At the starting point of the lovely cycling path stretching all the way from Pasturo to Taceno, there is a Mari.
It leans to one side of the path. All the ending points of the path have two Mari, except this one. Soon, we found the missing Mari lies on the river bed nearby.
We always hope that somebody could restore the order by putting back the escaped one or introducing a new one, but no one has ever done anything, except us.
At the beginning of 2014, we used the first snow of that year to build a Snow Mari besides the concrete one.
We used a little fireplace shovel and a trash bin to collect snow. Having normal gloves covered by rubber ones, we can shape and polish snow by hand. We spent two hours to complete the work.
For the following couple of days, we returned there on a daily basis to record the condition of Snow Mari, to see how it would be influenced by the environment: weather, temperature, humidity, animals including dogs and humans.
DAY-1
It rained all day long. We kept thinking that Snow Mari might become an ice ball, solid, a bit transparent, and with holes on its surface. When we arrived there at 2 pm, 24 hours after its birth, we found it was broken—by human. Someone KICKED it—several times. What would be the reason behind? To check if it is a real one? To have fun? No way to find out if Snow Mari cannot speak! Anyway, a story had begun.
DAY-2
2 o’clock in the afternoon, 48 hours after we made Snow Mari, rain continued. On the way to see it, we found the snow was melting, quickly. Greens were visible again, covered with fresh cow dungs. We wondered whether we could still see it. Rain alone may had already destroyed it, let alone more kicks! Worries were swept away by confirming Snow Mari was still there: it became a bit lower; someone scratched it, leaving several finger-shaped marks; inside the sunken areas caused by yesterday’s kicks, new holes were found, seemingly done by trekking poles.
DAY-3
We had sun on 6th January, the Epiphany day. Walking along the path, we met more people than usual, especially families with kids. “Small bikes and baby coaches must be good tools to kill Snow Mari!” We thought. It partially came true—Snow Mari collapsed into pieces—one meter away from its original point!
Things happened too fast. We had thought to take a picture of Snow Mari and Concrete Mari together in the sun. We had thought Snow Mari would disappear tranquilly, little by little, due to the rain, the heat of sunlight, and global warming.