A Wonderful Weekend

Well ladles and jellyspoons,

This weekend was quite lovely. I reconnected with a friend I haven't seen in months. Unforgiveable since she and I live in the same city, and easy bus ride away. In any case, we decided to take a tour of Confederation Park to view the ice sculptures that were being erected in honour of Winterlude.

Winterlude, for those who do not live in Canada's capital, is a festival dedicated to winter, to all things ice and snow. There's an ice hotel which you can stay at, ice sculptures to see, winter fun parks (slides and snow castles and so forth). It's a great time, and a good excuse to get out of the house on a cold winter's day.

Yes, it's cold, but as long as you dress for it, you should have a wonderful time, as indeed I did.

I tried Maple Taffy in the Snow for the first time. Basically, it hot maple syrup poured over snow and then rolled onto a popsicle stick. It's chewy and sweet and warm. Delicious!

If ever you're in Ottawa for Winterlude, I strongly suggest seeing the ice sculptures at night. There's something magical about it. It might be the lights....

Here are some photos of the event (all photos courtesy of my friend):


Urban art. This cute little guy was crafted with 100% recyclable plastics.

Fire and Ice. This ice sculpture of a Chinese dragon breathed fire.
Niiice!









Watching the sculptors work was fascinating. This sword-bearing mermaid is almost done, the artist was working on her other arm.

This beautiful pair of butterflies were sculpted by a man who came in from France. Aren't they gorgeous?










No, it's not the Loch Ness monster. This is Ogopogo, a mythical creature from British Columbia (on the west coast of Canada). It has existed in First Nation mythology for centuries, and its first reported sighting by Euopeans pre-dates the Loch Ness monster by some 80 years.
A dragon fan, this sculpture really caught my attention!






Still under construction, but this one was simply too beautiful not to capture.

A Faerie! Of course I love this one!










And one more dragon, because I'm such a dragon nut.










There are many more ice sculptures that my friend has photos of, but I can't rightly upload them all... there are so many! If ever you get the opportunity, go see the ice sculptures at Winterlude. My goodness they are gorgeous!

My friend and I retired at around 8:30ish for some pizza and wine, and thence to her place for some Wii Super Mario Brothers. That was a blast, though I have to say, I'm really not good with computer games! Sorry Tri!

Sunday I slept all day.

That was my wonderful weekend. How was yours?

P.S. - still no news from Tor, but that's alright as I've been so busy working on The Seraphimé Saga, time has whizzed passed and I've barely even cared. A word to the wise, while waiting for representation, keep writing!