So Long Chi-beria!

Between Polar Vortex and some smaller storms before and after, Chicago earned the nickname "Chi-beria" this year. It wasn't just my little Southern soul shivering in a northern winter, schools and business actually closed because it was too cold!

Chicago and melting Lake Michigan

Now, I come from a glorious portion of the the country where the daffodils bloom by mid February at the absolute latest, so two inches of snow the first day of March was just a bit too much for me. Despite my best efforts to go and do, when there aren't flowers blooming by the end of February and I haven't seen the ground for months because of the snow and ice I start to panic.  Immediately my subconscious decides that spring didn't survive the winter.

It's a pretty silly thing to think. As long as the earth is still rotating, the seasons will keep changing. After all, Hades cannot keep fair Persephone with him the entire year. I know that spring will come, but also I don't know that it will come. When the dark days drag on and the occasional sunny day is below freezing, it's hard to remember green growing things.

Teeny-tiny baby leaves!

But today, today was sunny and warm. When I ventured out with my paints, there were tiny rivers beginning on all the sidewalks and the grass (though dead-looking) had appeared. The main sidewalks were full of people out jogging or walking their dogs and they actually smiled.

Closer to Lake Michigan there were more rivulets and a few trees even had the beginnings of buds. Out on the lake front joggers, cyclist, and dog walkers were all frolicking and so were the birds. From the apartment windows I only see distant pigeons and once I saw a titmouse investigate our trees. Out there, the air rang with birds singing, calling, chiding in many voices.

I settled in and began painting. Just as I was becoming engrossed in the colors I heard a noise I didn't recognize and looked about. Not seeing anything unusually I turned back to my painting. Again the noise and again I didn't understand. After the seagull, who'd been begging for the paintbrushes he assumed were food, left I realized what it was: ice breaking!

Spring is still awhile away (more snow to come this week) but the ice is breaking and the buds are forming.

My sketch from the lake front

Huitzi

One great thing about living in the midwest is that there are craft breweries everywhere. Because these are small companies and can't afford huge ad campaigns, they have to work to stand out. I think it's such a treat to walk through the store and see product design for each company.

Many companies have a theme in which all their beers are named. One of my favorites is called Five Rabbit. Their beers are animal themed with a Central American twist.  I found this beauty at the store during the end of Polar Vortex and let's be frank, I'm a sucker hummingbirds. I stopped to examine the label and realized (of course!) that it is a Five Rabbit product.  The side of the bottle says:

Art journal page (where I should have used a thinner Pen)

"Huitzi is a winter beer that doesn´t wallow in the dark cold days of this season. Like it’s namesake, the Aztec hummingbird god Huitzilopoctli who smashed the winter to allow the sun to return, Huitzi looks forward to the brighter promise of spring. We think of it as a winter cooler."

WHAT--Did I just read that correctly: "hummingbird god?" Yes, yes there was an Aztec hummingbird god. Sort of...

Huitzilopochtli was a warrior and sun god.  In art he is depicted as a hummingbird (sometimes an eagle) or a warrior wearing hummingbird feathers. As the son of the earth goddess and a sun god, the legend says that he created the moon and stars from his siblings who tried to kill him and their mother. According to the legend the spirits of fallen warriors would join him in the sun and then be reincarnated as hummingbirds.

The product design for this beer and the stories its name honors caught my imagination. Over Christmas break I found an Art Blanc Modo Arte journal on clearance at Hobby Lobby and bought it as I always do art and office supplies: on impulse.  But like so many journals, the beautiful cover and blank pages keep me from using them. Not this time, Huitzi bounced around in my imagination as the snow fell and became the first entry in my new art journal.