Thursday, 6/25

Really? They think Marquette is THAT cold?

For the past couple of weeks it really hasn't been very summer-like. As an example, it was only 60-ish and rainy yesterday, the fourth first day of summer. But given the type of year we've had so far, it wasn't snowing. So we have that going for us.

8-)

Anyway, as I was working yesterday I noticed tourists wandering up & down Front Street, a common site any day during summer. Only, I noticed that more than one of the tourists wandering up & down the street—maybe a dozen. actually--were wearing winter jackets, hats, and, in some cases, gloves. And that made me think two things, one is that I'm glad they were able to stay warm.

The second? Just how cold do they think Marquette IS if they felt the need to bring winter gear with them on a summer vacation? I mean sure, yesterday actually proved their point, but just how cold do they think Marquette is during the summer? So cold that you have to bring winter clothing with you in June?

I mean...what the what??

Two weeks today ago it was 86 degrees. We've actually (believe it or not) had five days over 80 so far this year. It's not like it doesn't get really warm here during the summer. It obviously does. But what kind of a reputation must a place have if people feel the need to bring winter gear to visit at the end of June? Do they actually think it's rainy and 60 every day of the summer here? Yesterday was (I hope) a fluke. It might have been the one of the few days in the past five summers where winter gear could've been useful. But these people obviously brought it as a matter of course, like they expected to use it. I mean, it';s not a tropical paradise here, but it isn't Siberia, either.

Well, excepting yesterday, of course.

Now, these visitors to our fair city will go home with a story to tell—about how they had to wear winter clothing on the fourth day of summer. It's a great story, and I hope they tell it to full effect. However, those stories will only perpetuate the myth that you'll need winter clothing when you visit Marquette in the summer. So don't be surprised if, in the near future, you see all kinds of people walking around with a winter coat on a summer's day.

It's all the fault of days like yesterday.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 6/24

The street basil tasted really, really good.

As I've mentioned once or twice, I had a busy weekend last weekend. Loraine's brother Joe was up, and in an attempt to not eat out at every single meal I made pasta for dinner one of the nights he was here. It's a dish I make quite often, with ground turkey in the sauce and lots of sage stirred in to make it yummy.

It also uses basil, and usually when I make it I just use the dried stuff. Of course, we all know fresh basil is a whole lot more flavorful, and as we were walking through downtown Marquette a few hours before dinner I suddenly realized that I DID have some fresh basil lying around--

Street basil.

Lest you think I'm insane, I'm not. If you've walked at all through downtown Marquette recently, you may have noticed these flower boxes--

Instead of having decorative flowers in them, for the past couple of seasons the Marquette Downtown Development Authority has stocked them with herb and vegetable plants. Once they've ripened, anyone is welcome to grab a leaf of basil or a tomato and use it however they see fit.

In other words, street basil. I tore a couple of leaves off, brought them home, washed them, cut them up, threw them in the pasta, and, as usual, marveled at how much better fresh basil tastes than the dried stuff. Not only that but it also makes your fingers smell like fresh basil for a few hours, and what's not to like about that?

I have to commend the DDA for thinking outside the (flower) box in this instance. They actually started it because of the food security issues that many people are facing these days. Fresh vegetables can be expensive, and if someone in need wants a carrot or a tomato, they should be able to have them. And that's why anyone is welcome to help themselves from whatever's in the downtown garden boxes.

To me, it's a very Marquette way of creatively dealing with a situation, in the hopes that it lessens the burden on others.

The boxes are on the 100, 200, and 300 blocks of Washington Street, so when you're downtown, check 'em out. While the vegetables still have a way to grow, the herbs are ready, and if you don't need any, just stick your nose in them and catch a whiff of nature--and humanity--at its best.

And if you just happen to find yourself needing a leaf or two of fresh basil? Feel free to grab them. After all, that's why they're there.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 6/23

It's going to be one of the five. I just don't know which of the five it'll be.

Seeing as how yesterday was the second day of summer I decided to use my two minutes of TV time to wonder what kind of summer we'll actually have. If you live up here you know that our “summer”'s been all over the map so far, and there's no way to tell what the next two or three months will hold.

So to address the issue I had my “crack team of researchers” (i.e. my demented mind) come up with five possibilities for the season. They're all based in fact; in fact, we've had something resembling them all in the past decade or so. So despite whatever absurd flourishes I may have given them, any (or all) of them could happen in one form or another over the next few months.

I just have no idea which of the five it'll actually end up being.

As I mention in the piece, I'm thinking (at least based on the past few weeks) that a certain one of the five may come out on top. I mean, I'm hoping not, but I'm also realistic enough to know what summer weather is like around here. Hopefully, we'll get a pattern shift in the next few weeks and warm up a little.

Who knows—maybe we can even be like Europe and bake under 90 degree temperatures for weeks on end. I wouldn't mind; I'm guessing, however, that many of you would.

So just what were the five possibilities? See for yourself, and see if you agree with my assessment of the situation--

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 6/22

I think I may have hit a major turning point in my life. For a few brief seconds during this past busy three day weekend, I literally stopped and smelled the roses.

Whoever it was who wrote that song back in the 70s (Mac Davis?) would be so proud.

After the bizarre year that we've been through, and after a couple of days when I literally didn't have a chance to catch my breathe, I started to think. I started to think about priorities, and I started to think about the fleeting nature of time, both short-term and long-term. I mean, here we are, almost the middle of June already. That means there’s what, three months (at the most) of nice weather left before the arrival of the crap we deal with the rest of the year. That means we have three months (at the most) to do things like go to the beach, and to do things like stopping and smelling the roses.

One of my houses between my apartment and downtown has several bushes of roses in their front yard, and over the past few days, they’ve started to bloom. I’ve walked past them many times in those past few days, always catching the lingering scent that rose bushes leave in their immediate area, but until yesterday, I hadn’t actually stop and stuck my nose deep inside one of them.

So I did. And I’m happy to report that I’m glad I did.

Now, roses will never replace lilacs as the greatest smell on the planet. I just don’t think that’s possible. But I do know that like lilacs roses aren’t around for long. They bloom, they smell nice, and then they die. If you don’t sniff them when you have the chance, then that chance is blown. There’s nothing you can do about. You have to sniff them while you can.

And as hokey as it seems, that may also be a perfect metaphor for things like getting out and enjoy the warmth and the sunshine while we can. While it may seem like we have a lot of time to head out and take part in all of our favorite summer activities, that window of time is actually quite brief. I mean, think of how quickly 2026 (an admittedly bizarre weather year) has gone by so far. The year’s almost half over, after all, even though it doesn’t seem like it. Now divide that by quickness by half, because if we have (at most) three months before all traces of summer are gone, that means that we’ve already lived through a span of time this year that’s twice as long as our “summer” has remaining. If the first six months of the year have gone by in the blink of an eye, what will the next three months seem like?

The start of the blink of an eye?

That’s one of the reasons I’m glad I stopped and sniffed the roses yesterday. It’s something I should’ve been doing more of this year, and it’s something that I’ll make sure I do more of as the summer goes on. As far as the going to the beach is concerned; well, let’s just that's one of the things on top of my list to do today.

After all, there’s not a lot of time to waste on that matter!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 6/18

It's nice to know that, in at least one respect, I haven't changed in the past 40 years.

I've always been a night owl; mornings (especially early mornings) are unnatural to me, and in a perfect world the day would actually begin no earlier than, oh, 11am. And I've been lucky in that I've been able to tie my professional life into that time frame, which is why I have never—nor will ever—do mornings on the air.

THAT would not be a pretty sight for anyone involved.

So when I saw that the New York Times' Wellness section had a quiz on your “chronotype”--whether you're a morning person, a night owl, or whatever—I had to take it. You go through a dozen or so questions, and if you're like me, you end up finding out you're a “nighthawk”.

And I think that fits me to a T.

A “nighthawk” differs from an “owl”, which is someone who goes to sleep when the sun rises. And I'll admit I've never been that kind of person. One or two in the morning? Yup; that bedtime fits me perfectly. But even though I spent several years working overnights early in my life I don't think I've ever been what some people might consider a “night owl” (or just “owl” in this survey). After all, I'm not a vampire. I DO like the sun.

I just don't like it at 6 or 7 in the morning.

But like I said—most of my current jobs involve me working afternoons and/or early evenings, and that suits me perfectly. I don't need to wake up before the crack of dawn, and on those rare occasions when I actually have to? I just sit and stare at the wall for minutes on end. But, as the quiz points out, that's one sign of being a “nighthawk”.

I just never knew there was an actual name for it.

Wonder what type you are? Take the quiz yourself by clicking or tapping here.

****

By the way, I have tomorrow (Juneteenth) off, so there won't be a new one of these. I'll be back on Monday, so until then—have a great weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com), nighthawk

Wednesday, 6/17

Don't worry. I'm not turning into a “bro”, or anything.

Heaven forbid.

I did, however, do two things on TV Monday night that I hardly ever do. Or, at least, hardly ever do in public. I wore a jersey and I talked about sports. For those two minutes, I almost felt like a “guy”. But thankfully, when it was over, I went back to normal.

8-)

I joke, of course. Despite the public image I seem to have I DO have an interest in some sports, especially soccer. And now that the World Cup is going strong, I felt it would be a prime opportunity to bust out one of my jerseys and let Upper Michigan in on my little secret. So my TV piece Monday was, basically, “A Yooper's Guide to the World Cup”, describing soccer to people who might not be familiar, and suggested a few countries other than the US for whom they might like to cheer.

The reason I wore a jersey to do it? Well, the jersey itself was one of the gags, if only because the one I wore was pink & purple, and those colors on a jersey are a good reason to cheer for a team, right?

(See? I'm really NOT a guy, am I?)

if you're a fan, I hope you're catching a match here and there. And if you're not, check one out, especially when a country like Norway or Japan is playing. As I said in the bit, you might be surprised by what you see and, maybe, find yourself getting hooked in the process.

You don't even need a pink & purple jersey for that.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 6/16

In some ways it seems like it was forever ago. In other ways, it seems like it was yesterday.

If you haven't completely erased the shock of it from your brain yet, you may remember where you were three months ago. It was three months ago today—March 16th—that our epic three day dumping of snow occurred, an historic storm event that had few equals in history.

You remember, right?

Like you, part of me has tried to block the trauma of the event out of my brain, making it seem like it was something that happened years ago, if indeed it even happened at all. But I've come across a couple of notes on stuff I'm currently working on, stuff I actually started during that epic event because, well, there wasn't anything else you could do for the better part of a week. And that makes me realize that the storm really wasn't that long ago.

Especially when you think that three months really isn't that long of a time span.

We felt the after effects of the storm for weeks; in fact, I have a dude I work with at one of my other jobs who didn't have the last pile of snow in his yard melt until mid May. The cold & the lingering snow caused flowers to bloom later than usual, and some places still have dirt on the streets from the epic amount of it dumped after the storm. Not only that, but I still have the snowshoes sitting in my apartment that I used for two days just to get from my apartment to the station, three blocks away, because that was the only way to get around.

So, yeah. That was fun.

Thankfully, what's passing for summer this year (and, just as a side note, “summer” better get better soon) has erased most immediate memories of that week, consigning it, for most people, to “do you remember?” status. But for people who pay attention to these kind of things?

It all began three months ago today.

(jim@wmqt.com)