I recently had a phone conversation that I think we’ve all become accustomed to. A call that comes in from a random number and the voice on the other end immediately begins what sounds like a …
Thanksgiving is a time for family and homecoming … and there is no place besides my hometown of Northbrook, Illinois, that I would rather have grown up. Northbrook is located about 20 miles …
The shallow water in Northwoods marshes and bays began to crackle with a skim of ice recently, gently reminding everyone that winter is on the way. Ice-up is a firm deadline for many beings who …
I was weeding through my closet, as I need to do much more often than I do. I bring my used clothing to my parent’s house, up north, because they have a very nice thrift store that employs …
It’s November, and so I’m writing a book. You may have heard of National Novel Writing Month. Until earlier this year, it was an official organization called NaNoWriMo, and it had …
Wet autumn leaves drifting among rugged chunks of hard gray quartzite on the trails at Rib Mountain State Park in Wausau forced my attention to my feet as I hiked. Even with trekking poles, this was …
The cold is settling in, and an actual cold is trying to settle into my sinuses. This time of year, I ramp up production of tonics, infusions, and ferments in the kitchen, making it look like a mad …
I recently read Phil Knight’s 383-page memoir, “Shoe Dog,” and gave it a rating of four and a half stars out of five. When I told my best friend, with whom I often read books in …
“Turn here, they’re heading north!” I directed my fiance as we navigated the gravel roads of Crex Meadows Wildlife Area near Grantsburg. We’d spotted a line of sandhill cranes …
This past weekend, we once again messed with our clocks, setting them back one hour to standard time. The past few days of a pre-5 p.m. sunset have really been messing with me and are a depressing sign that winter is just about here across Leader Land.
“Coomer is dead” stated a Milwaukee Journal article in March 1964. The Wisconsin Historical Society made a similar observation in 1978 calling Coomer a ghost town when a photo of the …
Sometimes I think we should stay someplace fancier. All our friends do. When my husband, Peter, and I are in Mexico, we stay at Casa de los Soles, a small group of apartment-style rooms …
My sister and I told my mother we were throwing her a party for her 90th birthday. “Not everyone knows I’m 90!” she said. “Well, it’s good we tell …