Three Methow Valley residents had a brush with royalty on Saturday. First, let me applaud Bev Jensen, Jocelyn Murray and Carolyn Sullivan for going public about not only watching the coronation of Charles III, but also planning an entire tea party around it. (I’ve found that one of the benefits getting older is being unabashed […]
VALLEY LIFE
Valley Life: Twisp
It would be remiss to avoid mentioning the run-off last week. The warm pulse of air that rapidly melted our mountain snowpack and swelled our rivers and creeks caused all kinds of concern and hubbub and minor flooding. According to the real time date on the USGA websites, this year’s crest puts it in fourth […]
Valley Life: Mazama
The night sky lit up with a spectacular display of sheet lightning followed by big claps of thunder last Thursday (May 4). Then came the rain, constant and drenching all night long — all this following the 80-degree weather snowmelt. Now there’s water, water everywhere — rivers, streams, creeks filled to the brim and overflowing. […]
Valley Life: Lower Valley
Several years ago, while on a favorite trail where the wildflowers grow in abundance, I came across John Kolts while he conducted a field study for The Xerces Society, a nonprofit science-based organization working to conserve pollinators and their respective habitats. In a recent post on the Methow Nature Notes Facebook group, John revealed the […]
Valley Life: Mazama
As things on your mind tend to turn up unexpectedly in your real world, I found “The Country Mouse and the City Mouse,” a Little Golden Book, at the Thrift Store. Not having read the book for decades, I was curious to revisit the story line. The first thing I noticed was that the book […]
Valley Life: Winthrop
In the fall of 2006, as I was picking up my 2-year-old from Little Star Montessori School, with my 2-week-old strapped to my chest in a baby carrier, I was asked a question. Looking me straight in the eye and promising me it wouldn’t take too much time (ignorance is bliss), Little Star founder and […]
Valley Life: Twisp
When my children were much younger, we routinely motivated them to hike by employing special incentives with the aid of trail fairies. Trail fairies would magically place Skittles or M & Ms on the trail ahead of the young hikers who anxiously searched for them on rock cracks, downed logs, or mossy beds along the […]
Valley Life: Mazama
Riparian areas contain elements of water and land ecosystems. The interaction between the two systems creates a healthy environment that is critical for the survival and existence of living things, both plant and animal, that depend upon it. Riparian areas in Washington state include several in the Methow Valley. Mazama residents Lincoln and Janet Loehr […]
Valley Life: Lower Valley
Each night, when darkness falls, I switch on a light and crack open a book. I am currently reading “The Darkness Manifesto: On Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms That Sustain Life,” by Johan Eklöf. Eklöf is a Swedish scientist who studies bats. He quickly discovered the extent of light pollution that affected […]
Valley Life: Winthrop
Adding Chinese to her quiver of languages wasn’t “a very well-thought-out plan,” Liberty Bell High School Chinese teacher Eveline Wathen says, but it is something she has ended up using throughout her life so far. When Eveline entered Leiden University in the Netherlands in 1987, she knew she wanted to learn a new language, as […]
