Author Archives: Susy

My tent was snuggled cozily between some shiny-leafed huckleberry bushes in a dry meadow, shaded with a scattering of Douglas Fir, tan oak, and a few lodgepole pines. Below the camp ran Hurdygurdy Creek, not visible but maybe a tenth … Continue reading

I used to have a comfort tree, a ponderosa pine. It grew above a local trail, and in my heart was mine. I’d lean my back against its trunk And feel the jig-saw puzzle bark, let my thoughts flow quietly … Continue reading

Miners built the earthen dam that blocks this intermittent stream just below where two small gullies come together. Turtles bask on floating logs along the edge. Footprints of deer etch deeply in the mud as the level slowly recedes beneath … Continue reading

Sometimes I compare life to a book with a series of chapters. But sometimes it’s like a Christmas gift I got as a child. It was a small blackboard (chalk), on a kind of easel arrangement that folded out so … Continue reading

I moved to Oregon from Weaverville, California in March of 1989. It was not an easy transition going from the little mountain town where I knew most of the roads, numerous trails, and where I had a good many friendships … Continue reading

Joining an organization or taking a class may be just joining and organization or taking a class, but, given enough time, other events may take place. It’s hard to get enough time to get to know people but, after taking … Continue reading

A few months ago I typed Hezekiah Malone into Google and what should pop up but his entire name: Hezekiah Pennington Malone. Someone, obviously a relative, had done a family history. Her name was Dorothy Malone Hamilton and her father … Continue reading

I think that with all the current chaos and need for courage these times require, that it is an appropriate time to share a family story. My mother wrote this and I’m passing it on, just as she wrote it. … Continue reading

All the brothers apparently became quite successful. As my mother put it “stout, satisfied-looking business men. They looked like illustrations of the times—America booming, expanding, and they right along with it.” In 1925 she remembered visiting Walter Malone’s family in Dunedin, … Continue reading

  When she was young, my mother took the family Bible to school to share and somehow lost it. I think she felt guilty about this for the rest of her life. I felt a little bit like this when … Continue reading