I AM FORTUNATE BECAUSE MY FRIENDS and family often recommend books to me. They frequently offer gems that aren’t even on the New York...

HERE IT IS FEBRUARY 4TH and we finally have an official winter storm warning issued for Benzie County by the Gaylord NWS reporting...

DISCOVERING AN ARRANGEMENT OF WORDS deep in the pages of the books I am reading has stirred my curiosity. The words I'm focusing on are...

I RECENTLY BOUGHT A NEW iPHONE12 and one of the settings it has displays a randomly selected archived photo each time I open it – kind of...

MY SECOND BOOK WILL BE PUBLISHED this summer. I now have some extra funds to tackle this undertaking. It will be nice to pull the trigger...

THE PUSH TO MOVE OUTDOORS for winter activities is one of the nice outcomes of the pandemic. NW Michigan has the space, the hills and...

IN MY PUBLISHED MEMOIRS, I relive a road trip in the spring of 1970, when Dave Bowen, a fraternity brother, and I, took a spring trip...

A NEW DESCOVERY IN MY KITCHEN has me energized to once again tackle making homemade breads. The discovery? Simply switching my "leavening...

MY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING IS DONE. This signifies quite a change from my younger days when I was clearly a last-minute shopper. Thank...

COOKBOOKS ARE BACK IN VOGUE. At least they are in my life. After years of using the magic of Google to find recipes on my laptop, I have...

SNOW IS ARRIVING LATER TODAY in such a gentle way. It is late November and a large weather pattern is making its way slowly into the...

WILBUR SAMPSON THOMAS DIED OVER 100 YEARS AGO. He met his maker in a spectacular fire that roared through the Royal Frontenac Hotel in...

I’VE BEEN BOMBARDED BY RECIPES for Thanksgiving coming from many directions in my universe. With the holiday in sight, households are...

LASSIE AND RIN-TIN-TIN were famous stars from my childhood. Of all the characters that TV sponsored in the 1950s my strongest memory is...

MAKING BREAD REQUIRES SOME SERIOUS PATIENCE - a personality trait I apparently missed out on. As you may recall, automatic bread-makers...

I HAVE WRITER’S BLOCK and need to complete this new essay to pull me out of this most uncomfortable situation. Writing for me has been an...

TWO CUPS OF COFFEE are what I need to start my day. It has been this way for nearly fifty years. This all started in graduate school...

I’VE DECIDED TO BUY SOME SPRING BULBS and plant them in my garden off my porch here in mid-October. I will likely forget that I performed...

IN READING ABOUT THE HISTORY of our region it has been interesting to learn about the start of the logging industry that became so...

OCTOBER IS THE START OF SOUP MAKING MONTH for me. I begin by making chicken stock as it is the base for many of my fall soups. I...