Winthrop

A few times in the past I’ve written about the benefits of keeping a gratitude journal, but I’ve never followed through on my own counsel. I’ve made a few attempts, but as all followers of Yoda know, “there is no try.” We either do or do not — and I did not; each time I […]

A horse or a pony isn’t a piece of sporting equipment like a bike or a pair of skis; you don’t stuff them in the garage for the off-season and fetch them back out again when the weather is right. Although equestrian riding pauses for the winter — unless you have an indoor arena — […]

Twisp resident Jack Berg, was drafted into the U.S. Army a year after graduating from high school, at age 19. After boot camp and infantry training, both at Fort Lewis, Jack was sent to Wiesbaden Air Base (now Clay Kaserne) in Germany for jump school. Five jumps and five days later, Jack was assigned to […]

On Friday evening I was just leaving Omak when out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed the first crescent of the almost-full moon rising in a notch in the mountains east of town. A pastel-purple sky gave way to cotton-candy clouds above. It looked like a mid-summer evening, but the air told a […]

Here are the Top Ten reasons for becoming the Twisp Valley Life columnist. 10. Instant local fame. There’s no escaping notoriety when your picture appears in the newspaper every week. One of my favorite photo-recognition stories comes from 10 years ago, when my younger daughter was in second grade. The students were making paper mâché […]

The symbolism of a wreath varies depending on which website you consult, but all the explanations have one thing in common: commemoration. Wreaths celebrate the cycle of life, a significant change, an achievement, a victory. In the Methow Valley, wreaths commemorate a milestone for another graduating class of high school seniors, which to some degree […]

While casting about for a column topic, I landed a big one. Many of my columns are catch and release — a moment of joy, then back into the water, to be forever forgotten. But the subject of this one — Casting for Recovery — is a keeper. I started angling for a way to […]

In the summer of 2022, podcaster and Winthrop resident Ashley Ahearn participated in a writing residency with the Roundhouse Foundation in Sisters, Oregon. Although she wasn’t involved in a big writing project at the time, a wild mustang she had adopted earlier that year — Boo — gave form and purpose to her residency, the […]

Winthrop resident Cristy Quaale Carlson has published a memoir that invites readers into her experience growing up in the years following the Great Depression and World War II. Although she was raised on a farm near Madras, Oregon, her memories “touch on the universals of small-town ranching,” a press release said. Some of the stories […]

If you’ve ever asked a high school cross-country runner after a meet, “How did that go — did you feel good?” you’ll realize instantly that you’ve asked them a question that’s nearly impossible for them to answer in any manner that makes sense to both of you. Let’s paint a picture of a recent scene. […]