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.

Lessons In Humility On The Farm

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

Life on a farm – any farm (whether or not in Humptulips County) – has the capacity to teach many lessons. Take humility, for example. Since the garbage man usually arrives early, our habit has been for me to take the … Continue reading →

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The Elasticity of Time

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present All time is unredeemable. What might have been is an abstraction Remaining a perpetual possibility … Continue reading →

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Autumn Winds

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

No one can tell me, Nobody knows, Where the wind comes from, Where the wind goes. It’s flying from somewhere As fast as it can, I couldn’t keep up with it, Not if I ran. But if I stopped holding … Continue reading →

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Somehow Or Other, We’re All In This Together

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

As I left the house this morning, I encountered a rabbit running out of the fog across the driveway and onto the opposite verge, attempting frantically to draw me away from a lair hidden somewhere among the bushes and hillsides that line our driveway. Ironically, his very … Continue reading →

Posted in Humptulips County, Our Place in the Firmament | 2 Comments

A Thank You To My Many Friends

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

Humptulips County has a diverse population, much more so, in fact, than when I first moved back after graduation from law school. Over the years, the area has become increasingly diversified and far more tolerant of that diversity. It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Friendship, Humptulips County | 2 Comments

Of Frost and Fog and Giants

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

The half-stripped trees struck by a wind together, bending all, the leaves flutter drily and refuse to let go or driven like hail stream bitterly out to one side and fall where the salvias, hard carmine, – like no leaf … Continue reading →

Posted in 'Tis a Puzzlement, Humptulips County | 2 Comments

What Would I see, If I Could See God?

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

God is in the roses, The petals, and the thorns. Storms out on the oceans Souls who will be born And every drop of rain that falls Falls for those who mourn. Roseanne Cash, God Is In The Roses Mankind … Continue reading →

Posted in Our Place in the Firmament, Ponderings on the Meaning of Things | 1 Comment

A Formative Friendship Remembered

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

I am in the air on my way to Ann Arbor, Michigan to attend a football game with my oldest son. Don was born in Ann Arbor a few days following my graduation from law school. Shortly after his birth, … Continue reading →

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A Raggedy Autumn

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

O hushed October morning mild, Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild, Should waste them all. The crows above the forest call; Tomorrow they may form and go. O hushed October morning mild, Begin … Continue reading →

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Bending To One Another

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Gavin Stevens

“As I might have foreseen, the visit was rather a spectacle than a conversation, of no use beyond the satisfaction of my curiosity. He was old and pre-occupied, and could not bend to a new companion and think with him.” … Continue reading →

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