Winthrop

By Ashley Lodato
    I spoke with Frances Mishler, the matriarch of the Higbee clan, after the 30th annual Higbee family reunion this past weekend. Frances hosted a potluck for 80 members of the Higbee family – including three new babies since last year – at her home in Winthrop on Saturday night, with people coming from the west side, Oregon, and California.
    The reunion is ostensibly a three-day affair, says Frances, but it’s so much fun that people start trickling in around Wednesday and check into the Virginian. The reunion kicks off with a snake hunt (how many family reunions can put THAT on their list of activities?!), followed by the skinning and eating of said snakes. Saturday morning is ball game time, with players young and old taking to the field, followed by an afternoon on the river. On Sunday morning three of the boys cook breakfast for everyone at Dan Higbee’s house, and then people say their goodbyes until the following year. “Everyone gets a hug when they arrive and when they leave,” says Frances.
The Winthrop Artisan market held on Sundays at the Winthrop Park has been a bustling affair and this weekend there is yet another good reason to attend: the Winthrop Library book sale, which will take place in front of the library from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Aug. 1. Donations of books in good shape would be appreciated, as would volunteers to help staff the event. Check with Sally at the library if you can help.
    Those outside of the Twin Lakes neighborhood probably cannot appreciate the emotional attachment many of the Twin Lakes residents feel to our little mascot, Woody the Rodeo Clown. But when my family woke up the other morning and saw the cheerful little clown perched at the top of our steps, the joy in our household was palpable. It was as if we had been tapped for Skull and Bones, Methow-style.
    Imagine: You are a 4 or 6-year-old girl, a three-foot-tall clown appears in the night, and he is wearing your favorite color of lipstick (if only your mother would let you wear lipstick). Every morning you wake up and peek out your bedroom window to make sure that Woody is still guarding the top of the steps. You know that Woody must soon be delivered to another Twin Lakes resident, but you can’t quite bear to let him go. You take numerous pictures of yourself with Woody and you frequently kiss his red wooden lips.
    Then one day you wake up, Woody is gone, and you are bereft. But never mind, you know that Woody is as easily purloined as he is bestowed, and your time will come again.