None of us can see all the wavelengths of light.  My colorblind son is flummoxed by red and green and brown.  I don’t know anyone who can see radio waves, but sophisticated telescopes translate them into visual images I can comprehend.  

Astronomer and author Noreen Grice has taken this concept one step further.  Her braille books render the universe into tactile images.  Her latest, Touch the Invisible Sky, is filled with stunning touch-and-see photographs that delight blind and sighted people alike.  As she said during an exceptional NPR interview, ”No human can see these other wavelengths so we’re all approaching it together.”  Other books in the series are Touch the Stars (the constellations in Braille), Touch the Sun (ouch!) and Touch the Universe (tactile renderings of Hubble Space Telescope photos).  You can read more about the books at You Can Do Astronomy, at HubbleSite, and in a National Geographic News review. 

Nothing in recent memory stirred my imagination like those Hubble photos.  The gorgeous backlit displays at the Dennos Museum in Traverse City were complemented by a slide talk by an astronomer.  Sounds boring, doesn’t it?  Trust me, it wasn’t.  I suspect most astronomers are divinely wacky.  It’s all that gazing into infinity.  I could practically feel my brain expanding to accommodate all the new thoughts bouncing around in there.

What are photos on the page, after all?  They’re a collection of dots of ink – an idea of the subject, not the thing itself.  What if they were a collection of dots of different sizes and shapes instead?  Same thing – different way of conveying the same idea.  Maybe all our experiences are only comprehensible through one metaphor or another. 

If you spend enough time thinking about these things you end up in the realm of poetry (or philosophy, or astrophysics – take your pick, mine’s words).  One of my favorite poems is Howard Nemerov’s The Makers: ” . . . the first to say/Star, water, stone, that said the visible/And made it bring invisibles to view/In wind and time and change, and in the mind/Itself that minded the hitherto idiot world/And spoke the speechless world and sang the towers/Of the city into the astonished sky.”   

I found another interesting take on the whole subject at Astroprof’s Page - which is also Not Boring.  Next post I promise to get back to telling you about truly accessible places to go right here on earth.  Bellaire, for example.  Stay tuned.

Whimsical themes, raised beds, touch and sniff plantings, and a tree house made of Michigan white cedar attract families to the universally accessible 4-H Children’s Garden on the MSU campus in East Lansing. On the theory that good ideas bear repeating, this spring Raven Hill Discovery Center will build its own accessible tree house in East Jordan. Anyone who’s ever fantasized about the perfect leafy hideaway is invited to contribute suggestions. Master woodworker Andre Poineau will create the final design.

Raven Hill’s tree house will be approximately 15′ x 15′, but not necessarily square, and will perch on a platform suspended eight feet above the ground by cables attached to four trees.  There might be a ramp – there might be a lift – there might be a cable car.  It will be accessible for wheelers, but the final design is up in the air . . .  (Sorry – couldn’t resist.)  This will not be an ordinary tree house.  Expect features that demonstrate principles of sound, light, motion, simple machines and nature.  Look for design elements in handcrafted glass, clay, metal, wood, fiber and stone. 

The project is funded in part by a challenge grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts. Raven Hill must match the $6,300 grant with $12,600 in cash and in-kind contributions.  Lots of volunteers will help build the tree house in May.  You could be one of them.

There’s a lot more information about the project on the Raven Hill website. Please call Director Cheri Leach at 231.536.3369 if you have any questions.

Trying to figure out how to make my own scribblings more universally accessible I prowl the web looking for ideas and information.  I found an absolutely spot-on remark at the Headscape site, where the designers are singing my song (on-key and in better voice):  

We understand that accessibility can be an overwhelming subject and that it can be hard to judge the return on investment. We encourage our clients to do what they can . . . rather than being put off by the enormity of the issue and doing nothing at all . . . . We do not condemn people for not considering accessibility but rather encourage those who wish to do something.

That’s just how I feel about Up North businesses who’d like to welcome everyone but have a hard time figuring out how to retrofit a 1950’s cabin to accommodate a wheelchair, or make a woodsy path comfortable for a person with a visual impairment. We’re pretty resourceful around here. We can figure out how to do this stuff.  I’m going to help.

I had business in Bellaire this afternoon and missed my lunch, so I was irresistibly drawn to MOKA, a bright new cafe on Bridge Street.  Bill and Cathy Peterson have completely redone the corner previously occupied by a pizza shop.  The coffee bar offers all the usual enticements, plus biscotti from Provisions in Traverse City.  Cathy is the chef, turning out breakfast quiches and mid-afternoon pastries, while Bill takes care of the front of the house.   A person will soon be able to have a civilized glass of wine.  This pleasantly open spot is fully accessible.  On opening day, a snowy Friday afternoon, it was full of happy customers.  Looks like a winner to me.

You can brave snow and ice to get to the mall, where you can play dodge-em’ with all the rest of the shoppers, or . . . 

• You can shop at independent merchants close to home.  If you live anywhere near Elk Rapids, Michigan, you might enjoy these suggestions from Give yourself the gift of shopping locally.
• You can shop online for specialty items.  Here are some Michigan gems:
  • Brownwood Farms - chocolate covered dried cherries, sauces, fruit preserves
  • Rocky Top Farms - fruit preserves, jellies, salsas and more, all packed in white cedar gift boxes
  • Friends of the Jordan River - a calendar and notecards featuring photos of the Jordan River Valley
  • American Spoon Foods - a tremendous range of exceptional fruit preserves and condiments
  • Food for Thought - organic and wild harvested fruits and herbs, some with no sugar added
  • Education Outdoors - the award-winning CAMP board game and other family fun
• You can take the people you love to a play, a movie, a museum, a concert.  Sometimes the best gift of all is the time you spend together.
• Finally, please remember your community food bank or shelter when you’re deciding where to send those year-end donations. 

May you and yours have a lovely, peaceful holiday season.

Some people live in places with dusty palm trees, scorpions, wildfires, and rattlesnakes – and they think we have it rough.  Ha.  Snowy weather is fun if you pull on your puffy jacket and your wool socks and get outside where winter adventures are waiting for you.

Float the Jordan, the first river to be designated wild and scenic under Michigan’s Natural Rivers Act.  Jordan Valley Outfitters will take the whole family on a guided winter rafting trip, complete with hot beverages and snacks – or a complete dinner, should you choose the romantic moonlight float.  The river flows through deep woods sparkling with snow while you relax in the comfy raft and let the guide do all the work.  Call (231) 536-0006 for details.

Stargaze.  The stars never glitter so brightly as on a cold winter night in Michigan.  Buy or borrow a copy of The Stars: A New Way to See Them by H. A. Rey, and learn to see constellations you’ve never been able to find before.  Rey, who wrote the Curious George books, intended this work for children, but it is wonderfully appealing to the whole family.  Once you’re hooked on stargazing with the naked eye, visit NMC’s Rogers Observatory to peer through its 14-inch telescope at the Orion Nebula.  Members of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society will host a free public viewing on Saturday January 12th from 8-10 p.m.  Climb the stairs into the dome to reach the large telescope or, if it’s a clear night, stay on the ground to look through others that will be set up outside.  The classroom, restrooms and outside telescopes are wheelchair accessible. The Observatory is located at 1753 Birmley Road in Traverse City, about half a mile south of Hammond Road, and half a mile west of Garfield.

Learn to track wildlife.  A crisp morning with fresh snowfall is the perfect time to try wildlife tracking.  The woods, meadows and wetlands of Antrim County are home to deer, coyotes, foxes, beavers, minks, woodchucks, muskrats, porcupines, bobcats and at least one bear.  Even in town you can spot signs of raccoons, possums, rabbits, squirrels, skunks, chipmunks and voles.  Begin by exploring your own back yard with a little help from these guides:

• Mammals of Michigan Field Guide, by Stan Tekiela, is packed with details on all 66 Michigan mammals. It features exceptional photos of the animals and their scat, illustrations of tracks and track patterns, and information on size, food, habitat, sounds, and behavior.
• Critters of Michigan Pocket Guide, by Wildlife Forever, is designed for children, but their parents will enjoy it too. It includes just 50 “critters” including birds and mammals, with photos, details on habitat, food, and predators, and diagrams of tracks and track patterns.
• Tracking & the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks & Sign, by Paul Rezendes, is a beautifully detailed work geared to adults.

If you decide you want to learn more, you can take a tracking class at Grass River Natural Area (near Bellaire) on Saturday, January 26 at 10 am.  Reservations are required and there is a fee.  Call (231) 533-8314.

I know, I know – today is St. Venison’s Day Up North in Michigan.  But some people haven’t had enough fishing yet, and there’s still time for steelhead, walleye and whitefish.  Try these accessible fishing spots:

• Elk Rapids – Follow Dexter west to the end and park in the free lot behind the dam.  The lot itself is the biggest barrier – if you can negotiate the rutted surface you’ll be home free.  A boardwalk will take you to several ramped fishing piers.   
• Wakeley Bridge Landing on the Au Sable River has a grated wheelchair area along the shoreline, just at the downstream end of the Holy Water.  Follow S. Down River Road east of Grayling to Wakeley Bridge Road.  Go north on Wakeley Bridge Road – the access site is downstream on the right.
• Traverse City – there are accessible boardwalks along the Boardman River at Union Street and behind Front Street.
• Petoskey – the Bear River Pier is accessible at the river mouth, with barrier free walkways on both sides of the river upstream to Lake Street Bridge.  There are accessible public restrooms on the west bank behind the fire station.

For updated information, check the Michigan DNR fishing report.

At Accessible North we believe in “No Child Left Indoors.”  Of course the best way to get the kids outside is to take them there yourself.  Even at this time of year there are interesting places to go. 

• Take a walk or a wheel along the boardwalk at the Grass River Natural Area between Bellaire and Alden.  It’s open from dawn to dusk year ’round, and it’s free.  Print the map from the website and go explore.  (The interpretive cabin is closed now, but there is an accessible pit toilet.) 
• Visit the Oden Fish Hatchery in Alanson to see how they raise brown and rainbow trout for release in the Great Lakes and inland lakes.  (Call (231) 347-4689 to schedule a tour or to find out when you can watch the November egg-taking process.) 
• If it’s just too miserable to go out, the CAMP board game - developed by Education Outdoors in Eastport – is a terrific way for families to learn more about the natural world.

I spent a couple hours recently at a workshop on accessible home design and remodeling sponsored by the Disability Network of Northern Michigan.  Builder Sally Erickson Bornschein and realtor Lou Anne Ford had solid suggestions for making places more livable, more visitable, and more salable for a relatively small investment:

• Improve lighting.  Countertop lighting makes it easier to work in the kitchen, and a good reading lamp is always welcome.  Lou Anne recommended solar tubes to brighten a dark interior with natural light.  Sally recommended soft night-lighting in halls and baths.  ”Most falls in the home occur while leaving the bathroom,” she said.  “When you get up in the night your eyes are dilated.  Then you flip the bathroom switch and POW – bright light smacks you in the face.  Just about the time your eyes have adjusted to that, you’re ready to go back to bed.  You turn off the light as you leave, and all of a sudden you’re blind!” 
• Install a handheld adjustable showerhead and a bench seat.  These features offer spa luxury on a modest budget.  They’re great for shaving your legs — and great for bathing the dogs!  (When this gets around I’ll never have weekend guests again, huh?)
• Install grab bars in the bathroom.  There are some beautifully designed ones that make great towel bars when they’re not needed for support.  Make sure to reinforce the walls, or the bars can pull out.
• Use color and texture to give definition to spaces and changes in surfaces.  Wall and trim paint and matte finishes for plumbing fixtures help – and these finishes are easier to keep clean, too.
• Replace twist knobs with lever styles.  They’re easier to use, whether you have arthritis or an armload of groceries. 
• Build a simple package shelf by the entry.  How often have you fumbled for your house keys while juggling the drycleaning and a carryout pizza? 

Sally Erickson Bornschein is a universal design advocate whose Livable Lifestyles model home was featured at the 2007 National Governors Conference in Traverse City.  Lou Anne Ford is a registered nurse as well as a Realtor, and is a Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES). She helps people find housing suited to changing needs, and also helps clients plan modifications that allow them to stay in their homes.

Whether you’re a tourist Up North or running errands in your own hometown, when nature calls, finding a potty that you’d want to use can be a challenge.  Sure, restaurants have ‘em.  Try explaining that you don’t want a table, you just want to use the facilities.  Parks have potties that may or may not have been cleaned this week, and that will probably be locked from Halloween to Memorial Day.  Lots of retail shops have signs on the door warning “No Public Restrooms.” 

Libraries are the solution.  Trust me, they are the most reliable source of clean, well-lit, accessible public bathrooms in most Up North tourist towns.  Besides, librarians are the nicest people in the world, and they will cheerfully welcome you and the kids who are dancing on one foot looking worried.  The library is the very first place you should think of.   Here are some great ones:

Elk Rapids – 300 Isle of Pines (next to the marina)
Open M-Th 10-8; F-Sat 10-4; closed Sunday

This is one of the most charming libraries you’ll ever explore.  After you’ve used the restrooms, you can turn your attention to the cozy children’s reading room, the pretty porch with the great views of the harbor, paperbacks that you can borrow indefinitely, and public computer access.  The garden club maintains a lovely perennial garden in front, and just at the bottom of the hill there are extensive walkways and boardwalks that wind through the marina area, along the Elk River, past more garden club wonders and through Veterans Memorial Park.  There are accessible fishing platforms, benches, and pretty views of the bay, the river, and a bunch of chatty ducks.     

Central Lake – 7900 Maple Street (turn off Main Street just across from the Lamplight Inn)
Open M,Tu,Th,F 10-6; W 10-8; Sa 10-3; closed Sunday

This is an attractive place with lots of programs for children and adults – and nice restrooms too!  You can check your email, take the kids to a story hour, and if you’re around over the winter, check out the monthly movie night.  At the Friendly Book Cottage next door you can buy very reasonably priced used books from one of the nice volunteers from the Friends of the Library.  There are many children’s books and an impressive collection of Michigan authors and titles.

Charlevoix – Grant Street between Clinton and Mason (2 blocks west of Bridge Street, 2 blocks south of the bridge)
Open M-Th 10-8; F-Sat 10-5; closed Sunday

What a gorgeous place.  Think Frank Lloyd Wright if he’d had any idea how to make things comfortable as well as beautiful.  Besides the lovely restrooms you’ll find WiFi access and public computers, and an extensive Michigan collection.

Boyne City – 201 E. Main Street
Open M-Th 9-8; F 9-5; Sat 9-1; Sun 1-5

The Boyne District Library goes beyond “ADA-accessible” amenities.  It is truly welcoming to people of all ages and abilities, and offers a wide range of community programming.  Try the monthly Family Game Night, the twice-monthly movie series, Yu-gi-oh tournaments for anime fans, and story hours for little ones.  The collections include genealogy materials, a large children’s section, and broadband internet service.

Traverse Area District Library – 600 Woodmere (south of 8th Street, along the Boardman River)
Open M-Th 9-9; F-Sat 9-6; Sun 12-5

TADL is a great spot.  Post-potty, check out the revolving displays in the lobby.  You might find Native American quillwork, contemporary jewelry, landscape photos, antique quilts, old prints – anything connected to regional arts, culture or environment.  There are paperbacks for indefinite loan, WiFi and public computer access, a host of children’s programs, movie showings, concerts – even a gift shop.  Outside, there is a delightful children’s garden.   The library is adjacent to an accessible boardwalk along the Boardman River, and to the TART Trail (runner, walker, cyclist, wheeler, and stroller-pusher accessible).