All week last week my news feed was flooded with weather reports of an ‘atmospheric river.’ Torrents of water were predicted to flow from the skies. I was gruntled, the opposite of disgruntled, looking forward to a pleasurable weekend filled with hot tea and book reading while rain flowed in rivulets on the windowpanes.
The ‘atmospheric river’ never made it past the rain shadow of the North Cascade peaks. I was profoundly disgruntled. Nothing but blue sky and puffy dry clouds filled with disgruntled disappointment.
Speaking of clouds, did you ever stop to think that the first person to download a document from the cloud was Moses? After receiving this document written in stone, Moses held the first Yom Kippur.
Rabbi David Wolpe published a thought-provoking essay in the New York times last week on the lessons of Yom Kippur. His essay, “A Rabbi’s guide on Making Amends and Letting Grudges Go,” contains lessons of self-reflection, forgiveness, and restoration of relationships. I read it with interest given this past year of strained relationships, and hope for a path forward.
Speaking of paths forward, exciting things are happening in Pateros! This tiny town pulls together to create opportunities for everyone. Pateros is full of makers: turning produce into value-added products. The Pateros Brewster Community Resource Center is building a commercial kitchen in Pateros for local entrepreneurs. From the PBCR website, “Local farmers and home food producers need a USDA certified commercial kitchen to process and sell their goods. A shared kitchen keeps startup costs and overhead low and helps get their food businesses off the ground.” The project will grow local businesses, create jobs, and hold space for skills training and nutrition education. For more information, visit www.paterosresource.com/community-commercial-kitchen.
Pateros was recently featured in The Art of Community NCW in the article, “Tiny Pateros on cusp of major early learning and child care expansion.” A group of citizens formed Pateros Treehouse Early Education Organization to address the need for child care and early education in Pateros. Mayor Carlene Anders and her husband Gene Dowers have operated Activity Based Childcare, an in-home child care center, for over two decades and are planning ahead to turn the for-profit business into a non-profit that can serve a growing population. Carlene and Gene were joined by other Pateros community members and parents with broad backgrounds in education, health, and community development to form the Pateros Treehouse group. The group is just $20,000 away from their $780,000 goal to renovate an old church building in the center of town. For more information, visit www.paterostreehouse.com.
And lastly, here are some events to keep an eye on. Coming up this weekend on the TwispWorks campus, Methow Valley Interpretive Center’s Last Sunday program, September 26th at 5 p.m: Dana Visalli on “Ecology of the Methow River Watershed: How Everything is Connected to Everything Else.”
On Friday October 8th at 5 p.m., Dr. Bob Carson will present “Glaciers and Climate Change,” at MVIC. Earlier that day, Dr. Carson will recreate the Missoula Ice-Age Flood near Twisp Park. Follow the Methow Valley Interpretive center on Facebook for more details.
