Allison Batdorff

NORTHPORT — It’s OK if sounds from different stages intermingle. It’s OK if you wander aimlessly. It’s OK if you arrive to Leelanau UnCaged with absolutely no plan whatsoever.

TRAVERSE CITY — If you haven’t cleaned your grill yet, time to get scrubbing.

TRAVERSE CITY — It’s 46 degrees with pelting rain, and Bailey Samp and John Dindia are thinking about their mounting project list — the organic plant sale is coming up,

TRAVERSE CITY — That first pre-caffeinated interaction with a barista at a coffee shop can set the tone for the rest of the day.

A year or so after I moved here, the walls came down.

It’s a pinch, a weight, a heaviness around the heart that causes the breath to catch. It sneaks up at stupidly silly times. Today, at a mundane flip of a

TRAVERSE CITY — Spend all day hiking and mountain biking on Mt. Rainier, then dig clams at the ocean for dinner.

WILLIAMSBURG — Family and friends of Jayson William “JJ” Hoogeveen released handfuls of blue and red balloons that seemed to race each other up and away into a hazy blue

TRAVERSE CITY — Etiquette on the Traverse Area Recreation and Transportation Trails is the focus of a new video and a “caught ya being good” incentive launching this summer.

The devil’s in the details, or so they say.

TRAVERSE CITY — A former Traverse City school music instructor and administrator will ascend the tower at the Big House this weekend.

TRAVERSE CITY — The Traverse City Film Festival will return this summer after a two-plus-year hiatus.

Several local cooks are showing their support for Ukraine — by way of its cuisine.

TRAVERSE CITY — The news was sudden, fast and good: Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott included several northern Michigan districts in a $133 million donation to help kids stay in school.

After Mike died, Halloween lost its magic.

TRAVERSE CITY — A week ago, a smiling Ty Schmidt thanked potential funders on behalf of Norte, the organization he created, headed, and to many, personified.

My planner is filling up with concerts and camping. I’m showing my chin in public. Numbers of COVID-19 cases in our community and elsewhere continue to drop.

We had our first close encounter with the COVID kind this week.

TRAVERSE CITY — When it was time to move again, the girls knew what to do.

TRAVERSE CITY — Green-thumbed gardeners know a beautiful planter arrangement involves three ingredients — a filler, a spiller and a thriller.