Enid Shaw turns 99

Almost all of her 99 years were spent in the Methow Valley. She has seen it all.
Read more of my interview with Enid Shaw in the Methow Valley News

Where Soul meets Body

Where the water greets the shore
And the day touches night
On the edge of the forest glade
Where darkness meets the light

As the earth hides the moon
From the arms of the sun
Less is More
Time has just begun

That moment in between
That is where I will be
The anticipation
Where Soul meets Body

A Mother's Tale

“My father always said he’d been in love with my mother since the age of 5,” Kathleen Bigger said as she sipped a glass of iced tea and paused over a salad at the Twisp River Pub recently. “She was a beautiful watercolor artist — her works were displayed in different galleries. But the minute she became well known, she would walk away from it all. She was so ashamed, so afraid they would find out who she was …”

Read more of my interview with Kathleen Bigger in the Methow Valley News

Where Did All the Water Go?

If you have recently journeyed to the Met-Low, you may have noticed something lower than usual in the lower valley: Lake Pateros.

Read more in the Methow Valley News

Kale Apple Ginger Soup

It is 'shoulder season' - the inbetween season of summertumn. End of summer, beginning of autumn. Mornings are chilly, afternoons are just right - not too hot, not too cool. Evenings come early, the temperatures dropping as quickly as the sun.

The garden is still prolific, and during the day a simple caprese salad of mozarella, basil, and tomatoes straight off the vine sounds pleasing for a dinner. But as twilight nears and the air cools, a soup becomes more and more attractive.

It is difficult to say 'no' to any fruit or vegetable in the garden, so this soup was born of the imagination when I couldn't turn away from the delecate kale and spinach, or the brightly colored carrots. Even the apples from the tree found their way into this hearty, satisfying fall soup.

Kale Apple Ginger Soup

Thick cut bacon
2 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 sweet onion
2 inches ginger root, peeled
1 large carrot
1 large apple
5 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup kale
1 cup spinach
1 bag frozen peas
4 cups (32 oz) chicken broth

Place single layer of thick cut bacon in bottom of large skillet, cover with 2 cups water and bring to a boil.
In soup pot, warm olive oil over medium heat. Roughly chop onion, ginger root, carrot, and apple. Place into pot along with whole cloves of garlic and turmeric. Stir to combine. Heat for 5 minutes or until onion turns translucent. Add kale, spinach, peas, and pour in the broth from the thick cut bacon - reserving the bacon. Stir in the chicken broth.
Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low, simmering until all the vegetables are tender.
Using a hand blender, blend until smooth.
Top with chopped bacon.

I was a vision of loveliness

White shirt, broad brimmed taupe hat, blue swim trunks.
Paddling across a cold alpine lake, trees along the shoreline turning their leaves in the autumn sun...
Loki enjoying the ride in the front of the kayak. Suddenly she whirled around and frantically licked my face - her way of saying, "I've got to poop. RIGHT NOW!!"
I quickly paddled to the closest shore, trying to avoid her lashing tongue - paddle bonking her on the head with every stroke.
I say, "we're almost there," she turns, and seeing the shoreline, leaps out of the kayak and swims to shore...only to get mired chest deep in black, inky muck.
She works her way free and bounds uphill, a look of happy relief as she finished her business. Meanwhile, I paddle over to a large boulder where she could jump from dry land to boulder to kayak and avoid the muck.
On her way down hill to the boulder she stopped in pleasant surprise. A cow had left a large fresh steamy pile...just for her. She flipped on her back and gleefully slid downhill, wiggling to ensure her fur was adequately coated, her muck-blackened legs happily pawing the air.
She hopped on the rock, ever so pleased with herself. Bottom half covered in black muck, top half covered in dung. A thick glob of mud slid down her side and landed with a loud kerplop on the rock. I tried to kick off from the rock, hoping she would instead swim alongside the kayak, but I wasn't fast enough. Loki leaped through the air and belly flopped into the kayak, her hind legs kicking in the water. Realizing that she was now "splashing", her other favorite activity besides rolling in shit, she made no effort to either get in or out of the kayak, as she was having much more fun splashing the water with her hind legs, sending splatters of dung and mud all over me and my white shirt, and my lovely broad brimmed taupe hat.
Nearby, in the other kayak, sat Joe and Shasta. Joe laughed hysterically. Shasta sat in quiet response, reclining in the bow like the queen of the Nile, her eyelids half closed in an afternoon nap.