My favorite ways to embrace the charm and coziness of the winter season.

When you move somewhere new, it changes you. And I feel like a snowman that is slowly starting to melt into a more mellow version of me. Hustle culture, people call it these days. After living in cities for 18 years, I thought hustle was simply my nature. But then I moved here and it felt like slamming on the brakes.

Blink and you’ll miss it. Holds true for most of these small towns in Northern Michigan. At the only intersection in Maple City sits a post office the size of a postage stamp itself, a gas station that has a handwritten sign over the 89 at the pump — no premium gas — and an abandoned corner store that says “Exciting things coming in 2020!” even though we’re six months beyond. The population is 113 and I wonder if that includes me.