General Sherman

The General Sherman Tree, in Sequoia National Park, is the largest known single-stem tree alive on Earth today, by volume. (Apparently there are taller, fatter, and older trees, but since the 1930s wood volume has been the standard way tree size is determined.) 

This tree is a big tourist attraction (pun intended) at the park and there were many people waiting to get photos with it. (We waited in line between a family from India and a father and son from the Netherlands.) I was so impressed with how patiently everyone waited for their turn to gather behind the sign for photos. There was no grouching, no line cutting, nor general unpleasantness among people; everyone just happily waited their turn, and many groups took photos for each other.  It really reminded me just how lovely people can be.

GuideAlong

Two years ago when we visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, we discovered the GuideAlong app. I don't work for this company, nor am I being compensated by this company in any way - my family just really, really enjoyed using it, so I thought I'd share.

The app itself is free, then you purchase the tour, or tours, you want. The Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park Tour cost $25.00, and Yosemite was $20.00 - but they were worth every penny (or nickel, now that the penny has been discontinued.)

The app was easy; it uses your phone's GPS location to signal the app to start the audio tour when you reach a specific location. Each one of those white dots represents an audio file that opens, automatically,  when you get to that spot.

We loved the tidbits of history the narrator (we named him Adam) shared with us as we drove. The best part was, he had great information we wouldn't have known otherwise. He clued us before important turns came up and even suggested stops we didn't know about. His tone was funny and engaging and all of us, from the Baby Boomer to the Gen Zers, enjoyed the tours. The one and only downside was, when Adam started talking, all other conversations in the car stopped. If you find regular interruptions to your discussions irritating, this is not the app for you. Otherwise, I highly recommend it. If you are planning a road trip, it's worth taking the time to check out GuideAlong.

I'm Going to Sleep Well Tonight

Between walking to and from work, and spending the day cleaning a four story home on the island, I climbed sixty-six floors today and walked a little over 10 miles. I don't expect any issues falling asleep tonight! 

Finally

The tulips in my garden have finally opened; they opened on May 25th. Spring in the UP is generally late, but this year it was exceptionally late. This winter just held on, and on, and on. 

Our spring hits so late, out plant date is Memorial Day. Usually, I can get away with planting things a couple of weeks early, but not this year.  This year, we had multiple frosts the week right before Memorial Day. 

Spring!

We are finally getting flowers blooming on Mackinac! Planted in the ground flowers, not ones that were started in a greenhouse and transplanted. Mine don't get quite as much sun as the tulips at Grand Hotel, so mine aren't quite this far along. Flowers always put me in a good mood so I'm glad I get to see these every morning on my walk to school...

Teacher Appreciation

This past week was Teacher Appreciation Week. Each day we were treated to something special - including these beautiful flowers, courtesy of  Grand Hotel.

On Friday, one of my sixth graders brought me this hilarious set of pens. I have no idea where they found them, but I love them!

Teaching can be a thankless job, but the Mackinac Island community pulled out all the stops this year. We all felt very appreciated!

Classic Mackinac

The other day when I said we got "a few" groceries, I may not have clearly explained how many groceries we actually picked up. We hadn't left the Island in months, so our cupboards were bare - quite bare. Everything on that cart is ours. (You can't see it in the pictures, the everything on that cart is labeled with our name.)

As is typical on Mackinac Island, we asked the dray to haul our groceries to the house. (We live about a mile from the dock, up hill.) Using the dray service is fairly cheap and everything is usually up to the house in a couple of hours. That was the case the other day. Except...

When we started to unpack we discovered one bag, the denim blue cooler in the top right of the picture, wasn't ours. It looked identical to ours, but didn't have our name on it. Someone had inadvertently taken our cooler and left theirs on the cart with all of our stuff. Since the entire cart was ours, the dray driver  assumed the cooler was ours too, and delivered it. It looked just like ours so, at first, we didn't even realize there had been a mistake. Once we discovered it, we weren't super worried. Our cooler had our name on it, so we knew we'd get it back. We also knew the owners of the other cooler would be concerned; their bag was full of high-end cuts of meat.

After an hour or so when we still hadn't heard anything, I posted a photo of the cooler in the Mackinac Island Residents Facebook group. I hoped someone would see it, realize their mistake, and call me. Nope.

After another hour, I decided to call one of the police officers, just to let them know the pricy meat was safe and that we would happily return it to whoever it belonged to. Luckily, he decided to pop down to the dock were he met a very worried man returning our cooler which he accidently took because it looked like his. (He didn't notice our name until he was ready to unpack it.) Small towns being what they are, about 15 minutes later the police came up to the house, swapped the coolers and everyone got busy happily putting away their items. 

Later that night I did get a message from a parent who had seen my Facebook post and given my phone number to the owner of the unlabeled cooler. The Police Chief just beat them to the punch and got everything moving in the right direction before they cold get ahold of me. 

Hopefully the new island family learned a few valuable lessons about island life from their experience:

1. Label everything with your name and phone number. It makes getting things back easier in the rare occasion of a mistake.
2. Check to make sure what you take from the dock is yours. Refer to #1.
3. Whether or not you appreciate Facebook, the Mackinac Island Residents page can be a very useful tool.
4. Mackinac Island people are honorable. Things might get "misplaced" for a while, but things are almost never "stolen."

Spring Break 2026

It hit 50 degrees (about 10 C) on Mackinac this weekend. It was so nice outside, Allen and I spent some time on the front porch enjoying the sunshine. We often don't travel over spring break - it's city 'budget season' and the weather is often iffy for flying. So, I'll be content with a wee bit of sun...

Mrs. Fix-It

My husband sometimes teases me about keeping a sewing machine in my classroom at school. It's been there since 2017 so I can make the bumpers for the high school robotics team, but every now and then it comes in handy for other jobs. 

This week I had a student rip his coat while playing at recess - we're talking a huge, ten-inch long tear right down the front of his jacket. With his permission, I was able to patch it with some ribbon we had leftover from a sewing project we did earlier this year.

To me it was far from perfect, but when my student saw his coat hanging in his locker, he smiled and said, "You can't even see where you fixed it! Thank you!" 

It was a little thing to me - took all of about 20 minutes of my planning time, but it seemed to mean the world to him. Over the years I've learned, sometimes it's those little things we do as teachers that mean the most to our students.

A Current Favorite

If you are ever in an elementary classroom, take a moment to notice the books on the shelves. You can tell this book, Alone by Megan E. Freeman, is a favorite. Just look at those corners! Some people might get frustrated by that kind of damage, but not me. Only loved books usually get that kind of wear; that book is well traveled and a current favorite of the girls in my classroom (as is book two: Away.)

In verse it tells the story of a middle school girl who fakes a sleepover and ends up having to survive, alone, after being left behind during a community-wide evacuation. If you have a tween girl on your shopping list, I highly recommend Alone. 

Lachance Cottage, Circa 1907-1912

Even though it doesn't have a date, I love this Mackinac Island postcard. It is a card for Lachance cottage, but it is signed by L.J. Metevier, presumably a relation of the Market Street Meteviers (after whom the Metevier Inn is named.)

The card reads: 

Mackinac July 17

Madam:

In answer to your inquiry for rates per week 2 persons in rooms, our rates are 14.00 & 16.00 per week including meals front rooms being the more expensive. We would be pleased to have your reservation and are sure we can make your visit to Mackinac pleasant & enjoyable. Trusting you will favor us by notifying us of time of arrival and price of room desired. 

Yours truly,

L.J. Metevier

I guessed the card's date to be from the early 1900s, but I wasn't sure so I asked AI, specifically Google Gemini, for its input. It had several interesting "thoughts:" I copied everything in blue text directly from AI.

Estimated Date: 1907–1912

• The Divided Back: This is your most precise physical clue. Postcards with a vertical line on the back were produced between 1907 and 1915. Before 1907, the back was for the address only, and messages had to be written on the front. 

• The Signature (J.L. Metevier): Joseph Louis Metevier was a well-known island figure and Civil War veteran. His management of the property fits perfectly within this pre-WWI window. 

• The Price ($14–$16/week): This price reflects the peak of the "Cottage Era" on Mackinac. By the time the postal rate changed in 1917, inflation from the war began pushing these rates toward $20–$25. 

• Postage Rate ($0.01): The "one cent for domestic/two for foreign" was the standard until the temporary war tax of 1917. 

• The Spelling ("Lachance"): Using the lowercase 'c' is consistent with early 20th-century records.

I'm not a huge AI user, but every now and again I do find it quite helpful.

2025 Student Sewn Ornaments

Somehow, in the craziness of the week before break, I didn't share a picture of the Christmas trees my students made. Sadly, I didn't get a single picture of a finished ornament! Luckily, this one is close enough to finished for you to see what the kids created. 

Each day we sewed, I taught the fifth and sixth graders what to do in the morning. Then, after they completed that step on their ornaments, my students coached the third and fourth graders in the afternoon. It worked beautifully; my kids were such great teachers! Their comments amused me to no end. I heard: "Mrs. Burt, so-n-so just wouldn't listen to me. I tried to explain, but he wouldn't stop talking," and "So-n-so wouldn't pay attention to me - even after I asked him three times!" I even had one student come to the realization that now she understands how her mother feels when she doesn't follow directions. Hopefully, those were valuable life lessons that will stick with them, even if the sewing skills do not. Either way, in this highly digital world, I loved watching them create something with their own two hands to give to someone they care about.

The pattern for the ornament came from the Country Stitches quilt shop in Lansing, Michigan. It was originally a pattern for a much longer wall hanging, but I shortened it into an ornament. I had hoped to share a link for the pattern, but I couldn't find it on their website. The fabric was leftover fabric I had in my stash.

The "Real" World

Michigan's Upper Peninsula isn't really known for its shopping. I'm ok with that - I'd rather be surrounded by beautiful landscapes and the Great Lakes than be close to big box stores. That said, when I am in the neighborhood of these stores, I take advantage of  what's available. Sometimes though, I'm a bit overwhelmed at their sheer size!  I wonder who thought a person might need to pick up vitamins, pajamas, and an entire frozen lamb in a single stop. For the record, the lamb did not come home with us; and we're not going to discuss how much I spent at Costco. Let's just say my sister-in-law is looking forward to her cash back check.

What we can discuss is the cheese isle at Kroger (or "Krogers," as we Michiganders say.) Walmart's cheese selection is abysmal, but Kroger's was amazing! I'm glad I took the time to look at the choices, because their marketing person is hilarious.

Click on the picture to make the text larger; trust me, it's worth your time. The d'Affinois sign made my day; whoever wrote those signs definitely deserves a raise. While I didn't see it quiver, it it did beckon and it was creamy and delicious.

Happy Stitchers

Another thing we do in my classroom during the month of December is we sew. Most of this group has been sewing with me for a few years now, so they are quite adept! I'm not sure I could do a project like this, by myself, with a classroom of 30 kids, but since I only have nine it's quite doable. 

I'll be sure to share their ornaments once they're finished.

Happy December

My students have been counting down the days until Camilla the Christmas Chicken returns to the classroom. She came back today - and brought treats! (This year my students have been bringing treats in for their classmates for no reason. One Tuesday, someone brings in donuts, then the next the next week we're getting cupcakes. We've decided to call those days "Random Treat Days," and Camilla decided she needed to celebrate, too.)

Perfect Timing

Mackinac Island awoke today to a blanket of snow. We had a smidgen yesterday, but today we had more than enough for our snowmobiles. Not much makes us happier than that! For me it was perfect timing - now getting several large boxes down to school in the morning will be much easier.

Teachable Moment

Mackinac Island kids aren't usually able to get up close and personal with semi-trucks. When a truck showed up today to drop off a load of wood chips for the play ground, I asked the driver if he'd talk to the kids about his rig. 

They learned how it was loaded, how many cubic yards of wood chips it could carry, and how much it weighed when it was full. He even let them climb up so they could peek in the cab and get a quick tutorial on all the dials and levers he had on the dashboard.

He was an absolute peach of a guy to answer all of their (and my) numerous questions. The fact the kids found the most surprising was the truck could only travel three miles on a gallon of diesel (about 1.8 km per L). 

Grand Rapids Comic Con 2025

We had a great time in Grand Rapids. The Grand Rapids Comic Con was larger than the ones we went to in Lansing and Traverse City, with many incredible costumes. Keith looked amazing in his Rebel Fleet Trooper kit, I debuted my A New Hope Princess Leia, and Keith's R2D2 was a big hit. Our friends, Dan and Kelaine, joined us and Kelaine even wore my Endor Leia kit. Next time I need to make sure to have makeup for my eyebrows. I'm use to them being invisible, but it looks really odd with the dark brown wig. 

 

The cosplay really was amazing! There were lots of things I didn't recognize, but here are a few of my favorites:

You've got to love Waldo.

(I even saw this guy!)

Chewy was so tall!

Santa Vader gave me a big hug after I called him, "Dad."

I was glad to see a number of different Star Trek shows represented. (One of these days I will put together a Yeoman Rand kit.)

Everyone loved the Black Night from

Monty Python's Holy Grail, but

this Dalek from Dr. Who was, hands down, the coolest cosplay of the day. I'm so glad we made the trip down state - it was a great day full of good times with good friends! It sure would be fun to organize something on the island. I think it would be a hoot to have Storm Troopers garrison Fort Mackinac for an afternoon!

Morning Musings

The sky was beautiful this morning. There's just something about my morning walks to school...

I'm not sure if it's the exercise, the solitude, or the quiet contemplation, but whatever it is, it gets my day started on a positive note. 

 

Homemade Rebel Fleet Trooper

This year when my friend, Keith, and I head to the Grand Rapids Comic Con, he didn't want to go as Boba Fett again. He wanted to be a Rebel Fleet Trooper instead, so I got sewing. Purchasing a vest on Etsy was going to run over $300, and I knew I could do it cheaper. I've got to say - I am pretty proud of that vest. Almost every pocket on that thing, was self-drafted! I started with pictures of a vest and using - gasp - math, figured out how big they should be on the real shirt. (See kids - understanding ratios and proportions is a useful, albeit nerdy, life skill!)

Just to be safe, my first version of each pocket was made with scrap fabric. That way I could alter the pattern and not waste my actual fabric. The vest started out as two black BDU shirts. The sleeves of shirt one as well as the sleeves and back of the second shirt became the pockets. (A BDU shirt is a military style shirt, readily and cheaply available at surplus places.) I also added the placket to the front of the blue shirt to cover up the buttons. Apparently there are no buttons in the Star Wars universe...

Keith lives an hour away, so getting together to try things on can be a challenge. Fingers crossed that everything fits! If you happen to be here because you are looking to make your own Star Wars Fleet Trooper vest, shoot me a message and I will happily share my pocket patterns with you.