Weekly Update for July 5, 2026

Welcome to my weekly update for July 5, 2026!

I hope my fellow Americans had a happy 4th of July, and the rest of you had a good weekend, however you chose to spend it!

My husband and I took a little day trip last Sunday to explore some smaller sights we hadn’t seen yet here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We’re staying on the Lake Superior side of the peninsula so we drove down to the Lake Michigan side. We visited Kitch-iti-kipi, a natural spring that’s a constant 45° F (7° C). We pulled ourselves out to the middle of the spring on a raft to look down into it. The raft was sort of a hollow rectangle so we could look down through the middle. There were some huge trout in that water! It reminded us of Florida’s clear springs. Then we drove to see the Manistique Lighthouse and Seul Choix Pointe Lighthouse. We also stopped by to see Benny the Beardfisher, one of artist Thomas Dambo’s trolls. I love these adorable, personable trolls so much! I posted about more of his trolls on December 28, 2025. I saw another one in Breckenridge, Colorado last summer but I just realized I never posted that picture. That means it’s time to introduce you to Isak Heartstone too!

Slideshow:

All images © Jennifer G. at Introverted Reader 2026

1. The spring as seen from above
2. Looking down through the center of the raft into the spring. Who would have guessed the reflections in my first picture were hiding this gorgeous water?
3. Manistique Lighthouse presiding over Lake Michigan
4. Seul Choix Point Lighthouse
5. Benny the Beardfisher in Germfask, Michigan
6. Isak Heartstone in Breckenridge, Colorado. I “met” him last summer

Posted:

(re)Viewing Last Month: June 2026–Short (for me) reviews of the shows and movies my husband and I finished in June

Read:

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett–3 Stars (Link to my GoodReads review)

Currently Reading:

The Summer Tree (The Fionavar Tapestry #1) by Guy Gavriel Kay–This is a re-read. I fell in love with Guy Gavriel Kay’s writing as a teen when I read this series. I’ve re-read them before but it’s been decades. I’m a little nervous it won’t live up to my memories. Wish me luck!

Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2) by Matt Dinniman

What did your week look like?

Hosts:

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

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