Winter and Wonderland

It's been a busy weekend at our house, what with the trying on of rock climbing harnesses, the eating of Chinese buffet, the purchasing of silk ties for a five-year-old who has a newly-engaged uncle, and the Over-Excited Spending of the Holiday Cash. My kids have only been to Toys R Us once before, and that was to pick out a present for a cousin, so the Spending of the Gift Cards was an event worthy of a lot of capital letters.

It is sweet to say that the Tie Purchasing Bonanza was met with nearly equal excitement to the loooong choosing of the perfect Transformer in the prior store. Son has told me that, ideally, he would like to start wearing ties every day -- well, at least every day that there is a tea party at school, for a start. (There is a tea party once a year; the boys wear ties; Son has never owned a tie and felt sadly under-dressed at last year's fete.) In a fit of DIY creativity, mixed with aversion to all things polyester, I decided to let Son choose a real tie from the men's rack in a pattern small enough that I could simply cut the tie down to the right length for him. He is delighted with his Williamsburg blue silk tie, and wants it shortened immediately. The wedding for which he will need to wear this will not occur until May, so I'm stalling as much as I can, in the hopes that he will not stain the thing beyond all wearing before we even get to New York for the nuptials.

We also went to a nearby ice festival. This is, obviously, the right thing to do when the temperature is in the teens and the ice-carving teams hail from as far away as Japan. The weather was not as cold as it often is in mid-January here, so some of the ice was not quite as clear as I have seen it in the past. Nonetheless, the sculptures were pretty incredible.

There were animals of all descriptions, glimmering in the afternoon light, dashing away from us, loping towards us, or howling at the moon. The pack of wolves someone had sculpted around a real tree was wonderful, but unfortunately was situated at the edge of the park, so that is was only possible to photograph with lots of bright distracting cars for a background. The beauty of this ice really is best appreciated with a very neutral background, since its translucence picks up so much that is distracting in colors.

Still, this hefty moose moseyed along unawares,

while his neighbor cow just begging to be stared down.

There were race cars.

And a simple guitar that was astonishingly clear. One must wonder how it is possible first to freeze ice so clear and then how on earth one could carve, scratch and sculpt it while retaining the clarity.

But my very favorite of all was an enormous mermaid, rising nearly ten feet above a sea of frozen waves, icy hair streaming in the winter wind, hands raised, as if in thanksgiving towards the brilliant blue heavens.

Art indeed. And what could be better than an art show attended in snow pants and followed up by hot chocolate and hot soup? It's not quite a gallery opening, but so much more family-awe-inducing.