Last post I talked about embracing winter. Well, it’s a lot easier to do that this week, when it’s been above 0C all week and a lot of the snow has melted!

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to take in a little bit of the Frost Festival downtown. I didn’t see a lot, as I was just there for a short while before attending another event in the area. And I admittedly only checked it out because it was free. I’ve attended the ticketed parts of Frost before, and if you’ve never been, I’d say it’s worth it. But in this city, they tend to create an annual event, and then just do the same thing every single year. So going every year tends to wear on a person.

But, since I was right there I thought, why not walk through the park and check things out. It’s been unseasonably warm for the past week and I relished the idea of wearing a skirt with tights and a light coat and being warm enough.

For the uninitiated, Frost is an annual, city-wide festival that runs at the end of January/early February. It’s all about embracing winter. The first year it ran, I took my sister and niece. There was a big snow slide that my niece loved, as well as snow mazes, light shows, and music and dance performances.

This year at the downtown “hub”, as they call it, I had the chance to see a lot of outdoor art and snow sculptures. There was a poetry hut where they encouraged people to share what “home” means to them in three words (mine were love, safety, and authenticity). There were plenty of food options, including cabane à sucre, which I didn’t try this time, but I have had while visting Québec City a few winters ago. Maple sugar is yummy, but so, so sweet. I always feel like my teeth are going to fall out!

I’m glad I went last weekend, as this weekend, it ended up being much warmer and I think a lot of the snow sculptures have melted. It is supposed to snow again later in the week, and the temperature is supposed to dip a bit once more. Such is life on the prairies. It’s only February and we’ve got a long way to go before we can even think about Spring. I’m enjoying the reprieve while I can!