A Lot Has Been Happening Around Here

From across Waukazoo Street (in my doorway) --

If you haven’t been to Northport in a while, you’ll notice some changes the next time you visit. The “big store,” current home of the Northport Inn, the restaurant called Faro, and a stylish new antique shop that goes by the name of Pernette’s, is getting an exterior makeover. Everyone is eager to see their new look.

Back of the building houses Pernette's.

The new look at Barb’s Bakery on Mill Street is already here. Pink! Also new at Barb’s is frozen custard, a very welcome treat on some of the hot days we’ve had recently. 

 

Does this color make you think of ice cream? At Barb's, it's frozen custard!

The New Bohemian Café folks have expanded their hours and are now open until 5 p.m. Good news! And while artist Deborah Ebbers, one of my neighbors here at 106, is away from her studio for a few days (gone to explore further the exciting world of carving sculpture from marble), she will be back early in July, never fear. Over on Mill Street, the Wright Gallery is open for the season on Wednesday through Saturday, 10 to 5, Sundays by chance.

Reflections of window letters with painting as backdrop --

In the nearby unincorporated village of Lake Leelanau, NJ's Grocery (since 1912!) remains closed at present while owners and crew clean up after a fire. No one was injured, and they hope to be back in business in about a month. I hope so! I miss my morning trips to NJ's.

Hope NJ's can re-open before too long!

What was happening at my bookshop on Tuesday was a visit from Kalamazoo poet Jennifer Clark, and, as is always the case with Jennifer, we had a great time and a lot of laughs. Those who do not associate either poetry or saints with happy hoots need to make the acquaintance of Jennifer Clark. I had her sign extra copies of her latest collection of poems, Intercede: Saints for Concerning Occasions, and will be stocking her volume of memoir essays next week when I do another new book order. Kissing the World Goodbye might not sound like a humorous title, but I was laughing out loud reading it. What a delight!

Jennifer Clark is a wonderful bookstore guest! 

To satisfy popular demand, I have restocked Mary Kay Zuravleff’s American Ending (I wrote about it here) and also have a new Michigan novel, My Pirate Summer, by C. J. Hagstrom of Traverse City. Hagstrom’s story, from the old days of the “tall ships,” was inspired by the “nefarious activities” of Captain Seavey, a name familiar to Great Lakes history readers.

 

Here's more new fiction from Michigan writers:

 

Viola Shipman, you ask? Yes, several titles from Viola Shipman, nom de plume of Michigan writer Wade Rouse, who writes gentle romance stories under his grandmother’s name. 

If mysteries are your thing, I have books by Leelanau author Aaron Stander (he calls our home ground “Cedar County”), U.P. mysteries from Joseph Heywood and Steve Hamilton, and exciting stories featuring fictional Sheriff Jules Clement of Blue Deer, Montana, by Michigan-native-gone-to-Montana Jamie Harrison. Karen Mulvahill’s historical fiction novel, The Lost Woman, continues to leap off the table, along with Marilyn Zimmerman’s legal suspense novel, In Defense of Good Women (review here). 

 

Under new nonfiction offerings, This Magnetic North: Candid Conversations on a Changing Northern Michigan is guaranteed to start many more conversations since it seems that everyone wants to be here! Climate change, migration, and tourism (I would add growing world population) are affecting places Up North, as they have elsewhere. Is northern Michigan’s tourism industry “too robust”? Poet Michael Delp, co-editor emeritus of the Made in Michigan Writers Series, calls this book “essential reading for anyone who claims to love northern Michigan for its beauty.”

What changes will we see in years to come?

Also for locals and visitors alike,“Perfect Omena Day!”: Selections from the Summer Diaries of Rebecca L. Richmond, 1907-1920 is going to be a sure-fire winner. What was daily life in Omena like over 100 years ago? Marsha Buehler, Omena's Putnam-Cloud Tower House Museum Director, calls the diary entries Christine Byron chose and transcribed “gentle lessons in cultural anthropology blended with a bit of archeology.” The book is also generously illustrated with old photographs and postcards – a perfect recipe for summer dreaming and time travel.

Sometimes it's comforting to look backward, isn't it?

Field guides to birds, board books for pre-readers, 100 Things to Do in Michigan [and in the Upper Peninsula] Before You Die (always, I think, the best time to do anything), and other books you didn’t know you needed until you saw them in Dog Ears Books – all are here for your summer reading pleasure, along with, always, an ever-changing inventory of used books, some quite recent and others from very long ago.

There are always lots of pre-loved volumes on my shelves.

The summer solstice has come and gone, St. John’s Eve has come and gone, and the 4^th of July is coming at us fast. Along the roadsides and in the meadows, milkweed prepares to bloom, and St. Johnswort is just getting underway. It is also the week of the strawberry – and strawberry pie – and strawberry-rhubarb pie – and maybe rhubarb chutney, if I can squeeze in that project….

Milkweed

Cinquefoil

St. Johnswort

Goatsbeard

"Can I help, momma?" (I just couldn't leave her out entirely!)

Explaining Myself

Will be open on Monday, 4/22, for Earth Day!

Bookstore Notes

 

Maybe I got some ‘splainin’ to do. “Disproving skeptics for over 200 dog years”? What does it mean?

 

Well, when I opened Dog Ears Books in 1993, many people told me, shaking their heads sadly, “No one reads books any more.” The people uttering the gloomy words had voluntarily entered a bookstore and were happy to be there, but each one believed he or she was the last of a dying breed, the earth’s last living reader. 

Original Dog Ears, Waukazoo Street, 1993

Fast forward three decades, and I don’t hear that particular line as much. Many people still say, however, “Bookstores are going the way of the dinosaur” (or words to that effect), because while it’s become obvious that reading has not died out, doesn’t everyone order their books online or read on their electronic devices? 

 

No, not everyone. 

 

My bookstore would not be the self-supporting business it needs to be if the skeptics were right. So now here we are, coming up on 31 years later, and I am so confident going into the 2024 season that I have gone out on a limb and ordered canvas book bags emblazoned with my business name, logo, and that line about the mistaken skeptics, confident that yet another year will continue to prove them wrong and keep me here on Waukazoo Street, just up the block from where I started in 1993.

Back on Waukazoo Street since -- 2006?

Committing to a bookstore in a small village at the end of a peninsula means life in the slow lane for all but a few summer weeks. Nevertheless, it’s a life I chose with my eyes open, telling a new Northport landlord in 1997 that I was “in it for the long haul.” And almost 31 years later I have no regrets, because besides making a modest living, I meet interesting people all the time, and many have become my friends over the years. It’s a rich life.

 

Reminder: If you come to the bookstore for a book bag on Monday, 4/22, and bring a copy of our ad in this week’s Leelanau Enterprise, your bag will be $11 instead of $12. In-person, Earth Day special!

 

Outdoor Notes

 

First leeks

First spring beauties spotted, their petals furled, on April 12^th, by the next day opening their faces to the sun. Before that, wild leeks were already turning the woodland floor green. On the 14^th I saw my first trillium – again, flower bud closed tight. It won’t be long, I thought, until they are blooming madly, and in the meantime the first Dutchman’s breeches began coming shyly onstage. 

Spring beauties

I’d been thinking this Sunday would see a riot of spring ephemerals in bloom, but then our yo-yo temperatures took another plunge, snow threatened, and the little buds pulled their heads back underneath the covers for the chilly weekend. But soon!

First Dutchman's breeches

 

Dog Notes

Giving me a look!

Here’s a question: Do dogs understand the cycle of the seasons? Wild animals appear to do so, but dogs have been companions of humans for so long that maybe their seasonal sense has atrophied. Does Sunny remember last summer? Does she realize that another summer is on the way? Sometimes, when she has that “Oh, mom, you’re so boring!” look on her face, I would love to remind her of the fun she had the evening before and the fun that awaits her in the morning. If only I could explain! There’s a downside to living in the moment.

 

But co-evolving with self-centered humans, dogs have had to learn patience. No wonder we love them so! And isn’t it a joy when we can make them happy?

Meeting with friends!

The World of Then, The World of Now

Original digital photograph

Then: I was younger and tried hard to make my bookstore a year-round business. I even bowed to pressure from locals to serve coffee every morning one winter when Barb’s Bakery was closed, hoping to disprove a former landlord’s advice, gleaned from personal experience: “The key to a seasonal business is to keep it seasonal.” 

Now: I’m older, still working and still dependent on my business income, but I’ve given myself permission for several years now to take “seasonal retirement” during the off-season.

Then: When I took the photograph at the top of this post, Woodruff Palmer owned the building, and I managed sales for his Painted Horse Gallery, along with running my bookstore. 

Now: With Clare Gengarelly as the building’s current owner, a wall separates her space from mine, and Dog Ears Books has its own entrance. Very slightly farther down the building than this photograph shows, next to my door, is the door of David’s Grath’s studio and gallery. 

Then: We undertook our occasional travels with light hearts and a sense of excitement. An annual September getaway to the Upper Peninsula took us back to familiar scenes that pleased year after year.

Now: In the time of coronavirus, as spring progresses across the land, we continue to shelter in place in our winter rental cabin, leery of taking the road home and with hearts heavy over the many divisions in our country.

Then: My photograph of the snowy scene on Waukazoo Street appeared only in digital form on my blog. 

Now: One of David’s cousins has had it reproduced for us on canvas, even after the printer made the cousin sign a form saying he would accept the results regardless of resolution. The printer didn't think the image was good enough to reproduce. Really! Who expects a clear image in a blizzard? This is perfect! And not as dark as it appears below -- sorry about that!

Photograph reproduced on canvas

Then: Our reality was a daily commute from home to village on icy, snowy, slippery roads. Spring came gradually, backsliding frequently but eventually settling into days of sun or rain. We could count on spring wildflowers in the woods, and we hoped no late frost killed cherry blossoms.

Trillium

Cherry blossom

Altered orchard!

Mesquite blooms

Now: Our present reality is mountain scenery, birds at the feeder, quail coming for a morning drink at the water bar, mesquite forming almost solid green across the high desert floor. We follow the weather and other news from Northport and expect to be there again eventually but are unsure when that will be or what we can expect when we get there. 

Then: We looked forward to a summer of hard work, with a few weeks’ window of financial reward to get us through the next winter.

Now: It’s anyone’s guess what the future will bring. We do, however, draw on a rich store of memories.

Thank you, Jim!

Midwinter Potluck

February 21, 2014

[I wrote this on Friday but waited until this (Saturday) morning to post it. Please note that today is Northport's Winter Carnival out at Braman Hill -- chili cook-off contest, cardboard sled races for the little ones, milk jug curling for the older crowd, etc., etc. A fine, wint'ry time will be had by all who attend.]

View out front window

No single large topic. It’s a wild, windy day, and my brain doesn’t want to settle down. Big news is that the ice caves are over! Open water, moving ice, very dangerous! Don’t go! Okay, that was my public service announcement, and now for the more mundane agenda:

(1)        I’ve been noticing something for several years now. When I was in grade school (and my grade’s spelling champion from third through sixth grade), we spelled anyone, anywhere, anyhow, anyway as single words; any time was two separate words, as was any more. We had no rule to tell us whether to separate the words or not, any more than French has a rule for whether a noun takes the feminine or masculine article. It was just something we had to learn, one instance a time. Increasingly these days, American-style English seems to jam together any two words of which the first word is any. I’m not going off on a tirade about this. It’s no big deal. Language evolves, and common phrases tend to associate more closely over time, baby sitter becoming baby-sitter becoming babysitter. In fact, copy editor became copy-editor became copyeditor, and all the young copyeditors operate on the jammed-together style. Well, yes, I can learn new tricks and make a point to do so from time to time. But change my ways on these spellings? Don’t look for me to be doing that any time soon. Old spelling champions’ habits die hard. -- And there the spelling program wants me to squash together die and hard, but diehard (a noun) isn’t what I mean: I’m talking about dying hard! Sheesh!

(2)        Here’s another recent linguistic phenomenon. The word so used to function almost exclusively as a transition word, an alternative to thus or therefore or in order to. Some years ago, I noticed someone using it apparently at random, not as a transition from one thought to a logical implication but simply to begin a sentence. She might be answering a question or merely introducing a topic. "So, we were doing such-and-such...." The word so here functioned basically as a verbal throat-clearing, with no more meaning than uh. Again, this is not a tirade I’m embarking on. No big deal. But I find it interesting to note how pervasive what I call "the throat-clearing so" has become. Listen for it the next time you hear someone being interviewed on radio. And beware (if you have not already succumbed), because it can be contagious, which is no doubt that’s why we’re hearing it everywhere these days. Not very important, and yet it strikes my ear as a kind of verbal tic, and I’m trying mightily to resist it.

(3)        Well, then there’s the academic who thinks we could get all perfectly well without commas, but I’m not about to get into that one. You can guess which side I’d be on, anyway. 

(4)        About leaving comments on this blog: More than one person has asked me in frustration if they must have a Google account to leave comments. “It keeps asking me for my Google account name!” My intrepid, persevering sister (one of them; actually, I have two, both of whom are intrepid and persevering) figured out why she was encountering that particular roadblock. It was because her browser default was set to Google, i.e., she was on Google (on?) while trying to leave a comment. If you don’t want a Google account, you can visit via another browser and post a comment as Anonymous. What was interesting to me was that people could be on Google and not know it. But, more importantly, now that I've given you the key, please go back a couple of days and leave a comment on the most recent book review post to be eligible for a book giveaway. A name will be chosen a week from today, Saturday, March 1 (weather permitting!).

The way it looks today

The LAW OFFICE sign will be gone from the front of the building by summer. We were shocked and saddened by the sudden, unexpected death of our lawyer neighbor, Bill. Moving forward, however, David was hard at work on this stormy Friday, painting the floor a brighter, cheerier color as he prepares to expand his gallery space right up to the windows onto Waukazoo Street. 

A can of paint, a bowl of chili from the Garage Bar & Grill -- let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! -- As if we had a choice, right?

Are We Confused Yet? Still? Again?

What day is it? What year? Have we been here before?

The last couple of weeks have been confusing for me, and I've had to work at keeping straight what day it is. Today is Tuesday (I keep reminding myself), and as long as I'm already fighting confusion, I thought I might as well publish this silly draft post today. Changing gears is how adults have to function, isn't it? We need to be able to shift from grief to business as usual to taking care of ourselves and others to being a little bit silly. So here goes --

Woody’s Settling Inn on Waukazoo Street, no longer in existence, was never owned by anyone named Woody. It was Clayton Weeks who bought the old Hotel Bar, fixed it up, and named it after his idol, Woody Allen, featuring on his menu the Allen Burger. Woody’s was next owned by Buzz, and a lot of people thought Buzz had bought the place from someone named Woody, but not so.

106, back a while ago

Then Woodruff Palmer bought the old Hall and Kellogg Garage building at 106 Waukazoo Street (home of Dog Ears Books for going on seven years now), and it became, unofficially, “Woody’s building,” which was a little confusing. “I’m moving into Woody’s building,” I’d tell people, and they thought I meant the old Woody’s Settling Inn. The two buildings (the latter still standing then) occupied opposite ends of the block. “No, Woody Palmer’s building.” I wanted Woody Palmer to rename 106 Waukazoo “The Palmer Building,” but he thought that sounded too pretentious. The first summer Dog Ears Books had its home here, the building also housed the Painted Horse Gallery and Funky Mama’s consignment shop -- so together we were a vintage dog and pony show, eh?

More recently -- a new door for the bookstore!

The old property where stood the Hotel Bar, later known as Woody’s Settling Inn, and also held the original (1993) Dog Ears Books is where the big steel has now risen for the coming Tucker’s of Northport, the planned boutique bowling alley, while the old Hall and Kellogg garage building, present home of Dog Ears Books, is now owned by Clare Gengarelly, who owns and operates a shop called Red Mullein. There’s some confusion about how to pronounce the name, though, so be advised that it does not end in –ion, so it is not like ‘million’ with a different vowel in the first syllable. No. If only that ‘i’ were not there, pronunciation would present no difficulties: mullen is how the word is pronounced, though not how it’s spelled. It isn’t ‘mullion’ as in the window but ‘mullein’ the plant. English spelling is like that. There's also a little confusion due to the new bookshop door. Three separate street entrances! So no, I didn't move again -- I just have a new door and a new wall and another new door, the latter between my place and Clare's. 

Waukazoo Street takes its name from Chief Joseph Waukazoo, who came north from the Holland, Michigan, area with Reverend George Smith to found Waukazooville, the original of what grew in time to become Northport, and down on the north side of the old depot building (by the marina harbor parking lot, where the farm market is held on summer Friday mornings), some old cedar trees have recently taken on a new look.

The depot and wood carvings are not on Waukazoo Street, but it’s an easy walk from either place to the other – with or without a dog.

* * * * *

Here's my P.S. for the day from the bookselling front: Read it and see what you think -- and what you predict for the future. A good friend the other day (she is also a good customer) came to pick up her book order and explained that she has made a rule for herself: If she learns about a book from me, she orders it from my bookstore. "Don't you think that's a good rule?" she asked. Really, she had to ask? I love that rule!

Quick Update from Garden, Bookstore, Village

Four plants, one fruit!

My garden update will be really quick. That photo is it in its entirety. Yes, I'm calling it 'fruit,' because tomatoes are, aren't they? And eggplants are in the same family. Besides, if the eggplant is the plant, and then we call its fruit eggplant, too -- well, it gets confusing.

What's going on here?

Small group effort to hoist --

BANNER over WAUKAZOO STREET in NORTHPORT!

The "Leelanau Uncaged" street fair is set for next Saturday, September 28.

Everything arranged

By late afternoon on Thursday the 19th, everything was in place for Don Lystra's reception and reading, set for 7:30 p.m. The turnout was excellent, the reading superb, response gratifying to author and bookseller alike. 

Audience assembling

Author reading

Attentive listeners

Lystra takes questions from audience

The next morning, Friday -- today, in fact -- I was relaxed enough to take note of change and progress in Northport.

"Tuckers of Northport," the boutique bowling alley-to-be, is moving along day by day. Next summer's visitors will be surprised by the new look of Waukazoo St.

new garden

Over on the bank corner, at Nagonaba and Bay, where a raised-bed garden and huge tree were removed this summer, a new garden has been installed. As sad as it always is to see a garden go, it's that good to see a new one in place.