Author Archives: Gavin Stevens

About Gavin Stevens

Humptulips County is the wholly fictional on-line residence of Stephen Ellis, a would-be writer, an avid fan of William Faulkner and his Yoknapatawpha County, and a retired lawyer.

An April Dawn

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

The dawn lies heavily upon the Farm under a sky of clotted cream, the not-quite-day swaddled in a weighty silence broken only by the repeated call of an unknown bird. Its call is loud, insistent, forceful – an unyielding demand for a brighter day than this dawn promises. This dawn … Continue reading →

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The Possibilities of Spring

Posted on March 17, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

It isn’t officially Spring on the calendar until next week, but today’s Weather God could care less what the calendar says – for it is surely spring today in Humptulips County. The sun is going in and out of a light cloud … Continue reading →

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Harbingers of Spring

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

As I write, morning is crawling out from under the rock of night and the day has dawned, lightly fogged. Yesterday our farm was the center of a fog bank; as we took our morning walk, it seemed to us that all of the fog radiated from some … Continue reading →

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Winter’s Solitude

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

Solitude reigns in late winter in Humptulips County. When Helen and I walk, we hear the lesser sounds more easily since they aren’t overwhelmed by the raucousness of spring and summer. Where we are on our morning walk, for example, can easily be determined by the sound … Continue reading →

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Flame and Ash

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

Yesterday, I received a Facebook post from a former high school classmate asking me if I could find someone I barely remember to invite them to our upcoming 50th reunion. The posting was in response to my sharing of the lyrics to … Continue reading →

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A Tree of Jays

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

No brigadier throughout the year So civic as the jay. A neighbor and a warrior too, With shrill felicity Pursuing winds that censure us A February day, The brother of the universe Was never blown away. The snow and he … Continue reading →

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Companies of Friends

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

When I die, let them judge me by my company of friends Let them know me as the footprints that I left upon the sand Let them laugh for all the laughter Let them cry for laughter’s end But when … Continue reading →

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A Winter Canvas

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

Humptulips County is frost-bound. No form-stealing blankets of snow for us: just intricate rime overlying every living or inert thing, as if each were a piece of furniture adorned with lace doilies or antimacassars. The temperature is near freezing; the sky is cloudless, open … Continue reading →

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The Qualities of Grace

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Gavin Stevens

There is beauty in the unusual, both because of its startling qualities and of its inherent uniqueness. Sometimes the unusual is simply the ordinary turned inside out, such that, upon first viewing, nothing seems amiss until matters are put into context. Winter’s unusualness is similar to … Continue reading →

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Hello World!

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

I just returned home from signing the final papers related to my retirement from a 43 year legal career. The event itself was nothing to speak of – just me, my assistant, and an office manager sitting around a desk that had been mine in an … Continue reading →

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