Sometimes people wonder what babas do all day.
Well, Carole Shipowich, a Radisson baba, obviously familiar with long Saskatchewan winters, decided to make this cold winter work to her advantage and found a unique project to pass the time in these sub-zero temperatures. She decided to design, create and build an igloo. But not just any kind of igloo, an igloo of frozen, round coloured orbs.
The idea was seeded last year by her friend Pat, who, at the time, was freezing coloured water balloons and decorating her yard. Carole ran out of time last winter so this year she began planning her project in advance. The balloons were carefully filled with tap water and coloured with food colouring, tied then carried outside to let Mother Nature freeze them.
The ground had to be prepared for the structure. Because the Shipowich's front yard is sloped, Carole proceeded to build a level base. This required raising the front portion of the structure one and one half feet. She also laid a PVC pipe along the floor so she could run an extension cord into the finished project.
Once the platform was made, an ice ring was formed. This was to be the foundation in which to lay the next layer. Carefully the latex was stripped from the frozen orbs and disposed of diligently. The ice forms were placed on the foundation then a special mortar mix was put between each ice ball.
"I took milk jugs of water outside and mixed the water with snow in a five gallon pail to make a mortar in which to fasten each ball," explained Carol.
Slowly but surely, one balloon after another, the igloo began to take shape.
Although Carole was the mastermind behind the project, she was assisted by her four granddaughters: Kendra and Caeley of Winnipeg, Man. and Alicia and Ocean of Martensville when they came to visit. Wayne, Carole's husband, also assisted her in the project.
Construction on this impressive creation began two weeks before Christmas and was finally completed the last week of February.
"I worked on it progressively at my pace over the months except for approximately six days when I felt I had overdone it," explained Carole in a telephone interview.
"My initial plan was to make the igloo large enough for the grandchildren to be able to stand in it," said Carole, "as a result we have one high enough for Wayne and I to stand in."
The final creation measures six feet high in the centre and has a 12-foot diameter. A total of 755 balloons were used.
The brightly coloured igloo when illuminated with an interior floodlight, creates a spectacular display of the handiwork but, of course, nothing as intriguing as when the natural sunlight is reflected on the ice crystals that line the interior ceiling of the igloo.
Well, maybe not all Babas are this adventurous but each one is unique in their own way and many of us are blessed to be influenced by someone like Carole.
