When my brother said that he’d like to spend part of his Michigan vacation at a county fair, I have to admit that the first thing I thought of was being 7 and nearly barfing while riding those flying swings that go round and round. I remember little else of my first fair except being …
It was in the high 80s in downtown Saugatuck on Sunday and after too much arts-fartsy shopping I happily found myself in the most expensive ice cream shop with seven of my family members. The line was long, the air thick and filled with fudge, the decisions many: which of the 50 flavors to get? …
I was at work in my cubicle when the phone rang and the little old lady said, “Would you stop by sometime this week to look over some legal papers?” “Uh, sure, Mom, what’s up?” “It’s insurance stuff and I don’t understand it.” I stopped by on a Tuesday, which was two days before she …
The problem with fishing is that when fishing goes well, fishermen are usually willing to share somewhat reliable information about their catch, but they often won’t give details about where they were fishing, exactly, and what they were using, exactly, and what color was working, exactly. Indeed, from the average fisherman you are more likely …
Being married to an obsessed fisherman, I occasionally get to spend a bit of time on the water attempting to catch fish. Because “everybody and their brother” goes to northern Michigan on July 4th, we decided to avoid the crowds and fish a couple of local fishing holes. Keep in mind that “local” is the Lansing area, …
Blue penguins are about 16 inches tall, which makes them too large to be called foot-long penguins but small enough to be the smallest species of penguins in the world. They live in southern Australia and New Zealand, and spend their days at sea looking for small fish and squid to gulp. In the evening, they return to …
It’s Wednesday and I’m in my cubicle at work when the phone rings and a little old lady bursts onto the line with, “I got in an accident and I don’t know what to do, but the young man that hit me just called someone.” “Mom, are you all right? That’s the most …
As with the kiwi, New Zealand’s penguins need people to help them survive. And as with the kiwi, New Zealanders are doing just that. The folks at the Penguin Place have been helping protect yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula, outside of Dunedin, since 1985. New Zealanders say yellow-eyed penguins are the rarest penguins in the world, numbering …
In 2006, 2008 and 2010, I was fortunate enough to be part of Alma College’s New Zealand Experience, an 18-day class in New Zealand to take in the sights, sounds, culture and critters. Mark and his coworker, Mel, set up the trip and included opportunities to see royal albatross, yellow-eyed penguins and other critters I’ll probably have …
During our second week in New Zealand I discovered that I should have brought my computer to NZ rather than “renting” time on a clunky old computer at our hotels. See, in NZ, you generally buy 10-30 minutes of time to use a NZ computer, and if you’re quick, you’ll think that 10 minutes will …