We were on one of our regular trips down the Dequindre Cut to the Detroit River the other day when we noticed three beautiful paintings installed on the cement bridge foundations that are usually just covered with graffiti. It was a new experiment by the Detroit Institute of Arts's Inside|Out program, which installs ornately-framed facsimiles of some of the DIA's masterpieces outdoors in various locations in the city and its suburbs. I wrote about what is still (in my opinion) the best-executed Inside|Out piece a year or so ago, but these are pretty cool in their location, and connect the pieces installed at Eastern Market with those installed at the riverfront. I run down the cut every day, and it's been a pleasure seeing all the people stopped and staring at the paintings.

[above, Sir William Bereton, artist unknown]


[Selene and Endymion, by Nicolas Poussin]


[Konigsee, by Willibald Wex]

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Consider how crazy it is that there was once a time when simply wearing blue jeans made you a rebel. Forget crazy hair and piercings, back then all you needed were a pair of raw denim Levis, rolled-up t-shirt sleeves, and enough coin for a couple root beer floats and you were totally getting necked in the back of your dad's Chrysler Saratoga.

These days your boss buys blue jeans at JC Penney specifically for casual Friday.

[I found this old photograph at a local bookstore. It was taken July 20, 1954 by a newspaper photographer and the notes suggest it was for a story about teenagers and the "new trend" of wearing blue jeans to school. Blue jeans were controversial that year, after an army colonel on a base in Frankfurt, Germany banned military wives from wearing blue jeans, claiming they reflected poorly on the United States. Four years later Levi's would be chosen as a highlight of the American Pavilion at the World's Fair in Belgium.

The young lady in this photo (Miss Pauline Goodrich, 18, of Alanson, Michigan) was wearing men's jeans with her man (Louis Milot, 16) when they were spotted on the street in Milot's hometown of Wyandotte, Michigan.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

I love a good tourist trap. A good tourist trap by my definition must sell moccasins. Guntzvillers Spirit of the Woods Museum along US31 just north of Traverse City sells moccasins. It has an entire moccasin department. Jut turn right at the six-deer-head chanderlier:

I thought that would look pretty amazing in our dining room. The thing about Guntzvillers Spirit of the Woods Museum is that it doesn't just sell cheap raccoon caps and self-published books about the local haunted covered bridge, it sells tons of taxidermy specimens (there's a working taxidermy shop on site). I have a soft spot for taxidermy animals and my wife learned quite awhile ago not to express shock when a box arrives on our doorstep that she casually opens to discover a dead squirrel holding a tiny shotgun or the head cut off a bear skin rug. I was in heaven.


The best part of Guntzvillers Spirit of the Woods Museum is the donations-only museum itself. Inside the darkened room there are hundreds of hunting trophies and taxidermy specimens collected all over the world by three generations of Guntzvillers (George, Marvin, and Voss).

Some were definitely collected or hunted in a different regulatory era. One corner even has a two-headed calf and some rogue taxidermy for the kids, including Babe the Blue Ox and a few jackalopes:

 I liked this exhibit of hunting/raxidermy antiques behind glass:



Perhaps best of all is the collection of Indian arrowheads and Native American antiquities, which are staggering to behold. There are literally dozens of huge glass cases of arrowheads, hatchet heads, spear points, and stone tools arrayed in geometrically complex patterns:

According to the museum's website: "This collection was started well over 100 years ago by George Guntzviller, [current owner] Voss's grandfather.  George would find arrowheads and different artifacts while he was plowing the land with a horse. As he walked behind the plow, he would pick up his treasures and put them in the coffee can that he had attached to the plow. Two of George's sons, Marvin and Harvey, also took an interest in the artifacts and added to the collections as years went by." I thought this bear-claw necklace was pretty cool, especially after the stories I'd been reading to the kids all week:

Definitely worth a stop and way less commercial than Call of the Wild in Gaylord. If you're driving along 31, you'll know it by the giant scrap metal mastodon out front:

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

Yeah, I just spent $18 on a jar of jam.

Thimbleberries are pretty rare and the locations of wild patches in Michigan's Upper Peninsula are closely guarded secrets. Wild Huckleberries and Bilberries taste a lot like blueberries, but I have no idea where to find them or even properly identify them. You can order jams made from these unique berries from this maker, Wood'n'Spoon in Mohawk, or the even more alluring option of the six monks from the Holy Transfiguration Skete in Eagle Harbor, who sell Keweenaw Peninsula wild berry jams from their online store.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

I love things that have been left behind in rented cabins (previously) and snooping around in the "rainy day games and activities drawer" at the cabin we rented up north, I found this set of cards and fell in love with the graphic on the box, as well as the image on the cards:

The text reads: "Any man who has hunched down in a wind-swept duck blind as time crawled slowly toward the legal shooting hour, his impatience kindled by the swish of beating winds and vague shapes hurtling overhead, will put his stamp of approval on Richard Bishop's wildfowl paintings. Bishop's works convey the very essence of hunting, the lure that makes hunters the most fanatical of all outdoorsmen."

When I got home I looked up Acme Industries, Inc. and it turns out I had seen the ruins of the old factory a few years earlier while visiting the Jackson County Fairgrounds (near the state prison!). At one time, Acme Industries was one of the country's major producers of air conditioning and refrigeration equipment, utilizing convict labor from the nearby prison and providing a great deal of production to the war effort in the 1940s. The factory complex stood empty for decades and was torn down last year. Flickr user cseeman has shared some nice images of the buildings before they were torn down:

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

When you're tossing back a cold one with your buddies in the man cave, wearing an over-sized football jersey and adidas sandals while watching the game on your 52" jumbotron sitting on your reclining leather sofa, just remember the look on the guy in the front's face, and consider how badly he'd like to return from the grave to kick your lazy ass.

[original photo found in northern Michigan antique store, no markings]

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

Can I be honest about something? I think I'd rather look at the art in the 4-H building of a random Midwestern county fair than visit any gallery in Manhattan.

Kyle, the fact that you love Foghorn Leghorn enough to draw him is almost enough to get a drop or two of blood flowing through my cold, dead heart.

"Hey Hey, My My, Rock-and-roll will never die. . ." (because she's a vampire)

Really, Monroe County 4-H Art Competition Judges, you only gave The Pensive Orc (2011, charcoal on paper) an orange ribbon? SIXTH PLACE? Kid was robbed. I would hang this in my living room.

If I were to self-publish the poems I wrote in high school creative writing class, I would want this to be the cover art.

My wife tells me these are royal or something. I feel like if you get to be royalty, you should be required to dress with the sash and the medals all the time. Oh, so you want to live in a heavily-guarded palace on the public's dime drinking tea and hunting pheasants and waving all day, well, you don't get to take the sash or medals off, son. I'll bet Franz Joseph hardly ever took his medals off. I'll bet Franz Joseph slept in those freaking medals.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

Dear Guy Down the Street With the "Art Car" Covered in Toys,

Forty-two years ago, a guy named Bill Deputy (right) started collecting hair clippings from Seattle barbor shops and figured out a way to attach them to a Ford belonging to his friend Don Hiltbruner (left). "The clippings are attached to the car with an undercoating, then trimmed to uniformity. After completely covering the car, shellac will be added and the surface polished." It looks like Robin William's forearm and you can drag race it. Now that is an art car.

Also, Bill and Don dressed better than you, had better tattoos, and way better hair.

Sincerely,

   Jim (the guy with the shoddily-built covered wagon)

[found photograph, originally taken 9/10/1969 for the Seattle Post Intelligencer]

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L-R: Rosemary Matteson, Lucille LeBeau, Helen Devlin, Barbara Canuana, and Dorothy Bates. I wouldn't mess with any of them if I were you (unless you're looking for a broken nose).

This was another John King find (almost as good as the last one). The original photograph was taken by Detroit News Staff Photographer H. Burgert on August 7, 1950. With the women's names and Detroit street addresses, it was simply marked "women taxi drivers."  

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

I was over at my friends' house a few weeks ago for a barbeque and a pair of their friends brought over a copy of this vintage board game as a gift. It's basically Trivial Pursuit with a Detroit Tigers theme, and I loved just about everything about it from the hand-drawn graphic design of the box cover to the game questions themselves. I also loved imagining the creator worrying about being sued by the Tigers organization and whoever owned the rights to Trivial Pursuit. This game was released after the Tigers won the world series in 1984, and according to Wikipedia, the popularity of Trivial Pursuit peaked that year (over 20 million games were sold) so it's a perfect relic of its time.

I love the earnestness with which it was created: from the design of that great cover, to the game board itself (designed to represent "the corner" where old Tiger stadium stood). Where did the guy who made these get those little packets of dice and "Sorry" pawns in the pre-internet era? Check out the typewritten message the creator (Kevin Burnett) included with each game sold:

Oh Mr. Burnett your big plans for a Sportstrivia, Inc. empire are adorable! Here are the game rules:

 

The questions are fairly impossible to answer unless you're zombie Ernie Harwell.

I found this copy on eBay and plan on giving it to my friend Ryan for his birthday this month, out of gratitude for his introducing me to Grandpa's Pine Tar Soap. Twenty-six bars and counting, ladies.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.

We discovered that my daughter had completely outgrown her cowgirl boots right before her first riding lesson of the summer. So the other day we headed out to Jacobs Boots & Saddles in Belleville and found Bob the friendly proprietor at the counter inside a converted horse barn in (what had once been) rural Michigan. I visited a lot of tack stores when I was younger. I've never had a horse or anything, but I like the smell of bridle leather and just enjoy poking around looking at all the stuff. Still, I've never been in a store quite like Jacobs Boots & Saddles. In some ways it was a no frills shop: there were no tacky snap-button shirts, gaudy hillbilly belt buckles, or patriotic t-shirts on sale. No toys other than a couple of simple hobby horses. Just tack, saddles, hats, boots, belts, and bolo ties. The store is in an old barn and if you need to use the bathroom out back you have to pass the horse stalls to find it.

My daughter had a really hard time selecting her favorite pair of boots.

In the end, she went with red.

Bob and I had a great discussion about shootin' varmints and how he was too old and stubborn to worry much about advertising on the internet. Don't worry Bob, I've got the internet covered.

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This blog is intended solely to share the things I come across that inspire me. If I have posted a copyrighted image, I have only done so to the extent necessary to comment upon or discuss it; I will always include a link to the original source of the image if that source is online or acknowledge the source if it is in print. If I have reproduced anything of yours here that is copyrighted and you want me to remove it, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will do so right away.