Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper
Sorted by date Results 1227 - 1251 of 1886
Apple Pancakes. Small cubed fresh apple chunks are a great addition to pancake batter. This batter recipe is remarkably easy to follow. Plus good use of two apples that are beginning to turn soft. How many of you use the cap from the bottle of vanilla extract to measure vanilla? It works if the cap holds about a teaspoon of vanilla. The flour I use is a wheat pastry flour from our local Cairnspring Mills. Our good friend, Georgia Johnson, recommended this flour. Cairn Springs was holding a drive...
We have an exceptional candidate running this year for state senator for the 10th LD: Helen Price Johnson. If I were to list the qualifications I would want in a senator representing our district, she would fulfill each and every one. Helen is experienced. She has been our county commissioner in Island County for the past three terms. She came into office at a time of the recession as Island County’s first ever elected woman commissioner. Helen had to be strong to hit the ground running, plowing through tough times of the recession with steadin...
If you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, if the light is coming from an oncoming train, you can’t enter the tunnel until the train goes by. Brad Bradford La Conner...
I want to say THANK YOU to all of my fellow reasonable and brave free-thinkers. Since the beginning of the COVID scare I’ve felt alone. I choose to live my life in love and rationality, not fear, and so it has been difficult for me to watch as the leaders of our country and around the world have decimated our economies, school systems, individual liberties and sense of security over a virus. For those of you who have ever had the “common” cold, that is a virus. It is a “bug” that ordinarily enters our mucus membranes via the nose, eyes, mou...
As you read this this during Memorial Day week the number of Washingtonians killed by the coronavirus is surpassing 1,100. Deaths reached 1,000 May 15. The number of confirmed cases in the state is over 20,000. The daily increases, in cases and deaths, have been slowing – the flattening of the curve – though the 304 cases reported Friday were more than double the number of the two previous days. Nationally, the death toll rose above 100,000 this week. On this Memorial Day week it is important to reflect that deaths reached 58,000...
Ah, life during a pandemic. This is usually my favorite time of year. Mostly sunny but not too hot. Flowers blooming. Great golf weather. Start of the major league baseball season. My solution to social distancing is to get in my car and explore new places, listening to as much bad news as I can bear before turning the radio dial to old time rock and roll. Have you driven along the S Skagit Highway? Because it’s a road rarely taken, it has some funkiness but there are also beautiful farms and i...
Due to COVID-19, the Blessing of the Fleet, was a quieter affair in the Swinomish Tribal Community. Part of the celebration was held last week. Tribal members, lined up in their cars, drove by the Fish Plant, to receive plates of freshly cooked and chilled prawns and Dungeness Crab. In addition to eating some cold and fresh, I created this delicious salad. Ingredients - Prawns, 10 to 15, cooked & cooled - Dungeness Crab, 1 whole, cooked & cooled - Lemon juice, 1 freshly squeezed - White or...
Strawberry Spinach Salad is a wonderful treat and will be quite tasty when our local strawberries come in season. Use the same fresh lemon for the zest and juice. When we enjoyed this salad for lunch, my husband, Kevin Paul, asked for more red onion next time. Ingredients - Spinach, one bunch - Strawberries, 1 and ½ pints - Red onion, 3 slices - Olive oil, 1/3 cup - Zest of one lemon - Juice of one squeezed lemon - Salt and pepper - Sliced almonds, 1 tablespoon Preparation Remove the...
You are holding issue 151 of the Weekly News under my stewardship. In six weeks, on July 1, my fourth year of owning the La Conner Weekly News begins. This is the second six page issue in your hands. Until last week, for 149 issues, it has been at least eight pages. The goal has been to increase the page count to 10 and 12 pages consistently, bringing you added coverage of the greater La Conner area. There have been 10 page editions on an occasional basis the past three years, always because of additional ads, often because of more legal...
The post office – the postal service – is an institution as important and rooted in our community as the school system or the fire department, but different, too. It touches every person’s life, probably every day. Funded by the federal government, it costs us next to nothing. The postage we pay for, whether to mail an envelope across town or a box around the world, is subsidized; the expense is much more than we are charged. Americans have among the cheapest postage rates in the world, certainly compared to Europe. Here, a stamp c...
To the Editor: Our state is in the middle of one of the greatest challenges we have ever faced. Recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic will require real leadership in our legislature that will effectively advocate for our families and communities. I am thrilled that we have just that kind of leader in Suzanne Woodard, running to represent our district in the State House. Suzanne has never run for office – instead she has been a nurse delivering thousands of babies to families across our region at Providence Everett. She has also been in...
Recently, the La Conner School District administration decided to not renew the contract of one of our beloved teachers. This decision was not only damaging to student morale but also detrimental to student learning. In direct defiance of a petition containing the signatures of 73 high school students and letters of support from other staff members, our principal and superintendent chose to let go of the only math teacher in the high school. A dedicated, hard-working teacher who loved La Conner and gave countless hours of her free time to help...
Patience. That word and theme has been stressed many times in editorials since mid-March. Mid-March. That was two months ago. How patient we have been these last two months. Hopefully, that has become habit. Our new habits, of patience, of social distancing, of wearing masks, of shopping local establishments with takeout orders, like muscles constantly employed, make us stronger and able to go on. And go on, using these newly strengthened muscles in these new ways, is exactly what we must do. For how long? We have to hear and accept and...
Chicken and Dumplings is one of those ultimate comfort foods that brings to mind your childhood. The butter makes these dumplings delicious. Cooking tip: do not overcook the dumplings as they will loose their fluffiness. Ingredients - Chicken Soup - Whole chicken, rotisserie preferred - Onion, one small - Carrots, two - Frozen peas, ½ cup - Water, 6 to 8 cups Dumplings - Flour, two cups - Baking powder, 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon - Salt, 1 teaspoon - Dried oregano, ¼ teaspoon -...
I am well into the “vulnerable” age group and more afraid of the assault on our civil liberties than catching a virus. I choose to “social distance,” wear a mask in public, work from home and live without hugs from my grandkids. But I am terrified of authoritarian senseless restrictions on our activities. Why is it reasonable to browse for clothes at Walmart, but I cannot shop for a t-shirt at Clever Kathy’s or a scarf at Two Moons? How come a kid at a drive-through wearing gloves can rub his nose then pick up four drink cups with one hand...
President Trump’s decision to cut off financial support for the World Health Organization during the worst pandemic in a century takes a head-in-the sand approach. The global community will have time to complete an evaluation of what worked, and what did not, after the pandemic is under control. The decision to discontinue U.S. funding WHO while the world is struggling with the COVID-19 virus is misguided and will hinder global efforts to battle this debilitating pandemic. The work of WHO is indispensable to stop the spread of disease, p...
In this unprecedented time, when a virus seems to be attacking the whole world, it is certainly a challenge to gather interest in an old building. This old building though, is no ordinary structure but a place indigenous to the history of our valley and its pioneers. I am referring to the Pleasant Ridge Schoolhouse which according to the April 22 Weekly News is scheduled to be razed. Located on Pleasant Ridge on Valentine Road near the old cemetery on a ridge of land nestled between the fertile farm fields of Mount Vernon and La Conner, the...
We all have touchstone moments in our lives, events that affect and shape us and that we carry from our youthful past till the day we die. That defines the term epoch, even if the tragic circumstance occurred at a distance. The shootings at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, “four dead in Ohio” and another nine wounded, is one of my moments. Monday was the 50th anniversary. For years I had planned to be there. I was there on the 25th anniversary in 1995. In May 1970 I was 15 and very unaware, wrapped up in basketball and uncertain about gir...
Poor Jay Inslee. Washington’s governor has his hands full with a solid portion of the state’s population, up to one-third, wanting to get back to the business of earning a living. The job loss in the last two months has been unprecedented, record breaking, huge. The explosive quickness of stopping the old normal, triggered by Inslee’s March 23 emergency order to stay home, sheltering in place except for food shopping essentials, has put all of us on an emotional roller coaster. With constantly climbing positive COVID-19 virus numbers: over...
Really wonderful and quite insightful article last week: “The New Normal: Reinventing our reality in a new era.” I enjoyed how you connected all the dots and express them in such a simple terms so everyone can understand. You asked us questions that we need to answer sooner better than later if not immediately! Thank You for sharing. Sasha Krivokapic...
Being one of the many retailers in La Conner, a major thank you goes to the La Conner Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber created a thoughtful virtual tour of the downtown stores. It is a great virtual promotion: If one couldn’t physically shop the stores in town, they could “visit” them via their websites. Then came the overwhelming surprise of countless small bouquets of locally harvested flowers put at the closed doors of establishments throughout town, with a message; “We are blue without you.” Later, a drive through town found those same deli...
Both Sacred Heart Catholic Church and La Conner Methodist Church have signs on their doors reading “Church Closed.” Most of us recognize that is a sensible decision: large gatherings are just what we do not want at the moment. The loving thing right now is to keep our distance, lest we transmit the virus. So if we cannot gather because of the coronavirus, can we still offer Eucharist – thanking God as a gathered community? First, God is everywhere and the risen Christ is not limited by space. The presence of the risen Jesus among the com...
The first time I saw Helen Price Johnson was at a League of Women Voters salad supper. The evening featured not only salad but also the Island County Commissioners. Each commissioner gave a presentation to League members about issues, concerns and victories s/he felt were appropriate at the time. I remember being struck by Helen’s sensibility and leadership style. Her command of topics and the way she demonstrated that was stressing that although many issues were tough and critical to our way of life, working together was (and still is) essenti...
One of the joys of owning a small business is you become friends with the people you serve. The only sorrow is that COVID-19’s impact causes us to feel we are rearranging financial deck chairs on the Titanic. Handling the rising waters is easier some days than others. Last Wednesday started with a fish. Swinomish elder Connie Allen and son Scott received the gift of a salmon and popped by the clinic bright and early to share it. From her minivan to my hand landed a great big fish. Our clinic happily has hundreds of our Swinomish neighbors as p...
To the La Conner and Swinomish area communities: As your local Fire Chiefs we have been working closely together to ensure the safety of our first responders and citizens during this crisis. We would like to thank all of you for helping keep our first responders safe. Your commitment to staying at home, social distancing and minimizing travel has allowed the number of COVID-19 cases to stay relatively low. We know also that our local businesses have paid a huge price by having to sacrifice the Tulip season. Unfortunately, we are still going on...
