Après le Weekend

Manitou Passage from Jelinek Road

In some ways, things look much the same. There was still ice out in the Manitou Passage this morning and still patches of dirty snow on woodsy hillsides and in odd pockets. Mornings these days, however, are alive with birdsong and the gurgling or creeks, and it only took a little raking yesterday to liberate cheery, determined flowers around our old farmhouse.

Winter aconite

Hellebores -- I finally remembered the name

“What’s it like here in the winter?” That’s what summer visitors ask every year, and this year, after the winter we’ve endured, I suggested to a few friends that an illustrated poster was in order. Karen Casebeer took up the challenge on her photo blog and went beyond my conception, providing a narrative from fall to spring. Beautiful work, Karen!

Here's something exciting -- to me, anyway! The bird I misidentified on Facebook recently (and I should have known better), my friends now tell me is a meadowlark. That explains its beautiful morning song! I include a photo here, though it would be poor resolution because it's the only one I have, but you can find better images elsewhere. 

My new drawing class in Traverse City begins this coming Wednesday afternoon, and helper Bruce must be out of town all week. What that means is that Dog Ears Books will close early on Wednesday this week, around 2 p.m. Bruce should be back for subsequent Wednesdays, so the duration of my six-week class shouldn’t disrupt the bookstore schedule too much.

I don’t have a lot of deep thoughts today, but I do have a book to feature, one that I doubt many (if any) of my readers know: the English translation of Alain-Fournier’s Le Grand Meaulnes, absolutely the most romantic book I’ve ever read in my entire life. “Romantic” in the largest sense possible, that is – a story like a dream, with a mysterious, elusive, dreamlike setting. When I first described the story to David, he said it sounded like Green Mansions, which at the time of our conversation I had not yet read. Later, after reading the Hudson novel, I agreed with David that it and Le Grand Meaulnes share the ineffable quality of romance. If you seek temporary escape in literature from the ills or even simply the nonstop challenges of modern life (we all need a break now and then), The Great Meaulnes is what your bookseller prescribes today.