Monday, May 12, 2014

Mothers' Day. A Snowy Sunday Here in Colorado


Snow Statues (written in April for the 2012 Blog Challenge)

This is a tribute to my mother who loved to sculpt snow statues.  In the winter, if the snow was just right, on Sunday, after working all week, she would sculpt snow statues.  My sister and I wished she were like other mothers who did "normal" things because sometimes she sculpted nude statues.  "Please put clothes on them,"  we would beg her, but she followed her own muse and made ephemeral statues made of snow.  Often there would be a theme:  Christmas, a creche; Valentine's Day, lovers holding hands behind a tree; and Easter bunnies.  The lover theme she did every year on Valentine's day; first holding hands, the following year presenting a Valentine's heart, and finally, the gentleman on his knee proposing.  The neighbors loved it and occasionally photographs of her work appeared in the paper.  I wrote this poem many years after her death.  The photograph inspired it.
    




    Smiling into the camera,
     my hands resting on my
     little sister's shoulders,

     My mother asking us to smile
     as we squinted into the sun.


     She wanted to take 
     a picture of her creations,
     the three of us.


     I remember how she loved
     being outdoors,
     sculpting those statues,
     so many of them,
     so many different Sundays.


     As she worked, she and 
     Michelangelo 
     shared the same joy,
     as she sculpted, molding
     the snow into a thing of beauty.


     All those trillions of snowflakes
     transformed into art 
     and for a few hours,
     she forgot the pain
     inside the house.
                  

10 comments:

  1. Hi Natasha .. gosh she must have been so talented ... now we'd so appreciate her creations - yes as a kid I can quite understand the preference to cover it up and do normal things! Lovely photo .. and even in it I can see the statue looks so real ...

    Your words resonate too ... the memories for you ... and her love of life - outside ... lovely thoughts, sad though too ...

    Cheers Hilary

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    1. Absolutely, looking back I wish I were I better daughter, but teenagers, not the most helpful and sympathetic.

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  2. Missing our mom lots these past few days. Too bad she left us when we were so young. Would love to have shared more adult life with her! Your poem is beautiful! Love you.

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    1. She did leave us too soon, Claudine, and wouldn't she love to see us now with our terrific husbands and grown sons!

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  3. Great tribute to your wonderful mother. Very poignant poem ~ thanks for sharing that intimacy with us. Loved this.
    Tina @ Life is Good
    On the Open Road! @ Join us for the 4th Annual Post-Challenge Road Trip!

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    1. Thanks Tina, love hearing all about your family, especially your Swedish grandparents.

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  4. That looks like a very clever statue. A clever woman your mom. Nice to have memories like that

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    1. Thanks, Jo. She was very creative, could sew clothes without a pattern, things like that. But she worked hard as a Histology Tech all her working life.

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  5. Isn't it funny how, as kids, we were so easily embarrassed by things that our parents did? And yet you clearly look back on this memory with great affection and love, I think it's charming.
    CLICK HERE for Bazza’s fabulous Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

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    1. I think the embarrassment thing with kids and their parents is universal, just ask your friends. My friends grand daughter asked him to walk way behind her at school so her friends would not notice that OMG her grand father was taking her to school!

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