and how does one face the the coldest day chicago has seen in seven years?

start by staying in bed with the cat an extra half hour, listening to NPR’s every five minutes extreme cold weather (-29 windchill) warning. they say the key to avoiding frostbite is layers: we begin with long underwear, tops and bottoms, and over that the fleese-lined pants canvas pants, a long-sleeved shirt and cotton sweater. then the regular socks topped by the polar fleese socks. hiking boots, polar fleese jacket and mittens. scarf wrapped meticulously so that it overlaps the collar and the double-thick polar fleese hat, covering the nose and mouth loosely, so that the only exposed skin is the eyes and bridge of the nose. knee-length down parka goes over the top of everything, and the hood drawn tight to prevent any cold-air gaps between scarf and collar. i look like a thumb with legs walking down the street.

i swear this will be the last entry about the weather. well, no, actually, i can’t promise that.