Another blogger emerges from the estuary

Well, it's true that I live in the region of the Columbia River estuary, and I'm so glad that I do. I'm just settling in after about three weeks on the road, mostly on the East Coast. The best parts of that journey were seeing my son, Ivan, and his girlfriend Cindi on St. Patrick's Day, and staying with my daughter, Nirvana, and her husband, Scott. What delightful people my children have grown into!

I also had the opportunity to participate in a short story discussion group in Washington, DC. These people have been meeting once a month for ten years! We read "Clay" from the Dubliners by James Joyce, and spent a solid hour dissecting the story and offering competing theories regarding Joyce's intent. Delighthful.

Most of the rest of the trip was politics and activist shenanigans. I joined Columbia Riverkeeper and a gang of citizens in filing a fraud complaint in DC regarding documentation for an initial public offering of Northern Star Natural Gas, one of the LNG speculators casting their unwelcome shadows on this precious estuary. A batch of us took a Chinatown bus to New York City to further protest the IPO at NASDAQ, Matlin Patterson (controlling interest) and Citigroup (the underwriter). We had to pick the day of a sleet and snow storm - although it was auspiciously St. Urho's Day.

I eventually found my way back to DC for many meetings - including numerous discussions with Congressional staff and sometimes their bosses - on LNG, on fish, on the future of this country.

A major highlight of the trip was the Board of Advisors meeting for the Marine Fish Conservation Network. What an incredible, bright, strategic and fun group of people. Of course the DC time would not have been complete without dining and socializing at The Reef - one of my favorite Adams Morgan haunts.