Mazama

What happened to the Sunshine Protection Act? Since the leaders of the country cannot seem to agree on much, it is not surprising that the act is languishing on some committee table in the back room. The 115th Congress first proposed establishing permanent Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. in 2018, 116th Congress in 2019, […]

If you ever lived by a Washington State Ferry schedule, you know what I mean when I say you cannot approach the ferry dock without some exhale of emotion — you are the last car to board (whew!), you are the first car to have the “ferry full” sign given (dang!), your timing was perfect […]

Did you know that if you are a Myers-Briggs ISFJ or ISNJ personality type, you might be a person who loves to do jigsaw puzzles. Puzzling, right? During the pandemic, like many people, I thought, “Let’s buy a Ravensburger puzzle at the bookstore!” It took what seemed like forever just to turn the pieces over. […]

It is not a usual sight to find a petite young woman installing a bookshelf wall unit in an Edelweiss hillside home — one that she custom built herself. Not unless it’s Mollie Hunt, who recently completed an intensive course in “Traditions of Furniture” at Port Townsend School of Woodworking. It wasn’t always her dream […]

There is much psychological chatter about why adults like to dress up for Halloween. A simple explanation is that it’s fun to be creative and connect with the inner child that still wants to play. For a deeper inner look, psychologist Dr. Scott Bea said in “Psychology Today,” “It’s about becoming disinhibited, playing with different […]

If something doesn’t feel right, most likely it isn’t — that is, if your intuitive “spidey sense” is healthy. Such was my feeling when we headed out for our penultimate horse ride of the season last week. Familiar Jack’s Trail seemed like a good pick to meet a horse friend we had not seen since […]

When you move to Mazama without meaningful knowledge of its microclimate, you might be in for a surprise. It was with disbelief and dismissal that we looked at a wintry picture of our house taken in the past and shared by a former neighbor. The snow was up to the eaves. Impossible, we thought. He […]

On the list of “getting ready for winter chores” is taking down the clothesline. There’s nothing sweeter than the smell of wind-flapped sheets during the heat of a Methow Valley summer. In contrast, waiting for clothes to dry on the line as the weather cools can be challenging. Maybe it shouldn’t be as challenging as […]

Recently, I heard this comment made about an individual, “He always does the right thing.” For example, he hesitated about accepting a foreign exchange student given his very busy work and life schedule — until he read a letter from the mother of the prospective student. She described how the 16-year-old girl had been an […]

Here’s what I know today about traveling to an international destination: air travel snafus are the norm; there aren’t hand gestures for every word or phrase; some things cross cultural borders and look very similar, others very different; and horses are indeed the subject of art in ancient places. Connecting flights have long been an […]