Archive - Essays

Imprinted by the Northwoods

Imprinted by the Northwoods

I return to my childhood cabin in the Upper Peninsula each year, like salmon to the streams of their beginnings.

Wild About a Wild River

Wild About a Wild River

The adventure of finding our Betsie River cottage.

Essay: At Home on the Hill

Essay: At Home on the Hill

Recalling a childhood in the hill country of Charlevoix County.

Essay: Cameo Appearances

Essay: Cameo Appearances

Chance encounters, even non-momentous ones, add richness to our lives, as this Cheboygan day reveals.

An Orchard Upbringing

An Orchard Upbringing

From there I could watch the house without my parents seeing me, to see how long it took for them to miss me and begin crying to the cherry gods for my return.

Summer’s Structure

Summer’s Structure

The porch was the origin of trust, imagination and the closeness.

Waterworld

Waterworld

An essay about the power of water in the writer's life and the compass it provides to Lake Michigan and home.

Digging for Treasure

Digging for Treasure

An essay that remembers a young boy's quest for buried treasure in his Roger City backyard, left by imagined pirates on Lake Huron.

Panfish Primer

Panfish Primer

The simple pleasure and calm to a hook, a line, a bobber and an inland lake that is shared throughout the generations.

Strawberry Summer

Strawberry Summer

Spending every summer at the cottage on the farm meant eating strawberries fresh, everyday, all week long.

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