We dined on the back patio of the Sidetrack yesterday evening, for what will most likely be the last time this year, this being the end of October and all, despite the fact that yesterday’s high temperature was in the high seventies. So far, the seasons of 2023 have been winter, spring, summer, fall, summer,… Continue reading Autumn Glow
Category: Michigan Stories
Taking It Like a Dog
As we approach a year of living under the constraints of CoVid-19, those of us still here are feeling dejected. Who imagined we’d experience a pandemic in our lifetimes? That we’d close the schools? That churches would be open for neither Easter nor Christmas nor, quite possibly, Easter again? That a trip to the… Continue reading Taking It Like a Dog
Intimations of Spring
All over our part of Michigan, there are intimations of spring. For starters, we’ve had a thaw. From temperatures in the single digits and teens, we’ve jumped into the thirties, forties, and even fifties. Winter is a long way from over in this Northern state, but this respite reminds us that winter does not, in… Continue reading Intimations of Spring
Buds and Bulbs and Color
What is so exciting about buds on plants and bulb flowers sending up shoots? Is it the prospect of spring? Life renewing itself? A change of texture in the world? Whatever it is, plants are fattening up their buds and sending up shoots, and it’s wonderful. It’s so wonderful, in fact, that people sometimes… Continue reading Buds and Bulbs and Color
Buttonbush
Yesterday morning at dog-walking time, my husband was leaving on an errand and kindly agreed to drop the dog and me off a ways up Huron Parkway. This put us in territory outside our normal range–too far from home for us to walk there and back but terrific for just walking home. The dog… Continue reading Buttonbush
Dog Antics
Glorious spring is upon us now, but I’ve been asking friends and relations about goofy dog behaviors since deep winter. I queried Rhonda on the subject, one snowy day, and she told me that her sedate English cockers don’t act goofy. While she and I talked, McGill lay down on his side behind her… Continue reading Dog Antics
Poke, Thump, Blast, and Wow
The sound track for this week was a series of graphic-novel sound effects: poke, thump, blast, wow! The poke was our second CoVid19 vaccination–hurray! We even got pins afterward that say “Victory within Our Reach.” They feel like the stickers available at polls on election day that say, “I Voted.” They proclaim the wearer a… Continue reading Poke, Thump, Blast, and Wow
Spring Underfoot
Early in the spring, midwesterners are apt to remark that spring is in the air. This is the time of year when the sun on your back first has warmth to it. People untuck their faces from between hunched shoulders and lift them to the breeze. The scent of spring beckons from behind closed… Continue reading Spring Underfoot
About
Welcome to Moncrieff in Michigan. Here you’ll find little stories of ordinary life in this lovely state. Michigan identifies as both midwestern and northern. We Michiganders feel that the advertising slogan, “Pure Michigan,” is highly appropriate but might hedge a little a la Garrison Keillor and say the state is “pure . . . mostly.”… Continue reading About