Life Along Lake Michigan

July, 2012 Summertime!

Posted by: JanesVacation, 1:24 PM GMT on July 02, 2012

I'm back from Bologna, Italy and my first European vacation. It was wonderful and I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting a new adventure. My husband was my tour guide and he was invaluable at getting us around the airports and train stations. We visited Florence and went to the Uffizi, Venice and the beautiful Saint Marks Cathedral and Ravenna to tour the churches filled with amazing mosaics. Italy is certainly the center of art and architecture.

It is wonderful to be home today with the rest of the summer ahead of me. The weather in Italy was HOT, HOT, HOT. It is the same here in the midwest with daily highs in the 90's. Might as well enjoy it!

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1. sandiquiz 1:27 PM GMT on July 02, 2012
Do you know I thought I had written a post after your return... I must be getting old!! lol How long before you have to return to school? Do you get time to recover and do some usual summer jobs around the house and garden? Member Since: October 29, 2005 Posts: 252 Comments: 22434

2. PugetSoundPost 1:19 PM GMT on July 03, 2012
Welcome back! I'm glad you had such a wonderful trip! It sounds like you had a great trip and will have lots of fun memories. Now you have time to enjoy all that heat and your pool! No such luck here. My mom is suddenly in a precarious position and the wedding marches closer. So many overlapping things going on! Member Since: October 8, 2001 Posts: 155 Comments: 612

3. JanesVacation 3:52 PM GMT on July 03, 2012
Big News on FB today - the Weather Channel has acquired WU. I wonder what changes that will bring??? http://aoss.engin.umich.edu/articles/view/265 I hope it will bring some updating. (Easier to post weather pictures, easier to link articles, easier to collaborate with friends without scrolling through so many posts, etc.) My niece still works for Jeff Master's. I hope she still has a job!!! Member Since: June 21, 2008 Posts: 258 Comments: 1253

4. sandiquiz 10:25 AM GMT on July 04, 2012
Hope it is a good day for you :) Lets' hope they update and not wipe away! :( Not being into FB - I love having the blogs on WU to stay in touch! Member Since: October 29, 2005 Posts: 252 Comments: 22434

5. JanesVacation 12:24 PM GMT on July 04, 2012
Happy 4th of July! I'm heading off this morning to celebrate the holiday with my brother and his family. My parents are coming and we will likely be preoccupied by the fact that his daughter (my niece) is getting married on Friday. Time to pack the car and head out in this heat! Have a good day everyone! Member Since: June 21, 2008 Posts: 258 Comments: 1253

6. JanesVacation 11:33 AM GMT on July 05, 2012
Waking up to clouds and 82 degrees here at 7:00 A.M. Forecast is for 100 degrees here again today. (2nd day in a row for most communities.) High humidifies make it a hot one, for sure! No rain since the beginning of June makes our sandy soil very dry. Weeds and grasses are wilted along with the lawns that aren't being sprinkled. 2 more frogs have jumped into our pool seeking relief from the heat! I'll be spending this day mostly indoors working on the graduate course I am taking this summer in Educational Technology. I have been working on this Master's Degree off and on for several years. It's good to be a student again! This current course focuses on staff development for technology implementation and integration. Should be useful in my current teaching position. Member Since: June 21, 2008 Posts: 258 Comments: 1253

7. JanesVacation 5:44 PM GMT on July 05, 2012
A small but vocal minority of people, he said glumly, are “resistant to change in general.” They should know, he said, that “change is inevitable.” If nothing else, the weather teaches us that much. Finished reading an article about the Weather Channel acquiring WU this week. Always prefer WU to other weather sources. They have always seemed more like "the pure weather" to me - without all of the hype presented at the other sources. The article says that “This will be a better change, a good change.” Weather Underground will have more money to build weather models and to invest in Web design improvements. It will stay online as its own brand, he said, one that will be complementary to the Weather Channel’s. I guess we will see.... Member Since: June 21, 2008 Posts: 258 Comments: 1253

8. sandiquiz 8:37 AM GMT on July 07, 2012
I guess we will have to wait and see... Jane, do me a favour and pull up Karen's blog by clicking on the blog title - Garden Abundance... If you get what I am getting you will see a warning banner. I then clicked back (using the page return, and not the GO BACK on the banner), and away from it. I can get into her blog by using her name as the link, but as soon as I try to open the comments the same banner appears .... weird, but also worrying! I have been to all my other WUfiends this morning and not seen this before. Have a happy, if hot, weekend :) Member Since: October 29, 2005 Posts: 252 Comments: 22434

9. sandiquiz 3:19 PM GMT on July 13, 2012
Hi Jane, look like you are having wonderful weather. May I come and visit? I really need some warmth, I am going mouldy! lol Member Since: October 29, 2005 Posts: 252 Comments: 22434

10. SBKaren 2:58 AM GMT on July 15, 2012
Hi Jane, Sounds like an interesting class you are taking. We're going to have to have some teacher training with these iPads. All the teachers got theirs to use and play with over the summer, and try to find apps that will be valuable to them. We also already have one class set of iPads in a charging unit. My principal's goal is to have one for each grade level. A lofty, expensive goal, so we'll see. I wonder if Sandi is able to get in my blog now. I think she already has. We've been gone a week. Had a wonderful time in Lake Tahoe. The weather was fabulous. It was overcast here this morning, but cleared to sunshine. Seems like we are the only ones in the country not burning up. My SIL told me we actually had rain on Thursday night! Member Since: February 21, 2005 Posts: 191 Comments: 14191

11. JanesVacation 9:31 PM GMT on July 17, 2012
Sizzling hot summer here! My thermometer says 97.5 in the shade with high humidity, as well. It's a hot and dry summer for us. We haven't had a drop of rain in 24 days. I had a dear friend for lunch today. She arrived at 12:30 and didn't leave until 5PM. (We couldn't quit talking!) It was wonderful catching up - we have 2 kids the exact same age and we used to be neighbors when they were younger. It is wonderful to have such a true friend. Tomorrow I am going to be driving over to my hometown to have lunch with my two elementary school friends. One is never married and living with her ailing Mom and one is a Mom to three grown children. None of us have any grandkids and we all work at schools - should be fun! Member Since: June 21, 2008 Posts: 258 Comments: 1253

12. JanesVacation 10:37 AM GMT on July 19, 2012
Our 26 day drought has been busted! WooHoo! A half inch of rain fell overnight, but I doubt it is really enough to help the farmers. The forecast is back to the 90 degree temperatures for the weekend. Today will be the coolest day of the month with 83F for a high this afternoon. Member Since: June 21, 2008 Posts: 258 Comments: 1253

13. sandiquiz 2:15 PM GMT on July 19, 2012
Hi Jane, You are having a cool day, of 83 degrees, and we are having a high of ... just checking what it is .... 59.4!! This summer has been a total wash out. I noticed the stores are already stocking winter coats and boots, whilst summer short and tee-shirts are being sold off at 70-80% off! Hope you have a wonderful weekend - home or away? Member Since: October 29, 2005 Posts: 252 Comments: 22434

14. PugetSoundPost 2:41 PM GMT on July 19, 2012
Hi Jane! We are having pretty opposite summers. For the most part it has been pleasant enough here, but nothing extraordinary. I think we have had more clouds and cooler temperatures than usual, but it has been acceptable for summer. Our highs have been in the 70's and lower 80's, which is very nice, and many would call that "perfect", but perhaps less cloud cover would really make that better and more "summery". No thoughts of drought here. And that is good. Tomorrow is my husband's birthday and we are planning on taking a picnic to a Puget Sound beach. But, I see the latest forecast is calling now for 50% chance of rain and a high of only 68 tomorrow! I guess it will make the fire in a firepit we are hoping to have all that much more appealing! The hot coffee is already sounding good! Yes, the wedding is Labor Day weekend, Sept. 1. The invitations have gone out and now people are actually coming! So we HAVE to get it all together now! Lol! It has been a hectic past few weeks - wedding details and spending time with my mom. She is gradually improving but she is still recuperating in the nursing home and wants me to see her often. Today is a busy wedding day - three separate meetings scheduled with music, catering, etc. And the birthday tomorrow, with coordination of some other family members to attend our rainy picnic and needing to get that organized too. A South Seas cruise to escape to is sounding pretty good about now! Member Since: October 8, 2001 Posts: 155 Comments: 612

15. JanesVacation 12:56 PM GMT on July 20, 2012
We will be around the house this weekend. Temperatures are expected to soar once again in the 90's so a jump in the pool will be on the agenda. Hamburger on the grill with some fresh corn sounds good, too. I'm headed to the grocery store in about an hour. Thinking about dropping by my school on the way to see if anyone is around. I miss hearing the "news!" Five more weeks of summer break remain...woohoo! Member Since: June 21, 2008 Posts: 258 Comments: 1253

17. JanesVacation 12:41 PM GMT on July 22, 2012
80 degrees at 8AM this morning. Another in our string of 90+ days this summer. I feel like the heat and humidity are taking my toll of my productivity. My daughter is in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada beginning her Master's program in Adult Education and Community Building. (Unique combination!) She is wearing a sweater as the highs only reach the upper 60's. Member Since: June 21, 2008 Posts: 258 Comments: 1253

18. PugetSoundPost 2:55 AM GMT on July 23, 2012
A very busy couple of days, doing family activities. I feel I need to add to your daughter's Nova Scotia experience. We just returned from the pool where my daughter is lifeguarding, and found her bundled up with a heavy deck coat on, and another draped over her legs (the pool was nearly empty) and the temperature was 61 degrees - this evening. The high today was 71, but mostly it was in the 60's. Too cool and a bit of a breeze in downtown Seattle - where we had a neat experience today. The whole family, plus soon-to-be SIL visited the touring King Tut exhibition! Wonderful! It was filled with real artifacts from ancient Egyptian tombs of the pharoahs, etc, and highligted with wonderful real artifacts found in King Tut's tomb. This exhibit has toured the country (not sure if it was in Chicago?) and Seattle is the last stop before it returns to Egypt for the "final" time. I love anything authentic from history and this was great. Just two days ago we had a family picnic at a beach for my husband's birthday, and it was quite an adventure. It thankfully did not rain, but the wind was too much for the first half of the time, creating havoc with our food, but the wind did calm eventually and the evening was pleasant, with the beach fire, and while never "cold", coats and sweatshirts felt good too. Still waiting for better summer weather. We need a balance between ours and yours! Member Since: October 8, 2001 Posts: 155 Comments: 612

19. sandiquiz 7:53 AM GMT on July 23, 2012
80 degrees at 8AM this morning. ditto - summer has arrived here in the UK!!!! Yeah! Member Since: October 29, 2005 Posts: 252 Comments: 22434

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