This Says It All

Taken yesterday in Millennium Park:

Taken today in Millennium Park:

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current book: Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way. Yes, seriously. I’m prepping for this.

current music: Am possibly going to Tift Merritt and/or Kathleen Edwards next weekend.

current socks: I busted out all the good Easter socks last week, including the ones with the chocolate bunnies with their ears eaten off. Right now, though, back to the stripey SmartWools, which are necessary to keep my feet warm. You can’t tell from the picture above, but it was actually snowing outside my 23rd-floor window. By the time it hit the ground, it was more of a wintry mix. Everybody’s favorite.

The View From My Window: First Day of Spring Edition

This was taken on Friday with a coworker’s iPhone. All that fog? That’s actually driving snow.

My Seriously Amazing Nephew

Retro: Happy Easter 1981

My dad just put his entire personal photo collection onto my computer, so I suddenly have access to decades of family photos. Happy Easter!

Retro: Happy Easter 1988

This is me with my cousin and grandma on Easter twenty years ago, back before global warming had completely fucked everything up. Do you see how spring-like it is? That is how Easter should be.

Texas Roots

On the 22 Clark bus on my way home. Talking to my mom.

Me: Oh! Ohohoh! I just saw a coyote in the cemetery!

Mom: Your Uncle Tom caught one a couple days ago.

Me: I don’t think I want to hear about this.

Mom: He had a trap set up.

Me: I don’t think I want to hear about this.

Mom: And then he shot it.

Me: Yeah. I didn’t want to hear about that.

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current book: I really just need to suck it up and pick up Kavalier & Clay again. I put it down for The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, but for some reason I’m just not motivated to get back into it.

current music: Anner Bylsma’s rendition of Bach’s Cello Suites. It’s my writing music. I’ve been listening at work to try to get more writing done, but who the fuck can do work when there’s SIX FUCKING INCHES OF SNOW IN THE FORECAST?! Honestly, this winter is ruining my life. It is an evil, soul-sucking, spirit-breaking behemoth. Somebody please make it go away.

current socks: Excellent Easter socks: two bright orange carrots on each sock with a gleeful white bunny at the top.

Would Like Pigeon For Dinner

Eeyore

It is 8F with a wind chill of -11F. The forecast calls for highs in the teens until Thursday, when it will climb to a whopping 26 degrees. And then it will snow. Again.

These are the forecasts that make me hate my life and swear I’ll never live another winter here. I’ve lived in cold climates for about 10 years now, and it never gets easier. Or warmer. Some people are all about outdoor winter sports (I actually know somebody in Wisconsin who belongs to a curling team), or view bitterly cold temperatures as “character building,” or claim to prefer cold weather to hot.

What are your secrets for getting through winter? I already have a down comforter, two cats, and the urge to hibernate.

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current book: On the bus tomorrow, I will be starting The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw, which I have to read and review by March 1 for Contrary Magazine. I’ll resume Kavalier & Clay at some point.

current music: So many good concerts in Chicago. So little desire to leave my apartment.

current socks: Lovely stripey SmartWools in greens, browns, and oranges.

Cold and Crisp in D.C.

A shot of Reagan Airport as I was waiting for the Metro my first day in D.C. last week.

Little Miss Trouble

This is the least of it. She also figured out how to climb doors today.