This young boy peeked out at me with soulful eyes as I crossed a bridge at the Angkor Wat Complex in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on my way to to the Preah Khan Temple

The Kankakee River ice jam is no more. Two days ago the temperature in Illinois soared to a record breaking 60 degrees; this on the heels of weeks of sub-zero temperatures that had frozen the river solid. As  the thermometer climbed, the ice began to melt and crack, piling up in giant slabs that backed up the water and caused flooding upstream. Ice collected in a mountainous heap in front of Dad’s house and by midday the rising water began to push ice onto shore, in the process taking out everything in its path. At 8 p.m., Dad checked the water level and discovered it was over the dock and was rising fast. We held our breaths and prepared to leave if necessary, but by 10 p.m. the water was receding. Dad speculated that the locks downstream had been opened up to relieve the flooding.

Backed up ice pushes into the cove, creating a mini-glacier

By yesterday morning, all the ice on the far side of the island had been swept downstream and the river was again flowing, but the cove in front of Dad’s house still looked like a glacier, with jagged ice stretching from the shore to the island. Soon, the swift currents on the far side of the island began eating away at the ice in the cove. Before long, half the distance between Dad’s dock and the island had opened up. I pulled on boots, bundled up in two coats to keep warm in temperatures that were once again down to freezing, and grabbed my camera. At the shoreline, huge sheets of ice split and fell into the river, crashing into one another like a giant demolition derby. Further out, mini icebergs calved from larger mounds and floated away. The air was filled with crackling and popping that reminded me of Read the rest of this entry »

About a year ago, I wrote a story titled “Hopelessness Is Only One Letter Away From Hopelessness.” I have more interaction with homeless people than most, since I live in Sarasota, Florida, midway between the Salvation Army facility and downtown. Every day, dozens of homeless people walk downtown in the morning and return to the Salvation Army at night to eat, shower, and sleep. One day last month I was downtown and happened to be walking alongside a homeless couple who were carrying all their worldly possessions on their backs. This was during one of Sarasota’s rare cold spells (the nighttime temperatures had been dipping below 35 degrees for the previous two nights), and I wondered if they had some place warm to sleep and something hot to eat. I thought about how lucky I was to have a roof over my head and the means to live comfortably.

“I hope you have some place warm to sleep,” I said, turning to the man. He looked up at me, visibly startled that I had spoken to him.

“No, we’ve been sleeping on the street,” he replied. Read the rest of this entry »

Unless this crazy weather pattern stops, I’m afraid my family is going to run me out of town on a rail for fear that I am a jinx. To begin with, this has been Illinois’ coldest December in many years. The Kankakee River, which runs right by my Dad’s front door, NEVER freezes before January. But the recent long string of sub-zero days caused the river to freeze over in mid-December this year.

Yesterday morning, with the temperatures still below freezing, I watched a three wheeler zipping down the ice out in the middle of the river. Later that afternoon the temperatures started to climb and kept climbing. By noon today, it was 60 degrees outside and the ice was rapidly melting. Not long afterward, from his spot in front of the picture window overlooking the river, Dad said, “Here it comes. The ice is breaking up.” I rushed over to see. Looking across the glassy surface, I spotted a narrow band of broken up ice slowly floating past the island that marks the midpoint of the river.

Grabbing the camera, I ran outside and looked upstream. The ice moved slowly at first, crackling and popping as sheets split apart. Expanses of water opened up, releasing pent up flood waters that had backed up behind the ice floe. Raging waters and 40 mph buffeting winds forced ice chunks to tumble on top of one another and build up into jagged mountains. Giant tree branches and tree trunks protruded from the floe as it raced downstream, threatening the houses across the river that are at a lower elevation.

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Christmas morning dawned a cold but sunny 12 degrees. Although I never like being in Illinois in the winter, this year has been especially difficult. Because of repeated ice storms and snowstorms, I’ve been trapped inside more than usual. But yesterday’s crystal blue skies meant that Dad and I could go to my sister’s house without worrying about driving on treacherous ice covered roads.

Rather than taking our normal shortcut on back roads that were still slick, we chose the long way around. Although this road is better maintained, it crosses over a cooling lake that serves the nearby nuclear generating plant. In winter the area is often shrouded in thick fog that is generated when colder air temperatures come in contact with the the warmer lake waters. The past two days of sub-zero temps had turned the fog into a frost that coated the trees, creating amazing wind-blown ice sculptures from the naked branches.

After a quick stop to admire this sparkling winter wonderland, we continued to Linda’s house. The Weibel clan can disagree about many things, but where food is concerned there is never any disagreement – our motto is “The more, the better! ” This was the spread of appetizers that greeted us upon arrival:

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The snow has finally stopped here in Illinois and the temperatures have finally climbed above zero; it’s now 12 degrees and expected to climb all the way to 28. The sun is even peeking through the clouds – just a bit, but enough to melt a little of the ice that has been coating all the roads. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for temps to climb above freezing, perhaps even as high as 50 degrees. We fondly refer to this as pneumonia weather.

I’m not complaining though. I am surrounded by warmth – both of the temperature kind (Dad’s house is a cozy 72 degrees) and the familial kind. I am about to leave for my sister’s house, where for the next few hours we’ll be stuffing our faces, unwrapping presents, watching football, playing electronic games on the TV, and talking over one another until the din is so loud that my head begins to reverberate. I love it. I am so grateful that I can be here over the holidays with my Dad and the rest of my family. I hope each and every one of you are also with loving family and friends, enjoying the holiday. Merry Christmas everybody!

Over the past several years, Dad and I have developed a new tradition. Each year when I travel to Illinois to spend the holidays with family, we set aside a time to watch “A Christmas Story” on TV. This classic film chronicles an All-American 1940′s era Northern Indiana family at Christmastime. The plot revolves around the oldest boy, Ralphie, who is determined to get a genuine Red Rider BB gun for Christmas. At every turn he is thwarted. When Ralphie’s mother learns about his wish, she exclaims, “You’ll shoot your eye out!” Believing his only hope is Santa, Ralphie waits in line at the local department store to see the big guy. Finally, after hours of waiting, he climbs on Santa’s lap and pleads for his gun, to which Santa caustically replies, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!”

Although the film is set a number of years before I appeared on the scene, it is peppered with scenes that take me back to my childhood. Anyone who has lived in the Midwest will remember being bundled up in snowsuits and layers of clothes so thick that you could barely move. Or having your mouth washed out with soap. Or listening to your Old Man grumble and occasionally swear over a temperamental furnace. (Ours was fueled by coal. Every few days, all winter long, my father had to shovel coal into the maw of a stoker down in the basement. He hated that furnace and I’m sure more than a few swear words were muttered over it). Read the rest of this entry »

A scene in Shenandoah National Park that needs no words…

One of the many trails in Shenandoah National Park

Last week I spent a few days in the Tampa Bay, Florida area before traveling north to Illinois to visit my family for the holidays. One of the attractions I visited was the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where injured dolphins are rescued, treated, and released back into their natural environment. I watched in fascination as the resident dolphins jumped from the water on command, twirled in circles with half of their sleek bodies above the water line, and even jumped completely out of the water and balanced on the trainer’s platform.

I have long been fascinated with dolphins. While we know that they are extremely intelligent, there is still much about these gentle creatures we don’t understand. One of the more fascinating behaviors they exhibit is the ability to generate bubble rings by forcing air through their blowholes, as seen in the following video:

As if by magic, the dolphin does a quick flip of its head, generating a silver, donut-shaped ring in front of its nose. The ring doesn’t Read the rest of this entry »