Northern Michigan

For as much as I’ve traveled and been away from home, Leelanau county in northern Michigan has been my safe haven for more than 40 years.
Late last fall my pal Paul and I built a sugar shack in the woods and got our old gear together. We built a new concrete block firebox, found our old heavy iron chimney, stainless steel tanks and pans that had been sitting in the woods for years. We made a plan for tapping trees in the spring and here […]

Maple Syrup – 2018

July 3, 2017 It's been really great to be back "home" in northern Michigan - with plenty of gray days and a lot of rain in May and June, the sunny days stand out and take center stage now that we're into more predictable weather patterns. And, being by the waters of Grand Traverse Bay and Lake Michigan, there's always […]

A Good Summer (so far)

The weather changes here in October. The leaves change from green to everything, the air chills and the animals start moving through the woods across the counties looking for the last of the good eating, running for their lives from the hunters. Life changes here in October. I grew up in these landscapes, had adventures and businesses, had lovers and […]

Shades of October

August 23, 2015 Some of the best time I spend when I’m up north is with the most ordinary things. It’s home. It’s familiar. On any given day I’ll take a drive down one of the county roads I’ve driven a hundred times and find something worth a few minutes and a closer look. Summer’s winding down and there’s a […]

Ordinary Things

July 22,  2015 Just got back from spending a week in the Montana wilderness and am back “home” in northern Michigan. After spending the last few summers in Florida it’s a real treat to be in the north again, surrounded by landscapes more familiar and friendly and with friends I’ve known all of my life.  I’m living on a little […]

Summer on the lake…

I left Michigan for Florida  five years ago and coming back this year finally feels like coming “home”.  As much as I’ve traveled in my life, there’s never been a place that has the same resonance for me as northern Michigan. I hope to find a spot to keep and return to through the year. I’m staying in a small […]

Birch Lake

Northern Michigan is a special spot and has been “home” all of my life (regardless of where I may actually be living). The most colorfully vivid changes in season come as winter announces it’s impending arrival, usually in October, when the nights turn cold and the first frosts start stripping the hardwoods. November turns the land and sky in shades […]

Elk Rapids in October

Around the county in a sturdy black Jeep Alas, the years are beginning to show on the old ’92 Cherokee. If she’ll just give me one more season, I’ll give her a rest next year. I’ve tugged logs out of the woods with it, stumps out of the ground and covered over 300,000 miles since I bought it in 1999. […]

Life in the Leelanau

Taken from Isadore at intersection of Leelanau county road 645 and French Road
Summer in the Leelanau There’s a little hideaway spot in Leelanau County where I go to work and write several times through the warmer weather and I’m heading up for most of July and August. The trusty ol’ Winnebago still makes a fine living space…I’ve had it since ’97 and just couldn’t bring myself to part with it. Full bathroom, […]

My Getaway

Lamb’s Songwriter Retreat 2013 November 6-11, 2013 – Harbor Springs, MI Had a fantastic time on the retreat staff this year with best pals John Lamb, Katie Wallace, Dana Cooper and Lisa Redfern. The participants were outstanding in every way – great talents, enthusiastic songwriting and as always, full of surprises. Everything was wonderful except the weather! Cold! Gray! Chilly […]

Lamb’s Retreat

August 21 – Sept 5, 2013 Leelanau County, Michigan Wherever I travelled this year, people asked me about living in Southwest Florida… wasn’t it too hot and humid? Was the city too busy? When am I moving “home” to Michigan? All I ever say is… life just keeps coming one day at a time… you never know what’s just around […]

Leelanau Fall

Winding down from a busy year… December 7th, 2013 – Naples, FL This was a busy year, with great adventures and the best of everything – but it’s good to be home for a few weeks and through the holidays, and nice to have the time to put the busy-ness in life on the bottom shelf for awhile. It’s warm […]

Summer of ’13