Category — NW Winter Nights

It’s March and, though it’s not quite here yet, spring is in the air. The roses are pruned, our daffodils are starting to open and it’s time to plant the peas. If you are itching to get out and about, here are some options around our region:

March 4-26 – The Inner Light Photographic Society celebrates 25 years of image making at Angst Gallery, 1015 Main Street, Vancouver. Opening night will be at the First Friday Artwalk – Friday, March 4, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Don’t miss all the other galleries, too. Downtown Vancouver is quite lively on First Friday nights!

March 13- Marble Mountain to Chocolate Falls Snow Shoe Adventure – Check out Mount St. Helens Institute for details. Snowshoeing is the best! All the fun of cross-country skiing without the bruised bodies and egos. If you can walk, you can snowshoe.

March 12-19 Japanese Culture Week in Longview at various locations with events that include anime, Taiko drumming, origami and much more. The week culminates with an exciting performance on March 19 by Taiko (re)Generation at the Columbia Theatre.

March 18-20 – Don’t miss the 16th annual Peninsula Quilt Guild’s show in Ilwaco. More than 100 quilts will be on display. Quilts will be at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum in Ilwaco.

March 18 – St. Patty’s for the Parks featuring Patrick Lamb at Shorty’s Garden & Home, Mill Plain Store in Vancouver. This is a benefit for the Parks Foundation of Clark County. Over 21 only. Food by Beaches.

March 19 – St. Patty’s for the Kids – same location as March 18 but with a family focus and free!

March 19 – Clark College at Columbia Tech Center Open House and Green Resource Fair, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 18700 SE Mill Plain Blvd, Vancouver. Includes cooking demonstrations, gardening tips, local wineries and a showing of one of the best food movies ever, The Big Night. You will find the flyer here: Spring 2011 Open House Cooking School

March 27 – Third Annual Fort Vancouver Run – Shake off your sluggish winter body with a 6K, 10K or 15 K run plus kids’ events. Starts at Fred Meyer Grand Central Shopping Center.

As always, lots happening in Southwest Washington! See you out there!

It’s February, and, although this winter has been mild and fairly dry, now is when the rainy days start to get to you. So get out there! Here are some events to keep you moving toward spring:

February 3 Chinese New Year! Celebrate at your favorite Chinese restaurant. We’ve invited 20 neighbors for a New Year’s dinner at a local buffet. It’s an EASY way to entertain and celebrate the holidays at the same time. The holiday on the full month 15 days later so you have plenty of time to plan a party. This is the Year of the Rabbit. Gung hay fat choy!

February 5 - Don’t miss the International Guitar Night Concert at the historic Columbia Theatre in Longview. The four world renowned guitarists are from England, Italy, Brazil and the US. Tickets are available through the Columbia Theatre.

February 12-13 - Looking for a romantic event? Head for the Toast to Passion Weekend at the Maryhill Winery. View a photography and art show while tasting the fine wines of the 2009 Washington State Winery of the Year.

February 18-19 – Have the quintessential Pacific Northwest experience by clamming on the Long Beach Peninsula. Dates are always tentative until last minute testing is conducted. ZEST had a great time clamming at Ocean Park last year. Get out your bucket and clam gun!

March 1 – Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools, comes to Longview for a lecture scheduled by the Lower Columbia Community Action Program. No matter where you live, Greg’s inspiring story is worth the drive. Details and tickets here.

February is such a short month. Don’t let it slip by without getting out in the great Southwest Washington!

Yes, January 2011 has FIVE weekends. But whether you celebrated at a gala or fell asleep before midnight, your New Year’s Weekend is behind you. What about the next four weekends? No need to migrate south across the Columbia or drive to Seattle. Check out these SW Washington activities:

Weekend 1: January 7-9
Go snowshoeing. The Mount St. Helens Institute is kicking off a series of snowshoeing trips on January 9 with a 3.3 mile roundtrip to the Trail of Two Forests and Ape Cave. Trips are filling fast so register online to purchase your slot in the class. (Note: if you miss this weekend, there is another trip on January 30 plus February 13, 27, and March 13 and 27)

Weekend 2: January 14-16
Go fly a kite. Think kite flying is only for hot, windy days? Not so. You can join the Windless Kite Festival at the Long Beach Elementary School in Long Beach. You can even take a lesson in windless flying. Combine this with the annual Crab Dinner hosted by Ilwaco High School Booster Club at the Long Beach Elks Club and you’ve got a great plan.

Weekend 3: January 21-23
Go to the theatre. Love the Gershwins? Then you won’t want to miss S’Wonderful , a NEW Gershwin musical that celebrates the music and lyrics of George and Ira Gershwin. Travel to Longview to the Columbia Theatre for this one evening only performance on January 21.

Weekend 4: January 27-29
Go for jazz. You can end the first month of the year at the 49th Annual Clark College Jazz Festival in Vancouver on January 27-29. More than 60 high school vocal and instrumental jazz ensembles will perform during the three day competitive festival.

Or go for rock. And if jazz isn’t your favorite, you can always head to Centralia to hear the Kingsmen. Remember Louie, Louie the 1963 hit, which was investigated by the FBI, and love child of high school marching bands? Well, that classic lives on and will be performed by “The Fabulous Kingsmen” on January 29 at the President’s Scholarship Performance concert at Corbet Theatre at Centralia College. They will also play other hits from the 1960s. Tickets are here.

Jazz, rock, a musical, kites, crab, snowshoeing. You’ve gotta love it here. Have fun!

The year was 1928. Harold “Hal” Coppone was murdered. Someone was a murderer. Everyone had a motive and an opportunity. Who did it?

The suspects. Who murdered Hal Coppone?

We gathered in the backroom of a speakeasy. I, Malissa F. “Scoop” Orrthot, a newspaper reporter, wanted to get there first to observe the other guests but four invitees beat me to the scene. I arrived with Eddie “Socks” R. Gyle still wearing his plus fours knickerbockers and pink plaid socks from the golf course. I’ve always been attracted to a man in argyles.

Scanning the room, I checked out a suspicious group, all drinking liquor in teacups – S. Treighton Harrow, that straight but sleazy D.A., Billy “The Kid” Thrower, a baseball player who knew how to throw a game in more ways than one, Molly M. Awbsterr, a flapper and so-called “socialite,” and Silky M. Adam, whom we knew (and her girls) from the Everlay Club. Windy City blues singer, Anna Maria Carlotta “Torchy” Sassine arrived with Ernie G. Ambler, a bigtime gambler, a few minutes later.

We had all been a little on edge since Hal was released from prison. We all knew him and were shocked, some more than others, when he was found murdered in his own vault. Oh, the blood and bullets! But WHO did it? I had my own motives but wanted to dig to the bottom of these suspicious Chicagoans to get the real scoop.

One of us was well-trained with knives and tommy guns, in spite of her feminine wiles. One got kickbacks from mobsters, who then avoided the legal system. Hal, mobster that he was, had done a number on all of us in some way.

There were a LOT of clues to examine. I scribbled notes in my reporter’s pad but it was hard to keep the facts straight. Some of those yokels even thought that I might have done it. I confess. It’s true that I had my reasons to bump off Hal.

The “iced tea” flowed freely as we interrogated each other through a Shrimps de Jonghe (a Chicago-specialty) dinner. We sorted through way too many clues but finally, one-by-one, each accused a suspect.

I admit it. I got it wrong. (Or did I do it? I’m not saying…) Who did it? You’ll have to do your own mystery dinner party, maybe on a cold, rainy evening like us, to find out…

I have a confession. I HATE to make cookies. I have never enjoyed mixing dough. I’m impatient when the little darlings are in the oven. And we have a vintage Wedgewood stove from the 1950s which is strong on design and collectability, but has a runaway thermostat. Turn your back and your cookies are deflagrating at 500+ degrees.

So why did I, a total morning person, stay up until midnight last night, mixing batch after batch of high-cal morsels, starting over with brand new ingredients (thanks for going to the store, Gary) after discovering a weevil, artfully (sort of) twisting red and white dough into candy cane shapes, while totally trashing my kitchen with powdered sugar and wayward flour? Because I LOVE my neighbors and am willing to wrangle with my oven and stay up past my usual 9:15 bedtime to hang out with them at a cookie exchange. And, of course, it was worth it.

Our neighbors Caitlyn, Jerrad, and Ivy are incredibly creative. They set up a lovely gathering with boxes, ribbon and decorative stamps for packaging the cookies plus lots of appetizers and drinks. With each of us bringing six dozen cookies, the table was thoroughly bedecked with holiday treats.

Why do a cookie exchange? Our neighbors came up with lots of reasons. Here are 5.5 of our favorites:

1. You get to find out what is happening in the neighborhood. Who is performing in concert with her madrigal group? Who is having squirrel problems? Why was a neighbor taken to the hospital in an ambulance? You don’t learn these things in the newspaper or on Facebook.

2. You get to see how much the children have grown. Our little exchange had a 3.5-year-old, a toddler and two babies, including a month-old new neighbor who mostly slept through the evening. Our neighborhood is attracting young families. It’s fun to see how much their kids change over the years.

3. You get to welcome new neighbors. We were delighted that our newest neighbors joined us.

4. You see your neighbors’ latest remodeling projects, and get ideas for your own home. Most of our houses are 80 to 100-years-old. Believe me, we are all regularly updating and looking for cool ideas.

5. You can escape from reality tv to real life. Getting to know your neighbors is reality, not the latest television show.

5.5. In the words of the Cookie Monster, “Cookie!” Somebody said “A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.” We’ll be slowly savoring ours so we should have a balanced diet through Christmas. Thank you, Caitlyn, Jerrad, and Ivy!