As bad as that photo might be — I should know better than to try to snap a shot through my windshield while driving 70 mph — its meaning is clear. I’m back home again after a wonderful visit with my Zia in Michigan. She loved hearing about my trip and many of my photos reminded her of our Italian holiday a dozen years ago. We both laughed — as did my siblings earlier — whenever I mentioned my Zia in San Marino. She really did keep me entertained and I cannot help but smile when I think of my stay with her and my cousins. I cannot wait to get back to San Marino but, next time, I’ll stay longer.
While in Michigan, Zia and I cooked up a storm, as we always do. As luck would have it, though, only one dish, roast duck, will make it to the blog. The recipes for the rest of what we ate — from homemade sausage to pasta e fagioli to risotto — have already been posted. I really have shared quite a bit of the Bartolini cookbook.
* * *
Though the weather was a bit cool, even for that part of Michigan, we did have one nice warm day and Max and I headed for the beach. That dog loves the water and playing fetch is a great way to burn off some of his excess energy.
Due to the severity of last Winter and the fact that all 5 of the Great Lakes were completely ice-covered, the water levels are the highest they’ve been in years. One report predicted that Lake Huron’s water level will rise at least 8 inches this year. This part of Lake Huron’s shore has a very gradual slope going into the water. You can walk 50 yards and the water isn’t even waist deep. With a slope so slight, a rise of only a few inches can really eat up the beach. The photo on the left (click to enlarge) is of the cement pier in Fall, 2012. The shoreline is about 25 feet beyond the pier’s end. (It’s interesting to note that, at one time, the water level was high enough to keep the pier top wet. At some point, each of us fell on it, slipping on its algae-covered surface.) The photo on the right is the pier’s end today, with the water’s edge just several feet beyond. Looking at the left photo again, the water now reaches up to the point where the reeds first started to grow. Inch by inch, the lake is reclaiming the beach.
* * *
Now for some unfinished business …
In my last post, I wrote that I’d sent an email to WordPress Support because I was no longer receiving a blogging friend’s posts. While I was in Europe, they “fixed” it and I no longer received notifications for all but a few posts. Sometime while I was in Michigan, the missing notifications started appearing in my Google mail spam mailbox. I’ve no idea what WordPress could have done to get all of them treated as spam within Google Mail. Some days later, the notifications started showing up in my inbox, just as they should. In the end, I’ve got almost 1800 messages in my Google spam mailbox and some 500 in my inbox. I know I’m still missing some of you and will have to seek you out. Oh! And the blog that I first wrote to WordPress about? It’s still missing. Go figure.
See you in a few weeks.
* * *
Welcome home, John! Looking forward to the recipe you prepared with Zia. In a couple of days, I’ll be off to Italy for a culinary vacation 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Stefan. I hope you’re having a wonderful time. I certainly did! Safe travels!
LikeLike
We sure had a wonderful time — back again now though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Welcome home!
LikeLike
Welcome home John! I am glad that you had a wonderful holiday with Zia but sorry to hear about the frustration of WordPress’s continued notification difficulties. I miss some also and I often find things in my spam filter that shouldn’t be there! Ah dear. I look forward to reading your roast duck post!
LikeLike
Great pic of Max, diving into the ocean. It sounds as though you had a great trip, with lots of excellent food. So sorry about your spam problems. I feel rather indignant if even one of my genuine comments lands up in my spam box, so I can imagine your frustration. 😦 Welcome home. 🙂
LikeLike
You’re up bright and early, C.J. Sounds like you have a lot of catching up to do and I know you take it seriously. I personally always appreciate your responses to my comments.
LikeLike
Welcome home John!
LikeLike
Thanks! Can’t wait to read the latest from your Boys. 🙂
LikeLike
Welcome home! Your dog is so cute and it’s lovely to see him enjoying the water – my dogs hate getting their paws wet! I can’t believe you arrived home to so many emails; I would have been in tears! I can’t wait for the roast duck recipe – sounds like something that the Hotly Spiced kitchen will really enjoy xx
LikeLike
Thanks, Charlie. Max really does love the water. It’s a pleasure bringing him to a beach and letting him romp. I’m stull trying to figure out who I’ve “lost” and who’s still here. This may take weeks!
LikeLike
Bentornato! I’ll be glad to read again your recipes. Something Italian?
LikeLike
Thank you so much, Sylva. I had a wonderful time in Italy and San Marino. I cannot wait to return. 🙂 Yes, there will be more Italian recipes coming soon.
LikeLike
I’m so happy for you – you’ve been having such a wonderful time with your family – both in Italy and with your beloved Zia!! I can NOT believe you now have sooo many comments to go through… that’ll sure keep you busy once you’re home!!
LikeLike
Thanks, Cecile. I really did enjoy both visits, not to mention Florence and Rome. 2014 has been a very good year! 🙂
LikeLike
I hate to admit it but I’m soo jealous – but soo happy for you my dear friend !!
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
John, sorry about the WordPress problems. I’m taking a vacation from my blog and cleaning house. Something I should have done when I retired in 2002. Yeeech!!! I’m in TOSSER MODE right now. I can no longer create anything until I get rid of all this stuff that I no longer want or need. Some people are so lucky to be permanently organized at home. Me? I need to get PAID to clean house. I found more satisfaction at work. Anyway, I am one of those very lucky people who continues to get your posts. It seems that everyone has scattered for summer, and I love tracking them online. I am so grateful for the stories and the photographs. As for me? I’m grounded in the Sacramento valley heat and trying to catch up with people on a more local level. Still in this awful California drought and avoiding the sun. That is so hard when you live in California. I am so glad that you are traveling and enjoying family. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it! Take care. Be safe. As usual, I’m finding it hard to keep up with you!
LikeLike
Beautiful person. Delicious recipes.
Thank you!!
LikeLike
It’s quite a shocker when water begins to reclaim land isn’t it? Well, all the more for Max to romp in. Glad you’re home full, safe and sound and (likely?) tuckered out. Don’t let that blog reading get the best of ya’:D
LikeLike
Thanks, Barb. It was a wonderful vacation but next time I’ll hire an assistant to handle the blog. Max just didn’t do as well as I thought he would. I’m sure he would have done better if he had opposable digits. 🙂
LikeLike
Welcome back John. It will be nice to see your presence again, looking forward to your roast duck post!
LikeLike
Welcome home, John! I think I saw another cute picture of Max coming out of the water on Facebook. You can tell he’s a happy guy! I’d heard that the lakes were up this year, but wow…that’s remarkable! We’ve noticed our little lakes down here are very high as well. After so many years of drought it’s startling to see, but a good thing in our case. I’m so glad you had a great time spent with Zia and that you’re getting some good R&R this summer. 🙂
LikeLike
Hey, Betsy! I recall that Atlanta was having a terrible time with drought a few years back. Glad to hear that your cup runneth over. Wish our friends in California could say the same.
LikeLike
Benvenuti!
LikeLike
Grazie mille!
LikeLike
Welcome home! You’ve been having a great summer thus far. Some of the technical problems with blogging are maddening, aren’t they? The web moves in mysterious ways — sometimes too mysterious. Looking forward to reading about that duck!
LikeLike
Thanks, John. One thing’s for certain. I won’t be writing another email to Support in the foreseeable future. This surely was a case of the cure being worse than the disease. 🙂
LikeLike
Bentornato, John! Talk to you in a few weeks.
LikeLike
Grazie, Francesca. Ho ritornato! 🙂
LikeLike
Glad to see you’re still around and cooking delicious things as I hadn’t seen your blog for quite a while. Good to know you’re back:)
LikeLike
So glad you wrote, Roger. You’re one of the many who have gone missing. I just tried the “unsubscribe/subscribe trick” to see if you re-appear. Fingers crossed.
LikeLike
Bentornato, John! Looking forward to your new inspirations. 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you so much. Won’t be long now. 🙂
LikeLike
Welcome back let the recipes return 🙂
LikeLike
Comin’ right up! 🙂
LikeLike
It’s good to have you back John! 🙂
LikeLike
Yours is another blog that I ‘lost”, Giovanna. I’ve just unsubscribed/subscribed in an effort to “find” you again. I hope this works. 🙂
LikeLike
It did John. I just got a notification about it :). Thanks for the effort! 🙂
LikeLike
YAY!!!!
LikeLike
Welcome home – I bet Max missed you!
LikeLike
He sure was, MD. One of the joys of having a dog is the welcome home it gives you every time you return, be it after 2 weeks or a 15 minute errand. 🙂
LikeLike
It surely sounds like you had a wonderful visit & I can just picture you & Zia cooking away catching up and talking about your trip. Who got tired first – did Max give up or did your arm give out? I’m going to have to check w/WP too because I think I’ve gotten some follwers dropped too & I know that I keep getting dropped from one particular blog that I always follow. I didn’t even realize it until I thought – gee I haven’t seen a blog from Judy in a while….
LikeLike
Max used to run the entire time spent on the beach. Now, though, he’ll run but not indefinitely. First he’ll start walking back to me and, if I keep throwing the ball, he starts dropping it a few feet from me. Soon, it’s a few yards and then he won’t even bring it onto the beach. None of us is getting any younger, eh? 🙂
It’s good to be back, Diane.
LikeLike
Travel is great but home is welcoming. That’s a lot of emails, you may have to cull the bulk to keep some sanity. Looking forward to the roast duck recipe… and photos, for virtual appetite stimulation 🙂 Plus we have a great duck lady at the local markets, and I’ve been thinking about marylands.
LikeLike
A duck lady? I’m so jealous!
Thanks, EllaDee. It’s good to be back.
LikeLike
I wondered what had happened to you, but then I’ve been away too and just getting caught up. Good to see you back.
LikeLike
I’m looking forward to you being back!
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
It must be great to be home and to unpack the suitcase after all your travels John. I too will be looking forward to your roast duck recipe to come… sounds wonderful!
LikeLike
Welcome home and enjoy all you have to do to be organized again! For one methinks your spam folder will take awhile to clear and make sure nought important will get deleted 🙂 ! Hmm: wondered how Max would take your return: jubilant or cross at having been left behind? Think you got some bonus points for the Michigan trip!!! Thanks for the interim notice . . . and do take your time: you can see we are here 😀 !!
LikeLike
Max the wonder dog looks great diving after that ball! I’m glad you had a great time with your Zia and I look forward to the duck recipe! What a mess with the mail.
LikeLike
So enjoyed your Instagrams of Italy, and can’t to hear the full story! Welcome home.
LikeLike
Glad to know you’re back John. We’ll have to have a chat about your travels through Italy. Glad to see you spent some wonderful time with Zia. xoxo
LikeLike
Welcome home John, I have missed you. Oh botherasions, what a tedious task trying to get your account sorted out. We are all still here so don’t worry about us.
So pleased you had such a lovely visit with Zia and look at Max focused on his ball.
Looking forward to your roast duck recipe.
Have a lovely day ahead.
🙂 Mandy xo
LikeLike
Thanks, Mandy. It was a great vacation, far better than I ha imagined. It’s good to be hoe, though. 🙂
LikeLike
Welcome home John, after such a wonderful trip………the dreaded mail box will always wait to be cleared.
It’s very good to have you home again!
LikeLike
Thanks you so much, Elaine. It was great to get away but there really is no place like home. 🙂
LikeLike
Welcome back. Love the photo of Max. I so miss watching my dog’s pure joy when heading to the beach. Time to start thinking of another.
And funny, but not so funny, story about WP. I’ve been trying to figure out why my blog e-mails now do not include photos. Just gave up on that one. I’m hoping, like so many other WP problems, it will just fix itself in time 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you. I cannot imagine life without a canine heartbeat around here. Max really is a great companion — maddening at times but still a good dog.
I’ve written to Support in the past and had good responses. This time, though, was a complete fiasco. So much so that I doubt whether I’ll write them again. Who needs the aggravation?
LikeLike
I think you are going to need another vacation to work on those emails. oh yeah. Work and vacay shouldn’t be in the same sentence. Forget the emails. Just spend time with Max. he looks quite happy!
LikeLike
It’s interesting that the water will rise by that much this year. Eight inches is a lot!
1800 emails?! Yikes. That sounds a little intimidating.
Glad you had a wonderful vacation. 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks, Ruth. Your blog is yet another that went missing. I’ve usubscribed/subscribed in the hope that I will find you.
LikeLike
Hooray! Thanks! Hope you’re enjoying this glorious summer.
LikeLike
Welcome home John!!! Sounds like you had a great trip. One of the things I miss by living in the high dessert is water. We don’t get rain and there are very few lakes. There are a few reservoirs formed by dams, but nothing huge like The great lakes or some of the lakes we had in Louisiana. Wow – 1800 messages in spam! Oh my goodness John, that’s a lot of spam. So glad most of the problem is solved.
LikeLike
Thanks, MJ. I’ve lived within a few miles of one of the Great Lakes my entire life. If I ever move away for Chicago, there had better be some sort of shoreline nearby.
After all of the mess, I;m still not getting notifications of your posts nor is there any way for me to edit the schedule. I need to get on Bloglovin, like you suggested. I’m certainly done writing to Support. I don’t think I could survive any more of their help. 🙂
LikeLike
Just popping in to see if I missed anything.. back soon.. c
LikeLike
You haven’t missed anything, Celi, but I’m back now. Watch out! 🙂
LikeLike
Hi John, welcome back.
LikeLike
Welcome back, we’ve missed you but it’s good to knwo you had a good time. And as for all those e-mails….just hit the delete button and hold your finger there til they all disappear!
LikeLike
Hey, Tanya! Yes, I’m back and well, that delete key is my BFF right now. 🙂
LikeLike
Welcome home! I have no doubt you had a wonderful time with Zia. I know Max did as well! Looking forward to your duck recipe. I was just telling Mike the other evening that duck has got to be one of my favorite dishes. So you know, this one will for sure end up in our kitchen too. 🙂
LikeLike
Howdy, Kristy! It’s good to be back. That duck was a real trooper. I ended up using it 3 ways. Stay tuned. 🙂
LikeLike
ho letto sotto che sei stato nella mia Toscana, e sono curiosissima di leggere quanto hai scxritto…anche io sono stata assente per un certo periodo, ma non mi ero affatto dimenticata di te un abbraccio
LikeLike
I’m glad you had a great time with your Zia. Welcome back!
LikeLike
1800 messages in your Spam box? Yikes! You will be busy for a while. 🙂 I’m delighted you had some wonderful time with your Zia. She must have thoroughly enjoyed hearing your travel stories. Its great to see you back, and i hope you can continue to share some travel stories with us. 🙂 You were missed, my friend!
LikeLike
Welcome back! Seems like a wonderful couple of trips.
LikeLike
Welcome home John! Been a long time since I last visit, pardon the absence! Love reading about the recipes you cooked, shall take some time soon to catch up with your posts!
LikeLike
Hey, Jasline. I just usubscribed/subscribed to your blog. I’m afraid I lost you some where along the way. I hope this works!
LikeLike
Good to see you back John 🙂
LikeLike
Hi, Colline, Yours is another blog that has gone missing. I’ve just usubscribed/subscribed in an effort to “find” you.
LikeLike
Hope you get to see me now John 🙂
LikeLike
Me, too!
LikeLike
We just returned today from our two-week vacation on the other side of Lake Huron, and the water levels were appreciably higher there too. It was a relief after a couple years of concerning drops, but then again, we don’t want it to rise too high either. It’s all a delicate balance, isn’t it?
It sounds like you had another lovely visit with Zia – it warms my heart to think of the two of you cooking up a storm and being so close.
LikeLike
I doubt the lake will ever rise to the point is was 35 years ago, Mar. Our beach is so different now. It hardly looks like the same place. It is good to see the levels rise again. I wonder what this Winter will bring?
LikeLike
Oh those mysterious blog posts. Don’t you wonder what goes on in cyberspace? Our lakes in MN are all very high – never heard of flood stage for lakes – but they’re flooding! I guess it beats the drought!
LikeLike
I’ve been watching the new reports. You all in Minnesota have really gotten soaked. There has to be a middle point, Claudia. This seesaw between drought and flood is ridiculous!
LikeLike
Hey John, did you know I have not been receiving any of your post? Or from so many others 😦 I have been re subscribing like crazy. I don’t know what’s wrong seriously and I am fed up. Welcome back, missed you in my blogging world.
LikeLike
I know exactly what you mean, Minnie. I’ve been doing the same and hope that this will clear up. Thanks for the welcome and I hope WP resolves this for us. What a pain!
LikeLike
Sounds like you have been having a wonderful summer! Glad to have you back!
LikeLike
Thanks. I just usubscribed/subscribed to you blog. I’m afraid you’ve gone missing. If this doesn’t work, I’ll send out a search party. 🙂
LikeLike
I commented just now, not sure if it was posted. All I wanted to tell you is that at ties it really gets frustrating with issues like this, and unfortunately, many of us faces the same problem at oe point of time or other. I hope this issue gets solved soon. I love reading your recipes and looking at your gorgeous pics. Shall be waiting for your next post!
Purabi Naha @ http://www.cosmopolitancurrymania.com
LikeLike
Thank you so much. I’m still having issues but nothing like it was before. Hopefully it will continue to improve.
LikeLike
I’m glad you had a nice trip to Europe and a visit with Zia. I’m sure it’s nice to be home again though. I know I’m happy to be home after our 6 week trip to visit family in upstate NY this summer. Welcome back!
LikeLike
It is good to be home. I bet you had a wonderful time. Upstate New York is such a beautiful part of the country and I know your family was thrilled that you visited.
LikeLike
So glad you had a lovely time in Europe and with Zia, it’s so comforting to visit with family even though it’s many years later and be able to pick right up where you left off. I’ve not cooked a duck so I’m very excited to see what you’ll be doing with it.
LikeLike
Hello, Eva! It was truly a wonderful time getting reacquainted with my San Marino family. I cannot begin to describe the experience. Now the trick will be to get back there. 🙂
LikeLike
So good to see you back, John, and glad you’ve had a summer of family and laughter and cooking … You’ve been missed, so I’m looking forward to catching up soon. 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you, Meredith. It’s good to be back home, though to be honest, I’d go back to Italy in a heartbeat. 🙂
LikeLike