Tom & Brenda's Family Journal

We are blessed with a wide view of sunsets at our farm in Alto, Michigan.  This sunset from late November shines over our field.  It symbolizes for us the sunset on Tom's months of chemo as well. Tom had finished chemo on Tuesday, Nov. 20.  This gave us much to be thankful for this year. Our family had a blessed Thanksgiving. Our daughter Jennifer and her husband Sudeep hosted Thanksgiving this year.  This was a first for Jennifer.  She did a great job.  Kristen and Chris came from Ohio and joined Tom, Eric, Jennifer, Sudeep and I for a delicious meal.   We also celebrated Kristen's birthday that day.  Spending time together was the highlight for me.  Our plans were to go shopping on Black Friday; however online shopping was so much easier. Later that weekend we celebrated our daughter-in-law, Sherry's birthday.   November and December are big months for birthdays in our family.  We still have two m...

We started our day by driving from Munising to Marquette. Bonnie had to call on the bookstore at Northern Michigan University and then we went downtown. Marquette has wonderful shops and restaurants. We had lunch at Babycakes Muffin Company . Everything was tasty with a very interesting clientèle. We also returned to Snowbound Books because we enjoyed it so much last year. On our way from Marquette to Houghton, we stopped at Canyon Falls. It was a great 10 minute hike from the park to the fall but it took us much longer because we kept stopping to enjoy the beauty. Bonnie and I are going to rename our tour to the Bookstore, Coffee Shop and Waterfall Tour. We are finding the most beautiful waterfalls that are located very close to the highway. The Sturgeon River flows rapidly through the woods and ends in a canyon. There are flat slate stones on the edges so you could get very close to the water and still feel very safe. Further up the road was the Bishop Baraga Shrine in L'A...

My friend, Bonnie, and I left today for our second annual trip across the Upper Peninsula. Bonnie is combining this with a trip for her work where she calls on college bookstores. There is so much to do in the UP that although we are going to the same colleges, we are seeing different sights from last year. We left Caledonia around 7 am but made our first stop at Essential Bean, the best spot in Caledonia or West Michigan for coffee. Our next stop was Darrows Restaurant in Mackinaw City for whitefish sandwiches. The coffee shop in the picture above is in Bay Mills where I waited while Bonnie called on clients but it wasn't long before we were back on the road. There were a couple of new scenic outlooks over Lake Superior and the beauty is breathtaking. The water was warm and we saw lots of kids in swimming. We then went to Whitefish Point and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. There was a 1,000 foot frieghter out front which we haven't been able to identify yet. The we...

Dear Friends, I am sorry to have taken such a break from blogging. Our world was turned upside down on January 18 when our beloved mother passed away unexpectedly. Our family came together in such support and love that helped us each of those very difficult days. Our life now has a huge void in it and we are working to find out what normal will be now. I'm sure many of you know what we are experiencing. I've kept very busy working. I'm at Hopkins Middle School between 2 and 3 days a week. My work there is primarily with the teachers but I really love the time I get into classes and work with students. This week I even got to help two special education students write book reviews. I'm on the Literacy Committee and one of our projects this year is to start a Book Review Club. The students receive free books in exchange for writing a review that will be published on line. We had funding for 12 students to join and on our first meeting, 80 students showed up. Who...

Bonnie and I returned from our U.P. tour last night. We had a wonderful time exploring and enjoying the sights, bookstores, coffee shops and gift shops of the Upper Peninsula. These pictures aren't in order of our trip but I have difficulty arranging pictures on this blog. If you know of an easy way to rearrange pictures, I would appreciate hearing from you. Da Yoopers Tourist Trap is in Ispheming . The Vistors Bureau recommended it. It is a glorified gift shop but had many funny things. This is Agate Falls which is along M-28 east of Bruce Crossings. This is the kind of beauty that is everywhere if you are looking for it. Bergland's botanical gardens followed by Bonnie at the Baptist Church in Bergland . We think that may have been Jane's father's church. Jane and Tim Anderson are from Bergland so we stopped to take pictures of their town. Grandpa's Barn is a wonderful bookstore in Copper Harbor. Notice the book the bear is reading. The store had a wo...