From the Stanton Herald: There is an unusual amount of good feeling visible in this community on account of the arrival of the cars. On Thursday of this week, at 4 p.m., the track layers crossed the main street of Stanton, and the locomotive crossed over an hour afterwards. On Friday the iron track reached the depot grounds. In another week the switches, side tracks and a turn table will be put in. The postmaster sent out the mail with a train which left here yesterday afternoon.
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ALEX FREEMAN: Getting dunked on
The stories I usually tell here are lighthearted, uplifting, encouraging and fun.
This isn’t one of those stories — this one is straight-up embarrassing.
JULIE STAFFORD: Homesick for those who mean the most
When I think of being homesick, I think of going to camp when I was little or being away from home for long periods of time.
The first time I remember feeling homesick was as an elementary school student going to Camp Newaygo during the summer. A week away from what was familiar was unsettling. When I lived in Colorado — first as a student, then as an adult and mom — I would always get that homesick feeling when I was visiting Michigan and knew I had to go back to what was then “home.”
JILL BLANDING GOLD: The Gravel Pit
One of the best things about growing up in the ’50s in a place like Greenville was the lack of planned entertainment — you had to make your own fun, especially in the summer.
MAUREEN BURNS: Random thoughts
There are a lot of things I’ve heard lately and wanted to share. They don’t relate to each other and you may not appreciate them. Some I laughed at, some I was appalled at, some I thought were “right on.” Like I said, they don’t follow any pattern, all random reactions I’ve had!
AMISH COOK: Making our way through the valley
I’m amazed as I see God at work. He’s been working through you, my friends, who have been praying for us and supporting us in countless ways over the past 10 months since Daddy Daniel was called home to heaven.
This past week I was amazed anew; yes, I think that is the best-describing word I can find, for what I felt as I chatted with a friend, I knew well during our little girl days when we lived in Ohio.
MIKE TAYLOR: Can’t buy me love
I’m forever amazed by how much the internet knows about me.
If I buy a toothbrush online, for the next two months all I see are ads for dental products. This is the price we pay for living in the digital age.
SANDY MAIN: Once Upon a Daily
Coral is the banner town of Montcalm county, so at least the Board of Supervisors last fall determined by raising the valuation of said town to $275,000 — increase in one year, a trifle less than $200,000! The census, carefully taken the sixth day of this month, shows a population of 545. Last summer and fall there were erected 51 new buildings in this village. A $3,000 school house is to be commenced early in the spring; also a Congregational church. Steps have been taken to secure the incorporation of Coral. — C. Parker
AUSTIN CHASTAIN: My remarkably memorable night in ‘The Snake Pit’
Before last year, only a handful of endings to sporting events made me cry. Three to to mind immediately — Game 4 of the 2012 American League Championship Series, Game 4 of the 2012 World Series and Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
The first one was because the Tigers had an “angel in the outfield” with my late grandfather who had died that Valentine’s Day. The second was gut-wrenching because the Tigers didn’t win it for Grampa Coop. The third, well, that’s 108 years and multiple generations of Chicago Cubs fans finally seeing the boys “Just get one,” sure as God makes green apples, as famed announcer Harry Caray famously said.
STEVE MERREN: The downside of knowhow
With winter beginning to kick in, the wait for real winter activities is nearing an end.
While I’m beyond ready to simply get out on good ice to fish, there are a million other things that Michiganders can’t wait to get out and do. After a lifetime of enduring the beautiful brutality of Michigan’s outdoors during the winter months, I, like many other Michigan lifers, have become a predominant “go-to” resource on how to get by in the arctic-like air.
