Behind the breakwater walls, the lake seemed quite calm & serene.

But the rest of the lake was SPLASHTACULAR!!!
Away from the breakwater, the lake was a little out of control… but in a really cool good way!

Needless to say, I thought it best to skip the morning swim for today.

A beautiful beginning of today’s mini “triathlon”… bike… swim… off to summer camp!

It was a fun evening in the studio…
making a new batch of textured tiles and enjoying the “free” air conditioning!
The different slips will create the flashes of color when they get into the soda kiln.

Although it seems as though the heatwave may have broken today?! Finally.
Right now the evening breeze is quite enjoyable.

So there were some “extra” peonies in the floral cooler at the “glitter gig.”
They were tight round buds, but no sign of blossoming. And since the blooming season
for peonies is LONG over, I doubted that they would open. But I was told that once the
buds can be stored for months if they are wrapped up & chilled. And that once they came
out of the cooler, the heat would “force” them to open… and they did! Last night they were
tight round buds, this morning they’re open, fresh & fragrant. Who knew?….

Knowing that today was going to be another scorcher, I woke up early to do the morning
ride & swim earlier than normal for a Saturday. the sky was a bit hazy… and the temperature
was already well over 80-degrees even at this early time in the morning.

So my plan was to ride 10-miles down, go for a swim and then ride back.
But the the black sand flies along the lakefront were unbearable… even while I was
swimming. They kept biting my head!!! So I had to cut the swim short at about a
1/2-mile instead of the mile swim I was hoping for.

And then I decided that maybe I should pedal a little further than the normal morning route
since the swim was cut short. so I added on a few more miles, pedaling fast enough
that the sand flies couldn’t get me!

And then when I got home, still feeling great, and more than a little bit sweaty…
I downed some water, changed clothes, put on my running shoes and went out for a run.
and I use that term loosely, run… more of a slow, lumbering jog.

I intended to do about three miles, but I felt great. so I kept going… and going…
made it back home one big slimy, sweaty mess after about 6-1/2 miles!!! yeah me.

so, without planning on it, I did a pretty nice morning mini-triathlon.
sure, it may be one of the hottest days of the year…
sure, there may be heat advisories in place…
sure, people may be dropping like flies…
maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea… but it felt great.

I’m now showered, hydrated and ready to go!
and my running shoes are drying in front of the fan… soaked with sweat!!!

Last night I had a fantastic “they’re-moving-farewell” dinner at Rose Angeli’s
with Sarah & Julie. And they passed along large two bottles from Emily Murphy
that they received when she moved to Minneapolis. So it only seemed fitting
that their two bottles joined the one I got from Emily at the same time!
So now I have a beautiful trifecta of Emily’s bottles on my back porch!

Okay, so I’m not the best with math. Never have been.
Don’t really see the use for most of what they tried to teach us in school.
Trigonometry. Math with letters? Statistics. Analytics. etc…
But finally, there’s a pie chart I can understand… and REALLY relate to!!!

What’s missing is the part of the chart about the SECOND pie I’m also going to eat!!!
This pie chart might have come in handy on my recent biking vacation?!

Happy Fourth of July!
Wishing everyone a fun & safe holiday today…
especially with the current heatwave we’re in the middle of… hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!!!

Me?… I’ll be headed down to Chenoa in central Illinois, where it’s even hotter, and spending
the day with my friends form college and their kids. It’s pretty much a Norman Rockwell
Fourth of July! Complete with a parade that includes any kid who wants to decorate their bike,
those crazy Shriners in their teeny tiny cars, local politicians, girls scouts, boy scouts, and
seemingly every large farm vehicle from the surrounding towns! Followed by a flea market,
corn dogs, carnival rides, cotton candy, lemon shake-ups and fireworks at night…
at least if they don’t cancel them due to the heat & dryness.

Tonight I went to the studio… presumably to work with clay.
Sure, I have a lot of work to do. Sure, I have some reclaim that’s almost ready to
be put on the plaster bat. Sure, I have a lot of glazing of class demo pieces to do.
But seriously, it was more about the free air conditioning!!!

With the heatwave that is going across the country, and hovering over Chicago,
we’ve had temperatures bouncing right around a hundred degrees for a few days now.
So I biked, swam and played outside most of the day. But when I got home and tried
to get some work done – it was just too friggin’ hot. So I went to the studio to suck up
some good old fashioned air conditioning!!! I’d like to say I made some cool stuff…
but really, the only “cool stuff” I was concerned about was the air conditioning!!!

Even though the sun never quite made an appearance…
the clouded sky had a colorful & ethereal glow this morning.