Carlton

I’ve been pronouncing Pateros all wrong for so long. I blame my northern accent. Goooo to PaterOHs, oh ho! No, no, no. Pateros is much more inclusive. The correct pronunciation is “Pa-tare-us,” with an “us.” Sierra Golden set me straight and then sent me down the rabbit hole wondering how Pateros is pronounced in the […]

The down side to writing a column is that I’m sitting here in the present writing about the future and by the time you read this, it will be past. According to Albert Einstein, it’s all relative anyway: “People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present and future is […]

When I was a young whippersnapper, I would have spent this week cutting geometric shapes out of colored paper and gluing them together with a bit of string, while labeling each in crayon the “Nina,” the “Pinta” and the “Santa Maria.” How has this knowledge served me in life? There was that one time that […]

Notice anything different about the Methow Valley skyline? McClure Mountain is getting a new communications tower. The 100-foot tower will replace the older, out-of-date, smaller towers at the site and will be managed by the Methow Valley Communications District. Bri Sullivan, administrative manager of the communications district, said the community will “greatly benefit” from the […]

Ahh, the tell-tale signs of summer’s end: a chill in the morning, a bit of smoke in the air, and copious amounts of zucchini. I recently heard an interview with Stanley Tucci wherein he sings the praises of a simple dish of zucchini and pasta. It sounded like a dish my mom made — minus […]

You probably already knew this fun fact: raptors migrate by day and songbirds migrate at night. A ridgeline hike paired with overnight camping during a full moon week in September and October is a wonderful opportunity to view hawk migration by day and songbird migration at night. For over 10,000 years, raptors have traversed the […]

  Nearly 30 years ago, Doug and Sue Runyan drove over the North Cascades to meet with a Realtor in the Methow Valley. They fell in love with a small alfalfa field alongside the river below Carlton, called Starvation Acres. In recent years Doug and Sue took on the monumental task to restore the house. […]

I contracted COVID last week. Indoors, I wear my mask. Outdoors, I wear a mask in large gatherings — for instance, while at the farmers market. I’m fully vaccinated and boosted. The one place I chose not to wear my mask was the one place I acquired COVID. My symptoms began with a sore throat […]