Lighthouse of the Week, June 7-13, 2026: Cleveland West Pierhead Lighthouse, Ohio, USA

 

When you look at the map, this week's lighthouse looks like it's on an island. But the satellite version shows it's attached to the land and the city of Cleveland by a breakwater.

So, let's see where the Cleveland West Pierhead lighthouse is.  MAP  Satellite

By the way, it's for sale. But you might want to think carefully. See the pictures and the description.

Now, let's find out about it (Lighthouse Directory is the source):

"1911 (station established 1884). Active; focal plane 63 ft (19 m); flash every 5 s, alternating red and white. 67 ft (20 m) round cast iron sparkplug style tower incorporating 3-story keeper's quarters and attached to a 1-1/2 story cast iron fog signal building (1916); solar-powered 300 mm lens (?). Building painted white, lantern black with red roof. The original 4th order Fresnel lens is on display at the Great Lakes Science Center. Fog horn (2 blasts every 30 s) as needed. The lighthouse is floodlit at night. ... The first lighthouse was relocated here from the Rochester, New York, West Pierhead. In 1911 the breakwater was extended and the older light was demolished. In 2007 the lighthouse was offered for transfer under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. There were no takers and in 2010 the lighthouse was offered a second time. Again there were no takers. In 2021 the lighthouse became available for transfer a third time under NHLPA and again there were no takers. The lighthouse was then sold at auction, in September 2023, for $425,000. The new owners were Heather Moore and Jim Brown. It's not known what happened to their restoration plans, but in March 2026 the lighthouse became available, for the fourth time, under NHLPA. A new group, the Cleveland Light Keepers Collective, is one of six groups applying for ownership."

Lighthouse Friends page

 The pictures are below.

 

U.S. (tennis) open thoughts

 

I didn't do very great with my Wimbledon picks, so I accidentally waited a bit longer to evaluate this year's U.S. Open.   So ...

Rybakina looks fantastic.  She bombed Naomi Osaka off the court.  The only question is her foot injury from Cincinnati, which doesn't seem to have bothered her thus far.   So, with top seeds likely ahead of her, it will be more difficult.  But I can't pick against her.

On the men's side, Alcaraz looks just like he usually does -- great.  It will be interesting to see if Shelton can make a dent in his defense.  Much as I'd like to see Shelton advance, I can't picture it.

So, speaking of pictures, here's Anastasia Potapova on and off the court. She suffered an unfortunate injury late in the match against Andreeva, but she'll be back.

What's the weather like in your world?

 

Quick pointer to this article in The Conversation about climate modeling for Middle Earth (setting of The Lord of the Rings) and Westeros (setting of Game of Thrones).

Do Middle‑earth and Westeros make sense? Climate scientists modelled them to find out

For Middle Earth, "The highest precipitation fell on and to the west of the Misty Mountains, with a drier “rain-shadow” effect to the east. This effect is caused by prevailing westerly winds forcing moist air to rise and cool over the mountains, condensing water vapour into rain or snow before it reaches the eastern side."

It can also have wizard blizzards, of course.

Catching up with Amber Valletta

 

Amber Valletta was a 1990s high fashion supermodel. The Daily Mail provided an update on her a couple of months ago, which I'm revisiting here.

Amber Valletta, 52, was a '90s Vogue model who made movies with Sandra Bullock and Kate Hudson, see her now

Below, I have a picture of Valletta on the runway in 1997, and the current state (both in pink, coincidentally).  Also, the article about here has a poignant comment, which I have at the end.

"Amber - who shares son Auden, 25, with ex-husband Chip McCaw - admitted she 'wants to cry' whenever she thinks about climate change and the future of our planet. She added: 'I'll be dead, but my great-grandkids? To live in a world where they wouldn't experience this. Where they couldn't see elephants or a whale."

Time -- and the planet we live on -- are precious things.

 

Not a place for a picnic

 

NASA's Earth Observatory featured a lake in Antarctica that is quite remarkable.

A Most Unusual Lake

It's called Lake Unter-See.  According to the article,

"Hidden below the ice is one of the lake's most remarkable features: large, conical microbialite structures spread across the lake's floor. The structures, formed by photosynthetic microbes that trap and bind sediment, were first discovered by geobiologist Dale Andersen and colleagues in 2008. The formations are thought to be modern, living examples similar to some of Earth's oldest fossils—stromatolites found in places such as southwestern Greenland and Western Australia. They offer a glimpse back to a time more than 3 billion years ago, when microbes were the only form of life on Earth."

Below the picture from space is a picture of the microbial structures on the bottom.

It's around here somewhere

 Bafr

In the state of Maryland, there is a place called Ridge.

This is where it is located.

It's south of the more famous St. Mary's City, and north of the somewhat famous Point Lookout, which has a lighthouse. 

Ridge does have a house that is on the National Register of Historic Places:  Bard's Field.

Picture below.

Cooling off in the summer -- not exactly

 

Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin are a champion Russian (that's a problem) ice dancing pair. They are still competing, winning the Russian championships as recently as a few months ago in 2026.

The main reason for making this post is this YouTube video.  I really like the pretty, fit female athletes. More on this later.

But for now, watch the video. It takes confidence and fearlessness to be a world-class competitive ice dancer. Even more in what she's wearing here.

Another nice example of her world-classness: