Columbia River Reader March 2024

People + Place

“Snipe,”

COLUMBIA RIVER READER PRESS BOOK BOUTIQUE

LEWIS AND CLARK REVOLUTIONIZED

What really — truly — happened during those final wind-blown, rain-soaked thirty days of the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s trek to the Pacific? Southwest Washington author and explorer Rex Ziak revolutionized historical scholarship by providing the answers: day by day and week by week.

IN FULL VIEW

Rex Ziak $29.95

A true and accurate account of Lewis and Clark’s arrival at the Pacific Ocean, and their search for a winter camp along the lower Columbia River.

EYEWITNESS TO ASTORIA

Gabriel Franchére $21.95

The newly edited and annotated by Rex Ziak version of Franchére’s 1820 journal, Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the Years 1811, 1812, 1813 and 1814, or The First American Settlement on the Pacific.

COLLECTORS

CLUB ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION THOUGHTFUL GIFTS... FOR YOURSELF OR FOR A FRIEND!

We’ll send your recipient a printed gift notification card.

In three editions:

• Boxed Signature Edition, with color $50

• Collectors Edition, with color $35

• Trade paperback B/W $25

• Audiobook $15 read by Hal Calbom (online only)

DISPATCHES FROM THE DISCOVERY TRAIL A Layman’s

Lewis & Clark by Michael O. Perry.

•BW Edition $35

Enjoying music and the experience of playing or performing as part of an ensemble have enriched many people’s lives, mine included.

Despite taking piano lessons growing up and relishing playing clarinet in band all through school — including my continuation in Seattle Pacific’s Concert Band even after college — my appreciation of classical music was still limited.

One year at St. Stephen’s Church, I filled in for the handbell choir director, Lisa Sudar, who was taking maternity leave. I didn’t have any music conducting experience, but the organist, Faye Marie Beck, gave me a quick coaching session before my “job interview.”

Actually, I was mostly interested in helping keep the choir’s camaraderie and spirit alive, and in recruiting unlikely new ringers into the fold (I thought even non-musicians could have fun learning to ring handbells),

Publisher/Editor: Susan P. Piper

Columnists and contributors:

Hal Calbom

Nancy Chennault

Alice Dietz

Joseph Govednik

Tom Lee

Dayle Olson

Michael Perry

Ned Piper

Dan Polacek

Robert Michael Pyle

Marc Roland

Alan Rose

Greg Smith

Andre Stepankowsky

Debra Tweedy

Judy VanderMaten

Editorial/Proofreading Assistants:

Merrilee Bauman, Michael Perry, Marilyn Perry, Tiffany Dickinson, Debra Tweedy

Advertising Manager:

Ned Piper, 360-749-2632

Columbia

P.O. Box 1643 • Rainier, OR 97048

Office Hours: M-W-F • 11–3*

*Other times by chance or

E-mail: publisher@crreader.com

Phone: 360-749-1021

Sue’s Views

Handbells, Paris, and Vivaldi in Longview

Faces of Kalama: º Allia

and especially in producing a newsletter, The Bell Free Pres s. (I was an aspiring publisher long before acquiring CRR.) One of the pieces I chose for the choir was “Winter,” a handbell arrangement of one of the themes in Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” Years later, visiting Paris with my son Perry and his grandmother, I heard “The Four Seasons,” in its entirety for the first time, magnificently performed by pleasantly-smiling

Frenchmen — standing, of all things! — in the glowing, exquisite Sainte-Chapelle (above).

Now imagine my delight to learn this violin concerto will be performed in Longview this August! The first time ever!

Hal’s piece on the Columbia River Chamber Music Festival’s purpose and plans (page 9) spotlights the efforts by Chris Leach, Grant Mack, Vicente Molinos, and others who are creating a wonderful addition to our community’s cultural offerings.

We can all anticipate “The Four Seasons.” Mark your calendar: Aug 2–4, 9–11. See you there, with bells on!

Columbia River Reader is published monthly, with 14,000 copies distributed in the Lower Columbia region. Entire contents copyrighted; No reproduction of any kind allowed without express written permission of Columbia River Reader, LLC. Opinions expressed herein, whether in editorial content or paid ad space, belong to the writers and advertisers and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Reader.

Submission guidelines: page 32.

General Ad info: page 6.

Ad Manager: Ned Piper 360-749-2632.

our website for the current issue and archive of past issues from 2013.

Driving downriver

Stopping for lunch in Rainier on our way to the Fisher Poets Gathering in Astoria, we picked up a copy of CRR and enjoyed the article about the Lower Columbia Fish Enhancement Group, by Hal Calbom.

Great to see local journalism alive and kicking!

Stephen Fuller-Rowell Eugene, Ore.

Early Bird Lions host shredding and kettle corn event

Spring cleaning? Bring your documents to the Longview-Kelso Early Bird Lions Community Shred Day!

The Lemay Mobile Shred Unit will be parked on Maple Street behind the Longview Public Library on Saturday, March 23, 10am–1pm, to serve your shredding needs.

A donation of $5 per bag or box of paper is suggested to cover the cost of the shred truck; any additional funds raised will go back into the community through the Early Bird Lions support of food banks, high school scholarships, Emergency Support Shelter, Lower Columbia School Gardens, and more!

The Early Bird Lions will also be selling kettle corn for $9 a bag! Cash and cards are accepted.

Your columbia RiveR ReadeR

Columbia River Reader is printed with environmentally-sensitive soy-based inks on paper manufactured in the Pacific Northwest utilizing the highest percentage of “post-consumer waste” recycled content available on the market.

Castle Rock Cemetery installs new columbarium

Please

Submitted by

Joanne Purvis, Secretary

Cowlitz County Cemetery Dist No. 1

DISPATCHES FROM THE DISCOVERY TRAIL

MEPISODE 33 Politics and Destiny

By Michael O. Perry

any CRR readers are frustrated with today’s political gridlock and the “do-nothing” Congress in Washington D.C. It seems like it has been impossible to get politicians to work together for America’s future over the last couple of decades. So it was illuminating to me as I read the history books to realize modern America’s impression of our early Presidents and Congressional leaders might best be described as looking through rose colored glasses! “Heroes,” like George Washington John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, etc., weren’t always viewed as favorably as they are today.

America’s first two political parties were beginning to take shape by the 1800 Presidential election. America’s second President, John Adams, was a Federalist who narrowly defeated Thomas Jefferson (the DemocraticRepublican candidate) in the 1796 election — resulting in Jefferson being Adams’s vice president. Prior to

1804, the Presidential candidate who received the second-most Electoral College votes became vice president.

For the 1800 election, Jefferson and Aaron Burr each received 73 electoral votes, so the House of Representatives had to decide which man would become President. After 35 ballots, the vote was still tied. Finally, Alexander Hamilton, America’s first Secretary of the Treasury and a well respected Federalist party leader (who hated Aaron Burr more than he despised Thomas Jefferson), convinced a few Federalists to switch their vote, and Jefferson became President and Burr became vice president. If Hamilton hadn’t done that, it is quite possible Aaron Burr would have becomePresident, and Jefferson’s dream of expanding the United States might never have come to be. For that reason, we should probably consider Alexander Hamilton to be just as important as Thomas Jefferson in the Corps of Discovery.

In AprIl 2021 we Introduced A revIsed versIon of Michael Perry’s popular series which was expanded In the new book, Dispatches from the Discovery Trail, edited by Hal Calbom and published by CRRPress. It includes an in-depth author interview and new illustrations and commentary.This episode concludes the “Journey.” We will begin the series again next issue.

Michael Perry enjoys local history and travel. His popular 33-installment Lewis & Clark series appeared in Columbia River Reader’s early years and helped shape its identity and zeitgeist. After two encores, the series has been expanded and published in a book. Details, page 2.

A Stretch of the Imagination

In the late 1700s most of the people of the newly-formed United States lived within 50 miles of the Atlantic Ocean. Their idea of the wild west, the frontier, was the relatively unimposing Appalachian Mountains, and the boundary of their imaginations the Mississippi River.

Few instances in history offer such proof of the power of curiosity and scientific study as the self-education of Thomas Jefferson and the empowering of his fertile mind by his own readings and musings. For 20 years he pondered the reports of traders, explorers, governments and diplomats. Yet the stretch of the imagination was primarily his, and it stretched the boundaries of our frontiers, and our country, immeasurably.

Like Father, Like Son Burr was furious at what Hamilton had done, and in 1804, while still vice president, Burr shot and killed Hamilton in a duel! Surprisingly, Burr was not charged for the illegal duel, but he was charged with treason in 1807. Interestingly, Hamilton’s 19-year-old son had been killed in the same manner in 1801.

The bitter 1800 election campaign had been characterized by personal attacks and slander. Federalists were convinced the DemocratictRepublicans would destroy the country; even George Washington had nothing good to say about the Democratic -Republicans. Much of what has gone on in our recent elections appears tame compared to the dirty dealings of 220 years ago.

A hidden agenda?

As I read the dozens of books I bought during the Bicentennial of the Corps of Discovery’s epic journey, I was fascinated to learn more about how Thomas Jefferson was able to fulfill his vision of expanding the United States. The 1803 Louisiana Purchase actually occurred a year after Jefferson created the Corps of Discovery. I had always assumed Jefferson and Congress were extraordinary visionaries to be willing to explore the western lands and expand the country just 25 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed. But after reading countless books, I now realize it was a miracle any of this happened.

Surrounded by bitter political dissension in 1801, Jefferson needed a private secretary he could trust. He

Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.

remembered Meriwether Lewis who had grown up a few miles from the Jefferson estate at Monticello. But most people found it hard to know what Jefferson saw in the young man known to be moody, serious and awkward.

Letters Lewis wrote show that, despite a good education, his grammar was dubious and it was evident he was never going to be a good speller (his journals prove that!). None of these deficiencies bothered Jefferson; he saw in Lewis a man capable of carrying out some very special duties.

Jefferson had not reached the point of publicly admitting his plans in 1801, but he had been dreaming for 20 years of exploring the vast lands west of the Mississippi River. Jefferson, who never traveled more than 50 miles from his Monticello estate (except for five years in Paris as Minister to France), wanted to take the fur trade from the British, and expand America all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Jefferson had been trying to get support from the government to explore the western part of North America since at least 1780, but his position as Secretary of State was not enough to win Congressional or party support. At age 18, Lewis had begged Jefferson to let him join a proposed 1792 expedition to explore the uncharted west; that scheme, like several before, was abandoned due to lack of governmental interest.

However, when Jefferson became President, he had the power to send out the explorers if he could get Congress to appropriate some money. He knew Congress wouldn’t willingly fund such an expedition, so he had to keep the true intent secret.

Jefferson immediately wrote to Lewis and offered him the job as his secretary. The letter was written so it was plain enough to Lewis what Jefferson really wanted, but nobody else would understand.

Lewis immediately accepted, and the rest is history. Four years later, Captain Lewis would fulfill Jefferson’s dream, and forever lock in America’s claim to the land west of the Mississippi River.

… Jefferson believed … Without the vision and curiosity of the third President, Thomas Jefferson, Lewis, Clark and the Expedition would not exist. Jefferson had been interested in the lands west of the Appalachians and Mississippi since the 1780s, having spent time in Europe as U.S. Ambassador to France. Many historians think Jefferson was profoundly influenced by Captain James Cook’s “A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean,” published in London in 1784.

Mount St. Helens Hiking Club

sketch by the late deeNa maRtiNsoN

Call leader to join outing or for more info. Nonmembers welcome. Driving distances are from Longview, Wash.

(E) - Easier: Usually on relatively flat ground (up to 5 miles and/or less than 500 ft. e.g.)

(M) Moderate: Longer and more elevation gain (over 5 miles and/or over 500 ft. e.g.)

(S) - Strenuous: Long hikes and/or elevation gain (over 8 miles and/or over 1200 ft. e.g.)

Mar 20 - Wed. Salmon Creek Greenway (E) Drive 76 miles RT. Hike a 3+-mile loop. This trail passes two ponds along Salmon Creek. Trail is paved with 39’ e.g. Leader: Art M., 360270-9991.

Mar 27 - Wed. Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge (E) Drive 129 miles RT to Washougal. Hike a 4.5 to 7.6 mile loop trail with little e.g. on a level gravel path near the Columbia River. Leader: John R. 360-431-1122

Mar 29 - Friday Gnat Creek (M) Drive 60 miles RT Hike from Gnat Creek Campground for 8 miles RT or Gnat Creek Fish Hatchery for 6.5 miles RT. Good winter hike along the Gnat Creek, Barrier Falls and evergreen forest. There will be mud but good drainage. Poles are suggested. Leaders: Belinda L. 360-430-9879, David K. 360-200-2243

April 3 - Wed. Lake To Lake Loop Trail (E/M)

Drive 100 miles RT. Hike 5 miles with 520’ e.g. up through Lillyfield Loop, circling around Lake and along Lacamas Creek. Leader: Dory N. 213820-1014.

April 5 - Fri. Mima Falls Loop – Olympia (M)

Drive 128 miles RT. It is a 6.2 mile loop with one short in and out section to Mima Falls. This is 817’ e.g. Discover Pass required for parking.Leader: Mary Jane M. 360-430-7905

April 6 - Sat Lake Sacajawea (E)

Walk 4 miles on flat ground around the whole lake or any portion for a shorter walk. **This walk is designed for super seniors and/or people with physical limitations at a slow pace.**

Leader: Susan S. 360-430-9914.

April 10 - Wed. Mima Falls Loop Capital State Forest (M) Drive 126 miles RT. Hike 6+ miles with 600’ e.g. on a loop trail, then to the falls. Discover Pass required for parking.

Leader: Barbara R. 360-431-1131.

April 17 - Wed. Capitol Lake (E)

Drive 140 miles RT Hike 4.6 miles on a level path around lake. L.eaders: Julie L. (360) 7471415, Melanie F. 907-351-8741.

April

May

page 32.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), by Charles Willson Peale

By Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My sisterin-law started keeping her dining table “set” about 20 years ago, when her home was on the market. I gather this was a staging thing.

She still does it. It just seems unclean to me. Is this one more of the many things people do that I’m in the dark about, or is it weird?

GENTLE READER: Definitely weird. It evokes images of a dinner party where the guests never arrived. Not to mention, as you have, that the settings must be getting dusty.

It is your SIL’s house, of course, but if you feel so compelled, Miss Manners suggests asking, “Are you expecting company?” -- without perhaps adding, “for the last 20 years?”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband and I disagree on the appropriate protocol when attending a neighborhood social event not specifically described as a potluck. He takes great pride in his culinary creations and insists upon taking a dish to supplement whatever the host is serving. I have issued gentle reminders that his efforts, while well-meaning, may not complement the menu the host painstakingly curated for the event.

On the rare occasions he asks in advance, the host usually says he or she has the matter covered, but my husband still insists on arriving dishin-hand. I feel this places the host in an awkward position, not to mention the other attendees. He says I have an overactive sense of propriety.

Call before you go !

GENTLE READER: Technically, you and your husband do not disagree on what is proper -- he simply does not care. This is not a defensible position, as he will realize when you, at Miss Manners’ urging, point out that he is actually insulting your hosts -- even more so when he flatly ignores the answer to a question he asked.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: A few months ago, I had a local plumbing company come to my house for some drain cleaning and to have the main pipes snaked. It was a lot of work and a messy job. The company is very well known in the area and receives 4+ stars in customer reviews.

Afterwards, I wanted to make a goodwill gesture, so I took a box of candy and a card to the company’s office. The owner’s wife works in the office, and as I walked in and started to express my appreciation, she mentioned what a bad job it had been. She then repeated it, then said, “You are lucky you have us.”

Sure, I am happy to have a reliable company to do this kind of work for me, but I left there feeling like a second-class citizen for trying to show appreciation. How would you have responded to a remark like that?

GENTLE READER: “Yes; I came here to thank you and say that, but never mind. You beat me to it.”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have a couple of friends who text me infrequently. Their texts are always things like, “You home?” “Whatcha doing?” “You busy?”

GENTLE READER: Just because you are home does not mean that you are doing nothing. If you want to arm yourself with an excuse proactively, Miss Manners suggests responding with “reading,” “cleaning” or “washing my hair,” as the case may be -- or an all-purpose “catching up” or “winding down.”

If those do not deter your spontaneous friends, “I’m in for the evening, but would love to make plans for another day” is also valid.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am at a loss as to how to confront the use of cellphones while at a restaurant with my granddaughter and her boyfriend. It seems so rude for them to sit and use their phones while we are supposedly having a meal together -- and, I might add, I always pick up the tab.

I finally popped my cork and said, “Surely you can visit without the phone for just a bit.” Was I unduly rude?

GENTLE READER: If we want to guard against corks being popped, you might want to set the ground rules first. For example: “Let us enjoy each other’s company while we’re here, and then you can attend to your phones afterwards.”

If you are worried that issuing directions is above your pay grade, Miss Manners assures you that grandparents get special dispensation to set and enforce rules in their care -- even if their grandchildren think otherwise.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have been diagnosed with a (quite likely) terminal illness. I am continuing to work, as it isn’t yet debilitating. However, I must take time off work for tests, treatments and other medical appointments.

GENTLE READER: Perhaps add, “I assure you that when I am unable to perform my duties, I will let you know. Until then, let’s please all go about our work.”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I picked up grocery items for a dear friend who was busy setting up a small dinner party. She said she would send me the money on an app. I sent her a screenshot of the receipt, took the items to her and even helped her finish setting up. She repeated that she’d send me the funds.

It’s been five days and she’s not mentioned it again. I want to be gentle with my request, and don’t want to sound desperate, but I need that $80 back.

GENTLE READER: “Did the app work? I don’t think I received anything from you yet. Please let me know if you need me to resend the receipt.”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I’m pregnant and want to have a party celebrating this new stage in life. I do not want any gifts. I do not want the burden of hosting to fall on another person. I definitely do not want to do a gimmicky “gender reveal.” I just want to host a party celebrating this moment.

What on earth do I call this party? It’s not a shower; it’s not a gender reveal. What is a name for this party that conveys the purpose without being clunky?

GENTLE READER: Why do people believe that parties have to have names? Probably because the name suggests that presents are due. But that is not your intention, and there is no such need. You can just invite people over for a good time, and if you have something to celebrate, you can create a sensation by announcing it to them there.

That is how the traditional engagement party used to work: The parents threw a party and then announced the engagement by offering a toast to the new couple. Presents for an engagement were not customary.

Probate without a Will = delay and extra expense. “I make house calls”

I never know how to respond. If I say “Yes, I’m home” or “I’m doing nothing,” they then ask if I want to get together for a drink. Since they have already established that I am not busy, it seems rude if I say no. But if I say “Why?” when they ask if I’m busy, that also seems rude on my part.

What do you suggest? How can I politely respond while indicating I’d like to know what the real question is? I like these friends, and do enjoy a drink, but I’d prefer to be asked, “Hey, want to go get a drink?”

I notified management, as they noticed I was using a lot of PTO. Well, one manager told another, who told another, who told a team I work on ... Everyone seems to know now. It is uncomfortable being treated like I’m fragile. I get asked, “When are you going out on permanent disability?” or “Have you tried nutrition and herbs?” and similar questions.

When I respond along the lines of, “Thank you, but that’s not related to our work. Can we get back to the scheduled discussion?” that shuts it down, but I’m still angry and hurt. Can you suggest something else to say or do?

They do seem to be now, as at every selfcelebration. But if you announce your pregnancy at a party, people will protest that if they had known, they would have brought you something. Never mind -your object of a non-gimmicky, non-greedy celebration will have been achieved.

•••

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

Classical Music ’tis the Seasons!

Local Chamber Music Festival to feature Vivaldi classic

This summer The Columbia River Chamber Music Festival will present an extraordinary series of programs worthy of its over-the-top ambitions.

The Festival — six concerts held on two successive weekends in August — will feature Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” one of classical music’s most popular and bestloved violin concertos, and other fan favorites by Mozart and J.S. Bach.

“I grew up with elders in the community telling me, ‘You can’t do that in Longview,’” said Festival co-founder and cellist Christopher Leach, saying skeptics thought the music either too highbrow, too expensive to stage, or simply lacking in interested musicians.

“That’s proven entirely untrue,” said Leach, “There are an awful lot of fine players here in Longview, and in the Northwest and beyond, who don’t get enough chances to play this kind of music. When they get a chance, they jump at it.”

The Music of Friends Chamber music originated centuries ago in the homes and halls of the well-to-do, played by small groups of musicians for intimate gatherings. Soon becoming simply “the music of friends,” today it’s played for pleasure, for practice, and for performance, and typically features 16 or fewer instruments in various combinations.

“The Four Seasons” — Le Quattro Stagioni — is the most enduring of Vivaldi’s works, written in the early 1700s when the composer served as chapel master in Mantua, Italy.

By Hal Calbom

Actually a series of four violin concertos, “The Four Seasons” has never been performed in Longview.

Program selections include two other famed baroque period works, J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. I,” and the Vivaldi Piccolo Concerto. Rounding out the program will be two pieces from Mozart, his “Gran Partita,” featured in the film “Amadeus,” and Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No 21,” indelibly the theme from the movie “Elvira Madigan.”

“There is a wonderful musical ecosystem around this region,” said Vicente Molinos, a Festival supporter who is helping the group form a board and develop a website. “We hope to take the Festival from an all-volunteer basis to the status it deserves.”

SAVE THE DATES

6 concerts. Aug 2-4, Aug 9-11 Friday performances at Rose Center for the Arts, Lower Columbia College; others at St. Stephen’s Church Parish Hall, Longview, Wash.

An initial version of the new website will be running by March 30th at www.crfest.org. Sign up for the Newsletter to see the programs for the six August concerts. You can also explore opportunities to volunteer, serve as a Board member or donate.

Molinos, who describes himself as a “huge jazz and classical music fan,” is one of many volunteers supporting the Festival’s expansion. The August concerts will feature gifted soloists from the region, including Tacoma-based violin virtuoso Maria Sampen and Longview native Dr. Grant Mack, who teaches at University of Oregon and will perform the Mozart Concerto.

Building the Brand

For the first time the Festival will also present two of its programs at Lower Columbia College’s Rose Center, in addition to its regular venue at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church.

Simply to pay expenses and provide logistical support for this regional effort requires more than dedicated inkind volunteers and contributions at the door.

“We are developing a working board, not a donation board or a prestige board,” he said. He plans to use his business experience and organizational skills to assist the Festival in building its website, organizing fundraising initiatives, and establishing its new governance over the next few months.

A retired wood products executive, Molinos claims no motivation other than profound love of the music:

“I play nothing. Not even the radio. But I’m eager to help bring this wonderful music to our audiences.”

Christopher Leach Co-founder and Artistic Director

Grant Mack Co-founder, Board Chairman

Vicente Molinos Volunteer

Of CRCMF co-founders Christopher Leach and Grant Mack, pictured above, Vicente Molinos said, “While all the founding musicians have contributed with time, money and presence over the years, these two men have kept the initiative alive.”

Hal Calbom writes CRR’s People+Place feature series. See his photo and bio, page 20.

Looking UP

Mar 18 – April 17, 2024

The Evening Sky

A clear sky is needed.

By Greg Smith

By March 21st, Jupiter is in the southwestern sky being chased by Orion. The Beehive Cluster sits between Gemini and Leo the Lion. The moon will be near full, sitting right on top of Regulus, the bright star of the Constellation Leo. Some great objects for my new telescope to take pictures of!

The Morning Sky

Hints of summer are rising in the east. Note the constellation of Cygnus the Swan in the still dark sky of early morning, along with the river of stars that are the Milky Way. The Summer Triangle is rising as well. The promise of better weather and great sky objects are in the offing. No planets are up in the morning yet, but some should be coming up by next month.

April’s Daytime Sky Spectacular

...Night Sky Spectacle: April solar eclipse, Winter Hexagon

A clear sky is a must.

April 8 is the day of the next Great American Eclipse. The eastern United states will be the scene of the pathway of the eclipse, starting in southern Texas and running all the way to Maine. Tens of millions of Americans are in the pathway of the eclipse, including many of America’s larger cities. Dallas is the largest city in the path of the eclipse. People from Longview, Wash., are traveling to the eclipse path in order to see a second eclipse in just a few years. I have heard that many motels and hotels and

All times are Pacific Daylight Savings Time,

Moon Phases:

1st Quarter: Sat., Mar 16

Full: Mon., Sat., Mar 23

Last Quarter: Mon., April 1

New: Moon., Mon., April 8 (Eclipse)

1st Quarter: Mon., April 15

End of twilight - when the brightest stars start to come out. It takes about another hour to see a lot of stars.

Sun., Mar 17, 7:49pm

Sun., Mar. 24, 8:00pm

Mon., April 1, 8:11pm

Mon., April 8, 8:21pm

Mon., April 15th, 8:31pm

campgrounds have already been sold out for the days around April 8th. Unless you have family living in the area of the eclipse you may be out of luck finding a place to stay. My niece’s husband has family in the area and is planning to go home to Kentucky to see the eclipse. It is thought that south Texas will have the best weather and chance to see the eclipse. Our area will have a 20 percent coverage of the sun on that day, so, have your eclipse glasses at the ready.

In the evenings when the stars are out (by 7pm) look in the southsouthwestern sky for six bright stars encircling the constellation Orion. Orion is very close to one edge of the circle as its bright star Rigal, the lower right foot of Orion, is one of the six stars. Continuing clockwise you will see the very bright star Sirius, (or the Dog Star), the brightest star in our night sky in Canis Major (the Big Dog). Continue clockwise and next is Procyon (“pro-see-on”), the eighth brightest star in our night sky, in the constellation Canis Minor.

Continue up to the bright star Pollux in the constellation of Gemini. It is an orange giant star only 100 light years away. Not too far away is Pollux’s brother, Castor, a six-star system. Pollux and Castor are the twins from Roman mythology who founded Rome. Though it is not officially part of the hexagon, it is easy to add it to it. Next, heading over the top of this circle of stars is Capella in the constellation of Auriga. The sixth brightest star in the night sky, Capella is a quadruple star system. Capella–a and Capella–b are yellow giant stars orbiting each other, both with a very close companion star. Diving down in the circle the next star is Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus. It is the constellation’s brightest star and is a red giant. Note: the Pioneer 10 spacecraft is headed in the direction of Taurus and will be there in about two million years. We have come full circle to the star Rigal where we started from. Rigal is a blue super giant star. On the opposite end of the red star of Betelgeuse. What you have just done is locate six major constellations and their brightest stars. Quite a feat for a non-astronomer and beginning star gazer. Keep looking up.

Sirius Black’s cousin lived up to her stellar namesake

You’ve most likely looked at Orion and are familiar with the two brightest stars, the right foot Rigel and the left shoulder being Betelgeuse. But you may have wondered what the name of the star on the right shoulder was, the one holding the shield or bow of the great hunter.

Hey, Harry Potter fans, you know her as the crazy lady who could flick a wand with the worst of them. That’s right Bellatrix Lestrange, the cousin of Harry’s friend Sirius Black. Betelgeuse is the famous left shoulder, holding up a sword or club, red in color. It recently gained notoriety for dimming and threatening to blow up. The other shoulder is a blue white star named Bellatrix, which is Latin for female warrior. Bellatrix Lestrange was truly a warrior; she was always in attack mode.

cont page 12

Longview

The Arabic name is translated “conqueror,” but why the Greeks give a feminine name to it is anybody’s guess. If the gender of the name had stayed masculine, the star would be named Bellator.

Bellatrix is a blue white star, not a blue giant, but its surface temperature is a blistering 21,750 degrees Kelvin, which surely matches the temperament of Ms. Lestrange’s: Hot. Our sun is only 5800 Kelvin. So no contest there.

Financial strategies built just for you.

1332

Continuing in the Harry Potter theme, Sirius Black was a close and important friend of Harry’s. So is the star Sirius, only 8.6 light years away — from Earth! So also a close friend, right?

You’ve probably heard of the “dog days of summer,” which refers to the high summer temperatures. Well, the Egyptians thought that the brightness of Sirius added to the heat of summer. Sirius is known as the Dog Star for that reason. It’s the brightest star of the constellation Canis Major, one of Orion’s hunting dogs that play around his feet. Sirius’s rising in the eastern sky signaled to the Egyptian farmers that the annual floods of the Nile were on their way.

Biz Buzz

What’s Happening Around the River

Biz Buzz notes news in local business and professional circles. As space allows, we will include news of innovations, improvements, new ventures and significant employee milestones of interest to readers. Please email publisher@crreader.com to share the local buzz.

New pedestrian overpass work to begin later this year

‘Kalama Crossing’ includes 125 new parking spaces, added safety features

With permits now in place, the Port of Kalama is fast approaching construction of the new pedestrian overpass linking the Port’s waterfront to downtown Kalama.

The Kalama Crossing will be an important piece of infrastructure, offering an array of safety improvements, including exterior and interior lighting, shorter staircases and an elevator tower on both sides. The new span will also be 40 feet longer, completely crossing North Hendrickson Drive.

Another exciting aspect of the project is the inclusion of 125 new parking spaces, lighting features and rain gardens running along West Frontage Road.

Follow the Port on Facebook for the latest on this transformative project.

Port of Kalama news briefs provided by Dan Polacek, Port of Kalama Legistative/ Public Relations Administrator

couRtesy image

Where do you read THE READER?

Going to the Library

Patrick Hart, of West Richland, Wash., at Ephesus, which is located on the Turkey coast, just outside of Selçuk. The structure in the background is the library of Celsus, which was constructed by the Romans in the second century A.D. It was the third-largest library in the ancient world after Alexandria and Pergamon.

WAY down under “The November edition of the Reader arrived late here at the end of the world,” wrote Longview, Wash. resident Gary Lindstrom. “Ushuaia, Argentina is the southern-most city on earth. Cool and gale force winds at times through the Beagle Channel and Straits of Magellan.” He and his wife, Ann Long, were on an adventure aboard the Viking Jupiter sailing from Valparaiso around the horn to Buenos Aries.

BRRRR ... it’s cold! Mariane Brightbill of Cathlamet,Wash., in Antarctica,

Winter Sun Break! Visiting Zihuatanejo, Mexico, with the Reader. Left to right: Lori and Steve Solinger, of Longview, Wash., Lauren and Scott DeRosier, of Kelso, Wash.

In Athens, Greece Adrien Burgess (left) of Columbia City, Oregon, and Allison Nunnally of Scappoose, Oregon, check out the Reader while touring the Acropolis on a threecontinent hosted cruise with BriBeck Travel of Rainier, Ore.

MUSEUM MAGIC

TVeterans Memorial Museum

Magnificent collections in Chehalis trove

his year Museum Magic includes local museums that are within an easy drive from the Columbia River Reader’s primary distribution area that ranges from Warrrenton, Oregon, in the west, to Scappoose, Oregon, in the southeast, and Winlock, Washington to the northeast and everywhere in between.

Our first “Reader Road Trip” of the year is to the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis, just 30 minutes north of Castle Rock, Washington. This museum displays magnificent collections of military uniforms, equipment, weapons, and narratives to honor our veterans who served their country. Many of the displays focus on veterans’ personal stories, supported by artifacts.

The VMM has exhibits inside and outside the museum, with an outdoor park gallery showing an AH-1 Cobra

helicopter, F-105 Thunderchief, and M-60 battle tank, among other large items. Just walking near these historic machines, a whiff of engine oil confirms their past operational service.

Visitors are greeted to a gift shop presenting multiple offerings of military and veteran ephemera, clothing, and mementos. Just off the

Story and photos by Joseph Govednik, Cowlitz County Historical Museum Director

cont page16

Museum Magic

gift shop is a common area where veterans (and others) may hang out and gab, creating a community space for casual engagement and telling of war stories. The gallery space includes aisles of display cabinets with an astonishing array of small arms spanning hundreds of years, with the bulk representing 20th century and cold-war era weapons.

Don and Lori Powell and Sue Lantz appreciate FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH LONGVIEW. WA • Since 1930 “We are Disciples of Christ, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.”

from page 15 slantz@windermere.com

Uniforms of all branches of service are displayed, and there is even a captured uniform from Saddam Hussein’s personal wardrobe included. A Civil War-era surgeon kit, displayed complete with saws, reminds visitors of how far battlefield medicine has progressed over scores of years.

Among two imposing artifacts within the gallery are a gigantic American flag affiliated with the USS Abraham Lincoln during President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech in 2003 and a hanging P-51 mustang fighter overhead.

The museum is located at 100 SW Veterans Way in Chehalis, WA with hours of operation Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and veterans, $6 for children, and active duty service members are free. For more information please visit: www.veteransmuseum.org.

Proud Sponsor of People+Place

With every transaction, Sue Lantz donates a portion of her commission to a local non-profit of her clients’ choice

Calbom

Production notes

The Relationship

Age Is Here

T his mon T h ’ s feaT ure on K alama illustrates a larger trend in our economy.

Kalama now intends to target not only the grain, timber and industrial chemicals businesses, but also the people business. Retail. Hospitality. Tourism. Services.

Our global economy has moved beyond the Industrial Age and indeed even the Information Age. In fact, we now live in a Relationship Age. Its mainstays are service businesses, not product businesses. And those depend on cultivating, maintaining and maximizing relationships.

Need proof? All 30 of the Dow Jones “Industrials” are now service-dominated. Even the manufacturing giants make greater profits servicing, financing, and monitoring their own products than from sales of those products themselves.

Ever wonder why that car dealer will bargain away retail margin on the automobile itself but beats you up to buy the service contract, the undercoating option, and the financing scheme?

That’s because in a globally competitive economy profit margins on products get thinner and thinner, while an almost infinite array of services can augment those products — training, maintenance, payment plans, insurance, 24-hour performance monitoring, financing.

The challenge for conventional productdriven business sectors — like Kalama’s Port for instance — is that service is a very different game and, surprisingly, can be a very tough one.

Service businesses rely on intangibles: people-to-people interaction, salesmanship, and the so-called “soft skills.” They’re vulnerable to the whims of those demanding people called customers. Services are labor intensive. They can be trend-driven and fickle.

Which is all to wish our friends in Kalama good luck. You’ve made the right call. Just don’t take your eyes off your new core commodity: the customer.

people+place

Both Sides Now

Kalama brings its two worlds together

For years Kalama simply flew by our windows at seventy miles per hour. A nice place to live, but you wouldn’t necessarily want to visit there. Suddenly, however, Kalama seems to be getting it right. Thanks in part to many of its industrial innovators themselves, an activist Port, and an irrepressible community spirit, the small city on the river verges on having the best of both worlds: quantity of business and quality of life.

People are taking notice. And stopping to say hello, and spending time and money.

PEOPLE ARE TAKING NOTICE AND STOPPING TO SAY HELLO

At

The Human Factor

The confluence of key transportation routes — major interstate highway, railroad artery, the Great River of the West — centers busy Kalama at the economic crossroads of the region. But what Kalama never seemed to have, at least from an outsider’s perspective, was a place to ditch the car and take a stroll. To slow down, relax, grab a bench and just enjoy the place.

The question lingered: Would its continued business and economic expansion — and being loudly bisected by its busy arterials — destine Kalama to be a better productivity hub than a people place?

The good news, delivered emphatically by a new series of developments and civic initiatives over the last couple of years, is no. In fact, just the opposite.

Above: Kalama’s venerable Columbia Inn remains a fixture entering town; the Inn has a busy bar and features a seasonal open-air produce market.

right: Kalama’s school complex is modern and centralized on the hill above town — the Chinooks, or ‘nooks, as they are popularly known, field consistent winners in sports and academe, and even maintain a foothold “learning store” in the Port’s new Market which educates and employs high schoolers.

Old Meets New

“This town has a heart,” said Maria Maronski, who’s lived in Kalama five years. “I’m amazed how friendly everybody is. They take you in. They help you.” We meet Maria at one of North First Street’s new storefronts, Etc Mercantile, an ingenious combination of gift shop and mailing station. With its pristine collection of vintage post office boxes amidst stylish crafts and merchandise, the shop well represents Kalama’s embrace of both old and new.

from page 17 cont

“We do a solid business packaging and mailing. We’re a good complement to the regular Post Office,” said owner Emily Swett, who taught middle school before starting the storefront station with her husband, Tim. “We have 50 mailboxes, 40 of which are already rented. And we sell everything from home and office decor to gifts of all kinds. It’s so much fun!” said Swett. “It was just time to do something different, and people have been so welcoming!”

“This is a little social hub,” said Maria. “It’s just fun to hang out here.” We strolled up First Street to see the rest of the renaissance, the new look of the Old Town.

First Street Scene

“We think it’s pretty hopping — for a library!” said director Elaine Bystrom, welcoming us to the rows of perfectly presented stacks housed just down the street. “We’re trying to host more activities to bring people in,” she said. Among Kalama Public Library’s innovations is a weekly drop-in they call “The Gathering Place,” 1-3pm Wednesdays. “It’s a really vibrant group,” said Elaine, “with new people every week.”

Elaine said. “And we’re always looking for new events and ideas to increase the public’s awareness of the library.”

Further down the street, the occasional midcentury glass boxes are intermixed among the historic building facades, but the overall effect, especially with ornate streetlights, benches, and colorful store windows, is one of history, comfort, and conviviality.

Old Town.

Activities center around coffee and conversation, with an emphasis on the latter, and all the books, puzzles, games and hi-jinks bringing people together. Although the gathering targets seniors, there are no age limits. “We don’t check IDs at the door,”

Owner Emily Swett, with customer Maria Maronski, has turned Etc Mercantile into a gathering place and mailing station; above: generous integration of public recreation and entertainment space with retail and services creates an attractive waterfront “people place.”

Building Bridges

A Port for the people

“Kalama has got it going on!”

By Hal Calbom

The Port of Kalama’s Dan Polacek, born and raised in this selfsame village and now heading its public relations efforts, is understandably proud of its success.

“There are only six port districts in the state of Washington that do not rely on taxpayer money, and the Port of Kalama is the largest of those six. I meet with other Port people regularly,” said Polacek, who does legislative liaison for the Port, as well, “and they’re so complimentary — I could say even envious — of our success here in Kalama.”

With its solid industrial base, sparkling new amenities like its Mountain Timber Market, and prominent tourist-focused partners like McMenamins, Kalama is not only a conspicuous success story, its Port District has done it without taxing its public a single dime.

Retelling the Tale of Two Cities

The Port and city are not without challenges, still. They’ve built a sparkling and diverse new waterfront: Now they need to populate it.

Transportation barriers remain — you drive miles to access the riverside recreation and commercial strip from either end — and the Port and downtown both want to better integrate with each other. Kalama can still feel like a Tale of Two Cities.

“Our big impetus this year is connection,” said Polacek. “We’re excited to be breaking ground on a new pedestrian overpass, the Kalama Crossing.” Designed to bring old and new towns together, the Crossing project will also provide 125 new and badly-needed parking spaces.

Bridging the Gap

Perhaps most of all the Port faces the easier-said-thandone challenge of becoming a successful outward-facing retail host. People are not commodities: The customerconsumer world can be fickle, competitive and cutthroat.

The Port counts on destination business, home town support, and cruise ships to buttress its business plan and justify its ambitious vision.

“If the ships are full, we expect nearly a thousand people a week from the cruise business,” said the Port’s Heidi Sullivan. “Their typical stay is 24 hours.”

The Port expects to feed, entertain, refresh, and introduce the visitors to the city at large.

Top photo: Mountain Timber Market mixes retail shops, community meeting spaces, and strolling room. Bottom photos: The Port signaled its intentions early with a public-facing Interpretive Center nestled in its headquarters building; promotion has begun for the new “Kalama Crossing” which will facilitate foot traffic across the tracks.

from page18

Trading Places

Lots of cars still fly by Kalama at seventy. But lots more stop, too, thanks mainly to its shiny new riverfront attractions, including an upscale Northwest chain restaurant and a host of people-friendly waterfront amenities. Places to stretch your legs. Sip a beer. Watch the kids play.

New Town.

“My goal is to get people to slow down and, literally, smell the flowers,” said Jana Bell of Bonny Blooms Floral, one of the fledgling businesses popping up in Kalama’s blossoming new Mountain Timber Market. “The space is beautiful!” Bell’s is one of some dozen businesses sprouting in the new market building, heralding retail on the “river side” of I-5, that Kalama and its Port are open to consumers, not just producers. And growing all the time.

Developers have taken advantage of the miles of waterfront to achieve a truly mixed -use riverwalk: play areas, long pathways, beach sands, a concert shell, and a destination hotel and restaurant, McMenamin’s Kalama Harbor Lodge.

Think Regionally, Act Locally Market Manager Michelle Nelson walks us through the Market, still orienting and rooting many of its storefront vendors. A majestic totem pole is suspended the length of the building, and upper floors will be devoted to meeting and convening spaces.

“The Port’s business model has four main focuses,” said Nelson, “and of course we’re thrilled to get drop-in visitors and tourists whenever.” The longer-term strategy hopes to draw day trippers from Vancouver and Portland; attract guests to and from McMenamin’s; service cruise ship passengers, as many as 5-6 ships a week; and offer a gathering place for the local community, from committee meetings to family reunions.

WE WANT TO BE A REAL DESTINATION, NOT JUST A COFFEE STOP

The Port will continue to promote and fill its Timber Market spaces, and is actively soliciting at least one more high-value eatery.

“The perfect outcome for us will be to add one more high-quality restaurant, a real Northwest brand name,” said Nelson. “We want to truly be a destination, not just a coffee stop.”

Interviews have been edited for clarity and concision.

Hal Calbom, a thirdgeneration Longview native and author of Empire of Trees: America’s Planned City and the Last Frontier, produces CRR’s People+Place monthly feature, and is CRRPress associate publisher.

“

Don’t bother with churches, government buildings or city squares. If you want to know about a culture, spend a night in its bars.”

– Ernest Hemingway

Brian Fleming

Proud Sponsor of

Photos, from top: The new riverwalk extends for miles along the Columbia. Market Manager Michelle Nelson with food truck purveyor Zacharia “ChaChee” Santiago on the courtyard outside Mountain Timber Market. Old world charm on First Street in downtown Kalama.

Proud Sponsor

MY FAVORITE OLD-FASHIONED Place a tablespoon of simple syrup in a tumbler with a single large ice cube. Add 34 oz. Bourbon and 2 dashes Angostura bitters. Garnish with orange slice, and a cocktail cherry.

OHow Will You Spend Your Daylight Savings?

Longer days encourage us to venture outdoors... here are ways to make the most of the time

n Sunday, March 10, we set our clocks forward one hour and began observing “Daylight Saving” time. Some like it, others do not, but it appears to be, (in the Pacific Northwest at least), here to stay. This simple action takes away a precious hour that first day. We miss that hour, especially in the early morning. However, by late afternoon we celebrate the extended hour of daylight. Our late winter days, already light almost past 6pm will now extend until 7pm before sunlight begins to wane. The longer days, combined with mild temperatures and an intermittent sunny day will encourage us to venture outdoors.

Subtle clues that winter is ending and SPRING is on the way become more evident each day. Treat yourself to a “sun shower” by spending a little bit of your day outdoors. You deserve it!

Natural daylight, even on a cloudy day, is beneficial to your physical and mental health. Any activity that gets you moving, even to just walk around your garden or neighborhood, will strengthen winter-weary muscles and joints. Breathe deeply and inhale the

fragrance of warming soil and opening blossoms. Did you know that yellow pansies, violas and primroses have a sweet scent like none other? Hear the frogs’ swelling love song and the twitter of happy birds. Mother Nature’s “TWEETS” are music to the ears.

With tool of choice in hand and plenty of layers of assorted protective clothing, you are ready to:

DIG into Spring Cleaning, Garden Style

1. Continue to rake leaves and debris scattered by winter winds. It is important to remove them from lawns. Compost these or place as mulch at the base of trees and shrubs. Improve poor drainage to help reduce moss next winter. Moss in the lawn is caused by our dark, damp winter days. There are moss-killing lawn products containing Ferrous Sulfate that will turn the moss black. Dead moss can be removed by raking, before applying lime and organic lawn fertilizer.

2. Select a sunny, well-drained area and prepare a spot for a vegetable garden. Even the smallest yard can be home to a raised bed or assorted containers that grow fresh produce. You will not only reduce the grocery bill but your garden supports a healthy lifestyle. You can be confident in the quality of the food you are eating when you walk no farther than your own back yard to harvest.

3. Once your garden spot is prepared, you can transplant and/or sow lettuces, cabbage, peas, onions, broccoli and cauliflower. Imagine the savory meals in just a few weeks!

4. Pull weeds while they are young and tender before they have bloomed and gone to seed. They will pull easily from moist soil and can be composted if collected without seed. Some weeds, such as “Chickweed” and Little Bittercress (Shotweed) will bloom all winter in the Pacific Northwest. Be diligent in pulling or cultivating these pesky weeds before they have a chance to scatter seed.

5.. Hydrangeas and roses can be pruned now. Cut stems to a healthy bud. Both can be cut back severely and still reward you with large blooms over the summer. Grind the stems for compost if free of disease.

6. Spray Prunus cultivars, such as Cherry, Plum and Peach with Lime Sulphur to prevent Shot Hole Fungus and Brown Rot. This timely spray is an eco-friendly solution to a common disease problem in our area. Consult your garden center professionals for the correct application rates and timing.

Daylight Saving Time (called “Summer Time” in many countries) was originally

By Nancy Chennault

2024 is Nancy Chennault’s 50th year pursuing her horticultural endeavors. She’s grateful to be continuing, even in retirement, to grow beauty as a member of “Castle Rock Blooms’” team of volunteers. She and her husband Jim operated a landscaping business and independent nursery/garden center for 20+ years. She wrote CRR’s Northwest Gardener column with great spirit and pizazz from 2006 until early 2017. Now, after a seven-year hiatus she has come out of “retirement” to reconnect us with some of her favorite gardening topics.

established to make better use of daylight. U.S. Government studies show that Daylight Saving Time also reduces the entire country’s usage of electricity by 1 percent. Not a large percentage, but as a nation, our reduction of electricity during these months is significant. Invest your extra daylight hours in your garden this summer. It will not only make your own little part of the world a beautiful place, but will be environmentally friendly as well.

For a more in-depth look at Daylight Saving Time visit: www.webexhibits. org/daylightsaving

Five-star, four-paw rating

Winston and Wilbur at Seattle’s Olympic Hotel

Story by Wilbur and Winston • Transcription and photos by Tom Lee

We are Mom and Dad’s golden boys because we do so much to help. We patrol the living room windows for intruders: squirrels, the neighbor’s cat, and the sketchy guy who drives a truck about the rainforest and leaves packages outside. We follow Mom and Dad around the house for their protection. We even clean up food that falls on the floor!

We love being rewarded by Mom and Dad for everything we do. However, they can be a bit slow in the rewards department. This is why we were so excited to take a long car ride recently to the city!

It was a strange place at first: large concrete buildings with narrow streets, winding steel stairs, and no grass to sniff. We were suspicious until we meandered into a wide-open space filled with people. People who eagerly greeted us with all the affection we deserve! Once we had our acceptable adoration allotment (for the next hour), we proceeded to stare down several leery seagulls before departing.

At our next stop, Mom and Dad just gave our car to a stranger before taking us into an impressive building. They led us into a small room that seemed to move upwards. When the doors opened, we were in an entirely new place where a very nice lady greeted us with treats. That was an acceptable turn of events. After a short walk down a long hallway, we entered a room that felt like home. Our new friend brought us each a dog bed, food and water dishes, and put soft sheets on all the furniture to make sure we were comfortable. Apparently, this place is called a “hotel.” Mom mentioned something about five stars, but we only have four paws so she

From top: Bartender Michael Vezzoni holds a large jar of lime slices he personally dehydrated for use in his signature cocktails. He has tended bar at the Fairmont Olympic for more than 40 years, and created numerous cocktails such as the French Rose, the Glacier Blue, and a specialty old-fashioned honoring his longtime friend, Tom Lee.

must be mistaken. Later, Mom and Dad took us around the hotel, where everyone greeted us and somehow already knew we like treats.

Grand Dame of the Emerald City

Mom and Dad did leave us alone once or twice. We apparently were not invited to dinner. We were disappointed of course, but we accept that even Mom and Dad make mistakes.

cont page 23

Fairmont Olympic Hotel is a landmark and iconic fixture of Seattle society. A classic gathering place in the heart of the city since 1921, after a $62.5 million restoration in 1982 and a $26-million transformation in 2020, it remains a place to see and be seen, offering visitors, dignitaries, and Seattle locals an exquisitely designed stage from which to stay, connect, and experience Seattle.

Besides a new circular Olympic Bar, a grand Georgian style dining room, and a speakeasythemed Founders Club, the Hotel’s pet-loving staff also provides hospitality and special amenities in its “Canine Club,” including luxurious dog beds, plush pet toys, ceramic food and water bowls, dog-walking services, and organic treats upon arrival from a local pet bakery.

In the morning, a strangely attired woman brought Mom and Dad breakfast on a rolling cart. Although they did not share their breakfast with us, the lady did bring us some treats. (Note: Wilbur and Winston grudgingly confirmed they already had breakfast).

Longview

We were disappointed to leave so soon. Everyone was so friendly and understanding that we require constant attention. A different stranger even returned our car to us.

We give this trip a four-out-of-four paws review.

Pacific Imaging Center is the place to go if you need an MRI. With cutting-edge equipment and experienced technicians, PIC provides patients with excellent scans without the hassle of driving to Portland-Vancouver.

Many imaging clinics have wait-times of several weeks. Because PIC offers extended hours, waittimes are typically just a few days.

PIC also partners with the renowned radiologists at National Orthopedic Imaging Associates (NOIA). This means that a radiologist with subspecialty training will read each MRI. In addition, NOIA has a reputation for rapidly returning results to the patient’s primary care physician.

Alaskan Halibut or Cod Fish ‘N’ Chips Award-Winning Clam Chowder

Seafood, Burgers, Steaks & Pasta Beer, Wine, Spirits & Cocktails

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Dine-In, Drive Thru, or Delivery with

360-431-6286 1110 Commerce Ave. Longview

THE GARY MEYERS MEMORIAL

HaikuFest 2024

Haiku is a Japanese poetry form of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world. Haikus can give a glimpse of an idea and convey the sense of a single moment.

A Sampling of Past Winners

Lacey snowflakes fall More silent than a whisper In the still of the night.

Glennis Roper

Apples scent the air Pie cools on the windowsill Anticipation!

Jan Zuccarini

ServiceMaster by JTS–Longview, WA • www.servicemasterjts.com Call 360-425-3331

Join the fun! Submit up to five previously unpublished entries with three lines of 5, 7, 5 syllables.

Judges will make selections in traditional, pop, youth (under age 18) categories, with special emphasis on Birds and Animals, and the Columbia River and its Environs.

Please submit your haikus via email to: publisher@crreader.com , noting “HaikuFest” in the subject line, or via US mail to: CRR HaikuFest, 1333 14th Ave, Longview WA 98632

A great elk trumpets His echoes fill the valley And the herd responds.

Phil Peterson

Submission Deadline: Must be postmarked or received via email by 12:00 Midnight PDT, March 31, 2024. Selections chosen by the judges will be published in April 15 CRR.

Haikus submitted become the property of CRR.

Where to find the new Reader

It’s delivered all around the River by the 15th of each month. Here’s the handy, regularly-refilled sidewalk box and rack locations, where you can pick up a copy any time of day and even in your bathrobe:

LONGVIEW

U.S. Bank

Post Office

Bob’s (rack, main check-out)

In front of 1232 Commerce Ave

In front of 1323 Commerce Ave

In front of Elam’s 1413 Commerce

In front of Freddy’s 1110 Comm.

YMCA

Fred Meyer (rack, service desk)

Teri’s on Broadway

Grocery Outlet, OB Hwy

The Gifted Kitchen (711 Vandercook Way)

Fibre Fed’l CU - Commerce Ave

Monticello Hotel (front entrance)

Kaiser Permanente

St. John Medical Center (rack, Park Lake Café)

LCC Student Center

Indy Way Diner

Columbia River Reader Office 1333 14th Ave. (box at door)

Omelettes & More (entry rack)

Stuffy’s II (entry rack)

KELSO

Visitors’ Center / Kelso-Longview Chamber of Commerce

KALAMA

Etc Mercantile

Fibre Fed’l CU

Kalama Shopping Center corner of First & Fir

Columbia Inn

McMenamin’s Harbor Lodge (rack)

Luckman’s Coffee, Mountain Timber Market, Port of Kalama

WOODLAND

The Oak Tree

Visitors’ Center

Grocery Outlet

Luckman Coffee

CASTLE ROCK

Lacie Rha’s Cafe (32 Cowlitz W.)

Parker’s Restaurant (box, entry)

Visitors’ Ctr 890 Huntington Ave. N., Exit 49, west side of I-5

Cascade Select Market

VADER

Little Crane Café

RYDERWOOD

Café porch

TOUTLE

Drew’s Grocery & Service

CLATSKANIE

Post Office

Mobil / Mini-Mart

Fultano’s Pizza

WESTPORT

Berry Patch (entry rack)

RAINIER

Post Office

Cornerstone Café

Rainier Hardware (rack, entry)

Earth ‘n’ Sun (on Hwy 30)

El Tapatio (entry rack)

Grocery Outlet

Senior Center (rack at front door)

DEER ISLAND

Deer Island Store

COLUMBIA CITY

Post Office

WARREN

Warren Country Inn

ST HELENS

Chamber of Commerce

Sunshine Pizza

St. Helens Market Fresh

Olde Town: Wild Currant, Big River Tap Room

Safeway

SCAPPOOSE

Post Office

Road Runner

Fultano’s

Ace Hardware

WARRENTON, OR

Fred Meyer

CATHLAMET

Cathlamet Pharmacy

Tsuga Gallery

Realty West

Puget Island Ferry Landing

SKAMOKAWA

Skamokawa General Store

NASELLE

Appelo Archives & Café

Johnson’s One-Stop

ILWACO

Time

NOTES FROM MY LIVES

by Andre Stepankowsky

Old fridge chugs along, puts new ones to shame

The Energizer Bunny has nothing on the endurance of my 1968 Montgomery Ward refrigerator.

Already about two decades old when we acquired it along with the Longview home we bought in 1988, the fridge keeps going and going and is chilling toward the end of its sixth decade.

It looks shopworn. The insulated interior has a quarter-sized hole in it. The white exterior paint is stained. A door shelf collapsed several years ago, necessitating the only repair the refrigerator has ever needed.

Yet it remains old reliable, placed in our garage and entrusted with important perishables, including our Thanksgiving turkeys. It’s almost a member of the family, disheveled but venerated like an old uncle.

It has outlasted two larger, computerized refrigerators that usurped its place in the kitchen and which needed major repairs before we gave up on them. It cools more predictably and steadily than the third, which came with a design flaw that caused ice to cake up the fresh produce drawers.

The saleswoman who sold us that fridge urged us to hold on to that old Wards refrigerator. It will outlast new refrigerators because it is basic, with a minimum of electronics, she said.

The more complicated they make things, the more likely they are to fail — and the harder they are to fix.

Repairing appliances these days is typically fraught. Parts are often unavailable. And the cost of servicing them often makes it cheaper and less exasperating to buy new than to repair. Thus, the low price of cheap imports costs consumers more in the long run, to say nothing of jobs and taxes lost to overseas competition.

The appliance throwaway culture offends my environmental and consumer ethos. Some 9 million refrigerators alone are landfilled or scrapped annually in the United States, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. An estimated 2 million small appliances are trashed annually.

I’m really hoping that Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s “right to repair” legislation becomes law and helps break the buy/throwaway cycle.

Waste and built-in obsolescence drive a Mr. Fix-It like myself batty.

First of all, I’ve often observed that people who abuse equipment are often abusive and angry people themselves. How we treat machinery and appliances tells us something about ourselves — as well as saves us money. I’ve driven three cars to a quarter of a million miles, saving myself tens of thousands of dollars over my lifetime.

I admit to being somewhat obsessive about this.

I fixed that frost problem in the new refrigerator, even improvising the part I needed.

I repaired a quarter-century old Cuisinart hand mixer when the power cord frayed internally.

I‘m still hunting for a used part to repair my three-decades-old Craftsman scrolling saw. The part is out of stock, but I’ll be darned before I toss out an otherwise perfectly good American-made tool.

A Consumer Reports survey from 2021 found that only 12 percent of Americans had tried to repair an appliance that broke down during the previous five years. Only a quarter of them (3 percent overall) were successful.

“Small appliances have come to be viewed as disposable goods, which provides consumers with an incentive to spend less and manufacturers to offer cheaper, lower quality products,”according to Consumer Reports.

Part of the problem is that consumers are intimidated, and many white-collar workers don’t have the know-how to repair appliances. And if an appliance is under warranty, you risk voiding the guarantee if you tinker.

But it need not be intimidating. I figure that if the machine is broken and past warranty, I have nothing to lose. I consider it a challenge, and when I succeed, I’m glad to boast to my wife: “Once more, I’ve beaten the system.”

I’ve never had to say that about our old fridge.

Award winning journalist Andre Stepankowsky is a former reporter and editor for The Daily News. His CRR columns spring from his many interests, including hiking, rose gardening, music, and woodworking. More of his writing can be found under “Lower Columbia Currents” on substack.com

by Marc Roland

Trends reveal fresh excitement

Thinking out of the (wine)box

Isee trends in the wine industry that could provide the excitement many younger wine drinkers are looking for. Folks don’t care for the consolidation and homogenization that is taking place today. We know this because they are not buying the wine and this downturn is forcing small-to-medium size wineries to sell or join in with the big boys. I talk to my customers and grandchildren about what they think and it always comes down to more diversity, less stodgy attitudes about wine, and their concern for the sustainability of soil health and the environment. Good for them. And there is hope — I see more younger winemakers embrace earthfriendly vineyard practices. The words I hear are joy, creativity, and growth in new, out-of-the-box ways.

We can look to Oregon’s Mimi Casteel, owner of Hope Well Wine. She bought a vineyard that was so depleted by conventional agriculture it couldn’t be repaired. Enter the principles of regenerative agriculture. The goal: getting rid of carbon by adding biodiversity to the land with the help of livestock. This is not a small movement. Casteel now runs an organization called the Regenerative Viniculture Foundation with hundreds of members promoting the science. Even large players like Jackson Family Wines (California), Moet Hennessy (France) and Familia Torres (Spain) are on board. This is a change that resonates with young people. Retailers need to reach out to these new consumers and realize they must procure these sustainably-made wines to stay relevant.

bought up or went out of business. Also, the distribution channels have gotten bigger, which limits smaller retailers’ access to unique wines.

My point is that smaller wineries have to deal with this new reality. It would behoove small wineries to seek ways to cooperate with each other, where they can, to increase purchasing power. But maybe there is a better way.

Solutions for the highly-volatile changes taking place are emerging. First of all, it is forcing small producers to look back to a more sustainable and local economy, where winemakers are more focused on resourcefulness and a return to a diverse approach of how wine is made and enjoyed.

Are vinifera grapes (wine grapes) the only way forward? How about co-fermented wine, using native grapes and other fruit that grows well in areas that are not suited for fine wine? Is this something we should consider here in the wet climate of Southwest Washington? Yes. And as serious winemakers begin to experiment and not be limited by the allure of vinifera, there will be a huge market of new wine drinkers who see this move as a step forward, away from high alcohol, high-priced, and high-browed corporate wine.

Selling wine during COVID was easier because it was a way for folks to escape into their homes and get a little relief. But by 2023 that demand eased and production costs have gone up due to inflation. So it makes sense that consolidation of larger wineries was a good way to cut costs. The result: Cashstrapped smaller wineries either got

Longview resident and former Kelso teacher Marc Roland started making wine in 2008 in his garage. He and his wife, Nancy, now operate Roland Wines at 1106 Florida Street in Longview’s new “barrel district.” For wine tasting hours, call 360-846-7304.

Wine should be, above all, joyous. The enjoyment of wine is the ultimate goal. Co-ferments should be especially desirable in Washington State. Two of our most highly prized agricultural products are apples and grapes. We also have incredible berries like blackberry, huckleberry, and strawberry. I know you’re thinking sweet homemade fruit wine, but consider the possibilities for serious wine made using modern techniques and creativity. A current example is right in our own backyard.

Lois and David Cho, of Willamette Valley Vineyards, found a solution during a deep frost event in 2022. They boosted their production by adding the juice of seven heritage apple varieties to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay skins, to make a sparkling wine. We have such an abundance of fruit, it seems a shame to not use it. Wine needs to evolve and become fun again — something that is less serious and more accessible to a new generation who don’t know a lot about traditional wine. I’m in!

UIPS & QUOTES

Selected by Debra Tweedy

That’s what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you on to a third book. It’s geometrically progressive—all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.

--Mary Ann Shaffer, American writer, editor, librarian, 1934-2008

Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better.

--Henry Rollins, American singer, writer, actor, 1961

Being messy is not hereditary, nor is it related to lack of time.

--Marie Kondo, Japanese organizing consultant and author, 1984

Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, lecturer and philosopher, 18031882

You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.

--Cormac McCarthy, American writer, 1933-2023

I tell my students, ‘When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.”

--Toni Morrison, American novelist, 1931-2019.

Humor is the great thing, the saving thing after all. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations, and resentments flit away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.

--Mark Twain, American writer, humorist and lecturer, 1835-1910

What are you reading?

Olson

You’ve never heard of this book. It contains no grand adventure, thrilling suspense, or gruesome murder. It is a quiet story about two longtime friends approaching middle age who understand each other’s intellectual strengths and peculiarities, who have a standing weekly game night together, and who live at home with aging parents.

Leonard is fascinated with facts and encyclopedias, so it’s no surprise he works for a publisher of school textbooks. He takes dry text and inserts interesting tidbits to engage young readers. He labors in the background, spiffing up other authors’ work, while secretly longing to write a book of his own. There also might be a young woman at work who is flirting with him, but he’s not sure.

Hungry Paul does not analyze what’s happened in the past or worry about what might happen in the future. This is a great source of frustration to his highly organized, over-achieving sister, who is in the throes of planning her wedding.

Hungry Paul takes judo lessons, works as a substitute mail carrier, and volunteers at the hospital because his mother thinks it will be good for him.

Irish author Ronan Hession’s first novel was a finalist for the Irish Book of the Year and British Book of the Year in 2021. It is no small trick to write about ordinary people with unremarkable lives and somehow capture the magic that happens within family relationships, friendships, and between lovers. This book reveals each character on their own unique path to fulfillment. By the end, you care about every single one of them.

Writing from Nature Workshop

Robert Michael Pyle, award-winning author and ecologist, will host a Writing Workshop on Saturday, March 30, from 11am–4pm at a private residence in Astoria. Registration is limited and available on a first come, first served basis. The cost is $120, or $105 for Guild members.

The workshop will include an afternoon immersed in nature, open writing time, and discussions with Mr. Pyle. Topics include advice, writing strategies, and rhetorical approaches that Pyle has used during his nature-writing career. Register at https://www.thewritersguild.org/events/ writing-from-nature-workshop-with-robertmichael-pyle.

Bob Pyle has lived, written, and studied natural history in the Willapa rain for 45 years. His book Wintergreen is considered a Northwest classic. His 27 others include the recent The Tidewater Reach, a love song to the Lower Columbia. A Yale-trained ecologist and a Guggenheim Fellow, Pyle has received awards both for his writing and for his work in conservation biology. The late Brian Doyle called him “one of the best nature writers in the world, period.” The Writer’s Guild of Astoria is a nonprofit that promotes the literary arts throughout the Lower Columbia region. Learn more at www. thewritersguild.org.

Dayle Olson’s poem, “Water Highway,” was one of eight selected statewide by Humanities Washington for inclusion in Washington Poetic Routes. Her short stories were selected for Seaside Libraries anthology in 2019 and 2020. Dayle is a member of The Writer’s Guild of Astoria, and lives in Cathlamet with her husband David and one opinionated cat.

Longview native Debra Tweedy has lived on four continents. She and her husband decided to return to her hometown and bought a house facing Lake Sacajawea.“We came back because of the Lake and the Longview Public Library,” she says.

Drink Good Coffee, Read Good Books

Cover to Cover

PAPERBACK FICTION

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19.00

2. Bride Ali Hazelwood, Berkley, $19.00

3. A Court of Mist and Fury Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19.00

4. Trust Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $17.00

5. Throne of Glass Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19.00

6. A Court of Wings and Ruin Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19.00

7. Horse Geraldine Brooks, Penguin, $19.00

8. House of Earth and Blood Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19.00

9. Everyone in My Family

Has Killed Someone Benjamin Stevenson, Mariner Books, $18.99

10. The Mountain in the Sea Ray Nayler, Picador, $18.00

PAPERBACK NON-FICTION

1. Killers of the Flower Moon David Grann, Vintage, $18.00

2. All About Love bell hooks, Morrow, $16.99

3. Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20.00

4. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine Rashid Khalidi, Picador, $19.99

5. The Boys in the Boat Daniel James Brown, Penguin, $19.00

6. The Body Keeps the Score

Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., Penguin, $19.00

7. Crying in H Mart Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17.00

8. Everything I Know About Love Dolly Alderton, Harper Perennial, $18.99

9. Red Paint Sasha LaPointe, Counterpoint, $16.95

10. Dopamine Nation Dr. Anna Lembke, Dutton, $20.00

BOOK REVIEW

By Alan Rose

DStephen

orothy, a geriatric flower child who never outgrew Woodstock, has bought a huge building in that fabled village and is planning a gala to announce her latest in a string of ill-conceived and costly business ventures.

Her brother, Tom, is understandably nervous since he’s always been the one to bail her out. But Tom has his own problems: a once well-paid,

Top 10 Bestsellers

Brought to you by Book Sense and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, for week ending Mar 3, 2024, based on reporting from the independent bookstores of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. For the Book Sense store nearest you, visit www.booksense.com

HARDCOVER FICTION HARDCOVER NON-FICTION CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATED EARLY & MIDDLE GRADE READERS

1. Wandering Stars

Tommy Orange, Knopf, $29.00

2. The Women

Kristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press, $30.00

3. Remarkably Bright

Creatures

Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $29.99

4. Fourth Wing

Rebecca Yarros, Entangled: Red Tower Books, $29.99

5. Three-Inch Teeth

C.J. Box, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $30.00

6. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

James McBride, Riverhead Books, $28.00

7. Iron Flame Rebecca Yarros, Entangled: Red Tower Books, $29.99

8. A Fate Inked in Blood Danielle L. Jensen, Del Rey, $29.99

9. House of Flame and Shadow Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $32.00

10. North Woods Daniel Mason, Random House, $28.00

1. The Creative Act Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32.00

2. The Wager

David Grann, Doubleday, $30.00

3. Supercommunicators Charles Duhigg, Random House, $30.00

4. Grief Is for People Sloane Crosley, MCD, $27.00

5. How to Know a Person David Brooks, Random House, $30.00

6. Attack from Within Barbara McQuade, Seven Stories Press, $35.00

7. Burn Book Kara Swisher, Simon & Schuster, $30.00, 8. Outlive Peter Attia M.D., Bill Gifford, Harmony, $32.00

9. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Charlie Mackesy, HarperOne, $22.99

10. The Comfort of Crows Margaret Renkl, Spiegel & Grau, $32.00

1. Goodnight Moon

Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.), Harper, $10.99

2. Little Blue Truck

Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry (Illus.), Clarion Books, $10.99

3. Bluey: Camping

Penguin Young Readers, $5.99

4. Taylor Swift: A Little Golden Book Biography

Wendy Loggia, Elisa Chavarri (Illus.), Golden Books, $5.99

5. The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Eric Carle, World of Eric Carle, $10.99

6. Bluey: The Beach

Penguin Young Readers, $4.99

7. Jamberry

Bruce Degen, HarperFestival, $9.99

8. Baby Animals

Stephan Lomp, Workman, $5.99

9. Bear Finds Eggs

Karma Wilson, Jane Chapman (Illus.), Margaret K. McElderry Books, $18.99

10. Good Night, Gorilla Peggy Rathmann, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, $8.99

1. The Eyes and the Impossible

Dave Eggers, Shawn Harris (Illus.), Knopf Books for Young Readers, $19.99

2. Heroes

Alan Gratz, Scholastic Press, $18.99

3. Hatchet

Gary Paulsen, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $9.99

4. Working Boats

Tom Crestodina, Little Bigfoot, $19.99

5. Northwind

Gary Paulsen, Square Fish, $8.99

6. Rise of the Shadowfire

Jaimal Yogis, Vivian Truong (Illus.), Graphix, $12.99

7. The Last Cuentista

Donna Barba Higuera, Levine Querido, $18.99

8. Allergic

Megan Wagner Lloyd, Michelle Mee Nutter (Illus.), Graphix, $12.99

9. Finally Heard Kelly Yang, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $18.99

10. A Guide to the Dragon World

Tui T. Sutherland, Joy Ang (Illus.), Scholastic Press, $24.99

A sly, wry take on contemporary society

highly-regarded architect now in his sixties, he’s being surpassed by younger, more daring colleagues (“His younger colleagues called him ‘old school’ in a respectful, admiring way that indicated they considered him irrelevant.”) Plus, his long-time lover has just moved out. This is really not a good time for one of Dorothy’s self-induced crises.

Dorothy also desires her one adult child to attend the gala, promising to reveal a dark, long-kept secret. This is not a good time for Cecily either, a college instructor being investigated for misconduct with a student—the student actually kissed Cecily and then reported it, but Cecily’s lips were admittedly involved.

If this sounds like a rejected pilot for a day-time soap, it kind of is. The plot never really thickens; the characters don’t develop so much as tootle along as they always have; things simply happen as life is wont to do. It’s all complicated, and more than a little silly.

Alan’s haunting novel of the AIDS epidemic, As If Death Summoned, won the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award (LGBT category.) He can be reached at www.alan-rose.com.

At a certain point in most long-term relationships, it’s expected that public displays of affection will be supplanted by public displays of annoyance. After six or more years, affection in public takes on the flavor of protesting too much and reeks of the uniquely sad kindness an unfaithful spouse showers on the person he’s betraying.

– from You Only Call When You’re in Trouble

The enjoyment comes in the witty tone and wry observations peppered throughout the pages. Stephen McCauley, bestselling author of My ExLife and The Object of My Affection, offers droll and amusing takes on American society in the early 21st century, much as Jane Austen did of hers in the early 19th.

“Like all tourist towns Tom knew, (Woodstock) seemed both immensely appealing and utterly ridiculous.” His rich clients are “the epitome of the unappealing, well-heeled, aging white couple that Americans claim to loathe while secretly aspiring to become.” Dorothy surrounds herself with aging gurus and motivational speakers, where “every self-help guru’s job is to make you feel bad about yourself so you’ll pay her to make you feel better.”

Reading this, I was reminded of Shakespeare’s lament in Much Ado About Nothing: “O! what men dare do! / What men may do! / What men daily do, / Not knowing what they do.”

And women, too. A quick, light read, You Only Call will draw chuckles while the reader also cringes at the truth of McCauley’s observations, of rather silly people steeped in their messy lives, creating unnecessary anxiety, tension, and problems wherever they go. Life seems messy enough without needing any help from us.

Clatskanie, Ore.

Fultano’s Pizza

770 E. Columbia River Hwy

Family style with unique pizza offerings, hot grill items & more!

Dine-in,Take-out and Home Delivery. Visit Fultanos.com for streamlined menu. 503-728-2922

Ixtapa Fine Mexican Restaurant

640 E. Columbia River Hwy

Fine Mexican cuisine. Daily specials. The best margarita in town. Daily drink specials. Dine-in, curbside pickup. M-Th 11am–9:30pm; Fri & Sat 11am–11:30pm; Sun 11am–9pm. 503-728-3344

Rainier. Ore.

102 East “A” Street

Microbrews, wines & spirits

7am–8pm Daily. Inside dining.

Interstate Tavern

119 E. “B” St., (Hwy 30) Crab Louie/Crab cocktails, crab-stuffed avocados. 17 hot and cold sandwiches. Amazing crab sandwiches. Full bar service. Catering for groups. 503-556-9950. interstatetavern@yahoo.com

El Tapatio

117 W. ‘A’ Street

Mexican Family Restaurant. Open Fri-Sat 11am-11pm, rest of week 11am-10pm. Full bar. Karaoke Fri-Sat 8-11pm. Patio seating. 503556-8323.

Longview, Wash.

1335 14th Avenue

18 rotating craft brews, pub fare.

M-Th 11am–8pm. Fri-Sat 11am–10pm; Sunday 11am–6pm. Local music coming soon. 360-232-8283.

Wine Wednesdays: $5 pours.

Bruno’s Pizza 1108

Washington Way. Pizza, breadsticks, wings, salads, fish & chips. WE DELIVER. Four beers on tap. 360-636-4970 or 360-425-5220,

The Carriage

Restaurant & Lounge

The Carriage Restaurant & Lounge (formerly located on 14th Ave).

NEW LOCATION!

3353 Washington Way (formerly Regents)

Chinese & American cuisine. New menu in the future. Full bar, banquet room available for groups, special events. Restaurant: 11am–9pm, Lounge 11am–1:00am. 360423-8680.

COLUMBIA RIVER dining guide

The Corner Cafe

796 Commerce Ave.

Breakfast & Lunch. Daily Soup & Sandwich, breakfast specials. Tues-Sat 7am-3pm. Closed Sun-Mon. 360-353-5420.

Email: sndcoffeeshop@comcast.net

Eclipse Coffee & Tea

In the Merk (1339 Commerce Ave., #113) 360-998-2139. Mon-Fri 8am–4pm. Specialty coffees, teas, bubble teas and pastries....drinks with a smile. Takeout and on-site.

Freddy’s Just for the Halibut 1110 Commerce Ave. Cod, Alaskan halibut fish and chips, award-winning clam chowder. Burgers, steaks, pasta. Beer and wine. M-Sat 10am–8pm, Sunday 11am–8pm. Inside dining, Drive-thru, outdoor seating. 360-414-3288. See ad, page 25.

Hop N Grape 924 15th Ave., Longview Tues–Thurs 11am–7pm; Fri & Sat 11am–8pm. BBQ meat slow-cooked on site. Pulled pork, chicken, brisket, ribs, turkey, salmon. Worldfamous mac & cheese. 360-577-1541.

Kyoto Sushi Steakhouse

760 Ocean Beach Hwy, Suite J 360-425-9696.

Japanese food, i.e. hibachi, Bento boxes, Teppanyaki; Sushi (half-price Wednesdays); Kids Meal 50% Off Sundays.

Mon-Th 11-2:30, 4:30-9:30. Fri-Sat 11am10pm. Sun 11am-9pm.

Lynn’s Deli & Catering

1133 14th Ave.

Soups & sandwiches, specializing in paninis, box lunches, deli sandwiches and party platters. Mon-Fri 8-3, Saturday 10-2. 360-577-5656

Roland Wines

1106 Florida St., Longview. Authentic Italian wood-fired pizza, wine, and beer. Casual ambience. 5–9pm Wed-Fri, Sat. 1–9. 360-8467304 See ad, pg 21.

Scythe Brewing Company

1217 3rd Avenue #150 360-353-3851

Sun-Thurs 11:30am -8pm; Fri-Sat 11:30am -10pm. Family-friendly brewery/ restaurant with upscale, casual dining, lunch and dinner.

Stuffy’s

804 Ocean Beach Hwy 360-423-6356

8am–8pm. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. American style food. Free giant cinnamon roll with meal purchase on your birthday with proof of ID. Facebook: Stuffy’s II Restaurant, or Instagram @stuffys2.

Teri’s Café on Broadway

1133 Broadway. Lunch and Dinner, full bar. Open Mon-Sat 11am–8pm. 360-577-0717

Castle Rock, Wash

Luckman’s Coffee Company 239 Huntington Ave. North, Drive-thru. Pastries, sandwiches, salads, quiche.

Parker’s Steak House & Brewery

1300 Mt. St. Helens Way. I-5 Exit 49. Lunch, Dinner. Burgers, hand-cut steak; seafood and pasta. Restaurant open 1-8pm Tue-Th, 1-9pm, F-Sat. Lounge Happy Hours 4pm. 360-9672333. Call for status/options.

Vault Books & Brew

20 Cowlitz Street West, Castle Rock. Coffee and specialty drinks, quick eats & sweet treats. See ad, page 38.

Kalama, Wash.

LUCKMAN’S COFFEE Market Timber

Market, Port of Kalama. Open 11–7.

215 N. Hendrickson Dr., Port of Kalama. A Northwest pub and unique bars serving breakfast, lunch & dinner daily. Info & reservations, bar hours at mcmenamins.com. 8am–midnight daily. 360673-9210. Indoor dining, covered outdoor seating, curbside take-out

Antique Deli 413N. First. M-F, 10–3. Call for daily sandwich special. 360-6733310. See ad, page 35.

FIRESIDE CAFE

Open Wed-Sun, 9–4. See ad, pg. 35

Birrieria La Vaquin

The best Birria Tacos! Mountain Timber Market, Port of Kalama. 360-431-7732. Open 11–7. See ad, pg. 35

St. Helens, Ore.

Sunshine Pizza & Catering 2124 Columbia Blvd. Hot pizza, cool salad bar. Beer & wine. Limited inside seating, curbside pickup and delivery. 503-397-3211 See ad, page 26.

Big River Tap Room 313 Strand Street on the Riverfront.

Lunch/Dinner TueThurs 12–8pm; Fri-Sat 12–9pm. Chicagostyle hot dogs, Italian beef, pastrami. Weekend Burrito Breakfast, Sat 8-11, Sun

8am-3pm. Scappoose,

Ore.

Fultano’s Pizza

51511 SE 2nd. Family style with unique pizza offerings, hot grill items & more! “Best pizza around!” Sun–Th 11am–9pm; Fri-Sat 11am–10pm. Full bar service ‘til 10pm Fri & Sat. Deliveries in Scappoose. 503-543-5100. Inside Dining.

Ixtapa Fine Mexican Restaurant

33452 Havlik Rd. Fine Mexican cuisine. Daily specials. The best margarita in town. Daily drink specials. M-Th 11am–9:30pm; Fri & Sat 11am–11:30pm; Sun 11am–9pm. 503-543-3017

Warren, Ore.

Warren Country Inn

56575 Columbia River Hwy. Fine family dining. Breakfast, lunch & dinner. Full bar. Call for hours.503-410-5479. Check Facebook for updates. Dine-in.

Toutle, Wash.

DREW’S GROCERY & SERVICE

5304 Spirit Lake Hwy (10 mi. fr Exit 49) 24-hour fueling (gas & diesel, card at pump, cash at Jule’s Snack Shack (when open). Red Leaf Organic Coffee. See ad, page 23.

Woodland, Wash.

1350 Atlantic Ave. Rotating craft brews, pub fare. Open M-Th 11am–6pm; Fri–Sat 11am–10pm; Sunday 11am–6pm. 360-841-8941. Wine Wednesdays: $5 pours

Luckman

Coffee Company

1230 Lewis River Rd. Small batch on-site roasted coffee, breakfast, lunch. Inside seating. M-F 5:30am–6pm, Sat 6am–5pm, Sun 7am–3pm.

THE OAK TREE

1020 Atlantic Ave.

Breakfast served all day. Famous Bankruptcy Stew, Oak Tree Salad, desserts baked in-house. Full bar. Happy Hours 1-3, 7-9pm. Live music. 360--841-5292

Restaurant operators:

“SoCo”

A Different Way of Seeing EMPIRE OF TREES

THE TIDEWATER REACH FIELD GUIDE TO THE LOWER COLUMBIA IN POEMS AND PICTURES

Poem by Robert Michael Pyle

Photograph by Judy VanderMaten

Field Note by

Hal Calbom

River Cutters

Hollowed cottonwoods, burnt, scraped, adzed, maybe the first craft to ply the river’s face. Canoes, by the time of the beaver hunters, voyageurs with bottomless skill, paddled all across the continent, headwater to headwater and down again, all the way to Vancouver.

Long time later, it’s all kayaks, cottonwood and birch gone to plastic and fiberglass. They look like so many gummi worms lined up along the dock, belly down. Then put in, and turn into fish, slicing the whitecaps of the main stem, cutting whitewater in the steep rocky tribs.

Hunting thrills instead of pelts, oneness with water mediated by thin skins of red, yellow, blue, watching wildlife instead of trapping. Oh, it is a different world out there on the river, this latter-day cutting, these Road Scholar voyageurs, when nobody’s life is on the line and only the cormorants take a second look.

KAYAKS: SKAMOKAWA DOCK

Sea kayakers flourish on the Columbia. At Skamokowa the interplay of tides and river flow creates exhilarating — and potentially hazardous — shifts in current. Inshore sloughs and inlets offer calmer water, bird watching and pristine vistas.

by Hal Calbom

AMERICA’S PLANNED CITY AND THE LAST FRONTIER

The Long View

His first business, a butcher shop near his home in Shelby County, Kentucky, failed. Searching for any way out and up, he and another 19-year-old decided they could cut and sell wild grass hay in nearby Columbus, Kansas. But they cut the grass too late and it began turning brown. According to local custom they covered the overcooked hay with lumber to preserve it through the winter. Come spring the hay was virtually worthless, but the boys sold the lumber for a modest profit.

WORDS AND WOOD PACIFIC NORTHWEST WOODCUTS AND HAIKU

by Debby Neely

The rock doesn’t move But the water changes course A fish slips up stream

This page and page 5 feature samples from CRRPress’s four books.

CRRPRESS was founded in 2020, with the first printing of Tidewater Reach, followed by Dispatches from the Discovery Trail, Empire of Trees, and Words and Wood.

For purchase info, see page 2.

Photo couRtesy of loNgview Public libRaRy

Robert A. Long, age 23

Outings & Events

HOW TO PUBLICIZE YOUR NON-PROFIT EVENT IN CRR

Send your non-commercial community event info (name of event, beneficiary, sponsor, date & time, location, brief description and contact info) to publisher@crreader.com

Or mail or hand-deliver (in person or via mail slot) to:

Columbia River Reader 1333-14th, Longview, WA 98632

Submission Deadlines

Events occurring:

April 15–May 20

by Mar 25 for Apr 15 issue.

May 15–April 20

by April 25 for May 15 issue.

Calendar submissions are considered for inclusion, subject to lead time, relevance to readers, and space limitations.

See Submission Guidelines below

Submission Guidelines

Letters to the Editor (up to 200 words) relevant to the publication’s purpose — helping readers discover and enjoy the good life in the Columbia River region, at home and on the road — are welcome.

Longer pieces, or excerpts thereof, in response to previously-published articles, may be printed at the discretion of the publisher and subject to editing and space limitations.

Items sent to CRR will be considered for publication unless the writer specifies otherwise. Writer’s name and phone number must be included; anonymous submissions will not be considered.

Political Endorsements CRR is a monthly publication serving readers in several towns, three counties, two states and beyond and does not publish Letters to the Editor that are endorsements or criticisms of political candidates or controversial issues. (Paid ad space is available.)

Unsolicited submissions may be considered, provided they are consistent with the publication’s purpose. Advance contact with the editor is recommended. Information of general interest submitted by readers may be used as background or incorporated in future articles.

Outings & Events calendar (free listing): Events must be open to the public. Non-profit organizations and the arts, entertainment, educational and recreational opportunities and community cultural events will receive listing priority. Fundraisers must be sanctioned/sponsored by the benefiting non-profit organization. Commercial projects, businesses and organizations wishing to promote their particular products or services are invited to purchase advertising.

HIKES see page 4

wateRcoloRized sketch by the late deeNa maRtiNseN,

Call to Artists Columbian Artists Association 2024 Spring Art Show Mar. 23-April 23, Cowlitz County Historical Museum, Kelso, Wash.. Entries accepted Mar. 19, 10am-12pm. Open to artists age 18+ from Cowlitz, Clark, Wahkiakum, Lewis, Pacific, Clatsop, and Columbia Counties. Need not be CAA member to enter. Entry fees: Non-members $20 per piece; members $15.Info: columbianartists. org, Eileen 206-949-9811.

4th Annual Keigan Baker Memorial Walk Sat., Mar. 16, Martin’s Dock, Lake Sacajawea, Longview, Wash. Honoring the memory of Keigan Baker, a U.S. Air Force Combat Controller killed during a military training exercise in 2020 while pursuing his dream to serve and protect the United States of America. The Keigan Baker Memorial Fund supports the Special Operations community, Gold Star families, and Veterans through partnership with entities that provide mentoring and training geared toward U.S.SOF careers, and organizations which support Gold Star families and Veterans. Scholarships are awarded to qualified individuals. Info: keiganbakermemorialfund.org

Free tax preparation with IRS-certified AARP Tax-Aide volunteers.Through midApril. AARP membership not required, no age or income limitations. For appointment, call or visit Longview Library (360-4425300), Lower Columbia CAP (360-4253430), or aarp.org/taxaide

Quincy Grange 48th Annual Chicken Dinner, March 24th, 9am–3pm at the grange hall, 78314 Rutters Rd, Clatskanie, Ore. Adults $15, 6-12 yrs $7.50, under 6 free. Traditional Sunday fried chicken dinner including dessert and beverage. Homemade and yummy. Proceeds benefit youth programs, scholarships, and community services. Find us on Facebook or info: Ellen 503-728-2886 or Barb 503728-4143.

Art Exhibition: Marcia Ericksen, painter BCJ Gallery, 231 W. Main St., Morton, Wash. W-Sat, 11–4 thru March.

“Artificial intelligence: Promise and Peril” Mon., April 8, 6pm,Longview Public Library. “Issues for Our Times” discussion group explores contemporary issues affecting Cowlitz County and the nation, helping people engage with topics impacting our community and personal lives. For resources related to the discussion, email alan@alan-rose.com

Tulips with Terri April 21, 1–4pm. Paint ‘n Sip. $40. Kalama Community Building with Kalama artist Terri Van Matre. Paint a colorful composition to take home.Benefits KAMA (Kalama Artists & Makers Assn.) Supplies, soft drinks, and dessert included. OK to BYOB. Info/sign up kalamaarts.org

Annual Kids’ Fish-In April 27. Hourly sessions 8-4. Registration required; $10 per participant. Register at mylongview.com, call 360-442-5400, or go to 2920 Douglas St., Longview, Wash. Hot dog, goody bag, fishing equipment and bait provided; no personal equipment inside fenced area. Pre-register early, sessions fill quickly. Arrive at least 10–15 minutes before session. Presented by Longview Parks & Recreation; sponsored by Longview Early Edition Rotary.

A Night of Pure Imagination Cowlitz Chaplaincy Golden Ticket Gala Sat., May 18. Cowlitz Event Center. Social 5:30, Dinner 6:30pm. Dessert dash, silent auction, live music. Info/registration: .cowlitzchaplaincy. org or 1560 Olympia Way, Longview Wash. Proceeds benefit chaplaincy program supporting community first responders.

BROADWAY GALLERY

1418 Commerce Avenue, Longview Mon thru Sat, 11–4. Visit the Gallery to see new work. For event updates check our website: the-broadwaygallery.com, at Broadway Gallery on Facebook, and broadway gallery longview on Instagram.

FEATURED ARTISTS

MAR: New Gallery members Fran McCool, fabric art; Phil Fake, painting

“Smiling Salmon,” original drawing by Dayle Olson, of Cathlamet,Wash., and this month’s “What Else Are You Reading” contributor (page 28).

First Thursday April 4• 5:30–7pm

APRIL: Gallery member Beth Bailey, painting & welding art; Guest artist Julia Martin, painting.

Join us for refreshments, live music and New Art!

OPEN Tues - Sat 11–4

* Classes & Workshops are back! Check our website or come into the Gallery for details. We are a great place to buy gifts! Free Gift Wrap on request. Gift Cards for sale!

Find a unique gift! We have beautiful artisan cards, jewelry, books by local authors, wearable art, original paintings, pottery, sculpture, photographs and so much more.

Outings & Events

Live at the Columbia: Country Royalty Pam Tillis holds court April 6th

Story by Hal Calbom • Courtesy photo

The Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts is on a hot streak.

At least if you’re a country or alt-country music fan. Fresh off the appearance of Mark and Maggie O’Connor a couple of months ago, and Jim Messina a few months before that, the theatre now hosts longtime star Pam Tillis Saturday, April 6th.

“We just keep touring,” Tillis told me in a recent phone conversation from her home in Nashville. “It’s in the blood. The business has changed so much, especially the recording side of it. There’s just no substitute for getting out and playing for people face to face.”

Country “royalty” is a term easily tossed around, but Tillis has a formidable pedigree. Her father, Mel Tillis, charmed audiences for decades and sired six kids in the meantime. “It’s still a strong memory, standing stage-side,” said Tillis. “Just watching the audiences. And he knew when he’d pulled it off. You could feel it. It’s still electric for me.”

Pam’s current tour begins at the estimable Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in mid-March. “There are two great feelings I get in this business,” she said, “When I’ve just finished writing a song, a song that’s heartfelt, and then playing songs for audiences and hearing them sing my own lyrics back to me. That’s a thrill!”

The current tour is billed as an “acoustic trio.” Audiences can expect soulful versions of her hits as well as newer material. “People want to hear songs they’re familiar with,” she told me. “I mean, how old is Mick Jagger, 80? And he better sing “Satisfaction” or he’s going to leave some people disappointed!”

I asked Tillis about the sense of inevitability she felt coming from a successful show business family. “Oh, sure. I felt typecast. People had expectations of what I might want to sing,” she said. “So as a result I tried everything else.

Tillis has charted over a dozen Top Ten Country hits in her forty-year-plus career, including what many consider her signature song, “Maybe It Was Memphis,” and classics including “Shake the Sugar Tree,” and “Spilled Perfume.” Her latest album is “Looking for a Feeling,” recorded on her own Stellar Cat label.

April 14

3pm

“What do I want to be, jazz singer? Opera? I was playing folk in coffee shops at age 15, and didn’t have my first real record, a country record, until I was 31. That’s sixteen years!”

It was the perfect growing up, in terms of that inevitability factor, she said. “I came back to country, embraced country, nobody forced me. It’s where I wanted to be.”

Tillis divides her show half and half between original tunes and covers. “It’s a conversation I have with the audience. I babble away between songs, I’m afraid. But I consider my shows personal visits set to music. I want it to be intimate.”

She purports to love venues like Longview’s Columbia Theatre. “That’s the perfect size and atmosphere for a show like mine,” she said. “I mean, I go to big pop shows, arena shows, with great sound systems, but the singers look like ants down on the stage. It’s all dancers and a fancy light show. Glad I’m not doing that!”

“I’m coming to town to make people happy,” she told me. “And that makes me happy. It’s a conversation I’ve loved all my life.”

Hal Calbom writes CRR’s “People+Place” feature series, and other topics relating to the good life in the Columbia River region..

CLATSKANIE ARTS COMMISSION

7-piece group, longest running Carpenters tribute band. Tickets from $20

If this happens to be the very first Columbia River Reader you’ve ever picked up, you will undoubtedly discover a feature called “Dispatch from the Discovery Trail.” If so, you may be disappointed to note that this is the final episode of our 33-issue series about the Lewis and Clark expedition across the country to the Pacific Ocean.

And if you’re disappointed that you missed out on the previous 32 episodes, all is not lost. The Bicentennial Commemoration coincided with CRR’s first issue in April 2004, and has become one of the “pillars” of content we hope adds value to CRR. Sue decided to make the series a regular, recurring feature. Next month, in the April issue we will begin the series again. Meanwhile, there is another option: The book containing the entire series, written by Michael O. Perry, is available for purchase.

Over the years that I’ve been delivering the Reader around the region, the most frequent comment I’ve heard from readers has been, “I really enjoy that Lewis and Clark series. I just wish you guys would put it in a book.”

I’m proud to say that Mike is my brother-in-law. His book, Dispatches from the Discovery Trail, was published by Columbia River Reader Press in 2020.

It’s been a very good seller. People tell me things like, “I’m buying this for my dad. He’s always liked anything to do with Lewis and Clark.” (Editor’s note: Father’s Day is coming!)

Hundreds of books and articles have been written over the years about the perils and successes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Mike developed a personal interest in the subject, visited some of the places along the route, and spotlights unique incidents and facts that don’t appear in more scholarly books. That’s why Dispatches From the Discovery Trail is sub-titled “A Layman’s Lewis and Clark.”

One of my favorite factoids: In the journals the men kept on the journey, the word “mosquito” appears more than 50 times and not once was the word spelled correctly!

Thirty hearty men signed up for experience. When you read about the dangers they faced: encounters with various Indian tribes, treks over mountains and raging river crossings, lack of provisions and miserable weather conditions, you would think that a number of the courageous travelers would have died. Not so.

TO

By Alice Dietz, Cowlitz PUD Communications/ Public Relations Manager

Cowlitz PUD Introduces New Service Estimator Tool

The residential underground line extension estimator estimates the cost of installing electric facilities to service your new home based on the distance you provide. Actual design and advance payment will be determined after you meet on-site with a Cowlitz PUD representative.

Underground estimates do not apply to service alterations, conversions, nonresidential line extensions, multiple-lot applications, or any lot where low-voltage facilities already exist to serve your new home.

Only one man died, and that was from an attack of appendicitis in the first week of the Expedition.

The journey is part of local history, and it’s a good read, too.

Longview resident Ned Piper coordinates CRR’s advertising and distribution, and enjoys meeting/greeting friends, both old and new.

The estimated path for the power line should be clear, accessible year-round, and free of trees and rock. All primary line extensions (from source to transformer) must be installed along a rocked driveway. Secondary line extensions (from transformer to meter) do not have to be alongside a road or driveway.

Other factors that may affect cost include, but are not limited to:

•Street crossing (traffic control, boring across road, or road repair from trenching)

•Average additional cost to install a road crossing is $1600+

•Existing transformer upgrade costs

•Average additional cost to upgrade transformer is $2500+

•Trenching along the road right-ofway by PUD Excavation crew

•Obstacles in the route

•Steep incline/decline

•Easements

•Right-of-way Permitting

The maximum allowed service wire length is 150 feet. All other distances will be calculated as a primary line extension. Check it out at: https://www.cowlitzpud.org/ new-services/estimator-tool/ isit: https://www.cowlitzpud.org/ efficiency/

Alice Dietz is Cowlitz PUD’s Communications/Public Relations Manager. Reach her at adietz@cowlitzpud.org, or 360501-9146.

Cowlitz Indian Tribe 24 Years later: Much to celebrate

On Feb. 14, General Council Chairwoman Patty Kinswa-Gaiser released this statement on the 24th anniversary of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe’s securing federal recognition: “In the 24 short years since securing our federal recognition, the Cowlitz Indian Tribe has so much to celebrate.

“It is through this acknowledgment that we’ve achieved remarkable growth and success of ilani Casino Resort, which helps provide the resources we need to care for our tribal members and their families. These resources also enable the Tribe’s privilege and duty of giving back to those around us, with the Tribe reinvesting more than $30 million into the community through charitable and philanthropic activity since opening ilani in 2017.

Shipping •

Downtown Kalama

157 N. FIRST STREET

M-F 9–5 • Sat 10–2 360-673-7026

“Our road to federal recognition was hard fought and earned through the resolve of our members working under a common truth: The Cowlitz Indian Tribe are the Forever People. As we continue building on this progress for generations to come, we remain committed to the Tribe’s legacy of caring for our people, our lands, our culture, and our shared community prosperity.”

New Service Estimator Tool

Looking for new electrical service? The residential estimator provides an estimate of what it may cost to install electric facilities for service to your new home based on the distance you provide.