Author: Nancy J. Moncrieff

Decades ago, while visiting Daughter Number One in Wyoming, I bought a pair of earrings from the artist who’d made them.  I admired the elegant curves and sculptural quality of his work.  So did he.  “Syncline and anticline,” he said, pointing to specific parts of the jewelry.       A syncline, he told me, is a… Continue reading Syncline, Anticline

The Ann Arbor Art Fair starts today.  It’s a big deal—the largest in the country–a juried show with a thousand artists that attracts half a million art lovers a year.  It’s also known for featuring the worst weather of the summer.       You don’t know which type of terrible weather will happen, but you can… Continue reading Art-Fair Weather

Daughter Number Two has been off on an adventure.  With a small group of friends who’ve gone camping together for years, she’s been camping on Isle Royale.  Isle Royale is the main island in an archipelago of some four hundred fifty islands in Lake Superior.  Although the archipelago is closer to Minnesota, it sits within… Continue reading Isle Royale

Shrieks and laughter told Sue and me that today was a busy day on the Huron River, even before we could see the water through the trees.  People were clearly having a fine time, both on the main body of the river and on the Argo Cascades.  The Cascades is a series of nine gentle… Continue reading All in the Wrist

Daughter Number Four came to visit yesterday afternoon.  We chatted and worked on a new jigsaw puzzle, enjoyed dinner outside at the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti.  When we came home, it was time to prep the pea salad for the French class potluck this morning.  She sat with her dad for a while as I… Continue reading Pea Salad

This week is Japan Week in Ann Arbor, during which the U of M Center for Japanese Studies sponsors days of free, Japan-related activities, in partnership with the Ann Arbor District Library.  Cindy and I had excellent seats for one of Wednesday’s events, a demonstration of kimono wearing.  The downtown branch of the library hosted… Continue reading Japan Week

We’re headed for the mid-nineties today, so the dog and I were out extra early for our morning walk.  Fortunately, our dog can’t tell time; if it’s light out, he’s good to go.  My sister Marilyn’s dog can tell time to within a five-minute tolerance, at least if the time in question has to do… Continue reading In the Woods

The last two days have been full of surprises.  Working at the Thrift Shop yesterday, for instance, I was startled when the next customer in the checkout line reached for my head.  He did it so clinically, though, that I allowed him to continue.  He was a tall man with hands the approximate size of… Continue reading Four Surprises

Walking on the Lake Michigan beach, as my sisters and I continued our stay on Beaver Island, we had a chat with Erin Binney Gergler.  Binney is a professor of biology at Kalamazoo College, one of whose research interests is pitcher’s thistle.  This is an endangered plant that takes years to flower, blooms once, and… Continue reading Island Lights

As Sue and I motored off to Doyle Park last Friday, we found ourselves distracted by the dust rising from a field along Pontiac Trail.  It was pink.      Some parts of the country have red earth.  Daughter Number Three lives in such a place.  We, however, do not.  Any dust rising from the ground… Continue reading Color and Form