Chiberia: I love the coinage. Proof that we Chicagoans can still laugh despite bitter winds, subzero temps, and heaps of snow.
Chicago’s winter may be one for the record books, they say. I am not one to buy into weather hysteria, but this has been a ‘truer’ Chicago winter than some we’ve had lately. As such, it calls for stoicism (yes, like the Russian kind) in the face of true physical danger and bodily suffering.
I had dressed for work on a recent morning but decided that it was simply too cold to leave. I ended up working at home all day, occasionally going to the window to marvel at the brilliance of the subzero day.
For these bitter days are deceptively lovely. The sky is bright, a flawless blue. In the blinding sunlight, white plumes rise from furnaces and boilers that are incessantly working, working, working. The plumes’ shadows, unnaturally distinct, writhe across the buildings’ clean facades, their ‘patterns’ unpredictable, mesmerizing.
harley says
Oh my, has this ever been a tough winter! I’ve been living in Chicago all my days and indeed do recall some tough cold winters when I was young. My old frame could take such extreme weather back then. Yes, according to weather records, there has not been such a cold winter since 1977!! Plus, Chicago has not had this much snow ( sixty inches ) for thirty years !!! Well, now the local meteorologists are forecasting more normal temperatures starting tomorrow. I hope they are right and no more Polar Vortexes will hit the city!!! By the by, nice very clear picture of the chimney steaming away.
Celia says
The polar vortex, indeed. That was the worst.
Fortunately, the winter seems to be flying by. The auto show is almost over, and I think the first robin has been sighted, too. . . .