The Journey

I planned to start the year with a blog about gratitude, welcoming the bipartisan decision by the U.S. House and Senate in December of 2015 to fund another $300 million for the clean up of the Great Lakes. But while vacationing in Florida this month, gratitude slid...

I am drawn to the snippets of color on the beach like a hummingbird flitting about a summer’s garden. Balloon ribbons. Straws. Shot gun wads. Bottles. Pieces of plastic. In my quest to return the shore to its natural state, I zigzag across the sand, stuffing each...

It is Lee Botts, a woman in her mid-eighties with eyes that sparkle when she speaks of the coast of northern Indiana, who reminds me passion and collaboration are two sides of the same coin. I had not met Lee when I took my first step on a path winding through a...

 Transforming the former golf course back to its natural state was one of the 2,500 projects conducted under the first phase of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). Natural wetlands and floodplains once lining the Macatawa River were restored. Turf grass...

A gust of wind, invisible save its shadow, sweeps across Lake Michigan, darkening a surface already heaving from the storm. Glancing to my side, I see the next wave bearing down on us, towering over our forty-foot sailboat. In seconds, it rolls underneath the hull,...

2007 fourth-graders at Quince Elementary School in Zeeland, Michigan Gusting over fifteen knots, the wind knocks the tops off the distant rollers, creating slivers of silver that sparkle under the hot, August sun. Waves crash wildly against a nearby sandbar,...

I wanted to learn to read the wind, to harness its power and feel the surge of the boat slicing through the waves. I wanted the exhilaration of being one with nature. Only now do I realize each sailing lesson is like a Petoskey stone, a rare treasure to be pulled...

Boaters play a Key Role in Reducing Spread of AIS 1972Where is that woman who squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and stepped into the Detroit Tiger dugout as the first woman sports editor to interview legendary baseball manager Billy Martin? Where is that...

Garlic Mustard and Spotted Knapweed are two of the most toxic invasive plants threatening the dunes along the shores of Lake Michigan. Both can be eliminated over time if people are willing to get their hands dirty. As Garlic Mustard is now in bloom, there are...

I spot my first Dutchman’s Breeches splaying its seemingly delicate whisper of green foliage across layers of crusted oak leaves. The pink blush of the Spring Beauty will follow; and then the slim white faces of the Squirrel Corn, the royal purple of the Violets,...

I call it my sacred bookshelf. On its shelves are authors I hold in great esteem, whose words inspire me, and weave threads of influence into my own tapestry of writing. Built into the hallway wall just outside our bedroom, the bookshelf itself is magical. If I tug...

“Why are there two bottles of rum in the cockpit?” I ask, pausing in the midst of vigorously scrubbing the boat.Rubin is strolling leisurely down our pier, hands in his coat pockets, blue eyes sparkling, a good-natured smile stretched across his face. I can tell,...