These Frosted Flakes are Grrrrrreaaaat!

Every once in a blue moon, you come up with an idea that people just buy into. You put it out there, and BAM! it catches on, ignites the spirit, and is an immediate success. It’s a feel good kinda wanna clap your hands like a little kid sort of thing. And it happened here to me and my staff this past week.


The idea? To hold the 1st Annual Parade of Snowmen as part of the local winter festival that we are responsible for organizing.

What if we have a bunch of plywood snowmen templates made? Then provide them to clubs, organizations, businesses, and institutions for free, to decorate however they want? Let them choose a favourite charity, and hold an online silent auction for the works of winter art, with all proceeds raised going to charity?
And then hang’em from the lampposts in downtown? (author's aside: thus creating the largest mass hanging ever in Canada)
And its thumpity, thump, thump, look at Frosty go!!
So, that’s what happened - except that there must have been some magic in the air that day: all of the plywood was donated, the cost of hanging the snowmen (requiring the services of a tree trimming company and their cherry picker for several hours) was also donated, and the snowmen flew out of here in flash, all 20 of them whisked out the door just about the time they came through the door.
It’s really and truly amazing. And it’s what I love about small towns. When "they" decide something is worthwhile, then you sit back and watch miracles happen.
The Silent Auction is running until Feb. 28th so I'm not sure how much money will be raised, but already, it’s got the entire town talking and I know these snowmen are going to create a lot of jolly, happy souls.

Thumpity, thump, thump, thumpity, thump, thump over the hills we go!

Here's a few of the parade participants...to see them all, visit http://www.pembrokefestivals.com/

 

15 Minutes of Frosty Fame

Roadside weeds are just that ...shaggy, scrubby twigs, reeds, seeds and tangled tough stuff.    I pass them daily and sometimes in heat of summer they are overwhelming with their lush, passionate growth. They overcome the land that hosts them,  but in so doing, they become hosts themselves to birds, bugs,butterflies and all manner of creature that we don't encourage on our  tidy urban patches of manicured bland.   The humble weed field is more or less ignored, left alone to its own devices...visited occaisionally by birders and  bears.   But then, the day arrives when it is, indeed, the Weed's Day.

The day that nature turns her attention to the ditches, meadows and swamps. With a quick dip of her brush into the crystal container she instantly turns the bland to grand. Queen Anne's Lace becomes a delicate incredibly rare piece of art.

The lonely Robin's nest etches its longing for summer in the frosty fringes.

A simple branch becomes the essence of an entire season.

It is the Weed's Day....Magic minutes of frosty fine art, that melt our hearts just as the sun arrives to remind us that fame is always fleeting.
Treasure your moments.

 Find out how the sky looked elsewhere around the world at www.skyley.blogspot.com