8th Annual Keene Ice and Snow Festival
This weekend we went to New Hampshire to visit David's parent. We left on Saturday morning around 9:00 (David, Evan and I) and after a much-needed stop at the Glastonbury Starbucks, we were off. We listened to a book on tape for Evan on the way there. He followed along page by page in the back and David and I whispered occasionally up front, mostly riding in quiet as not to disturb Evan, but also enjoying just watching the scenery. It was really pretty the whole way there - piles of snow and icy trees. (It's usually pretty when you are tucked somewhere warm with coffee in hand!) When we arrived it was the usual: excitement and dancing around (that's mostly from Nancy and Evan - ha), hugs & kisses, unloading the car, fresh baked bread and cookies on the counter, and lots of chatter. It was nice to be there. David looked at the computers and did his usual "IT help". (Good to have an IT guy around) After things cooled down and we were in the front room sitting around, the phone rang. Someone called George to see if he was going to the NH Ice Festival. My ears perked up.....Ice Festival? Sounds fun to me. I gave David the "...please can we go??" look and after lunch we all piled in the car and were on our way to Keene. (This is where David went to college. I've walked and shopped the town a couple of times - it's where we took Mary to the Octoberfest and The Mill for shopping). We were there about an hour I suppose. We walked around and saw the sculptors creating, the finished designs with their icy shine. In the center of town there was a gazebo in front of an old white New England church. The men's choir was gathered around and we arrived just in time. They started to sing as we got closer. It SO reminded me of something you'd see in The Music Man. If only they'd had the striped shirts and white straw hats. I loved every minute. Here's a few of the photos that I pulled from on-line. I'll try to add some of my own photos tomorrow. I haven't had time to get them off the camera yet.
This is the swan. David couldn't figure out what this one was - couldn't get where the head was. Nancy and I knew right off - very wedding buffet if you ask me.
I don't actually remember seeing this one, although we may have. Looks like a bear now that I look at it. I thought it was the big fish eating a dragonfly from out of the water - but at further examination, I guess not. The fish was one of the taller ones. (None of them were really big. It was only a three hour competition) It was fun watching them use their tools though. One guy had a few irons and a cookie sheets instead of a board. He would heat up the cookie sheets and then use that to form the ice as he wanted. One guy had a blow torch. There were chainsaws and hoses and spray bottles of all types. It was fun to watch.
This one was my favorite. I think because it was a little "southwest". The wolf howling at the moon.
What ice festival would be complete without a pegasus made out of ice? This one was really good. It was very intricate.
It was a fun afternoon. We dinner out that night at a little place that I thought looked more TX than NH. There were stars hanging everywhere, wood beams and rustic looking interior - there was just something about it that was Texas. Sunday we got up and had breakfast. I had a big laugh over this: Evan and I were sitting at the table eating our eggs that Nancy had made. She had gone to get something or I don't know what. I'm not sure where David and Nancy were at the time, but as we were sitting there, Evan and I heard Nancy yell something from upstairs. She was calling for someone or telling someone something. Evan and I couldn't really make it out. We just heard her voice. "What's that?" Evan asked. I said, "That was Beema." "Calling Daddy?" he said. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. Evan kinda smiled and shrugged back. He said, "the computer?" Ha! I cracked up. "Yep, Beema is probably calling your Daddy to look at the computer". "Yep" Evan said and went back to eating. Anyone who thinks he's not picking up on quite a bit is wrong - he KNOWS what's what. Nancy showed me some of her yoga. I tried to keep up as best I could. We went to church and had lunch. Nancy and Evan and I made Valentines upstairs and after completely covering the table in scraps, glitter and glue (quite literally) we were ready to go. It was the usual: hugs & kisses, loading the car, cookies in goodie bags for both me and David, and lots of last minute chatter. As we pulled out of the driveway Evan said "That was so much fun!". It summed up our trip - so much fun. We listened to the book on tape again for Evan. He followed along page by page in the back and David and I whispered occasionally up front, mostly riding in quiet as not to disturb Evan, but also enjoying just watching the scenery. The sun set and the moon came up. It was one of the fullest and brightest I've seen in a while. No clouds to block its view. I wish I would have taken a photo of that. The weekend was fun and much too short, but it was also good to be home.
This is the swan. David couldn't figure out what this one was - couldn't get where the head was. Nancy and I knew right off - very wedding buffet if you ask me.
I don't actually remember seeing this one, although we may have. Looks like a bear now that I look at it. I thought it was the big fish eating a dragonfly from out of the water - but at further examination, I guess not. The fish was one of the taller ones. (None of them were really big. It was only a three hour competition) It was fun watching them use their tools though. One guy had a few irons and a cookie sheets instead of a board. He would heat up the cookie sheets and then use that to form the ice as he wanted. One guy had a blow torch. There were chainsaws and hoses and spray bottles of all types. It was fun to watch.
This one was my favorite. I think because it was a little "southwest". The wolf howling at the moon.
What ice festival would be complete without a pegasus made out of ice? This one was really good. It was very intricate.
It was a fun afternoon. We dinner out that night at a little place that I thought looked more TX than NH. There were stars hanging everywhere, wood beams and rustic looking interior - there was just something about it that was Texas. Sunday we got up and had breakfast. I had a big laugh over this: Evan and I were sitting at the table eating our eggs that Nancy had made. She had gone to get something or I don't know what. I'm not sure where David and Nancy were at the time, but as we were sitting there, Evan and I heard Nancy yell something from upstairs. She was calling for someone or telling someone something. Evan and I couldn't really make it out. We just heard her voice. "What's that?" Evan asked. I said, "That was Beema." "Calling Daddy?" he said. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. Evan kinda smiled and shrugged back. He said, "the computer?" Ha! I cracked up. "Yep, Beema is probably calling your Daddy to look at the computer". "Yep" Evan said and went back to eating. Anyone who thinks he's not picking up on quite a bit is wrong - he KNOWS what's what. Nancy showed me some of her yoga. I tried to keep up as best I could. We went to church and had lunch. Nancy and Evan and I made Valentines upstairs and after completely covering the table in scraps, glitter and glue (quite literally) we were ready to go. It was the usual: hugs & kisses, loading the car, cookies in goodie bags for both me and David, and lots of last minute chatter. As we pulled out of the driveway Evan said "That was so much fun!". It summed up our trip - so much fun. We listened to the book on tape again for Evan. He followed along page by page in the back and David and I whispered occasionally up front, mostly riding in quiet as not to disturb Evan, but also enjoying just watching the scenery. The sun set and the moon came up. It was one of the fullest and brightest I've seen in a while. No clouds to block its view. I wish I would have taken a photo of that. The weekend was fun and much too short, but it was also good to be home.
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