The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Somewhat sadly, but with a little smile on my face, Daniel is in Portugal. He has been temporarily hired as a personal chef to work for a family currently in Portugal. This job came together very fast...

The last three months have seen a great deal of musical activity with Walla Walla Music Organization, the music training youth advocacy program I joined mid-pandemic, teaming up with founder Rodney Ou...

It is a well-known fact that I am a klutz. Added to my determination to exercise, it’s become a dangerous lifestyle. Recently, I took Mugsy (all thirteen pounds of him) for a late-night walk along w...

Now that the pandemic is somewhat under control and travel has opened, the travel bug has bitten Daniel. Travel with Daniel can be challenging. Even before the pandemic, canceled flights, staffing...

With my car freshly washed, lubed and oiled, and gassed, my playlist relatively perfected, I put the top down and hit the road for my four-hour drive to Seattle last Friday. I was heading to the last...

Cole Porter’s song is on point this week, “It’s too darn hot.” It’s too hot when even the dandelions popping up in the garden are dying from the heat. I thought those weeds were invincible; evidently...

Many years ago, I worked for an insurance brokerage firm that spent frequent time and much money on self-improvement, time management, and general management classes and books. In Pursuit of...

Last month, we headed back to Los Angeles for Daniel’s surgery. Friday before our Sunday 5:30 a.m. flight, Daniel had a runny nose and scratchy throat. So, to be confident we would not infect the e...

Depending on the day, the weather has somewhat improved, being more conducive to outside activities, like gardening. However, I still have an open wound because I was impatient (as usual) and had the...

Good riddance meltdown May 2022. For some reason, this year May has been a month filled with meltdowns, including one of my own, (a rarity for me). Although they minimized in severity as the month...

It was great fun to see the Celebration Days Parade this year. It brought back so many parade memories, from attending and marching in parades. I marched in New York with my 4-H troop. Later, as a...

WAITSBURG-I was fortunate to move to the Waitsburg area in 2016 and my move was entirely because of a barn. That barn will be getting some much-needed restoration work, thanks in part to grant...

While playing tennis and chasing tennis balls at Waitsburg High School, a song from “My Fair Lady” played through my head. “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?” became “Why can’t a tennis court...

I recently read an article in the New York Times about a woman who inherited her mother’s germaphobia. The pandemic amplified her phobia, and she became obsessed with the variety of disinfectants a...

I have been told that the “rule of thumb” is not to plant flowers and summer vegetables until Mother’s Day, or at the earliest, May 1. First, what exactly does “rule of thumb” mean? Do thumbs ha...

Last weekend, a quick 700-mile trip into Oregon's Union and Baker Counties began rolling decades ago when Waitsburg photographer Bill Rodgers studied botany and geology and then worked professionally...

The day has come, and this is the test; am I ready to travel maskless? I had an early morning flight scheduled for my next sojourn to Los Angeles this last Monday. It’s a dreadful time to wake up a...

Schizophrenia doesn't even begin to describe the weather this "spring." Daniel declared, "this year, I'm not planting anything until May, even before the snow predictions." I rolled my eyes and...

Is it the water? Relaxed and friendly Lifestyle? Homegrown veggies? The fact that our area has 9 (plus) people over 90 years old is impressive and has given me a push to rethink my procrastination...

Happily and reluctantly, I have shed my mask, knowing that this is most likely a temporary reprieve. The virus is thriving in Europe and Asia, so I assume we will eventually be inundated and back to...

I am still grief-stricken about the war Putin has declared on the people of Ukraine. I did go to the World Central Kitchen website to see if there was anything I could do. Even though I am not a...

These past few weeks have been heart-wrenching. The feelings of grief, sadness, anger, and hopelessness are all swirling within me as I watch this dreadful war unfold in Ukraine. My paternal...

I love music. My parents and many relatives had both musical talents, a great appreciation for music, and there was almost always music playing in our house. My father loved classical music and grew t...

The day before we left for Los Angeles, we enjoyed lunch with our friend Eric on our backyard deck. Eric declared, "I'm calling it, Spring is here." Right! Heard that before. While in LA, I received...

The hazy sky, parking meter-lined streets, and a baby pink Tesla in front of me, blinded by the sun reflecting off impeccably clean, shiny cars, with not a pick-up truck in sight. Yep, we're back in...