Since I have come to be a fan of the Track and Accumulate method of capturing Deep Sky Objects (DSOs) that the SBIG cameras are known for, I always knew that if I wanted to go deeper into revealing details of DSOs, I would have to learn how to get my camera to self-guide. More »

Our Belief Systems

are limited ideas,
constructs of our human consciousness.

The Divine is not something
that can be described. More »

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Part of it is being with my loved ones without the emotional freight of Christmas expectations. (Christmas is more of a religious holiday for me). Thanksgiving is also about the food as many of my favorites show up for the feast, and that makes me even more thankful. More »

’Tis the season to be reading and I’m willing to bet there are a bunch of kids (or adults) preparing to read or re-read the Harry Potter books.  I was surprised when first reading the books to discover the huge role of food in the stories.  Pumpkin pasties, meat pies, sausages, potatoes, rock cakes, cider, licorice, butter beer.  Wait.  Um, butter beer?  Sounds good, but what is it? More »

Bruce Feiler’s new book “America’s Prophet: Moses and the American Story” has provided food for thought with his hypothesis that one figure inspired more Americans than any other: Moses. Like Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code,” the book aims to engage the reader into a new paradigm of thought about the character of religious figures. More »

The Michigan Court of Appeals (COA) affirmed a ruling recently that refused to lower payor Mark Foster’s child support to an amount consistent with the Michigan Child Support Formula (MCSF). More »

“Knit one, purl one, buy one.” So my late friend Liz summed up her frustration when I was teaching her to knit many years ago. She mastered it enough to make a beautiful, blue mohair pullover for a special man in her life. As I recall, she only made one or two other items in her brief knitting career. More »

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 »