2014 Michigan Notable Books

Better late than never, I guess. This list came out at the beginning of January, but since that comes right at the tail-end of our busiest time of the year in the gift basket business, I forgot about it. Actually, looking back - I have forgotten about it for a few years now. I haven't highlighted the Michigan Notable books since 2011.

The notable books are selected by a committee. Books on the list are either written by a Michigan author and/or are about Michigan and the Great Lakes region.

It's always nice to look at the list and see that I have already read a couple of the books.

• Beyond Pontiac's Shadow: Michilimackinac and the Anglo-Indian War of 1763
• The Bird: The Life and Legacy of Mark Fidrych
• Birth Marks (American Poets Continuum)
• Bluffton: My Summers with Buster Keaton
• Bootstrapper: From Broke to Badass on a Northern Michigan Farm
• The Colored Car (Great Lakes Books Series)
• Detroit: Race Riots, Racial Conflicts, and Efforts to Bridge the Racial Divide
• Detroit: An American Autopsy
• The Great Lake Sturgeon
• I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford
• In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods
• November's Fury: The Deadly Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913
• Poetry in Michigan / Michigan in Poetry (Huron River Mist)
• The River Swimmer
• Something That Feels Like Truth (Switchgrass)
• Sweetie-licious Pies: Eat Pie, Love Life
• Taken Alive - The Sights' Rock and Roll Diary
• Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City
• Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed
• The Way North: Collected Upper Peninsula New Works (Made in Michigan Writers Series)

February 19th Great Lakes Ice Cover Photo

With the cloud cover dissipated a bit from how it has been all winter long, you can really get a good look at the ice cover on the Great Lakes. This satellite photograph is from yesterday, February 19, 2014. You can view a larger version here.

2014 Trenary Outhouse Classic is February 22nd

Winter is tough. Yoopers have to be even tougher to make it through an Upper Peninsula winter. This winter has been one of the coldest and snowiest of recent memory and the need to get out and blow off some steam is greater than most years. Yoopers have found a great way to get out of the winter blahs - the Trenary Outhouse Classic. 2014 marks the 21st year for this Yooper tradition.

Want an idea of what the Trenary Outhouse Classic is all about? Watch this video from the 2013 Trenary Outhouse Classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac8nSE3nANA

Check out the Trenary Outhouse Classic website for more information.

Photos of Michigan snow storms from the past

This winter is how I remember (incorrectly or not, I am not sure) winter when I was a kid. Snow that fell around the first of the year and stayed until March. Multiple days off of school. Playing outside until my feet were numb. I thought I would share some photos of snow storms from Michigan's past. I was just a young pup when the Blizzard of '78 hit so I only have the stories my folks told me. My dad using a tractor to try and plow out the rural road to the main highway, people trying to drive through the 3+ foot drifts and getting stuck by our house, and everything being shut down for days as everyone dug out of the snow.

Check out these photos of snow storms from Michigan's past.

Cadillac, 1943

Calumet

Detroit

Upper Peninsula

Calumet Bakery

Houghton County Snow Plow

Beautiful time-lapse video from across Michigan

So beautiful, it's mesmerizing.

Seeking Michigan (Part 1) from Eric Hines on Vimeo.

The Ice Caves of Lake Superior

I get claustrophobic just watching some of these videos. These Lake Superior ice caves look amazing though. Truly a Winter Wonderland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61jOM4lmIBU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA-Ui69S0F0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y821ade5MOg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HcMD5331PY