CRR May 2020

CRREADER.COM • Vol. XVII, No. 178 • May 15, 2020 • COMPLIMENTARY Helping you discover and enjoy the good life in the Columbia River region at home and on the road

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT THE TIDEWATER REACH Center Section

“A Different Way of Seeing”

People+Place

Why we thrive ...

EDGINESS PIONEER SPIRIT INDUSTRIOUSNESS ADAPTABILITY POPULISM

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page 26

COLUMBIA RIVER

dining guide

KELSO HISTORIC WALKING TOUR • GROW A GARDEN ON YOUR PORCH Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 1

COLUMBIA RIVER READER COLLECTORS CLUB

LEWIS AND CLARK REVOLUTIONIZED What really — truly — happened during those final wind-blown, rain-soaked thirty days of the Lewis and Clark Expedition? Southwest Washington author and explorer Rex Ziak revolutionized historical scholarship by providing the answers: day by day and week by week. We’re delighted to offer In Full View, and Rex’s other two books, one with an extraordinary fold-out map, as our inaugural offerings from CRR Collectors Club.

CRREADER.COM Helping you • Vol. XVI, No. 176 • discover and enjoy March 15 – April 15, the good life in the 2020 • COMPL Columbia IMENTARY River region at home and on the

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MOSS IN YOUR LAWN ?

What to do page 15

IN FULL VIEW Rex Ziak

ONE RIVER MANY VOIC , ES WASHINGTON POET LAUREA ’S TE COMES TO WAHKIAKUM COUNTY

$29.95

page 14

People+Plac

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

EYEWITNESS TO ASTORIA Gabriel Franchére

COLUMB

page 28

IA RIVER

Cutting Edg

dining guide

ESCAPE TO

The art of

the wood

cut

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page 19

BARCELO

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TURED CHE

F” RETURNS

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

We send a printed notification card to your recipient THE TIDEWATER REACH

DOWN AND UP Rex Ziak $18.95

The

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A unique fold-out guide mapping day-byday Lewis and Clark’s journey from the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean and back.

Field Guide to the

Lower Columbia River in

Poems and Pictures

Field Guide

Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures Robert Michael Pyle and Judy VanderMaten.

Boxed Signature Edition, Color and BW $50 / Trade paperback $25

to the

Lower Columbia River in

Poems and Pictures

“It’s a different way of seeing.” A one-of-akind Field Guide to the lower Columbia, in poems and pictures. Now available from Columbia River Reader Press for pre-order in NOW ACCEPTING PRE-ORDERS • SEE INSERT two editions, to be published in May..

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diting the Reader this month, combing through each piece, placing the paragraphs and headlines and photos and sprinkling the advertisers’ messages among them, I count my blessings.

Not only are we still in business, thanks to advertisers, friends and subscribers, we’re in business as usual. And that’s perhaps my greatest blessing of all.

What does that mean? That the optimism, whimsy, editorial diversity, and wide angle view we’ve always strived for are here, like faithful old friends, buoying my spirits this month as they do every month. That the “good life” we pledge to help you discover and enjoy is still within our reach and out there if we look for it.

That our very own “corps of discovery” who come to work here every month have delivered yet again, and made me grateful and glad.

Yes, we have a global health crisis. And yes, our community and others must endure personal and economic pain.

But the blossoms are opening up around Lake Sacajawea, the days are longer and spring seems irrepressible.

Publisher/Editor: Susan P. Piper Columnists and contributors: Tracy Beard Hal Calbom Alice Dietz Karla Dudley Joseph Govednik Ted Gruber Rena Langille Michael Perry Ned Piper Perry Piper Robert Michael Pyle Marc Roland Alan Rose Alice Slusher Paul Thompson Debra Tweedy Production/Graphics Manager: Perry E. Piper Editorial/Proofreading Assistants: Merrilee Bauman Michael & Marilyn Perry Debra Tweedy 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 Website: www.CRReader.com E-mail: publisher@crreader.com Phone: 360-749-1021

Sue’s Views

Business and Pleasure as Usual.

eating the garnish gracing your plate.

Marc Roland, always optimistic, defines social distancing this month as “drinking more wine with fewer people.” Sounds good to me. If we think we’re forlorn and losing our way, Mike Perry reminds us of William Clark’s trip down the Jefferson River when the Expedition split up on their way home and miraculously — it seems to us — found their way back together hundreds of miles later.

Submission guidelines: page 30.

General Ad info: page 8

Ned Piper 360-749-2632.

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

Sue Piper

In this Issue

“Ferry Landing” Photo by Judy VanderMaten

Columbia River Reader is published monthly, with 15,000 copies distributed free in the Lower Columbia region. Entire contents copyrighted by Columbia River Reader. No reproduction of any kind allowed without express written permission of the publisher.

Opinions expressed herein, whether in editorial content or paid ad space, belong to the writers and advertisers, and are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Reader.

P.S. And to top it all off, the gardenia plant I’ve been babying at home is now in bloom. It’s a miracle! Blessings abound. Be of good cheer!

Columbia River Reader . . . helping you discover and enjoy the good life in the Columbia River region at home and on the road.

ON THE COVER

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It’s all here, this month. Business — and pleasure — as usual. Thank you, faithful contributors. And you, advertisers, readers and friends.

Doing our bit for the quarantine? Of course. Alice Slusher shows us how to put a “CoVictory Garden” on the porch. Rena, Tracy and Joseph take us on armchair travels just waiting to be explored as the roads and vistas begin to open again to us. Bob Pyle proves in his inimitable way that ornithology isn’t just for the birds, and Alan Rose manages to make “The Big One” and resulting tsunami both terrifying and fascinating.

And so is the Reader. Miss Manners has shown up promptly as usual, adding great gravitas to where you store your kitchen utensils and the niceties of

From The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures by Robert Michael Pyle and Judy VanderMaten.

Columbia River Reader Press, anticipated release May-June 2020.

Hal Calbom and my own Piper Boys all take stock — how we help, how we flourish, how we thrive.

2

CRR Collectors Club

4

Letters to the Editor

5

Miss Manners

6

Roland on Wine: Re-thinking Wine during Social Distancing

7

Dispatch from the Discovery Trail ~ Chomping at the Bit

9

Biz Buzz

10

Northwest Gardening: Grow a CoVictory Garden on your Porch

11

Me and My Piano: Karla Dudley

12

The Confluence Project

14

10 Hikes in One Day: Silver Falls

15

Museum Magic: Kelso Historic Walking Tour

17-20 People + Place ~ What We Do: Why We Thrive 22

People+Place Recommended Books

22

Where Do You Read the Reader?

23

The Natural World/Tangled Bank Essay: Magpie Song

24

Besides CRR, What Are You Reading?

25

Cover to Cover ~ / Book Review / Bestsellers List

26

Lower Columbia Dining Guide

27

Man in the Kitchen Classics: Garlic Bread

29 Lower Columbia Informer: Help Local Food Banks 30-31 Outings & Events Non-Calendar 31

Quips & Quotes

33

Astronomy ~ The Sky Report

33

Benefits of a Pandemic

34 34

The Spectator: Maybe the Sky IS Falling!

Plugged In to Cowlitz PUD: The Osprey Cam’s Fifth Year

Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 3

Letters to the Editor During the Lockdown Thanks for being there.

Tom Kilbourn Seattle, Wash.

Editor’s note: Tom Kilbourn is a Longview native and longtime CRR subscriber, and frequent visitor to his old hometowm.

Pre-ordered The Tidewater Reach Best wishes with this CRRPress first book publishing. I look forward to receiving my signed boxed edition when ready. Thank you!

Achieving Excellence in Property Management, Commercial Sales, Leasing and Development

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Todd Amundson Brush Prairie, Wash Editor’s note: Mr. Amundson has preordered his copy of The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures, which will be printed and released shortly after covid-related business closures are lifted.

New subscriber I’ve enjoyed your paper for many years.

Now I’m giving myself a subscription.

Good work!

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Appreciates Alan Rose’s Reviews I just finished reading Alan Rose’s book review in the CRR whilst drinking a cup of tea, and chuckled when I read the quote about tea that he inserted from the book, The Splendid and The Vile.

Thanks to Alan for writing a good column. I always enjoy reading it.

May God surprise us all with joy this coming month. Blessings, Victoria Block Longview Editor’s note: This is one of thousands of complimentary notes the Alan’s book review gets each month (slight exaggeration, perhaps).

Ms. Block wrote in an email, “I wish more people would let others know when they appreciate their work. Sometime ago I read an article that said for every person who writes a letter to a business or author, etc, either positive or negative, there are one hundred people who thought that same thing but don’t write. So Alan can consider himself appreciated by at least 100 people,” based on Ms. Block’s note alone.

Mary Anne Gennette Longview, Wash.

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Check our website for recycling tips!

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Civilized Living

By Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin

DEAR MISS MANNERS: After dishes and utensils have been duly washed and dried, where is the proper place for them to be stored, if one is concerned with proper decorum and good taste?

GENTLE READER: In the drawer?

This feels like a trick question. Or one for which Miss Manners suspects the answer will be purposefully slapped on the breakfast counter in front of an unwitting spouse in order to resolve an ongoing grievance.

So ... you win?

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My girlfriend was divorced from her husband for 14 years. When he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, they remarried for legal/tax reasons. He died six months after that. How long should we wait before living together?

GENTLE READER: The question you have asked is easier to answer than the one you have not, but perhaps should have.

You make clear that the remarriage was, for lack of a better word, impersonal.

Those who are more fastidious than Miss Manners (an admittedly small group) may express concern at the propriety of a marriage “for legal/tax reasons.” If, however, you treat it as the financial transaction that it was­— and therefore neglect to make reference to it among friends and acquaintances — you will find your second problem solved, as no one can question you moving in with your girlfriend 14 years after her divorce.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am a senior male who was recently having lunch at the counter of a family restaurant. After my meal arrived, two younger men came in and sat on either side of me. They obviously knew each other, and began a conversation with me while I was in the middle trying to finish my lunch. They then proceeded to pass a cellphone to each other, over my plate, to show pictures of a car wreck that one had been involved in.

Mind you, there were plenty of empty seats at the counter on either side of them. They could have easily moved and sat next to each other. I felt this was extremely rude. What should I have said?

GENTLE READER: Please come down from the ceiling. Snapping at people never helps, and you should especially not be attacking those whose service and dedication you value.

GENTLE READER: “I was planning on eating alone today, and I seem to be in the way of your conversation. I think I will move so that you can more easily talk to each other -- and that I am not in the way of your elbows.”

Nevertheless, Miss Manners sympathizes with your annoyance.

And you needn’t cite your mother’s resume to justify her being addressed in the manner that she has always considered dignified. You need merely say that she is used to that form of address, and prefers it. “You know, it is the old-fashioned way,” you can confide charmingly. You should slip this in with appreciation, on behalf of the family, for their care.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: As social distancing continues, my more extroverted friends are getting antsy and sending texts asking to “pop by” to drop off a homemade treat. What is the most polite way to say, “No thanks”? My old go-to was, “Oh, that is so thoughtful, but we have plans and will be out,” but that obviously won’t work anymore.

GENTLE READER: “Oh, that is so thoughtful, but our plans now are to stay in, so we won’t be able to see you.”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My elderly mother has had a stroke and multiple falls, resulting in broken bones, and is suffering from dementia. Our family wants to honor her wishes and keep her in her own home for as long as we can.

This is made possible because my sister, our wonderful stepfather and myself are all actively involved in her day-today care. We also have the support of daily in-home help, along with regular visits from a nurse and two different therapists.

We are so grateful for this outside help: These workers are invariably kind and patient with Mom, which can be difficult, as she is stubborn and often cranky. We probably could not maintain her in-home care without them.

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Let us show you the products you want (rather than the ones we want you to buy), and we will get you the discounts and rebates you deserve. Don’t be mislead by big city advertising. This is your community and we want to earn your business the right way. If you have a funding request for something in our community, please call 360-423-4321 and we will send you a donation request form.

These outside helpers are also invariably professional — except that they all call my mother, to her face, “darling,” “sweetheart” or “dear.” It makes me furious. In her day, Mom was a union organizer who negotiated contracts for workers all over our state. She ran political campaigns for top state elected officials, and raised three children as a single mother. To say the patronizing way they address her chafes at me is a real understatement.

I haven’t said anything to her caretakers — yet. Part of me worries I am overreacting to a show of affection, and another part of me is sitting here stewing because I just overheard her occupational therapist call her “sweetheart.” I want to scream, “She is not your sweetheart! She is a retired professional woman, and at the end of her life, she has earned your respect! Call her Mrs. Jones!”

Please either talk me off the ceiling or give me permission to speak to her caregivers.

The correction won’t always hold, of course. The habit of expressing concern with those endearments is strong, and few people now understand the importance of dignity.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: We have a cousin who became engaged five years ago. Since then, he and his fiancee have had two children and are co-parents to a third child from a previous marriage. They own a house and are living as a married couple in everything but legality.

Is it proper to still refer to them as “fiances”? We see them frequently enough that they come up in conversation (i.e., “We spent the weekend with my cousin, his fiancee and their children”), and it feels awkward to specify a pending union when they are so clearly united.

GENTLE READER: Your cousin, his fiancee and their children apparently have more pressing things to do than legalize their relationship. Miss Manners suspects that you do, as well.

She therefore decrees that the whole assortment will henceforth be known as “the cousins” — as in, “We were going to go on vacation with the cousins, but they couldn’t make up their minds where they wanted to go.”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was invited to a 50th birthday with a cash bar, and I must pay $50 to attend. Am I obligated to bring a gift?

GENTLE READER: You are not even obligated to attend.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Twenty years ago, I introduced two of my dear friends to each other, and they immediately fell in love. Within a year, they were married, all the while expressing their gratitude to me for bringing them together.

During their engagement and the early part of their marriage, we cont page 6

Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 5

Roland on Wine

Miss Manners

Re-thinking wine

from page 5

Bad news and good news in time of social distancing

W

By Marc Roland

ine, at its basic level, is a beverage.

Some would say an essential beverage.

But it has evolved into so much more.

In some cases, it is not even a beverage we drink.

It’s a beverage we study and save. If we define “beverage” as something we drink other than water, then why don’t we drink it more? Some people collect wine to age to drink at a later time and some never intend to drink, they buy it as an investment or as a showpiece for their elaborate cellars. I understand this because I study wine.

I know that some wine can improve with extended aging. But I have never understood the idea of wine as an investment only. Too many things work against the success of this endeavor, like failure of storing it properly and the ups and downs of the wine market.

So how do people think about wine? I will have to admit that in the beginning people didn’t really think about wine, they just drank it because it was a safe alternative to bad water and was easily available. It could be made wherever grapes were found. But in the modern world, wine has become complicated.

That is what we do, as humans. We take the simple and expand it until it is something more.

Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate the wine world and how multi-faceted it has become.

I have also been sucked into the rabbit hole of cool labels, terroir, wine vocabulary, wine etiquette, vintage analysis, biodynamics vs organic, rock star winemakers, wine tourism, ad infinitum.

My guess is that I think about wine more than our readers do, so what is the point of this article?

We do think about wine, but often in a way that affects our attitudes in a negative way. We see it as a beverage for snobs and sophisticated types.

We can’t pronounce the name of grapes and feel embarrassed to try. We can’t make sense of what is a good wine and how it is rated. Worse yet, we rely on experts to tell us what wine is good.

This pandemic may change the way we think about wine. The social aspect of wine has defined the alcohol beverage industry . For example, the top selling brand in the world is Barefoot by Gallo. Here is what they say: “Barefoot believes that life is more fun when people spend time together.” They focus on bringing people together with their wine and try to introduce new friends to wines. These wines are fun, approachable and flavorful. If you believe this, then wine has no place in everyday life. So Beautiful People, drinking with friends, having fun, laughing, sex appeal, cool factor. Think Naked wine, Gnarly Head, and Ménage à Trois.

But does it matter if we are now drinking more wine with fewer people? I think it does. Maybe we should rethink the place of wine in our lives. Maybe we will take the time to discover what we really like, not what our friends like. Maybe we will learn more about wine and its benefits, and maybe we will search the shelves beyond the big brands. Take a chance and ask people what they are drinking, and then go out and find it.

I have been running a Zoom meeting every Tuesday called “What are You Drinking Tonight?”. It has been fun. The idea is finding out what people really drink at home. I have learned about brands that I have never heard of. Only rule, no pretenses, no competition.

Simply, what are you drinking tonight?

First Step: Go to Hop N Grape in Longview and get away from the grocery store (that’s where you buy food). Look around and try something different like Cabriz wine from Portugal. $8.99, cheap and good.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last, and my friends went through a bitter divorce 10 years ago. We have all drifted apart.

I have undertaken an ambitious project to convert my large number of old videotapes into updated formats, and consequently made DVD copies for my two old friends.

I felt that, whatever their current situations may be, the videos were part of their life histories and that they were entitled to them. I also hoped that it might be a good way for me to reconnect with each of them.

What happened? She wrote me a short note thanking me for thinking of her, but stated that she could not watch the DVDs, while he returned his with no message whatever. Each action hurt me.

Was I wrong to have shared these memories and dredged up the past? I had hoped to reignite my friendship with each of my old friends, but now feel that I’ve been solidly identified with a period of their lives that they’d both like to forget.

GENTLE READER: Yes. The second one. While your intentions might have been good, reaching out to the excouple with a bitter reminder of their past was not going to make them forget that you were part of it -- even though Miss Manners understands that none of it was your fault.

If you had wanted to connect with them and also see if they were interested in the recordings, you could have said, “I have been thinking of you and would love to get together. I found some old videos that I thought you might be interested in, but perhaps you can tell me if you would like copies of them when I see you in person.”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Assuming it is edible, is it proper to eat any garnish added to a plate of food?

•••

GENTLE READER: If it is on a food platter and is edible, sure. Just promise Miss Manners that you are not reaching for the flowers in the centerpiece.

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 360846-7304.

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

I am drinking more wine now that I have been staying home. This is both good and bad. The bad is I’m drinking more wine; the good is I’m drinking more wine! Nancy and I are savoring more alone time, which is hard to find these days. I hope this is the case with you, not like the ‘I’m ready to kill you’ cartoons on Auto, Home, Flood, Boat, RV, ATV Facebook. More wine means Business & Commercial Insurance & Bonding more motivation to find better 360-274-6991 values in wine, which leads 25 A. ST. SW • CASTLE ROCK • 866-514-3356 to the realization: If you are LIFE • DISABILITY • LTCI enjoying wine more often, you BUSINESS CONTINUATION FUNDING INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP MEDICAL need to find good wine for a FAST FRIENDLY SERVICE! good price.

6 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

spent much happy time together. Being an amateur videographer, I recorded a lot of this, resulting in a very detailed video record of the period.

Lewis & Clark

Chomping at the bit backfires!

A

s described in last month’s Dispatch, the Corps was anxious to start their homeward journey after spending more than four months at the mouth of the Columbia.

While they knew snow in the Rocky Mountains would be a major obstacle and, thus, planned to leave on April 1,

Lewis & Clark Encore We are pleased to present

Installment #24 of Michael Perry’s popular 33-month series which began with CRR’s April 15, 2004 inaugural issue.

“Dispatch from the Discovery Trail” helped define and shape Columbia River Reader in its early years during the Bicentennial Commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Each installment covered their travels during the corresponding month 200 years prior. We are repeating the series for the enjoyment of both longtime and more recent readers.

AGENT SPOTLIGHT ~

J

1806, they left two weeks early, hoping to escape the dismally wet conditions at Fort Clatsop. That was a mistake since the spring salmon run they had counted on was late and, therefore, no fish were available from the Indians at The Dalles. The men spent two weeks camped across from the Sandy River to obtain enough meat to make the trip to the Nez Perce villages in Idaho.

Anyone got a snowplow?

When they reached the Nez Perce villages in early May, they were pleased to find their horses still there. However, the Indians told them it would be at least a month before they could cross the pass due to deep snow. So the next six weeks were spent waiting.

Everyone was concerned about the Michael Perry enjoys local history and travel. His popular 33-installment Lewis & Clark series appeared in CRR’s early years and began its second “encore” appearance in April 2018.

Jillian Brockmöller!

illian has been with Windermere for nearly three years now, and one thing has become incredibly obvious: She loves helping her clients in any way she can!

Having grown up in Lewis County and living in Cowlitz County for a time, she knows the area better than most!

Jillian’s dedication to her family, friends, and her real estate business has left an impression that few can deny is just marvelous!

With two children at home and a wonderful husband, Jillian has still found plenty of time to continue pushing her real estate business, even during a pandemic!

In her off time, Jillian enjoys getting out and seeing the natural beauty the Pacific Northwest offers at every corner. Lying under the stars while camping, or watching it rush past her on a dirt bike, she knows this is her home!

What does Jillian enjoy the most about being a real estate agent? “I love people,” she says. “ I am more concerned that I am genuinely helping someone with this process than in any pay that follows.” If you are looking to buy or sell property, call Jillian — she can find you the perfect home or sell yours just as fast!

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delay since they wanted to get back to St. Louis that year, and a long delay might mean having to spend another winter at Fort Mandan in North Dakota.

On the road again!

Finally, on June 15, they started the dreaded journey across the Rockies. The Indians told them it was still too early, but as Lewis wrote, “every body seems anxious to be in motion.” Clark wrote, “I Shudder with the expectation with great dificuelties in passing those Mountains.”

They knew it could take a week to make the crossing. If the snow still covered everything, there would be no grass for the 65 horses, and without the horses they were doomed. A day later, as the horses grazed in a meadow surrounded by snow five feet deep, they realized they had left too soon. Still, they proceeded on another day and found the snow was ten feet deep and the trail was buried.

Benumbed and bewildered That night Lewis wrote, “here was winter with all it’s rigors; the air was cold, my hands and feet were benumbed. We knew that it would require five days to reach…

Colt Creek… short of that point we could not hope for any food for our horses as the whole was covered many feet deep in snow.

If we proceeded and should get bewildered in these mountains the certainity was that we should loose our horses and… we should be so fortunate to escape with life.”

Decision time The next day, Lewis wrote, “we therefore came to the resolution to return with our horses while they were yet strong and in good order and indevour to… procure an Indian to conduct us over the snowey mountains… knowing from the appearance of the snows that if we remained until it had desolved sufficiently for us to follow the road that we should not be enabled to return to the United States within this season.”

Thus, they began a “retrograde march,” after placing most of their supplies in an overhead cache made of poles hung between trees. The only things left to trade with the Indians were their guns.

No scams • No cookies We don’t steal your info No need for a charger No unflattering garish light cast on your face while you read Thoughtful and polite ads, not rude pop-ups

A week later, under promise of two rifles, some Nez Perce guides were hired and the journey began again, three months after leaving Fort Clatsop.

Early Fourth of July On June 24, Lewis wrote, “the Indians entertained us with seting the fir trees on fire. They have a great number of dry lims near their bodies which when set on fire creates a very suddon and immence blaze from the bottom to top of those tall trees…

This exhibition reminded me of a display of fireworks. The natives told us that their object… was to bring fair weather for our journey.”

Adieu to the snow The Indians knew where to find meadows on south-facing slopes that would be clear of snow and thus provide new-grown grass for the horses. While the snow was still many feet deep, it was solid enough for horses to walk on without sinking in more than a few inches most of the time. However, once in a while the snow would not support a horse and it would sink in to its belly.

Finally, on June 29, they “bid adieu to the snow,” and a day later reached Lolo Hot Springs. The men spent the next two days relaxing and recovering from the hard journey.

Divide and conquer Before leaving Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark had made plans for the return trip. They wanted to explore different routes, so on July 3 the party split up. Captain Clark, along with Sacajawea and most of the party, went up the Bitterroot River, back to Camp Fortunate where they had found Sacajawea’s tribe the previous year.

However, this time nobody was to be found since the Indians had gone east to hunt buffalo.

Sgt. Ordway “caches” in Clark’s group continued down the Jefferson River until reaching Three Forks on July 13. At that point, Sgt. Ordway and a detachment recovered the canoes they had cached the previous year and went down the Missouri River to Great Falls. There they would retrieve the material cached in 1805, and then continue on down the Missouri to meet up with Captain Lewis.

Clark mosies to Bozeman…

Clark took the rest of the party up the Gallatin River to present-day Bozeman, Montana, and followed Sacajawea’s directions to Bozeman Pass, leading to the Yellowstone River. Everyone planned to meet at the junction of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. …while Lewis goes to Great Falls cont page 9 Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 7

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Dispatch

from page 7

With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, President Jefferson bought all the land that drained into the Missouri.

Thus, knowing the Missouri River’s northernmost tributary was important, Captain Lewis wanted to see where the Marias River’s headwaters were. He and nine men took the Indian’s overland route from Lolo Pass to Great Falls. Six men were left at Great Falls to make

carts and help portage the canoes Sgt. Gass’s detachment would bring down the Missouri. On July 11 Lewis took three men and headed north to find the headwaters of the Marias River.

Next month, we will learn more about that deadly journey.

•••

The Corp would’ve been skunked — along with everyone else — on this year’s one-day smelt dip on the Cowlitz River Feb. 21 The Corps obtained some smelt from Chief Comowooll and a dozen members of the Clatsop Indians. Lewis wrote that smelt were “a species of small fish which now begin to run, and are taken in great quantities in the Columbia R. about 40 miles above us by means of skiming or scooping nets. On this page I have drawn the likeness of them as large as life… the scales of this little fish are so small and thin that without minute inspection you would suppose they to have none. I find them best when cooked in Indian stile, which is by roasting a number of them together on a wooden spit without any previous preparation whatever.”

The greasy little fish were a favorite of the Corps.

Biz Buzz What’s Happening Around the River Biz Buzz notes news in local business and professional circles. As space allows, we will include news of innovations, improvements, new ventures and significant employee milestones of interest to readers. Please phone (360)636-1143 or (503)556-1295 to share the local buzz.

Nick Lemiere recently earned the professional designation of Certified Financial Planner in a program that took him 15 months to achieve, with Nick Lemiere extensive courses on the fundamentals of investments, insurance planning, income tax planning, retirement planning, and estate planning. The desigation has for 30 years been the standard of excellence for financial planners, who also make a commitment to act as a fiduciary when providing financial advice to a client. LeMiere, an Edward Jones advisor for 10 years, said he plans to stay in his profession for the rest of his life. “It’s a very good fit for me and I enjoy helping people achieve a financial goal they were

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Lewis wrote, “I think them superior to any fish I ever tasted, even more delicate and lussious than the white fish of the lakes which have heretofore formed my standard of excellence among the fishes.”

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Northwest Gardening

Grow a CoVictory Garden... on your porch

D

By Alice Slusher

uring this challenging time in our world, more people than ever are turning to gardening to supplement their family’s food supply. No space for a garden? You can grow an amazing garden in containers!

Container gardening doesn’t take a lot of time to plant, water, and harvest, and very little, if any, weeding is required. No more muddy knees—no digging required. You can take advantage of any tiny sunny space in an otherwise shady yard, porch, deck or balcony.

You can place containers in any convenient, sunny area. Even in a spot with a very small footprint, you can grow vertically to take advantage of available space and light. It’s inexpensive—just a couple of tools, container, fertilizer, and potting soil...and plants!

You have more control over growing conditions—it’s easier to protect your plants from frost, hail, insects, and deer. You can plant your container earlier, too, since you can move it to a warmer, more sheltered area and easily cover it at night it keep it warm. In fact, the most important thing to remember about container planting is that YOU are in charge. The plants depend on you for everything. Water and nutrients, especially, must be carefully monitored every day if you want to have healthy, productive plants and a bountiful harvest.

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To start: decide what to plant What will you plant? Plant foods that your family likes! Bringing everyone into the decision process will also help them feel ownership of your little garden, and you’ll get more help that way. Tomato plants should be the “bush” variety that stays compact.

Location?

First, you need to be close to a water source—make it an easy job to keep your garden watered. If you’re planting warm weather veggies like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers/squashes, you need 6 hours of afternoon sunlight at a minimum.

Next spring (or this fall), if you want to plant cool season veggies like lettuce, spinach, or broccoli, you’ll need about 3-5 hours of sunlight.

What kind of container?

It can be anything you’d like, as long as it’s clean and has several drainage holes at the bottom. Those 5-gallon paint buckets are inexpensive and a great size to support just about any plant. You can choose 1-3 gallon pots for plants like herbs, green onions, radishes, and peppers. You also need WSU/OSU Extension Workshops & Events a saucer beneath it to catch runoff. White or light colored pots are Plant or insect problems? No in-person office hours, recommended. Hot summer sun on dark-colored pots cause heat but we can be reached: 360-577-3014 Ext.8 or damage to roots. Something to remember: As the season advances, cowlitzcomg/plant-and-insect-clinic your available sunshine patch may move; place your containers on a wheeled platform before you fill them so you can move them Our ONLINE workshops: as needed.

Garden Bytes Mini-workshops Noon-12:30 every Tuesday What kind of soil?

Contact WSU Extension Coordinator Gary Fredricks for topics and connection information.

360-577-3014 Ext.3, FredricksG@co.cowlitz.wa.us

Don’t use soil from your garden—it’s too dense in a container and will not be able to drain well. The easiest way to go is to buy premixed, general purpose potting soil in bags. This potting medium is light and fluffy for good root growth, drains well, is disease-free, and holds water and nutrients well. Some even have fertilizer mixed in. More on that later.

You can also add up to 50 percent of good quality compost from worm bins, your compost bin, or purchased. Place a screen or a recycled mesh bag at the bottom of the pot to keep soil from escaping (no pebbles or gravel). Now is the time to add a slow-release vegetable fertilizer to the container according to the package directions for your size pot. cont page 12

Kalama resident Alice Slusher volunteers with WSU Extension Service Plant & Insect Clinic. Call 360-577-3014, ext. 8, or send question via cowlitzmastergardener@gmail. com.

10 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

Lifelong Love Affair

ME AND MY

PIANO*

Pianos, pets and memories

*or other instrument

By Karla Dudley

I

’ve never lived in a home without a piano. In fact, I’m sure I probably heard my mother playing her favorite song, “Shine on Harvest Moon,” before I was born. I can still see her playing that song on our old upright piano with her left hand playing a swing base as an accompaniment. As I progressed in my own piano lessons, I can remember how old fashioned I thought that song sounded. Now I sometimes play it and am flooded with memories of my mother. Music does that... brings back images and memories of the past.

At 19, family issues forced me to give up college and come home. I was lost and needed a job and the first place I went was Korten’s music store. It was already a “home away from home,” since I had spent much time there as a piano student at my weekly lessons.

During the nine years I worked there I heard the sound of pianos being tuned every day. And recently when my own pianos were being tuned in my studio at home, I was instantly “transported” to Korten’s.

Even though I have purchased other pianos, I still have that old upright and can’t quite bring myself to part with it. It helped me through some tough times in my childhood.

Karla Dudley, circa 1950.

Courtesy photo

loneliness. I was an only child, not very social, and my piano and my pets were my best friends. Since those childhood days I have spent much time around pianos — playing for my own enjoyment at home, taking lessons myself, and teaching others.

When I was 13 my father died and I remember many hours spent at the piano. Somehow it helped me to get through those early days of loss and

My first major purchase as an adult was a Yamaha upright piano and yes, I still have that piano, too. It has been a teaching tool in my piano studio for many years and also a dependable friend that has served me well. The piano has opened many doors for me, allowing me to meet and share my love of music with so many people, and it has even provided an avenue for me to travel the world while teaching keyboard on a cruise line.

A few years back, I was finally able to purchase a grand piano. It was, for me, a huge bucket list achievement

“Me & My Piano” Reader Submissions

INVITED Share your story of your unique 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.

Don’t worry about perfect spelling or syntax. Just recall the ups and downs, most embarrasing moments, or whatever joy or sorrows music had on your life.

If your story is chosen, we will provide editing services and will contact you for additional details or embellishments as needed.

and I am amazed every day that after 60 years of “being in love with the piano,” I finally have this beautiful instrument. I know my mother would be so excited for me and I wish she could somehow appear and play “Shine on Harvest Moon.” I would not be critical of her performance.

••• Karla Dudley teaches piano in her private studio in Longview. Reach her at 360-5771366 or kcpiano@comcast.net.

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Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 11

CoVictory Garden

from page 10

Pre-moisten the soil before you plant. Pour water in the container, add a quart of warm water to start, and mix it in. Continue adding water until the soil is uniformly damp—not wet—like a wrung out sponge. Fill your pot to a half-inch from the top, then plant and water.

Feed your plants!

You should start a regular fertilizing schedule two months after planting. How much and how often? It depends on the type of fertilizer, the size of the container, if you frequently leach nutrients from the pot with excess water runoff, and the type of veggies you’re growing. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, summer squashes, and cucumbers should be lightly fertilized every two weeks with a water soluble fertilizer like Miracle Grow, or an organic choice such as fish emulsion. Both work quickly. Read the directions on the container for the correct amounts. More is not better, though. If your plants have lush green leaves but no blossoms, they may be getting too much nitrogen. Your garden will talk to you—listen to what it’s saying.

The Confluence Lewis and Clark along the Native American trails THE CONFLUENCE PROJECT is a small donor-supported non-profit group based in Vancouver, Washington. Their aim is to connect people to places through art and

Watering—it should be uniformly moist, but not wet. Don’t water from overhead—keep the leaves dry to discourage fungal diseases. The plants can’t take up nutrients from the soil if it’s too wet or too dry.

Check it with your finger. If the soil is bone dry about 3 inches down, water thoroughly until water just starts to drain from the bottom. If the water in the saucer hasn’t absorbed within an hour, empty the saucer. Take care not to let your container dry out completely.

Glitches—Most problems that occur with container gardens are related to lack of water (don’t let it dry out), poor pot drainage (waterlogged roots), lack of nutrients (choose your fertilizer method and stick with it), and over-crowding.

Let’s get growing! It’s time to get that CoVictory garden planted right now, or by the first week of June for warm weather veggies. Enjoy your garden and your harvest, and if this is your first foray into the world of gardening, I hope it makes you a gardener for life!

•••

Cape Disappointment Blessing Path

education. The Project consists of six sites panning 438 miles of the Columbia River, the last part of the route that Lewis and Clark took during their Voyage of Discovery. It begins in Clarkston on the Washington/Idaho border and ends at Waikiki Beach on the Pacific Ocean. Many Native Americans are veterans and know of the war memorial in Washington D.C. designed

by Maya Lin, so they asked her to work with the Project in designing and siting the monuments recognizing the Native American presence along the trail.

By Rena Langille

Last year, my husband, Pat, and I made the Confluence Project journey beginning in Clarkston and ending at Cape Disappointment. I was touched by Maya Lin’s work. Seeing the monuments in the quiet of their surroundings spoke to me like stories from long ago. I felt that, from the past, they were gently telling me of what had once been.

The sites are well situated. easily accessible, and each are unique to the environment reflecting the Indian’s way of life and spirituality. The trip was beautiful and Maya Lin’s installations are beautiful.

After much contemplation of what we saw, I would like to go back to revisit the monuments, to sit in the sun and soak up the stories that echo from the landscape of a not so long ago past.

The sites include Cape Disappointment State Park and Baker’s Bay, Vancouver Land Bridge, Sandy River Delta, Celilo Park. Sacajawea State Park, and Chief Timothy Park. Three sites we visited are easily accessible from Rainier/Longview and all the CRR distribution area.

Cape Disappointment State Park

From the parking lot at Waikiki Beach, follow the oyster shell-embedded path engraved with an Indian praise song, past an amphitheater to visit an old growth stump among the alders. Imagine the In an interview with the stump as a full grown tree standing in Portland Monthly’s Carmela the old forest of giant firs, hemlocks, Raymond, Maya Lin said of and cedars as it once was. Walk the trail the project, “For the tribes, to Waikiki beach. The path features a it’s about giving them a sense timeline of locations documented by of homeland, and a sense Lewis and Clark to the very last point of feeling that people will at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Think know that this is their place, about how it must have felt as the party this has been their place for was pelted by continual rain, soaked to the skin, and finally at their destination, thousands of years. “ realizing they would have to stay until the next spring after Rena Langille is a longtime reader and subscriber, of the mountain snowmelt to get and an occasional — and across the passes heading east always appreciated— and home. (Follow Hwy 101 contributor to Columbia north through Ilwaco to Cape River Reader. She lives in Disappointment. Discover Pass Seattle with her husband, required.)

Pat Trotter, who grew up in Longview, Wash.

12 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

cont page 13

Project

Photos courtesy of The Confluence Project • www.confluence.org

Baker Bay

Vi s i t t h e F i s h Cleaning Station and read the Indian creation story, then follow the path at the parking lot to a viewing/fishing platform among the alders. This is a nice place to sit and relax and enjoy a quiet view of the water.

At the Hwy 101 crossroads to Ilwaco, turn left to Baker Bay.

Cape Disappointment Estuary Overlook

Directions to Cape Disappointment State Park: Take Highway 101 N to Ilwaco, Wash. Continue straight onto Spruce St W and turn left onto 2nd Ave SW. Continue onto WA-100 South/Robert Gray Drive. The park entrance is at a four-way stop. Turn right to get a pass at the ranger station and see the oceanside Confluence features. Turn left at that four-way stop to see Baker Bay side sites, including the Fish Cleaning Table. The park is open to visitors from 6:30am to 10 pm.

Two views from the Fish Cleaning Station showing different tidal effects in Baker’s Bay.

Due to concerns over COVID-19, Washington State Parks, National Parks and USFS destinations have been closed; some have subsequently been re-opened, but with the status subject to change.

Please practice appropriate social distancing, wear a face mask when around others, take your own hand sanitizing supplies, and avoid parking lots and other crowded places.

Vancouver Land Bridge

The bridge connects the old Klickitat trail where the highway cut it off. This trail was used by tribes from eastern Washington, and along the Columbia River as access to food and to gather at the annual trade convention visited by tribes from as far away as Montana and Alaska.

Imagine hundreds and hundreds of Indians gathering for trade on the west end of the bridge and having one big party — gambling, dancing, and racing horses for days and days among campfires and roasting game.

Access the bridge either from the south off S.E. Columbia Way or the North at Fort Vancouver on 5th St.

Directions to Vancouver Land Bridge: There are two entrances to the Land Bridge in Vancouver, Wash.

The south entrance is on Columbia Way Blvd. at Old Apple Tree Park. From I-5, take Highway 14 east and take Exit 1 for SE Columbia Way toward Vancouver National Historic Reserve. Keep right, follow signs for S/Southeast Columbia Way. Turn right and drive west to the sign for Old Apple Tree Park. Park and walk under the overpass to the welcome gate of the Land Bridge.

The north entrance to the Land Bridge is just west of Fort Vancouver. From I-5, take Mill Plain Blvd east. Turn right at Fort Vancouver Way. Stay on Fort Vancouver Way through the roundabout and turn left on East 5th Street. The path to the Land Bridge will be on your right Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 13

Getting Outdoors

Silver Falls: Visit ten waterfalls in one day

A hike worth gushing about!

O

By Tracy Beard

regon and Washington offer a diverse landscape of mountains, forests, waterfalls, beaches and farms. They are ideal playgrounds for those who relish life in the outdoors. It’s easy to find waterfalls along the gorge or hike into quiet refuges in the woods to discover cascading waters, but Silver Falls State Park boasts 10 magnificent waterfalls within a less-than-10-mile hike. You can begin at any one of three different parking lots, and be prepared to pay a $5 fee for the day.

One of the things that make Oregon and Washington four-season outdoor destinations is their ecological diversity. Visitors can meander through old-growth forests where moss dangles from the trees like the long, disheveled hair of a woman after a restless night’s sleep, or they can hike beneath the forest canopy, wandering between the sun and shade while listening for the roar of thunder and a gentle kiss of mist as they near the cascading waterfalls.

Silver Falls State Park Silver Falls State Park opened in 1933, and the Civilian Conservation Corps completed a majority of the construction.

(Franklin D. Roosevelt devised the CCC as a federal program to help put young men to work after the Great Depression.) This temperate rainforest, located in the lower elevations of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains, is a great place to visit any time of year.

Each season offers a spectacular display of colors, and the mild The Trail of Ten Falls climate ensures that the park rarely closes due to The Canyon Trail/Trail of Ten Falls is an 8.7snow or ice. mile path that highlights breathtaking views of This trendy park covers 9,000 acres and is Oregon’s 10 waterfalls inside the park. There are several most extensive park, located approximately 20 connecting trails, so if that kind of mileage seems miles from Silverton. Each year, an average of daunting, take a trek on one of the shorter trails and more than 1.3 million visitors frequent the park discover equally eye-catching visions of individual during the day, and almost 80,000 people stay waterfalls within the park. overnight in tents, cabins or yurts or inside the The entire loop is considered a moderate hike with an 800-foot elevation change. Hikers and photographers RV campground. should plan on wearing good shoes as the trail is often wet from rain or spray from one of the falls. One of my Hikers, photographers, cyclists and horseback favorite falls is the famous South Falls. The path takes adventurers behind the 177-foot cascading curtain so riders can all enjoy the park. Look for signs that they can view the area from behind the water. Three other falls inside the park offer pathways that give detailing which trails allow certain types of visitors a behind-the-scenes view. cont page 32 adventure.

Due to concerns over COVID-19, Oregon State Parks have been closed; overnight camping is still prohibited, but day use may re-open sometime in May. Visit oregonstateparks.org; click on Covid-19 link to verify park is open. Please practice appropriate social distancing, wear a face mask when around others, take your own hand sanitizing supplies, and avoid parking lots and other crowded places.

Vancouver, Wash. resident Tracy Beard writes about luxury and adventure travel, traditional and trendy fine dining and libations for regional, national and international magazines and is a regular “Out & About” contributor to Columbia River Reader.

14 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

PROVISIONS ALONG THE TRAIL Tracy’s story ends with one of her easy & delicious recipes.

See page 36.

Local Culture

MUSEUM MAGIC

Kelso Historic Walking Tour

Here’s a good excuse to get out of the house!

By Joseph Govednik

1

Director, Cowlitz County Historical Museum

I

Cowlitz County Historical Museum

Start at the the CCHM parking lot located near the intersection of Fifth and Allen Streets. The CCHM was established in 1953 and operated out of the Administration Annex building up on Fourth Avenue until relocating to its present location in May 1979. Please come back to visit the museum when it reopens to the public. Head to the front lawn of the museum at Fourth and Allen Streets.

n going through a number of materials at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum, I came across a Kelso Centennial historic walking tour map from 1984. The downtown tour was funded by the City of Kelso Centennial Commission and designed by Ruth Ott, who co-authored A History of Cowlitz County in 1983. Although museums are presently closed, the streets in historic districts are not. This makes our community a larger-than life museum of architecture, place, and history.

2

Of course, there have been a few changes in the past 36 years, so I walked the tour and made notes of changes to incorporate into the revised 2020 Kelso Historic Walking Tour. Most notably, the current Allen Street Bridge completed in 2000 changed the landscape. With the weather getting nice, the opportunity is here to get a little exercise, sun, and soak up some local history. This map and complete tour will be available online at the museum’s website at http://www. co.cowlitz.wa.us/218/Museum. There are 16 stops on the tour; however, here is a brief sample of the first five to get you started.

Monticello Black Walnut Tree

This tree, located in the courtyard near the Museum’s west entrance, grew from a cutting from a tree planted on Darby Huntington’s land after the flood of 1867. The tree believed to be the original is located along Tenant Way in Longview. Out of 100 cuttings taken from the original tree, only eight were successful. One was presented to each of the major cities in the county, and Kelso’s was planted here. Head north on Fourth avenue to the museum parking lot entrance/exit.

NEXT STOP ON THE TOUR cont page 16

A

For more details visit the CCHM website.

Please make a note of local businesses and storefronts along this tour. They will appreciate your support once they re-open.

To: Centralia, Olympia Mt. Rainier Yakima (north, then east) Tacoma/Seattle

Raymond/ South Bend

Oysterville •

Chinook

•

Grays River

Cathlamet 4

Astoria Birkenfeld

Mount St. Helens

Skamokawa

WestportPuget Island FERRYk

101

101

Pacific Ocean

• Woodland Tourist Center I-5 Exit 21 Park & Ride lot, 900 Goerig St., 360-225-9552

Castle Rock

• Naselle

Warrenton •

Seaside

• Kelso-Longview Chamber of Commerce Kelso Visitor Center I-5 Exit 39 105 Minor Road, Kelso • 360-577-8058

504

Long Beach

Columbia River

Washington

Vader

Ocean Park •

Ilwaco

VISITOR CENTERS

FREE Maps • Brochures Directions • Information

Vernonia

Longview

Ape Cave •

Kelso

Clatskanie Rainier

Woodland

503

Columbia City St Helens

• Ridgefield

rnelius NW Co ad o R s s a P

To: Salem Silverton Eugene Ashland

Sauvie Island

Vancouver 12

Portland

• Naselle, WA Appelo Archives Center 1056 SR 4, Naselle, WA. 360-484-7103.

Local in

for

Points o mation f In Recre terest Special ation Dinin Events Arts & Eg ~ Lodging ntertain ment

• Pacific County Museum & Visitor Center Hwy 101, South Bend, WA 360-875-5224 • Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau 3914 Pacific Way (corner Hwy 101/Hwy 103) Long Beach, WA. 360-642-2400 • 800-451-2542 • South Columbia County Chamber Columbia Blvd/Hwy 30, St. Helens, OR • 503-397-0685 • Astoria-Warrenton Chamber/Ore Welcome Ctr 111 W. Marine Dr., Astoria 503-325-6311 or 800-875-6807

Col Gorge Interp Ctr Skamania Lodge Bonneville Dam

Troutdale Crown Point

97

Goldendale

• Seaside, OR 989 Broadway, 503-738-3097; 888-306-2326

•Yacolt

Scappoose•

Oregon

Cougar •

Kalama

• Wahkiakum Chamber 102 Main St, Cathlamet • 360-795-9996 • Castle Rock Visitor Center Exit 49, west side of I-5, 890 Huntington Ave. N. Open M-F 11–3.

Maryhill Museum

Stevenson Hood River Cascade Locks Bridge of the Gods

The Dalles

To: Walla Walla Kennewick, WA Lewiston, ID

Map suggests only approximate positions and relative distances. Consult a real map for more precise details. We are not cartographers.

Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 15

Thank You! P+P Sponsor Partners Community leaders supporting excellent journalism and spotlighting worthy organizations and programs.

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EXPRESSING APPRECIATION FOR ALL OUR MEDICAL COMMUNITY.

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A 3

from page 15

KELSO HISTORIC WALKING TOUR

Please support the local businesses that are open during this challenging time, and the ones that will begin to open back up.

Oregon Trail Marker

This marker was furnished by the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. It was originally placed near the Cowlitz River on Pacific Avenue in 1916. However, due to changes in the area it was relocated to the 4th Street entrance to the Museum parking lot.here. Head north on Fourth Avenue crossing Academy Street.

We’re all in this together.

4

Former St. Mary’s Catholic Church

5

Cowlitz County Courthouse

The Assembly of God church was originally a Catholic Church, erected in 1925. It served as a Catholic Church until 1979, when the Kelso Assembly of God took possession after the new Catholic Church was built on east Allen Street. Head west across Fourth Avenue.

Crossing Fourth Avenue, heading south to Academy Street, walk along the exterior of the Courthouse, now serving as the County Administration Building.

The building is located on the Donation Land Claim of Peter Crawford.

It is also the location of the first school house in Kelso (built in 1889).

Kelso is Cowlitz County’s fourth county seat; first was Monticello, then Freeport, and then Kalama. In 1922, Kelso won an election over Kalama and all county records were relocated. This building was completed in 1923, and an addition was built onto the north side in 1939.

Find details for the full 16-stop Tour at http://www.co.cowlitz.wa.us/218/Museum 16 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

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Hal Calbom

Production Notes

What we do. Why we thrive.

Qualities of Life

AT THIS MOMENT with the world on hold, it seems appropriate to take stock. Last month we identified, based on a couple dozen interviews with our fellow Lower Columbians, a set of traits that we think typifies our breed: entrepreneurs, seekers, creators, engineers, mavericks, among others.

This month we’re extending the assessment. What do we do in these places? How do we do it successfully?

What traits of character do we share that not only help us maintain the quality of life we enjoy, but the qualities of that life. The way we do the things we do.

Hal Calbom

Shipwrecks

I firmly believe that what got us here will get us through.

Phileas Fogg

The people and places I’ve come to know over the last 24 months convince me that we in the Pacific Northwest, and especially in our own Lower Columbia, have fashioned a unique and extraordinary identity.

Workaholics Crusty Bivalves

For better or worse, most of us aren’t deeply introspective or self-reflective. Too busy. Too outward focused. Too suspicious of systems, processes, technique, rules, philosophy. We craft our own personas, each to his own, without a lot of analysis or self-consciousness.

Card playing, dancing, and demon rum

The last thing any of us want to be known as is a “type.”

It’s left to those of us who practice analysis for a living — writers and artists, not just shrinks — to draw a few conclusions once in a while. To look for a few trends, assess, take a snapshot in time.

Right now it seems especially useful to reflect and consider ourselves, remind ourselves who we really are.

I’ll tip my hand. The five qualities — leaving out, of course, a host of others — I’ve chosen are adaptability, the managing of constant change; pioneer spirit, the willingness to step outside the box; industriousness, working harder than the next guy; populism, an inherent belief that we all are basically equals; and edginess, a love for the shore, the frontier, the new, the risky.

Because we so resist typecasting you’ll find contradictions and paradoxes in what follows this month, that in fact going off script and defying the stereotype is a rather common, and in many cases, beloved type we share.

If it provokes your thinking and stimulates a moment’s reflection, let it be positive. We are blessed here to live among good people in a great place. That’s basis for pride, for confidence, and for hope.

•••

Photo courtesy of Cannery Museum, Astoria.

EDGINESS the seductive shore “We just need more shipwrecks.”

~ Karla Nelson, owner Time Enough Books. Ilwaco

There’s something about us that loves a shore.

Or a riverbank, or a creekside or a long dock extended out over salt or fresh water. We take comfort knowing we’re not confined, pent up, insular.

Call it Edginess. Whether we get our feet wet or not, the idea of a prospect, a frontier, an escape horizon — often over or in water — appeals to us and seduces us.

Of course there’s another meaning to the term: not the nervous kind of edgy but the edginess of the provocateur, the explorer, the tester of the status quo.

We can be irreverent and facetious. We can be fresh.

Bookseller Karla Nelson reacted to the President’s offhand comment by promptly putting up a table of “Authors from *@!#-hole Countries.”

Karla Nelson featured books from *@!#-hole countries.

Maybe it’s because we’re not unfamiliar with mold, rot, and rust, but we don’t much like things stale. Even if we don’t plunge in, there’s usually a healthy breeze coming off that water.

the shore, appeals to us. The power and freedom of it. The adventure, the peril. When the New Carissa went aground near Coos Bay some years ago people flocked to the shore and filled up the nearby towns.

There’s edginess that’s temperamental, too. Impatient.

Daringly innovative. Risk taking and mercurial. We’re often here because we grew tired of where we were.

Edginess can be iconoclastic and rule breaking and risky. But it offers its own kind of fearlessness and optimism, too. There’s always adventure and possibility and hope out there, somewhere...

Even snugged up in our cabins or warmed by our fires, the idea of getting out, the idea of the edge, the walk on

Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 17

People

People + Place on survival, coping, Expedition chafed and complained more about the destination — the rainy and gloomy Oregon Coast — than any of the hardships encountered getting there.

Today we celebrate the bridges we’ve built, the roads we’ve paved, the toeholds of civilization we’ve carved out of the forests and erected on pilings by the riversides. But we delude ourselves if we talk only about our visions and dreams. The pioneer spirit is mostly toughness and survival.

Even that romantic covered bridge at Grays River is subject to disillusionment.

We didn’t build covered bridges to shelter sleighs-full of capering, rosycheeked pioneer partiers. We built them for cattle and other livestock who could be spooked crossing water or slip off conventional bridges grown mossy and slippery and dangerous.

Pioneer Spirit is the spirit of resilience, perseverance and guts.

PIONEER SPIRIT journey of a thousand steps “Everybody’s invited to serendipity’s picnic, but you’ve got to accept the invitation.” ~Robert Michael Pyle, Author

Gray’s River

Pioneering starts in the head and heart.

finally arriving at their Promised Lands, choked by dust and baked by searing heat. They find ramshackle accommodations, if any, and the host of fellow jaded and disappointed dreamers who’ve preceded them.

Even our own Lewis and Clark

It’s an act of the imagination first, transformed into plans and maps and logistics and, ultimately, into footsteps.

It’s gazing across the river, the mountain, the valley, the plain, and envisioning something hopeful, possible, on the other side. Then, it’s getting there. An act of will.

Despite being the stuff of countless novels, stories, and campfire yarns, real pioneering is almost entirely without romance. The treks are hard, the rations meager, the spirit tested. It’s Okies fleeing the Dust Bowl for wretched roadside camps outside Bakersfield, not Phileas Fogg flying around the world in eighty days. Think Tom Joad, not Tom Swift.

INDUSTRIOUSNESS a good life’s work “My grandpa carried it all on his back. My dad’s era was blocks and tackle. Now my son is a crane operator, one of the most important jobs on the dock, six stories up in his air-conditioned cabin.” ~Chris Panis Whiteside

Longview

Almost inevitably the true test of the pioneer spirit is the destination itself. Our history teems with sad tales of westward-bound emigrants

The Promised Land is more likely to be The Promised Job. Robert Pyle’s home, Swede Park, overlooks the covered bridge.

STILL HERE AFTER 38 YEARS

But our Columbia Theatre needs everyone’s help. Coronavirus closures caused the loss of revenue from the Theatre’s annual fundraiser, and many canceled shows. Please help keep this community gem surviving, and thriving. More info,page 30

The Evans Kelly Family PLEASE DONATE $38 NOW!

One of Longview’s pioneer families.

columbiatheatre.com

18 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

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The Panis family came here when stevedoring jobs shut down in their native Hawaii and opened up on the Lower Columbia. Their better life was rooted in a vision of better work, and still is.

A “Virtual Hug” and Thank you!

~ From Avamere at St Helens

Springlake Community, Inc

Donated hand-sewn masks by Sue LaCamp, Lois Corliss and Ginny Horton

Means Nursery

Donated Easter flowers for our residents

Domino’s Pizza – Donated pizza for staff, courtesy of Franchisee David Orr Celebrating 20 years providing excellent care to our residents in Columbia County and standing by our mission:

“To Enhance the Life of Every Person We Serve.”

Suzanne Hansen, RN BSN Donation of masks, snacks for staff Sunshine Pizza and Hidden Valley Donated pizza for Avamere staff

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+ Place

, managing change, adapting, and thriving Indeed, the siren song that drew most of us out to this forlorn, unsettled, isolated northwest corner in the first place was economic, not environmental. To this day we lure engineers and software savants here with promises of the boating and skiing, the flannel shirts, coffee shops and campfires.

But those are mere frills, fringe benefits. In this Territory of Toil it’s usually the quality of the employment, not the quality of life, that draws and sustains us.

Disguised behind our laid-back image, our pioneering spirit and our edginess, is a work ethic bordering on the fanatical. We are above all things industrious. Not just at our jobs or vocations, but in our avocations, too — our obsessive green thumbers, fastidious boatmen, mountain bikers logging five hundred miles a week. We do few things casually.

Karl Marlantes’s magnificent book Deep River chronicles immigration, assimilation, politics and cultures clashing. But mostly it’s a hymn to hard work. Individual industry. To generations that came here for better jobs, and then competed to outwork the other guy. To successive waves of newcomers, outsiders willing to do more work, cheaper, and displace those who’d displaced the previous generation themselves. To battle lines forming between those who owned and those who labored. To a politics grounded not in philosophies of governance but in the currency of work: hours, job descriptions, safety standards, wages.

Today we count the price of our industriousness — forests harvested, wetland displaced, fish and natural resources compromised. But the quality of life we sell so earnestly today is based on the quality of those jobs: the homes built, the children educated, the communities grown.

Chris Panis is the daughter and mother of Longview stevedores.

ADAPTABILITY motion and repose “I love being out on the grounds at low tide. There’s always things to do, challenges, decisions to make.”

~Ken Wiegardt, Oysterman Nahcotta

We’re the original change agents.

Even the most venerable, settled in and comfortable among us count our time here in decades, not centuries or millennia. With one foot firmly planted in the present, we still scheme: an improvement, an addition, even a complete change, an abandonment, an entirely new venture.

We have the zen-like quality of being both content and restless at the same time. Cruising in the predawn calm on Willapa Bay with Ken Wiegardt, we celebrate his routine: the daily checking on his oyster beds, the small fleet of boats, floodlights aglow, scooping the crusty bivalves off the shallow bottoms, only five to fifteen feet below the surface.

The dawn is glorious and iridescent and new.

Yet this most remarkable of ecosystems is also among the most fragile and impermanent. Each day, powerful Pacific tides replace half the water in the Bay, day after day, and freshwater rivers dump minerals, nutrients and marine life into the roiling

Ken Wiegardt’s oyster

mix. Shellfish adapt shuckers each average endlessly to changes in 5,000 oysters a day. this brackish stew, and invasive species of shrimp burrow into the mudflats and degrade the habitat.

Like other farmers, Ken Wiegardt lives with the paradox: three generations occupying the very same patch of watery ground, with the appearance of permanence, yet entirely dependent on weather, prices, demand, government regulation, politics, and the fickle whims of nature.

His adaptability is rueful. He doesn’t relish the trip to Olympia to testify in the latest hearings on the pesticide that controls the invasive shrimp but has been targeted by environmental activists.

He fears trade restrictions with China, one of his biggest and steadiest customers. He knows his family’s next generation may not even embrace the oyster business, abandoning these trips out on the grounds in the calm dawn.

Hopefully, like the larvae, the “spat” growing beneath his keel, he will simply continue to adapt.

cont. page 20

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Proud sponsor of People+Place Proud Sponsor of People+Place Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 19

People + Place In 1925, the new town’s citizens built their own theater, which hosted vaudeville shows and silent movies. In the seventies it was closed when multiplexes began to replace movie houses, and condemned for destruction. Fortunately, the community had a change of heart and saved the Columbia Theater in 1980. Ironically, the equipment poised to demolish the lavish place had been called into emergency service when Mt. St. Helens blew in May 1980.

Today, the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts hosts a variety of programming as diverse as the citizenry itself — cowboy bands, operatic ensembles, barbershop quartets, classical repertoire. According to impresario Gian Paul Morelli, many high-profile acts go out of their way to play here for the sheer love of the venue: classic design, near-perfect acoustics, and enthusiastic audiences.

POPULISM all for one, one for all “We are not an elitist place. We’ve got to have a foothold and a community that wants us to be here.”

~Gian Paul Morelli, Columbia Theatre Longview

The one community venue Robert A. Long did not build was a theater.

Train station, hospital, high school, hotel, library, tracts of housing, all the necessities of life, yes. But for his Planned City — the visionary community that brought together owners, managers, and workmen — the bequests did not include a concert hall or playhouse.

To the prim timber magnate from Kansas City, theaters, like card playing, dancing and demon rum, did not edify a population, they corrupted it.

Who would have envisioned Mr. Long’s dream of an egalitarian community made manifest by hoofers, crooners, comics and stars?

•••

This wasn’t just moral high ground. The fine arts, and their shabbier outliers, from music halls to burlesque palaces, also represented Europe: its decadence, social classes and castes. Fine art and entertainment were provinces of the wealthy, the ruling elites — the very system the workingman’s paradise, Longview, defied.

Hal Calbom is a third generation Longview native who makes his living as a film producer, educator, and writer. His new book, Resourceful: Leadership and Communications in a Relationship Age, serves as basis for keynote speeches, workshops, and online training. He is editor of The Tidewater Reach, Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures, about to be published by Columbia River Reader Press.

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Vignettes in this month’s People+Place are drawn from previous issues of the Reader which, along with the current issue, are viewable online at www.crreader.com.

See Reading CRR online sidebar, page 21.

FIRE IT UP! It’s barbecue season ~ Time to dust off your grill and take off your mask!

Bon Appetit!

No-Contact Pick-Up Process at Northlake School, Friday afternoons.

Questions: 360-200-8918

Gian Paul Morelli has guided the Theatre’s recent Renaissance.

Spring Matching Campaign! Health Care Foundation matches dollar-for-dollar donations up to the goal of $20,000. Mail to PO Box 785, Longview, WA 98632, or donate online. lowercolumbiaschoolgardens.org

See recipe on page 27 for my Garlic Bread ... perfect with your next sizzling steak, spicy chicken or tangy ribs!

Paul W. Thompson CRR’s Man in the Kitchen Emeritus

Proud sponsor of People+Place 20 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

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people + place

Hal Calbom’s Recommended Columbia River Books Deep River

by Karl Marlantes

Reading CRR online

Back issues, book orders, reader services Thumbnail portraits in this month’s People+Place are drawn from previous issues of the Reader which, along with the current issue, are viewable online at www.crreader.com. CRR’s web page also hosts subscription, book order, and electronic payment services, advertising information, and a “Find the Magazine” feature to locate nearby, always-accessible CRR sidewalk boxes. An archive link leads to “stacks” going back seven years, for paging through (and sharing or printing with the “larger view” button) a full-screen-sized replica. To read the original P+P story on those making a cameo appearance this month, refer to the corresponding issue as shown below.

The powerful Southwest Washington origins story of high-wire loggers, vicious union busters, dancers, drinkers, salmon swindlers, gangsters, holy men and resolute women.

Oysterville

by Willard R. Espy

August 2018 Karla Nelson Ilwaco Harbor Village

The picturesque village we now relish for its buildings and spectacular setting is alive with Espy’s forebears and tales of life on Shoalwater, later Willapa, Bay.

April 2018 Robert Michael Pyle Gray’s River Covered Bridge

June 2018 Chris Panis Whiteside Hawaiians on the Columbia CRREADER.COM • Vol. XVI, No. 1 • April 15 – May 15, 2019 • COMPLIMENTARY

Helping you discover and enjoy the good life in the Columbia River region at home and on the road

WHERE DO

YOU READ THE

READER

?

page 36-37

EASY PACKING WITH A LLAMA page 16

Sky Times in Gray’s River: Living for Keeps in a Forgotten Place by Robert Michael Pyle.

FANTASY ART AT THE ALCOVE GALLERY page 35

page 30

COLUMBIA RIVER

Feb 2019 Ken Weigardt Willapa Bay

No one elicits the poetry of place like Bob Pyle, among the natural world’s best friends, transforming careful observation into glorious, celebratory and accessible prose.

Not only a radical righting of the historical canoe, but a beautiful piece of research, analysis and storytelling set forth with clarity and narrative power.

Northwest Passage: The Columbia River by William Dietrich.

Longtime Seattle Times writer Dietrich tells the magisterial story of the west’s great river in both grand and human terms: the very best overview from mountains to mouth.

GIAN PAUL MORELLI

April 2019 Gian Paul Morelli Columbia Theatre

Read these and more past issues at CRREADER.COM/Archives

Paid for by Dean Takko for State Senate Committee P.O. Box 1025 Longview, WA 98632

In Full View

by Rex Ziak.

Impresario

dining guide

I will be proud to continue representing you.

Washington State senate 19 District th

Dean Takko DEMOCRAT

Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 21

WHERE DO YOU READ THE READER?

Send your photo reading the Reader (high-resolution JPEG) to Publisher@ CRReader.com. Include names and cities of residence. We make it a practice to acknowledge photos received; if you don’t receive an acknowledgment within 5 days, please re-send. If sending a cell phone photo, choose the largest file size up to 2 MB. Thank you for your participation and patience; we usually have a small backlog. Keep those photos coming!

Where do you read

THE READER?

Soaking solo in the sun: Better than a cruise ship, no dramamine or mask needed!

Dorothy Bain Hanson reading the Reader on her patio at Canterbury Park, Longview, Wash.

Enforcing social distancing?

Chuck Wallace, Columbia Security officer, taking a Reader break while guarding the Fibre Federal Credit Union parking lot.

22 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

The Natural World

Magpie Song

By Dr. Robert Michael Pyle

A

fter the forever-flight from Portland to Perth via San Francisco and Sydney, I slept the sleep of the crypt. It would be weeks before my Circadian rut and I settled in comfortably again together, but there is something about sleep deprivation that heightens the senses, which is why it has been an important element of vision quests. And this boldly patterned entity staring back at me from the lawn outside my window at St. Catherine’s College was certainly a vision.

Clearly, this presence was crowlike, shockingly pied in black-and-white.

Its chalky, front-heavy bill reminded me of an English rook as it yo-yoed to worm a niblet. My field guide showed it to be the Australian magpie, belonging to the bell-magpies, but it might as well have been called a crow; after all, when Audubon named the nutcracker of the western peaks for its finder, he called it Clark’s crow.

But there is already an Australian crow, and an Australian raven, small but making up for it with a bushy

beard. So it is not surprising that this Antipodean bird was tagged “magpie,” if only for its two-tone suit — black face, back, and breast; white mantle, wings, and belly. What was surprising was its beautiful song.

Unlike the Australian crow’s harsh caw or the raven’s ubiquitous squall that sounds like a seriously pissed-off pussycat, the magpie warbles like a whisper, or a flute.

I was in Perth to attend a conference called Come Outside and Play, so when all the talk was over, I did.

Along the bush trails of enormous Kings Park, spring wildflowers were peaking. The most prominent pink flowers were the alien invasive gladiolas, but many native plants also contributed to the extraordinary palette. Strangest were kangaroo paws, the state flower — velvety, two-foot-tall, red and green wonders

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Robert Michael Pyle is a naturalist and writer residing along Gray’s River in Wahkiakum County for many years. His 23 books include the Northwest classics Wintergreen, Sky Time in Gray’s River, and Where Bigfoot Walks, as well as The Thunder Tree, Chasing Monarchs, Mariposa Road, a flight of butterfly books, and three collections of poems. His newest titles are Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest, Magdalena Mountain: a Novel, and The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures (with Judy VanderMaten, set to be published by CRRPress as soon as possible, subject to coronovirus-related business closures).

Photo by David Lee Myers

This is the 23rd in a series of selected essays to appear in Columbia River Reader. These were originally published in Orion Afield or Orion Magazine in the author’s column, “The Tangled Bank” and, subsequently, in the book of the same name published by Oregon State University Press in 2012.

that would be hard to dream up from scratch. This would be the perfect Christmas plant, if only it bloomed Down Under in midsummer instead of spring.

The birds more than matched the fabulous flowers. I never tracked down one of the brilliant blue fairy wrens that all birders covet when they come here, though I did see emus from a bus, and kookaburras with their exaggerated bills, sitting indeed in gum trees. And fantails, and honeyeaters, and unbelievably metallic bronzewings forged from some ornithological alchemy, all thrilling and completely outside my experience. What most rang this birder’s bells, however, were the psittacines: the parrots. On my first walk out, ungodly squawks and

cascading petals announced the first of many flocks of rainbow lorikeets, stunning wonders like painted buntings stuffed into parrot suits. When you see the purple, blue, scarlet, orange, and wild, dazzling, parrot green as they daub themselves all over the fruit trees, tossing husks here and there with abandon, you know you are not in Kansas anymore—or southwest Washington, for that matter. But the lorikeets are not easy on the ear.

They screech in flight like a pack of tractors grinding through their gears in falsetto, making you cover your ears even as your eyes pop open as wide as they’ll go.

I was coming around a curve in Kings Park when I heard a pleasant, purring bell-tone that rose into a bright “dotty dot” or several-noted ring. It took me a second to decode, but then I discerned the words “twenty-eight.” Of course!

This was the 28 parrot, also known as the Australian ring-neck. A dozen or more 28s foraged on the trail before me: grapy head, yellow neck-ring, deep blue wings, and pure chartreuse overall. They remained until I was almost upon them, behaving in a way that the old bird books call “confiding.” cont page 24

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Tangled Bank: Magpie Song they were having no fun at all, and from page 23

All through my visit the noisy lorikeets were unavoidable, while the 28s appeared softly, here and there and now and then.

But the parrot that really grabbed my heart was the galah. Plump with rounded white topknots and bills, galahs look baby-faced to me. They also recall a popular color scheme of the 1950s: pink and gray. Their backs and wings are the softest of dove grays, and their breasts are the pink of rhubarb pie, of coral, of the ventral forewing of a Virginia lady butterfly—a hue uncommon in the animal world, more often seen in the realms of petunias or popsicles.

I found a pair of galahs guarding a tree hole in a dead snag on the beautiful University of Western Australia campus. I reckoned that the tree had been left standing for this broody pair.

But when I looked a little later, the pair of parrots at the tree hole were 28s; and on a third pass, I found rainbow lorikeets in possession! Do they just trade off in shifts, I wondered, or drive each other away in turn? And which species will end up nesting there? The galahs were hanging about nearby each time the others held the fort, so I was rooting for them, especially after I found the favor of a rich pink plume, a breast feather fallen to earth after an energetic preening or an encounter among rivals. Like a drunken cheerleader at a tailgate party, I chanted to myself, “Go, galahs!” It occurred to me that I could happily come here and engage in a thesis study of their behavior, giving me an academic excuse to simply watch them all day long.

Still, as much as I enjoyed the fresh sensations of Perth, I was distressed by something else I saw, or didn’t see: no one else even noticed the parade of the parrots! As I stood beneath the snag watching the changing of the psittacine guard, hundreds of students and faculty and others walked past.

Plenty of passersby looked at this obvious outlander with binoculars; I was the exotic element here. But not a single person shifted his or her gaze a few feet to behold this splendid, made-in-Australia avian spectacle.

Is it that easy to become jaded to the nature about us, even such a striking expression as this? I guess that’s what the conference title, Come Outside and Play, was getting at. The passersby were out of doors, all right, but they certainly weren’t playing. Rushing about with cell phones and laptops, 24 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

it broke my heart to see them so detached from the world.

Now it’s another week, another conference, and I am back in the Northern Hemisphere. I’m not only jet-lagged beyond retrieval, but also without a reference point in time or space. Until, that is, I hear a familiar sound coming from the lawn outside my window at the Aspen Institute — the querulous maaaag? of a blackand-white magpie, no less sweet to this Colorado-bred lad than the pretty song of its Down Under namesake.

And what’s that over there, in the cottonwoods, among blue sage? A flock of redpolls, my favorites! Northern finches come south on winter’s breath, redpolls are cherry-crowned and rosywashed over their snowy breasts with the very pink of this galah’s breast feather, tucked away here in my notebook.

These birds situate me, pulling me out of that ungrounded state so familiar to those of us who follow this weirdly vagile way of life called the lecture circuit. Even more important, they remind me of something I hope I will never forget: no matter where I go, if only I’ll look, I can never be anywhere other than at home in the world. For ten years of Tangled Banks, I’ve tried to say this in as many ways as I could imagine, and I’ll say it one more time, for it bears repeating, like a mantra: just look around yourself, really look, and the actual world will never let you down. So this is the last “Tangled Bank.” But it’s not my swan song; more, I would say, my magpie song.

•••

BESIDES COLUMBIA RIVER READER...

What are you reading?

By Alan Rose Into the Wild

By Jon Krakauer

T

hough she first read the book several years ago, Into the Wild continues to be one of Sharon Jeffries’ Top 10 favorite books.

“It’s the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who has just graduated from college and is tired of all the materialism and greed he has been observing, particularly in his parents’ lives,” she says.

“When his car breaks down, he doesn’t call anyone for help, or alert his parents. He just gathers a few of his belongings, leaves his keys in the ignition and starts his journey on foot. His dream is to escape the general American way of life, with its wastefulness and disrespect of mother earth, and trek to Alaska and live off of the land.”

“The book touched me,” says Sharon, “because, I too, feel very worried about the health of our planet and the lack of respect that is shown to her and all living beings.”

Sharon thinks that all ages and genders of like minded people who feel concern for the state of the earth and society will appreciate and enjoy this book.

Sharon, like the book, remains hopeful.

“I know there are still good people out there, and Krakauer shows that as well with some of the characters Christopher encounters.”

••• Longview native Sharon Jeffries is a retired hairdresser, who loves spending her time reading, gardening, making all kinds of art, and supporting local arts programs, like WordFest.

Northwest readers will recognize a number of the places McCandless visits, including Astoria and Portland, as well as the “fascinating people” he meets along the way, and the jobs he takes to finance his travels.

ATTENTION, READERS Read a good book lately? To be mini-interviewed

by CRR Book Reviewer Alan Rose for a future “What Are You Reading?” spotlight, please contact him at alan@alan-rose.com or the publisher/editor at publisher@crreader.com.

Editor’s note: Published in March/April 2008, this essay was Mr. Pyle’s final one in the collection, The Tangled Bank: Writings form Orion. Fortunately, CRR has been running these essays in a different order and we are not done yet!

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Cover to Cover

Top 10 Bestsellers PAPERBACK FICTION 1. The Overstory Richard Powers, Norton, $18.95 2. Normal People Sally Rooney, Hogarth, $17 3. Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng, Penguin, $17 4. Disappearing Earth Julia Phillips, Vintage, $16.95 5. Circe Madeline Miller, Back Bay, $16.99 6. City of Girls Elizabeth Gilbert, Riverhead Books, $17 7. Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo, Grove Press/Black Cat, $17 8. A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles, Penguin, $17 9. Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel, Picador, $18 10. Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel, Picador, $18

PAPERBACK NON-FICTION 1. Wow, No Thank You. Samantha Irby, Vintage, $15.95 2. Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $18, 3. Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe, Anchor, $16.95 4. Born a Crime Trevor Noah, Spiegel & Grau, $18 5. The Library Book Susan Orlean, S&S, $16.99 6. The Story of More Hope Jahren, Vintage, $15 7. A Woman of No Importance Sonia Purnell, Penguin, $18 8. The Great Influenza John M. Barry, Penguin, $19 9. Black Woman in Green: Gloria Brown and the Unmarked Trail to Forest Service Leadership Gloria D. Brown, Donna L. Sinclair, Oregon State University Press, $19.95 10. Why We Sleep Matthew Walker, PhD, Scribner, $18

BOOK REVIEW

By Alan Rose Cascadia’s Fault The Coming Earthquake and Tsunami That Could Devastate North America

By Jerry Thompson Counterpoint $16.95 Paperback

O

n Good Friday, 1964, the Alaskan earthquake caused extensive damage over 50,000 square miles. An area the size of Washington and Oregon suddenly heaved up, lifting the sea floor 50 feet and displacing so much water as to create the tsunami that reached as far south as Crescent City, California, where more than a dozen people were killed.

The 9.2 magnitude earthquake, one of the largest in recorded history, was also significant for what it taught Alan Rose organizes the monthly WordFest gatherings. His next novel, about the AIDS epidemic, As If Death Summoned, will be published in 2020 by Amble Press/ Bywater Books. More book reviews, author interviews, and news updates can be found at www.alan-rose.com.

HARDCOVER FICTION 1. The Glass Hotel Emily St.John Mandel, Knopf, $26.95 2. The Book of Longings Sue Monk Kidd, Viking, $28 3. Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens, Putnam, $26 4. If It Bleeds Stephen King, Scribner, $30 5. The Dutch House Ann Patchett, Harper, $27.99 6. Camino Winds John Grisham, Doubleday, $28.95 7. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $26 8. The Night Watchman Louise Erdrich, Harper, $28.99 9. American Dirt Jeanine Cummins, Flatiron Books, $27.99 10. Simon the Fiddler Paulette Jiles, Morrow, $27.99

HARDCOVER NON-FICTION 1. Untamed Glennon Doyle, The Dial Press, $28 2. The Splendid and the Vile Erik Larson, Crown, $32 3. What It’s Like to Be a Bird David Allen Sibley, Knopf, $35 4. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Charlie Mackesy, HarperOne, $22.99 5. Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza Ken Forkish, Ten Speed Press, $35 6. One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder Brian Doyle, Little Brown, $27 7. Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire Jen Hatmaker, Thomas Nelson, $24.99 8. The Body Bill Bryson, Doubleday, $30 9. The Book of Delights Ross Gay, Algonquin Books, $23.95 10. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat Samin Nosrat, Wendy MacNaughton (Illus.), S&S, $35

Brought to you by Book Sense and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Assn, for week ending May 3, 2020, 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 MASS MARKET 1. Dune Frank Herbert, Ace, $10.99 2. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou, Ballantine, $7.99 3. The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition Anne Frank, Bantam, $7.99 4. The Name of the Wind Patrick Rothfuss, DAW, $9.99 5. Lord of the Flies William Golding, Perigee, $11 6. The Last Wish Andrzej Sapkowski, Orbit, $8.99 7. The Dispossessed Ursula K. Le Guin, Harper Voyager, $7.99 8. Good Omens Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Morrow, $9.99 9. Tombstone Courage J.A. Jance, Harper, $9.99 10. And Then There Were None Agatha Christie, Morrow, $8.99

EARLY & MIDDLE GRADE READERS 1. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane Kate DiCamillo, Bagram Ibatoulline (Illus.), Candlewick, $6.99 2. A Wolf Called Wander Rosanne Parry, Monica Armino (Illus.), Greenwillow Books, $16.99 3. The One and Only Ivan Katherine Applegate, Patricia Castelao (Illus.), Harper, $8.99 4. The Girl Who Drank the Moon Kelly Barnhill, Algonquin Young Readers, $9.95 5. Love That Dog Sharon Creech, Harper, $7.99 6. A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story Linda Sue Park, Ginger Knowlton, HMH Books for Young Readers, $8.99 7. Small Spaces Katherine Arden, Puffin, $8.99 8. The List of Things That Will Not Change Rebecca Stead, Wendy Lamb Books, $16.99 9. Little Women Louisa May Alcott, Puffin, $16 10. Ways to Make Sunshine Renée Watson, Nina Mata (Illus.), Bloomsbury Children’s Books, $16.99

To take your mind off the pandemic...

Waiting for the Next Big Thing scientists about this dynamic planet we precariously inhabit. With each subsequent major seismic event, scientists have been steadily learning more about the fiery, grinding mechanisms that result in earthquakes and the deadly tsunamis they often generate.

Jerry Thompson, a documentary film producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, has been following the scientists’ work for decades, with a particular focus on the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Living on the coast of British Columbia, Thompson has more than an academic interest. Beneath him (and us) the Juan de Fuca plate is sliding east under the westwardmoving North America plate. The anticipated mega-earthquake and resulting tsunami is expected to wipe out entire communities along the northwest coast, to shock, rock, and destroy or extensively damage the infrastructures of Vancouver, BC, Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland, and kill hundreds of thousands of people.

But if you can just get past the idea of catastrophic death and destruction, this is a fascinating tale of geologists acting as major sleuths in uncovering one of the earth’s deepest mysteries.

The rather fantastical 19th century

“I live here. And every time I drive to the coast, I see towns that are not long from now going to be under water from the next tsunami…

The Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and the tsunami that’ll come with it will be virtually identical to the one in 2004 in Sumatra. It’ll dwarf 1906 (San Francisco). And Katrina. It’ll be many dozens of Katrinas all at once. Coastal towns from northern California to Canada will be virtually wiped out…It’s a little hard to go to the beach and just hang out there and enjoy it.”

~ Chris Goldfinger,

marine geologist at

Oregon State University, in Cascadia’s Fault idea of Continental Drift matured into the 20th century theory we know today as plate tectonics, where not really “continents” but huge plates are shifting and moving over the earth as the planet continues to expand from its internal heating.

Thompson discusses developments in monitoring the plates’ movements

to help warn of impending disaster.

Electronic equipment now “listens” to the continual grinding of the plates (“When all the normal rumble and grind along a big subduction zone mysteriously goes quiet, watch out— something’s bound to happen.”)

He also reviews measures that coastal communities are taking, such as “vertical evacuation shelters” and coastal sirens (You have fifteen minutes—so please don’t dawdle,) and considers lessons learned from recent major quakes and tsunamis, such as the 2011 Fukushima disaster: Probably not a good idea to build nuclear reactors on active fault lines.

He writes without being sensationalistic — he doesn’t need to be — but in the final chapter, he paints a chilling hour-by-hour scenario of what scientists expect will happen maybe this year…or in the next fifty years. Or maybe the next hundred years (Sorry we can’t be more precise.)

Oh, and you probably shouldn’t bother buying more insurance: “Before the day is done seven of the world’s largest insurance companies file for bankruptcy. There’s absolutely no way they can pay all the claims.”

Stay tuned for updates.

••• Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 25

SUBJECT TO CHANGE / LIKELY CLOSED TEMPORARILY EXCEPT AS NOTED

Clatskanie, Ore.

k

Fultano’s Pizza 770 E. Columbia River Hwy Family style with unique pizza offerings, hot grill items & more!

Sun-Thurs 11am–9pm. Fri-Sat 11am–10pm. 503-728-2922

Rainier. Ore. Alston Pub & Grub 25196 Alston Rd., Rainier 503-556-4213 11 beers on tap, cocktails.

Open daily 11am.

503-556-9753

dining guide

Kelso, Wash.

The Original Pietrio’s Pizzeria

k

1626 West Side Hwy Family Mexican restaurant. Full Mexican menu. Daily specials. Liquor, beer & wine.

Mention this listing for $5 off purchase of $30 or more. Open Mon–Sat 11am–9pm.

360-423-3704.

Longview, Wash.

k 716 Triangle Shopping Center.

18 rotating craft brews, pub fare.

M-W 12 Noon–9pm, Th–Sat 12 Noon– 11pm. Sun 12 Noon–8pm. Local music.

Follow us on Untappd.

See ad, page 12. (Moving soon)

The Carriage Cornerstone Café 102 East “A” Street Microbrews, wines & spirits Prime rib Friday & Sat. Open M-F 6am–8pm; Sat-Sun 7am–8pm.

503-556-8772.

614 Commerce Ave., Longview. 18 varieties of pizza. Salad bar, Lunch buffet all-you-can-eat. Beer & wine. Mon-Fri open 11am, Sat-Sun 12 Noon.

360-353-3512.

k

Porky’s Public House 561 Industrial Way, Longview Slow-roasted prime rib Fri & Sat, flat iron steaks, 1/3-lb burgers, fish & chips.

33 draft beers. Full bar. Family-friendly, weekly jazz and acoustic dinner hour sets on Weds. 360-636-1616.

Red Kitchen, 848 15th Ave., Longview.

Cocktails, taps, vino. Traditional diner fare, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Healthy options. Full service bar, incl 12 taps.

7am–10pm, M-F, 8am–10pm Sat-Sun.

Regent & Woodshed

Restaurant & Lounge

Conestoga Pub

See next page Listing for Restaurants open to serve you!

COLUMBIA RIVER

El Ranchero Kelso Ixtapa Fine Mexican Restaurant 640 E. Columbia River Hwy Fine Mexican cuisine. Daily specials.

The best margarita in town. Daily drink specials. Sports bar.

M-Th 11am–9:30pm; Fri & Sat 11am–11:30pm; Sun 11am–9pm. 503-728-3344

k

The Carriage Restaurant & Lounge 1334 12th Ave. Open from 6am to close. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Full bar, banquet room available for groups, parties, family reunions, etc. in lounge, open 6am. Three happy hours daily (8–10am, 12–2pm, 5–7pm). Group meeting room, free use with $150 food/drink purchases.

360-425-8545.

k

3353 Washington Way Chinese & American food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Full bar. Food to go during open hours. Families welcome. Deliveries available after 5pm. Call for Live Music on Saturdays. Open Tues-Sun, 8am–9pm. Phone: 360-423-8680

k

Kalama

215 N. Hendrickson Dr., Port of Kalama.

A Northwest pub and unique bars serving breakfast, lunch & dinner daily.

Handcrafted beer, wine & cocktails, burgers, specialties, incl Kamikaze Seared Ahi & more. Live music, art, history & riverfront hotel rooms. Info & reservations at mcmenamins.com. Bars hours vary; see website for details. Pub open M-Th 7am – midnight; Fri-Sun 7am– 1am. 360- 673-9210.

St. Helens, Oregon

k Sunshine Pizza & Catering 2124 Columbia Blvd.

Hot pizza, cool salad bar. Beer & wine.

503-397-3211 See ad, page 32.

Scappoose, Oregon

k

Fultano’s Pizza 51511 SE 2nd.

Family style with unique pizza offerings, hot grill items & more! “Best pizza around!”

Sun–Th 11am–9pm; Fri-Sat 11am– 10pm. Full bar service ‘til 10pm Fri & Sat. Deliveries in Scappoose. 503-5435100.

k

Roland Wines

Evergreen Pub & Café

115-117 East 1st Street Burgers, halibut, prime rib, full bar.

503-556-9935

Goble Tavern

70255 Columbia River Hwy. (Milepost 31, Hwy. 30) Food, beer & wine + full bar, Live entertainment. 503-556-4090.

Luigi’s Pizza

k

117 East 1st Street, Rainier 503-556-4213 Pizza, spaghetti, burgers, beer & wine.

Restaurant operators: To advertise in Columbia River Dining Guide, call 360-749-2632

26 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

k

1106 Florida St., Longview. Authentic Italian wood-fired pizza, wine, and beer.

Casual ambience. 5–9pm Wed-Fri, Sat. 11–3. See ad, page 11.

Freddy’s Just for the Halibut.

Cod, halibut & tuna fish and chips, oysters & clams, award-winning clam chowder.

Prime rib every Thurs. Sunday Brunch 9am–1pm. Beer and wine. M-W 10–8, ThSat 10–9, Sun 9am-8pm.

1110 Commerce 360-414-3288.

See ad, page 11.

Hop N Grape

k

924 15th Ave., Longview M–Th 11am–8pm; Fri & Sat 11am– 9pm; Sun 11am–7pm. BBQ meat slowcooked on site. Pulled pork, chicken brisket, ribs, turkey, salmon. Worldfamous mac & cheese. 360-577-1541

Grant’s at the Monticello

Hotel on Longview’s historic Civic Circle. Casual upscale dining. Seafood, steaks, pasta, burgers. Happy Hour specials 3pm. M-Th 11-9, Fri-Sat 11-10.

360-442-8234. See ad, page 8.

k Teri’s, 3225 Ocean Beach Hwy, Longview. Lunch and dinner.

Burgers, steak, seafood, pasta, specials, fresh NW cuisine. Happy Hour. Full bar.

360-577-0717.

Castle Rock Parker’s Restaurant & Brewery 1300 Mt. St. Helens Way. I-5 Exit 49.

Lunch, Dinner. Burgers, hand-cut steak; seafood and pasta. Restaurant opens 11am, Lounge 12 Noon. Closed Monday.

360-967-2333.

Vault Books & Brew 20 Cowlitz Street West M-Sat 7am–6pm • Sun 10am–4pm Open 7 days. Coffee and specialty drinks, quick eats & sweet treats. See ad, page 11.

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

k Mark’s on the Channel

34326 Johnson Landing, Scappoose, Ore. Floating restaurant. Fish & Chips, Oysters, Steaks, Daily Specials. Happy Hours 3–6pm daily. Free Live Music Fri-Sat. Open year-round, Sun-Mon 11:30–8; W-Th 11:30–8:30; F-Sat 11`:30–9. 503-543-8765.

See ad, page 11.

Warren

k

Warren Country Inn 56575 Columbia River Hwy. Fine family dining. Breakfast, lunch & dinner. Fri Prime Rib special, Taco Tuesday. Full bar. M-Th 8am–9:30pm, Fri-Sat 8am–10:30pm, Sun 9am–9pm. Karaoke Fri & Sat.503-410-5479.

Northwest Foods

COLUMBIA RIVER DINING GUIDE

kDrive-thru,

MAN IN THE KITCHEN CLASSICS

Curbside service Take-Out & Delivery Options See listings on facing page for locations and contact info

Fultano’s Pizza: Take-out and Delivery. Call for info.

Regent / Woodshed Take-out, Tues–Saturday, 12–8pm.

Ixtapa Scappoose. Take-out and delivery (delivery $20 min.

10 mile range 11am-9 pm).

Roland Wines Regular days and hours, call 360- 846-7304 to order pizza and wine for curbside pick-up

Luigi’s Pick-up window, delivery (no min, delivery range Goble Tavern to Alston Pub).

El Ranchero: Take out Mon thru Sat 11am -9 pm.

Antidote Take-out everyday from 3–8 pm.

Freddy’s Drive-thru, Wednesday thru Sunday 11am - 7 pm, delivery in Longview / Kelso.

Teri’s Curbside service, full menu.

Beer, wine and cocktails to go.

Mon-Sat 11:30am -7:30pm.

Sunshine Pizza Order at www. sunshinepizz.net for take-out and delivery, $12 minimum for delivery in St. Helens area.

Mon-Thurs 10:30am–8pm, FriSat 10:30am–9pm. Credit card only.No cash.

Story by Paul Thompson • Photos by Perry Piper

No more soggy garlic bread!

M

y most requested recipe is for Garlic Bread. I prepare it in a different way from most cooks. I always get positive feedback whenever I serve it. It is far superior to the common method of slicing a loaf into individual servings, spreading with garlic butter and then wrapping the re-assembled loaf in foil to heat. This usually produces limp, soggy, steamy bread.

Here’s my ‘signature’ way Start with a loaf of French baguette, available at Safeway, Fred Meyer and most other bakeries. It’s the long thin loaf, either regular or sourdough.

I like it because it has a greater proportion of crisp crust. Split it in half, the long way (and cut vertically instead of horizontally), open it up and spread a healthy portion of garlic butter over both halves. Then, sprinkle a generous coating of grated Parmesan cheese over the garlic butter and pop the bread in the oven, buttered halves sunny-side up. If cooking something else in the oven already, just squeeze the bread in alongside.

Mark’s on the Channel Take-Out and growler fills.

Hop N Grape Menu posted on Facebook. Mon-Sat 11am–7pm. Warren Country Inn Take-out Order by 6pm. Curbside or inside and delivery: 971-203-3048. pick-up.

(Delivery: $20 minimum, 10-mile range),11:30am – 8:30pm).

Porky’s Curbside. Take-out, growler fills and kegs. Delivery Summerland Catering Call available via Deliver Kings.

Mike, 360-957-1025 or email M-Th 11:30am–8pm; Fri-Sat mike@summerlandinc.net 11:3-am8pm; 38 NW Craft Beers for delivery of box lunches or on tap, Sunday 12–4pm. Menu dinner mainly to businesses. at porkyspublichouse.com, updates on Facebook.

To make the garlic butter Crush or mince 3-4 or more garlic cloves and, using a fork, combine with a cube of softened butter. A garlic press makes quick work of crushing the garlic. Add minced parsley (optional). Any leftover Garlic Butter can be covered and refrigerated for later use.

Preparing, pre-broiling

1

1 Slice the loaf vertically, lengthwise (this yields similar slices, not tops and bottoms).

2

Spread garlic butter generously, being careful to get it to the edges.

3 Sprinkle grated (not shredded) Parmesan

cheese. Broil until lightly browned. Cut on the diagonal into serving-sized pieces.

••• Paul Thompson grew up in Longview, Wash.

He later moved to Oak Park, Illinois, and taught speech and drama at Chicago’s Wright College. Early in his retirement, he moved to Sequim, Wash., logged a homesite and milled the trees, building a house from the resulting lumber. After 10 years in Sequim, he returned to his hometown of Longview in 2012 to live happily ever after.

2

3

Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 27

Up & running with lessons online...

Music lasts a lifetime.

Remember, we’re all in this together!

Piano Lessons A great investment in yourself or as a gift

Martin E. Kauble Longview, WA

360-423-3072

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technique • theory • performance

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I can help over the phone • Technology to help stay “in touch” during Social Distancing • Home office setup • Mobile Apps • Home Entertainment

Call or text: 360-270-0608.

PERRY PIPER PRODUCTIONS

PARTNERS INVITED We have NEW SIDEWALK BOXES and inside racks available and are always ready to welcome new distribution outlets. If you manage a high-traffic, commercial location, feel an affinity with CRR and wish to partner with us to offer your customers free copies of CRR every month ... call Ned Piper: 360-749-2632.

28 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

Where to find the new Reader

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

LONGVIEW WESTPORT U.S. Bank Wauna mill Post Office parking lot Bob’s (rack, main check-out) RAINIER In front of 1232 Commerce Ave Post Office In front of 1323 Commerce Ave Cornerstone YMCA Fred Meyer (rack, service desk area) Rainier Hardware (rack, Teri’s entry) Grocery Outlet Earth ‘n’ Sun Fibre Fed’l CU - Commerce Ave (on Hwy 30) Monticello Hotel (front entrance) El Tapatio Kaiser Permanente (entry rack) St. John Medical Center Grocery Outlet (rack, Park Lake Café) DEER ISLAND Cowlitz Black Bears box office Deer Island Store LCC Student Center Mini-Mart next to Regents COLUMBIA CITY - Post Office Indie Way Diner WARREN Columbia River Reader Office Warren Country Inn 1333 14th Ave. ST HELENS KELSO Chamber of Commerce Heritage Bank Visitors’ Center/ Kelso-Longview Sunshine Pizza Post Office Chamber of Commerce Olde Town (Wild Currant) KALAMA Safeway Fibre Fed’l CU SCAPPOOSE Kalama Shopping Center To find the 24/7 Post Office

corner of First & Fir pick-up point Road Runner McMenamin’s Harbor Lodge nearest you, Fultano’s visit crreader.

WOODLAND Ace Hardware com and click Visitors’ Center “Find the WARRENTON, OR CASTLE ROCK Magazine” tab.

Fred Meyer Lacie Rha’s Cafe (32 Cowlitz W.) Parker’s Restaurant (box, entry) CATHLAMET Visitors’ Center Cathlamet Pharmacy 890 Huntington Ave. N. Tsuga Gallery Exit 49, west side of I-5 Puget Island Ferry Landing RYDERWOOD Café porch CLATSKANIE Post Office Chevron / Mini-Mart Wauna mill (parking area)

SKAMOKAWA Skamokawa General Store NASELLE Appelo Archives & Café Johnson’s One-Stop

the Lower Columbia

away! There are delays up to eight weeks getting supplies and it’s looking unlikely that even the increase in donations will keep up with demand, especially with so many first-time users of food banks.

Informer

by Perry Piper

Let’s help our food banks Sharing is part of the good life

I

n my column, I normally inform on the latest gadget, technology, hike or restaurant to enhance your pursuit of the good life, but today, things have changed. Even those of us who were already working online or retired cannot enjoy some of our favorite activities because of these unpredictable times. And many need extra help to put meals on the table for themselves and their families. There are many examples of people who did everything right by traditional terms and still had their business pulled out from under them by the lockdown orders and safety concerns.

I’m asking readers to join me in donating $100 or their extra food and resources to their nearest food bank.

We need to give monthly until the crisis ends and recovery begins. We just need to forego a month of Netflix or a fancy takeout dinner to give back to our communities which have given

us so much. For others, their increased unemployment or stimulus checks could also be used.

I’m sure we’ve all seen the food bank car lines on the news — it’s like a sight from the Great Depression! Some of the lines have been up to six miles long.

Food banks like Hope of Rainier in Oregon, at the peak of the recent 11year record US economic boom, still regularly saw more than 100 families in need of food bank services. Now with the chaos of the pandemic, food banks across the US are running low and in many cases, depleting their budgets each week and still turning families

Unemployment has been surging to record levels and almost half of Americans were already living paycheck to paycheck or didn’t have a rainy day fund beyond three months. Food banks are reporting they’ve begun rationing to keep things going as long as possible, so the country and our local communities are in dire need of our help.

In the long term and as things get back to normal, we should all grow some of our own food or fund local farmers and gardeners, as well, so that we’ll never have to worry about or rely on shipments coming in. The same can be said for cont page 30

FOOD BANKS LONGVIEW 98632 CAP Help Warehouse 1526 Commerce Ave • 360- 425-3430 The Salvation Army, 1639 10th Ave 360- 423-3990 • salvationarmyusa.org Fish • 1526 Commerce Ave 360 636-1100 • fishofcowlitzcounty.org St. Vincent de Paul Society 1222 Baltimore St, 360-577-0662 • svdpusa.org Highlands Baptist Church 317 20th Ave •360-425-1960 CLATSKANIE 97016 Turning Point Community Center 220 E Columbia River Hwy 503 728-3126 • clatskanieturningpoint.org St. Helens 97051 Columbia Pacific Food Bank 474 Milton Way # B • 503-397-9708 cpfoodbank.org RAINIER 97048 HOPE of Rainier 404 E A St • 503-556-0701 hopeofrainier.com ASTORIA 97103 St. Vincent de Paul Society 1465 Grand Ave (503) 325-2007 • svdpusa.org

A volunteer marks a car in a line of vehicles of people waiting to receive emergency food aid from the Central Texas Food Bank.

Note: These are community resources known to us, but undoubtedly there are others not listed, such as churches, unions, community organizations.

Please seek out one that could use a boost and give if you can.

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Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 29

Outings & Events

Food Banks

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.

power, to live off grid in the event of a prolonged power outage after a disaster like an earthquake. It would be a good idea to have even a single solar panel to recharge our phones for basic news and communications access, and keep extra water on hand.

We’re going to get through this and perhaps through the food banks, the community will grow a little closer.

••• Perry Piper has his finger on the pulse of emerging technology and is available to assist with individual computer and electronic device difficulties and challenges.

See ad, page 28.

Performing & Fine Arts, Music Art, Theatre, Literary Recreation, Outdoors Gardening, History, Pets, Self-Help Updates coming soon. Just wait ‘til the floodgates open! We will be glad we had all this time to rest up. And we will miss it!

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. Businesses and organizations wishing to promote their particular products or services are invited to purchase advertising (contact info, page 8).

HOW TO PUBLICIZE YOUR NON-PROFIT EVENT IN CRR Send your noncommercial community event basic info (name of event, beneficiary, sponsor, date & time, location, brief description and contact info) to publisher@crreader.com Or mail or hand-deliver (in person or via mail slot) to: Columbia River Reader 1333-14th Ave Longview, WA 98632

Submission Deadlines Events occurring: June 15 – July 20:

by May 25 for June 15 issue July 15 – Aug 20:

by June 25 for July 15 issue.

Calendar submissions are considered for inclusion, subject to lead time, general relevance to readers, and space limitations. See Submission Guidelines, above.

30 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

Outings & Events

TOP 11 THINGS TO DO

FIRST THURSDAY June 4

CRR Proofreaders’ favorite activities during a pandemic and social distancing:

1.

Sit outside in the evening and listen to the birds.

2.

Become addicted to watching re-runs of LOST.

3.

File income tax instead of extending as usual.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

Pick up lunch from a previously- unfamiliar restaurant, eat in the car at a river overlook, watch passing ships.

Finally get around to checking out the Cowlitz PUD Live OspreyCam. Take the Solar System Walk at Lake Sacajawea, really ponder the scale of it all.

Cook more; try new recipes.

Get those 10,000 daily steps!

Go for walks with spouse.

Re-read favorite book, realize how similar and different it feels.

Write cards or letters — on paper — to five people close to you.

Q

UIPS & QUOTES

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~ Charles Dickens, English writer and social critic, 1812-1870

Selected by Debra Tweedy

Broadway Gallery Carla Estuvane, painting; Mike Morgan, mixed media sculpture.

Live music by local artists.

5:30-7pm.

1418 Commerce Avenue Longview, Wash.

Please visit us on our website & social media sites as we are currently closed due to Covid-19. Contact us via our social media: the-broadway-gallery. com, Broadway Gallery on Facebook, and broadway_gallery_longview on Instagram.

Don’t forget Grads & Dads! Curbside Delivery can be arranged after you message us online. We have Artisan Masks for $7 or free with $25 purchase.

We miss you and hope to see you soon!

Stay Safe & Well!

Cowlitz Community Farmers Market Open 9–2, Sat and Tues. Wear masks, follow posted protocols. 1900 7th Ave, Cowlitz Expo Center, Longview, Wash.

Enter at North end. www.cowlitzfarmersmarkets.com

Tact is the art of making a point without making an enemy. ~ Sir Isaac Newton, English scientist, 1642-1726

Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space at the same time. Invite one to stay. ~ Maya Angelou, American writer and activist, 1928-2014

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. ~ Will Rogers, American actor, humorist, columnist, 1879-1935 Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work. ~ Thomas Edison, American inventor and businessman, 1847-1931 Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.~ James Baldwin, American writer and activist, 19241987 To read in bed is to draw around us invisible, noiseless curtains. Then at last we are in a room of our own and are ready to burrow back, back to that private life of the imagination we all led as a child and to whose secret satisfaction so many of us have mislaid the key. ~ Clifton Fadiman, American author, editor, and radio/TV personality, 1904-1999

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.

There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature— the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. ~ Rachel Carson, American marine biologist, author, and conservationist, 1907-1964 The only thing most people do better than anyone else is read their own handwriting. ~ John Adams, 2nd President of the United States, 1735-1826 Longview native Debra Tweedy has lived on four continents. She and her husband decided to return to her hometown and bought a house facing Lake Sacajawea.“We came back because of the Lake and the Longview Public Library,” she says.

Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 31

Waterfall Hike

September. There is even a gift shop if you forgot to bring water or want to pick up a souvenir.

Visit Silverton, Oregon If you still have some time, take a few hours and visit Silverton. The historic town boasts quaint cafes and intriguing shops. Just outside of town is a gorgeous 80-acre botanical garden, or make a stop at Magnolia’s Tea Room for a spot of tea before you venture home.

from page 14

History of the Park According to one of the park rangers and Wikipedia, Silver Falls City, formed in 1888, sat at the top of South Falls.

The city served as a logging community with a handful of homesteaders. After extensive logging, a local entrepreneur began to sell admission tickets for people to come and visit the falls. Special events where spectators watched people push cars over the falls increased ticket sales. One precursor to Evel Knievel decided to impress the crowds by going over the falls in a canoe. As exciting as these events were, they are no longer allowed.

If you don’t plan to linger for a tasty dinner at one of Silverton’s cafes, prepare Sweet Thai Chili Sauce (at right) in the morning, pick up some fish and be set to come home to grill up a delicious dinner ... a perfect ending to an invigorating day.

Other Activities at the Park The South Falls day-use area has a lovely ••• café, sprawling lawns, tables, picnic shelters, clean bathrooms and a playground. The Silver Falls Lodge and Conference Center offers numerous amenities.

These buildings have been used for special events and weddings since they opened. Guided horseback rides are available at Howard Creek during the 223 NE 1st Street, Kalama summer and up until late

9–8 M-Sat, 10–7 Sun • 360-673-2200

REAL ESTATE TIPS

by Mike Wallin

What to do if you can’t make your mortgage payments like only yesterday that Ithettheseems word “foreclosure” dominated headlines as millions of

Americans lost their homes during the Great Recession. Now, that dreaded “F” word is reappearing in media accounts of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the economy.

Nobody really knows what will happen nor how long this will last. All it takes is the prospect of missing one mortgage payment, however, to bring back all those dreadful memories from years ago.

Put “foreclosure” to the back of your mind. We have some suggestions to help you deal with the prospect of being unable to make your mortgage payments.

You’re safe for now President Trump recently ordered foreclosures and evictions to cease for 60 days across the U.S. in response

to the coronavirus pandemic that has idled millions of workers.” That first call. It’s a scary one – calling your mortgage company to tell them you can’t make your payment.

But, call you must and afterward, you’ll be glad you did.

What if my lender won’t work with me?

We have yet to hear of a lender who is refusing to at least listen to homeowners at this time. This doesn’t mean they don’t exist. If you have a conventional loan and the lender refuses to work with you, call a HUD-approved housing counsellor at 800569-4287.

Additional solutions If your lender won’t work with you, or you prefer not to pursue the aforementioned solutions, consider selling the home, applying to refinance your mortgage... ... (continued) For the full article visit www.mikewallin.com https://mikewallin.com/real-estate-blog/what-to-do-if-youcant-make-your-mortgage-payments/

Mike Wallin

Five Star Broker, REALTOR

Highest Rated Locally 360-560-3636 CELL

michaelkwallin@gmail.com 1140-11th Ave., Longview, WA By appointment only

32 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

Feel free to reach out to us if with questions on this or any aspect of the home purchase process.

By Tracy Beard

PROVISIONS ALONG THE TRAIL Salmon with Sweet Thai Chili Sauce

Four 6-ounce pieces of salmon Sweet Thai Chili Sauce ½ cup real maple syrup ¼ cup water 2 tablespoons white vinegar 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 clove garlic – minced 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon red chili flakes Place all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Whisk ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes or until thick. Set aside.

Spray salmon with non-stick spray or drizzle with olive oil.

Place on grill or broiler pan.

Cook six minutes for every inch of thickness. The center should be a bit undercooked, or cook longer to your personal preference. Drizzle with sauce and serve over rice or quinoa.

HOT PIZZA FRESH COOL

SALAD BAR THE BEST AROUND! IN ST HELENS • 2124 Columbia Blvd

503-397-3211

Astronomy

SKY REPORT

Benefits of a Pandemic

May 15 – June 20

The Moon kisses Venus before breakfast June 15

By Ted Gruber Evening Sky May offers the last chance this year to see Venus in the evening sky.

The bright planet sets sooner each evening, about 11:00pm in mid-May and about 90 minutes sooner by the end of the month. Venus has been very easy to spot in the western skies for the past seven months or so, but in early June its orbit takes the planet behind the sun. Venus will reappear in the morning sky in mid-June.

As mentioned in last month’s column, Mercury and Venus appear just 1° apart in the west-northwest sky the evening of May 21, providing an easy opportunity to spot Mercury. Brighter Venus will appear first in the evening twilight, with Mercury becoming visible as the western sky darkens.

If you miss the close encounter between Mercury and Venus on May 21, the next three weeks offer good viewing of Mercury. The innermost planet reaches its greatest eastern elongation on June 4, which means it reaches its highest point above the horizon. That evening Mercury sets about two hours after sunset.

Jupiter and Saturn return to the late evening sky in mid-June. On June 15, Jupiter rises in the southeast a little before 11:00pm, with Saturn following a bit past 11:00pm. The two largest planets continue to rise a few minutes earlier each night over the course of the summer.

Morning Sky Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn all remain visible in the southeast morning sky.

Jupiter, the brightest of the three morning planets, rises first, just past 1:00am in mid-May. Ringed Saturn follows about 15 minutes later, while the red planet Mars rises just before 3:00am. By mid-June, both Jupiter and Saturn rise around 11:00pm, and Mars about 1:30am. All three planets remain visible until fading into the morning sunlight.

The moon passes just south of Mars the morning of June 12. That same morning, Mars passes less than 2° south of the distant planet Neptune. Under good seeing conditions, Neptune is visible through binoculars, appearing as a faint blue, star-like point of light.

Venus returns to the morning sky in mid-June, rising in the east-northeast about 4:30am on June 15. The morning of June 19 provides a special treat, when Venus and the moon appear less than 1° apart.

A Question of Scale • QUIZ! If you’ve participated in the Friends of Galileo astronomy club’s annual Winter Solstice Walk at Lake Sacajawea in Longview, you know there’s a scale model of our solar system along the path that follows the western shore of the lake. The sun marker is at the south end near 15th Avenue and Nichols Boulevard, while Pluto is at the north end near Ocean Beach Highway, a distance of 1.64 miles. More information about the solar system model is available on the club’s website: https://www.friendsofgalileo.com/solarsystem-map.html The nearest star to our sun is Proxima Centauri, about 4.24 light years distant.

And a light year is a not a measure of time, but the distance that light travels in one year, or about 5.88 trillion miles.

So if the club were to extend the solar system scale model westward along Ocean Beach Highway to include Proxima Centauri, which of these points would be nearest to the scale model’s location of Proxima Centauri? a) Just beyond Fred Meyer b) About a mile west of Stella c) 3.6 miles west of Cathlamet d) Downtown Long Beach If you guessed Downtown Long Beach, you’re correct – sort of. While that is in fact the nearest of the four choices, it’s not even close to the true location.

At the scale of our solar system model, Proxima Centauri would be about 11,000 miles from Longview, or not quite half way around the Earth!

The Lighter Side of Death and Morbidity By Alan Rose

S

ure, anyone can be glum about a global pandemic, but what about the bright side? What about the opportunities it gives us, like catching up on our reading, or having extra time to do our taxes?

A global pandemic is also a great opportunity to ponder one’s mortality—or, if that makes you uncomfortable, ponder your neighbors’ mortality. The wonderful thing about reflecting on your death is that it invariably makes you reflect on your life, as well. How you lived it, and how you want to live the rest of it.

You can begin by studying the examples of those who faced their mortality before us and learn from them. The Stoic philosophers taught that you should think of each day as your last. This probably explains why they weren’t more popular on Rome’s cocktail party and orgy circuit.

Conversely, there is the school of thought that espouses we should live as if we were never going to die.

Yet, both these attitudes—Live as if this was your last day, and Live as if you’re going to live forever—bring us to the same place: Live each day to the fullest, without dread, without demands.

For many people the main problem with death is its uncertainty: We don’t know what’s going to happen next—or even if there is a Next.

Millions of monotheistic people (Christians, Jews, Muslims, Wall Street bankers) believe they will go to Heaven when they die, or

anyway, hope they will. (Interestingly, those who believe in Hell usually see it as a place God intended for others.)

But even believing in a heaven isn’t always as reassuring as you might think.

The theosophist Frederick Myers once pressed a famous churchman on what he thought would happen when he died, until, exasperated, the man exclaimed, “Well, I suppose it will be all eternal bliss and joy but I don’t see why we have to dwell on such morbid subjects.”

Reincarnation has a certain appeal, especially now as more and more of us practice recycling, and there are even those who maintain that death is actually an illusion, a kind of metaphysical misunderstanding and really not necessary. For example, in 1875, the prophet and spiritualist Thomas Lake Harris famously announced that he had discovered the secret to eternal life and was immortal.

(He died in 1906.)

If nothing else, it should be reassuring that those who have had Near Death Experiences frequently report that their “death” was accompanied by an enormous sense of peace and relief.

In fact, a number of them, including Carl Jung, the renowned Swiss psychoanalyst, experienced feelings of deep sadness and disappointment when they were “called back” to their life on earth, and this was even before Trump was president.

While respecting people’s many and differing beliefs on the matter, we are ultimately left with our own mortality staring into its own uncertainty, standing before a great mystery that we sense we are a part of, without knowing the particulars.

When you honestly think about it, your death is theoretical until it actually happens— and then worrying probably becomes irrelevant.

••• Alan Rose writes C R R ’s m o n t h l y book review and coordinates “Besides CRR,What Are You Reading?” minifeature. See page 24.

This article originally appeared on his blog.

••• Kelso resident Ted Gruber is president of Friends of Galileo. He makes a regular report to fellow members of the family-friendly astronomy club which meets monthly in Longview. For info about FOG, visit friendsofgalileo.com.

Columbia River Reader / May 15, 2020 / 33

the spectator by ned piper

A

Remembering Murray.

And maybe the sky IS falling!

t times like these, most of us are missing routinely getting together with family and friends.

I’m thinking particularly of a group of gentlemen — and one specific member of this group — I was invited to join a few years ago. Several decades earlier, the group had been dubbed “The Jolly Boys.” We meet every Friday for a drink, lunch and a laugh or two. Or at least we did, until our world was upended by the Coronavirus.

100th birthday, “still playing with a full deck.”

Murray will be greatly missed, not only by the Jolly Boys, but also by his many friends in the region. He had a wealth of knowledge about area history, having served for many years as the Longview Chamber of Commerce director and as a Weyerhaeuser public relations executive.

Murray Mason was my wife Sue’s first boss when she worked as a summer tour guide at Weyerhaeuser. I will personally miss Murray’s sense of humor, his memorable laugh and especially his friendship. Rest in peace, Murry Mason. ew York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in one of his morning Coronavirus updates, speculated that by the time we reach the end of the

“stay at home” order, Cabin Fever will be considered an actual malady. I can relate, having spent the last month and a half in our house, leaving only to take the garbage out to the alley

PLUGGED IN TO

COWLITZ PUD

It was like winning the lottery when son Perry and I delivered Readers on our Oregon route. I drove and Perry did the hard work filling the boxes.

It felt good getting out of the house.

On the day I’m writing this column, I spent an hour in our backyard enjoying the warmth of the sun. To say that the yard is dominated by a massive oak tree is an understatement. I’ve written in the past about the millions of leaves that float down from its branches every fall, providing full time work for me and my rake.

One of the Jolly Boys traditions is the Jolly Boy who is celebrating a birthday provides a birthday cake on or around his birthday for the group’s enjoyment.

There are 10 of us. There were 10 until our most senior member, Murray Mason, passed away recently at the ripe old age of 101. Murray had reached that milestone in December 2019. On that day, he joked, “Hey, they named a Murray Mason at a Jolly Boys lunch on his highway after me, Highway 101.”

N

every other day or so. I did drive to Longview Radiology twice for X-rays to track my improving case of pneumonia.

Today, it wasn’t falling leaves that I witnessed. A duck fluttered from the tree onto the deck beneath.

We live near Lake Sacajawea, so I figured the duck had gotten off course. Then came something I’d never seen before. It sounded like rocks were dropping onto the deck.

Loud bangs — one, two, sometimes three at a time. I moved to get a closer look. Ducklings, fuzzy little yellow ducklings, were falling 20 feet from where the huge branches join, down to the wooden deck below. They were bailing out like tiny paratroopers without chutes.

As they landed, they were stunned.

After several minutes, each of them shook it off and waddled over to its mother. Twelve babies jumped.

Eleven survived.

The mother kept a wary eye on me as they lined up and left the yard.

I think she knew, somehow, that I wouldn’t harm her brood.

••• Ned Piper coordinates ads in CRR and oversees its distribution. He is currently — and with early signs of success — coaxing a dormant rose garden back to its former glory.

I beg your pardon...I’ve never landed in a rose garden!

Fifth Year of the Live OspreyCam

By Alice Dietz

I

n April 2000 an osprey pair attempted to build a nest on a Cowlitz PUD distribution pole.

Their nests can cause power outages and fires when sticks interfere with electrical equipment. Our line crews deemed this a safety risk for the public and for the osprey, so we designed and built an alternate, higher nesting platform, near the same pole where they originally tried to build a nest.

The ospreys accepted the alternate nesting platform and for 18 years, a pair has been returning to their summer home in Cowlitz County. In 2016, thanks to Brian Magnuson and the team at Cascade Networks, Cowlitz PUD launched our OspreyCam. We are excited that our fifth OspreyCam season is underway!

Last year we replaced the platform with a much sturdier and nest-like version that has been fully adopted by the returning osprey. We also added audio and an additional camera to improve the viewing. Visit our live camera feed at https://www. cowlitzpud.org/live-osprey-cam/ Our Manager of Environment Compliance, Amanda Froberg, spearheads projects like these. In 2015, Amanda developed and implemented Cowlitz PUD’s Avian Protection Plan (APP) to improve electrical reliability to customer-owners and ensure compliance with state and federal laws and rules and regulations protecting wild migratory birds. An Avian Protection Plan is a voluntary utility-specific program designed to protect and conserve wild migratory birds, by reducing the risks that result from avian contact with utility electric facilities.

•••

Alice Dietz is Communications/Public Relations Manager at Cowlitz PUD. Reach her at adietz@cowlitzpud.org, or 360-501-9146.

34 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020

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36 / Columbia River Reader /May 15, 2020