GORGEOUS--As this week began, it was absolutely beautiful with nothing but sunshine and warm breezes, which felt oh so great! Actually, the entire weekend and even several days last week were great too, as my aching back can attest, as there were no bad weather excuses to put off digging into those flower beds! However, it looks like we'll all get to use the weather as an excuse by the time you read this, as more wet weather is due to move in, so I hope you got that lawn mowed and those new plants in the ground, as it's going to be time to move indoors and do those inside chores for a few days. With the forecast seemingly changing almost daily, we may get lucky and have some decent weather by this weekend though and I'm sure that would be appreciated for all the Easter doings.

SPECIAL DAYS--Those celebrating birthdays from April 17-23 are Brock Cothren, Jeri at the Duck Inn, Fred Bennett Jr., Nancy Granger, Max Schmitz, Eric Bergseng, Tawyna Paine, Steven Doumit, Cleave Hedman, Seth Doumit, Delaney Doumit, Nathan Frink, Onya Remer, Gwen Ronninghaug, Sue Edminster, Joel Peterson, and 67'ers Greg Lloyd and Sandra Davis. Wishing you all the best on your birthdays this week!

BUSY WEEKEND--This is it; it's Easter weekend! That means we have Easter Bingo on Friday evening up at the grade school's multi-purpose room, so you might win yourself the main food item for your Easter dinner, or win some fun prizes, and then on Saturday morning, you'll want to have the little ones at Skamokawa Vista Park before 11 a.m. so they can be ready to run out there and gather eggs promptly at starting time! It looks like it might be wet but let's hope for a break in the weather.

On Saturday night, the Skamokawa Landing will be bursting with music at 7 p.m., as the trio of Andrew Emlen, Kathleen Peterson and soprano singer, Kyleen Austin will perform an evening of operatic songs. Tickets are $18 at the door. There are sure to be a lot of special services on Easter Sunday along with dinner somewhere afterwards, so we hope you'll enjoy the whole weekend whatever you happen to find yourselves doing!

TIME IS FLYING--We're already half way through April and it won't be long and there will be many more things to celebrate, like Mother's Day, Memorial Day and Prom and Cinco de Mayo, and for my family, an abundance of birthday celebrations, as four of the "kids" will be getting a year older within three weeks of each other; yikes! Now add on these other things, which also includes the opening of the Farmers Market on Puget Island, a reception for Appelo's Building in Naselle, the annual Great White-Tail Fun Run and more, and we'll be having plenty to do all month long.

EXHIBIT MOVED--One of those newer May events will be the opening of an exhibit that was supposed to be held at Redmen Hall, but due to some building maintenance being done there, it is being moved to the Hotel Cathlamet's lobby. So, on May 3, the Rock 'n' Roll Congress Youth Group will be showing their "Art by the Ages" exhibit, which is a fund raiser for the group. The opening day will include refreshments and live entertainment and will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. From then on, it will be shown Thursday through Sunday until June 7 by members of the Redmen Hall.

END OF MAY--One of the big things in Skamokawa at the end of May will be the annual Car Show, Rods and Reels, which will take place on May 31. This is a terrific car show and everyone has a great time. We hope all you car buffs are talking it up with your friends and they enter into the show.

They'll be putting on their usual feed mid-day but if you get there early, you can head over to the Skamokawa United Methodist Church and take in their breakfast for a very reasonable price. Later on in the afternoon, you'll be able to see who all the winners of the trophies are and who winds up winning all the awesome prize tables that will be given away. If you'd like to donate something and you have yet to be contacted, don't hesitate to get ahold of Lee Tischer, Dennis Reid or myself and we'll be happy to put you on the donator's list. If you donate $200 worth of items or cash, you can even get your name on the t-shirt this year, but please hurry and call us so you're sure to get included! Remember this is a Wahkiakum Dollars for Scholars event with the funds raised going towards scholarships for our graduating seniors.

VENDORS--The Skamokawa Grange is still looking for some vendors for their inside Vendor's Market to be held on June 28, so if you'd like to join us, give me a call at 795-3425 and we'll get you on the list. Whether you're a craftsman/artisan of some kind or would just like to do a little Spring cleaning and get rid of some things, you can get a rent table for just $10 and try to sell those extra things in the protection of our building. The more, the merrier, so come on down to the Skamokawa Grange Hall that day where you'll be free of the wind, rain or even too much sun. There'll be no tents to set up this year or the need to bring a table, so there's much less fuss and muss at this indoor site.

GRANGERS MET--The Skamokawa Grange #425 met last Monday night and we always marvel how our potluck dinners wind up being a balanced meal, so we have been quite lucky with dinners not containing only desserts! We want to remind those that would like to take part in the Spring Contests held by the State grange, which are open to everyone and not just grangers, that we need to have your entry to us by April 28. This will be our last meeting of the month and we'd like to have your entries by then so our Family Living Co-ordinater, Donna Moody, can take them to the Long Beach Grange to be judged that following week. You can enter almost anything that you would normally enter into our county fair, so if you're a jewelry maker or card maker or wood carver, etc., we'd sure like to have you enter some of your work and who knows, you could get awarded with some cash if you're one of the big winners! Give me a call if you'd like to enter something!

SYMPATHIES--We want to offer our sincere sympathies to the family of Evelyn Blix who passed away last week at the age of 94. It hadn't been too long ago that I chatted with Evelyn on the phone as she often called me to talk about things in my column or asked questions about members of my family and we always had a nice visit. She was just one of those really sweet ladies that I have known my whole life and will surely be missed by all that knew her. Her services were held last Sunday at the Heritage Bible Church on Puget Island.

CELEBRATION--Ralph and Peggy Pedersen held a family gathering at their house last Sunday to celebrate Ralph's 78th birthday and their 59th anniversary. Enjoying the day with them were both of their sons from Vancouver, Tim (Margie) and Mark (Rhonda) and in between the pizza and cake and a lot of other goodies, there was plenty of gab to take up most of the day. The family has more good news, as Mark's son, Gabriel will soon be getting married, so we'll have a new addition to the family. While they will be getting married in California, they will be making their home in Yakima. Also, Mark's son, Adam and his wife, Samantha, will be coming out west soon, so Peg and Ralph are anxious to see great-granddaughter, Bailey once again. I understand she's taken her first steps on her own already, so she'll definitely be "movin' and groovin" by the time she gets here to show off for all the relatives!

OUT OF THE PAST--Back in the year 1944 this week, the weather was very Spring like as rain and sunshine seemed to trade places daily. There was a plane crash in Seaside with the pilot from there being killed. There was an aircraft warning alert, which sent Ralph Everest to the tower located up by the high school where he kept watch for planes all day. Krist Pedersen headed to Alaska that week where he'd be fishing for several months to come. Elsie Everest took grandson, Ralph Pedersen, to Astoria on one of the nice days and the boat they went down river on was very crowded (was the "Imperial" in those days) she bought shoes and materials while she was there.

In 1949, the first three days were very nice, then the weather turned cold and rainy for a couple days before turning decent again. Carol Pedersen and son, David, along with Jonas Pedersen, his daughter, Nancy and Elsie Everest, traveled to Seattle that week. They stopped by Erling Pedersen's place, where Jonas and Nancy stayed, before going onto to Elsie's sister's, Jean Shane's place. After a couple of days stay, the group came home and it was a beautiful drive with all the trees and flowers in bloom. The Krist Pedersens celebrated their 14th anniversary that week and Susan Shane turned 13.

In 1954, the Everests were just ending their trip back from Minnesota. It snowed on Easter Sunday while they were still there. They traveled by car, bus and train. It cost them $25 for a bedroom, but it was nice they said and good food on the diner car. They arrived in Seattle on a nice clear but cool day. All this according to Grandma Elsie Everest's diaries.