Good News/Bad News

Every year in the recent past (how long has it been? 10 years?), Downers Grove has hosted an Ice Sculpture Festival in February. And, (seemingly) almost every year, the temperature during the Festival finally warms up a little from sub-freezing to not-so-bad.

Sure, a couple of years it has been very cold during the Festival, but if I want to know when we'll get a break from the weather, I just look up when the Ice Festival will occur and figure on that being the date.

There's probably a good, organizational reason why the date can't be moved. I know that there's a competition and I believe there's some kind of ice sculpture circuit that the organizers have to work around, but maybe mid-January might be better?

Just sayin'.

Regardless of the weather, I love the changing themes of the Festival, and as a Gulf Coast girl who grew up a couple of hours from New Orleans (which, by the way, is pronounced New Orlens, not New Or- leans, and only pronounced Nawlins if you can say it in an authentic deep south or cajun accent), I'm thrilled that this year's theme is MARDI GRAS!

I celebrate Mardi Gras every year- I used to take moon pies to my children's classes (sent from home by my mother) so that everyone could celebrate Mardi Gras. When my dad was in the hospital during Mardis Gras a few years back, I ran out to the local party store to grab some decorations for his room. It's not Mardi Gras without beads, cher.

This is the time of the year when I really miss my native land. In Northwest Florida, the air is warming and you can tell that spring is just a few weeks away. Here in the frozen arctic wasteland (my siblings' moniker for Chicago), Spring is months from showing her pretty, green face.

Which is why I'll take the 5o degree weather this weekend and feel the obligatory sympathy for the organizers and participants who put so much work into making this a fun winter weekend for Downers Grove. Ice sculptures vs. getting rid of the heavy coat on a February day? I know the winner of that contest!