vivi torontali

Not caught up? Read Episodes 1-25 here.

Well, my friends, history was made this week. Copenhagen experienced a New-England level winter blast, and the city was quite unprepared. We received almost 7 inches (17cm) of snow, the most snowfall there has been since 2011. Perhaps it’s because I brought New England weather with me to Denmark. I am quite used to arctic blasts like this one– in my humble opinion, this weather is for amateurs. However, while New England has snow plows by the thousands, Copenhagen has only a few, and even those would be quite ineffective on the cobblestoned pedestrian streets. The plows would run along the road and the bike lane, parallel, so that all the snow built up on the crosswalk. Within a day, stepping off the sidewalk into the road meant a shoeful of brown, wet slush. My “waterproof” shoes have been drying for the past two days.

With the historic level of snowfall came another historic phenomenon: the lakes froze over so thick that people could walk on them, and it was the most Danish thing I ever did see. The day after all the snow came down, some colleagues and I decided to go sledding after a particularly stressful shift. However, we found that the snow was too soft and we couldn’t slide down effectively, so we brought our makeshift cardboard sleds back to the café and walked on the frozen lakes. There, we saw people building huge snowmen, playing ice hockey, curling, and figure skating. There were dogs rolling around in the snow, and toddlers being pulled around in their sleds. Danes love their outdoor recreation, but I haven’t seen much of it lately because it’s been dreary and snowless. Now that snow has been added to the equation, Copenhagen folk have all flocked back to the city as if it were a warm summer day.

I recently met with the owner of MDS Gallery, where my exhibition will be held. We discussed the timeline and next steps, and I realized just how advantageous it’s been to write this bløg and document my art progress, as I’ll need it to promote the show. I’m very excited to announce that the opening night will be held on April 17th! She told me to ask the people of Facebook for their opinion on the name Chromatopography (chroma = color, topography = elevation maps), as it might be a bit confusing to general audiences and thus hard to promote. I got some good suggestions such as “Altitudes,” “Mountains,” and “Feel the Land and Mountains with your Eyes.” I want to encapsulate elements of mountains, maps, color, and structure into an elegant and concise title. If you have any ideas or opinions, please please please leave a suggestion here, on social media, or to vivitorontali@gmail.com. In the meantime, I have finally finished my Mt Kilimanjaro illustration!

This bløg episode will be a short one, my sincerest apologies to my extremely loyal fanbase. Honestly the most interesting things that I’ve done in the recent past was work on my art and go to various dentists. I’ve been missing the New England winters. Even if being outside for 10 minutes can give you frostbite, the winter is truly a sight to behold. The arctic blasts back home are especially tough this year because it’s not only snow descending at full blast, but ICE as well. I am deeply impressed with the fighting spirit of my people nationwide, in Minneapolis, Burlington, and Boston. I think those that died in the first battle of the American Revolution in Lexington, Massachusetts would be both disappointed in the state of the country today and proud of the spirit the American people continue to have in the face of adversity and tyranny. My bløgs are always as positive as I can make them, but what I don’t write about is my survivor’s guilt– glad I left, but wishing I could fight these cold forces with my friends back home. Once these next six weeks of winter pass as Punxsutawney Phil predicted, I know that the ICE will melt. I have only one last thing to say: Go Patriots!!!