Dear Friends

On Sunday, Ayla and I had the pleasure of taking our dear friend Nell White to see a matinee performance of Nunsense at the Twisp Community Center. Nell got up early to curl her hair “just right.” I think she looks beautiful though she lamented the lack of beauticians in the area who could “do a perm” to her satisfaction. I don’t know much about perms, but this 95 year old firecracker has had a lot of years with them, so she should know.


I met Nell, through her husband, Don White. Don’s parents built the Spring Creek Ranch House in 1929 and subsequently sold the home and property to the Belsby’s in 1976. Don has been so helpful to us with managing the ranch. He lent us his personal family photos to copy and display in the house and he knows the history of every square inch of the property.

We often go and visit with Nell and Don and savor all of their detailed stories about life in a very different time. A time when Nell went into the woods at the age of 12 to blow stumps (using dynamite) with her father to clear land for their family in Northern Saskatchewan and Don was dropped off in the woods for an entire fall season to cut fire wood for his family, by himself- with a crosscut saw. He turned 14 that fall as he waited for the snow to fall so that his father and brothers could harness up their horses with a sleigh to haul the firewood back to Winthrop.

Thinking about such hard work makes me all the more glad to see Don relaxing in his reading chair. A magazine draped casually across his knees.

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