Christkindlmarket in Chicago 2008

The Daley Plaza, looking down Washington Boulevard

Horse and carriage on Washington Blvd.

At sunset, the millions of white lights adorning the trees in Daley Plaza begin to appear

One of the many food stands--this one sold flaky strudel filled with hot fruit or cheese. Danke schon--bitte!

Enjoying some warm gluhwein

Despite all the delicious food around the market, the pigeons are more interested in staying warm!

Wheelchairs and strollers--a good way to cut through the crowds

Everyone is dressed for the occasion--with temperatures in the teens and low 20's--and no one is complaining about the cold (except us "Tennesseans")!

I am November in Tennessee

I just returned from spending the Thanksgiving holiday in Illinois. I could not wait to drive south, counting the hours. Tennessee is becoming my home.

November is an ambivalent month here. Not sure whether to hang onto the last throes of the summer, or to let it all go in hopes for what is waiting in the turn of the year.

Many of the fall colors are still bright, and an abundance of green remains below the tree line amongst the shrubs. Tennessee does not want to relinquish itself to the chill of winter, resisting fiercely as the night temperatures fall into the 20's and 30's, still pulling itself up by the bootstraps into the 50's when the sun is high.

Chicago, however, has given herself over to the voice of the wind whistling through a field of corn cut down to its roots. She lets out a dignified sigh as the leafblowers and fires hum and burn the last signs of summer away. There is no turning back now. She can only move forward, braving the months ahead, closing her eyes until the moss periscopes rise up in the spring.

I am November in Tennessee. Taking each day slowly, cautiously, wincingly, timidly. Searching frantically for the green that will inevitably take its leave. Planting flowers in the cold, yet still separable, soil.

I envy Illinois for her courage to ride with the wind and keep it at her back.

106 degrees

In all my life (short or long, depending on which end of the spectrum you're viewing 35 years from), I have never been engulfed by such heat while ambulatory. I say "ambulatory" because I have experienced 106 degrees or more during a 15 minute jaunt in the sauna, and while lying recumbent in the covered bed of a truck. But those were both enjoyable activities. The soft breeze was burning my eyeballs.

The Weather Channel people slapped an orange "HOT" right in the middle of Tennessee on the U.S. map. They're from Florida, so something must be really wrong. As I was leaving work today I noticed that the air smelled like BBQ. While this type of cuisine is highly sought after in the South, I was nowhere near a restaurant. I told my husband that it must be the skin of the construction workers frying off. He laughed, safe in an air conditioned building.

My house received 2 offers on Monday, and the closing may be at the end of this month. So I get to go back home to Illinois for the weekend, moving as unprofessionally as possible by pulling the boxes down from the top of the garage that were placed up there when we originally moved in. Only now the boxes have warped from the heat and will need to be stacked by matching crooked oblong sides rather than neat rectangle piles.

Maybe I should pack jeans and a sweatshirt--it's only going to be 90 degrees! I never thought I'd be thankful for the gift of a 90-degree relief from the heat, but my whole internal thermometer has reset itself in the 2 months I've lived here. If only that were so easy for other things, like my heavy foot on the gas pedal and my tolerance (or lack thereof) for country music.

Just like in Chicago, this heat wave will most certainly produce a number of deaths, but the morticians here are all over it. On my way to work this morning (when it was only in the high 80's) I passed a rather large hearse (or to be politically correct, a "funeral coach"). It was a black pick-up truck with a cover adorned by the typical decorative landau bars. Pretty classy for Nashville. Two for the price of one, and as a bonus, environmentally friendly. After all, you know how those Ozone Alert days can be killers.