James Michener is alive and well and living in Laos.

Really!

No, we're not talking about the James Michener who wrote "Tales of the South Pacific" and "Hawaii." That James Michener passed away in 1997.

We're talking about the James (Jim) Michener who is currently writing a novel called "Poison in the Wind" in which he writes about his boyhood life in Solebury, Pennsylvania, and his life during the Viet Nam War as a helicopter pilot.

Both Jim and James Michener share more than just a name and a passion for writing. Both resided in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. James grew up in Doylestown and Jim grew up in Solebury. Both are Quakers and attended Swarthmore College. James was adopted and never knew his birth father but his adoptive father's and Jim's ancestry can be traced back to the 2nd generation of Micheners in the U.S.

The photos in this album tell you a little bit about Jim's life in Solebury. All of the locations are featured in "Poison in the Wind."

Jim was featured in the International Herald Tribune in 2005.

NOTE: This particular photo of Jim was taken by AP Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer David Longstreath.

Misty Hills Farm on Phillips Mill Road in Solebury Township, where Jim tended cows and horses after school, and mowed fields throughout the summer.

Solebury Friends Meeting, where Jim's grandparents were married in 1907.

Due to the expansion of Quaker settlements in Pennsylvania -- the so-called "Quaker state" -- after the Revolutionary War, members of Buckingham Friends Meeting built and established Solebury Friends Meeting in 1806. This date is inscribed in the datestone in the gable.

The meetinghouse interior is two stories high and quite spacious. To the right of the pillar is a brick area where a potbellied stove used to sit. Its twin was in the room next to this one. Jim has fond memories of his grandmother applying stoveblack to each stove.

This is a photo taken from the second-floor gallery, looking down into the room that was in the previous photo. On the right side of the photo you get a glimpse of a second room, now called the west end, formerly called the men's side, the sexes having been segregated during "meeting for worship" as late as the early years of the last century.

In his youth Jim played the violin accompanied by Maude Funk on the piano. This would usually occur after meeting for worship, more commonly called "silent meeting."

Jim was kind enough to arrange for me and a friend to attend silent meeting here. For me, it was just "different" to sit in silence for an hour and I enjoyed it very much. Afterwards one of the members requested that we sing a hymn. Naive as I am, I asked if they needed someone to play the piano. And even though their regular pianist was in attendance, they invited me to play "Morning Has Broken." I was positively delighted to have been able to play on "Maude's Piano"!

On the lower right you can see the brick area where the second stove used to sit.

A window in the meetinghouse. At my first "silent meeting" I sat on the bench that ended near this window ... and fell in love with the view.

Upper entrance to the burying grounds.

In the autumn the trees in the burying grounds turn a gorgeous amber color.