Leelanau Up North

Homeward  Bound  In  Leelanau At times in life, we're so focused on a destination ... that we don't really appreciate the journey. We make our pilgrimage to Empire Village in Leelanau at least once a month. Though we're always anxious to arrive in the Land of Delight as soon as possible, I have come to find the long drive Up North to have its own rewards. With five hours of meandering road ahead of us, we have the luxury of time.  Time to think, ... and to talk, ... and to listen (to each other and to good music).  Or, ... time to just be silent. These precious hours are hard to find in the downstate grind. As if in a dream, we pass in slower motion through quaint towns and villages - Clare, Cadillac, Mesick, Copemish - now comfortably familiar to us like old friends. We stop for dinner at Mancino's, where the friendly ladies know our names ... and our favorites on the menu.  (They've threatened to rename the tuna grinder & soup combo the &

"Dreaming of Spring" by Artist Kristin Hurlin of Glen Arbor, Michigan Some very smart people (PhD physicists and such) like to use the term "entropy," which the dictionary defines as "the general trend of the universe toward death and disorder." Now there's a pleasant topic for light conversation. Seriously though, you can see entropy all around - especially after the Leelanau thaw - when the finally melting snow reveals some disorderly things. Like a yard strewn with with wilted leaves and fallen branches.  A cracked and splintery wood deck.  A retaining wall with a few rocks discarded on the ground.  And the shriveled remains of little critters who just couldn't make it through the long, cold winter. A somewhat depressing scene.  You could say ... that decay ... rules the day. But tomorrow, come the spring warmth and rains, quite another scene will unfold. Trillium wildflowers - with their uniform of three leaves, three sep