Hole In The Donut Travels

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 high temperature today in Illinois was MINUS one degree. This followed a night of sub-zero temps with wind gusts up to 35 mph. All night long, high winds roared across the frozen river outside my father’s house, tearing ice off the trees in the yard. Every so often the sound of ice shards spattering [...]

There is beauty in everything and last night’s ice storm was no exception. I braved the cold temperatures, slippery roads, and tree limbs crashing down all around me to capture these photos:

Snow on the Outer Banks of North Carolina? Not a regular occurrence, but it’s been known to happen.
Three inches of snow in one day in Las Vegas, where they normally don’t get more than a half inch during an entire winter? Now that’s a bit strange.
But when I heard it snowed in Malibu yesterday – [...]

Brrrrrr. I repeat. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. I’m at my Dad’s house, freezing my butt off. Overnight it dropped to 9 degrees. The cold temperatures, coupled with a stiff wind off the river, made it difficult to keep the house heated to much more than 70 degrees last night. I slept under a mountain of blankets. The high [...]

There are times when I feel totally disconnected from everyone and everything. Then there are other times when I am so connected that I’d swear I’m communicating with a higher source. Yesterday evening was one of those “oh so connected” times. I was driving back to Sarasota after having spent two weeks working on my [...]

It’s good to be home but would somebody please tell the weather gods that this is the South??? When I arrived last night it was only 28 degrees and the high today was 55. Ridiculous! Thought I left this all behind me in North Carolina and Illinois. If this situation doesn’t get [...]

In the dictionary, next to the word cold, there is a picture of Illinois. At the moment, it’s 14 degrees, with winds gusting to 60 mile per hour, making the wind chill temp well below zero. Brrrr. I actually went outside in this because Dad and I had to go shopping. We actually saw [...]