Sunshine Makes the Northland Bright

Reminder first: This Sunday (not Saturday, not last week) is the open house at the bookstore. See details at right. Ben Wetherbee will be playing guitar. Still need a couple of last-minute gifts? Never fear, Dog Ears is here!


I also want to note, because so many people have been wondering and hoping, that Funky Mama's consignment shop, next door to the bookstore, will also be open on Sunday. Maybe Saturday, too? That would be good!


Now, the sun! I’d hoped for it yesterday (and it did peek out for a few minutes), but today we have it in full. My morning sortie with Sarah was much more fun (calm, too; no wind) as dawn finally broke over the wooded ridge to our east. "Sunrise” is usually given at a specific time for a specific strip of the globe, but in reality it is very local in hilly regions. Fortunately for me, Sarah is patient about waiting to go out in the mornings. For her, it's always worth the wait, sunshine or no.

Here in town, I found faces full of smiles, and views over the water long, now that the haze has burned off. With zoom, I was able to look out through the bank window all the way out to Gull Island. If you look closely, maybe you can see it, too.


Over on Mill Street the old Willowbrook, newly remodeled, caught my eye, with garlanded bridge over the creek in the foreground. A couple people greeted me--on the sidewalk, at the Barb's Bakery


--with the news that my Reader’s Forum piece had been published in the Leelanau Enterprise. Reader letters and opinions don’t seem to be available online, so you’ll have to buy the paper--not that my view would surprise my regular readers, but I did spell out more implications of shopping locally this time around.

But I heard something very disturbing the other day. A man who had ridden the BATA bus out to Northport from Traverse City said that he’d planned to come sooner, but the first time he set out the bus driver told him there was nothing open in Northport and he might as well get off in Suttons Bay. He did that (and enjoyed his tour of our neighbor village, I’m sure), but luckily for Northport he persevered and got on the bus another day and came all the way out. The Treasure Chest is closed for the winter, it’s true, as is (more recently) the Drive-Through BBQ, but a glance at all the businesses open on the first day of our recent monumental blizzard should be enough to let you know we’re not all in hibernation here. Sheesh! Was it the driver's first day on the job, or what? I mean, we love BATA, connecting us to Traverse City all the way out here, but don't work against us, folks, please!