Sorted by date Results 1060 - 1084 of 3148
It's beginning to look a lot like "I can't find my husband a Christmas gift" season! The two guys in my life, my dad and husband, are the hardest people to shop for gifts. Like most men I have ever met, they seem to have everything they need. When asked what they'd like for Christmas, they tell me they don't want anything. Trying to get a jump, I took a trip through Downtown Walla Walla to find something other than the usual Carhartt coat and power tool combo. My first stop, Main Street...
Ten Years Ago December 1, 2011 This Saturday and Sunday Christmas comes to Waitsburg with Santa, a lighted parade and plenty of shopping and prizes during the town’s annual Hometown Christmas event. “Come to the Town Hall for vendors and gifts,” said Ruth Peterson, an organizer of the event. Held every first weekend in December, this annual tradition centered in Town Hall is sure to be a delight. This is the festival’s 26th year in Waitsburg, Peterson said. Cardinals head coach Jeff Bartlow...
After a decadent week of holiday cooking, made with ridiculous amounts of butter, heavy cream, and cheese, I found myself craving a salad. In times like this, I turn to nutrient packed and brightly colored vegetables, such as beetroots, as a break from the seasonal parade of casseroles. Here, tender sweet roasted beets enlivened with orange, lemon, and red onion make for a gem-toned delight. The olives and parsley add to a sunny flavor evocative of the Mediterranean, which is a lovely place to...
"This has been a favorite scene to photograph since 2013, located on the bridge across the Touchet a few miles east of town."...
Marvin Keith Shutters, 54, died of esophageal cancer at home in Dayton, Washington on September 28. He was born to Alvin and Alice Shutters in Ridgway, Pennsylvania on March 24, 1967, joining brother Alvin and sister Karen. Marvin's love of the outdoors began at an early age. He roamed the woods, fields, and streams around the family home in Weedville, Pennsylvania, either on foot or horseback. Marvin and his siblings spent summers haying and selling vegetables they raised. Hunting with his...
Valley Giving Guide open to support Columbia County nonprofits DAYTON-The Valley Giving Guide, an annual year-end fundraiser to bring donations and attention to the incredible nonprofits making a difference in the area, is live for the 2021 season. The Valley giving Guide is a tool for local nonprofits to raise money, attract new donors, and expand their marketing programs. Like any tool, the more effort put into using it, the more benefit you will receive. The Giving Guide supports any 501c3...
When we were kids, and my mother had reached the end of her rope with our mess, complaining, whining, and general bad behavior, she would halt all activities, give us “the look,” and let us know in her stern voice, “there is a new regime, starting now!” Our rooms had to be cleaned, clothes put away, homework done, and only then could we go out to play with our friends. This new regime and stricter discipline period would usually only last a few weeks. Still, it probably provided my mother with a...
Ten Years Ago November 24, 2011 The Waitsburg Resource Center, which opened in the American West Bank in December 2010, is being used by our neighbors more than ever. The city's food bank had been run out of the basement of the Presbyterian Church for 25 years until the bank offered up its space. The churches in town formed a board and its new visible spot and word of mouth is bringing more neighbors through the doors, said Bethany Moser, the chairwoman of the board. The Leos Club at Waitsburg H...
After a whirlwind week of menu planning, shopping, and cooking, all for one holiday feast, the next day can leave one with little energy to make another meal. Thankfully, leftover turkey is a versatile ingredient for quick post-holiday meals. Over the years I have tried everything from simple turkey sandwiches to more ambitious mole enchiladas, though on these cold late autumn nights, my favorite option is always a comforting pot of soup. This warming white bean and kale soup, which comes...
Luke Chavez and John Avery make it out of the 'burg into paradise....
Music Studio Receives an Upgrade Move over, Beethoven The older you get, the faster time flies. And I’m a firm believer in the notion that whatever you’re doing now is just training for what you will be doing later, especially if you have no idea what that is. It’s just that I don’t remember anything going by faster than the last ten months. I feel younger all the time. The independent music and sound studio I joined in January became an official program of Walla Walla YMCA in Septemb...
Although I am not a great tennis player, I love to play. It’s good exercise for someone competitive and social. I’ve told my coaches over the years,” What I lack in talent, I make up for in stamina.” And, of course, add to that good sportsmanship, a good sense of humor, and no delusions about my skill level. As proof of my diehard spirit, my friend and I were on the court at Waitsburg High School playing this Sunday in gale-force winds. The leaves and debris whirling around us were dizzying, but...
I first ran across this series while scrolling for something to watch this fall. I assumed Why Women Kill was a reality show about murderesses. I wasn't interested. However, after a recommendation from my brother-in-law, I decided to give it a try. Luckily it is not a reality show but fiction and scripted. The series is a darkly comedic drama, reminiscent of the 1955-65 television show Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It has plenty of murderers. Some kill by accident and some very deliberately. Not...
In The Last Best Hope, published by Farrar, Straus, Giroux in June 2021, Atlantic writer George Packer cuts to the chase about America’s current social, political, and economic divide. Parker states the Democratic Party is being driven by “Smart America” with its philosophy of economic meritocracy based on a deep cynicism due to the Iraq War debacle, the financial crash of 2008, lousy schools, overflowing prisons, dying neighborhoods, unending debt, and lack of opportunities, along with “Just...
This week I went to Walla Walla to see Wes Anderson's new movie The French Dispatch. The film was entertaining and one of Anderson's best. In each production, he brings back members from his eccentric troupe of actors, this time including Bill Murray, Adrian Brody, Tilda Swinton and Edward Norton. He also surprises us with some new faces, Benicio Del Toro and Timothee Chalamet. There is also an army of extras, with many cameos from Hollywood. The story is close to my heart, it focuses on a...
Ten Years Ago November 17, 2011 Last Wednesday night, a room in Preston Hall packed with school district employees and community members honored the closure of Terry Jacoy’s 23 years on the Waitsburg School Board. Jacoy has served on the board since 1988. School board Chairman ross Hamann said that in the time that Jacoy has been on the board, 590 kids have received their diplomas. “When you do something like this, you don’t do it with the idea of being remunerated,” Jacoy said. Twenty-...
Recipes for holiday side dishes can vary greatly across the country, and opinions on proper preparations can be a source of debate, even within families. My Aunt Gail learned this the hard way while helping prepare a feast at a family reunion. She hoped to impress her Texas relatives with an alternative to classic sweet potato casserole, the kind made extra sweet with the addition of a molten marshmallow topping. She lovingly prepared sweet potatoes roasted with apples, spiced with cinnamon,...
I've never considered myself an artist of any caliber, nor have I considered venturing into that world. I have been surrounded by accomplished artists since I started working at The Times and Ten Ton Coffee, and I have to admit- they have managed to pique my interest. While drawing or painting is still not my thing, I have had some luck with a camera. I do not consider myself a photographer quite yet, as I still have lots to learn, but I have learned a few lessons that carry over into my everyda...
"Up on Barger Road"... A favorite scene on Barger Road, located eight miles northwest of Waitsburg....
WALLA WALLA-While art has been a big part of her life, ceramics holds a special place in Jess Portas' heart. Opening her art studio on the edge of Downtown Walla Walla, she has combined a passion for art with her love for community Growing up, she helped her mother with slip casting, a ceramics and pottery technique that is especially useful for shapes not made on a wheel. Portas said she took a pottery class in college, which piqued her interest in the art form, but life does what it does...
I apologize for my uncalled-for pity party indulgence last week. In retrospect, although I don’t live a charmed life, I do live a pretty good one here in Waitsburg. Moving here was a difficult decision for me, but like most things in my life, I act on impulse, don’t overthink anything, and try not to look back. I’m glad I made the move. I left my family, friends, nearly 12 months of sunshine, countless ethnic restaurants, and great sushi to take on the renovation of an ancient and decre...
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward Marketed as a horror novel, Last House isn’t quite what you’d expect. There are no ghosts or slashers, just a single man living with his cat…who may or may not be behind a string of disappearances in the area. This book will keep you guessing until the very end, with a twist so interesting I won’t dare hint at it here! Interestingly, we get narration from multiple points of view: the possible kidnapper, a woman who is convinced of his guilt,...
The Things They Cannot Say, by Kevin Sites In The Things They Cannot Say: Stories Soldiers Won’t Tell You About What They’ve Seen, Done, or Failed to Do in War, award-winning journalist and author Kevin Sites asks eleven soldiers and marines some of the most difficult questions: What is it like to be under fire? How do you know what is right? What can you never forget? For each of Sites’ interviewees, the truth means something different. One man struggles to recover from a traumatic head injur...