Saturday, May 19, 2012
Andover’s Emerson Misch tops Birmingham’s Kathy Quigley to extend the streak of baseball players winning the weekly poll to three.
Bloomfield Hills Andover’s Emerson Misch won the Patch Athlete of the Week title for May 7-12, pushing the of baseball players winning the weekly award to three. The Barons player picked up 505 votes after a week of unscientific polling among Patch readers in Oakland County, or 53 percent of the total votes cast. He edged out Kathy Quigley from Seaholm, who also received strong support. The Maples lacrosse player had 37 percent of the votes (360). Misch won the title after being a real difference-maker for his Andover team during the week. He was the offensive standout for the Barson in a 6-1 win over district rival Lahser on May 9 with two hits, two runs and two RBIs. In two mercy rule wins on last Saturday over Lamphere, Misch hit a …
'I kept at it on my own with no one to guide me and only my own skills to work with, and in the end, I found that I was much more capable than I thought,' writes columnist Dr. Molly O'Shea.
A fire pit. That's what we went to Home Depot to get. Simple, right? I wanted to get a relatively deep one that would allow the ashes to settle and not blow all over the yard. One that would encourage a whole evening of sitting outside listening to the sound of crackling wood and leave my clothes infused with the smell of hardwood. A fire pit that would bring us all out for the evening to chat and enjoy the pleasure of summer nights. When we got to the store, Conall and I looked at our options. Most were black metal, shallow bowls with mesh tops that stood on small, curved feet. Some had chimney-like extensions and looked more like something you'd see in the desert Southwest than in a Michigan backyard. One was more decorative with a …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
I thought I wanted to ditch the big ride – until I drove a loaded 2012 Chevy Suburban.
Editor's note: This is the latest in a series. Read all of the Patch Drives installments here. Here’s the thing: I thought I was ready to ditch the big ride. I thought I was looking for something more compact — well, as compact as you can get while loading four kids and all their stuff. I thought those things until I drove a loaded 2012 Chevy Suburban. Two days in the Suburban rekindled my passion for extra large cars (and big hair bands, too, courtesy of SiriusXM Radio). When I drove my giant custom van into the parking lot of Matthews-Hargreaves Chevrolet in Royal Oak, I admit I got what is becoming a familiar twinge of nerves. Like I’m going on yet another first date. Will they like me? Will I like them? Before I jumped down out of …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Proud kids, husbands and friends nominate the special women in their lives. Share your photos and stories of mom today, too.
We asked you to tell us why your mom (or grandma or mother figure) is so special in anticipation of Mother's Day and you shared stories and photos that made us laugh and cry. Congratulations to our three winners (chosen at random): Maureen Krasner of Grosse Pointe Farms: Kranser was nominated by her husband, Charles, who said: "Whether we're hiking, biking, picking blueberries, playing in the sand or relaxing at home, Maureen (Mo, Mom) is happy wherever we are as a family. A phenomenal mother, wife and friend, she's always ready to dig in for fun and adventure." Krasner wins dinner at The Root Restaurant & Bar in White Lake. The Rev. Dona Gilsdorf of Birmingham: Gilsdorf, pastor at Unity Church of Rochester, was nominated by Danielle Boes…
Monday, May 14, 2012
Mother's Day 2012 has come and gone, but there is no way on this green earth I'm going to miss the opportunity to give a holler to all the moms out there.
I've written past columns about all the mothers I knew growing up, who opened their kitchens and refrigerators to a host of their kids' friends—adding a plate to the dinner table in addition to their own six, eight, 10, 12 or more children. Here's to all the moms of families small and large, such as the Bells, Fitzpatricks, Calverleys, Brancheaus, McEntees, Moores, Ouellettes, Roys, Smolinskis, Richards, and Schmidts. I truly could go on and on saluting all the older, younger and in-between moms out there. As the lovely Kathy points out, if men were required to have children, as soon as the word got out about the difficulties of nine months of pregnancy and the little matter of actually giving birth, there simply wouldn't be any more …
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Maples’ Spencer Eick tops Berkley’s Stephanie Miller in biggest athlete of the week contest ever!
Seaholm’s Spencer Eick won the Patch Athlete of the Week title for April 30-May 4 in one of the biggest weeks of voting yet. The Maples baseball player picked up nearly 7,500 votes after a week of unscientific polling among Patch readers in Oakland County, or 41 percent of the total votes cast (18,158). He edged out Stephanie Miller from Berkley High School, who also received strong support. The Bears’ soccer player had 40 percent of the votes (7,337). Eick came out on top after strong week at the plate for Seaholm. He went 3-for-4 with two doubles, four RBI and three runs in a 14-3 mercy rule win over Berkley last Friday. A day earlier, he helped the Maples avoid getting swept in a doubleheader against Harrison with a home run and two …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
We have some seats on the tour of Metro Detroit Coney Island Restaurants to give away. The contest closes at noon Friday, May 11, so enter now!
What's your favorite coney island restaurant? Tell us below in comments and you could win a ticket to a coney island bus tour Saturday, May 12. You can join authors of the new book Coney Detroit — Joe Grimm of Bloomfield Township and Katherine Yung of Brighton — on a bus tour by D:Hive Detroit of Metro Detroit for a tasting of their favorite coney island hot dogs. Patch is also sponsoring the tour. The tour runs 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and includes samplings of coneys at the restaurants where the bus stops. The tour will visit some coney local treasures – including a stop at Dearborn restaurant Joe's Top Dog Coney Island – home of the Jim Padilla Special, named for the former Ford Motor Co. president. Also included is a stop at a Greek …
Upload a photo of your mom and tell us why she's special – and you can win dinner or a gift certificate. But do it by noon today!
Have you entered Patch's Mother's Day contest yet? If you want to show your mom how special she is and get the chance to win a prize, you'll need to enter our contest by noon Thursday. You just might win dinner at The Root Restaurant & Bar in White Lake – the Detroit Free Press' Restaurant of the Year – or a $50 gift card at Metals in Time in Royal Oak that we're giving away to moms who touch the lives of readers in our 29 Michigan Patch communities. All you have to do is upload a photo of your mom or mother figure and tell us why she's the best. But don't do it here! Visit our contest page to officially enter. Happy Mother's Day!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Sen. Carl Levin says U.S. Postal Service faces "an extraordinary financial challenge" in the future.
In late April, the U.S. Senate approved an important bill to reform the U.S. Postal Service. Though the bill was not perfect, it makes important changes to help the Postal Service adapt and thrive in the 21st century. And it includes an amendment that I helped write that I believe will help protect postal facilities in Michigan and across the nation from unjustified closures. There is little doubt that change is necessary; the Postal Service faces an extraordinary financial challenge, and it must make changes to take into account a new reality in which physical mail has in many cases been replaced by electronic communication. But in making these necessary reforms, we must ensure that all the American people can continue to rely on the U.S…
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Chain executives consider teen-friendly policy at some theaters – eventually.
“Watch the screen” seems like an unneeded instruction for moviegoers. But which screen? The topic of texting in theaters sparked lively debate last week at CinemaCon, an industry gathering in Las Vegas. “Several prominent industry figures seemed to endorse the idea that ... it might be time to relax prohibitions against texting in theaters,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Teens are “accustomed to controlling their existence,” notes the head of IMAX Filmed Entertainment, Greg Foster. Cell bans make some “feel a little handcuffed,” he added. Entertainment columnist Patrick Goldstein of the Times, calling himself “a purist” on this issue, worries that “Americans almost never resist technological change." He expects chains eventually will …
SJMEnterprises57
11:15 pm on Sunday, May 20, 2012
As I mentioned, I reside in a township of Grand Rapids, which is a suburb of GR, and bit more rural than in the city proper. In their revision the township made a requirement that any fire pit must be at least 25 feet from a structure in any direction of the fire pit. I guess in terms of the smoke issue, I would think that it is a personal responsibility issue on both the part of the persons who … more ›