Only in Canada you say? How about during a real Barrie winter.
No, it's not a snowman in Nisha Patel's front yard. The local artist has sculpted her dream car in her driveway: a life size Lamborghini.
Patel and her family moved to Barrie from Toronto a year-and-a-half ago and she was inspired by a classic winter tradition.
"We've never seen so much snow. My daughter was making snow angels in the backyard last winter and I thought what can I do with snow. I love doing portraits so I thought why not try doing something 3-dimensional and I love sports cars. So I basically challenged myself," said Patel.
"It's a Lamborghini. I know I'll never own one so why not just make one," she added. laughing.
After the last two snowfalls Patel piled the snow to the height of a Lamborghini. Equipped with a trowel and a thermos of hot coffee, she laboured nearly twelve hours over three days to construct the snow sports car.
"It's the thrill of it. I plug my ears with music and there I go. When the sun went down we had my floodlights up," she said.
The snow Lambo is 42 inches high, 170 inches long and 80 inches wide, close to exact dimensions of a real Lambo.
Neighbours have complimented her on the car and it gets the attention of passersby on Chaucer Crescent.
This is only Patel's second sculpture. The first creation was also a snow Lamborghini she carved out of snow last year in her backyard. The mother of two who works for a bank in Toronto needed more space so this year she moved the icy art to the front yard.
Her passion for fancy, fast wheels goes way back.
"I originally come from Kenya and my dad was a car enthusiast. He was a mechanic and we had the annual safari rallies where I was intrigued with the race cars. I grew up with all kinds of race cars. I love cars and I also draw cars but I thought let's build a 3-dimensional life size car."
Patel's family used to live close to the Scarborough Bluffs and Barrie's waterfront was a big draw. (Pun intended.)
"Lake Simcoe is right there," she said, adding she hopes to one day carve a snow car at the waterfront.
