to Chicago

With temperatures plummeting, I suppose it's time to head south! And it is true that Chicago, just 140 miles to the south east of us, has temperatures that are warmer: for example, next Wednesday, Madison is expecting a high of -9F (that's -23C). Chicago will climb all the way to a toasty -4F (-20C).

We are entering a very chilly week. I suppose I could complain: what good is the snow if it's too cold to play in it? On the other hand, I feel a bit like a toy held together right now by staples and glue, so I suppose it's fortuitous that there is no temptation to cavort outside.

Besides, I'm on my way to Chicago.

I was to go for a visit after my usual Snowdrop care after her school day, but it turns out Primrose, my Chicago grandgirl, is just a bit under the weather and so the parents could use earlier help. Off I go, immediately after a rather early breakfast.






Chicago has the snow, too, and underneath it, there is ice. This is what happens when you're just a bit warmer than Wisconsin: stuff melts, then comes the Arctic blast, and now you're stuck with a thick, frozen layer of mush that's solid ice. It wont go away until the next thaw.

Pulling my little case is a challenge. Indeed, getting it down from the L station to that frozen sidewalk is also a challenge, but I look old or feeble or desperate enough that a young man quickly comes to my rescue. I tell him heaven will sprinkle rewards on him one day.

I have my (chunky) new camera with me, but predictably, I'm reluctant to take it out on the walk from the L train to the young family's home. Eh, everyone's seen my Chicago clips in previous posts -- I tell myself. There is just a touch of regret. But just a touch. I'm so focused on keeping warm and not straining any of the metaphorical glue or staples, that taking pictures is right now not a priority.

Of course, seeing Primrose changes that. It's not just that I love the preciousness of my grandchild (no surprise there, we all love the preciousness of our grandkids), but, too, watching her reminds me yet again how beautiful a child's world can be. She is Primrose and in addition she is a window to the simple goodness of life. Eat, play, sleep, love. Watch, listen. Learn to move forward in a complicated world. Do we really need that much more to feel content? And so I reach for my camera in the way that I always do when something important happens. Like breakfast at the farmhouse. Or when a rainbow hued leaning tower of Pisa is about to fall.






Or when she munches victoriously on the rice cracker I hand to her.






Primrose seemed to always have fun when I set the camera (a new one, so it's a test for me!) for  our pseudo-selfies. Turns out she still has fun with them.






Eventually the parents return and the usual joy of a family reunion takes place. Primrose is happy as a lark with her extended network of kin and teachers and important people in her life. But her grin is especially rich with meaning at the end of the day, when she can fold into the arms of her parents. She is ready to tell them all about her day! Not with words yet, but with her own singularly beautiful expressions.





 
After she is asleep, the big people eat, catch up, exhale. I stretch my back. Things are looking good! And yes, I said thank you to the furnace many, many times today!