Mazama

If you are new to the valley, you may have heard the welcoming advice: be prepared to bring a covered dish, to be on a board, and to volunteer. There are so many opportunities to volunteer that there is even a website for that at volunteermethow.org. Recently I heard the expression, “I was volun-told.” My […]

A significant loss in Mazama due to coronavirus was an indoor gathering place. Even though the space was small, the Mazama Store offered somewhere out of the weather to rub shoulders with neighbors and visitors alike, quaff a beverage, sip a soup, watch a game — so 2019. Then, it was gone. It was with […]

“Taxes! Taxes! Beautiful, lovely taxes!” “Sire, you have an absolute skill for encouraging contributions from the poor.” “To coin a phrase, my dear counselor, rob the poor to feed the rich. Am I right?” So went the conversation between crafty Prince John and his loyal sidekick Sir Hiss in Disney’s version of “Robin Hood.” Shortly […]

Can you remember the first time you heard of the game called “pickleball?” I do, and also recall wondering what the heck the game was. Now, it is Washington’s official state sport as of March 28 when Gov. Jay Inslee signed the bill making it such. He traveled to the unlikely birthplace of the sport […]

Heading out the other day for a walk from the Winthrop Barn, I was elated to see the play area and pavilion at Mack Lloyd Park filled with parents and children for (by the look of the balloons) a birthday party. The laughter and chatter felt pre-pandemic normal. It was a positive sign to me […]

This week I am on horse duty, have a 7,000-page data input project with a deadline, and company is coming this afternoon. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it, if anything about today’s column is disjointed. Rick Karro wrote to me about last week’s column. He said, “There is a Sears kit home in […]

Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward (which for some reason in Montana we called “Monkey Wards”) catalogs were a staple in my childhood. When back-to-school came around, I could order one piece of clothing — usually a cardigan sweater set. The rest of my time with the catalogs was spent paging through the pet section where […]

Everything is all well and good — until it isn’t. Arizona sunshine felt good, really good. It warmed the bones chilled by winter, snow and ice. Its mood-enhancing rays filled with vitamin D were healing to the soul. Re-energized to face the waning days of winter and hit the ground running come spring, we headed […]

It hasn’t been the long winter we experienced in 2020-21 where the first snow arrived in October and the last vestige disappeared at the end of April, but there’s still restlessness for the snow to be gone and the trees to leaf out. What a surprise to wake up to a snow globe scene this […]

Recently I was listening to “1A” on NPR, as I frequently do on the 25-minute drive from Mazama to Twisp. The topic was a book written by Chuck Klosterman called “The Nineties.” It began something like this: “When the 1990s began, hardly anyone in America was online. When it ended, nearly everyone was.” Klosterman went […]