State flood inspectors are in Whatcom County this week to formally assess the level of damage and dollar impact from severe flooding after days of rain released by an atmospheric river that crossed the region, a plume of moisture that stretched across the Pacific. Floodwaters rushed through Northwest towns, particularly those along major river systems like the Nooksack and Skagit, which crested their banks.

The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office said the teams are from the Emergency…

Making a side dish for a holiday get-together is a rite of the season, and one for which we should be grateful. Because if you aren’t making the sides you might be roasting some poor bird, or a soy-based approximation.

A side dish is less work then a main event, and nonetheless offers a back door to glory. The beast-roaster has more at stake, and more to lose. The right side dish can sweep in and steal the show.

Here are not one but two side dishes, to double your options—or your…

Back in the days when watching your favorite holiday movie required a VCR and a copy of the flick, The Sound of Music was a family favorite.

At some point on Christmas day—after the presents had been opened, but before sitting around the table for dinner—the tape would go in, and even if one or more of us fell asleep during the 1965 musical about a wannabe nun who falls in love with a widowed naval captain and his seven singing offspring, it didn’t matter. We knew how the story ended.…

On a recent late-afternoon sojourn through downtown Bellingham, rain was falling and darkness was swallowing the remaining light. I’d spent the previous two days dealing with a flooded basement, so even though the weather wasn’t ideal, it felt good to be out of the house and breathing fresh air as I navigated my way from the York neighborhood to Holly Street to meet a friend for happy hour.

I was running early, so I popped into the Greenhouse to peruse Christmas decorations and suss…

Do self-described “British comedy duo” James & Jamesy really hail from across the pond, or have the Vancouver, B.C.-based actors Aaron Malkin (James) and Alistair Knowles (Jamesy) spent decades fooling their audiences with spot-on accents and a unique take on traditional British comedy?

Judging by a “20 Questions” feature with the award-winning duo with Vancouver Presents a few years back—in which the interviewer asked them what they’d tell their 20-year-old selves if they could go…

During a late-August performance by the Seattle-based band Thunderpussy at the Wild Buffalo, I had to pinch myself a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Yes, I was actually in a music venue, people were really dancing, and the joy of experiencing live music by a group of kick-ass female musicians in an indoor setting was intoxicating.

Flashing my vaccination card at the front door was a breeze, and although I wore a mask except when sipping on an adult beverage, I’m pretty…

It’s clear the artists and crafters of the Pacific Northwest have been busier than Santa’s overworked elves of late. Judging by the amount of pop-up shops, holiday markets, and related events taking place in the next couple of weeks, the problem won’t be finding ways to shop local. Instead, the conundrum will be winnowing your choices to ensure everybody you love gets something they love without getting overwhelmed by the choices in front of you.

It’s a good problem to have, and I…

I was in our backyard scrounging up some random pieces of flashing for my long-planned chicken coop renovation when it hit me. Padding softly over the spongy rain-soaked lawn between the tool shed and the scrap pile behind my firewood racks, I glanced westward through a break in the evergreens and caught sight of a spectacle that stopped me in my tracks.

A low-drifting band of quilted clouds was glowing purple in a molten-pink sky and somewhere just below the darkened rooftops the…