Remembering, Racing, Reading

Skies are somber for Memorial Day, as perhaps is fitting. Expected to clear by midday—well, partially clear, anyway, going from “cloudy” to “partly cloudy,” which is the meteorologist’s way of saying the glass will be half-empty, I guess. My Memorial Day thoughts this year are not only of veterans (my father and uncles) but also of many dear, departed friends. Specifically, forget-me-nots are blooming in the popple grove this morning, and every year they remind me of Don and Suzanne Wilson, since it was Don who encouraged me, back in 1992, to dig up a few of the many from behind Lake Street Studios in Glen Arbor and transplant them here to the farm. Don died a few years back, but the beautiful china-blue flowers have kept him in my memory. More recently we lost artist Suzanne, too, she of amazing positive energy, who painted up to the day before her death. I’d had a visit with her a few weeks before she died, and we spoke of friends and books, art and business, life and death. The conversation did not avoid the most serious of topics, and yet we laughed a lot. “For someone who lives on her couch, I have a very active social life!” she observed. She had cancer, but cancer didn’t have her, and that’s how it always was with Suzanne: never superficial, always life-affirming. Now the myosotis (French uses the Latin name) is in bloom again, and memories of Don and Suzanne are with me today.

Yesterday’s weather for the dedication of the high school art “Doors” project was anything but somber. Sunny and gorgeous! That being the case, here are some more pictures:



It was also an ideal day for the Tour de Leelanau, and we had a ringside seat in downtown Northport:



Life is very busy, so I’m making my way through THE BOOKWOMAN’S LAST FLING in short sprints (remember, racehorses are involved, along with books), and yesterday I made a great start into BRINGING NATURE HOME, the Doug Tallamy book about how we all can encourage native wildlife by planting native species of plants. The plants feed the insects, the insects support the birds.