When it's my week to be the blogmeister, I take excerpts from a 1945 journal kept by a surrogate grandmother, Keo King Lavell. This is the second week installment of her journals. I did a week's worth last month.

Keo was the daughter of the pioneer Spokane King family. Her father, Joel Barnes King, owned the general store (pictured above) at the corner of Maxwell and Monroe streets in North Spokane. How about those dirt roads?

Her journals, which she kept at the end of World War II when she was in her late 60s and a widow, are a reminder of how world and local events play out in the context of daily life.

In these two installments, she's busy planning and worrying about an upcoming trip to Seattle.

March 10: A sunny but windy day. I sewed, trying to get my clothes in order for trip. At 5:30, went over to dinner (at her sister and brother-in-law's house). Such a delicious meal -- venison pies, yams, creamed baked cabbage, tomato salad, 2 kinds of pie -- chocolate and butter scotch. After dinner, we played bridge.

March 11: It's a rainy day today. So tired. Feared I was taking cold. But now I'm in bed and have been toasting my feet at register.

Get a load of the menu -- venison pie? Creamed cabbage, two kinds of pie? Keo lived to age 89.

Makes me wonder: Do we focus too much on the next miracle food to keep us alive into old age?

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