This, Too, Shall Pass

There has been quite some tempest in my domestic teapot these last couple of days. To make matters worse, while I have been muttering 1) about how much I really do love my children, 2) that their failure to mention a major project due Friday which, as of Wednesday, they hadn't even looked at is no excuse for a failure of maternal patience, 3) reminders that when they wail they didn't understand it, I must refrain from shrieking like a steam whistle and instead grit my teeth and say as calmly as possible, that they made their choice and now must understand that TV and Game-boy and Lego Star Wars and the Nickelodeon website are now completely off-limits, on top of all that, I had to do this.

This is my concession. My acknowledgement that, once again, Winter in Chicago has defeated me. When one lives in a 1920's condo, rife with charm and idiosyncrasy, one's windows and storms often do not do the job they are meant to do. When the days begin to lengthen and the cold begins to strengthen, i.e., when the high is going to be in the low single digits, something must be done. There is, after all, a limit to the number of layers one can don before being rendered immovable.

I despise the claustrophobic feeling I get when I cannot open my kitchen windows. It's the moment when I realize that I have to pay up for Spring. The moment when, on an annual basis, I discover that February is, in point of fact, the longest month of the year and that it has nothing to do with number of days.

I know it's been an astonishingly mild winter here. Ordinarily by now we would have sub-zero highs and life-threatening wind-chill factors. This, however, is one of those times when the subjective has overwhelmed the intellectual. It takes a few days of not succumbing to frostbite overnight to outweigh living sealed in like yesterday's left-overs.

So, while progress on Clare's sweater continues apace (I'm almost ready to cast on the second sleeve, maybe even tonight), I think I need to add some hope to my knitting agenda.

I'm thinking it's time to add some sunshine, blue skies and new shoots to the mitered square collection.

If that's not enough, maybe some tulips, too.

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?