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The night after Christmas Day, our California daughter said, "Mom, let's begin your new puzzle." Considering she presented me with the beautiful gift the day before, I replied, "Sure!" It seemed the perfect way to enjoy one of the two nights she and her husband spent...

Authors Note: The following story is by no means a complete, detailed story about the schools that existed in the area around Almont. When James and Elizabeth Deneen and their five children first came to Almont in the late fall of 1828, they were by themselves. Their...

There comes a time when a teenager outgrows a babysitter's income. In my day, that meant fifty cents an hour. And that left no Christmas fund to surprise my parents, four sisters, and a handful of friends with presents. To plan ahead with handcrafted gifts never...

When I began researching and writing the stories of Almont’s early settlers, I was under the impression that a family would come to Almont by themselves – no parents, siblings, relatives, or friends. In most cases, I expected the individual families came braving the...

Christmas is all about mystery – the advent of Jesus, the Savior of mankind born of a virgin. Somehow, later came Santa Claus, the jolly man who drives an airborne sleigh by the power of magical reindeer and delivers presents to obedient children. I believed in Jesus...

Nothing slows the flow of time more than the anticipation of Christmas morning. That was the lesson I learned during my freshman year in high school. We'd gathered at Grandma's house with my aunts, uncles, and cousins on Christmas Eve and then returned home. Per the...

My sisters and I grew up watching game shows with Aunt Goldie on our black and white television. First came "Queen for a Day." Aunt Goldie pursed her lips in disapproval of Jack Bailey's scantily clad ladies. However, Mr. Bailey redeemed himself when he interviewed...

In the mid-1870s, Dr. William Bruce Hamilton Jr. researched the first history of Almont Township. From personal knowledge and interviews with people who were here at the beginning, he finished writing it in 1876 and gave it as a speech at the Fourth of July...

The merry heart makes a cheerful countenance. Proverbs 15:13 As I drove north to Seven Ponds Nature Center in Dryden, I hoped to see Teresa Rolland and Rhonda Kaltz, fellow long-term members of the center's Friends of Herbs group. Our paths cross sporadically...

"Posture is important, and so is your stance, but doing things incorrectly is the way to hurt yourself or others," my father said when he taught me to shoot a bow and arrow. I was eight years old and got a kid's bow for my birthday. I don't remember how heavily it...