Movie night, bazaar, Tour of Homes ahead

I hope everyone had as wonderful a Thanksgiving as we did. This year was the first time I cooked the Thanksgiving meal for several years. We enjoyed the company of my uncle, David Hammonds, my sister, Diane Gray and our son, Shane Cruz, his wife Delena and their two beautiful sons, Emmett and Wyatt. It was a quiet day, but we have so much to be thankful for and enjoyed the day thoroughly, even though we all ate too much.

News from Naselle:

Sports scheduled for the Naselle teams for the coming week include: junior varsity boys basketball at Knappa at 4:30 p.m., high school girls basketball at Knappa at six p.m., high school boys basketball at Knappa at 7:30 p.m. and middle school girls basketball at North Beach at 5:45 p.m. Go Comets!

The Naselle Congregational Church located at 14 Parpala Road in Naselle will host the annual Martha’s Circle Bazaar on Saturday from 10 a.m to two p.m. A soup luncheon will be served at 11 a.m. featuring clam chowder or taco soup with dessert and a beverage for a suggested $6 donation. Get some of your Christmas shopping done by shopping local. There will be lots of beautiful handmade work including rugs, crafts, baked goods, and more. Outside vendors will also be on hand with their specialties for sale.

The annual Finnish American Folk Festival Concert and Tour of Homes will be held December 9 with the concert beginning at 1 p.m. in the

Historic Deep River Pioneer Lutheran Church, featuring the Naselle Kanteles, soloists Lisa Bighill and Karen Nelson, Cooley/Wolfe Singers & Ringers, and the Finn-Am Choir.

Anna Ehrlund will narrate the history of the more-than-a-century-old church, still retaining its original features. The concert will close with traditional Christmas Carols.

Enjoy a tour of three local homes which will be open from two to five p.m. Tickets and maps are available at the concert, the Hair Villa in Naselle, FinnWare in Astoria, Radio Shack in Seaview, or any of the featured homes for $5 each, and will benefit the Finn-Am Fest. This year’s homes, all in Naselle, include Roy and Shirley Herrold's home at 3 Holm Lane, Arlan and Kathy Pellervo's home at 40 North Valley Road, and the home of Gilbert and Catherine (Katie) Munro at 3 Cassandra Lane. Look for signs and balloons marking the homes on the tour.

Following the Home Tour, the Naselle Lutheran Church Soup Supper will be served by the Priscilla Circle at the church from four to six p.m. (correction of the time from last week’s article). A variety of delicious soups will be available for your pleasure.

Other news from the Westend:

Do you have questions about Medicare and its benefits? Please join your friends and neighbors at the Grays River Valley Center on Thursday (today) at one p.m. in Rosburg to have those questions answered by Anita Hopkins through the Community Outreach program of Wahkiakum County. She will be able to give informed answers to your inquiries regarding the Medicare programs and prescription plans available to you.

The Grays River Valley Library at Grays River Valley Center held its fourth Friday Movie Night on November 23. The scheduled movie, State Fair (1945), a Rogers and Hammerstein musical, was replaced at the last moment with The Lady Vanishes, a black-and-white comic suspense movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The change was necessitated by the discovery that State Fair was not legal for the library to show.

“I had checked our previous movies with the company where we purchased our license to show movies, but I guess I forgot to check State Fair until the last moment,” said volunteer projectionist Timo Virkkala. Virkkala apologized to those who had turned out for the film, and showed a movie with the requested upbeat ending which The Lady Vanishes possessed. The movie was well received by those in attendance, the biggest crowd yet for the weekly screening.

The movies are shown in the Mayme Johnson Room next to the Grays River Valley Library, which is across the hall from the cafeteria at the Center’s north entrance.

The Grays River Valley Library has been in operation for over two years, and merged with the Community Computer Center in 2011. Both community institutions are managed solely by volunteers. The initial donations of books and shelves that became the library came from two separate Oregon public libraries. The computer center started as a project of the Grays River Grange in 2003 with initial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and continuing support from Wahkiakum West.

The library’s Movie Night has been in the planning for several years, but started only after an authorization by the Johnson Park Citizens Advisory Board to purchase a license to show free movies.

“We are allowed to show a vast quantity of movies, but not all movies,” said Virkkala. “I will check more carefully before scheduling future films.”

This Friday will be another Alfred Hitchcock flick, he says. “I’ll either show Strangers on a Train, a classic adaptation of a clever and chilling Patricia Highsmith novel, or Young and Innocent, another light-hearted, delightful suspense film from Hitchcock’s British period.” By terms of the contract with the licensing company, the library is not allowed to advertise specific films. However, posters are allowed, and can be found on local bulletin boards.

The library is concentrating on showing films in the classic aspect of Hollywood’s Golden Age, to best fill up the current screen. In the future, after the purchase (or donation) of a new digital projector, a new screen will be purchased to show widescreen films. Until then, the community can expect a lot of classics from before 1960, when widescreen aspects became standard.

“These older films are a lot of fun, and they look better projected onto a big screen than they do even on many modern-day flatscreen televisions,” said Virkkala. “Besides,” he said, “our dollar-per-bag price for popcorn is pretty hard to beat.”

Movies start each Friday night at seven p.m. Candy and drinks are available, in addition to the popcorn, before the movie and at intermission. Friday Movie Night is open to the public, for teenagers and adults, and to children accompanied by a parent or guardian.

There are lots of activities ongoing at the Grays River Valley Center. Check out the calendars located at both entrances of the building for details. The library and computer center are open on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from one to five p.m. with free DSL for your convenience. Call 465-2310 during library/computer center hours for questions or information.

If you are interested in having a meeting or family gathering, you can call Judy Durrah to make arrangements or to find out if the building or room is available. Her number is 465-2331.

The senior members of our community are fortunate to be able to enjoy nutritious meals three days a week here in the Westend. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the meals are sponsored by CAP and on Wednesdays the meals are prepared and served by Pat Potter and her volunteers. Lunch is served at noon for a nominal fee at the Rosburg Hall. Check them out.

Happy Birthday wishes go out to John K. Wirkkala, Jeff Ross, Judah Corbin, Kennedy Penttila, Linda Jordan, Kenny Saari, Hannah Liberatore, Tim Haataia, Sulema Zerr, Tricia Bennett, Lori Rose, Jack Strange, Brian Stube, Lois Bighill, Wesley Oatfield, Vicki Corona, Kellyn Pakenen Hazen, Karen Bertroch, Mike Swanson, Tim Lewis, Lisa Bighill and Robert Footh. I hope each of you have an awesome day.

Happy Anniversary to Kevin and Laura Leaf, Tom and April Zimmerman, Pete and Phyllis Carlson, Bob and Cheryl Caetano, Lee and Cynthia Clark and Max and Mary Smith. Wishing you many more celebrations together.

We had an especially nice weekend last weekend with a visit from former Rosburg resident Raven Webb and a friend of hers. She is very happy in her new home and she looks wonderful. She sends good wishes to the members of our community for a wonderful holiday season.

While she was here she worked her magic hands on my husband’s tight muscles, due to his stroke. I had no idea what miracles a massage can work. His right leg was able to bend at the knee, and he was able to walk with much more comfort. At her suggestion, we contacted the Naselle Massage Clinic and Bryon came here to continue the therapeutic massage. Wow. If anyone needs a recommendation for massage, you have it from us. It truly is miraculous. Thank you, Raven! We have a new friend as well in Bryon Parrino, the proprietor of Naselle Massage Clinic. Check him out.