We had a lovely time in Michigan with friends Brian, Chantal and Emily. Lots of fun including sunset swims and fresh fruit! Emily has some very fashionable lounge wear! The wildfires in Canada have been making for some hazy skies especially visible at the horizon at sunset. The sun will appear as a very defined red dot and disappears before it hits the horizon. In early August, we overlapped a night with Annette, Dave, Nadia and Sylvie before they started their week vacation. We had a great time hanging out and visiting the beach with them, and then climbing this…

After our fun holiday weekend, John had some work back in Chicago and I stayed put for a few days. It was quiet and I worked a lot but also had some nice beach time! On Friday the Groves arrived by car and then John arrived by train. By morning Sarah arrived by train too, bringing the full Carpe swim group together! After picking Sarah up in new buffalo, we visited farmette, a very nice bakery, cafe, and produce farm/garden. After farmette we drove to the lavender farm for a repeat visit! Delightful again! We continued on to the round…

We just finished a pretty eventful and fun week back from vacation, it’s hard to believe we just got back from vacation a bit over a week ago! It’s also hard to believe how tall the false sunflowers in front of our house grew while we were away! On Monday John headed to Michigan to do some house sorting out activities for the following weekend. On Wednesday, Liam and Bronwyn took the train to Michigan in time for a sunset swim. On Thursday, I had a morning Dr appt then met Sarah for lunch (a three-peat, what a treat!) then…

On Friday, we got moving early for a visit to Newgrange, or as the whole experience is called, Bru na Boinne. The same crowd as the Howth walk on Thursday went, but this time we got a group photo! Bru na Boyne is a group of Neolithic mound sites north of Dublin. The three excavated sites are Knowth, Dowth and Newgrange. Fun fact, Knowth and Dowth have the vowel sound as in ‘ouch’ which is really hard when you’re used to saying ‘Howth’ as in ‘snow-th’. The tour starts at the visitors center, where there were some very cool paintings…

We arrived in Dublin to some really refreshing temperatures in the mid 60s, much more comfortable than the 90s in Italy (and for what it’s worth, also back in Chicago!) Rory had found the clay that I left him in portmarnock and we set out to play right away. A bit later, we took a walk to the high rock at the sea, via Paddy’s Field. After an excellent nights sleep at Barry and Frankie’s house, on Thursday morning a group of us (Colette and Rory, Phyllis, Issac and James, and John and I) went on a walk at Howth…

We returned to Milan the night before our flight to Dublin and we stayed overnight very near the train station. Here’s a view of the quite elegant train station from our hotel (where we had a Juliet balcony!) Great trip to Italy! Grazie mile!

One of the draws of Bologna was its reputation as a great food city (within a great food country!) We can confirm that the reports are true. Add in some gelato and espressos and we had a very delightful bunch of meals in Bologna!

We visited two very different but both excellent libraries in Bologna. First, we went to the main public library, Salaborsa. Today, our last day, we visited a real highlight in Bologna, the Archiginnasio Palace and Anatomical Theatre (and library). The central feature is the marble table that would hold the human or animal body. On the walls and ceiling are sculptures to gods and physicians, and there are tributes to popes and shields for regions and families. The theatre was first built in 1595 at another location, but this one was finalized as it looks now in this spot in…

So, porticoes. A portico is basically a porch for a large building, a covered entrance that can run the length of the building. And in Bologna, with the buildings all connecting to one another, the porticoes all connect so you can walk through the city, staying under the shade and cool of a portico all the time. Quoting here the history of Bologna’s porticoes from https://www.italia.it/en/emilia-romagna/bologna/things-to-do/porticoes-of-bologna: “The porticoes date back to the expansion of medieval Bologna, when the opening of the University in 1088 attracted students and academics from around Italy and the world. This sharp increase in population made it…