Mish mash

'Tis the season to be reminded that mish was the Salish word for river. Thus Stillaguamish, Snohomish, Skykomish, Sammamish, Duwamish. Although that doesn't exhaust the great river names around here: Nooksack, Snoqualmie, Puyallup, Nisqually, Dosewallips, Pysht, Quillayute, Quinault, Skookumchuck, and the ever popular Humptulips.

Lists of flooding rivers on the news always sound pretty tribal in these parts. It was something that struck me as soon as I moved here. It was a January, after all.