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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DEcEmbER 28, 2018
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
BLASTS FROM THE PAST
MINI-MOTHRA?
LOOSE LICENSE
S
ince the Ear is on vacation, this week’s column is
comprised of past stories plucked from the volumi-
nous Ear Vault.
RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR
R
E
ver wonder how Meriwether Lewis (pictured, left)
and William Clark (pictured, right) spent New
Year’s Day 1806 at Fort Clatsop?
From Clark’s journal (tinyurl.com/lcnewyear): “This
morning I was awoke at an early hour by the discharge of
a Volley of Small arms, which were fired by our party in
front of our quarters to usher in the new year, this was the
only mark of respect which we had it in our power to pay
this Selibrated day.
“Our repast of this day, tho’ better than that of Christ-
mas, Consisted principally in the anticipation of the 1st
day of January 1807, when in the bosom of our friends we
hope to participate in the mirth and hilarity of the day ...
At present we were Content with eating our boiled Elk and
Wap-pato, and Solacing our thirst with our only beverage,
pure water.”
Here’s hoping your New Year’s Day is more palatable
than theirs. (Dec. 28, 2012)
VIOLINIST STRINGS
THROUGH TOWN
W
e had an impromptu visit from the famous world
class violist, Richard Yongjae O’Neill (pic-
tured inset, richard-oneill.com) Sunday, Nov.
25, at the Wet Dog Cafe,” proud adoptive stepdad Bill
Sutton, pictured left, wrote. Richard’s mother is Colleen
O’Neill, pictured right. The musician, who arrived with
a film crew, “is on a mission to make a documentary on
behalf of under-privileged children around the world,” Bill
revealed.
And what a surprise he brought with him. Richard and
his camera crew arrived in a new Volkswagen Passat,
which turned out to be a gift for his mother and Bill.
“After Richard and crew freshened up from a long trip
from South Korea, they arrived at the Wet Dog jam where I
play trombone with All That Jazz every Sunday from 2 to
4 p.m.,” Bill reported, “working with the Wet Dog to raise
scholarship money for Clatsop County’s up-and-coming
musicians. Lee Stromquist turned his piano over to me,
and kicked back with the rest of the band to listen to Rich-
ard perform. Dave Graves stayed on the bandstand and
played drums with us.”
In the next two days, Richard and the crew took Col-
leen to Sequim, Port Angeles, Port Townsend and Quil-
cene, Washington, to visit his birthplace, and reunite with
his first violin teacher, then Richard flew to New York to
play at the Lincoln Center.
The camera crew filmed Colleen on her janitorial job
at the Wet Dog, interviewed her about her life since being
adopted during the Korean War, then flew to New York to
resume the documentary.
The project, financed by South Korea’s NBC, is plan-
ning to fly Colleen and Bill to Korea Thursday for a week
of more filming.
“It was a terrific experience for his mom and me!” Bill
explained. And it looks like the excitement has only just
begun. (Dec. 21, 2012)
emember the 1961 movie, “Mothra”? One of the
most popular figures in Japanese science fiction,
she was a huge moth, mutated by radiation. Well,
the 2011 tsunami that hit Japan has created mini-mothras
in its aftermath: mutated butterflies (bit.ly/mutantbutter).
Two are pictured; one with folded wings, one with rum-
pled wings and one antenna, courtesy of Hiyama et al/Sci-
entific Reports.
The mutations are caused by the Fukushima nuclear
power plant disaster, which followed the earthquake/
tidal wave. Since being exposed to radiation, the butter-
flies are showing abnormalities like antennae disfigure-
ment, deformed legs and wings, dented eyes and changes
in color and spot patterns. The closer butterflies were to
high radiation levels, the more abnormalities were found.
“Insects have been considered to be highly resistant
to radiation, but this butterfly was not,” Joji Otaki, of the
University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, Japan, who led the
research, said.
The results of studying several generations of the
affected butterflies caused a furor. “This study adds to the
growing evidence,” Timothy Mousseau, a biology profes-
sor who studies radiation effects caused by Fukushima and
Chernobyl, said, “that low-dose radiation can lead to sig-
nificant increases in mutations and deformities in wild ani-
mal populations.” Scary! (Aug. 17, 2012)
J
ulie Jackson sent in a fun little tidbit.
“Last week a logging company was clearing an
area off a dirt road when they discovered a pink
purse in the rubble, and opened it up to find my driver’s
license,” Julie reported. “Sadly, no money or Bonnie Bell
lip gloss ... just my license and the pink purse.” The license
is pictured.
“It seems that I was stylish enough to pop my collar for
my DMV photo op,” she noted. A current photo of Julie is
inset. “From what I can recall, and believe me, it was my
20s — it was the mid-1980s, maybe 1984 or 1985, I’m not
completely sure,” she explained. She has no idea how she
lost the purse.
“The fact that it surfaced after all these years is crazy,”
she wrote. “I was born and raised in Astoria, and went to
school, and graduated at Astoria High School, so I am a
longtime resident of the area, and just recently packed up
and moved to start a new adventure in Denver.”
By now you’re probably wondering how — since she’s
in Denver — she got the license back. Someone on the
logging crew knew her, and also knew she is good friends
with Pam Lum. The license and purse were delivered to
Pam, who did the honors.
But Julie is still curious about what happened. “Funny,
I can remember the purse, but not the night!” (Feb. 15,
2013)
JUST THE TICKET
THE ONE THAT
DIDN’T GET AWAY
D
onna Jensen-Mullins started shaking and was
speechless when she realized the Keno 10-Spot
ticket she purchased during a dinner date with
her husband at Buoy 9 Restaurant
and Lounge in Hammond was worth
$200,000,” Patrick Johnson of the Ore-
gon Lottery reported. Donna, who is a
nurse, and lives in Warrenton, is shown in
a photo courtesy of the Oregon Lottery.
“I just play Keno sometimes when we
are out to dinner, for the fun of seeing if
I won,” she said. “I am having a lot of fun!” When she
checked the ticket, she had no idea how much she won, but
was told she had to go to the Oregon Lottery headquarters
in Salem to claim her prize.
“I had the next day off, so I thought I would drive
to Salem and check it out. I figured I had won $600 or
$1,000,” she explained. “No way did I think I won this
much.” After taxes, she took home about $134,000.
“I can’t believe I won,” she added. “We will most likely
go on a family vacation, and I want to see about setting up
a college fund for my grandchildren.” (Jan. 30, 2015)
GET THE LEAD OUT
F
ormer Astoria resident Sheryl Ginn, who now lives
in Sitka, Alaska, posted an interesting tidbit on Face-
book recently. “I used to enjoy Edla Allen’s memo-
ries in the Columbia Press about growing up in Uppertown
from the 1970s and 1980s,” she wrote.
“Here’s part of one from Jan. 1, 1988: ‘During many of
my growing up years, we had a New Year’s Watch get-to-
gether at home. In addition to the tradition riisi-puuro (rice
pudding) and fruits and nuts, we had the New Year’s Pre-
dictions. This was done by melting lead in the old kitchen
stove’s hot fire in an iron dipper. Then the hot lead was
poured by each into a tub of cold water. The different
shapes that formed, sizzling in the water, were then the
prophecy for the year — as, perhaps, a ship’s shape would
indicate a sea journey.’”
The Ear found this tradition is called Uuden Vuoden
Tina, and was a used as a divination technique in ancient
Greece. It is a New Year’s tradition in Finland to this day,
and tin, lead or beeswax can be used.
“Do any of Astoria’s Finns do the lead predictions
today?” Sheryl wondered. The answer is yes.
“Our family has done this tradition for years, going
back to when I was a child in Astoria, and we continued it
for our children,” John Niemi replied. “Each person takes
a turn melting the lead ... and then throwing the melted
lead into a bucket of ice water. ”
The oldest woman present interprets the figure as a pre-
diction of the person’s fortune for the New Year. The fig-
ure is kept by each person for the year.” (Jan. 16, 2015)
A
story on the Weather Channel caught the Ear’s eye:
A 400-pound Pacific bluefin tuna recently sold for
$37,000 at Tokyo’s first auction of the new year in
“the world’s biggest fish market.”
Kiyoshi Kimura, who is the president of a popu-
lar sushi restaurant chain in Japan, had the winning bid
(tinyurl.com/richtuna). The unlucky tuna and Kimura are
pictured in screen shots from the video.
According to Japan Times, the sushi maven was tick-
led, and thought it was a great deal. Why? In 2013 a bid-
ding war broke out for a similar tuna, and the fish sold for
$1.3 million. Yikes. (Jan. 16, 2015)
SPELL CHECK?
D
an Sealy posted photos on Facebook recently of
the signs for Scandinavian Cannery Road. The
sign heading east is just fine; the sign heading west
needs a spell check. His photos are pictured.
The Ear’s reaction is the same as those who posted in
response: Surprise at never having noticed the error, even
after driving by both signs repeatedly for 10 years. One
smartypants noted: “I doubt it was Scandinavians that
made the sign.” (Jan. 15, 2016)
COMMUNITY NOTES
SATURDAY
Sit & Stitch — 11 a.m. to
1 p.m., Homespun Quilts
& Yarn, 108 10th St. Bring
knitting, crochet or other
needlework to this community
stitching time. All skill levels
welcome.
Columbia Northwestern
Model Railroading Club —
1 p.m., in Hammond. Group
runs trains on HO-scale layout.
For information, call Don Car-
ter at 503-325-0757.
Spinning Circle — 1 to 3 p.m.,
Astoria Fiber Arts Studio, 1296
Duane St. Bring a spinning
wheel. For information, call
503-325-5598 or go to astori-
afiberarts.org
SUNDAY
Seniors Breakfast — 9 a.m.
to noon, Astoria Moose Lodge,
420 17th St. Cooked to order
from menu, includes coffee.
Cost is $5 for seniors 62 and
older, $7.50 for those younger
than 62. Breakfasts are open to
the public.
Line Dancing — 5:30 to
8 p.m., Seaside American
Legion, 1315 Broadway. For in-
formation, call 503-738-5111.
No cost; suggested $5 tip to
the instructor.
MONDAY
Chair Exercises for Seniors —
9 to 9:45 a.m., Astoria Senior
Center, 1111 Exchange St. For
information, call 503-325-3231.
Senior Lunch — 11:30 a.m.,
Bob Chisholm Senior Center,
1225 Avenue A, Seaside. Sug-
gested donation $3 for those
older than 60; $6.75 for those
younger than 60. For informa-
tion, call Suzanne Bjaranson at
503-861-4202.
Columbia Senior Diners —
11:30 a.m., 1111 Exchange St.
Cost is $6. For information, or
to have a meal delivered, call
503-325-9693.
Warrenton Senior Lunch
Program — noon, Warrenton
Community Center, 170 S.W.
Third St. Suggested donation
of $5 for seniors and $7 for
those younger than 60. For
information, or to volunteer,
call 503-861-3502 Monday or
Thursday.
Astoria Rotary Club — noon,
second floor of the Astoria Elks
Lodge, 453 11th St. Guests
always welcome. For informa-
tion, go to AstoriaRotary.org
Knochlers Pinochle Group —
1 p.m., Bob Chisholm Commu-
nity Center, 1225 Avenue A,
Seaside. Cost is $1 per regular
session per person. Players
with highest and second
highest scores split the prize.
Game is designed for players
55 and older, but all ages are
welcome.
Mahjong for Experienced
Players — 1 p.m., Astoria
Senior Center, 1111 Exchange
St. For information, call 503-
325-3231.
Line Dancing for Seniors — 3
to 4:30 p.m., Astoria Senior
Center, 1111 Exchange St. Not
for beginners. For information,
call 503-325-3231.
Astoria Toastmasters —
6:30 p.m., Hotel Elliot con-
ference room, 357 12th St.
Visitors welcome. For infor-
mation, go to toastmasters.
org or call Christa Svensson at
206-790-2869.
WEDNESDAY
Warrenton Sunrise Rota-
ry Club — 7 a.m., Dooger’s
Seafood & Grill, Youngs Bay
Plaza, 103 S. U.S. Highway 101,
Warrenton. For information,
call 503-325-4030.
Moms Offering Moms Sup-
port Club — 9 a.m., Capt. Gray
Port of Play, 785 Alameda Ave.
For information, go tohttps://
www.fb.me/MOMSClubo-
fAstoria or email president@
momsclubofastoria.org
Chair Exercises for Seniors —
9 to 9:45 a.m., Astoria Senior
Center, 1111 Exchange St. For
See Notes, Page b4