I'm briefly passing through Chicago now, dodging blizzards in my travels.  I spent Sunday morning digging out from the enormous snowstorm that hit us the day before.  Then, on Sunday afternoon, we caught a fine concert by the Chicago Symphony under the baton of 28-year-old dynamo Gustavo Dudamel (Chicago Tribune review here).   Dudamel is obviously gifted; he also  could easily have been one of the Marx Brothers.  Pianist Stephen Hough shone in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21, the highlight of the bill, which also featured Barber's Adagio for Strings and Brahms' 2nd Symphony.   

   I hailed a taxi outside Symphony Center and headed for O'Hare Airport and my flight to Minnesota.  I wanted to visit my father, who is in the hospital, as well as take care of some things for my mother's estate.  On Monday, it of course snowed in St. Paul, and this morning it was bitterly cold there.  I understand that O'Hare  was a zoo yesterday, as well. 

   I flew back from St. Paul this evening, no problems.  Another blizzard is due in Chicago tonight. I hope it will have cleared up by Thursday morning, when I fly off to Princeton for a weekend of meetings.  No doubt there'll be more new snow to greet me there.