We can pretty much guarantee that this will not be a boring January. Look at the stuff people are getting up to.
On January 12-13 the always-unpredictable Margie Guyot will teach people to paint in oils up at Charlevoix Circle of Arts. (Actually, I’m pretty sure she’s going to teach them to paint in oils wherever they want to, but the class itself will be in Charlevoix. English is an odd language.) Margie, who sends TLV photos of bunnies and bobcats and skyscapes and keeps a blog about painting, has been a music teacher, an auto worker, a chicken and bunny farmer and a saxophonist while making an astonishing number of excellent paintings. Here, for example, is Big Fish, which, as it turns out, makes a nice segue to our next topic.
Big Fish 40x60 oil on canvas - Margie Guyot
On Saturday, January 14, Martha Wagbo Farm and Education Center (Wagbo for short) is having a Wild Game Potluck and you’re invited. You do not have to shoot anything. You could bring a nice dish of wild mushrooms or some slivered burdock, if you are so inclined, but you don’t have to bring anything at all. Just show up at the Wagbo farmhouse at 6pm and share in the bounty of northern Michigan foods. Lots of other people will bring dishes. You can do your part by helping to clean up before the movie starts.
Yes, after supper there’s a movie: The Complete Angler, James Prosek’s homage to Izaak Walton. This event is free and open to the public. For more info, call 231-536-0333. Wagbo is located three miles south of East Jordan, at M-66 and Kidder Road. (I explained to you how not to get there in The yeast did not die in vain. I hope you took it to heart.)
The very next Saturday, January 21st, there will be a Wassailing Winter Celebration at Wagbo. The feast—another potluck—begins at 6pm. Maria Wesserle says that “Wassailing is an ancient rural tradition of toasting to the health of an orchard in hopes that a bountiful crop will ensue the following year.” This particular Wassail begins with a feast (the afore-mentioned potluck) and libations, followed by a short procession to the orchard. There will be toasts. There will be torches. And bring a sled—Wagbo is on hilly ground, and there will be a sledding party after the libations. This event, too, is free and open to the public. Honestly, assuming you took to heart the instructions on how not to get there, I don’t see how you can go wrong.
Finally—I know you’ve been waiting for this part—on January 28 Babs Young will teach a Polymer Clay Workshop at the Jordan River Arts Council. Polymer clay is Babs’s passion, and one day we will have to do an entire post about it. Maybe a whole series. I didn’t know what she was talking about until she sent me off to visit Polymer Clay Daily. It was like discovering a parallel universe floating out in the middle of Lake Michigan. Well, now you, too, can become part of this insanely creative crew. There are only ten spots in the workshop, and it is favorably priced: $40 includes the supply kit. Not to mention Babs herself. And it benefits JRAC. However, before you sign up, you might wish to inspect the tools. I find that wicked little pick worrying . . .
Torch Lake Views 
shoreacres
January 5, 2012
Izaak Walton. My goodness. The Izaak Walton League was out west of my home town in Iowa, in a little subdivision called Lambs Grove that didn’t have any lambs but had plenty of trees. My dad went to meetings, and once I went to a dinner there with my folks. I have no idea what was on the menu apart from the buffalo, which I liked.
I haven’t heard that name in years. I see they not only still exist, they have a Facebook page. There’s not a single chapter in Texas, though. The closest are in Monroe, Louisiana and Sanborn, Oklahoma. That seems strange to me – I’ll have to put this on my curiosties page for some rainy day exploration.
There are some youtube videos of English wassailing that are – remarkable. I didn’t realize it was done in this country. It certainly sounds like fun. If I were there, I’d be there.
Gerry
January 5, 2012
You can be here in spirit. We’ll save you a seat on a sled.
Dawn
January 6, 2012
This just confirms why I need to move north! So much to do!! And such fun things too! Enjoy!
Gerry
January 6, 2012
Remember the tale of the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse? I will swap you a week in February. You can move into the Writing Studio and Bait Shop with Miss Sadie, the Cowboy and Miss Puss. I will go play in the community band and tend Katie. I figure a week is about what it would take for me to turn your life into utter chaos and you to set mine to rights. Then we can re-assess. (When I was little I had the most wonderful storybook with the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse and the Gingerbread Man and . . . )
Dawn
January 6, 2012
oh yes that would be FUN! Would have to explain to husband though…..wonder if he’d notice…wait…isn’t that a TV show?
Gerry
January 6, 2012
It’s worrying that he might not notice. I’m certain Katie would notice.
P.j. grath
January 6, 2012
This is how winter flies by. People Up North keep very busy! In summer, they are too busy in other ways–working and entertaining company–to launch out on as many of these projects of fun.
Gerry
January 6, 2012
All of life is flying by for me these days. Whoosh! Another year gone. But yes, I think lots of people save up projects for the winter. Then there is the other kind of winter activity: the planning and preparation for the next onslaught of spring and summer. Farming conferences, seed catalogs, redecorating at the B&B, plumbing repairs at the cabin . . . life its ownself.
Sybil
January 6, 2012
Who’s a busy girl ? Being busy in the warm months is much easier. Just step out the door and garden till it gets dark. In the winter, it takes more planning.
Gerry
January 6, 2012
Ah, but this is both farming country and cottage country. The population of the Township more than doubles in the summer. It’s make-or-break time for many businesses, serious work time. Not that we don’t play a little here and there . . . but I do remember the day Ryan Romeyn nodded off while driving the tractor. So some of the projects we save up are the ones that we’d like to find time for in the summer but can’t. Dee Grammer says she’s going to get her family history archive organized. Cora Stoppert says she and I are going to knit. Dale Reedy is out in the workshop making turned wood vessels. I wonder what Daugherty Johnson is up to.
Anna
January 6, 2012
My goodness, you changed the theme of your blog. I had to look twice wondering if I were in the right place. And my goodness, you sure do have a lot of neat things to do in your neck of the woods in January. The Clay Workshop interests me. And I sure do need to get out and do something different! Speaking of life flying by, indeed, it sure is! I can’t believe we’re already in 2012!
Gerry
January 6, 2012
Hi Anna – you’re not in Kansas anymore. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.) I’m still fooling around with the theme.
The way you drive – according to Preston anyway – you could take a quick road trip and go to Babs’s polymer clay workshop. Of course there is the weather. Next best solution is to look around on that Polymer Clay Daily website for links to how-to articles. I can see it now – a whole line of polymer clay figures of windmills and fences and barns and stone houses and trucks–and cowboys and cowgirls. And horses.
Kathy
January 6, 2012
I wouldn’t advise eating those slivered burdock alone. How about adding them to the wild mushrooms? Yes! That’s the ticket. Everyone will wonder what they are eating, indeed. Looks like there is lots to do this winter in your neck of the woods!
Gerry
January 6, 2012
I’ve struck a deal with my liver. I will give it excellent salsa and it will be content with that. I shall sliver no burdock before its time.
Gerry
January 8, 2012
Babs sent a note: You should be worried about that pick, it was from my father’s dental practice and I have many more where that came from. Thanks for the post. It may bring too much business, but that’s a good problem.
I dream of quantities of people surging into East Jordan, waving their checkbooks. Clay! We must have Polymer Clay!