Winthrop

As Veterans Day approaches, I was glad to learn of an author in our region who has written about the Vietnam War: Laura Kalpakian. One of our local authors, Marian Exall, introduced me to Kalpakian’s work, saying she has known Kalpakian “as a teacher, editor, mentor, and dear friend.” Kalpakian is an award-winning author of […]

Pretty much every time I go out and about in the Methow Valley, I learn something new. Sometimes I learn about who used to be married to who, or who used to have what job or own which business. Once I introduced two sisters to each other, not realizing that their relationship with each other […]

Like many other valley residents and visitors, I had a bit of a whirlwind weekend, traipsing around to several of the numerous community events that were scheduled on what turned out to be possibly the most picture-perfect weekend of September.  As I drove home from the final event on my weekend calendar — John Sirois’s […]

I had to miss the inaugural William Stafford Peace Festival in the Methow Valley this past weekend due to pre-existing plans on the west side, but Stafford and I have been crossing paths — metaphorically or existentially or tangentially — for several months now. It started with an email I received in the spring, from […]

There was a time not too long ago when you couldn’t throw an apple in the Methow Valley without hitting a local cider house. Whether you craved Sixknot Organic Cider’s Gingerella or Goldilocks, hankered for Booth Canyon Orchard’s 37 Apples, enjoyed a glass of Six Point Cider’s Tart Cherry from time to time, or couldn’t […]

One minute you’re the only white squirrel in town, and the next thing you know, your fellow anomalies are being spotted all over the valley. You may recall that in early August I reported on the observation of a white squirrel on Wolf Creek Road. No sooner had that column posted to the internet than […]

Imagine if every time your phone hit the ground with a particular force (i.e., it fell out of your pack on a trail run), or you submerged it (i.e., you jumped into the lake with it in your pocket), Aero Methow Rescue Service and the police were automatically notified. How inconvenient would that be? Oh, […]

I was out of the state earlier this month and no matter where I went on my travels, when people asked where I was from and I responded, their immediate reaction was sympathy for the fires. Their perspectives on “the fires” varied greatly. Most seemed to have only heard about the catastrophic Spokane fires. Their […]

Although participating in the Winthrop Quilt Roundup as a spectator will be available all day long on the event date, Saturday, Sept. 19, time is running out for being part of the second annual event as an exhibitor. There’s still a little bit of time to thread your needle, though, event coordinators Cyndy Oliver and […]

If it’s too smoky to hike, the second-best thing is to hear stories about hikes and hikers past. One notorious group of Methow Valley backcountry explorers you may have run into out in the mountains over the past 40-plus years includes Paul Pinsky, Marty Lobdell, Charlie Kinkade, and brothers Les and Chuck McCallum. Chuck and […]