The cover of this year’s edition of Our Coast Magazine.

After months of filing through first drafts and page proofs, stories from this year’s edition of Our Coast Magazine have begun to appear online and will soon be available in print.

This year’s magazine, which will be out in late March, is a set of windows into the days and lives of people who call this region home, from oyster farmers to U.S. Coast Guard families.

It visits places like Pier 39 and Saddle Mountain and tells of local music recording studios, people onboard ships in the Columbia River and expansion plans at the Columbia River Maritime Museum.

Leading its overall theme is “Hours by the tides,” a set of scenes captured by Astorian photographer Shanna Madison, beginning with the journey of a coho salmon in the early morning hours and ending with a group of surfers as they exit the waves one last time at dusk.

One of my favorite projects for this year’s magazine was painting a set of watercolors that represent historic home styles of Astoria, like Craftsman and Queen Anne, complementing a piece on the city’s styles of architecture.

The magazine is an ode to a day on Our Coast. We look forward to sharing it.