Together We Make a Family . . .

 

Our family. We are a strange clan of characters making our way through life sharing DNA and toothpaste. Borrowing money and divvying up marshmallows . Inflicting pain and hugging to heal it all in the same moment. 

We love, laugh, fight and defend. At times we struggle to figure out just what the common thread is that binds us all together.

It isn't blood. When we married each of us brought two biological children to the table. His daughter and son, my two sons and a "daughter" who became family by default. Our five have grown, married and multiplied - this month we morphed into a family of 24! Five children, their spouses/partners, their children and their step-children. All part of this thing I lovingly call "Our Clan". 

I am now the Matriarch of this ragtag bunch. And I find myself using terms like "young people" and "good, clean fun" when referring to the activities of my grandchildren. When did I become my Great-grandmother?! 

But the thing is, when I look at my life, my greatest happiness-es are our family happiness-es. Each and every milestone takes on new meaning for me. Babies being born. Wee ones starting kindergarten. Older ones going to Prom, off to college and getting engaged. 

Our family - our Clan - is a circle of love and strength. With every birth, union and milestone the circle grows. Every joy shared adds to the love we all feel for each other. Every obstacle faced makes our growing circle stronger. 

I didn't choose this family - they are God's gift to me. The bond that links us is not entirely blood - it is the love and joy we bring to each other. 

Together we make a family!

Jeepers, Creepers, Love to Hear Them Peepers!

As we peepers peep

We keep the people from their sleep.

Others hear our chorus

And know such swells of spring

A surest sign new life it is to bring.

In our search for other peeps,

We sing all night as we creep

And jump around the deep.

Spring Peepers - a poem by Catinka Knoth 2010

Drummond Island is being serenaded by the lowly little spring peeper, also known as the tree peeper. Right now a concert can be heard on any given evening.

These little frogs, not much more than an inch to an inch and a half, are difficult to find. They nest in and around trees; their brown and tan bodies resemble leaves. They blend in really well.

Like many frogs and toads, the peeper’s song is far louder than one might imagine. Peepers are a type of chorus frog, many call at the same time making their songs blend. The song of the spring peeper is often one of the first recognized by children.

If you are not sure what a Spring Peeper sounds like then enjoy the following video shared by Betsy Purple — April 29, 2007 — video made at a beaver pond in the U.P.

Fudgies, Flatlanders, and F.I.P.s . . .

. . . Embrace Drummond’s Tourists Warmly!

Tourists are like grandparents – they come to visit, bring lots of stuff, generate some excitement, then leave.

The “stuff” these grandparents bring, however, is actually money. Money that fuels Drummond’s economy.

Money – in these hard economic times – that fewer and fewer tourists are bringing Drummond’s way. For our community to stay vital in this ever changing and competitive tourist market, then local business people and their staffs need to do everything they can to keep folks coming back – coming back and bringing friends and family with them.

Drummond has a long standing tradition of warm hospitality. Just stop by Sune’s Hardware some Saturday if you want to get a sense of what Gary Hernbroth – president of Danville, California-based Training for Winners – means when he says, “It’s the first-line, front desk staff that have the power to generate the magic.” At Sune’s no question goes unanswered, no conversation is complete without a smile and a laugh. No one is ever too busy to answer the phone, find a tool or offer advice. Traits Hernbroth says are essential for all businesses in a community based on the tourist industry.

Hernbroth teaches owners of businesses that cater primarily to tourists that they need to translate their passion for their business and their community to their employees who meet and greet visitors. Jim Kelley of North Haven obviously understands this – Jim is passionate about everything Drummond and it shows.

And I don’t believe anyone gets away with not being greeted by Sue McCaskill whenever she is in residence at The Northwood. Her smile warms up the dining room like no one else’s as she passes from table to table checking on coffee levels and sharing a quick story or two.

However if Drummond Island is to stay competitive, if it is to continue to draw tourists worried about gas prices this far north, then it is best to not rest on past laurels. Hernbroth, in his training sessions for tourist industry stakeholders, offers five rules for providing better service to customers:

Be easy to do business with – It is estimated that 68% of non-returning customers stop patronizing a business because of a perception that the business was indifferent to their needs. Who is answering your phone – is ANYONE answering your phone?!

Listen to your customers – Ask them, “How are we doing?” Customer’s perceptions are more important than what managers think they know. The public’s perception of your business is their reality – and one they will share with others. When someone complains about the service they received take the time to listen closely. Compliments are nice, complaints heeded help your business grow and improve.

Look at little things – Cleanliness in the hospitality industry is BIG! If your bathroom is a mess and customers see that, what’s your kitchen like?

Ask for ideas – Business managers/owners should involve their staff in moving their businesses forward by challenging them to regularly contribute ideas. Employees are on the front line and often see – or hear - the little things managers miss.

Identify your passionate workers – They are the top-performing workers who are already finding ways to help the business. Reward them. Build around them. Clone them!

When the Michigan Tourism Industry Planning Council got together with Eastern Upper Peninsula stakeholders during one of their Listening Sessions, and asked them to rank their most important concerns by vote *Visitor Experience* came out on top. Participants said they needed to guarantee that tourists felt their experience in the E.U.P. was: friendly, full of fond memories, fun, adventurous, enjoyable and left them with a desire to return.

Yes, they are Fudgies, Flatlanders and F.I.P.s – but they are also Drummond Island’s bread-and-butter. Remembering to always follow Gary Hernbroth’s Five Rules for Better Service will ensure that Drummond Island retains its title of “Gem of the Huron”.

On a final, lighter note –

A flatlander dies and goes to Heaven. St. Peter is showing him around. Everything is glorious. There is a music hall with every kind of music, all played with angelic perfection. The dining hall offers food beyond compare.

And the residences, St. Peter assures him, are comfortable beyond all imagination. On their way to the residence halls, they turn down a hall where everyone is chained to the wall. St. Peter offers no comment as they continue down the long passageway. After a few minutes the man asks St. Peter. "If this is Heaven and everything is so wonderful why are these people chained up?"

St Peter answers, "Oh. Those are the downstate Michiganders – Flatlanders. If we don't keep them chained up they try to escape to their cabins on Drummond Island during the weekends."

Let’s keep ‘em coming!

Filling in the Gaps . . .

Drummond Island - like most U.P. towns - is a community that you can feel part of. A place where you can count on your neighbor and where you can walk into the store and you know the people you see and are known by them. On a first name basis.

That doesn't exist everywhere any more. It's dead. It's gone. And this is tragic.

On Drummond you meet people you know at the restuarant, at the post office, every place you go when you are out and about - chatting, forming friendships and bonds. It is face-to-face and all direct. You know everybody's business and they know your's. The good, the bad and the ugly.

And that's the way it should be.

Small towns fill in the gaps in your life that you hadn't known existed.

 The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don't know what you're doing, someone else does.

Gossip by Norman Rockwell

Talking funny . . .

I didn't know I spoke funny until my family moved to Westland, MI for two years when I was in fifth grade.

Waiting outside the building all the students gathered 'round, curious about the new red haired student with the funny way of talking. I was bombarded with questions - was I from Scotland? Ireland? Maybe Canada?

Mrs. Johnson seized the moment and taught an impromptu lesson on regional dialects. I sank in my chair, wishing she had simply introduced me as the new foriegn exchange student from some exotic locale. The lesson I learned that day - it is always best to have your speach patterns sound like those around you. Having red hair AND a foriegn language was two too many strikes for a young, scrawny tomboy to handle.

I proceeded to spend a lifetime trying not to sound like my mother - who despite retiring to South Carolina years ago still sounds like she is living in da Soo. She uses expressions like: "Wah" (Wow), "Holy wah!" (Really wow), "Eh. Okay" (What or hey), "Yah sure - hey" (You've got to be kidding. I don't believe it), and "Youbetcha" (Yes, without a doubt). My husband swears every other word she speaks is simply "eh". Really?

And even though the weather in South Carolina doesn't generally warrant them, she still keeps swampers (rubber boots), choppers (mittens) and a toque (knitted cap) in the front closet "just in case".

The last time I visited she spent an afternoon "oot and aboot" visiting a few lady friends.

The way my mother speaks actually has historic significance. In 2003 of House Resolution 183 in the Michigan Legislature in Lansing: "A resolution establishing  the Upper Peninsula's inhabitants way of speach as Michigan's official state dialect."

The whereas clauses gave this unique dialect antiquity ("around 1840"), an identity ("independent, hearty individualism and the active sportsmen's tradition") and status as reflecting "our multi-cultural heritage."

Most remarkable of all, this dialect is in peril. The resolution declared it to be "an endangered dialect that is on the verge of vanishing forever" from our Great Lake State. It didn't say anything about just what the dialect is.

But believe me, if you show up anywhere in the U.P. talking any other way we’ll know you’re not from here. Oh remember, camoflage or flannel are always in style if you want to blend in, eh.