Mazama

On Cinco de Mayo, the fifth day of the fifth month I’m going to begin with another “five” story, about five crosses. At the risk of sounding morbid, this is a subject that has always evoked emotions for me and perhaps many readers. With my curious, analytical mind, I’ve always wondered who the people were […]

We who live in the Methow Valley seem to have a love/hate relationship with the North Cascades Highway. We love it for its breathtaking beauty and access to outdoor adventures of numerous genres. Especially here in Mazama, the time shaved off a trip to the west side is most appreciated. A trip to Bellingham in […]

A couple of years ago, I was searching for a macramé plant hanger. Back in my Mother Earth days in the 1970s, I would have quite handily made my own. Having not used those knot-tying skills for decades, I thought it much easier to have someone else do the crafting. I selected the hanger that […]

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah! They seemingly come out of the woodwork in the spring and get busy with their work of scouting out food. It’s okay in the woods, but when they are marching in a line to a food source inside a home, it’s quite annoying. The first worker […]

What do Mazama and Gonzaga have in common? Mispronunciation! Think gon·zah·guh rather than the correct pronunciation guhn·zaa·guh — not unlike the familiar muh-zah-muh instead of muh·zaa·muh. To top it off, Gonzaga University is located in the city of Spokane, which is the No. 1 mispronounced place name in the United States, according to more than one source. […]

“It’s spring when teachers open the windows and let their papers blow off their desks. It’s spring when there’s a fire drill and everybody drags mud back into the school. It’s spring when the crankiest teacher in school skips down the street and suddenly jumps up and clicks his heels together. It’s spring when the […]

I’m convinced that the bald eagle is somewhat embarrassed by the company he keeps. At least a half dozen times throughout the winter I’ve observed a road kill deer being feasted on by a battalion of ravens, and high above the heads of the raucous crowd is the majestic head of the eagle. All seem […]

Woody Woodpecker is alive and well. He lives down the lane in a neighbor’s snag tree. You know he’s there because every morning before 7 a.m., he’s hammering out his drum call to declare his territory. It is sort of akin to a jackhammer rat-a-tat-tatting — not exactly the alarm clock sound one would choose; however, it […]

My wedding anniversary comes around every March. This year March marks another anniversary: a year since an airborne virus entered our sphere and upended normalcy. My anniversary date, March 14, 2020, landed on a Saturday and was also the date for the Kiwanis Bite of the Methow held annually at the Winthrop Barn. Since my […]

No excuses! Such is the mantra of 70-year-old Julie Johnson and soon-to-be-84-year-old Betty Wagoner. These two “young” ladies have been fast friends since they first met in 1980 at the apple packing shed (since burned down) in the down-valley burg of Methow. As they carefully wrapped apples and pears into shipping boxes, they found they […]