A Night on the Town

  This is about as cosmopolitan as I get. I went to town at 4 pm, and entertained myself for four hours. On purpose. I know, scary huh? That I would choose to do peoply things for that long.

I'll start with the last thing on my list and work backwards. Did you know that Ludington has their very own legendary lumberjack, Ossawald Crumb? He was created in 1932 by the son of lumber baron Justus Stearns. The son, Robert, wrote two charming children's books featuring the character.

Local thespian (actor, professor, director, you name it as long as you preface it with the word talented), Rick Plummer, has written a children's play, "The Amazing and Almost True Tale of Ossawald Crumb and the Michigan White Pine." It's being performed at Sandcastles Children's Museum this weekend. Performances are FREE. So, why did I choose to go to a 30-minute play for kids? The cast is a collection of superb local actors and actresses- most of them are people I've seen before in many roles. I knew that whatever this was, it would be worth watching.

Grandmother Pine holds a sacred place in the forest.

The forest creatures gather around her and discuss how there must be both good and frightening things in life.

The Ossawald Crumb, the lumberjack shows up and he is going to cut down Grandmother Pine!

The forest creatures must figure out how to show Ossawald that he should not cut all the trees. I won't tell you their plan, but it involves the Tricky Rabbit. Ossawald gets schooled.

The room was full of small children, and they were all highly engaged with the story. If you have kids, there are two more performances, at 11 am and 2 pm, tomorrow (Saturday Aug 7). As I said, they are free, but you must wear a mask. Limited seating, so get there in plenty of time.

Working back in time, I took myself out for dinner at what is now called the 10 Spot. Four years ago, there was one food truck in this parking lot- see the Summer Bucket List link below. Now, there are five food trucks, tables under a canopy, and music.

You can get various kinds of food at reasonable prices. For $6.50, I got chips, pop, and a Ludington Dog. This is a hot dog with garlic mayo, grilled corn, parmezan cheese, and chili powder. Can you say yummy? You can get meals with things much more substantial than a hot dog and still spend only about $10.

Before that, I went to the Mason County Garden Club flower show. I may have to do a whole post about that, but for tonight I'll just show you my favorite entry. The theme was "The solar system." This one is called "Sunspots." There were several that I really liked, but this was dramatic, and a little unusual, and I thought it had good balance and colors.

In other news: As if that's not enough news, I also wrote a chapter. Before that, Cathy and I went for a walk in a new place. But I am waiting to tell you about that at another time. It rained for about an hour this morning, and I'll give you one guess as to which hour we chose to walk! I leave for Holland before the crack of dawn tomorrow. I think that's enough for one day.

See Mason County Garden Club Flower Show 2019 See Summer Bucket List