The Great Snow Fort of Carroll Park

I walked by Carroll Park in Brooklyn to witness this formidable sight. A group of parents and their kids had constructing this kick-ass snow fort. Jesus, what with Global Warming and general worldwide ennui, I didn't think people took the time to build snow forts anymore.

This one's a beauty. The parents in question carved icy bricks out of the three-inch layer of snow and ice that had accumulated on the blacktop of the part of Carroll Park that contains the basketball courts and baseball diamond. They must mave chipped out a few hundred bricks from the look of it. They then raised a circular wall, brick by brick, row by row, until it stood about five feet tall. The archway of the entrance was so expert and solid, one of the adults must have been an engineer.

The fort attracted the admiration of passersby like myself. A single orignating parent was still present in the late afternoon, and was bashfully proud of his creation, answering questions from the surrounding crowd. He talked of how he was trying to teach the kids how people in snowy climes protected themselves from the wind and cold. He decamped, however, when his son developed the unquenchable urge to tear the thing down. Let's hope it's there for a few days, to remind us that winter has its own magic.