Second Campaigner Challenge: Dreams.

I don’t usually post twice a day, but after mulling over Rachael Harrie’s second campaigner challenge overnight, I came up with this:

Dreams
©Sue Ann Bowling

How did we come here, sheltering from the storm beneath a crumbling bridge,
leaning against its rusted girders?
Once we had dreams.
You kicked a soccer ball along this very bridge;
I yearned to hold the ocean in a wooden spoon.
Now your hair is wet with rain,
and my leg is cut to the bone by the trash we pick.
Our lives are no more than smoke.
But does not smoke make fantastic patterns in the air?

I was going to post this Thursday, but I have more than enough ice art photos for Thursday and Saturday both, so I’ll get my entry in now. See the original post for the prompts–and this is not my usual genre!

Ice Art Championships 1

The Ice Art Championships are underway! I’ll show some of the competition pieces next Saturday. But I did pick up a season pass and have a look at the kids’ park. If the weather cooperates, I hope to get some photos of more than just this bit close to the entrance.

This one's very interactive--kids (including some quite large ones) can get into the dish and be spun around.

For a while we were afraid we’d lose the World Ice Art Championships. They’ve been held for years on land owned by the Alaska Railroad. Something happened last year—I think the railroad raised the rent, but I’m not sure, and for a while the organizers were frantically hunting a new site. Well, they’ve found a permanent home and while it’s still rather raw, it promises to be as spectacular as the old one.

This one is actually a slide. Sorry there isn't more contrast with the sky.

As I said, I only got to see the kids’ park Saturday, but I did take a few photos. Even the slides and the sculptures to climb on are pretty neat. The train sounds like a good idea once I figure out where the station is. I went again on Monday, and got some more photos of the kids’ park, plus took enough more for several more posts. Watch for them.

Isn’t our Alaskan ice beautifully clear?

Note: you can click on any of the photos to see larger versions.

The sabertooth cat can be ridden, but you'd better have insulated pants!

This dragon is saddled and ready for kids to ride.

More slides

Guess who sponsored this one!