Snow

An unseasonably dry and warm winter in western Washington means we have to go to Snoqualmie Pass to see snow, and not very much at that. Still, it was cold enough to freeze Gold Creek Pond.

Inside and Out

Finally the sun came out and so off I went to the south county in search of inspiration.

Coming Soon, Renton WA

Vacant, Kent WA

Antiques, Kent WA

Black magic, Kent WA

Winterectangles (and other shapes)

Maple Leaf Park, Seattle

Near Barbie Mill, Newcastle WA

Motel, Chehalis WA

Swimming pool canopy, Bellevue WA

The Evolution of Uncle Wiggily

Welcome to the first Eff-Stop post of 2014! I stretch the bus-centric theme for this week's Sepia Saturday post just a hair by featuring some vehicles from my father Nelson Bentley's life.

Here's Nelson around 1920, going hogwild on his scooter, near the Bentley Bros. general store, next door to their farmhouse in rural Michigan. Meanwhile the family truck lurks in the background. It looks to me like that's a spoked spare wheel leaning against the wall.

Here's a better view of the truck, a year of two later. That's sister Margaret sharing the sandpit (the farm was situated on a sand hill).

This is the family car around the same time. I can't tell the make, but historically my grampa George Bentley loved Chevrolets. I imagine that's him at the wheel. Nelson appears to be wearing a Scout's uniform. I wish cars still had running boards.

As a teen, Nelson drove the new International delivery truck, named Bosco. The dogs are Pluto (on the hood), Mike the Airedale, and Chingo the chow. Reportedly there were also three cats, Dempsey, Tunny, and Firpo, named for contemporary boxers.

Jumping ahead to college years, this suave pose has Nelson letting the Michigan winter wind up his leg.

And the same car (whatever it is...perhaps my mother's Dodge, which she bought with University of Michigan prize money for her fiction) in warmer weather. Note the pocketful of pens, which were forever a trademark of my father's, and the sockless moccasins, in which he wouldn't have been caught dead in later years.

Speaking of my mother, here she is with our family's first cars, Uncle Wiggily, a cream- and-gray 1950 Chevy, at the Pacific coast circa 1957.

Uncle W's replacement was, of course, Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy the Muskrat Lady Housekeeper, a 1955 Chevy of a unique washed-out blue. Here I am joined by my friend Mark and my sister Julian, around 1965, soda bottles in hand, on a trip to Bellingham, Washington.

Bonus:  Uncle Wiggily and Nurse Jane

There are a few more of the Bentleys' autos at this 2010 post, Detroit Wheels...