Feeling Sorry for Winterlude

So here in Ottawa we have a yearly winter festival called winterlude.

Hilariously enough, it seems that every year when winterlude begins the weather always seems to heat up. Great for some of us; terrible for others. Personally I don’t mind the increased temperatures, despite the fact that it usually comes with rain, slush, and gloomy days. That being said it’s currently above freezing and that puts a smile on my face.

To the point however! A big part of the this yearly festival is an international ice-sculpting competition. Some years bring out more sculptures than others, but every year it is amazing to see what people can create out of a block or two of ice. I was fortunate enough to see some of the sculptures before Mother Nature decided to play her yearly miss-timed April’s Fool joke.

I was speaking to a friend in regards to said ice sculptures to which she told me she always felt sorry for them, similar to how she felt about a certain lamp in a certain IKEA commercial. (If you haven’t seen it, a lamp is thrown out, and through sad music, panning in and out, and terrible weather conditions, we, the viewer, begin to feel for the curbside piece of metal) I asked myself how one could feel as bad for a lamp as an ice sculpture. How could one feel bad for either? The creator of the lamp and similarly the ice sculptures, sure, but the inanimate objects themselves? Amazing how we do however. I too even felt bad. That being said, my sympathies will certainly go to the ice. The ice, with time, will melt. The image of a grasshopper minatore will not longer put a twisted smile on the faces of the passing children. The country of France will have nothing to show for their efforts except a photograph and a ribbon with the number 1 on it. Where as the lamp, will simply remain a lamp. Whether curbside, or bedside, the lamp will always be a lamp. Perhaps even the home of some small garbage dwelling squirrel or chipmunk. Perhaps it will find better days as a decoration for a hobo. It may be even be pickup by a passerby and once again be used as a lamp. Feel if you must for these creations, but always remember, there will be other lamps, as I assure you there will be other half melted winterlude ice sculptures.

The snow sculptures however, they deserve no sympathy.