Tag Archives: pleasant weather

Summer Lunch

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As forecast, the week kicked off warm, but not too warm, and sunny, but not too sunny. Out latest bill from ComEd suggests a cooler summer so far: average temps for July of 74.1° F., which I assume means both day and night averaged. Last year, the average was 77.1° F. The latest bill was higher despite that, because for various reasons we’ve kept the AC at a lower temp this summer.

Another benefit of summer, if you attend to a garden.

The meat and bread, we bought. The tomatoes and cucumbers, we grew.

Thursday Updates &c.

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Cerulean days. Thursday dusk on the deck.

It’s come to my attention that Jim Varney did occasionally perform live with Gonzo Theatre. At least, the Tennessean posted an image of him doing stand-up at the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Nashville on November 14, 1982, describing him as a member of the troupe. So maybe he was sometimes; but not specifically on the night we went, and he isn’t in the publicity shot I have in my possession. A Tennessean article about Gonzo Theatre from the year before doesn’t mention him either.

Argh, we could have seen Varney live but, being ignorant young’uns, we didn’t know about the show. Bet he was a hoot and a half.

We were out and about the evening NBC broadcast the Olympic Parade of Nations nearly two weeks ago, so we didn’t see that. Since then, I haven’t felt much like following the Games. But occasionally I look at the medal counts. I see that the UK has 57 and France 56 thus far. Is that the count that the French really care about? No hope to best China or the U.S. (or even Australia), but maybe they’ll top the limeys.

What do the French call the British when they’re in a derogatory mood, anyway? One source says rostbifs.

I also checked the nations that so far have a single bronze. They are:

Including one for the Refugee Olympic Team. How about that.

“Boxer Cindy Ngamba became the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team athlete to win a medal this week, giving the team its first piece of hardware since its creation nearly a decade ago,” NPR reports.

“Ngamba was born in the Central African country of Cameroon and moved to Bolton, England, at age 11, according to her official biography. She took up soccer at a local youth club, where she discovered boxing by chance at age 15.

Ngamba, who is gay, cannot return to Cameroon, where same-sex sexual relations are punishable by up to five years in prison… Ngamba qualified for the Refugee Olympic Team earlier this year, becoming the first boxer to do so.”

Good for her. Hope she gets to stay in the UK.

June 23, 1991

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Saturday afternoon’s weather was perfect for those of us who like our good weather a little less placid. It was a warm and windy day, but not the sort of heat that is oppressive nor the sort of wind that threatens to blow anything down, just puffs that put leaves and branches in constant motion and mostly keeps mosquitoes away.

Heavy rain had fallen in the wee hours of Saturday, but few puddles survived in the daylight hours. Before midnight, more rain fell, but again on Sunday there was little to show for it. Temps moderated somewhat on Sunday, making for a warm day without much wind. Chamber of commerce weather.

I checked the reverse of this image — where I had make notes — and found to my surprise that it was taken 33 years ago today, at Jay’s house in Dallas.

Left to right, top row, described from my point of view, since I’m the one doing the describing: my uncle Ken, aunt Sue, Kim, my cousin Ralph (Kim was his first wife), my brother Jim, my nephew Robert, my brother Jay, sister-in-law Deb, her mother Eleanore. Left to right, bottom row, not counting the dogs: me, my mother Jo Ann, and nephews Dees and Sam. The dogs are Aloysius, Jay and Deb’s, and Katie, my mother’s, in her lap.

I had just turned 30 and was visiting the U.S. from Japan for the first time since my move, and we all gathered in Dallas. Pretty much the only good reason to visit Dallas in the summer is to see family or friends. Other stops on that trip included Chicago and from there a round-trip drive to Massachusetts for the Fourth of July, to visit friends, by way of Toronto and Niagara Falls.

Five family members in the image have passed away in the interim, seven counting the dogs. I’m not sure about Kim; she and Ralph divorced later. Four people in the photo went on to have (so far) a total of eight children, nine counting a stepchild. That would be me, Ralph, Sam and Dees. Also, the house we were standing in has been torn down and the site redeveloped.

What to say but tempus fugit? One question, though. Who took the picture? I don’t remember anyone else being there.

This is February?

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This doesn’t happen often, at least at the tail end of February.

That was the local temp today at 3 pm. Alas, it is also a Monday, meaning I couldn’t sit outside as much as I wanted during the warm hours, though I was able to sip tea on the deck for a few warmth-on-my-face minutes. Out of idle curiosity, I checked the temps at about the same time in Miami.

Huh. What about Fairbanks?

Well, at least that’s seasonal.

Blue Marble, Green Shoots

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When I had a few moments today, which weren’t that many, I sat under the blue-marble skies out on the deck.Mr Blue Sky

In some comfort, since temps nearly, or did, reach 60° F., and the air was still. Another oddly mild day in this oddly mild February.

In a few places, spots of green underfoot.

The dog sat outside with me for a while as well. That must have been a tonic for her weakness, since her appetite, gone for about a day, returned shortly afterward. That might count as post hoc ergo propter hoc, but I doubt the dog knows anything about logic.

After All, It Is SUPER

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Most of the January snow is gone, melted by rain late last week and temps above freezing most of the time since then. More above-freezing temps are forecast for the forecastable future, or another week or so. An odd thing for winter stasis, which is usually a run of days consistently below freezing, but I’m not complaining — and will be glad to be rid of January, as usual.

Another press release that isn’t in my wheelhouse came today, not even within shouting distance of my wheelhouse, unless you count the very occasional times I’ve written about stadium development. Namely, it’s about sports. Rarefied sports: The Super Bowl.

I extracted the following table from it, which reports info from a company that tracks secondary sports ticket sales. These are average ticket prices (so far) for the upcoming Super Bowl and the final averages five games before it.

2024 (49ers vs. Chiefs): $10,408

2023 (Eagles vs. Chiefs): $7,672

2022 (Rams vs. Bengals): $8,347

2021 (Bucs vs. Chiefs): $7,738

2020 (49ers vs. Chiefs): $6,705

2019 (Rams vs. Patriots): $5,629

Italics added, though I could have added them to each and every price listed, to denote how nuts I believe the figures are. Of course, ten grand isn’t what it used to be – can’t even get half of a new car for that, nor (maybe) a decent cruise to Antarctica.

Still, it’s no small sum to devote to parking yourself at football game that only occasionally lives up to its hype. At least, that’s what I hear. Somehow over the years I’ve forgotten to watch the game on TV. That might happen again if I’m not careful.

South Ridge Park, Hoffman Estates

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Sunny and nearly warm on Saturday, at least for a few hours. Time for a stroll around South Ridge Park in Hoffman Estates.South Ridge Park, Hoffman Estates

Perhaps a mile all the way around the pond. Not crowed on the path at all.South Ridge Park, Hoffman Estates South Ridge Park, Hoffman Estates South Ridge Park, Hoffman Estates

South Ridge is one of a small string of parks in that part of the village connected by walking paths, all located away from main streets. The better to be enjoyed mostly by locals, no doubt.South Ridge Park, Hoffman Estates South Ridge Park, Hoffman Estates

Skipped the playground, which includes (not pictured) an obstacle course for small fry. These days, our small fry are large fry. But there were a number of families around, enjoying the playground equipment on a Saturday afternoon in the park.

Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve

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On Saturday, we made our way to the edge of Lake Michigan.Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve

We’d come on the sunny last day of September to Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve, a unit of the Lake County Forest Preserve District. For a little more than a century, the U.S. Army maintained a presence at Fort Sheridan and in surrounding acreage for a shifting variety of uses, until base closure turned the site mostly over the private development, with a relatively small slice added to the forest preserve system.

The decommissioning was in the 1990s. I remember writing about the redevelopment, but after I quit much local reporting about the Chicago area ca. 2005, I tucked whatever I knew about Fort Sheridan in a remote filing cabinet in my memory. That is, I forgot it until not long ago, when I noticed the forest preserve on a map – a paper map – and determined to go, since we were due for lunch with Wendy and Ted later in the day in Evanston anyway.

This forest preserve is only partly forest. We took short trails through prairie. Much is prairie. Much is prairie. Much is prairie. Much is prairie.

A ravine runs through it.Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve

Coloration has started. Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve Fort Sheridan Forest Preserve

Barely but vividly.

Remember the Alamo. In This Case, As It Was In 2018

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A summerish weekend to kick off October, and we were out and about in the warmth. Soon temps will be more in line with the usual Octobers of northern Illinois.

Some trees are changing, but most still are holding their green. That too is bound to change soon.

Five years ago in October, I spent some time in San Antonio after the passing of my mother. That included a walk around downtown. I was persuaded that my mother wouldn’t have wanted me to mope around the house, but rather do what I would have done anyway. That is, go out and see things.

Even in very familiar places.

San Antonio tends toward pleasant weather that time of the year, and so it was that day. A lot of people were visiting the Alamo, taking in some of the demonstrations on the grounds. Such as the firing of period firearms.

Not, I think, using actual ammunition. But everything else seemed authentic, especially the loud bang!

Wednesday Winds

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Angry clouds passed by this evening. It had rained on and off all day, rain we certainly needed, and early in the evening we got treated to a heavy downpour and the sound of sirens for a few minutes. As for as official warnings, this:

The National Weather Service in Chicago has issued a

* Tornado Warning for…

Northeastern DuPage County in northeastern Illinois…

Northwestern Cook County in northeastern Illinois…

* Until 715 PM CDT.

* At 651 PM CDT, severe thunderstorms capable of producing a tornado

were located along a line extending from Schaumburg to Glendale

Heights, moving east at 30 mph.

And a NWS warning in Spanish buzzed on my phone. By 7:15, the sun was out again, shining on a drenched landscape. We’d gotten a lot of rain, but not a bit of wind. Guess that blew parallel to us.

Then: “The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Wednesday following warnings of severe weather for the city. A confirmed tornado was on the ground around 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Chicago,” ABC News reported.

“ ‘This tornado has been touching the ground intermittently so far and is moving east. There are additional circulations along the line south of O’Hare. Seek shelter if in the warned area,’ ” the ABC article said.

“Many tornadoes have struck in the Chicago metropolitan area, and several have hit within the city limits of Chicago, according to the weather service…” ABC concluded (a spot of background or historical context: I know this kind of conclusion well, having written many).

“The deadliest formed in Palos Hills in Cook County on April 21, 1967. The twister traveled 16 miles (26 kilometers) through Oak Lawn and the south side of Chicago, killing 33 people, injuring 500 and causing more than $50 million in damage.”

Another report (NBC News) mentioned a large tornado this evening near Summit, Illinois, which is a lot further away than O’Hare.

So the threat of high winds seems to have passed, at least at my spot on the Earth. But there’s always another day.

A few more thunderstorms are forecast for the near future, but mostly it’s cerulean days ahead.

Or will that be azure days?