Chicago Spring is a day like today. It was in the 30's early this morning and has gradually climbed up to the 60's this afternoon. The sky is blue. We're promised even warmer weather by the end of the week.
But we Chicagoans know the weather is fickle. It could be back in the 30's on Easter. We've had a touch of snow even in May. We don't dare plant annuals or veggies until Memorial Day, but we still celebrate the first hints of Spring.
Way back in the 50's and 60's, women and girls celebrated Spring by buying a new "Spring Coat." For those uninformed, a Spring Coat is a lightweight wool coat in a pastel color. The sleek, form fitting style you see here (not!) was all the rage! If you were really fortunate you had a husband who bought you a corsage to wear on the coat collar on Easter morning. If it was still good, you'd wear it again the next day...the corsage, that is.
To accompany the "Spring Coat" every woman would purchase a matching hat - preferably one with a small veil and flowers. The coat and hat ensemble hopefully would "go with" the short-sleeved flowery dress that came just below the knee. (And, by the way, even teen-age girls had to wear hats, heels, and white cotton gloves to church and when shopping downtown.)
And then on Easter we'd wear these glorious ensembles....and get snowed on....or at least freeze our butts.By the way, as a small child I was always thrilled when Spring arrived because I would no longer have to look at the faces of the dead foxes on the stoles women wore to church over their coats in the winter. Staring at one of these atrocities during the sermon could certainly turn a young child into an atheist.
But I digress....
Today in Chicago you couldn't buy a Spring Coat if you wanted to, but we still do rather wacky things in early Spring. For example:
* At the nursing home the receptionist repeatedly has to pull wheel-chair bound patients away from the front door explaining that, although it looks warm outside, it's too cold to go outside and sun-bathe.
* The clerk at Home Depot tells me how excited he is to be off tomorrow because he is going to go to the beach!
* I buy pansies.....lots of them. I have pansies on the front stoop. I hung two baskets of pansies outside my big kitchen window. I have two flats to plant tomorrow in the window box. Next week they'll get snowed on....but as good Chicagoans, they will survive.
*The family next door hosts a yearly Easter egg hunt in their yard and a gaggle of young children run around finding eggs in their parkas.
*Our closets are crammed with our complete winter wardrobe and our complete summer wardrobe. It's guaranteed that it will be warm by noon if we choose a winter wardrobe item. It's also guaranteed that we'll freeze if we choose a summer item. If we're an adolescent, however, its the law that only shorts and flip-flops may be worn after February.
*Asparagus returns. Maybe after pansies, the best part of Spring!
*Tulips emerge. Until the rabbits eat them up.
San José may have been beautiful but how can you compare that boring beauty with the unpredictability of a Chicago Spring!
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