Temperatures reached a high of 40 degrees yesterday! Call it a January thaw, or spring for a day, it felt good to get out of the deep freeze, to walk on ice-free sidewalks, even for a day.

Squirrels were running up and down the trees. Sparrows chattered from the rooftops. People were out riding bicycles in the streets!

Chiberia is not gone, even as a Saskatchewan Screamer is poised to bring a winter storm to the south and southeast–Kentucky and Tennessee are forecast to get more snow! This storm may bring some snow to Chicago, too, so keep the shovels and snow boots handy.

Meanwhile, the Omicron variant is lurking like a stalker in an alley, or a carjacker at the corner waiting for the light to change. We are still living with uncertainty. Will we be buying K95 masks? Will we need another booster in the fall?

But even in the middle of winter, there is more light each day after the winter solstice. There are buds on the bare branches. Better days are coming.

In spite of uncertainty, and fears that have plagued us going into the third year of these plague years, this is what 40 degrees in January feels like–positivity, lightness, hope!