Since I don’t have much time to write, so I’ll let the camera do the talking. First, here’s a spectacular shot of the retired space shuttle Columbia not flying over Chicago today.

I kid. I’m glad my friends in D.C. got a nice treat today, and my Facebook feed suggests this might be NASA’s biggest publicity coup since they first landed men on the moon in 1969.

As you can see, it was a beautiful day here on the Third Coast, if a little cool for mid-April. The weather so far this spring is a reminder that it’s unwise to jump to conclusions about the year’s weather based on freak weather events. We had a beach-weather heat wave that lasted a couple of weeks in March, and April’s temperatures have been at or below their chilly early spring averages. Go figure.

I’ll catch up on the Chicago vs. D.C. Weather Smackdown below, but first, some big news. Gracie the Cat has relented a bit on her contract demands to participate in this blog.

Over the past week or so, the YouTube videos of Henri the Cat have gotten wide distribution on the Web. If you haven’t seen them, they are two black-and-white shorts (about two minutes long each), with subtitles, that are takeoffs on the introspective filmmaking of France’s New Wave. In the videos, a narrator in the voice of Henri bemoans his tedious life as a pampered house cat.

Gracie, however, may have been watching over my shoulder and noticed that there is more than a passing resemblance between Henri (seen here looking in the mirror, with one of the best lines from Henri 2, Paw de Deux)…

… and Gracie herself.

Not separated at birth, perhaps, but definitely from the same family cat tree.

So, in pursuit of her own elusive 15 minutes of fame, Gracie agreed to a photo shoot. This one is for her fans out there.

And back to the Smackdown… according to Weather Underground…

Last Sunday, Chicago Midway reported a high of 76, a low of 59, but lots of rain (.82 of an inch). Washington Reagan National reported a high of 83, a low of 60 and no rain. Point for D.C.

On Monday, Chicago Midway reported a high of 66, a low of 43 and .02 of an inch of rain. Washington Reagan National reported a high of 89, a low of 63 and no rain. I’ve experienced a lot of 89 degrees in Chicago. Feels like 109. Point Chicago. That brings the overall score to D.C. 140, Chicago 116.