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Thursday, July 29, 2010

Taking Another Look at Various Things


The Summer 2010 issue of the Dunes Review is so good I have to honk its horn. Many of the writers’ names are familiar to me, but others I’m learning for the first time. Good writing is definitely alive and well in northern Michigan. For a couple of days I kept thinking that this is the best issue ever and that the little literary magazine has improved greatly over the years—and then I picked up an old Dunes from Spring 1998 (only its second year of existence) and was reminded how excellent this publication has been right from the beginning. I have a few copies of recent issues still in stock, so come and pick up the latest and any you may have missed, if they’re still here. Don’t wait too long!

Here’s another something that deserves another look. Penguin Books is having its 75th anniversary this year, and yesterday, coincidentally, old Penguins kept jumping into my hands. Three of them came out of one box, and I brought in a fourth from home for this picture. Penguins have always stood for quality, both in content and in their physical packaging. They stand up to the years well. The three small Penguins here all survive from the Sixties. A more recent Penguin (not pictured) is the very popular Three Cups of Tea. Maybe one of your grandparents remembers buying a brand-new paperback Penguin from Woolworth’s?


Yes, yes, I’m always photographing wildflowers close up, but I don’t always notice everything in the picture until later. This little ant escaped my eye on the morning dog-walk, but here it is on the bright yellow mullein bloom, clearly visible, adding interest to the image (IMO).


Should I show my toes or not? Oh, sure, I bet toe pictures will be almost as popular as Barbies (or do I flatter myself?), so here they are, before and after Karen Dietrich at Shear Pleasure worked her magic on them.



What else deserves a second look? If you haven’t been to Northport lately, you haven’t been to Northport, and Friday morning is the farm market down by the Depot, down by the harbor, so bring your appetite, cash and a cooler. Vendors will be set up by 9 a.m. What will our local growers and bakers have for us tomorrow? I can hardly wait to find out.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've noticed that I sometimes see things because I'm looking closely at something else, and that other times I see things only when I'm sorting through the pictures I took that day! I enjoy that. All kinds of little surprises pop up.

Cool toes.

P. J. Grath said...

Gerry, I'll need to pick your brain soon about books. Am reading one right now (will post about it on Monday) that features your region of Up North. Can you guess what it might be?