We asked former Gov. Milliken and four other area leaders to predict what the Grand Traverse Region would look like 150 years now. Now, we’d like to ask you, our readers, to do the same thing. More »

True Hospitality
is a Sacred Act,
a Sacred Way of Being. More »

Now that you’ve contemplated some brute squash mutilation, here’s another use: Place the mashed squash (without butter, bien sûr) in a strainer over a bowl for about 30 minutes. Take that resulting squash and make the world’s deadliest cake: Pumpkin Spice Cake with Grand Marnier Cream Cheese Icing and Dulce De Leche. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. More »

I have used most of my posts displaying astrophotographs I have taken of deep sky objects (DSOs). November is not a great month for additional work in that department. However, once in a while the night sky clears and the casual observer might want to know what’s visible above. So here goes… More »

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about going back to college for the third time. I began taking an Introduction to Philosophy class at Northwestern Michigan College in early September. This was a condition for acceptance into a distance learning masters program in theology. I have taken a number of non-credit courses at NMC, but this was my first “real” college class in about 15 years. More »

October was Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and there has been much discussion about DV. Men and their supporters are drawing attention to the fact that many articles and blog posts depict men as the perpetrators and women as the victims. In reality, men also can be victims of domestic violence. Sometimes women are perpetrators, and not the victims, of domestic violence. More »

Sorry for having skipped a beat or two in relating the events of the two week junket to the Ardèche and Paris. After these weeks of Michigan’s gloomy skies, those warm days and sunshine seem further away than ever. Suffice it to say that the remaining time in the quaint hamlet of Les Monèdes passed quickly. After the Saturday at Uzès, we were ready to stay put on Sunday. In a way we did, but we were not completely inactive. More »

I have heard endless remarks from intelligent adults that a fetus is either “a blob of tissue,” “part of the woman’s body,” “not human,” and explanations such as “we’re just animals,” “an effective method of population control,” or “simply nothing to concern ourselves with.” More »

Squash get a bum rap for difficulty in the kitchen.  I think that’s owing to the fact that most people don’t think in terms of brute mutilation. They daintily jab at the big beasties with inadequately sized knives of dubious sharpness.  It’s not their fault that they’ve just never been taught the easy way around a squash.  I will now remedy that with the full set of instructions on how to open (and cook) a hard winter squash. More »

Reading Rebecca Lindamood’s post on braising meats and related subjects not only made me hungry — I could practically inhale the heavenly smells — but it also reminded me that I had left some old favorites off my recent post on fall foods. More »