adeline gilchrist (right) and her sister.

the humphreys property in dutch flat, ca

was their home away from home many years

before any humphreys. she wrote a leaflet called

dutch flat: a brief history on its 100th birthday

and it was published

in 1951.

Adeline graduated from Miss Ransom and Miss Bridge's School, in Alameda, in 1916:

"Mrs. Guy Gilbert GILCHRIST (Adeline Easton HOWARD) is president of the Alumnae Association. She comes to school occasionally, and on those visits her one-year-old son is a most popular visitor."

Dust: part four

My own path isn't the sort that can be reduced to sand by a glance. The sage is dry and months old crumbling in my hand

I thought I had a host of liberating reasons. To no one's surprise but mine

I was young

Walking with my feet in the thick dirt dust all rising with the breeze. Walking through the mission to the place where I can breathe

And recalling my indiscretions I've got no wounds left to leech. My blood is flowing through the dirt dust

Red and clean. My blood is flowing warm and wet all over me

Until I roll myself in the live oak leaves and scratched and dirty light my own

Spring pyre

Miner's Country

A stranger tried to unclasp my hands from the reins. Drew me from my cave into the light of unpredictable day. But I cannot set the

bones that you broke in the course of your play. Can't anticipate the curves of

Another's highway. I never knew for sure

just dug my toes into the clay. Somehow I have been made weightless by this place. With no need to declare

I would not stake a claim. All that I've got; all that I gave. They seem one and the same. My desire is lent mostly to my longing for a respite in the miner's country.