Leelanau Up North

Pyramid  Point  Trail  -  Sleeping  Bear  Dunes  National  Lakeshore The path from my door to the lake climbs to a hilltop stand of pine and locust trees, … and then descends a sandy bluff to the beach. I've walked this path a thousand times, … each little mound and turn now firmly ingrained in my mind. On the last walk, the thought occurred that there will be a Last Walk - someday. Hopefully, not too soon. Knowingly or not, I'll amble up and down the path … F or the last time. Too often in life, we end a longstanding routine, or leave a place we've lived for years, … without giving it a second thought. Without thinking, ... "This is the last time." Before s uch endings and leavings, let us savor the last moments of doing or being. T he Buddha put it wisely: "As you walk … be where you are.  Otherwise you will miss most of your life." So, … on my next walk to the lake, I'll take a deep breath of the earthy, moist air.

Leelanau Clay Cliffs Natural Area by Stephanie Schlatter Forested hills, crystalline waters and majestic dunes define Leelanau, the "Land of Delight." We know how these natural wonders came to be - through the intricate interplay of climate and geology, over millions of years. But why? Why does nature exist in the first place?  More generally, why is there something (i.e., a universe) instead of nothing? This was the question famously posed by the German philosopher, Gottfried Leibniz, in the 17th century. "Why is there something rather than nothing?" One of the more modern theories about the "why?" of the universe is that there has always been something - like quantum particles, strings and membranes - the most fundamental building blocks of the universe.   So, the moderns say, ... there was never nothing. Still, Herr Leibniz would likely ask:  "But why was there always something?" And there was only one answer that satis