Mazama

In the doom and gloom of a global pandemic where a heartless novel virus has taken the lives of at least 350,000 people, it’s hard to imagine any silver linings. However, lately I’ve been hearing the expression more than a few times. So, this column is the playbook for coronavirus silver linings. The most likely […]

Kumm Road up Mazama way is a neighborhood like many others in the Methow Valley — a place where everyone knows your name. In life BC (before coronavirus), neighbors got together to visit about the day, the family, the next event, or just to chill in good company. Then came Stay Home. Mic drop. That’s all, folks! […]

This is fish tale No. 2 His railroad cronies called him Catfish. His best fishing buddies were nicknamed Minnow and Rainbow. My dad was the quintessential Montana fisherman. He knew rivers, lakes, and streams in every part of the state. Our dinner table most frequently included some kind of fish: rainbow trout, brown trout, cutthroat […]

Currently, there are 120,000 young Coho salmon swimming in two ponds near the confluence of Early Winters Creek and the Methow River. They are acclimating to the chemical signatures and cues from the stream water for a very specific reason: Next fall they will return to this spot to spawn – only after they swim […]

Bergamo, located in one of the richest and most productive regions of Italy, is home to inhabitants who are known for their fierce sense of belonging to their Lombardy region and family. They take pride in their pragmatic approach to life and their robust work ethic. Sadly, Bergamo now holds a record that no town […]

Live music has long been a staple in the Methow. Genres span the gamut: rhythm and blues, country, chamber, Celtic, funk, jazz, electronic, rock and roll, hip-hop, among others. Talented musicians abound in the valley, ever ready to share a song. Whether at local eateries, in a field, on a hill, in a park, in […]

As if life isn’t strange/weird/crazy enough right now, a big semi pulled into the Winthrop Barn parking lot the other day. Loading my bike into the pickup bed after a refreshing ride on the Chewuch Loop, I watched as car doors opened and humans slowly approached the back end of the truck. Cautiously distancing, the […]

Wouldn’t it be nice if we woke up this Wednesday (Apr. 1) morning and a gigantic megaphone belted out, “April Fools! There is no coronavirus pandemic!”? Sort of like Orson Welles’ radio depiction of “The War of the Worlds” that was broadcast on Oct. 30, 1938, claiming that aliens from Mars had invaded New Jersey. […]

As we wade deeper into the silence of isolation and the uncertainty of the rabbit hole we have collectively fallen into, there is some solace in hearing how people locally, across the country — and even in hard-hit Italy — are faring. Here in Mazama, where the Mazama Store is the hub of activity, longtime […]

How did our lives change in the blink of an eye? Until about a week ago, “social distancing” wasn’t even in our wheelhouse. Now we’re hyper-alert about everything we touch and repeating as our mantra the age-old advice we have received regularly since kindergarten: Wash your hands and keep your hands away from your face! […]