Enchanted parks, bloomin' disasters and snow flutters

Last weekend we went along to a local winter festival. As expected Miles was initially reluctant and reserved, probably not so surprising really as I think even familiar places can look different and quite bewitched in the dark; however he soon came round and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I have to say that in my view, some of the exhibits were not on par with previous years. The wooded dene is usually delightful but this year was just adorned with random illuminated brollies! Perhaps it's art? Who knows!



As ever the trees were spectacular. This pink one was ever so striking but I've lopped the picture with the trunk of a neighboring tree. Hey ho!



I think this was all of our favorite exhibit. It's an illuminated ice sculpture of the Rose Window in Durham Cathedral. It was beautiful and tactile. The light shone in different ways dependent upon the thickness of the ice in that segment.





Tea for two perhaps, in a rose themed, illuminated bandstand?



Our favorite climbing tree had been transformed into Medusa - and quite scary she was too with fire, sounds and lighting!




Rose Window ice exhibit in a different shade.



All in all a very pleasant evening. While there we got chatting to a gentleman who was involved in organizing the event. He was also involved in organizing Lumiere, another local winter festival. I was pleased to hear that Lumiere will probably never happen again as it did this year. It attracted thousands more visitors than anticipated it it turned into a logistical and security nightmare. People living in the city were unable to move around and people stood in lines for hours to see the Cathedral illuminated. Apparently if it is to ever happen again it will probably be ticketed. Personally I'm happy to hear that. we were unable to see most of the exhibits because of the crowds. I'd prefer to pay a reasonable price and actually enjoy a festival rather than it turning into some kind of endurance test!




The short snow flurries didn't lie long today; much to our disappointment. Any plans we may have hastily made for weekend sledging will have to be rethought.


You know how I boasted a couple of weeks ago about being so organised in making our contributions to the children's seasonal gift bags? Well, I transferred our chocolate stirrers from the fridge to a cupboard because they were taking up too much space - only to now discover that they have developed a bloom! Nightmare - they look moldy and rancid!

Last night I showed a couple of mums whose children will be the unfortunate recipients of our skanky looking offerings. They were very polite and said that bloom is okay and I shouldn't panic. I'm taking that on board and will resist the urge to re-do or try to somehow 'fix' them. What a bloomin' nightmare!