August 2014 by The Good Life

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Contents

page 7

Together, We’re Better.

examining life while walking the appalachian trail

HealthAllianceMedicare.org

•SilverSneakers® fitness program •$0 Tier One drugs at Walmart and Sam’s Club

Features

10 the irresistible allure of dahlias

Linda DeRooy Holmes-Cook had no interest in cultivating these flowers her dad loved, but then when he asked one more time...

Monthly Premium

Limitations, copayments and restrictions may apply. Benefits, formulary pharmacy network, Health Alliance Medicare is an premium and/or copayments/ HMO plan with a Medicare coinsurance may change on January 1 of each year. The contract. Enrollment in Health benefit information provided is a Alliance Medicare depends on brief summary, not a complete contract renewal. description of benefits. For more information, contact the plan. Call us 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily Other pharmacies and providers Toll-free 1-877-561-1463 available in our network. You must continue to pay your Part B TTY/TDD 711 or 1-800-833-6388 premium. med-WAquarterpgad-0913 H3471_14_12003 Accepted

12 ‘this is why i sing’

At every stage in life, in every place she has lived, Mary Resk has brought joy to herself and others by singing

14 no bears, thank you

The Banff National Park is a naturally beautiful outing, even if the Grizzly Bears don’t make an appearance

18 Perfectly poised

The Joan Shelton School of Ballet started almost by accident, but it became a Wenatchee institution

20 helping a youth

Volunteer fills a hole in a teenager’s life — and finds the experience deeply satisfying

22 ‘can we do this?’

Historic house acquired in a short sale gets an interior makeover by determined couple

ART SKETCHES

n The band Just-US, page 31 Columns & Departments 17 June Darling: What to do when life loses its luster 26 Pet Tales: Little lost doggie finds a home 28 The traveling doctor: How safe is legal pot? 30 Bonnie Orr: For those who love cilantro 31-35 Arts & Entertainment & a Dan McConnell cartoon 33 The night sky: Dancing planets 36 History: Early Chelan dams were a washout 38 Alex Saliby: A Sacrilege to believe in

August 2014 | The Good Life

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OPENING SHOT

Year 8, Number 8 August 2014 The Good Life is published by NCW Good Life, LLC, dba The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 PHONE: (509) 888-6527 EMAIL: editor@ncwgoodlife.com sales@ncwgoodlife.com ONLINE: www.ncwgoodlife.com FACEBOOK: facebook.com/pages/ The-Good-Life Editor/Publisher, Mike Cassidy Contributors, Rich Winkelmann, Collette DeNet, Emily Wheet and Heather Baker, M.K. Resk, Linda DeRooy Holmes-Cook, Lance Stegemann, Vicki Olson Carr, Donna Cassidy, Bonnie Orr, Alex Saliby, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin, Peter Lind and Rod Molzahn Advertising manager, Terry Smith Advertising sales, Lianne Taylor and Donna Cassidy Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy Proofing, Dianne Cornell Ad design, Rick Conant TO SUBSCRIBE: For $25, ($30 out of state address) you can have 12 issues of The Good Life mailed to you or a friend. Send payment to: The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 For circulation questions, email: donna@ncwgoodlife.com BUY A COPY of The Good Life at Hastings, Safeway stores, Walgreens, Caffé Mela, Mike’s Meats at Pybus, Martin’s Market Place (Cashmere) and A Book for All Seasons (Leavenworth) ADVERTISING: For information about advertising in The Good Life, contact advertising at (509) 8886527, or sales@ncwgoodlife.com WRITE FOR THE GOOD LIFE: We welcome articles about people from Chelan and Douglas counties. Send your idea to Mike Cassidy at editor@ncwgoodlife.com

Timing is everything By Rich Winkelmann

As any good comedian will

tell you timing is everything. That’s exactly what happened when I took this photo with the rainbow over Wedge Mountain in Leavenworth on May 26 at 5:30 a.m. This was a once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity. As always I had my Nikon D600 ready to go,

as in a matter of two minutes after taking the picture the rainbow and sun were gone. Wow, how lucky was that? Over the past 40 years of being an amateur photographer I’ve had many similar shots of being at the right place at the right time. I really love taking landscape pictures and kids doing what they do best, having fun. As usual, the best shots of kids are when they don’t know you’re taking their picture. When taking my landscape pictures and closeups of flowers one relies

on lighting, and you guessed it, good timing. I’ll just keep looking for that right moment and the right timing.

On the cover

Good Life editor Mike Cassidy took this photo of Just-US bass player Mark Sele, center, with singers Heather Houtz, left (Mark’s daughter), and Bonnie McClaine. The two other members of the group are guitarist Kyle Flick and drummer Brad Blackburn. See their story on page 31.

readers’ comments

“...we enjoy and appreciate the quality and diversity and sheer interest of your local magazine. You have managed to put out not one “marginal” issue since we began receiving our first copy a couple of years ago. It has given us wonderful insight into this community...” — Rachel and Jim Clifton Have a comment on how we are doing? Send it to: editor@ncwgoodlife.com

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| August 2014

editor’s notes

MIKE CASSIDY

Amazing grace — the joy of singing I’ve long been in awe of

people who could open their mouths and have music come out. I once watched a PBS special on the history of the mother of all redemption songs, Amazing Grace. At one point, the narrator spoke with a black British opera singer for her take on the song written by an ex-slaver, and then asked her to sing a few lines. She opened her mouth wide and the words that came out resonated so deep into my soul I was dabbing my eyes trying to hide the tears. When my vision cleared, the narrator was talking with what looked like a sharecropper in the South, in front of a dumpy house with three kids playing in the background. The person being interviewed turned to one of the kids, and said: “C’mere darlin’, sing for the man.” And this little girl, looking about age 9, uneven braids but a serious face, came up to whom I guess was her father, and with no notes and no accompaniment, opened her mouth and out came a raw, untrained, but perfectly musical voice that made me decide this is a song I wanted played at my wake. Like a lot of people, my first experience at singing came in school, when the teacher was getting us ready for a holiday concert for parents. We were arranged in rows, boy-girl, boy-girl, and after the first few bars, the teacher looked up from her sheet music, and making a dismissive gesture with her hand, said, “Mikey, why don’t you move to the back.”

And that’s been my spot since. Even at my last job, where as a company we celebrated birthdays by singing the easiest song of them all, I moved to the rear to hide my Happy Birthday to You voice. So sometimes, I go a little overboard when laying out stories involving singers. This month, for example, we have not one but two stories about singing. As I am curious whether a person who can actually sing knows what a wonder that talent is, I asked one of them — Mary Resk (see her story, page 12 — for her view. She responded: “Yes, singing to me does feel like magic. Music has always been one of my main outlets. It is an incredible feeling to express the beauty of a song physically and emotionally by literally having it pour out of my body. “Being an emotional person, sometimes the challenge comes to reel some of the emotion back so that it doesn’t overwhelm the performance. But that is an incredible opportunity, to be able to express a feeling through song.” Mary summed her feeling up by saying: “Music is always a challenge; always a journey. I love learning new styles, whether jazz or opera or folk or otherwise. And lately, music has felt most natural to me in my daily practice of lulling my baby boy to sleep with my ever-increasing stock of lullabies.”

Girls and Boys varsity

Whether performing or listening, feel the magic. Enjoy the music of The Good Life. — Mike August 2014 | The Good Life

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fun stuff a full LISTING of what to do begins ON PAGE 32

Street closed But this time, it’s for singing and dancing

here’ll be dancing in the streets when road construction is finally, finally finished in downtown Wenatchee. Really. The Wenatchee Downtown Association is sponsoring Dancin’ In The Streets Saturday, Aug. 16. Wenatchee Avenue will be closed from Orondo to Yakima and the dancing will be in the actual street with music by the Kevin Jones Band starting at 5:30 p.m. Since this event is partnering with the Summer Concert Series, the band will then turn around and play another set at Centennial Park starting at 7 p.m. The street will open back up by 8 p.m. The cost is free... and the driving to the event will be easy. Elsewhere around the Valley,

Paddle boarding — Take a lesson, then have a beer after.

Oh you beautiful tomato — taste a peck then pick your favorite at Tomato Gala, Saturday, Aug. 16.

on Aug. 1, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15. Saturdays, Aug. 2, 9 and 16 at 9 p.m. Bat Boy: A story to rock your world.

there are plenty of events that caught our eye in this month’s What to Do listings. Check out these events: Rick Springfield — Live per-

formance by Australian musician and actor best known for his hit songs, Jessie’s Girl, I’ve Done Everything for You, Don’t Talk to Strangers, Affair of the Heart and Love Somebody. As an actor, he portrayed Dr. Noah

Drake on the daytime drama General Hospital. Deep Water at Mill Bay Casino in Lake Chelan. Info: colvillecasinos.com. 8 p.m., Friday, Aug. 1. Bat Boy The Musical — A dark comedy rock musical based on the fictional 1992 Weekly World News cover story about a bat-child found in a cave in West Virginia. Performing Arts Center. Info: pacwen.org. 8 p.m.

Introduction to Paddle boarding — The lagoon at Wal-

la Walla Point Park offers the perfect sheltered environment to learn to paddle and after exploring the many channels in the wildlife estuary head to the Columbia Valley Brewery with a beer token. Info: wenatchee.org. 5 p.m. each Thursday of August.

Short Shakespeareans presents The Comedy of Errors

— Riverside Playhouse. Cost: $12 adults, $10 seniors, $8 children. Info: pacwen.org. 7 p.m. Aug. 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16. Aug. 9 and 16 at 2 p.m. Saturday in the garden — Tomato Gala — Sample many

different varieties of tomatoes, both heirlooms and hybrids and vote on your favorite. Votes determine which varieties will be grown and sold for annual spring plant sale. Community Education Garden, 1100 N Western Ave. Cost: free. 10 a.m. – noon, Saturday, Aug. 16.

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Walking thinking One woman’s journey on the Appalachian Trail: a long, long walk in the woods with pain, Trail Magic and a profound realization By Collette DeNet

f I close my eyes tight enough I can still feel the mountain breeze. The clinking of spoons and coffeehouse chatter melt away until nothing remains but the shrill of the Eastern whip-poor-will, bellowing his territorial call above my tarptent. The smell of pine returns. Gripping my tin camping mug, I sip heartily, preparing for a long day ascending and descending the mountainous terrain. I am back in the great outdoors — back on the Appalachian Trail. It’s an all-too-fleeting memory. One hundred days I spent on the trail. You could say it was an unexpected journey. In all honesty, it was actually the long awaited dream of someone else. My boyfriend, Ryan, had been saving up to hike the Appalachian Trail for about three years prior, and before he divulged his interest, I had never even known of its existence. After an extensive Google search and countless YouTube videos later, I learned it was the most popular hiking trail in the nation. Spanning 2,186 miles from Georgia to Maine, more than 2,000 hikers attempt to “thru-hike” the entire length of the trail each year, while only about a quarter actually succeed. Aside from childhood vacations to Mount St. Helens and Pike’s Peak in Colorado, I

Collette and Ryan atop McAfee Knob, overlooking Virginia’s Catawba Valley — the most photographed location on the Appalachian Trail.

Ryan Whittaker and Collette DeNet, taking a break in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia.

August 2014 | The Good Life

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had hardly ever seen a mountain up close. I had certainly never climbed one. Understandably, many were skeptical about my ambitious undertaking, but I knew only one truth: I had to try. In February of 2013, as my seventh anniversary as a Health Unit Coordinator at the University of Minnesota Medical Center rapidly approached, I was feeling less nostalgic and increasingly anxious. Working on a Med/Surg Unit provided a daily dose of reality. Losing patients to infection and disease had become routine, but when my own mother was admitted to the Oncology Unit, it struck a bit too close to home.

}}} Continued on next page

ABOVE: Campsite with tarp-tent and gear at Betty Creek Gap in North Carolina. RIGHT: Collette ascends Little Stony Man Mountain, overlooking the Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia.

Walking thinking }}} Continued from previous page My mother spent a month in the hospital, and another at home, recovering from a bone marrow transplant. As life would have it, the very day of my mother’s transplant, I learned that one of my best friends had passed away. It had never occurred to me that so much grief could be contained in a single day. I realized there had to be more to life than death. I needed to not only be reminded what life was all about, but to see it and feel it for myself. Thus, our journey began. The first day we set off from Springer Mountain, Georgia. I was convinced that everyone could tell I was an imposter, just a silly girl who thought she

could hack it with the pros. Despite having read Bill Bryson’s classic, A Walk in the Woods, and having equipped myself with all the necessary hiking gear, I was completely out of my element. Knowing that over half of those who attempt the trail leave after only the first 30 miles, I put no parameters on my trip, and told myself I would simply hike until I could hike no more. Aware that Ryan intended to go the entire distance, I tried to match his pace as best I could. I had prepared for throbbing feet and aching shoulders, but I hadn’t expected the profound introspection that would occur. Each day we followed the worn path adorned with white blazes, amid the humid cano-

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pies of rhododendrons and the snow-packed peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains. The terrain varied each day,

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| August 2014

sometimes each hour, but the task of hiking remained constant. Day after day we trekked, never deviating from the route

Nature is simple. It won’t fix your problems, but it does possess the power to heal.

Trail Magic— unexpected supplies left by strangers — appears at Indian Grave Gap, near Hiawassee, Georgia.

mapped out before us. I had nothing but trail ahead of me and nothing but time to reflect upon my life.

At 28, my life wasn’t exactly playing out the way I had envisioned and it was a chore not to lose myself in my thoughts. Some days, that was more arduous than hiking. Respite came in unexpected ways. Trail Angels exist all along the footpath, and they are exactly as they sound. Comprised of former hikers or trail enthusiasts who live along its borders, Trail Angels leave gifts, often anonymously, in the form of snacks, sodas and first aid supplies. These gifts are warmly referred to as Trail Magic. Occasionally you will also come across Trail Angels who’ve set up cooking stations right off the trail, complete with burgers, hot dogs, and beer. Perhaps the truest fact of the trail: it is not glamorous in any way. Pain becomes expected and cleanliness disappears. Sore muscles, sleepless nights, constant thirst, insatiable hunger, blistered feet and sun-soaked skin become the norm. Once you reach this point, you become truly thankful for everything around you. For me, the daily, strenuous physical exertion offered a renewed sense of confidence. I still suffered endless cuts and scrapes, and rolled my ankles far more than I’d like to rememAugust 2014 | The Good Life

ber, but something was shifting in me. The longer I was on the trail, the more items I began eliminating from my pack, and I marveled at my desire to get by with less. It was then that I discovered that none of us were here by accident. Hikers were lacing up their boots for all sorts of reasons. Retirees hiked to fulfill a lifelong dream, soldiers returning from war hiked to alleviate their demons, recent college grads hiked to justify their next 40 years inside a cubicle-shaped existence. Everyone was on the trail for a reason, even if that reason be as simple as searching for reason. There is a saying on the trail: “You have to hike your own hike.” The unfortunate reality was that I was hiking someone else’s hike. Once I understood this, about midway through Virginia, I finally attained the clarity I’d been seeking. As badly as I wanted to make it all the way to Maine, I realized I no longer needed to. That end result could never define me as a person. Scaling cliffs and traversing rock scrambles had replaced the real struggles ahead of me. It was time to face life again — head www.ncwgoodlife.com

on. Though I only completed roughly half (1,019 miles out of 2,186) of the trail, I don’t feel like a quitter. Trust me, I had many doubts as I boarded the Amtrak in Harpers Ferry, but with time as my revelator, I know I achieved exactly what I was meant to. Never will I regret a single minute I spent on the trail. Nature is simple. It won’t fix your problems, but it does possess the power to heal. Over a year later, little remains visible from my time on the trail. The blisters on my feet have disappeared and my callused hands, rubbed raw by my trekking poles, have finally healed. Outwardly I appear as I’ve always been, but underneath is a greater thirst for the simple pleasures in life. Today, Ryan and I are happy to call Wenatchee our new home. We were easily drawn to the Columbia Valley for its sunny skies and captivating mountain ranges. We look forward to all the adventure it holds and are eager to explore a place that embraces the good life. Collette DeNet is a professional writer who grew up among the Great Lakes of Minnesota. As a new downtown Wenatchee resident, she can often be found biking the Loop Trail or enjoying a pint at the Columbia Valley Brewery.

This is a Laciniated dahlia. Flowers on the facing page, top left to right: Stellar, Peony and Ball, with a sea of Cactus and Semicactus in the lower photo.

A BLOOMING MARKET It took a while, but the love of dahlias planted by the father finally took root in the daughter By Linda DeRooy Holmes-Cook

Having grown up in the

midst of the gardens of my father, I thought I had become unaffected by his passion for dahlias. After all, I had safely skated through the decades, reaching AARP eligibility before I planted my first tuber. Surely this exposure in my early years had strengthened my immune system, somehow inoculating me from the condition that I have come to recognize as “Dahlia Fever.” But no. A mere lack of interest in cultivation was woefully inadequate against the irresistible opportunity to work hand-inglove with a true master. My father, a life-long greenhouse gardener and landscape architect, had finally reached a point when he could no longer get around on his own two feet. Diabetic neuropathy had

Linda DeRooy Holmes-Cook trims dahlias staked out in the new garden northeast of Pybus Public Market.

made walking very difficult and had also dulled the fine motor skills necessary for his calloused hands to operate with the precision necessary to disbud and pinch back his cherished plants. Dad had a wealth of knowledge and history when it came to dahlia gardening, so when he enlisted the help of my sisters Vicki, Debbie and myself, we knew, were in for a major education. The “campus” on which we were schooled was actually a public garden across the street from Pioneer Park in Wenatchee. Public gardens have long been a tradition among dahlia growers and the communities in which they live. Owned by the City of Wenatchee, this garden was only one of many public gardens that Dad either created, or was a part of during his lifetime of gardening. This family tradition was

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started by my grandfather who planted a public dahlia garden at the Everett train depot in the late 1920s, and again in Monroe, when he and my dad were transferred there by the Great Northern Railroad. When Dad was hired as landscape supervisor by the Chelan County PUD in 1964, he kept this tradition alive by establishing the Wenatchee area’s first public dahlia garden at Rocky Reach Dam. Fifty years later, this garden remains, serving as a beacon to aspiring dahlia growers all over north central Washington. Some people have found it difficult to believe that dahlias, which thrive in the mild climate of Western Washington, could be grown here. My dad invested himself with a mission, to show that beautiful dahlia gardens and champion hybrids can be grown successfully in NCW, in spite of our

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semi-arid desert region with hot summers and freezing winters. He proved this every day of his adult life in Wenatchee, with dahlias being both his vocation and avocation. When he passed the torch to my sisters and myself, we became his hands and feet — we tilled, dug, planted, amended, pinched back, disbudded, deadheaded, weeded — just as he directed us to do it. His last tubers had been cut and stored for the winter when he peacefully took his rest, in November of 2006. By that time, the seeds of dahlia husbandry had become firmly implanted in the part of our hearts that is reserved for joy and wonder. The North Central Washington Dahlia Society (NCWDS) has continued to follow this example, helping to develop interest and skill in dahlia growing and showing in our region through public gardens. The Tony DeRooy Memorial

Keeping life and its accessories simple, fun and beautiful! Garden, adjacent to the Numerica Credit Union, serves as a demonstration garden, where NCWDS members help increase dahlia knowledge and understanding by employing a variety of dahlia-growing methods and techniques. In addition, several dahlia society members who are also Master Gardeners have established a dahlia garden at the WSU Extension Teaching Garden on Western Street in Wenatchee. With the opening of the Pybus Public Market near Riverfront Park, the idea for a public garden started to take root in my dahlia-driven mind. My frequent walks on the Loop Trail took me past the xeriscaping and sculpture that line the trail, enhancing the journey. I couldn’t help but envision dahlias somewhere in the landscape, with the banks of the beautiful Columbia River seeming to call out for such a gorgeous complement. I decided to explore the Pybus grounds, and had my “Aha!” moment when I discovered a couple spots where the grass seemed somewhat sparse, and without current landscaping. I went to work to develop a plan for a dahlia garden, which I then proposed to the Pybus team in February of 2014. I offered to plant and maintain a garden containing three to six examples of each of the 20 different forms of the dahlia, from the largest semi-cactus and informal decoratives, all the way down to the tiniest pompons and mignon singles. The Pybus team reviewed, discussed

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and approved the proposal, and together we selected the blank canvas of the northeast corner of the Market grounds as the ideal location. After tilling and soil building, the garden was constructed and planted in late April, with 115 different varieties encompassing every form. Building on the growing interest in growing in NCW, this seemed like an ideal way to increase local knowledge and recognition of the diversity of types and colors of the dahlia. Besides providing stunning examples of the different forms, printed material and information resources will be available. With the first blooms maturing in late June, the garden should be in full bloom by late August. On Sept. 20-21, the Pybus Public Market will once again be hosting the NCW Dahlia Show, which is expected to fill the concourse with a terrific array of more than 1,000 blooms, of every color, form and size. August 2014 | The Good Life

Being able to offer visitors the opportunity to step outside and see dahlias growing in the garden will create a unique dimension not found at any other Washington State show. The public is invited to stop by anytime and visit the garden whenever they are at Pybus. There will be anemones, peonies, pompons, cactus, decoratives, collarettes, orchids, mignons and orchettes, as well as those spunky non-conforming varieties known as novelties. Although these names sound like they belong to different species of flowers, they are all dahlias. Expect your heart to race a bit and your temperature to rise… dahlia fever is infectious. Linda DeRooy Holmes-Cook has been a music educator and most recently worked as an Elementary School Counselor for the Wenatchee School District. She succeeded in retiring (for the second time) in June 2013, and has been volunteering as an ambassador at the Pybus Public Market since May of that year.

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‘This is why I sing’ As the Wenatchee Confluence Vocal Octet takes its final bow, one voice is raised in joy By M.K. Resk

“W

hen you sang Ave Maria a cappella, you simply sounded like angels,” an audience member told me after the concert. What a compliment! And you know, I felt like an angel, too. That version of Ave Maria transported me instantly back 200 years, singing in a grand European cathedral. The final note resonated for several moments in The Grove Hall at Wenatchee Valley College, hanging in the air above the audience for what seemed like minutes. Weaving eight intricate male and female vocal parts together and then resulting in a resounding chord brings a fullness, a satisfaction, an internal joy that transcends sound; it can only be felt. Singing Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes earlier in the evening also transformed me, imagining life in a Romantic era living room eons ago, belting out tunes with my fellow classical singers. All throughout the evening I was a musical chameleon, one minute singing an American folk song, the next a Negro spiritual, the next a jazz tune. Music transports, transcends, communicates, pulls people

Mary Resk sings jazz at the The Upper Eastside Coffee Co. on Grant Road in East Wenatchee.

Music transports, transcends, communicates, pulls people together and breaks barriers down, despite language, religion and cultural ideals. together and breaks barriers down, despite language, religion and cultural ideals. This is why I sing. There’s nothing else like it. Music has always been my escape, my mode of expression, my form of creativity, my comfort. Growing up I sang with choirs and theater groups to create a new reality away from the teasing nature of navigating school hallways as a bright but awkward kid. As a young adult and college student, music let me explore the world. I toured internationally with Up with People, a group akin to a musical Peace Corps, singing messages of goodwill and performing on stage with students from around the world. In every state and country I’ve

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lived, at every stage of my life, I’ve sought ways to sing with groups and as a soloist, to continue to learn, continue to affect my own emotions and others’, and to bring joy to myself and others through music. From all the groups large and small with which I’ve sung, none has stretched me more musically than Wenatchee’s Confluence Vocal Octet. The opportunity to improve my musical ability and horizons beyond where they’d been before has been incredible. I have learned so much from my fellow singers. I have never sung with such highly knowledgeable, dedicated musicians, and though we are such different people singing for such different reasons, I think the bond that brings us together most is the pure joy and love of singing. The octet has just celebrated 10 years of musical success, and I’ve been honored to sing with the group for the past five. Now I’m at the bittersweet crossroads of looking for a musical home yet again, as my beloved octet has taken its final bow. Originally founded to commemorate the Lewis and Clark bicentennial, artistic director Leslie McEwen didn’t want the group to end after their successful debut Rivers concerts.

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Indeed, they didn’t. The octet has performed in over 50 concerts throughout the past decade, and they’re ending on a high note having just performed a concert in May highlighting favorites from the group’s duration. The group is rare in that it is a mixed group of men and women of all ages, singing eight part harmonies in multiple languages, across the musical genres, from Broadway to classical to jazz and beyond, accompanied and a cappella. Original members included Karen Knox and Deborah Cahill (sopranos), Ruth Parsons and Jeanne Lodge (altos), Daryl Higa and Barry Heminger (tenors), and Ron Lodge and Kent Salter (basses). Ruth and Ron Lodge sang with the group right up until the end. As vacancies opened due to things like moves and studies, other individuals were invited to join Confluence. Tenor Doug Randall joined a year in, eventually becoming the group’s main musical director as Jeanne Lodge departed. Briar Hoper (soprano) and I (alto) joined five years ago. Soprano Amy Edwards and bass John Wagner joined a few years back, and tenors Calen Williams, John Ryan, Steve Cockfield and Jeff Kunkel all filled in for one or two concerts apiece. All singers came to the group as accomplished musicians of varying amounts of experience — some with music degrees, some with theater backgrounds — but with very different “daytime duties” too, whether doctor, hairdresser, counselor, teacher, dance instructor, student, or hotel clerk. We all share in common studying with Leslie McEwen at some point in our careers. But beyond that, our reasons for singing vary as much as our personalities and day jobs. Remembering back to some of her favorite moments, Ruth Parsons recalls her favorite concerts as a spiritual concert

... there is something special about eight-part harmony. featuring Leslie McEwen, held in 2012, and our jazzy Christmas concert held at the museum in December. Leslie hasn’t sung a full concert in years, and it was incredible to watch the powerful soprano affect the entire crowd, reveling in tunes like Plenty

Good Room. The crowd clung to every lyric she sang. It was an experience to just be witness to the “McEwen effect” as background vocalists for her on the same stage. Ruth said she has loved the flexible artistry of the singers, and their willingness to take on new challenges and have fun with the music. I’ve sung with groups large and small throughout my life but there is something special about eight-part harmony. Eight mixed parts are not easy to learn, and the opportunity

to sing in this sized group isn’t easy to come by, either. Attending weekly and twice a week rehearsals amidst already busy lives — with three new moms and one new dad in the group recently — goes beyond simple dedication. It shows our true love for music. And the thrill we got from every once in a while, singing like an angel.

M.K. Resk is a Wenatchee-based teacher, writer, performer, athlete, volunteer, traveler and new mom. Follow her adventures at: www. mkresk.com

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August 2014 | The Good Life

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>> RANDOM QUOTE

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, “It might have been.” John Greenleaf Whittier

BEARS ! You don’t have to see Grizzlies to enjoy Banff National park in canada story and photos By Lance Stegemann

he sign read: “Grizzly bears, travel in groups of four.” The trail climbed upward into a thick stand of alpine fir and seemed to disappear behind a low-lying curtain of impenetrable fog. Late September is the time when buffaloberries, a critical food source in the bear’s diet, bring the hungry omnivores out of the back country and into much closer proximity of people than the Park Service would like to see. Bear encounters always have the potential to be a bit sketchy, and even though most go without incident, those unfortunate mishaps can leave a lasting impression on even the most seasoned bear country traveler. While reading the posted warning signs and bear awareness information, my wife Barb and I didn’t hear an elderly couple approaching up the trail. “Have you seen any bears?” a voice rang out, causing Barb about to jump out of her skin. “Oh I didn’t mean to startle you,” said the man with a thick European accent. “We have been hoping to see a bear on our visit here.” Barb promptly replied, “No we haven’t, and I really hope we don’t, unless it’s viewing them from a long ways away and from the security of our vehicle.” The man just shrugged his shoulders and seemed to be somewhat disappointed that Barb didn’t share in his enthu-

siasm. Without further inquiry, the man turned back toward the lady who was quietly standing next to him, and they slowly ambled back down the trail. “Who needs bears for a good scare?” I mockingly joked. Barb was not amused and just continued with her reading without even so much as a raised eyebrow. We were at Banff National Park, one of Canada’s most popular parks to visit. It is the place to go if you like dramatic landscapes, monolithic stone structures, soothing mineral hot springs and emerald tinted lakes; not to mention the abundance of wildlife. However, with beauty comes a cost, and this is a place, at times, that literally gets loved to death. Sharing such splendor and wildness with hoards of people seems a bit contradictive, but it’s hard to resist the draw of seeing such magnificent country in its somewhat natural state minus the urban sprawl and traffic jams. Where else can you play a round of golf with elk as the hazards? On first arrival, Barb and I checked into our hotel, gathered a handful of brochures from the lobby, packed our luggage up three flights of stairs, and scarffed down what remained of a partially eaten bag of Doritos. We were pretty much exhausted from our 10-hour drive from our home in East Wenatchee and ready to call it a night. If sleep were a race, I could’ve been in the running for first place. Despite the anticipation of our three-day hiatus, I was out

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TOP: A couple canoes on the beautiful Moraine Lake. ABOVE: View from the Banff Springs Hotel.

before I even had time to shut the lights off. At daybreak we felt refreshed and ready to do some exploring.

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| August 2014

We decided to stretch our legs and take a short walk along Vermilion Lakes. You can visually see the lakes from the

Ospreys in their nest above the Bow River react to a photographer.

A bull elk retreats back to his herd of cows and into the dark timber.

Trans-Canada Highway as you approach the town of Banff. There’s a road below the highway, which affords a much

closer look and is a good place to start for some wildlife observation and yet another picturesque view of the town’s iconic Mount August 2014 | The Good Life

Rundle. Although the road is drivable, many people walk or ride their bikes. It’s literally on the outskirts of town, so it doesn’t take but a few minutes to get there. As frost hung heavy in the cool September air, we could hear the taunting sound of several bull elk as they vocally challenged one another to a match of rival supremacy. It’s hard to find a more resonating announcement that autumn has finally arrived. I photographed one bull as he was retreating back into the woods to collect his harem of cows that were barely visible in the dark timber. They are one of the most majestic looking North American animals and move with incredible agility for having to support such a massive set of antlers. I never get tired of photographing these regal Monarchs of the forests. Later in the day we decided to take a drive along the Bow Valley Parkway toward Lake Louise. I had stopped at several overlooks along the way so we could enjoy the view of the Bow River below and search for eagles along its tree line. The valley was a vast expanse of lush alpine meadows, serpentine waterways choked by industrious beaver dams, and clumps of hardwood trees that glowed like fire in the waning www.ncwgoodlife.com

light of dusk. It is no stretch of the imagination to understand why people are so drawn to this magical place. Our second day was spent between Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. The color of these two lakes is absolutely stunning and every bit as impressive as what you might see in a magazine or brochure. The bluish turquoise water reflects light from its glacier-fed mineral deposits or what they refer to as rock flower. The water is icy cold to the touch and leaves your fingers feeling numb if immersed for any amount of time. As we made our way along the winding trail, we found ourselves at a small inlet where alluvial beds formed small dome like mounds of sediment as rushing glacier water rippled past. The breeze that cut across the lake had that familiar bite of fall and we were glad to have brought our winter coats and hats to keep us warm. On our return to Banff, I spotted a pair of ospreys with a nest built high on the supporting beam of a large metal bridge. With outspread wings, they looked a bit annoyed as I was setting up my tripod to support my camera. I quickly snapped a few photos of the pair and moved on as to not disturb them

}}} Continued on next page

a drive to banff }}} Continued from previous page any further. With our trip winding down, we still had a few things left on our list to do. We headed north toward Lake Minnewanka and sat on one of the park benches watching boats as they cruised back and forth on the water. The afternoon had been extremely pleasant and the sun felt warm as we sat and enjoyed our lunch to the sound of geese passing overhead. Before we headed back to the hotel, I wanted to make one more stop.

The bucket list Have you recently crossed out an item on your bucket list — that list of goals you want to reach before you kick the bucket? Send us an e-mail — with pictures if possible — to: editor@ncwgoodlife.

Although we may have not spotted any bears on this trip, much to Barb’s delight, neither of us went home disappointed. There was an old abandoned town site known as the Bankhead Mine. There wasn’t much left of the place except for a few abandoned coal cars and some dilapidated foundations, but it had the eerie feel of a once bustling little town. Being a bit nostalgic, I love to visit these kinds of places. An interpretive sign read that the mine had been in production from about 1903 to 1922. It supplied coal for locomotive use but was eventually shut down displacing a town of about a thousand residents. Many of the structures within this deserted site were later

Coal cars sit idle at the Bankhead Mine site.

moved to either the town of Canmore or Banff. One of these structures was the old Bankhead Railway Station that can still be found near the town of Banff on your way up the Tunnel Mountain Road. Although we may have not spotted any bears on this trip, much to Barb’s delight, neither of us went home disappointed. We took one last long soak in the soothing waters of Banff’s Upper Mineral Hot Springs and called our vacation complete. We still had a long drive home

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but our three-day stay had been well worth the effort. With so much left to see and do, I have no doubt we’ll find ourselves making the trip once again and hopefully next time it will be for a longer stay. Lance Stegemann and his wife Barbara are residents of East Wenatchee. Lance is an employee of the Wenatchee River Ranger District in Leavenworth and works on the trail crew as the district packer. With his free time, he enjoys traveling, writing and photography. His wife Barbara is a registered nurse and works in the Wenatchee area.

column moving up to the good life

june darling

What to do when life loses its shine Another day in paradise,

meh. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the apples are ripening, meh. Meh is the expression of a bored, unimpressed brain. The fancy word for meh is hedonic adaptation, the practice of taking things for granted. Meh is a natural response to a repeated experience. The problem with hedonic adaptation is that it can steal our joy, take us in search of new spouses, and run up our credit cards. After a few months, most of the superb experiences, people, places, and shiny objects that once gave us pleasure no longer mean much. We want more; we want never-ending new jolts of pleasure. How do we deal with hedonic adaptation so that we can continue to enjoy our bounty? Researchers are offering ideas. Mindfulness, savoring and gratitude are the top vote getters for pleasure enrichers. Mindfulness is paying attention to what you are seeing, touching, hearing, smelling. Savoring is amplifying what you are experiencing — marinating in it; maximizing it. Gratitude is the act of appreci-

We want more; we want neverending new jolts of pleasure. ating, being thankful. The three pleasure enrichers can be summed up in one strategy, “take in the good” which is pretty easy to remember, but hard to do. Here are a few ideas for making taking in the good easier. Make a practice of sharing three things that went well each day. Tell your friends or family. You can also write down your three good things. Describe all the details. If something bad happened that overrides your thinking, discuss or write about what good could come out of it. People who share their three good things report long lasting surges in happiness. The “three good things” conversation can be explored almost interminably so that many riches are uncovered and savored. Take a picture (or two or three) each day of something beautiful that is in your usual environment. Share it with someone and say a couple of

At Highgate, we encourage a variety of social activities as part of our holistic approach to both Assisted Living and Memory Care. Come see for yourself the many ways our residents are supported in staying actively engaged in life. email: wenatchee@highgateseniorliving.com phone: 509-665-6695 web: HighgateSeniorLiving.com August 2014 | The Good Life

lines about it. Once your brain gets the idea to be alert for good stuff right under its nose, it because more interested. Your pictures should not be intended to make others jealous, but simply to awaken yourself to the small pleasures in your everyday life. A friend of mine shared a technique he uses to take in the good daily by saying, “I’m not going to live here much longer, I better enjoy it.” He started saying this when he and his wife first put their house up for sale at the start of the Great Recession. They took their house off the market, but now have put it back up for sale, and he continues saying the same thing. It really helps him appreciate the view out of the window... the same window he has looked out of for 15 years. I recently noticed a way of overcoming environmental meh, and taking in the good. Invite someone to visit you with an intention of showing them around. You will be able to mentally take in the good as you simply think about where you might take them. Later you will experience the joy again when you actually do it. Yesterday, I took several visiting family members to Leavenworth for an hour. They “oohed” and “aahed” over the flowered horse and carriage that takes people around the Bavarian village. They screamed with delight over three silly headbutting goats in a small pasture across from the Enzian. We relished a couple of baby cones of strawberry ice cream. Then we took the North Road from Leavenworth to Peshastin as we drove home. We couldn’t believe all the fruit trees. They had been there all along. We drove by Icicle Ridge Winery www.ncwgoodlife.com

and gawked at the grapevines. I was able to take in the good all over again and it was amplified with friends. We unwittingly did the same thing while boating a couple of days ago. We often boat in certain parts of Puget Sound that can be easily reached from where our boat is moored. Port Townsend, Kingston, Whidby Island, Paulsbo. It’s all starting to become rather ho-hum. But then we invited friends to join us. These places were new to them. Our joy returned as we showed them around. Joy can be found travelling the world, continually finding new places. Joy can also be found in the same old places. The trick is to learn how to take in the good. You can experiment with your own ways of overcoming meh. And, if your ways of overcoming meh start to feel meh, find new ones. Try some that I have mentioned here. Let me know of other techniques that work for you, so we can share them with our readers. One technique that seems to work universally without getting old, is the first one I mentioned — sharing three things that went well each day. You could start there today and probably do it forever to appreciate the good in your life. How might you move up to The Good Life by learning how to consistently take in the good? June Darling, Ph.D. can be contacted at drjunedarling1@gmail. com; website: www.summitgroupresources.com. Her books, including 7 Giant Steps To The Good Life, can be bought or read for free at Amazon. com.

Perfectly poised for posterity Joan Shelton Mason hadn’t intended to start a ballet school, but once the dancing began, she put in a pretty good run By Susan Lagsdin

t must have been one heck of an office party. Christmas, 1950. Bank employees were celebrating the holiday, and Joan, secretary to the vice president, serendipitously started her brand new career. (Was it a talent show? No. Was it planned entertainment? No. Did she just …dance?) “Yes,” Joan laughed. “It was a party — I just danced. Some simple ballet piece…” Enough parents of girls were impressed by her professionalism they insisted she give dance lessons. “I started in our garage,” Joan said, “but the neighbors complained about all the traffic, and I had to move.” She eventually settled in as permanent renter of the big second floor of the Labor Temple on Chelan Avenue. Joan gradually turned her first bitof-everything lessons into the Joan Shelton School of Ballet, the region’s premier — and, yes, she’d say only — classical ballet school and a non-profit production company Ballet Theater

Joan Shelton Mason at the barre in her dance studio: “Yes,” she said when asked if she could raise a leg up to touch her outstretched hand for a classic ballet pose, “but I’m not going to.”

Northwest. She never sought the stage for herself, never fought her way to the footlights. Growing up in New Zealand, she started dance lessons like many 12 year olds. “We called it ‘fancy dancing’ then — it was a little bit of all of it: ballet, tap, modern, ballroom and acrobatic. I didn’t have a preference,” she said. She had no notions then of a dance career, and went on to major in business at a technical college. Swept off her feet by Chuck, a handsome American Marine on leave near Wellington, Joan married and left for the States, eventually settling in his home town of Wenatchee, where she had that sudden opportunity to teach dance. Early on, she decided to focus only on classical ballet, commuting weekly to Seattle for sessions with mentors, acclaimed dancers from the American Ballet Theater, learning bal-

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let again, and learning how to teach. Transition probably isn’t the word for that all-encompassing life work that Joan suddenly took up over 60 years ago. She leapt into the dance world. She connected with dance companies around the nation and was chosen to learn with the best. For productions, she always had her “small army of volunteers” and artisans to build sets sew costumes, handle publicity. She has traveled and toured, brought in fine teachers, guest artists and collaborators. Her closest friends, she said, are all in the dance world, and she drew them to her to choreograph works and tutor her students. Geographically challenged in the larger arts world, Wenatchee offered dancers a world-class dance education. Tiny five-year-olds took their first and second position steps here, and many of them became

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her perennially returning dancers about whom, she said candidly, ”With 10 years of training, they are finally on the first rung of the professional ladder.” Most girls understand that time commitment, but Joan remembered one girl who lasted only about 25 minutes in her first class. “She called her mother and complained that she ‘didn’t want to do this stuff’ — she just wanted to dance in toe shoes like a ballerina.” Nutcracker became a holiday staple. College-bound girls wept at leaving her. First generation students brought their grandkids for lessons. This community has honored her multiple times for her body of work, and articles, programs and letters all archived in a blue file folder attest to her status and show deep admiration. But again, in 2014 there comes a life transition, this one more like a final adagio. After all those years of suc-

“Really, the only time I’m ever really happy is when I’m down here teaching.” cess, at age 92 Joan admits her ballet school and the production company are in natural demise. Classical ballet in Wenatchee — and yes, Joan would say the only classical ballet in Wenatchee — is coming to a close, with not quite enough students to pay the rent, not quite enough energy to teach all week. The Joan Shelton School of Ballet is closing up shop. But Joan Shelton-Mason is alive and well. At 92, Joan’s distinctive voice, unvaried from childhood, is pure New Zealand. (”Do I really have a strong accent?” she asked. “When I phone home, I think I sound like a Yank.”) Her figure is lean, her movements are strong and graceful, her hair still fashionably auburn, brown eyes sparkling, her humor and memory totally intact. A single woman since 1985, she’s in touch with friends and surrounded various times of the year by her son, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and few great-grands. “I had two wonderful husbands (first Chuck Shelton and then George Mason of Wenatchee) and outlived them. I had each of them for 21 years. I guess that’s enough…” Looking at retirement after 60-some years of solid work is disorienting. But Joan is warming to the idea of relaxation; she has some favorite mystery authors to read more of, and plans to play her piano more frequently. There’s fresh food to can, cozy slippers to knit as gifts, and she said she’ll bake more. “I guess just about every one in Wenatchee’s already had my cinnamon sour cream coffee cake — it’s an old Sunset recipe from the ’50s.”

Joan contributed this undated photo of herself “en pointe.” In her Wenatchee productions, she would sometimes take character roles or serve as substitute, but each year cast all her students in public dance performances.

Don’t picture a total homebody. Joan is not opposed to traveling independently and there are ballets in Seattle, San Francisco and New York she’d like to see. “Oh, yes — I’m ready to go to 100.” She laughed, “Funny, that number used to be 90, then 92…” She is not leaving her studio passively. Her life is symbolized by the mirrored walls, the barres, the worn wooden floor. Every question about high points and great moments always circle back to her students’ success — the two girls both chosen out of Wenatchee for the San Francisco Ballet, the seven who are still in the dance world, the unsure toddlers who put in their time to become poised young women and the many who excelled in college and professions. August 2014 | The Good Life

She said, “Really, the only time I’m ever really happy is when I’m down here teaching.” Ironically, though she’ll vacate the premises soon, she continues to be deeply involved in her work. But this season she’s not preparing for the back-to-school lessons that always started in September.

She has a new task — the dispersal of six decades of wellcrafted fantasy and fairy tale costumes, built sturdily for the rigors of dance movement. Many are main character one-of-akind dresses (Cinderella, Snow White), while many are duplicates (soldiers, fairies, snowflakes). Carefully stored and restored hand painted scrims and flats and some extraordinary set pieces, like a working balloon from the end of Wizard of Oz, must go too. She’s contacted dance studios and theaters and hopes to sell the remainder to collectors. Joan’s at a turning point in her life, seeking direction and purpose for the next decade. “I certainly don’t want to go out like General McArthur’s ‘old soldier,’” she insisted. “No fading away for me.” She said with perfect candor, “I’ve been talking to God about it (she said that relationship is an old one) and got no clear answer. It seems like he’s been busy this summer, too.” She’s pleased her life work will be remembered not just by generations of dancers but by those beyond the bounds of ballet. “You know, what’s funny is that I’ve never felt I was very important. I just did the best I could do,” Joan said. “But we’ve had a pretty good run — they said it would be impossible to have a good dance company in a town this size. But I guess I did it.”

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Volunteers

Filling a hole in an at-risk teenager’s life By Emily Wheet and Heather Baker

urora is a 17 year-old girl who likes cooking, drawing and attending Wenatchee Wild hockey games. She feels her life is headed in the right direction now, something she couldn’t say a couple of years ago when she became a dependent of the state. But three years ago the Chelan-Douglas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) Program decided to create a mentoring program for the youth they serve. The program, now called ATEEM (Adolescents in Transition to Education & Employment through Mentoring), matches at-risk youth with local trained volunteer mentors. Aurora was matched with Terri Neel, who has been a CASA volunteer for the last 10 years. “I always wanted to do something like this for some time, to help and encourage youth to reach their full potential,” said Terri, who is a Credit Manager at Northwest Wholesale in Wenatchee. When Aurora and Terri were

first matched, Aurora said she did not expect to click so soon with her new mentor. Looking back on their first meeting in December 2012, Aurora explains, “I was excited and a little nervous, however knew right away that this was the perfect match.” Being part of ATEEM has allowed Terri and Aurora to participate in a baking class at Wenatchee Valley College, attend numerous Wenatchee Wild games, ice skate at the Town Toyota Center, and more recently they have been cooking meals from scratch; one of their favorite things to do together. Aurora said, “I would not have been able to do these things without a mentor, Terri has filled a hole in my life... I am so glad I am able to have these experiences and opportunities. If not for Terri, I would spend most of my time in my room. Now I feel confident going to more community events.” “The biggest challenge that I have had to overcome,” says Aurora, “is talking on the phone and initiating phone calls. I did not realize I had a problem with this until Terri mentioned

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“...most importantly (Terri) has taught me how to trust again.”

building a relationship with Aurora, Terri said she has, “learned patience with having a mentee and learned to try things I would not normally do — like throwing a football around. All of the activities and things we do make our bond stronger and opens up doors to new possibilities. Aurora hanging out with her mentor, Terri Neel: “If I have truly found not for Terri, I would spend most of my time in my joy in our time toroom.” gether.” it casually. I am really glad she Having a mentor has helped did bring it up because now I try Aurora grow immensely as a harder to be more talkative on person. “Terri has helped me be the phone and call her when I nicer and be considerate of othwant to hangout.” ers, most importantly she has Through being a mentor and taught me how to trust again,” said Aurora. “My mentor is the most real and energetic person I know. She is the first person I go to if there is a problem at school or if I am trying to find a job. I love the energy she has and how well she listens to me without judging. Terri is my family.” Terri said Aurora “has grown to the point that she does not care what others think of her. This is who she is and she is proud of who she is. She was always worried about how she was perceived. She questioned

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| August 2014

Each says they have learned new skills and had opportunities that they would never have had a chance to do or see. herself a lot… ‘Should I have done that?’ ‘Should I have said that?’ “She still does to some extent but she is becoming stronger or more self-assured. I believe she is beginning to find herself and where she fits in.”

When asked what has been most satisfying about being a part of ATEEM, Terri says, “Just seeing her (Aurora’s) excitement when we do certain things together. She is like a sponge and just wants to learn to do the things she loves, like cooking. So, to see her face fill with excitement when we accomplish certain tasks, either it be a success or a failure, she is still excited. She just wants to learn. I find that very satisfying.” For both Terri and Aurora, joining ATEEM has been a life changing experience. Each says they have learned new skills and had opportunities that they would never have had a chance to do or see. The future looks promising for this match, Aurora explained

that even with college on her todo list for fall 2015, she knows it will be harder to stay connected with Terri. However, writing letters and talking on the phone will keep their friendship strong. Emily Wheet is an AmeriCorps*VISTA for CASA. She has been ATEEM’s Program Coordinator for one year and loves creating matches while seeing the pair grow and become friends. As her AmeriCorps term comes to an end, she will be traveling back to her home in Massachusetts. She plans on working for a similar mentoring program on the east coast.

How ATEEM works to help local youths T

hree years ago the ChelanDouglas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) Program decided to create a mentoring program for the youth they serve. The aim for the program — now called ATEEM (Adolescents in Transition to Education & Employment through Mentoring) — is to help local youth gain the life skills necessary to become contributing members of society. “So often we see the youth we work with flounder through their adolescent years without any clue as to how to transition into adulthood and live on their own,” said Susan Baker, Executive Director of Chelan-Douglas CASA. CASA’s ATEEM Program allows mentors to assist youth to establish and fulfill educational or vocational goals they have set. It enables mentors to empower youth by helping them recognize their unique qualities and talents as well as allowing the mentor to connect with the

youth and convey the message, “You are worth my time and effort.” The adjacent story of Aurora and Terri Neel began a year-anda-half years ago when ATEEM was just starting out as a new mentoring program. When Aurora first joined ATEEM, Terri describes her as “a girl with hopes and dreams, but wondered why God had dealt her this hand in life.” Initially she did not talk much and “was guarded in many ways.” Since being matched with her mentor Terri, she has become more “outgoing and is understanding a little bit now why she is where she is. She is in control of her destiny,” stated Terri. According to Terri, “she is more at ease with herself and her surroundings. She has let her guard down for me and others that she is close with in her life. She is learning to trust again.” To learn more about ATEEM, call 662-7350 or visit www. cdcasa.org. August 2014 | The Good Life

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Heather Baker is a former AmeriCorps Volunteer who had worked with the Chelan-Douglas CASA Program for two years and now works with CASA in Resource Development. She will be taking over as Interim ATEEM Program Coordinator until a new VISTA Volunteer has been assigned to work with the program.

Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com

Sarah and Lee Lewis have plenty of reason to smile about their kitchen, a top priority remodel (see insert for the “before” look). This room was heightened, brightened and enlarged, with sleek materials and retro-look fixtures.

‘Can we do this?’

Story by Susan Lagsdin Photos by Donna Cassidy

Sweat equity, help from key contractors and the right attitude help family rejuvenate 100-year-old home while staying true to its history

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ee and Sarah Lewis knew what they were getting into. When they bought their 100plus year old home on a short sale in Wenatchee’s Grandview Historic District last fall, they figured sweat equity was a good investment in the big house they want to grow old in.

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Sarah came from a construction family; Lee admits he’s “not a handyman.” But the big question: “Can we do this? Should we take this on?” got a confident YES from both of them. “Our Christmas gifts to each other last year were crowbars and a level,” Sarah said. Demolition and reconstruction started Jan. 25. Within six months and at a cost of $100,000 they are now comfortably moved in, with

The exterior shows distinctive Tudor touches overlaid on a Craftsman superstructure. Only simple changes will be made to the overall look of this landmark house.

cessed, so totally new plumbing and wiring went by the

Repositioning workspace and appliances made a big difference for this cooking couple. Subway tile replaced the painted walls.

a list of non-essential projects they’ve budgeted to complete at their discretion over the years. “I figure we’re halfway done, but we finished the half that mattered most to us,” said Lee. The first change — a big one — was reconfiguring the crowded and outmoded kitchen. Both chefs, they are delighted with their bright white tile and cabinets and the noticeably red Italian cook stove. (Enameled, they learned, in the same factory that paints Lamborghinis) Lee credits the good bones of the 4,200-square-foot structure,

as well as the skill of contractor Randy Gold, with their relatively easy transition. The home had its exterior remodeled in the early 1920s with then-fashionable Tudor touches like half-timbering, eaves detailing, a wide brick terrace, and an arched hood over the front entry on Franklin Avenue. Inevitably, over the years several owners gently updated it with decadespecific decor. But it was initially constructed with care in true Craftsman style, probably in 1908. Narrow Philippine mahogany flooring,

August 2014 | The Good Life

leaded windows, hand sawn beams, brass fixtures and wall sconces and surprisingly large closets have been left in place. “We heard the year it was built it was the most expensive house in Wenatchee,” said Lee. Even more important, foundation and framing were still solid in 2013. Sensibly stacked kitchen and baths meant galvanized pipes ran vertically up through the center of the house, and the tubes and knobs of the early electric retro-fit were easily ac-

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book. Two sections needed special attention — the big south porch and the smaller mudroom sagged on their supports; each got a new poured foundation. In the back, a two-car garage added in the ’20s still has its sectioned garage doors that open horizontally, the separate segments bending outward from the center and around to the insides. Lee is determined to keep those “Model A” doors and hopes to fashion a modern electric garage door opener to operate them.

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‘Can we do this?’ }}} Continued from previous page

One major sticking point was the upstairs. Sarah had just reflected that never in the entire process did she think they’d made a mistake. “There were really no bad days,” she said. Then Lee gently reminded her about the upstairs, and that phone call from the builder... Rooms on the second floor had been walled in beaverboard, about the consistency of a cigar box, unlike the heavy plaster elsewhere. They wouldn’t support insulation under the new in-process roof, and because the walls had to come down, so did the ceiling. Messy work, but the Lewises attacked the problem and then beefed up their resumes by honing their sheet rocking skills. That was frustrating, but the most complex problem was solved creatively by Apple Valley Plumbing. The house on its corner double

lot has an untypically large 2-inch water main and four irrigating zones with three varying sizes of pipe. Lee said, “They did an outstanding job crafting a custom plumbing system.” The one exterior improvement was by Torres Masonry (restoring a collapsed stairway and

Olivia’s upstairs domain, with a playroom and a separate sleeping room she designed on her own, required exposing the framing to put in new insulation.

brick wall on the front landing) with permission from the Grandview Historic District,

NCW Home Professionals

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| August 2014

which monitors the restoration of older homes in the neighborhood. Lee praised the process overseeing restoration and added, “I think it’s an essential tool to ensure the area does not change too dramatically or rapidly.” What they’ve achieved is a comfortable, full-size family home for themselves and their daughter Olivia on a shady downtown street that prides itself on neighborliness. And they are more than ready to be at home — this year of house-hunting, purchase and remodeling caps a pretty hectic near-decade of important transitions. After years in the city, where Lee worked in the odd-hour crush of the restaurant industry, the Lewises moved to an apart-

ABOVE: The Lewis living room walls already have their neutral green-gray tint, called “wet cement,” that will eventually become the dominant color throughout the house. RIGHT: In 1908, the original builders used space creatively and much of the Craftsman detailing has been left intact over the years, despite occasional updates.

ment in Wenatchee to be near twin careers looking solid, they And they both realize it’s time family. Lee briefly managed a made the decision to settle into to slow down and enjoy the local winery but, at the birth of their own family home. house — fewer lists, no more Olivia in 2006, he decided to go When they walked through late nights of hammering and back to school. this house, they immediately painting. For five years, with his wife wanted to live there, even with The couple offers advice to and daughter then living with signs (some apparent and some anyone attempting a remodeling Sarah’s mom, Lee commuted guessed at) Street, of laborSuite and expense project this large: stay664-9063 focused 151 South Worthen 201 · (509) 664-9063 · (800) to Seattle University for his law D.A. involved in renewing it. They are on the present to avoid Davidson & Co. member SIPC · www.dadavidson.combeing degree while Sarah worked as a pleased now that they trusted overwhelmed. banker. Just recently, with their their instincts. Sarah is thorough and values

Wenatchee Office:

151 South Worthen Street, Suite 201 (509) 664-9063 (800) 664-9063 www.dadavidson.com D.A. Davidson & Co. member SIPC

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order and completion, but she is adamant about letting go. “Obviously you’ve got to know the big picture, but you absolutely cannot obsess about it. Do just what you can do today.” Got a good story to tell? email: editor@ncwgoodlife.com

PET tales

Tells us a story about your pet. Submit pet & owner pictures to: editor@ncwgoodlife.com

The shadow on the south shore

By Vicki Olson Carr

ary and Diane Rittenmeyer live near The Cove Marina on the south shore of Lake Chelan. The retired couple were enjoying a quiet Thanksgiving Day in 2010 when Gary spotted something unusual in front of their house. “Oh, look, Diane,” Gary called out. “There’s a Sheltie out there on the beach.” Throwing the door open, he stepped out and whistled, but the dog just turned and disappeared. That winter the Rittenmeyers continued to get glimpses of the Sheltie dashing in and out of the forest and along the beach. Neighbor Jackie reported spotting the animal also. In the spring Gary began his regular walking routine. “He’d be along the edge of the road or the woods, like a shadow — so we started calling him Spooky.” He thought to himself: “This dog’s a survivor. He’s made it through one winter already.” Gary had learned that Shelties were Shetland sheep dogs first used in Scotland to herd sheep. Prized as pets, a Sheltie pup usually sold for around $1,500, and they love to run and chase things.

Gary Rittenmeyer feeds Spooky a few tidbits. Gary shares the Sheltie’s time with current owner Catherine Morehead.

Internet, talking to veterinarians and State Park rangers, looking for posters of missing dogs. Nothing turned up. Summer lapsed into fall, and Gary and Diane saw a wet, skinny Sheltie nosing around some apple peelings left out for the deer. That’s when they decided it was time to leave him some food. “Spooky rarely ran when we found him in the yard. He just left,” Gary said. “When The couple began a serious attempt to find we went to the Habitat for Humanity store the dog’s owner — talking on Chelan radio looking for an Igloo pet shelter, the store station KOZI’s Second Cup program, conmanager — Catherine Morehead — heard tacting the Humane Society, searching the our story about Spooky. She loves dogs, and

“He’d be along the edge of the road or the woods, like a shadow — so we started calling him Spooky.”

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“Spooky stood by my chair and just looked at me. I patted my chest and asked him, ‘Do you want up here?’ He jumped into my lap...” sold us her own Igloo real cheap. She said to take the extra money we should have paid for it and buy some dog food. “Well, Diane would get together some dog food, with table scraps and bones — and we’d put that in the Igloo out in our carport. We thought he might hole up in there during the winter.” They also bought an infrared motion-sensor camera to find out if raccoons or something else was eating the food. Seeing Spooky on camera most nights reassured the couple their plan was working. On Jan. 17, 2012 the phone rang and Diane lifted the receiver. “He’s eating out of my hand!” Jackie squealed. “Spooky let me pet him! Come up here quick!” Diane dashed up to Jackie’s where Spooky also took food from her hand and allowed her to pet him. Was the Sheltie familiar with their scents because they had prepared his food

with their own hands? Who’s to know? Diane still is breathless as she recalls this sudden shift in Spooky’s behavior. Wanting Gary to be in on it, Diane called him to come up. He diced a wiener and drove to Jackie’s. “He took every single piece of that hot dog from me, and let me pet him too,” Gary said, still incredulous of the sudden change in Spooky’s behavior. When Gary opened the car door, Spooky let them lift him into the car. “He didn’t resist at all. He was relaxed and calm,” Gary said, “and he stuck his nose out the window like he’d done it before as we drove in to the vet’s office. “We found out he was two or three years old, was neutered and had no chip. And the vet said she wanted him if we didn’t,” Gary said with a laugh. Back at Rittenmeyer’s, Spooky went through the house sniffing and investigating. When Diane threw a tennis ball down the hall, he went after it, returned and dropped the ball at her feet. “When we told him to sit, he did,” she said. Gary sat down and stretched out in his recliner. “Spooky stood by my chair and just looked at me. I patted my chest and asked him, ‘Do you want up here?’ He jumped into my lap immediately and laid his head on my chest… well, I just burst into tears,” Gary recounted, so relieved the 14-month worry and anguish over the lonely, fright-

ened dog was over. Gary and Diane still speak lovingly of the south shore shadow, amazed he could survive two winters on his own. They are thrilled that an animal-lover like Catherine Morehead wanted to give the orphan dog a home. Catherine has enjoyed two years with her best buddy known now as Sullivan Barkley Kelly, or just plain Sully. The name Spooky reminded her too much of the Sheltie’s sad history. Gary and Sully have a weekly romp together, but the first event of each visit is the Howling Game. Gary starts the pickup and backs out of the Morehead driveway. Sully places his front paws on the console, raises his head and lets out a long howl. Gary howls back an answer. The game continues until they’ve driven past the Chelan Fruit warehouses on their way to a Chelan Falls park. For two or three hours, Sully gets to run free, chase squirrels or birds, and roughhouse with the man who loves him still. Gary’s touching story about Spooky aka Sully is on the Internet. Search for: Shadow on the South Shore — a true story.

Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com

Wanted: Your favorite pet photos Pet TALES is a fun feature of The Good Life. Readers can submit a favorite photo of themselves with their pets... and share in a few sentences what makes their pet special. August 2014 | The Good Life

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Send photos of pet and owner to: editor@ncwgoodlife.com Remember to tell us something that makes your pet special!

column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR

jim brown, m.d.

Pot’s legal, but safe? That’s another issue Since Washington and Colo-

rado voters have passed state laws which defy federal drug laws, the use of “recreational” marijuana or “pot,” the possession of 1 ounce of pot, and the opening of commercial pot stores have become legal in our state. There is a perception among many, particularly our youth, that since this is now legal, it must be safe and ok for human use. Currently it is estimated that 30 percent of today’s teenagers are already using marijuana. The question remains: Does “legal” equate to “safe?” Not at all. Alcohol is legal, yet binge drinking and other forms of excessive alcohol usage are responsible for 88,000 deaths in the U.S. annually. Consumers between ages 20-64 years of age were victims of a majority of alcohol related deaths. Alcoholic liver disease, fetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol poisoning are leading cause of death in this country. Tobacco smoking is legal, but its use causes 5 million deaths a year worldwide. Smoking is cited as a cause of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and lung disease

It should be obvious that legal does not guarantee safety or good health. plus it contributes to diabetes. Smokers die 10 years earlier than non-smokers. Tobacco smoking in the U.S. has cost more than $289 billion per year. Driving an automobile is legal, yet the National Highway Safety Administration reported 35,200 traffic deaths in 2013. In addition to that, around 3.2 million injuries related to traffic collisions. It should be obvious that legal does not guarantee safety or good health. The active ingredient in marijuana is delta 9 tetrahydrdrocannabinal or THC. This drug is very similar in structure to the brain chemical anandamide so THC acts on the same receptors or nerve cells that influence the pleasure, thought, concentration, sensory and time perception as well as coordinated movement. Most users smoke the plants as dried leaves, flowers, stems and seeds. Pot can be mixed into food or brewed as tea.

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Within minutes of smoking marijuana, THC increases the heart rate, increases blood pressure and the rate of breathing, causes red eyes, a dry mouth, an increased appetite and slows reaction time. These effects last three to four hours after smoking pot. The reactions are delayed if the pot is ingested, but they may last longer. The lingering effects cause impairment to last several days after the high wears off. Other short-term effects of smoking pot may include paranoia, short-term memory loss, anxiety, depression and random thinking. Heavy users lower their sperm counts, testosterone levels and have a decreased libido. Pot usage can become addictive psychologically and some studies suggest physically as well. Heavy frequent users show the effects chronically and are referred to as “stoners.” Frequent usage by young people has shown adversely affected brain development, and in some studies it has been shown to decrease the IQ. This is definitely not a “safe” drug. Tobacco smoking causes lung cancer, so what about smoking pot? Pot smokers smoke less fre-

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| August 2014

quently than cigarette smokers but they tend to inhale deeper and hold the smoke in their lungs longer. This increases the exposure of their lung lining to the harmful hydrocarbons in the smoke that are attributed to lung cancer. Frequent pot smokers have a greater incidence of bronchitis and other chronic lung issues than non-smokers. They miss more workdays due to these issues as well. Pot smokers have a 4.8 times increase in heart attacks. The babies born of women who smoked pot while pregnant are associated with an increase in neurobehavioral problems. Since pot smoking impairs judgment and reaction time, it undoubtedly will increase the risk of auto accidents while driving. Add that to texting while driving and you will see accident risks escalate. Safe to use? Not on your life. What about so-called “medical” marijuana? First of all marijuana is not a medicine and does not meet any criteria of the FDA to be labeled as a medicine. I know there are many anec-

... I will say there is a significant benefit of the Washington and Colorado marijuana law. dotal reports by people who say that using pot is the only thing that has relieved their chronic pain and suffering that was not relieved with standard medical therapy. This relief is not related to the psychoactive THC but seems to be due to cannabidiol in marijuana. This is currently being studied by scientists for its possible medicinal usage. Having said all this, I will say there is a significant benefit of the Washington and Colorado marijuana law. This has to do with the arrests, incarceration and the costs to our country related to the failed “war” on marijuana. The United States leads the world in the number of people incarcerated in federal and state correctional facilities. We incarcerate more people for drug offences than any other country. Our states spent an estimated $3.61 billion enforcing marijuana possession laws in 2010. Despite the aggressive enforcement of marijuana laws across the country, the use of marijuana has not diminished. There are currently 2 million people incarcerated in our jails. Five hundred thousand of them have been convicted of drug offenses. Blacks are 3.7 times more likely and Latinos 50 percent more likely than whites to end up in prison for marijuana offense. In the U.S. someone is arrested every 42 seconds on a marijuana charge. It has been said that the aggressive policing of marijuana is time consuming, costly, racially biased and doesn’t work. Between 2001-2010 88 percent

of marijuana arrests were for possession (not sale) of marijuana. From 2000 to 2010 more than 129,000 Washington residents were arrested for the possession of marijuana in amounts now legal, at a cost of $211 million to our state. After the passage of the Washington state initiative 502, the number of arrests for possession of marijuana fell from 5,531 in 2012 to 120 in 2013. Our state highway patrol claims that the number of marijuana drugged driving cases rose from 988 in 2012 to 1,362 in 2013 which is less than anticipated. Another benefit of this law is that is has diminished sales of marijuana in the black market. There are some people serving long sentences and, particularly in the South, even life sentences for marijuana possession. When people are arrested, even for a tiny amount of pot, the dire consequences can affect their eligibility for public housing, student financial aid,

employment opportunities, child custody determinations and immigration status. For these reasons I am in favor of that part of the law that decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Regulating its use and taxing it heavily, like our Washington State’s 25 percent excise tax, will have some tangible benefits to our state’s tax coffers. The first day of legal sales of marijuana in our state in three stores an estimated $62,000 in state tax revenue was generated. Nevertheless, this is a drug that can and will be misused. The dangers to the users should not be underestimate. Because it may have significant adverse health and neurological effects to its users, in my medical opinion marijuana should be avoided — legal or not. Jim Brown, M.D., is a retired gastroenterologist who has practiced for 38 years in the Wenatchee area. He is a former CEO of the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.

Confluence Health is an affiliation between Central Washington Hospital & Wenatchee Valley Medical Center

Our Dermatology Department has grown, introducing a new service: Mohs Surgery Mohs surgery treats skin cancer through a highly specialized and precise technique that removes the cancer in stages, one tissue layer at a time. It has the highest cure rate possible while removing the least amount of normal tissue.

Ask your dermatologist if this is right for you. Along with our new service we are also pleased to welcome Philip Hochwalt, MD, a Mohs Surgery specialist, who has joined our Dermatology Department.

Wenatchee Valley Hospital & Clinics 820 N. Chelan Ave., Wenatchee, WA

509.663.8711 confluencehealth.org August 2014 | The Good Life

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column GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

bonnie orr

For those who love cilantro... goodness sake, do not put the veggies in the refrigerator. Mix the dressing ingredients in a bowl, and whisk them to blend. If you add one tablespoon of mayonnaise or sour cream, the ingredients will not separate before you serve the salad.

The truth be known, people

either love cilantro or feel it tastes like soap. This interesting annual is just the devil to grow here. Gardeners tell me that it bolts, goes to flower and seed, before they have a chance to harvest the leaves. That is true because we have too many hours of sunlight until June 21, and the plant is eager to set seeds. Look at the areas where cilantro is eaten: They are all below the tropic of Capricorn — that is 45 degrees north — about where Salem, Oregon is. Cilantro is featured in the cuisines of the Mediterranean, India, southern China, Indonesia and Central America. The good news is that August is the time to plant cilantro seeds because the days are, regretfully, growing shorter, so the cilantro will grow its savory leaves until frost. Cilantro grown from coriander seed used to be called Chinese parsley. It has been used for thousands of years for its medicinal properties, and the seeds have been found in Egyptian tombs. (Whenever I read that 4,000 year-old seeds have been located, I have a yearn to germinate them.) In the Old Testament of the Bible, coriander is compared to the taste of manna that is provided to the Jews who are fleeing the Egyptians. I wonder if the cilantro was mixed with chickpeas and lamb meat? Pesto made from cilantro creates a fresh, clean alternative to basil. Licoricy Basil is commonly used to make pestos. Alternative bases are arugula, spinach or cilantro. Cilantro can be substituted into any basil recipe.

The following recipe makes a pesto that can be used as a dip for veggies or hearty bread. By adding yogurt to the mix, it becomes a sauce or dressing for broiled chicken breasts. It is also great on tomato sandwiches. In NCW, you can find Mexican and Central American restaurants that use lots of cilantro. The following recipe provides a change of taste: The Asian taste.

Cilantro’s leaves, flowers and seeds are edible. The cilantro relish is served on a plate designed and crafted by Stearns Eason of East Wenatchee.

Don’t ignore the remainder of the bunch of cilantro moldering away in the back of the refrigerator. Chop the leaves finely and freeze them. Do not thaw them out before sprinkling them on the dish you are creating. Their texture will be perfectly acceptable. If you have lots of cilantro, puree it as a base for a creamed soup and freeze it for later. August is the opening of tomato season. After you have gorged on BLTs and Caprese salad, try this unique way to eat fresh tomatoes. A medium-sized tomato makes about a cup of chopped tomatoes. In the following recipe, there is no substitute for garden-fresh tomatoes. To truly appreciate the summer tastes, this salad is served at room temperature.

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Cilantro-spirited tomato salad

Serves 4; 15 minutes preparation 6 medium-sized garden-fresh tomatoes 4 scallions 6 tablespoons chopped, fresh cilantro leaves Dressing: 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon water 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon — or more — salt 1 small clove garlic, minced Chop the tomatoes. Some people like to skin and seed tomatoes, do so, if it pleases you. Chop the green parts of the scallions into 1/4-inch pieces An easy way to “chop” the cilantro leaves is with an herb scissors. Mix all these veggies together. For

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| August 2014

East Indian cilantro relish

Makes 2 cups 2 large bunches of cilantro — it will provide about three cups of leaves 3 green chilies — select for your taste, ranging from ancho to jalapeno. 2 tablespoons fresh peppermint leaves, finely chopped. 2 tablespoons sesame oil 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander 1/4 teaspoon dry mustard 2 tablespoons finely chopped sweet onion 1 tablespoon nigella seed — also called black sesame (optional) 1/2 teaspoon salt Grind all the ingredients — except for the nigella seed — in the food processor until a paste is formed. Put in a serving dish. Sprinkle on the nigella seed. Refrigerate until ready to serve with pita bread or crackers. Bonnie Orr — the dirt diva — cooks and gardens in East Wenatchee.

Just-US

Band on the fun Workaday people enjoy making sweet music together By Susan Lagsdin

here’s a whole lotta joking goin’ on in the basement family room of Kyle Flick’s Cashmere home. It’s not all family, but it feels like it. “Can you tell that we like each other?” pipes up one member of the Just-US Band. “Well, most of us like most of us,” fake-growls another. A few giggles, a few clever quips with no sting whatsoever, and then they get focused. Brad Blackburn (who the girls dubbed “the sassy drummer”) says, “Being in this band makes us all happy. It’s kind of a ’triumph of community.’” Then quickly, “Don’t quote me — that sounds too… I don’t know, serious.” But his band mates overrule, and he’s doomed to be eloquent. “Serious” is a tricky concept for this local amateur band. They play tunes by respected musicians like John Denver, The Beatles, Jason Mraz, Fats Domino, Eric Clapton, Chicago, Led Zeppelin. That’s serious. They work diligently on their own musicianship. That’s serious. They absolutely adore performing, especially when listeners spontaneously stand to dance. That’s serious. But they all have day jobs and enjoy other sports and hobbies outside the band. And they are candid about giving top priority to their family relationships. That doesn’t trivialize their music; that’s the reality of their avocation. These five local musicians, ages ranging from 31 to 58, came together circuitously but with intention. Kyle, an attorney, aimed at a college music degree, but other interests intervened. Inspired by his then teenage son, he took up

Just-US, fronted by Heather Houtz and Bonnie McClaine, perform at Pybus Public Market.

Kyle Flick, an attorney by day job, plays guitar.

Financial planner Brad Blackburn keeps the beat.

guitar again around 2000. He later mentored ing guitar three years ago. his friend Mark Sele, a county surveyor who, Then Mark’s daughter Heather Houtz, a after a disheartening musical experience at teacher, took up voice lessons and joined }}} Continued on next page 20, in a “bucket list” move just started play-

August 2014 | The Good Life

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WHAT TO DO

We want to know of fun and interesting local events. Send info to: donna@ncwgoodlife.com

Slam poetry night, every Tuesday, 7 – 8:30 p.m. Clearwater Steakhouse and Saloon, 838 Valley Mall Pky. East Wenatchee. Pybus Public Market, every Tuesday Deborah Strahm, personal chef cooks at the market. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Improv/Acting Workshop, 7 p.m. Every Tuesday night with theater games for novice and experienced players. Fun, casual and free. Riverside Playhouse. Cost: free. Info: mtow.org. Country Western open mic/jam session, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. Every second and fourth Sunday. Clearwater Saloon, 838 Valley Mall Pky. East Wenatchee. Village Art in the Park, every weekend until 10/20. Downtown Leavenworth. Info: Leavenworth. org. Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market, every Saturday through Oct. 25, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. Come

sample the world’s best fruits and vegetables, some fabulous flower and crafts and coffee… all local vendors. Pybus Public Market. Leavenworth Community Farmers Market, every Thursday night, 4- 8 p.m. Local produce and crafts. Lions Club Park. Info: leavenworthfarmersmarket.org. Pybus Public Market, every Thursday night is locals night, 5 – 8 p.m. Live music, cooking demonstrations and local vendors. Lake Chelan Winery Tour, every Friday and Saturday until 11/14/14, 2-3 p.m. Visit vineyard, crush pad, production facility and taste awardwinning wines. Lake Chelan Winery. Cost: free. Info: lakechelanwinery. com. NCW Blues Jam, every second and fourth Monday, 7:30 – 11 p.m. Clearwater Steakhouse, East Wenatchee. Info: facebook.com/NCWBluesJam. Organic Garden Tour, 2nd and 4th Saturdays through September, 4 p.m. Enjoy two acres of certified organic fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers. Join garden manager, Amy Cummings for a tour and learn about environmentally friendly gardening techniques. In addition to using natural fertilizers, and regular crop rotation to improve the soil, the staff attracts beneficial insects to maintain the health and sustainability of the garden. The tour will include a stop in the greenhouse, which extends the growing season providing the Sleeping Lady culinary team with fresh produce and herbs throughout the year. Sleeping Lady. Cost: free. Info: sleepinglady. com. Happy Hour Float, 8/1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Guided stand-up paddle board trip on the Icicle River with the Leavenworth Outdoor Center. Ends with live music and beer/wine at Der Hinterhof. Cost: $25 pp or $40 for 2. Info: leavenworthoutdoorcenter.com. Summer Concert Series, 8/1, 6:30 p.m. OK*2*Botay, a 30-piece steel drum band will perform at Ohme Gardens. Info: omhegardens. com. Wenatchee First Fridays ArtsWalk, 8/1, 5 - 8 p.m. Check out Wenatchee’s arts scene. Venues and exhibits change monthly. Self-guided. WVC Campus and Historic District. Cost: art-walk free, after-events may have admission fees. Monthly info: wenatcheefirst-

}}} Continued on page 34 32

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They build bonds beyond just band practice — sharing food and beverages, joking (a lot), gently critiquing and generously adjusting, and practicing Beatles Democracy. }}} Continued from previous page her father in the band. She sang well, but being shy insisted that a friend join her at the microphone. So the group added Bonnie McClaine, a county business assistant whose public singing experience had only been in churches. Heather has since become totally comfortable performing on stage, and Bonnie’s adjusting well to the occasional pub-crawl atmosphere. That twosome carries all the vocals, with an instrumental break now and then on a long set. (Della Sele, wife and mom, keeps copious video archives and capably plays the sound board.) And the drummer? Brad, now a financial advisor but the only one who’s had a go at playing professionally, explained that drummers generally get swapped around and tried out a lot. But he happily fell in with this group after playing with them on the spur of the moment in their first jam session. The group rehearses together faithfully once a week. Every Monday night — late enough for Brad to put his young son to bed — they meet in Kyle’s downstairs getaway, a practice room lined with a neat array of multiple monitors, amplifiers, speakers, microphones, a sound board, guitars and a full drum set. They build bonds beyond just band practice — sharing food

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| August 2014

Mark Sele — on the survey crew by day, bass guitarist in his off-time.

and beverages, joking (a lot), gently critiquing and generously adjusting, and practicing Beatles Democracy. Mark gave an example. “That’s when if even one of us doesn’t want to do a song, for whatever reason, we don’t do it.” There are no big expansion plans. Since their only problem is coordinating busy schedules (“Like herding cats,” he admits) the band will stay mostly close to home, this year venturing out some from their summer mornings at Pybus Pubic Market and the Blues Jams at Clearwater’s. “We’ve looked into adding a musician, but right now the band seems to have a pretty good sound and fit,” said Mark. They can flexibly switch from electric to an acoustic sound, Kyle moving from lead to rhythm and back, while Mark works his jazz bass Fender guitar. Together, the five musicians have found an eclectic pop-rockclassic-blues groove they all enjoy. Their audiences respond well, and they have a few gigs on the horizon — just enough pressure to keep them in really good musical shape, and just enough time together to feel like family. To view a video of Just-US performing and check for upcoming performance dates, see www.facebook.com/wearetheJustUsband.

column the night sky this month

Peter Lind

Dancing planets make the rounds Venus and Jupiter meet up

in the evening, while Mars and Saturn dance with each other and then trade places. This month’s solar system tour begins in the low evening twilight. Mercury moves behind the sun from our vantage point on Aug. 8 and then slowly climbs back into view by the end of the month. The first opportunity to see it will be on the 27th when it lies just to the right of a waxing crescent moon. You’ll need an unobstructed horizon to the west so the top of Badger Mountain grade would make a nice view. Mars and Saturn lie close in the southwestern sky as darkness comes during August. On the 10th, Mars is a little more than a fist’s width at arm’s length from Saturn and continues to get closer until the 29th. Mars passes just to the south of Saturn on the 27th. A beautiful treat can be seen on the evening of the 31st. A crescent moon forms a close and elegant triangle with the two planets. It would be well worth the trip to the east side of the river around 10:30 p.m. to catch this view. Combine this with dusk viewing of Mercury and it would make an evening that would be remembered for a long time. There are many fine things to see this month, but I have saved the best for last. Venus and Jupiter have an incredible and dramatic meeting before dawn on the 18th. That morning they will approach each other within about half the width of your little finger at Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com

Have you ever wondered about our sun and where it compares with all the other stars in the sky? arm’s length. On top of that, the Beehive star cluster (M44) will be right next to them. You don’t have to wait until the 18th, as the two planets creep closer to each other in the days before their conjunction. Look for these planets in the predawn hours to the east northeast. The Beehive star cluster is easily seen with the naked eye, but to truly appreciate the number of stars in the cluster, any binoculars will show the numerous points of light. Although conjunctions of Jupiter and Venus happen fairly frequently, this one stands out. Some take place too close to the sun, and others feature a wider separation. The last encounter closer than this one happened in 2000, but the planets were then too close to the sun to be seen. The best close conjunction prior to this one took place in 1999. We have been steadily drifting away from the two outer planets, Neptune, and Uranus, and now it takes special equipment to see them. Because of the warm August nights, the prolific Perseid meteor shower is a favorite among night sky watchers. Unfortunately, this year’s shower is going to be washed out from a two-day old full moon. If you want to try to catch some of the shower, find a place August 2014 | The Good Life

that will shield the full moon, behind a building or thick tree. Face north, with the moon behind you. Of all the celestial objects in the universe, stars have been the most fascinating to study. Whether a small child who can’t stop looking up and wondering what the twinkling stars really are, or modern astronomers who are continuously studying and researching new information, stars will continue to captivate one and all. Have you ever wondered about our sun and where it compares with all the other stars in the sky? Here are some facts about stars. There are approximately 400 billion stars in our galaxy. With as many as 500 billion galaxies in the universe, it is almost impossible to count the number of stars in the universe. Stars are made from gas clouds that are scattered throughout the galaxy. The Orion nebula in one of the most famous star forming clouds. Stars do not twinkle; in fact it is the turbulence in the sky that makes the stars appear that they are blinking. The largest known star is VY Canis Majoris. This star is approximately 1,800 times the size of our sun. If it were placed at the center of our solar system, where the sun is, it would extend out past the orbit of Mars. VY Canis Majoris is massive and will burn its fuel up in a few million years. Our sun will burn slowly for billions of years. Peter Lind is a local amateur astronomer. He can be reached at ppjl@ juno.com.

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}}} Continued from page 32 fridaysartswalk.tumblr.com. Two Rivers Art Gallery, 8/1, 5 – 8 p.m. The gallery will be exhibiting winners and all entries for the Castlerock Plein Air contest. Featured artist is oil painter Artie Bowman. Introducing Bella Terrazza wines, music by guitarist Marlena LaPaz and complimentary refreshments. 102 N Columbia, Wenatchee. Cost: free. Info: 2riversgallery.com. Tumbleweed Bead Co., 8/1, 5-8 p.m. Brenda McGowan, wire and jeweler extraordinaire and owner of Studio B in Cashmere will be showcasing her recent creations. Refreshments served. 105 Palouse St. Cost: free. Info: tumbleweedbeadco.com. Small Artworks Gallery, 8/1, 5 p.m. 13 local artists works will be on display at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Info: wvmcc.org. The Sound of Music, 8/1, 5, 8, 14,

16, 19, 22, 27, 30, 31. 8 p.m. Leavenworth Summer Theater’s 20th season. Ski Hill Amphitheater. Cost: $14, $25 and $30. Info: leavenworthsummertheater.org.

a whole cast of zany characters. A tribute to the dazzling musicals of the 1920’s. Festhalle Theater, downtown Leavenworth. Info: leavenworthsummertheater.org.

Rick Springfield, 8/1, 8 p.m. Live performance. Deep Water at Mill Bay Casino in Lake Chelan. Info: colvillecasinos.com.

Fiddler on the Roof, 8/2, 7, 9, 12, 15, 20, 23, 26, 29, 8 p.m. Hatchery Park Stage, Leavenworth. Info: leavenworthsummertheater.org.

Bat Boy The Musical, 8/1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 8 p.m. Saturday dates at 9 p.m. A dark comedy rock musical based on the fictional 1992 Weekly World News cover story about a bat-child found in a cave in West Virginia. Performing Arts Center. Info: pacwen.org.

Early Bird Float, 8/3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 8 – 10 a.m. Start your morning off right with a guided nature float. Learn how to stand-up paddle board or kayak and see all that Leavenworth has to offer. Leavenworth Outdoor Center, 321 9th St. Cost: $25 pp or $40 for two. Info: leavenworthoutdoorcenter.com.

Two Fabulous Fridays, 8/1, 9/5. Music, entertainment, food and free activities for kids. Downtown Chelan. Cost: free. Rock Island Dam Tours, 8/2, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Hard-hat tours of Rock Island Dam. Pre-register: 6637522. The Drowsy Chaperone, 8/2, 9, 16, 23, 2 p.m. matinees. 8/6, 13, 21, 28, 8 p.m. This Broadway sensation explodes with darling debutantes, tap-dancing groomsmen, gangsters with a flair for French pastries, and

Happy Hour Paddle boarding by the Paddleshack, 8/5, 12, 19, 26, 5 p.m. Meet behind Fire and Ice at Pybus Public Market. Paddle down the Columbia from Walla Walla Point to Hydro Park. Shuttle service provided there and back. Cost: $20 includes guide, shuttle and a drink. Info: Wenatchee.org. Down River Guided Paddle Boarding, 8/6, 13, 20, 27, 5-7p.m. A scenic down river paddle down Icicle Creek. Includes guide, shuttle and a beer from Icicle Brewing Co. Cost: $65. Info: leavenworthoutdoorcenter.com. Introduction to Paddle boarding, 8/7, 14, 21, 28. 5 p.m. The lagoon at Walla Walla Point Park offers the perfect sheltered environment to learn to paddle and after exploring the many channels in the wildlife estuary head to the Columbia Valley Brewery with a beer token. Info: wenatchee.org. Summer Concert Series, 8/7, 6:30 p.m. Wenatchee Swinging Big Band will perform at Ohme Gardens. Write on the River’s Four Minutes of Fame, 8/7, 7 – 9 p.m. Sixteen local writers will read poetry and prose. Pybus Public Market. Info: Susan Lagsdin, 433-4742. Short Shakespeareans presents The Comedy of Errors, 8/7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 7 p.m. 8/9, 16, 2 p.m. Riverside Playhouse. Cost: $12 adults, $10 seniors, $8 children. Info: pacwen.org. PNIC Figure Skating, 8/7 -10. Town Toyota Center. Info: Wenatchee.org. NW Lions Foundation’s Health Screening, 8/9, all day. Free health screenings. Checking for glaucoma, diabetes, high blood

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pressure and sight and hearing loss. Pybus Public Market. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Back to school health fair, 8/9, 9 a.m. – noon. Children entering K – 12 will receive a free backpack, which they can fill with school supplies by visiting booths at Columbia Valley Community Health. Games, give-a-ways and information about services and other health related information will be available. 600 Orondo Ave. Cost: free. Alzheimer’s Café, 8/12, 2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. Mountain Meadows Senior Living Campus hosts a cafe the second Tuesday of every month. This is a casual setting for folks with Alzheimer’s, dementia, their loved ones and caregivers. Desserts and beverages will be served free of charge. Entertainment and activities for those wishing to participate. Join us to meet new friends and share experiences. Located at 320 Park Avenue, Leavenworth. Info: 548-4076. New Play Festival – Writers Workshops, 8/15 – 17. Time varies. Snowy Owl Theater, Leavenworth. Info: icicle.org. Foothills Hiking Challenge Guided Hike – Saddle Rock, 8/16, 6 a.m. Jose Luis Marquez will lead this guided hike. Info: cdlandtrust.org. Saturday in the garden — Tomato Gala, 8/16, 10 a.m. – noon. Sample many different varieties of tomatoes, both heirlooms and hybrids and vote on your favorite. Votes determine which varieties will be grown and sold for annual spring plant sale. Community Education Garden, 1100 N Western Ave. Cost: free. Dancin’ In the Streets, 8/16, 5:30 pm. Kevin Jones Band will perform. Bring the whole family to celebrate the end of construction in Downtown Wenatchee. Centennial Park between Orondo and Yakima Ave. Cost: free. Info: wendowntown.org. Moonlight Music Fest, 8/16, 6:30-9:30 p.m. Come and enjoy the moonlight, mountains and music in Plain. Music by Uphill Both Ways, a bluegrass band from Ellensburg and The Hoyer Brothers, a local Leavenworth band who performs funk and soul. Plain Hardware parking lot. Cost: free any donation goes to local fire department. Info: plainhardware.com. Jeff Dunham, 8/16, 8 p.m. Live

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performance. Deep Water at Mill Bay Casino in Lake Chelan. Info: colvillecasinos.com. United Way Color Rush, 8/17, 8 a.m. 5k run. Pybus Public Market. Info: wenatchee.org. Bloomsday, 8/17, 1 – 3 p.m. A play about an American man returns to find the woman who first captured his heart 30 years earlier. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $12. Info: icicle. org. The Change Room, 8/17, 7 – 9 p.m. A play about an aging professor who cannot seem to find his gym locker is thrown into an existential tailspin, pulling in old foes and new friends. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $12. Info: icicle.org. Compassionate Friends, 8/18, 7 – 8:30 p.m. A grief support group that helps assist families dealing with a death of a child. Grace Lutheran Church, 1408 Washington St. Cost: free. Info: tcfwenatcheevalley.org. Instagram Your Business, 8/19, 8:30 a.m. Join GWATA at Pybus Public Market for a deep dive into some of today’s most highly used social media platforms. Local experts present very focused social media topics. Info: wenatchee.org. Eurosports Cyclocross Race, 8/20, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Cyclocross courses features pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly dismount, carry the bike while navigating the obstruction and remount. Leavenworth Ski Hill. Info: skileavenworth.com. The Grief Journey, 8/21, 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Bob Baugher is a psychologist and certified death educator who is a psychology instructor at Highline Community College near Seattle. Dr. Baugher will visit Wenatchee and conduct a grief seminar on “The Grief Journey.” This seminar, sponsored by The Compassionate Friends, will be held at Grace Lutheran Church, 1408 Washington St., Wenatchee and will include a light lunch. Cost: free, donations accepted. Info: Carol (509) 860-3620. NCW Wine Awards, 8/23, Town Toyota Center. Info: towntoyotacenter.com. Foothills Hiking Challenge Guided Hike – Horse Lake, 8/24,

6:30 a.m. Rebecca Frank and Jose Luis Marquez will lead this guided hike of the Horse Lake Reserve. Info: cdlandtrust.org. LABOR DAY GIANT GARAGE SALE & BAKE SALE, 8/30, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., 8/31, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m., The Chelan County Fire District #9 Auxiliary will hold their 20th Annual Labor Day Giant Garage Sale & Bake Sale at Fire Station #9 located at 21696 Lake Wenatchee Highway. Sale is by donation. Come enjoy the delicious baked goods and look for amazing bargains. All proceeds from the sale go to benefit our volunteer fire department. 80’s Rock, 8/30, 8 p.m. Live performance with Winger, Warrant, Firehouse, Jack Russell’s Great White. Deep Water at Mill Bay Casino in Lake Chelan. Info: colvillecasinos. com. Leavenworth Quilt Show, 9/3-7, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Meander throughout the Village Shops and enjoy antique quilts, wearable quilted art, wall quilts, table runners and new quilts. Festhalle. Cost: $5. Info: quiltersheaven.com. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 9/5, 6, 7 p.m. A family-friendly, pared down, and wild version of the comedy classic by William Shakespeare as you’ve never seen it before. Meadowlark Stage, Leavenworth. Cost: $10 adults, $5 youth. Info: icicle.org. Boston, 9/6, 7:30 p.m. Live performance. Town Toyota Center. Info: towntoyotacenter.com. Melissa Etheridge, 9/6, 8 p.m. Live performance. Deep Water at Mill Bay Casino in Lake Chelan. Info: colvillecasinos.com. Chelan ridge Hawk Migration Festival, 9/13, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. Join the Methow Valley Ranger District, North Central Washington Audubon Society, and HawkWatch International this fall for the fifth annual Chelan Ridge Hawk Migration Festival! This family event combines free activities in Pateros Memorial Park with trips to the Chelan Ridge site to learn about and celebrate raptors as they journey to winter territories. The festival takes place in Pateros Memorial Park and will have vendors, live raptors, birding field trips, and projects for kids. The trip to and from Chelan Ridge lasts 4 hours and includes seeing raptors as they are banded and released. Pre-registration is required. Info: ncwaudubon.org. Quincy Valley Balloon FestiAugust 2014 | The Good Life

val, 9/13-14. Hot air balloons. Info: partiesonthegreen.com. Leavenworth Wine Walk, 9/13, noon – 6 p.m. Taste up to 60 different wines. Passport includes a bottle tote, walking map, discount coupons and prizes. Live music at the gazebo. Downtown Leavenworth. Cost: $40 pp/$70 per couple. Info: cascadefarmlands. com. Sustainable living and farming tour, 9/13-14. See and learn first hand how to lead a simpler more sustainable life. Listen to experts in the field, tour sustainable homes, farms and businesses including straw bale houses and yurts, off-the-grid buildings, organic farms and gardens, alpaca and llama farming, bee and chicken raising and more. Simply Living Farm Store, 925 commercial St, Leavenworth. Info: simplylivingfarm.com. 19TH ANNUAL CASCADE MEDICAL FOUNDATION HOME and GARDEN TOUR, 9/13, noon to 5 pm. The Cascade Medical Foundation will hold their annual home and garden tour featuring seven unique and beautiful homes in the Leavenworth area. All proceeds go to support and enhance the quality health care service that Cascade Medical provides to Leavenworth and the surrounding area. Cost:$20. Tickets at the Cascade Medical Center admitting desk and will be available

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at the featured homes. Info: 509 548-2523 or www.cascademedicalfoundation.org. Wenatchee River Salmon Festival, 9/20, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Rocky Reach Visitor Center. Info: 663-7522. George Thorogood & the Destroyers, 9/20, 8 p.m. Live performance. Deep Water at Mill Bay Casino in Lake Chelan. Info: colvillecasinos.com. Just Plain Fun run, 9/28, noon. Three mile run and family walk. Post race party and prize drawings. Begins and ends at Plain Hardware. Cost: $10 donation pp/$20 per family. All proceeds benefit the Beaver Valley School. Info: plainhardward.com.

column those were the days

rod molzahn

Early Chelan River dams were a washout The first dam on the Chelan

River was built in the summer of 1889 by L.H. Woodin. It was constructed entirely with wood from his sawmill. The small dam was constructed about half a mile downstream from the mouth of Lake Chelan to provide water to the newly platted town of Chelan. The dam washed out in the spring high water the next year. Nine years earlier there was a short-lived Army post on the town site built when the Chief Moses or Columbia Reservation was formed. In 1886 the reservation was opened to homesteading but not to town building so there were several years of litigation and confusion over the legitimacy of the town plat and its 1,000 lots. In April of 1892 a second dam, larger but also made of lumber, was built at the end of Emerson Street by Benjamin Smith and Chris Robinson to provide water for the development of land south of the lake. The dam

began replacing the damaged Smith/ Robinson dam with a much larger and stronger one built of heavy timbers and pilings floated down lake from Stehekin. It went undamaged through the spring run-off that year but was no match for the overwhelming flood a year later in June of 1894. The water washed away the south end of the dam along with the first Chelan River Bridge that was loThe Chelan River powerhouse works at the bottom cated near the site of the present bridge. of Chelan Falls. Photo by Rod Molzahn The 1894 flood raised the lake level by several devastated property along all of feet, allowing steam ships to the upper and mid-Columbia. It dock closer to the town. Only washed away cable ferries and three months later, in June, high their moorings, farms, railroad water destroyed part of the dam. tracks, barns and houses includIn January of 1893 the Chelan ing the new home of steamboat Water and Power Company owner, Alexander Griggs. The was formed and immediately flood re-channeled the mouth

of the Chelan River, heavily damaging the bustling town of Chelan Falls. The early dams were low and similar in appearance to the Tumwater Dam, built at about the same time. They were built for water diversion but the prospect of electric power generation on the Chelan River was also clear to the 200 to 300 residents of Chelan. The Washington State Legislature authorized the creation of Chelan County in 1900 and immediately a battle for the county seat broke out between the town of Chelan and its somewhat larger neighbor to the south, Wenatchee. The primary argument for Chelan was the potential for electric power generation on the Chelan River that, according to the people of Chelan, would attract new residents soon making Chelan the population center of the new county. They lost the county seat to Wenatchee but in 1903 their

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dream was realized when Morrison McMillan Kingman, the new owner of the Chelan Water and Power Company, built the first power-producing dam on the Chelan River. As the townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population grew the need for additional generating power grew with it. Soon Washington Water Power Company, headquartered in Spokane, bought out Kingmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s company and in 1925, after years of study, began construction of the current Chelan River Dam and on the powerhouse near the confluence with the Columbia at the bottom of Chelan Falls. The dam, near the mouth of Lake Chelan, and the powerhouse were completed in 1927, six years before Rock Island Dam, making the Chelan River Dam the first power generating dam in north central Washington and the largest in the Northwest. The dam raised the lake 21 feet to its present level. In a departure from the earlier dams of wood, the new dam was a 40-foot high and 490-foot long steel-reinforced concrete structure containing eight spill-way bays. Water from behind the dam was diverted into a 2.2 mile long, 14-foot diameter underground steel and concrete tunnel that dropped 350 vertical feet to the powerhouse. The steep drop creates 180 pounds per square inch of water pressure surging into the damâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s two turbines. That compares to 35 psi at Rocky Reach Dam and 17 psi at Rock Island. There is a 130-foot tall surge tank on the hillside above the powerhouse to vent the high pressure water if an accident closed the intake at the powerhouse. Without the surge tank in a catastrophic event the high water pressure would burst the intake pipes and destroy the turbines. The 14-foot wide intake tunnel splits into two 7-foot pipes as it enters the powerhouse to spin the two turbines at 300 revolutions per minute (5 per second)

producing 42,662 horsepower each. The original generators were rewound in 1951 and 1952 and provide a combined 62 megawatts of power. The original turbines were replaced in the 1980s. Much in the dam has not been replaced since the initial construction. That includes several large steel pipes that bear small, raised swastikas on their surface. The swastikas are upright and right facing. Such symbols have been a sign of good fortune for many cultures since ancient times. The symbol was adopted by the Nazi party in the 1920s. When the

party took over Germany in 1933 the swastika image was rotated 45 degrees to give it a different look from the traditional image. The steel pipes in the Chelan Dam must have been produced in the late 1920s by a German steel manufacturer with ties to the rapidly growing political party and trading ties with the United States. In July of 1955, after a three year legal battle with Washington Water Power Company, the Chelan County P.U.D bought the Chelan Dam and consolidated all the electric generating capacity in north central Washington under one producer.

As part of the current licensing agreement with the federal government a constant and regular flow of water pours down the Chelan River canyon to support the extensive and productive salmon spawning habitat created by the P.U.D. just north of the powerhouse at the base of the Chelan gorge. Historian, actor and teacher Rod Molzahn can be reached at shake.speak@frontier.com. His third history CD, Legends & Legacies Vol. III - Stories of Wenatchee and North Central Washington, is now available at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center and at other locations throughout the area.

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column ALEX ON WINE

ALEX SALIBY

Sacrilege : A blending sin I’m willing to forgive The Lake Chelan AVA has

exploded; once there were five wineries around the lake, now there are 20. Were I to venture a guess, I’d say that number will increase, as the area is just too scenic and delightful and those qualities continue to lure newcomers. Tunnel Hill Winery is one of the original five wineries in the region, begun before Dennis Evans — Denny to friends, family and visitors at the winery — and son Guy built the new tasting room and wine-making facility. Back then, we tasted the first Pinot Noir from the barrel in a room in the lower level of the house — I think it was spring of 2001. There, Denny poured us tastes of his bottled wines. After we had finished, Denny casually suggested, “…and would you like to taste some Pinot Noir? It’s still in the barrel and …” his voice trailed off. Being hardened wine samplers and willing to try new things, we accepted the invitation. Besides, the thought of Pinot Noir was alluring. We were astonished at how good it was, as we were tasting wine made from grapes harvested the fall before, barely seven

I fell in love instantly with whatever wine was in the bottle because of the aromas. or eight months earlier. Funny how life seems to be in fast-forward mode these days. That tasting seems almost as if it were just last year, although I know it was not. Fast forward to last year, when a friend gave us a bottle of Tunnel Hill’s 2011 Sacrilege. We hadn’t tasted the wines from Tunnel Hill in some time, so had no expectations. Often, when tasting wines, people are influenced by their expectations. A friend might have recommended it, or might have called it “just so-so,” leaving the taster with a preconceived notion of the wine. I liked two things about the wine before I tasted it. First, I loved the name, as I’m one who holds the act of blending Syrah with Pinot Noir to be a major sin. To me, such a blend is sacrilegious to say the least. Second, I fell in love instantly with whatever wine was in the bottle because of the aromas.

The wine possesses the best aromatics of both grapes, the Pinot Noir and the Syrah. I’ve no idea how that is possible, so I am able to forgive winemaker Michelle for this blending sin. We were so pleased with the wine when we drank it that we immediately agreed to plan a trip to the lake region just to visit Tunnel Hill and try their latest wines. We made that trip this past May. I know, I know; I should have written this article about Denny and Guy and the Tunnel Hill venture a decade ago. I didn’t. But I’m here now to tell you how much fun you’ll have when you stop in at the tasting room. If you’re lucky, and it’s a slow day, Michelle will be pouring for you, and she’ll have time to walk you through the current tasting sheet. Tunnel Hill has, as do most of the tasting rooms in the Lake Chelan AVA, a tasting fee of $5 and tasters are allowed to choose four wines from the list of eight; fees are waived with a purchase. Wines are also available for purchase by the glass should you choose to just sit and enjoy some wine. Some of the joys of being a highly paid wine writer are the

perks that come with the job. For me, the fee was waived, so I got to really indulge myself. For the whites I chose the 2013 Viognier and the 2012 Estate Riesling. Both wines deserve medals for being well made, and for having aroma and flavor profiles characteristic of the grape variety. I went south from the whites and asked for a taste of the 2013 Estate Pinot Noir Rosé. I was hoping for a dry rosé and I wasn’t disappointed. But white wines and Rosé wines are not why I was at the winery; I wanted the reds. Three were on the tasting sheet that day we were there, and we sampled all three. Better still, I found all three exemplary of the fruit from which they were made. My favorite of the three was the 2011 Syrah. I have only positive words to utter about the 2011 Estate Pinot Noir and the 2011 Sacrilege. Both wines, clear, crisp and clean, are well made, and are certain to please even the most critical of wine tasters. For me, the 2011 Syrah, with fruit from the Lake Chelan AVA, raises the quality bar for Tunnel Hill wines to its highest level. Seems I’ve rambled on here a bit, and I apologize for that, but I thought a bit of the history helped put the current winery into perspective. We’ll return to Tunnel Hill and continue to enjoy their wines. If we’re lucky, we’ll get to meet some of you there. Alex Saliby is a wine lover who spends far too much time reading about the grapes, the process of making wine and the wines themselves. He can be contacted at alex39@msn. com.

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