Coffee - American Style

A great cup of coffee can be something really special. I enjoy sitting out on our patio in the three seasons I can watching the day unfold with a mug of coffee to begin my day. But we here in the U.S. are fast becoming coffee snobs. We need espresso, or lattes to say that we’ve had real coffee.

I began my own love of coffee as a young bride in a family that harkened back to their Dutch heritage of coffee drinking. The coffee was perked back then - not a good way to enjoy the real coffee experience. I use to sugar and cream my cups to death back then, and I drank because everyone did at family gatherings. Don’t get me wrong, my own parents drank the dark brew as well, but somehow it wasn’t quite as appealing to me back then. I tended to follow an Irish grandmother of mine in preferring tea to that cup of java.

Then in coffee houses of the 50s and 60s, and with opening of that first Starbucks in 1971, everything changed for that simple “cup ‘o joe” we had all come to know. The uncomplicated cup of coffee became something almost unrecognizable. From the two types, decaf and regular, our choice grew to espressos, cappuccinos, lattés and a sundry of other flavored hot coffee-like drinks as well. Somehow the thought of caramel latté with frothing milk just doesn’t tempt me, and that’s why I usually find myself ordering a uncomplicated cup of either decaf or regular coffee when visiting our local coffee corner.

That said, I have say I do love the pub-like gathering space that has developed in many of these local establishments in our town. There are newspapers, comfy chairs, kids studying, and families and friends sharing a moment of quiet conversation in the corners of my own favorite coffee place. It has become a haunt where I often begin whatever writing project I’m working on, and has become my own special corner of the world every week. Like the cafés of Paris, and the pubs of jolly ole’ England the corner coffee place has become our own extended living space where gathering is as important as the coffee served there. I hope that it doesn’t fade like so many things in our fast paced society. I hope that it instead becomes that personal gift we give to ourselves - a truly American establishment.

Michigan's Gales of Winter

The waters of Lake Michigan are not a place to be when the lake and winds whip up into a storm. The Great Lakes can develop some really nasty blows. Consider the legends and the mysteries surrounding many of the ships that have sunk during such storms. Many know about the, "Gales of November…" and the Edmund Fitzgerald, or possibly the ship that became synonymous with the Christmas season, the Rouse Simmons or Christmas Ship which made a yearly trek to bring Christmas trees to both the wealthy and the poor alike to the city of Chicago. That is until the great storm of 1912 when it sank.

History is filled with these stories all along the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan as well, but none so well known in our area as the sinking of the passenger ship the Alpena which disappeared in the waves of the huge storm of October 15th of 1880. The ship's normal route was between the port of Grand Haven and Chicago, and the only warning on that day of a coming storm was a rapidly falling barometer just prior to the ship's departure.

After the massive storm much of the ship's debris including a part of a piano and the ship's stern were found on the beach between what is now Lakewood Boulevard and Riley Street. Because of the 68 estimated lives lost and the size of the ship (She was a 175 foot steamer.) the storm has sometimes been referred to as the Alpena storm, as was the beach where much of the debris washed ashore. The bulk of the ship has never been found, and it has become one of the many mysteries in our maritime history.

But this is not the only sinking that is well known in local waters. The Chicora, a 219 foot steam powered ship that was lost in another squall on January 21, 1895 also has never been found and no clues were discovered as to why it sank in that storm.
If you're interested in learning more about the nautical history of the Holland area a great place to begin might be the Holland Museum since it boasts an exhibit of locally known shipwrecks that includes some artifacts from the ship the Alpena. Another great source to find records and stories on lost ships is at the Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates site online found at http://www.michiganshipwrecks.org/news.htm.

What Is It Really???

What is Christmas?

Is it the presents? (Those gifts we get many of which we don't want and do not need.)
Is it the shopping, the fighting of those crowds on black Friday or any other day up to the 24th of December?

And if it isn't that, what is it?! Christmas use to be about family first (Think the best loved and most requested song from WWII, "I'll Be Home For Christmas."), and about taking time for faith and remembering. It may be an American holiday now, but it began as a religious ceremony first - Christ's Mass. Christmas.

It is NOT a holiday created by the retailers, though you certainly would think so by the way they hook us with all those things we don't need.

So at least spend the time revisiting your priorities. Family and that special closeness that comes from a shared faith and love.

Paint, Paint, PAINT!

Painting. Moving that brush up and down, and back and forth on a flat surface (- well, sometimes arched and rounded) slathering on this thick colored drippy stuff. There has got to be a better way!! Painting is so monotonous not to mention the dripping of the substance all over everything besides the walls and ceilings! Oh, it is really a fun time...NOT!

So, now one room is done. But the rest of the house looks like crap now. So this is going to turn into a really long term project, when it started out as a simple little job. Was it worth it? I guess - but I have to add that the results are okay. Kind of...

Enter Snow, Stage Right

This is the beginning of December, the start of the season of snow. I grew up not too far north of Holland, Michigan and when I would think of the winters, I remember reveling in the idea of sledding and building snowmen. Sometimes it was wonderful simply to look out windows and watch our brown fall days turn almost magically into a world of white with ribbons of ice dangling from the roof’s edge. Winter can be fun, but it has in the past also proved memorable. Some of those winters created memorable pictures, and stories that made became a part of the history of this community.

If you look back at archival pictures from the early days of the 20th century you can find some amazing pictures of the fun created from the winter storms that blew through and seemed to stop life for the whole community. There are pictures of skating on the on Lake Macatawa from 1906, and of horse-drawn cutter races in the 20s. But the really memorable winter storms are marked simply by the years they occurred.

In 1918 the snow had created mountains that when plowed looked like canyon walls with telephone poles hovering at the top edges like buried giants. 1936 was another winter of record snowfall, but the winter of 1962-63 was a record maker for bitter cold temperatures and snowfall. Gale force winds created snow drifts that reached twelve feet. The Board of Public Works had placed 8 foot stakes by the hydrants for area plow truck drivers but after the incredible snow falls the stakes were barely visible. A total of 137.5 inches of snow fell that year.

Those of us who lived here in the winters of both 1977 and ‘78 remember five to 10 foot drifts, over 60 mile per hour winds and weekends in February that brought storms of such ferociousness that churches city-wide were closed Sunday mornings, and also closed roads county-wide.

Winter’s force over the years has given us many a snowy mess. But like in the early days of the 20th century, it also showed that young and old alike can enjoy a surprise snow day. Winters here can be unpredictable and sometimes over powering. But from sled races to building a snow fort, a great winter storm can create fond memories, and stories to remember for a whole lifetime.

Change Your World

It's the season for hopes, wishes and dreams. That time of year in America where we get lots of "stuff"and food, but not necessarily what we really might want or dream for in this year of war, and world hunger.

My wish list is simple:
- For an end to the pain in the Middle East.
- For enough to feed a hungry world.
- And finally for the children around the world a childhood.

We can do it - donate yearly, or more often to help stamp out hunger.
- VOTE too many in the US especially don't vote. You think your vote won't count
but unless you actually vote - IT WON'T!
- Help somewhere in your town.

Be a facilitator of change in your own world.

The White Stuff!

Winter means little sunshine, and little warmth. But it also means twinkling snow that shines bright despite the lack of the beams from the sun. Personally, I love the change, and that different way to view life that winter gives.

Granted it also means nasty roads, often - and snow that needs shoveling on a regular basis. But, hey - it also has a beauty all its own! No color...just white and shades of gray and black. But the white can be really breath taking! So keep your summer days of heat, humidity and color. This time of the year I want snow - and lots of it!

A Tree of Memories

A tree can be more that branches and green. It can be a tall ship with riggings to lean on, or a balloon that can take you anywhere you want to go. As a child there was a huge tree that when I close my eyes I can see so vividly that I want to climb even yet today. The tree was my hide away, my place to get away from family and to use my mind to fly away to far off places.

It was also my comfy couch to read after chores. I'd take the book I was reading and climb as high as I could go. There was a small nest of large branches where I could sit and escape to Prince Edward Island, or England - wherever my book would take me and be rocked in gentle breezes as I soared high with my imagination.

The tree is gone now, but it is still with me when I close my eyes and want to escape from the everyday world. I can even feel the bark and the strength that was that friend who gave me freedom in such a special way.

My tree was my dream home, and a safe haven during the many storms of childhood.