Methow

The desk I sit at used to live in my great-grandparents’ house on Walnut Street. The one with the wrap-around porch and stained-glass windows, with a coal-burning furnace in the basement and a secret room upstairs behind a false-backed closet. When my great-aunt Hazel with the red hair attended secretary school, her young son Frank […]

The desk I sit at used to live in my great-grandparents’ house on Walnut Street. The one with the wrap-around porch and stained-glass windows, with a coal-burning furnace in the basement and a secret room upstairs behind a false-backed closet. When my great-aunt Hazel with the red hair attended secretary school, her young son Frank […]

When we evacuate, if there is time, I grab an irreplaceable family heirloom: a small doll with a crude button face, a dress made of tartan rags wrapped about a body formed by the wishbone of a hen. A small card tied about her neck bears a handwritten poem. In the tiny box with the […]

Conversations overheard at the bakery: Him: We should probably get something for them. Her: Honey, they don’t eat like us, not remotely anything like what we eat. Him: You’re right, something with lots of seeds, then… Also overheard at the bakery: Him: I think we should get one of everything. Her: We were sent here […]

Petrichor [pet-ri-kawr]: the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. From Greek petros, “stone,” and ichor, the ethereal fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in classical Greek mythology. As I am writing this column late on a Friday afternoon, the aroma of petrichor blows through the window carried by late […]

People have been living at and using Alta Lake for as long as people have lived in the Methow Valley, between 13,000 and 10,000 years. The first documented resident was Neekowit, also known as Captain Joe. Neekowit was the head of the Methow community that lived in and around the lower Methow Valley. When Lee […]

Vote now, and every day through the end of July, for the Pateros Brewster Community Resource Center (PBCRC) Community Commercial Kitchen Project at http://www.supernovablc.com/vote. The lucky winner receives $10,000 cash and in-kind professional services to implement a business plan that benefits the community. PBCRC was selected as a semi-finalist in the Supernova Business Launch Competition […]

Apple Pie Jamboree pies are available for order online through the month of July or until the fruit runs out. Visit http://www.paterosapj.org to order a regular, sugar-free or gluten-free pie for $15. Raffle tickets are on sale until the live Facebook drawing on July 18. Raffle tickets are $2 each, or $10 for six tickets. […]

Apple Pie Jamboree is an annual community fundraiser supporting Pateros youth programs. This year, the event is virtual: pies, T-shirts, and raffle buttons may all be ordered online. Visit the Apple Pie Jamboree Facebook page to order: http://www.facebook.com/ApplePieJamboree. A popular event for over 70 years, proceeds from the Apple Pie Jamboree support youth programs in […]

Congratulations 2020 graduates! What a long strange year it has been for you. Banal platitudes pale in comparison to national events. You’re entering a world on the cusp of change, in the middle of a pandemic. “Be the change you want to see in the world,” must weigh heavy on your shoulders. You are not […]