SJB NEWS NOTES

SJB NEWS NOTES Page 5Chronicling the storm of the centuryPHOTOS BY THE FRIARS OF ST. JOSEPH’SJoshua van Cleef, Clifford Hennings and DanHelfrich in shoveling garb that would givetheir mothers apoplexy.Buses were stranded on HydePark Boulevard.Clifford Hennings andBy Mark Soehner, OFMRoger Lopez explorethe great outdoors.FEB. 1, 2011We had an inch of snow this morning. Our snow crewquickly dispatched it from our sidewalks and back parkingspaces. Our talk in the morning was largely aboutwhether we would even get snow later in the day. So manyof the weather reports have been wrong. The machismoabout going out anyway was thick in the air.Around 3 p.m. the wind picked up and soon snow wasfalling. Ed Shea and I went to work out. On our journeyback around 4:30 there already was enough snow on thestreet, despite the snow plows, to start sliding. Peoplewere beginning to get stuck on Lake Shore.I had much earlier agreed to meet a friend at arestaurant in Little Italy. With all the weather reports, wearranged instead to meet at one of our local bistros. Eventhe walk there by 6:30 p.m. was met with howling windsand already a foot of snow. Stinging snow pelted my facelike little darts, melting on impact. There were only threegroupings in this normally crowded neighborhood restaurant.We celebrated my friend’s birthday, then braved the strangenuclear winter atmosphere.FEB. 2, 2011It is so quiet. Muffled. As we celebrate Morning Prayer forthe Presentation, we’re looking out the window onto a worldof white. Michael Charron rallies Macario Torres Torres(SH), Dan Helfrich and me to venture out. There is a busstranded on Hyde Park Boulevard. A couple of other walkersare taking pictures with us. One woman is trying to get out ofthe neighborhood in her car to go to work. She turns aroundwhen she sees the bus stranded. We measure the snow, morethan 24 inches in drifts.Continued on Page 6Snow angel Clifford Hennings dives right in.Michael Charron can’t quite believe his eyes.