White Out

The snow started falling last night around dinnertime, and didn't stop. I woke up this morning to the sound of a neighbor's snowblower cutting through the yard between our houses. We got an estimated 10 inches of snow last night. It's now a little after 11 a.m. (Chicago time) and the snow is still falling. The Chicago area is supposed to get another 4 to 8 inches of the white stuff before it stops. I had plans to meet up with a friend of mine, Denise, who lives in Lakeview, in the northeast corner of the city (and a drive of about 45 minutes to an hour from Berwyn, which is a suburb west of the city, under the best weather and traffic conditions). But I'd be content to stay indoors all day instead, playing cards and eating thawed out corn bread with my sister and brother-in-law, and taking turns holding and changing the baby. My sister's home is on the corner, and I watched from the front window this morning as a neighbor tried to navigate the turn in his Buick sedan. The car kept turning until the wheels nudged up against the bank of snow that a city streetcleaner had pushed to the edge of my sister's lawn. And I thought, I couldn't ask my sister to drive in this--even just to the train station--especially with the baby in back. And the snow still coming down.
At least the snow is expected to stop by tomorrow. My flight leaves in the afternoon. I hope the snow has stopped falling in New York by then too. The blizzard we had last night reportedly moved into New York City late this morning, and it's supposed to stay there for the next 24 hours.