To blog, or not to blog.

The weather has turned, as promised by the weather pundits. Friday we touched the heights of the 50s F, only to return to more normal northern Illinois temps this morning, plus bitter wind, and a hint of snow. February is being its usual crummy self here. But even that wouldn’t be so bad if we had some promise of a spring that actually started in, say, April. We don’t.

Not everyone of my acquaintance got “President’s Day” off on Monday, but we at Real Estate Media did — a fine thing. I’ve heard, but I haven’t bothered to confirm it using authoritative sources, that federal law never called it that, back when the government took it upon itself to rationalize certain holidays in the early ’70s. It was, and remains, Washington’s Birthday (Observed), but a certain successor of President Washington, since disgraced and deceased, popularized the notion of “President’s Day.”

Well, why not? A day to dwell on the immortal deeds of Rutherford B. Hayes, Chet Arthur, Millard Fillmore and that greatest of presidents, William Henry Harrison.

I’m only half joking. One of these days, befitting this Weblog’s theme of Been There, Seen That, I’ll post thrilling accounts of visiting sites associated with obscure presidents — Benjamin Harrison’s house, R.B. Hayes’ home and grave, and the Tippecanoe battlefield, all within (relative) easy driving distance of metro Chicago.

Today of course is actually Washington’s Birthday — using the New Style calendar, anyway. Someone impressed Washington’s name on Lilly (I suspect the Montessori staff), and she repeated it to me the other day. “Do you want to see his picture?” I asked, intending to show her one regardless of what she answered, taking a dollar out of my wallet. “That’s George Washington,” I said, giving it to her for a closer look.

She looked at it carefully and announced she was keeping it.