
Madeleine DeAndreis-Ayres
Jefferson Journal ContributorMadeleine DeAndreis-Ayres was born in Eureka, California into a large family that ate a lot of Rice Krispies and listened to George Carlin and Tom Leher albums while getting dressed for school. She attended Eureka High where, as the editor of the Redwood Bark she started writing for an audience, a passion that has continued throughout her life. She comes from a long line of teachers and chose that profession after attending College of the Siskiyous, Dominican College and Chapman College, earning a teaching credential in English and Music. She started playing flute in 4th grade and continues playing in bands and with her husband Jim, an excellent guitarist who is also father to their three children Henry, Sally and Mae, fine upstanding citizens in their own communities. She recently retired from teaching in Scott Valley and is confident she will find things to do.
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On Monday morning, September 15, 2014, Siskiyou County was buffeted by battering winds. In Fort Jones, west of Yreka, I felt like Dorothy in Kansas as I…
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A difficult thing about becoming a woman “of a certain age” is that, while your driver’s license attests to the fact you are said woman “of a certain age”…
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It’s the month where we commemorate love and romance with its very own day, February 14th, Valentine’s Day. Love and romance are all well and good, but…
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The history we learn from text books is made up of stories selected by academics to explain and give shape to a civilization’s collective past. But…
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House wrens finally took up residence in one of our bird houses last summer. For those of you not familiar with house wrens, they are a small bird,…
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On October 31st 1947, two police cars collided at the intersection of 7th and H streets in Eureka, California. Both cars had their sirens going and were…
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Years ago on our son’s twelfth birthday, he wanted to invite some friends to the Skateboard Park in Ashland. He had never been there before, and…
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Sandy was in her mid-eighties when she died last May. She was a soft radiance of light in the time I knew her. She was elegance, even in infirmity; not a…
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Last January, between storms, I sat in my soggy yard dividing iris rhizomes. Yeah I know I should’ve done this last fall, but the kind of gardener I am…
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Our son’s truck was stolen last fall. He and his sister live together in Eureka and attend College of the Redwoods. They both have jobs and juggle…
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Memories of school days stay with us our whole lives. What do you remember about your years in school? Do you remember the spelling tests, the…