My favorite class at U of M was Woody Plants, and the required text, written by Burton V. Barnes and the late great Warren H. Wagner, is well worth reading...although it didn't keep me from killing several shrubs and a Pinus Strobus. AADL has several books about gardening in Michigan for both experts and those of us with perennially black thumbs. The free edition of Michigan Gardener (available at many locations around town) recommends the following in their April 2008 issue: The Michigan Gardener's Companion: An Insider's Guide to Gardening in the Great Lakes State, Covering Ground, and Viburnums: Flowering Shrubs for Every Season.

This Sunday, the Ann Arbor Film Festival presents Made in Michigan, featuring films by Michigan residents, including the 42-minute "buzzards steal your picnic", a film by Ann Arbor filmmaker, Terri Sarris, about Frank Pahl, a Detroit-area composer, multi-instrumentalist, sound artist, and creator of self-playing musical automatons. (3:00 p.m., Sunday, March 30)

Looking for new ways to research the family tree? "Learning More at the Library of Michigan," a free annual genealogy seminar set for Saturday, March 29, will focus on utilizing online resources for family history research. The workshop runs from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Michigan Library and Historical Center. Seating is limited, so registration is recommended. Sign up online at www.michigan.gov/familyhistory, by e-mail at librarian@michigan.gov or by phone at (517) 373-1300.

Check out a new web site with more than 1,200 job postings at 24 Michigan colleges and universities: Michigan Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC). Jobs include research, professional, executive, administrative, and support positions in academia and their hospital and healthcare facilities as well as tenure-track and instructional faculty and positions in information technology and the trades. To broaden your job search, use the AADL Employment & Jobs section of the AADL Select Sites.

The Library of Michigan's annual selection (annotations from the Library of Michigan list):

Alden B. Dow: Midwestern Modern, by Diane Maddex (Alden B. Dow Home & Studio) - This tribute to Midland native and nationally renowned architect Alden B. Dow (1904-1983) celebrates his creative and innovative designs for homes, churches, schools and government buildings, as well as his life philosophies of honesty, humility and enthusiasm. In his half-century career, Dow designed more than 600 structures, more than 100 of which were built in Midland, making the town a monument to his talent. Filled with vivid photos and design elements that reflect Dow's own style, the book also provides a detailed tour of the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio in Midland.

Connecting the Dots: Tyree Guyton's Heidelberg Project (Wayne State University Press) - A remarkable story of an artist's quest to transform his urban neighborhood, Connecting the Dots explores both the beginning of Tyree Guyton's journey as an artist and his impact on his Heidelberg Street neighborhood in Detroit. The book covers the controversies surrounding the project, the hopes of the artist, and a glimpse at the plans for the future.

If you asked me six years ago if I liked Bob Seger, I’d’ve said, “I don’t know who that is.” If you asked me four years ago if I liked Bob Seger I’d’ve say, “Yeah, he’s okay. I got Stranger In Town for fifty cents; it was worth it.” If you asked me right now if I liked Bob Seger, I’d say, “Are you kidding? Every disc jockey in Detroit spends their days fawning over him, his “musical influence,” and playing ev'ry cut off of Live Bullet! Just because he’s from Michigan, I have to love him? No, thank you.” Then I’d probably find a cardboard cutout of Bob Seger, just so I could punch it in the face. I routinely bring three wherever I go. You got to have backups.

Kathy-Jo Wargin has done it again, with the Mitt and Minn series about a pair of friendly traveling Midwestern mice. The series came out just as my husband begged for “no more talking mice books.” Ha. Not since Judy Blume’s Fudge books has a series been such a hit with our son. The first book is Mitt the Michigan Mouse followed by Minn from Minnesota, Mitt and Minn at the Wisconsin Cheese Jamboree and Mitt and Minn‘s Illinois Adventure. The publisher is Mitten Press, an imprint of Ann Arbor Media Group. The series is represented in the Michigan Children's Book Authors, Illustrators & Publishers Exhibit presented by the UM Special Collections Library, on display in the lower level of the downtown AADL through Nov. 29.

Hunting season is afoot in Michigan. The DNR has guides for all types of hunting as well as licensing information. The Deer Hunting Prospects brochure will help you decide where and when to get out in the woods. Check out the state parks and recreation areas map to find the perfect camp site.

The Great Michigan Read is a new program for the Michigan Humanities Council.

It is a community reading program for the entire state, focusing on a single literary masterpiece. The 2007 pick is The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway.

The selection committee cited The Nick Adams Stories as "a literary masterpiece literally made in Michigan. The author, Ernest Hemingway, spent the majority of his first 22 summers in Northern Michigan. These experiences played an essential role in his development as one of the world’s most significant writer”.

In a series of linked coming-of-age stories, a young man grapples with the complexities of adulthood, including war, death, marriage, and family.

Find out how to participate among the 100 community partners in the state, and in Ann Arbor. There is even a self-directed tour of Hemingway's old haunts.

The beauty of the woods, the pull of the camp, the challenge of the hunt have been part of Michigan history since man first set foot here thousands of years ago. A-Hunting We Will Go: Deer Hunting in Michigan opens Aug. 4 at the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing. The exhibit will tell the story of deer hunting in Michigan, with a glimpse at its beginnings and a focus on its development into the widespread pastime it is today. Hunters will have the opportunity to add their own buck-bagging stories to Michigan's whitetail lore, as the Michigan Oral History Association will invite hunters to share their personal accounts of hunting at the exhibit.

My family and I just got back from vacation. My son has an assignment for the up coming school year, collect 30 different rocks. What better way to accomplish this than picking rocks on the shores of Lake Michigan. Fortunately, authors Bruce Mueller and Kevin Gauthier with a great book on the subject, the Lake Michigan Rock Picker's Guide. With the book, my son was able to identify many of the rocks himself. Our next trip north, we'll visit Mr. Mueller's rock shop again, C & M Rock Shop in Honor, Michigan. Mr. Mueller will even autograph the book if you have your own copy.

Join fellow family historians at the CSI Meets Roots seminar, July 20-21, at the Library of Michigan and learn new tips, new resources and the new methods of forensic genealogy. Check out the complete schedule of programs and register soon ~ this will be a popular event.

Despite our last pasty blog, we do not as yet have an official Michigan Pasty Day. Not to worry! The grand city of Calumet has come through with PastyFest 2007. Join fellow pasty lovers June 29 - July 1 for the pasty pull, the pasty bakeoff, the rutabaga shot put, pasty parade and the ever-popular pasty fitness walk. Toivo, the walking, talking pasty will be there so book your rooms early and say Ya to the U.P.

The United States Post Office has unveiled a new postage stamp honoring President Gerald Ford. The stamp will be issued nationwide on August 31st. and a special stamp dedication ceremony will take place on that date at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids.