Twisp

One of the remarkable things about the Fourth of July is that it’s a rare time for Americans to put aside their political differences and celebrate our unity, which as history shows, is no easy task. Twisp’s Fourth celebration and Arts Festival do this well. However, a recent visit to Washington, D.C., reaffirmed my sense […]

Pagan summer solstice gatherings may have opened a portal to another time and place and summoned up ancestral spirits and gods to beckon us northward. Passers-by on Twisp-Winthrop Eastside road might have been surprised to see Nordic gods, goddesses, barbarians, knights and Viking warriors convening Saturday evening to partake in farewell celebration for Twinthrop residents […]

On a recent hike foraging for mushrooms, we embarked up Buttermilk Creek. A visiting friend remarked, “this is an interesting creek name.” Discussion ensued with pontifications imagining there must have been a pioneer dairy in the vicinity that sold miners raw buttermilk as they explored the hidden deposits in search of precious metals. Or maybe […]

Starting with the most-obvious and most-mispronounced word outside the valley, I turned to local natural and native history buff George Wooten to gain some insight into the word Methow. According to Wooten, a commonly accepted meaning for the word “Methow” is roughly translated as “the place in the middle.” Wooten explains that likely, stemming from […]

What is a place without a name? One might argue that without a name, a space isn’t a place, just a continuance of one space to the next. If we think of space and place as interchangeable concepts, a remarkable phenomenon occurs. In astrophysics, time and space are linked whereby one cannot exist without the […]

The Methow is hard act to follow when it comes to the arts. Performing arts especially were in full tilt last weekend as local actors, musicians and acrobats took to multiple stages across the valley. I couldn’t attend all the stage acts, but here are some briefings garnered from friends and family who did, and […]

They seem to appear almost overnight, their long necks craning for sunshine and erupting in a sea of yellow across my lawn. They seem to explode after the first mowing of the season, somehow escaping the blades. And almost as fast they appear, they become soft whispering puffs dotting the green blanket of lawn. Dandelions […]

In the wake of the Trashion Show, it’s important to dispel some rumors that have been spreading about whether recycling matters. When the event was first conceptualized it was a way to use art and creativity to heighten awareness around waste and promote the idea of up-cycling. Upcycling refers to the adaptive/creative re-use of a […]

Many thanks to the organizers of the seventh annual Father-Daughter Dance, and for the first of what will hopefully be many Mother-Son dances. The dances are organized by Holly Wilmot. In 2013, Holly, then a mother of two young daughters, felt called upon to put together this time-honored tradition that is quite common in other […]

Absolutely astonished. That is what Patty Yates felt after she stepped outside Methow Valley Lumber Monday after purchasing some household items and realized her car was missing. Like many of us here in the valley, Patty, a 35-year resident, had become complacent in locking her car door. Even more, she, like many valley friends I […]