Thursday, 7/2

Which one would top YOUR list?

I took one of a half-days to go play out in the sun and the heat, and while I was walking along the beach, I started to think about smells that can only exist, at least the U.P., during the summer. I have no idea why or no idea how; when you walk along the beach and let your mind drift, strange things pop into it.

Or at least strange things pop into my brain. But that may be a discussion for another day.

Anyway, what smells DID pop into my brain? These ones—Jim’s list of the Top Five Smells Of Summer:

5. The smell of freshly cut grass. I don’t have to mow a lawn myself any more, but I always enjoy walking down a street when someone is in the middle of trimming the grass in their front yard. It instantly makes your mind think of summer, if only because it only smells that way DURING summer.

4. The smell of charcoal heating up a grill. This actually can be more than just a smell of summer; you can usually appreciate it first in late March or early April, on one of the first days above freezing, when NMU students seem celebrate the return of the sun by breaking out their grills. It’s one of the benefits of walking home from work on a day like that. . . trust me on that.

3. The smell of sunscreen and sweat. Oh, be quiet; it’s not as gross as you think. In fact, it’s the smell that prompted this whole blog, the smell that you get when you walk down a beach on a warm summer day. It just kind of lingers in the air, so if you’re a bit squeamish to call it the smell of sunscreen and sweat, call the smell of the beach. It’s the same thing.

2. The smell of sunshine. Okay, I know that “sunshine” has as much of a smell as the color purple, but you know that smell you get when you open your windows on a sunny day, and the sun somehow magically reacts with the air in your house to produce a smell that wasn’t there before? THAT’S the smell I’m talking about—the smell of sunshine I’m talking about.

Finally, here’s Jim’s number one smell of summer, a smell that, I will admit, is highly subjective—

1. The smell of all the rose bushes along the South Beach Bike Path in Marquette (the beach down which I was wandering). They don’t smell like summer for any reason other than the fact that they're only around for a short time, but when they are around they're heavenly. Don't believe me? Head down there and sniff for yourself.

There you go...an answer to a question you've never thought existed--what summer smells like for the short time it’s here in Marquette.

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Because of corporate holidays I'm off for four (!) days. I'll be back Tuesday with something new. Have a great (and safe) 4^th of July weekend!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 7/1

Don't worry. The chocolate is safe.

Like most of the country, Marquette is stuck under a heat dome this week. Yesterday, temperatures hit the lower 90s (we were warmer and more humid than Miami, in fact), and the same is expected today. Fir me, this is heaven on Earth, while I realize that for others it's pure hell. And I do feel for them; I really do

Hopefully, you'll make it through this week unscathed.

Aside from most people living in the UP (me excepted, of course) there's one other thing that does not tolerate heat in any way, shape, or form, and that is chocolate. Now, if you recall, Loraine and I went to Germany two months ago, and one the things we did was to visit three countries in four hours and buy as much chocolate as we could. We brought it home, where we've been enjoying it piece my piece since.

Most of the chocolate we brought home is still uneaten. And if it sat in our un-air conditioned apartment, all those precious bars and tablets would end up as puddles of chocolate mush by the end of the week.. So I did what I'm assuming anyone would do. I bagged them up, brought them down the street, and stuck them in my air conditioned office.

There the chocolate will sit for the next few days, until the Heat Dome dissipates or until we get hungry enough to want to break one open. And I have the feeling that might be a close race between the two.

Seriously, though--was there anything else we could do? I mean, I love hot weather as much as the next person (actually, probably a lot more than the next person), but I do realize there are a couple pf bad things that may come along with it. And one of those is that chocolate, like most Yoopers, wilt under the heat. Now, I don't know if most Yoopers turn into a puddle of mush when it's over 90 for two days in a row (although I'm thinking a lot of Yooper just may), but I AM certain that chocolate does. And since we went to all kinds of effort not only to buy the chocolate but to lovingly get it all home in one piece, well...

A cool room for a few days is the least we can do for the bars of Galler, Cote D'or, and and all the other pieces we know and love.

So while Loraine and I may be baking in our un-air conditioned apartment, rest assured that we have taken care of some of the most important things in our lives...

Our chocolate from Europe.

(jim@wmqt.com)