Our Busy Days and Nights

He stands by his statement!

Wednesday evening, August 2, was the long-awaited reception for my husband, David Grath, at the Dennos Museum Center, where his one-man exhibition, “Three Decades of Landscape Painting,” will be up through September 9. And when the $5 million new addition is completed and opened in late fall, as planned (or surely, by the end of the year?), the permanent collections gallery will include one large David Grath painting. (Not the one pictured below, but turn left when you enter the gallery, and you'll see the one I mean. You see part of it above, over David's shoulder.)

We stand together, thrilled to be there

It was a thrilling, memorable evening for us -- one we will never forget as long as we live. Owing to the many delays, pushing the reception back beyond the film festival to August, many of our friends had conflicts and could not attend, but enough people managed to get there to make a lovely, large crowd. To say that we had a “wonderful time” would be understating the case wildly. It seemed almost like a dream.

Gathered to hear director's welcome and introductions

I must not neglect to mention Eugene Jenneman, director of the Dennos, and his wonderful staff; the magnificent caterers; and our own dear friend Dan Stewart, intrepid videographer of the evening. We are grateful to so many people for making this happen and joining us in a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of David's work!

Artist David Grath and museum director Gene Jenneman

Videographer Daniel Stewart

An unusually early bookstore morning

The very next morning I came to Northport shortly after the crack of dawn to clean and organize myself, the bookstore, and the gallery for an evening author event. The big storm came during my 3-6 p.m. break at home, so I was able to get to the bookstore again to meet my guest author without dodging lightning bolts.

“It was a dark and stormy night,” indeed! The Leelanau Conservancy cancelled its 4-6 p.m. event in Leland, and a Northport woman called the bookstore to see if Gregory Nobles was still on for the evening. Yes, indeed, I told her. Some people arrived late, but eventually we had a respectable turnout for a lively evening of tales about John James Audubon.

Author Gregory Nobles

I had been struggling to put into words my general response to the book, which was that reading it was immersion in the America of two hundred years ago. Much more than merely a biography. Then as Greg began to explain the way Audubon placed each species of bird on the page of his huge elephant folios, picturing the species in its natural surroundings, I had a brainstorm: Just as Audubon put a species in its place, its own regional habitat, so Nobles puts Audubon in his cultural time in American history.

And again, many thanks are in order: to guest author Gregory Nobles; his wife, Anne Harper; to our new township librarian, Nellie, for loaning us A/V equipment for Greg's slide show; to my talented and overworked husband, artist David Grath, for setting up chairs in his gallery for the evening event; and to the intrepid audience who braved the elements to come to the bookstore, gladdening the hearts of author and bookseller alike. Great to have you all here!

Sarah Shoemaker and Bronwyn Jones

Two major evenings successfully accomplished, I overslept a bit on Friday morning and had to hustle to get myself to Northport in time to shop at the weekly farm market, do my usual weekday morning errands, return borrowed A/V equipment to the township library, and open by 10 o’clock to accommodate a conversation between writers Sarah Shoemaker and Bronwyn Jones. It is a bookseller’s privilege to eavesdrop on visiting writers as well as being entertained by guest presenters. Sarah and Bronwyn will be presenting an event onstage at Kirkbride Hall in the Grand Traverse Commons at 7 p.m. on Thursday, August 10, so check that out if you’re in Traverse City.

David had to be in his gallery early today, also, meeting people who wanted to buy paintings. For one woman, buying a David Grath painting at last was a dream come true. Making dreams come true, seeing dreams come true, having our own dreams come true – even in the dizzying blur that is our busy summer, we are grateful for the richness of our wonderful life. 

Summer -- a beautiful blur of days!

August ALREADY? (Did I Say This Last Year?)

Chicory-chick, cha-la, cha-la

The last day of July is upon us! Back when was a kid and again when I lived downstate, periods of life when August meant vacation to me, it seemed as if it would never come, as if July were an endless month. Not so since I became an Up North business owner 24 years ago. After a few years I came to understand that the Leelanau business owner’s summer is divided into three distinct periods:

1)  4^th of July will never get here!

2)  Omigod, it’s 4^th of July already!

3)  4^th of July is over! Summer’s almost gone!

It’s really a little different in Northport, because we also have the dog parade in August. This year it’s August 12, the theme is “Hairy Tales,” registration is $5 a dog, I’m doing registration (but so are other places—see posters around town), and for the first time in Northport’s dog parade history, an agility competition will follow the parade. Anyway, you can substitute “dog parade” for “4^th of July” in the list above, and you’ll have the Northport variation.

Second cutting

My point – and I am coming to it – is that this week will be a very busy one and, consequently, the bookstore schedule will be radically different for a couple of days.

Wednesday, August 2 – Dog Ears Books CLOSED!

Thursday, August 3 – Dog Ears Books open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed at 3 p.m., and then open again in the evening for 7 p.m. event with Gregory Nobles, author of John James Audubon: The Nature of the American Woodsman.

The reason I’ll be closed this Wednesday is that the reception for David’s show at the Dennos Museum will finally take place that evening! Technically, it is not the “opening” of the show, since paintings have been on the walls and visitors given free admission throughout the week of the Traverse City Film Festival, but museum members are accustomed to a party for special exhibits, so Wednesday it is, at last. I have no idea if the renovations were be complete (last I heard, floor was not finished), but David Grath, Sally Rogers, Diane Carr, and the work of all three artists will be feted on August 2. I don’t have to “do anything” that evening but should be presentable and well rested, so that is my Wednesday plan.

Back when Gregory Nobles and I planned his bookstore presentation and book signing for August 3, I had no idea it would follow by 24 hours one of the most important evenings in my husband’s life (originally, the museum opening seemed it would take place in late June), but things change -- and while plans must often be revised, I didn’t want to confuse anyone who’s been watching my blog all summer and seeing Greg scheduled for August 3. August 3 it is! 7 p.m.! He is ready, and I will be, and I look forward to an enjoyable and informative evening. Greg has a whole slide show planned!

This morning at the bank my teller asked, “Are you ready for the big weekend?” “It’s only Monday!” I told her. “I have big events on Wednesday and Thursday! I can’t think as far ahead as the weekend yet!”

Summer – it’s always a blur....

Old wasp nest blown down, victim of time

Let’s Take a Break, Shall We?

It’s summer, and so much is going on! That’s one reason to take a break from serious economic and political topics, but another is so I won’t lose all my readers with relentless offerings of ponderous facts and opinions. And so, fun and photographs and coming events are the menu for today.

We had a visit from David’s youngest, which was only disappointing--everything else about it great!--in that his one-man exhibition at the Dennos Museum Center was not yet on the walls for her to see. But the paintings are now placed (after burly friends helped load vehicles, we delivered them yesterday, although the new floor in the gallery is not quite finished), and the show, because it’s opening later than anticipated, will be up through the first full week of September, and you can probably get in the door today. Wowser! We are excited!!! You will be, too, but you have to go to Traverse City to see it. I only had a chance to take photos below while staying out of the men's way.

(If you live in the Traverse City area and are not yet a member of the Dennos Museum Center, now would be a good time to join. A fabulous--only word for it--new addition will also be opening in late fall.)

My first bookstore visitors this Tuesday morning were a mother and son from south Florida, on the last day of their vacation, looking for something the boy could read on the plane ride home. He chose two Magic Treehouse books, one about sharks, the other about ninjas, and then explained to me the general idea of the series. I told him it sounded kind of like the magic I often experience through reading. This morning, for example, I was in England, riding in a pony cart on a dusty country road – and then when I put a bookmark in place and closed the book, I was back on my own front porch in Michigan.

And speaking of Michigan and the magic of books, we have an author event at the bookstore, this very Thursday! Aaron Stander, author of nine popular Up North murder mysteries, will be at the bookstore on Thursday at 7 p.m. to talk about his creative process, self-publishing experiences, and anything else our audience wants to ask him about. The evening will be casual and friendly, and we’ll all have a good time, so please come!

Didn't I Tell You We're a Family of Readers?

My mother and one of my sisters and my son have all been visiting these last few days. My mother and sister are staying at Sunrise Landing over on the Grand Traverse Bay side of the Leelanau peninsula. I've sent a lot of people to Sunrise Landing over the years (based on my parents' strong recommendation) but had never been there myself. What a great place! My mother says the rooms have all been updated and upgraded since she and my dad stayed there years ago, but it still has a pleasant, local, real Up North, not-chain-motel-at-all look and ambience. And of course, it's right on the water.

On Monday, my son and sister and mother and I drove to Traverse City so my family could see "The Art of Sleeping Bear Dunes" show at the Dennos Museum Center. They were properly impressed by the unbeatable placement of David's painting, right by the gallery entrance.

Family by David Grath painting

But we all looked at the entire exhibit before taking in the Inuit art and interactive room -- and making several purchases from the gift shop, let me not neglect to mention.

Mother of artist Doug Racich is one of my mother's old friends.

Later in the day, we all assembled back at the old farmhouse for a second family evening and meal. 

Perusing books while visiting -- these are my people!

My son stayed with David and Sarah and me at the farmhouse during his visit and spent lots of time with me at the bookstore, too, and while he gave Sarah lots of attention and talked with all of us, he also spent a lot of time reading, because -- well, that's just what my family does. Here is my sketch of him at the bookstore, engrossed in a book:

Man in glasses, reading

And now? My son is headed toward home, and David will fend for himself this evening while my mother and sister and I attend tonight's National Writers Series event, an evening with Sara Paretsky. You may recall that my sister has already met Paretsky. Ah, but this time I'll be there, too, and our mother will be with us! Now, if only the third sister hadn't had a scheduling conflict....

My sister with Sara Paretsky earlier this year

We're all Paretsky fans, as well as readers and book-lovers. It's the perfect evening's entertainment for my family!

Where Did That Lost Hour Go?

Snow and ice melting in the rain

Plum tree buds

Somehow I don't feel as if I've lost an hour, and that's because I treated myself to a lazy Sunday, a very old-fashioned, low-tech kind of lazy day. Trying to be your own doctor is supposed to mean you've got a fool for a patient, but my prescription for the 23-hour day was plenty of lounging around at home. 

For starters, there was the switch to Daylight Savings Time, but we’d also been out late on Saturday night. Well, late for us. We drove to Traverse City for an opening at the Dennos Museum Center, where our friend Rufus Snoddy had a beautiful and enormous installation, all new pieces, called “Wings of Icarus.” There was a reception for Rufus and another artist. The other man, Cressman from University of Michigan, also did large installation pieces. Painting and sculpture combined memorably in both artists’ work. Brad Aspey from Interlochen Public Radio interviewed Snoddy and Cressman on stage at eight o’clock, and I was glad we stayed for the talk because I’m still contemplating on Monday morning what Rufus had to say about the myth of Icarus. He did a work back in the 90s, he said, around four ancient Greek myths, but the story of Icarus was the one that stayed with him, speaking to him of modern life and modern man’s inability to listen to warnings and moderate his flights into technology to find a “safe passage.” The different sizes and colors and textures and patterns of the wings, along with different objects incorporated into them, Rufus said, came from his imagining all of us human beings with wings. “What would his wings look like? What would her wings look like?” In the work, beautiful single wings hang from the ceiling or from wall mounts and shift slowly as currents of air move them. When you think about it, it is like the world after the Apocalypse – still filled with beautiful fragments but empty now of the proud beings whose wings these were. So it is very beautiful and, underneath, achingly sad.

There is also a lovely exhibit of modern Japanese woven bamboo art currently at the Dennos. Altogether it’s a good time to visit, if you haven’t already. And you'll have to go there to see the exhibits, because I did not take my camera with me on Saturday evening.

Somewhere that night was another exhibit opening in town, a show featuring three modern pioneers of the region, one of them the late Reverend Marshall Collins of Northport. Somehow I had thought both exhibits were at the Dennos, but they were not, and no one at the Dennos could tell me where the other might be, although one of the volunteers carefully combed through the Northern Express, page by page, looking for an announcement. I’m sorry we missed that opening, as several family members of Reverend Collins are people I consider friends. I’ll have to find out where it is and see the exhibit another time.

The ride home was hair-raising. The air had warmed so that rain rather than snow was falling. Falling heavily. Lights gleamed and glared. Headlights in rearview mirrors, oncoming headlights. The white fog line along the sides of M-22 definitely needs repainting! Fog, too, began occurring in surprising patches. We were relieved to turn off the highway at last, more relieved to reach home, and most relieved to fall into bed! And so there was no hurry to get up by the sprung-forward clock in our house on Sunday morning.

Typed (on typewriter) and handwritten treasures -- thank you, dear friends!

I got up relatively early, anyway, and finished a letter started to a friend a couple of days before. Handwritten on paper. Then made banana bread. Made coffee for David. (I’m halfway through my six-WEEK--NOT six-MONTH! period of abstinence from coffee, alcohol, and potato chips and approaching confidently the home stretch.) Made us a big breakfast to enjoy in bed, along with “Prairie Home Companion.”

Later I made myself comfortable on the living room couch and did a spell of writing, putting that aside after about an hour to go on with reading A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines. A friend of mine who has read all his books had told me she thinks he should be much better known than he is, and after only 46 pages I agreed with her wholeheartedly. – but that is a subject for another day.

Later, making up for getting up early, I took a nap, right in the middle of the day, right there on the couch. When I woke up, David and I read side by side and talked about what we were reading and had a few pretzels, and then I fixed supper for us, still in my robe.

After supper, David decided to out for a while, and I had the only modern part of my lazy day, reading e-mail, but when that was finished I went back to my book, finishing the last page – for real – just as David was walking in the front door.

Okay, watching a movie on DVD is fairly modern, I guess, but the movie was the perfecting ending to my day of writing and reading. “Liberal Arts” has several bookstore scenes (two different bookstores, one in New York and one in Gambier, Ohio); all through the movie characters are reading and discussing books (one I recognized by its cover, although the title and author name were not spoken aloud or shown on screen); and quite a long sequence of the movie has two of the characters composing and handwriting letters on paper to each other, letters sent through the mail and drawn eagerly from envelopes to be read and re-read. The final bookstore scene in New York is rather a paean to books, as two characters sit on the floor between rows of shelves, books piled on the floor around them. It isn’t entirely a “bookshop movie,” but I’d definitely mention it in that context were I writing again of my best-beloved genre.

Hazy orchard with fog beginning to thin

It was still raining this morning -- the world white with mist and fog and sparkling with raindrops -- but we are not  lazy today. The world is calling us out into it!

More melting snow

P.S. A note in French, handwritten inside a beautiful notecard featuring a photograph of a round barn, awaited me at the post office, along with two review copies of new books. I love the post office! I love real letters and real books!

P.P.S. The other exhibit, I found out online, is at the History Center in Traverse City, the place I will always, as long as I live, call the old library. We'll go there on our next trip to town.