Featured Blog Posts – April 2012 Archive (14)

Tribute to a Pond, from the May 2012 issue of Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine

I wanted to share a little backstory on how a surprise relationship evolved into the photo feature about Brown Bridge Pond in the May 2012 issue of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine.

When…

The trees you choose to landscape your home not only add beauty, they can help cut energy costs by providing shade in the summer and buffering cold winds in the winter. Trees clean the air, reduce noise, create privacy and can increase a property’s value by improving the appearance.

It is important to consider a number of factors when choosing the right trees for your particular environment and the best locations to plant trees in your yard.

Environmental…

When people ponder the mystery of my brother's death, I expect they will shake their heads and say, "What a shame." They'll say, "It was too early to be canoeing," and, "What was he doing so far from shore?" They'll ask, "Why did he go by himself?" And they'll talk about the mishaps that…

We all have encountered them -- friends, family, neighbors, co-workers and strangers who "inexplicably" can't sell their home. They'll tell you it's the market, the economy, the neighborhood, stingy lenders, even the weather. And sometimes they're right. Other…

  World Book Night 2012      

They did it in the U.K. in 2011 with such success, the U.S. and Ireland are following their lead in 2012. World Book Night: Spreading the Love of Reading, Person to Person, is celebrated on April 23, 2012, when tens of thousands of people go out into their…

Smoked local (Noonan farm) ribs on the grill this weekend. Ate them early Saturday evening with some of my favorite peeps in the world in a pool of sunshine on my deck at my house in Glen Arbor. Sides: homemade coleslaw, homemade baked beans (ye old Van Camps kicked up with kidney beans, lima, bacon, bbq…

When you first look at the Brian Ferriby sculpture of Lake Michigan, called Michigan, you might see the outline from a map. That is if you're practiced at thinking of the Great Lakes as positive space instead of the void around a land mass. Michigan joins a Lake Superior sculpture in the Michigan Legacy Art Park. The underwater typography sculpted out of layers of weathered steel is what Brian calls a geometric abstraction. His vision turns what is usually considered space…

Story opener, April issue, Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine

One of the stories I’m loving most in the April edition of Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine is titled “Flow.” I suppose that idea could be attached to lots of things, but what it applies to here is…

Have you heard about the Northern Wine Loop yet? We are a group of 10 wineries all located north of Suttons Bay's M-204 in Leelanau County. To kick off our brand new wine loop, we are holding a Wine Release Weekend!

Join us on Saturday, April 14th. You're invited to participate in judging at our first ever People's Choice Awards…

Am I the only one with a passionate relationship to my coffee? My husband is a sommelier. He's trained in wine, but his skills apply to a great many things including coffee. And so in our house the run of the mill Folger's doesn't cut it. Northern Michigan is lucky to have so many great choices for…

All of Northern Michigan was pulling for Matt Myers (aka one of the M-22 Broneah Bros) when he was diagnosed with chordoma, an extremely rare brain cancer. Happy ending: The surgeon he chose, Dr. Paul Gardner of UPMC in Pittsburgh, was brilliant, the surgery in February went perfectly and Matt is well on his way to…

We passed a snowplow stuck in the ditch a third of a mile from my parents home on the day the power went out.



The plow got stuck backing out. The road to my parents house had downed trees and the plowman decided to turn around, rather than try to blast his way through them. In backing up, he slid off the road.…