michelle's house where they pulled
off a barbecue for 30 with little apparent effort. Michelle is a
wonderful cook and Ray a competent grill man. For the benefit of both
the southerners and nostalgic ex-northerners alike there was a lot of
country food: wild bison and caribou steaks, bison and caribou
kabobs and grilled whitefish fillets together with a pair of exquisite
mesclun and avocado spinach salads, vegetable kabobs, homemade sourdough
French bread and for dessert, grilled fruit kabobs including spiced
fresh apricots which were quite an interesting taste treat. Ray Senior
and Leo had both brought several single malt whiskies each so a
comparative tasting was called for. There were several other items to
eat and drink but those were the highlights.

Friday was our turn to do supper for 30. We grilled too but so as not to
be repetitive we did three kinds of beef strip steaks (peppercorn,
teriyaki and chipotle), marinated chicken legs, grill roasted potatoes
and a large side of baked lake trout in the grill. I opened a few
bottles of Primitivo to go with the steaks. For after, rather than more
whisky, I dusted off a bottle of Aura's best Dominican rum which I have
been saving for two years, my oldest port and the best sherry that the
Yellowknife wine stores could provide which after some consideration was
the Williams and Humbert Walnut Brown. (Fido people may recall I started
taste testing all the available brands a couple of months ago). It was
Michelle's birthday so Roslind whipped up a triple layer rich chocolate
Devil's food cake and a Black forest cake both of which Neekha garnished
with wild raspberries. The first of many champagne toasts were made. We
were awash in champagne for the next three days.

The weather was perfect for an outdoor wedding Saturday: sunny, a light
breeze and temps in the high 20s. We had originally planned to hold it
high atop Pilot's Monument Hill, a park at the summit of the highest
point of land in the city, a block from their house. But we doubted if
Roslind's parents could make the ascent as Hank has had recent knee
surgery and Olive was frailer than she was a year ago. So we switched to
the deck of the house at the last minute. It's off the highest (third)
floor and has a panoramic view of Yellowknife Bay, the Old Town landing,
some float plane bases and the marina to the west, our oldest restaurant
the Wildcat Cafe which is housed in an old log cabin to the north and
Pilot's monument to the east.

The ceremony was flawless. Neekha and Natasha almost upstaged the bride
by being just too damned cute. Ray and Michelle had written their own
vows which had a few interesting twists to the standard ceremonies. They
promised to do no wrong to each other and if they inadvertently did, to
work "relentlessly and untiringly" on undoing the damage. They also
pledged to be passionate and to maintain the passion throughout their
lives as well as the usual cherish and honour bits.

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