By Erika Kar
Do you know Lisa Picklesimer? Of course you know of her chocolates and caramels. Those boxes that appear at all the local shops sometime around Thanksgiving and don’t stop with their temptation until just after Valentine’s Day. And if you are in the Mazama Store on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you have definitely seen her working behind the counter. Lisa is the one with the biggest smile. Not that the others don’t have big smiles, Lisa’s is just bigger. I see that I may have backed myself in a corner here. Just keep reading.
My point that I was trying to get to was that if you have ever talked with Lisa, you know that she has a large family that brings her so much joy. She lights up when you ask her about her kids or grandkids. When I was chatting with her last week and badgering her for any news that she might have, the conversation inevitably turned to what her family was up to. It turns out that her son Nick and his family recently just moved from Winthrop to Coram, Montana, to pastor a church.
Nick, his wife, Sarah, and four kids, Annabelle (7), Caleb (6), Judah (3) and Leo (2) packed up and headed out on Sept. 27. They arrived in time for Nick to deliver his first message on Sept. 30. And then they received their first snow on Monday. According to Lisa, Nick hopes to help with children’s hockey in their new town, like he did here in the valley.
It sounds like Coram is fairly similar to the Methow. Wikipedia tells us that Coram is an unincorporated community in Flathead County, Montana. The population was 539 at the 2010 census, up from 337 at the 2000 census. Coram lies 7 miles from the western entrance of Glacier National Park.
More news from the Picklesimer clan comes from Chel’ea Drozdov, Lisa’s daughter. Chel’ea is helping to put on the Mazama Community Church’s Fall Fun Festival. It will be Oct. 27 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. It will begin with a bicycle scavenger hunt and then will move inside the church for more carnival-type games, pumpkin carving (bring your own), story time, and finishing with a soup and chili cook-off. In addition to the soups and chilis, rolls, cider and fall desserts will also be provided. Word has it that there will also be a bouncy house, although my experience as a mother says to not allow your kids to go into a bouncy house after eating chili. Bouncy house first, chili last.
Yes, you will will find a lot of bull on Lost River Road.
Everyone is welcome and people are encouraged to bring their favorite soup or chili, but it is certainly not required. It is requested though that the recipe be printed and posted next to your food so those with allergies can check the ingredients.
Don’t forget that the Great Mazama Yard Sale is Saturday (Oct. 13) from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Mazama Community Club. After browsing through the treasures, you could go treat yourself to something tasty from the Mazama Store. Maybe you’ll even see John Curley from “Evening Magazine” fame, like I did today. It wasn’t quite like seeing the moose that showed up on the property of Doug Sredinsky and Leslie Luther last week, but it was an out-of-the-norm sighting nonetheless. Kind of like the gigantic bull that has taken to hanging out at Karina Johnson’s house when he is not ambling down Lost River Road.
