WALKING ACROSS AMERICA
I would get up as soon as it was daylight, eat a hasty breakfast and start out walking along our route.
ERIC AND BETH
Eric met Beth, his future wife at Lewis and Clark. Shortly after Eric became a police officer, they were married and then Beth became a police officer also.
JARI’S BUILT-IN
Jari moved to Spokane in 1990. She got a job in a medical clinic there and moved into a nice apartment near her work. She planned on staying in that apartment for a long time--long enough to spend some money…
THE BLUE HIPPOPOTAMUS
Some time in my distant past while looking through a House and Garden magazine, I came across a photo of a large, maybe life-size, maybe more-so, sky-blue hippopotamus.
THE MAN IN WHITE
One of my favorite Halloween costume creations for myself was one I wore to a party in Port Townsend. I went as THE MAN IN WHITE from CATCH 22.
REAL MASS TRANSIT, 1985
The trouble with most public or mass transit is that it is only intra city or inter city. Then the traveler has to take other transit to get to his-her destination. Or if one wants to go to Stixville in…
NEW CITIES
CATEGORY: MORE PORT TOWNSEND Back in the 70’s and 80’s, there was a lot of talk about planned new cities. It seemed that everyone was doing it. So was I. I favored using high rises to keep the population from…
SSFP (BY LARA)
We had known (of course) that Santa didn’t exist and that Mom was the main stocking stuffer, and we wanted them to get stockings full of goodies too.
THE SOUND OF PLACES
Listen:
UFO’S
During World War Two, which started when I was twelve years old, I heard that the Germans had a secret weapon which the Allied pilots called “Foo Fighters.”
ELINOR NELSON’S UFO
During the years that I headed up the UFO group in Port Townsend, there were many people with interesting tales to tell. I will relate one that I think the most memorable.
THE SPY
This particular person came every week. He always sat at the back of the room. He was immaculately well groomed. He was always dressed the same; he wore pressed tan cotton pants, shiny shoes, a shirt and tie and a…
ENGLAND
In the spring of 1997, I fulfilled a long dreamed dream. I went walking in England for two months.
YELLOW FIELDS
My companion said, “That’s not England.” I looked at him askance. I asked what he meant. He said, “That’s not ENGLAND: all those YELLOW FIELDS!!! That’s NOT ENGLAND!!!”
HORSES
There was no lodging along The Ridgeway. Every evening I had to walk down from its height to my reserved Bed and Breakfast. This was fortunate; otherwise I would have missed one of the outstanding sights in all of England.
CIRCLES AND STANDING STONES
How can one write about the English countryside without mentioning earth works: barrows, mounds, tumuli, tors, standing stones, circles? They seem to be everywhere. The first one I saw was near the Uffington White Horse. It was a circle about…
GLASTONBURY
I wanted to climb the Glastonbury Tor. It was a place that was treacle-thick with the myths and legends of King Arthur and the Holy Grail.
LEY LINES
These are supposedly lines of magnetism (or ?) that were known to the ancient inhabitants of England and have been rediscovered in modern times by the British Society of Dowsers.
COTSWOLD WAY
As with The Ridgeway, it was along the top of a range of hills, only this range was called the Cotswold Scarp, and it was much more Grandma Moses-ish.
THE LARK ASCENDING
As I walked the Ridgeway and then the Cotswold Way, I kept hearing a bird song that melodically warbled on and on coming from some winged singer that seemingly never paused for breath.
GETTING LOST
When I was on the Cotswold Way, I got lost three times. It was easy to get confused at cross paths or places where there were several forks close together.
FALLING
When I was only two days from Chipping Campden, the north end of the Cotswold Way, I fell on a stile that was not nailed down. I got slightly damaged.
LOVE
As I got on the bus, I told the driver where I was going and asked if he would notify me of the right stop. He said “Don’t you worry, Love. I’ll take you right to the door.”
IRELAND
One of the beauties of the country was that the rhododendrons were in bloom-- an introduced species: Rhododendron ponticum. They had orchid colored blossoms that were spectacular against the Forty Shades of Green. I thought if they had been native…
THE COAST TO COAST PATH
I also saw another engineering marvel: York cathedral. But in comparison to these bulls----ho hum.
BALI AND THOUGHTS ABOUT WYAN
Every fourth person in Bali is named Wayan. It means “first born,” and it is given to both boys and girls. But giving the first-borns that name isn’t enough for the Balinese. They love it so much that after the…
CHICKEN MUSHROOM BASIL SOUP
I was taken out to dinner at a really good restaurant. One of the delectable things on the menu was Chicken Mushroom Basil soup. I did not forget how good it was.
VERNA JUNE’S STORY
One of my high school friends was Verna June Coyle.
JULIE
You may wonder what the outcome was for Julie as a result of going to Jero Tapakan in Bali.
THE DREAM
I want to record my most unforgettable dream. I had this dream shortly before leaving Port Townsend.