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When Randy met Mari

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When Randy met Mari, it was loathe at first sight. “She’d just moved back (to Northern Michigan) from California,” said Randy Chamberlain, who is today the chef-owner of the Glen Arbor restaurant Blu. But when Randy met Mari Patton, he was sous chef, the deputy head chef at Windows, an Elmwood Township restaurant. This was the 1980s, and Mari Patton had brought back with her all sorts of West Coastisms, including “purple highlights” in her “wavvy” hair. “So before there was any interaction or conversation, (I) immediately had an impression of her,” Randy said of Windows’ newly hired server. “It was something you’d sneer at.”

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Whaddaya do up there all winter?

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I’ve fielded the “Whaddaya do up there all winter?” question. A lot. I’m a seasonal employee at a retail establishment in Glen Arbor. My place of employment is visited during the summer and fall months by out-of-towners, many of whom express a reasonable curiosity about life UpNorth after summer’s omnipresent sunny-ness fades. One such inquisitor was completely sold on Glen Arbor in the summer. But the winter? Not so much, she said.

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Tis the season for PJ Party, tree lighting and holiday marketplaces

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It’s here again. A Glen Arbor original, “better than a bustling city’s Black Friday,” our version of the day-after-Thanksgiving shopping, is the annual PJ party, on Friday morning, Nov. 28, from 5-8 a.m.

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State Rep. Ray Franz calls Climate Change a hoax, as your basement floods

On Thursday, October 16, Glen Arbor resident and business owner Chris Sack posted photos on his Facebook page that showed the basement of his home on M-109, west of Glen Arbor, flooding with water. But Sack’s frustration fell on deaf ears. Later that evening, at the Township Hall in Glen Arbor, State Representative Ray Franz (Republican) concluded a townhall forum by calling Climate Change “a hoax”.

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Gardening from Monticello to Leelanau County

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Celebrated professional gardener, author, and historic landscape authority Peter J. Hatch will visit Leelanau County, Oct. 1-3, for a series of public lectures and programs. Hatch served as director of Gardens and Grounds at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello for 35 years and has published four books on Monticello’s botanic legacy including A Rich Spot of Earth: Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Garden at Monticello. He lectures extensively on Jefferson and the history of garden plants, and currently consults on public garden projects and private estate landscapes.

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Maps as tapestries

Traverse City artist Lisa Perrine Brown will talk about her sewn and woven maps on Sunday, Sept. 21, 1 p.m. at Center Gallery, 6023 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor. Brown began interpreting maps of local waterways and landform in 2012. After enlarging the maps, Brown translates them into woven tapestries and sewn constructions that use both new and recycled fiber materials. These works are part of an exhibition of contemporary fiber at Center Gallery, also featuring Stephen Kostyshyn’s woven vessels and mixed media clay forms by Kathy Brady.

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Get ‘yer fiber

Fiber is the focus Sept. 19-Oct. 13 at Center Gallery, 6023 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor. The gallery will showcase contemporary approaches to an old medium by three artists: Kathy Brady, Stephen Kostyshyn and Lisa Perrine Brown. The show opens Sept. 19 with a 6 p.m. reception.

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My Summer Vacation, Part III: Making Meaning

Author Anne-Marie Oomen offers the third in three lessons about how to write about your summer vacation in Leelanau. Use sensory language to describe your best summer moments; use strong, action verbs to keep memories locked in place. Now she explores the “so what” factor.

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Artists in Residence, Sleeping Bear’s creative ambassadors

What’s an artist’s residency? The Alliance for Artists Communities defines it this way: A place “where artists of all disciplines can go to work on their art … They are research-and-development labs for the arts, providing artists with time, space, and support for the creation of new work and the exploration of new ideas.” AIR programs are offered by the Glen Arbor Art Association and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

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Manitou Music Festival 2015 poster entries sought

The Glen Arbor Art Association invites artists to submit original paintings for the annual Manitou Music Festival poster competition. Deadline for the 2015 poster competition is September 15. The limited edition posters are hugely popular and sold through the art association and selected shops and art galleries in Leelanau County. Competition is open to anyone who is a current member of the Glen Arbor Art Association. Subject matter must be appropriate to the Manitou Music Festival. That is, work that represents recognizable area scenes. All artwork must be original and previously unpublished. There is no entry fee. Detailed guidelines and a submission form are available at GlenArborArt.org.

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