One of the sweetest signs of summer is appearing across Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. Thimbleberry plants are flowering now, covering roadsides, forest edges, and trails with delicate white blossoms.

Cornish miners brought pasties to the Keweenaw, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, during the 1800s. The hearty, handheld meal was easy to carry underground and filling enough for a long day’s work. Long after the mines closed, the pasty remained — and today, it is one of the Keweenaw’s most beloved traditions.

Art For All Spaces proudly presents Bookaholic, a captivating solo exhibition by Orlando artist H. Gorlitz Scott, opening during the CityArts Third Thursday celebration on Thursday, July 16, from 6-9pm in the Side Gallery at CityArts in downtown Orlando.

Thoughtful travel begins long before tickets are booked, because every place has social patterns that shape daily life. Maps can show streets, trains, museums, and hotels, but they cannot show how people greet one another, share space, use silence, or define respect. For educators, students, families, and lifelong learners, preparation should include social context and humility.

Travel teaches us far more than geography, history, or language. Every destination introduces visitors to different traditions, customs, and ways of spending free time, offering valuable insights into the culture of a place. While museums, historical landmarks, and famous monuments often receive most of the attention, entertainment districts can be equally educational. They reveal how communities gather, celebrate, socialise, and express their local identity.

The morning we arrived at Culloden, the mist hadn't lifted off the moor yet. We were there when the doors opened, and hours and hours later, a kind staff member found us out on the battlefield to let us know the site was closing. We were the very last to leave (we are ALWAYS the last to leave). Our daughter kept going back to the Clan grave markers, looking off into the hills, listening hard. She did not want to go.

Neither did we. Culloden had a firm hold on our souls. (Still does!)

Mills Gallery is proud to present “I Am Tony Khawam: A Modern Identity,” the highly anticipated Orlando debut of Syrian American artist Tony Khawam. This solo exhibition explores the ever-evolving nature of identity, merging American pop culture and global icons with influences drawn from the Italian Renaissance, Middle Eastern artistic culture, and the ancient Mesopotamian world.

There is a café I still think about, years after I sat in it. I could not tell you what I ordered. I could not draw you a map of the street. But I remember the sound. Someone behind the counter was playing old records, the kind with a little crackle under the melody, and the whole room seemed to move at the speed of that music. People lingered. Nobody checked their phone. I stayed far longer than I meant to, and when I finally left, the song came with me.

There's a moment every summer when the whole neighborhood smells like wood smoke and something wonderful. Someone's grilling and smoking. You can hear the sizzle two yards over, smell the smoke from your fishing boat across the lake, and suddenly your dinner plans change (yes, really!).

Every summer, that neighbor is us.