RICHLAND -- Jim Kaye can't recall how old he was when he bought his first model airplane.

WEST RICHLAND -- Ciara Potter never was a big fan of water skiing as a youngster, often bribing her dad to buy her Slurpees or other goodies just so she'd go with him.

RICHLAND -- Jim Castleberry is and always has been all about the green and gold. He's Mr. Bomber to all old-school Bombers, eager to chat about anything to do with Richland High School basketball.

KENNEWICK -- Phoenix High looks more like an office than a school, with individual work stations and a computer for every student, plenty of plastic file cabinets and even a water cooler.

Sheilah Archibald's home is filled with the finest china, hand-painted with Currier & Ives scenes, portraits or breath-taking landscapes.

At 64, Dean Hinkson passes time by tinkering with it. The retired electrician who moved to the Tri-Cities nine years ago is a master watchmaker and a master clockmaker.

DIXIE - Tom Lamb doesn't like living alone.

Think of a home and you probably picture the standard four walls.

Dave Milton's daily lunchtime routine often includes the Columbia River, some paddles and -- if he's lucky -- a heron or some pelicans.

Ever curious, 3-year-old Melody creeps in on a conversation, extends her neck and leaves her curiously warm breath on a visitor's unsuspecting hand, nudging his notebook before pulling back.

Amateur photographer Andi Aldrich never leaves home without a camera.

"There's something about the outside of a horse that's good for the inside of a man."

As a kid, Amy Smith loved to play with soft clay and mold it into little works of art that she would paint on the weekend.

LOWDEN -- Sitting in the shade at Blue Mountain Lavender Farm sipping lavender-infused lemonade and resting your eyes on a field of purple flowers, it's easy to imagine you're in France.

Make your way past the dogwood trees, rock-filled moats and potted herbs in Kim Welsch's front yard, and you'll stumble across a statuary figure more jungle than xeriscape.

Why the heck is it so hard to meet people?

POMEROY -- A $150,000 state grant helped pay for the new big red pole barn at the Garfield County Fairgrounds in Pomeroy.

One summer day 41 years ago, Kennewick pharmacist Corky Simmelink and a few of his friends packed up their jalopies and wives, tucked their 15 kids into rumble seats or the back of Simmelink's Dodge Brothers delilvery wagon and pointed radiators due north.

When Karin Pierce was a child -- she doesn't remember what age, but she guesses "very young" -- she practiced yoga with her mother.

Margaret Callahan's path to teaching yoga is the result of a chain of coincidences over about 25 years.

When translated from its ancient Sanskrit origins, the word sangha means community. And sangha in the Tri-City yoga world a decade ago was lacking, local pros say.

Heather Anastos was the ultimate high-powered professional five years ago. The manager of a high-level radioactive laboratory at Hanford, the Kennewick woman thought she enjoyed the stress and pressure of her job.

Thunk, thunk.

When Taylor Gordon walks down the runway, life just feels right. The 12-year-old Pasco girl says wearing stylish clothing, being in the spotlight and holding her head high "makes me feel good, like it's something I want to pursue."

Richland's Jim McCabe has got an offer for Pasco's Doc Hastings.

Don Ohman has been a roofer and a railroad ticket agent, but mostly he's a man on a musical mission.

Hips moved rhythmically from side to side as Eastern music filled the room. The tempo increased and dangly gold coins on a hip sash swayed faster.

The white roof of Walla Walla's Orchidaceae greenhouse hides a riot of color.

In Bobby Dale Albers' family game room, which doubles as a clubhouse for Combat Veterans International

If you think barbershop quartets went out with 78 rpm records, you haven't met the enthusiastic -- and harmonic -- members of the Columbia River Chordsmen.

Edith Winkler tackles a challenge as enthusiastically at age 92 as she did as a youngster.

Sue Rulon and Greg Sevigny didn't stretch, run laps or play pickleball together at Richland High School.

Ruben Villaseñor has his back to the tall bay mustang that arrived at his barn in mid-January.

Matt Kurkjian and Andrea Zimmerman remember their first kiss very well.

Anne Henriksen asks two questions when she interviews a possible employee:

Lin Damrell and Vicki Moddrell may be skilled knitters, but it's quite possible that they're just as passionate about practical jokes.

Lin Damrell and Vicki Moddrell may be skilled knitters but it's quite possible that they're just as passionate about practical jokes.

The Cold War and potentially groundbreaking scientific experiments co-exist 22 steep steps down into a Rattlesnake Mountain hillside.

The Cold War and potentially groundbreaking scientific experiments co-exist 22 steep steps down into a Rattlesnake Mountain hillside.

Michael Durst was surrounded by a sea of bobbing, craning young heads on a recent night at the Robert and Elisabeth Moore Observatory in Pasco.

Michael Durst was surrounded by a sea of bobbing, craning young heads on a recent night at the Robert and Elisabeth Moore Observatory in Pasco.

WALLULA -- Most drivers going to Walla Walla likely zoom right by Wallula.

WALLULA -- Most drivers going to Walla Walla likely zoom right by Wallula.

Richland's Christina Abrams is a grandmother and an aspiring truck driver.

Richland's Christina Abrams is a grandmother and an aspiring truck driver.

Mitch McColm and Eli Shoemaker have something in common despite their age difference.

Hermiston -- Music may be good medicine, yet for a while the residents of Hermiston Terrace Assisted Living Center were too under the weather even for some lively tunes to help.

In some ways, Cody Hand is a typical 11-year-old.