A Colorful Riot

There is no single theme to my gardening this year. No limited color palette, as in some more restrained seasons.One summer, for instance, white, grey, blue, lavender, and purple were the only colors in my boardwalk garden. No red, no orange, no yellow. Subtlety was my guiding principle. 

This year I threw all restraint to the winds. Red and orange, pink and yellow, every shade of blue and violet from lightest to darkest, even tomatoes and herbs mixed in with perennials and annuals. Nothing ruled out, my boardwalk garden is a riot of diversity this summer, and I’m loving it! 

(Earlier season, grass not mowed)

(These photos are not the most recent or representative, owing to loss of my good camera.)

A similar broad brush paints my bookstore’s summer literary series, TEA, which stands for Thursday Evening Authors. My TEA guests are writers of fiction and nonfiction; books written for adults, for children, and for readers of all ages; poetry, history, travel, and memoir. Every week this summer will be something different, with no discernible theme other than that of celebration, as we celebrate books and writers, readers and reading, and 25 years of Dog Ears Books. I hope you will be able to join us for as many Thursdays as possible. 

Here, then, is my lineup of guest authors — all Thursdays, all beginning at 7 p.m.:

June 21 (last week) - Rachel May, An American Quilt (nonfiction)

June 28 - Fleda Brown, The Woods Are On Fire (poetry)

July 5 - Kim Schneider, 100 Things To Do in Traverse City Before You Die (travel)

July 19 - (Double-header!) Lynne Rae Perkins, Secret Sisters of the Salty Sea (middle grade novel), AND Anne-Marie Oomen, Lake Michigan Mermaid (narrative poetry)

July 26 - Dennis Turner, What Did You Do in the War, Sister? (novel based on true events during World War II)

August 2 - Virginia Johnson, Ira’s Farm (memoir)

August 9 - Karen Anderson, Gradual Clearing (radio essays)

August 16 -(2 books) Bill Smith, Chickadeeland & 4 A.M. December 25 (stories with pictures for all ages)

August 23 - Loreen Niewenhuis, author of three Great Lakes books, presenting “Isle Royale”

August 30 - Thomas Hooker, various books of geology and poetry, plus his own original music

All TEA guests are either northern Michigan residents or have summer roots here (the latter the annuals in our literary garden). Among Michigan towns represented in this summer’s TEAs are Marquette, Traverse City, Suttons Bay, Empire, Omena, and Battle Creek. Our first guest of the season, Rachel May, from Northern Michigan University in the U.P., was delighted with her Northport audience, and the feeling was decidedly mutual. 

Meeting authors in person is an opportunity not only to see the person behind the book but also to learn some of what is involved in the writing process, which varies from one writer to another. Whether you are a writer yourself or simply curious about how people do it, this aspect of TEAs should prove interesting.

I’ll post reminders as we go through the summer, (this list won’t be your only reference), but some of you might want or need to plan beyond the current week — hence the list. And do, by all means, plan to be with us this Thursday for Fleda Brown. You’ll thank yourself afterwards for having come to meet her!

Fleda as previous Dog Ears Books guest

Meanwhile, happy reading and happy gardening in this lovely month of June —