DO NOT PICK your own mushrooms. Not alone, anyway, and I bother to say this because you probably want to. Tromping through the fecund woods, you would see little trumpets and toadstools winking at you from under every dripping leaf and at the base of every moss-covered tree, and you’d want to pick them and […]

IN OUR CORONAVIRAL days of school closures and social distancing, and with May Day here, this week’s “Then” image might be poignant. It depicts 130 people posing for a group photo at West Seattle’s Jefferson Elementary School on Saturday, June 1, 1985, just 17 days before it fell victim to the wrecking ball. As editor […]

CHRISTIN GEALL IS a Victoria-based gardener who arranges flowers, and a floral designer who grows much of what she uses in her designs. She also is the author of “Cultivated: The Elements of Floral Style,” a gorgeous new book from Princeton Architectural Press. “Flowers shape my years now,” she writes. “They are both calendar and […]

LESSON NO. 1 in skipping rocks: the hunt. Searching for the proper stone can be tedious, but it’s the most crucial step. The right rock must be flat; it must be smooth; and it must be just the right size — not too heavy but not too small. You’ll know you’ve found it when you pick […]

THE DEEPER WE got into our isolation, the more I missed the old routines and simplicities of daily life. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed making the kids’ lunches in the morning, or quiet time in a coffee shop to work alone, or watching baseball, or hands that didn’t crack and bleed from frequent […]

British baked goods are known to be soothing; there’s a whole afternoon-tea tradition built around them, not to mention a more-recent cult-favorite TV series. Here is a recipe for malt loaf, studded with sultanas and tiny currants.

BEFORE CERTAIN CURRENT events upended all of our lives, a few friends and I had a goal: more old-fashioned game nights, involving old-school boards, mysterious card decks and little plastic figures. There’s something wholesome and cheering about gathering around a table and jointly figuring out the rules of some new game. And you can mix […]

THIS WEEK, WE present a puzzle. It centers on a national innovator in aesthetic glass that brightened downtown Seattle more than a century ago. The glitter of the Gold Rush lured members of two German families, named Suess and Smith, to Seattle from Chicago in the late 1890s. But physical gold was not their destiny. […]

SUZETTE BIRRELL IS a mother and a grandmother. Also, for the past 17 years as a pre- and postnatal yoga instructor, she’s helped new moms navigate a precious, profound and sometimes-chaotic period of life. Birrell is also an ardent gardener. She believes it’s all connected. “Gardening and nurturing is the same thing,” she says. “Tending […]

Sara Porkalob, Seattle-based playwright, director, activist and more, is off to Broadway — but before she goes, she shared what she’s been reading and rereading lately.

Here are a few arts-and-entertainment-y online diversions for the week, from near and far, including Seattle Opera on KING-FM and New York City Ballet.

Like countless others in the arts and beyond, drag performers have been hit hard by venue closures and stay-home orders. But the drag community has always found ways to endure, connect and celebrate — during and after the coronavirus pandemic, that much will remain true.

Seattle indie rock stars Car Seat Headrest get a sonic makeover with its electro-charged new album “Making a Door Less Open,” dropping May 1.

Earlier this year, clients of the Seattle-based online ticket broker — many of them artists and small-business owners — said they haven't been paid for events, some dating back to last year. Some, still unpaid, have been turning to Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson for help.

When Maple Valley's Zan Fiskum appears on “The Voice” Monday night, she'll be continuing a growing tradition started by Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, and continued by wunderkind musician Benicio Bryant.

LONDON (AP) — Dave Greenfield, the keyboard player with British punk band The Stranglers and who penned the music to their biggest hit, Golden Brown, has died after testing positive for coronavirus. He was 71. The band’s official website announced that Greenfield died on Sunday after contracting the virus following a stay in a hospital […]

Dave Matthews Band announced it's rescheduling its entire summer concert slate — including the annual Labor Day weekend bash the band's hosted at the Gorge Amphitheatre for years — due to COVID-19.

The Sharma brothers, who became interested in music in the fourth grade, have played in bands at Eckstein Middle School and Roosevelt High. So it felt quite natural for them to step out of their house April 9 for their first front-porch performance.

Fiskum destroyed an updated, slow-fast version of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” on the NBC singing competition show on Monday night.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest challenge for Seattle’s independent record stores like Easy Street, but these titans of vinyl continue to rise to the occasion.

Between Mother's Day and the expected sunny weather, there's lots to celebrate this weekend! Whether you'll be enjoying nature or continuing to stay inside, here are some things you can do while maintaining social distancing.

With social distancing efforts (or just distance) keeping many families apart for Mother's Day, our features staffers share how they'll be celebrating their moms this weekend. Happy Mother's Day!

Brandi Carlile has rescheduled her June 6 Echoes Through the Canyon show at the Gorge Amphitheatre to Aug. 14, 2021.

From an unexpected friendship across species, to a cluster of clay llamas, to finding a way to remotely produce a song featuring multiple collaborators, people across Washington state have found ways to stay connected to their artistic communities, their jobs and their routines — or to find beauty in the changes themselves. 

Zenith Holland Nursery has seen times like this before — and survived. The Des Moines nursery opened in 1907, survived two world wars and remains open during the coronavirus shutdown.

Northern elephant seals have a range from Alaska to Mexico. Most of the animals make their way along the coast, but some venture into Puget Sound.

Gov. Inslee announced Monday that golf and recreational fishing could resume on May 5 and many state parks and public lands will reopen as well.

A huge asteroid will make a (relatively) close pass of Earth early Wednesday, but you'll need a telescope to see that; however, an exceptionally bright Venus should be visible to the naked eye at dusk and in the early evenings. Look to the west.

Gov. Jay Inslee on Monday announced the easing of restrictions on outdoor recreation in Washington state, starting May 5 with the opening of golf courses, state parks, fishing and hunting. Here’s some of what will be different as our state reopens the outdoors.

One reader captured this excellent shot of a stunning wood duck wading across the water, showing that self-isolation sometimes really all it’s quacked up to be.

With campouts in the outdoors currently not allowed, the Mount Baker Council, which has troops in Island, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom counties, is hosting a virtual campout this weekend for Boy Scouts and their families.

Good news amid the coronavirus gloom: More than 100 Washington state parks will reopen for day use on Tuesday.

More than 100 Washington state parks will reopen for day use on Tuesday. But this doesn't mean you should abandon social distancing practices. Here's what you need to know before you go.

As always, a big “thank you” to our front-line workers for their selfless, tireless service — and, in this instance, for sharing a hopeful image of the Seattle skyline, shot from West Seattle on a recent morning.

Some King County parks and public lands will reopen on Friday as the first phase of Gov. Jay Inslee's plan to reopen Washington's economy continues. Here's what's open and what's not as we head into a sunny spring weekend.

Between Mother's Day and the expected sunny weather, there's lots to celebrate this weekend! Whether you'll be enjoying nature or continuing to stay inside, here are some things you can do while maintaining social distancing.

From an unexpected friendship across species, to a cluster of clay llamas, to finding a way to remotely produce a song featuring multiple collaborators, people across Washington state have found ways to stay connected to their artistic communities, their jobs and their routines — or to find beauty in the changes themselves. 

Every Mother's Day, climbers flock to Mount St. Helens in festive dresses in the continuation of a tradition started by 'the woman in the red dress.' This Mother's Day, a new mini-documentary from OPB tells the story of Kathy Phibbs, a gifted alpinist who paved the way for a more inclusive outdoors community — and pink flamingos on mountain summits.

The Emerald Distaff, the signature race of season for fillies and mares, has been on the same day as the Mile for years. This year, the track added the Muckleshoot Derby and the Washington Oaks.

My Grandpa pulled away late to win the Muckleshoot Derby, and No Talking Back won the Emerald Distaff during Championship Sunday at Emerald Downs.

An overflow field of 13 juveniles was entered in Sunday’s $100,000 Gottstein Futurity at 1 1/16 miles, the last of three stakes scheduled on closing day at Emerald Downs in Auburn.

Track president Phil Ziegler says overall handle increased this season despite 11 fewer races. But he says attendance, the number of horses per race and on-track betting declined.  

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) — Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is banned from entering horses in the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, where he was barred earlier this year. Fred Hertrich, chairman of the Breeders’ Cup board, said Friday that it would honor Santa Anita’s house rule and not allow Hollendorfer to enter horses in […]

DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) — Del Mar is preemptively canceling racing for Nov. 21 because of projected rain from the season’s first storm in Southern California. Track officials said Friday the cancellation is due to “an abundance of caution” because rain forecast from Tuesday through Thursday likely will result in a muddy main track and […]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The owners of Maximum Security say they will appeal a federal judge’s dismissal of their lawsuit that seeks to challenge the decision to disqualify their horse as winner of the Kentucky Derby. Gary West said in a statement Monday that he has authorized his attorneys to file an appeal. West and […]

DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) — A 3-year-old filly has collapsed and died after a workout at Del Mar, while another horse that was injured in a race on Nov. 10 has been euthanized, making it four horses that have died since the track’s fall meet began Nov. 8. Slewgoodtobetrue died in the barn area Sunday. […]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Horses running in the Kentucky Derby will break from a new custom-made 20-stall starting gate for the 146th edition in May. Churchill Downs said Monday the new contiguous gate will eliminate the wide gap between post position No. 14 in the standard gate and No. 15 in the auxiliary gate. The […]

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Longtime jockey Richard Gamez died Sunday after falling from his horse and getting trampled by another horse during a race in Tucson. Gamez was leading in the fifth race at Rillito Park Racetrack when his horse stumbled and he was thrown from the saddle, according to the Rillito Park Foundation. Gamez, […]

Change does not come easily to the Kentucky Derby. Fans sip mint juleps, don fancy hats and dress clothes and sing to the melancholy strains of “My Old Kentucky Home” as the thoroughbreds step onto the track on the first Saturday in May. It has always made the Derby as much a piece of Americana […]