Remember those special ladies on Mother's Day
SUN WAS SHINING--Once again, we had a great weekend half the time, as Saturday started out wet in West Valley, but then dried up and it wasn’t too bad. Sunday was fantastic, with nice warm temperatures. It is hoped this sunny streak continues for a few days, but the Monday morning clouds make it doubtful!
One person who was certainly not enjoying this wonderful day was the gal who went off the highway directly in front of my neighbor's house along SR 4 early Sunday afternoon. Also on Saturday, postal workers, Desaree Vik and Joan Evenson were involved in an accident while delivering the mail, which totaled the postal carrier's vehicle. We hope they don’t suffer any permanent injuries from this rear end collision. Take care ladies!
SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays May 8-14 are Lori Parke, Tami Bosch, Stan Thacker, Josh Phelps, Katharine Parker, Rosalie Webb, Lizabeth Whitney, Pat Thacker, Bryce McClain, Desaree Vik, Christeena Bassi, Chuck Wika, Vicki Bergseng, Ashley Jorgensen, Mercedes Pedersen, Leslie Monroe and my first born son, Pete Sechler, is turning the big “4-0” next Monday, so extra special birthday wishes are being sent his way.
Happy Anniversary wishes go to John and Sharon Buennagel, the Paul Stewarts and Frank and Carolyn Pedersen. Enjoy your special days!
DIFFERENT ANNIVERSARY--A different kind of anniversary is taking place today (Thursday), as hubby Bill Chamberlain will have put in his 30 years at the PUD. To answer the most frequently asked questions, no, he has not yet retired. We are hoping by the time you read this, he will have undergone some much needed surgery and will be recuperating at home.
MOTHER’S DAY--Sunday is Mother’s Day and you still have a couple of days to get that special lady in your life a special gift to remind her how special she is to you. If you’re looking for gorgeous plants, and don’t want to drive too far with todays’ gas prices, zip over to Steamboat Slough and see all the gorgeous plants at Skamokawa Gardens Nursery.
As soon as you get those flowers presented, why not head to the Duck Inn for their special Mother’s Day dinner. Always a treat.
THIS SUNDAY--The Skamokawa Methodist Church will have an extra special church service for Mother’s Day. Visiting pastor Mike Shreve will perform a clown service. This is a widely popular and spiritual service honoring mothers. We hope you’ll check out the service at 11 a.m.
MARKET GOERS--Tomorrow will be the second Farmer’s Market at the Stockhouse’s Farm on Puget Island, 59 West Birnie Slough Road; turn right after the little bridge on SR 409. There are several vendors from our Skamokawa area. The Speranzas from the Inn at Crippen Creek are having those yummy cinnamon rolls and breads and Twin Gables Bed and Breakfast owner Kathleen Morgain is selling pies once. We urge you to shop local. Hours are from 3-7 p.m.
WILD WEATHER--I was talking with Nova McNally the other day about this goofy weather here; one day sun, one day rain and so on and while I moaned and groaned about the lack of sunny days, she told me about her recent trips to Arizona and Nevada for three weeks. She got to bask in 80 degree weather, which I was quite envious of, until she told me that while she liked the warm part of the trip, she definitely did not enjoy the four earthquakes she endured while in Yuma! One of them was a 5.4 and it really shook her up. Opting to leave there, she headed to Nevada, where it was also 80 degrees. While there, she experienced two more earthquakes, a dust storm and believe it or not, snow! She was quite unnerved by all this wild weather and was happy to be home where at least the ground wasn’t shaking and would rather endure a few raindrops than that very unsettling “rock and roll” weather. Glad you made it home Nova!!
DANCE--Speaking of “rock and roll”, the Skamokawa Grange Hall was full of that last Saturday night when band members Sunrise Fletcher, Randy Williams, Jim Meyers, Cameron Collins, Ivanah Johnson and Gwen Gorley kept the place a hoppin’ with their classic rock songs. They were great! There was a vast array of singers also. It was quite a show put on by these non-paid performers in order to raise money for the Grange curtain that we need so desperately for our big June Vaudeville show. A big thank-you goes to all these hard working band members who put in countless hours of practice and also to the singers Theresa Runkle, Kathleen Morgain, Leslie Horman, Adele Swift, Darcee Svir and John Luthi. Yours truly even got to sing a solo. We appreciate all those who supported this fund raiser. We hope to do this again. Get those dancing shoes polished up and get ready to boogie!
GALS MEET--I got a call from former (1967) classmate, Kathy (Bond) Peek, who said she was going to be in the Cathlamet area at the end of April and would like to get together with a few of us gals from our class and fix us lunch. She said this was a way of thanking Sandra Peterson Davis and myself for setting up our fortieth class reunion last year. Well, the “thank-you” lunch wasn’t necessary, but we certainly weren’t going to pass up a chance to eat and gab, so Sandra, Mary Toste, Marnee Ostervold Davis, Kathy and myself met at the Elochoman Marina on April 28 and had a really great visit. Many of our other classmates were unable to join us on a Monday afternoon, but we are hoping to do another “gab fest” complete with “brag photos” of our kids and grandkids, on a Saturday so more can attend. Kathy surprised all of us by bringing out a huge container of hand-made items, and let each of us choose one as a gift. She says she just loves to sew and she had a wide array of bags, aprons and pillow cases to choose from. She does such a beautiful job on everything that it was difficult to make a choice! With the weather giving us a break and allowing us to sit outside and enjoy our lunch, and having the extra treat from Kathy, as well as lunch, it was a very fun afternoon. Thanks Kathy; we hope to see you again soon!
SYMPATHY--Sadly, one of our former classmates, Ed Bussone, lost his sister, Mary Bussone-Luethe to cancer on April 26. We want to send all of Mary’s family our sincerest condolences. Mary was a real sweetheart and I’ll miss seeing her at the Hotel Cathlamet where her mom, Jean, currently resides.
ON THE MEND--I want to send some take care wishes to another classmate, Pamela Below Lazor, as she did a little “twist” to her ankle the other day and is hobbling around. When we said we wanted people to “twist and shout”, we didn’t mean in pain and misery! So, take care Pam; we hope that ankle heals up quickly!
RECUPERATING-- One of our really terrific, super friendly, and much loved barbecue chefs Chip Perkins got mistakenly left out of my get well group last week. Sorry about that! We heard Chip had some chest pains and wound up in OHSU with some immediate surgery. We hope he recuperates fully from this recent health scare.
VAUDEVILLE SHOW--Director Adele Swift says all those who want to be in the June Vaudeville show can meet this Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Skamokawa Grange Hall. We will be doing costume research for this show on June 20 – 22. Time is flying so please try to be there and have some items in mind that will fit your character. Kerrie McNally and Leslie Horman both sew, so with enough notice maybe they can make you something.
GRANGE MEETING--Skamokawa Grange #425 will be meet this coming Monday at 7:30 p.m. All grangers are urged to attend. Our numbers are still growing. Won’t you join us too?!
COMING SOON--Redmen Hall will be the site of the magazine launching by editor Bryan Penttila on May 17 at 1 p.m. I’ll be expanding on this event next week but we wanted to be sure and give you a heads up prior to that column. For more information call the hall at 795-3007 Thursday through Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.
ALSO SOON--The car show and sturgeon derby folks have say it’s looking good for the May 31 date. All who have cars and want to pre-enter need to do so ASAP as the cut off date is in a couple of days. Call Lee Tischer at 849-4257 or Vickie Reid at 795-3589.
Remember high schoolers: you get to enter for free and your car does not have to be fancy. Whatever you drive is just fine to enter!
Next car show meeting will be May 18, 3 p.m. at the Duck Inn. We hope all who are parking cars will be able to attend as you will learn where and how to get these fancy rigs parked in the manner in which those in charge want them parked.