St Patrick's - Chicago - 15th March 2014

As part of a more than fifty-year-old Chicago tradition, the Chicago River is dyed green in observance of St. Patrick's Day.

The tradition of dyeing the river green arose by accident when some plumbers used fluorescein dye to trace sources of illegal pollution discharges. The parade committee has since switched to a mix of forty pounds of powdered vegetable dye.

The dyeing of the river is still sponsored by the local plumbers union. The dye takes days to dissipate.

Here you can see where the dye was first added to the river

Speed boats run up and down the river to mix the dye

 

 

Snowing again - Valentines Day 2014

Yes its snowing again. When will this winter end? We have had snow since early November, and temperatures as low as -26 Centigrade. The good news is that next week we should warm up a little and may get as high as 11 Centigrade. Time to break out shorts and t-shirts?

Biggest Cup Cake in Peoria? 5th February 2014

So we arrived at Bernardi's North Knoxville for our weekly get together with friends, and out comes this huge chocolate cup cake. You can see that Silvia is very happy, as this was a gift for her from Vicky for Silvia's birthday, which by the way has lasted 3 months now.

Why do some peoples birthdays seem to go on forever, and mine lasts 24 hours?

Winter Storm Maximus

1st February Peoria was hit by 'Winter Storm Maximus' which dumped 5" snow. Temperatures reached a maximum of -11C during the day on Sunday 1st February, a with -19C forecast overnight. The bad news is 'Gertie' the groundhog predicts a late spring, with winter lasting another 6 weeks in Peoria, lets hope she is wrong, as the first snow fell in November, and we have had snow on the ground ever since.

Polar Vortex

2 weeks ago it was -26C in the daytime. 21st January the daytime temperatures were -16C, Wednesday 22nd it was -22C, and Thursday -23C Friday 24th was -16C, and More snow and Arctic conditions are forecast through February. Below are some pictures of the Peoria area.