Stephanie says

1923 – 1991 My uncle, Leland Post, was the eldest son of my grandfather Elmer Post - with his first wife. Divorce was pretty scandalous at that time. My grandfather, who had a creamery and made cheese in Blachly Oregon, had full custody. My grandparents married in 1931 when Lee was eight. He saw his mother only infrequently. Ethel and Elmer had three children, my mother Helene, and uncles Lynn and Howard. When Leland was a young boy, he was angry at his father and planned to run away from home. He didn’t have any money so he loaded up a wagon with cheese wheels and went around selling cheese for cheap. Elmer heard tell of it when one of the neighbors asked if something was wrong with the cheese since Leland was selling it for so little. In 1941 my grandfather sold the creamery and started a logging business in Powers Oregon. Leland was 18 and moved with the family to help with the new business. Poaching was commonplace in Coos County. A Powers cop stopped by for a chat ...

It is dark and dank in this place. And scary. The smell of pigeon shit and fusty soil are stuck in my nasal passages as I crouch, a loaded AK47 grasped so tightly in my right hand it makes an IMPRESSION. Heavy mud caked on my overalls weighs me down as I inch along toward safety. Flashes of gunfire light up the night sky behind me, followed abruptly by the cacophony of automatic weapons discharging. In that brief instant of light I can see I’m on the right path. My heart beats rapidly, fear makes my breathing hard. I hear a whisper. “Susan. Keep coming this way. Keep down.” Thank God, it’s Kevin. Kevin, my fearless and athletic lover, leads me through a maze of crumbling buildings away from our enemies. I stay at his heels as we slither through oozing mud, bird crap, and who knows what else, to a nearby two-story house, our reconnaissance point. I send a silent pray of thankfulness to the heavens when we reach the interior unscathed. A wave of light from another burst of gunfire expo...

A little drizzle Then a downpour

Dear Jeanne: There you are in the Middle Kingdom - craving French food. Certainly by now you've had the finest Chinese food available - something you'll be unable to get once you get home. But for now you're craving glorious butter. There is a certain irony in this... I recall being so sick of Italian food after one mere month... I craved - get ready for it - Kentucky Fried Chicken - got a bucket from the colonel when I got home. That was probably the last time I've eaten at KFC... They do make an excellent coleslaw. Speaking of irony, I'm reading Julia and cooking from Weight Watchers. I think it's your cookbook actually that I've ended up with somehow. Been doing the soups and the minestrone recipe therein is pretty damn good. So is the clam chowder. Your cuz

My grandmother Ethel’s family travelled the Oregon Trail near the end of the great migration west. They left from Neligh Nebraska and made their way gradually to Oregon. Grandmother, born in 1903, was the only one of six siblings born in Oregon. Her brother Minor Billings, born in 1890, was old enough to recall events from the time of the family journey. (I typed up some stories for him but will have to delve further to find them. I have not been as organized as I would wish.) Minor was an avid fisherman from the get go. Here is his 1915 hunting license - I do have some of his fishing licenses. Portrait of Minor in 1917 On the back of this photo is a notation in my grandmother's hand "A very fine person". Franked enveloped dated Oct. 7, 1918 from Minor at Fort Lewis, Wa. Addressed to Miss Ethel Billings, Blachley, OR. And it made it! Following WWI, Minor worked for the forest service until he retired at age 60. He married along the way although it was ...

King's Hawaiian Bakery Sweet Bread, ono delicious bro! I lived on the windward side of Oahu, with my husband Jim and my brother Michael. We were in our mid-twenties and having a roaring good time living in Hawaii. We didn’t have a car in the early days but our apartment wasn’t far from the ocean. We’d jog over and have a swim or do a little boogie boarding. We bought Hawaiian sling spears, rubber band propelled eight-foot metal tubes with three long prongs that spear the fish. I carted that sling around for miles and miles over the years but my single catch was a sea cucumber, a very sluggish creature creeping to its doom on the ocean floor. Jim and Michael quickly mastered the sling, Michael in particular caught lots of mahnini, elusive octopi and claw-less lobster. Once he killed a Moray eel and stuck it in the kitchen sink when he got home. The eel was only playing dead however. It slithered out of the sink and hid behind the refrigerator. I was fortunate to arrive in tim...

I walk my dogs at this pioneer cemetary. Fog is so deceptive and somehow elegant. Here's my big guy - running off-leash! A two-year old who never avoids a mud puddle.