A Weekend in Which Precious Little Reading Was Done

Here I am with my sisters and mother at the North End on Sunday morning. We went there for breakfast after attending the service at Bethany Lutheran Church on Mothers' Day, and Kristi kindly took our picture before we left. We are all readers (all of them brought bags of books for Dog Ears!), but we didn't do much reading over the weekend. They arrived late Saturday afternoon, and after dinner we became engrossed in a nearly impossible puzzle, involving multiple challenges. First was answering the "Who said that?" question on the quotation pieces and matching each quote with the correct historical personage, actor, philosopher, general, or whatever. This phase results in a forest of paired pieces, all of which then have to be joined together, along with some blank and almost-blank pieces, to form the puzzle. We started on one table, had to move to another, and finally split into two teams, younger sisters in one room, oldest sister and mother in the other room.

Can you say 'OCDC'? Can you say 'frustration'? Can you say, "Oh, my aching back"? So yes, on Sunday morning we went to church and out to breakfast, but then it was back to the puzzle, which we worked at until dinner time -- and dinner had to be on the front porch, as there were no more available tables in the house. No one picked up a book all day!

Monday we started the day with a shopping spree at the Pennington Collection in Northport. Sarah's store is so colorful I couldn't stop taking pictures while my mother and sisters shopped. 

After stops at the post office and bookstore, we drove south to Traverse City and explored Building 50 at the Grand Traverse Commons. My family didn't take long to figure out that they wanted to try out Black Star Farms Tastes, so we had a light lunch of spring vegetables (carrot and beet slices, pickled garlic, and ramps), country terrine, and various cheeses with our wine. My mom and I both bought bottles of the dry Riesling, although we liked everything we tried.

A visit to Building 50 isn't complete for me without a stop in at Landmark Books. It's always good to catch up with bookseller Paul Stebleton, and I was happy to find a nice copy of National Velvet, a classic horse story I haven't read for many years. 

We caught up with David, back from his downstate road trip, on the front porch at home before we made our way to the Happy Hour for dinner. 

In the picture above, in case you were wondering, David is amusing my mother by making his hand into a duck. (Maybe you had to be there.) Below, my sisters posed for me in front of David's large semi-autobiographical art installation. 

The Happy Hour.... It always is. My sisters were happy to find some IPA beer, and I was happy to learn that it was from Marquette, up in the U.P. When time came for dessert, two went for peppermint ice cream, and the other two shared a giant cream puff with peppermint ice cream and hot fudge. Which two were which, do you think?

Naturally, I didn't go three entire days without reading. In fact, I made serious headway early in the morning and late at night with the novel currently at my beside, The Orphan Master's Son, by Adam Johnson. It is not peaceful bedtime reading. It is a horror story, in fact, with very little relief, but so masterfully and convincingly and compellingly written (how on earth did the author manage?!) that I practically propped my eyes open to go on reading, and sometimes I'd fall asleep for a while, only to wake up to find the light still on, which was all the encouragement I needed to read a few chapters more. I highly recommend this novel to courageous readers. Besides being a fictional tour de force, it also serves as a reminder to any American reader how very fortunate we are to be living in this country. The contrast with my weekend family visit could not have been more striking. 

Changes Afoot in Northport

The first change is one you might not notice, but it happened over the winter. Bill and Nina Collins bought the old Grandma’s Trunk building, current home of the Pennington Collection (see below). Pennington is staying on, and the building has already received a few improvements under the new local owners. Here are Bill Collins and John Eggert (Sarah’s husband) gleefully removing the FOR SALE sign back in—what month was it? Ah, yes, the photo is dated February 4.


Next, the Filling Station is open again! That’s happy news for all of us. We're happy about the competitive gas prices offered by the new owners, Deep and Angela, too. Add to that that their two youngest children are readers, and I am pleased no end. Nice people, a welcome addition to the Northport community. Don’t let that snowpile scare you, by the way. This is another photo taken some weeks ago.



Then there’s Bruce Viger, always on the lookout for a new project. He sold Eat Spot (new owner will re-open for summer there) and is now expanding the BBQ on Waukazoo Street, closing in the patio for indoor dining with new restaurant name and a liquor license. Right now it’s a construction zone, but come summer it will be ready to welcome you for dinner. This is the scene as of Thursday morning, April 14, 2011.


Finally, the Northport Marina will be receiving a big facelift. I don’t have any pictures for that, as work has not yet begun, but since our marina is already the nicest and most convenient for miles around, you can expect to be pleased on this front, too. As for a dog park in the neighborhood, that's still in the initial talking stage.

At Dog Ears Books, we are not planning any big changes, but currently we have a little sale going on. Hardcover mystery novels in the cart are three for ten dollars. In the new book department, we have signed copies of A 1000-Mile Walk on the Beach and Dean Robb: An Unlikely Radical. You’ll also want to check out Jim Carpenter’s book of short stories, Surviving My Happy Childhood. The stories are fiction, and most are set in the college years. Sports lovers will especially enjoy several of these, including my favorite, “Tiger Baseball.” This book would make a great Father’s Day gift.


Were those snow flurries in the air this morning? No matter, they’re gone now, vanished without a trace, and the sun has returned.

Woodstock Woman Brings/Finds Fun to/in Northport

Saturday arrived, the day of the furoshiki wrapping demonstration at Dog Ears Books, and so did the snow! Someone in the bookstore commented that it was like one of those glass paperweights that you shake up to make the snow fall, except that we were indoors and the gently falling snowflakes outside the glass. I like the photo below, looking out from inside, because there is another OPEN flag across the way and lots of cars on Waukazoo Street, showing that Northport is open for business and fun.

Marjorie came early with the beautiful wrapping cloths and good, clear instruction handouts, too.



She also brought delightful homemade sugar cookies. She’d found a cookie cutter in the shape of Michigan’s lower peninsula, and each cookie sported an additional decoration to locate Northport on the map. Charming!


Okay, it must be admitted: The laughter started immediately, as we all wanted to get at the cloths and make our selections before the demonstration even got underway.


But finally everyone sat down and prepared to be attentive, and we quickly learned three different ways to wrap something as simple as a book or CD.




Isn’t this a pretty presentation?

There’s a more complicated wrap for a wine bottle, which Marjorie demonstrated with what I could find in my recycling bin, namely, a root beer bottle. The wrapped bottle looked particularly whimsical to me, and Marjorie says each wrapped bottle tends to take on a different character, depending on size, shape and fabric used.


A couple more people came after the first scheduled demonstration was finished, and Marjorie obligingly repeated her instructions. As I have already indicated, there was a lot of laughter in the bookshop on Saturday, several people expressing relief that they had chosen not to drive to Traverse City on such a wild winter day. Whatever the weather, we do know how to have fun in Northport, and women everywhere tend to laugh a lot when we gather together.


One group, leaving Dog Ears, was headed right around the corner to Sally Coohon’s Dolls and More for more shopping, craft-making and fun.


Marjorie and Walt make their home in Woodstock, New York, but they spend a couple of nice, long stretches in Northport, Michigan, on summer and winter visits to Walt’s mother. Unsolicited, Marjorie gave Northport quite a nice little rave during the course of her presentation. She loves all the art galleries that are open in summer, but even in the quiet winter months she finds plenty to keep her happy from Dog Ears Books to Dolls and More to the Pennington Collection, with a break at Brew North while Walt works out at the Northport Fitness Center. I loved hearing her say how much she found to enjoy and keep her busy in our little village. Thank you so much, Marjorie, for bringing your enthusiasm and ideas to share with us in Northport!