Feeling the post-holiday blues? Worried about winter doldrums?

I’m thinking we may have some work to do…

The photos below are from the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in China.  A few hundred years ago, during the Qing Dynasty, local fishermen  hollowed out buckets of ice & put candles in them for light at night. In 1963 this tradition was remembered with the Ice Lantern Festival which was the precursor to today’s celebration. It takes about 15 days & more than 15,000 people to carve (by hand or by laser) more than 4 million cubic feet of ice taken from the Songhua River. There’s a scaled down version of the Great Wall & the Forbidden City as well as a few thousand other pieces, not to mention all the ice architecture created throughout the city. This Winter Wonderland lasts until the end of February & will be visited by more than 800,000 awe-struck people.

So I’m thinking…

maybe we need to think about creating our own Torch Lake Ice Extravaganza…we certainly don’t lack for ice.  We might have trouble rounding up 15,000 people to do the carving, but I have several friends I would be willing to volunteer & two really sharp saws.

What do you say???

Torch Lake Snow & Ice Festival 2015???

Let me know what you think!

If you want to see some really incredible pictures from China, Google “Habin Ice Festival” & click away.

Me…I’m off to find some colored ice to practice on!!!