Chicago – Page 5 – Lemon Drop Pie

Old Man Winter

Dear Old Man Winter,

I know that you feel like the most unpopular season of the year. People complain about you all the time. It seems like nobody has anything good to say about you.

girls shoveling 2011 — No one liked to shovel, right?

In a typical Chicago winter, there’s the cold, the snow, and the shoveling. And the hat hair. Oh, the hat hair!

But this winter, Sir, you’ve been very lax. You blew in some ice and some cold, and that’s it.

Where’s the snow?

If we are going to have to deal with the cold, the frost, and the drab brown landscape all winter long, I’ll be very disappointed in you.

The only ones enjoying the park right now are the geese

Without some snow, how will we go sledding? How will we build snow forts and snowmen? How will we romp around in the white fluffy stuff and throw snowballs at each other?

My three-year-old students don’t even remember the scarce snow from last year. And when you blew in a blizzard in 2011, they were just babies. They need to play in some snow!

Lily's snow tunnel in Feb. 2011 — Lily’s snow tunnel in Feb. 2011

It’s the middle of January already, and you’ve given other parts of the country snow. Fortunately, Lily and Emmy have grandparents in Iowa, so they have already been able to build their snowmen. I’m getting nervous that this will be the most snow-less winter ever.

Before the season ends and Spring comes to take your place, will you please just send us a couple inches? You don’t need to overdo it. Just a little snow will be fine.

Sincerely,

The Lemon Drop Pie Family

Chicago skyline from inside the Shedd Aquarium--it's cold out there! — Chicago skyline from inside the Shedd Aquarium–it’s cold out there!

Spin Cycle at Second Blooming

I’m linking up at The Spin Cycle today! Why not try your own Spin? This week it’s Winter, next week it’s Clean. Try it, you’ll like it!

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I was a little suspicious when Ed told me to try on the new oven mitts. he had just given me for my birthday. But I put one on anyway. “Buka Buka!” I said, making my mitt talk to my giggling girls.

“You’d better try on the other one, too, just in case!” Ed said. Okaaaaay…now I was more than a little suspicious! So I tried on the other oven mitt, and pulled out two tickets to the opera! I guess he was serious last year when he told me he would go to the opera again.

When the day of the opera finally arrived, I looked into the mirror and carefully applied eye liner. I had to laugh that while I was preparing to go listen to Verdi’s Aida, my children were blasting Taylor Swift’s CD in my bedroom.

As Ed and I sat in our car on the Kennedy, we could see the Chicago skyline glistening in the late afternoon sun. But we weren’t getting any closer to our destination; we were stuck in gridlock traffic! We could have taken the ‘L’, but getting onto a dirty train dressed in our opera finery was not appealing.

We finally arrived at the restaurant, 30 minutes late. Fortunately, there was still a table for us. When our food was served, I took a bite right away…I was starving! When Ed said his seafood stew looked so pretty, I had to have him take a picture…it did look pretty! (It was called something much fancier on the menu, but I will never be able to remember what it was. Seafood stew will have to do.)

It was a lovely evening and we strolled hand-in-hand to the Lyric Opera House. The vestibule was full of people trying to get in; men were out front holding up fingers for the number of tickets they needed. Aside from the tuxedos and heels, it was almost like a sporting event.

We made it to our seats, and the music began. Ah! It was so beautiful! Hearing a live orchestra is so wonderful; the singers were amazing; the whole experience…amazing! I don’t even want to try to find a recording to share with you, because it just wouldn’t be the same as a live performance.

Aidahas four acts, and there were two intermissions. Part of the fun of going to the opera is people watching; we saw men in tuxedos and T-shirts; women in furs; some fabulous dresses and some not so fab.