I was at a jobsite earlier today and was watching one of the tradesman prepare some raw, exposed steel for final finishing.

steel almost always makes me think of Chicago

tough, uncompromising

city of steel, city of the blues

For some reason I have been thinking alot of Chicago as well.

In the Loop, the curbs are occasionally made of steel.  Those same curbs are granite in Boston, concrete in New York and most other cities.  But in Chicago, especially right out in front of the Inland Steel Building, the curb is steel and the concrete is formed to it.  Straight from the rolling mills of Gary to the Loop, Michigan pig iron, forged and fired in the blast furnaces along the shore of the Lake.  Earth, Wind, Fire and Water.