Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures By Robert Michael Pyle and Judy VanderMaten.
Rex Ziak’s edited and annotated edition of Franchére’s 1820 journal, The First American Settlement on the Pacific.
FOR YOURSELF OR FOR A FRIEND!
11 issues $55
In three editions:
• Boxed Signature Edition, with color $50
• Collectors Edition, with color $35
Rex Ziak • $29.95
WORDS
AND WOOD
Pacific Northwest Woodcuts and Haiku by Debby Neely •Boxed, Gift Edition with tasseled bookmark $35
OF ART
• Trade paperback B/W $25 DISPATCHES FROM THE DISCOVERY TRAIL
•220 historic photos •Boxed, signed. $50. IN FULL VIEW
Southwest Washington author and explorer Rex Ziak revolutionized historical scholarship by documenting minute-by-minute the Corps’ dangerous days at the mouth of the Columbia.
COLLECTORS CLUB / BOOK MAIL ORDER FORM
BOOKS: A PERFECT GIFT
A Layman’s Lewis & Clark by Michael O. Perry.
•BW Edition $35
Golf is a tricky game. It’s also a tricky subject. Like so many seemingly-innocent things today, we manage to inject politics, human rights, sociology, and rules and regulations into what began as a simple (or perhaps not so simple) game. There were once strict rules limiting “women’s days” on the course and shunting them off to the bridge tables, or home to tend to domestic matters. Across the country and around the world, there was certainly overt discrimination, especially in private clubs, dictating who got to take their swings and who didn’t.
But things do evolve. This month we take a decidedly more accessible approach to the game. The small clubs and courses we visit in Hal’s “People+Place” feature are determinedly user-friendly. They even encourage people with frisbees (aka “discs”) to have a go!
This increased open attitude and decreased elitism are not only good for golf, they are needed for it to survive. Golf can be expensive and time-consuming, and waving goodbye to husbands and fathers off to spend weekends on the links, while Mom sits with the kids at home, is long passé.
Publisher/Editor: Susan P. Piper
Columnists and contributors:
Hal Calbom
Nancy Chennault
Tiffany Dickinson
Alice Dietz
Joseph Govednik
Dr. Erin Hart
Bob Park
Michael Perry
Ned Piper
Robert Michael Pyle
Marc Roland
Alan Rose
Steve Routon
Greg Smith
Lori Steed
Andre Stepankowsky
Debra Tweedy
Judy VanderMaten
Editorial/Proofreading Assistants: Merrilee Bauman, Michael Perry, Marilyn Perry, Susan Nordin, Tiffany Dickinson, Ned Piper
Advertising Manager: Ned Piper, 360-749-2632
Columbia River Reader, llc 1333 14th Ave, Longview, WA 98632
P.O. Box 1643 • Rainier, OR 97048
Office Hours: M-W-F • 11–3*
*Other times by chance or appointment
E-mail: publisher@crreader.com
Phone: 360-749-1021
Sue’s Views
Fun times, a lucky putt, and the message of golf
It’s encouraging that golf is lightening up. Excellence, etiquette, and good play are still valued, but so is participation and camaraderie.
Last month, I played in the PeaceHealth St.John Golf Classic tournament, helping to raise money for a worthy cause. The field was mixed, skill-wise,
Columbia
Submission
gender-wise, with players from all walks of life. My team — and everyone else, it appeared — enjoyed the fun day. I choose to remember the astonishing, 50-foot birdie putt I made — winning the hole for our team — rather than the countless worm-burning ground balls I launched from the tees.
Maybe we’ll get the message from golf. That we need not legislate, arbitrate and
discriminate our way through life, and that everyone should get a chance to have some fun.
Life should be a lucky, fifty-foot birdie putt, not a worm burner. Welcome to our August issue. I hope you’re having a summer full of fun!
Carson Murdock, pro shop manager at Riverwoods Golf Course, Raymond, Wash. Photo by hal calbom Story, page 19.
Sue Piper. Hal Calbom, Matt Minthorn, David Minthorn
Appreciates CRR
Thank you again for this marvelous newspaper. It’s a beautiful representation of our area, and what we have to offer.
Suzan Watson SWW Mineralogical Society
Editor’s note: Suzan submitted a calendar listing for her group’s annual show, page 36.
Castle Rock in Bloom
Nancy Chennault, featured in July’s People+Place feature, “You Grow, Girl” requested the following clarifications:
Waterers do a wonderful job; after the baskets are hung, the Castle Rock Public Works crew takes care of the baskets hanging from lampposts and on display. All the ground level gardens and containers are maintained by volunteers and businesses.
Workers from the Cowlitz County Drug Court Community Service Volunteers (not Dept. of Corrections) worked on laying the new path at the North County Complex.
The gazebo (not the pavilion) was scheduled to host its first wedding July 26 (prior weddings had been held in the pavilion).
Nancy’s job in college at Pay ‘n’ Save was as a department manager, not manager of the entire store. (Editor’s note: With her managerial skills and attention to detail, however, we are sure Nancy would have been up to that position, as well).
The July edition of a local political magazine, The Watchdog, stated that PJ Peterson’s campaign received advertising as an in-kind donation from “Columbia Valley Reader.”
In fact, Ms. Peterson paid for two ads in the Columbia River Reader with a personal check, reported in her campaign’s PDC filings as an in-kind donation from PJ Peterson, not from CRR. Dawn Courtney, spokesperson for The Watchdog, said they would run a correction in their August issue. Columbia River Reader welcomes all political ads, which like other ads, help support the costs of publishing and distributing for free to the community. We are pleased to offer a neutral venue for candidates to communicate with readers and invite their support, and to help voters overall make informed decisions. All political advertisers pay the same rates, with the same deadlines and with no favoritism, special discounts, or preferences applied by CRR. We wish all candidates the best, and value, respect, and trust the process by which voters choose representation.
Lewis & Clark
DISPATCHES FROM THE DISCOVERY TRAIL
CA Big Disappointment
By Michael O. Perry
hief Cameahwait drew a map in the dirt and made it clear there was no easy route across the Rocky Mountains. Lewis attempted to “obtain what information I could with rispect to the country.” Lewis had hoped the Lemhi River flowed through the mountains, but Cameahwait told him it flowed north for a half day’s march before joining the Salmon River. Cameahwait told of “vast mountains of rock eternally covered with snow through which the river passed, that the perpendicular and even jutting rocks so closely hemmed in the river that there was no possibilyte of passing along the shore; that the bed of the river was obstructed by sharp pointed rocks and the rapidity of the stream such that the whole surface of the river was beat into perfect foam as far as the eye could reach.”
Cameahwait told Lewis he had never crossed the mountains, but “that he had understood from the persed nosed [Nez Perce] Indians who inhabit this river below the rocky mountains that it ran a great way toward the setting sun and finally lost itself in a great lake of water which was illy taisted, and where the white men lived.”
Lewis now had a pretty good idea about the drainage west of the Continental Divide. Cameahwait told Lewis the Nez Perce crossed
... relegating? ...
Ironically, amidst a culture accused often of relegating Indians and marginalizing them, Russell if anything “relegated” the white men of the Expedition in many of his paintings. Speaking of his most famous canvas, the magnificent mural “Lewis and Clark Meeting Indians at Ross’ Hole,” one historian noted, “By relegating Lewis and Clark to the quiet of the middle ground at right, Russell gives over the most important part of the picture space to Montana’s original inhabitants. Nowhere else in the Capitol is the Indian presence in Montana so celebrated.”
Russell memorializes the critical September 1805 meeting that first put the Expedition in touch with the Flatheads, or Salish, who would provide them with their horses for the critical next stage of the trip. The largest painting Russell ever did, the 12 foot by 25 foot mural hangs in the legislative chamber of the Montana State Capitol in Helena. Note again the primacy of the Indians in the narrative, with Lewis and Clark, with Sacajawea interpreting, in the background.
the mountains every year to hunt buffalo in present-day Montana. Cameahwait said their route was to the north, “but added that the road was a very bad one as he had been informed by them and that they had suffered excessively with hunger on the rout being obliged to subsist for many days on berries alone as there were no game in that part of the mountains which was broken rockey and so thickly covered with timber that they could scarcely pass.” On August 21st the men awoke to find a quarter-inch of ice on jugs of water. Everyone was aware of the short time left to cross the Rocky Mountains.
It’s NOT downhill all the way?
It appears Lewis and Clark were still in a state of denial. A water passage through the mountains was still a desperate dream they both wanted to realize if possible. Lewis traded a uniform coat, a pair of leggings, a few handkerchiefs, three knives, and some trinkets for three horses, “the whole of which did not cost more than about 20$ in the U’States.” Clark and eleven men then set out to explore the Salmon River to see if there was a possibility of going that route. But after a week, he knew the Indians hadn’t lied. Clark sent a man with a note telling Lewis to buy more horses since the Salmon River was impassable. Today, the Salmon River is still known as the River of No Return.
Meanwhile Lewis had, “purchased five good horses of them very reasonably, or at least for about the value of six dollars a piece in merchandize.” While Clark was exploring the possibility of going down
the Salmon River, Lewis used the horses, a mule, and some Shoshone women to carry their cargo the rest of the way from Camp Fortunate to Cameahwait’s camp at Lemhi Pass where the journey through the mountains would begin.
A minor inconvenience?
On August 26th, Lewis wrote “one of the women who had been assisting in the transportation of the baggage halted at a little run about a mile behind us… I enquired of Cameahwait the cause of her detention, and was informed by him in an unconcerned manner that she had halted to bring fourth a child… in about an hour the woman arrived with her newborn baby and passed us on her way to the camp.”
While still transporting their cargo, Charbonneau told Lewis he had learned the Indians were going to leave the next day to hunt buffalo — before Lewis could purchase the additional horses they would need. He was able to delay their departure and bought 22 more horses on August 28th. Clark hired an old Shoshone Indian called Toby to guide them over the mountains, and two days later the rest of the Shoshone Indians left to go hunt buffalo. The Corps reached the North Fork of the Salmon River on September 1st, and then traversed mountainsides so steep the horses slipped and slid down the slopes. Rain and snow fell, making the journey even more dangerous.
Five years ago, we introduced a revised version oF Michael Perry’s popular series which began with CRR’s April 15, 2004 inaugural issue and was reprised three times and then 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.
“lewis and clark meeting indians at ross’ hole,” by charles m russell
Rachel Roylance BS, MPAP, PA-C
Lewis and Clark from page 5
Is this the way to San Jose?
On September 4th, they met 400 Salish Indians (called Flatheads by Lewis and Clark) with 500 horses near present-day Sula, Montana. They bought 13 horses and exchanged 7 others. Toby then led the Corps down the East Fork of the Bitterroot River. When asked, Toby confessed he had no idea if the river joined the Columbia River (it does). The Expedition had traveled north along the Continental Divide and across trail-less mountains to get to Travelers Rest. Toby told the Captains of a trail from there east to the Great Falls that only took four days; the Corps circuitous route had taken 53 days.
The Corps spent a couple of days at Travelers Rest on Lolo Creek, ten miles southwest of presentday Missoula, Montana. While hunting, George Colter ran into three Nez Perce Indians and brought them back to Travelers Rest. One of them agreed to guide the Corps the rest of the way over the mountains, which, he said, was a six-day hike. However, the
Nez Perce guide abandoned them a day later. The Corps continued to follow an old trail that had been used by the Nez Perce since the 1730s. This trail is still visible today.
Travel was extremely difficult and, as Chief Cameahwait had said, there were virtually no animals to shoot and eat. On September 13th they reached Lolo Hot Springs and saw a bathing hole used by the Indians. They crossed the Bitterroot Mountains at Lolo Pass and began the journey down the Lochsa River, which joins the Clearwater River. The men were starving. The portable soup they had brought from St. Louis was
page 8
... “no easy route”... These guys grew up in the Appalachians, Daniel Boone and all those guys. That’s what mountains were to them, and they hadn’t seen anything like this. That’s why I think Clark and Lewis both assumed they were going to go up this mountain, cross a ridge, and head down. They didn’t comprehend that there were 200 more miles of impassable terrain.”
... “the most terrible mountains” ...
They were up in the hillsides and it’s rugged. It is nasty country. I can’t even imagine people like you and me going up there with a backpack even and trying to get across it without using existing roads. It would be a real challenge. One of the horses that fell in the river had Clark’s writing desk on it and broke it to smithereens. I always wondered what he did after that to write. How did he make his maps and everything?”
View of the Lo Lo Peak area and formidable mountains which loomed ahead. Near the present-day border of Idaho and Montana. Postcard from the
Lewis & Clark
rancid. Finally, on September 14th, they killed a horse to eat. It would not be the last time they had to do that.
Patrick Gass wrote, these are “the most terrible mountains I ever beheld.” As bad as the journey had been up to that point, the worst was yet to come. The journey over those unknown, formidable snow-clad mountains will be covered next episode.
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Eby Andre Stepankowsky
ven though I used to maintain and repair my own cars, I’ve never really lusted after luxury or sports automobiles.
To me, cars are a mere form of transportation. I prefer reliability and economy to flashiness and ego trips. I wielded wrenches and drained fluids strictly to save money and to enjoy the satisfaction of doing the work myself.
However, a visit last month to the LeMay-America’s Car Museum in Tacoma revved me up as if I were a vintage or muscle car enthusiast. Yet it also left me a bit wistful, with a sense of loss, despite LeMay’s marvelous presentation.
Located just off Interstate-5 north of the Tacoma Dome, the metalclad, multi-story building houses 300 cars from more than 100 years of automotive history. The museum touts itself as s celebration of America’s love affair with the automobile. It is that and more.
Its collection of antique and modern cars is far too extensive to summarize adequately here. It includes Dussenbergs, Packards, Rolls Royces, Thunderbirds, Camaros, Chryslers, Lamborghinis, and sober family vehicles such as the Dodge Swinger and hybrids that were no great shakes in their day but represented evolution of the art.
The collection includes a customized 1959 Thunderbird owned and driven by Cassandra Peterson —“Elvira, Mistress of the Dark” — and was created for the 1988 movie. My favorite vehicle was a fire engine-red roadster that gleams in the lobby, which it shares with a maroon Chrysler limo and a canary yellow 1950 Chrysler New Yorker convertible.
The museum is magnificently curated to capture the advance of engineering and design and how cars became status symbols when movie actors including Gary Cooper and Clark Gable tooled around in them. It documents how body building evolved from 19th-century coach building
IF YOU GO:
LeMay America’s Car Museum
2702 E. D St., Tacoma, Wash. I-5 Exit 133
Open Thurs – Mon 10am–5pm (last entry 4:30pm)
Phone 253-779-8490
Holiday hours/info: americascarmuseum.org
and how technology advanced. It’s astonishing, for example, to see that the massive 8-cylinder engines of yesteryear produced far less horsepower than much smaller modern motors.
One comes to appreciate the automobile’s contribution to the industrial and social evolution and success of the American experience.
The museum also put me in a nostalgic time warp. It brought me back to my youth when friends and I bent over much simpler engine compartments while talking sports and girls, as well as plugs and gaskets. Sometimes we’d debate how to reassemble what we’d taken apart. Once an engine blew because one of us didn’t adequately tighten a piston connecting rod. An expensive mistake; now a wonderful memory.
When I got into college and became friends with an English professor, he and I would labor over carburetors, brakes and distributors while discussing novels and poems, often drenched by engine heat and North Jersey humidity.
Cars were simpler back then. They’ve become inaccessible to the home grown, self-taught mechanic. While modern autos are far cleaner and more efficient, we’ve lost the days when a bunch of guys forged friendships over grease, gas and guffaws. I’m not sure that computer games or other modern distractions weld friendships together as well. I hope so.
I thoroughly enjoyed the LeMayAmerica’s car museum. But it was a reminder that everything in life comes at a price.
By Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin
Past foolishness surfaces online; milestone announcements
DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have been married to a very sweet guy for over 15 years now. I have never made a habit of keeping secrets from him, and we have a very honest relationship. However, my lifelong friend recently discovered that something from our college days has surfaced online.
It’s a video of my friend and me participating in a wet T-shirt contest during spring break. In an effort to win, we actually both lost our shirts ... and bottoms ... and got totally naked during the event. We even gave each other a little smack on the booty near the end of the contest.
Well, now it’s online. On one hand, we think, “Oh well, at least we look good,
as gift subpoenas; speaker
and it’s from a long time ago.” On the other hand, it’s a bit embarrassing -especially for me, because my husband would find this to be totally surprising and out of character for me.
Should my friend and I tell our husbands? We don’t know how most men would react to having an old video of their nude wives show up online!
GENTLE READER: Better coming from you than having it sent to them by a stranger for hush money.
Miss Manners therefore encourages you to get to him first, laughing it off and attributing it to the folly of youth.
No doubt your husband has blemishes in his own past that he would prefer to forget -- of which you might remind him, if he acts anything other than quietly bemused.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: We used to have nextdoor neighbors we were extremely close with. We had meals together once or twice a week, and even watched their 2-yearold twins for a weekend when they had to leave for a funeral. They started distancing
phones
themselves from us due to politics, and eight years ago, they moved away without even saying goodbye. Recently, out of the blue, we received some random text messages from the wife, and then, by mail, we received graduation announcements for each of their boys.
Given the break in the friendship, which was not our choice, are we obligated to send gifts? I am happy to send a nice note congratulating them on their graduation, but my partner feels we should send gifts.
GENTLE READER: A milestone announcement is not a subpoena for gifts.
Well, Miss Manners should clarify: It should not be received as one, whether or not that was its sender’s true intent.
If your former neighbors really wanted to make a connection with you again, they would have invited you to the ceremony or graduation party. Then you might have wanted to give the graduates presents.
If you do decide to send a present anyway, Miss Manners trusts it will not be a political donation to your preferred party -- however tempting that may be.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: Do people owe you the favor of letting you know that you are on speakerphone? It’s often difficult to tell from background sounds.
If someone else is in the room but out of earshot, then speakerphone is probably OK. But if I am telling someone something meant for only their ears, that’s a problem.
In one instance, I started talking about a secret gift, not knowing that the recipient was in the room until the person I’d called told me that I was on speaker. I’d had no idea.
Should I just ask each time I’m on the phone?
GENTLE READER: One should warn the other person on the phone that they are on speaker for the same reason a good host should smooth the rug when she sees it has curled over and is likely to trip the next guest who passes by: It is less work than picking up the pieces later.
If the people you are calling do not know this, then yes -- Miss Manners would get in the habit of asking.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: We have a friend who frequently invites us by for brunch. She has a lovely, immaculate, pet-free and pristine home. We feel as though we should reciprocate the invitation.
However, our home is the antithesis of hers: small, cluttered and quite pet-friendly. We want to invite her over, but we feel that she would not be comfortable in our home. Plus, she often doesn’t even eat much of the food that she serves at brunch, so we aren’t even sure of her dietary preferences. Should we not worry too much about these things and go ahead with an offered invitation? We don’t want to put her on the spot, but we also don’t want her to think we only want to see her in her own home.
GENTLE READER: Presuming that one’s home or food will never be good enough for an exceptional host has left many an exceptional host exasperated and resentful that their generosity is never reciprocated.
Miss Manners therefore insists that you invite this friend over immediately. Clean your house, inquire about allergies (both pet and food) and do your best. Your friend will no doubt appreciate the effort. Because for all you know, the minute you leave her pristine house, the crammed closets burst open and the critters run for their lives.
ME AND MY
PIANO*
*or other instrument
Well-traveled heirloom piano settles in Longview
By Tiffany Dickinson
This piano has been my friend for longer than any other. It is one of three keepsakes from my maternal grandmother, which include: a Bible she gave me when I turned 13, a piece of dyed silk fabric she got on a trip to Africa, and this old, upright piano, delivered to our two-bedroom apartment for my 11th birthday.
It was a gift I hadn’t expected or requested. I’d taken lessons at my former Catholic school. While the other students had religion class, I descended to the bowels of Holy Redeemer for a lesson from one of the sisters. Not having a piano in our home, I stayed after school most days for my 30 minutes of practice, meaning I virtually never walked home with my friends, but ended up walking home alone.
When my birthday gift piano arrived, my mom searched for a local teacher. The first one she found was nice enough, but he was a stay-at-home dad, and little kids were often running around or squirming on his lap while he tried guiding me in the finer points of old standbys. Whether Mom was tired of sitting in the car waiting for me, or I complained too much about the squirmy kids, she found another teacher — Susan Faust — whose house was within walking distance.
Sheet music and vinyl LPs overran Susan’s little Beaverton house. My new teacher was patient, kind, and a true professional. She took two Saturdays a month to gather her students, shepherding a small, dedicated group
through theory and music history. She also entered me in the Oregon Music Teachers Association adjudication program. My performance before a judge took me to the honors recital at Portland State University, to which she drove me herself. I took lessons from Susan through my junior year of high school.
After I left home, my mother kept the piano, moving it from Beaverton to West Linn, to Salem, Oregon, where my more talented younger brother took lessons.
After years of apartment living and a very busy life, I met a wonderful
man, Paul. Later, when I told him about the piano, he said, “I don’t want anything happening to that piano. We’re taking it with us.” As in taking it from Salem, to Fayetteville, North Carolina — his first Army duty station after our marriage in 1998.
Over 20-plus years, the Army (bless their hearts) moved the piano from Seattle, Wash., to Fayetteville, North Carolina (Fort Bragg), to San Antonio, Texas (Fort Sam Houston), to Lacey, Wash. (Fort Lewis), to Augusta, Georgia (Fort Gordon), to Tumwater, Wash. (Fort Lewis), to Clarksville, Tennesse (Fort Campbell), to Killeen, Texas (Fort Hood), and finally to Longview, Washington.
Both our children — now grown and on their own — took lessons, studying piano into their high school years. Now, the piano is settled in Paul’s and my living room of our civilian “duty station” on the Old West Side of Longview.
Our visiting kids or I play it occasionally, and it sees its highest action during the holiday season. It rests, partially refurbished, safe and secure, its hard labor done, waiting to be tickled, revered, and enjoyed. It’s gifted our family with music and memories for almost 50 years, as well as others before us, and I pray it will be cherished in its remaining golden years.
I don’t know whose home the piano will grace next. Perhaps a grandchild will want to keep the piano as a remembrance of me. Or maybe they’d just prefer the Bible. It’s easier to move.
Longview resident, former nurse, and CRR proofreader Tiffany Dickinson, pictured here with son Aaron in 1994, is the author of Kaleidoscope and The Golden Web, both for young readers, and Healing from Pet Loss , for all ages. Info: tiffanydickinson.com
Share your unique story of you and your relationship with a musical instrument in 500 words or less and mail to CRR, 1333 14th Ave., Longview, WA 98632, or email to publisher@crreader.com. Note “Me and My Piano” in the subject line and if possible attach/include a current mugshot and/or a photo of you with your instrument, then or now.
Don’t worry about perfect spelling or syntax. If your story is chosen, we will provide editing services and will contact you for additional details or embellishments as needed.
CPrecious Water
onsistently-high temperatures and lack of rain have presented challenges for gardeners this summer. As of Aug. 1, we have had less than an inch of rain since the middle of May. Gardeners who began in early April to dig into their gardens had arid, cracking soil (pictured at right). Farmers had to water their fields before they could till. This was quite a change from waiting for the soggy ground to dry in order to put a spade or tiller to the garden or field.
What can we do to conserve this precious resource so we can have thriving gardens and make sure we use only what we need? Tips below will help your plants survive, and protect our environment, as well.
Our Northwest summer temperatures usually heat up about the same time as our Fourth of July celebrations. 2025 was outside of that “norm,” as have been several previous years. April, May, and June recorded several days of high
Story and photos by Nancy
Chennault
How landscapes and gardens survive drought
80’s and even some 90’s. Low humidity and wind brought “drying” temperatures that drew the moisture from foliage and flowers.
The definition of drought: an “extended period of dry weather, especially one injurious to crops.” Our “normal” drought would last from 6 to 8 weeks and most often occur between midJuly and the onset of fall rains. Such is not the norm any more. Our long periods of drought begin earlier and last longer. Gardeners must respond to these changing conditions to preserve trees and shrubs without using an unconscionable
amount of water. We assume that we will have a never-ending supply of water. A succession of days when the temperatures rise above 90 degrees and the extension of days without a good soaking rain may challenge this supply no matter what the source. This year, we’ve had to be particularly in tune with the moisture needs of plants, balanced with the amount of water we use.
Conscientious water use is vital, even when our region is soaked with rain
Over-watering results in excess run-off which contaminates groundwater and streams while carrying consumer chemical products, such as fertilizers and pesticides, into existing sources. It’s never too early, nor too late to begin using water wisely.
1
Check the moisture level in the soil of planters, baskets and gardens before applying water.
Many plants will show excessive “wilting” during the hottest part of the day, even though they have plenty of soil moisture. This is a survival technique which helps conserve water. You will see those plants “perk up” at sunset. It is difficult for an avid gardener to keep the hose away from a drooping plant. However, on a hot day, watering containers that are already moist may cause roots to rot and/or “cook.”
Some plants, such as fuchsias, will “wilt” from the heat, even in shade. Give these plants a refreshing “shower” by quickly passing over them with the garden hose.
2 Avoid overhead sprinkling, especially in the middle of the day when most evaporation occurs.
If you must have a green lawn and use this type of sprinkler, use a timer, (or get up with the birds), so the watering occurs early in the morning about sunrise.
3
Install a soaker hose around established shrubs and trees to apply water directly to the root zone.
Roots that soak up the water are not next to the trunk, but out at the edge of the canopy of branches. Check moisture levels before turning on the faucet. These plants may need water only a couple of times during the summer.
4
Drip systems, (also set on a timer), for containers and baskets will help prevent excessive water use.
Containers grouped together are pleasing to the eye and will maintain moisture levels longer than those spaced randomly around a patio or porch. This arrangement is also easier to set up with a drip-type watering system. Drain trays that trap water that can be absorbed up into the container will conserve water as well (above). Be sure to remove them once rains begin.
5
Water new ornamentals, perennials and annual flowerbeds by hand to assure even distribution throughout the root zone without waste. Keep water pressure low and use a “water breaker” nozzle to softly moisten the soil, not the foliage). Soak the newly expanding root zone with the minimal amount
cont page 14
Nancy Chennault and her husband, Jim, operated a landscaping business and independent nursery/garden center for 20+ years. She wrote CRR’s Northwest Gardener in CRR’s early years. After a hiatus, she re-joined CRR to reconnect us with some of her favorite gardening topics. Nancy is founder of “Castle Rock Blooms” community team of volunteers.
SKY REPORT
By Greg Smith
Outdoor Enjoyment
MOON PHASES:
3rd Quarter Fri, Aug 15th
New Moon: Fri, Aug 22nd
1st Quarter: Sat., Aug 30th
Aug 17th to Sept 17th
The Evening Sky
A clear sky is needed.
Once again the great constellation of Pegasus rises in the east announcing the beginning of the fall constellations. In the Great Square of Pegasus looking from the southeast corner is a line of stars that mark its neck and head. A short distance from the nose is the beautiful globular cluster of M15. Pegasus’s back legs stretch from the upper northeast side of the square to the north. These legs are also known as the constellation Andromeda. Halfway along Andromeda and just up from the top line of stars is the bright galaxy M31, which can be seen in binoculars, and, if in a really dark sky, by the naked eye.
Sept. 7-8, 45 minutes after sunset at the end of twilight, Saturn will be rising with the full moon..
The Morning Sky
Full: Sun, Sept 7th
END OF TWILIGHT:
When the brightest stars start to come out. Allow about an hour more to see a lot of stars.
In the hours before sunrise early on September 1st, you will find Jupiter high in the morning sky. Venus will be halfway down to the horizon, sitting near the open star cluster of M44 (the Beehive cluster) located in the constellation of Cancer the crab. Lower on the horizon will be the planet Mercury. It will be one of the better times to see this diminutive planet. By September 19th , Venus, an hour before sunrise, will be in conjunction with the star Regulus, along with a thin crescent moon.
Night Sky Spectacle
A clear dark sky is a must.
August offers some of the best of the summer night sky. The Milky Way flows through the sky in a roughly north south stream overhead. A binocular view of the Milky Way will show you that the milkyness of it is made up of millions of stars, all of which are bigger and brighter than our sun. The Summer triangle is high in the Milky Way. With its three defining constellations of Sygnus the Swan and its star of Deneb as the tail, Lyra with the very bright star Vega , and Aquila the Eagle and its bright star Altair. These three stars are all way bigger than our sun. Vega is 26 light years away, while Deneb is some 2600 light years away. Altair is the closest of the three at only 16 light years away.
Longview resident Greg Smith is past president of Friends of Galileo. Meet him and other club members at monthly meetings in Longview. For more info about FOG, visit friendsofgalileo.com.
The reason for Jupiter’s regular six-year dimming has been revealed
Astronomers have just solved the 1,000 year old mystery of the regular dimming of Betelgeuse.
Astronomers have thought that the regular sixyear dimming cycle of Betelgeuse was caused by a companion star. Most astronomers believed that this companion would never be imaged.
Recently, however, the companion has been confirmed, not by mathematics but by actual imaging. The north Gemini telescope on Mauna Loa, on the Island of Hawaii, was able to get a picture of it. What was found was an extremely dim blue/white star a little bit bigger than our sun.
What is amazing is that this companion actually exists in the extremely thin extended gaseous atmosphere of Betelgeuse. This companion star is
By Greg Smith
in the process of being slowly eaten by the much larger host star. But this process is estimated to take another 10,000 years.
This six-year cycle of dimming is not to be confused with what was known as the Great Dimming of 2019-2020, which was caused by a large cloud of debris expelled by Betelgeuse. The cycle of dimming is caused by the companion star’s orbit crossing in front of Betelgeuse as we see it from our perspective.
Remember, we are seeing this some 600 years after the fact. As Betelgeuse is 600 light years away, we always see it as it was 600 years ago. For all we know, Betelgeuse has already exploded, and the light has not reached us yet.
Mount St. Helens Club
Looking UP HIKES
by the late deena martinson
(E) - Easier: relatively flat ground (up to 5 miles and/or less than 500 ft. e.g.) (M) - Moderate: Longer, more elevation gain (over 5 miles and/or 500+ ft. e.g.)
(S) - Strenuous: Long and/or elevation gain (over 8 miles and/or 1200+ ft. e.g.)
Call leader to join outing or for more info. Non-members welcome. Driving distances are from Longview, Wash. (SS) – Snow Shoe (XC) – Cross Country Ski (K) – Kayak (B) – Bicycle ( RT) - round trip e.g. - elevation gain
Aug 16 - Sat Chehalis/Western Bike Path (M) (B) Drive 148 miles RT. Bicycle 20 miles RT on paved bike path through rural scenery. Very little elevation gain. Leader: Bruce M. 360-425-0256
Aug 23 - Sat Coldwater Lake Kayak (M) (K)
Drive 125 miles RT to the Coldwater Lake boat launch. PFD is mandatory! Paddle from the launch site to the end of the lake to break for a packed lunch, then paddle back to launch for a total of 10 miles. A NW FOREST PASS, AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL PASS IS REQUIRED FOR EACH VEHICLE OR A $5 FEE. Leader: Dory N. 213-820-1014
Aug 27 - Wed Lake Sacajawea (E) Walk a 4+ mile loop around the entire lake or walk any segment of the lake trail for a shorter distance. There is very little e.g. Leaders: Barbara R. 360-431-1131, Ingrid S. 408-890-0439
Aug 30 - Sat Vancouver via AMTRAK (E) Depart Kelso at 9:32 am. Arrive in Vancouver at 10:09 am. Divide into groups for self-guided activities: shopping at the farmer’s market, lunch, visiting Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, the Pearson Air Museum, Clark County Historical Museum, old Victorian military houses on Officers Row or enjoying a walk along the waterfront. Reconvene at Vancouver Amtrak station at 3:45 pm for 4:16 pm departure, arriving in Kelso at 4:48 pm. PURCHASE TRAIN TICKETS PRIOR TO HIKE. Leader: Barbara R. 360-431-1131
Sept 3 - Wed Washougal Waterfront (M) Drive 115 miles RT to Washougal Waterfront Park. Hike 5+ miles out and back along the Columbia River to Captain Clark Park. Leader: John R. 360-431-1122
Sept 6 – Sat Archer Mountain Loop (S) Drive 140 miles RT Hike 4.8 mile RT with 1584’ past several nice views of the Columbia River underneath tree canopy. Leader: Charles R. 360-751-0098
Sept 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.
Sept 10 - Wed Rampart Ridge (M/S) Drive 200 miles RT to Longmire at Rainer National Park. Hike a 4.6-mile loop with 1339’ e.g. The hike begins at Longmire Wilderness Information Center and passes through the Trail of the Shadows; the trail continues on by hiking through old growth forests with views of Mt Rainier at the top … on a clear day! Hike can be extended by continuing on the Wonderland Trail. A SENIOR PASS REQUIRED FOR EACH VEHICLE. Leader: Susan M. 360-751-1255
Sept 13 - Sat Larch Mountain/ Sherrard Viewpoint (M) Drive 150 miles RT Hike a 6 mile loop with 1200’ e.g. through old-growth forest inside volcanic caldera. Leader: Bruce M. 360-425-0256
sketch
Dog Days
Winemakers won’t be lounging by the pool just now
by Marc Roland
Whoever came up with the modern meaning of “dog days of summer” wasn’t thinking of those who make wine. Most think of it as those sultry, slow, lingering weeks from late July through August when Sirius, the Dog Star, rises with the sun. Yes it’s a time to kick back, find shade, and sip something cold. But for a winemaker, these are anything but lazy days.
At the winery, the air is filled with vision and tension. Vines are filling with fruit, leaves are thickening, and the sun, while beautiful, is relentless. Veraison—the magical moment when grapes start to turn red and ripen marks the shift from cellar maintenance to full-on harvest prep. As each of our vineyard partners start to stress over vineyard pests, sunburned grapes, and what the yields will be, we also begin the countdown. The 2025 harvest is coming, and there’s no pause button.
This time of year, the vineyard becomes our temple. My friend Steve Meharg and I recently walked the rows in Benton City, Wash., near Red Mountain. Getting up early we made the first trip to the valley to make our pilgrimage. In the back of our minds, we’re going over things like: where are we going to put all the grapes, what about barrels, Steve is thinking about sterilizing tanks, and I’m going over ordering yeast, and praying the forklift doesn’t break.…
There’s anticipation in the air, like the edge of a coming storm. The fruit sets the rhythm—we just try to keep up. It’s when instinct, planning, and sheer stamina come together. And while the rest of the world might be lounging poolside, winemakers are pouring over catalogs and quietly willing the weather to hold.
But there’s beauty in the madness. These dog days sharpen our senses. They remind us that wine is still agriculture—messy, unpredictable, and deeply rooted in the seasons. Every vintage begins with sweat and contemplation, with the hopes that our homage and hard work ends with something spiritual in a bottle.
So if you’re sipping a chilled rosé or a zippy Vinho Verde this August, raise a glass to the folks out among the vines, bracing for the harvest sprint. We’ll see you on the other side of September with purple hands, exhausted bodies, and new stories to tell.
Cheers to the dog days, and to what comes next.
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.
Our World in Words
NThe Lesson Ladies First
by Bob Park
ot going to church as a kid was not an option and I cannot remember even thinking of the idea of not going.
As a child and through the 6th grade this involved Sunday School at 9:00am and church service at 11:00am..
Getting to the 7th grade, the option of attending Community Church Youth Fellowship (CCYF) on Sunday evenings, while not a requirement, presented a whole new world.
Watching the older kids, I very soon figured out that it presented a whole new environment to relate to girls. I watched and learned for a couple of years. But then Elese, who was behind me in school, started attending.
First, I knew her, and second, she caught my fancy in a new and big way. By this time, being older, I started joining a group of boys and girls who, after CCYF, as it was called, would walk to Cap’n Yoby’s for a 50-cent burger/fries and shake, plus some serious flirting and, if you were lucky, some hand holding.
Well, I made sure Elese joined this group as soon as possible. She was driven, as I was, by our fathers to CCYF and picked up after.
I think the dads figured out this was a waste and so they started alternating, one taking Elese and me, and the other picking us up.
So the first time this was set in motion her dad took us and my dad picked up.
After our Yoby’s run, Elese and I were waiting for Dad to pick us up in front of the church.
Dad had a green 4-door Dodge sedan at the time. Well, he pulled up and I opened the back door and jumped in with Elese behind me. Off we went to Elese’s house on Pennsylvania Street and she got out and went in the house. As soon as Elese was in the house Dad said, “Bobby, front seat.” As I write this, his voice is still coming through loud and clear, and I still feel the apprehension, as his tone was serious.
At that point I knew he was no longer my dad, but my Father. He said, “Bobby, I want to never see or hear about you opening a door and getting in ahead of a lady again. You always open the door for them and then allow her to enter first. Understood?”
I had never before had such a loud order, tinged with disapproval from him and never did again. I was shocked and could not think of anything else for a couple of days. I still feel the emotion of it now. Needless to say, Elese never opened the door and got in anywhere last ever again.
Bob Park enjoys the good life in his hometown, and elsewhere. This is #6 in a series of his recollections growing up in Longview, where he founded a steel fabrication business still operating worldwide.
of water. By keeping the pressure only high enough to give each plant a thorough watering you prevent wasteful run off.
6Lay a “blanket” of newspaper or protective seedling cloth, such as “Reemay” over newly planted seedlings
This will also shade tender foliages to prevent sunburn and retain moisture in leaves. During periods of excessive heat, provide shade or remove containers and baskets from concrete patios and walls exposed to the afternoon sun.
7 Mulch, such as fir bark, at a depth of 2 to 4 inches will keep soil cool and help maintain soil moisture
Apply to areas that are already well watered, not to parched soil. Bark mulch, as well as layers of newspaper will also help prevent weed growth. Unsightly weeds rob desirable vegetation of much needed moisture.
Summer watering can be a pleasant activity that gives you a chance to spend time “up close and personal” with the plants and flowers in your garden. Giving each a deep, satisfying cool drink is as refreshing for the gardener as it is for the garden.
You will be rewarded with bountiful harvests, beautiful blossoms and an evergreen experience that is exclusive to our area of the Pacific Northwest. Water with confidence, knowing you are doing your part to assure every garden and gardener will have plentiful summer moisture.
**A NOTE** about Timers: We tend to want to put these timers on “auto-pilot” and forget that the changing weather pattern and growth of plants requires various levels of moisture. Pay attention to the temperature and the plants so as not to automatically water at the same level regardless of what the weather is like.
Want to become a Master Gardener?
Master Gardener training is a great opportunity to learn more about plants, meet great people, serve your community, but most of all, have a lot of fun. You will receive more than 90 hours of training on all aspects of gardening.
Training in Cowlitz County starts in October. To find out more about the expectations and opportunities of the Master Gardener program, contact Gary Fredricks at 360-577-3014, ext. 3, or email: garyf@wsu.edu.
Special Note
Don’t forget the bees!
A shallow pan or birdbath in a shaded location — refilled with fresh water each day — will provide appreciated water. Set rocks with flat surfaces throughout so the bees can line up to drink without getting their wings wet. When I reach down into the birdbath to move rocks and the floating plastic ‘island,’ the bees will swarm my hand and arm, never offering to sting. They are so happy to have fresh water. – Nancy Chennault
Photo at left shows a close-up of bee drinking from hole in the tray in the birdbath at right.
IT’S GARLIC TIME
By Steve Routon
SAug 15 – 16 Copes Park Clatskanie, Ore.
ince the event was launched 10 years ago, the Community has embraced it as it grew into its current reality — a regional culinary and cultural attraction! Many of the folks that sampled the garlic that day recognized it as the base flavor of many of their favorite dishes, and liked it! For them and us, it was an “aha moment” and was the birth of what would become the annual Clatskanie Garlic Festival.
In the past decade, our growers have secured the finest seed stock and grown fabulous, even exotic garlic strains that you just can’t find in one place anywhere else. Who knew that the Pacific Northwest had the ideal climate and soil for growing gourmet garlic? This year, our growers will be bringing dozens of different strains with most of the world’s known varieties represented.
If you are interested in growing your own, you will never find a better selection of locally climatized seed stock from which to choose, and where else can you have access to so many experienced growers? This market is unique in that the people that grow the garlic are also behind the tables selling it. They love to talk garlic (if you dare to get them started).
The Festival Committee has lined up 50-plus vendors of regional arts and crafts, locally produced vegetables, handmade goods, and of course, everything garlic.
Friday Kickoff The Festival’s kids’ pavilion will feature adult-led garlicky activities. This year’s event will stretch over two days. The kick-off is the “Pasta Palooza” picnic in the park, 6-8pm, Friday evening in Copes Park, featuring handmade pasta from Seven Sisters Pasta, smothered in garlic-charged sauces (marinara, alfredo, pesto, and black garlic). The Libations Garden will be open, offering locally-produced wine, cider, beer and even zero-proof drinks. Bring your own blanket for this picnic style family event.
At the Festival itself on Saturday 10am–3pm vendors will offer prepared foods you’ll enjoy for brunch and/or lunch in this manicured meadow in the oxbow of the Clatskanie River. The Libations Garden will be in full swing, as the Lorna Baxter Septet belts out jazz-infused music throughout the day.
6pm Movie & More Finally, for true garlic geeks who just can’t get enough, Saturday’s last event will be a screening of “Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers” at 6pm on Saturday Evening at the Clatskanie Food Hub, across from Copes Park. The popcorn will be garlicky and the local drinks will be flowing. Round up your friends and families and follow that unmistakable fragrance to Copes Park. It’s the 10th year celebration of the Clatskanie Garlic Festival at the coolest little market in Oregon.
Photo courtesy of clatskanie farmers market
Steve Routon is a co-founder of the Clatskine Gartlic Festival, and raises garlic and bees on a small farm in Clatskanie.
1425 Maple Street
Longview, WA 98632
360.425.2950
www.cascade-title.com
Biz Buzz
What’s Happening Around the River
Biz Buzz notes news in local business and professional circles. As space allows, we include news of innovations, improvements, new ventures and significant employee milestones of interest to readers. Please email to publisher@crreader.com
At Longview Rotary’s recent annual President’s Dinner, outgoing president Tod Boze passed the gavel to Amy Norquist the club’s new president for 2025-2026. Special awards were presented to outstanding members in various categories, as follows: Jim Torkko Ethics in Business Award: Joe Amrine; Distinguished Rotarian Award, Bud Cockrell; Special Service Award, Brandi Ballinger; Spirit of Rotary Award: Bogi Kim; Service to Youth Award: Frank Morrison; Rookie Rotarian Award: David Vasquez; Vocational Service Award: John Paul; Club Service Award: Mark Gaither. The club, following the motto “service above self,” sponsors fundraisers and projects to supports community needs. The club meets Wednesdays at noon. More info: longviewrotary.com.
Can you dig it? In a series running Sept 5 to Oct. 31, WSU Extension Service Cowlitz County will host “Garden with the Master Gardeners: Hands-on Training Experience,”Fridays 9-noon, at a Longview location to be given at registration. In an announcement, organizers pose the question: Would you like to dig in, get your hands dirty, and get some real hands-on experience in the garden with Master Gardeners? These days, they said, many are concerned about food security and would like to know more about how to successfully grow their own food and maintain gardens. This is a chance to make new gardening friends and rub shoulders with local Extension Master Gardeners in an informal, friendly, and nurturing environment. Cost is $100. Limited space. Register and pay at https://in-the-garden-with-themaster-gardeners-2025.cheddarup.com.
Diane Kenneway Escrow Closer / Assistant
Celinda Northrup Escrow Officer / LPO
Alison Peters Escrow Officer / LPO
Amy Norquist
Fibre Federal Credit Union to build in Ridgefield, Wash.
Fibre Federal Credit Union recently announced the upcoming expansion of its services into Ridgefield, Washington, with a new Financial Services Center (FSC) located in the Royal Ridge Station Shopping Center at 4610 Pioneer Street.
The new 2,900-square foot, state-of-the-art facility will offer full-service banking to better serve the growing Ridgefield community. The comprehensive range of services will include personal and business banking, loans, a coin machine, 24/7 Interactive Teller Machines offering live video support 6 six days per week, 11 hours per day.
“We’re excited to plant deeper roots in North Clark County and bring our commitment to outstanding member service to this thriving and rapidly growing community,” said Christopher Bradberry , FFCU President/CEO in a press release, “This new center will give us the opportunity to connect with more members and provide the convenient, trusted financial guidance they deserve.”
The groundbreaking is projected for late 2025. If all progresses as planned, the Ridgefield FSC is slated to open by mid-summer 2026.
With the community’s support, Longview Rotary has awarded scholarships to 10 recent high school graduates. Congratulations
With a focus on accessibility, convenience, and community connection, the Ridgefield FSC will enhance Fibre Federal’s footprint in Southwest Washington and exemplify its dedication to member-driven service, financial wellness, and community focus.
For updates on the Ridgefield project and other news, visit www. fibrecu.com.
About Fibre Federal Credit Union: Formed by Longview millworkers in 1937, this not-for-profit, member-owned financial cooperative has been recognized as #1 in Washington on the Forbes list of America’s Best-In-State Credit Unions 2025. Fibre Federal serves over 119,000 member/owners with 18 locations in Southwest Washington and the North Oregon Coast.
Longview Rotary 2025 Scholarship Recipients
r a long high school:
Kamrynne Miranda • University of Portland
My Ta • University of Washington
Julia Verdugo-Morales • Lower Columbia College
Ani Patel • Lower Columbia College
Sofia Gomez-Romero • Lower Columbia College
Alexis Nguyen • University of Washington
mark morris high school:
Jaydyn Nordquist • Clark College
Grace Eaton • Columbia Basin College
Mercedes Scrichfield • Oregon State University three rivers christian school:
Josiah Carroll • CDL Training toutle lake high school:
Connor Holverson • Lower Columbia College
It’s not often that small museums change and grow with lightning speed. An exception is the Rainier Oregon Historical Museum (ROHM) which formed 10 years ago, as the result of an idea and a handful of people sitting around a kitchen table.
Story & photos by Joseph Govednik, Director, Cowlitz County Historical Museum
Rainier Oregon Historical Museum
10 Years and Growing!
Eventually, space was made available at Rainier City Hall which housed the museum for many years. Everything changed, however, through the generosity of donors who morphed a dream into reality.
Ground broke on a rainy April day in 2024 and just a short year later, the museum is open and ready to receive the public. Following its grand opening on Aug. 9, the museum will hold regular hours from Noon-4pm on Saturdays, with the goal of increasing those hours as its volunteer staff permits.
Photos, clockwise from top: The new Rainier Oregon Historical Museum, located at 700 West “A” Street., Rainier, Ore.; Historic photos and artifacts relating to early logging and maritime industry; Sherry Evans, Secretary, Rainier Oregon Historical Museum Board of Directors, next to the model of “Elsinore,” a ferry built in 1915 used to transport workers between Longview and Rainier Oregon, from 1943 to 1957.
VISITOR
CENTERS
FREE Maps • Brochures Directions • Information
Wahkiakum Chamber 102 Main St, Cathlamet • 360-795-9996
Bay Ave., #1, Ocean Park, Wash.
• South Columbia County Chamber Columbia Blvd/Hwy 30, St. Helens, Ore • 503-397-0685
• Astoria-Warrenton Chamber/Ore Welcome Center 111 W. Marine Dr., Astoria 503-325-6311 or 800-875-6807
Kennewick, WA Lewiston, ID Local informationPoints of SpecialRecreationInterest Events Dining ~ Lodging Arts & Entertainment
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Production notes
The Bug
T he founders seemed T o have had The bug, Too.
Not too long after Longview’s hearty pioneers had diked and drained the town site they started laying out a golf course. Really?
In the 1920s this entire CowlitzColumbia delta was a malodorous swamp. The Planned City was still little more than promises on paper — a fancy pipe dream of a civilized town struggling up through the mud. Stores, homes, and businesses were few. Itinerants camped out in tents and huts. The place was more about survival than success.
So. Hey, laddies, time to build a golf course! Really?
There certainly were more important things to do, one of them building a railroad spur somewhere out where Ocean Beach Highway runs today. Never mind that it cut through the developing links, and that enterprising golfers’ tee shots had to avoid both the tracks and the trains.
Was it some Scottish thing? Recent emigrants were still tightly knit clans. Was it prestige? We know how desperately city fathers, and their cadre of salesmen and speculators, were hyping Longview as a potential paradise. Wasn’t a paradisal prerequisite a gentlemanly stroll over a gracious greensward, not a meander through the muck?
Or does this history require a more generous view? What if there was, and is, just something about the game of golf, something truly special, magical, that transcends time, place and course conditions?
We know ancient people devised ball games with goals and holes, that striking and propelling a rock or similar object, with strength and accuracy, has been a test of skill. That athletic competition has always been valued as a shaper of strength and character.
Heck. Maybe it was just fun. And still is. “Go ahead and hit, Larry, the next train’s not due to come through here for four more minutes.”
people+place
Golf Gets Real
Area courses offer pars for the people
Somewhere a few decades ago the game of golf went out of control.
Not the out-of-control most of us hackers expect from our own play — hooks, slices, gouges, heel jobs, shanks, skulls, chili dips, worm burners, and the lot — but the institutional out-of-control of grandiosity, hubris, elitism, and competitive mania. Given its reputation it seems impossible that golf could get too big for its britches (or breeches, as those suffering from this syndrome might insist), but that’s been lately the case: moonscape-style courses impossibly difficult, isolated, expensive and snotty. Real estate developments with courses tacked on as afterthoughts. Pretentious, members-only clubs enshrining status over sport.
Many of the rest of us — the 8 of 10 golfers that never break 100, that daunting decimal of duffering — have been priced out, swanked out, or simply intimidated and frustrated by the whole spectacle, our humble sticks drawing dust in the garage.
But be of good cheer: we’re taking a mulligan, right here in our own back yard. Mark Twain once called golf “a good walk spoiled.” Our aim, if you will, is to find a few good walks, unspoiled.
The criteria are simple: The courses we’re looking for are well off the beaten track, mostly rural as opposed to urban, funky as opposed to fashionable, long-lived and with short par fours.
“You’ve got some nice courses up there in Longview,” said pro shop manager Carson Murdock as we checked in at Riverwoods Golf Course in Raymond.
“Yes, we’re avoiding them. They didn’t qualify,” I replied as I ponied up my fifty bucks for nine holes, a cart and a bucket
of balls. I assured him we were well aware of the quality of the local links and meant them no disrespect, but for this foray they simply weren’t funky enough.
To wit: Riverwoods has the checkered past and present that typify many of these ma and pa tracks. “The course has passed hands twice,” said Carson, “and been left abandoned for long periods of time.”
REAL GOLF RULE #1: MAKE IT FRIENDLY
Today the grass is mowed, if not manicured, greens are well watered and the turf is firm and healthy. It’s been reinvigorated by investment and ongoing care and improvement from a local family, the Hamiltons. Its “front person” is 25 year-old Carson Murdock, who’s been playing golf merely three years. But he has the bug.
“Golf was like an old-man, leisurely sport,” he said, “then a friend took me out to the range and I got bitten by the bug. Bad. Now I play every chance I get.”
Riverwoods supports itself in part by housing 20 RV sites. Carson leaves the RV rental management to others; he’s the golf manager and weekend hot dog jockey.
cont page 20
Carson Murdock
Skyline’s Nate Denardo supplies clubs, tees, balls ... and discs.
Golf from page 19
The nine-hole course, which began life as Willapa Harbor Golf Club almost exactly 100 years ago, is both a return to nature and a reminder of its own historic origins. A fork of the Willapa River runs through it. It abuts a former logging site with slash piles aging into waste wood monuments. And its website touts not only a challenging round, but also “a peaceful journey through nature’s bounty.”
How good is that?
Disc-covering Skyline
We had started the day visiting Skyline Golf in Cathlamet, which advertises itself from the highway but demands a circuitous hill climb to its tucked-away clubhouse. We meet Nate Denardo at the desk, who asks if we’ll be using clubs or discs.
Discs? Amidst my peers, we’d long been aware of “slipping a disk,” from an over-enthusiastic swing, or a “herniated disk,” complained of at the 19th hole. But not this parallel platter universe, “disc golf.” And not prepared for the astounding rack of hundreds of neon discs available in the pro shop.
Welcome to the newly-ascendant world of disc golf, played with what we used to call frisbees.
(Etymologists note the spelling is with a “c” as in “discus” not a “k” as in “diskette.”) “We have special discs for drives, for chips, for putts,” Nate explained, and showed us a variety of custom plates and disc bags. Each regular golf hole hosts its own disc goal, or often two per hole, strategically placed, a basket-like affair with hanging chains that deaden the accurate shot and drop it neatly into a hopper or “hole.” Strokes accumulate and are counted as per the regular game.
gardens in
and Kelso
at lcschoolgardens.org or by mailing a check to PO Box 785, Longview, WA 98632. Together, we’re growing something good.
Above: Hailey and Andrew Hamilton, with kids Lucy and Robbie, have a generational stake in Riverwoods Golf Course in Raymond. Lower left: Doug and Angie Brown have operated Peninsula Golf & the Cove since 2018.
Like many of these outland courses, at Skyline there is a feeling of comfortable camaraderie, regulars and disc-coverers wandering in and out at a relaxed pace. Most every clubhouse — which often feels like a converted house — seems to have a barbecue at hand, beer in the fridge and comfortable spots to sit a spell.
This indispensable golf ritual of “hanging out,” pre- or postround, seems alive and well, no matter what the venue, from Long Beach to Pebble Beach. Pearl on the Peninsula
“I was reading a golf website the other day and they said, ‘rated one of the hardest courses in Washington,’” said Peninsula Golf owner Doug Brown. “And it hit me,
that’s like a badge of honor for some people, to be one of the hardest. How about being one of the funnest, or most interesting, or happiest?”
Doug and Angie Brown are on a mission to put enjoyment back into nine holes of golf, and for that matter all that accompanies it, especially high class food, drink and amenities.
“We discovered this place in 2017,” said Angie, “and the food was great.” Unfortunately, the entire property, including its restaurant, was for sale and a month away from closing up for good.
The joys of real golf ...
Riverwoods pro shop manager, Carson Murdock about to hit his favorite 59-degree wedge
A prerequisite for real golf joy: Custom head covers. Thanks to Marv McCord.
Lori Taylor building BLTs at Surfside’s Great Day Cafe
Skyline Golf’s club ”house” sports a majestic view of Puget Island, on the Columbia
Snacks. Weekend hot dog bar. Driving range. Putting green. Lessons available. 20 RV spaces on site with amenities. www.riverwoodsgolf.com
Peninsula Golf Course 9604 Pacific Way, Long Beach,Wash., 360-642-4653
Golf and Disc Golf. Lessons and golf simulator. Well-equipped pro shop. The Cove, an outstanding peninsula restaurant and bar. Special event hosting. www.peninsulagolfcourse.com
Surfside Golf Course 31508 J Pl., Ocean Park, Wash. 360-665-4148
Instruction and memberships available. Great Day Cafe (open 11:30 – 3) does brisk business. www.surfsidegolfcourse.com
from page 21
“We played nine holes, had a sandwich and a drink, and then I sprung it on her,” recalled Doug with a grin, ‘You know this whole place is for sale!’”
Today, Peninsula Golf, and especially its Cove Restaurant, is a top Long Beach Peninsula attraction, with the restaurant generating three times the annual revenue of the golf course. A whole host of family fun stuff — including disc golf — contributes to the festive atmosphere.
“We’ve always looked at this as an opportunity to be real family-friendly,” said Doug, “a safe, fun, engaging place to eat and play and work.”
Besides providing a high-class eatery and bar, the Browns offer a community spirit that caters to residents and tourists alike. They offered a free summerlong golf clinic for area kids a couple of years ago, expecting two dozen participants.
“We had a line all the way across the parking lot,” said Doug, “145 kids signed up and most of them stayed the whole summer.”
The Browns fun side extends to hosting events, setting up tournaments and parties — “we want to have your wedding, your reception, your graduation party,” said Angie.
REAL GOLF RULE #4: IT’S ABOUT ‘FEEL’
Joe Fischer
“It’s a requirement to work here to engage people, thank them, greet them,” said Doug. “You have to be thankful that people are here.”
Feel the Love
Forget the pristine driving ranges and plantation patios, top-shelf liquor and over-built, grandiose clubhouses. The essence of golf is the “feel” of the place.
And if you think about it, hasn’t this always been a golfer’s ideal? To play by feel, by instinct, naturally?
Forget the lessons, the practice gadgets, the self-loathing. Forget the sculpted fairways, the planned communities, the hundreds of dollars a month.
The real golf “feel” celebrates a glorious game which has stood the test of time, which dramatically emulates the natural environment, but punctuates it with holes and pins, which eschews yard lines and fences and the conventional limits of sport, and dares to conduct its business on the grass itself — the turf, amidst the ponds, the trees and the oases of sand.
Go find your own course, even for a drink and a sit-down in a comfortable chair. At that certain moment when the sun is sinking, when the patrons and their stories grow animated, when another round or two or three are in the books, all is unspoiled.
Interviews are edited for clarity and length.
Hal Calbom, a third-generation Longview native and author of Empire of Trees (see excerpt, page 29 on Longview’s first golfers), produces CRR’s People+Place monthly feature, and is CRRPress associate publisher.
First tee at Long Beach’s Peninsula Golf
Four friends from Portland — David, Eric, Rick and Pete — about to tee off at Surfside Golf Course
Educating for Global Impact Three Rivers Christian School students experience service in the wider world
This year, Three Rivers Christian School (TRCS) is celebrating 60 years of service to the Lower Columbia Region with PreK-12 education on two campuses. And for the last decade, TRCS has also made a specific commitment to students to ensure they are meeting the school’s declared mission of “preparing students to impact the world for Christ.” If
we really mean that statement, it has implications. I asked our board if maybe they just meant Cowlitz County – not the world.
The school board reiterated that they wanted to keep the global focus, and the TRCS Impact Trips were born and are now a key part of the curriculum and experience of learning at TRCS.
Thank You
For choosing local and voting Cowlitz
Dr. Erin Hart, Superintendent Three Rivers Christian School
Each year, students can experience a global service and learning trip to locations ranging from Ecuador to Northern Ireland to South Korea. Instead of a traditional “mission trip,” however, where the focus is often on bringing some sort of change or help to a foreign culture, the Impact Trips are designed to impact TRCS students’ hearts, so they see themselves as part of a global church.
The kids are not allowed to bring their cell phones, to ensure they can be where their feet are and focus on each other and the culture around them.
While the destinations may vary each year, the goal of building empathy, character, and awareness of how others live remains the same. Beginning in 7th grade, students are encouraged to participate in a trip within the United States (regular locations include Washington D.C., San Francisco, and New Orleans), which will later allow them to qualify for the global travel experiences.
cont page 24
On a recent trip to New Orleans, students served in a local food bank, experienced the World War II Museum, led chapel services in a homeless shelter, and compared tours of the Whitney Plantation/ Slavery Museum and the Oak Alley Plantation. Students meet for months prior to the trip, studying everything from the social and political history of the place to the needs being met by local missionaries.
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Students are responsible for covering their own costs for the trip, which also contributes to the learning experience, as some students have developed entrepreneurial ways to cover their trip costs.
Impact Trips have become a lifechanging experience for TRCS students, with sign-ups for some of this year’s trips filling within hours of being announced. TRCS graduates often cite these trips as one of their most formative experiences. During
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Spring 2024: TRCS students near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in South Korea, which is often in the national news for its tense proximity to the dictatorship of North Korea. T he students’ hosts wanted them to understand their desire for the reunification of their country., conveyed through stories from tour guides and citizens, who encouraged them to pray for reunification.
the graduation ceremony, students wear a colored cord representing each continent on which they served.
This year, TRCS students will be traveling to San Francisco, Vancouver BC, Northern Ireland, and England on Impact Trips.
Our students return from these trips more confident, more empathetic,
and more aware of their role as servant leaders. It helps cement the values we teach in the classroom.
If you’re interested in supporting TRCS Impact Trips, or learning more about the program, please contact Dr. Hart at ehart@3riversschool.net.
Museum Magic from page 18
The museum is a beautifully modern building which has that “new car smell” when you walk in, giving a fresh take on a historical journey.
Exhibits sharing the history of this waterfront town tell stories about logging, maritime history, and local dairies, to name a few themes.
One of my favorite displays is a N-scale logging railroad diorama with steam donkeys and disconnect rail cars. In another gallery there is a vintage fire engine from the Rainier Volunteer Fire Departmen (photo at right) and Hallbergs Food Store truck.
The Rainier Oregon Historical Museum makes a great addition to an afternoon in this charming town of 2,000 residents. Explore the City Park along the waterfront, dine at one of many places in town, and visit the museum for a perfect local getaway trip. The ROHM is located at 700 West A Street, in Rainier OR. If you
would like more information, or would like to apply to volunteer, please call the museum at 503-949-9366 during business hours, or contact ROHM Board President Kay Helfin at 360-7517039. The Museum’s website is www. https://www.rainiermuseum.org.
www.facebook.com/highlanderfestival
www.kelsohighlanderfestival.com
It was either her or the Umbrella Man.
For Starters: Corn Cobettes
Here’s a quick and delicious, sweet and savory side dish or appetizer that goes great with summer cuisine, especially as local corn reaches its peak. It’s all in the honey, binding the flavors and textures together. Serve with your favorite beverage and plenty of napkins.
Hot Honey Cob Corn
4 ears fresh corn, husked and de-silked
1/2 C. butter, melted
1/2 tsp ground Cayenne pepper
1/4 C. honey
1/2 C. Feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 C. parsley, chopped
Easy summer side dish inspired by Mexican street corn HONEY DO
1 Tbl. Chili pepper flakes
Salt and Fresh ground pepper to taste
Split ears of corn into shorter “cobette” segments. Place on grill away from direct heat, close lid and roast until tender, approximately 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a shallow dish melt butter; blend in cayenne pepper and honey. When cobettes are done, insert bamboo skewer in one end of each.
Lavishly coat the cobettes with butterhoney mixture, rolling or basting.
Sprinkle generously with cayenne pepper flakes, crumbled feta, and chopped parsley. Make sure to cover the entire cobette. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
columbia river reader
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–10:30pm; Sun 11am–9pm. 503-728-3344
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. 8-11pm. Patio seating. 503-556-8323.
Longview, Wash.
1335 14th Avenue
18 rotating craft brews, pub fare. M-Th 11am–9pm. Fri-Sat 11am–10pm. 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.
Formerly The Carriage Restaurant & Lounge located on 14th Ave.
3353 Washington Way. Chinese & American cuisine. Full bar, banquet room stage room with balcony; available for groups, special events. Restaurant: 11am–9pm, Lounge 11am–1:00am. 360-425-8680.
Vault Books & Brew 20 Cowlitz Street West, Castle Rock. Coffee and specialty drinks, quick eats & sweets. See ad, pg 30
Kalama, Wash.
LUCKMAN’S COFFEE Mountain Timber Market, Port of Kalama. Open 8am–7pm. 360-673-4586.
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.
Antique Deli 413N. First. M-F, 10–3. Call for daily sandwich special. 360-673-3310.
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 11:30am–9pm; Fri-Sat 11:30am–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.
Toutle, Wash.
360-577-5656
Roland Wines 1106 Florida St., Longview. Authentic Italian wood-fired pizza, wine, beer, specialty cocktails. Casual ambience. 5–9pm Wed-Sat, 360-846-7304 See ad, page 4.
Scythe Brewing Company 1217 3rd Avenue #150 360-353-3851
Stuffy’s
Mon-Thurs 11:30am -8pm; FriSat 11:30am -10pm. Sun 12-8pm. Family-friendly brewery/ restaurant with upscale, casual dining, lunch and dinner.
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. CLOSED DUE TO RECENT FIRE
Teri’s Café on
Broadway
1133 Broadway. Lunch and Dinner, full bar. Mon12–8pm. Tues-Thurs 11am–8pm, Fri 11am–9pm; Sat 12–9pm. 360-577-0717
FIRESIDE CAFE
5055 Meeker Dr., Kalama. Open Wed-Sun, 9–4. 360-673-3473.
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 32.
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
CRRPRESS was founded in 2020, with the first printing of Tidewater Reach, followed by Dispatches from the Discovery Trail (see current episode, page 5), Empire of Trees, Words and Wood, and A Lifetime of Art. Purchase info, see page 2, 39.
This page and pg. 5 feature excerpts from CRRPress books.
WORDS AND WOOD
PACIFIC NORTHWEST WOODCUTS AND HAIKU
EMPIRE OF TREES
by Debby Neely
In the briny deep
Picasso eyes spy bright bait
Fresh halibut cheeks
AMERICA’S PLANNED CITY AND THE LAST FRONTIER
A Good Walk Nearly Spoiled
Enterprising hackers (was the term ever used so appropriately as in the brush valley of the Cowlitz?) carved out nine holes between Pacific Way and Ocean Beach.
The course was short, rough, and an easy place to lose balls, but it was well-used, even after Weyerhaeuser built its railroad through the middle of it. Anyone who could clear the railroad track with his tee shot on the first hole had a good drive.
John McClelland, Jr.
THE TIDEWATER REACH
FIELD GUIDE TO THE LOWER COLUMBIA IN POEMS AND PICTURES
Poem by Robert Michael Pyle
Photograph by Judy VanderMaten
Fetching the Old Town at Scappoose
They’d made some extra money that month, those photos from New Guinea in Smithsonian, and all the bills were paid for a change. Wanting a canoe in the worst way, they took the VW bus and their three hundred bucks downriver to Scappoose: “Brown’s Landing,” read the sign. “Boats & Canoes.”
It was an Old Town of Maine that caught their eye. Not a classic wooden one like that sleek craft they’d paddled in the Thousand Islands that fall, they could never afford that. So, fiberglass.
But the struts were oak and the paddles, spruce. Eighteen foot — long for solo, but they were two — plenty of stowage, and a keel to keep it stable. They slipped it down the ramp into Multnomah Slough and it felt good. So over the years, it was up and down all those tribs, all those tidal sloughs, though almost never the river itself, too big for an open paddle craft, for them. The Gray’s, of course, and Steamboat, Ellsworth, Elochamon; the Deep, the Bone, Seal Slough, Teal Slough; the Bear. The Not-Quite-Whitewater River Run, with the kids.
by Hal Calbom
Eventually to Long Island and its giant cedars, where they’d always meant to go. But by then he was solo; plunked a chunk of oak or random kid in the bow for ballast, to keep it from becoming a sail when the wind came up on the inbound leg. The struts rotted out over forty years, the cream hull scratched by boat-launch cobbles and ninebark branches on shore, where all those picnics and landings took place.
Nowadays, it’s mostly a Grandpa Camp thing: lazing down to tidewater, pulling hard back up again, as long as the good lad is willing. And it is still his pleasure sometimes to lie flat, butt on seat, head resting on stern, feet on gunwhales; to pop a beer, close his eyes, and drift.
Halibut
Photo courtesy of longview Public library
UIPS & QUOTES Q
Selected by Debra Tweedy
Some people will never like you because your spirit irritates their demons.
--Denzel Washington, American actor and director, 1954-
I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.
--Oscar Wilde, Irish writer, 1854-1900
Judge a man by his questions, rather than his answers. --Voltaire, French writer and philosopher, 1694-1778
If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. By the end of the day, that one task accomplished will have turned into many tasks accomplished. Making your bed will reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right. --William McRaven, US Naval Admiral, 1955
The world is changed by your example. Not by your opinion.
--Paulo Coelho, Brazilian writer, 1947
Most men are not wicked...They are sleepwalkers, not evildoers. --Franz Kafka, Czech Jewish writer, 1883-1924
Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind. --Seneca, Ancient Roman philosopher, died 65 AD
Who makes us ignorant? We, ourselves. We put our hands over our eyes and weep that it is dark.
–Swami Vivekananda, Indian Hindu monk and philosopher, 1863-1902
Every time I think I want to be young again, I remember algebra and physics.--Ruth Brown, American singer and songwriter, 1928-2006
I think that the dying pray at the last not “please,” but “thank you,” as a guest thanks his host at the door.
WWhat are you reading?
The Last Word Taylor Adams
Review by Lori Steed
e’ve all read a book or watched a movie or TV show and thought, “That was hours of my life I’ll never get back.”
To be clear, The Last Word by Taylor Adams is NOT that kind of book. But Murder Mountain, the fictional book at its center, is. Reader Emma Carpenter’s favorite two words in it were The End. She is so annoyed that she pens a scathing one-star review, only because zero-stars wasn’t an option. The author responds, asking her to take it down. When she refuses, he demands she remove it…or else. This sets off a chain of events that will give any reader second thoughts before leaving a negative review. (By the way, did I mention what a great writer Taylor Adams is?)
I loved this book. There was a moment, in the beginning, when I wondered what I’d gotten myself into. But once the book got rolling, it was a wild ride. We’re talking Six Flags level of wild ride. The book is cleverly written, and Adams does a masterful job of guiding the reader’s experience. I want to say so, so, so much more, but this is a story you need to read with NO SPOILERS.
For the best experience, read it with a friend, not only for the shared trauma, but also so you have someone to share all the Oh my gosh, did he just…?! moments. (Remember back in the day when we watched “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives” together? Yeah, it’s like that but without the steamy parts.) Not recommended for the faint of heart.
Lori Steed is currently working on a novel inspired by her dad’s misadventures as a kid. She hopes to one day see it on the shelf at Paperbacks Galore in Longview, where she works. You can read more of Lori’s writing on her blog at nw-scribes.com
ATTENTION READERS
Read a good book lately? Share your impressions and thoughts with other CRR readers. Email alan@alan-rose. com or publisher@crreader.com for info. Writers and non-writers welcome, editing services provided, and can be based on phone mini-interview if preferred.
Books Located in the historic Castle Rock Bank Building 20 Cowlitz Street West Mon-Sat 8:30–5 • Sun 10–4 360-916-1377
We Make the Complex Simple
Our escrow officers and underwriters have the experience to help you navigate the most challenging details. That expertise, paired with our unrivaled experience in the market, makes for a smooth transaction and lets you focus on what really matters: providing celebratory closings.
Experience a new level of simple. Contact us today.
--Annie Dillard, American author, 1945 Longview native Debra Tweedy has lived on four continents. She and her husband returned to her hometown in recent years, largely due to Lake Sacajawea and the Longview Public Library. Newly-relocated to Springville, Utah, to be near family, she remains part of CRR’s editorial team from afar.
Whew! During this summer’s hot spells, my umbrella has come in handy for protection from the SUN more than the rain! I wouldn’t mind a little rain, in fact.
Umbrella Man Since 2004
PS: I am not an elected official.
Stewart Title Company Columbia-SW Washington 1011 Washington Way Longview, WA 98632 360.575.9845
stewart.com/longview
1. Remarkably Bright
Creatures
Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
2. Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir, Ballantine, $22
3. Martyr!
Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18
4. The Frozen River Ariel Lawhon, Vintage, $18
5. Demon Copperhead
Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Perennial, $21.99
6. I Who Have Never Known Men
Jacqueline Harpman, Transit Books, $16.95
7. A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping
Sangu Mandanna, Berkley, $19
8. All Fours Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $19
9. Sandwich
Catherine Newman, Harper Perennial, $18.99
10. The Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman, Penguin, $18
Brought to you by Book Sense and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, for week ending Aug. 3, 2025, 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
PAPERBACK NON-FICTION
1. On Tyranny Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
2. The Wager
David Grann, Vintage, $21
3. Braiding Sweetgrass
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $22
4. The Light Eaters
Zoë Schlanger, Harper Perennial, $19.99
5. The Wide Wide Sea Hampton Sides, Vintage, $19
6. On Island Time Chandler O’Leary, Sasquatch Books, $24.95
7. The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Amy Tan, Knopf, $36
8. The Art Thief Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
9. The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., Penguin, $19,
10. All About Love bell hooks, Morrow, $16.99
1. Atmosphere
Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $30
2. My Friends
Fredrik Backman, Atria Books, $29.99
3. James Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28
4. The Emperor of Gladness
Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30
5. Dungeon Crawler
Carl Matt Dinniman, Ace, $30
6. So Far Gone Jess Walter, Harper, $30
7. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil V. E. Schwab, Tor Books, $29.99
8. The River Is Waiting Wally Lamb, S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books, $29.99
9. Not Quite Dead Yet Holly Jackson, Bantam, $28
10. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
Stephen Graham Jones, S&S/Saga Press, $29.99
1. Everything Is Tuberculosis
John Green, Crash Course Books, $28
2. The Serviceberry
Robin Wall Kimmerer, John Burgoyne (Illus.), Scribner, $20
3. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This Omar El Akkad, Knopf, $28
6. Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak, Harper, $21.99
7. The Day the Crayons Made Friends Drew Daywalt, Oliver Jeffers (Illus.), Philomel Books, $19.99
8. Don’t Trust Fish Neil Sharpson, Dan Santat (Illus.), Dial Books, $18.99
9. Good Night, Gorilla Peggy Rathmann, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, $8.99
10. Little Blue Truck and Racer Red Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry (Illus.), Clarion Books, $19.99
BOOK REVIEW These wild and precious lives
By Alan Rose
TMy Friends
Fredrik Backman
Atria
he Swedish writer Fredrik Backman is the author of the international bestseller, A Man Called Ove (2012). His wry, dry Nordic humor is again on display in his latest novel, titled simply My Friends. It’s a celebration of the healing, redemptive qualities of art and friendship.
Alan’s haunting novel of the AIDS epidemic, As If Death Summoned, won the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award (LGBT category.) He organizes the monthly Word Fest gathering (info at left). Reach him at www.alan-rose.com.
Louisa, an eighteen-year-old aspiring artist and social outcast, is fascinated by a world-famous painting—a picture of the sea with three young people sitting at the end of a long pier—and she seeks to learn the story behind it.
She meets Ted, one of the three teens in the painting who’s now an adult. As her grumpy guide, he slowly unwinds the tale of them and of their friend, “the artist,” who painted the picture. (Like Ove, Ted is one of those lovable curmudgeons Backman does so well).
Louisa returns with him to the scene of the painting and learns what became of the four teenagers.
With homes defined by abuse, grief, and loss, their friendship was a refuge from the brutality and bleakness of their lives, when “they lay on the pier and drank cheap sodas and watched the sunset for free.” They were fourteen, a magical time of terrible jokes and silly adventures and fights bringing them close to not speaking to each other ever again, only to return the next day the best of friends.
…children know hardly anything about their parents, even if they live with them their whole lives. Because all we know about them is as moms and dads, nothing about who they were before that.
We never saw them young, when they still fantasized about all the things that could happen, instead of regretting all the things that never did.
– from My Friends
At the heart of the story is the gifted and disturbed teen artist, his life both tormented and made transcendent by “art that is a joy so overwhelming you almost can’t bear it.” (“There’s something very wrong with him, he wants to say, and the only time he doesn’t hate himself is when he’s
1. The New Girl
Cassandra Calin, Graphix, $12.99
2. A Wolf Called Wander
Rosanne Parry, Greenwillow Books, $9.99
3. The Lost Library
Rebecca Stead, Wendy Mass, Square Fish, $8.99
4. The Cartoonists Club Raina Telgemeier, Scott McCloud, Graphix, $14.99
5. Odder
Katherine Applegate, Charles Santoso (Illus.), Feiwel & Friends, $16.99
6. Miss Camper
Kat Fajardo, Graphix, $14.99
7. A Wolf Called Fire Rosanne Parry, Greenwillow Books, $18.99
8. A Whale of the Wild Rosanne Parry, Greenwillow Books, $9.99
9. Warriors, 3: Tigerstar and Sasha Erin Hunter, HarperAlley, $15.99
10. The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels
Beth Lincoln, Claire Powell (Illus.), Dutton Books for Young Readers, $9.99
painting…That’s the only time he ever feels like himself.” Perhaps not surprising, Backman writes in an afterword, “Telling stories is the only time I really like myself.”)
The novel has a timeless, fable-like quality. We don’t know where it takes place, or in what age—there are trains and cars, so it’s a modern setting—but it has a Once-upon-a-time feel to it. And as with all fables, there are little drops of wisdom dispensed along the way which help the characters (and the readers) make it through the often daunting and lonely experience of living.
One of these is the Mary Oliver poem, “The Summer Day,” which ends Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
In this modern fable on art and friendship, Backman reminds us that, whatever our age, we have one wild and precious life, and asks, “What do you plan to do with it?”
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:
WOODLAND
The Oak Tree
Visitors’ Center
Grocery Outlet
Luckman Coffee
CASTLE ROCK
In front of CR Blooms Center
LONGVIEW
Post Office
Forever Fit - 1211 18th Ave
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
Teri’s on Broadway (side entry)
In front of Freddy’s 1110 Commerce
YMCA
Fred Meyer (rack, service desk)
Grocery Outlet, OB Hwy
Fibre Fed’l CU - Commerce Ave
Monticello Hotel (front entrance)
Kaiser Permanente
St. John Medical Center (rack, Park Lake Café)
LCC Student Center
Columbia River Reader Office 1333 14th Ave. (box at door)
Omelettes & More (entry rack)
Stuffy’s II (temp. closed due to fire)
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)
Luckmans Coffee, Mountain Timber Market, Port of Kalama
Cowlitz St. W., near Vault Books & Brew
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, ORE
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
ST HELENS
Chamber of Commerce
Sunshine Pizza
St. Helens Market Fresh
Olde Town (near 2-Cs Vendor Mall)
Big River Tap Room
Safeway
WARREN
Warren Country Inn
SCAPPOOSE
Post Office
Road Runner
Fultano’s
Ace Hardware
WARRENTON
Fred Meyer
CATHLAMET
Cathlamet Pharmacy
Tsuga Gallery (rack, front entry)
Realty West/Computer Link NW
Puget Island Ferry Landing
SKAMOKAWA
Skamokawa General Store
NASELLE
Appelo Archives & Café
Johnson’s One-Stop
Oakie’s (rack, front entry)
ILWACO
Time Enough Books (entry table)
LONG BEACH
Long Beach Merchants Assn
OCEAN PARK
Ocean Park Chamber of Commerce 1715 Bay Ave.
Miss Manners from page 9
DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have an elderly friend who is a widow. I truly love her, but she texts me too much: often four texts in a row, day after day. How can I tell her in a nice way to stop?
GENTLE READER: By setting an example: Answer at your own pace.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: My sister’s family celebrates holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, etc. with family gatherings -- which are very lovely. However, they always set a time to open gifts in front of everyone.
I feel that this practice may put those who cannot afford splendid gifts in an uncomfortable position. What do you suggest?
GENTLE READER: That you should stop the nasty practice of evaluating presents in monetary terms, and appreciate them all as expressions of generosity.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: Do I need to place a fresh, unused bar of soap in the guest bathroom for every new guest I host? Sometimes people stay for just one night. Tossing soap that’s only been used once seems wasteful. Doesn’t soap “clean” itself with every use?
GENTLE READER: Does it? Miss Manners has often wondered about the mechanics of that herself. As long as the soap is adequately inspected and cleared of debris, she sees nothing wrong with reusing it. Just promise not to let it devolve into that weird splintering thing it becomes when it has clearly seen too many guests.
DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am a 63-year-old woman who finds herself frequently told by strangers that she resembles a famous actress of similar age.
I don’t find this actress particularly attractive, and therefore don’t know what to say when someone makes the comparison. I don’t know whether to take it as a compliment or merely an observation. “Thank you” seems to imply I’m flattered (which I’m not), but I don’t want to express offense when none was likely intended. Is there another option for reply?
GENTLE READER: “Hmmm.” Uttered flatly with no question mark or inflection other than one that indicates, “That is something that you just said.” cont page 33
DEAR MISS MANNERS: I belong to a group of ladies who are currently living in the United States. Their citizenship status varies.
One of our ladies comes from a part of the world that is now engaged in armed conflict. She has often spoken of the terrible carnage and loss of life, especially the children.
I would like to acknowledge her grief and despair, but I’m not quite sure what is appropriate. I don’t believe she’s lost any family members or people that she personally knows, so a condolence card doesn’t seem appropriate. And I’m certain that her politics and mine differ somewhat, so entering into a political discussion to show sympathy won’t work. She is in so much pain when she speaks of the loss of innocence. Can you recommend anything that would show her I care? I am friendly with this woman, but have not developed a strong relationship to her yet.
GENTLE READER: You can be sympathetic to this woman’s pain, Miss Manners assures you, without taking a stance on its source. “This is awful. I am so sorry” is all you need say, repeated as many times as necessary -- and with increasing emphasis if she tries to engage you in further political discussion. •••
(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, gentlereader@ missmanners. com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)
Change of Seasons
Columbia River Reader BOOK BOUTIQUE
Lewis & Clark, Longview’s Centennial, Columbia River poetry, art, history, see pg 2, 29, 39 Gift Subscriptions for yourself or a friend!
Mon-Wed-Fri • 11am–3pm, or by chance or appointment 1333 14th Ave, Longview Free local delivery of books 360-749-1021 GREAT
Where do you read THE READER?
Racketeering? Tennis pals abroad In Sept 2024, this group went to Berlin for the Laver Cup: L to R: Michele Waite, Longview, Wash.; Nancy McCoy, Cathlamet, Wash.; Chris Roalsvig, Longview, Wash.; Holly Guntermann, Cathlamet, Wash., Ann Wright, Longview, Wash.; Gavin Mills, Cathlamet, Wash.
Singapore Souvenir Shopping
Phyllis Cavens of Longview, Wash., and Rick Cavens of Wasilla, Alaska, in Singapore. Note Mr. Cavens is not reading the Reader, but rather, the Anchorage Daily News. And even Phyllis’s copy of CRR is missing the insides!
WHERE DO YOU READ THE READER?
Send your photo reading the Reader (high-resolution JPEG) to publisher@crreader. com. For cell phone photos, choose the largest file size up to 2 MB. Include names and cities of residence. Expect an acknowledgment within 5 days of submission; otherwise, please re-send. Thank you for your participation and patience, as we usually have a small backlog!
Along the Alaska Coast
Cathlamet resident Harley Badger enjoys the Alaska coast and Glacier Bay.
In the Land Down Under
residents
and
sightseeing at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia on a trip in April/ May 2025 to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary.
In the other Kelso
Bev and Larry Hanks, of Kelso Wash., visiting Scotland’s largest town square in Kelso, Scotland. They were jjust in time to get in the mood for this year’s Highlander Festival at Tam O’Shanter Park. see ad, page 25, and related story, page 37-38.
Rainier
Gary
Jackie Schiedler
Clatskanie Arts Commission kicks
Following the free Big Band Concert in the Park on Labor Day. performances will be held at either of two venues:
•Birkenfeld Theater
Clatskanie Cultural Center 75 S. Nehalem St., Clatskanie, Ore.
•Clatskanie Mid/High School 471 Bel Air Clatskanie, Ore.
Tickets range from $25–30, with a pre-season discount of 15% for five tickets or more, until Oct. 4.
For info, email clatskaniearts@gmail. com or call call Elsa 503-728-3403
Tickets: clatskaniearts.org
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.
HOW TO PUBLICIZE YOUR NON-PROFIT EVENT IN CRR
Send your non-commercial community event info (incl 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:
Sept 18 – Oct 20 by Aug 25 for Sept 15 issue.
Oct 17 – Nov 27 by Sept 25 for Oct 15 issue
Nov 27, 2025 – Jan 20, 2026 by Nov 10 for Holiday (Nov 25) issue
Calendar submissions are considered for inclusion, subject to lead time, relevance to readers, and space limitations. See Submission Guidelines above.
Outings & Events
Clatskanie Garlic Festival Pasta Palooza Aug 15, 6–8pm, Copes Park, Clatskanie, Ore. Pasta & garlic-charged sauces, Libations Garden; bring your own blanket. Sat, Aug 16, 10am–3pm. Festival in Copes Park. 50+ vendors, garlic bulbs for sale. At 6pm: Clatskanie Food Hub, movie: “Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers.”See story, page 15.
Oysterville: Pearl of the Peninsula Through Sept 6. Exhibits in Marie Powell Gallery and Luisa Mack Gallery, Ilwaco waterfront, Port of Ilwaco. Featuring artists Marie Powell, Penny Treat, Gregory Gorham, Anna Lee Larimore, and Luisa Mack. 177 Howerton Way SE, Ilwaco Wash. Info 360-244-0800.
Cascadia Chamber Opera Festival 2025 Astoria, Ore. Aug15,17,22,24. Fully staged, English-sung productions at the Charlene Larsen Center for the Performing Arts, 588 16th St., Astoria, Ore. Tickets/info: cascadiaconcertopera.org, or 503.338.9132. See ad,next page.
SquirrelFest 2025 Aug 15-16. Squirrel bridge tours, live music, kids’ activities, comedy night. Schedule: LVQUIRREFEST.COM
Movie Nights Under the Stars Aug. 15: Ghostbusters; Aug 22: Ghoonies; 6–8pm, at Lake Sacajawea Park, Longview, Wash. Sept. 26: Top Gun Maverick, at Mint Valley Golf Course. Bring blankets or lawn chairs. Pre-activities start at 7:30pm. Free.
Kalama Cultural Festival Aug 23-24, 11am–6pm; Port of Kalama’s Westin Amphitheater. Celebrating Hawaiian and Native American cultures of the Pacific NW. Live music, dance groups,vendors.
Victorian Garden Tour 10am, Sat, Aug 30 Flavel House Garden Society. Free. Guided walk through historic grounds. Details, Flavel House Garden Society Facebook page. Clatsop County Historical Society: 503-325-2203.
North Coast Big Band in the Park Monday, Sept 1 (Labor Day) 1–4pm. Clatskanie City Park. Free. Bring your own chair; bleachers available. Fundraiser for Clatskanie Arts Commission. www.clatskaniearts.org.
SW Wash. Mineralogical Society’s 69th Annual Rock and Gem Show Sat-Sun, Sept 6, 10–5; Sept 7, 10–4, Cowlitz Event Center. Free family fun, door prizes, demos, displays. Info: swmineralogicalsociety1@ gmail.com
Motherhood Out Loud Sept. 12–21. Series of vignettes show highs and lows of childraising. Stageworks Northwest, 1433 Commerce, Longview, Wash. Tickets $25/18/12. stageworksnorthwest.com.
Kelso Highlander Festival Sept 13-14. Highland Games, music, vendors. Tam O’Shanter Park, Kelso, Wash. See ad, page 25 and related story, page 37.
Journey Through the Highlands Flower Show Tam O’Shanter Park (small picnic shelter), Sat, Sept 13, Kelso Garden Club in conjunction with Kelso Highlander Festival. Entries and placement will take place from 8:00–9:30am, and judging in the “Danish style” begins 10am. The public is encouraged to enter the show. Visit kelsohighlanderfestival.com for details. Viewing open until 4pm
BROADWAY GALLERY
1418 Commerce Avenue, Longview Tues thru Sat, 11–4. Visit the Gallery to see new work. For event updates check our website: the-broadway-gallery.com, at Broadway Gallery on Facebook, and broadway gallery longview on Instagram.
FEATURED ARTISTS
August Community Art Show: “Community” Sept Guest artist Bernadette Crider (pottery),Gallery Member Ron Otis (poured acrylic painting).
Unique gifts!, beautiful artisan cards, jewelry, books by local authors, wearable art, original paintings, pottery, sculpture, photographs and MORE!
FIRST THURSDAY Sept 4th 5:30–7pm. Join us for Live Music and Refreshments
Classes & workshops available on our website or in store.
Ongoing August “Art Supply Sale” in classroom to benefit the Gallery, a Washington non-profit “Wine & Whales” Paint & Sip Sept 13, 2–5pm. Hosted by Lorena Bork and Debra Chase. Pre-signup required. Limit: 8 students. $55, ages 21+
OPEN Tues - Sat 11–4 Free Gift Wrap on request.
Voted one of top 3 Galleries in SW Washington.
/ Columbia River Reader / August 15, 2025
watercolorized sketch by the late deena martinsen
MUSIC in Rainier Park 6–9pm Aug 20: Robots Building Robots; Winn Alexander. Aug 27: Curtis Salgado and Alan Hagar. facebook/com/RiverTimeinRainier Oregon.
CAR SHOWS
Mountain Mania Aug 16, 8am–2pm, Downtown Castle Rock.
Untouchables Car Show
Aug 17, 8am–3pm, Downtown Kalama, Wash.
Unique Tin Car Show & Cruise
Aug 22-24, Cowlitz County Event Center, 1900 7th Ave.
Cool August Nights, Aug 29, 2pm to sunset. Longview Country Club, open to public, Bouncy house, face painting, live music.
THE
MINTHORN COLLECTION OF CHINESE ART
A gift from Dr. and Mrs. H. Minthorn to the community via Lower Columbia College Foundation, The Minthorn Collection of Chinese Art encompasses a wide range of styles and is displayed in the upper level of the Forsberg Gallery in LCC’s Rose Center, open M-Th 10–3. Free.
by Hal Calbom
in the spotlight
They’re troubadours from an ancient culture: Celts.
They’re emigres from a different planet: California.
They’re Oregon’s AML Trio. And this month they’re IN THE SPOTLIGHT…
Celts, Kilts, Cabers, and Clans
We can’t wait for the Highlander Festival,” said AML Trio’s Joseph Linahon in a recent phone conversation. “Kelso does a super job with it.”
AML’s busy summer (their acronymic name combines their three last names Adams, Martin, and Linahon) features pub and tavern gigs, Celtic Days celebrations, bistros, breweries and bashes, but nothing gets their IrishScottish muse kindled like a Highland Festival.
“Dancing, singing, and stomping feet,” said Linahon, “that’s the sound of a festival, and all the music we play is in that Celtic tradition. If people aren’t moving, we aren’t doing our job.”
AML is cheduled to perform at 1:15pm and 4pm on Saturday, September 13th.
Hal Calbom is associate publisher with CRRPress,and produces CRR’s monthly “People+Place” feature, see page 19.
The Light and the Heavy Joseph Linahon describes playing a festival as “making music while a lot of other stuff is going on.” Unlike clubs or concerts, festival gigs often offer less of a focal point than a sound track for a whole host of other activities, all keyed to the cultures we identify as Gaelic, Irish, Welsh and Scots: theatre, sports, songs, crafts, cuisine, and of course Highland Games.
Most notable is the charming contrast of spritely dancing and heavy lifting. Celtic dancers now appear regularly on PBS specials and Broadway, while he-men in kilts throw their weights around in sophisticated televised competitions — the stone put, Scottish hammer throw, the weight-over-bar, the keg toss, and the sheaf toss.
Who else but a rugged Scotsman, rain-soaked and single-malt fueled, could have come up with the caber toss — hefting a 20-foot, hundredpound pole and hoisting it head to toe, with a special regard for the landing. Aficionados consider it an accuracy event as much as a strength event.
The AML Trio at their favorite latitude.
courtesy Photo
Roots in the Celts
“We all migrated to Oregon from California,” said Joseph. “We were all musicians, heavy metal players in fact, but we loved the mountains and the rural country.” Describing themselves as “history nerds,” he cited “a love for the fantastical elements of life. We’d like to be characters out of Lord of the Rings.”
Today the Trio make their homes in Central Oregon, emphasizing it’s no accident that the misty, occasionally drenched Pacific Northwest occupies precisely the same latitude as their beloved Scotland and Ireland. “The air and the weather, it feels like that home turf,” said Linahon. “ You just want to put on a sexy raincoat and go out in it!”
The group recently released an album of traditional tunes, “Sons of Erin’s Isle,” and promise a show that sticks to tradition but seeks out the stomp. “We try to bring high energy to every tune, but also introduce what we’re playing and explain what it means to us.”
IF YOU GO
Highlander Festival
Sept 13 – 14
Tam O’Shanter Park
2115 Tam-O-Shanter Way
Kelso, Wash
I-5 Exit 39, east on Allen Street
Highland games, parade, food, crafts, music, beer garden, vendors and more Free Admission INFO
kelsohighlanderfestival.com Facebook.com/ highlanderfestival see ad, page 25.
Music:
AML Sat, 1:15 and 4pm Wicked Tinkers Sun, 12pm, 2pm, 4:15pm Beltaine Sun, 11am, 1pm, 3pm
Expect two great shows at this year’s Highlander Festival, and beware a misdirected caber pole or errant Scottish hammer.
PLUGGED IN TO COWLITZ PUD
By Alice Dietz, Cowlitz PUD Communications/Public Relations Manager
For more than 25 years, the Warm Neighbor Fund has been a beacon of support for families across Cowlitz County, helping those who struggle to pay their electric bills but don’t qualify for traditional government assistance. Entirely fueled by community generosity — through donations, events, and contributions from Cowlitz PUD employees — the fund reflects the spirit of neighbors helping neighbors.
A Recipe for Impact: Eat for Heat
Weekend for Warm Neighbor in 2024, featuring the first-ever Annual Warm Neighbor Golf Tournament. This event expanded outreach efforts and encouraged participation from across the region. The result? A weekend filled with camaraderie, community spirit, and more than $30,000 raised for families in need. The 2025 Golf Tournament is now sold out.
John Odden competed several years ago at the Highlander Games in Kelso.
Odden was #1 ranked Scottish Highland Games in Lightweight Class 2016 and 2017.
Come Experience a Wee Bit o’ Scotland!
Kelso’s Highlander Festival
Our own Kelso, Washington, was founded in 1884 by Peter Crawford, a native of Kelso, Scotland, who made a homestead land claim on the east bank of the Cowlitz River in 1847. To celebrate these Scottish roots today, attendees dress up in clan costumes and kilts, toss tree trunks and rocks to prove who is strongest, and toot their bagpipes every September in Tam O’Shanter Park.
Reader readers may remember that Kelso’s Highlander Festival started in 1962. It began as a summer festival to replace the Kon-Tiki raft races that had taken place on the Cowlitz River in earlier years. Ten years later, a bagpipe band was featured at the 1972 Festival, laying the groundwork for today’s festival. In 1976, the Highland Games made their first appearance. Over the years, various festivities have been featured, including the gathering of the clans, a shortbread baking contest, Scottish church services, a parade, vendors, and a beer garden. It’s a great weekend of history, music, food, and fun. See ad, page 25.
One of the most innovative and heartwarming initiatives supporting the Warm Neighbor Fund is Eat for Heat, a locally sourced meal kit program launched in 2017. Participants pick up meal kits filled with ingredients from nearby farms, restaurants, breweries, and wineries, then prepare them at home— bringing the community together around the dinner table.
Eat for Heat has not only fed over 2,000 people but also raised an impressive $80,000 for the Warm Neighbor Program. In addition, it has injected $70,000 back into the local economy by supporting small businesses. Its success has earned national recognition and forged a meaningful partnership with United Way’s Day of Caring, further strengthening its community roots.
A Weekend of Giving: The Warm Neighbor Golf Tournament
Building on the momentum of Eat for Heat, Cowlitz PUD introduced A
A Community United Together, these programs showcase the power of collaboration, creativity, and compassion. Whether it’s through a shared meal or a round of golf, Cowlitz PUD and its partners continue to find meaningful ways to support the Warm Neighbor Fund — and the people it serves.
As the Warm Neighbor Program grows, so does the impact of every donation, every event, and every volunteer hour. It’s more than assistance — it’s a promise that no neighbor is left behind.
Weekend for Warm Neighbor, September 11th for Eat for Heat meal pick up 3pm-5pm, and September 12th for the Golf Tournament.
For tickets to Eat for Heat or Sponsorship inquiries, contact adietz@ cowlitzpud.org or 360.501.9146.
Alice Dietz may be reached at adietz@ cowlitzpud.org, or 360-501-9146.
John odden crr file Photo
Mthe spectator by ned piper
Did you get your eagle?
y dad was an excellent golfer. He was just a kid when he first picked up the clubs, and became one of those rare golfers who made two or three holes-in-one in his life. He encouraged me to learn the game. Like Dad had in his youth, I, too, became a caddy at the Longview Country Club. During the summer, I spent most every
Saturday, from 6am until 8pm, hauling heavy golf bags around the links for anywhere from $3 to $5 per round.
Monday was my favorite day of the week. It was Caddy Day, when the caddies played for free. My buddies and I could play 36 holes before
dark. I got so I could drive the ball a long distance, but I was never sure where it was going to end up.
Years later, as an adult playing at the Club with three friends, we were on the beautiful, elevated eighth tee overlooking Longview. My dad was down on the green with his friends who happened to be playing just ahead of us. They were putting. I decided to go ahead and hit my ball, as I “knew” I’d never come close to driving that green.
But the ball sailed up and away off the tee, bounced in front of the green and rolled up 20 feet from the pin. Dad looked up and gave me a victory fist bump from afar.
When I got to the clubhouse, Dad said, “Great drive, did you get your eagle?” (An eagle is two putts under par.) I said, “No.”
Dad then said, “Well a birdie isn’t bad on that hole.” (A birdie is one under par) Again I said, “No.”
Incredulous, he said, “You got a par?” I replied, “No, I four-putted for a bogey.” Yup, one over.
And I’d always considered putting the strong part of my game.
Longview resident Ned Piper is mostly retired, but assists with CRR ads and distribution — when he is not enjoying TV sports or political talk (wrangling) shows.
A Different Way of Seeing...
THE TIDEWATER REACH Field Guide to the Lower Columbia in Poems and Pictures
THREE EDITIONS • $25, $35, $50
By Robert Michael Pyle and Judy VanderMaten
“Tidewater Reach is a pleasure to hold; it provokes delights, both intellectual and emotional. I commend all who were involved in bringing us this treasure. It deserves a place on your bookshelf and in your heart.”
-- Cate Gable, “Coast Chronicles,” Chinook Observer, Long Beach, Wash.
DISPATCHES
FROM
THE DISCOVERY TRAIL
A Layman’s Lewis & Clark $35
by Michael O. Perry
Mail Order Form, page 2. Or call 360-749-1021 FREE local delivery. Or purchase online: crreader.com/crrpress Shipping charge
Books also available at:
• Columbia Gorge Interpretive Museum Stevenson
• Broadway Gallery Longview
• Cowlitz County Historical Museum Shop Kelso
• Kelso-Longview Visitor Center, Kelso
• Vault Books & Brew Castle Rock
• Tsuga Gallery Cathlamet
• Redmen Hall Skamokawa
• Skamokawa Store Skamokawa
• Appelo Archives Naselle
• Time Enough Books Ilwaco
• Marie Powell Gallery Ilwaco
• Godfathers Books Astoria, Ore.
• RiverSea Gallery Astoria,Ore.
• Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum The Dalles, Ore.
