While browsing this morning, your poetry made me smile. Thanks for that gift!

Thank you, Sam, for these gems of poetry. My day is truly enriched.

Wal Ole Buddy, me, I ain't some environmetalist as I ain't able to spell that thar word. Me Ah jest has mah ole horse Silver and that's all the metal Ah likes to fool around with. Y'all mining types jest keep on cleanin' up yer holes so mah horse Silver cain't fall in and check up on any diapers or worn socks or yucca stuff that's left around and send it into space since that's where Ah guess most of the junk is goin' nowadays, an I'll be right content with any ole clean minin' jobs y'all aim to do. Best o'luck down thar in them holes. From DogFace Dode.

Sam,
It couldn't have been said any better than that!
I just hope you didn't fire all that text out on your laptop while you were driving.

Your neighbor,
Gary

thanks for writing and sharing this great essay! just today i was running on the side of one our back roads and had a car speed past me a little closer than comfortable. i do have to say in my brief experience here most folks do give ample room when they pass.

but i agree we often, including myself, while driving go faster than nessecary way too often for such little gained. thanks for the well written reminder to slow down. maybe if we kept in mind how long it would take to get to town if we didn't drive it would help us to not take the driving for granted. it takes me 30 minutes longer to run into town than to drive so why not slow down a little and do it in 12 minutes instead of 10? it's still 28 minutes faster than on foot!

Thank you Sam!!! I can't thank you enough for putting these words to paper, or cyberspace as the case may be. I share much of the frustration you have experienced and the frenetic pace on the roads, paved and dirt, only seems to increase each year. Our priorities as humans are extremely skewed when we feel it's worth seriously endangering our own lives, as well as others, just to get somewhere a few minutes faster. I have a theory as to why people are capable of these crazy and hazardous maneuvers: there is no accountability. If you HAD to ask that person to pass or have some face to face interaction in the passing process or you knew you would have to face that person later, or you knew you would have to put an animal to it's final agonizing death with whatever killing implement you could find in your car, far fewer people would pull these high speed chase scene stunts just to get to the post office before it closes.

As hectic as life can get, and we are all the stars, directors and producers of our hectic little movies, I second your advice for taking travel time as a little R&R time. Whether it's driving, walking or riding, take the time to enjoy the view, breath deeply, smile and contemplate how to slow your life down or simplify it and enjoy it that much more!!

Excellent analysis.

The Twisp Town Center project may be able to help. Classes in affordable and sustainable building, perhaps an assist in the development of affordable prototypes and the production of panelized housing components at the future Twisp Town Center (aka the Twisp Forest Service Complex) could all work toward the goal of increased affordable housing.

Another model that would be great in the valley is that of co-housing. Co-housing projects cluster cottage size houses around a common building and an outdoor "commons". One of their greatest values is the creation of community, but they also assist with economy and conservency. The common building can provide space not availabe in a very small house. The community can help in the provision of sweat equity. The clustering of buildings can free larger pieces of property for conservancy and can help to preserve the quality of life we value in the Methow.

Beyond this it would be wonderful if we could increase the number of living wage jobs in the valley so that affordable housing can truly be afforded by those who need it!

Good Blog, now we just have to put the ideas into practice!!
How about Cooperative housing projects where the infrastructure and land is shared between the residences?

A few of the ski communities in the Rockies have had good success with lower income housing. It could work the same fashion as the Conservancy. Home owners could put title restrictions on their deeds to limit future sale prices of their home. The limit could be based on median income affordability. That way the homes would be dispersed throughout the Valley to limit "low income areas" as well. Just a thought.

I believe that community seeps into our lives here slowly, and it takes on various meanings over time. Eventually, I believe if we're lucky, community weathers us with perspective like old pine trees. It is not the number of groups or activities we all can run to and from, it's remembering the gnarled hands that once spread stucco, pounded metal or milked cows. It's seeing each others hands (and lives) in shared struggle and strength over time. Community is not neat, planned, tidy, or controlled; it is a committed aspiration to care for and learn from one another, often in unexpected ways. Thank you to John and all who have taken the time to appreciate the genuine connection that continues to grow, shaped by tragedy and resilience, in this valley and beyond.

Dear John,

Your journal entry resonates. Years ago we couldn’t rely on the net or cell phones to get us out of trouble or to stay connected. Instead we watched out for each other. We gathered. Today those gatherings are somewhat insular. If we ski, we gather for exercise. If we are interested in conservancy or other learning activities we get together for a seminar or a meeting of like minds. As a larger community, we see each other at the Saturday market, the grocery store, perhaps the theater, but some of us may be eager to get back to the computer or the TV for that special search, game or show. The meetings are shorter, less meaningful. Perhaps that tide can turn. As the world gets harsher perhaps we need to restore or reinvent our once essential sense of community. Our towns might develop ways to reconnect. A focus on acting locally could be the key and might lead to a new appreciation of our common humanity. I hope that will happen in the Valley. This conversation is a great start..

Sincerely,
Ray Johnston
Twisp Town Center Board

John,
Thank you for such a thoughtful piece of writing. There are lots of fancy things to do in the valley now. People are very busy. But activity and community are two different things. We can be busy as all get out but still be lonely. Connection can be a simple thing, as simple as stopping by to chat without caring about the next place you have to be. In fact, the our greatest tool in forging a strong and supportive social fabric is time. Time to listen, to talk, to share a meal, to just be. Stop by any time, friend.

I have been here for eight years and have found this community to be extraordinarily welcoming. I did not come here from a city; I lived in a tiny ranching community in Wyoming and later on in the upper peninsula of Michigan, two places considerably more remote and snowy than the Methow. The Methow Valley has them beat for a sense of community and an abundance of people who are eager to extend friendship. All you have to do is get out and get involved. That said, the Community Center is alive and well, if somewhat less lively since the school relocated to Winthrop. If any of you readers out there want to get involved with community and make some friends, come join us. We need board members.
Virginia Hammer

What a great way of thinking. I came to this valley because of family, my husband Walter, His father was doing very poorly and the farm of 9+ acres that they have to big for Rubye to handle alone. As Walter came to see his father after yet another surgery this time cancer he made a big choices to stay move us to Springboard Ranch (Hagemeister Mom Pop’s), our son Justin and I came to find that making friends wasn't easy. There is a since of the valley really not wanting outsider's staying. Walter has just come back home to a place he went to school and folks know him. But after being here a while I have found a few great friends and fell better. And with that said I sure wish the Valley could find, give a feeling of that Community spirit.

Thanks you John Bonica for sharing now you just need to be heard as I have. Your neighbor and friend Ruthie Hagemeister