Greenwood/Elk columns

October 6 ~ December 29, 1988

October 6th.

I have to apologize to George Montag for not getting his news in last weeks column. I ran across George at the Elk Store and he told me about his success at the Boonville Fair. He had entered his vegetables in various categories; vine, fruit and pods, leafy and roots. For his efforts he received 22 blue ribbons, 20 red, and 5 white and a possible sweepstakes win for leafy veggies. If he won the sweepstakes again it would be his fifth year in a row! George must have quite the garden.

I stopped in at the new art gallery in Caspar called "What's Afoot". The building is located right across the street from the church and used to be a gas station. With the new white walls and the dark old open beam ceiling and translucent plastic sky light it is quite a nice setting. John d'Arcy has his work on display, currently, and I don't know what to say about it. Large multi-plane window frames, painted across in various colors with smooth light colored sticks piercing the frame in certain alignment. Interesting, of course, but they also elicit a strange mood and feeling. I don't know why. Check it out and see what you think.

Here it is October and the Roadhouse is still open. Breaking records every day. Stop in sometime and check out Claudia's Scones. They are excellent and were invented by Claudia Pederson.

I grabbed my notebook and went in search of one of our local cottage industries, Clown Soup. Clown Soup is a line of greeting cards, birthday cards, Christmas cards and so on. The production studio is located in Gary Moran and Jane Cory's house in a small room looking out over Greenwood Cove. From this location the cards go out to over sixty accounts across the nation and even to Belgium. Gary told me that one of his biggest accounts is the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, also the American Museum of Folk Art in New York.

Kay Curtis started the card line years ago and Gary bought the production end of it three years ago. Kay still designs new cards, about six a year, and Gary puts them into production along with the older favorites.

After pouring me a cup of coffee, Gary showed me the process he goes through to produce the cards. After mixing the ink on a sheet of glass he uses a rubber roller to transfer the ink to the face of a linoleum block that has the design carved into it. Over the inked block he placed a small sheet of synthetic rice paper and burnished the paper into the ink with the back of a wood cooking spoon. After pulling the paper off the block he then added additional colors with felt markers. After that, he trimmed the rice paper to size and glued it to the face of the card stock with Elmers Glue. The title is then written in with a pencil and the card and envelope are combined and placed into a clear plastic cover. The order he is currently working on is for 600 cards! It takes time and he listens to ball games and music while working or takes a break by playing his guitar, now and then. Gary also works at the Harbor House three days a week so he is definitely busy.

The end product is a handsome piece of work and especially so because of all the handwork in it. They are available at the Country Store in Elk, Bookwrinkles and Tangents in Mendocino and Racines in Fort Bragg. Once again. Check it out.

October 13th.

A year and a half of writing this column and so far only four people aren't speaking to me. One hundred and seventy one to go.

Please remember, anytime you want to take over this column, I'm ready. It only involves, on average, five hours a week including a round trip to Mendocino, no pay and no free subscription, but you do get your name in black and white so folks know who to blame.

This is a bit early but it will give you time to get your costume together:

"The Informal Friends of the Greenwood School are hosting a costume party and Halloween Dance at the Community Center Saturday 29th between the hours of 8 PM and 1 in the morning. Our local band, 'Work of Mouth' will provide the tunes. Families are encouraged to attend. There will be prizes for the best kids costume and adult costume. Beer, wine and soft drinks will be on sale. The cover charge will be reduced for those in costume but as yet I don't know what the price will be. I'll know next week. Proceeds generated by this event will benefit the Greenwood School.

This weekend, local artist Steve Garner will present his first coastal solo show in the Winona Gallery at the Mendocino Art Center. The reception to 'Grin and Grip' the artist will be between 5 and 7, Friday evening. Steve has put a lot of work into this and hopes to see you there.

Dating a weaver introduces me to a lot of weaving events. If you have to go to Ukiah for some reason there is a treat waiting for you at the Grace Hudson Museum, right next to the Sun House. It is called "Cover Stories" which is a presentation, by about forty exhibitors, showcasing the amazing talent and diversity of our Mendocino County Fiber Artists. Among the items you will find three Elk Artists; Kathy MacDonald's tartan fabric, Sandy Robinson's Shibori silk scarf, and Vince and Carolyn Carleton's rug. It is a beautifully presented show and will be in place until February.

Last week a woman stopped in the Elk Store, took off all her clothes and said, "I'm crazy, I'm crazy, I'm crazy". Then she put her clothes back on, got on her bicycle and headed south.

When I worked in the Elk Store there were a lot of women who stopped in on a frantic quest for Brie and 'designer' water; hair up to there, nails out to here, and heels down to there and wanting to know how much longer to the shopping malls of Mendocino. I sometimes get to wondering who's crazy.

Reading about the Contra and Iranian shenanigans of the Reagan and Bush 'error', observing the non-debates and seeing the Bush/Quayle ratings go higher and higher. Who's crazy.

And a final thought: Remember how industrialized nations look down on third world countries because they dump their waste into their own streams or just over the fence? We have a lot to teach them to bring them up to our speed. Our message is; Don't dump locally. Pollute globally.

Really, who's crazy.

October 20th.

I attended Steve Garner's opening at the Winona Gallery last Friday night. Steve has caught with his brush the color and feel of this coastal environment. The contrasting ocean light that now and then strikes the Elk Post Office, the heavy sea air muting the wash rocks off our coast, the light breaking through the fog along Greenwood Ridge. A nice show of local scenes, but the one painting that really struck me was a portrait Steve had done of Noni, the woman from Elk the Winona Gallery was named after. Steve told me that Noni had been after him many times to have a show in the gallery and finally, three years after her death, here he was. The Noni portrait was his latest painting and he dedicated his show to her.

This painting is quite different from the others but once again Steve caught the feel. Noni's big floppy hat, the bright festive colors surrounding her, the busy hands and those eyes. Those blue-white artist eyes that, at the end of her life had failed and become blind, not slowing her down one bit.

Part of the connectedness I feel with that painting is the fact that I caretake the property where Winona Tomanoczy lived. In 1938 Noni and her husband Paul bought a useless piece of ground, just north of Elk, called Saint Anthony's Point. Useless because it was a windblown rocky piece of ground, too small to raise crops and devoid of lumber. They planted trees, they built a house. They loved the place and it was open to all. Many folks remember the parties at Noni's place in Elk.

Often I follow the path that Noni wore into the ground during her daily walk. A narrow winding path out beside her trees of Cypress, Bull and Monterey Pine, out to the end of Saint Anthony's Point. At one place the path narrows to five feet wide as it passes over an arch, the incoming waves wash through ninety feet below. How she could do it with her vision failing can only be explained by her absolute familiarity with the ground upon which she walked. Even now, three years later, her footsteps are very obvious.

I only met her a couple of times but one look at Steve's painting really brought her back to mind.

The Multi-purpose court project is finally under way. The excavation is complete, the base of gravel is in and compacted and the surface will be finished this coming week, weather permitting. It looks huge. I know we can find many uses for it. It is located just to the south of the firehouse and Community Center. It was the desire of many but Del Wilcox grabbed the ball and ran with it. Thank you Del.

The Community Center Board handed over a check of one thousand dollars to the Elk Volunteer Fire Department, sharing the wealth that Great Day in Elk generated.

By the time you read this the Elk Store should be sporting a new coat of paint. A lot of preparation and masking has been evident. I wonder what the new color will be. We'll find out soon.

October 27th.

Okay, this Saturday evening, Word of Mouth will be playing at the Elk Community Center for the Greenwood School Benefit Halloween Dance. The fun starts at 8 PM. There is a $5.50 cover charge. If you are in costume the cover charge will be reduced to $3.50. Kids under 12, free. A prize will be awarded for the best costume.

I stopped by the Community Center to see how the multi-purpose court was coming along. I found the blacktop surface completed but I arrived too late, a game was already in progress. Thirteen quail were hogging the court, running around playing some kind of bird game. It looked to me like soccer or some running game of that type. Ruth Rafferty and her husband, John, were out for their evening walk and told me that the covey of quail come out of the brush on the ocean side of Highway One, cross the road, their yard, and head for the court every evening. The game ended shortly after I arrived and the birds single filed off the field and headed for the locker. They were very quiet, sort of like the Oakland A's.

Earlier this week, I drove up to Anita and Peter Allegaert's to see how Peter was doing on his latest painting. I have been checking the progress off and on all summer long. Their dogs, Lum and Face greeted my dog while I found Anita at work, under the redwood trees, putting the finishing touches on one of her ceramic cow heads. Anita told me that Peter was off to Fort Bragg but she let me peek into his studio and see the latest.

It's another dandy picture story of the type Peter is so good at. There is Wonder Bob, lying in the middle of Highway One, getting beat up by a tourist in golfing clothes. The Wonder Bread truck is upside down and a huge motor home is smashed and stuffed into the redwood fence. Wonder Bread, golf clubs and various camping gear lie spread out across the road. Surrounding this scene, the deer, rabbits, cows and quail ponder the meaning of it all, and... don't we all.

Back over in the ceramic department, Anita was loading everything into her kiln, getting ready for the first firing. Along with the cow head she loaded in two cats and a couple handfuls of Christmas tree ornaments. Oh no! Not that time already!

Both Peter and Anita's work can be seen at the Country Store in Elk. Peter displays his paintings there while gathering enough together to have another sell out show at the Charles Cambell Gallery in San Francisco. I expect the Wonder Bob painting will soon be hanging in the Country Store. You gotta see it!

The Elk Store ended up with a nice coat of light gray paint. I understand the trim will be Royal Blue and white with bright orange doors. Should be spectacular. We can now all shift our attention to the next event which will be the moving of the two story house, just south of the Greenwood Pier, to the other side of Highway One.

And finally, curses on whoever ripped off the old "Elk Post Office, Greenwood, CA." sign from beside the entry to our Post Office. That was a loss of a bit of history and you can bet the 'Official' Post Office Department will never replace it.

I hope it has a happy home. Jerk!

November 3rd.??

November 10th.

Gerry Huckaby and I were going for our usual evening stroll down to the beach to see what was going on and throw the stick for the dog. We found the Greenwood lagoon full to the banks with the run off from our recent rain. Walking south along the beach we saw the pond was only a couple of inches from breaking free and running out to sea. Too bad we didn't have a shovel like those folks down at Jenner. On second thought, we got down on our hands and knees and started to dig a small channel. The Lagoon water followed our lead. Soon we reached the down hill portion and the water gained momentum and took off on its own. Sure enough we had a small trough of water flowing, taking grains of sand along with it. We stood and watched for a while and then we walked on down to the south end of the beach.

After throwing the stick for the dog a while we retraced our steps and arrived back at 'our' stream. It was now three feet wide and rushing out to sea. We had to jump to get across! Amazing!

The next evening I went down to see what had happened. The channel was now six feet deep, twenty five feet wide and over one hundred feet long! The south portion of the beach was cut off. To think that we had started this with only a small hand dug channel that couldn't have amounted to more than a couple of buckets of sand now had removed tons and tons of sand. I hope Kevin Joe, our Park Ranger doesn't make us put it back.

A couple of weeks ago someone wrote in the 'Form' section of this paper, complaining about the 'pollution conscious' locals driving old pre smog cars. Since I drive a 1961 Ford Falcon and various friends of mine drive the good old slant six Dodge, I would like to say this about that:

To my mind, driving a old car for a long time causes less pollution than buying a new one every couple of years when you take into consideration what all is involved in making a new car. They aren't organically grown, you know.

I don't have the numbers but think about the strip mining, the electrical power, the chemicals, plastics, and manufacturing involved in that new car which is used a couple of years and then 'upgraded'. Now we're talking pollution. Besides, try fixing it yourself.

The Mendocino School bus broke down the other day, here in Elk, and the kids steamed up the windows for a couple of hours, waiting for alternative transportation. Ta Da! The Roadhouse Cafe shuttled free hot chocolate over to them while they waited.

Del Wilcox told me that there may be funds available for the building of a stage and dressing room addition to the Community Center. Stay tuned.

Peter Allagaert's painting "Collision" is now hanging in the Greenwood Pier Country Store. See 'Wonder Bob' finally get his!

Speaking of collision. Doug Blaine and Patty Brady had theirs at the infamous Little Lake and Highway One intersection up in Mendocino. It totaled their car but fortunately, they are okay.

Lolli and I went on a drive. Down to Joshua Tree, up to Death Valley, over to Mono Lake, up over Tioga Pass, through Yosemite, then Sacramento, Clear Lake and home. The cheapest gas was in the Lancaster/Victorville area. Home of the Stealth Bomber. 71.9 cents for Regular. You figure it out.

The elections are over. Read then and weep.

November 17th.

I got a note from Tabi Bolton the other day. He is ten years old and has set up a weather station, measuring rainfall at his house, three miles up the hill, just off the Greenwood/Philo road. He said he would be happy to make weekly reports.

I have been getting rainfall measurements from our official rainfall measure person, Jane Matson, here in Elk and, now and then, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two reports since Jane lives right on the coast and Tabi lives at an elevation one thousand feet higher. See what the difference is.

Here are the totals so far this season, as of November 12th.

Tabi on the Ridge. 4.6 inches.

Jane on the coast. 2.59 inches.

Speaking of rain:

It is really nice to hear the rain on the roof once again, and it is amazing how quickly everything has turned green. I wonder how long it will take for us to get sick of the winter storms after waiting for them so long. All I know is that right now, it is wonderful.

Speaking of storms:

Peg Frankel called to report that an immature Coopers Hawk flew into their house through the open patio doors. After considerable excitement by all concerned, John was able to bag him in a net and release him back outside without damage.

Just a few days earlier I found a dead bat in the middle of the living room of the house I caretake. I couldn't figure out how he had got in until Peg suggested he might have come down the fireplace flue. I guess the animals are trying to come in for the winter.

Speaking of winter:

Elk's 7th Annual Holiday Crafts Fair will be held at the Greenwood Community Center on Saturday and Sunday, December 3rd and 4th, 10 AM until 5 PM. Free admission. Original hand-crafted gifts, soft sculpture, jewelry, ceramics, weaving, Great Day T-shirts. Food and live music. Bring the whole family. This is always a great time and a wonderful chance to buy some nice gifts.

Speaking of gifts:

Those Great Day T-shirts, which sold like hotcakes during the Great Day in Elk are once again available at the Elk Store, the Greenwood Pier Country and the Roadhouse Cafe. There are also sweatshirts now in various sizes.

Speaking of sweatshirts:

Wouldn't it be something if the courts overturned the Proposition 103 vote. Ironic that we get what we don't vote for and don't get what we DO vote for. Enough to make your, ah... shirt sweat!

November 24th.

My column deadline was moved up because of the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. I'm a little out of whack, sort of thrown off. It really takes a full week for enough to happen around here to add up to a column.

Anyhow, it is a Friday morning, clear, cold and beautiful after a week of clouds, rain and storms. We need the rain, as everyone knows, but it doesn't take long to begin wishing for some sunshine.

One nice thing about the rain and storms. I have again hunkered down with a bunch of books I have been wanting to read. Edward Abbey's new book is out and I jumped the gun and bought it in hardback. I couldn't wait. I like his stuff, particularly "The Monkey Wrench Gang", and especially "Desert Solitaire".

His latest, "The Fools Progress", and his first novel in ten years is, I think, his best yet. If you like Abbey and his grumpy, malcontent, sexist ways, and I do, you'll love this book.

While I was at it I also picked up "Steve Hawkin's Universe". Sort of filled in the holes Abbey missed! Quarks, black holes and the search for that instant in time the whole shebang began. Fascinating reading and a remarkable man.

Winter time reading on the coast. Throw another log on the fire.

I have been thinking about Christmas and the Holiday Season. Not that far off. I realize that every holiday season since I have been Elk, I have not been here. I have either gone home to Seattle to be with my parents and kids or I have gone to Baja to be away from it all. After giving it a fair amount of thought I have finally decided to spend this one here. Enjoy some of the good food, good friends and good times that are available with-in a twenty mile radius for a change.

I met some folks in the Roadhouse Cafe the other morning. They were passing through and turned out to be from a town thirty miles west of where I grew up in Nebraska. They were from Columbus. I lived in North Bend, population 910. They know of the popcorn processing plant my father used to manage. It's still there but has changed owners and gotten larger. We swapped stories and after a while I told them about Ernie Hensel.

Ernie Hensel was an old man who lived in a converted chicken coop on the edge of North Bend. He had a small garden, a dog, a wood stove and no electricity. One Fall, Ernie walked over to the popcorn processing plant with a wheelbarrow load of popcorn he had raised that summer. My dad motioned him onto the truck scale and weighed him in; Ernie, the wheelbarrow, the popcorn, and paid him for the total weight! I don't think Ernie ever knew he was getting paid for the total weight, which, even then, still amounted to only a few dollars.

Around Christmas, my friend Larry Chapman, the paperboy, found Ernie asleep, frozen stiff in his cot, one dark winter afternoon. I don't remember most of the folks in that little town, but I have never forgotten Ernie Hensel.

Since we have a nice sunny break in the weather it is a good time to total up the rain score;

Tabi on the ridge. 7.9 inches.

Jane on the coast. 4.69 inches.

December 1st.

The turkey didn't survive, but we did, so now it is time to think about Christmas.

This is the weekend for the Elk Christmas Craft Fair at the Greenwood/Elk Community Center. This is a great opportunity to shop and visit among friends; quite a different experience from what is suffered in the more 'developed' areas that have traffic lights, jammed parking lots, shopping malls full of strangers and clerks with an 'attitude'.

Come ENJOY the Elk Christmas Craft Fair in our little town. If you don't know where the Community Center is located, ask anybody.

I received a note telling me that Saturday only, tucked in among the many arts and crafts booths, you will find the Ladies of the Elk Altar Society. One item they are featuring will be the raffling off of a Christmas 'Basket', a complete Christmas dinner. Stop by and check them out.

I hear that the Greenwood Civic Club is planning to erect and decorate a Christmas tree in the 'other' entrance to the Elk Post Office building. That should be a nice touch.

The Roadhouse Cafe staff is making plans for Christmas decorations. I think this is the first time they have ever been open during the Christmas season. Last year, though they were closed, Bob Matson put one of his toy trains sets in the window for everyone to enjoy.

While you are in town, don't forget to stop by the Greenwood Pier country Store, which is stuffed to the rafters with clothes, art, craft, books, incense, jewelry and candles. Many of our local artists display their work there.

This past week has been another winner in the rain department;

Tabi on the ridge. 12.6.

Jane on the coast. 7.69.

Looks like the drought is over.

Let me make a couple of corrections. Last week I was talking about a couple of books I have recently read and got a title, and name wrong. Edward Abbey's new book is called "A Fool's Progress", not "The Fools Progress". Steve Hawking's name is spelt Hawkings, not Hawkins. I was too busy reading to focus on the details, if you know what I mean.

I was looking through the political box scores, published in the North Coast News. The fifth district had a turn out of 77.96 percent, the highest in all five districts. I'm proud of that but, what I can't understand is the fact that although 4,726 people voted for Measure A, 729 folks voted against it. I wish someone would drop me a line and explain their reasoning. You don't have to sign you name if you wish. Just sent it to Ron Bloomquist Box 2, Elk CA. 95432.

December 8th.

Writing the Greenwood/Elk column is rather difficult when nothing ever happens, but if I wanted more activity I could always move to Alaska.

My friend Oren Goldweek, who lives in the small town of Keeldown Gore, says his town is always lively. In his latest letter he tells me that the owner of the local bar and her newest husband are constantly arguing or making up. When arguing, the din spills out over the whole town and the neighbors run and hide, become very involved in splitting wood, working on their cars or doing something, anything. Actually the uproar is nothing new, its been on for years, only the husbands change from time to time. Lately, the bar owners daughter got involved and finally hauled off and broke the new husband's nose. It was quite a scene but quiet has returned, the drapes are closed and one can only speculate as to what is going on as the snow begins to fall.

My friend writes that, as usual each fall, young couples pair off promising each other marriage the following year, but everyone know that when the spring thaw comes, the breakups follow. True to form, one of the local lovelies has paired off with a newcomer. The girl's mother has high hopes for getting rid of her while everyone else is placing bets on the date for that spring thaw and break - up.

And finally, there is an uproar over the late night noise from the dance hall. Seems the hotel across the street is trying to put a damper on the late night activities because their customers can't sleep. Well, that's a tough one but nobody really wants to stop dancing just so some rich, out of town folks can get their rest. The results aren't in on that one either.

After reading his letter, my dog and I decided to wander around our town and search a little deeper.

We found the Community Center to be very full of life. The Holiday Fair was in full swing with display booths spilling out into the Elk Firehouse, even Santa arrived while I was there, much to the delight of the short people. The weather was beautiful, though clouds were on the horizon. Mary Berry came over to tell me that she had spotted two whales last Thursday, December 1st. That is the first sighting I know about.

I have to turn in this column before the fair is over so I don't know the end results, but it looks like it is off to a good start.

Vince and Carolyn Carleton will be displaying and selling a variety of weaving, paintings, and silver jewelry they brought back from their three month stay in Bali, at the Winona Gallery in the Mendocino Art Center, December 16th. I got a preview and the items are extraordinary.

Walking past the Roadhouse Cafe we noticed something different. The old Cinzano porch umbrellas had been replaced by brand new, red, white and blue Budweiser umbrellas! Now if we can get rid of that noisy expresso machine and the use of the word 'ambiance', The Roadhouse will be even more tolerable and more historically correct.

To help, I offered Sue Matson my coffee recipe. Pour two quarts of water in a gallon bucket. Add one pound of Folgers Regular grind and a horse shoe. Boil until the horseshoe floats. Serve hot.

December 15th.

A variety of items were turned in this week for the column, so let's hop right to it.

Carolyn Steinbuck reports that the South Coast Choir, under her direction, will be performing part of Vivaldi's Gloria and other seasonal favorites at the Greenwood Community Center December 15th at 7:00 PM.

The Greenwood school children will be singing songs from around the world. The Coast Recorda Consort will also perform.

The complete Vivaldi Gloria will be performed on Saturday December 17th, 8:00 PM., at the Gualala Community Center and Sunday, December 18th 3:00 PM., at Saint Paul's Methodist Church in Point Arena. Check elsewhere in the Beacon for a complete program. Admission is free.

Linda Barnett reports that she is working on a video of the Community Center for use for fundraising and nostalgia. She would like anyone who has video, slides, movies of photographs of past Community Center events, who would like to share them with this project, to call her at 877-3436.

Peg Frankel reports that the odd looking bird, initially spotted by Dick Mitchell in the field across from Billy Matson's, which has puzzled many of us these past weeks, appears to be a light form of an immature Rough Legged Hawk.

"It's about the size of the more familiar Red Tailed Hawk but notably has a very light colored head, causing some to mistakenly think it's a Bald Eagle. Like a Red Tailed Hawk, its belly is marked by a dark band which, in this case, appears both wider and more solidly dark. When perched it's sometimes possible to notice its lightly spotted legs. One is tempted to call it Young Shaggy Chaps."

Jane Matson reports that the Christmas tree at the Post Office, decorated by the Greenwood Civic Club, was donated by Dave and Audry Skilton. Wiring, lights and assistance was provided by Lee McKnight and Dave Neilsen. A job well done, all 'round.

As an aside, I discovered that Prue Wilcox is providing Smith and Wesson insurance from her kitchen window, across the street.

Margaret Feliz was seen enjoying breakfast in the Roadhouse Cafe, last Sunday. It is good to see her out and around again after a long recovery from her car accident.

Erna Smith reports that the success of the Christmas Fair was accomplished by the efforts of many people but that Rusty Gates was especially noteworthy for his assistance before, during and after the event. A special thanks to him.

Stock up on dry cereal and milk. The Roadhouse Cafe is going to close between December 17th and 27th for a much needed vacation.

Various flowers that don't normally show their face until February are already popping out. Also the Black Chantrells are out, very unusual for this time of year.

Is the cold war over and international cooperation breaking out? Is the push up bra back in vogue? Many things to ponder as I hunker down beside my Christmas tree and eat candy out of my sock.

December 22nd.

That was a great birthday party last week for Isabel. It started off at the Greenwood Pier with live music, horsdouvors, dinner and lots of conversation, then moved up the street to the Oasis, which was opened especially for the occasion. There on the stage, Word Mouth was playing their very danceable music. It really felt good. It was a real nostalgia trip to be back in the ol' Oasis, once again. It was definitely a step back in time. The whole evening was a magical moment and to top it off, while walking back to the Greenwood Pier, Lolli and I saw six falling stars. Isabel chose to have her birthday during the height of a meteor shower, but that's the kind of lady she is.

I'm sorry to say I missed the Christmas music at the Community Center last week. I'm told that everyone really enjoyed it.

As the end of the year approaches, I got to thinking about the 'people' changes in our town during the past year.

I sat down and roughed out a list and during the past several mornings have sat in the Roadhouse during breakfast and picked the brains of various locals, trying to figure out who has moved out of town, who has moved in, who has died and who was born. Since this is pretty much a live and let live kind of town I find we don't know a lot about our new neighbors. Since I no longer work at the Elk Store, I know I haven't been keeping track. Anyway, this is what we came up with.

The new owners of the Oasis are Marlias and Carl Waidhoffer.

The new operators of the Greenwood Lodge are Sandy and Sue Math.

There are new folks we didn't know living in Molfino's house, the white with blue trim house between the telephone building and the Methodist Parsonage.

Urchin divers, Tim and Mark are renting Billy Matson's house.

Monique is living in Walt and Cheryl's house.

Lewis Martin is living in the house Estell Rosen used to live in.

Theresa and Albert Chitwood are living upstairs at Huckaby's.

Urchin diver Mike Kitahara and his wife Suzie are living in the house by the Sub Station.

Raymond Berry and Denise are living in Mary berry's house.

Tobias (not Peckner), is living in the Yerta - Dearing place.

Claire and Richard Melrose bought the Sandpiper House.

George Lawrence bought Cy Atkinson's place up Greenwood/Philo road.

Judge Gibson's house has new owners.

Hap Talman sold his place and is moving to Philo, via Hawaii and Tahiti.

Hildagard Graves bought Daniel Greens house.

Erna Smith moved into Donny Daniels cliff house.

Earl Bates bought the Spicer Orchard place on the bluff across from Bobby Beacon's.

Eileen Goldman moved back into her house where Frank and Tammy Schmidt used to live.

Mark Daniels moved to Willits.

Frank Schmit, Tammy and Family moved to Gualala.

Doug and Jan Johnson moved to Jackson in the Sierra's.

Kay and Bill Kuny are changing houses.

Jackie and Terry Thompson have completed the move to Santa Rosa.

Lillia Davidson moved to Little River.

Sara Rawley left on a round the world trip.

Sandy Sasson moved to Little River.

Theresa Whitehill and Joe Smith went to Greece.

Theresa Simon moved into Carolyn Steinbuck's dome.

Charlie and Rosie Acker moved into their new home.

Mrs. Hempe, Curt Berry, Francis and Tony Fashaur, Ed Hall, Phong Cong, Art Jauch, Bob Jones, Herb Bolton and Hank Worthington passed away this year.

Holly Sinclair, Tama Carleton and Ian White were born. Joel Waldman and his new wife had a baby. Kay Curtis and Rosie Acker are both expecting.

I'm sure I have misspelled names and forgotten others but this gives you an idea of the changes that one year has made in our sleepy little town of Greenwood/Elk.

Welcome, good-bye and Merry Christmas to all.

Last minute news flash:

There will be a New Year Eve Party at the Oasis. No admission charge. Stay tuned.

December 29th.

After several weeks of sunny weather, another series of storms have passed through.

Tabi on the ridge. 19.1.

Jane on the coast. 12.21.

The heart of the town hung by a slender thread for a couple of days last week. The Roadhouse Cafe was closed and then the death of Jane Matson's brother, John Druecker, in Fort Bragg, caused the closing of the Elk Garage also, leaving only the Elk Store, which depends on the mood swings of Reeby. That is about as thin as you can cut it. The town was very quiet and empty, to say the least.

The day before Christmas we were struck by hail storms off and on during the day. The ground was covered in white, at times causing excitement among the short people with visions of a possible white Christmas, but Christmas morning brought warm sunshine or a cool breeze, depending on where you stood.

Christmas Eve found folks gathered together in various sized groups in town and along the ridge. Lolli and I joined Mary and Gerry Huckaby, Louis Martin, Theresa Chitwood, Tracy Hemble and David, and a passel of short people at the Huckaby House. Drinks, dinner and a video of the uncut version of Lost Horizons rounded out Christmas Eve.

As we were preparing to leave, it was discovered that the baby Jesus was missing from the small ceramic manger scene on the bookcase. Ominous portents swirled around as we found ourselves questioning each other and searching here and there. Finally it was Theresa who saved the savior, discovering him under the coffee table. Christmas time is strange business in many ways.

Christmas day finds us reforming into other groups to once again eat and drink and make merry. By late evening we will be more than ready to get back home for rest and recuperation. Another year is ending and we muster up the strength to hang on for another year, trying to preserve our life style and our environment. Much work to be done but to live among friends in this little town with two names, it is well worth it.

A final send off for the year 1988 will be a new Year's Eve party at the Oasis starting at 9:30 PM. Admission is free. BYOB. This is being sponsored by the Bed and Breakfast establishments of Greenwood/Elk. Country music and Rock and Roll will provided by 'Frenchy and Hector'.

Happy New Year, one and all.

Click here to continue.

Return to the Blabberon Homepage