Roots
We just finished reading On the Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Graighead George. It's the second in the three-book series that started with My Side of the Mountain.
To say these are books made for Giles would be an understatement. Boy runs away to live on mountain by himself. Lives entirely off the land. After we finished the book, we dashed to the computer to answer Giles questions on whether there really are Catskill Mountains, if there is a Delhi, New York, or if Sam Gribley is real!
The answers are yes, yes and no. But looking up Delhi (Dell-high) led me to look up my hometown, Fennville, MI. The wikipedia description sounded pretty accurate, though I was surprised neither my name nor the names of anyone I knew were listed in the "famous residents: past and present!" ha.
Wikipedia had a link that led to Fennville: Haven for the Creative Class .
What a click! Who knew? Our trips home generally revolve around lounging at my parents home and exploring their woods, and trips to Lake Michigan, and to the nearby tourist town for over-priced ice cream and million dollar yacht gawking.
I thought this town, where my mom and dad struggled for years to make it in their flower shop and lumber yard ... was dying. It was dying when I got out of there 21 years ago. Seemed everyone went to the big town up the road for groceries, flowers, lumber, gas, entertainment. Glad to see things have changed ... according to this one article. And that big boxes aren't drying up every town in America. That really is a relief (and such a sunny thought after all of this pondering about trails of tears, slavery and border control).
Our family back home isn't the type to run in the circles of the "creative class" ... but I sure would love to slip into that Journeyman Cafe next time we're home!
Go Fennville!
Posted in: on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 at at 11:44 AM
