Old Town Bandon, the historic and quaint part of Bandon, a tiny town on the southern coast of Oregon, has the best fudge in the world, plus other delicious candy made from local cranberries.

But most people who travel to this remote Pacific Ocean village that long ago bustled with activity from logging, fishing, dairy farming, and even gold mining, don't go there for candy. They go to play golf. Old fashion golf. No golf carts just caddies on sandy turf. It's called links golf, as in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Bandon, named in 1873 by Cork, Ireland native George Bennett after the Irish town of his origin, has now become one of the top rated golf resort destinations in the world. It makes one think of the movie Field of Dreams starring Kevin Coster in which baseball fields were built out in the middle of nowhere. "Build them and they will come" is the movie's mantra. Well, the same could be said of the now four spectacular golf courses built by Chicago businessman, Mike Keiser.

            Mr. Keiser, cofounder of Recycled Paper Greetings, the third largest greeting card company in the industry, dared to live his wildest dream: build courses that golfers would be playing for hundreds of years. "I wasn't interested in commercial golf. I was interested in dream golf," he is quoted by author Stephen Goodwin in his highly readable book, Dream Golf, The Making of Bandon Dunes.

            This is coming from a non-golfer. I was just tagging along with my husband and some dear friends to this coveted golf resort. Our friends had a copy of Dream Golf which I read, between runs into Old Town Bandon for that great candy, while they were out on the courses. The fudge can be ordered by calling Big Wheel General Store, 541.347.3719.    

Books, Movies, Trivia~

Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin is a bold, no-nonsense, tough-love approach to dieting, seasoned with plenty of words like the one in the title. The descriptions of what cows and chickens go through before they are packaged and delivered are not for the faint of heart (sort of like a cattle prod) but in the book to persuade us to go vegan. I'll put it on my bookshelf next to my other twenty books on diet, or maybe pass it on.

The Last King in Scotland- a hard movie to watch (again I had to stop it and resume the next day) but a well done film showing the horrible power and cruelty of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, played by Forest Whitaker who deservedly won an Oscar and Golden Globe award for his portrayal. PYE

Avenue Montaigne-a charming film based in Paris and one that Mike and I want to watch again.Great artful scenes, quirky plot, and the mellifluous sound of the French language. A delight for any Francophile.

  YBD- Your Bounden Duty    PYE- Part of Your Education ( à la Archibald Edwards)   MNH- Might Need a Handkerchief (à la LA)