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Not Eudora
Snowman
Seeks Companions Seventeen years ago when my daughter Keely was in first grade she asked me to build a snow dinosaur. That simple, or not so simple, request has resulted in over sixty snow sculptures to date. Some day this snowman’s back will give out which means I need to find someone else to pass the snow sculpting torch on to. Snow sculpting is pretty easy to do providing you aren’t one of those people who think you should be able to pound out a Mozart concerto the first time you sit down at a piano. Here’s how I started. The winter before Keely’s
request I added two little paws (snow bulges really) and another bulge on the butt for a cotton tail. I was so pleased with my six foot rabbit that I posed my little boy beside it and took a picture. It was so warm that I didn’t even bother putting a coat on my son. That’s the kind of day to make a snow sculpture. Since Keely knew I could make a bunny I guess it didn’t seem so outlandish to ask for a dinosaur. The idea appealed to me too and I imagined a mighty snow tyrannosaur looming over the traffic below our house. I built a mighty pile of snow and waited for a thaw. The tyrannosaur I built did not loom over the traffic. It lay on its belly like an overgrown iguana with a bad overbite. The next year I felt compelled to make even more dinosaurs to atone for my iguanosaur. They weren’t a Mozart concerto either but they were better than chopsticks. The key was a heat wave. I’ve made sixty or more sculptures since that time. Every one, even the disappointments, has been a joy. There is something infectious about a big pile of snow mutating into artwork. Years ago I read an anecdote in Readers Digest. Tommy was busy building a snowman in the front yard when his parents got a call from an angry neighbor. Mom and Dad looked out the window and were horrified to see that Tommy had sculpted a well endowed snow woman. They called Tommy in and demanded to know what he was doing. “That’s just Billy,” Tommy told them, “putting his hands on his ears.” I’m a lonely snowman. Every now and then someone else will make a neat snow sculpture but we people in the Twin Ports waste way too much snow. Its time somebody did something about this. We need a city full of snow sculptors and that means a snow sculpture contest. Now, I’m not talking about a contest like up at Ely or on the snow sculpting circuit where professionals carve stuff out of big blocks of snow as though they were sculpting marble. It’s no fun trying to replace a fallen nose with cold dry snow. We’ve got to have our contest during a thaw when the noses are running. I propose that we hold a contest on the first thaw after the first snow of the winter. I would further propose that we have a category for 3 to 6 foot sculptures to encourage as many people as possible to give it a try. It could be just like the holiday lighting contest only safer. No one would have to risk falling off a ladder while hanging up holiday lights. And just like the lighting contest we should have an award for the neighborhood with the most sculptures. We’ve already had our first thaw of the winter but if anyone else thinks this is a good idea we could have our first “First Thaw” snow sculpting contest sometime after New Year’s. It might take place in late spring or it maybe even occur in mid-January. (I used to count on a big thaw every Super bowl weekend). It just depends on the weather. Whaddaya say? Is anyone with me on this? I’m looking for a
committee and I’m looking for contestants. If I get thirty emails from
potential contestants I’ll get a contest started even if I can’t find a
committee. Fellow snowmen (and women)
my email address is: harrywelty@charter.net
(Snail mail Welty is a small time politician who lets it all hang out at: www.snowbizz.com
My first snow sculpture of the 04-05 season fits this column very nicely.
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By Harry Welty