CRR June 2020

CRREADER.COM • Vol. XVII, No. 179 • June 15, 2020 • COMPLIMENTARY Helping you discover and enjoy the good life in the Columbia River region at home and on the road

IT’S A BOOK!

TIDEWATER REACH THE

Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures page 17

People+ Place

Well Versed The Tidewater Reach:

A different way of seeing

page 26

COLUMBIA RIVER

dining guide Columbia River Reader / June 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

road

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

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

EYEWITNESS TO ASTORIA Gabriel Franchére

$21.95

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

DOWN AND UP Rex Ziak $18.95 A unique fold-out guide mapping day-byday Lewis and Clark’s journey from the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean and back.

page 14

People+Plac

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ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION 11 issues $55.

Order by mail using the form below, or via credit card or PayPal on our website www.crreader.com.

Questions? Call 360-749-1021.

SUBSCRIPTIONS MAKE THOUGHTFUL GIFTS...

FOR YOURSELF OR FOR A FRIEND! We send a printed notification card to your recipient THE TIDEWATER REACH The

Tidewater Reach 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

Robert Michael Pyle Judy VanderMaten

Robert Michael Pyle Judy VanderMaten

AVAILABLE NOW! CRR COLLECTORS CLUB ORDER FORM

page 28

IA RIVER

dining guide

“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 two editions, to be published in May..

All book orders to include shipping and handling charge. All book and subscription orders to include, if applicable, Washington State sales tax.

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Down and Up

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Sue’s Views T

IT’S A BOOK!

here are few pleasures in life greater than making Bob Pyle smile. A certifiably brilliant man, author of 24 published books, he is a fierce perfectionist. But when pleased, his eyes shine with elfin glee, his praise is generous and lavish. He can even be downright jolly.

Like a kid at Christmas, he approached this package cautiously. I was nervous, too, the parent hoping she’d picked the perfect gift. He admired and opened the slip cover, custom printed, carefully unwrapped the paper cladding, and there it was — Bob’s very newest and perhaps most unusual book, The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures — published by, of all things…yours truly.

Book publishing? Poetry? Perhaps we’ve finally taken leave of our senses. And it feels great!

Publisher/Editor: Susan P. Piper Columnists and contributors: Tracy Beard Hal Calbom Alice Dietz Joseph Govednik Ted Gruber Margaret Lapic Jim LeMonds Jim MacLeod Gretchen Niemi Vince Penta Michael Perry Ned Piper Perry Piper Robert Michael Pyle Marc Roland Alan Rose Lisa Sudar Alice Slusher Greg Smith Debra Tweedy Production/Graphics Manager: Perry E. Piper Editorial/Proofreading Assistants: Merrilee Bauman, Michael Perry, Marilyn Perry, Debra Tweedy, Tiffany Dickinson 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

As some of you who dip in and out of the Reader may know, we’ve formed a subsidiary, Columbia River Reader Press, and we’re now publishing and distributing books. Our first move was to arrange to distribute the extraordinary books written by Rex Ziak, the iconoclastic Lewis and Clark scholar who will be familiar to regular CRR readers, and those of you who attended his wonderful lecture at the Cowlitz Museum last year.

Our second move was to continue a kind of literary mating dance with Dr. Pyle, Grays River’s famous denizen.

When Hal Calbom and I agreed in 2018 to create and publish the monthly series, “People+Place,” the very first person Hal said he wanted

to feature was Robert Michael Pyle. The result was a milestone for us, a cover featuring Hal and Bob drinking champagne on the historic Grays River Covered Bridge, celebrating CRR’s 15th year, and inaugurating “People+ Place” with a wonderful article and photos.

Later we struck a deal with Bob to re-print monthly essays from his collection, The Tangled Bank. He soon became a friend to the Reader and a prized regular contributor.

What we didn’t know about each other is that amid the good cheer and fellow feeling, we nursed two parallel ulterior motives. We’d been considering a publishing venture, and Bob had a “property” he’d been shopping for 20 years, a collaboration in poetry and photos with Cathlamet’s Judy VanderMaten.

It’s been quite a dance. And the collaborative product is something we’re immensely proud of. Now, we face the challenging task of asking you to give it a look, please, and if you’re so inclined, buy it! It’s the perfect gift — for yourself, for your friends.

The Tidewater Reach. It’s a book!

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

In this Issue

ON THE COVER Top panel: From “Crescent Moon over Birnie Slough” Photo by Judy VanderMaten From The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures by Robert Michael Pyle and Judy VanderMaten.

Primary photo: Bob Pyle and Judy VanderMaten review photos for their new book at the Tsuga Gallery in Cathlamet, Wash.

Spring 2020. Photo by Hal Calbom.

Cover Design by

Sue Piper

2

CRR Collectors Club

4

Letters to the Editor

5

Civilized Life: Miss Manners

6

Lattes, Literature, and Love: Vault Books & Brew

7

Dispatch from the Discovery Trail ~ Death on the Trail

10

Northwest Gardening: Managing your CoVictory Garden

12

Silver Linings: Reflections on Life during Corona

14

Hiking Siouxon Creek

15

Museum Magic: Port of Kalama Interpretive Center

16

Quips & Quotes

17-20 People + Place ~ Verses and Visions Columbia River Reader is published monthly, with 15,000 copies distributed 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, are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Reader.

21

People+Place Recommended Books

21

Roland on Wine: Stopped in our Tracks

22

Where Do You Read the Reader?

23

The Natural World/Tangled Bank Essay: Durable Goods

24

Besides CRR, What Are You Reading?

25

Cover to Cover ~ / Book Review / Bestsellers List

26

Lower Columbia Dining Guide

29 Lower Columbia Informer: Father’s Day Memories

Submission guidelines: page 30.

30-31 Outings & Events Non-Calendar / Hikes / Farmers Markets

General Ad info: page 8

32

Provisions along the Trail: Caponata Sandwich

33

Astronomy ~ The Sky Report / Home Entertainment Outside

34

The Spectator: Getting Back to Normal

34

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

Ned Piper 360-749-2632.

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

Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 3

Letters to the Editor

Columbia Theatre history Congratulations. The May 15 edition is especially outstanding, and I thoroughly have enjoyed the section “People+Place: What we do. Why we thrive.” However, while I like and admire Gian Paul Morelli for all he has done, and continues to do, for the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts, his comment on page 20 needs some clarification.

Great Depression hit, vaudeville died, and the venture failed. Private parties took over the Columbia’s ownership, and it was almost exclusively a movie house until it closed late in the 1970s.

(See p. 64, R.A. Long’s Planned City, John M. McClelland Jr., Longview Publishing Co., 1976.)

We have the late Virginia Ruben and a supportive city and its government to thank for its survival as a fine arts center, and I will continue to support it as well as I can.

He is correct in saying that the very religious Mr. R.A. Long, founder of Longview, undoubtedly wouldn’t think too highly of theaters and that he did not build one for the community.

But, to my knowledge, he didn’t object when his Longview lieutenants Wesley Vandercook and S.M. “Mark” Morris, along with others, created the Columbia Amusement Company, which built the Columbia Theatre. It featured traveling vaudeville acts and silent films.

John M. McClelland (III) Longview, Wash.

Best regards, Harold Metzger Portland, Ore.

Note to Alan Rose It’s sad that we are mostly all so divided politically that a Trump- confirming or disconfirming comment so excites us as to bring us to applause or booing.

But your comment in your article in the recent CRR regarding returning from a near-death experience before the time of Trump was precious! A very brave comment. Thank you for all your very sensitive and thoughtful words over the years. You seem to me to be a very thoughtful human being.

The best to you!

Cindy Davis Longview, Wash.

Editor’s note: In last month’s People+Place feature, “Why We Thrive” Hal Calbom drew from interviews over the last two years to illustrate qualities people in the Lower Columbia region tend to share.

Photos of the original interviewees, including Gian Paul Morelli, were included for reference, but the article was written by Hal. Like Mr. McClelland, CRR appreciates CTPA and encourages everyone to support this community gem.

It was their way of investing in and supporting the fledgling city.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the

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Editor’s note: Alan Rose received this note in reference to his tongue-in-cheek, humorous article last month titled “Benefits of a Pandemic,” which contained a reference to the President.

223 NE 1st Street, Kalama 9–8 M-Sat, 10–7 Sun • 360-673-2200

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Reminder

Passing through CRR territory I was recently in Kalama, taking a long overdue break from Portland, and picked up the May 15 Columbia River Reader (I pick up all local and/or free papers, as a habit). I was pleasantly surprised with the content, tone and professionalism I found, and just wanted to drop you a note thanking you for the good read and to give you kudos for producing a worthwhile newspaper — good job!

- 1150 3rd Ave, Longview -

Using this time of social distancing to organize your garage, closets and attic?

In an effort to serve you better, the City has compiled common information that residents often request, plus created an easywayfor you to communicate with us.

Got a question? Just Ask Longview!

Please do not place your recyclables in plastic bags Place directly into your BROWN recycling container

in Property Management, Commercial Sales, Leasing and Development

Recycling Rule of Thumb: Reuse or donate if possible, but...

When in doubt — throw it out!

- Tips at the new and improved -

www.longviewrecycles.com 4 / Columbia River Reader /June 15, 2020

Achieving Excellence

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www.rodmanrealty.com

Civilized Living

By Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I live in a city that uses large trash bins, which we wheel out on certain days for pickup.

Last week, as the trash collectors drove by, I realized I had forgotten to take my bin out. I quickly wheeled my bin across the street, as the truck does that side later.

A few minutes later, the neighbor whose house I had put my bin in front of (on the city street, not on her property) knocked on my door. She asked me why I had put my bin in front of her house. I told her what had happened. She told me it was rude to do that, and that next time I should write her a note.

I was a bit flabbergasted, as A. She has a driveway, so I was not blocking her parking space, B. It’s a pandemic and our street is pretty empty right now, and C. When it’s not a pandemic, we live on a busy street where unknown cars are almost always parked in front of our houses.

Am I missing some etiquette, or is this lady crazy?

GENTLE READER: Stir-crazy, perhaps. And not very nice.

Miss Manners would think that people had more important things to worry about than temporary trash can placement. But then, you probably have more important concerns than getting into a tiff with a neighbor. A pleasant “I’ll try not to do it again, but I’ll let you know if I have to” should close the matter.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: You receive a lot of questions about cutting people from relationships. Why is it unacceptable to just say, gently, “I think our relationship is over because of X, Y and Z. I don’t think we really have much to discuss. I wish you well, but in light of this realization, I do not want to be your friend.”

GENTLE READER: Because it is mean. Even someone who would be relieved to give up the pretense of a relationship that wasn’t working would feel bad at being dismissed as unworthy.

Thus the prevalence of ghosting.

But being shunned is an extreme punishment, augmented with an unnerving and unending sense of doubt. So ghosting, and even sterner methods (such as getting a restraining order), should be reserved for those who refuse to accept the break.

Ordinary breakups deserve something more gentle. However, even Miss Manners cannot devise a charming way to say, “Go away; I’ve had enough of you.” She can only beg you to do the minimal damage that gets the job done.

So the kind dumper assumes the blame. Hence that old standby, “It’s not you, it’s me,” rather than your

version of “It’s you.” And “This is not a good time for me” is better than “I’ll never have time for you;” as “I’m really too busy these days” is better than “I’m not that desperate.”

Tr u e , n o o n e b e l i e v e s t h o s e euphemisms. But they hurt less.

And surely you owe that much to someone for whom you must have at least once cared.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: We recently attended the wedding of the daughter of a friend of ours. They had an open bar while the wedding party took pictures after the ceremony, and a buffet dinner following. We were seated in a crowded balcony area, and could not see the majority of the people who were seated on the main floor.

My husband and I knew very few people other than the parents of the cont page 32

MEDICAL MATTERS

Safety is central focus at

By Jim LeMonds Longview Ortho After experiencing a partial shutdown for several months due to the coronavirus, Longview Orthopedic Associates is nearly back to full speed.

To ensure the safety of patients and staff, the following measures have been implemented: •Staff members are required to wear a facial mask when coming into contact with or coming within six feet of patients.

•Patients are being asked to wear some sort of facial covering (mask, scarf or handkerchief) to their appointments.

is possible that patients will wait in their vehicles until they receive a message saying it’s time to enter the building.)

•Seating in the waiting area has been arranged to minimize close contact.

•LOA is limiting the number of doctors in the clinic to five. They will be spread out so that there is only one provider per hallway to limit patient-to-patient and patientto-staff contact.

•Unless they require assistance, patients are asked to come alone to their appointments.

•After patients have left the clinic, staff members will complete a full sanitizing wipe-down of any rooms that were occupied

•Patients — as well as any family members or friends who accompany them to provide assistance — will have their temperature taken upon entering the office.

The situation remains in flux, so it’s possible additional changes will be made during the weeks and months ahead. Call 360-501-3400 if you have questions.

•Patients will be asked COVID screening questions during the online check-in process that they complete prior to arriving at the clinic.

•If the patient answers yes to any of the online COVID questions, LOA staff will determine whether the patient should still come in for their appointment.

•Patients will be assigned to a room as quickly as possible to avoid crowds in the waiting area. (In the future, it

Former R.A. Long High School English teacher Jim LeMonds is a writer, editor, and marketer who rides his mountain bike whenever he gets the chance. He lives in Castle Rock, Wash.

His published books are South of Seattle and Deadfall.

Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 5

Around Town

Lattes, Literature, and Love Vault Books & Brew offers more than strong coffee Story and photos by Hal Calbom

in crises like this one, then every day is just a new, painful day. People come in singing the blues and I ask them, ‘Haven’t you read any history?’”

A

t the Vault there’s more brewing than just coffee and conversation.

Owner Jennifer Engkraf pours every cup with passion and personality. But the world of the Vault, a rehabilitated bank building on a charming Castle Rock corner, is a world of books, music, ideas, and art — whether you’re caffeinated or not.

“I just needed a bookstore,” said Engkraf. “I’ve always loved books and bookstores. I worked at Waldenbooks in college but I didn’t make much money — I kept buying all the books!”

The Vault offers a trove of titles, about 70-30 percent used-to-new, carefully curated and enthusiastically promoted.

“I see this as a gathering place, a hub, a safe place. I love teaching kids the value of books, especially. They come in here and they’re choosing to be surrounded by all these books…and I even sneak in some jazz when I can.”

Engkraf and her husband have transformed the old corner bank building while retaining the high ceilings, classic architecture, and the massive vault door hanging open behind the coffee bar. “You’ve got

to understand,” explained Engkraf, “that I grew up in Packwood. So when I came to Castle Rock, it was the big city. And the bank was a skyscraper! It was absolutely the most beautiful building I’d ever seen!”

Engkraf traces her love of books to a solitary childhood. Losing her mother at eight, she took consolation in history and literature. With plans to be a teacher, she cleaned motel rooms, delivered papers and worked her Waldenbooks job to pay for two years at Clark College, then rethought her career plan. “I balked at the standardized testing. And the one size fits all,” she said. “I wasn’t sure that was the way you learn to learn. It certainly wasn’t the way I did.”

Today she pays special attention to special needs. There are hundreds of titles for children that deal with anxiety and depression, grief, and learning challenges. For her older readers, she sees the study of history, in particular, as therapeutic, especially in these difficult times. “If you don’t study history, and see the patterns, and how often we’ve been

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We like books CRR looks good on your coffee table or nightstand Handcrafted ads worth looking at!

It’s a two-way street: Her customers help her take the pulse of the community. “I know what people are thinking about, worrying about, inspired about,” she said. “And yes, I probably come on pretty strong when I’m passionate about a book. But that’s my job. I’m their curator. I study books like an archaeologist. That’s how I navigate the world.”

On its quaint corner in Castle Rock, the Vault well rewards a visit. On the walls hang memorable quotes, from Kerouac to Lucy Maud Montgomery.

On the shelves classics commingle with new discoveries. And, wafting over it all, the robust aroma of fresh espresso and the music of a community’s conversations.

••• Vault Books & Brew is located at 20 Cowlitz St. W., Castle Rock,Wash. Hal Calbom writes CRR’s monthly “People+Place” feature. See his tagline, page 20.

Lewis & Clark

Death on the Trail What went wrong?

The day Lewis and Clark had long feared had arrived. One Indian was dead and another either dead or seriously wounded. After 2-1/2 years of traveling through Indian country without any major problems, how could this have happened? President Jefferson had given Lewis written instructions to treat Indians “in the most friendly & conciliatory manner

Lewis & Clark Encore We are pleased to present

Installment #25 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 ~

M

Lewis took his three best men and headed north to determine if the headwaters of the Marias River lay above the 49th parallel; the United States owned all the land drained by the Missouri River.

Montana road signs, photos taken by Michael Perry 15 years ago during his explorations and research for this series.

Lewis was well aware of the danger in this mission since it would require traveling across Blackfoot land. Lewis’s fear was based on experiences of other Indian tribes that had been victims of the aggressive Blackfoot nation. Lewis wrote they were a “vicious lawless and reather an abandoned set of wretches” and he was Michael Perry enjoys local history and determined “to avoid an interview with travel. His popular them if possible.”

33-installment Lewis & Clark series appeared in CRR’s early years and began its second “encore” appearance in April 2018.

Tony Botero!

eet Tony Botero! Tony joined the Windermere team just before the quarantine orders closed the office. But that has not derailed Tony! He is a hard working individual, working at one of the mills in town and transitioning to real estate. Between the long hours at the mill and learning the ropes of the housing industry, Tony enjoys spending his time with his two children (ages 26 and 24) and his granddaughter.

“I love to help my clients who are first time home buyers,” Tony said.

which their own conduct will admit.” While there had been some tense moments as the Corps crossed paths with hostile Indians, they had been able to use diplomacy to resolve conflicts in each case. At least, until July 26, 1806.

Divide and conquer On July 3, after crossing the Rocky Mountains, the Corps split into several parties to further explore the northern plains. Lewis and nine men went to Great Falls using an overland route the Nez Perce had told him about. He left six men there to construct carts to portage the canoes that Sgt. Ordway would be bringing down the Missouri.

“It’s great to see how excited they get about every step of the process to being a home owner.” With both his wife and daughter working in the mortgage industry, Tony has seen how excited they are when a client gets the home they want, and wanted to be a part of that adventure.

Through constant communication, he ensures that all of your questions and concerns are addressed so that you can be the most comfortable during your home adventure.

If you are looking to buy or sell a home, call the Kelso/Longview office and ask for Tony!

Kelso/Longview • 360-636-4663 209 W. Main St, Suite 200 • Kelso, WA

Cathlamet • 360-795-0552

102 Main St, Suite 200 • Cathlamet, WA

Mon- Fri: 8:30–5:00

After traveling up the Marias River only to find it did not go as far north as he hoped, Lewis decided to return to the Missouri River and rejoin the Expedition. On the morning of July 26, they left their camp near present-day Cut Bank, Montana, and proceeded down Two Medicine River.

That afternoon, Lewis saw the thing he had feared most — a group of Indians coming towards them.

Strength in numbers It appeared Lewis and his men were heavily outnumbered; the Indians had 30 horses, about half wearing saddles.

Lewis wrote, “this was a very unpleasant sight.” He unfurled his flag and rode towards the Indians. After both sides met, Lewis was relieved to find just eight young Indians herding horses captured in a raid, but he noticed two Indians had muskets obtained from FrenchCanadian fur traders. After giving his last peace medal to a chief, Lewis wrote, “I was convinced that they would attempt to rob us in which case… I should resist to the last extremity prefering death to that of being deprived of my papers instruments

and gun.” Lewis invited the Indians to spend the night together in order to prevent them from returning to their village for reinforcements.

Lewis told his men they needed to watch the Indians all night to prevent them from stealing their guns and horses. After smoking with the Indians until dark, Lewis took the first watch.

When he woke Reuben Fields at midnight, the Indians all appeared to be asleep. His brother, Joseph, took the next watch. All went well until daybreak when the Indians got up and crowded around the fire.

In the blink of an eye According to Lewis, Joseph Fields “carelessly laid his gun down behind him near where his brother was sleeping.”

Before he knew it, the Indian wearing the peace medal took both of the Fields brothers’ rifles. Worse, two other Indians had slipped up to where Lewis and George Drouillard were sleeping and stole their rifles. When Joseph Fields saw what was happening, he yelled out to his brother. Reuben Fields jumped up and chased the Indian with the two rifles for 150 feet when, according to Lewis’s journal, “he seized his gun, stabed the indian to the heart with his knife… the fellow ran about 15 steps and fell dead.” cont page 8

Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 7

Dispatch

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Lewis awoke to hear Drouillard shouting, “damn you let go my gun.” Drouillard recovered his rifle, but when Lewis realized his rifle was also gone, “drew a pistol from my holster” and ran after the Indian who had taken it. After Lewis warned the Indian he was going to shoot him, the Indian “droped the gun and walked slowly off, I picked her up instantly.” All four rifles were recovered and no shots had been fired. But, one Indian lay dead.

Lewis’s men wanted to kill the Indians, but Lewis refused, saying the Indians had not tried to harm them. But things soon changed when the Indians attempted to steal their horses. Lewis wrote, “I pursued the man who had taken my gun who with another was driving off a part of the horses… being nearly out of breath I could pursue no further, I called to them… that I would shoot them if they did not give me my horse.”

Now what?

Lewis wrote that as he “raised my gun, one of them jumped behind a rock and spoke to the other who turned arround and stoped at the distance of 30 steps from me and I shot him through the belly, he fell to

his knees and on his wright elbow from which position he partly raised himself and fired at me, and turning himself about crawled in behind a rock which was a few feet from him. he overshot me, being bearheaded I felt the wind of his bullet very distinctly.” Most historians believe the Indian Lewis shot died, but he possibly survived.

Lewis was concerned that the Indians who escaped would return, so the men rounded up the remaining horses, some of which belonged to the Indians. After throwing the Indians’ bows and arrows onto the campfire, Lewis left the peace “medal about the neck of the dead man that they might be informed who we were.”

Then, they mounted their horses and rode 120 miles in 24 hours.

Safe at last They arrived at the mouth of the Marias River just as Sergeant Gass and his party came floating down the Missouri. Lewis wrote, “I was so soar from my ride yesterday that I could scarcely stand.” Now, if the Blackfeet managed to track them down, there were enough men and guns to repel an attack.

••• More to the Story: A case of murder? cont. page 9

Introducing Tom Lee

Attorney and Counselor at Law

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Sue Lane 360-261-0658 Downtown Longview

Ad Manager-Ned Piper, 360-749-2632: All areas.

Feather your nest at Teague’s

Longview native Tom Lee recently returned to establish his law practice, serving clients in Longview and Southwest Washington.

Contact Tom about protecting your rights during COVID-19.

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A case of murder?

A Blackfoot tribal elder, G. G. Kipp, feels Lewis’s story is false. However, no existing written record supports his belief. Indians did not have a written language; they relied on oral histories to pass down events to future generations.

According to Kipp (in a presentation to the Blackfeet Community College’s Native American Scholars program, as reported in a 2003 Great Falls Tribune article), Lewis and his party ran into a group of young boys who were herding

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horses back to camp from a previous foray. “They stayed with them and gambled with them,” Kipp said in 2003. “In the morning, they went to part company, and the Indians took what they had won. That was it,” said Kipp, “that’s when they were killed.” …or justifiable homicide?

A newspaper story dating back to 1919 offers another view. In 1895, George

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Bird Grinnell, one of the fathers of Glacier National Park, interviewed a 102-year old Blackfoot chief named Wolf Calf. He told Grinnell that when he was 13 years old, he and some other Indians met some white men in a friendly fashion. Their chief directed them to try to steal some things, according to Wolf Calf. He said they

did so early the next morning, and the white men killed one of them with a big knife. When asked why the Indians didn’t pursue Lewis to retaliate, Wolf Calf said they were frightened and ran away – just like Lewis and his men, but in the opposite direction.

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Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 9

Northwest Gardening

Fresh veggies for dinner!

Managing your CoVictory garden

S

o you’ve planted your CoVictory Garden, and you’re hoping to have a bountiful harvest, right?

Maybe you’re new to this whole gardening thing, or maybe you’d just like a review of what you can do in your garden to keep it healthy and productive all season long.

By Alice Slusher

boost of fertilizer as they begin to form small fruits. Side dress the recommended amount of veggie fertilizer in a circle about 5 inches from the base of the plant, but don’t over-fertilize, or you’ll have lots of green leaves and very little fruit!

You can also add a shovel-full of high quality compost around each plant every two weeks during the growing season.

Plants can’t use soil nutrients, though, if the soil is too dry. They don’t do well if the soil is saturated, either. Remove older leaves at the bottom of the plants that may turn yellow with age. Do you notice spots on the leaves? Many fungal diseases do this — remove the affected leaves and any on the ground. Do you observe any puckering or bleaching on the leaves? Insects may be the cause — take a look beneath the leaves where a lot of those little buggers hide. So you found bugs — what to do next?

First, let’s take a walk through your garden.

Do your plants get at least 6 hours of afternoon sun? Are any larger plants shading smaller ones? Is there enough space between plants for good air circulation (helps prevent leaf disease)? Have you set up soaker hoses or drip irrigation to keep the roots ready to take up needed moisture and nutrients? If not, do you try to water at the ground level and keep the leaves dry (also helps prevent leaf disease)?

Your garden needs about an inch of water per week; more if it’s really hot. Insect problems Have you put an inch of organic mulch This is where a simple, holistic, and (grass clippings, shredded leaves) on common-sense way of handling insect the top of the soil around your plants problems comes into play. It’s called to help retain soil moisture, regulate Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and soil temperature, and reduce weed it consists of five repeating steps: competition?

Next steps WSU/OSU Extension Workshops & Events If you answered “Yes” to all Plant or insect problems? No in-person office the questions, we’re ready hours, but we can be reached: 360-577-3014 to take the next steps in Ext.8 or cowlitzcomg/plant-and-insect-clinic monitoring your garden’s ONLINE workshops: Garden Bytes Minihealth. Go outside every workshops morning with your cup of Noon-12:30 every Tuesday coffee (or in the evening with your glass of beer) Contact WSU Extension Coordinator Gary and look around. Do you Fredricks for topics and connection information. see any obvious problems?

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

Yellowing leaves may wa.us be due to a number of reasons. Many vegetables need a

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 /June 15, 2020

4. How much damage are you willing to accept?

Perfection is an unrealistic garden goal, and remember that having a few insect pests in your garden attracts beneficial insects who will be happy to take care of the problem for you!

1. Identify the pest (take a photo and send it to the Master Gardener Plant and Insect Clinic: cowlitzmastergardener@ gmail.com).

2. We’ll give you information about its life cycle and behavior.

3. Monitor the problem by noting where they hide, when they appear and are most active, and which plants they like to eat. Knowing their behavior will be your best guide to prevent damage.

5. Implement control measures. Depending on the insect, you can use row covers to prevent the insect from feeding on your plants, or you can pick them off and drown them in soapy water.

If you end up needing to use a pesticide to control the ravaging beasts from devouring your garden, you will want to choose the least toxic options— this will help protect you, the environment, and beneficial insects.

The basic rules for using pesticides: Spot-spray only the affected plant, never apply pesticides to flowering plants, make sure that your target pest is listed on the pesticide label.

Each kind of pest has particular vulnerabilities, and this will govern

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what kind you use and when in the insect’s life cycle it will be most effective.

And please—follow all label directions carefully. Many pesticides are safer for pollinators if they are applied at dusk.

The following lists are for reference only, as you need to know the kind of insect you want to target. But in general, the following organic pesticides are listed here from the least toxic to more toxic: BT (for caterpillars), diatomaceous earth, neem oil, insecticidal soap, spinosad products, boric acid (ants), and some pyrethrins.

The following common synthetic pesticides are highly toxic to bees and other pollinators, mostly because their residual toxicity lasts for many hours or days. Products containing acetamiprid, acephate, bifenthrin, carbaryl (Sevin), cyfluthrin and cyhalothrins, esfenvalerate, Malathion, permethrins should be used with caution. Once again, follow all label instructions to minimize harm to beneficial insects and your vegetables.

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Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 11

Silver Linings

Reflections on life during Corona At sea

Together, we can get through anything

by Vince Penta, Longview attorney

by Gretchen Niemi, Castle Rock, Wash.

“At sea” was an expression I overheard my dad use a time or two. I took it to mean he was, at those moments, unsure of what to do next.

So that’s how I’ll describe how I felt when routine weekly meetings suddenly evaporated from my calendar as if some external force were backspacing over all the digital entries for regular events I took for granted and would never want to miss.

I am one of the lucky few who have been able to continue to go to my place of work everyday during the Pandemic. I work at a memory care community in Longview, and have for the past 25 years. I am always learning from my residents, who have vivid memories of the past, but cannot remember the past five minutes. comt page 13

Rotary Wednesday, Jolly Boy Friday, my Tuesday lunch group with old friends… poof!

To the rescue: Grandsons; ages 8 and 11. One in Longview one in Virginia. With their moms’ encouragement (and willingness to share their iPhones), the boys separately agreed to try digital chess with Papa.

We scheduled times and tried Chess.com. That was fun, briefly, as the program required quick, decisive action, but we were soon overwhelmed by intrusive ads. The 11-year-old then introduced us to Game Pigeon.

What fun! Yes, it includes chess; but the boys prefer virtual pool (8Ball), plus Archery, Anagrams & Sea Battle (aka Battleship). All fast and outrageously addictive and all provide the added benefit of serving up lots of wins for the boys.

It’s ironic. I feel the world is now getting back to work and school just a little too soon. More appointments, more interruptions, new deadlines.

I don’t want to let go of my new lunchtime, family connections. Rotary may have to wait.

The next three reflections, originally published as part of a parishioner project at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Longview, are re-printed here by permission of the authors.

Hope in a strange time

by Margaret Lapic, Longview, Wash.

A long time ago, a friend brought me an orchid. Not being an orchid expert, I do not recall what variety of orchid it was, but it was very beautiful and lasted a couple of months. Mostly, when I am the recipient of one of these beautiful plants, the leaves start to die very soon. I know people who are able to get them to re-bloom, but I have never had such luck.

I saw one in an office once that looked very healthy. They told me they just gave it an ice cube once a week. So I have been using that method for months. It has rested near the kitchen, gobbling up its weekly dose of ice. The leaves did not die. In fact, several months ago, a new leaf formed. Earlier this year, I realized that something else was starting to grow on one of the bare stems. Just as pandemic 2020 arrived, the little knobby thing got larger and a beautiful orchid blossom burst forth — almost like a promise of good things to come.

It is only a single blossom. But it is beautiful and delicate. It brightens my day. It shares the kitchen with me. And two months later it is just as beautiful as the day it came into the world. I think this is an Ovid Orchid. It is one of a kind. I wonder if it came to give me hope that we will get through this strange time.

12 / Columbia River Reader /June 15, 2020

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Silver Linings

On the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, I did a presentation to my residents on that day and the days leading up to and following it, as I am one of the few staff here who is old enough to remember May 18, 1980.

My residents include a former Longview police officer, two fire fighters, and a logger. They all remembered their role on that day and the days following. We discussed the fear that we had at the time, both of a pending eruption, and of the possible flooding in the aftermath. We talked about the complete devastation of the area around the mountain, and the miracle of the regrowth.

After the second weekend’s ashfall covering the entire area, we were told to stay inside, and wear masks if we ventured outside. I have spoken to people who were students graduating that year, who said that all activities for seniors that final month of school were canceled and even the graduation ceremonies at some schools were canceled.

What we got out of that stressful and fearful time was that together, we can get through anything. We adjust to changes in our everyday life when necessary.

Nature will recover and we will continue on, even if it is never quite the same again.

I have seen such generosity from people in the community, donating masks to us and bringing treats to our hard-working health care staff.

My faith in humanity is strong.

Life: Bursting at the seams

by Lisa Sudar, Longview, Wash.

During the “stay-at-home” era of the Coronavirus, my husband Robert and I have been heading out to the woods to work on some of the projects on our tree farm. Working in the woods, cutting up “blow downs” and clearing roads, always reminds me of a card game we used to play with our kids, “Into the Woods.”

The object was to “win” cards and accrue points by using where they were on the forest food chain. The card you always wanted in a “showdown” was Death & Decay because that card could take any other card — plant or animal. But, in a different play, the “challenge,” you might be one of the plants or animals that feed on decay — fungi, worms, coyotes, millipedes, etc. Death & Decay always won in a “showdown,” but in a “challenge” play, those other cards would take Death & Decay, because they fed on it for life.

Sounds macabre, but in a world that seems to be preoccupied by sickness and death right now, I think about that card every time a rotten log splits open to show the teeming life within. Dead trees burst with life in tiny new plants and fungi growing out of them, long dead but supporting life in the moist spring forest. Those logs are called “nurse logs” because they nurture and protect life. It’s comforting to me to know that life is bursting at the seams out there, in spite of death and decay.

Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 13

Hiking in the Great Outdoors

Spring at Siouxon Creek

Cleared to hit the trails!

By Tracy Beard

O

nce governing authorities re-opened state parks and many popular trails, my daughter Brittney and I eagerly packed a picnic lunch. Destination: Siouxon Creek, northeast of Battleground, Wash., in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. For directions, see sidebar.

Equipped with a variety of clothing, we headed out onto the trail. The weather was excellent for hiking, a mild 60 degrees with a slight Washington mist in the air. Precipitation in the Pacific Northwest comes in a variety of forms: fog, mist, drizzle, sprinkles, showers, rain, and downpours.

The trail begins on the north side of the parking lot and takes an immediate 50-foot decline intersecting with the Siouxon Creek Trail. We turned right and continued in a downward trajectory until we reached a newly constructed bridge crossing West Creek. Crossing the bridge we continued upstream along the trail.

The forest is radiant in spring. Chartreusecolored western sword ferns unfurl throughout the forest floor while maidenhair ferns, refusing to social distance, cluster together, blanketing the hillsides in stunning shades of shamrock green. Wild bleeding hearts pepper the landscape with pops of lavender, and new growth on the treetips add shades of lime to this cornucopia of forest greenery.

junction to Horseshoe Ridge Trail, and from there we continued and crossed Horseshoe Creek on a bridge just above Horseshoe Creek Falls.

We stopped and rested on the bench located approximately 0.2 miles after the Falls. A short distance upstream is a delightful waterfall with a swimming hole. This waterfall is a favorite stop on a hot day. Years ago, a friend and I backpacked with our small children and stayed along the river. I have fond memories of hiking to this swimming hole with the kids and watching them drag a log out into the water and floating on it out to the waterfall. They paddled around for hours.

As Brittney and I walked along the forest floor, we inhaled the fresh scent of wet dirt and pine. It felt fabulous to be out in the forest again. Even my hair seemed unusually happy as it curled up, seemingly jumping for joy in the mist.

Springtime reminds me of new beginnings.

After two months of “stay safe at home,” it was refreshing to see the tightly furled buds burst into long green leaves and bright, bold flowers. New plants came to life, and we could hear the scurry of small animals running through the brush and birds chirping from the treetops. As we walked along the creek, we could see and hear the roar of white water crashing through the canyon, powered by newly melted snow. Other areas along the stream presented emerald green pools filled with water so clear we could see the rocks along the bottom. There is no better place to witness the earth’s springtime transformation than under the forest canopy.

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 CRR. She is pictured here with her daughter, Brittney (at right).

14 / Columbia River Reader /June 15, 2020

After crossing the bridge, we passed several excellent campsites. I have backpacked into these sites several times over the years. They are great spots to stay, especially if you are packing with young children because it is not too far for them to carry their gear. These spots are great for day hikes and afford easy access to the water.

The official Siouxon Creek Trail continues to Siouxon Falls at about 3.8 miles from the trailhead.

This is a good spot to have lunch or to turn

Just past the camps, the trail follows a series of small ups and downs and then gradually heads upward to 50 feet above the creek.

At about 0.9 miles the trail passes the

Siouxon Creek: If You Go The drive to Siouxon Creek is an adventure. Due to the rough roads, it is wise to travel in an all-wheel or four-wheel vehicle. Follow the mileage points exactly and keep an eye out for the signs to avoid having to backtrack.

To reach the trailhead, follow State Highway 503 from Interstate 205 to Battleground. Head north on 503 for 11.2 miles, turn right on Cedar Creek Road (503), and continue 5.6 miles to NE Healy

cont page 15

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

See page 32.

Road. There is a little store at this intersection where you can buy snacks or take a restroom break. (There are no restrooms at the trailhead.) Turn right on NE Healy Road and go 9.2 miles, then turn left at a poorlysigned junction and travel on Forest Road 57 (a single-lane road) for 1.3 miles. Make a sharp right on Forest Road 5701 and travel 3.7 miles to the trailhead parking lot. This section of the road is very rough; take it slow.

Local Culture

PORT OF KALAMA’S TRANSPORTATION INTERPRETIVE CENTER

One-stop opp for learning and waterfront recreation

By Joseph Govednik Cowlitz County Historical Museum Director

T

he Port of Kalama’s Transportation Interpretive Center hosts high-quality exhibits and information about the history of Kalama with a focus on transportation heritage. Opened in 2014, the exhibits track Kalama’s first inhabitants, the Cowlitz Tribe, and the settlers who followed in later years, including Ezra Meeker. Displays illustrate how Kalama’s particular landscape gave birth to a booming transportation system impacting both cultural and economic aspects of life in the region.

from page 14

back. Plan to spend three to four hours hiking Siouxon Creek Trail. Enjoy the many sights and sounds along the way.

Hikers looking for additional miles can extend their trip out another 1.2 miles to 100-foot-high Wildcat Falls, creating a 10-mile hike out and back.

Kalama is connected domestically through rail and road, and internationally through its port

Siouxon Creek Trail is fabulous for the whole family. Be sure to come early, especially on the weekends, as this trail can get quite crowded.

which serves ocean-going bulk container and cargo vessels. Exhibits include models of famous ships such as the Tacoma and USS Oregon. A prairie schooner Oregon Trail replica wagon, a vintage flatbed truck, and a salvaged historic anchor are among pieces that complement rich storytelling. A massive Northern Pacific steam locomotive was added to the exhibit a few months ago.

To enhance your experience, pack one of my caponata sandwiches for lunch.

Caponata is also great on grilled white fish. Recipe, page 32.

The interpretive center is one of many attractions on the Kalama waterfront including the new McMenamins Kalama Harbor Lodge (which features a restaurant, lounge, and more Kalama history in the hallways), waterfront park and walking trails, and a marina with public boat launch.

The interpretive center is part of the comprehensive cont page 16

•••

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 •

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Clatskanie Rainier

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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

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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 / June 15, 2020 / 15

Museum

Thank You!

from page 15

experience where visitors may learn, e a t , p l a y, a n d explore the richness that is Kalama’s waterfront.

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

“The exhibits are a great asset to the community,” said Mark Wilson, Port of Kalama Executive Director. “We are pleased to enrich the experience of visitors near and far through the Interpretive Center.”

The interpretive center is located at the Port of Kalama offices at 110 West Marine View Dr. in Kalama and open from 9-5 Mondays through Fridays.

Admission is free.

••• Editor’s note: At press time, the interpretive center expected to re-open by June 15, in compliance with Phase 3 of the state’s Coronavisus response.

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It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist and travel writer, 1850-1894 A garden is evidence of faith. It links us with all the misty figures of the past who also planted and were nourished by the fruits of their planting. ~ Gladys Taber, American writer and columnist, 1899-1980 Reading fiction is important. It is a vital means of imagining a life other than our own, which in turn makes us more empathetic beings.

Following complex story lines stretches our brains beyond the 140 characters of sound-bite thinking, and staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps. ~ Ann Patchett, American writer, 1963-

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I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot. ~ Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, 1809-1865 The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof. ~ Barbara Kingsolver, American writer, 1955Let no man pull you low enough to hate him. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., American Christian minister and activist, 1929-1968 Strength is the capacity to break a Hershey Bar into four pieces with your bare hands—and then eat just one of the pieces. ~ Judith Viorst, American writer, 1931-

16 / Columbia River Reader /June 15, 2020

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.

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Production Notes

The Water Question M ost of my friends are water rats , so inevitably I end up asking The Question. The Water Question.

It makes for great debating and recollecting, our own armchair blend of natural history and fond anecdote.

If you could live on one kind of water, perched in your ideal abode, which would it be? 1) the sea shore, all beach and breaking waves; 2) the lakefront, with your private dock and moored canoe; or 3) the river, perpetually flowing, teeming with fish and flotsam.

Generally, the seashore wins, with lakefront and rivers splitting the rest of the votes. Which calls to mind our own Columbia River, especially our patch, from Beacon Rock down to the Columbia Bar. Simply put, the Lower Columbia defies the Water Question.

It can be broad and still like a lake, colossally powerful like an ocean, and of course, ever flowing. Sloughs and canals? Yep. Recreation? Check.

Beaches? You bet. It’s even got tides, up to ten feet of them a day.

In conventional terms the Lower Columbia just can’t be summed up and categorized. It encourages an alternative approach: a different lens, a different voice, a different way of seeing.

people+ place

Verses and Visions: Robert Michael Pyle and Judy VanderMaten They don’t look like wizards.

No pointy hats, robes or runes.

Robert Michael Pyle

Strolling the streets of historic Cathlamet, braced against the chill wind off the river, they are simply old friends enjoying their walk in companionable silence.

resides

Like many photographers, she herself hates posing, is reluctant to offer the grand pronouncement or sound cut, urges that the work speaks for itself. Like many poets, he’s lacking only an audience to share his songs, quotes and musical turns of phrase, a bubbling font of delicious sentences, asides, and musings.

known for

Grays River, Washington occupation

Writer and biologist from

Denver Love of butterflies reading

All the books of Josephine Tey for fun

Birding, butterflying, walking, reading recommends

Breakfast in bed with a book (am); Whiskey in bed with a book (pm)

They are Judy VanderMaten and Robert Michael Pyle, creators of The Tidewater Reach, photos and poems offering what their publishers call “a different way of seeing, feeling and experiencing” the Lower Columbia.

Introvert and extrovert, looker and talker, visionary and versifier. They are perfect complements — partners in alchemy — and together they have transformed the homely and familiar into something amplified and illuminated.

resides

Cathlamet, Washington occupation

Retired photography instructor from

Iowa known for

I ask them how it all started in the first place.

Questioning things

RMP: Judy initiated the whole thing.

JV: Probably the Broadway Gallery. I joined to get connected to other artists.

JV: I don’t remember that!

RMP: I think she said, after she’d read my book Wintergreen, ‘Have you ever considered working with a photographer on a book?’ And I told her that I’d been approached from time to time by

RMP: It might have been at Redmen Hall, or maybe the Broadway Gallery, you can call me on it if it’s not right….

Judy VanderMaten

reading

Last Child in the Woods, The Shock Doctrine for fun

Playing with my cat, traveling around the globe recommends

Spending time outside in the wild; traveling a lot

cont page 18

In this issue we proudly announce publication of The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures. It’s a significantly different kind of Field Guide, a different approach to apprehending and describing.

The Tidewater Reach is the product of two vast talents — Bob Pyle and Judy VanderMaten – and the editorial sensibility we’ve coalesced in Columbia River Reader Press.

And we’re offering a new and novel answer to The Water Question: 4) All of the above.

Welcome to People + Place.

•••

Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 17

People

from page 17

photographers, which I had, and I hadn’t been so inclined. And I don’t know if it was right then, or it took awhile, but I started noticing Judy’s work in the galleries, and then I bought my first piece early on.

“ To feel like caring is a better way to liv

JV: I had just started teaching at that time. Got the job by happenstance.

David Myers had been teaching the class at Lower Columbia College. They were doing fairly straightforward stuff and I was doing more experimental stuff at home in the darkroom. I mentioned to some friends at the Broadway that I wondered if they’d be interested in having a teacher that offered different types of photography. And it turned out David was just leaving, and I got the job.

RMP: And I just loved Judy’s work. I loved other people’s work, too, but I just didn’t see how it would blend. Because I make page pictures. That’s what I do. And I didn’t see that photographs had that much to gain from me, or that my stories would gain that much from them.

JV: I didn’t even know you wrote poetry at the time.

RMP: I wrote very little poetry at the time. I assumed that if we ever collaborated it would be prose and pictures. But, frankly, I didn’t want to devote myself to the time it would take. I had other book contracts going and some of them were very ambitious, and took years.

VanderMaten and Pyle took different paths to their eventual rendezvous and collaboration in Wahkaikum County. Raised in Denver, Bob Pyle felt the lure of the water and came to University of Washington to study oceanography, graduated to Yale, a Ph.D. and eventually a career as an independent scientist, writer, and naturalist, with particular interest in butterflies. Judy VanderMaten grew up in a small town in Iowa, had a life-changing experience watching photographs emerge from blank paper in a school darkroom, and began a lifelong pursuit of photography, amidst a career in child development and acquiring her teaching certificate.

JV: She was a good friend. And I’m still a member, and one of the founding members of the other local co-op gallery, Tsuga in Cathlamet.

JV: I was looking for a job and I had an interview in Longview for a special ed teacher job and I decided to take it. So I worked at Mint Valley School for two years.

Then I married Chris, who worked in a similar program with kids, and we ended up moving to Puget Island.

RMP: It’s fair to say, in this county alone, we’ve got about four thousand people, and the number of people here that are involved in politics, the arts, and conservation, is not very many. So we all know one another. We get involved in this, that, and the other.

However I suspect I did first meet Judy at Broadway Gallery, because my late wife Thea was a member, too.

RMP: So, not too long after that, we began querying, because I had experience with a number of publishers.

And we had this idea and described the territory we wanted to photograph and write about — our first proposals were simply called ‘The Reach.’

JV: But most of the publishers, the university presses, wanted money from us. We hoped we’d be getting money from them!

RMP: And I very rarely do work on spec, let alone finance the whole thing! And the shape of the project was changing in my mind, too. I was increasingly attracted to poetry. I thought it would be just too much work to write thirty essays, and no one would read them anyway. And I didn’t want to simply do captions. In a lot of photography books the words are just window dressing for the pictures, secondary, throwaway.

People+ Place visits the Tidewater Reach.

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ve than to be oblivious.”

~ Robert Michael Pyle Lower Columbia. It’s our home, and it’s the physical and psychic territory for the poems and pictures.

Sometimes it seems the hopes of all mankind lie on display in a small-town bookstore, against all odds still open on a bleak December dock in a time when so much else is going, going gone

VanderMaten and Pyle are both close observers of the natural world. Integrating their respective visions, personal and pointed, is easier said than done. Do the poems lead pictures, or vice versa? Are images and words literal reflections of each other, or simply metaphorical hints and echoes? Will people seek out poetry, or be put off by what they see as an antique and obscure form? Can the pervasive, gray-toned, predominant presence of The River and its denizens truly and truthfully reveal themselves? And what exactly is this “different way of seeing, a Field Guide in Poems and Pictures,” touted by the authors and publishers?

After the reading I spill out the back door onto the wet green waterfront. Walk up and down in the dripping dusk. The slips still have boats, though the fleet is tiny now…

From “I Cover the Waterfront” ~ Robert Michael Pyle

RMP: I think if anything the pictures and the poems expand the reader or looker’s view of each. The whole truly is greater than the sum of the parts. I think if a person carefully examines the photograph or just takes a gestalt snatch at it, they’ll eventually dig deeper, for more meaning and significance. And hopefully in the poems, too.

JV: I remember one of the first impressions I had of the Northwest. I was in Portland, and I walked out in front of my house on the first of January and there were roses blooming in my yard. And coming from Iowa you’re just not used to that.

JV: We didn’t want that.

RMP: And I decided that if we’re going to do this thing, then I’m going to make it fun. I want to do something that I really want to do. And what I’m really enjoying now is poetry. And Judy and Chris have always been good about coming to my readings.

And Judy and I were in synch about what we wanted to look at, photograph, and write about.

JV: One of my first influences was probably Eliot Porter. In his book, The Place No One Knew, he made photos of the Glen Canyon area on the Colorado River that were taken cont. page 20

RMP: I remember the same feeling, coming from Colorado.

And I noticed that all of Judy’s photographs are below Bonneville. All the other Columbia River books are top to bottom books, and that’s good, but it was beyond our ambit.

We could have called the book ‘Below Bonneville’ or ‘Below Portland,’ I guess.

“These are images and words captured in hopes of furnishing for you a new kind of aesthetic, imaginative, and yes, even factual guide to our oh-so-luckily shared home: the Tidewater Reach.”

JV: As Bob said, I think our first title was just ‘The Reach.’

~ Robert Michael Pyle

RMP: Where the salt water and fresh water intermingle. It’s the perfect phenomenon, metaphor, image to represent the

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People + Place from page 19

before the dam was built, before the whole area disappeared under water. I like how he shot close on his subject, showing the artistic side of nature.

RMP: The only way that it’s not evenly weighted, in my view, is that it’s a lot easier to look at a picture, for most people, than to read a poem. But poems ... a lot of people have a bias against poetry, partly because it hasn’t been taught well, or that our general education hasn’t been set up to appreciate classic poems. I have no illusions: Some people will buy this book and never read the poems. I have no illusions about that. So, in that sense the pictures lead.

JV: I think they both play off each other, which is just what I was hoping for.

RMP: I hope that if — and when — they read the poems, that they will reflect upon the pictures in some ways that expand the view of the From “The Book Boat” pictures. I know the reverse will Lorraine became a legend, up and down the river. be true, when they look at some Marinas vied for her; gave free moorage for a night of those pictures, the collective Or three. Until he started to wonder about the islands, whole, it will give them a sense of the larger body of the poetry, the Inside Passage, and beyond. So he took Lorraine as well. across the bar, and didn’t die....

~ Robert Michael Pyle JV: This work makes me realize how important it is that photographs can document precious things that may disappear forever, which is even the gillnetters to the writers and photographers, more critical in this age of climate change. even the damned cruise ships. To everybody who comes here, the river is essential.

RMP: I really think that both Judy and I love this river, love its working parts, and we love how the people depend upon it, from

The

Tidewater Reach Field Guide to the

Lower Columbia River in

Poems and Pictures

Field Guide to the

Lower Columbia River in

Robert Michael Pyle Judy VanderMaten

Poems and Pictures Robert Michael Pyle Judy VanderMaten

JV: It’s beautiful. And eternal.

RMP: The river makes us feel like caring. That’s what matters. To feel like caring is a better way to live than to be oblivious.

••• Editor’s note: Interviews are edited for length and condensed for clarity.

The Tidewater Reach

The Tidewater Reach

Boxed Signature Edition B/W and Color $50

Paperback edition B/W $25

NOW AVAILABLE! Order your copy; details, page 2.

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, just published by Columbia River Reader Press.

STILL HERE AFTER 38 YEARS

We appreciate the dedicated and courageous service of these special people in our community.

Please join us in supporting and thanking them.

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.

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Roland on Wine

Stopped in our tracks

people + place

Gates of Angels,

by Penelope Fitzgerald Utter delight.

By Marc Roland

I

’ve hesitated to comment on how the Coronavirus has affected our lives over the past few months, but I’ve gone ahead now because the word on the street is we are done with it.

But we’re not! I can’t help but reflect on what I have learned and how the future of the restaurant, hospitality, and wine business will look as we begin to reopen in Washington state.

Make no mistake. It will look different.

This is not over yet. Sure, the cases are dropping and it appears that we can start returning to normal, but hold on.

Will things ever be normal again? No.

The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms upon the Soil, by Charles Darwin. “Darwin’s last and loveliest book.” –Stephen Jay Gould.

Change is coming We have needed a change in our institutions and businesses for a long time. The old normal was not

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The Place No One Knew.”

Eliot Porter’s photos of the Glen Canyon area on the Colorado Rive before the Dam was built.

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working for a lot of people. The ongoing protests concerning racial discrimination show that despite the progress that has been made, we are not where we need to be. Those in power control the pace of change because often change means a loss of control and money. This is about to turn around once again, as it has at critical junctures in American history. History has taught us that the people can and do force change.

But it can get ugly when people are stretched to the limit and are left out.

wine club, pay your exorbitant tasting fee, and hit the road for another winery?

Wineries love it, but customers don’t.

And customers are voting with their feet by seeking out more meaningful experiences. I have learned that people will buy wine, take it home, and interact with the people who make it via a Zoom circle.

What customers want Successful businesses are those interested in serving people and meeting their needs. In many ways our institutions and businesses have forgotten this and are only interested in what meets their needs.

For too long, we have been giving our customers what we want. Things like maximum profits, efficiency over creativity, quantity over quality, inauthentic service over genuine interest.

• People want a more meaningful relationship with the businesses they patronize

I don’t understand those who want to go back to business as usual. For example, in the wine business, why would we want to return to tasting rooms where you belly up to the bar, taste a variety of wines, listen to a sales pitch to buy wine or join the

Here are some of the take-aways for me during the partial shutdown of our economy: • People like to eat and drink at home with their families

• People want to pay for service, not just products • Great businesses will find new and creative ways to deliver services • Mom and pop businesses will lead the way, because the pandemic has taught us that our customers support the services they love Less is fine I’ve discovered that people have realized that they can do fine with less — less driving, less shopping, less mediocrity.

Here lies the opportunity for change.

How about more meaning, cleaner air, more support, better quality, and higher cont page 32

With the challenges of the Coronavirus on the State budget, it is important to send someone to Olympia who understands the needs of our District.

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Robert Michael Pyle and Judy VanderMaten’s Recommended Books

What matters, the new “normal”

DEMOCRAT

Columbia River Reader / June 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?

Their last trip for a while? In Portugal, Sept. 2019, a group of Longview travelers pose, not realizing something called the Coronvirus would interfere with future travel plans for at least a while. Front Row: Vivian Olson, Amy Baker, Carol Paulke, Cindy McGhee, Ann Krause, Julie Kendall, Nancy Brown, Jackie Erickson. Second row: Roger Olson, Jim Durand, Ruth Ann Tack, Jackie Evans, Sharon Durand, Lori Jones, Pauline Kirchner, Netta Westrup, Peggy Renaud, Janyce Carter, Marie Grant. Back Row: Terry Tack, Dave Westrup, Ray Betts, Tom Renaud, Steve Jones, Michael Carter, Dave Spurgeon, Bob Kirchner, Bob Grant, Clara Lemmons, Don Lemmons, Steve Jabusch, Lilian Jabusch, John Krause, Allan Erickson, Rose Purcell, Mark Purcell, Steve McGhee.

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22 / Columbia River Reader /June 15, 2020

The Natural World

Durable Goods

Robert Michael Pyle is a naturalist and writer who has resided 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, just published by CRRPress. See page 2.

By Dr. Robert Michael Pyle

I

n this coldly mercantile era, economists clutch at any straw in the wind to woo stability from chaos. Among the “leading economic indicators,” the one I like best is “sales of durable goods.” Whether or not this measure helps the Fed set interest rates, it certainly furnishes a fine example of unintended irony.

When I think “durable,” I picture a friend’s ‘47 flatbed Ford, kept running with TLC. Instead of an old truck, I drive an ‘82 Honda Civic hatchback named Powdermilk. We’ve gone farther than the moon together: 289,000 miles and counting. Recently, unable to ignore the blue smoke we were contributing to the Lower Columbia airshed, I had her engine rebuilt. Dave did the deed at the shop where I bought her new and have always gone for service. Some saw this act as more sentimental than sensible.

I plead guilty to a loving attachment to every automobile I’ve ever owned.

First there was a hundred-dollar ‘50 Ford with overdrive. How my friends and I survived shooting over prairie and plummeting downcanyon in this seatbeltless, primer-gray pellet, I’ll never know. That venerable vehicle preceded a dynasty of Volkswagens — two Bugs, two Buses, and a Squarebackbefore my fidelity shifted to Japan. I recall the carriages themselves, their charms and peccadilloes, but also the field trips we took: to the 14,000-foot top of Mt. Evans in the old Ford; 10,000 miles birding across Europe in a red Bug, an American trek of similar length in an ancient gray one before it succumbed to Washington mud; camping in many a mountain range in both rusty buses. I remember the

birds I hit with each car, and the rainy trailheads where my faithful wagons waited, patient and dry.

But it’s not sentiment alone that drives my automotive allegiance, any more than affection made me plunk a sluggish two-dollar modem into my computer to keep it connected, rather than upgrade as everyone said I should. Nor is it entirely a matter of expense; I spend far more than my mechanical brother would to keep a car on the road.

No, my contrarianism is deeply ingrained: when the chorus calls “upgrade,” I shout “up yours!”

Bigger and faster machines are even better at cutting our links to the natural world. Fortresses on wheels ensure against any real contact with the countryside, and it’s hard to see much with the cruise control set at 70. But slow it down to zero mph, step outside the aluminum womb, and everything comes to life. One stuckin-the-sand episode gave my best look ever at the elegant, brassy Behr’s hairstreak butterfly, when a mating pair flew in the window and alighted on the hot, dusty dash. Likewise, ingenious websites beguile the hours, and absent restraint, whole lives. Yet when the screen goes down, actual experience blasts off. Days unplugged are days connected to reality.

Now, I am not a very good Luddite.

Many live more lightly than I — off the grid, or bicycles for wheels. I know several well-published writers who abjure computers altogether.

I too prefer writing manually, but

Photo by David Lee Myers

This is the 24th 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.

after composing a 924-page field guide manuscript on a typewriter and nearly perishing of white-out poisoning, I embraced a motherboard. And since relying on public transportation

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in my rural district means staying home, I keep an auto. But I have not evolved as rapidly as automotives and electronics. I don’t have a TV, microwave, answering machine, cell phone, or laptop (except an old leather timber-cruiser’s bag that holds my journal and does, actually, work just fine on my lap — in woods, pub, or airport). Not that I feel smug, living without these devices; sometimes I miss them. It’s just that in a day and age when some insist we are already cyborgs — creatures of our own machines—I would rather be a creature of creatures.

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Tangled Bank: Durable Goods from page 23

The idea that we must jettison large bundles of metals and plastics just to buy fancier ones is deeply repugnant to me. My Neolithic computer (last week it was merely Bronze Age) renders acceptable manuscripts in runes of both ink and electrons; then I turn it off and go outside. My rebuilt, gas-sipping buggy gets me where I’m going, be it three miles to the post office or 9,000 miles after migrating monarchs, until I cut the motor and go on foot.

Why shouldn’t a ‘47 Ford truck, made of steel and hard wood, last as long as a ‘47 Human like me, fashioned of soft flesh and bone? The giant vehicles spilling out of lots and onto highways today fire up the economy, but fit poorly into a world with limits. Ecologists know that frugality begets stability, while animals that consume extravagantly, like cinnabar moths on tansy ragwort, boom for a while and then inexorably bust. Different strokes for different species, but an animal with a choice might wish to avoid the discomfort and inconvenience of periodic extinction.

An economy based on perpetual upgrade and disposal cannot possibly persist in a finite world. As I see it, a culture with a chance at a long and healthy life is one that speaks of “durable goods,” and means it.

••• Editor’s note: Published in 2001. Just this month, Bob has decided to retire his trusty Powdermilk from service, after nearly half a million miles on the road, as a landscape element and moss habitat on his farmstead. With well over a quarter-million on his late wife Thea’s ‘99 Forester, he is finally seeking a replacement vehicle. His top candidate is a Ford, where he began so many years ago — not a 1950 coupe, his first choice, but a little 1982 Courier pick-up — same year as Powdermilk. It’ll be his first “new” car in 38 years.

BESIDES COLUMBIA RIVER READER...

What are you reading?

Mini-feature coordinated by Alan Rose The Walking Drum

By Louis L’Amour

By Jim MacLeod

T

his is the remarkable tale of a young Norman’s quest to avenge his mother’s death and rescue his absent father from an unknown fate. Set in the Dark Ages of the 12th century, The Walking Drum chronicles Kerbouchard’s harrowing adventures, from his European homeland through the lawless reaches of the Middle East. His quick wits and extraordinary physical skills are needed to escape coastal pirates, elude murderous princes, fend off barbarous attacks, survive serious wounds, and win the hearts of several damsels in distress.

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While Louis L’Amour is better known as a giant among Western writers, I was delighted to discover his passion for historical accuracy in a completely different place and time. The author maintains a steady tempo as he skillfully inserts physical, geographic, and cultural details that add rich dimensions to the story of his Homeric hero. Casting himself as a pagan, Kerbouchard wryly observes the stark differences between his Druidic traditions, Christian authorities, and the panoply of Moslem principalities. L’Amour sprinkles in enough humor to keep Call for a FREE quote! the tension under tight control until the final confrontation with his 360-749-2659 father’s captors.

Clive Cussler fans should Thelittledogsalon.com thoroughly enjoy this Jim MacLeod writes swashbuckling thriller. It as JJ MacLeod, features spies, intrigue, suspense, fast-paced action, G-rated dialogue, the author of seven and 12th century technology that enables Kerbouchard to prevail. He books in the Harry & also has an eye for beautiful ladies, and the author wisely leaves most Company Mystery of the intimate encounters up to the reader’s imagination, making this series, available appropriate for younger readers. as e-books from Amazon, Barnes & L’Amour believed that western history was too biased, ignoring the Noble, and Smashwords.com. After ten many contributions of eastern cultures. He captures a world turned years of travel in an RV, he and his wife of upside down, where North African rulers embraced diversity and more than 50 years enjoy waking up to the innovation while Europe remained mired in a feudal quagmire. Perhaps same scenic view of the Columbia River. this was his attempt to balance the scales.

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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.

Cover to Cover

Top 10 Bestsellers PAPERBACK FICTION 1. The Overstory Richard Powers, Norton, $18.95 2. Normal People Sally Rooney, Hogarth, $17 3. This Tender Land William Kent Krueger, Atria, $17 4. Circe Madeline Miller, Back Bay, $16.99 5. Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng, Penguin, $17 6. City of Girls Elizabeth Gilbert, Riverhead Books, $17 7. Disappearing Earth Julia Phillips, Vintage, $16.95 8. A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles, Penguin, $17 9. Daisy Jones & The Six Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine, $17, 97 10. Conversations with Friends Sally Rooney, Hogarth, $17

PAPERBACK NON-FICTION 1. White Fragility Robin DiAngelo, Beacon Press, $16 2. Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $18 3. So You Want to Talk About Race Ijeoma Oluo, Seal Press, $16.99 4. The Great Influenza John M. Barry, Penguin, $19 5. Born a Crime Trevor Noah, One World, $18 6. Wow, No Thank You. Samantha Irby, Vintage, $15.95 7. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Michelle Alexander, New Press, $18.99 8. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America Ibram X. Kendi, Bold Type Books, $19.99 9. These Truths: A History of the United States Jill Lepore, Norton, $19.95 10. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America David Allen Sibley, Knopf, $19.99

BOOK REVIEW

By Alan Rose A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II

By Sonia Purnell

I

Penguin Books $18 Paperback

t seems a time-honored axiom that if you have a dirty job to do and want it done right, get a woman.

But espionage? Organizing the French resistance? Messing with the Gestapo?

This is “woman’s work”?

Virginia Hall was a Baltimore socialite who worked as an undercover agent for the Special Operations Executive, Churchill’s spy service. Highly Alan Rose, author of Tales of Tokyo, The Legacy of Emily Hargraves, and The Unforgiven, organizes the monthly WordFest gatherings, which are temporarily suspended.

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. Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owens, Putnam, $26 2. The Book of Longings Sue Monk Kidd, Viking, $28 3. The Dutch House Ann Patchett, Harper, $27.99 4. Camino Winds John Grisham, Doubleday, $28.95 5. Fair Warning Michael Connelly, Little Brown, $29 6. Shakespeare for Squirrels Christopher Moore, Morrow, $28.99 7. American Dirt Jeanine Cummins, Flatiron Books, $27.99 8. The City We Became N.K. Jemisin, Orbit, $28 9. The Jane Austen Society Natalie Jenner, St. Martin’s, $26.99 10. The Night Watchman Louise Erdrich, Harper, $28.99

HARDCOVER NON-FICTION 1. Untamed Glennon Doyle, The Dial Press, $28 2. The Splendid and the Vile Erik Larson, Crown, $32 3. How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi, One World, $27 4. What It’s Like to Be a Bird David Allen Sibley, Knopf, $35 5. Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art James Nestor, Riverhead Books, $28 6. Me and White Supremacy Layla Saad, Sourcebooks, $25.99 7. Educated Tara Westover, Random House, $28 8. Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures Merlin Sheldrake, Random House, $28 9. Dirt Bill Buford, Knopf, $28.95 10. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Charlie Mackesy, HarperOne, $22.99

Brought to you by Book Sense and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Assn, for week ending May 31, 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. The Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcom X, Ballantine, $7.99 3. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams, Del Rey, $7.99 4. Children of Dune Frank Herbert, Ace, $9.99 5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey, Signet, $9.99 6. Oathbringer Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $10.99 7. The Color of Magic Terry Pratchett, Harper, $9.99 8. Good Omens Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Morrow, $9.99 9. Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein, Ace, $9.99 10. The Wise Man’s Fear Patrick Rothfuss, DAW, $9.99

EARLY & MIDDLE GRADE READERS 1. Dune Frank Herbert, Ace, $10.99 2. The Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcom X, Ballantine, $7.99 3. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams, Del Rey, $7.99 4. Children of Dune Frank Herbert, Ace, $9.99 5. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ken Kesey, Signet, $9.99 6. Oathbringer Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $10.99 7. The Color of Magic Terry Pratchett, Harper, $9.99 8. Good Omens Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Morrow, $9.99 9. Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein, Ace, $9.99 10. The Wise Man’s Fear Patrick Rothfuss, DAW, $9.99

Espionage, sabotage, and other ‘woman’s work’ intelligent and unconventional, she had been lively and feisty as a girl, preferring boy’s clothes and resisting the (then) traditional role for young women.

Before the U.S. entered the war, she volunteered to serve in Vichy France.

Her role called for her to be invisible and blend in, a challenge since she was tall with striking looks. Also, her French had too strong of an American accent for her to pass as a citizen. So, she posed as an American journalist while gathering intelligence and organizing cells of resistance.

She consistently out-performed her male counterparts, a number of whom were incompetent and selfaggrandizing, exaggerating their accomplishments and taking credit for her work. Yet, she continued to be assigned a lower rank, paid less, and given less authority. (Pretend like you’re surprised.)

But her gender was also an advantage: the Germans were searching for a male agent, never occurring to them that it could be a woman who was organizing the resistance. Back in the U.S., her mother “heard nothing from Virginia

La Mulatiére as her devoted helpers but now she found herself recruiting from the other end of the morality spectrum.”)

Dubbed the “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” the Special Operations Executive “found the search for a new type of rulebreaking recruit capable of ‘absolute secrecy’ and ‘fanatical enthusiasm’ rough going. Dyed-in-the-wool military types, with their concern for what they termed ‘ethics’ had to be kept away, as indeed did most of His Majesty’s ministers. A Cabinet colleague excluded the devout Anglo-Catholic foreign secretary Lord Halifax from SOE meetings, for instance, because he did not have what it took to ‘make a gangster.’”

Her followers were devoted to her, paying the ultimate price when falling into the hands of the Gestapo, who had no qualms about using the most barbaric torture, and discovered there are fates worse than death.

~ from A Woman of No Importance

for months, but knew her younger child well enough to suspect she was in danger somewhere.”

Charismatic, Hall was able to recruit people from all walks of life, including the women who serviced German officers in the high-class brothels. (“Virginia already had the nuns at

Of greater danger to her were French informers. Challenging times bring out the best and worst in people, depending upon the person. There were incredible acts of bravery performed by everyday French citizens, hiding downed British pilots or secreting away Jewish families; and there were the opportunists, the sycophants and collaborators willing to sell their souls for money or power and advantage.

Souls are a hot commodity if the price is right, and for some, the price is always right.

Purnell’s book reads like a thriller, with dangers, suspense, double-agents, and those iconic villains, the Gestapo.

Amid harrowing experiences, Hall still found time for love and romance, making James Bond look like a dandified playboy.

•••

Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 25

Clatskanie, Ore. 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

COLUMBIA RIVER

dining guide

Kelso, Wash.

The Original Pietrio’s Pizzeria

614 Commerce Ave., Longview. 18 varieties of pizza, prepared salads. Beer & wine. Open 11am every day. Inside seating by reservation only.

360-353-3512.

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

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

Open daily 11am.

503-556-9753 Conestoga Pub 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.

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.

1335 14th Avenue 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.

Luigi’s Pizza

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 /June 15, 2020

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

The Carriage Restaurant & Lounge 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.

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

503-556-9935

70255 Columbia River Hwy. (Milepost 31, Hwy. 30) Food, beer & wine + full bar, Live entertainment. 2–10pm M-T-W; 11am–10pm Th-F-Sat 503-556-4090.

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. Reservations required for dinner.

360- 673-9210.

St. Helens, Oregon

Regent & Woodshed

Evergreen Pub & Café

Goble Tavern

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.

Kalama

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-Sat 10am– 8pm, Sunday 11am–8pm.

1110 Commerce 360-414-3288.

See ad, page 11.

Hop N Grape

924 15th Ave., Longview Tues–Thurs 11am–7pm; Fri & Sat 11am–8pm. BBQ meat slow-cooked on site. Pulled pork, chicken brisket, ribs, turkey, salmon. World-famous 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.

Sunshine Pizza & Catering 2124 Columbia Blvd.

Hot pizza, cool salad bar. Beer & wine.

503-397-3211 See ad, page 32.

Scappoose, Oregon

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.

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.

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.

Ixtapa Fine Mexican Restaurant

Roland Wines

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 Coffee and specialty drinks, quick eats & sweet treats. See ad, page 11.

Toutle/Mt. St. Helens

Fire Mountain Grill. Mile 19, 9440 Spirit Lake Highway, ThursMon, 11–6 (or later). Newly remodeled.

Lunch & dinner. Burgers, steaks, seafood, homemade cobblers. Riverside dining.

360-274-5217

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

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 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.

COLUMBIA RIVER DINING GUIDE Welcome back to dining out!

During Phases 2 and 3 of reopening after the Coronavirus closures, restaurants’ hours and days of operation may fluctuate. Expect limits on seating capacity and pertable group size, in accordance with State guidelines.

Internal Medicine & Preventative Care Open Every Day for Your Convenience Holidays & Weekends Included

WE DO ULTRASOUND

Thank you for supporting our local restaurants; they are vital in the economic and social life of our community!

Richard A. Kirkpatrick, M.D., FACP

Dara M. Newberry, RN, MSN, DNP

Brooke Wethington, BS, MPAS, PA-C

Rachel Roylance, BS, MPAP, PA-C

Nicholas Austin MSPAS, PA-C

Melanie Hughes, BS, MPAS, PA-C

Karen L. Joiner, RN, MSN, ARNP

Dr. Toddrick Tookes, DPM, Podiatrist

Vlad Bogin, M.D., FACP

We Accept Most Insurance Plans Telemedicine Visits Available Temporary clinic hours: Mon-Fri, 8am to 6pm Sat, 9am to 1pm Sun, Noon to 4pm

360-423-9580

1706 Washington Way, Longview

ON THE CIVIC CENTER www.kirkpatrickfamilycare.com

NMLS# 186805

Kirkpatrick Foot & Ankle

Committed to helping you find

THE RIGHT MORTGAGE.

Carrie Lynn Medack Sr. Loan Officer 360.431.0998 NMLS#190268

Dr. Toddrick Tookes, DPM, Podiatrist Programs available to qualified borrowers. Rates and programs subject to change without notice. Underwriting terms and conditions apply.

1541 11th Ave., Suite A Longview, WA NMLS#1164433

• American Board of Podiatric Surgery • Diabetic Foot Care • Ingrown Toenails • Heel & Arch Pain • Foot Surgery • Fungal Conditions • Wound Care • U.S. Navy Veteran

360-575-9161

783 Commerce Ave. Suite 120 BOTH BUSINESSES UNDER SAME OWNERSHIP Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 27

Longview Ortho Offers Outstanding Sub-specialty Services

I

t’s no coincidence that patients travel from throughout the Northwest to receive care at Longview Orthopedic Associates.

Tony Lin have extensive training in joint treatment.

They are ready to provide the solutions to your problems and improve your quality of life.

LOA’s board-certified surgeons have earned a reputation as one of the region’s most skilled and experienced orthopedic teams. Bill Turner, Jon Kretzler, Peter Kung, A.J. Lauder, Jake McLeod, and

LOA is located at Pacific Surgical Institute at 625 9th Avenue, where MRI and physical therapy services are located on site for your convenience. Call today to schedule an appointment.

Dr. Turner, MD

Dr. Kretzler, MD

Dr. Lauder, MD

Dr. McLeod, DPM

Dr. Kung, MD

Dr. Lin, MD

We welcome Kaiser patients with a referral! www.longvieworthopedics.com

360.501.3400

28 / Columbia River Reader /June 15, 2020

the Lower Columbia

Informer

by Perry Piper

Father’s Day Memories

Readers invited to submit theirs!

Send in your memories Let’s have readers email or write in to us on Facebook, our website or in a letter about your favorite Father’s Day or Fourth of July memories and/or how this year’s celebrations were different due to Coronavirus precautions. Make sure to include “Holiday Memories” in the subject line. We’ll feature highlights of as many as fit in my next article. Please submit so we’ll receive by July 5 and include your name and city of residence.

Website: crreader.com email: publisher@crreader.com Facebook: Columbia River Reader The Post: 1333 14th Ave., Longview, WA 98632 ••• In this new era of Coronavirus-related, perpetual “house arrest,” Perry Piper continues to plow through his Recommended Reading List, including classics he heard about in high school and college, but hadn’t yet gotten around to reading. He is available to assist with computer and technology needs. See ad, page 34.

Where to find the new Reader

F

ather’s Day approaches once more, on June 21st. Some say it’s an American holiday created in 1910 in Spokane, Washington, although, of course, there have been forms of it for centuries.

This summer, I’ll be taking a road trip with my dad. It’ll be a relaxing threeday drive south over 18 hours.

We’ll have our masks and still take precautions around the virus, so it won’t be a traditional vacation, but good family time, which is what the holiday is all about! We might even be able to listen to several whole audiobooks across the total trip! I’ve developed a reading habit from all my trips, so while Dad and I like different genres, he also loves reading and we can still discuss things from the books.

In years past, one of the best holiday celebrations we had was when I was about 19. Dad and I traveled through

Ireland for 10 days on a bus tour.

Funny, I was too young at the time to have learned to appreciate the rich, dark Guinness beer, something I now enjoy when in Europe. But we did go to the Jameson Whiskey Distillery, where I volunteered as a taste tester. In Ireland, the drinking age liquor is 18 but instead of asking for my ID, the Jameson guide simply looked at me and said I looked old enough. Quite coincidentally, half of the eight-person tasting panel were from Washington State! I enjoyed the whiskey then and still do to this day, especially the modern Caskmates edition with a darker edge from being distilled in Guinness beer barrels.

Our bus driver was a hilarious guy, telling us a joke about how everyone should come to Ireland because it only rains twice per week, it’s just that the first shower lasts for three days and the second one for four.

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.

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 Rainier Fred Meyer (rack, service desk area) 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 LCC Student Center Deer Island Store Regents Indie Way Diner COLUMBIA CITY - Post Office Columbia River Reader Office WARREN 1333 14th Ave. Warren Country Inn KELSO ST HELENS Heritage Bank Visitors’ Center / Kelso-Longview Chamber of Commerce Sunshine Pizza Chamber of Commerce Post Office KALAMA Olde Town (Wild Currant) Fibre Fed’l CU Safeway Kalama Shopping Center SCAPPOOSE

corner of First & Fir To find the 24/7 Post Office McMenamin’s Harbor Lodge pick-up point Road Runner nearest you, WOODLAND Fultano’s visit crreader.

Visitors’ Center Ace Hardware com and click CASTLE ROCK WARRENTON, OR “Find the Lacie Rha’s Cafe (32 Cowlitz W.) Fred Meyer Magazine” tab.

Parker’s Restaurant (box, entry) Visitors’ Center CATHLAMET 890 Huntington Ave. N. Cathlamet Pharmacy Exit 49, west side of I-5 Tsuga Gallery Puget Island Ferry Landing RYDERWOOD Café porch SKAMOKAWA CLATSKANIE Skamokawa General Store Post Office Chevron / Mini-Mart NASELLE Wauna mill (parking area) Appelo Archives & Café Johnson’s One-Stop Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 29

All Aboard!

Historic train offers rail journeys through Chehalis River Valley

Submission Guidelines Letters to the Editor (up to 200 words) relevant to the publication’s purpose — helping readers discover and enjoy the good life in the Columbia River region, at home and on the road — are welcome. Longer pieces, or excerpts thereof, in response to previously-published articles, may be printed at the discretion of the publisher and subject to editing and space limitations.

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

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

Unsolicited submissions may be considered, provided they are consistent with the publication’s purpose. Advance contact with the editor is recommended.

Information of general interest submitted by readers may be used as background or incorporated in future articles.

Outings & Events calendar (free listing): Events must be open to the public. Non-profit organizations and the arts, entertainment, educational and recreational opportunities and community cultural events will receive listing priority. Fundraisers must be sanctioned/sponsored by the benefiting non-profit organization. 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: July 15 – Aug 20:

by June 25 for July 15 issue.

Aug 15 – Sept 20:

by July 25 for Aug 15 issue Calendar submissions are considered for inclusion, subject to lead time, general relevance to readers, and space limitations. See Submission Guidelines, above.

Outings & Events

Chehalis WA.—The Chehalis-Centralia Railroad invites friends, families, and rail fans to make reservations now to join the weekend excursions every Saturday and Sunday, June 20 through September 26. The season kickoff weekend June 20-21will feature special Father’s Day games, drawings, and prizes awarded to the youngest and oldest dads and the dad with the most kids. Bring your dad, your granddad, your son, or your favorite friend.

Throughout the summer, trains will depart the Chehalis Depot at 1pm, 3pm, and 5pm each Saturday and 1pm and 3pm on Sundays.

The popular Saturday evening Dinner Trains will be offered July 11 through August 29 at 5pm.

In compliance with Washington State Phase 2 and 3 guidelines and restrictions, trains will be limited to 50-75 percent capacity and social distancing requirement will be enforced to ensure everyone’s safety.

Extra measures will be taken with crew health screenings, masks and by sanitizing the facilities to minimize the COVID virus risk.

IF YOU GO: Relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of railroading as it used to be. Online reservations are required until further notice. No walk-ups at this time Visit SteamTrainRide.com or call 360-748-9593. Gift Certificates available. Reserve now and enjoy a ride later this summer. Dinner train and Murder Mystery Dinner Trains are limited this year; early reservations are advised.

Make reservations.

About the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad & Museum The Chehalis-Centralia began in 1986 as the ChehalisCentralia Railroad Association, a (501)(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

The founders were a group of local citizens whose goal was to restore a 1916 logging locomotive placed in a Chehalis park 30 years earlier. Soon work was underway on the Cowlitz, Chehalis & Cascade No. 15, a Baldwinbuilt 2-8-2 “Mikado” type steam locomotive.

In 1989, after two years for engine restoration, and acquisition of several passenger railcars, scheduled passenger operations began over the former Milwaukee Road track in Lewis County.

In 2006, the association changed its name to the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad & Museum, to better reflect its continuing mission to preserve the railroad heritage of the region.

Presently, the Chehalis-Centralia is one of only a few steam powered railroads in Washington State. The railroad operates seasonal excursion trains each year over approximately 10 miles of track, offering both coach and dinner train service. In 2016, the CC&C #15 marked its 100th birthday.

Looking forward, the railroad will emphasize ensuring the future for such historic equipment, in hopes the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad will still be operating not just 10 years from now, but 50 years from now and beyond.

30 / Columbia River Reader /June 15, 2020

•••

Broadway Gallery

See ad, page 23

1418 Commerce Avenue , Longview, Wash June First Thursday was cancelled due to Pandemic and classes are cancelled until further notice.

NEW DAYS/HOURS: Tues thru Sat, 11-4 Social Distancing will be observed, Gallery members will wear masks & cleaning procedures followed according to state guidelines.

Featured artists:

June: Carla Estavane (painting); Mike Morgan (mixed media, sculpture).

July: Danessa Broderson (painting); Richard Roth (ceramics); Susan Roth (ceramics).

Performing & Fine Arts, Music Art, Theatre, Literary Recreation, Outdoors Gardening, History, Pets, Self-Help As we re-open in Phase 2 and 3, please submit info (deadlines at left), and watch these pages for Outings & Events details!

Outings & Events

TAKE A

HIKE

This friendly club welcomes newcomers.

For more info please call the hike leader or visit mtsthelensclub.org.

RT(round trip) distances are from Longview.E=easy, M=moderate, S=strenuous, e.g.=elevation gain.

with Mt. St. Helens Club Due to the uncertainty of the pandemic, please note the following: 1) Hikes will take place only if the hike leader thinks it is safe to do so on that date.

2) Hiking groups may be limited, at the discretion of the hike leader.

3) Call the hike leader for any further information or instruction.

4) Always be safe and protect yourself, be considerate of others during this pandemic.

IT’S TIME TO GET YOUR BOOTS OUT !

Wed, ,July 1 Willow Grove (E)

Drive 19 mi. RT. Take a 3-mile leisurely stroll along the Columbia River.

Leaders: Trudy & Ed 360-414-1160.

Wed., July 8 Mt. Tabor Park (E) Drive 105 miles RT. Hike 3.5 miles with 300 ft. e.g. on Portland’s “urban volcano.”

Leader: Bruce 360-425-0256 or 306-846-7940.

Sat., July 11 Loowit Trail (S) Drive 120 miles RT. Hike 10 miles with 2,100 ft. e.g. from June Lake Trailhead to Red Rock Pass. This portion of the Loowit is mostly above timberline with stunning views.

Leader: George W. 360-562-0001.

Wed, July 15 Lake Sacajawea (E) 18 Lake Sacajawea (E) Walk around the whole lake (3+ miles) or walk half the lake (1+ mile).

Leaders: Trudy & Ed 360-414-1160.

Community / Farmers Markets Trunk Sale & Farmers Market Elochoman Marina, Cathlamet

Astoria Sunday Market

Sundays • 10–3 thru Oct 13 Downtown on 12th, just off Hwy 30, Astoria, Ore. • 503-325-1010 www.astoriasundaymarket.com

500 2nd St,, Cathlamet, Wash.

Fridays thru Sept 27 • 3–6pm cathlametmarina.org Deb Holland, Mgr: 360-849-9401

Castle Rock Farmers Market

Haircut Express parking lot, 151 Huntington Ave.N, across from Castle Rock Bakery Sunday thru Sept • 1–5pm

Columbia-Pacific Farmers Market Fridays •12–3pm thru Sept Downtown Long Beach, Wash. www.longbeachwa.gov cpfmmallory@gmail.com 360-224-3921

Cowlitz Community Farmers Market

9–2, Tues (thru Sept) and Sat (thru October) 1900 7th Ave, Cowlitz Expo Center, Longview, Wash.

Wear masks, follow posted protocols, enter at north end. www.cowlitzfarmersmarkets.com Laurie Kochis 360-957-7023 lauriekochis@msn.com

Ilwaco Saturday Market

Opening postponed until further notice

Scappoose Community Club Farmers Market

Saturdays, July 4 thru Sept 26 • 3–6pm Behind City Hall next to Heritage Park, 2nd St., Scappoose, Ore. www.scappoosefarmermarket.com Bill Blank 503-730-7429 scappoosefm@gmail.com

Lower Columbia School Gardens Produce Sale

Order online, lcschoolgardens.org, Wednesdays after 5pm. No-contact pickup process Friday afternoons at Northlake School Garden, 2210 Olympia Way, Longview, Wash. info@lcschoolgardens.org Questions: 360-200-8919

CRR gladly lists community-based Farmers Markets selling local produce in the Lower Columbia region. Send information to publisher@crreader.com.

Please indicate “Farmers’ Market listing” on the subject line.

Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 31

Miss Manners

By Tracy Beard

PROVISIONS ALONG THE TRAIL

Caponata Sandwich /3 cup olive oil 1 celery stalk, chopped 1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces 2 medium zucchini, chopped into ½-inch pieces 1 medium onion, chopped 1 14½-ounce can diced tomatoes 6 Tbl raisins 6 ounces frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and chopped 16 kalamata olives, chopped 1 tsp dried oregano Salt and black pepper ½ cup red wine vinegar 4 tsp sugar 2 Tbl drained capers 4 French rolls 12 slices fresh mozzarella in water 12 large leaves of fresh basil

bride and the bride herself. We spoke a couple of times to them. After three hours, we discreetly left.

Later, the mother of the bride texted me to say she missed saying goodbye to me.

She mentioned that she had not seen me on the dance floor. I responded that I did not have my dancing shoes on, but I think she knew we left shortly after dinner.

As they spent a lot of money on the reception, including a party afterwards, should we have declined the invitation, knowing that we are wallflowers and would not stay all night? Or was attending the wedding and the dinner for three hours enough?

1

Heat oil in a heavy skillet and add celery and onion. Cook until transparent; remove from pan and set aside. Place eggplant and zucchini in the pan and cook until crisp-tender. Add back in the onion and celery. Add diced tomatoes with their juices, raisins, artichokes and oregano. Season the dish with salt and pepper. Simmer over medium-low heat about 20 minutes or until thickened. Add vinegar, sugar, capers and olives.

Cut French rolls in half. Layer with fresh mozzarella and caponata, topped with basil. Enjoy.

See related story, page 14

REAL ESTATE TIPS

from page 5

by Mike Wallin

Buying & selling homes is alive and well during the pandemic

A

s a real estate consumer, you need to know that the housing market is currently one of the bright spots in the U.S. economy. Surprised? You’re not alone.

Sure, the processes have changed a bit and some lenders have changed their lending standards, but overall, the real estate market looks very much like the prepandemic market.

The national market, in a nutshell:

While March and April home sales plummeted, there are nuggets of wonder in the rest of the statistics. Demand for homes is higher now than before the lockdown and prices continue to rise.

In fact, homebuyers vastly outnumber sellers in the current market. “More than 41% of homes faced a bidding war in the four weeks ending May 10,” according to Diana Olick at CNBC.com, citing a recent study.

pre-U.S. pandemic. To add to the excitement, “mortgage applications from buyers jump 11%,” according to the folks at CNBC.com.

The authors add that they expect the frenzy to continue as the lockdown is eased.

Perhaps then those wanting to sell will jump back into the market. We need homes to sell to these eager buyers...

Thinking of selling? If you are thinking

of selling, let’s get that home on the market sooner, rather than later, and here’s why: “Home prices will hold up, at least through the summer, but declines are coming,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

Speaking of mortgages: With the volume

of forbearance request rolling in, mortgage lenders decided enough was enough and began tightening lending standards. Down payment requirements are higher and some (continued)

For comparison, only 9% of homes for For the full article visit www.mikewallin.com sale experienced bidding wars in January, https://mikewallin.com/real-estate-blog/buying-and-sell-

Mike Wallin

ing-homes-is-alive-and-well-during-the-pandemic/

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 /June 15, 2020

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

GENTLE READER: Three hours is a decent showing, for which you cannot be justly criticized. But you apparently neglected to say goodbye to your hosts when you left. This was a breach of etiquette that carried its own punishment: It left you open to your hostess’s subsequent (and tactless) criticism.

Had you sought out your hostess and thanked her before leaving, Miss Manner assures you it would have been harder for her to object to your departure. And even if she had, it would have been easy to deflect: “Oh, thank you so much. We loved the ceremony.

The dinner was really wonderful. We’re so happy for your daughter and Everett.

But it’s our bedtime now.”

••• (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.)

Roland on Wine from page 21

quality of life? Examples come to mind of local businesses meeting the challenge — including those who have started to deliver their products directly to customers, or offered curbside service, and those who have stepped into the online sales space. Many have offered their specialty dishes in the form of ingredients to take home and cook.

One business I know is offering painting projects that you pick up at the store, then the instruction happens online.

Some have created new products that provide gift ideas for holidays and special celebrations. Why have they been successful? Customers wanted it all along, but it took a pandemic for businesses to see the need.

If we have learned one thing from the last couple of months, it is that we are social creatures. Being cooped up brings out the best and worst in us. We can’t wait to return to normal. But we will be amiss if we don’t learn from it. The protests over the continued racial divide and the lack of social change have in part been because people have been stopped in their tracks by a pandemic, and are paying more attention to things that matter. We can’t go back to normal.

And if we try to, we will fail, because that “normal” does not exist anymore.

•••

SKY REPORT

Astronomy

June 15 – July 20

Jupiter, Saturn and the Full Moon meet up for a summer rendezvous

By Ted Gruber Evening Sky Jupiter and Saturn return to the late evening sky in midJune, when Jupiter rises in the southeast a little before 11:00pm, and Saturn following a bit past 11:00pm. By mid-July, Jupiter and Saturn rise about two hours earlier.

On the evening of July 5, and continuing into the early morning hours of July 6, the full moon, Jupiter, and Saturn form a small triangle when the moon passes about 2° south of the two planets.

Morning Sky Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are visible in the morning sky, with Mars and Jupiter now rising in the late evening.

In mid-June, the red planet Mars rises in the eastern sky about 1:30am, and all three planets remain visible until fading into the morning sunlight. By mid-July, Jupiter and Saturn set in the southwest about the same time the sun rises opposite them in the northeast, while Mars rises just after midnight and remains visible until it fades away as dawn breaks.

After dominating the evening sky for the past seven or eight months, Venus returns to the morning sky in midJune. Venus rises in the east-northeast about 4:30am in mid-June and about 90 minutes sooner by mid-July.

The bright planet will be the last object other than the moon to fade into the morning sunlight. The morning of June 19 provides a special treat, when Venus and the moon appear less than 1° apart.

The Pleiades star cluster, also known as M45, appears about 10° above Venus. And by the end of June, Venus will be near the red giant star Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation Taurus. Venus moves nearer to Aldebaran each morning until their closest approach on July 12, when the bright planet and the reddish star appear just 1° apart.

MID-SUMMER LATE NIGHTS

Home Entertainment?

Take it outside

H

ere we are with the longest days and shortest nights. Meaning, we have to stay up way too late at night to see anything.

June 20th is the new moon; we won’t have to deal with a bright moon to wash out the stars, and we still can see a lot of good stuff. We have a full moon on the 4th of July, so I guess that will have to do for our night sky celebration light show this year.

Unfortunately, Jupiter and Saturn do not rise until after 9:30pm in the east in late July. The best time to see them will be in mid-August through September; they will be close together in the sky in the southern constellation Sagittarius. You will have no trouble finding Jupiter as it will be very bright in the east.

The last half of June will give us several good things to see like the Hercules Cluster (M13), the Ring Nebula (M57) in the bottom of Lyra, Mizar/Alcor double star system in the handle of the Big Dipper, and the double star of Epsilon Lyrae (which is a double-double star system found just to the side of Vega. It takes a telescope to split the two stars seen in binoculars into the four-star system it is named for.). Visible, too, is the “Summer Triangle,” made up of three major constellations and their brightest stars. These are Deneb as the tail of Cygnus (the Swan) with its head aiming down the Milky Way; Vega in Lyra the Harp, one of the brightest stars in the summer sky; and Altair in Aquila the Eagle.

To the north of Deneb is a star of a different color.

This is the deep red star known as Mu Cephi and is visible in binoculars. It is located just to the bottom of Cepheus. This star is a red giant some 1,200 times larger in diameter than our sun and 100,000 times brighter. It is some 5400+ light years away. Imagine how much brighter it would be if it were as close as Vega at 25 light years.

This is a good time to start perusing the Milky Way with your binoculars. This is so full of stars;

Mercury returns to the morning sky in early July, rising around 4:30am by mid-month. On the morning of July 19, Mercury appears just to the right of a crescent moon in the east-northeast sky, which should help you locate the innermost planet. Late July and early August will offer better viewing of Mercury, and we’ll talk about that in next month’s sky report.

you can understand why the Greeks called it milky in color from all those millions of stars creating that soft white glow. As you follow the path of the Milky Way south you will see dark patches, these are dust lanes that block out the light of the stars that are behind them. This is where new stars are forming out of this dust.

Continuing the Milky Way tour, heading south, will show you star clusters like M11, labeled the Wild Duck Cluster; M16 the Eagle Nebula; M8, the Lagoon Nebula, and many other Messier objects: Softly glowing nebulae, globular (at tight ball of stars) and open (loose group of stars) star clusters. This southern region of the sky is full of astronomical delights. M8 is in the low southern constellation Sagittarius, best found by a group of stars that forms a shape like a teapot. The spout points at the center of the galaxy.

The Perseid meteor shower is in early August and is one of the best meteor showers of the year. The best viewing time is in the hours past midnight as the Earth is turning into the path of the remains of the comet Swift-Tuttle. You can see meteors before midnight, just not so many per hour. Just keep watching in the northeastern sky. No binoculars needed.

The long-range forecast for the summer is for warmer and dryer weather. This could mean more opportunities for going out and viewing the sky at night and seeing all the wonders that I have been describing. Take your binoculars or spotting scopes —maybe even get out that dusty old telescope — and explore the heavens.

The deeper into summer, the easier it will be to view all these things.

Lying out under the stars is supposed to be a summer rite of passage for families, whether kids, teens, twenties or older. Grandparents: Take your children and grandchildren, even if it is just to the backyard, and share with them the peace of the night sky; you may even see a stray meteor or some satellites. Get a star chart from an astronomy magazine, or download one to your tablet or phone from the Internet, and use it to find the many jewels of the summer night sky.

•••

•••

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.

By Greg Smith

Longview resident Greg Smith is past president of Friends of Galileo. Meet him and other club members at monthly meetings in Longview. For more info about FOG, visit friendsofgalileo.com.

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Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 33

the spectator by ned piper Getting back to “normal”

F

inally! My faithful barber is back in business. I haven’t gone nine weeks without a haircut since 1960 when I bummed around Europe for six months. I’m beginning to look like a sheepdog. It will feel good to be shorn, to watch my silver locks pile up on the floor around the barber chair. I know I’m not alone in welcoming the return to (somewhat) normal.

We will all come out of this experience with stories to tell about Life in the Time of Corona, like those found on page 12 of this issue. I take heart in reading the reflections by Vince Penta, Margaret Lapic, Gretchen Niemi and Lisa Sudar.

In her piece, Gretchen writes about the eruption of Mt. St. Helens 40 years ago, compared to today’s pandemic

crisis. People were wearing masks, and staying at home while the ash fell silently in our towns. We didn’t dread ending up in a hospital on a ventilator; rather we feared a potential flood and the possibility of lung damage from breathing volcanic ash. We wondered whether the devastation around the mountain would ever heal. But we did survive. Trees and wildlife have returned to the blast area. It took time for that to happen and it will also take time for our lives and the economy to return to normal on the other side of the Coronavirus crisis.

I was pleased that my good friend Vince found time to play virtual games with his grandsons. I can also relate to the fact that many of Vince’s many community activities were quelled due to the requirements of social distancing. I look forward to again gathering in person; Zoom meetings and happy hours just aren’t the same!

Margaret’s story about her “Corona O r c h i d ” reminded me that it had been months since I watered the four orchid plants on my office windowsill. Sue was pre-occupied working and

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34 / Columbia River Reader /June 15, 2020

didn’t think to check on them, and I only stopped by our office a couple of times during my sequestration I may have to use two ice cubes instead of just one in my effort to revive these exotic plants.

Lisa Sudar’s account of her and R o b e r t ’s w o r k i n t h e w o o d s , discovering a world of life teeming inside a decomposing log, was strangely inspiring, a reminder that exteriors don’t always reveal what’s going on inside.

While some of us stayed at home under Governor Inslee’s orders, Kelli and Andy Busack spent their nights revamping the space next door to CRR’s office and moving their popular Antidote Tap House from the Triangle Mall to 1335 14th Ave. Following the proofreading session just before this issue went to press, seven of us celebrated with drinks and sandwiches at Antidote. The bacon, apple, and gouda grilled cheese was the group’s top pick. We were all amazed at the transformation of the former coffee shop into a classy, upbeat restaurant / tap house. The food was excellent and the selection of beers and ciders impressive.

They’ve only been open in the new location a short time, but the word is getting out — we hope partly thanks to Antidote’s Reader ad. It’s great to have them as neighbors. Welcome, Antidote, to the ‘hood!

••• Ned Piper coordinates Columbia River Reader’s ad sales and distribution.

He enjoys reading, writing,...and arithmetic?(not so much). He is currently working on getting a squirrel family to vacate the Piper attic. He is trying out a motion-activated, ultrasonic, glowingeyed “owl device as a deterent. Anyone with other ideas, please call 360-7492632.

Computer, phone, tablet bugging you?

I can help!

Hands-on lessons with your electronic devices at your home or CRR’s Downtown Longview office.

Call or text:

360-270-0608 PERRY PIPER PRODUCTIONS

PLUGGED IN TO

COWLITZ PUD

It Is Your Power

By Alice Dietz

I

t is the time of year when Cowlitz PUD employees’ schedules are packed, not only with summer activities, but also with volunteering at many of the summer events the utility participates in.

It’s no surprise that CRR readers care about their communities, are involved through volunteering or service clubs and are interested in the goings-on of the agencies that help facilitate the quality of life we all appreciate in this region.

Cowlitz PUD continues to step up our effort to be a partner in the community by encouraging more volunteerism, outreach, participation in community events and just overall availability to our customers.

We invite you to come donate to our first annual Cowlitz PUD FEEDS food drive to benefit CAP’s Help Warehouse on Saturday, June 27th from 9am–2pm in the Cowlitz PUD parking lot at 961 12th Ave., Longview. Or join us for our Community BBQ, offering free lunch on August 7th from 11am–2pm at our main office, 961 12th Ave. Longview.

It has been a year since we welcomed Steve Taylor, our Director of Regulatory and Regional Affairs, who will be making an effort to reach out to many community groups. We live in an incredible area with access to clean, renewable hydro and feel we have a great story to tell about our clean power portfolio, access to low cost electricity and the upcoming legislative challenges our industry will face.

If you are interested in having us attend a meeting, or just want to schedule a time to meet, feel free to contact me.

•••

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

Columbia River Reader / June 15, 2020 / 35

36 / Columbia River Reader /June 15, 2020