Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
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The first gathering of the (unofficial) Ritzville Women’s Golf Group occurred, as it does most every year, in early May. Several usual didn’t show, possibly due to the chilly and windy conditions. The hardier among us were not so easily dissuaded, however, and eventually our group swelled to seven. We take a moment here to remember Dorothy and Barb. We like to think that they were teeing off in Heaven at about the same time as we did here in the secular realm. Their memories are a blessing to us all. Sandee was in Spo...
My sister-in-law called and in breathless near-hysteria related how, as she and my older brother drove North on Bigelow (in Spokane) in their Subaru Outback, a deer cleared the forest at the side of the road, spring-boarded using the hood of their car in it’s frenzied effort to escape whatever chased it, and bounded away on the other side of the road. Not once was it hit by their car, but the car was surely assaulted by it, with the car hood trashed to the point that it couldn’t be opened, and a leak of antifreeze pud...
A few months ago, around mid-June, on a Monday morning at 10 a.m., we ladies gathered for our usual golf game followed by lunch at the Ritzville Golf Course clubhouse. One among us was struggling with personal tragedy, and as she stood alone, organizing her clubs on a cart, I approached and greeted her. She turned to me, spoke three or four words, and suddenly teared up, unable to control her sorrow. I put my arms around her in an effort to comfort her, and within a few seconds we were surrounded by the other women who had...
On Aug. 12, I played in my third annual Ritzville Women’s’ Golf Tournament. I partnered with Harriet, a woman of humor, tolerance and grace, which is how she survived eighteen holes with me. The experience could have devastated a lesser person. Debbie and Elke from Quincy completed our foursome. We very much enjoyed playing with them. They didn’t seem bothered by that day’s feels-like-triple-digits scorching heat, but that’s no surprise since it’s hot enough in Quincy to produce solar flares. They carried the same handic...
Our lovely niece Avia and her dashing husband Alan are about to be blessed with their first child. Annie Faith Thompson is about to meet all those people who rejoiced at the announcement of her mom’s pregnancy, were awestruck at the miracle of the child growing in the womb, and whose hands have gently and patiently lay atop her mommy’s swollen belly in order to feel the bumps and glides as she gyrated away her hours in vitro. There isn’t a whole lot else to do during months five through birth other than suck a thumb and s...
Bravely we forged ahead under blackened skies, battered by fierce wind gusts and assailed by rain. Thunder and lightening loomed, imminent and menacing. Still, we golfed. We were three women, afoot, seemingly alone in the great expanse, vulnerable, and driven. Wind, rain, thunder, lightening, nor sleet (though that probably wasn’t much of a threat in July) would interfere with our determination to complete the first nine holes of the Ritzville Golf Course on that dark and stormy day. Through the gloom there appeared a v...
We recently said goodbye to the son of dear friends who left home for boot camp. That day had been the young warrior’s dream since he was 13, and he had worked diligently toward it for six years. His name will not be revealed here because there is such evil afoot in today’s world that he cannot be openly praised without placing him in danger, and because of that evil we should all be grateful for the warriors like him who are willing to fight for our liberties and safety, at home and abroad. I invite you to join me in sal...
At 6 p.m. every Wednesday during the school year, the doors of the Methodist church are opened wide for the Wednesday Night Youth gathering, which the Methodist and Foursquare churches partner to provide. From 6:30 until 8 p.m. each week, 50 to 70 local youth, who range from grades one through 12, are fed and led by volunteers. I am a volunteer with the fourth through sixth graders. There are moments during the half hour dinner when I contemplate whether I’ve slipped into an alternate universe, so strange are the behaviors I...
Ritzville, you are awesome! During our church service this morning, Sandy Wilks, Director of the Ritzville Food Bank, reported on the crocheted and knitted hats, scarves and mittens she has already received for the 2012 Christmas boxes that will be distributed the week of Christmas to patrons of the Food Bank. Women and men (yes, I said men) in our community are knitting and crocheting these treasures, and she has already received an impressive number, but needs lots more. It occurred to me that any group that gathers...
I was told this story by an engineer who I worked for many years. He was the third of five siblings and seven years old when these events occurred. The family farmed on an island in the San Juans. At some point, the parents opted out of living and working in the big city and turned to farming and raising livestock. They liquidated all holdings on the mainland and purchased the farm where their children learned to milk cows, feed and care for pigs and horses, muck out stalls, gather eggs, along with a myriad of other duties...
Do you treasure the shopping memories of Christmases past? Remember the parking place in the back 40, an icy trudge to the mall while winds blew stinging sleet into your face, the challenge of surviving the parking-place-seeking fiends who treated the parking lot like a demolition derby? Soon you transformed into a battered and bruised shopping martyr from all the jostling, rudeness and long lines, all to pay exorbitant prices for gifts you ‘settled’ for out of frustration and fatigue. You balanced arm loads of packages whi...
October is an exhausting month. First, another time change. When will they stop? Okay, so it happens on Nov. 6 this year, it’s historically been this month so it’s fair to say we are in a state of anticipation. Time changes throw everyone off for a week or so, and no longer have practical value. It’s a state issue, so if you agree, please consider a letter or email to our state legislator (gently worded and respectful, of course) and make your request on the issue. No more time changes! No more garden tomatoes, sanda...
Where is summer? It seems that just a few weeks ago we welcomed the bone warming heat of the summer sun, and now the mild and gentle feel of fall has befallen us. Golf, gardening and picnics will soon end as the days shorten, nights cool and we settle into the comforting predictability of the school year. Hopefully we have a ways to go before fall fully materializes, but two or three years ago Mark and I left town amidst a warm early October, and returned home a week later to frost-killed tomato bushes and gardens that showed...