Lynda Wheatley | Author
Every Dog has its Day
June 13, 2020
They say happiness starts with a wet nose and ends with a tail. We’d be inclined to agree. In tribute to our canine co-workers, who proved to be a 12-week quarantine’s most (only?) tolerable companions, we declare summer’s dog days start now.
Rather than...
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Dock Side Brats
June 13, 2020
There’s no shortage of great barbeque up here, but if you’re gonna DIY it, you’ve got to get grilling in true Northern style. First, get a package of Dock Side Party Store’s turkey/pork bratwurst, then, do like owner Matt Hunter does: Boil the brats in beer until a...
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Good News: Music is in the (Outdoor!) Air
June 6, 2020
As the curve continues to drop, the opportunities to take in live music at some of our favorite summer spaces are rising in number. Lavender Hill Farm (pictured above) near Boyne City has announced it’ll kick off its summer season J...
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A Big Apple Bagels Picnic
June 6, 2020
When you’re working from home, the edges of the workday are no longer hard stops — tasks start before the coffee’s brewed, it’s easy to log on and get “one more thing” done after dinner. So why not let lunch be a little freeform, too? Our advice: Pick u...
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Cuppa Joe’s Cold Brew, Dressed to Suit
June 6, 2020
You’ve got to hand it to Traverse City’s Cuppa Joe. Among the first businesses to plant its flag in Building 50 when Traverse City’s old state hospital was beginning its transformation into The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, Cuppa Joe has weathered a Starbucks moving...
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Sleeping Bear Dunes Celebrates 50 Years
June 6, 2020
You might say credit for the Sleeping Bear Dunes goes not to man but to Wisconsin — the Wisconsin ice sheet, that is. May 30, 2020 Rumor has it, gardening is the hot hobby of stay-at-home summer 2020. But guess what other backyard pastime never goes out of style, folks? Lounging — cocktail in hand, body in hammock, and eyes at half-mast as much as possible until August ends. For those of us who see our all-too-...
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May 30, 2020 One of our favorite spots in summer, hands down, is Left Foot Charley’s grapevine-lined outdoor patio. With a kiddie sandbox of toys on one side, a small creek babbling by, and the spires of the old state hospital soaring overhead, it is (or was, pre-pandemic, anyway) the place to w...
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May 23, 2020 We don’t know about you, but after weeks spent living in sweatpants, and with spring finally receding, we’re hungrier than ever for a summer wardrobe refresh. But before you log on to Amazon Fashion or other far-away retailers for your fashion fix, we beg of you: First envisio...
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May 23, 2020 Sometimes it seems as if Roast & Toast Café started roasting and brewing mighty fine coffee inside its quirky concrete-and-coffee-mug-emblazoned walls before coffee culture was even cool. In fact, May 19 marked 27 years for the venerable Petoskey shop. May 23, 2020 In an age where just about everything’s gone virtual, The Kitchen (1249 Woodmere Ave., Traverse City) has still managed to surprise us. It just launched a new virtual takeout/delivery restaurant, Ali Ababwa. May 23, 2020 Congratulations, northern Michiganders — we’ve flattened one curve, and now we’ve got the green light to corner a bunch of them. The annual Accelerate the Cure — a car-enthusiast cruise hosted by the Northern Michigan Alzheimers Association — is on, and you c...
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May 23, 2020 Heather Shumaker, northern Michigan mom and author of renegade rule-making parenting books “It’s OK Not to Share” and “It’s OK to Go Up the Slide” just won a 12-state award from the Chicago-based Society of Midland Authors for her debut novel, “Th...
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May 16, 2020 Every week, 4pm–8pm Tuesday through Saturday, in addition to an insanely delicious assortment of singular takeout dishes, The Cooks’ House offers the most on-point pandemic meal options we’ve seen: a $20 TV dinner for one. Last week was a to-die-for chicken parmesan serv...
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May 16, 2020 The biggest annual fundraiser for the Benzie Sunrise Rotary — Bike Benzie’s Up North Bike Fest — just hucked the hole that is COVID-19. May 16, 2020 This year would have marked the 50th anniversary of the longest-running free Memorial Day historical program in the United States: the North’s Fort Michilimackinac Historical Reenactment Pageant, in which 400+ “cast members” converge in Mackinac City to dramatize the 176...
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May 16, 2020 It’s always seemed a bit short of a shrift that moms — those bearers of babes, slaves to tantrum-ing tots, and saints for a lifetime — get celebrated one measly day out of 365. Thanks then to three local merchants who, the day after Mother’s Day, announced they&rsq...
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May 16, 2020 Thanks to an overwhelming response, the Shop & Support Harbor Springs Small Business online auction — which raised $18K for local businesses in 10 days — has been extended another week. Now, you have until May 24 to bid (or sometimes buy outright) items like a sterling sil...
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May 9, 2020 They don’t call northern Michigan the foodie capital for nothin’. Restaurant seats might remain turned over atop their respective tables for a little longer, but much like our native wildflowers, some of the region’s restaurants are emerging from the freeze — some ...
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May 9, 2020 So the world is facing a cataclysmic health and economic emergency. But you know what else? The conditions for finding morel mushrooms have never been better. 1) Spring temperatures are rising. (We think. We’ve been wrong 19 times since March began.) 2) For the first time in decades...
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The most recent in a 2.6 million-year span of glaciation cycles surging forth then shrinking back, the Wisconsin began nearly 80,000 years...
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Q-Tip: Treat Yo’self with Flowers
Left Foot Charley's Murmur
How to Get — and Give — Local Retail Therapy
Roast & Toast's Cold-brew Whiskey Sour
A lot has cha...
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Ali Ababwa’s Lamb Gyro and Chicken Shawarma Plates
From the taste of the Middle Eastern-inspired food’s robu...
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Good News: Annual Car Cruise is Ready to Roll
Stuff We Love: A Winning Children’s Book Relevant to the Times
The Cooks’ House TV Dinners
Join The Pandemic Pedal in Benzie & Alone But Together Bike Ride in TC
Event chairperson Bill Kennis tells Northern Express “Our amazing sponsors still wanted to contribute to our...
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How to Honor Memorial Day 2020
Bel Lago’s Leelanau Primavera (& More!)
Good News: Harbor Springs Auction Extended
Keeping the Taste Alive
You might actually find a morel mushroom this year.