Columns

Driving north on US-23, my husband passed a sign between Ossineke and Alpena. You are now crossing the 45th Parallel, Halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. “Dad would point to that sign when he drove us to Gram and Gramp’s on Grand Lake,” Mel said. “Perhaps...

I wrote earlier that I was fortunate, or as I like to say very blessed, to have been able to live in other cities and states like Nashville, Tennessee. While living in Nashville I had the opportunity to work part time as a waitress, a job actually now referred to as a...

“The other senses may be enjoyed in all their beauty when one is alone. but taste is largely social.” — Diane Ackerman “You were the pickiest eater,” my father once said when I served him spaghetti at my family table. He spoke in reference to his five daughters. I’m...

In 1892, Thomas Edison patented the motion picture camera. The motion picture camera was invented by William Kennedy Dickson, who was working for Edison. Initial motion pictures were silent one-reel short films. They were shown by traveling shows. These shows brought...

The Daubenmeyers across the road came to mind yesterday while I picked raspberries. The family with three boys and one married daughter. The dad who transferred thousands of files from my old Mac to new PC. The mom who homeschools and works part-time. Why hadn’t I...

Celebration was in the air. The little town my family lived in the summer of my eighth year came together for a festival, the exact nature of which I can’t recall. What I remember was the tug-of-war. It was fascinating as I watched bigger statured people step up to...

One remarkable summer day of 1967, Uncle Tab said, “Come help tie up toma’das.” An unemployed high school graduate on a visit to Kentucky relatives, I gladly followed. For time alone with my youngest uncle meant a diversion from discouragement. I could count on his...

This summer I wrote a series of stories on the experiences of three local Civil War soldiers in the 10th Michigan Infantry during the last year of the war. On August 19, 2021, I was fortunate to be invited along with Randy Fulton to witness another step in the journey...

I knew Mom and my Kentucky relatives planned another picnic when she boiled eggs and potatoes on a Saturday. That provoked mixed feelings as a child. A day at Wildwood Park meant loading up Mom’s potato salad, fried chicken, chocolate cake, and sweet tea bright and...

Editor’s note: This is the third in a four-part series about General George Squier. After being assigned as executive officer to the Chief Signal Officer of the U. S. Army in 1907, he recommended the formation of the Aeronautical Division of the U. S. Signal Corp.—...