Baby It's Cold Outside

Most of the country is entrenched in cold air. (Over Chicago on Jan 9th, 2009)

Twenty five below zero in upstate New York, below freezing in Seattle and feet of snow lie on the ground in places I know. Outside the fifth wheel there are kids playing catch, a man jogging along with his .. get this .. rabbit running along with him (off leash) and there's a bit of a nip in the air. Yes, it's a breezy sixty-one degrees outside on this January morning. We will probably need long sleeves to go out today. I do see some folks in long coats and hooded sweatshirts out there, protecting themselves from what is undoubtedly 'cold' weather to them. It is still amazing. Watch how this turns out when July comes; I'll probably still be 'amazed' by high nineties and high humidity :) It all comes around...
Last weekend we got a good reminder of winter as we hopped a ride to Chicago to attend a 50th birthday party for Robin's dear friend Elen. I had no idea what to expect, but any friend of Robin's ... We arrived, grabbed the shuttle to a nice, comfy, and relatively inexpensive Best Western very near to where the party would be held. It was in the low 20's there and we were actually enjoying the reminder of 'real' cold air and how it fills your lungs differently. I also could enjoy it because I wasn't going to have to shovel any snow :)

After checking in, we met Ellen and the reunion began. I think it has been on the order of 15 years since these two spent time together, but that didn't matter one bit. Good frienships are like that...even if you only get together once in a great while, you pick up right where you left off with no hint of guilt or worries about the time that has passed. It just makes for a more interesting conversation filled evening as you catch up with each other.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening and by the time we caught a cab home we were into a 22 hour day and had made a vinter happy. We were happy too :)

Saturday morning dawned ... well ... lightened to overcast, wind, snow, and 26 degrees. We were both feeling somewhat puny after the long day and travel (and probably the wine) so we had breakfast and rested for a few hours. Then we bundled up (as best as one can bundle up having brought Florida attire to Chicago) and headed off in our sneakers to have lunch and go drop a Travelbug in a Geocache. We hiked about a mile and a quarter through sloppy intersections and gusty, blowing snow and located the cache, but not before we spent a while helping another pedestrian get two cars un-stuck from the slush in a parking area. I don't wish to offend, but a rear-wheel drive Jaguar is no match for foot deep snow ... or 3 inches of slush.
We dropped the Travelbug, made a trudge back to the road and caught the first cab that would have us. After warming up in the room we donned our party attire (including the wet sneakers we would need just to get out to the curb and catch another cab) and rode with Robin's cousin George to the venue.
It was loud, it was audacious, it was crowded ... we had a ball! We partied like it was .. well .. 1979 :) Thanks Elen, for the invitiation, for the opportunity to meet you, and for putting on an amazing event! Don't grow up just yet, ok?