Winthrop

The sound never fails to catch our attention. At home, in the office, at the library or the post office, or in the park, the scream of a siren in the Methow Valley causes us all to pause, to look and listen, to try to determine where the alarm is coming from and, more importantly, […]

The Book of Shoveling: a story told in five monthly installments. November, in which the household shoveler spends the day of the first (early, unexpected, robust) storm locating snow boots, shovels, car scrapers, snow tires, winter gloves and Yak Traks. The strategy required of the first shoveling event is critical, because it determines the outer […]

Have you ever had one of those days, or weeks, when you feel like you are constantly brushing up against a version of your former life? I had a Saturday like that recently. I was on my way up to Mazama to ski and as I passed the Winthrop Barn, I noticed that the parking […]

The folks at Methow Trails offer a diverse repertoire of tidy little excursions but there’s always a few die-hards who discover — nay, seek out — a way to transform what could be an agreeably rigorous jaunt into a complete and total sufferfest. Methow Valley resident Marc Tareski wins this past weekend’s epic grind award […]

Just when you think you know someone, you hear that that they do things like show up for their volunteer job at school dressed head to toe in a gorilla costume, hopping on the chairs and bouncing around, and you realize that they are full of infinite surprises. Right, Dottie Wilson? Dottie turned 80 the […]

If you happened to read my Aug. 24, 2022 column, you may recall that I like surprises. Not for myself! (I told my husband early in our relationship that if he ever arranged a surprise birthday for me, I’d — well, I don’t know what I’d do, but it would not involve happiness for either […]

During my years living in northern Maine, moose were as common as mule deer in the Methow Valley. As we drove around the primitive back roads that snaked through forests then owned by pulp and paper companies, we saw cars with Massachusetts and Connecticut license plates flanking the shoulders as tourists watched moose thigh-deep in […]

In the fall of 1992 I was teaching high school in Ojai, California, and one fall weekend another teacher and I went to the farmers market in nearby Ventura. As we stood in line at an apple booth, the vendor — whose pace cutting apple samples was outstripped by customer demand — offered us $50 […]

We’re squarely in the dreary days of winter, and although they won’t last long, relatively speaking, most of us need coping mechanisms to make it through. Frequent Methow Valley visitor Todd Wagner recommends yoga, not just as a strategy for combatting the winter blues, but as a daily habit. Fifteen years ago Todd went to […]

During winter break, 5-year-old Miles Southworth began contemplating journalism. Specifically, he wondered “How big does a snow fort need to be to make it into the newspaper?” Coincidentally, Miles’ father, Wyatt Southworth, is a former Outward Bound instructor and teaches the Construction/Design and Outdoor Recreation classes at Liberty Bell High School, so he was well-suited […]