All Wrapped Up

 I am safely home. Jean has another 1.5 hours to go.

This is always a long, long weekend, but we both did well. Today started off rainy and slow. That did clear up, but it got just windy enough to be chilly and make us take down some of the looser parts of our displays. Despite the slow start we both had pretty good sales for the third day.

Every vendor that we talked to was quite happy with their overall sales. That makes vendors want to come back another year. Jean and I both signed up for next year already, which wiil guarantee us the same booth spaces.

Just two weary but happy vendors.

That's all for tonight. All my stuff is put away except my personal cooler, and I have nothing of any greater interest to report. Well, I'm kinda fired up about author things because I made good sales, but I have to get busy on other things for the next couple of weeks. Always how it seems to go.

See Blue...Bear...y

Blue...bear...y

 The location Jean and I have in the festival is really a good one. And right from the back of our tents, we have this beautiful blue view of Whitefish Bay. The land you can see out there is Canada.

I keep trying to get some good pictures of Jean interacting with people at her booth. This one isn't bad.

The man playing guitar and singing here is a regular at the Wild Blueberry Festival. He is really great with the kids. He had a whole bunch of them singing and dancing and talking into the mic.

I figured I should have my blue-bear-y face hole board picture taken. These are also called "comic foregrounds." Did you know that?

Here's my best story from the event so far. A lady came to my table and said she liked mysteries, especially the Joe Pickett novels, which I also love. So I responded and asked if she had discovered the Mike Bowditch series. (One is a game warden in Wyoming, and the other is a game warden in Maine.) She also knew that one and she began asking about the mysteries I was selling. I clarified that they aren't thrillers, but are classic murder mysteries. She thought she'd buy a couple, and then found out that there is a price break if she bought 4 or more, so she decided to buy the whole series. She was getting out her credit card, and I was collecting the set. She asked me, " But, do YOU like this series?" I did a bit of a double take. I said, "Well, I wrote them, so... yes." Then she did the double take!

She still bought them all.

It was another good sales day. Neither Jean nor I are quite as tuckered out as yesterday, but we are again chilling with a book for the evening. We do this for one more day.

See Chickens and Puppets

Chickens and Puppets

 Today was pretty amazing. People were buying! I sold a lot of books, and Jean sold even more.

Here are the two chicks she brought this year. They are both Silkies. This is Cocoa Puff.

Jean writes "Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror, and childrens' books about chickens." I get to listen to her say that a thousand times a day while she listens to me say "I write mysteries, mysteries for kids, and three books about the North Country Trail." If you think we are sick of listening to each other... we are actually sick of listening to ourselves. But this is how you sell books.

This is Lola, daughter of Laya who is in one of Jean's chicken picture books. Kay-Kay is in the other book. She sells a ton of these.

As I mentioned yesterday, there are lots of kinds of entertainment available. This puppet was walking around inviting people to come to his show.

It's pretty much impossible to get pictures of new things at the event. Vendors who don't have multiple people manning their booths are really tied to the spot, especially when it's busy as it was today. Jean and I have an excellent location for our spaces, which we get to keep unless we don't sign up some year, then we would lose those spots. None of this is complaining... mostly just explaining why this year's pictures look pretty much like every other year.

Jean and I are simply talked out. We came "home" fixed some dinner and have retreated to separate spots to read for a while. We like each other just fine, but we'd both be perfectly happy to not have to say another word to anyone until tomorrow. This is a great event, but you need a fair amount of stamina to participate.

9-5 again tomororow, then 9-4 on Sunday. Paradise, Michigan!

See Wild Blueberry- Take #4

Friends Old and New

 Today, I was selling books at the Onekama Days event.

As so often happens, this guy came up to me, but at least he didn't say, "remember me?" when I have no chance at figuring it out! This is Dale, whom I probably last saw in 1974ish when he was a scrawny teenager. He became an archaeologist, got his PhD, did both field work and teaching. and is now retired. Crazy!

John Wemlinger, author, (and his wife Diane) are quickly becoming friends. After the all-day event, John was giving an author talk (also associated with the Onekama Days - they took my card, and I might be asked another year). It was pretty well attended, and he explained the real-life events that were the genesis of his most recent book. Excellent writer- any books by him are recommended.

There's another author talk tomorrow that I'd like to go to, but I really can't drive up there just for that. Hopefully, I'll be able to catch her another time.

Long day. Weather was perfect, but I didn't sell many books. I did pick up my prizes for completing the Onekama 30-day challenge. and ended up walking a little over a mile just doing that and getting to where the car had to be parked, etc.

I need to get a cold drink and chill out for the rest of the day.

Miles hiked in 2026: 291.9

See Arcadia Authors

Arcadia- Authors and Animals

The final day of Arcadia Daze was shorter and calmer, with a little more time to do things besides interact with potential buyers.

John Wemlinger is an author I met at an event a couple of years ago. He told me I should try to get into Arcadia Daze, and that was good advice. I did well. I finally felt I had a comfortable enough margin that I could buy one of his books I wanted- The Cut- an historical fiction concerning the momentous and contentious cutting of a channel from Portage Lake in Onekama through to Lake Michigan. It dropped the water level of Portage Lake by 20 feet. I've just started reading it, but I can heartily recommend it.

He bought my sampler book, Accidentally Yours. I don't know if he's started it yet or would recommend it, but I'll tell you it's an eclectic collection of all the kinds of things I write. You may not like all the entries, but you'll probably like some of them.

John's wife Diane helps him with "marketing" (and moving all the crap around that one needs at these events). They make a great team. We had a good block of time before people really started coming through to talk about editing and publishing and all that sort of authorly stuff.

Since the vendors did not have to stay as long today, I popped over to Arcadia Marsh for a walk. The middle section of the marsh boardwalk is closed from April 15 to July 15 when birds are nesting, and I'd never managed to get there except during that time. But today, I got to walk all the way through.

I got some nice plant pictures but none of anything very unusual, so I'm going to show you animals because animal pictures are harder. Critters are more mobile than plants!

Who doesn't love turtles? Painted Turtles, and I chose this picture because their reflections are also in focus.

There were several Cedar Waxwings flitting around a space of open water.

Female Wood Duck swimming around.

And although this is just a female mallard- probably our most common duck, she's doing some nice contortions to get her preening accomplished, and notice the spread tail feathers.

I'm always tickled to get a good picture of a dragonfly. I've shown you this one before, but not very often. This is a male Widow Skimmer.

A nice Muskrat working its way around the same place of open water as the Cedar Waxwings. There was a lot of watercress here, and although cattails are their primary food, they will eat the cress too, so maybe that's what it was doing.

I thought that was probably going to be it for the wildlife. Another couple saw a green heron, but it was gone when I got to that spot. I walked the boardwalk trail twice to get in some miles, and almost at the end of the second time, I spotted a family of Trumpeter Swans. OK, it's getting so I see these fairly often, but I still love finding them.

An excellent day and weekend. The weather was neither too hot, too cold, nor too windy for an outdoor event. Developed a good relationship with a fellow author, made some money, and had a great hike. Can hardly improve on any of that!

Miles walked in 2026: 248.5
Miles walked for Onekama Challenge: 60.3

Streets in Arcadia 0.7 miles. Arcadia Marsh boardwalk twice 4.6, for a total of 5.3 miles.

See Arcadia Daze

Arcadia Daze

Today was 100% Arcadia Daze. It's a huge 3-day festival in Arcadia. The vendor row was open for 7 hours plus set-up and travel and all that.

I have a schedule of events, but I didn't get to see anything else for real because I was tending my booth. I mean, that's fine, that's why I was there, but I don't have any other interesting pictures to share.

A trail acquaintance was going to let me sleep at her place, but I decided I had to come home anyway. I did well- sold out of the copies of North Country Cache that I had with me. But I have cases more at home, so I came home to get another stack for tomorrow. There is no rhyme or reason to what particular title seems to sell at any given event.

Anyway, I did quite well, and tomorrow will be all profit except for the extra gas.

I thought there might be a new flower open here to show you, but nope, so you just get boring pictures of vendor tents.

I had to get up at 5:45 this morning. Thankfully, tomorrow won't be as early. But I need to go lie down soon.

Gun Lake Winterfest

The entire day was devoted to travel and the Gun Lake Winterfest vendor event. This is the Gun Lake in Allegan County between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.

Here is the tent where there were vendors, exhibitors and the raffle items. Big. There were two propane heaters, and it truly was warmer than outside, but I was about frozen by the end of the day despite snow pants and many layers. Standing still that long in the cold is not great.

I know I showed you my camper doll setup at Christmas, but here's what I do at vendor events where there is enough room. It gets people's attention. Notice the blue blaze on the tree.

I was right next to the table for the Chief Noonday Chapter of the NCTA, which was how I found out about this event in the first place. One of the volunteers was Jo Oostveen. We've known each other a while, but never got a picture together. Jo has hiked all of the NCT in Michigan. That's close to 1200 miles, so a significant accomplishment.

The event was quite well attended. They had a lot of things for kids to do including a set of stalls in a trailer with sheeep, goats and a pony for kids to pet. The sheep is giving me the evil eye, but she was actually very friendly.

The event is a big fundraiser for the township to keep up the park (which is mostly across the road on the lake). This was a kind of fun thing. There was a "sheriff" and "deputies." For a dollar, you could get them to sign out an arrest warrant for someone else who was at that event. Then that person was taken to jail and they had to pay $5 to get out of jail. Then they got a button that said they didn't have to go to jail again.

Jane Norton (on the right) is a past president of the CND Chapter and a great voluteer and hiker. She got sent to jail.

There were a few vendors, but it wasn't really a big sales venue. I didn't think I'd sell much, but I did sell six books. And since it's on the way of my trip, there wasn't much expense.

As soon as I left, you can bet I turned the heat in the car on full blast until I warmed up!

And where am I tonight? Here's your clue. Smirk.

First day successful!

See Leaving the Puzzle Behind

Benzonia and Betsie Valley

The bulk of the day was spent at the Benzonia Holiday Gift Market. They had a lot of vendors stuffed into a smallish room, but it did boost the impression of a busy event. And I did pretty well, so I have no real complaints.

This quilt is being raffled in December. I think by the Grow Benzie group. Yes, it's gorgeous, but it's 100% machine made and so perfect I wonder if it was a kit, so I have mixed feelings.

After the event was over, I went to hike a bit of the multi-use Betsie Valley Trail. Finding one of the parking areas turned out to be a challenge. My map wasn't detailed enough. Google couldn't seem to tell me. The local gas station folks... well, the guy couldn't even read a map. The lady directed me to a parking area that wasn't the closest one (there should have been one in town), but anyway. I did find the trail and a parking area.

It's a wide graveled trail. My goal was really just to get in some fast walking exercise, so that was fine.

I chose to hike back toward town. I knew this section crossed a developed area where the trail has an easement, so there were quite a few houses. But it is also the section that goes along Crystal Lake, which was what I wanted to be able to see.

Found a few things of interest. I always love the tamarack (larch). They turn bright yellow in the fall and lose their needles every winter.

Do you recognize this one? It's a closeup shot of the seed pods for wild clematis (aka old man's beard, aka virgin's bower).

Since it took extra time to find a trailhead, I wasn't sure how long the light would last. I walked 30 minutes along the lake, then turned around. That gave me 3.6 miles when I got back to the car. There was still plenty of light, I went the other direction to M-115 and back which got me to 4 miles. In 1 hr 15 minutes. Nice brisk pace to match the nice brisk air.

There is a Nature Area named Railroad Point right there as well. That trail is less than a mile long, but it's supposed to have a good view of the lake. Maybe another time.

Got home a bit after dark, ate dinner. Not sure how much else I'll accomplish today.

Miles hiked in 2025: 437

Betsie Valley Trail, M-115 to Country Farm Road and back (parking at Molineax Rd). 4 miles

See Lake County Museum Quilts

On the Farm

I signed up for this vendor event a couple of weeks ago that's held on a farm in Mears. Unless you are local, you've probably never heard of Mears. I had some "uh-oh" moments as the map directions took me off the "main road" through the town. I wondered if I'd signed up for a dud.

This was their welcome display.

I didn't count how many vendors were there, but it had to be around 50.

They also had a nice backdrop where you could take photos.

I have no idea how many years they've been doing this event. This was not the first. But the traffic was steady all day long. I'm not sure how many times I said, "I write mysteries, and children's mysteries, and three books about the North Country Trail." But there are 360 minutes in 6 hours, and I would guess it might have approached that many. Of course, when people stopped to talk, I got to say different words.

Bottom line... I did really well for a one-day event. But I'm beat.

There was live music by a group called 80 Cows. Folk and Bluegrass- very good and very enjoyable. Although I'm glad my booth wasn't right next to them. It's really hard to talk to people when you are close to the music.

Some people even spontaneously got into folk dancing!

No picture, but I also watched a little boy, maybe about 4 years old, rolling down the hill over and over, just for fun. At one point, he took his sneakers off his feet, put them on his hands and rolled some more. It was great to see a kid having old-fashioned fun!

The venue is a working farm- it was a perfect setting for an autumn festival.

But now I'm going to lie down and do something meaningless!

The link below is relevant only because the paper route we used to do was down in this area. I really don't have anything else from Mears!

See Milkin' the Paper Route

One Last Peep from Paradise

Jean and I traveled together, stayed together, and our booths were next to each other. Between us, we can cover just about any range of ages with books!

As you've seen before, she usually brings a chicken to help her sell her children's books about chickens. This time Peep came. Peep is a young silkie, and she's a hoot. She's very curious. She hopped over to my table a few times, and really is fun for people to interact with.

The lake was about the clearest I've seen there. That is Canada across the way.

The last musical act of the day was the Blue Water Ramblers. They were great! Definitely pro level. They did gospel, folk, and Michigan specific songs. One line stuck in my mind. "We'd rather go to Hell than New York City." If you are from Michigan, you'll get that. (Hint...Hell is even smaller than Paradise. If you are elite, you can say you've canoed through Hell. I have)

Marie and Diane arrived early afternoon. We left without any known glitches after the event was over. As far as we are aware, all the things that need to come with me to ND are in Diane's car, and all of the things that go home went with Bill and Shirley. Hopefully, we did it correctly.

We are now at friend Lorana's house in Marquette. We'll get pictures of us tomorrow. Too tired tonight!

See Around the Venue

Around the Venue

Hey hey! It is, after all, the Wild Blueberry Festival. Here's the genuine wild blueberry.

It rained overnight (big thunderboomers!), and the vendors had their stuff well-enclosed or stashed, but everyone had wet tent sidewalls to deal with. The fencing along the back of the lot made a great drying rack.

They had all the usual entertainment. The clown does face painting and makes balloon animals.

There are quite a few musicians who perform. There was a ventriloquist. The jugglers who are always there have stepped up their act a bit. Not only do they juggle flaming torches, but now they do it while one is on a unicycle and the other is on one of those boards on a roller where you have to balance. They try to make a big joke of it all, but they are really very good. I did not get a picture of that.

Here are the other Ludington vendors. Steve sells his photography. This picture only shows a small part of it.

And Shirley (and Bill not pictured) sell her knitted items and prints of his drawings of lighthouses. (Shirley and Steve's wife Brenda are both in bell choir with me)

One more day. I had good sales again today, and the rain didn't start until just closing time. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, which could be good. But whatever it is, it's all gravy for me at this point.

This has been a good event for me every year. People come with the intent of buying things, and there is good entertainment and reasonably priced food. I don't know numbers, but they draw in a huge crowd every year.

See Welcome to Paradise