Sculptures And Skateway

 In 2018, snow sculptures in the Byward Market were of a transportation theme, with the LRT and a city bus emerging from walls of snow.

A classic view of Dow's Lake, with Muskoka chairs on the east shore.

Down on the lake, preparations were being made for the annual bed races, a long tradition for Winterlude. I didn't stay, but got to photograph some of these up close. They ranged from the colourful but basic frame.

To things with unusual decoration motifs.

Snow falling over the Rideau Canal downtown in the evening, and skaters below.

Another day on the Canal saw me down on the ice surface. I was in the Glebe,

Downtown again, this view from the Mackenzie King Bridge looks southeast.

And this looks northeast, under different conditions from that one a few shots up.

Further upstream and back in the Glebe, a look at the Patterson Creek inlet, an ideal spot for learning how to skate before going out onto the Canal proper.

From within the inlet, a look under the graceful bridge leading onto the Canal. We pick up here tomorrow.

Sculptures In The Cold Snow

I start today with more woodworking: a local artist carves sculptures out of wood, and had some on display in Jacques Cartier Park during Winterlude 2018

The backs and sides of the big snow slides are often used for sculpting reliefs into the surface for photo ops.

This big one pays tribute to a Canadian legend of the Winter Olympics, Nancy Greene, who won the gold in women's skiing in 1968.

Or perhaps one is hungry, Winterlude sites have you covered.

The city brought out one of their oversized Muskoka chairs.

The snow sculptures were of a Winter Olympics theme.

One more wide shot from here.

Winter Fun And Ancient Tradition

Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River is the largest Winterlude site, and turned into a large playground for visitors. Mounds of snow are assembled in January for the creation of snowslides, as it was in 2018.

For those who might be too little for the snowslides, other activities: these sleds are kitted out not unlike dog sleds, but with an adult doing the work while a young one sits and takes it all in. The frozen river and the Ottawa shore are in the background here.

The slides are popular.

And there were dogsleds in the park too, with the dogs running through paths through much the rest of the park.

Other activities: demonstrations of First Nations living, with teepees set up in the park.

Drums- both finished and in process- are seen here. The frames are made of wood, and the process of woodworking the old fashioned way was being shown by members of the Anishinaabe peoples.

Green wood is better for working into curves for drums, snowshoes, or other purposes than wet wood is.

A fur in the background, and in the foreground, a portion of a tree first hollowed out to make a trough. This was the technique for making maple sugar. Rocks would be heated in fires, moved by antlers into the troughs to heat the sap, and the sap poured in. The result was maple sugar, used both for food and medical purposes.

The Dragons Upon The Skateway

The Ice Dragon Boat Festival was back at Dow's Lake for Winterlude 2018, and it was a pleasure to watch. And for the participants, many of whom no doubt take part in the larger summer dragon boat racing down at Mooney's Bay, a harder thing to do on the ice than rowing through the water. I approached the starting line.

And they were off.

At the far end, the next heat of the races would soon start.

Teams were easily identifiable.

The Ice Hogs were around to pose for photos.

It's quite something to see in person. And crazy to do. But in a fun way.

One last shot from the north end of the course.