The Super Bowl and its fans departed the Twin Cities last week, but the St. Paul Winter Carnival continued. On a cold night we wandered to downtown St. Paul where the ice sculptures were on display, along with this year’s star attraction, an ice palace. The weather has cooperated with the Winter Carnival this year, and all the attractions were still in their frozen shape (as opposed to the melting we’ve experienced in other years). A huge ice palace was built this year and was dominant over the other activities. This cold night brought many people out to admire the structure. During the day when the sun has been shining and had some warmth, people have placed pennies in the large ice blocks. The other “item” of note in the palace was the frozen walleye that was in one of the blocks on the south side. The good news, per St. Paul Winter Carnival folklore, is that once again Vulcanus Rex and his Krewe have dominated over King Boreas, and winter will end and warmer weather will be on the horizon.
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Winter Carnival snow sculptures
While there’s been much excitement and numerous events throughout the Twin Cities with the Super Bowl game in town, many of our usual winter activities continue as they do in other years. One of them, the St. Paul Winter Carnival, is in full swing. Our weather has been wintry so the carnival’s timing is perfect for ice palaces and snow sculptures. I wandered through the Vulcan Park snow sculptures at the State Fairground the other night. It was cold and light flurries were starting to fall. The sculptures were lit with changing colors and there were children and adults enjoying the evening. This wonderful sculpture entitled “Eggloo” caught my eye with the broken egg shell and the young chick being sheltered under the wing. On the other side of the park was a giant snow slide and I could hear the squeals and shrieks as people climbed on their sleds and flew down the slide. All a part of winter enjoyment!
A tale of two snowfalls
The dawn was cloudy and gray this morning. After the first light the snow started to fall; small and delicate, the flakes floated slowly to the ground. There wasn’t much wind, so their gracefulness was beautiful. Within a few hours the snow stopped and the clouds cleared. This was a direct contrast to the snowfall we had earlier in the week. With winds up to 40 mph and snow falling at over an inch per hour, those blizzard conditions were anything but quiet and peaceful. That snowfall accumulated to 10 inches; today’s was a light dusting.
A welcome January thaw
The morning dawned quietly. There was little wind and the air was unusually warm for mid-winter. But we’ve been enjoying the ubiquitous January thaw the past few days – temps have climbed into the 30’s and even 40’s, people walk around without their coats, and melting and dripping are common sounds. We were out for a drive, rounded a corner, and this lovely lake outlet was open water. The mallard ducks were startled by our sounds and they quickly took flight. But the stillness of winter was evident in the reflection of the trees in the water and the large piece of ice that hadn’t given up to the warmth just yet.
Dawn and the waning moon
There’s a delicious quiet that permeates dawn when the ground is covered with snow and the temperature hovers at 15 below zero. The rest of the world is slumbering and keeping warm. But the dawn awakens with a pink and orange glow on the far horizon, slowly trying to chase the waning moon from its low position in the sky. The dawn’s light gradually becomes brighter and the moon’s light fades. Sunlight is short this morning as the clouds move in after a couple of hours, followed by rising temperatures above zero and then snow blows across the landscape. The beauty and quiet of dawn seems a distant memory.
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