CRR August 2018

CRREADER.COM • August 15 – September 14, 2018 • COMPLIMENTARY Helping you discover and enjoy the good life in the Columbia River region at home and on the road

BOOKS

RECOMMENDED

BY READER WRITERS

THIS MONTH’S ESSAY BY ROBERT MICHAEL PYLE

AND, for a breath of fresh air...

KITE FESTIVAL AT LONG BEACH !

page 35

COLUMBIA RIVER

dining guide

Beach READS

TIME ENOUGH FOR BOOKS

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2 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

W

hen I bought Columbia River Reader back in 2004, I didn’t think much about its name. I have since been reminded that a “reader” is a basic reading primer or an anthology of writings on a specific topic. There’s the Utne Reader, for example. And, in elementary school, we had the Weekly Reader.

Sue’s Views

I vividly remember its arrival in the classroom each week. The teacher, possibly Miss Lynch in 4th grade — who had a beautiful lavender velveteen coat I’d admire when it was her turn on playground duty — would fastidiously open the brown paper-wrapped bundle of new Weekly Readers and pass them down the rows of desks. It was exciting, magical.

A real newspaper, but for kids. This probably contributed to my eventual desire to have my own newspaper.

That, and my general love of reading.

Do you remember the Nancy Drew mysteries? As a young girl, as special occasion gifts I acquired ownership of a few volumes — The Secret of the Old Clock, or The Hidden Staircase — but mostly we checked them out from the library. My good friend in 5th Publisher/Editor: Susan P. Piper Columnists and contributors:

Tracy Beard Dr. Bob Blackwood Hal Calbom Alice Dietz Karla Dudley Ted Gruber Jim LeMonds Michael Perry Lenny Peterson Ned Piper Perry Piper Dr. Robert Michael Pyle Marc Roland Alan Rose Alice Slusher Greg Smith Paul Thompson Debra Tweedy Barbara Williamson Production Manager/Photographer: Perry E. Piper Editorial/Proofreading Assistants: Merrilee Bauman Lois Sturdivant Michael Perry Marilyn Perry 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

Subscriptions $28 per year inside U.S. (plus $2.34 sales tax for subscriptions mailed to Washington addresses).

We are all Readers. grade, Nancy Hall, and I would go to the Longview Public Library after school on Fridays. That was the day the returned books were put back on the shelves. We would make a vow

to walk calmly up the stairs and into the library, but could never keep it.

We always ended up breaking into a run at the last minute and racing to the Nancy Drew section to grab any newly-shelved books we hadn’t read yet.

Ah, reading. What is it that captures us? Transporting ourselves into another’s world, or mind, or experience? Learning from the past, speculating about the future?

Imagining what another’s life might be like? Figuring out how the world works?

In the world of printed periodicals, there are shoppers — made up mostly of ads and silly fillers and puzzles — and there are egg whites-and-gossip rags, like the National Enquirer.

And then, there are collections of thoughtful pieces written by people with depth and understanding and a coordinated purpose. This is what

I was pleased with the enthusiastic response from our regular writers — who before being writers, of course, are readers — when we invited them to recommend a book for this, our Summer Reading issue (see page 28).

Summer is winding down, but maybe there’s still time to read a good book or two. I wish you a lazy afternoon in your backyard hammock, or at the beach, or on your favorite park bench ... with a good book.

Sue Piper

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 Chinook, Wash., resident Lane Rehmke enjoys a book on a summer afternoon at the Port of Ilwaco.

we hope the Columbia River Reader is made of — “curated content.” We’re not just slapping stuff together to fill pages. We derive satisfaction and joy from choosing and crafting stories and making cross-references among them that, hopefully, draw readers into an experience or an awareness worth noting, worth sharing.

4

Letters to the Editor

Kite photo by Tracy Beard, story page 19.

Robert Michael Pyle photo by David Lee Myers. Essay, page 27.

5

Dispatch from the Discovery Trail ~ Prairie Dogs & Dinosaurs

9

Boutique Camping: A Late Summer Getaway

11

Squirrel Fest / Squirrel Bridge Map

Cover Design by

12

Man in the Kitchen Classic / Quips & Quotes

13

Medical Matters

15

Miss Manners

16

Farmers Markets

17

Northwest Gardening ~ Late Summer Tips

19

Out & About: Long Beach Kite Festival

Photos

by

Hal Calbom

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

Opinions expressed herein belong to the writers, not necessarily to the Reader.

21-24 People + Place ~ Beach Reader: Karla Nelson 25

People+Place Top Five Books

26

Marc Roland on Northwest Wines

27

Essay from The Tangled Bank / Robert Michael Pyle

28

Summer Reading Recommendations by CRR Writers

29

Cover to Cover ~ Bestsellers List / Book Review

30

Lower Columbia Informer ~ From Down Under

Reader submission guidelines: See page 32.

32-33 Outings & Events Calendar / Hikes

For ad info: Ned Piper 360-749-2632.

34

Astronomy ~ Night Sky Report

35

Lower Columbia Dining Guide

40

Movies by Dr. Bob Blackwood

41

Where Do You Read the Reader?

42

The Spectator ~ Memories of Spirit Lake

42

Plugged In ~ to Cowlitz PUD: Eat for Heat

CRREADER.COM Visit our website for access to the current issue and the archive of past Columbia River Reader issues (from January 2013),

Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 3

Letters to the Editor

Your Columbia River Reader Read it.

Enjoy it.

Share it.

Recycle it.

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

Only One Man Died I’m enjoying my subscription. The content and overall quality have continued to improve since the early days. Congratulations.

I’m re-reading Mike’s Lewis and Clark serial and enjoying it all over again, old age memory loss is not all bad!

The last installment referred to “Only One Man Died.”

My great uncle, Eldon Chuinard, wrote a book of the same title about medical aspects of the Lewis and Clark expedition. I’d be willing to bet Mike has read it but just in case, I have a copy he is welcome to borrow.

Jim Frary Puyallup, Wash.

Editor’s note: Mike appreciates the offer but already has a copy ...along with every other book ever written about L&C, his wife says.

Reminded of the Mountain I always save the CRR for Lori after Dale and I have read it. The most recent issue makes me want to climb Mount St. Helens again!

The Neighborhood Excellence Action Team Or NEAT, is a free partnership between the City of Longview and neighborhoods like yours to dispose of excess trash, bulky waste, and yard debris.

This program allows your neighborhood to receive free drop boxes. In return, we ask that you gather the volunteers to plan and run your event.

Complete a Neighborhood Cleanup Request Use the links on the website below to

learn more about the program. Return your completed application and a liability waiver to one of the options available. After the City has reviewed the application, you will be notified with a confirmation letter by regular mail (or email).

Recycling Rule of Thumb: When in doubt — throw it out!

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

If an item is reusable, please consider donating or reusing it before throwing it into the garbage.

In an effort to serve you better, the City has compiled common information that residents often request, plus created an easy way for you to communicate with us. Got a question?

Most plastic bags are a solid color, preventing sorters from seeing the contents. Used needles or other hazardous materials are sometimes found; for safety reasons, such bags are not opened up.

Just Ask Longview!

www.longviewrecycles.com 4 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

Delores Rodman Scottsdale, Arizona Editor’s note: Delores Rodman is a former Longview resident and real estate broker and current CRR subscriber.

Lori Schell is her daughter, who lives in Durango, Colorado.

Math Wiz It was with great enjoyment on our recent visit to Longview that I was able to pick up and peruse the Columbia River Reader. What a great literary addition for the people of that area!

I was particularly proud of the involvement of two classmates of mine from RA Long Class of 1967.

Sue Perry Piper is publisher/editor and writer (and sweeps out the place) and Hal Calbom, an awesome friend from high school, is an excellent human interest writer. Certainly enjoyed the (Chris) Panis family article, another RAL classmate.

I am very happy for my talented high school classmates. Keep up the great publication.

Jim Sund Yakima, Wash.

Editor’s note: Sitting next to Jim in a math class, I didn’t copy from his paper but knew he was a math wiz. After high school, he went on to become a high school math teacher (35 years) and coach (47 years) and, ultimately, a mathematics professor at Central Washington State University. No surprise — Congratulations, Jim!

Lewis & Clark

A “Barking Squirrel” for the President

S

A dinosaur, pleisosaur and prairie dogs

H

ow would you go about capturing a prairie dog to send to the President of the United States? And why would you want to do it in the first place? Many readers who have tried to catch a mole in their lawn or garden will get a kick out of what Lewis and Clark did.

By August 1804, Lewis and Clark’s Corp of Discovery had made their way up the Missouri River to present day South Dakota. While French trappers had been in the area for at least 75 years, the Corps of Discovery members were the first Americans to see the vast expanse of the Great Plains, which was a virtual Garden of Eden.

Every time they saw a new animal, they shot at least one so Lewis or Clark Michael Perry enjoys local history and travel. His popular 33-installment Lewis & Clark series appeared in CRR’s early years and began its first “encore” appearance in July 2015.

could make the detailed examination needed to fulfill Thomas Jefferson’s instructions to document unknown plants and wildlife they encountered.

In the first four months of their journey, they had seen many new species of animals, including the coyote, magpie, gray wolf, mule deer, pronghorn (often wrongly called an antelope), and prairie dog.

Lewis & Clark Encore We are pleased to present

Installment #4 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.

pending most of September 7, 1804, digging and flooding their tunnels, the crew managed to catch just one prairie dog. Lewis had a cage built for it with the intention of shipping it back to Washington D.C. for President Jefferson to see first hand. The only problem was they were heading up the Missouri River and there was no FedEx, let alone regular mail service, to provide overnight delivery. So Lewis loaded the caged prairie dog onto the keelboat and fed it every day in an effort to keep it alive. The crew would continue up the Missouri until the end of October when they reached the Mandan Indian villages near present day Bismarck, North Dakota. They built a fort there and spent the winter. Somehow, they managed to keep the prairie dog alive all winter.

Seven months after it was captured, the live prairie dog was loaded onto the keelboat, along with various plant and animal specimens, for the trip back to St. Louis. While it took more than five months to travel from St. Louis up to the Mandan villages, the return trip took just a month and a half. From St. Louis, the cargo was put on another ship and sent down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Another ship took the cargo through the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida, and up the coast to Baltimore.

Finally, in August 1805 (almost a year after it was captured), the prairie dog arrived in Washington, D.C., alive! However, Jefferson was still at Monticello, and did not arrive in Washington until October 4, 1805. Jefferson then shipped the prairie dog to a natural history museum in Philadelphia, where it lived until at least April 5, 1806; on that date, Lewis and Clark were traveling back up the Columbia River after successfully reaching the Pacific Ocean in November 1805.

Prairie dogs fascinated Lewis and Clark, and they saw a staggering number.

Some biologists believe there were 5 billion prairie dogs at that time, while 200 years later they were candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act. As late as 1905, a government scientist found a village covering an area the size of West Virginia and housing an estimated 400 million prairie dogs!

Flush them out!

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Lewis was so intrigued by the prairie dog that he decided to catch a live specimen to ship to Washington, D.C. Clark wrote “near the foot of this high Nole we discovered a Village of an annamale… which burrow in the grown. The Village of those little dogs is under the ground a considerable distance. We dig under 6 feet thro rich hard clay without getting to their Lodges.”

Patrick Gass reported “Captain Lewis and Captain Clarke with all the party… took with them all the kettles and other vessels for holding water in order to drive the animals out of their holes by pouring in water; but though they worked at the business till night they only caught one of them.”

According to Clark, “Some of their wholes we put in 5 barrels of water without driving them out, we caught one by the water forceing him out. The Village of those animals Covs. about 4 acrs of Ground on a Gradual decent of a hill and Contains great numbers of holes on the top of which those little animals Set erect make a Whistling noise and whin alarmed Slip into their hole.

A bit of arsenic ought to do it

Later, Clark wrote of a close call Lewis experienced: “by examination this Bluff Contained Alum, Copperas, Cobalt, Pyrites; a Alum Rock Soft & Sand Stone… also a clear Soft Substance which… I believe to be arsenic. Capt.

Lewis in proveing the quality of those minerals was Near poisoning himself by the fumes & tast of the Cobalt which had the appearance of Soft Isonglass.

Copperas & alum is very pisen, Capt.

Lewis took a Dost of Salts to work off the effects of the arsenic.” Three days later, Lewis was still suffering: “Capt. Lewis much fatigued from heat the day it being verry hot & he being in a debilitated State from the Precautions he was obliged to take to prevent the effects of the Cobalt, & Minl Substance which had like to have poisoned him two days ago” Maybe he cont page 7

Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 5

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Lewis & Clark

from page 5

had added insult to injury by taking some of Dr. Rush’s Thunderclapper pills that consisted of a mixture of mercury and chlorine?

Two days after Lewis tried to poison himself, the expedition came upon an area the Indians were deathly afraid to go near. Clark called it Spirit Mound and wrote “in an imence Plain a high Hill is Situated, and appears of a Conic form and by the different nations of Indians in this quarter is Suppose to be the residence of Deavels, that they are in human form

with remarkable large heads and about 18 Inches high, that they are Very watchfull, and are arm’d with Sharp arrows with which they Can Kill at a great distance; they are Said to Kill all persons who are So hardy as to attempt to approach the hill; they State that tradition informs them that many Indians have Suffered by those little people and among others three Mahar men fell a Sacrefise to their murceyless fury not many years Since – so much do the Mahas Souix Ottoes and other neibhbouring nations believe this fable that no consideration is suffecient to induce them to approach the hill.”

We’ve got you covered.

One thing they did find was a dinosaur.

In 1804, nobody even knew about dinosaurs (the word wasn’t coined until 1845). But, in present day South Dakota, Clark found fossil remains of a pleisosaur, an ocean-dwelling creature of the Mesozoic Era. Clark wrote “we found a back bone with most of the entire laying Connected for 45 feet, those bones are petrified, Some teeth & ribs also Connected.” Some of the vertebra are now in the Smithsonian Museum.

Loopy over the froot

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One of the maps they obtained in St. Louis told of a volcano in South Dakota, but they were unable to locate it. Possibly it was a burning seam of coal (lignite) the St. Louis trader had seen.

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The richness of the Great Plains was most impressive. As Clark wrote, “The Plains of this countrey are covered with a Leek Green Grass, well calculated for the sweetest and most norushing hay – interspersed with Cops of trees, Spreding ther lofty branchs over Pools Springs or Brooks of fine water. Groops of Shrubs covered with the most delicious froot is to be seen in every direction, and nature appears to have exerted herself to butify the Senery by the variety of flours Delicately and highly flavered raised above the Grass, which Strikes & profumes the

Sensation, and amuses the mind throws it into Conjecturing the cause of So magnificient a Senery… in a Country thus Situated far removed from the Sivilised world.”

Almost all of the native grassland has now been destroyed by farming.

But along with the once uncountable buffalo and prairie dogs, there are still a few places left for people to see the same things Lewis and Clark’s party saw. The same holds true for the Missouri River; with the exception of a short stretch of river in the southeast corner of South Dakota that is still free flowing, it is now just a series of lakes behind the many dams between St. Louis and Montana.

While some folks would like to preserve everything forever (including the Northwest forests), we should be thankful somebody saved at least a portion of it for future generations to enjoy.

••• Next month we will learn of the tense meeting with the Teton Sioux, by far the most feared Indians in the west. And, we will learn about the only black man in the Corps of Discovery. Winter is fast approaching as they reach North Dakota.

THE PET DEPT. “Pets are people, too.”

So now we’re in the “dog days” of August. What does that even mean?

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360-423-5220 Longview www.walstead.com ~Smokey Man in the Kitchen’s cat Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 7

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

LONGVIEW Post Office Bob’s (rack, main check-out) In front of 1232 Commerce Ave In front of 1323 Commerce Ave YMCA Fred Meyer (rack, grocery entrance) US Bank (15th Ave.) Fibre Fed’l CU - Commerce Ave Monticello Hotel (front entrance) Kaiser Permanente St. John Medical Center (rack, Park Lake Café) Cowlitz Black Bears box office LCC Student Center Mini-Mart next to Regents Indie Way Diner Columbia River Reader 1333 14th Ave. KELSO Heritage Bank Visitors’ Center/ Kelso-Longview Chamber of Commerce KALAMA Fibre Fed’l CU Kalama Shopping Center

corner of First & Fir WOODLAND Visitors’ Center The Oak Tree CASTLE ROCK Lacie Rha’s Cafe (32 Cowlitz W.) Four Corners General Store Parker’s Restaurant (rack, entry) Visitors’ Center 890 Huntington Ave. N. Exit 49, west side of I-5

RYDERWOOD Community Center

8 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

RAINIER Post Office Cornerstone Glaze, Gifts & Giggles Rainier Hardware (rack, entry) Earth ‘n’ Sun (on Hwy 30) El Tapatio (entry rack) DEER ISLAND Deer Island Store COLUMBIA CITY - Post Office WARREN Warren Country Inn ST HELENS Chamber of Commerce Sunshine Pizza Post Office Wild Currant Olde Towne (near Bemis Printing) Safeway SCAPPOOSE Post Office Road Runner For more locations or the Fred Meyer pick-up point (east entrance) nearest you, Fultano’s visit crreader.

Ace Hardware com and click “Find the CATHLAMET Magazine” Cathlamet Pharmacy under Tsuga Gallery “Features.”

CLATSKANIE Post Office Chevron / Mini-Mart Wauna mill (parking area) SKAMOKAWA Skamokawa General Store NASELLE Appelo Archives & Café

End of Summer Getaway

Boutique Camping

Travel just over White Pass to hidden gem Story by Karla C. Dudley • Photos by David Bell & Karla C. Dudley

D

uring a hot spell last August when everyone was heading west to the beach, we decided to drive east to the mountains to one of our favorite campgrounds. It’s a hidden gem just on the other side of the White Pass ski area, on the northeastern shores of Leech Lake. It’s a wonderful little park with only seven campsites. Even at the peak of camping season, it still had empty sites.

The lake is fly fishing only, which means no motors, making for peaceful evenings. All sites are secluded and on the lake. It’s a rustic campground, with pit toilets and no water. It is also a place where people park who are hiking part of the Pacific Crest Trail.

This is a first-come, first-served campground (no reservations) and the price is right —$10 a night and $5 with a senior access pass. This is a great little place for a quick getaway before the winter weather comes.

To get there, drive I-5 North, turn right onto Hwy 12 and drive through Packwood to White Pass.

Turn left just past the ski area. 120 miles (one way) and a nice drive.

••• Karla Dudley is a piano teacher in Longview. She has been a frequent contributor to CRR, writing on topics you might expect from a true Renaissance Woman. She loves music, animals, the outdoors and sitting around a campfire, chatting with friends. We published this story last year and are repeating it for readers looking for a late summer quick getaway.

Algae bloom surfaces at Silver Lake In late July, Cowlitz County’s Health Department posted Level 2 cautionary signs around Silver Lake after a sample for algae toxins came back above the acceptable level for recreational water.

An algae bloom was discovered while routinely monitoring the lake. Algae blooms are usually green and scummy, or give the water an overall green or blue-green color.

Some species of algae produce toxins harmful to humans and pets if they swallow or come into contact with the water. The Level 2 cautionary signs clearly state that people and animals should stay out of the water. Symptoms of exposure to certain algae toxins include stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, blurred vision, convulsions, or severe muscle and joint pains. Subsequent tests for algae toxins were scheduled.

There have been no reports of illness in people or animals from contact

with Silver Lake. Fish are safe to eat as long as they are cleaned well and the digestive organs are removed.

Drinking water from public water systems or private wells in the areas around the lake is not affected by the lake water and is safe to drink. Anyone with physical symptoms should see a health care provider.

Karla Dudley and David Bell in various stages of relaxation with their dogs, Sampson (black lab) and Bravo (poodle) at White Pass Lake Campground. Note the camp bird relaxing alongside Karla.

The Cowlitz County Health Department will continue to monitor Silver Lake and will advise the public when water contact is considered safe again. Signs will be removed when the bloom dissipates and toxin levels are confirmed below safety threshold.

Outdoor enthusiasts are encouraged

to visit local Parks and Recreation web sites for information on other parks and boat launches.

More information on algae can be found at http://www.doh.wa.gov/ ehp/algae. To contact the Health & Human Services Departments, call 360-414-5599.

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Historic Downtown Longview welcomes YOU! Do you look as HOT as you feel?

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1262Commerce • 360-353-3533 Gift Certificates Available Explore Longview’s Outdoor Gallery along Commerce Avenue, Downtown A new collection of sculptures by NW artists.

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10 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

1265 14th Ave #130 • Longview

Squirrel Fest

Volunteers Needed

Help clean up the Multnomah Channel on Sept. 8 By Lenny Peterson

LONGVIEW’S ANNUAL GATHERING OF

NUTS

V

LONGVIEW’S SQUIRREL BRIDGE COLLECTION 1. The Nutty Narrows Bridge Olympia Way near 1525–18th Ave. Erected 1963 by Amos Peters and believed to be the world’s first squirrel bridge.

Peters constructed the bridge of aluminum and a fire hose after seeing squirrels attempting to cross Olympia Way from the Library grounds to the Old West Side neighborhood. A wooden squirrel statue (pictured, above left) is located near the Shay Locomotive next to the library.

2. Bruce Kamp Bridge 1318 Kessler Boulevard. Erected in memory of Bruce Kamp in 2011. Made of copper, and the first covered squirrel bridge in the world, this bridge’s 24/7 squirrel web cam is accessible from the lvsquirrelfest.com website.

3. John R. Dick Bridge On Nichols Boulevard near RA Long High School. Designed and built by John R. Dick and installed in 2012, shortly after his death. It is based upon the Leonard Zakim Memorial Bridge in Boston. Mr. Dick had a lifelong fascination with bridges, and enjoyed the TV show Boston Legal, in which the bridge appeared prominently in background shots.

4. OBEC Bridge Louisiana Street, near 1503 – 23rd Avenue.

Constructed and donated by the company which built the new Washington Way bridge across Lake Sacajawea. Constructed of wood with interesting architectural bracing and installed in 2013.

5. Safety Awareness Bridge 1708 Kessler Boulevard. Designed and constructed by the Bits and Bots Robotics Club of RA Long and Mark Morris High Schools. Inspired by the memory of Linda LaCoursier, who was struck by a car. Made of aluminum with cutouts and tinted material. Many squirrels use this bridge.

Installed in 2015.

6. R.D. Olson Mfg, of Kelso, Wash., built the bridge to resemble the Lewis & Clark Bridge crossing the Columbia River at Longview/Rainier. This bridge was installed on Kessler Blvd across from Lions’ island (near Washington Way, in the 1000 block of Kessler Blvd) stretching across the 57-foot wide street.

7. All-aluminum exact scale replica of Portland’s Fremont Bridge (pictured above) On Kessler Blvd near Kessler School at the south end of Lake Sacajawea. Constructed by H&N Sheet Metal in W. Kelso, cut out by S & R Sheet Metal in Kelso, it is the longest bridge so far at 20 feet.

Map by Michael Perry

SQUIRREL FEST Longview’s Civic Circle Saturday, Aug. 18 9am Kids’ Fun Run 9–4 Circus Cascadia 9–5 Art in the Park 10am Parade 10–5 Vendor Row Open 2–10pm Beer Garden 10am–10pm Food Concessions LIVE MUSIC 6–7pm The Strange Tones 7–8:30pm Randy Lindner CCR (Creedence) Tribute 8:30–10pm Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

olunteers with boats or pickup trucks are needed to help with the cleanup of the Multnomah Channel from 10 am until 3 pm on Saturday September 8, 2018. The two areas are the Sauvie Island floating homes, and between the Happy Rock Moorage and downstream to Chapman’s Landing.

Last year volunteers used kayaks, canoes, rowing shells, power boats, tug boats, barges, trucks and trailers, and walked along the shoreline to remove trash.

2,620 pounds of trash was removed, including a refrigerator, sofa bed, toilet, styrofoam, coolers, flip-flops, fishing gear, carpeting, and many plastic bottles. In addition, 16 tires and about 500 pounds of recyclable material (plastic, glass and steel) were removed.

Volunteers with human-powered boats are needed this year to help pick up trash that collected along the shoreline and transport it to designated collection points (e.g., Sauvie Island and Johnson’s (AKA Brown’s) Landing). Volunteers with trucks are also needed to haul the trash from Sauvie Island to Johnson’s Landing for sorting, recycling and disposal.

The cleanup is once again being sponsored

by SOLVE (Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism). SOLVE will provide signup and additional information details on their website (www.solveoregon.org), gloves, bags, long handled grabbers, and a grant to help with disposal costs. Signup is required; pre-registration really helps to organize work assignments so that as much shoreline as possible can be cleaned-up.

For the cleanup by Johnson’s Landing, sign-up at: https://www.solveoregon.org/ opportunity/a0C1I00000FFSv1.

For the cleanup by Sauvie Island, signup at: https://www.solveoregon.org/ opportunity/a0C1I00000FFSth. Help make the Multnomah Channel more beautiful and enjoyable for all!

•••

Scappoose, Ore. resident Lenny Peterson is a volunteer who helped out with the cleanup last year and came back for more.

Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 11

Northwest Foods

MAN IN THE KITCHEN CLASSIC

Pork Roast on the Grill By Paul Thompson

W

and cook until a meat thermometer reaches 155-160º.

Then move the meat to the grill and continue cooking u n ti l i t reach es 165-170º internal temp. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving thin-sliced portions.

ith courage, I can walk past a standing rib beef roast at the meat market. They are so large and require planning a formal dinner with guests. But the equivalent bonein pork rib roast is of more modest proportions and equally delicious.

For an accompaniment, tomatoes, with or without vine I prefer the boneand stems attached, in roast because brushed with olive the bone adds oil and seasoned moisture and flavor bring a visual “splat” to the roast. And to the table. Place I’d rather cook on high heat briefly, it on an outside grill, moving from Pork shoulder roast and grilled tomatoes turning as needed to nearing perfection. get charred effect. hotter areas to cooler ones as needed. The aroma Or cut single tomatoes in half, wafts among your guests, whetting crosswise, and drizzle with melted their appetites. butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs, Pork is often short on flavor, except Parmesan cheese and fresh chopped for the outside cuts, my favorites. I herbs of your choice and place under embed slices of garlic in slits cut along broiler until bubbly. the sides and ends of the roast, adding ••• a subtle garlic flavor. I baste the roast Longview resident Paul Thompson is a with garlic butter, as well, during charter contributor to CRR, now known cooking. They are good companions.

If you want a head start, put the roast, uncovered in a 320ºF oven,

Q

UIPS & QUOTES

Selected by Debra Tweedy

Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could.

Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philosopher, 1803-1882 All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone. ~ Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, 1623-1662 It is never too late to be what you might have been. ~ George Eliot, pen name for Mary Anne Evans, English author, 18191880 Learn from the mistakes of others.

You can never live long enough to make them all yourself. ~ Groucho Marx, American comedian, 1890-1977

Have nothing in your house that you do not know is useful, or believe to be beautiful. ~ William Morris, English textile designer, leader in the Arts and Crafts movement, 1834-1896 We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid. ~Benjamin Franklin, an American founding father, 1706-1790 Debra Tweedy was born and raised in Longview and has lived on four continents.

Recently retired, 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 said.

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MEDICAL MATTERS

Dr. Kung provides instruction to fellow surgeons

By Jim LeMonds

P

eter Kung, MD, of Longview Orthopedic Associates has been a busy man this year. In addition to seeing a full slate of patients at LOA, Dr. Kung has provided instruction to fellow orthopedists at clinics in Florida, Nevada, and California.

“It’s always an honor to be invited to teach at these clinics,” Kung said. “I enjoy the opportunity to shape young,

up-and-coming surgeons and to help more seasoned surgeons become better at what they do.”

Naples Sports Medicine Fellowship Forum In May, he was invited by Arthrex, currently the global leader in sports medicine implants and devices, to deliver two lectures and instruct in a cadaver lab focused on complex, minimally-invasive shoulder surgeries.

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Arthrex invited sports medicine fellows from across the U.S. to this three-day lab in Naples, Florida.

National Futures Forum Arthrex invited t h e n a t i o n ’s youngest and most talented orthopedists to discuss new and innovative s u r g i c a l Dr Peter Kung techniques at this forum, which was held in June in Naples. Dr. Kung was asked to lecture about partial knee replacements versus other options for young patients suffering from arthritis.

Goode/Steelhead Arthroplasty Lab Dr. Kung provided knee arthroplasty instruction to 10 surgeons at this forum hosted by Steelhead Surgical and Goode Surgical in Las Vegas in late June.

Earlier in the year, Dr. Kung taught advanced courses in joint preservation (Naples, Florida), sports medicine (Sacramento, California), and cartilage restoration (San Diego, California).

Before joining LOA in 2009, he completed his orthopedic surgery

His special interests include shoulder and knee arthroscopy and the treatment of sports-related injuries.

For more information, call Longview Orthopedic Associates at 360.501.3400.

••• Former R.A. Long High School English teacher Jim LeMonds is a semi-retired 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.

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residency at the University of California at San Francisco in 2008 and worked as a sports medicine fellow at the prestigious Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles, where he treated professional athletes from the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Angels, Anaheim Ducks, and Los Angeles Sparks.

716 Triangle Shopping Center, Longview

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M-W 12 Noon–9pm • Th–Sat - 12 Noon–11pm • Sun 12 Noon–8pm Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 13

How to Get Super Rich in the Cryptocurrency Bonanza Confused by Crypto? Want to learn how some people have turned $100 into millions with the earliest Cryptocurrencies, and get help picking the next big winners? Call for a recorded message and Free 30-Page Book: (800)311-9882 Invitation ID: 582552 I joined Millionaire Russ von Hoelscher’s Independent Cryptocurrency Group. It’s FUN, exciting, and potentially life-changing!

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EVERYONE’S INVITED TO SERENDIPITY’S

PICNIC BUT YOU’VE GOT TO

ACCEPT THE INVITATION. Robert Michael Pyle, CRR People+Place, April 2018 14 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

Civilized Living

opened it at yours. You were tactful to wait. Miss Manners hopes your friend will realize that and not deprive you of future presents -- delivered when you are the one being celebrated or the two of you are alone — so that she can fully enjoy your face.

By Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am a tall gentleman, and many times when I go to sit in a theater, the patrons behind me will become upset and say vile things, fearing that I will block their view. I slouch down as far as can, but sometimes that does not ease their perceived inconvenience.

I try to ignore the conversation, though it is barely a foot away and therefore fully audible, and can be upsetting. I am sensitive to the needs of others and do my best to appease them without openly acknowledging their insults, but many times the barrage continues.

How do I address such behavior?

GENTLE READER: Face the situation with your tall head on.

Miss Manners recommends you say something like, “I am so sorry that I am a bit vertically well-endowed. I am doing my best to stay out of your

way.” And then if snickers take over for snarky remarks, at least you will have willingly participated in their source.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was given a gift while out with friends for an occasion that was not the one being celebrated (specifically, a gift for my new baby while out for a friend’s birthday).

I thanked the giver and quietly tucked it under the table to be opened later.

When I called my friend the next day to thank her, she mentioned she wished she could have seen my face when I opened it. Was I right not to open it on the spot, since my new baby was not the reason for the celebration? Or should hand-delivered gifts always be opened immediately when given?

GENTLE READER: As your friend delivered this present at her convenience, it is only fitting that you

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My mother and I have played party bridge for many, many years with several different groups. One group has only two tables of four women, for a total of eight women, whom they call the “regulars.”

My mother and I are substitutes and fill in when asked.

Lately, when a regular cancels, we are called, only to be called back the following day and told, “Oh, so-andso decided to play after all, so I won’t need you.”

I find this rude and in poor taste, don’t you? This has happened several times recently. I hoped that bridge etiquette would address this.

GENTLE READER: Bridge player though she is, Miss Manners has never understood players who interpret the rules as barring the door to anyone whose friends do not come in exact multiples of four. Has the dummy not noticed that at least one person will

always be sitting out in every hand?

Of all sports, bridge is particularly amenable to socializing.

Better to rotate the extra person in between rubbers than to rescind an invitation. But if the seriousness of the players absolutely requires consistent teams, then the regulars should be instructed that telling the hostess they are unavailable can no more be taken back than a thoughtless lead.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: While sitting with a group at a restaurant table, is it considered the height of rudeness to abruptly interrupt someone while he or she is announcing his or her food order to a waiter or waitress?

Such was a serious problem I had several years ago. While I was telling a waiter what I wanted to eat, a nervy woman in our group interrupted me, snapping in front of everyone, “You should order something else!”

I was never so humiliated in all my life! I was so overwhelmed that I did not know what to say. I was dumbstruck. I gave her a dirty look, but she only looked at me and the others and laughed in my face, not cont page 36

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Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 15

Community / Farmers’ Markets Astoria Sunday Market

Sundays • 10–3 thru Oct 14 Downtown on 12th, just west of Hwy 30, Astoria, Ore. • 503-325-1010 www.astoriasundaymarket.com

Clatskanie Farmers’ Market

Saturdays• 10–2 thru Sept. 30 Copes Park. From Hwy 30, turn north on Nehalem, east on Lillich. Music, a food cart, children’s activities each week. SNAP, FDNP accepted.

New vendors welcome; find application at clatskaniefarmersmarket.com Info: 971-506-7432 Darro Breshears-Routon clatskaniefmvendorcoordinator@gmail.com

Columbia-Pacific Farmers’ Market Fridays •12–5pm thru Sept 28 Downtown Long Beach, Wash. www.longbeachwa.gov info: cpfmmallory@gmail.com Info: 360-224-3921

Cowlitz Community Farmers’ Market 9–2, Tues thru Sept; Sat thru Oct 7th Ave, Cowlitz Expo Center, Longview, Wash. www.cowlitzfarmersmarkets.com Info: John Raupp 360-785-3883 Jrshamrockhill3@aol.com.

Ilwaco Saturday Market

Saturdays • 10–4 thru Sept 29 Arts/crafts, housewares, plants, foods. Weekly entertainment.

Port of Ilwaco, Ilwaco, Wash. www.portofilwaco.com Info: Cyo Kertson 360-214-4964

Kelso Bridge Market

Sundays • 10–3, Three Rivers Mall Kelso, Wash. Info: 360-957-2515.

Elochoman Marina Farmers’ Market

Fridays thru Sept 28 • 3–6pm 500 2nd St,, Cathlamet, Wash. cathlametmarina.org Info: Mackenzie Jones, Mgr: 360-849-9401

Scappoose Community Club Farmers Market

Saturdays, thru Sept 29 • 9–2 Behind City Hall next to Heritage Park, 2nd St., Scappoose, Ore. wwwscappoosefarmermarket.com Info: Bill Blank 503-730-7429 email: scappoosefm@gmail.com

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.

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Northwest Gardening

It ain’t over ‘til it’s over Original • Local • Organic All about the good life “News you can use”

Garden tips as the season winds down

By Alice Slusher

I

t’s hard to believe that summer will be giving way to autumn in such a short time. But “it ain’t over till it’s over,” and here are some garden tips as the season winds down. For more fall and winter garden tips, be sure to attend our FREE Fall Garden Symposium on September 22, 9 am12:30 pm at the Floral Building at the Cowlitz County Fairgrounds.

edge growth. Cut the leaves back to about 6 inches. Lay the newly divided rhizomes in a shaded place for a few hours, then spread the roots out and plant so just the top of the rhizome is visible. Keep them watered until the rains start.

Vegetables

Fertilize your cucumbers, squashes, and melons to keep them going until harvest. Keep the soil evenly moist to prevent blossom end rot—brown, sunken areas at the end of the fruit.

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Getting red tomatoes: At the end of August, any fruit that hasn’t set by then won’t ripen. Cut off all blossoms and growing tip of each plant to the first node (where branch closest to the top comes off the main stem). Remove most of the leaves from bottom up, but if very hot weather is expected, keep leaves that shade tomatoes on the vine to prevent sunburned fruit. Pruning excess leaves improves air circulation to reduce the chance for disease, and it focuses the plant’s energy on ripening your tomatoes. Water sparingly, but don’t let the plants wilt—if the soil dries out, you will end up with ugly blossom end rot on your tomatoes!

Now is the time to plant your coolweather crops such as cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage. You can enjoy your harvest well into the cold weather!

Flowers

Get your onions and garlic ready to harvest. When the tops begin to yellow, “lodge” them by bending over the foliage to force them into maturing.

Wait about 3 weeks, check to make sure that the stem near the bulb is dry and about the width of a pen, then dig up your onions and garlic. Spread them out on newspaper in a dry, cool place for about 10 days. I store mine in those net bags I save from my cantaloupes to keep good air circulation going, and hang in my garage.

Fruits

Raspberries-July bearing and fall raspberries have different pruning requirements. If you have July-bearing raspberries, once fruiting is finished, cut off the current year’s fruiting canes at the base, and leave the new canes to become next year’s fruiting canes. If you have ever-bearing/fall raspberries, simply cut off all the canes at the base in the fall after harvest.

Strawberries-plant babies started from the mother plant now. If the strawberry plant is large or old, now is the time to divide it. Dig up the plant early in the day, and cut it into sections, discarding the older, woody center, and keeping the newer outside

Once they have finished blooming, cut back your perennials to encourage new growth.

Some may bloom again, some will not. Call our office for a list of those wonderful rebloomers-after-cutback!

Roses-stop fertilizing at the end of August, but be sure to keep watering.

Lawns

Do you need to overseed an existing lawn or plant a new one? The best time is from mid-August to the end of September. Just remember to keep it watered until the rains start in the fall.

Yellowjackets

We’ve had so many calls about yellowjackets this year. These aggressive yellow and black striped cont page 18 Kalama resident Alice Slusher volunteers with WSU Extension Service Plant & Insect Clinic. Drop by 9am– 12noon Mon-WedFri. at 1946 3rd Ave., Longview, with your specimen, call 360577-3014, ext. 8, or send question via cowlitzmastergardener@ gmail.com.

Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 17

Gardening Tips

there are solutions. You can purchase a yellowjacket trap and follow the instructions, or you can get a jar, poke a half-inch hole in the lid, and fill halfway with sugar water or apple juice. You can add a dollop of canned cat food or a piece of meat for

from page 17

bee-looking wasps make it difficult to enjoy outdoor living this time of year. Keep in mind that they are pollinators, but if they are in a place that puts you and your family at risk,

good measure, too, if you wish. Set away from your living space. Your homemade trap should cut down on the problem. If you are lucky enough to know the location of their ground nest, wait until after dark when all the wasps are inside the nest. Shoot a jet

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Get your work done in the garden now, then head to your kitchen to start canning your harvests!

•••

Kelso Highlander Festival Invites you to come and experience a

of wasp and hornet spray directly into the hole, and the yellowjackets from that nest will cease to be a problem.

Gala Reception September 14, 2018 4pm to 8pm Historic Train Depot 210 Railroad Ave • Centralia, WA Gallery Open Daily 10am to 5pm • September 15-23

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ARTrails of SWW

OUT • AND • ABOUT

Bursts of Color at the Beach All eyes to the sky during kite festival

L

Story and Photos by Tracy Beard

ong Beach, Washington, a popular summertime playground, comes alive with color the third week of August each year. This year, August 20–26, the sky will open up to a magnificent display of color. Children, adults, novices and professionals from all over the world arrive, ready to showcase their extravagant kites and demonstrate their expert navigational techniques.

Whether you are a participant or an observer, the Washington State International Kite Festival is an exciting way to spend a few days at the beach.

Most children find kites fascinating and fun.

As a child, I assembled a few kites, and my dad laboriously taught me how to make them fly. The pursuit required a kite with string and a tail, some technique, a little wind, wide-open space, a great deal of patience and a lot of energy to run. I distinctly remember that patience was not my strong suit, and I would get very frustrated running while trying to get the kite to quit bouncing along the ground and to get it up into the air. My father, on the other hand, was quite adept at the procedure.

My favorite kite was Nemo, the clown fish from the children’s movie, and my second was a colorful octopus with eight arms squirming wildly in the air. Each kite was sailing as if it had no cares, and the people steering them seemed completely at ease with their faces broadcasting huge smiles. Kite flying looked as though it had changed a great deal from my days of struggling to get the wild beast aloft.

cont page 20

How difficult can it be?

Instructions for flying a kite do not seem all that difficult — simply hold the kite up by the bridle point and let out the string or line.

The kite, theoretically, should go right up once it catches the wind. Let the kite fly away a bit, then pull in on the line so that the kite points upward and begins to climb. Continue until the kite is at the altitude you desire. The only rule is that if your kite weighs more than five pounds you must keep it less than 500 feet above the ground. My kites never ventured that far, so there was no chance I would break that law.

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

Raymond/ South Bend

Oysterville •

Chinook

Mount St. Helens

Skamokawa

•

Grays River

Cathlamet 4

101

Birkenfeld

WestportPuget Island FERRYk

101

Astoria

Pacific Ocean

• Kelso-Longview Chamber of Commerce Kelso Visitor Center I-5 Exit 39 105 Minor Road, Kelso • 360-577-8058 • Woodland Tourist Center I-5 Exit 21 Park & Ride lot, 900 Goerig St., 360-225-9552

Castle Rock

• Naselle

Warrenton •

Seaside

Washington

FREE Maps • Brochures Directions • Information

504

Long Beach

Columbia River

VISITOR CENTERS

Vader

Ocean Park •

Ilwaco

Last year, my husband, Steve, and I attended one day of the Washington State International Kite Festival. The kites were astounding. I did not see anyone attempting to fly one of the thin paper kites with the fragile wooden twigs or plastic sticks that used to hold mine together. Everyone at the beach sported substantial models made with cloth or mylar and strong plastic or wooden frames. We watched gloriously-colored dragons, turtles, fish, and whales sail through the sky.

Longview

Ape Cave •

Kelso

Clatskanie Rainier

Woodland

503

Columbia City St Helens

• Ridgefield

Scappoose• rnelius NW Co ad o Pass R

To: Salem Silverton Eugene Ashland

Sauvie Island

Vancouver 12

Portland

• 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 10–2.

• 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

Vernonia

Oregon

Cougar •

Kalama

Tracy Beard’s freelance writing and photography have been published in many regional, national, and international magazines.

Her stories focus on luxury and adventure travel, outdoor activities, spas, fine dining, and traditional and trendy libations. Formerly of Longview, she now lives in Vancouver, Wash.

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 / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 19

Kite Festival

cont from page 19

Activities abound during this week-long festival. Monday begins with a kite-train workshop and contest. The $5 workshop teaches attendees how to make a kite train with three dazzling colored kites. Tuesday features several flying contests and a kite photography class. Wednesday is the main day for kids and senior competitions, and on Thursday, the handcrafted kites contest takes place. Sport kite events are on Friday and Saturday, and fireworks light up the sky on Friday night. On Sunday, the Moves to Music event takes place with competitors cajoling their kites into dancing to the tunes.

Throughout the week vendors will sell kite paraphernalia and food and drinks while spectators wander the beaches, mesmerized by the colorful skyline. Join the fun and spend a day or longer at Long Beach amidst the fun of the Washington International Kite Festival.

If you prefer to bring your own food to the beach, try making my ratatouille and roasted garlic and olive focaccia points. I created this dish while visiting the Mediterranean Sea this summer, and it is delicious hot, cold or at room temperature.

All eyes are on the sky at Long Beach during the International Kite Festival, set this year for Aug. 20-26.

Photo by Rick White

PROVISIONS

ALONG THE TRAIL OR OUT AND ABOUT In another frying pan add 6 tablespoons olive oil and sauté eggplant until tender, set aside. Add 3 tablespoons oil to the eggplant pan and sauté zucchini until tender. Place eggplant back into the pan with the zucchini.

Add artichoke hearts, capers, and olives. Combine ingredients with tomato sauce. Let simmer on low until rich and thick and then place in the refrigerator. This dish is best the next day.

By Tracy Beard

Roasted Garlic and Olive Focaccia Bread Roasted Garlic

Place 1/4 cup of whole garlic cloves in a small oven-proof container and cover with olive oil. Roast at 350° for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and soft. Chop each clove into 3 or 4 pieces.

For the Bread

2 cups warm (100°) water 1 heaping teaspoon active dry yeast 4 to 4-1/2 cups bread flour 2-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1-1/2 teaspoons table salt 1 /2 cup Kalamata olives, chopped 1 /4 cup roasted garlic, chopped Extra virgin olive oil Put warm water in a mixing bowl and sprinkle the yeast over the top. After 3–5 minutes stir in 2 cups of flour.

Stir approximately 100 times until smooth, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for 1 hour (this is the sponge).

Sprinkle salt over the sponge and stir in 1/4 cup olive oil. Add 1-1/2 cups more flour. Stir. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Add flour until you

have a smooth, cohesive and slightly sticky ball. Rub a large bowl with oil and place dough ball inside. Turn the ball over to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Press down into a 12 x 17 rectangular cookie sheet making the thickness as even as possible. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°. Dimple all over the top of the bread with your fingertip making indentations. Brush or drizzle the surface with 3 tablespoons olive oil and top with chopped roasted garlic and olives. Dust with a light sprinkling of coarse kosher salt. Bake on the upper rack for 20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Let cool and then cut into strips.

20 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

Tracy’s Ratatouille 3 /4 cup olive oil 2 ripe tomatoes 1 small onion 2 tablespoons garlic 1 teaspoon capers 1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts 1-1/2 cups Prego original spaghetti sauce 1 teaspoon sugar Salt and pepper to taste 1 /3 cup Kalamata olives - chopped 1 small globe eggplant or 2 Japanese eggplants – peeled and chopped 2 small-to medium-sized zucchini, chopped 1 /4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan and add onion and a touch of salt. Cook until translucent and add chopped tomato and garlic. Cook until tomatoes break down. Add Prego, sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer on low.

Top with Parmesan cheese to serve.

Use as a hot dip, cold or at roomtemperature with focaccia toast points or French bread or put on crostini or eat it over hot pasta.

Member SIPC

A monthly feature written and photographed

by Southwest Washington native and Emmy Award-winning journalist

Hal Calbom

Production Notes

Beach Reader: Karla Nelson

The Sacred Rite of Reading

A good bookstore has personality.

Hal Calbom

These days everybody’s a writer.

Social media spews words in torrents.

We’re treated ad nauseam to the foibles of our pets, the recycling of tired jokes and stories, and the too explicit unburdening of what used to be the private and personal.

It’s not just an avalanche of amateurs; it’s affecting the prose pros, too.

Self-publishing is viable and booming. We can now author tomes, as well as tweets.

This can be wonderfully subversive.

Self-publishing cuts out completely the editing, promoting and quality control once used by publishers to fence off elite literary territory.

Perhaps it’s a good thing — but for an unintended consequence.

We’re running short of readers.

Editor Heidi Pitlor says, “From my vantage point, there are moments when it seems more people in this country want to write than to read.”

She wonders what happens when writing becomes more attractive than reading. “Will we become, or are we already, a nation of performers with no audience?”

We’ve all grown used to gloomy pronouncements that the printed word — and physical papers like this one — will grow obsolete and die. Recent trends suggest that in fact this is not the case, that we still cherish the tangible, the pageable, the physicality of printed media.

But I worry about this other trend.

That the sacred rite of reading — on which we’ve built our education, our politics, our social interactions, our civilization itself — is threatened.

So, a very special welcome to this edition of the Columbia River Reader — and People+Place. At this remarkable moment in the evolution of media, you are especially appreciated.

•••

people+ place

Sure, online sellers, e-readers, audio books and other media feature convenience, portability, and efficiency. But a good bookstore offers intangibles — light and warmth, ambience and tone. It displays racks and titled ranks proudly, each book awaiting and anticipating its inspection, heft, touch, and purchase.

We browse the new and the novel. We greet like old friends the books we’ve already known and loved, offering silent praise to the bookseller for including these, our own favorites, amidst the company.

And, if that bookseller is one Karla Nelson, we have little trouble identifying the personality that’s curating this collection, infusing Ilwaco’s Time Enough Books with all these tangible intangibles.

KN: I’ve got to tell you my Kindle story.

HC: I don’t see a lot of Kindles in here.

KN: No. Duh. Guy comes in here a few years ago looking for this book he was reading. I think it was one of the Ken Follett books. And he was just in a panic: “Do you have this book, do you have this book?” And I said, “Yea, I do.” He says, “Oh, thank God, I dropped my Kindle in the sand and it won’t work.” And I said, “Really?” And I took the book and dropped it on the ground and I said, “Wow. It still works!”

NICE TO MEET YOU KARLA NELSON resides

Ilwaco, Washington

HC: Still, is the book selling business, selling real books, on life support?

The bricks and mortar bookstore?

occupation

KN: Well, we were hit with Amazon.

And then the recession hit, and that hit everybody, not just bookstores.

But bookstores have taken a really big hit from Amazon.

Long Beach Peninsula

HC: You’re still here.

KN: I think more people are finding

Bookseller from

known for

Ability to identify books by color reading

Clock Dance by Anne Tyler for fun

“I never have fun. The problem with fun is you have it and then you want more. Seriously, putting the right book in the right person’s hand at the right time.” recommends

Because of Winn-Dixie

by Kate DiCamillo. Chosen by an 8-year-old niece for the 2018 family reunion book discussion.

a value, an intrinsic value, in a bookstore. A place where somebody is going to talk to you about the books.

People ask, “Do you read all the books in here?” Well, of course, no. But I order every book. Every book in here is a book that I’ve chosen to go on these shelves. I know what people want to read when they come to the beach.

HC: What’s the classic beach read?

KN: There really isn’t one. A beach read is anything you want to read at cont page 22 Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 21

People the beach. Some of the supposed “beach reads” go along genre lines. I hate to use the word “sappy” but it kind of applies.

“And I took the book and dropped it on the ground and

HC: It’s more about the customers than the trends?

KN: Totally. And I program the store for that. I have my tables. And they know that this table has the newest releases, the ones I recommend, the ones I’m familiar with. And those are the pick and run people. They’re coming in, they’re looking for a book for the weekend or the vacation. They’ll ask me

about the books on the table. And then you have the Bookies. And they come in and they go over the shelves. They’re in here for a good hour, going over the shelves.

KN: Oh man. We break into political discussions. When Brexit happened, we had people break out into political discussions. We had this huge family from Britain come in and all the other customers jumped into it.

Time Enough Books sits in a line of buildings that used to support the Ilwaco sport fishing business exclusively. There are still bait shops and a few charters, but the waterfront has diversified, and Time Enough offers a scenic point of view: hundreds of swaying masts and picture postcard maritime scenes only yards away. There’s a point of view inside, as well. One of Karla’s recent displays, in response to a current news item, pointedly offered a selection of international titles labeled, “Authors from S#%)-hole Countries.”

HC: Politics have changed here, though?

KN:This is the first time Pacific County has gone red state since the 1940s. My grandmother went to the first Washington state political caucus the first time women were allowed to caucus. She was very political. Her last words, she was chatting with her brother and sister in law who were down from Alaska who loved Nixon and my grandmother, one of the very last things, last sentences, she said was, “Nixon is a lying son of a bitch.”

HC: Why the change in view here?

KN: Economy has been terrible. Downtown Ilwaco is pretty sad, and we’re losing some of our historic buildings and businesses. Our Hispanic population, with ICE and everything, is really shrinking. Sixteen families have left, either because of ICE or just discomfort. Pacific County has, I think, the largest percentage of detainees, mainly from the fishing business.

HC: Is tourism helping to compensate, helping the economy??

People + Place visits a bookseller with a point of view.

The Minthorn Family and Sue Lantz appreciate the important services provided in our community by Youth and Family Link.

Please join us in supporting their programs.

Please join us in supporting our local community non-profits in this annual 24-hour online giving marathon.

Thanks to matching funds and prizes, our donations can go further.

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Sue Lantz donates 10% of every commission to a local non-profit of her clients’ choice

Proud sponsor of People+Place

+ Place

”

IN THE

d I said, “Wow. It still works! ~ Karla Nelson

NEIGHBORHOOD Ilwaco Saturday Market Saturdays, 10–4, Port of Ilwaco In any season, the Port of Ilwaco is a hub of activity. Take a walk along the port to watch the comings and goings of crabbers, fishing boats, and charter boats.

KN: Well, we’ve always been in the tourist business.

Fishing here was more charter than commercial. So I grew up here in the tourist business. All of these buildings were either charter businesses, canneries, or little restaurants, that’s all that was down here.

We have more retirees, now. One of my friends says we used to have lumber and fish now we have seniors and tourists.

Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, 115 SE Lake St.,Ilwaco 10–4, Tues–Sat. 360-642-3446.

Cape Disappointment State Park A great picnic and camping spot 2 miles south of Ilwaco, just north of the Washington/Oregon border. Discover Pass or $10 Day Use fee. Take a short but steep hike from the parking lot to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.

Karla grew up on the Peninsula. Her lineage is oneeighth Chinook, the centuries-long denizens of the lower Columbia. When her husband Peter retired from the Coast Guard they moved to Portland, where he skippered a Columbia tugboat. When Peter got his ocean license, it was only a matter of time before they moved back to Ilwaco, or more properly, the Peninsula, as it’s known to most of the locals.

International Kite Festival Long Beach, Wash., Aug 20–25.

See story, page 19.

World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame 313 Sid Snyder Dr., Long Beach, Wash.

Fri-Tues, 11–5.

KN: As a whole, Long Beach, Ocean Park, Chinook, I look at it as one town. We should just all be one town.

We decided to locate down here eighteen years ago because we had a feeling about it. The fishing had gone away, lots of empty buildings. And there still are some.

We thought it was kind of a hidden gem, that it could be something really special.

HC: You must have some secret sauce for survival?

KN: Well, we’ve learned. And all booksellers have learned this. We’ve learned to diversify. If you’d told me eighteen years ago that I’d be selling socks and dishtowels, I’d have said, “No I’m a snobby bookseller.

I will only sell books.”

HC: You don’t seem corrupted.

KN: Not at all. The object is to create a welcoming environment. And I’d say my sidelines are now about 25 per cent of my sales.

HC: What’s current? Right now?

Jazz & Oysters Aug 18, featuring Pacific Northwest jazz ensembles, Willapa Bay oysters, local desserts and beverages. Nahcotta Boat Basin, 3311 275th St, Ocean Park, Wash.

Info, Calendar listing, p. 32.

HC: How about fiction versus nonfiction?

KN: People are looking at health books, what’s new in that. Political books are big. Feminist books are big. We’re coming off, in fiction, the women in World War II craze, All the Light You Cannot See and The Nightingale.

HC: So publishers follow these trend lines, like a vein of ore?

KN: Oh yeah. Gillian Flynn’s book, Gone Girl, that everybody read, the creepy scary, with the black cover?

So now we have this whole string of them, there was The Girl on the Train, The Woman on the Edge, Woman in Cabin Ten.

KN: Probably more fiction. But I have my military history people that keep non-fiction booming. They come in and just scour the shelves. I just bought a big collection from someone, about a year ago, he got rid of all his books, probably would have filled three of these shelves.

HC: And the next generation? Hope there?

KN: My kids’ books do really well. I know what children’s books I like and had liked in the past. But there was a big learning curve for me. Luckily I was able to call Secret Garden Books in Seattle and get to know a bunch of other booksellers. We’re very much of a fraternity — or sorority — us independents. I belong to the cont page 24

Please join us in supporting the work of Lower Columbia School Gardens ...

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Please join us in supporting the humanitarian work of Make a donation of food or clothing at the donation center, 1222 Baltimore St., Longview, M-W-F, 8:30–11:30am. Monetary donations may be made online at svdplongview.com or mailed to St. Vincent de Paul, PO Box 29578, Longview, WA 98632.

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The Evans Kelly Family One of Longview’s pioneer families.

Proud sponsor of People+Place

Proud sponsor of People+Place Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 23

American Booksellers Association and our regional association, so we’re networking all the time.

HC: What are your challenges?

K N : The toughest audience is the young adult market. If their parents come up to me and say, “Is there any sex in this, is there any cussing in this?” Then I’m having to read a lot of young adult fiction lately!

HC: But it’s a good niche?

K N : I t ’s f a b u l o u s .

The great young adult writers, the J. K. Rowlings and Cornelia Funks, they write up to the kids. Not down. It’s kind of clicked now, writers writing up to the kids.

They’re not patting them on the heads and saying, “You can’t handle this.”

HC: Anybody reading poetry? I hope.

KN: Yes, actually poetry has really picked up. Have you heard of Rupi Kaur? Milk and Honey? She’s had amazing sales, on the bestseller list forever, and her new one, The Sun and the Flowers, is on my main table right now.

People + Place

For better or worse, the fate of the independent bookstore depends on that elusive animal, the customer. And those customers need more than a top-notch bookseller to bring them to fairly remote destinations like the Long Beach Peninsula.

The fate of the neighborhood bookstore depends on just that, the neighborhood.

And like many other economically challenged communities, Peninsula residents feel the tension: on the one hand, their notorious independence and free spirits; on the other, the concerted action (“development”) necessary to make tourism, retirement, and that magical “quality of life” pay off and prosper.

KN: Astoria has done wonders. The downtown revitalization. But it’s always a struggle. A lot of their businesses have moved out to Warrenton, to join Costco, Walmart, Fred Meyer, Home Depot. I call Warrenton “selloutville.”

HC: Pretty harsh, don’t you think?

KN: Maybe so. But I’m a shop local nut. I need tires I go to the tire dude in Seaview. Not the Internet.

HC: So what would you prescribe for the general health of the region?

KN: Well, we just need more shipwrecks.

HC: Seriously? Re-create the Graveyard of the Pacific?

KN: Oh you bet. Here, how many years ago, the New Carissa ran aground on Coos Bay. All you need is a shipwreck and the place fills up.

People want to come see a shipwreck.

There’s something about a shipwreck.

There was a lumber barge that ran aground in 1964 out here and the beach was just lined with people.

Fun at Ape Cave And the word got out. My dad and my grandpa and a bunch of locals started picking up the lumber and carting it home.

HC: Can people still drive on the beach?

KN: Yes. It’s a mixed blessing. First of all, a lot of people don’t now how to drive on the beach. They don’t know it’s 25 miles per hour. It’s a state highway, so rules apply. I know when I walk out there and I have my dog with me I don’t want to have to watch for cars. Little kids out playing in the tide pools and cars thinking it’s fun to drive through the tide pools.

And it’s not. Plus you get stuck easily.

HC: Are you competing with Hawaii and Mexico and Palm Springs — people who want to get out of the Northwest for vacation?

KN: Yeah I suppose so, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t go south for the winter. They’re not the snowbirds they’re the rainbirds. And we’re getting more and more of them every year. And lots of weekend people, the people have vacation homes down here. We have a ton of people from Portland and Seattle.

HC: So, maybe a new interest in regionalism, staying local?

KN: I don’t know if I’d call it an “ism” but people are realizing there’s a lot of wonderful stuff right down the road, or the river.

HC: Thanks for keeping the books warm and welcoming.

KN: Thanks for coming in!

•••

HC: Back to economics. Why visit this place? This peninsula?

KN: It’s the best-kept secret in the state. And we still do a lot of the things we’ve always done. It’s smaller now, but the charter fishing business is a good business. You just have to follow the different seasons. We have a sturgeon season and a halibut season. You can always fish for certain bottom fish. And the salmon season, and then the tuna start running. And one of our charters, Coho Charters, is actually running crab trips. They’ll go

Hal Calbom is an independent film producer, educator, and writer. A third-generation Longview native, he attended R.A. Long High School and Harvard College and currently lives in Seattle. He began his media career as a broadcast journalist with the Seattle NBC affiliate, KING Television, as a producer and news anchor.

out and set crab pots, and then they’ll take people out the next day and they’ll pull the pots.

people+ place Karla Nelson’s TOP FIVE BOOKS

page 25

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Please join us in supporting Habitat for Humanity’s work, based on a belief that everyone, everywhere, should have a healthy, affordable place to call home.

We appreciate the enrichment and enjoyment this treasure brings to our community. www.columbiatheatre.com

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24 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

See us at “Aureum” on September 15 !

Proud sponsor of People+Place

people+ place See story page 21

KARLA NELSON’S

Top Five Recommended Books 1. To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee Ever since the first time I read it I’ve thought it was the one book I could read over and over and still get something new out of it.

2. The Secret Life of Bees

by Sue Monk Kidd I want to know these women. I want to be these women.

3. Tuck Everlasting

by Natalie Babbitt The proverbial, “What would you do?” situation: Would you live forever or simply live a life?

4. People of the Book

by Geraldine Brooks This woman has my dream job, a rare book curator and authenticator.

5. Their Eyes Were Watching God

by Zora Neale Hurston A powerful, heartening and tragic book. Testimony to the resilience of the spirit.

Thanks to all our local Rotarians, who collectively strengthen the fabric of goodwill in our community and help make life better, here and around the world.

Rotary Relays • Freedom Flags Literacy Projects • Squirrel Fest Catlin Spray Park • Scholarships • Tour de Blast

See you at Squirrel Fest August 18 !

Proud sponsor of People+Place Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 25

Roland on Wine

Wine Treasure

Master of the house brings out what is new and what is old

M

By Marc Roland

y book recommendation (on page 28) of The New Wine Rules, by Jon Bonné, got me thinking about rules and how they change — and they do seem to change from generation to generation. But do they? Or do they just get forgotten, only to resurface as “new” rules?

There is an obscure scripture in the Bible that is attributed to Jesus where he says, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” I have pondered this many times but still do not understand it fully. One way to look at it is that there is a timelessness to wisdom. It is not bound to one point in time, nor does it progress in a linear fashion. All good rules have ties to the past. What is new is old and what’s old is new.

So what does this have to do with wine?

I think the old rules of wine are the new rules of wine. I really appreciate recent attempts to simplify wine rules

Longview resident and former Kelso teacher Marc Roland started making wine in 2008 in his garage.

He and his wife, Nancy, now operate Roland Wines at 1106 Florida Street in Longview’s new “barrel district.”

For wine tasting hours, call 360846-7304.

and, in fact, get back to a time when wine was not so complicated. We are coming to the end of a time when wine was a drink of high culture, accessible only to those who could afford it and was defined by those who controlled the growing wine trade in the 19th century. They established a strict set of vocabulary to talk about wine and, in France, quality was defined by experts. In the U.S. and Great Britain, wine publications took on the role of establishing the rules.

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

Introducing

Brooke Wethington, BS, MPAS, PA-C

There is a saying in the wine trade, “What is the difference between a Wine Spectator 89-point wine and a 90-point wine?’ Answer: $50.

That is how price has been set for some time! Let’s not forget there was a time when wine was more accessible than water and the only vocabulary was whether it was good or bad. The thing is, wine rules are there to hopefully help us understand and enjoy wine more.

Richard A. Kirkpatrick, M.D., FACP

Britta C. Fischer, BS, PA-C

Dara M. Newberry, Rachel Roylance, RN, MSN, DNP BS, MPAP, PA-C

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A good scribe (writer) will bring out treasures both new and old to help us make sense of the wonderful world of wine.

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•••

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Neal R.Kirkpatrick, Co-Founder

It is refreshing to know that we are living in a time when the people are taking back wine. The globalization of wine has brought new ideas and innovation to wine making and selling. Good wine can be found at all price ranges. It only makes sense that the rules have changed.

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Old Growth

The Natural World Robert Michael Pyle is a naturalist and writer residing along Gray’s River in Wahkiakum County for many years. His twenty-two books include the Northwest classics Wintergreen, Sky Time in Gray’s River, and Where Bigfoot Walks, as well as The Thunder Tree, Chasing Monarchs, and Mariposa Road, a flight of butterfly books, and two collections of poems. His newest titles are Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest and Magdalena Mountain: a novel, coming out in August.

By Dr. Robert Michael Pyle

I

t was the title of the thing that grabbed me first: “Biotic Aspection in the Coast Range Mountains of Northwest Oregon.” An “aspection” turned out to be an overall “look around” at the forest’s lifecycle from all sides — organisms, seasons, soils, and weather. The 1951 paper described James Macnab’s pioneering 1930s study with his students from Linfield College. Working with primitive equipment and teaching themselves as they went, Macnab’s team painted a picture of place in rare detail.

often enough. We need only think of late, great conservationists such as Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, William 0. Douglas, and the recently departed “Mother of the Everglades,” Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, to remember how their advice and examples empowered educators and activists seeking to confront the ecological challenges of their time.

Our living elders—Margaret Murie, Victor Scheffer, John Hay, and Hazel Wolf, to name a few—have extraordinary gifts to give, if we will hear them out.

Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds, Macnab’s chief field assistant, went on to earn her doctorate, take over the study, and become a respected ecologist in her own right. As a lively and venerable retired teacher in McMinnville, Oregon, Jane Claire has written a rich memoir of this classic ecological study.

Her book, Not Just Trees (published in 1999 by Washington State University Press), crystallizes much of what was learned on Saddleback Mountain. This is good, for the forest they plumbed — to a depth seldom attempted today — is no more. What should have been jealously saved as a priceless baseline for the Maritime Northwest rainforest has since become an ordinary, shortrotation industrial woodland. The one stroke of grace is that the forest’s minstrel lived to tell its rich, sad story.

If Not Just Trees no longer matches an actual place, it tells us what a real forest could be if only we would let it, and models a comprehensive approach to the infinite complexity of old growth. Everyone involved with forest management and protection should heed this wise and humble tale.

We s h o u l d h e a r k e n especially to our naturalists, those who know the living details of the world, how the land once was, and how we ought to address what’s left of it. This past summer was a tough one on seniors of this species.

Within a few weeks we lost Ron Taylor, one of the finest field botanists in the West; John Hinchliff, the beloved and devoted keeper of Northwest butterfly data; and John Burroughs Medal-winning writer and the dolphins’ best friend, Ken Norris—one of the last two holders of the title “Professor of Natural History” in the University of California system.

Though each left behind the heart of his knowledge in memorable books and with those he taught, we all were diminished when they departed. What we lose when elders pass is personal wisdom based upon lives well-lived, unique knowledge of former times and places that will not come again, and, in the case of naturalists, ways of

Listening to our elders is no new idea, but we can never remind ourselves

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This is the fourth in a series of selected essays to appear in Columbia River Reader. These essays 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.

seeing that we could dearly use as we seek to understand, to adapt, to reform, to restore.

Few of us have escaped the bitter remorse that comes from waiting too long to see an aged relative, an afflicted friend, a failing mentor. For years I tried to find Ben Leighton, who had dropped out of sight soon after his Butterflies of Washington appeared in 1946. A serpentine trail, spiked with dead ends and coincidence, finally led to a convalescent center not two blocks from my stepchildren’s home! I was eager to show Ben modern works based on his beginnings, to tell how his contribution still mattered, and to

ask questions that only he could illuminate. His nurse said he was strong, and suggested that I “skip the storms on the pass and come in the springtime.” But shortly after New Year’s, Ben Leighton died.

So often, we don’t seize the opportunity to ask the questions we need to ask. But, if we could anticipate the true value of the answers, we’d know we ought to ask them early and often—and listen up. For just as we depend upon the old-growth trees to speak “the forgotten language” of the forest (as poet W. S. Merwin puts it), so do we need our own elders to show us how things are, were, and ever shall be. Few of our old growth will leave books behind to speak for them, as Jane Claire happily has. It is never too soon to go humbly among these thinning groves, with open ears and eyes. But blink, and it may be too late.

Note: Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds passed in 2003 at the age of 91; Hazel Wolf in 2000 at 101; Mardy Murie in 2003 at 101; John Hay in 2011 at 95, and Vic Scheffer in 2011 at 104.

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Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 27

Summer Reading

COLUMBIA RIVER READER WRITERS’

Michael Perry Lewis & Clark

The Coin Box, part of Castle Rock writer Doug Radke’s trilogy, is an excellent weaving of family research into historical fiction. Doug’s story stays true to facts known about his great-great-great-great grandfather, Stephen Brooks’ (1764–1855) life, then his imagination fills in the rest of the story — conversations, relationships, dangers and conflicts.

Greg Smith Astronomy

Cascadia’s Fault by Jerry Thompson. The discovery of the massive subduction fault that lies just off the Washington and Oregon coast promises eventual havoc and damage all along the coast and inland to Portland and Seattle. Of course Longview and SW Washington will be devastated, too. Not for the faint of heart: something that will happen, we simply don’t know when.

Book Recommendations

M

id-August, and summer is beginning to wind down. But there is still time to lie back and lose yourself in a good book down at the beach, or on the lake, or next to the pool. Wondering what to read? We invited those who write regularly for the Columbia River Reader to offer recommendations for your reading pleasure.

Enjoy! ~ Alan Rose, CRR Book Reviewer

Tracy Beard Out & About

Jim LeMonds Medical Matters

Hal Calbom People+Place

Alice Slusher NW Gardening

Perry Piper Lower Col.Informer

Summer is a great time to step back and enjoy youthful activities. Fablehaven, a five-book children’s fantasy series

by Brandon Mull, is a light and easy read. Grandpa Sorenson and his two grandchildren Kendra and Seth partner together to save a hidden artifact along with a world full of mystical creatures.

It’s been more than 20 years since Kent Anderson’s Night Dogs depicted the work of a policeman in Portland’s northeast district. Set in 1983, Anderson’s new book, Green Sun, follows Hanson, the hero of Night Dogs, to Oakland, policing some of Bay Area’s most dangerous neighborhoods.

Green Sun is dark, illuminating, and wellwritten.

Master and Commander (first in the Aubrey/Maturin Series) by Patrick O’Brian. I dip back into these chronicles of the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic Wars (and of a remarkable friendship) every year or so, especially when I’m feeling the need to escape the current century. I’ve read the series, 21 books total, four times, and found something new to refresh my spirit each time.

Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.

This book touched my soul-still haunts me with its humor, insights, and hope. Owen Meany is a tiny man who believes he is God’s instrument. It all starts when he kills his best friend’s mother with a foul ball.

It’s not a religious book; it’s a very human story. It’s closest to the “perfect story” I’ve ever read.

The Driver in the Driverless Car: How Our Technology Choices Will Create the Future by Vivek Wadhwa. This quick, easy read will catch you up on the coming ethical quandaries of the latest technologies. With its great explanations for things, the book is geared toward those who don’t follow technology but want to be prepared for change and avoid being shocked by the new developments.

Scappoose musician Willy Vlautin’s fourth novel, Don’t Skip Out On Me, may be his best yet. It’s a story about a young ranch hand who wants to become a champion boxer and the elderly man and his wife who want him to give up fighting and help them manage the ranch.

Ned Piper The Spectator

Bob Blackwood Movie Reviewer

Paul Thompson Man in the Kitchen

Z e n a n d t h e A r t o f M o t o r c yc l e Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig is about a man struggling through his life. The story is told during a summer father-son motorcycle trip across America’s Northwest. This book is said to have transformed a generation.

I read it early in my teaching career and over the years have given copies as gifts for others to read.

I like The New Wine Rules by Jon Bonné because it demystifies wine rules and makes them easy to understand. Anyone who loves wine — but feels intimidated by wine snobbery — will feel a bit better after reading this quick read.

Marc Roland Northwest Wine

Debra Tweedy Quips & Quotes 28 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

John Sandford’s 10th Virgil Flowers novel, Deep Freeze, released in 2017, deals with Flowers’ finding the killer of a woman found dead and frozen in a block of ice.

Sanford writes thrilling novels, often with humor as well as action and clever analysis of the crime. The book is priced from approximately $10 in paperback or twice as much or more in hardback.

The best literary nonfiction I’ve read in a long time: Stubborn Twig, by Oregon author Lauren Kessler, “Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family.”

Young Masuo Yasui arrives in the Hood River Valley in 1903, beginning a classic comingto-America story disrupted by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. For those interested in regional history, WWII Japanese internment or current immigration debates. cont page 29

Cover to Cover Brought to you by Book Sense and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Assn, for week ending Aug. 5, 2018, 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

Top 10 Bestsellers PAPERBACK FICTION 1. Less Andrew Sean Greer, Back Bay, $15.99 2. Pachinko Min Jin Lee, Grand Central, $15.99 3. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman, Penguin, $16, 4. Crazy Rich Asians Kevin Kwan, Anchor, $16 5. All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $17 6. Manhattan Beach Jennifer Egan, Scribner, $17 7. Hope Never Dies Andrew Shaffer, Quirk Books, $14.99 8. Norse Mythology Neil Gaiman, Norton, $15.95 9. Milk and Honey Rupi Kaur, Andrews McMeel, $14.99 10. The Woman in Cabin 10 Ruth Ware, Gallery/Scout Press, $16

CRR Writers’ Books

Bob Pyle The Natural World

PAPERBACK NON-FICTION 1. Killers of the Flower Moon David Grann, Vintage, $16.95 2. Hillbilly Elegy J.D. Vance, Harper, $16.99 3. Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari, Harper Perennial, $22.99 4. Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain, Ecco, $16.99 5. You Are a Badass Jen Sincero, Running Press, $16 6. Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright, S&S, $17 7. How to Fight Thich Nhat Hanh, Jason Deantonis (Illus.), Parallax Press, $9.95 8. How to Love Thich Nhat Hanh, Parallax Press, $9.95 9. Shoe Dog Phil Knight, Scribner, $20 10. White Fragility Robin Diangelo, Beacon Press, $16

HARDCOVER FICTION 1. There There Tommy Orange, Knopf, $25.95 2. A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles, Viking, $27 3. The President Is Missing Bill Clinton, James Patterson, Little Brown, $30 4. Spinning Silver Naomi Novik, Del Rey, $28 5. Circe Madeline Miller, Little Brown, $27, 97 6. My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh, Penguin Press, $26 7. The Power Naomi Alderman, Little Brown, $26 8. The Woman in the Window A.J. Finn, Morrow, $26.99, 9. Warlight Michael Ondaatje, Knopf, $26.95, 10. Clock Dance Anne Tyler, Knopf, $26.95

cont from page 28

The Moth Snowstorm by Michael J. McCarthy: The most compelling case I’ve read in a long time for saving what remains of the natural world not only for all the practical reasons, but for the sheer JOY it brings our spirits. Spiked with McCarthy’s delicious memories of his own saving joy in nature discovered along the River Dee in the U.K. I am reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Lost and buried under life’s dish, a “creative” can lose the ability to create. This book helps to unbury and reclaim the creative ability in one’s art.

Becky Bell Out & About

Inside Marine One: Four U.S. Presidents, One Proud Marine, and the World’s Most Amazing Helicopter, by Col. Ray L’Heureux with Lee Kelley Inside Marine One Jarhead flies the President Best job in the Corps.

Gary Meyers HaikuFest Founder

Susan Piper Publisher/Editor

Harvests of Joy Robert Mondavi put California wines on the world map and changed how Americans thought about wine.

While reading his auto-biography, I dreamed one night I chatted with Mr. Mondavi in the gift shop of his Napa Valley winery. That’s how personally engaging his story was to me. I’m sure his passion for wine and flair for celebrating the good life will resonate with CRR readers.

•••

HARDCOVER NON-FICTION 1. Educated Tara Westover, Random House, $28 2. Calypso David Sedaris, Little Brown, $28 3. How to Change Your Mind Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, $28 4. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry Neil deGrasse Tyson, Norton, $18.95 5. The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck Mark Manson, Harper, $24.99 6. Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees Thor Hanson, Basic Books, $27 7. Factfulness Hans Rosling, et al., Flatiron, $27.99 8. The Death of Truth Michiko Kakutani, Tim Duggan Books, $22 9. Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness Qing Li, Viking, $20 10. Born a Crime Trevor Noah, Spiegel & Grau, $28

MASS MARKET 1. American Gods Neil Gaiman, Morrow, $9.99 2. 1984 George Orwell, Signet, $9.99 3. The Name of the Wind Patrick Rothfuss, DAW, $9.99 4. Dune Frank Herbert, Ace, $9.99 5. Origin Dan Brown, Anchor, $9.99 6. The Wise Man’s Fear Patrick Rothfuss, DAW, $9.99 7. The Way of Kings Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $9.99 8. Good Omens Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, HarperTorch, $7.99 9. The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin, Ace, $9.99 10. Ready Player One Ernest Cline, Broadway, $9.99

BOOK REVIEW

EARLY & MIDDLE READERS 1. A Wrinkle in Time Madeleine L’Engle, Farrar Straus Giroux, $8.99 2. Be Prepared Vera Brosgol, First Second, $12.99 3. Sisters Raina Telgemeier, Graphix, $10.99 4. Real Friends Shannon Hale, Leuyen Pham (Illus.), First Second, $12.99 5. Drama Raina Telgemeier, Graphix, $10.99 6. Hello, Universe Erin Entrada Kelly, Isabel Roxas (Illus.), Greenwillow Books, $16.99 7. Curious Kids Nature Guide: Explore the Amazing Outdoors of the Pacific Northwest Fiona Cohen, Marni Fylling (Illus.), Little Bigfoot, $19.99 8. Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids Joseph K. Gaydos, Audrey Delella Benedict, Little Bigfoot, $19.99 9. The Girl Who Drank the Moon Kelly Barnhill, Algonquin Young Readers, $16.95, 10. Wolf Hollow Lauren Wolk, Puffin, $8.99

By Alan Rose

Spoiler Alert: The mountain blows Deep Fire Rise

By Jon Gosch Latah Books $16.50 “It had been raining all day and it was raining still. Wilson cruised through the weeping country as his windshield wipers kept a ragged beat, the sky like a sad old mattress that seemed to sag atop the trees.”

It is 1980, and Deputy Sheriff Tom Wilson is patrolling the back roads of north Clark County, his job to protect the locals from “the miscreants and misfits who lurk at this fringe of society—an all-too-human cast of white supremacists, PCP brewers, Alan Rose, author of The Legacy of Emily Hargraves, Tales of Tokyo, and The Unforgiven, organizes the monthly WordFest events and hosts the KLTV program “Book Chat.”

For other book reviews, author interviews, and notes on writing and reading, visit www.alan-rose. com.

Jon Gosch will read from Deep Fire Rise at WordFest on Tuesday, Sept 11.

Sasquatch hunters, and hermetic schizophrenics.” Towering over the region, Mt. St. Helens is restless. For weeks, the 9,600-foot mountain has been rumbling, puffing ash into the sky, and rattling the rural residents who live around the graceful giant. Against this backdrop, a brutal, seemingly senseless murder is committed. cont page 30

Sept 11 • Cassava 1333 Broadway Longview

SECOND TUESDAY

www.alan-rose.com

Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 29

Book Review

the Lower Columbia

Informer

cont from page 29

Combining humor, warmth, and a sense of edgy danger, Jon Gosch ratchets up his story’s tension along two parallel tracks, Wilson’s hunt for the killer and the mounting pressure within the volcano. Both tracks converge on the morning of May 18, 1980, inside the red zone. (Spoiler alert: The mountain blows.)

Gosch, a graduate of R.A. Long High School, studied creative writing and journalism at the University of Washington in Seattle. (His former teacher Jim LeMonds (South of Seattle) along with northwest writer Spike Walker (Working on the Edge, Nights of Ice, On the Edge of Survival) helped edit the book.)

Part of the enjoyment for southwest Washington readers will be recognizing familiar locales: Longview, Fargher Lake, Amboy, Yacolt (“that hapless neighborhood”), the one-time Rainier nuclear plant whose “cooling tower… rose up massively from the Oregon shore like the most toxic mushroom that ever grew.”

He has the native’s feel for the country, and his descriptions ring true, whether witnessing a quiet dawn (“Another day on earth arriving by tiptoe”) or enjoying the tranquility of a small river (“like a mantra in motion.”)

Immediately following the eruption, the Toutle River becomes “a flood of wet cement.”

“So how did the suspect enter your

by Perry Piper

warehouse?”

“Just walked right on in.”

“Was there forcible entry?”

“They certainly had no right to be in here.”

“Yes, but how did they gain access to the warehouse? Did they punch through a window or break the lock on the door?”

“Wasn’t any lock on the door.”

“I see.”

~ from Deep Fire Rising

So, too, he deftly and accurately captures the people who dwell in this region—Living on five acres overlooking the Lewis River Valley, I recognized my proud, independent, 2nd Amendment, no-frill, nononsense neighbors in a number of his characters.

Gosch has said that Deep Fire Rise was inspired in part by his father Vern, a Longview police sergeant in 1980, and by his brother Tim, currently a deputy sheriff in north Clark County. Clearly, the book is a tribute to the law enforcement officers, those dedicated men and women, who patrol the county roads and backwoods of this drizzly, mistfilled corner of the Pacific Northwest.

•••

Greetings from Down Under

W

ithout the night flight leg of the flight to New Zealand, I’m sure I would have gone mad.

Clocking the hours after finally arriving to the Hanks residence, the tally came to a full 24 hours of travel from my Seattle origin!

Kevin Hanks is my second cousin and was Perry, about to drive for the first time on the wrong side! born and raised in Kelso, before marrying Robyn, a Kiwi girl — aka a New Zealander — 17 years ago.

It was a delight playing board games with They now live on the north island of the Hanks kids and hearing their accents New Zealand with their four children. as they told me I was pronouncing I was quite confused upon arrival, everything incorrectly, like yogurt and because Kevin had adopted the local car. They say it like “caw” and “yo-get,” accent and I was questioning who I but said I could do a better impression was related to! of the correct way than their dad, even after his years of practice.

Kiwi is the name people in the country go by because that is the Being a chocolate fanatic, one of my flightless bird shown on some of their greatest discoveries was the nationally currency, as well as a native species. famous brand, Whittaker. I of course The Kiwi bird is said to have gotten bought all the flavors for us to try. its name because this is the sound the Hilariously, I left about eight bars at male whistle makes (and an example the family residence for a three-day trek of onomatopoeia. The animal is near north, only to find them completely endangered, especially since the consumed upon my return! My favorite beginning of colonization. flavors are the classic creamy milk, cont page 31

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30 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

opposite side and a right turn as taking the 3rd or 3pm exits. You’ll crash if you’re in the left lane trying to exit on the third, unless it’s a single lane roundabout. The other thing to get used to is that those on the right have the right of way and the left lane is the slow lane.

It was strange that with full insurance, New Zealand rental cars were only about $30 per day, not including the very expensive gas —$5.95/gallon — while Australian agencies wanted $100 per day with even less insurance coverage! Luckily I found an online deal on VroomVroomVroom for $50 a day with 75 percent insurance coverage. Laughably, it was at the same exact business I was standing at and their human reps said they only had the astronomical prices and didn’t mention the web deal for some reason.

Along the Tunnel Beach Walk in New Zealand.

creamy caramel, hokey pokey and the occasional peanut butter. I also fell in love with Kit Kat Pretzel and Mint flavors, something U.S. markets apparently wouldn’t care for.

One tool that has made traveling dramatically easier is Google Maps. You can now pin favorite locations in four or more categories: a green flag, gold star, red heart and blue square. I use these to designate locations on the map as areas I love or want to go, where I’m staying and finally, art or restaurant locations. Using the companion app Google Trips, I can quickly research a place to see the top rated sights, events and locations.

For the first time in my life, I decided to rent a car, and to make things harder, do so in a country that drives on the wrong side of the road!

The salesman told me a horror story of someone who, immediately after going over all the rules and pulling out of the rental agency, turned right instead of left and got into a crash right there. I got the full insurance in case a similar event happened to me, but my years of driving experience kept me safe the whole trip. I kept whispering to myself, “stay on the left, stay on the left.”

It’s scary at first, but incredibly satisfying and free ing onc e you get a bit of Mountains near Queenstown, southwest New Zealand. practice in.

I think the hardest bit was the multi-lane roundabouts. You have to pay close attention to the lane arrows and treat straight as going to the

Kevin Hanks and his cousin Perry Piper.

In New Zealand, I drove around the coast of the south island and some of the north island. In Australia, I’m currently driving from Melbourne in the southeast and up around all the coastal cities until I get to Cairns in the north. There, I’ll see the Great Barrier Reef before flying to Hong Kong to visit a friend on the way home.

Learning to drive in another country has been the highlight of this New Zealand and Australian trip. I’ll have the confidence to use the service in future travels if it’s another remote country region. Reconnecting with family was fantastic as well and we realized we shared more things than we expected. I recommend everyone take the scenic path once in a while and maybe, if you’re adventurous, drive on the wrong side of the road.

••• Perry Piper will be traveling until the end of summer, meeting new friends and re-connecting with old friends met in previous travels. He is telecommuting, you could say.

At right: The Shire – Hobbiton movie set in Matamata, New Zealand.

Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 31

Outings & Events

Performing & Fine Arts Music, Art, Theatre, Literary 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 different 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 3).

FIRST THURSDAY • Sept. 6 Broadway Gallery Enjoy refreshments and meet the month’s featured artists.

Reception, 5:30-7:30pm.

Music: Steve Harvey www.the-broadway-gallery.com 1418 Commerce Ave. Downtown Longview, Wash.

The public is invited to join BWG’s October Art Show. The theme is “Autumn.” (details at the Gallery or online at the website).

Across the River Cowlitz County Historical Museum 405 Allen St, Kelso, Wash.

7pm Program: A 1961 live Portland TV show on how the Longview Daily News produced newspapers 60 years ago. The program has been transferred from its original kinescope/film negative to a digital form. This film was made just before the Daily News quit using the hot lead type method of newspaper production. Jim Elliot will be the presenter and will invite some of the people shown in the film to attend the presentation.

Broadway Gallery Artists co-op. Classes for all ages, workshops and paint parties.

Featured Artists: August: Susan Supola (watercolor/silk), Ken Knodel (fused glass); Sept: Guest Artists Virginia Paul (Western art, pastels, Alessa Berringer (vintage crochet) and Robin Rodenberger (ceramics). Gallery hours: Mon-Fri 10-5:30, Sat 10–4. 1418 Commerce, Longview, Wash. 360577-0544. www.the-broadway-gallery. com. Currently calling for New Artists for Gallery Membership. See’s candy available to benefit SWW Symphony Auxiliary.

Jazz & Oysters Aug 18, Nahcotta Boat Basin, 3311 275th St, Ocean Park, Wash. 12pm Ilwaco High School Jazz Band; 1pm R.J. Marx Quartet; 3pm Eugenie Jones; 5pm 45th Street Brass.

Tickets ($25 adults, $12 6–12, under 6 free) available online and at the event. https://watermusicfestival.com/ event/jazz-and-oysers/ Squirrel Fest / Art in the Park, Sat., Aug 18. in the Longview Civic Center, across from the historic Monticello Hotel. 9am Kids’ Fun Run; 9–4 Circus Cascadia; 9–5 Art in the Park;10am Parade;10–5 Vendor Row Open; 2–10pm Beer Garden;10am–10pm Food Concessions. Live Music: 6–7pm The Strange Tones; 7–8:30pm Randy Lindner CCR (Creedence) Tribute;8:30– 10pm Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. See Squirrel Bridge listing and map, page 11.

Tsuga Gallery Fine arts and crafts by area artists. Thurs-Sat 11–5. 70 Main Street, Cathlamet, Wash. 360-7950725.

Redmen Hall History and art. 1394 SR-4, Skamokawa, Wash. Thurs-Sun, 12-4pm. Info: 360-795-3007 or email fos1894@gmail.com.

Friends of the Library Book Sale Sept 6,7,8, 10am–4:30pm. Large selection of popular fiction and non-fiction. Selfhelp, history, children, sailing, humor, romance, art, science, biography. $2 per bag on Sat. Also a Christmas table. Longview Public Library, 1600 Louisiana St., Longview.

Koth Gallery, Longview Public Library Aug: Displays by Mt St Helens Hiking Club; Sept: Krista Mead. 1600 Louisiana Street, Longview, Wash. Mon-Wed 10am-8pm, Thurs-Sat 10am-5pm. Info: Daniel, 360-442-5307.

Cornucopia of Wines Sept 8, Skamokawa Grange. Wine tasting, appetizers, silent auction Benefits Friends of Skamokawa, maintenance of Historic River Life Interpretive Center/Central School/Redmen Hall. See story, page 33.

Dropping in at Longview’s Civic Circle. Hope I don’t squash a critter. I’m nuts about those squirrel bridges.

HOW TO PUBLICIZE YOUR NON-PROFIT EVENT IN CRR Send your non-commercial community event’s basic info (name of event, 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 Sept 15–Oct 20:

by Aug 15 for Aug15 issue.

Events occurring Oct 15 – Nov 20:

by Sept 25 for Oct15 issue.

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

FREE OUTDOOR CONCERTS Cape Disappointment State Park - Ilwaco, Wash.

13 Nights on the River St. Helens, Ore.

Concerts at the Lake Longview, Wash.

Aug 25 Moe Bowstern and Paper Eclipse Puppet Co. Fisher Poet Moe Bowstern. Salmon life cycle, all ages.

Aug. 16 Chris Baum Band / Steely Dan CollectionBands

Aug 16 Burlington Rail (classic,country rock and roll)

Aug. 23 Kate & the Crocodiles

Info: discovercolumbiacounty.com 7pm at Waikiki Beach, Cape 13 Nights on the River - Facebook Disappointment Park, 244 Robert Gray Dr., Ilwaco, Wash. Bring seating, Open Air Market 3pm. Happy blankets and insect repellent. Concerts Hour Matt Brown 4–6:15pm. are free. Discover Pass required for Regular bands play 6:30– vehicle access, except Aug 25 (state 8:30pm. Thursdays, St. Helens parks free day) Columbia View Park, Old Town, St. Helens, Ore. .

32 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

6–8pm Thursdays, Martin’s Dock, Lake Sacajawea Park, Longview, Wash. Bring blankets, low-backed chairs. Picnics OK, food available.

No alcohol. Info 360-442-5400.

Outings & Events

Recreation, Outdoors Gardening, History, Pets, Self-Help Cowlitz County Museum New exhibit: “The Great War: A Cowlitz County Centennial Reflection,” exploring how the Lower Columbia region supported the war effort (WW1). Open Tues-Sat 10am–4pm. 405 Allen St, Kelso, Wash. www.co.cowlitz.wa.us/museum. Info: 360-577-3119.

Wahkiakum County Historical Society Museum Logging, fishing and cultural displays. Open 1-4pm, Th-Sun. 65 River St, Cathlamet, Wash. For info 360-795-3954.

Appelo Archives Center Historic exhibits, Naselle-Grays River area.

1056 State Route 4, Naselle. T-Fri 10–4, Sat 10–2, or by appt. 360-484-7103. appeloarchives.org.

August Treat Day Sat., Aug. 25, 1–4pm.

Cedar Creek Grist Mill. Woodland Exit #21 from I-5. Turn onto C-C St to cross North Fork, Lewis River. Left onto NW Hayes Rd. toward Amboy, which becomes Cedar Creek Rd. 8 miles from Woodland, a sign points left to the mill.

Turn left on Grist Mill Rd. and the Mill is about 3/4 mile farther.

Longview Br idge Club Weekly duplicate bridge games Mon 10:30am, Thurs 6:30pm, Kelso Senior Center, 106 NW 8th Ave. New players welcome.

For info or help finding a partner: Rich Carle, 360-425-0981 or rhcarle@msn. com.

TAKE A

Awesome Hikes Aug 25, Sept 15.

Challenging 10-mile hike from Johnston Ridge Observatory through the heart of the blast zone in the Mount Margaret Backcountry, past Coldwater Peak, and along south Coldwater Ridge.

Spectacular wildflower displays, stunning views of St. Helens Lake and Spirit Lake, and twisted logging equipment: all reminders of the destructive and renewing powers of this great volcano.

And at the end of the day, a shuttle back to Johnston Ridge from Coldwater Lake. Guided by the Mount St. Helens Institute complete with geology and biology lessons. $75 per person. Info: mshinstitute.org, phone: 360-449-7883.

Columbia County Dog Fair Sept. 8, Veterans Park, Scappoose, Ore. 8am Registration, 9am 5K Dog-friendly walk/ run. Additional fun and games. Hosted

by Columbia Humane Society and Scappoose D.O.G. (Dog Owners Group).

53rd Annual Rock & Gem Show Sept 15, 10–5, Sept 16 10–4. Castle Rock Rairgrounds. Free admission. Displays, food, gold panning, demos, auctions.

Southwest Wash. Mineralogical Society.

Info: Nicole Doiron, 360-520-7891.

SCRUBS! St. John Medical Center Cafeteria, Longview, Wash. Aug 21, 9–7; Aug 22, 7–7; Aug 23, 7–5. Something for everyone who wears uniforms. Many brands. Proceeds benefit Friends of St. John. Info: Kathy Davis 360-751-1048.

HIKE

with

Mt. St. Helens Club

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.

Wed, Aug 15 • Lake Sacajawea (E) Walk around the whole lake (3+ mi.) or walk half the lake (1+ mi.) with little e.g. Leaders: Ed & Trudy 360-414-1160.

Sat, Aug 18 • Summit Creek - Jug Lake (S) Drive 240 miles RT. Hike 11 miles with 2,200 ft. e.g. on Cowlitz Tr. 44 and Jug Lake Tr. 43 in William O. Douglas Wilderness to scenic Jug Lake and then up to Carlton Ridge Viewpoint. Leader: Bruce 360-425-0256.

Wed, Aug 22 • Abernathy Creek (E) Drive 40 miles RT to Abernathy Creek Road. Hike 4 miles RT with little e.g. on abandoned road through old growth forest along scenic Abernathy Creek. Leaders: Bruce 360-4250256 and Chere 702-467-0752.

Sat, Aug 25 • Johnston Ridge/Windy Ridge Keypass (M) Drive 190 miles RT. Hike 8.7 miles with 800 ft. e.g. Hike high point ridge, a rare opportunity to walk on the Pumice Plains.

Leader: Bill D. 503-260-6712.

Cornucopia of Wines overflows in Skamokawa

Alcove Gallery spotlights local artists

he Friends of Skamokawa Foundation will host its 28th Annual Wine Tasting and Auction Benefit, “A Cornucopia of Wines,” on Saturday September 8, 6:30 to 9:30pm at the Skamokawa Grange, 18 Fairgrounds Road, in Historic Downtown Skamokawa.

he Community Arts Workshop’s Alcove Gallery at Longview CAP, 1526 Commerce, continues its exhibit of work by selected workshop artists. Workshop Artists II runs from Thursday, August 16, until September 4, 2018, and features masks, paintings and projects by Jsea Becall, landscapes

by Dorothy Allen, and magical Hobbit paintings by Randy Welch as well as works by other artists. The Alcove Gallery at CAP is open Monday through Thursday, Noon–3:30pm.

T

The event features samplings of fine wines from around the world, as well as a variety of appetizers for attendees to enjoy. Guests may bid on an extensive variety of unique items created by local artists, artisans, and photographers.

Generous businesses and individuals have donated gift certificates for getaways to bed and breakfasts, fine dining and hotel stays, river kayaking, and more. Proceeds from the event will go towards maintenance and continued care of Skamokawa’s Historic River Life Interpretive Center/Central School/Redmen Hall.

All area residents, businesses, and visiting guests are invited to attend and/ or participate as sponsors and donors.

Advance tickets are available for $15 each (2 for $25) or at the door for $20 each (2 for $30). Tickets are available online at www.friendsofskamokawa. org, by phone at 360-795-3007, in Skamokawa at the Skamokawa General Store or the River Life Interpretive Center/Central School/ Redmen Hall, and at Daisy Chain Floral in Cathlamet. Contributions are tax deductible. For more info about being a sponsor, donating silent auction items or contributions, call Friends of Skamokawa at 360-7953007 or email fos1894@gmail.com.

For general information visit www. friendsofskamokawa.org.

T

The artists in Community Arts Workshop are professionals and beginners. The professionals have brought their works into CAW to share theirs ideas and interests about the healing and expressing aspects of art.

The beginners are encouraged to paint and draw in any style they respond to, affirming their individuality and enjoying the opportunity to use a large variety of donated materials and to get help from local volunteer art teachers, all at no charge.

Everything is free at the Community Arts Workshop — the donated space from CAP, the instructors with academic and professional backgrounds in a variety of arts and crafts, the community contributions of donations and art supplies, and the spirit of sharing, cooperating, self expression, inspiration and relaxation shared by all. Everyone is welcome.

For more information about the Alcove Gallery and the Community Arts Workshop please contact us at 360-425-3430 x 306 or send an email to capartsworkshop@gmail.com.

Sat, Sept. 1 • Mount Margaret (M/S) Drive 260 miles RT. Hike 11 miles with 2,400 ft. e.g. thru 1980 Blast Zone to the top of Mt. Margaret for a great view of Spirit Lake and St. Helens Lake.

Leader: Bill D 503-260-6712.

Wed, Sept 5 • Cape Disappointment to Breakers Trail (Ilwaco) (E/M) Drive 132 miles RT. Hike 5+ miles with 500 ft. e.g. Hike up to lighthouse and possibly to include Beard’s Hollow. Great views of the ocean and cliffs. Leader: Art 360-425-3140.

Sat, Sept 8 • Mount Adams area (M/S) Drive 240 miles RT. Hike on slopes of Mt. Adams. Call for details. Leader: Dan 360-355-6241.

Wed, Sept 12 • Widdle Waddell Loop (E) Drive 140 miles RT. Hike 3.5-mile loop with 535 ft. e.g. on forested trails in the Capitol Forest.

Leader: Art 360-425-2140.

Sat, Sept 15 • Red Mountain Lookout (M/S) Drive 200 miles RT. Hike 9 miles loop with 1,400 ft. e.g. on the PCT past Indian Haven Race Track to summit of Red Mountain. Excellent views of Indian Haven Wilderness from the existing lookout tower. Leader: Bruce 360-425-0256.

It pays to advertise!

CRR AD DEADLINES Sept15 issue: Aug 27 Oct15 issue: Sept 25

For info or to reserve your space, contact Ned Piper, 360-749-2632 or nedpiper@comcast.net Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 33

Astronomy

LOOKING UP / FRIENDS OF GALILEO

Sky Report: August 15 – Sept 15

By Ted Gruber Parade of Planets From now through early September, you can see four of the five “naked eye” planets form a line in the early evening sky. Venus is easily visible in the western sky at dusk. Then moving from west to southeast, bright Jupiter, fainter Saturn, and bright red Mars become visible as darkness falls. If you have difficulty finding Saturn, draw an imaginary line between Jupiter and Mars; Saturn will be the brightest object between those two planets and lies roughly half way between them.

Each night, you’ll have about a one-hour window between the time Mars rises in the southeast and Venus sets in the west to see all four planets at once.

In case you missed last month’s sky report, Mars hasn’t appeared this large or this bright since 2003, and won’t again until 2035. The red planet made its closest approach to Earth and reached its peak brightness in late July, and while it becomes slightly dimmer with each passing night, it is still an amazing sight.

Morning Sky Through early September, Mercury is visible low in the eastern sky before dawn, rising about 90 minutes before sunrise. The innermost planet reaches its highest elevation above the horizon (about 10°) in late August and early September.

After that, Mercury dips a bit lower each morning, although it does become brighter.

to 45° above the horizon, although you’ll see meteors above and below that range.

Sidewalk Astronomy The local Friends of Galileo astronomy club will host a public sidewalk observing session the evening of Friday, August 17 (weather permitting). Join us starting around 9:00pm in the parking lot outside Starbucks at 808 Ocean Beach Highway in Longview. Several club members will have telescopes set up to observe the moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and other celestial objects. If the skies are overcast or it’s raining heavily on August 17, we’ll instead try for August 18, again weather permitting. If you missed it, we’ll do it again on September 21.

••• Kelso resident Ted Gruber makes a regular report to fellow members of Friends of Galileo, a family-friendly astronomy club which meets monthly in Longview. For info about FOG, call Chuck Ring, 360-636-2294. Ted is currently the club’s vice president.

Perseid Meteor Shower The Perseid meteor shower peaked the night of August 12-13, but the shower remains active through August 24. To observe the Perseids, face east and generally look 30°

34 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

Late Summer, Best of Summer .

W

By Greg Smith

hy is late summer the best? First of all, it’s dark earlier. Second, the major summer objects are still in view. Third, it’s still comfortable out and no coats or gloves are needed.

The three main stars of the summer triangle are high over head, along with the coat hanger, the Ring Nebula in Lyra near the star bright star Vega; the Trifid Nebula is in the south along with the many other deep sky delights in the constellation of Sagittarius (it looks like a teapot with the Milky Way steaming from the spout). This summer we have been treated to being able to see four of the five long-known planets in the evening sky. The fifth, Mercury, is in the early morning hours just before sunrise.

So yes, the late summer is often considered the best for heavenly viewing. This is one of the many reasons North American amateur astronomers choose this time of year to hold their summer star parties.

Then there is the Perseid Meteor shower that peaks around the 12th of August. Sorry we just missed it. But a night under a clear warm sky will still give you meteors — not as many as the Persieds, but still it’s a great way to have your whole family compete with you, counting meteors as you camp out under the stars. Children with their sharp eyes may see more of the faint ones, but you can probably stay awake longer. While you are watching meteors steak across the sky, look for the single bright flashes. Guess what? You just dodged a cosmic bullet. That single bright flash was a meteor coming right at you. Now aren’t you glad that you have 100 miles of atmosphere protecting you?

Telescopes are cool; I have several, but just lying out on your back and looking up at the stars and the constellations can be one of the most peaceful things you can do. Just look and be amazed. You can get into the science of what a star is, and how far away it is, but stop being analytical — and just get lost in the beauty.

While counting meteors, make up stories about the constellations. Why does the Big Bear in the sky have a long tail?

Because a bear (short tail) is scarier than a raccoon (long tail) and makes the story more frightening; being scared by a raccoon isn’t frightening, but being scared by a bear is frightening. Why is the swan flying down the Milky Way? Is the eagle dive bombing the swan? What are Cepheus and Cassiopeia talking about? Why does Andromeda ride Pegasus? What is really brewing in that teapot? Those are just a few of the story ideas you could come up with.

Making up stories about the constellations will get your mind off all the junk that is going on in the world.

Focus on the loved ones around you, and make memories with them. Making memories with family doesn’t have to be with just children; brothers and sister, aunts and uncles, moms and dads are family, too. Telling whopper stories of constellations make for all kinds of good memories. One-upmanship will always push the camaraderie. You don’t have to remember the stories, just the times of telling them. Laughter will drive the memory home, not to be forgotten. Star gazing can be fun.

Having a “party” under the stars can be so much more than just waiting for a meteor to flash by; telling a story while you’re waiting will make the night go faster; and while they are laughing with tears in their eyes, you can get your meteor count up, too.

••• Greg Smith is the president of Friends of Galileo, now in its 23rd year. For info, call 360-636-2294.

Everyday clothing for the everyday man INSTAGRAM: THEOUTFITTERLGV

11 – 5 • TUES–SAT 1235 COMMERCE AVE LONGVIEW, WA

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

M-Sat 11am–10pm; Sun 11am–9pm.

Summer Hours starting May1–Sept 30: M-Sat 11–11; Sun 11am–10pm 503-728-2922

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

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

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

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

Open daily 11am.

503-556-9753 See ad, page 8.

COLUMBIA RIVER

dining guide

Longview 716 Triangle Shopping Center. 18 rotating craft brews, pub fare. M-W 12 noon –9pm, Th-Sat 12 noon-11pm, Sun 12 Noon-8pm.

360-232-8283. Follow us on Untappd See ad, page 13.

1260 Commerce Ave. Serving lunch & dinner Mon–Sat 11am–10pm. Full bar, banquet space, American comfort food. 360-703-3904. www.millcitygrill.com. See ad, page 26.

The Original Pietrio’s Pizzeria Homestyle cooking from the 1960s-1970. All natural ingredients. Beer and wine available. Open Wed. thru Sun, 7am–8pm. 1140 15th Ave., Longview. See ad, page 15.

The Carriage Restaurant & Lounge

Full breakfast, lunch and dinner 6am– 9pm. Full bar in lounge, open 6am.

Three happy hours daily (8–10am, 12– 2pm, 5–7pm). Group meeting room, free use with $150 food/drink purchases.

1334 12th Ave. 360-425-8545.

614 Commerce Ave., Longview. 18 varieties of pizza. Salad bar, Lunch buffet all-you-can-eat. Beer & wine.

Mon-Fri open 11am, Sat-Sun 12 Noon.

360-353-3512.

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

Toutle/Mt St Helens Fire Mountain Grill 9440 Spirit Lake Hwy, Milepost 19. Lunch & Dinner: Burgers, sandwiches, salads, steaks seafood, chicken & dumplings, housemade cobblers and infamous Bigfoot Burger. Riverside dining. Open daily 10am–6pm. 360-274-5217.

St. Helens, Oregon 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. See ad, page 17

Sunshine Pizza & Catering 2124 Columbia Blvd.

Hot pizza, cool salad bar. Beer & wine.

503-397-3211 See ad, page 36.

Scappoose

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. See ad, page 8.

Evergreen Pub & Café 115-117 East 1st Street Burgers, halibut, prime rib, full bar.

503-556-9935. See ad, page 8.

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

See ad page 8.

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

See ad, page 8.

Country Folks Deli 1329 Commerce Ave., Longview. Serving lunch and dinner. Sandwiches, soups, salads. Open M-Sat 11am. 360-425-2837.

See ad, page 12.

Freddy’s Just for the Halibut. Cod, halibut & tuna fish and chips, oysters & clams., award-winning clam chowder. Prime rib every Thurs. Beer and wine. M-W 10–8, Th-Sat 10–9, Sun 11–8.

1110 Commerce 360-414-3288.

See ad, page 27.

Happy House

Chinese Restaurant & Lounge 1312 Commerce Ave., Longview.

Chinese and American food. $5.95 Lunch Special. Sun-Mon Karaoke, Fri-Sat DJ. 360-577-2639. See ad, page 14.

Hop N Grape 924 15th Ave., Longview M–Th 11am–8pm; Fri & Sat 11am–9pm; Sun 11am–7pm. BBQ meat slow-cooked on site. Pulled pork, chicken brisket, ribs, turkey, salmon. World-famous mac & cheese. 360-577-1541 See ad page 13.

Masthead Castaways 1124 Washington Way, Longview.

Famous fish & chips, gourmet burgers, Chowders. 13 beers on tap.

360-232-8500. See ad, page 8.

Red Kitchen 848 15th Ave., Longview. Cocktails, taps, vino. Traditional diner fare, breakfast, lunch, dinner. Sandwiches, burgers, funky comfort food, incl. Bacon Gouda Mac n Cheese, shepherd’s pie, healthy options. Full service bar, incl 12 taps. 7am–10pm, M-F, 8am–10pm Sat-Sun.

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

Casual ambience. 5–9pm Wed-Sat. See ad, page 14.

Teri’s 3225 Ocean Beach Hwy, Longview.

Lunch and dinner. Fine dining, with specials, fresh NW cuisine. Happy Hour.

Full bar. Mon–Sat open 11am. Closed Sundays. 360-577-0717.

Fresh-roasted coffee, snack and pastries. 1335 14th Ave., M-F 7am–4pm, Sat-Sun 9am–4pm.

360-232-8642 See ad, page 11.

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

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; Sun 11am–9pm. Full bar service ‘til 10pm Fri & Sat. Deliveries in Scappoose. 503-543-5100.

Ixtapa Fine Mexican Restaurant

33452 Havlik Rd. Fine Mexican cuisine.

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

Warren 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.

Woodland The Oak Tree 1020 Atlantic Ave., Woodland. Full breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. Fresh from scratch cooking. Great happy hour menu. Sun 7am–9pm, M-Th 8am–9pm, Fri-Sat 7am–10pm. 360-841-8567

Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 35

Miss Manners

from page 15

caring that she upset me. To me, that is no way to act in what my mother calls “polite company.”

I wish I had said to her, “If I want your help, what do you say you lemme ask for it!” How would you have dealt with a situation such as this one?

GENTLE READER: Not by returning thoughtless rudeness with snide rudeness.

Miss Manners infers from your reaction that the woman’s injunction contained an implied criticism, perhaps to your selection’s being, in her mind, unhealthy. She understands why you might feel annoyed, but reminds you that you are surely not the only one at the table who noticed this person’s rudeness.

The correct response is to ignore the interjection entirely by firmly completing your order, and then resuming a prior conversation with other members of the party. By making your displeasure clear, you will enlist the help of polite company in embarrassing the nervy woman — rather than rewarding her by acknowledging her openly.

Call before you go …

How should I have handled this?

Other than thanking her for accepting the delivery, is there anything else I should have said?

GENTLE READER: There is something you could still do: Send or bring her flowers, with a note of thanks for the job she is doing.

Miss Manners is not suggesting this only out of kindness. It should also cause the receptionist to realize that at best, the what-about-me response only evokes pity. And it should ensure you that future deliveries will be handled efficiently.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am a teenage girl belonging to a large family. Often, at social events or brief meetings, acquaintances and friends

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I wasn’t sure how to respond. Her comment took away some of the joy I had after receiving such a thoughtful gift.

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DEAR MISS MANNERS: I received some flowers from my husband, which were delivered to the reception area at my workplace. After our receptionist let me know that I had a delivery, she then began to tell me that she never gets flowers and that maybe she might get flowers when she died.

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36 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

will compliment me or one of my siblings, but address the comment to my parents.

Sometimes, I will be with one of my parents, and someone will approach and comment: “Your eldest daughter is so beautiful” (or some such kind compliment). They are speaking to my parents, but they are speaking of me, and are aware of my presence.

I do not know how I ought to reply.

On one hand, they are addressing my parents, and interrupting is impolite; yet on the other hand, they are complimenting me, and it is polite to receive compliments graciously.

This has happened several times, and I wish to meet such kindness properly.

Sometimes I offer a demure smile, blushing, and dip my head. Other times I murmur thanks such as, “Oh, how kind of you,” warmly, and then retreat so they can converse with my parent. I don’t think either is quite rude, but please tell me the most polite response.

GENTLE READER: Not only are you handling this gracefully, but you are preparing yourself for a lifetime of recognition for any success you may achieve.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: When the lovely people at my workplace want to show their appreciation of my work, they give me a gift card to a wellknown online company that is rapidly putting independent booksellers out of business.

My husband runs an independent bookstore. The folks at my work know what my husband does, but have clearly not put two and two together to realize that this gift will make me deeply unhappy and give my husband ulcers.

What would be the best way, in my thank-you letter, to express appreciation for their generosity while requesting that in future, they choose virtually any other gift in the world — or none at all?

GENTLE READER: Most online book companies inexplicably sell things other than books. If this one does, you could say in your letter, “We greatly look forward to using this card for novelty sweets or toys for our dogs.”

If questioned about why you would not want to get books, Miss Manners recommends you say, “Oh, my husband already owns an independent bookstore. Happily, we can get everything we need there.”

It pays to advertise in

30-day shelf life Reasonable rates People actually read it Deadlines: See page 33.

Call Ned Piper 360-749-1021 for info

Whether you go on to win an Oscar, a Medal of Honor or a Nobel Prize, Miss Manners assures you that such modest dipping of your head, along with murmured thanks and, if you can achieve it, a blush, will further charm those who admire you.

••• 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.

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Music lasts a lifetime!

Piano Lessons A great investment in yourself or as a gift

Martin E. Kauble Longview, WA

360-423-3072

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technique • theory • performance

Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 37

Southwest Washington’s annual day of online giving is set for Thursday, September 20. The event, called Give More 24!, invites residents from across Clark, Cowlitz and Skamania Counties to visit www.givemore24.org and give collectively—as one community—for 24 hours.

Charitable contributions can be made to any of more than 100 participating nonprofits — including 26 in Cowlitz County listed below — and every charitable contribution made through the website also gets a boost, thanks to prizes, matching funds and and a “stretch pool.” The event is sponsored by the SouthwestWashington Community Foundation.

Caring Pregnancy Center of Cowlitz County Children’s Discovery Museum Children’s Justice & Advocacy Center (CJAC) Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts Columbia Wellness Community Health Partners Community Home Health & Hospice Community House on Broadway Cowlitz County CASA Cowlitz County Habitat for Humanity Cowlitz Wahkiakum Legal Aid Emergency Support Shelter Envision Kalama Ethnic Support Council

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FISH of Cowlitz Clounty Goodwill Longview Work Opportunity Center Janus Youth Programs Kelso Public Schools Foundation Lelooska Foundation Life Works/Farm Dog Bakery Longview Outdoor Gallery Lower Columbia College Foundation Lower Columbia School Gardens NAMI Southwest Washington Southwest Washington Symphony Stageworks Northwest Janus Youth Programs

Local History

Stella Historical Society’s annual event to showcase new forge Story and photo by Barbara Williamson, building Stella Historical Society

T

his year, the Stella Historical Society will have as its theme “The Past Forges Ahead.” Our volunteers h a v e constructed a new forge building.

The forge will be moved from our historic blacksmith Volunteers work on finishing the new forge building. shop to this new building. Blacksmiths will be able Highway via Germany Creek Road. to demonstrate their skill without There you will find a farmer’s market, risking a fire in our old blacksmith bake sale, lunch of Stella Dogs, chili, shop that is on the National Register our yummy blueberry cobbler, several of Historic Places. We are grateful vendors showing their home-crafted for assistance provided by Steelscape items, and a display of old photos of of Kalama and by Weatherguard of the area.

Longview in constructin the roof of The Titanic Award trophy that we won the new forge building. during Longview’s Go-4th Cardboard Our “Remnants of the Past" annual Boat Regatta will be on display. event takes place Saturday, Sept. 8, A suggested donation for entry is $5 from 10am util 4pm at our museum for adults and $2 for children 5–12; site, 8530 Ocean Beach Highway, younger kids are welcome for free. For with experienced hosts to answer more information, please call 360-423your questions. See an experienced 3860 or 360-423-8663. blacksmith at work, and see if you can find all the items on our special See us on Facebook @ Treasure Hunt List. Festivities stellahistoricalmuseum. continue at the Stella Lutheran ••• Chapel, at 124 Sherman Road, just a couple of miles north of Ocean Beach

Performances will be held at the following venues: Birkenfeld Theater (BT), Clatskanie Cultural Center 75 S. Nehalem St., Clastskanie, Ore. Donavon Wooley Performning Arts Center (CMHS) Clatskanie Middle/High School, 471 BelAir Drive, Clatskanie, Ore.

Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 39

Blackwood on Movies

TWO ACTION FILMS

Equalizer 2 and Mission: Impossible – Fallout

I

’ve always enjoyed Denzel Washington’s work in films. He seems effortless — often relaxed when other actors might try to create tension — yet his characters usually seem to know what is happening next or what might be happening next.

Now, some critics might call that a failing, a limitation. I think it is just the way he likes to work. In director Antoine Fuqua’s “The Equalizer 2” (R), Washington is a retired CIA agent, Robert McCall, who is helping another agent, an active agent played by Denzel Washington as Robert McCall, former federal agent, in “The Equalizer 2.

Melissa Leo, who is killed by Columbia Pictures some creeps abroad. McCall sets out to avenge his friend. take this matter in his or her own hands with some justification.

Perhaps McCall’s character is a bit sexist in wanting to kill the Some critics found McCall’s actions a killers of his woman friend, but it seems to me it is only human bit brutal. I can’t imagine why. Sure, (whether you are a man or a woman) to he was not authorized as a retiree to want revenge upon the enemy. I may kill people anymore. It strikes me, have to reconsider my own religious however, that anyone who has had scruples on this matter, however. the support of the federal government to kill foreign or domestic agents who are killing active U.S. agents might just Dr. Bob Blackwood, professor emeritus of the City Colleges of Chicago, co-authored with Dr. John Flynn the book, Everything I Know about Life I Learned from James Bond. Mr. Blackwood lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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backyardblitznw@gmail.com 40 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

By Dr. Bob Blackwood Christopher McQuarrie’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” (PG-13) is doing well at the box office. I found the film to be a little long at 147 minutes, but that is a rather subjective perspective. On the whole, it was beautifully filmed with displays of major cities as well as a colossal ending with Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt fighting on a sheer stone cliff almost as slick vertically as a skyscraper.

This is an action film. Hunt’s crew is first rate. We’ve seen them before, and we get to the action right away. A group of whackjobs called the Apostles are out to make everyone in the world suffer. I really don’t know why, but this is not an issue in this kind of film. What the Apostles do have are three dirty bombs with some really nasty plutonium. I really liked the casting of Hunt’s crew with Ving Rhames as Luther, Simon Pegg as Benji, and Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa—among others.

There sure seem to be some IMAX shots with incredible amounts of space as well as intensely detailed shots.

There was a good deal of traveling through Europe and the U.S. in the making of this film. And Tom Cruise is doing his own stunts. It is worth the ticket price, folks.

•••

Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt survives a deadly challenge in the mountains.

Paramount Pictures

Spain in May Stacy Dalgarno of

Where do you read

THE READER?

Longview and Erika Agren of Castle Rock, Wash., at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The two were traveled through Spain from Barcelona, San SebastiĂĄn, Madrid to Seville. They enjoyed a food and wine tour that also included a few stops at notable museums and historical sites.

Toes in the water

Paula, Kathleen, George and Holly Roe, of Seattle,Wash., at American Lake (Tacoma Country Club) on July 4th.

WHERE DO YOU READ THE READER? Send your photo reading the Reader (high-resolution JPEG) to Publisher@ CRReader.com. If sending a cell phone photo, choose the largest file size up to 2 MB. Include names and cities of residence. Thank you for your participation and patience, as we

usually have a small backlog. Keep those photos coming!

Watch out for alligtors! David and Judy Parmley of Scappoose, Ore., on their recent trip to Everglades City, Florida.

Can we move to Italy? Nick and Brook Seaver, of Longview, Wash., at the Florence Cathedral, Italy.

Bon jour! Kelso, Wash.,

residents Jan Marie Fortier and Jerry Calbaum in Menton, France.

Columbia River Reader / August 15–September 14, 2018 / 41

the spectator by ned piper

Get thee to a bookstore

I

didn’t get into reading much until I entered college. Oh, I remember a few books that I found interesting in my younger days. One featured a mystery that was eventually solved by cowboy hero Roy Rogers and another was about a young athlete who wanted desperately to star on the high school track team. I still have both of those books. I have a difficult time passing on books that meant something to . me. But hey, most books mean something to me.

I even refuse to toss the worst book I have ever read. It’s called The New York Detective and it stands alone in the terrible writing department. Once in college, I encountered writers like Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre and J.D. Salinger. These men, or rather their writing, inspired me to begin writing.

I was fortunate to have had summer jobs at the Longview Fibre. I put myself through school with the money made working the night shift. When I got home after 11pm I would sit down at my typewriter and work on the great American novel until two or three in the morning. Of course, what I banged out on my little blue Corona was pathetic, but I kept at it.

I’d read somewhere that a serious writer had to write something like a million words in order to learn the craft. I still have that first effort and refer to it from time to time. It contains a few gems, but mostly, it’s just plain bunk.

Discovering the detective genre, thanks to my good friend Bert Jepson, markedly expanded my interest in reading. Authors like Robert B. Parker, British writer Dick Francis (both who

recently died), John Grisham and John Dunning, amazing authors who fill my bedtime hours as I read myself to sleep each night. My dream is to one day publish a novel or a collection of short stories that I’ve written. In the meantime, my column in the Reader fills a creative need in my life. Thank you, Sue, for the opportunity to express myself in your newspaper.

I laud both Sue and feature writer Hal Calbom for dedicating this People+ Place feature and, in fact, the issue itself, to books. The kind you hold in your hands, the kind of books that needs a bookmark to remind you where you left off at the last reading, the kind of book you can page back to check out a fact, without getting digitally lost.

It saddens me that so many of the younger generation defer to the Internet for their reading material instead of books and newspapers printed with ink on paper. I saw a cartoon recently showing a father wearing a party hat made out of a folded newspaper, pointing to the hat and saying to his child, “I’d like to see you do this online!”

There is definitely a place for books in our lives. Take time to see which books the Columbia River Reader writers are reading (page 28). Order some of these books at a local bookstore and enjoy the experience. It’s real, my friends, not virtual.

••• Longview native Ned Piper enjoys reading, writing, and schmoozing with CRR advertisers and readers.

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42 / August 15 – September 14, 2018 / Columbia River Reader

PLUGGED IN to

COWLITZ PUD

By Alice Dietz

Eat for Heat!

Farm-to-table dinner to benefit Warm Neighbor Fund

A

s the cost of living increases, Cowlitz PUD has noticed the necessity for offering more programs to assist our customers in need. In 2001, Lower Columbia Community Action (CAP) and Cowlitz PUD teamed up to establish the Warm Neighbor Program. In the past, The Warm Neighbor Fund was primarily funded by voluntary gifts from PUD customers and also supported through various fund-raising efforts, the largest being Bingo at the Cowlitz County Fair.

Unfortunately, a few years back, Cowlitz PUD was strongly advised by the Washington State Auditor to end the Bingo at the Fair. Over the past years, we have seen a huge decrease in the annual giving to the Warm Neighbor Fund. Unlike the federally funded Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the Warm Neighbor Funds have fewer restrictions on who can be awarded

funds. Many of our customers live above the federal poverty level but still have trouble meeting their dayto-day expenses. Offering a program like Warm Neighbor extends our ability to help our customers in need.

On September 9th, Cowlitz PUD’s Connect to Community volunteer committee is excited to present our first annual Eat for Heat farm- totable dinner. Eat for Heat will serve a family style dinner for 100 guests with locally-procured ingredients.

We are partnering with Watershed Garden Works, Lower Columbia School Garden, CAP and JSquared Barrel House to bring the freshest local ingredients right to your table.

Chef Josiah Fox will be donating his time and skill to preparing our first annual Eat for Heat dinner. This will be an exciting event, bringing the community together for a great cause.

100 percent of the evening’s proceeds will go towards the Warm Neighbor Fund. The dinner will be served at dusk in the PUD parking lot, under tea lights, local floral arrangements and accompanied by live music.

If you are interested in signing up you may do so at https://www. eventbrite.com/e/eat-for-heattickets-48812460383?aff=EatforHeat or by calling or emailing me at 360.501.9146, adietz@cowlitzpud.org.

••• Alice Dietz is Communications and Public Relations Manager at Cowlitz PUD. Reach her at adietz@cowlitzpud.org, or 360-5019146.

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