Still, in Retrospect, Overwhelmed and Gratified

The event on Saturday, October 9, was planned to be two hours long, from 6 to 8 p.m., but people began arriving as early as 5 p.m. Some had mistaken the time, while others simply hoped that the guest of honor would also arrive early so that they could purchase a book, have him sign it and get on to dinner in Leland or Traverse City or get back home to the televised MSU/UM game. An entirely different crowd came late--after the game--and stayed later. Never have I heard the words “football game” so often in such a short space of time! (When worrying about possible conflicts, football had never entered my sports-naive mind. Live and learn!) So basically, Saturday’s became a marathon four-hour book signing at Dog Ears Books, but it all turned our great. Wish you all could have been with us!


Margaret Bell of Circa Estate Winery had planned to be with us to pour wine, but the winery was short one staff person on Saturday, and with the glorious perfection of this year’s fall weather they were jammed to the rafters over on Horn Road, as everywhere else, and Margaret couldn’t get away, hence David Grath’s fulfillment of the role of emergency bookstore sommelier. Bless the versatile artist’s heart! Interesting and delightful hors d’oeuvres (the most surprising to our guests were the miniature boiled blue potatoes stuffed with cream cheese) came from Northport caterer David Chrobak.


So we had food and wine and books for the early birds, but they had to wait for the guest of honor. Dean Robb arrived precisely on the stroke of six o’clock, not a minute before or after. (How’d he do that?) I went right to work selling books, Dean went to work signing, David went to work pouring wine, and none of us had much time for a break before 8:30 when things slowed down, and even then it was nine o’clock before we put the party to bed, closing the door at last and turning out the lights. Other people undoubtedly took more and better photographs than I managed to get, unable to get far from my post behind the counter to capture other perspectives.




By any measure, though, it was a highly successful event. I could not have asked for more beautiful weather. Then--numbers of people attending, books sold, refreshments consumed, happy faces and compliments galore—it was everything I wanted it to be, and I’ll be reliving the event for a long time to come. People came from Leland, Suttons Bay, Cedar and Traverse City, as well as Northport, among them a handful who had never been in the bookstore before. So many hugs, so much laughter!

Author of the Dean Robb: An Unlikely Radical and Dean’s youngest son, Matthew Robb, called from Detroit halfway through the evening, a call planned earlier in the day, and the only glitch of the whole evening as far as I’m aware was our not being able to get the speaker phone working so that everyone in the room could hear Matt’s voice. (We should have had a second dry run after one brief, elusive success earlier in the day.) Still, his father relayed the other side of the conversation, and when he read aloud Matt’s introduction to the book, a moving tribute from son to father, there was hardly a dry eye in the house.


“How do you think it went? Are you happy with it?” Dean asked me around 8:30, a trifle anxiously. We had sold two cases of books and broken into the third. He asked if this was customary (“about what you usually do?”), and when I told him that a more usual number of books sold at a signing was between five and 15 (this is all new to him) he began to realize that it had been no ordinary bookstore evening.

There were many people who contributed to the success of Saturday’s event. I haven’t even mentioned yet Dean’s wife Cindy and everything she did with arrangements in the weeks ahead of time, none of which even begins to touch on all she did along the way while Dean and Matt were working on the book. Dean’s wife and son will understand, though, when I say that it was Dean himself people turned out to honor. His life, his career, his passion, his dedication to civil rights and to defending and fighting for what he believes in all make him a legend in Leelanau and beyond. So basically, I can’t claim a lot of credit for Saturday night. You want a successful event? Host a legend!

Dean, Cindy, Matt—thank you all from the bottom of my heart for granting me the privilege of throwing a party that meant so much to so many people. It was an honor and a joy, and I’ll never forget it.

Postscript to the evening: A Northport friend returning from Mackinac had driven through crowds at the Apple Festival in Charlevoix, crowds in Petoskey and Traverse City, and as he approached little Northport he was thinking how dark and quiet it would be. Then he turned onto Waukazoo Street and saw cars and people and lights! Surprised, he saw there was some kind of party in the bookstore! “I just had to stop and see what was going on. It looked so great!” Well, it felt great to hear that. It all felt great. What a night!

Wind or No Wind, Saturday Is Here!

Where did the wind come from? After a string of clear, still days, it took me a couple of minutes to identify the sound (please don’t tell me I’m imagining it), but peering out a dark window I could still see the stars. The sky is still clear. It’s just a windy morning. Okay.




Those dreams when you forgot to study for an exam? Neglected to learn your lines and the curtain is going up? Can’t find the room you’re supposed to teach in? Besides the wind, a dream of that kind woke me in the dark, but there’s no need to go into the silly details, because no failures of that kind are going to mar the bookstore event today. I’ll get all the furniture arranged, and the caterer and the wine will arrive in plenty of time, and everything will be fine. After all, the books came yesterday. Yes! The books arrived twenty-six or –seven hours ahead of the scheduled event, and that was a big relief. They look great, too.



So let the wind blow. The sun will shine, and it will be a beautiful day. These images, however, are from the last two quieter, calmer mornings, when the wind and I were taking life a lot easier (and as I was selecting them this morning, I couldn't stop thinking that Sharon will know exactly where each photograph was taken). I’m getting a lot of use out of my camera battery recharger this season, and you haven’t seen the half of it. There will also be bookstore pictures and book talk, along with all the "local color."

P.S. Before you go outdoors this morning, check this out. You can keep track of the Sleeping Bear's activities by e-mail. And does that little produce stand look familiar? (Susan, there's no prize for identifying it.)

See Other Blog

My world is singing with color. See more here. More to come.

Islands Quiz and Mushroom Mystery

It’s a busy, busy week, and while I’m still reading every evening (great stuff, too!), don’t look for any in-depth book reviews from me until Monday at the earliest. My focus is on Saturday--only two days away!--and Dean Robb's appearance at Dog Ears. So what you’re getting today on the blog, while I bite my fingernails down to the first knuckle joint awaiting delivery of the books for Saturday’s event, is a handful of pictures and a couple of questions.

First question: Can you identify the following islands?




Second question: Can you identify this droll little fungus? This is one fungus from two sides.



In the case of the islands, I have the answers. When it comes to the mushroom, I may have to wait for the new book our resident mushroom expert wants me to order. Or maybe if I show these pictures to the expert, he’ll solve the mystery. That’s a thought, too.

Our Fellow Time Travelers of the Plant Kingdom

When we think of fall color, we usually think of deciduous trees, such as maple, ash, oak and beech--those trees that lose their green leaves every winter but not before letting the chlorophyll seep away, leaving colors from pale yellow through butternut and orange to flaming red and deep russet. The only coniferous trees that change color and drop their needles are the larches, or tamarack. Say “fall color,” and who would respond, “Blue spruce”? And no, the spruce needles have not changed color. It’s simply that some of these trees are now wearing red garlands of Virginia creeper, as if someone had decorated them early for the holidays.





Trees of a different kind are featured in Ladislav Hanka’s hauntingly beautiful book, The Crooked Tree Prints, now available at Dog Ears Books. When Hanka set out to explore the way Native Americans had used living trees as place and directional markers in northern Michigan, he learned that only a few of those old trees are still standing, and perhaps the artist in him was for that reason compelled all the more strongly to record their existence and to forge a personal connection with them. Hanka’s pencil sketches and his monochromatic photographs, as well as his copperplate etchings (the fullness of his art), capture the paradoxical timelessness of these venerable woodland neighbors. The bilingual text, with Hanka’s English translated into Anishinaabemowin by Zhiibaasige, provides yet another port of entry--a dual port, so to speak--into this aesthetically, culturally and historically rich subject. This is not an ordinary book but a spiritual creation, so come in to soon to see it for yourself.

Finally, for another look at trees, look at what Gerry found in the Antrim County woods.

Some Enchanted Italian Evening

Here artist David Grath and his wife Pamela arrive at their beautiful Italian villa—no, thank heaven, it was Circa Estate Winery in Leelanau County! The wine was as good as Italy, and we did not have to speak Italian, though David is convinced that if you wave your hands around enough, the message gets through regardless of the words.


What would an evening in Italy be without music? Patrick Ivory provided that element.


Here it is, the perfect Italian marriage: art and wine, providing the gratification of discerning senses.


What do you see in this painting? I see rich, vibrant color and the mysterious depth of an old Italian masterwork.


These three small paintings form a perfect grouping above the fireplace. I kept going back to look at them again and again.


Early in the evening, before the crowd was too dense, David Grath had a chance to visit with David Bell, the man responsible for growing grapes on the Circa Estate.


The animation of the artist and his conversation partner here made a clear focus out of the question, but sometimes I find that the blur of movement seems truer to the moment, anyway.


Everywhere you look, everything at Circa is beautiful. For the reception, this definitely included the refreshment table.


The mirror! I love the mirror! Whatever it captures looks perfectly composed within that dark frame.


Leelanau cherry grower Paul Scott confers here with vintner Margaret Bell. Which wine is Paul drinking?


Colleen and Kate were clearly enjoying the atmosphere, and over Kate's shoulder I spy artists Woodruff Palmer and Bonnie Marris.


Okay, here it is. The important character in this crowd shot is the glass of wine in the foreground. Looks like Requisite, my choice of the evening, too. Delicious!


Here is David with Edible Grande Traverse editor Barb Tholin, her husband Charlie hiding behind her. We were delighted that Charlie and Barb made the trip from their peninsula, Old Mission, to ours for the evening.


Of course Charlie Wunsch wasn't really hiding; I just didn't get him in that last shot. But as he is the publisher of Edible Grande Traverse, I had to get him out front for a little well-deserved attention.

Since I always take more candid shots than posed, it wasn't until this morning that I realized I had no pictures of our dear friends and overnight houseguests from Hastings, Michigan, who came all the way up yesterday for David's show, bringing garden bounty that will feed us throughout the coming week. Could vegetables in Italy be any more beautiful than these? Could an evening in Italy be any more delightful than the one we enjoyed here in Leelanau County? Truly, I think not!



There are many more of David's paintings to be seen in the show that will be on exhibit at Circa through the month of October, and the weather is gorgeous again today, with more of the same coming tomorrow. Make the trip, the Italian Leelanau tour! You won't be sorry.

Busy, Rainy, Clearing

This is the sign you'll be looking for tomorrow on Horn Road, where Circa Estate Winery will host a reception for paintings by David Grath from 5 to 7 p.m. We're all keyed up in our house, as you might imagine.


Here's a shot of the sign from the other direction. Horn Road runs between M-204 and Eagle Highway.


And here's the winery atop the hill. Of course, the best will be inside, the wine and the art.


Posters for David's show went up a week ago, but this morning I began touring northern Leelanau County to put up posters for Dean Robb's book signing and reception a week from today at Dog Ears Books. Lake Leelanau looked wild under shifting clouds and rain.


But the rain was only patchy, and rainbows kept appearing. It's just after 11 a.m. as I post this, the sun has broken through in Northport, and I wouldn't be surprised if today turned out gorgeous.

No, We Are Not Leaving Northport!

“Dog Ear Books is moving to downtown Athens, Ga., from Madison, about 30 miles away, the Morgan County Citizen reported. The store's last official day in Madison was yesterday. Dog Ear should open in Athens later this month.”

When this little item caught my eye in this morning’s “Shelf Awareness” newsletter, I was glad all over again that our local newspaper, the Leelanau Enterprise, had spelled my business name correctly in the article they ran this week. The Georgia bookstore, you see, is Dog EAR Books, and I’ve gotten that spelling many times over the years. There is also a California store called Dog EARED Books, out in San Francisco. We in Northport, Michigan, however, are Dog EARS Books and always have been. One dog, two ears. That’s us.

I know that the California people have the more descriptive name (although we never dog-ear books at our house—well, almost never; cheap paperbacks are an exception to the rule), and I wish the Georgia people all manner of good fortune in their new home (‘Athens’ has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?), but our store has been Dog Ears since it opened in 1993, and now that we’re back on Waukazoo street again, just up the block from where we started, why would we go anywhere else?

But now, here it is—I have to come clean about this—there is another Dog Ears. Yes! We are not the only one! The other one is in Ottawa, Ontario. I’d love to visit it sometime.

But there’s also another Dog Eared, in Montreal, so the San Francisco people don’t have a lock on the past-participle version of our related names.

I wonder if all these other stores have dogs or if they had dogs when they first opened. We did and do. We had Nikki, who was as much a part of the name as were the books, and now we have Sarah, the second Dog Ears dog. If only a dog could read, she would never get bored in a bookstore.