Jimmy Bobby

Mushrooms sprout from Jimmy Bobbies footsteps....

and wild creatures dance to the sound of his fiddle through the forest.

His best friend is a giant sleeping bear....

and he rides a giant whitefish through the Great Lakes.

...Jimmy Bobby woo hoo....

Folk tales and real life always seem to blend so easily up here. Like Paul Bunyan or Johnny Appleseed Jimmy Bobby is a tall tale you could say, one foot straddling fantasy and the other planted in real life stories. Katie and I came up with the character last spring and we've been whistling his tune ever since. You could say he is the Spirit of the North Woods and the embodiment of the Biostation. Just for fun we are making a fiddle tune about him, maybe even a little children's book!

No one embodies "Jimmy Bobby" better than our friend Brendan Carson though. Northern Michigan all the way, the stories surrounding Brendan seem to take on mythical qualities almost. BB gun, fishing pole, and fiddle in hand he came to visit us at the cabin just back from visiting family in Ireland. In fact Christina Carson came out too and later Luke, Nate, Jill, Dave and all sorts of folk from the station for fiddle music and wine around a bonfire in the forest. Smores over the fire and skinny dipping in the lake by the light of a full moon.

These kind of gathering are why I keep coming back here. Pure Northern Michigan. Jimmy Booobbyy wOO hOO....!