By STAN STAPP

AFTER WRITING three columns about my life as a Wallingford kid, it's time to change the subject. Today's topic, therefore, will be more up-to-date: "My life on the Internet." However, I'm continuing to write my column on a 12-year-old IBM with Wordstar and a Daisy Wheel. My new iMac, which I acquired last December, will be used for researching, surfing, e-mail, etc.

The iMac immediately demonstrated its usefulness, providing information for a column I was working on concerning old Lake City restaurants - specifically the Coon Chicken Inn. After the column came out I received an e-mail from Scott Farrar, the grandson of the original owner. It turns out that Farrar lives in Mukilteo. He gave me some more details, which I printed later.

So now I'll give you a few excerpts of the interaction I've had with readers, friends, family and commercial interests:

APRIL 18 - Tom Reinking, a resident of Lake City for 14 years, had an inquiry: "I'm curious about a small monument that sits between the library and the community center. It appears to be quite old. On the front is a bronze disc with the likeness of Will Rogers. The granite base has sustained chipping and sundry other damage over the years. Can you give me any info/background on this piece of Lake City history?"

Yes. The monument commemorates Will Rogers' visit to Lake City in 1935 during which he played polo at what is now Jackson Park Golf Course. It was his last public appearance before dying in a plane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska. Rogers was a nationally known and beloved actor, humorist, newspaper columnist, and rope-throwing cowboy. The pilot, Wiley Post, was well-known, too, having twice flown around the world, in 1931 and 1933.

The monument was originally installed near the Caroline Tavern, 13702 15th Ave. NE, but moved to Lake City when the monument was going to be torn down to make way for a development. The Lake City Lions then offered to install it at the Community Center and is planning on holding a fundraiser to restore the monument.

APRIL 19 - Eleanor Lippman, an old folkdance friend living in Teaneck, N.J., told how she and her brother, Howard, occasionally drove by their old family home in Scarsdale, N.Y., wishing they could once again see the inside. Finally, several years ago, running across the original plans and some photos they contacted the current owners and were invited to drop by. She and Howard found their old house was occupied by a "charming handsome young couple with an eight-year-old daughter and a dog." They had a nice visit, gave them the plans and photos and, learning they were Serbians, stayed away from politics, which is just as well.

Eleanor's son, Peter, as you may recall, had earlier been jailed in Kosovo for a couple of days "by Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic." Peter had been in Bosnia more than a year, traveling throughout the region (including Kosovo) researching refugee problems for a human rights organization. He has since returned to Seattle, and recently spoke of his experiences at a program held at the Woodland Park Presbyterian Church.

MAY 18 - "Greetings from Fresno, California" began the first correspondence of niece Jerilee Stapp Ruiz. She'd come across my column and e-mail address while surfing the Internet.

MAY 20 - "I'm John E. Anderson, Queen Anne High, '37, and have a question for you: Was there at one time a lighted fountain near the island in the northwest corner of Green Lake? Did it have a name? Like J.D. Ross?"

I don't know if there was such a fountain, but something vaguely sounds familiar. J.D. Ross, of course, was the man who ran City Light for many years, during the period of that utility's greatest growth. Perhaps one of our readers can fill us in.

MAY 21 - Michael & Susan Peskura had a story idea for me: "We recently decided to have a couple of our old, treasured and faded family photos copied. Which led us to the door of Images by Edy here in the U District, 4718 1/2 University Way. She is a wonderful woman who had quietly and competently been running her photo studio since 1950. She has been doing a great job restoring our photos - by using her experience instead of a computer. Plus she has stacks of photos around that would make a great photo history of people and their pets and talents."

JULY 17 - An old-fashioned LETTER from a granddaughter, Jocelyn, who didn't know my e-mail address at the time, but gave me hers. She lives in Texas but was raised in the Green Lake area by her mother, Jacquelyn. "This summer two girls and I have been redoing an old house in Marshall, Texas, that was built in 1905," she wrote. "It is two-story with 11 rooms, three bathrooms and had been made into four apartments, but now we are making it into a house again. We had to tear out the walls and sanded the floors and stained and varnished them. If you are wondering, there are two men who do the things we can't do, and they teach us how to do everything. The man who owns the house is letting us live here rent free if we work on the house."

JULY 13 - Jerilee, is back home in Fresno after visiting her mom, Agnes Stapp Wertz, and sister Brownie Stapp Mortlock (my niece) in Kettle Falls, Wash. Brownie got a computer during the visit. Thus Jerilee could give me Brownie's e-mail address.

Jerilee works for Huntley Moore Farms in Fresno, managing their mail order business. She included a color photo of the beautiful drive to the farms - my very first e-mail color photo from a correspondent.

JULY 24 - From granddaughter Deborah Haley, Hawaii: "Grandma, I'm sending this to be sure I have the correct address. Talk to you soon."

AUGUST 25 - Peter Lippman announces a nine-part series he is writing, "The Birth and Rebirth of Civil Society in Kosovo." Fifteen minutes after I acknowledge his message, he replies - not from Kosovo, now, but from Switzerland, soon to return to Seattle.

AUGUST 31 - I write Brownie, mentioning that my sister-in-law, Eleanor Stapp, had recently discovered that Wyatt Earp's middle name was Stapp. (In case you don't know, Wyatt was sort of a scalawag: a U.S. law officer, tavern owner, friend of Doc Holliday, and participant in the OK Corral Gunfight at Tombstone, Ariz.)

SEPTEMBER 1 - Brownie, the Stapp family genealogist, replies: "I hadn't heard that Wyatt Earp had the middle name, Stapp. But I looked through my files and found that James Stapp, brother of our Achilles Stapp, had a son named Wyatt Stapp who married Lucinda Berry, daughter of William Berry. Possibly this is the family line of Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp. At any rate, we must be cousins!"

"I love this e-mail!" she added. "It's so easy to keep in touch with lots of people. As far as I know, my Seattle sister (Louise Stapp Braun) does not yet have an e-mail addredss, but I am working on her."

SEPTEMBER 1 - Jocelyn, back from a 5,000-mile East Coast trip with her two friends, gives details, and recalls that her mother, Jacquelyn Stapp Weaver (my daughter) had told her that when Dorothy and I toured the country years ago MY big interest was photographing ALL the town water towers!

SEPTEMBER 1 - Dianne Stapp Williams (my other daughter) says she is now connected to the Internet and I can reach her or Stephanie (my granddaughter) with her address. They live in Phoenix, Ariz., where Stephanie is attending a new high school, Thunderbird High. "Geometry is throwing her for a loop," Diane said. "Unfortunately that subject was my absolute worst so I am no help." Diane is a clinical care manager for a behavioral health agency.

SEPTEMBER 1 - Marilyn Dunstan (my niece) forwards photos of her son, Brian, taken on a trip to Cornell University, via New Orleans, Florida, Washington, D.C., and the Appalachian Trail.

SEPTEMBER 2 - Brownie did some more checking on Wyatt Earp, acquiring a number of details, which if true, led her to this conclusion: "It is doubtful that Wyatt Earp is related to any Stapps except by name." Shucks!

SEPTEMBER 5 - The Trevor Kincaid Family Round Robin (in which my wife, Dorothy, participates) has for years used the United States Mail. But now its going by e-mail and the five sisters and one brother are learning how it works. The old way was to write a letter, place it in a large envelope with the five other letters (removing the oldest letter) and mailing it to the next sibling in a pre-ordained order.

The new system resulted in several glitches, but nothing serious. Typical, reported John Illman (one of the in-laws) was that of Kathleen Kincaid Allen's first e-mail. "It came through clean, but was followed by a repeat containing a lot of garbage." A common problem for newcomers. (Even I once sent a repeated message, FOUR times in my case - but no garbage.)

SEPTEMBER 7 - I received the first of several messages from the Learning Company offering cheaply priced software, such as: copy machine, $19; complete set of Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia, $9.95; and animated greeting cards, $14.95. Is this for real?

SEPTEMBER 9 - From Deborah to Grandpa (me) after Dorothy had written her, with quite a lot of help from me: "Tell Grandma that she needs to learn how to send her OWN e-mail. NinNin (her other grandma) CAN do it!"