Category: Michigan Stories

Raising the blind on the window at the top of the stairs this morning revealed a world in soft focus.  Snow continues to cover the ground, as it has most of the winter, and lies on every horizontal surface from rooftops and tree limbs to the ghosts of last summer’s flowers.  More snow had fallen… Continue reading Following Tracks

Creak.  Creak.  Creak.  When the weather is really cold, walking on snow produces a creaking sound with every step.  When the weather is colder still, the snow makes a new sound.  It still creaks, but there’s another sound below that.  The pitch is deeper, and there’s a sharp linearity to the noise.  It’s more of… Continue reading Sounds and Stars

My friend Paul and his buds grew up playing hockey on the lake near his home.  There was a current on one side of the lake, and the ice was thinner there.  The kids knew they needed to stay away from that area.  They also took their hockey seriously.  For those reasons, the preferred area… Continue reading Bobsled

You never know what you’ll learn at the Thrift Shop.  Usually it’s customers who enlighten us, breezing by the counter when we’re trying to figure out the function of some donated item or how something works or the last three lines of the poem about the penguin. (“He can hold in his beak/ Enough food… Continue reading Fake Winter

     “I’ve got the funniest song running through my head, and I don’t know why,” I greeted my sweetheart as he strolled into the room this morning.      “What is it?” he was kind enough to inquire.      “‘Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter.’  It’s an old one.  Herman’s Hermits sang it in the… Continue reading Cloud Day

     Hoo-ee, is it slippery outside.  I have cleaty things on my boots, but the dog has none on his paws.  He had a hard time keeping his feet organized under him today.  He even fell right down with his legs splayed out to the sides.  That had to hurt.  We knew an ice storm… Continue reading Ice and Trees

The delivery truck was there too long, its deep thrum filling the house.  I went to a front window to look down at the court and see what the holdup was.  The truck started to back up, which added the back-up beeper to the soundscape.  The problem became clear.      Street parking is always at… Continue reading Choreography

La-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-THUD.  La-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-THUD.  Brass bells were playing merrily in the living room when the dog and I returned from our walk this morning.  They operate electronically, and have lovely, bright tones.  I weave strings of them into the living room Christmas tree.  We really enjoy them, except for the occasional thud.      Thuds happen when something… Continue reading Thudder and Prancer

The snow is dazzling today, and full of footprints.  Hardly any of our back yard is unmarked.  The usual suspects—squirrels, rabbits, squirrels, other critters, and squirrels have been busy out there.  A herd of sparrows sheltered for a time on our front porch, leaving a tracery of prints.  When we were kids, we loved looking… Continue reading Footprints

Returning to our house through the back yard after walking the dog this week, I heard shouting.  A man’s voice, with some urgency to it.  Couldn’t hear who was speaking or what he was saying.  So it was with some interest that I heard my sweetheart say, once Rascal and I were in the house,… Continue reading Turkey Trot