Through New Eyes
by B ill W ic k la n d
A RICHNESS OF RIVERS
M aybe 1 don't know the difference
between a creek and a river.
M aybe the folks w ho nam ed things
around Reedsport d id n 't want everybody else to
get jealous over us h a vin g three rivers come
together w ithin three m iles of the ocean. 1 can
hear them now: "H ey - we already have the
Sm ith R iver jo in in g the U m pqua R iv e r here; let's
call the Scholfield a creek.” O r m aybe the
Scholfields called it a creek.
Seems lik e folks here d id n 't make a big
thing out of the creek.
In the early 'eighties, a "lu x u ry ” 128-site
m obile home park was laid out in a bend in the
creek right near where I liv e now. T h e y call it
"River Bend," and where the sign m entions
Scholfield Creek, they d id n 't spell it right,
leaving out the first '1,' and have never corrected
it. There is a short Reedsport street w rongly
spelled "Schofield," and a state h ig h w ay sign on
the bridge over the creek right in town spells it
that w ay, also. But a few m iles east on H w y 38 is
a w hite-on-green state sign an no un cin g the
Scholfield d u m p in g area w ith two T s , the w ay it
is spelled on maps. Recently, one of the two local
w eeklies here spelled it both w ays in the same
issue. G o figure.
T en m inutes at the lib ra ry turns up the
historical inform ation that the creek w as named
after N athan Scholfield's son Socrates. T h e y were
both here on an expedition in 1850, and both
spelled their name as above.
I really don't lik e m isspelled signs,
p articu larly neon ones lik e you see on 82nd
A ve n u e in Portland. It means that somebody
figured they could get aw ay w ithout p ayin g a
real w ordsm ith, and in this case it is state and
city governm ent, as w ell as land developers.
In this residence park on the creek there
are some homes w hich look as o ld as they
actually are, but most are nicely kept, and a
brand new m anufactured is just settling on its
foundation.
Snooping around there on a m orning
w alk, fascinated, I d id n 't locate an advertised
nine hole, three par golf course - but in what the
site m ap called "playing fields" there are five
poles w ith little flags. N o greens, no holes. It
m ight be fun to chip up near those poles on a
lazy Saturday. More lik e ly , golf just doesn't
matter in the m idst of such beauty.
O f course, not a ll of the sites are right on
the Scholfield, but those that aren't creekside are
a tw o-m inute w alk from the banks. A n d the
docks. A lot of docks. V ery few boats tied to
them. W eeds grow on some of the docks. M aybe
some folks are too old now, and others too busy,
to do m uch boating. There are a lot of R V
garages, and a lot of R V s parked on the edge of
the "golf course."
M y m ap show s Scholfield to be about
eight m iles long, and this big bend in it seems to
be about two m iles short of where it em pties into
the U m pqua. I w alked across the creek on a
railro ad trestle and was soon out of sight of
an yth in g but the creek in a huge m arsh in the
foothills of the Coast Range. There is no road
there. A few houses are visib le in the hills.
A fter I w as quiet for a w hile, a few geese
circled, their honks echoing off the water
between the h ills, then alit alm ost right in front
of me.
T h is is a 20-m inute w a lk from where I
Llama Spit
By A J Coyne
liv e .
If I lived in R iv e r Bend on Scholfield
Creek, I m ight let the golf course lie natural also,
but 1 th in k I'd have a quiet little boat, (named
Socrates) and go out and sit in the m arsh and
read a book and watch b irds until I dozed off.
D in g din g! N ew s flash! In w hat is now
m id -su m m er, I've just acquired a little rubber
d in g y. T h e tide strongly affects Scholfield Creek,
so I can put in about two hours short of high tide,
and d rift upstream . T h e n the tide w ill turn, and
the creek w ill d e live r me back to where I can
paddle ashore. I can nam e the d in g y Socrates and
go driftin' for a spell. I th in k 1 just slip p ed into
paradise.
¿ u ly 6 th r u A u g u s t 2 6
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Bill Wickland is a life-long wordo and occasional
journalist, now semi-retired in Reedsport.
2 0 0 0 Cannon Beach M agazine Cover
LIMITED EDITION LITHOGRAPH
O REG O N CO A ST
SU PPO R T C R O U P
.
» O. (O X >o
CAM HOH M « H
O R IC O M
♦ T I1 O
s o l 4 1 6 OSX7
SOI 148 48S 8
FAX S O I 1 4 8 7 S 1 8
Find your bliss the smile of a friend, the wind
through the trees, the flickering of candlelight, the roar of the
ocean, a good book, the smell of a baby, a soil kiss, a beautiful
song, dancing alone, rain on your face, the perfect word, the
color yellow, a finished crossword puzzle, children laughing,
an empty street, the pouring rain, the finest mist, family, dusk,
a seven letter scrabble word, a head-butt from your favorite
pet, a lazy boat ride on a Tuesday afternoon
I started this sentence years ago and have been
adding to it ever since It is a reminder for me to slow down
and appreciate the moments in my life where perfection lives
You can’t imagine how many times I have been told I have a
tendency to spoil these moments by talking about them while
they are happening, but my feeling is that the more they are
mentioned, the greater amount of joy I can spread I know I
sound like a hippy, sometimes I can’t even believe the words
that come out of my mouth, I just keep throwing up my
Aquarian ideas on people with the hope that some of it will
eventually stick I enjoy sharing my bliss no matter what the
reaction, and I know that saying things out loud is the only
way to get them to spread and to make a difference Did I just
say make a difference9 I am starting to become a bit preachy,
but keep reading - you w ill either learn something or be
completely annoyed Either way I am happy
I f there is any time to start spreading our happiness
this is it; the masses are rolling in and there w ill be many
locals at their wits’ end if they aren’t already. It is becoming
harder and harder to stop and remember what is important
The amazing thing is that when you voice your moments with
others, not only do you get the relive them but usually the
other person will have a moment they w ill share with you, and
then the cycle starts Here is a moment from my life this week
- read it, remember one of your own, grab your nearest friend
and share it with them; you will be surprised by what you
receive in return.
My baby brother brought his new girlfriend to town
this weekend to meet me for the first time. It was so
wonderful to see him happy and especially for him to want to
share it with me We had a great time all weekend, but on
Saturday night the sight we happened to see blew us away.
Imagine sitting by a roaring fire, surrounded by friends, family
and o f course dogs, under a moon so bright it could have been
the sun There was a fine mist along the water’s edge that
made me feel like I was in a dream A s the moon began to set
we watched it start to eclipse I have never experienced a
lunar eclipse before and I can only tell you that is it almost
indescribable, and for a writer this hard to admit. Just imagine
watching all phases of the moon, but instead of in a month, it
is in an hour, and as the last little sliver of the moon lowered
into the horizon the sun was rising over our shoulders. The
end result was the mist along the water turning the most
magical color; it was shining the palest blue underneath from
the moon and the lightest blush on top from the sun It was
one of the few times I have been so awed I could not speak
Every single day holds some moment like the one I
had on Saturday, maybe not to that extent, but joy is out there
to be had Recognize yours and spread them around. Bliss
can be eternal if you pay attention
Mary Tosch Watercolors
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