Another snow event

We are in the midst of another round of falling snow. This time it's maybe 5-7 inches, enough for a snow emergency plowing event beginning tonight. It is a pretty snow as it continues to fall.

I promised a trip to the fairgrounds to see the Winter Carnival snow sculptures. I was there this afternoon and it snowed continuously while I was there. Snow messes up snow sculptures. The details that were lovingly carved by the artists get filled in and the sculptures begin to look more like just another pile of snow. This photo depicts an auto being driven to the Winter Carnival. It's representative of the works on the grounds.

A street photo to show what St Paul is looking like today. This was taken on Ben Hill street, one of my routes to Crosby Farm when I'm biking on warmer days. It looks like it may need to be plowed tonight and I guess it will get what it needs.

I saw a guy biking on Lexington Avenue near Como this afternoon while I was driving to the fairgrounds. I wanted to take his photo, because he was moving precariously up a rise on Lexington towards Como Lake, so precariously that he lost traction and got off to walk the bike up the street amongst the traffic. It was not a day that I'd want to be on a bike in that part of the city. He is a brave man.

There will be shoveling and roof raking galore in the next 18-24 hours in the Saintly City.

Winter Carnival Snow Sculptures

Every January the city fathers have a celebration of ice and cold to distract the citizens from the ice and cold that permeates the environment. There has been a snow sculpture contest the last few years. This year the snow creations were done at the state fair grounds, a few blocks south of Larpenteur Avenue. Because the weather has softened some and the temperature reached into the low double figures above zero (12), I ventured out to see what had been created by the artist geniuses of the great northland. I was rewarded.

A snowy tree. Well formed and woodless. (Second prize winner).


Snowy mushrooms. Large and showy. Not very tasty.


Snowy dragon head. The body must be below ground. (Third prize winner)


Snowy castle. Like its cousin the sand castle, beautiful, but ephemeral.

I spent maybe fifteen minutes at the site. The sun was bright, but the wind was blowing and the windchill was below zero. My camera stopped working because of the cold and I went to find some warmth in my trusty Matrix parked on the street. There were some other hardy souls about, all bundled against the wind, and probably all native Minnesotans.

My tennis tidbit for the day. The Australian Open Tennis Tournament is reaching its final days. I watched Serena Williams win her semi-final match against Russian Elena Dementieva, who won the Olympic Gold Metal last summer. Serena is a beast. She hits the ball very hard and keeps it on the court most of the time, but the best part of her game is that she knows that she's going to win and then makes it happen. She is hugely confident; 6-3, 6-4, to get to play Marat Safin's little (? she's six feet tall) sister, Dinara, in the finals this weekend. I'll be playing some tennis myself, but without as large a crowd or with as much money at stake, at Fort Snelling Tennis Center. I'm hoping for low gravity days.