When I saw the picture of my friend David Campiche on the Opinion page of today's Chinook Observer, I wasn't much surprised. David's been appearing there -- at least his byline has -- for quite a while now. But then the words "Redwoods and...
For the second time in about as many months, I spent a week in bed. Flat on my back. Barely able to get into the bathroom as necessary. Sore throat. Stopped up nose. No energy. No appetite. Sleeping by fits and starts. But, as with most...
...and the other is gold." Perhaps you remember this old round we sang in grade school days -- especially when a new student was joining our ranks or a long-time friend was moving away. I've always loved the sentiment as well as the memory of...
On Saturday, I had the great good fortune to be chaufferued, mind you, by my friends Cathy Cruikshank (driver extraordinaire) and Debby Halliburton (guide and general cheerleader) to the RiverSea Gallery in Astoria. It was Artwalk Day and we were...
Just as I was thinking dark and dreary thoughts about my "ARD" (Age-Related-Diminishment) and wondering if I should plan on writing my last column for the Observer... just when the gloomy realities of how difficult life becomes just as you think...
The front page story, "Mummified man found after long delay - May have died in August 2025" reads like a Halloween story for teenaged zombie-wannabees. Unfortunately, it appears to be the true story of a total fiasco "well check" that never...
The Espy Family, of which I am a part, undoubtedly has a number of "shirt-tail relatives," but those I know best belong to the Ilwaco branch of the Williams Family and stem from the marriage in 1941 of my mother's first cousin Barbara Espy to...
With apologies to 'the bachelor' of "The Foggy Foggy Dew" for using this title. In actual fact, I think I was probably the only one to shed a tear at the rollicking benefit concert by The Skamokowa Swamp Opera yesterday afternoon at the Columbia...
And me without my camera!! What was I thinking? But when Joan Stuart Ross wrote and asked if I was free, I didn't even check to make sure! I did, however, ask if I could bring a friend and so, this afternoon at three o'clock sharp Susan Stauffer...
Last Sunday's Music Vespers wasn't the first "Full House" of the Summer, but it might have been the first Standing Room Only crowd in quite a while. And that didn't come as a surprise to any of the Vespers "regulars" who began arriving at 2:00...
Saturday the Eighth of August 2026 said the invitation...(with some activities commencing on the evening of Friday the Seventh of August and continuing until Sunday the Ninth of August). A few of the details were spelled out enticingly:...
We gathered at Cyndy's place, the most northerly home within Oysterville's National Historic District. Most of us were "local" but there were others from afar -- all of us in bright summer plumage and carrying treats to share and, of course,...