CRR February 2021

CRREADER.COM • Vol. XVII, No. 186 • February15, 2021 • COMPLIMENTARY Helping you discover and enjoy the good life in the Columbia River region at home and on the road

page 26

COLUMBIA RIVER

dining guide

People+ Place BACK WAY TO THE COAST

Blue Highways

the roads less taken

HAIKUFEST 2021 • CHINESE FIRE DRILL ON MARS • SNOWSHOEING

COLUMBIA RIVER READER COLLECTORS CLUB

LEWIS AND CLARK REVOLUTIONIZED

• COMPLIMENTARY 176 • March 15 – April 15, 2020 CRREADER.COM • Vol. XVI, No. road River region at home and on the the good life in the Columbia

Helping you discover and enjoy

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

MOSS IN YOUR LAWN? What to do page 15

ONE RIVER, MANY VOICES WASHINGTON’S POET LAUREATE COMES TO WAHKIAKUM COUNTY page 14

People+Place

Cutting Edge The art of the woodcut

page 19

page 28

COLUMBIA RIVER

dining guide

ESCAPE TO BARCELONA • “FEATURED

IN FULL VIEW Rex Ziak

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

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THE TIDEWATER REACH

Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures

By Robert Michael Pyle and Judy VanderMaten.

Boxed Signature Edition, Color and BW $50 / Trade paperback $25 “It’s a different way of seeing.” A one-of-a-kind Field Guide to the lower Columbia, in poems and pictures.

Now available from Columbia River Reader Press in two editions.

The

EYEWITNESS TO ASTORIA Gabriel Franchére

$21.95

Tidewater Reach Field Guide to the

Lower Columbia River

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

in

Poems and Pictures

Field Guide to the

Lower Columbia River in

Poems and Pictures

Robert Michael Pyle Judy VanderMaten

Robert Michael Pyle Judy VanderMaten

DISPATCHES FROM THE DISCOVERY TRAIL

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

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By Michael O. Perry Boxed Signature Edition, Color and BW $50 / Trade paperback $25 Compiled from the popular CRR series, with new notes and commentary, this book adds a gifted amateur historian’s insights, quirks and observations to the lore and legacy of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

DEBBY NEELY

A LAYMAN’S LEWIS & CLARK

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T

he day Columbia Ford delivered my brand new, factory-ordered, 1994 white Mustang, there sat a dozen red roses on the console, a personal thank you from the Sari family for my business. A gesture of extra-mile customer service and a token of friendship.

Sue’s Views

Today that fond recollection gives me the blues.

I’m not a car geek but I like cars and what they do for us. And my entire lineage of cars — a Ford Granada, a couple of Mustangs, a PT Cruiser, and now the spunky Ford Ecosport I drive today — came from Columbia Ford and via my relationship with the Saris.

We just learned that they are selling the dealership to another enterprising Longview family, the Clarys. The Sari “boys,” as I’ve always thought of the sons of father and founder Bill Sari, are ready to retire. The successful dealership is a timely investment for the Clarys. We wish great good luck to both families and their now merged business operation.

The news hit me like a punch in the gut, however. A change to my world and my comfortable expectations for it.

Publisher/Editor: Susan P. Piper Columnists and contributors: Tracy Beard Hal Calbom Alice Dietz Joseph Govednik Michael Kruger Jim LeMonds Gary Meyers Michael Perry Ned Piper Perry Piper Robert Michael Pyle Marc Roland Alan Rose Alice Slusher Greg Smith Debra Tweedy Production/Graphics Manager: Perry E. Piper Editorial/Proofreading Assistants: Merrilee Bauman, Michael Perry, Marilyn Perry, Tiffany Dickinson, Debra Tweedy Advertising Manager: Ned Piper, 360-749-2632 Columbia River Reader, llc 1333 14th Ave Longview, WA 98632 P.O. Box 1643 • Rainier, OR 97048 Office Hours: M-W-F • 11–3* *Other times by chance or appointment Website: www.CRReader.com E-mail: publisher@crreader.com Phone: 360-749-1021

Red Roses for a Blue Lady A reminder that we’re all of a certain age and must expect changing fortunes and circumstances.

corporate contributions to our civic life (although I know they’ll continue community commitments as individuals). I’ll miss their advertising support over the entire life of Columbia River Reader. But most of all I’ll simply miss our day-to-day relationship: Pat coming to get my car for its oil change, or telling me about his dream for a squirrel gathering (now SquirrelFest), the dealership lending me a 15-passenger van, with the seats removed, to pick up CRR each month from the printer in the early days, or giving me advice on whether or not I should buy a used bus on Craig’s List (no comment). Business is nothing if it’s not human-scale, transactional, person-to-person. Despite our technologies, our forced distancing, our heads in our phones, we treasure more than ever our shared humanity.

Friendship means everything.

Like red roses on the console.

Ironically, one of the best antidotes for the blues is a blue highway. A car trip. Getting out and about, but

Scenes from a road trip, the back way to the coast. Story, page 17.

Columbia River Reader is published monthly, with 15,000 copies distributed in the Lower Columbia region. Entire contents copyrighted by Columbia River Reader. No reproduction of any kind allowed without express written permission of the publisher. Opinions expressed herein, whether in editorial content or paid ad space, belong to the writers and advertisers, are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the Reader.

Submission guidelines: page 31.

General Ad info: page 14

Ned Piper 360-749-2632.

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

via the back roads, more slowly and meditatively. That breath of fresh air.

That tailgate, roadside picnic. This month we offer a special edition of People + Place that puts the places, and the roads getting there, up front. You’ll discover a different path to the coast, an appreciative view of the natural world, and a restored balance of who we are and what we see, hear, and do.

Good luck to our friends in the car business, and to all of us using our four wheels (or two or three, or our legs, for that matter) to keep discovering the good life, both at home and on the road.

Sue Piper

In this Issue

ON THE COVER

Cover Design by

At the Astoria Column

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

Yes, I’ll miss Pat and Phil and Peter (Rybar) and the Sari family’s visible,

Photos by Hal Calbom.

Wishing smooth sailing for the Saris in the next chapter of their lives, Thank you, Columbia Ford, for all the miles and memories!

2

CRR Collectors Club

4

Letters to the Editor

5

Civilized Living: Miss Manners

7

Dispatch from the Discovery Trail ~ Mapmaking

11

HaikuFest 2021

12

Provisions along the Trail

13

Out & About with Tracy Beard: Happy Trampers

14

Biz Buzz / Medical Matters

15

Museum Magic: Chehalis Historical Museum

16

Quips & Quotes

17-20 People + Place ~ The Back Way to the Coast 21

Northwest Gardening ~ Gardening Resolutions 2021

25

The Natural World ~ Of Cabbages and Queens

26

Lower Columbia Dining Guide

27

Roland on Wine

28

Besides CRR, What Are You Reading?

29

Cover to Cover ~ Book Review / Bestsellers List

30

Lower Columbia Informer: Technology Sucks

30-31 Outings & Events Non-Calendar / Submissions Guidelines 32

Astronomy / The Sky Report / A Space Walk You Can Take

33

Where Do You Read the Reader?

42

The Spectator: Old Friends, Continuing Connections

42

Plugged In to Cowlitz PUD: The Warm Neighbor Fund Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 3

Letters to the Editor Loves the Wahkiakum Eagle I just sat down to pie and tea, and the new CRR which I was very excited to read because of the cover photo! We lived in Cathlamet, actually on Puget Island, for nine heavenly years until the drive got to be too much. So we moved to Longview. But the Wahkiakum Eagle is still wonderful to enjoy! And I so appreciate Rick Nelson! I wish to thank, and would hug if I could, the person who put the whole article on one big spread so that I didn’t have to balance the slippery pages whilst trying to read the great article! I so appreciate you, whoever you are! HUG HUG. And the article is wonderfully written, with so much positivity Included! I look forward to seeing more from A.W.! Welcome back to the community. It really is a wonderful one.

Victoria Block Longview, Wash.

Editor’s note: Hal Calbom wrote last month’s People+Place feature spotlighting Rick Nelson and Andrew Weiler (A.W.).CRR’s midnight oil layout department arranged the centerfold spread. Fist bumps in lieu of hugs, of course.

Egregious error!

Alan Rose, in his latest review, stated, “One of my nephews reminded me that the earth travels almost 93 million miles in its yearly orbit around the sun.” That is incorrect. The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is the distance stated, so by the formula for circumference of a circle (the travel distance in our yearly orbit around the Sun) we travel more than 584 million miles. But I bet someone already brought that up... Thanks.

Walter Davis Longview, Wash.

Editor’s note: Mr. Davis makes a good point and we stand corrected. Alan Rose informed readers we are all due for our 93 million-mile check-up and we are all overdue!

Alan Rose responds: “Gosh, you mean someone actually reads my column?—Okay, so math was never my strong suit and I was a little off by 500 million miles. This is probably why NASA turned down my job application.”

CATERING Be a guest at your next event!

Your Columbia River Reader Read it • Enjoy it Share it • Recycle it

Serving the Columbia River region, including Longview-Kelso.

Minding more than his P‘s and Q‘s L i k e d o c t o r s w h o ta k e t h e Hippocratic Oath, proofreaders are committed to “first, do no harm.”

When I offered edits to Cowlitz County Historical Museum Director Joseph Govednik’s article about the Monticello Convention in the January Reader, I altered Joseph’s sentence that said Salem was the Oregon Territory’s capital prior to the Monticello Convention in 1852.

My correction, implying the capital was actually Oregon City, resulted in potential confusion, which I would like to clarify.

In 1845, three years before the Oregon Territory was created, the Provisional Government selected Oregon City to be Oregon’s first capital. Governor Joseph Lane affirmed Oregon City was the capital and a capital building was constructed. When the Territorial Legislature passed an act in 1850 designating Salem as the capital, the Governor refused to relocate. In May 1852, the United States Congress settled the matter and Salem became the capitol a few months before the Monticello Convention took place.

But the story doesn’t end there. In early 1855, the Territorial Legislature moved the capital from Salem to Corvallis; later that year the move was

declared invalid and it was moved back to Salem. Two weeks later, the capital building in Salem was destroyed by a mysterious fire. In 1856, an election approved moving the capital to Eugene but voter fraud was declared and the capital remained in Salem. In 1864, the Oregon Constitution made it official: Salem is the state capital.

If you weren’t confused before, you surely are now! I’ll try harder in the future to not muddy the waters. I offer my apology to Joseph Govednik.

~ Michael O. Perry

Call before you go !

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“I make house calls”

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Corrugated Cardboard (used to hold paper, small appliances or boxes from warehouse stores) and smaller boxes, like cookie, gift or soda.

Cardboard Recyclables MUST BE CLEAN. Remove all contents from the box, including food, plastic liners, wax paper, or Styrofoam packaging from inside the boxes. Flatten ALL boxes to conserve space.

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Civilized Living

Boorish behaviour? !

By Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am fortunate enough to remain friends with my most recent ex, which does not change the fact that we broke up (my choice) for legitimate reasons.

High among them was his tendency

Wedding ‘costumes,’ grandbaby overload, long-winded conversationalist, etc.

to fly off the handle with little to no warning. Another was his relationship with alcohol.

This past weekend, we got together. As per usual, I found myself walking on eggshells to avoid any sort of blowup.

Later, after I’d gone home, I received a number of drunken texts that were inappropriate (not in a sexual way) and made me quite uncomfortable.

The next day, he was back to his usual cheery self but, as is too often the case, I found myself still preoccupied with the previous day’s events.

Miss Manners, is there a way to call out someone’s poor behavior that won’t cause matters to escalate? He’s 85% delightful, but I’m always wary of the 15% undelightful side of him that could surface.

GENTLE READER: “You know how much I enjoy your company, but I am in constant fear of angering you ­— especially when we are drinking.

Let’s confine our get-togethers and communication to public spaces and daytime hours until we know that this is under control.”

Miss Manners understands that it may not solve the problem. He could very well blow up right there — or more likely, apologize and make promises, only to break them. But if you do end up having to give an ultimatum or end the friendship, at least he will have been warned.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I’m a Catholic clergyman. Once the dangers from COVID pass and we

AGENT SPOTLIGHT ~ orn and raised in B Longview, Tim Glassett says Cowlitz

County holds a special place in his heart.

When he is not with his clients or his family, you can find him cruising the backroads on his motorcycle. Relatively new to the Windermere team, Tim has been on fire! Within his first month with Windermere, he had already begun helping two clients reach their real estate goals.

can resume a semblance of our normal lives, I will be performing a cousin’s wedding ceremony.

The dress code for the reception is black tie. My aunt is insisting that I wear a tuxedo, which, to me, is a very odd request.

I told her I would wear either my religious habit or a black suit with a Roman collar, as they are the equivalent of a soldier’s Class A uniform. They are, simply, the best clothing I own.

In all my years, I’ve never encountered anyone who objected to clergy (or military) wearing their dressiest clothing to a wedding reception, but perhaps I am naive or incorrect. One usually expects clergy to dress like what they are, especially when they’re overtly functioning as such.

My aunt is quite confident that you, whom she calls the “Pope of Etiquette,” will set me straight and tell me that I’m being boorish. My superiors would normally not countenance wearing a tuxedo under any circumstances but, in this one case, they’re sufficiently bemused to have agreed to let me abide by your decision. (However, my habit or a black suit with a Roman collar would be what I would wear to see the actual pope.) cont page 10

Meet Tim Glassett!

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Tim has proven that he is excited to be helping the Cowlitz County community, paired with great training from Windermere, Tim will be the agent to know — give him a call today!

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Mon- Fri: 8:30–5:00 Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 5

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Lewis & Clark Below: A map from Martin Plamondon’s “Lewis and Clark Tr a i l M a p s , Volume II.” The box in Clark’s map, at right, corresponds to the map below.

Plamondon used the information in Clark’s daily

Mapmaking

W

illiam Clark was the mapmaker. When the expedition left St. Louis in 1804, he took copies of the best maps available. Clark had a large comprehensive map, drafted by Nicholas King in 1803, that had a longitude and latitude grid accurately showing the course of the lower Missouri River as well as the Pacific Coast. Lewis & Clark were expected to fill in the blank area in the middle of the map. Clark also carried copies of maps made by Spanish and French explorers that showed parts of the upper Missouri River region to the Rocky Mountains.

President Jefferson had told Captain Lewis he wanted him to accurately record bearings and courses as the Corps of Discovery traveled west to the Pacific Ocean. But, frontier

Michael Perry enjoys local history and travel. His popular 33-installment Lewis & Clark series appeared in CRR’s early years and began its second “encore” appearance in April 2018. It has been expanded and published as a book: Dispatches from the Discovery Trail: A Layman’s Lewis & Clark.

Lewis & Clark Encore We are pleased to present

Installment #32 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.

surveying was nowhere near as accurate as ordinary surveying. Rather than a series of closed loop traverses, Clark would have to make do with a single open-ended traverse that was several thousand miles long.

journals to determine identifiable starting and ending points that could be located on modern USGS topographic maps (typically, stream mouths, ox-bow bends, prominent buttes, etc.). Plamondon then attempted to plot Clark’s traverse readings on the map. Clark’s distances were consistently too long, and his bearings did not take magnetic declination into account (and often did not come close to fitting the lay of the land). Still, Clark’s maps were remarkable considering the conditions under which they were made.

Ordinary surveying methods, using a transit and chain to create several hundred accurate closed traverses, would be impossible to use on the trip, so shortcuts were developed. Since most of the journey would be on water, Clark tried using a “log line” to measure distances.

A log line (a piece of rope of a known length tied to a piece of wood) was used to measure distance and speed of the river. Unfortunately, it did not work well and errors of 25-40% were common. A sighting compass replaced the transit, but errors due to local magnetic anomalies and magnetic declination were common. In the end, Clark resorted to dead reckoning for much of the journey.

A portion of the route map, above, drawn by William Clark, shows the part of the river traveled between April 16 and 21, 1805.

The area inside the faint box corresponds to the cartographic reconstruction at left and the Course and Distance information shown below.

Lewis and Clark also used an octant and sextant to try to determine latitude and, with the aid of a chronometer (an accurate timepiece), longitude. Their chronometer stopped several times, and poor weather often made it difficult to make the necessary sightings on stars. Virtually none of those readings were accurate enough to be of any use.

Clark made many map sketches as they traveled across the continent. Those charts laid out the course of the Missouri River and showed many details of the land along the route. Unfortunately, Clark’s original maps between St. Louis and Fort Mandan have been lost. After the expedition was completed, Clark allowed Prince Maximilian, a German anthropologist, to copy some maps he had made of the lower Missouri River. Those maps, used during Maximilian’s trip up the Missouri in 1833, include seventeen sheets (numbered 13 through 29) illustrating the river from Omaha to the Mandan villages in North Dakota. In July 1805, President Jefferson wrote that he had received “29 half sheets” from Lewis and Clark at Fort Mandan showing the course of the river to that point, so it is evident the missing twelve maps existed at one time.

In any case, during the winter months of 1805 while at Fort Mandan, Clark created a single map that incorporated everything he

Part of a page from Clark’s daily journal showing his Courses & Distances for April 17, 1805, on the Missouri River just west of the present-day Lewis and Clark State Park in North Dakota. While Clark believed they covered 26 miles that day, they actually traveled only 13 miles. This area is now flooded by Lake Sakakawea, behind Garrison Dam, just west of where Fort Mandan was located.

cont. page 8 Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 7

Downtown Longview

Enjoy Downtown Longview! Explore, shop, dine and relax ... Thank You for buying local and supporting small business!

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY FEBRUARY 27

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Tues and Wed 11–4 • Thurs thru Sat 10– 6 CLOSED Sun-Mon

DOWNTOWN FUELING STATIONS Subject to COVID restrictions

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Pick-up and Delivery. 11am–7pm.

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In the Merk (1339 Commerce, #113) 360-431-5552. Mon-Fri 8am–4pm.

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8 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

Podcast audio tour showcases art sprinkled Downtown. Available on six platforms, incl Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Each episode matches specific sculptures, with artist and piece details. Viewers need not walk any one way, like a standard audio tour, but may go in any order, and whenever, they wish.

Mapmaking from page 7

knew or believed to be true about the land between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean. His map was based on maps made by other explorers, information supplied by various Indians and fur trappers, and information Clark recorded on their journey up the Missouri in 1804. That map was aboard the keelboat when it returned to St. Louis in 1805. The original “Fort Mandan” map has been lost, but two of the four copies made

by Nicholas King in 1805 still exist.

While the information obtained from the Indians on the 1805 map was speculative, it proved to be remarkably accurate once the journey was over and the final maps drawn.

The following winter, at Fort Clatsop, Clark consolidated his field notes covering their journey west from Fort Mandan. He made a series of small maps that were used to create a large detailed map after the journey was over. He may have added information to the 1803 “Map of the West” that King had drafted for Clark’s use.

Clark kept detailed field notes in his journal showing courses and distances traveled each day. Clark assumed cartographers would use his painstakingly recorded traverse to create accurate maps after the journey was completed. But, for almost 200 years, those field notes were ignored.

Fortunately, Martin Plamondon II, a resident from Vancouver, Washington, changed all that with his 3-volume set of Lewis and Clark Trail Maps.

Martin Plamondon II, a descendent of southwest Washington pioneer Simon Plamondon, worked for 30 years to create a 3-volume set of over 500 maps covering the entire 7,400 cont page 9

CHIHULY ART IN LONGVIEW?

TAKE A LOOK Renderings of the proposed Chihuly art installation are on display at Teague’s, 1309 Hudson, Longview.

from page 8

mile route Lewis & Clark took. Sadly, on May 26, 2004, just before his third and final volume was published by Washington State University, Plamondon died. His health had been declining for years, and for a while he had been afraid he might not complete his project.

His “Lewis and Clark Trail Maps” are cartographic reconstructions that cover every step of the journey, comparing the rivers as they flowed 200 years ago to their present-day courses. Surprisingly, the contrast is often impressive. Locations of the campsites along with the present day river channels and features, with towns, roads, bridges, dams, etc., added, help modern day explorers retrace the route.

Relevant quotations from the expedition journals were added to each map to help the reader understand events the Corps of Discovery experienced 200 years ago.

Plamondon’s maps make the expedition journals come to life in a way previously impossible. Captain Clark would have loved these maps! Amazingly, nobody had ever used Clark’s field notes to create a set of maps. CRR readers likely will be most interested in Plamondon’s third volume that charts the route along the Columbia River from Pasco to the Pacific Ocean and back to St. Louis. The three volumes are available in spiral binding or hardback at the Fort Clatsop gift shop.

Gary Moulton, editor of the University of Nebraska Edition of the Lewis and Clark journals (from which we quote throughout this series), also published a large volume containing reproductions of all the known maps Clark produced during the journey.

Those maps, which are often hard to decipher, come to life when viewed in conjunction with the trail maps drawn by Martin Plamondon.

•••

Who Arrived First?

Not Lewis & Clark!

By Michael Perry

W

hile many people still believe Lewis and Clark were the first white men to explore the Great Plains, others wonder how the land included in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase initially came to be owned by France and Spain.

In 1738, Pierre Verendrye, a French fur trader living near present-day Winnipeg, Canada, visited a Mandan village near present-day Bismarck, North Dakota (about 60 miles south of where the Lewis and Clark Expedition spent their winter in 1804-1805).

Mandan, Cheyenne, and Crow Indians told Verendrye about Spanish trading ships along the Pacific coast, fueling his desire to find a route to the Pacific Ocean.

In April of 1742, two of his sons, and at least two employees, set out from the Mandan village on an exploration that they hoped might end up at the “Western Sea.” The Verendyne group was warned of the fierce Snake (Shoshone) Indians, so they made a long detour to avoid a potential conflict.

Rather than following the Missouri River, they traveled southwest and west until, on January 1, 1743, they saw snow-capped mountains to the west that were reached eight days later (probably the Big Horn Mountains near present-day Sheridan, Wyoming).

Their Indian guides refused to go any further, so they were forced to return without seeing what lay beyond the mountains. In March of 1743, on their return trip, the Verendrye brothers buried an inscribed lead tablet on a bluff near present-day Pierre, South Dakota, claiming the land for France. The plate, discovered by accident in 1913 by school children, now resides in the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center at Pierre.

The Verendrye marker is a thin lead plate, 8.5 by 6.5 inches and about 1/8-inch thick. The inscription on the front is in Latin and reads, “In the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Louis XV, the most illustrious Lord, the Lord Marquis of Beauharnois being Viceroy, 1741, Pierre Gaultier De La Verendrye placed this.” That inscription is actually incorrect; Pierre Gualtier de la Verendrye did not bury the tablet in 1741 as written, but it was the only plate his two sons had. On the back side, a message in French was scratched to correct the errors: “Placed by the Chevalier de la Verendrye - Louis, Joseph, La Londette and Miotte the 30th of March 1743.”

Upon his return to Manitoba, Louis Verendrye wrote they had “added considerably to the geographical knowledge of the period; ensured for the Canadians and French the friendship and loyalty of... Indian tribes until then unknown... (and demonstrated) that the route to the western sea was not to be sought to the southwest, but to the northwest...”

However, members of the Verendrye expedition were not the first Europeans to explore the interior of North America. 200 years earlier, Spain’s Francisco Vasquez de Coronado had led a large expedition from Mexico to near present-day Salina, Kansas – he was the first white man to see the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. Coronado’s journey took place 80 years before the Mayflower’s Pilgrims landed near Plymouth Rock in 1620.

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Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 9

Miss Manners

from page 5

GENTLE READER: And to see Miss Manners, she trusts.

You aunt has hit a new low in attempts to act as costume director at a wedding.

Unlike your superiors, Miss Manners is neither bemused nor amused.

relative. And you don’t even have to look at them. Miss Manners presumes that you have a delete key.

There are times — engagements, as well as birth — when a fond family indulges such foolishness, knowing that it won’t last.

Aside from establishing the level of formality, those giving weddings must rely on the judgment of the participants.

Even brides who want to dress their bridesmaids alike run into trouble if they allow those ladies no choice.

You could sort all those emails into a file, telling yourself — and, if necessary, the proud parents — that you want to examine them at leisure.

That time might even come, as an alternative to playing solitaire.

You really must insist that if you are to perform this wedding, it is in your capacity as a clergyman and you must wear the clothes that are appropriate to that calling.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have been married to an amazing man for over two years now. He is very supportive and devoted. Part of how he likes to show his love is by giving me gifts; sometimes these gifts might be considered excessive.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband’s sister became a first-time grandmother when her son and his wife welcomed their first child. The new mom and dad created an online photo album, sent out invitations to everyone to join and view it, and they add many baby photos daily.

I was taught that giving is a greater virtue than receiving, and while I am very grateful for the gifts, and I’m sure that there are many people who would love to trade places with me, these gestures sometimes make me feel uncomfortable in their excess.

Many relatives signed up for the album, but they are now all complaining about the many emails, arriving multiple times during the day, saying that new photos have been uploaded. Anticipating all these email notices, I never signed up.

Now my sister-in-law is wondering why I have not joined the photo album group.

Yes, a new grandchild is wonderful, but not when the whole family is bombarded with photos ad nauseam.

The family wants to know: Is there a tactful way to inform my sister-in-law that most relatives have no interest in this? Or do we all suffer and wait it out for the new parents to slack off with the photo-taking, like most parents eventually do?

GENTLE READER: Come, now. You would not really become nauseous by looking at pictures of a new baby

My discomfort is compounded by unsolicited comments from friends and family about his giving nature. When I express to him that he doesn’t need to buy me things or take me on extravagant excursions, he gets upset and says it is how he expresses his love.

I am grateful to have an issue like this when there’s so much worse in the world, but I still want to be able to let my husband know that I don’t need all of this to know how much he loves me.

He shows me every day in many ways, and I always make sure to acknowledge these actions.

What advice do you have for me to get over this and just learn to be thankful for such a “problem”? Each time I bring up my feelings about this, it never goes well.

GENTLE READER: The discomfort you feel is nothing compared to that of the husbands among those friends or relatives who forgot Valentine’s Day.

10 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

As you recognize, there can be worse marital problems. And unless he is spending the grocery money, your husband is not the problem. The problem is that you are listening to silly, if not catty, remarks and even expecting your husband to change accordingly.

What you should be responding with is a firm, “Yes, he is a dear. I’m very lucky.” And what you should be saying to your husband about these gestures is “Thank you.”

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have a relative who lives alone and who calls me every week to chat. This would be fine, except the calls are always over an hour long, and the person only talks about their own interests and doesn’t really let me get a word in.

I find an hour is a long time to just sit and listen, but any polite attempts I make to end the call are ignored. I’ve tried, “I should get to bed, as I have work in the morning,” “I think I’ll head out for a walk while it’s still light

out,” and “I have dinner reservations at 7:30,” among others. But the relative either ignores me or launches into “one last story” that goes on for 30 minutes.

I don’t think they mean any harm — I think they may just have difficulty understanding social cues — and I don’t know how to tell them how I feel without hurting their feelings. I’ve started to avoid answering their calls because I dread how long they go on.

What should I do?

GENTLE READER: Your relative has, perhaps unintentionally, stumbled on a technique well known to telemarketers: If they keep talking, a polite person will be reluctant to interrupt or to hang up. This is the right impulse, as one rudeness cannot justify another. But that does not mean you must be a helpless victim.

No one can actually speak without taking a breath — and when they do, dive in with a short, complete sentence such as, “Thank you, goodbye” and cont page 22

HaikuFest 2021

2021: Glimmer amidst gloom

By Gary Meyers

A

haikufest in the middle of a pandemic – what could possibly go wrong? This year’s event was one for the books, and I open by thanking everyone who made it a success. Each of you dug deep into your consciousness and found some glimmers of light in an otherwise dark and dismal world. I commend you all.

We were not sure how our strategy this year would be received. Looking for a light side of this cursed virus might be a stretch too far. We debated on whether to follow the national trend and delay or cancel HaikuFest 2021. But our publisher, Sue Piper, rightly concluded that if we yielded to Covid-19, it would be the winner. Better to take on the challenge and so we did.

We set Covid-19 as our single theme and encouraged the poets to accentuate the positive, unlike the media that seems driven to exploit the negative. We hoped that by sharing diverse experiences in lockdown, we might momentarily lift spirits and divert thoughts from the gloom that surrounds us. We expected a handful of entries but were pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming response.

As in past HaikuFests, the heaviest burden falls always on the judges who must evaluate each entry and make the final determinations. I am indebted as usual to my friends, Peter Glick, Creighton Goldsmith, and Linda and Mike Ryan who continue to accept the yearly challenge. Each is a haiku enthusiast, and all have distinguished themselves in their professional pursuits. In reflecting on my good luck, I am reminded of William Butler Yeats’ words: “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.”

The subjects of this year’s entries covered a range of emotions and experiences related to Covid-19. As one judge observed, some were uplifting and whimsical, some dark, and others pithy.

There were many references to masking and the lockdowns, of course. Some cited features of their spouses they had never noticed before like the color of their eyes! Some were metaphorical which exemplified classic haiku. If I were asked to identify a commonality, it would be “new awareness.” Covid-19 has made us all more aware of the little things in life and our personal existence, things that might have escaped our attention before or were disregarded as “always expected,” or “always being there.”

I want to recognize one of our loyal readers and winning poets, Estrella Brown, from Clatskanie, OR. Estrella has undertaken a personal haiku-based project that may have future historical significance. It is an idea that others might consider for class or family projects.

Estrella took a walking tour with her camera around Clatskanie. She captured images where Covid-19 has left silent reminders of the devastation wrought: buildings shuttered, playgrounds empty, schoolyards silent, weeds and blackberry bushes growing around bleachers where fans used to enjoy sports activities. Under each image, Estrella wrote a poignant haiku linked to the scene. I encouraged her to consider formalizing her collection of images and haiku for inclusion in the town archives, local library, and schools.

Highly creative, Estrella. Keep doing what you are doing and we hope to see your entries in next year’s haikufest.

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

••• HaikuFest founder and chief judge Gary Meyers grew up in Longview and now lives in Honolulu. He often visits his brother, Ron Meyers, in Ethel, Wash., and ventures into CRR territory.

Haikufest 2021: Judges’ Selections for Mention Smile away the fear Covid feeds on the unknown Light kills dark shadows.

Jim Johnson – Portland, Ore.

Although I will heal I will never be the same.

This year leaves its scars, Tami Tack – Rainier, Ore.

I learned from covid My wife has blue eyes, not brown.

Unknowns still surface.

Philip Nolan – York, Penn.

Storm seas toss our boat Black water yawns below us The shore is in view.

Jim Tejcka – Woodland, Wash.

Pandemic alone Lost on a digital sea We find waves of hope.

John Ciminello – Naselle, Wash.

The great irony Virus brings us together But we’re forced apart.

Avery Wilson – Olympia, Wash.

Rhinestone, leopard, plaid Camo, cartoon, basic black Makes now high fashion.

Alicia Shepard – Kelso, Wash.

Virus not from lab Started in failing mask store.

Business now booming.

R. Smyth – Seattle, Wash.

Precious things not seen They are those left in the heart The virus taught me.

Mike Putnam – Tacoma, Wash.

We’re bumping elbows, Some Face-Timing and Zooming.

A strange way to live.

Karin Kaczmarek – Long Beach, Wash.

Two birds in a cage Still keep chirping lustily The triumph of hope.

Keith Simmonds – Rodez, France I’m a big spender Treating wife to a night out; Dinner on lanai.

J. Jones – Honolulu, Hawaii Locks, chains, and fences “Closed,” “Protect,” and “Slow the Spread” There is no “Welcome.”

Estrella Brown – Clatskanie, Ore. As days grow longer Cheer up, cheerily, cheer up A spring robin sings.

Margaret Caron – Toutle, Wash.

New classical piece Played with my middle finger Name: “2020” G. Johnson – Seattle, Wash.

Pandemic fatigue Vaccine on the horizon Hugfest predicted.

Gail Hicks – Clatskanie, Ore. Sunset and moonrise I’d forgotten how poignant A silver lining.

Marc Imlay – Longview, Wash.

Chief Judge’s Instant Selection Too hot not to recognize!...

Just ate Mexican Eyes water, nose runs, covid?

Just jalapenos!

Dan D’Amario – Scappoose, Ore.

Publisher’s Citations (exempt from HaikuFest official guidelines) Precipitation Late wet lingering winter Harbinger of spring Samuel Berger, Mt. Vernon, Wash.

Can’t go out to eat learned anew I love to cook kitchen glows again Valeria Burch, Oakville, Wash.

Stay home if you’re sick social distance, wash your hands always wear your mask Miss Manners Specter on the globe caution, fear and charity Human kindness reigns Umbrella Man, the Sky

In the ICU No wife, no cake, no kisses My covid birthday.

Kathryn Kelly – Scappoose, Ore. Fear of flu unseen Keeps us close to home these days Economy lost.

Dorothy Antilla – Raymond, Wash.

Thank You, Gary Meyers and our HaikuFest judges and everyone who submitted haikus this year! - S.P.

Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 11

By Tracy Beard

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½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 4 heaping tablespoons Nesquik Chocolate powder mix 2 cups milk 2 cups heavy whipping cream 1 teaspoon real almond extract 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract Place ½ cup heavy cream in a saucepan with chocolate chips. Warm and stir until melted over medium heat. Add Nesquik and stir. Add milk, remaining heavy cream, almond and vanilla extracts. Heat and continue to stir until hot. Makes 4 servings. Store in a thermos for hot drinks and bring it out on the trail.

Covid restrictions apply

12 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

1 pound smoked turkey sausage 1 tablespoon olive oil ½ cup chopped onion 1 clove garlic, minced 4 cups chicken broth 1 medium head cabbage, chopped 10 ounces of diced tomatoes, drained 4 ounces cream cheese 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese Salt and pepper to taste Slice the smoked turkey sausage into ¼ inch rounds. Heat the oil and add the onions and turkey sausage. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the stock, cabbage and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then lower temperature to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Microwave the cream cheese until soft. Stir in the softened cream cheese and cheddar. Stir until combined. Season with salt and pepper. (Hint, it is already pretty salty, so taste before adding additional salt.)

OUT•AND•ABOUT

Happy Trampers

Snowshoeing 101: Tips for a fun winter escape

D

iscover winter wonderlands in the Pacific Northwest.

Outdoor recreation in Oregon and Washington changes with each season. In spring, meadows bloom in every shade of pink, red, yellow and purple. In the summer, forests burst in every shade of green you can imagine, and in the autumn, reds, golds and oranges decorate every horizon. But in winter, fields and forests come alive in new ways. Tree limbs hang low with ice and snow, open areas are decorated with scampering animal tracks, and the forest’s silence is nearly deafening.

If you are new to winter sports, don your waterproof hiking boots, rent or borrow a pair of snowshoes and join me for some incredible outdoor adventure.

Story & photos by Tracy Beard

Waterproof boots are essential.

Hiking boots work great when made with Gore-tex, and snow boots or rubber boots are a terrific option.

Poles come in handy if you are new, unsteady or plan to explore more extreme terrain.

Snowshoes can be purchased, rented or borrowed. Today most snowshoes are made with aluminum frames and various materials weaved back and forth across the shoe to keep you on the snow’s surface. Teeth on the bottom prevent you from sliding on the ice and give you better traction to go up and down hills. There are usually a few straps to keep your boots snuggly fitted into the shoes.

#1 Select the Perfect Destination Private ski areas, forest trails and snoparks can be great places to snowshoe.

Several ski resorts in Washington and Oregon offer trails specifically designed and groomed for snowshoers and crosscountry skiers. Many are maintained several times a week, making it easier to trek through the powdery snow.

Check with local ski resorts to find out about their rules and get a map of their trails.

Some of your favorite hiking trails may make for a terrific snowshoeing outing, but others may not. Certain places are prone to avalanches and are not well maintained. It is essential to contact the nearest ranger station and ask about winter risks.

Designated sno-parks are a sure bet for a great time out. Many parks are groomed and maintained, but that does not eliminate all potential dangers.

Tree wells are holes that develop at the base of a tree. It is easy to slide into one accidentally, and it can be challenging to escape. Snow cornices are collections of snow that hang over a ridge or the crest of a mountain and also gather on the sides of gullies.

Vancouver, Wash. resident Tracy Beard writes about luxury and adventure travel, traditional and trendy fine dining and libations for regional, national and international magazines. She is the “Out & About” columnist, now in her sixth year contributing to CRR.

When visiting sno-parks in Washington or Oregon, you must purchase and place a sno-park permit in your windshield, enabling you to park your vehicle at plowed lots with access to groomed and backcountry trails. There are several websites available online where you can download maps for local sno-parks. #2 Consider What Gear You Need Snowshoeing requires a little more gear than hiking. Aside from the actual snowshoes and possibly snowshoeing poles, you must consider what to wear. Warm clothing like ski pants, long underwear, fleece and maybe rain gear are great options. It gets cold and wet in the Pacific Northwest, so be prepared. Layer your upper body with quick-dry pieces, as most people work up a sweat trekking through the snow, especially if you are traversing up and down hills.

#3 Be Prepared Like hiking, you will want to bring the Ten Essentials plus maybe a few extra items, and always check the weather forecast before heading out.

•Navigation equipment: map, compass, GPS •Extra water •Extra food •Extra clothes •Matches, lighter, firestarter •First-aid kit •Knife •Flashlight or headlamp with batteries •Sun protection •Emergency shelter or silver blanket •Small shovel and an avalanche beacon #4 How to Snowshoe The technique for snowshoeing is quite simple. It is just like regular walking, but you must widen your steps to accommodate the snowshoes’ extra width. It may be a little awkward at first, but most people, including children, get the hang of it quickly. If you happen to step on your shoes and fall, which I have done, the snow is generally forgiving. I enjoy hiking with snowshoeing poles as they help me set a pace and assist with my balance in deep snow. Like hiking, it

is imperative to pay attention to where you are and where you have been. It is easier to get lost when everything is glistening white.

Like most sports, there is some etiquette involved when others are around.

Snowshoeing is permitted on crosscountry ski trails, and you should not walk on the tracks but rather stay to one side or the other, leaving the tracks for skiers. On steep grades, skiers have the right of way, so be courteous. #5 My Favorite Places to Snowshoe Trillium Lake, just south of Mount Hood, is one of my favorites. My family and friends try to go at least once each season. The 4.5-mile-walk around the lake is stunning, with private cabins peppering the woods, spectacular views of Mount Hood and shimmering ice covering parts of the lake. It is a popular place for snowshoers, families sledding and playing in the snow, and cross-country skiers. We usually bring a packed lunch or, at a minimum, some of my famous hot chocolate (see facing page) to drink halfway through.

Packwood Ski Resort has a vast snopark for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing located across the road from the downhill ski resort. You can rent gear onsite. Meadowood Ski Resort has a similar setup near the downhill resort.

There are numerous sno-parks on the eastern side of Mount Hood and plenty of great snowy trails out near Cougar, Washington.

It is always good to bring something hot to drink or eat when planning a day out in the snow.

•••

Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 13

Biz Buzz What’s Happening Around the River Biz Buzz notes news in local business and professional circles. As space allows, we will include news of innovations, improvements, new ventures and significant employee milestones of interest to readers.

Please email publisher@crreader.com to share the local buzz.

Andy and Kelli Busack recently opened a second Antidote Taphouse, dubbed Antidote Taphouse – SoCo in South Cowlitz County at 1350 Atlantic Avenue, Woodland, Wash. The spinoff of the couple’s popular Downtown Longview “good vibe watering hole” recently celebrated its Grand Opening with a Kelso Longview Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting event.

Congratulations and kudos for expanding, despite th e pandemic!

Phone numbers: Longview, 360-232-8283; Woodland: 360-

841-8941.

PARTNERS INVITED We have NEW SIDEWALK BOXES and inside racks available and invite additional distribution outlets. If you manage a high-traffic, commercial location, feel an affinity with CRR and wish to partner with us by hosting a CRR box to provide your customers free copies every month ... call Ned Piper: 360-749-2632.

See current box locations, page 31

MEDICAL MATTERS

By Jim LeMonds

Pacific Imaging Center has announced that Patrick Burns will be taking over the duties as Manager of Imaging Services. Burns replaces Lisa Looney.

Thus far, the move to his new position has not disappointed. “I was attracted to PIC because of their commitment to excellence and the family atmosphere,” Burns said.

“The entire staff has been great to work with. I also enjoy the opportunity to be more involved in decisionmaking.”

His goals are to build on the good things that are already in place, to continue PIC’s reputation for providing excellent patient care, to manage with transparency, and to talk with all PIC employees about ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

Patrick Burns

“I’m also investigating the possibility of running both day and evening shifts and training front desk staff as imaging aides to assist when necessary,” he said.

After graduating from Woodburn High School in 1983, Burns spent four years in the U.S. Air Force, where he trained in radiography. He worked at Providence Medical Center in Portland for 10 years and added computed tomography to his list of certifications.

He was employed for two years at Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver before earning certification in Magnetic Resonance Imaging and taking a job as MRI Lead Technologist at PeaceHealth Medical Center in Longview.

He also served briefly as PeaceHealth’s radiology supervisor.

When he’s not working, Burns enjoys camping, hunting, fishing, hiking, and traveling with his wife, Audrey. He also coaches his daughters’ softball and basketball teams and enjoys watching all of his children’s Former R.A. Long High sporting events.

School English Pacific Imaging Center is located teacher Jim at Pacific Surgical Institute at 625 LeMonds is a 9th Avenue. PIC specializes in writer, editor, providing state-of-the-art imaging and marketer services to area residents, including who rides his Kaiser patients with a referral. mountain bike whenever he ••• can. He lives in Castle Rock, Wash. and has two published book: South of Seattle and Deadfall.

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14 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

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Local Culture

MUSEUM MAGIC

Road trip!

Visit the Lewis County Museum

by Joseph Govednik Cowlitz County Historical Museum Director • Courtesy photos

T

his month’s Museum Magic takes us on a road trip to one of my favorite regional museums, the Lewis County Historical Museum in Chehalis, Wash. Lewis County recently entered Phase 2 and the museum is open for general admission, with protective measures in place.

One of the greatest treasures at the museum is the building, a stunning Mission Revival style 1912 Northern Pacific Railroad depot in original condition. Just walking into the building transitions visitors into another time, from the high arches leading to the ceiling to the vintage restrooms. Outside the brick building is a locally harvested tree stump from which President Theodore Roosevelt made a speech in 1903. Museum visitors will find

Oysterville •

Exhibit galleries include a Chehalis and Cowlitz Indian Tribal Room, logging exhibits, a tourist visitor center, and vast research library. An exhibit very popular with children and adults is the Lewis County themed HO scale model railroad display (at left). This is one of the largest model railroad displays around, with detailed landscaping and buildings. There is even a logger who “chops down” a tree! A simple push of the buttons starts all the action.

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

Raymond/ South Bend

Columbia River

101

Chinook

•

Grays River

101

Pacific Ocean

FREE Maps • Brochures Directions • Information

• 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

Astoria Birkenfeld

Mount St. Helens

Skamokawa Cathlamet 4

Warrenton •

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Washington

Castle Rock

WestportPuget Island FERRYk

Long Beach

Vernonia

Longview

Ape Cave •

Kelso

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Columbia City St Helens

• Ridgefield

rnelius NW Co ad Pass Ro

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 M-F 11–3.

• 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

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Goldendale

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Driving directions: I-5 Exit 77, turn right on W. Main St., left on NW State. Right on NW West St., right onto NW Front.

Arrive at the Museum.

VISITOR CENTERS

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• Naselle

IF YOU GO: Lewis County Museum 599 NW Front St., Chehalis

•••

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Ocean Park •

Ilwaco

“We’re excited to be open to the public again for 2021 and look forward to seeing new visitors and sharing the history of Lewis County,” said Jason Mattson, Museum Executive Director. The museum, which also features a gift shop with books about the region written by local authors, is located at 599 NW Front Way in Chehalis and is open Tuesday-Friday, 10am-4pm, Saturday 10am-2pm. Admission is $5 per adult, and $4 for seniors, military, and children. For additional information visit the www.lewiscountymuseum.org or call 360-748-0831.

exhibits showing the treasures of Lewis County, including a recently added horse-drawn pall bearer’s carriage and a 25-foot hand carved cedar canoe.

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 /February 15, 2021 / 15

History in the Making

Public invited to help Historic Preservation Committee document Pandemic’s impact The Covid-19 pandemic has taken an unprecedented toll on the Cowlitz County community, and forced people to spend additional time at home. This local history needs to be preserved for future generations.

The letters, emails, artwork, or stories collected will be archived at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum for use in preserving these experiences for future generations. Submissions may also be published, reprinted, or used in educational capacities.

The Historic Preservation Committee in partnership with the Cowlitz County Historical Museum invites letters, art, or narratives that describe how individuals have been impacted by the pandemic in their lives.

Don’t miss your chance to help record local history in real time! Participants of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged.

Submit submissions via: https://www.co.cowlitz.wa.us/FormCenter/Museum-46/Experiences-duringthe-COVID19-pandemic-284 OR via email: winng@co.cowlitz.wa.us OR via U.S. mail to: Historic Museum, 405 Allen Street, Kelso, WA 98626 OR Call the Museum at: 360-577-3119 to arrange a delivery For more information, please contact the Historic Preservation Officer at 360- 577-3052 or visit the County’s website at www.co.cowlitz.wa.us.

people+ place 2021 P+P Sponsor Partners THANK YOU to these community leaders for supporting excellent journalism while spotlighting worthy organizations and programs.

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For information about joining the P+P Partners Circle, Ned Piper, 360-749-2632 or Sue Piper, 360-749-1021.

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Local Rotary Clubs served as founding sponsors as United Way championed bringing Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program to children in Cowlitz and Wahkiakum Counties. From birth to 5 years old, children receive a brand new, age-appropriate book every month, delivered directly to their homes.

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Q

UIPS & QUOTES

Selected by Debra Tweedy

A multitude of small delights constitutes happiness. ~ Charles Baudelaire, French poet, 1821-1867

I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow; but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing. ~ Agatha Christie, English writer, 1890-1976 Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. ~ P. J. O’Rourke, American journalist, 1947-

It is a sign of great inner insecurity to be hostile to the unfamiliar. ~ Anais Nin, French-Cuban-American writer, 1903-1977

Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.

Our business in life is not to succeed, ~ Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist, 1875-1961 but to continue to fail in good I have a deeply hidden and inarticulate spirits. desire for something beyond the daily life. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish ~ Virginia Woolf, English writer, 1882-1941 writer, 1850-1894 All cruelty springs from weakness.

Theology being the work of males, original sin was traced to the female. ~ Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher and statesman, 4 BC-AD 65 ~ Barbara Tuchman, American historian and writer, 1912-1989

Accept who you are. Unless you’re a Longview native Debra Tweedy has lived on serial killer. four continents. She and ~ Ellen DeGeneres, American her husband decided to comedian and television host, 1958return to her hometown and bought a house facing If you really want to make a friend, Lake Sacajawea.“We go to someone’s house and eat with came back because of the him...the people who give you their Lake and the Longview food give you their heart.

Public Library,” she says. ~ Cesar Chavez, Latino-American labor leader and activist, 1927-1993 16 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

Hall of Fame 2021

Please join me in supporting this year’s celebration and fundraiser with the goal of $90,000 to support vital athletic sponsorships.

Induction Ceremony Honoring

Donate online or Watch the celebration mail your check to on YouTube at LCC Foundation, http://bit.ly/Hall-of-Fame2021 1600 Maple St, available starting at Longview WA 98632 5pm on February 18 or call 360-442-2130.

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

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A monthly feature written and photographed

by Southwest Washington native and Emmy Award-winning journalist

People+ Place

In the time of paper maps — wrinkled, shredded, never folded the same way twice — blue highways marked historical routes, secondary roads, old small towns, winding stream courses, rural main drags and scenic byways.

Hal Calbom

Production Notes

Place Plus People This month we’re beginning an occasional segment we call Blue Highways: The Roads Less Taken.

We’re inverting People+Place. Our goal is to revisit the back roads and the sights to be seen, read their signs and artifacts and histories, visit the towns and villages bypassed by interstates, shunned by GPS, or abandoned entirely. Ultimately we’ll include the people we meet visiting these roads or living and working along them.

Blue Highways is also, of course, a state of mind. Two notable literary influences here. Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Less Taken” is the wellknown ode to simple decisions having life-changing consequences. Faced with two roads diverging in a yellow wood, the poet famously takes “the one less traveled by,” and later reflects, “and that has made all the difference.”

Our second influence is the author who coined the term, Blue Highways, in his 1982 book. William Least Heat-Moon is the former William Trogdon, who when he divorced a wife and lost a job teaching English at the University of Missouri, set off in 1978 on a 13,000-mile trip around the United States in a van he dubbed Ghost Dancer. He also took a new name reflecting his Osage ancestry.

His father’s last name is Heat-Moon, his older brother is therefore “Less Heat-Moon,” and as the youngest he is, of course, “Least Heat-Moon.”

Blue Highways Highways

the roads less taken

The Back Way to the Coast We’re blessed with two picturesque routes to the coast. Oregon’s Highway 30, Rainier to Astoria, is quicker and less lavish with its scenery, but still makes Rand McNally’s list of coveted Scenic Routes. On the other side of the Columbia, Washington’s

I

expected curves and switchbacks but not nearly so much up and down. Following streams and rivers these twisting two-laners also climb and drop over the ravines, humps and hills of the Oregon Coast Range, which offers us more surprises.

Highway 4, probably the “road less traveled by,” is a feast for the eyes and the two-lane driver. Spectacular Columbia River views, fertile river bottoms and the state’s only covered bridge give way to the serpentine road hugging Willapa Bay and its sculpted

tidal flats, and finally to the village of Seaview and routes up and down the under-appreciated Long Beach Peninsula.

Namely, snow. And a magnificent herd of Roosevelt elk greeting us in their winter habitat at Jewell Meadows, completely and entirely in their own element. Rather than inhibiting my photo, the snowglobe effect softens the landscape and emphasizes the serenity of these beautiful animals.

Rain is forecast: it is after all late January. But from Clatskanie heading towards Vernonia we’ve begun a gradual climb. Our intended route follows Highway 47 south to Mist, with a “side trip” to Vernonia and back, then heads due west via 202 through Birkenfeld to Jewell, then offers the choice to shoot straight west to Cannon Beach or head northwest to Astoria. To Be Determined — that serendipitous magic of a two-lane trip.

At a pace best described as “ambling,” navigation can be as much poetical as practical.

There is, however, yet another road to another patch of this coast.

Nature’s Altimeter Very soon calculating our “snow level” takes on practical significance.

In this weather, at near freezing temperatures, five hundred feet of elevation can make all the difference.

Map by Perry Piper

cont page 18

Elk herd at Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area, 1100 acres preserved for wildlife habitat.

Heat-Moon resolved to take only those roads marked in Rand McNally maps as “blue highways,” spending three months on two-laners and winding byways. His book became a best seller for a year, and sent a lot of people back to their old paper maps and off their own beaten tracks.

We hope that you too will find worthy destinations — getting out, slowing down, taking these roads less traveled by. It just may make all the difference.

•••

Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 17

People +

from page 17

From big puffy flakes to steady blowing sleety stuff, snow serenades us all through the Coast Range towns of Vernonia (620 feet), Mist (535 feet), and Jewell (577 feet). You have the novel feeling of sensing your elevation not by the ups and downs of the road, or numbers on the map, but by the relative density and persistence of the snow — nature’s altimeter, if you will. It’s exhilarating and calming: again the snow softens things and slows us down.

Vernonia trumpets its pioneering past, with a charming main street and appropriate homage to the locomotives, erector-set tractors, and choker-setting loggers that created its industry and identity.

There’s an imposing iron steam donkey — I’ve been wondering just what they looked like after all the descriptions in Karl Marlantes’s Deep River — squatting outside the town’s museum, still powerful looking. But, perhaps because of the snow, or the pandemic, or it being Tuesday, most of the town’s eating spots are closed or take-out only.

Moving on — will there be outdoor lunches served in a snowstorm? — adds a sense of adventure to the road trip. That, and the availability of gasoline and “facilities” in territory that’s never even imagined a designated “Rest Area.” I recall family road trips growing up where someone always had to go the bathroom. Or was hungry. Or a stop to mediate teasing and fighting in the back seat.

Divine Dilapidation Inevitably on a blue highway you face the truth that more things on earth are falling down than are building up. In fact, given nature’s uncanny and patient and eventual demolishing of most anything wrought by man and woman, it’s probably wise to root for the natural environment.

Today’s roads are full of this beautiful carnage. A crazily tilted red barn or shed, a huge rusted old combine abandoned in a field. Neil Young said “rust never sleeps,” but he could have been talking about all our natural processes — inevitable, insistent, unstoppable. The old towns themselves have their own musty patina of age, propped up on blocks, glammed up by neon, even the For Rent signs badly faded and themselves decaying.

People+ Place takes

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18 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

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+ Place Rhapsody in Green I’m struck by the unlikely contradiction that despite the log trucks, the clearcuts, the new plantations among occasional virgin stands of timber — and all that divine dilapidation steadily reclaiming our own civilizing — this is still achingly beautiful, pristine land.

In rural America there is a kind of poetic justice and redemptive quality in this powerful assault: vines insinuating themselves through broken windows and doors, planks and timbers rotten or termite-eaten, even rocks and concrete shattered by the simple freezing of trapped water.

Think of it not as a dirge but a hymn. For once and for all, this land is emphatically not our land; we occupy it only fleetingly. As a Skamokawa resident told me once, “With all this water and rust and mold and storms, if the highway didn’t run through here, we’d all just disappear in twenty years.”

Startling shafts of sunlight illuminate the hanging mists and tiny snow flurries.

Moss is everywhere, underscoring tree limbs, crowning rocks and outcrops. Walls of profligate ferns line the highway, a million bistro bars-full. Surely these infinite shades of brown, green and slate define our Northwest more than any other color palette, these stern shapes and shades, this gray heaven.

IOS Days Finally, a saloon. Warm stoves glowing, outdoor seating, the now familiar propane patio heaters, all of it under a makeshift tin roof. We live in the days of IOS — Improvised Outdoor Seating — and for owners it’s a mixed blessing. Despite a decent crowd, including a smitten couple, a family with twins and a grandma, and two old friends from Naselle and Portland who meet here frequently — “great place for a business meeting,” as they order more shots and beers — operating at diminished capacity can actually hurt businesses already struggling.

cont page 20

After lunch, the owner, an attractive but obviously exhausted woman in her fifties, quietly asks us that we not mention the name of her place in our story. “We have enough trouble getting staff and handling the crowds we get right now,” even though she’s operating at a loss. “We’re one of the few open places and the lines can go out the door.”

Somewhere near Birkenfeld, on Oregon 202, Nick Perkins pulls his log truck off the road to stretch and take a break. I tell him I’m surprised so much logging seems to be going on full bore — lots of loaded and empty trucks plying the roads. Our snowstorm is barely a nuisance, and Coast Range timber is a year-long commodity, thanks to our comparatively mild climate.

Top three photos, this page: Scenes from Olney’s local roadhouse.

Lower two: Pendleton’s Nick Perkins takes his rig west to log year round. “I get mudded out east of the mountains all winter.” The Coast Range is both wild and tamed, true to its logging and lumbering past in many spots, but nowadays also a commercial corridor and highway to the coast.

s the road less traveled.

“This is our community.

As long as we live here, we will continue to support it and encourage our friends to always put our community first.” ~ The Sari Family

Please join us in supporting the important work of the • Pet Adoptions • Volunteers Needed • Donations appreciated and needed • Spay/Neuter and Vaccine Clinics

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• cowlitzhumane.com • 360-577-0151

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People + Place from page 19

Restorative Astoria There’s fresh salt air blowing at sea level in Astoria, and no sign of snow as we ascend its heights to the venerable Astoria Column.

Bob Hamilton greets us, collects five dollars for parking — “that’s good for a year” — and says tourist business has been good at the Column. People are so anxious to get out of the house, most of them day trippers from the region. “They just want to escape the craziness.”

Virtually everyone simply wants to step out and breathe deep, Hamilton says. He feels freedom and exhilaration this close to the sea and the sky. As do many of his guests.

to a forest fire this September. “We’re so glad this is open and available. We’ve been through an awful lot.” Their small town of Otis, near Lincoln City, lost 293 homes. Corey has helped organize volunteer teams to clean up homesites.

“We just felt like we’d get out and count our blessings,” Corey says.

C o u n t i n g your blessings.

Breathing fresh a i r. R e m i n d i n g yourself there’s someplace else out there. Connecting with people, even masked and socially distanced.

The genius of the best blue highways is sometimes they help you escape the blues, too.

Those include a big family busily snapping selfies, checking out the maps, signs, and the ancient burial canoe dedicated to Chief Comcomly. The great Chinook chief was gracious friend both to explorers and fur traders in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

“We’re from Lincoln County,” says Corey Rivera. His wife Claire explains, with admirable good cheer, that this is their first family outing since losing their home

A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. ~ Henry David Thoreau •••

Hal Calbom is editor of The Tidewater Reach, Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures, recently published

by Columbia River Reader Press, and the new Dispatches from the Discovery Trail, by Michael O. Perry, now available from CRRPress. Reach Hal at hal@halcalbom.com

Top left: Bob Hamilton greets visitors to Astoria Column, its interior stairway closed but its frescoed exterior still telling the Northwest story. “People ask if it was once a lighthouse,” says Shawn Byrd at the gift shop. “No, I tell them, it was built as a crowning achievement of the discovery of the West.” One dollar buys a biodegradable glider, traditionally launched from the top, or other gifts and souvenirs. Bottom, left: The Rivera Family with Grandma, who now boasts “nine new roommates,” following the fire which destroyed her son’s and family’s home.

People+ Place roads Blue the less taken Highways Highways

Recommended Books

Blue Highways

by William Least HeatMoon. He named the phenomenon and immortalized it in this gentle epic.

20 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

Back Roads of Washington

by Earl Thollander, This sketchbook and notebook, with intimate, hand-drawn maps, captures both sense and scene.

Back Roads of Oregon

by Earl Thollander. Like its precursor, captures and savors space and time on the road in collected vignettes.

Exploring Washington’s Past: A Road Guide to History by Ruth Kirk. The best and most inclusive and accessible compilation of routes, facts, and tales.

What’s on Your List?

Northwest Gardening

By Alice Slusher

OSU/WSU Extension Opportunities OSU Chat with Chip Q & A Every 3rd Tuesday

6:30–8pm. Zoom, call 503-397-3462 for connection info)

Gardening Resolutions for 2021

WSU Extension Online Workshops

I

Call 360-577-3014 Ext.3, for connection info.

f you read this column, you’re probably either a gardener or a gardener wannabee.

And every year we hope this is going to be the best year ever and look back on what we did in previous years to see where we can improve. I asked our Master Gardeners to share their New Year’s Resolutions, and here’s what they said.

Plan, plan, plan!

Keep a garden journal. It’s still winter, so make a map of your landscape and write down what’s planted. Did they all do well last year? Do you know what should be pruned and when? Think back—did you have something in bloom from spring through fall to feed the pollinators? How about colors? Do shrubs need to be transplanted or removed? Get it all down on paper, and make a list of what you want to do.

There are a lot of books that can guide you.

Some favorites are Gardening in the Pacific Northwest (Hall and Hall) and Pruning & Training: What, when, and how to prune (Brickle and Joyce). And that’s just your landscape—how about your garden?

Now is the time to look over the seed catalogs, and lay out your garden. What grew well last year? Should you make some changes?

One MG plans to move her tomatoes next to a sunny, warm brick wall to see if her tomatoes will ripen faster. Seek advice from our Plant and Insect Clinic to help solve problems as you go forward.

While there are a lot of good books out there, the best researchbased gardening advice is from the WSU and OSU Extension service: Growing Your Own (OSU) and Home Vegetable Gardening in Washington (WSU).

Learn!

Resolve to attend online Master Gardener workshops to learn about pruning, soil health, organic garden management, seed saving, and so much more. Check our calendar at cowlitzcomg.com/events.

The more you know, the more fun you’ll have. Or if you’re like me—the more I learn, the more I realize all the mistakes I’ve

Moving to 304 Cowlitz Way, Kelso, WA 98626 Feb 16, Noon • Shopping to Save Dollars Feb 17, 6pm • Seed Starting Feb 23, Noon • Roses: Spring Care Feb 24, 6pm • Fruit Growing for the Beginner Mar 2, Noon • Blueberries Mar 3, 6pm • Soils and Fertilizers Mar 9, Noon • Raspberries Mar 10, 6pm • Rain Barrels Mar 16, Noon • Strawberries Mar 17, 6pm • Right Plant, Right Place Mar 23, Noon • Who Gets Grandma’s Yellow Plate?

Mar 24, 6pm • Choosing Fruit Varieties

for Western Washington Mar 30, Noon • Composting Mar 31, 6pm • Worm Composting

been making! One of our new MGs is planning to learn how to espalier her apple tree this year, and another one finally took the plunge and got a small greenhouse and will be learning how to use it. cont page 23 Kalama resident Alice Slusher volunteers with WSU Extension Service Plant & Insect Clinic. Call 360-577-3014, ext. 8, or send question via cowlitzmastergardener@ gmail.com.

Thank You to our customers for more than 50 years of support.

Columbia Ford is becoming Bud Clary Ford Hyundai on March 1, 2021.

Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 21

Miss Manners

Future salesman Columbia River Carpet

from page 10

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the conversation. For telemarketers, it was enough, in the ancient days of landlines, that they not hear the receiver impacting the telephone base.

••• 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.

Gardening

from page 21

Save water Our summers have been hotter and dryer than they used to be. It’s hard on our plants, backs, and water bills!

Look at the garden maps you’ve drawn.

Do you need to replace some of your water-thirsty plants with something more drought tolerant, such as sedums, ornamental grasses, and sedges? Pacific

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Northwest native plants are more adapted to our climate and don’t need the constant pampering of some ornamentals. They also attract pollinators. Learn how to install a drip irrigation system — believe me, if I can learn to do it, you can too. It’s not as intimidating as it looks. Another really easy way to conserve water and keep weeds down at the same time is to mulch. You can get free, arborist wood chips from the Longview Park Department, and this mulch is great for your soil as it composts down.

Take it easy What can you do to make gardening easier? Consider moving your veggie and herb gardens to a raised bed that’s high enough to save your back. And while you’re at it, place it where it’s really convenient to go out and check it every day. You won’t have much weeding to do if you’re mulching, but you can also get a head start on any problems that might pop up. You will use much fewer chemicals for insects and disease if you keep an eye on

things, and that will let more of the good bugs tend to the bad guys in the garden. One of our MGs is going to save his back by starting peas in his greenhouse in a short length of gutter that’s capped at both ends. When it’s time to transplant outdoors, he’ll make a furrow in his garden, remove one of the end caps, and simple slide the baby plants out into the soil. No more kneeling and sowing seeds this year.

Be realistic Every year I plan to tone down my enthusiasm by planting only what we need in our veggie garden, and every year we plant too many tomatoes and peppers and give most away. My flower beds are at maximum capacity, but I have a plant addiction… show me a beautiful new shrub or perennial, and I’m thinking about where I can carve out a new planting bed. Remember that everything you plant this year will only stay beautiful if you maintain it!

This is going to be another tough year — but hopefully not as bad as

2020. Spend as much time as you can in your garden—it renews your soul.

Invite kids into the garden, and sit with them and share in their wonder as they see nature at work through new, young eyes. Maybe soon we can stroll through our gardens again, arm-in-arm with our friends.

•••

FROM THE PET DEPT. Looking forward to getting back outside and digging up that bone I planted in the carrot section! ~Ginger Victoria Findlay’s dog, aka Gretchen

Don’t get in such a hurry. It still might snow!

If it does, I’ll be making tracks and snow angels. ~Smokey Man in the Kitchen’s cat

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Top-Notch Staff at Longview Orthopedic Associates Is Skilled, Experienced

Dr. Bill Turner has performed more than 15,000 surgeries during his career. His focus is on joint resurfacing and replacement.

Dr. Jon Kretzler provides care related to general orthopedics, sports medicine, arthroscopic surgery, and transplants for articular cartilage defects.

Dr. Peter Kung focuses on minimally invasive knee and shoulder arthroscopy and the treatment of sports-related injuries.

Dr. A.J. Lauder deals with all issues affecting the hand and wrist, including arthritis, trigger finger, carpal tunnel, and Dupuytren’s contracture.

Dr. Jake McLeod is double board certified in foot surgery and reconstructive ankle surgery. He treats all foot and ankle issues, including bunions, flat feet, and arthritis.

Dr. Tony Lin specializes in treating all problems related to the knee and shoulder. His past experience includes working with professional athletes in the L.A. area.

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

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24 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

The Natural World

Of Cabbages and Queens Signs and signals of the season

M

y wife Thea came home from a walk one day with a winter bouquet in hand. I recognized the ferny leaves and the spidery, complicated flowerheads, colored the greeny-white of elder flower, some spread flat like a yarrow head, others cupped into a basket, each with a deep purple spot in the center. “Queen Anne’s lace!” I said. “Where did you find it so late?”

“Just down the road,” Thea said.

Obviously I hadn’t been getting out enough.

Though I know better, I am always surprised by plants that seem to be blooming unseasonably. As a Colorado native, part of me still thinks of winter as a flowerless time. There, as across most of North America, Queen Anne’s lace joins the panoply of winter weeds whose brown netted skeletons lend the sere or sodden landscape a reminder of life. But here in the Maritime Northwest, this delicate umbel, like the related but hulkier cow parsnip, grows and blooms late into the autumn and not uncommonly past the first frosts.

Still, to find it yet green, with creamy inflorescences unspent, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, always feels like a gift. And that was even before high pressure settled over the region for the last week of the year, bringing such blue-and-gold days that yellow Alaska poppies, red kafir-lilies, and forget-me-nots the color of the abundant Steller’s jays all wakened

into bloom. Marah — what many call wild cucumber — started in again to sprout and twine and bud, months ahead of schedule.

Queen Anne’s lace is not a native plant in North America. It arrived very early and spread rapidly through fields and vacant lots, along the lanes and roadside verges, so thoroughly that most people are surprised to hear it is an exotic weed. Folks look even more shocked to learn that Queen Anne’s lace and the common carrot are the same species of plant. Cultivated carrot and wild carrot, the weedy, roadside type, both belong to the species Daucus carota. It’s just that the escapee goes to flower, while carrots aren’t generally allowed to; but examine a field of seed carrots, and you’ll see the resemblance. As for the name, that elegant, finely filigreed double-umbel is reminiscent of the lacy collar worn by women of style in the time of Good Queen Anne, three fins de siècle ago. In folklore, the puffy white flowerhead is Her Majesty’s great starched ruff, while the little heliotrope button in the center is said to be her bonnet. A botanist would say that the single dark flower in the center is probably ultraviolet reflective, a bright signal for attracting pollinating insects to the middle of the landing platform, like a glowing white X on a helipad.

Just as carrots and Queen Anne’s lace are conspecific, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and kale are all selected forms of the crucifer collectively known as Brassica oleracea. These, too, are winter-tough plants. Visiting the city, we see the bright purple and ivory ornamental kales in beds where tulips will later dominate, and call them “fancy cabbages.” At home, our Brussels sprouts produce right through the winter. This year, for the first time ever, I’ve found caterpillars of cabbage butterflies feeding on the sprout plants all winter long. As much as any other indications, organisms adapting to northern winters like this may announce our ameliorating climate. In these first few months of the 21st century, everyone seems to be watching for beacons of change.

Some seek signs of prophesy come true, convinced that arbitrarily fixed numbers (like 2000) somehow matter to the

Essay by Dr. Robert Michael Pyle

Illustration: Queen Anne’s Lace by Thea Linnae Pyle Robert Michael Pyle is a naturalist and writer who has resided along Gray’s River in Wahkiakum County for many years. His 24 books include the Northwest classics Wintergreen, Sky Time in Gray’s River, and Where Bigfoot Walks (which inspired the feature film based on Pyle’s life, ‘The Dark Divide’ now available on video-on-demand streaming services). His newest book titles are The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures (with Judy VanderMaten, published by CRRPress, see page 2) and Nature Matrix: New and Selected Essays. Photo by David Lee Myers This is the 30th in a series of selected essays to appear in Columbia River Reader. These were originally published in Orion Afield or Orion Magazine in the author’s column, “The Tangled Bank” and, subsequently, in the book of the same name published by Oregon State University Press in 2012.

universe. Others, bored with the regularity of life, hope for something — ANYTHING — to happen, just to liven things up. An extraordinary thing actually did happen, for anyone who was watching. For the final solstice of the last century, the moon shone bigger and brighter than any of us have ever seen it before or ever will again, and the skies were clear here to see it, nearly a miracle in oftbeclouded Cascadia. As Thea and I walked down the road to watch giant Luna’s moonglade on Gray’s River beneath the pewtered outline of the covered bridge, a warm breeze blew from the east. A single great blue heron stood on the shingle below the bridge, set in solid silver, easily able to spear fish in the spotlight.

I am not immune to the desire for signs. We all long for clues from the universe. But not being much of one for numbers or prophets, I just watch for the return of the rain with the waning of the moon. For the freezes that will still come to shrivel the marsh and send the slugs back into hiding; then the unfurling of skunk cabbage, and the breaking of salmonberry buds in scrubby brakes between town and forest; the sun climbing and sinking just the same. These are the signs that count for me: the signals of the seasons, the semaphore of unruly life in all its flow and flux. The earth spins, and we go on.

••• This essay was written twenty-one years ago, and while much remains the same (after all, Queen Anne reigned over three HUNDRED years ago), some things have changed, as well. Thea, as my readers will know, left us in 2013.

Her gardens have all gone to pot, and I don’t mean the legal weed. And there have been some climatic changes, expressed in the animals and plants: western tiger swallowtails, for example, fly a full month later now than they did then, and nectar on different flowers. But Queen Anne’s Lace still graces the roadsides, and probably will for the duration.

Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 25

pickup.

COLUMBIA RIVER

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

Take-out and Home Delivery. Visit Fultanos.com for streamlined menu.

503-728-2922

dining guide

Kelso, Wash.

Hop N Grape

El Ranchero Kelso

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

The best margarita in town. Daily drink specials. Drive-by Pickup.

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

Rainier. Ore. Alston Pub & Grub

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

Open daily 11am.

503-556-9753 • Call for status unknown 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 • Take-out only

1626 West Side Hwy Family Mexican restaurant. Full menu.

Daily specials. Liquor, beer & wine. Mention this listing for $5 off purchase of $30 or more. Open Mon–Sat 11am–9pm. 360423-3704. Take-out from Drive-up window

Longview, Wash.

1335 14th Avenue 18 rotating craft brews, pub fare.

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

360-232-8283.

Follow us on Untappd.

See ad, page 10.

The Carriage Restaurant & Lounge

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

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

Call for hours.

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

503-556-9935 • Call for status

Goble Tavern

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

Circle. Casual upscale dining. Seafood, steaks, pasta, burgers. Happy Hour specials 3pm. M-Th 11-9, Fri-Sat 11-10.

Closed temporarily, until further notice.

Jay’s Jukebox Burgers, 1232 Commerce Ave.. 1950s Soda shop. Take-out.

Open Tues–Sat, 11–7.

Phone 360-261-7879

The Original Pietrio’s Pizzeria

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

360-353-3512. Take-out, some local delivery.

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.

117 East 1st Street, Rainier 503-556-4213 Take-out & Delivery

In the Merk (1339 Commerce Ave., #113) 360-998-2139. Mon-Fri 8am–4pm.

Specialty coffees, teas, bubble teas and pastries....drinks with a smile. Takeout and delivery.

Roland Wines

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

Casual ambience. 5–9pm Wed-Fri, Sat. 11–3. See ad, page 30. Call for status.

Pizza, spaghetti, burgers, beer & wine.

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

215 N. Hendrickson Dr., Port of Kalama.

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

Info & reservations, bar hours at mcmenamins.com. Pub open M-Th 7am – midnight; Fri-Sun 7am– 1am. 360- 6739210. Covered outdoor seating. Curbside take-out.

St. Helens, Ore. Sunshine Pizza & Catering 2124 Columbia Blvd.

Hot pizza, cool salad bar. Beer & wine. Curbside pickup and delivery.503-397-3211 See ad, page 28.

Scappoose, Ore. Fultano’s Pizza 51511 SE 2nd. Family style with unique pizza offerings, hot grill items & more!

“Best pizza around!” Sun–Th 11am–9pm; Fri-Sat 11am–10pm. Full bar service ‘til 10pm Fri & Sat. Deliveries in Scappoose.

503-543-5100.

Ixtapa Fine Mexican Restaurant

Eclipse Café

Luigi’s Pizza

Vault Books & Brew 20 Cowlitz Street West, Castle Rock Coffee and specialty drinks, quick eats & sweet treats. See ad, page 29.

Grant’s at the Monticello Hotel on Longview’s historic Civic

0-442-8234.

Creekside Café 1323 Commerce Ave. Soups, Salads, Burgers, Wraps.

Pick-up and Delivery. 11am–7pm.

360-425-7296. www.creeksidecafe.restaurant

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. 360967-2333. Call for status/options.

Kalama, Wash.

360-425-8545.

Evergreen Pub & Café

Castle Rock, Wash.

Freddy’s Just for the Halibut.

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

Prime rib every Thurs. Sunday Brunch 9am–1pm. Beer and wine. M-Sat 10am– 8pm, Sunday 11am–8pm. Drive-thru, take-out. Outdoor seating.

1110 Commerce 360-414-3288.

See ad, page 9.

26 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

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

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

360-577-0717. Free delivery 12–4pm.

Covered outdoor seating. Curbside

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. Curbside pickup and home delivery. 503-543-3017

Warren, Ore. Warren Country Inn 56575 Columbia River Hwy. Fine family dining. Breakfast, lunch & dinner. Full bar. Call for hours.503-410-5479.

Check Facebook for updates.

Woodland, Wash.

“SoCo” 1350 Atlantic Ave. Rotating craft brews, pub fare. Open daily 11am. 360-841-8941.

Roland on Wine

COLUMBIA RIVER DINING GUIDE

Pop a Cork!

Sparkling wine may

By Marc Roland save your sanity

I

During Covid-19 restrictions, restaurants’ operations may fluctuate. Expect mask requirements and indoor/outdoor, seating /occupancy limits in accordance with State guidelines. Call first if in doubt. Please support local restaurants — they are vital in the economic and social life of our community!

t doesn’t seem like there is a lot to celebrate these past few months as we drag through the dark nights of winter and slog our way through what seems like a never-ending pandemic. So many people are out of work as businesses struggle to keep the doors open.

Who would have thought? I recently heard an interview with the author of a new book called Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, by Katherine May. She talked about how we can care and repair our lives when life knocks us down. May talked about seasons where unforeseen circumstances come, but is quick to remind that it also offers “singular opportunities.” She encourages an acceptance of sadness as a temporary condition.

Longview resident and former Kelso teacher She finds sustenance in Marc Roland started making wine in 2008 isolation. Winter is a part in his garage. He and his wife, Nancy, of the cycle of life, and in now operate Roland Wines its subtle quietness, joy at 1106 can be found.

Florida Street in Longview’s new “barrel district.” For wine tasting hours, call 360-8467304.

We’ve got you covered.

WATER. FIRE. SMOKE. MOLD

Call 360-425-3331

ServiceMaster by JTS–Longview, WA • www.servicemasterjts.com

Life is a celebration Wonders abound around us. I think we mostly organize our lives around what we believe are important milestones, traditions, and calendar events. We live our lives in anticipation of what’s ahead, or what has happened to us in the past.

Why not today? Is there nothing to celebrate today? Not a day goes by when someone isn’t proclaiming a National Day of… you fill in the blank. One popular idea that I see happening now is having a birthday month instead of a birth DAY. Great!

How about celebrating every day. I think everyone has discovered that life is hard — except when it isn’t.

I know you are waiting for the wine part, so I’m proclaiming 2021 National To Hell with Living Life and Drinking Wine Only on Special Occasions Day. And I’m also proclaiming champagne to be wine you can drink no matter what day it is.

A new ritual Nancy and I have been taking time every week, mostly Mondays, to pop a cork and see what happens. I can tell you it has been transformative.

Our conversation always goes in the direction of what a great life we live, despite the difficulties. We never talk about how many things are falling apart around us. It is a weekly ritual that focuses on the singular opportunities that can be found.

I may have said it before, but the reason I have not spent time discovering sparkling wine in the past was the

cheap stuff I would usually buy was only for the obligatory toast on a holiday and it consists of all bubbles and no flavor. It was just a precursor to the ‘wine’ that would follow. But sparkling wine is wine. If you are having a hard time deciding what wine to pair with your meal, you can’t go wrong with a good sparkler. Champagne is full of bracing acidity and fresh fruit flavors that make any food taste amazing.

Please don’t take my word for it.

My challenge is to get one of the bottles that I review below and try it with your next dinner. It could be a gourmet delight or a spicy Thai dish, or a cheese burger. It doesn’t have to break the bank.

For the price of a decent bottle of wine you can find a champagne replacement.

So here you go, pick an ordinary day and try one of these wines; yes wine.

Here are some of our value favorites: •Argyle Brute Sparkling Wine 2016 $26. One of the best producers of sparkling wine in the United States found right here in Oregon. Rare example of minerality this side of France. Think fresh ocean spray, peach, and toasted brioche framed around a smooth mouth-feel. Seafood is the choice here, so try with fish and chips and a variety of soft cheeses.

Finish is short. Bubbles maybe too fizzy compared to a fine Champagne, but good nonetheless. Readily available.

•Langois French Champagne $25.

One of our favorites and is imported

by Costco, to boot! Central funnel of small bubbles directing your tongue to the strawberry, lemon, and citrus.

Very refreshing and the straw color makes you think you are tasting a good chardonnay. We haven’t seen it at the store lately. But look for it. Great value.

•Louis Bouillot Perle de Vigne Brut $20. Beautiful light color but not roaring with bubbles, so maybe not for a wedding, but everyday, yes. Medium acidity with great pear and tree fruit flavors. Not super dry and may have a little residual sugar. For the money, it will please. Try with some chicken fettuccine or mac and cheese or spicy Thai.

Don’t forget about the”‘real deal” Champagnes, but you’re looking at $50+. But for the cost of two weeks’ lattés, you can enjoy a good champagne and maybe restore your sanity!

•••

Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 27

Reading series returns Feb. 25 via Zoom and The Tidewater Reach

N

orthwest Voices reading series returns Thursday, February 25 at 7 pm, with writer, biologist, and longtime friend of the library Robert Michael Pyle and photographer Judy Vandermaten. This online presentation will feature poems and photographs from their recent collaboration, The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures, published

When available, the link to the Zoom presentation will be posted on Longviewlibrary.org

to the

bia River Lower Colum in tures Poems and Pic

Robert Michael Pyle and Judy Vandermaten review photos for their book, The Tidewater Reach: Field Guide to the Lower Columbia River in Poems and Pictures.

Info, page 2

Northwest Voices is a collaboration of the Longview Public Library and Lower Columbia College. The Library welcomes this opportunity to bring community and writers together. Come listen, join in the dialog, and celebrate the voices of our region and our community.

Libraries and writers are natural community partners.

Both seek to reach out to readers, to stimulate thinking, to engage people in the pursuit of ideas--the writer as creator and the library as enabler.

Funding comes from the Longview Public Library and the Longview Library Foundation, the Lower Columbia College

Foundation, the Friends of the Longview Library, and the Associated Students of Lower Columbia College. All events are free and open to the public. Email longviewlibrary@mylongview.com for information.

NEED S--P--A--C--E ?

Monthly feature coordinated by Alan Rose

Secrets in Our DNA

By Michael Kruger

I

magine yourself in the little burg of Barkley Cove on the North Carolina Coast, where “Mostly, the village seemed tired of arguing with the elements and simply sagged.” It is 1952 when six-year old Kya Clark’s abused mother leaves. When her siblings and father also leave, she finds herself celebrating her seventh birthday alone with the seagulls on the beach. This is a coming of age story where Kya tries to balance the need for human connections with constant betrayal and abandonment. The only comfort she finds is with the local colored community with whom she shares a common bond of discrimination.

The story evolves into a mystery surrounding the death of a local man who was romantically attached to Kya, known to the locals as the “Marsh Girl,” and she finds herself facing the death penalty, even though she was out of town on the night of his death. The story is beautifully written, with a strong emphasis on the natural setting of the marsh. (“Autumn was coming; the evergreens might not have noticed, but the sycamores did.”) Immersed in nature, Kya discovers there are some dark secrets held in our own ancient DNA mirroring what she sees in the wild.

Readers who appreciate the beauty of nature described in well-composed prose will devour this story. It has a surprising ending, which is something I look for in a good read, and there are several smart twists thrown in which add to its satisfactory conclusion.

Kya will grab your heart strings and pull with a force larger than herself.

•••

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Michael Kruger recently retired after a career in environment, water, and medical laboratory testing. When not working on his house and property, he enjoys jogging, walking, biking, reading, and trying new restaurants. He is currently working on two medical mystery novels set in Alaska.

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What are you reading?

last Spring by Columbia River Reader Press. The poems and photos combine to make a vivid portrait of the stretch of the Columbia River where saltwater mixes with fresh.

Field Guide

Pyle Robert Michael aten Judy VanderM

BESIDES COLUMBIA RIVER READER...

Amy L. Schwartz, L.Ac, LMP 208 Church Street Kelso, WA

28 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

360.751.0411

ATTENTION, READERS Read a good book lately?

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

WordFest resumes on Zoom!

2nd Tuesdays, 7–8pm. No need for a Zoom account, but register at www. alan-rose.com to receive invitation link via email.

Cover to Cover Brought to you by Book Sense and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Assn, for week ending Jan. 31, 2021, 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

PAPERBACK NON-FICTION

1. Circe Madeline Miller, Back Bay, $16.99 2. The Overstory Richard Powers, Norton, $18.95 3. Interior Chinatown Charles Yu, Vintage, $16 4. Home Body Rupi Kaur, Andrews McMeel, $16.99 5. The Queen’s Gambit Walter Tevis, Vintage, $16.95 6. Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart, Grove Press, $17 7. The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller, Ecco, $16.99 8. The House in the Cerulean Sea TJ Klune, Tor, $18.99 9. The Water Dancer Ta-Nehisi Coates, One World, $18 10. The Fifth Season N.K. Jemisin, Orbit, $16.99

1. Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $180 2. On Tyranny Timothy Snyder, Tim Duggan Books, $9.99 3. rough house: a memoir Tina Ontiveros, Oregon State University Press, $18.95 4. The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, Penguin, $19, 5. One Long River of Song Brian Doyle, Back Bay, $17.99 6. The Body: A Guide for Occupants Bill Bryson, Anchor Books, $17 7. The Moment of Lift Melinda Gates, Flatiron Books, $17.99 8. Stamped from the Beginning Ibram X. Kendi, Bold Type Books, $19.99 9. The Warmth of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson, Vintage, $17.95 10. The Magical Language of Others: A Memoir E.J. Koh, Tin House Books, $16.95

BOOK REVIEW

By Alan Rose

Writers & Lovers

By Lily King Grove Press $27

L

ily King’s new novel is about love and writing. Judging from this book, both should be avoided whenever possible.

Casey Kasem is a 31-year old aspiring writer. Her mother died recently, ending their complicated relationship; she’s also estranged from her father, hates her job as a waiter at a highend restaurant in Boston, lives in

Alan Rose’s new novel, As If Death Summoned, was released in December.

Sign up for his monthly WordFest newsletter at www.alan-rose.com

HARDCOVER FICTION

HARDCOVER NON-FICTION

1. Caste 1. The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett, Riverhead Books, Isabel Wilkerson, Random House 2. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox $27 and the Horse 2. Ready Player Two Charlie Mackesy, HarperOne, Ernest Cline, Ballantine, $22.99 $28.99 3. Wintering 3. The Searcher Katherine May, Riverhead Books, Tana French, Viking, $27 $24, 4. Mexican Gothic Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey, 4. Let Me Tell You What I Mean $27 5. The Midnight Library Joan Didion, Knopf, $23 5. A Promised Land Matt Haig, Viking, $26 Barack Obama, Crown, $45 6. Anxious People Fredrik Backman, Atria, $28 6. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain 7. The Invisible Life of George Saunders, Random House Addie LaRue 7. Untamed V.E. Schwab, Tor, $26.99 Glennon Doyle, The Dial Press, 8. A Children’s Bible Lydia Millet, Norton, $25.95 $288 8. Mediocre 9. Perestroika in Paris Jane Smiley, Knopf, $26.95 Ijeoma Oluo, Seal Press, $28 9. Keep Sharp 10. Hamnet Sanjay Gupta, M.D., S&S, $28 Maggie O’Farrell, Knopf, 10. Breath $26.95 James Nestor, Riverhead Books, $28

MASS MARKET

EARLY & MIDDLE GRADE READERS

1. Dune Frank Herbert, Ace, $10.99 2. 1984 George Orwell, Signet, $9.99 3. Dune Messiah Frank Herbert, Ace, $9.99, 4. Children of Dune Frank Herbert, Ace, $9.99 5. Chilled to the Cone Ellie Alexander, St. Martin’s, $8.99 6. The Wise Man’s Fear Patrick Rothfuss, DAW, $9.99 7. The Name of the Wind Patrick Rothfuss, DAW, $9.99 8. The Autobiography of Malcolm X Malcom X, Ballantine, $7.99 9. Beyond a Reasonable Stout Ellie Alexander, Minotaur, $7.99 10. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou, Ballantine, $7.99

1. Cat Kid Comic Club Dav Pilkey, Graphix, $12.99 2. A Wolf Called Wander Rosanne Parry, Greenwillow Books, $7.99 3. El Deafo Cece Bell, Amulet, $12.99 4. Skunk and Badger Amy Timberlake, Jon Klassen (Illus.), Algonquin Young Readers, $18.95 5. Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a true story) Daniel Nayeri, Levine Querido, $17.99 6. Bob Wendy Mass, Rebecca Stead, Nicholas Gannon (Illus.), Square Fish, $7.99 7. Amari and the Night Brothers B.B. Alston, Balzer + Bray, $17.99 8. New Kid Jerry Craft, Harper, $12.994 9. When Stars Are Scattered Victoria Jamieson, Omar Mohamed, Dial Books, $12.99 10. Before the Ever After Jacqueline Woodson, Nancy Paulsen Books, $17.99

The Agony and the Agony a miserable renovated potting shed smelling of loam, and has $76,000 in student debt that’s growing faster than the federal deficit.

She has a mixed history with men: she drifted away from Paco after a couple of years, followed by more men, more drifting, then found Luke…but let’s not even think about Luke. One recalls the adage “Love is Blind.” It appears love is also not too bright. Unsurprising, Casey has a rather skewered view of marriage. “It was nothing I ever aspired to anyway. My parents were married twenty-three years and never made it look appealing.”

But then romance enters. Or a couple of romances: Her relationship with Famous Writer Oscar Kolton, a 47year old widower with two young sons is comfortable, cozy, if not very exciting. There is also Silas, another aspiring writer closer to her own age and emotional maturity. She seesaws between Silas with his on-again, offagain intensity, and Oscar and his two boys. Some of the most emotionally affecting scenes are between Casey and Oscar’s young sons. She does seem to relate best to males under the age of eight.

Nearly every guy I’ve dated believed they should already be famous, believed that greatness was their destiny and they were already behind schedule. An early moment of intimacy often involved a confession of this sort: a childhood vision, teacher’s prophesy, a genius IQ. At first, with my boyfriend in college, I believed it, too. Later, I thought I was just choosing delusional men.

Now I understand it’s how boys are raised to think, how they are lured into adulthood. I’ve met ambitious women, driven women, but no woman has ever told me that greatness was her destiny.

when her book is picked up by an agent, but one senses that this is not the ecstasy Stone was referring to.

What seems lacking in this book is passion, which one would think is especially critical in the romance genre. The agony comes through.

What’s missing is ecstasy, in either writing or love.

The story has a happy-ish ending, but given the preceding 300 pages, you just know that Casey is not going to be a candidate for the Happily-Ever-After sweepstakes.

•••

~ from Writers & Lovers

The other theme of her life is writing.

The Agony and the Ecstasy, title of Irving Stone’s famous novel about Michelangelo, has become an iconic description for the struggle, suffering and exhilaration of the creative process. Casey admits, “I don’t write because I think I have something to say. I write because if I don’t, everything feels even worse.” (Well, whatever inspires you.) She does experience a moment of giddiness

Drink Good Coffee, Read Good Books Located in the historic Castle Rock Bank Building 20 Cowlitz Street West Mon-Sat • 9–4 360-967-2299

Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 29

the Lower Columbia

Watch WSU’s virtual Lewis & Clark program Feb. 17

Informer

The Cowlitz County Historical Museum is pleased to announce a special YouTube Live “virtual” presentation by Washington State University Press on Wednesday, February 17 at 7pm.

by Perry Piper

The program, titled New Perspectives from David Nicandri will feature Captain Cook and the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Nicandri is the past Director of the Washington State Historical Society and an expert on Pacific Northwest exploration.

Technology sucks!

L

ittle did my parents know when we watched the 2012 movie, “Robot and Frank,” that they would just a few years later own their own smart home appliance.

Details for this presentation can be found at this link: https://wsupress.wsu.edu/2021/01/26/new-perspectives-fromdavid-nicandri/

They found the movie amusing, but scoffed at the notion of an automated humanoid device performing household chores. Maybe they were just skeptical after being let down by the predictions of the Jetsons many years prior.

We were on our way to meet family members at Disneyland for a weekend getaway, but missed our plane in Portland. (Editor’s note: We were late leaving the house because I needed to finish vacuuming.) With several hours to kill until the next flight out, we decided, instead of hanging out all day at the airport, to get our car out of parking and go find a movie to help fill the time. It’s a good thing we had a hand-held GPS. There was no way we would have been able to navigate the convoluted directions to the obscure neighborhood theatre in the suburbs of Portland without this technical marvel of the time.

The movie,. starring Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, Liv Tyler, and James Marsden, is the story of a senior gentleman, whose adult son and daughter are worried about him living alone some distance from them. The son wants to get his dad a household robot. It’s either that or a nursing home.

No registration is required to watch the YouTube livestream. The presentation is available on the WSU Press YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaaQ895LjckK41nt7MmIzA .

We look forward to sharing this exciting program and insights of exploration!

His sister resists the idea and thinks she and her brother should continue making trips and looking after their dad in person, doing chores and tasks for him in the conventional way.

“We don’t have time for this,” her brother finally tells her. “We have our own lives.” Hence, the robot enters the scene.

Not only does the robot do everything imaginable, including gardening, bartending, and cooking, but it also becomes an emotional companion and even partner in crime for Frank, who remains a cat burglar in his retirement.

After a family friend, Longview resident Merrilee Bauman, demonstrated her robotic vacuum cleaner, affectionately named “Bob,” at our house, my parents were impressed and decided to get one of their own. “Rugby” has joined the Piper household and keeps a low profile. It’s almost like having a cat — with a self-contained litter box.

•••

Perry Piper keeps his “electric thumbs” on the pulse of emerging technologies. He is CRR’s IT manager and graphic designer. He is also available to assist with computer and technology needs. See ad, page 12.

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

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

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

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

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

Outings & Events calendar (free listing): Events must be open to the public. Non-profit organizations and the arts, entertainment, educational and recreational opportunities and community cultural events will receive listing priority.

Fundraisers must be sanctioned/sponsored by the benefiting non-profit organization.

Businesses and organizations wishing to promote their particular products or services are invited to purchase advertising..

Featured artists: February: Gallery member Scott McRae, acrylic paintings - new work! and new Gallery member Walt Geil, wood carving and walking Sticks.

March: Guest artist Rosemary Powelson, drawings, paintings and clay.

First Thursdays and classes are canceled until further notice, due to Pandemic.

Find your Valentine a unique gift!

We have beautiful artisan cards, jewelry, books by local authors, pottery, sculpture, photographs and so much more at your local Co-operative Fine Arts & Crafts Gallery.Make every day Valentine’s Day! Voted one of top 3 Galleries in SW Washington!

Free Gift wrapping plus Layaway!

CRR’s sidewalk box formerly located in front of the St. Helens Post Office has been re-located to the nearby St. Helens Market Fresh (Red Apple).

Never miss an issue!

HOW TO PUBLICIZE YOUR NON-PROFIT EVENT IN CRR

Send your non-commercial community event basic info (name of event, beneficiary, sponsor, date & time, location, brief description and contact info) to publisher@crreader.com Or mail or hand-deliver (in person or via mail slot) to: Columbia River Reader 1333-14th Ave Longview, WA 98632 Submission Deadlines Events occurring: Mar. 15 – April 20:

by Feb. 25 for March 15 issue April 15 – May 20:

by Mar 25 for April 15 issue.

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

Performing & Fine Arts, Music Art, Theatre, Literary Recreation, Outdoors Gardening, History, Pets, Self-Help During COVID-19 closures and as we re-open please submit info (deadlines, below left), and watch these pages for Outings & Events details!

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 ...

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

corner of First & Fir Road Runner nearest you, McMenamin’s Harbor Lodge Fultano’s visit crreader.com and click “Find the WOODLAND Ace Hardware Magazine” tab.

Visitors’ Center WARRENTON, OR CASTLE ROCK Fred Meyer Lacie Rha’s Cafe (32 Cowlitz W.) CATHLAMET Parker’s Restaurant (box, entry) Cathlamet Pharmacy Visitors’ Center Tsuga Gallery 890 Huntington Ave. N. Cathlamet Realty West Exit 49, west side of I-5 Puget Island Ferry Landing RYDERWOOD Café porch SKAMOKAWA CLATSKANIE Skamokawa General Store Post Office Chevron / Mini-Mart NASELLE Fultano’s Pizza Appelo Archives & Café Johnson’s One-Stop Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 31

Boldly they go: Mars in the spotlight By Greg Smith A

s this issue comes out, two probes will have arrived at Mars, and a third will arrive a few days later.

The first is an orbiting satellite called Hope from the United Arab Republic.

It is to arrive on Feb 9th. It will be analyzing the Martian atmosphere in order to find out the planet’s different climates, how the north and south poles differ, and how the other various regions compare to each other. Quite the ambitious project for a small country which has never launched a satellite to a moon, let alone a planet before. It does plan to send a rover in 2024.

The second is an orbiter and a lander.

The Chinese will arrive the day after the UAE on Feb 10th. The Chinese orbiter will survey and map Mars for several months and then send its lander to the surface. The whole project is named Tianwen-1. Tianwen means “questions to heaven.” The scope of this orbiter and lander is impressive.

It is to map the geological structure of Mars, investigate surface soil and waterice distribution, analyze the surface material composition, measure the ionosphere and characteristics of the Martian climate and environment on the surface, and perceive the physical fields (electromagnetic, gravitational) and internal structure of Mars.

This is quite ambitious because China has only landed spacecraft on the moon. In that landing they went to the far side of the moon, something the US has not done. To go to Mars and do all of this on their first attempt at Mars is very bold.

Then the third, arriving on Feb. 18th, is the US rover ”Perseverance,” and its little drone helicopter named “Ingenuity.” This rover is the size of a

Astronomy

small car. This mission is ambitious, as well. It is going to try to detect if any life form ever came into being on Mars in its distant, wet past. It will be landing in a crater that once contained a large body of water. It will, in its travels on Mars, gather samples of rocks and stow them in canisters along its path on the Martian surface, to be picked up on a future mission and returned to Earth for analysis.

The little drone helicopter will be deployed soon after the rover lands.

The drone will be dropped from the bottom of the rover. The rover will then back away from the helicopter to give it room to take off and fly around.

This will be the first aircraft to fly on Mars. It is just a test to see if it will fly. If successful, future missions may well carry more drones to expand the reach of explorations, rather than being limited to the immediate surroundings of a rover or lander.

The world will be learning a great deal in the next months and years as these orbiters, landers, rovers, and copter relay back all their new information.

The next time Mars is in a position for another launch is in 2022. There are plans for more robotic explorers to be sent at that time.

If Elon Musk and Space X have their way, a manned crew will follow as early as 2024, or more likely 2026. He has done things that no one thought possible before, such as landing a rocket to be used again and again. So, don’t laugh him off.

Keep your ears and eyes open this month; as there is much to be seen and learned. At least this is some positive news to encourage us.

32 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

•••

SKY REPORT

Looking UP FEB 15 – MAR 15

Evening Sky Mars is the brightest planet to be seen in the night sky at this time. Jupiter and Saturn have gone below the horizon after their ‘great conjunction’ of December. Mars is high in the southwestern sky. If you are a determined planet hunter you may find the blueish green planet Uranus nearby to Mars. Within binocular view, but a telescope will bring out the color better. Mars is also near the star cluster known as the Pleiades. On March 3rd & 4th Mars is only 2 1/2 degrees below the Pleiades, within the view of binoculars. Mars has not been this close to the Pleiades since 2006 and won’t be again until 2038. So here is your chance. Hope for clear skies to see this conjunction.

Morning Sky March 9 -10 Jupiter and Saturn rejoin the visible morning sky just before dawn. Jupiter and Mercury will be tight together very low on the horizon a half hour before sunrise (6:00am).

Longview resident Greg Smith is past president of Friends of Galileo.

Meet him and other club members at monthly meetings in Longview.

For more info about FOG, visit friendsofgalileo. com.

Night Sky Spectacle: Big Dipper Galaxy Hunt This is for our readers who live in areas with dark skies. Located near the end of the handle of the Big Dipper are two galaxies that are visible with binoculars and spotting scopes.

The first is M51 known as The Whirlpool Galaxy. Using the last star in the handle, aim your binoculars with the last star at the top of the viewing area, and look a bit more than halfway down. You should see an oval-shaped, small fuzzy spot.

The galaxy is slightly tipped away from us, making the oval shape. Of course, with a telescope you will see more detail.

The second is above the handle, known as M101, or The Pinwheel Galaxy. Using the last two stars in the handle, make an equilateral triangle; With the upper point, find a faint, round fuzz ball. It is round due to the fact that it is face-on toward us.

End of twilight - when the stars start to come out.

Feb 15 6:10pm Feb. 28 6:28pm Mar15 6:28pm Moon Phases: 1st Quarter Feb. 19, Friday Full Feb 27, Saturday 3rd Quarter Mar 5, Friday New Mar 13, Saturday •••

Where do you read

THE READER? WHERE DO YOU READ THE READER? Send your photo reading the Reader (high-resolution JPEG) to Publisher@CRReader. com. Include names and cities of residence. We make it a practice to acknowledge photos received; if you don’t hear from us within 5 days, please re-send. If sending a cell phone photo, choose the largest file size up to 2 MB.

Reading on the job?

At the Beach

Amy Jo Linn, manager (left), and Marie Faye Jackson, assistant manager, at Vibe Cannabis Company in Kelso, Wash.

Ken Gollings and Rita Nicely Fairmont at home in Long Beach Wash.

Winter stroll on the canal Allan and Nancy Flood of Bend, Oregon, in their back yard a little south of Sunriver with the frozen canal in the background. A summer shot of the same canal, looking the other direction, is on the cover of Allan Floods’s book, Perfect Misfortune.

The pup is named Eddard Stark (named by the Humane Society) after Prince Eddard Stark, from “Game of Thrones” He’s a senior dog, mostly blind and his owners say they” love him absolutely.” Probably each other, too.

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Columbia River Reader /February 15, 2021 / 33

the spectator

PLUGGED IN TO

by ned piper Old friends, continued connections

Cowlitz PUD Employees Raise $2700 for Warm Neighbor Fund By Alice Dietz

O

ne good thing about this pandemic is that we have more time to recollect and appreciate our old friends. My friend, Paul Thompson, and I have a lot of memories to share.

We often recall our days together at Lower Columbia College, studying drama and drinking coffee with friends at the Longview Restaurant ‘til 2am solving the world’s problems. We took a break from college and bummed around Europe together for seven months before continuing our studies at the University of Washington.

The night of the famed Columbus Day Storm, Paul drove us down in his old car to the Seattle Center, the location of the 1962 World’s Fair. We intended to watch the Space Needle blow down when the high winds hit Seattle.

It didn’t blow down and I’d lost track of Paul for maybe 30 years when we reconnected at our high school class’s 40th reunion. He had been living in Oak Park, Illinois, teaching English and Theatre at a small college, and moonlighting as a commercial stage carpenter. Paul, it seemed, was the only one of our friends who studied drama and actually made a career out of it.

Before retiring, Paul purchased six acres on a hill in Sequim, Washington, where he intended to log trees off the land, mill them into lumber and build a house. I couldn’t imagine how anyone could do that. But Paul did.

And it was a beautiful house.

In the early days of our reconnecting, Sue decided to buy the Columbia River Reader. She barely knew Paul yet but asked he could write something about clam digging for her first issue.

And perhaps, since he knew about plays, some commentary on “Bye Bye Birdie,” which was being performed at St. Helens High School and was featured on the inaugural cover. He agreed and Sue soon realized Paul was a skilled writer.

Factoring in his enjoyment of cooking, Paul embarked upon writing one of the most popular columns in the

Reader, recipes and cooking anecdotes presented in his long-running monthly feature, “Man In The Kitchen.”

A few years ago, Paul sold his house in Sequim and returned to Longview, his hometown. Of late, he and I have found that we both enjoy watching the Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball team on TV. Paul discovered the team when he lived in Spokane, before moving to Illinois. He says he was actually attracted to Gonzaga by its theatre department, which led him to attending the Zags games. They are now the Number One in the Nation basketball team.

I started watching the team in earnest some years ago when Bill and Cathy Backamus’s son Rem played for Gonzaga. A local athlete making good is always a big deal for me.

Paul and I have now made a pact: “If you note that the team is on TV, you call me. If I find them on the tube, I’ll call you.”

Recently, I found an online February schedule for the team, printed it out and walked it around Lake Sacajawea in the rain to Paul’s house a couple of blocks from our alma mater, R.A.Long High School. He was very pleased to get their schedule. Go, Zags!

••• Longview native Ned Piper assists with CRR and still finds time to read, write, walk the neighborhood and putz in the yard.

Original • Local • Organic

COWLITZ PUD

E

very Christmas, Cowlitz PUD employees and retirees get together for a lunch time potluck, raffle and an annual opportunity to celebrate the holiday season. It is a great opportunity to see familiar faces and meet some of the past and present members of the PUD team.

PUD employees and Commissioners donate money for raffle prizes and 100 percent of the proceeds benefit the Warm Neighbor Fund, helping our neighbors in need with their utility bills.

Obviously, 2020 has changed many of our traditions, including the gathering of a large number of people and sharing food within the confines of a small space. Wanting to continue the ability to celebrate the holiday season (and the end to a strange year), employees came up with the idea to host a virtual celebration. Although we would be unable to share food and

Assembled with care.

Covers so beautiful you can use later as gift wrap!

34 / Columbia River Reader / February 15, 2021

Staff and Commissioners donated funds to purchase raffle and auction items. This year’s items were all purchased from locally-owned businesses and from each city within Cowlitz County. Taking the Christmas lunch completely virtual, Cowlitz PUD held an online silent auction and raffle and was able to raise nearly $2,700, double the amount of money raised in past years, for the Warm Neighbor Fund!

If you are interested in donating to the Warm Neighbor Fund, give us a call at 360.423.2210 or visit cowlitzpud.org ••• Alice Dietz is Communications/Public Relations Manager at Cowlitz PUD. Reach her at adietz@cowlitzpud.org, or 360-501-9146.

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36 / Columbia River Reader / February October 15, 2020 2021