On the town

 

While everyone is at work and school, I've been having a good time with my friend and neighbor Karen. Last week we went to an art show at Lost River Winery in Winthrop, and yesterday an orange wine tasting at Glover Street Market, the gourmet grocery store here in Twisp.

In case you are wondering, orange wine is a "skin contact wine," made by fermenting the juice in contact with the grape skins, which gives it color. 

The pours were a bit strange, including a "natural" Gewurztraminer from a Washington winery called "Savage Grace." 

Gewurztraminer is an extremely aromatic grape that can be quite delicious, but they managed to turn it into something that looked and tasted like unfiltered vinegar. Savage, indeed! The Germans would be horrified at what goes on with their grape out here on the frontier.  

But all in good fun-- the company you're with, as always, makes the excursion.

And it hasn't been just boozy excursions!  

Methow at Home organized an outing at the Shafer Historical Museum in Winthrop. 

The museum is closed for the season, but our group of seniors got a behind the scenes tour of the offices and archives.

 

The textile storage room, and a nicely done item inventory with photographs. 

And something near and dear to my heart: finding aids. These documents are the key to the archives, describing in detail the various collections. 

Almost all the work at Shafer is done by local volunteers and historians. Much of the museum's collection of photographs and documents is scanned, cataloged and available online through their website. Impressive.

My dear friend in front the North Cascades topological map her husband Bruce carved for the museum some years ago. 

Amanda and Tom's new home is set to close on Monday, and they had a walk through yesterday with the owners. It was the first time they've been inside the house since that sunny day in August, and there's still much to discover. They are excited and of course overwhelmed. I'll see it for the first time today. 

So a new adventure begins just as winter is closing in fast here. They're moving everything (including 12 chickens, 2 cats and a dog) over the next 2 weeks.