Nicely Ice Suffices

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Robert Frost

Back in a by-gone era when us kids had to memorize poetry in junior high school, most of my classmates picked this one for its brevity. Being proudly original and a bit of a suck up I picked another, longer poem but I heard this one recited in class so many times that I had it memorized anyway.



Contrary to popular opinion, Chicago did not perish in the storm yesterday but it did close down. Except for people shoveling which brought out the entire community in a good-spirited way, Chicago put up a big sign saying, "Closed for the duration."



Lots of fuzzy--hatted folks were out with their digital cameras and cell phones taking pictures for posterity so my photos are not especially original. It made for a fun outing although my thighs, knees and back are now protesting the unaccustomed wading through drifts.



The civic spiritedness will end as soon as the fighting over shoveled parking spaces begin but it was fun while it lasted. I did chat with one University of Chicago graduate student who was forced by his advisor to remain on campus for a seminar Tuesday night and wound up sleeping on the office couch.
Life was not so good for the poor folks who wound up stranded on Lake Shore Drive. Fortunately I was working in my local office and only had to drive the mile to pick up my son from school, which was challenging enough.



Two days off of school is making the kids happy. I still haven't quite figured out if any of my patients plan on coming in today. This will decide if I have to make the frosty drive to work today. It is only 10 degrees F. so I'm not particularly looking forward to going out. The sun is shining though so it should be a pretty commute.