Things that Remind Me of Home

1. Sparkling snowflakes on a cold, moonlit night.
2. The call of the house wren, Grandma Barton's favorite song.
3. Corn on the cob, fresh from the field.
4. Pan fried blue gills, morels, leeks and fiddlehead ferns, followed by a dish of homemade ice cream.
5. Salt water taffy, Mackinaw Island Fudge, Sea Shell City and the Mystery Spot.
6. The most beautiful lakes in the world.
7.  Pancake breakfasts with real maple syrup.
8.  The smell of aspen trees in the fall.
9.  Pasties.
10. Long-held traditions that give us black ash baskets, birch bark canoes, mukuks, wild rice, white fish, porcupine quill baskets, sweetgrass baskets, traditional songs, and so many more Anishinaabek gifts.
11.  Rivers and streams, big and small, fast and slow, warm and cold.
12.  The Mackinac Bridge.
13.  Cherry pie, cherry pop, cherries, cherries, cherries.
14.  Lake Michigan sunsets, Lake Superior storms.
15.  Birch and white pine trees.
16.  Sand dunes.
17.  Sleeping Bears.
18.  Bald Eagles.
19.  Wolves.
20.  Moose.
21.  Mushroom hunting.

There's no place like home. Michigan.