WE LIVE OUR LIFE, OUR WAY = NOTHING ELSE MATTERS

Friday, July 25, 2025

SHABBAT BLESSINGS ON OUR HUMBLE HOME~Shalom Aleichem; Ocean Park-WA

Shalom Aleichem: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP_y5j6AoAM)

Translation: Peace upon you, ministering angels, messengers of the Most High,
of the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.

Come in peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High, of the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.

Bless me with peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High, of the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.

May your departure be in peace, messengers of peace, messengers of the Most High, of the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.

BUTTERFLY FLEET & Desdemona Sands Lighthouse~Astoria-OR

July 24th: Today we had some shopping to do in Longview-WA, so we left in the early morning hours to accomplish what needed to be done … and get back home before the sun started setting. It's about 1-1/2 hr.s driving both ways; and we had several stops to make in between.

A misty morning as we passed from Ilwaco-WA to Chinook-WA
Crossing the Astoria-Megler Bridge … WA side; even as the Day unfolded, the gray clouds never did disappear.
Last Century pylons -  remnants of The Desdemona Sands Lighthouse; Columbia River reveal ebbing on the Pacific Ocean out-going tide.
The Desdemona Sands
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desdemona_Sands_Light)
Location of the Desdemona Sands.
Antique picture of The Desdemona Sands Lighthouse; the lighthouse was built to aid navigation of the Columbia Bar, and while it was close to the border between Oregon and Washington, it was situated on the Oregon side of the River.
The Desdemona Sands Lighthouse
(https://shipreport.net/2020/01/06/the-desdemona-sands-lighthouse/ & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desdemona_Sands_Light)
Holland says this extensive silty sediment sandbar running under this low-lying portion of the bridge, is Cowlitz River fallout muck; following the 1980 Mt. St. Helen's eruption. The river is constantly being dredged because the silt is continually being stirred up and relocated by the strong under currents.

Doing research for this posting after I got back home, it dawned on me that given the timeframes for the dismantling of the lighthouse, and the event of the Astoria-Megler Bridge … my friend David - and my 1st husband Bob, would have seen the lighthouse in the middle of the Columbia River before it was dismantled. I know for a fact that Bob watched the bridge being built, and was among the very first travelers to cross it when it opened for business: Bob told me himself, that when he worked for the Charter boats in Ilwaco-WA, he was ferrying fish scraps across the river to Warrenton-OR to be processed there. He was happy when the stinky business was shortened due to the quicker pace of driving across the river rather than the slow crawl of the ferry 😉

My family arrived in WA State in the summer of 1965, & I didn't get the beach explorations until I married Bob in 1974 and we started making annual trips to Long Beach with the kids. By then, the Bridge had been doing steady business, and the Lighthouse was long gone.

1965-1966 timeframe Bob (my 1st husband) was a teenager, working his first ‘mature job’, that was not family-related – he started work on Ilwaco-WA Charter Boats … and was one of the first vehicles to pass over the Astoria-Megler Bridge, when it was opened to the public. Before the bridge, traffic was hauled from shore to shore by ferry.
Astoria-Megler Bridge.
Construction And Impact Of The Astoria-Megler Bridge:  (https://www.centraloregondaily.com/archives/central-oregon-daily/destination-oregon-construction-and-impact-of-the-astoria-megler-bridge/article_ec9ef636-1a20-5f81-8dcf-1a43973a3e5a.html)

Crossing the bridge today with my current husband of 30 months 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨, I am learning new things about the river (Holland was a fishing junkie, and has fished up & down this river extensively; from Portland-OR and downriver, stopping short of Buoy #10 = the mouth of the Columbia River where it meets the Pacific Ocean) - and he is learning the History of the Bridge (I'm a History junkie 😘).

Driving through Astoria towards Rainier-OR (where we would collect our mail, & cross the Lewis & Clark Bridge into Longview-WA) … I snagged a pictures of this mural; & researched it when I got home. What I read was interesting - and the fishing boats must have been a beautiful thing to see 😁👍 when their sails were set.

We exited the Bridge & followed Marine Drive out of Astoria, towards Longview-WA; via the OR side of the Columbia River.
Butterfly Fleet Mural; Astoria-OR
Columbia River "Butterfly fleet" commercial fishing boats, circa 1800's; Astoria-OR

{{By today’s standards, the salmon fishing boats of those days were small, perhaps 26 feet long, although they feel big and heavy when you stand next to them. One of them rests inside Astoria’s Pier 39 near the coffee shop, another at the Columbia River Maritime Museum. They were powered by sail and by oar, and were manned by two men — the captain, who tended the net, and the “boat puller,” who rowed.

When their two sails were set, they reminded onlookers of butterflies dancing across the river. In 1878 Nellie Megler wrote in the Astorian, “It is a pretty sight, in the early twilight of a pleasant day to see the boats, with sails all spread, skimming along the water, on their way to the fishing grounds.”

Gillnetters fish for salmon with long “gillnets,” woven nets suspended vertically in the water between a rope suspended at the top by cork floats, and weighted at the bottom with lead. The nets, perhaps 250 fathoms long and 20 feet top to bottom, were laid out across the incoming tide with its incoming fish, who swam into the nets and were caught by the gills. Then, as now, the fishing was generally done in the evening and at night, so the salmon couldn’t see, and avoid, the net. In those days, boats were generally owned by the cannery.}}

Crossing the Astoria-Megler Bridge again later in the afternoon, on our way home - I saw that the tide had come back in & the pylons were nearly submerged again.

We came home with most of what we set out to bring back with us; we're satisfied that when we leave here in September for Brookings-OR, we'll be pretty much "set" for the duration there.

Where the good Lord Yeshua leads us then … only He knows.

The incoming tide now covering the Desdemona Sands.

But whatever happens, we'll be riding the tide and going with the flow - trusting that Elohim will keep our head above water 🙏❤️😊👌