Stefanie Pettit

Ever since she was a child, Raina Canale has always wanted to own and run a business. And as someone who has also always loved home crafts and clothing, it just seemed a natural thing for her to plan for operating a clothing business. Because she enjoys being at home with her family, she said that when she graduates this spring from North Idaho Christian School in Hayden, Idaho, she plans to open an online boutique specializing in good quality clothing for women in their teens to early 30s.

We are right now smack dab in the middle of National Etiquette Week. It has come none too soon, and while I fear it may be too late for such quaint notions as etiquette and courtesy, I hold tight to the hope that it’s not.

How much help is too much help? I ask because I am now unquestionably in that place where I am considered geriatric or, as one of my sons puts it, “a woman of advanced glamour,” and not as altogether as I used to be. OK, I’m old. Happy to be here, as the alternative is not so appealing, at least not yet.

The tall barn at 6209 N. Coulee Hite Road in Reardan is well-preserved for its years. But unlike many barns that are white or red, this one is green.

Stefanie Pettit pays tribute to her friend, Patrick F. McManus.

Landmarks is a feature that has run in this newspaper for more than a decade. As stories are researched, not all the hoped-for information can be found. But sometimes information emerges after publication that allows for a second chapter, and a recent Landmarks story (“The man behind the Manito Park firepit,” March 29, 2018) about the Lawrence Rist Memorial Fireplace is one of those. The original story told how a Boy Scout troop came to construct the fireplace in 1953 to honor its scoutmaster who died in the Korean War. It was mentioned that 2nd Lt. Rist had left behind a wife, LaVar Moon Rist, and infant daughter Andrea. The day the story appeared, Andrea Rist Kilpatrick Matters, who was once again living in Spokane, read the story and reached out to The Spokesman-Review.

Columnist tackles home improvement.

The Marshall Creek Bridge on the Cheney-Spokane Road was built in 1949 ove several rail lines running through the canyon and Marshall Creek. It replaced an old timber bridge that had zigzagged over the tracks.

Stefanie Pettit is counting her blessings for a tragedy avoided.

A Spokane native served with the famed Tuskegee Airmen, America’s first African American military pilots, during World War II.

This past Saturday was National Random Acts of Kindness Day, celebrated on Feb. 17 every year in America since that day in 1982 when a woman in Sausalito, California, first wrote on her placemat in a restaurant: “Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.”

Many artifacts from a region’s history have some size to them – buildings, tombstones, monuments. Some, such as arrowheads, are small. And others are even smaller still and might appear at first to be unlikely symbols of stories from earlier days. Clothing buttons fall into that latter category.

Stefanie Pettit shares her parking ticket story.

There is a 16-foot tall metal man in Spokane in need of a replica airplane.

The months of January and February have a lot to offer, Stefanie Pettit writes.

When the James and Sarah Bayley House was first constructed in Ross Park Addition near the Spokane River on the near northeast side of the city, it was one of several fine dwellings belonging to some of the area’s most noted entrepreneurs, politicians and members of the social elite.

I’m starting the new year with one of my favorite language games, Fun With Words – though I must say I find that some words are not so fun-filled these days.

A few Christmas cookies remain to be eaten and New Year’s Eve about to be celebrated – and then 2017 is in the books.

Two weeks ago I

Once again my head is exploding.

There’s a conversation I want to have with my cousin, but I can’t. It’s about guns.

An 1885 home near Pettet Drive is the original home of Spokane pioneer William Pettet. Believed to be one of the oldest houses in Spokane, it apparently was built using the same pattern of a Pettet home in the Virgin Islands. It is a blend of Stick and Queen Anne styles.

For me, a car becomes, in its own way, a part of the family.

A cry for help posted on Facebook and the ensuing rapid response shows the power of the social media forum. It saved a life.