two fell swoops

A few months ago, we noticed a new restaurant going in where a short-lived Indian restaurant was on North Main.  I can’t remember what it was before then, but it’s one of those locations where nothing seems to stick.
The first thing we noticed was the name on the signage out front: “Seajoy’s”.  We thought maybe […]

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Andrea and I had gotten used to seeing this cute old man shuffle by our house at a snail’s pace pretty regularly. You know, one of those people who’s lived in their old house for years and has probably taken the same walk thousands of times. There’s a cute old woman down by […]

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Last Sunday Andrea and I pulled an all-nighter in order to finish some very time-sensitive house renovations.  At about 4 a.m. we had lights on all over the place as Andrea nailed in shoe molding and I painted window trim. We had the radio blaring so we could hear it throughout the house. […]

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Two items regarding backyard critters:
1. Have you seen a shaved squirrel running around Ann Arbor? My dad got us a squirrel-proof feeder for Christmas, which was working well until the other day - I looked out and a fat squirrel had knocked the thing on the ground and was kind of sitting upright in […]

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Why is it that people turn store names into possessives?
Here in southeast Michigan, it happens with a lot of grocery stores names. Meijer becomes “Meijer’s.” Kroger becomes “Kroger’s.” Farmer Jack becomes “Farmer Jack’s.” Even Kerrytown’s little Sparrow becomes “Sparrow’s,” (after owner Bob Sparrow). And it’s common to hear people say that they or someone they […]

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The other day my job led me to a place I’d never been before - the alley right next to the State Theater entrance. Some graffiti on the wall there announced a free concert at another alley in Ann Arbor, an alley with a name: Tripper’s Alley.
Tripper’s Alley is supposedly named for the longtime […]

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Living at a busy intersection, overlooking Main Street, we hear a lot of traffic noise - people singing in their cars, near-accident honks, weird smooth jazz tunes leaking out of SUVs.
The traffic is nice. I grew up near a busy intersection, have lived in big cities, and have learned to like hearing […]

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It’s old news now that Ann Arbor legend Shaky Jake has died. Even older and less newsworthy - and perhaps just as sad - is the familiar chorus about the “death of Ann Arbor” that follows such a passing from our town. Witness the comments on the just-linked Ann Arbor News story:
The Del Rio is […]

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