Traverse City

I stopped into Traverse City briefly on my way up north this year, to visit with Gary and Maryanne Hansen.  For a retired guy, Gary is hard to get a hold of–he seems to be always off to Africa or Alaska, or on the road with his motorcycle-racing cousin or playing with grandkids–anywhere but home.  This time I managed to catch him, and we had a nice day hiking around, inland and on the Lake Michigan shore, while Maryanne was at work.  After a nice dinner at home and a walk to their lakeshore lot, we caught up and looked at photos from Gary's African safaris.

Upper Peninsula

Spring comes quite late to the Keweenaw, and this year was no exception.  Once I crossed the Mackinac Bridge to the upper peninsula, I felt as though I’d gone back in time two months.  It was cold, gray and windy out, and there was no green to be seen anywhere.  Spring leaves weren’t quite ready yet to make their appearance, and there were still ice floes on Keweenaw Bay.

Keweenaw Bay at Baraga, Michigan

I stayed once again with my good friends Jan (right, in front) and Mark Klemp, in their lovely replastered guest room.  We had fun catching up, and watching Jan's odd Netflix choices.  I had a chance to appreciate Lieschen's fine

fashion sense–few teens have her flair.  It became interesting to see what she would wear each day for school–intriguing combinations of vintage, funky and ethnic clothing.  I loved her Russian fur hat and kicky boots.  She has an artist's approach to the subject of clothing, more performance art than simple fashion choice.

I didn't get see nearly as much of Rick and Mary Baron as I would have liked to.  Mary was trying out a new type of phototherapy for her skin condition which entailed driving to Marquette (and back) every other day.  I did get to see a bit of Maddy, a sweet girl with a penchant for pysanky, cheer leading, Edith Piaf and sad songs. Henry, her younger brother, has grown quite tall and much more serious. 

I did get to spend a lot of time with Lorri Oikarinen (right, in center).  We would chat over cups of hot tea (the UP is still quite

chilly that time of year), and talk about everything under the sun.  When you've known someone for more than twenty five years, there's always lots to talk about–family, friends, hobbies, local happenings. Lorri is a weaver, a quilter, and a local history buff, and has been renovating her and Rick's shop(1) in downtown Calumet for the past few years.  She is still trying to convince me to apply for the Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program as a master pysanka maker(2).

I spent a good bit of time on to of Brockway mountain, watching the eagles and hawks fly, and chatting away with old birder friends.  Mike Shupe (left, in full disguise) and I spent hours watching raptors fly (or, rather, staring at the sky and wondering where they were), as well as discussing the coming revolution and the evils of capitalism; we both agree with Thomas Jefferson that the roots of the tree of liberty must be watered occasionally with the blood of patriots and (especially) tyrants.  We disagree mainly on the degree of bloodletting necessary, and who in particular deserves the axe. 

Hepatica flowering on top of Brockway Mountain

Laurie Binford came up about the time I did, and his magnum opus, "Birds of the Keweenaw," has finally been published.  I've been hearing about it and watching its progress for several years. Although Amazon is blithely unaware of the book's existence, the local Keweenaw shops all carry it, and Laurie was kind enough to inscribe a copy for me. The birding was not particularly good this year, with northerly and westerly winds, but we got a few nice days in.  We were both around for the Second Annual Keweenaw International Migratory Bird Day Festival, which I attended and Laurie mostly avoided.  There was some guided birding, evening talks about loons and a recent expedition to Manitou Island(3), and a barbecue with live music by an old time fiddle band.  It was fun, especially getting to spend some time with Laurel Rooks, an old friend, and getting to know her daughter Hannah, who moved back to the UP recently. And I even got into the newspaper(4).

I also spent a lot of time with my hosts, Jan and Mark.  Jan is working as a full time pediatrician, but we fit in activities on the weekend (up to their camp in Eagle Harbor) and afternoons and evenings. We watched a lot of odd movies from Netflix and tapes from friends.  (My favorite was called "Ma Vie en Rose", about a young French transsexual boy and his difficulties fitting into French suburban society.)  I had brought

pysanka-making supplies with me, and we organized a pysanka-making session one afternoon.  The weather had suddenly and unexpectedly gotten quite warm, though, making Jan's wood-heated kitchen much too hot to work in.  Instead, we set up on a picnic table in the yard, invited some friends and neighbors, and got working, to the amusement of passersby.  Mary and Maddy (right, in blue Calumet T-shirt) came, and made lovely pysanky.  Jan's neighbor, Linda(5), came as well, bringing with her a box of diminutive cockatiel eggs. They were a challenge, but a lot of fun to work with.  My first outdoor pysanka experience was a smashing success.

Mark, a marine engineer by training,  has been a spoon maker for several years.  He uses beautiful local wood to hand fashion beautiful (and ergonomic) wooden spoons and spatulas. He gave me a set several years ago which I enjoy using, and this year he showed me how he makes them.  It is noisy and dusty work.  Mark also drew me a map to the source of the large hematite stones he has laying around his porch.  He collects all sorts of minerals and the UP, with its many abandoned mine sites and poor rock piles is a great place to find them.  I found the site on my drive back home, and loaded up on lovely black sparkling rocks(6).

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1. 1.When I first met Rick and Lorri in 1981, they were living in an apartment over the shop.  It was quite cute, but is now gorgeous, with period fixtures and lots of other repairs. Kara, their daughter, is living in one of those flats.  The storefront is much nicer, too, with period paint and windows.  
   

2. 2. I would have to find an apprentice, though, preferably another Ukrainian, and spend a year teaching my craft.  That's a bit intense for me at the moment. It is something I would like to consider, though.  Anyone out there interested is being an apprentice?  If I recall my Dickens correctly, you will sleep on the floor, eat bread crusts and water, get beaten regularly, and work for free for eight years....
   

3. 3.It's long been a puzzle as to whether the raptors actually cross lake Superior once they fly over Brockway Mountain and out onto Lake Superior.  A group of birders spent a few weeks camped off Manitou, which is just off the point of the Keweenaw peninsula, observing bird flight paths.  Many of the smaller birds turned back, but some seemed to go on across to the east.  They think that the birds are heading to Michipicoten Island in Ontario. And expedition is planned for next year to Canada to test this theory. You can read about it here.
   
                     

   

   
   

4. 4.There was a very young looking male at the Manitou talk, listening and taking notes furiously. It seems he was a reporter for the local newspaper, the Daily Mining Gazette. Afterwards, he asked me where I was from and what I though of it. I chatted with him a bit and expressed a few opinions.  The next day, I found his article in the newspaper.  What did he quote from all I told him?  "I liked the talk. It was fun."  It made me sound absolutely semi-literate.
   

5. 5.Linda had had two cockatiels, and the male of the pair died unexpectedly.  The female, apparently in grief, started laying lots and lots of eggs.  Linda had saved these, and brought them with her to share.  You can see photos from this session and the pysanky we created here on my pysanka site.
   

6. 6. An aside to rock hounds–don't go looking for hematite in cloudy weather.  You really need a bit of sunshine to bring out the sparkle so you can locate it among the other rocks in a huge pile.  I thought at first I must be in the wrong place; it wasn't until the sun came out that I realized how much of the hematite there was all around me.  Mark tells he he once brought a few boxes of small stones back with him, and used them to fill out the driveway.  The sparking stones proved irresistible to local kids, and soon the rocks became scattered throughout Laurium town.