“Don’t hug me, it’s too hot” was the greeting on Tuesday as a few friends met for lunch. Coffee and soda drinkers, we all drank water. Lots of water.
All beaches but one were closed to swimmers because a fog was so dense over Lake Michigan that lifeguards could not see swimmers in the water. A rather rare summer phenomenon as the cold lake water and superheated air met. For many, the Lake Michigan is the only place to get relief from the temperatures soaring close to 100°. I hope they open today.
One thing we are really good at here is talking about our problems. Often, our problems concern the weather. Too cold, too much snow, not enough snow, rain, no rain, winds. We do it well here. We do it really well on our radio talk stations. Yesterday, one station I was listening to as I was running a bevy of errands before my hug free but delightful lunch, had listeners calling in with songs that had to do with heat. It was fun to listen to suggested songs and then to hear clips from them.
Here are a few. Do you have any “hot” songs?
Hot Time, Summer in the City, Lovin’ Spoonful www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLdv4a3AVIY
Fever, Peggy Lee www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYxoAJ3Boyc
Hot Stuff, Donna Summer www.youtube.com/watch?v=27-TM3q5-Cc
Love “Fever” by Peggy Lee! The Chicago weather is so full of extremes it takes a hardy person to deal with it – and there is no way to get used to it because just as you do, it changes. I would say the people in Ireland, especially here in the West, talk about and complain about the weather at least as much as we do, on the radio too!
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It’s a steamy song, isn’t it? It is hard to describe our weather to others sometimes because we get such extremes – and then we had the most perfect day the other day. The kind that makes all the lousy weather all the more enjoyable. Glad to hear we are not along on the weather complaining, Janet.
Today is worse than yesterday.
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Hot time! Summer in the City, Back of my neck getting dirt & gritty…
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Rock on, Sandy.
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love your favorites…mine is Hot Time in the Summertime by Sly and the Family Stone. It brings back all sorts of cool memories!
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That’s a good one, Marilyn. Cool memories on a hot day are the best, aren’t they?
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Hello Penny, I have popped back to post a quick update on my blog and have thoroughly enjoyed rambling through your’s. As always your photos and words are a treat. It is so hard to imagine that you are in the midst of a heat wave, especially after following you through your winter, a very severe winter compared to the one we have here.
I especially loved reading your ‘The Secret Garden’ post – I read and reread Heidi throughout my childhood – broke my heart over her homesickness, experienced the joy of her life in the mountains with Grandfather and felt that that was my true home too. The Secret Garden was another book that was a great love of mine. It was another that I cried, sighed, smiled and laughed my way through. I still feel the magic of this book when I visit, what feels like to me, a secret garden.
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Nice to see hear from you, Marilyn. I’ll hop over to your post asap. I know. Six months ago we were knee deep in snow and cold and blizzards and now we are sweltering.
I’m so pleased you enjoyed The Secret Garden post and felt the same about Heidi. You put it so well here. I think we would have been great childhood friends, sharing books and stories. The Secret Garden is magic book, isn’t it, especially in the ways it makes us feel.
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Well, too hot to hug! That’s really made an impression on me. Here it’s ‘give me a hug, I’m freezing!’
Hope that your weather gets cool enough for hugs before too long, and that swimming can resume.
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What a difference a few degrees makes! tee hee We’re a hugging group of women, so, you know how hot it is.
Today, our Thursday, is expected to be the worst day of this, Juliet, so, we’ll try to keep cool and you try to stay warm down there.
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I love hot summer weather, but don’t tolerate it as much as I used to. I love the songs you picked and have been trying to think of more to add. I can’t, so if I do I will let you know. It seems like the Beach Boys should have one. I always think of summer when I hear their music.
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Me either, Janet. The Beach Boys should have one. Maybe just that they are called the Beach Boys is enough.
Surfin’ USA?
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How wonderful! I do love a good sea (or lake) fret! Atmospheric story fodder! Sounds like it was a lovely lunch, Penny. I’ve been fascinated by the lakes up there ever since I started reading VI Warshawski. They’re always making cameo appearances in her stories.
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The Chicago lakefront if beautiful, Kate. Early city fathers (and I’m sure a few mothers) fought for public access to Lake Michigan and we here should be grateful for it. I haven’t read andy Warshawki in awhile and should take care of that. Thanks for the reminder.
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