Celebrating a friend's birthday

Out over the Nahcotta Tidelands - closer to Oysterville

Friends raked up 100 pounds of fresh steamers.

The sun set and we ate a Clam Bake - NW Style

Fresh caught King Salmon on a Cedar Plank.

Yummy home made carrot Birthday Cake with edible flowers!

Koi Pond Envy.

My new beach bike!

Putting together a little film studio

I have been inspired to put together a little film studio.  My first item arrived today - with a comb!

Local beach truck pulls TOW TRUCK to safety!

Jackie Sheldon - one of our beach mega volunteers, real estate agent and emergency preparedness trainer - has started posting some videos.

Gotta love it when a local (the guy who found that dock - by the way) has to give the big TOW TRUCK a tow out of the sand!

Japan Tsunami Debris in the News

A number of reporters follow me on twitter -and I follow them for the latest breaking news.  

This past week we had a flurry of activity.  Some unnamed beachcomber found (what they thought was) new tsunami debris and called the Dept of Ecology and the Sheriff to report a dock, airplane fuselage and other misc debris were washed ashore. 

This started a stream of tweets by news reporters, the sheriff department and those of us on twitter.  I was actually out of town for a meeting - but received numerous phone calls from the press - ask if they could use the photos on my blog HERE for their story.

I was confused.  That dock has been on shore for a few weeks.  I replied, "that isn't the new dock" - yet the calls kept coming.  I arrived home late that evening.

The following day, I read a tweet from Richard Thompson of KIRO 7 South Sound.  His twitter handle is @kirotvsouth.  He was looking for a 4X4 to drive up and find the dock and other tsunami debris.  

We met up at the Bolstad beach approach.  The news van is easy to spot.  We jumped in my 4X4 sport-trac and headed north on the sand.  We drove up to the dock - I mentioned before.  I said, "this isn't the new dock, there must be something further north".  We drove and drove, called the Sheriff directly and end of story... the report WAS on the dock found by Jason Knott that I reported HERE.  It wasn't a new thing.  (However, we have plenty of new tsunami debris items arriving daily.) And no one has seen anything resembling an airplane fuselage. Also, did I mention - the little dock was NOT from Japan.

Even CBS had a crew from San Francisco here. 

I met Richard from Kiro 7 before.  He did a previous beach trash story and we discovered common friends.

So- after a few hours of filming - they headed north toward Olympia and filed the story with the station in Seattle.  It aired Thursday night at 6pm and I am told again on KOIN 6 (Portland) the next day.  Click on the photo to see the original KIRO 7 news video.

The BIG July 5th Beach Cleanup starts at 9:30am.  Just head toward one of the area's beach approach roads and volunteers will check you in and give you garbage bags.

ANOTHER Small dock washes ashore on Long Beach Peninsula

From the local paper: Small dock washes ashore on Long Beach Peninsula - Chinook Observer: Free

The press release from the Sheriff's office has a bit more information.

Long Beach, WA. – On June 20th, 2012 the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office was advised that more suspected Japanese Tsunami debris had been discovered on the beach between the city of Long Beach and the Cranberry Beach access road about five miles north of the city of Long Beach. The Sheriff’s Office received information from the department of ecology stating that a person had been recreating on the beach on June 19th during the early evening hours and located several items.

The suspected items were described as a dock that was about the size of a “pickup truck”, a refrigerator, a small television and what appeared to be a “seven foot long section of a small aircraft fuselage”. They noted several other noteworthy items such as light bulbs of various sizes and colors being scattered along the beach. Pacific County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the reported area and discovered the dock in question just north of the Cranberry Beach access road on the beach. Other smaller debris was noted but no metal fuselage was located. Deputies continued to check the beach area for other items but nothing was located.

Small Dock found north of Long Beach WA on Beach

One of our local friends found this dock (much smaller than the one in Oregon) on the beach a few weeks ago. Knowing him, it is surely recycled into something fabulous in the house he is building.

Pieces of boat with Japanese writing washes ashore near Ilwaco | www.kirotv.com

While I was in Vegas last weekend - speaking at a convention on social media- we had some excitement a few miles from the house.

Pieces of boat with Japanese writing washes ashore near Ilwaco | www.kirotv.com:

Foam crisis on our beach!

I received an urgent communication from Shelly of the Grassroots Garbage Gang!  She wondered if I had been on the beach, just north of Long Beach.  Brett and I were just arriving back in town and immediately detoured to the sandy beach.  (we can drive on our beaches)

A call for HELP! is going out to our community, visitors and summer residents.  Your help is needed!  Our beaches are filled with foam.  Not the foamy seawater that rolls onshore - but foam as in styrofoam.

A little information:  Styrofoam is a trademark of the Dow Chemical Corporation and you can read some interesting info on the wiki HERE. 

Foam (not necessarily styrofoam) is used in marine industry - keeps boats, docks and other items afloat.  Foam is used in building - insulation and even under roads to keep soil from freezing or displacing.

Foam has started started arriving on our beaches.  An email from Grassroots Garbage Gang volunteer extraordinaire - Ellen, describes the situation.

Hi.  I'm Ellen, a resident of Ocean Park, WA on the Long Beach Peninsula.  Having spent many hours on our beach, I found the view Sunday afternoon very disturbing.  Massive foam pieces in multiple numbers in our high tide line.  I collected and analyzed this foam over a 1 mile section of beach - from Joe Johns Rd (approx 290th) to 315th.  The attached Word doc describes the analysis in more detail and the attached Excel spreadsheet tallies the numbers.  Others here are witnessing the same phenomena in the high tides in OR and WA. 

I am convinced that we are now experiencing tsunami debris.  This foam is not glitzy or glamorous; it likely won't politically motivate our civil leaders to finance cleanup.  Foam clogging the high tide line and breaking up into smaller and smaller pieces down our coast has many consequences.  I am fearful. 

Sincerely, Ellen 

 (note- yes she did a complete analysis.  If you would like me to forward the excel and word docs - send me an email - nansenmalin at gmail dot com)


Grab a large trash bag - and head to the beach!  It is vital that we collect this 'foam' before it breaks into small bits.  The shore birds see living organisms inside the foam pellets.  The birds are digesting this foam!!

Our local newspaper, The Chinook Observer, has an article about the foam too.
note- Ellen and Shelly provided the photos below

Goose Point Oysters

Goose Point Oysters is a short drive from our house.  We love the oysters from Willapa Bay! A bushel is about right. 10 dozen small/extra small in the shell - make for tasty appetizers.

scapece restaurant + bar aperitivo

Foodies, wine lovers and Oregonians all know of Nick's Italian Cafe in McMinnville, Oregon. Nick's is a MUST STOP for the freshest and finest of fresh local authentic food in the Oregon Wine Country.  Nick opened his cafe in 1977. Saveur Magazine has a great story about Nick - a kid from Oakland, CA with NO restaurant experience - opened a serious Italian Restaurant in the middle of a farming community. 

It was only natural that daughter, Carmen, (having spent some time modeling, then chef school and working at the awesome Quince Restaurant in San Francisco) met a guy -fellow chef, Eric, and they returned to Nick's to take the icon restaurant to the next level. 


Much press has been written about this dynamic chef duo.  Along with Nick's Italian Cafe, they went 'whole hog" and opened a salumi shop Fino in Fondo. 


Fast forward to the newly revamped hotel in Long Beach.  The Adrift Hotel and Spa is a project by a local hard working couple, Tiffany and Brady.  They own the adjacent boutique hotel Inn at Discovery Coast and with their keen eye - brought some verve to our little beach community.  

Notice those signs? scapece + aperitivo. It is the new restaurant/bar on the top floor.  Carmen and Eric have brought Coastal Italian Cuisine, Wood-fired Pizzas and Signature Cocktails to the beach!  


We stopped in for a quick cocktail, appetizers and an incredible sunset over the Pacific Ocean.  Here are my instagram photos.  We are looking forward to returning - watch for updates! 

Measuring Time

How many of us measured our growth by marking on the wall? Inside the Thorsen House is a bit of history dating back to 1902.

Check this out.














The Thorsen House is for sale by Discovery Coast Realty.  They have more photos and details about this historical home in Seaview.

Thorsen House

One of the original wonderful homes of Seaview is the Thorsen House. It was built in 1902 by the Thorsen family of Thorsen Paint Company in Portland, Oregon. Their summer get-a-way was a small farm - complete with a little windmill (still standing across the street)! This is the original home and very little has been done to change it's character.

It is rare that a historical home in this great of condition comes up for sale. Our friend, Cheri Diehl of Discovery Coast Real Estate has the home listed and her husband, Charlie, took some detailed photos.  Check out the video for even more historical Seaview goodness.