YESTERDAY'S MEMORIES of a Bygone Time

Friday, February 02, 2007

Chicago Winter Memories

I saw on the News tonight that it was going to be 8 degrees in Chicago tonight. Brrrrrrrrrr!!! Boy, did that bring back a vivid childhood memory of the Windy City!

I don't really remember how old I was when I got to go visit my Grandparents in Chicago one Winter. But I do remember how very cold it was, and how much I enjoyed the snow. It must have been in the 1950's, because I remember being in the Loop, walking down a freezing cold, windy street, in a full skirt with crinolines, which made it stand out. No, it wasn't a poodle skirt, because I never had one of those, but it was that type of skirt. I had what Mama called Snuggies on underneath my skirt. They were basically long cotton underwear cut off above the knees. The reason I remember it so distinctly is that I was so cold that the rough net of the crinolines stung my legs, right through the Snuggies, like millions of little needles. When we got back to their apartment, my upper legs were bright red!! I had never been so cold in my whole life as I was that day.

It's hard to believe that I would have gone out in that kind of weather in anything but pants, but, in those days, girls wore dresses and skirts and blouses - certainly not pants!!

So hearing of an 8 degree Chicago night brings back memories of State Street, Marshall Field's, and the Woolworth's that had an entrance right in the subway station. But most of all, it makes me think of that terribly cold wind blowing off Lake Michigan, and my chapped, stinging legs!!

Labels: 1950's, Chicago, childhood memories, crinolines, Grandparents, Lake Michigan, nostalgia, Windy City

posted by Dirty Butter 6:48 PM

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