December 2014 good life

CAUGHT IN A SUDDEN STORM Y EVENTS CALENDAR

WENATCHEE VALLEY’S

NUMBER ONE MAGAZINE

December 2014

Price: $3

Open for fun and adventure

Feeling the magic

first time santa Christmas Why reindeer fly — odd origins of Yule traditions

Sailing with kids No Mutiny on the Bounty when family takes to the water

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Contents

page 16

first time santa arrives in a red sled

Features

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a family goes sailing

But first, mom had to learn the ropes

10 Calendar art

Photo contest aimed at showing the beauty of the Wenatchee watershed also results in a picturesque calendar

12 caught in a sudden storm

Medicare’s deadline is almost here!

How much gear should a day-hiker carry? When good weather turns to bad, more becomes better

18 odd origins of christmas traditions

DECEMBER

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What’s the deal with a tree in the house, magic mushrooms, flying reindeer and a Christmas spirit that takes naughty kids to hell?

22 a scary motorcycle adventure

LAST DAY to enroll.

Even if you already chose a plan for 2015, you can still switch to a Health Alliance Medicare plan. Don’t MISS OUT — enroll TODAY!

Springing a leak on a steep trail, miles from home. Time to call friends and be creative

•

24 The Federalist

$0 preferred generics at Walmart™ and Sam’s Club*

•

See doctors you know and trust

•

Health Alliance Medicare saves you money!

East Coast natives blend their ideas from home with suggestions from local designers to create a unique first home

Medicare’s Annual Enrollment ends Sunday, December 7!

ART SKETCHES

n Leather craftsman Dustin Spencer, page 34 n Arts organizer Karen Dawn Dean, page 39 Columns & Departments 28 June Darling: Get real to get deep 30 Bonnie Orr: Everything’s better with spuds 31 Pet Tales: Hey, this is no German Shepherd 32 The traveling doctor: The St. Lawrence Seaway 34-39 Arts & Entertainment & a Dan McConnell cartoon 37 The night sky: Watch for the meteors 40 History: Pioneers created their own warm fun 42 Alex Saliby: Wines for holiday get-togethers December 2014 | The Good Life

Call now to enroll or learn more!

1-877-749-3002 TTY: 711 7 days a week, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Health Alliance is an HMO plan with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in Health Alliance Medicare depends on contract renewal. Benefits, formulary, pharmacy network, premium and/or copayments/coinsurance may change on January 1 of each year. The benefit information provided is a brief summary, not a complete description of benefits. For more information, contact the plan. Limitations, copayments and restrictions may apply. * Low copayments available at other pharmacies.

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OPENING SHOT

®

Year 8, Number 12 December 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, Brian Mitchell, Marlene and Kevin Farrell, Andy Dappen, Alan Moen, Maureen Stivers, Bill Landsborough, 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, Mike’s Meats at Pybus, Rhubarb Market, 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

The Good Life® is a registered trademark of NCW Good Life, LLC. Copyright 2014

by NCW Good Life, LLC.

Saddle Rock under a starry night

By Brian Mitchell

S

addle Rock is easily one of the best places to get great photos in the Wenatchee Valley.

Now finding a good location is one thing, but it is how a person frames and composes the shot that really makes the difference in photography.

Fortunately, Saddle Rock is positioned close enough to town that in this shot, I was able to use the light from homes, businesses and street lights to illuminate my foreground and subject.

Normally this light would ruin my chances of getting a very good photo of the night sky, and while it did have an effect, the light sensors that capture the images on today’s cameras are good enough to still capture good images of the stars, despite

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the massive amount of light pollution from the two towns.

I am 25 years old and have lived much of my life in the Wenatchee Valley. While most of my high school peers were off pursuing life-long careers via college, I have spent much of that time learning to repair shoes at American Shoe Shop.

The problem-solving skills I have learned from that trade constantly help me to find better ways of getting good photos.

It wasn’t until about three years ago, when my parents bought me my first DSLR camera, that I really took a serious interest in photography.

Photography is one of the few things that comes naturally to me, so it seemed like something good to spend a lot of my spare time and money on.

Some might find it a bit crazy to go out into the woods late on a work night, and I’ll admit that sometimes it can feel that way.

One of the things I’ve found out about the woods is that it offers a challenging and diverse environment that one can abso-

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December 2014

lutely lose themselves in.

The other thing I’ve found is that even if the photos turn out bad, it’s always worth the trip.

What starts out as an idea — a pure figment of my imagination — becomes real. Not only is it a tangible thing I can share with others, but it is also a reminder to me that I have done something new and in my own way.

This hobby of mine has introduced me to new places, new people and new ways of thinking. It is challenging and completely different every time.

Photography not only allows me to share my perspective with others, but has also instilled in me a sense of adventure that I haven’t known until now.

I have been provided numerous opportunities because of this “hobby.”

On the cover

Santa, aka Alan Moen took this selfie of himself prior to making his grand appearance at the Entiat Chamber of Commerce Holiday Bazaar.

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editor’s notes

MIKE CASSIDY

More tomorrows than we thought?

My mom just emailed me

that she will live to be 100.

Something her doctor said about her general health.

100... can you image that?

If you think of living that long, it puts a new perspective on life, doesn’t it? After all, when you start noticing more gray than color around your ears, it’s not unnatural to ponder about “that day” when you will slowly sink into your final sleep.

But now, 100.

If you were going to live to 100, how should you adjust your life?

It’s not too late to look around and think: “Maybe I should invest in speculative real estate or learn to play the guitar, or get a new mate, or sell everything and start over.”

Starting over.

Why not? Did you grow up — as I did — listening to your dad talk some grand adventure he wished for but never took the time to accomplish, such as sailing the great oceans? Of finding tropical isles where women dance the hula and topless men offer up tree-ripen bananas?

What about Paris?

Sitting in a street-side café, Eiffel Tower in the distance, a steaming cup of rich coffee in your hand, monsieurs and mademoiselles walking the avenue, striding to a different beat than we hear in America.

You have time for a new epic adventure.

How about work and retirement?

If you’re a thank-god-it’s-Monday kind of person, then why be in a hurry to quit? If you’re not, then how will you make a long, long, retirement rewarding?

100... can you imagine?

Our kids will yet have time to straighten out their lives ... we might not only get grandchildren but great-grandchildren.

How fun would that be?

Let’s hope we will be smarter when we are 100... although will we? Maybe we will be more entrenched, more in love with what we have to say, less open minded.

Or not. At this stage in my life — where I am far less than 100 — I’ve grown weary of listening to my own story.

I can hold my tongue. I want to hear what you have to say.

Just don’t be a buzz kill.

I’ve lived long enough to know things aren’t so bad — let’s just be dazzled by being alive in a world where we could live to 100.

Speaking of something fresh, occasional contributor Cary Ordway is proving that something old can be new again.

Cary has made a career by traveling well — he writes and publishes two online travel websites, plus recently began publishing Central Washington Experience, a quarterly guide to travel printed in The Good Life.

Now, Cary has a new radio feature, Exploring the Northwest, which is a revival of an earlier show by the same name that aired 1985-95 on 13 Northwest radio stations.

You can catch Cary’s travel ideas — again co-hosted by radio personality Tony Miner — mornings and afternoons locally on KPQ and learn about new places to go and things to do.

Spend wisely the time in front of you. Enjoy The Good Life.

— Mike December 2014 | The Good Life

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fun stuff a full LISTING of what to do begins ON PAGE 35

Yes, Christmas is in the air, and so is Santa

The Game’s Afoot — The

Theatre Department at Wenatchee Valley College presents an evening of murder, comedy, and holiday cheer with playwright Ken Ludwig’s newest satire, The Games Afoot (or Holmes for the Holiday). The full-length award winning play promises to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, then rolling in the aisles. Wenatchee Valley College Campus Theatre (Wells Hall 1068). Cost: $10, students and seniors $8. Tickets available at the door. Thursday, Friday and Saturday the first two weekends of December, 8 p.m.

Leavenworth has it’s long-

running annual Christmas Lighting Festival the first three weekends of December, Chelan is promoting A Small Town Christmas with special events including free holiday matinees on Saturdays, and all across the land Santa is touching down (including in a red helicopter at Pybus Public Market on Sunday, Dec. 7).

But that’s not all... oh no, there are plenty more seasonal events happening around the area.

And, of course, some nonChristmas happenings that promise to be fun.

Here are some Yuletide and non-Yule events to be found in this month’s calendar: 2 Left Feet — 2 Left Feet is a loose organization of local dance enthusiasts who would like to see more dancing in the Wenatchee Valley. Beginner lesson at the top of the hour followed by carefree social dancing. No partner neces-

Santa arrives by red helicopter at Pybus Public Market on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 1 p.m. Free photos with Santa 1 to 3 p.m.

Tree Lighting and Santa,

Community tree lighting and free Santa photos. Stanley Civic Center Fountain Plaza and Wenatchee Convention Center.

Cost: free. Saturday, Dec. 6, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Sherlock Holmes looks for clues at Wenatchee Valley College the first two weekends of December.

sary. Dance style will be 1940s swing with a bit of salsa, blues, waltz or tango thrown in. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Every Thursday, 7 – 9 p.m.

El Sendero Backcountry Film Festival — Nine unique

films aimed to inspire winter

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adventurers to seek the snow less traveled — highlighting the beauty, diversity and fun of the winter backcountry experience.

Funds raised are used locally to support human-powered recreation and conservation efforts.

Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $10. Wednesday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m.

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December 2014

The Nutcracker — The Wenatchee Valley Symphony will present Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet The Nutcracker.

Fabulous Feet Dance Studio director Melissa Miller and choreographer Tracy Trotter will stage the production with local talent. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Info: numericapac. org. Saturday, Dec. 13, 7 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2 p.m.

A family takes to the water But not before mom learns the ropes

By Marlene Farrell

L

ast spring I wasn’t yet even aboard the Hale Kai, 41-foot sailboat, but I was already queasy.

I had huddled over sailing manuals the whole drive from Leavenworth to the Bellingham marina. I quizzed my husband,

Kevin, and he answered as calmly as he drove. I, on the other hand, was in a slightly nauseated frenzy.

We had taken a sailing class 10 years ago, before kids. I remembered the difference between a tack and a jibe but little else.

Now, we were taking a re-

fresher sailing course and I had given myself two weeks to read three dense manuals before this trip — still I needed to cram. So much terminology had my head reeling: two types of luff, two types of head, lee everything, leeway, lee helm, lee shore, and of course the sail’s tack, the

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Alice, 7, and Quentin, 9, look pretty comfortable on the Farrell family’s passage to Sucia Island. Photo by Kevin Farrell.

boat’s tack and to tack!

It didn’t seem fair that Kevin could use the terms with such

}}} Continued on next page

A family takes to the water }}} Continued from previous page ease until I remembered he’s been dreaming about sailing for awhile, waiting for my reluctance to ease. Mutiny on the Bounty and a shelf of other such books fed his dream.

We had signed up for a Learn-N-Cruise one-week class through San Juan Sailing and I was cramming for the exams — the first before we even left the dock.

We passed that one and were welcomed aboard.

There were five on Hale Kai: Kevin and I, two other eager guys hoping to certify and then teach their wives, and our instructor, Mike. I knew the ratio would be lopsided and Mike confirmed it. “A woman who likes to sail is a precious thing never to be taken for granted.”

I was in a man’s world, full of crisscrossed rigging to be clutched and winched like toys for the mechanically minded.

For me it was a puzzle to be worked out methodically. The guys, fearless of mistakes, would jump up to trim a sheet or loosen the downhaul while I was still contemplating the best course of action.

Sailing also requires a basic understanding of diesel engines. Mike opened the engine compartment and I leaned in,

Alice prepares to take the wheel of the Hunter 340.

breathing fumes and scribbling notes about fuel pumps, belts, heat exchangers and strainers while the guys simply nodded their heads.

Don’t get me wrong; I love a challenge. This was something new, stepping out of my comfort zone.

Gradually it came together for me.

Between lessons, when I was at the helm, in the cockpit, or on the foredeck, the splendor of the boat skimming quietly through the water lured me.

As the wind picked up and the boat heeled, I would feel that tug on the steering wheel.

It was a taste of the sweet balance between opposing forces,

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rudder against wind, a give and take with the gusts, as the boat rushed upwind.

We studied current and tide tables and charts to decide where to go each day. Everywhere we looked, the San Juan Islands were verdant with firs and cedars. As we approached, the madrones’ shiny red trunks stood out atop rocky shelves that jutted from the water.

We weren’t alone; freighters plied the shipping lanes, and we saw fishing boats, yachts and other sailboats. Seals popped their smooth heads above the surface, blinking black marble eyes, their whiskers tickled by little waves. Pods of porpoises swam by, arcing sequentially

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December 2014

near our bow, then at our stern, then gone.

Yet there was a peaceful solitude in going our own way. We were self-sustained and not obligated to anyone but ourselves.

I thought of our kids who were back home with Grammy. ### Four months later we found ourselves raising the sails and cutting the engine on Wave Dancer, a 34-foot chartered sailboat, just our kids and us.

We had checked in at 9 a.m. that morning for a captains’ meeting but did not anticipate four more hours to go through an extensive checklist and stow clothing and provisions in a

On the summit of one rocky bluff we could see to Canada and some of the 120 nautical miles we had covered in our week’s trip. stuffy cabin. Meanwhile our kids had become desperate zombies from hunger and prophylactic Dramamine.

Finally underway, we were all transformed. We had friendly winds of around 20 knots.

Quentin, 9, and Alice, 7, scrambled to the foredeck, sucking in lungfuls of fresh air, wearing life vests and heeding the rule of one hand for the boat.

They took to sailing life.

Each night was a slumber party in the V berth beneath the bow. We all slept well, the boat’s swinging on a mooring or anchor line like blissfully maternal rocking.

Quentin and Alice learned to do their part. Since they were missing school, they had homework to complete while the morning rain clouds dispersed. They helped with the tricky business of anchoring and mooring. They studied charts and identified islands and warning buoys near rocks and reefs.

They trimmed the sheets and Quentin took some turns at the

This black-tail deer on Jones Island waited patiently for the family to shake down apples from abandoned orchard trees, then accepted them by hand.

helm.

It was still more work with kids aboard. But it makes for a more boisterous, memorable trip.

One time we pulled into a quiet bay on Jones Island. Quentin had turned on the stereo and suddenly we were blasting golden oldies. When we noticed the other boaters, some with binoculars, staring at us, we cut the music.

Before going ashore, the kids hopped in the dinghy, still tied to our stern, to practice rowing. They were zigzagging and laughing raucously, so our neighbors’ peace was dispelled again.

Ashore, we wandered to an

December 2014 | The Good Life

abandoned orchard where deer knowingly loitered.

Kevin climbed a tree to shake down the last high apples. We heard we could hand-feed the deer. The deer hesitated so we rolled them apples from two feet away. Deflated, Alice’s body sagged from her lost opportunity. Then, with one last apple she waited for the bravest, scruffiest deer to nibble from her palm.

She lit up like she’d been caught in a sunbeam.

We played on rocky beaches and walked trails over mossy windswept cliffs and through woods strewn with fallen leaves and plump banana slugs.

On the summit of one rocky bluff we could see to Canada and

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some of the 120 nautical miles we had covered in our week’s trip.

My fears of taking kids on a boat journey were abated.

Quentin and Alice should have worn ski pants a few times instead of complaining of the cold and wet. But they learned jobs, buckled down to homework, and followed the inviolate safety rules.

The last morning of the trip I heard them murmuring in their berth. They talked of how they would miss Wave Dancer. Alice said, “When I have a family, it will be a family of sailors.”

That’s not a bad impression from one week of sailing. We’ll nurture and grow the dream, in ourselves and in our children, by continuing to sail, chartering until the day we can get our own boat and explore wherever the winds and our desires lead us.

Sailing is still new to Marlene Farrell, a Leavenworth writer, but she enjoys this new way of exploring with her family.

Pretty enough for a nature calendar A photo contest to show the

beauty of the Wenatchee River valley has resulted in 12 photos that will be displayed on the 2015 Picture the Wenatchee Watershed Stewardship calendar.

The Picture the Wenatchee Watershed Stewardship Campaign was a collaborative effort between local businesses, organizations and citizens to improve water quality in the Wenatchee Watershed, and Cascadia Conservation District, a non-regulatory grant-funded

TOP: Orchard Quilt, first place by Dale Blair.

RIGHT: Canoeing Lake Chelan, second place by Morgan Leech.

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December 2014

organization dedicated to wise stewardship of all natural resources.

Some 120 photo entries were received from 27 photographers.

A panel of local judges chose first, second and third place “Best in Show� photos.

First place went to Dale Blair for Orchard Quilt. Dale was awarded a $25 gift certificate from Icicle Brewing Company.

Second place went to Morgan Leech for Canoeing Lake Chelan.

Morgan received a stand up paddleboard rental donated by Leavenworth Mountain Sports.

Third place went to Doug Pendleton for Icicle Refuge 3. Doug received a $15 gift certificate from Der Man Shoppe.

The Picture the Wenatchee calendars were set to come out in mid-November. The cost per calendar is $10, which will go to cover the cost of printing the calendars.

Contact Cascadia Conservation District at (509) 436-1601 or cascadiacd@yahoo.com for

Icicle Refuge 3, third place by Doug Pendleton.

additional information and to place orders.

December 2014 | The Good Life

The 2015 Picture the Wenatchee Watershed Photo

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Contest will begin the end of April 2015.

Caught out in a sudden storm When you start thinking ‘we could die out here,’ it’s good to have the right gear... if you get it on in time Story and photos

by Andy Dappen

I

’m jealous.

Watching the many trail runners passing my wife and me in the Enchantment Lakes Basin, I envy their tiny loads and their ease of travel. Being a trail runner before the age of knee problems, I remember the joy of traveling fast and far with a ridiculously small pack.

Speed and movement are weather-beating and warmthgenerating strategies for such runners, and these are not groundless strategies. By moving fast, you can often beat changing weather conditions back to the trailhead.

And though you’re clad in thin layers and might only carry a windshell, hat, and gloves for added warmth, movement can keep I’m... jealous you comwatching the un- fortably encumbered run- warm. So for many ners stream by, runners and I find myself the ingrebelieving I’m car- dients to rying more than a keep moving (food hiker should. and water) constitute most of their load.

The strategy can fail, however, when situations go south on you. A misstep on a cobble that sprains an ankle, a stubbed toe tossing you head first into a boulder, a slip on a sandy slab spilling you onto the edge of flesh-slashing rock… in the interval between strides such in-

cidences can transform you from a speed machine to a wreck on the side of the road.

I’ve fallen several times on long runs and have narrowly missed being bludgeoned, sliced, or impaled by obstacles. I know from firsthand experience that runners need contingencies in their load for the “what ifs.”

What if a slip hurts you or your partner? What if you get temporarily lost and benighted?

What if a new health issue of your own or an unknown health issue of a companion stops you?

Are you carrying enough to survive?

Yet, I’m still jealous watching the unencumbered runners stream by, and I find myself believing I’m carrying more than a hiker should.

I mentally review my pack and make a list of what I should have left behind. When I’m done, my mental pile consists of my down coat, rain pants, extra socks, one of two hats I carry, some of my food and water, and a number of the repair items in my ditty bag.

My slimmed down pack might be half the size of my current pack.

A few hours later, Jan and I have walked into the lower Enchantments, expressed our “wows” over some of the prettiest lakes in the Cascades, and are returning to Aasgard Pass where we will descend to Colchuck Lake where we camped last night and will camp again tonight.

During the afternoon we have experienced half hours of sunshine intermixed with stints of brooding clouds. The autumn

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Jan Dappen feels her way across slippery rocks in blowing snow.

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December 2014

Before the storm, the Enchantments were truly enchanting with partial blue skies and bright fall colors.

sky can’t decide on its mood, yet I’ve been able to stay warm with a few shirts on under a windshell.

About 1.5 miles before reaching Aasgard Pass, charcoal clouds shoved by strong winds swallow the sun and surrounding peaks. Even though we’re walking uphill, we’re headed into a stiff wind that bleeds us of heat.

We put on our down coats, hats and gloves and keep walking. Soon isolated snow flakes streak by us at warp speeds.

Minutes later great herds of frozen crystals are spilling from the clouds.

We stop to don our rain coats so that our down coats don’t wet out. “Put on your baseball cap under your wool hat — it will shield your eyes from the snow,” I tell my wife. “We should put on our rain pants, too.”

Our rain pants are extremely light and have no zippers so we must remove boots to get them on. Given the day’s changeable moods, my wife is hopeful the snow will stop soon and doesn’t want to hassle with the pants.

“Let’s just keep moving,” she says.

At the lip of Aasgard Pass, December 2014 | The Good Life

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we confront a raging blizzard.

Winds funneling up the pass at over 50 miles per hour smack us head-on with a stinging combination of falling and blowing snow. The snow cakes onto my glasses yet pelt Jan’s unprotected eyes.

At the very top of the pass we huddle Winds funnelbehind a bus-sized ing up the pass boulder at over 50 miles providing per hour smack some sancus head-on with a tuary.

Jan was stinging combinaalready tion of falling and concerned blowing snow... about getting her rubbery legs down to Colchuck Lake without misstepping and taking a spill. Now, with a few inches of snow lubricating the slabs and boulders we must traverse, she’s triply worried about the descent.

“I wish we had the MicroSpikes,” she says. I agree.

Given that the forecast mentioned the possibility of snow, I wonder why I never even considered bringing these tire chains for the feet. October is a time to expect mood swings in the high

Caught out in a sudden storm }}} Continued from previous page mountains. Apparently I’ve been blinded by the lure of traveling light.

“We need to put on our rain pants,” I tell Jan. This location, swirling with eddies of spindrift, is much worse than the place where we should have donned the pants earlier.

Jan complains about taking her boots “Should we really off but I do this?” my wife insist. I, asks. “We could too, must remove die out there.” my shoes to slip on rain pants and find my fingers cold enough that I barely have the strength to untie the laces.

It won’t take much more cold exposure to make my fingers useless.

Suddenly a group of four that has worked up the pass pulls into the shelter behind our boulder. Their storm gear is caked 2014-15 Wenatchee Valley Environmental Film Series January 20, 2015 7:00 pm Wenatchee Valley Museum 127 S Mission, Wenatchee

Wild Reverence is a documentary film chronicling the plight of the iconic wild steelhead along the west coast of America. Director Shane Anderson made a pilgrimage to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State to the rivers he once fished as a boy. His relationship with the wild steelhead and the rivers in which they met upon taught him just how precious life can be.

with snow and rime. “How is it down in the Lower Lake Basin?” the leader asks.

“Much better — you’ll be able to get out of the wind,” I tell him. “How was it coming up the pass?” I ask.

“Bad.” he says. “Can hardly see a thing up top… but it does get better lower down.”

Another twosome heading our direction and carrying overnight gear pulls into the eddy behind our boulder. “Whew. Isn’t this something?” they say by way of a greeting.

We compare notes for a moment and I think about asking the couple to join forces with us on the descent. The benefits and drawbacks of pooling resources are complicated, and this is neither the time nor place to inherit incompetent companions.

Before I’ve solved the quandary of this question, the twosome slips out into the storm and disappears.

Finally we’re ready. Virtually all our clothing is on, zippers and hoods are battened down, and yet we’re still cold. I think about that mental pile of items I had omitted from the pack earlier and am grateful that was just a thought exercise.

I’m no longer jealous of the runner’s pack.

“Should we really do this?” my wife asks. “We could die out there.”

Jan sometimes blows problems out of proportion, but these are

Here comes the storm, charcoal clouds shoved by strong winds swallow the sun and surrounding peaks.

dicey conditions. “Our safest option,” I tell her, “is to turn around and walk out through the Lower Enchantments.”

“Go all the way out that way?” she asks incredulously.

“The winds are much better in that direction, we’ll be warm as long as we’re walking, and we have headlamps so we can keep walking.”

“I feel too tired to make it all

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December 2014

the way out,” she says.

“It may not be a good option, but it’s safer than what’s on the far side of this boulder.”

“But our camp is so much closer down there at Colchuck,” she says. She’s quiet and I’m pretty sure she’s imagining herself back at our pitched tent wrapped up in her sleeping bag.

“Let’s try going down here.”

We shove off and, even though I use my hand to shield my glasses, within a minute they are caked with snow on the outside and fog on the inside. “I can’t see

a thing,” I yell to Jan. Confidence is a fragile creature and little things, like finding yourself blind, can tip it the wrong way.

It’s not a good time to alarm Jan but my inner voice is talking. “The two of you could die out here,” it says. ++++++++ Unforeseen problems often beget unexpected solutions.

My blizzard-induced blindness spikes my anxieties, but Jan quickly recognizes she can’t take a backseat role in our efforts.

She becomes the eyes of our descent and switches from being an anxious passenger to a participant in whatever happens.

From behind me she scans the gauzy white world before us for the gray pyramids of cairns marking the route through the slabs that surround us.

When she sees a cairn, she points me in the right direction. Without my glasses I grope down ahead of her with less speed than usual and this benefits Jan — she doesn’t feel hurried and can see exactly

where my feet stick or slide. This moral choice, I decide our safety A little bad luck thrown on top boosts her confidence and her net is already strained. I stay on of the unusually severe condiperformance. route and keep heading down. tions could have resulted in a far It’s a different example that to In total it takes us 80 minutes less cheery outcome. Nothing hurry-up you sometimes need to to drop 800 vertical feet and like extermination to bum you slow down. descend the slick portion of the out.

Occasionally we encounter pass where staying on route is The fact that we didn’t slip areas where the visibility is too most important. into the Big Sleep leaves us both poor to make out a distant cairn.

By the time we reach the talus with a post-storm buzz. We These become anxieties for Jan fields where wandering off route already appreciate that life is that I offset. I know the route would slow us down but not be sweet. We appreciate that life is through these slabs dangerous, we find even sweeter here around our fairly well and, even ourselves below the home in the center of the state.

All our clothing though whiteout And, today, we appreciate that is on and if we worst of the wind. conditions and We still have a teat the bottom of a particularly don’t move we will dious trudge down snowy pass life is the sweetest snowed-over rocks quickly chill and slippery, snow-cov- of all. changes the look of it all, I sense when become a liability ered talus, but I’m Andy Dappen is the content editor of we need to move no longer worried WenatcheeOutdoors.org, a regional to ourselves and left or right. about becoming the website covering the outdoor advenothers.

“Let’s go this way subject of a story in ture sports of Central Washington, where this story first appeared. for a while,” I yell tomorrow’s newsAlong with this adventure, Dappen to her through the wind when paper. published The Lessons of Aasgard, her visual scan comes up empty.

Even now, immediately after his thoughts on how a few small “We’ll come back here if we finding ourselves below the tweaks to the pack would have prodon’t find more cairns.” hazard zone, I’m incredulous vided a much bigger safety net. Read those lessons at www.justgetout.

The strategy keeps workthat on an autumn hike in a net/Wenatchee/post/Lessons-ofing. Between Jan’s eyes and familiar place, our systems were Aasgard-2 my mental map, we stay on stretched so thin. course despite the raging wind, shadowless light, and the snow obscuring the route.

Some 500 vertical feet below the pass, we see the twosome who started down before us.

They are a few hundred feet off route to our right and have 5th & Western, Wenatchee taken shelter behind a cluster of large boulders.

Online Reserved Tours 5:30 to 9:30 I wave to them and one gives Walk-in Tours 5:30 to 8:30 an acknowledging wave back.

Anyone arriving by 8:30 can attend.

This kicks off a mental debate.

Please dress appropriately for the weather.

They are partially sheltered and have overnight gear, but I wonder whether they need help.

If it’s route finding they need, I’m moderately confident that Jan and I, working together, will continue crabbing our way down to safety. If they need anything else, we have little to offer. All our clothing is on and if we A gift from your valley Seventh-day Adventist Churches don’t move we will quickly chill and become a liability to ourReserve your tour time online - J2BWENATCHEE.ORG selves and others.

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The

Holiday Magic of being Santa

By Alan Moen

W

hen my hair and beard turned gray, and then white, many people began telling me that I looked like Santa Claus.

Kids would stare at me on the street and nudge their parents, wondering if I really was the mythical Christmas gift-giver.

The bolder ones started asking me questions about the North Pole, my reindeer, my sleigh, my elves — checking me out.

I fought back at first. I told them I wasn’t Santa, but instead Jerry Garcia (back, of course, from the Dead.) I remember one little boy who cried out loudly to his mother as I stood in line at a grocery store, “Mom, that guy looks just like Santa Claus!”

I was sorely tempted to say to him, “I am Santa Claus, sonny, and for blowing my cover, there’ll be no presents for you this year!”

Finally, in desperation, I told some of my questioners that I was actually God — not om-

nipotent or omniscient, but certainly omnivorous.

It didn’t work.

So this November, as a board member of the Entiat Valley Chamber of Commerce, I reluctantly agreed to play Santa at their annual Holiday Bazaar. I got a bag of toys and candy from Marie Stenberg, organizer of the event. I rented a costume, started practicing my “ho, ho, hoes,” and prepared for the big day.

Not having easy access to reindeer, I persuaded my friend Tom Martin to chauffeur me to the event in his bright red Corvette, to which I attached some red Mylar streamers. Santa was going to arrive in style.

Children were dutifully waiting outside as we drove up to the door of Entiat High School, where the bazaar took place. I smiled, laughed, waved, and ho, ho hoed my way into the school gym, where a big red chair was waiting for me.

Parents lined up immediately

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Levi Stenberg enjoys a candy cane and a moment with Santa.

and sent their kids forward. I held them on my lap, gave them candy canes, and asked the required Four Questions: “What’s your name? How old are you?

Have you been a good boy (or girl)?” And, of course, “What do you want for Christmas?”

I was struck right away by the fact that most of the younger kids were very shy, and had to be cajoled into my lap by both their parents and me. Some in fact, wouldn’t do it at all, not trusting a big bearded stranger

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December 2014

with a red cap. When I asked them their ages, many didn’t say, but held up the required number of fingers.

I had a bag of simple, but gender-appropriate toys to pass out. I gave the boys toy trucks and motorcycles, the girls dolls and plastic flutes, and younger kids stuffed polar bears.

When I asked what they wanted for Christmas, boys typically mentioned things like bulldozers and Legos, but many girls surprisingly wanted soccer balls.

...something happened while I held those kids close and asked what they wanted for Christmas...

Photo by Susan Kidd

Yet quite a few of them were silent, afraid to talk to me. One little girl was a baby, just three months old. Meanwhile, their parents took a lot of pictures of them with old Saint Nick as I constantly smiled and waved.

But as it turned out, I wasn’t as busy as I thought I’d be. There were times when I just sat there and tried to act jolly. I even got up and strolled around the gym a bit to try to drum up some business.

My chair was right next to a live radio announcer from KCSYFM, who called the crowd’s attention to my presence (or presents?) several times during my afternoon visit.

Actually, it was a bit boring playing Santa. But something happened while I held those kids close and asked what they wanted for Christmas — something almost magical. Right there in my red velvet lap, I felt the fresh wonder and imagination of children, something very special indeed.

Whether they really believed I was Santa was beside the point; they were more than willing to forego their disbelief to participate in the ongoing Christmas fantasy that we so easily cheapen, commercialize or simply take for granted.

For a moment there, I really was Santa Claus.

It was a humbling experience. With all the concerns and cares of the world that we bear as adults, sometimes it’s truly refreshing to see life through a child’s eyes instead.

So that was my first time playing Santa — and, hopefully, it won’t be my last.

When he’s not checking out who’s been naughty or nice, Alan Moen is the co-owner of Snowgrass Winery in the Entiat Valley.

What’s on your 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. com. We would love to share your feat with our readers and maybe inspire others to create memories of their own.

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You thought the christmas traditions were all sweetness and light? Then you haven’t encountered Krampus or the ferocious Stallo of Northern Finland

By Maureen Stivers I used to associate Christmas compulsiveness with the likes of shopping for gifts in July, decorating the interior of one’s home beyond recognition and illuminating its exterior to the tune of a quadrupled electric bill.

And then I met Alison Randall, of Wenatchee, who has her own brand of obsession with this holiday.

For years, Alison has been digging around for the historical, bizarre, scary and even (yes) racy origins of our present day Christmas traditions, as well as the current late December goings-on in other countries.

I thought it would be fun to share some of her more interesting discoveries.

Our traditions Let’s begin with how a few of our own rituals and associations came to be.

And what better place to start than the ubiquitous Christmas tree?

Although nearly all of us (even many non-Christians) put one up every year and bolster it with piles of presents, it is actually very new.

Christianity has been around for over 2,000 years, but the Christmas tree has only existed in the majority of American homes since around 1920.

Many of us equate the Christmas tree with Germany. (One needs to look no further than Leavenworth). In fact, Martin Luther (1483-1546), is often credited with the first such lighted, arboreal decoration.

But the use of festive holiday greens is much older. Way older.

The ancient Egyptians worshiped evergreens and brought

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palm leaves into their homes during the winter solstice. The Druids, who were practicing as far back as 1300 B.C., used evergreens in their winter solstice rituals.

More “recently” the Romans decorated their homes with greens as they celebrated Saturnalia during the solstice.

It is thought that in the late Middle Ages, Scandinavians and Germans first brought evergreen trees into their houses. Historians believe that the holiday tree came to America with German immigrants, although it was slow to take hold.

So, the concept of the Christmas tree not only pre-dates the celebration of Christmas, but Christianity itself. Given its pagan origins, it’s not surprising that the Christmas tree is a December holiday symbol for Christians and non-Christians alike.

Did you ever wonder why red and white are among the primary colors of Christmas? Or, more curiously, why Santa’s sleigh and reindeer are flying?

While impossible to prove, the most popular theory was a big surprise to me: hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Take a look at the photo of the lovely Aminita Muscaria.

Note the red and white. These

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December 2014

Alison Randall, left, has spent years digging around various Christmas traditions — only to unearthed odd nuggets, such as the Aminita Muscaria mushroom, above, that sheds new light on Santa and his flying reindeer.

mushrooms grow abundantly in the birch and conifer forests of Northern Scandinavia and Finland in the late fall. The mushroom itself is very prevalent in Scandinavian Christmas décor and its colors have been adopted by the Western world.

When I was a girl of about 10 my sister gave me two small wooden candleholders in the shape of red mushrooms with white dots, as a Christmas gift.

I’ve been taking them out every December for decorating and, for the first time, I know why.

Now let’s move on to my favorite explanation of all: why do those darned reindeer fly?

Here, again, is the aforementioned Aminita Muscaria — a favorite food of the reindeer in Lapland. Its affect on them is unknown but they eat as many as they can find and will even bust through the snow to get at them.

Another species, homo-sa-

piens, likes them too. And the affect on them is quite clear, or blurry, as the case may be.

The Lapi Shamans would eat them “religiously,” and while the ritual must have been quite complicated, one aspect was to commune with animal spirits.

This communing would often include a flying “trip” with the reindeer, much like the Norse god Thor did in his chariot pulled by flying goats.

And as their world was visually altered by the mushrooms, reindeer would stroll by. With the bright, mystical Northern Lights as background, they would appear to be flying through the air.

Can’t you just picture our glassy-eyed Holy Man, staring at this marvel and saying, “Dude!

Look! Flying reindeer, man! Do ya see ’em?”

Enough people must have thought it to be true because we now have a famous story and an entire lore based upon the clarity of these observations. Somewhere along the line, the story merged with the 4th Century figure of Saint Nicholas. The rest is not only history but persists to this day.

Oh, and the chimney part.

At times, the Shamans would share their mushrooms in dried form as gifts. Since doors were blocked by snow, they would drop a bag of them through a hole in the tops of the Laplander’s teepee-like homes.

This demonstrates yet again that mankind has always found ways to intoxicate itself. But at Christmastime it’s all in fun, so let’s just hide that part from the kids.

Christmas in Europe: be afraid, be very afraid For children in America, Christmas is all about joy, fun, candy and getting stuff. Santa Claus is jolly, listens to requests and brings presents. At worst, he threatens a lump of coal, (which never happens) but even this would likely be delivered with a

... the Saint Nicholas Day parade on Dec. 6 where many men dressed as Krampus still do their best to terrorize the little boys and girls...

If the children are good, they receive presents from Saint Nick. If they’re bad, well, remember the harshness of Germanic fairy tales, Krampus will beat them and take them to hell.

Whew!

And if the story is not enough to frighten the poor little ones to death, they can attend the Saint Nicholas Day parade on Dec. 6 where many men dressed as Krampus still do their best to terrorize the little boys and girls (differently, by the way). This is so ingrained in the culture that only one conclusion can be drawn: blame the parents for perpetuating this horror.

Krampus — the Christmas devil — packs up bad little boys and girls.

little gentle moralizing.

But as Alison explained, in Europe, this is frequently not the case. Traditions are much older than our own and can, in a word, be brutal.

panies Saint Nicholas, sometimes chained to him.

}}} Continued on page 21

Shop locally this holiday season

Germany and Austria Take a look at the frightening fellow in the picture with the big horns. Meet Krampus. Or, better yet, try not to. He has nothing good in store for you.

The origin of Krampus is a bit obscure, sort of related to a conflicted sounding wildman of the woods.

Nonetheless, he remains a part of Yule time practices, especially in Austria, where much craft is expended on the scary costumes and souvenir figurines.

Traditionally, Krampus accomDecember 2014 | The Good Life

Finland The Stallo, a legend of the Saami in northern Finland, is a

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Some twists on Yule traditions }}} Continued from page 19 ferocious yet bumbling troll.

Where the children are concerned it goes like this: Stallo is thirsty and if they cannot break through the ice so that he can drink, he will bash in their heads and drink from their skulls.

My only hope is that the Socialist Finnish government has provided every child with a sharp ax and a blowtorch.

Two versions of the Snow Princess from Russia — one for the kids and one for Carmen Electra fans.

The Netherlands The Dutch accompaniment to the Saint Nicholas figure is called Black Peter. Controversy right off the bat, which we’ll get to later. He first appeared in a song in 1850 and is supposed to be a Moor who is like a Santa’s helper.

But he’s not there just to pass out presents. He does Santa’s dirty work.

If the children are bad, they are put in a burlap sack and kidnapped to Spain. He is usually a white Dutch man in black face.

It’s not surprising that Holland’s large immigrant population from the Southern climes has taken offense.

tions. If you want to see some real doozies, just go to Google Images or YouTube.

I do need to add one of my own bizarre and racy Christmas anecdotes.

While in a shop in in Russian folklore. There are Nuremberg, Germany (considseveral versions of the story but ered by many to be the Christin each one, the poor girl meets mas capital of the world) I saw a her demise by melting. most unusual advent calendar.

Since Soviet times, she has For those of you unfamiliar been depicted as the grandwith these calendars, they are a daughter and helper of Father single sheet of thick paper, typiChristmas during New Year’s cally decorated with a ChristEve parties for children. mas-theme painting. There are Russia But judging from her evolu24 little doors on this calendar 151 South Worthen Street, Suite 201 · (509) · (800) We did promise racy, rememtion, it would appear that adults — 664-9063 one for each day as664-9063 children Davidson & Co. member www.dadavidson.com ber? Well, this is actually pretty D.A. enjoy her “help” as well.

The SIPC · count down to Christmas on the tame but... second photo is one of the more 25th.

Snegurochka is a snow maiden modest of her modern incarnaUsually behind each door is

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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either a little piece of chocolate or a picture of something like a bell, angel or dove. It is all very religious, culminating in double-doors for Dec. 24, which always reveal the manger scene.

Or so I thought.

Because behind the doors of the one I picked up were images of what I will diplomatically refer to as “adult themes.”

Pornographic pictures on a religious item — I believe this is the most oxymoronic item I have ever beheld.

Maureen Stivers lives in Wenatchee and is an active member of Write on the River.

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

Stuck up a trail with a bulky motorcycle Stop, take a breath, make a few ‘just-in-case’ phone calls, attempt an emergency repair

By Bill Landsborough

I am a 70-year-old adventur-

ist and am always planning an outdoor excursion of hiking, mountain bicycling, kayaking, motorcycling or Jeeping here in the great north central paradise called Wenatchee.

On a fine August day this year I planned to take a trail ride on my 2013 KTM 350cc dual purpose motorcycle.

I decided to ride up towards Mission Ridge Ski Resort and travel the Devil’s Spur Trail running north west of Mission Ridge Road to Peshastin.

I had hiked up the trail last winter for about a mile and found the trail to be quite wide and easily navigated in that distance.

However, as I embarked on my adventure on my motorcycle, I quickly realized that the trail went from a wide, easy trail my Jeep Wrangler could navigate, to a narrow, precarious trail that made its way across the side of several mountains.

At a couple of points I could see the tracks of mountain bicycles slipping off the narrow trail and struggling to keep from tumbling down the mountain-

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side.

I forced myself to concentrate even more so as I navigated these dangerous spots. Hauling a bicycle back up the hill is nothing compared to hauling a 260-pound motorcycle back up.

I sharpened my balance focus as keenly as I could muster.

After a moderate distance, the trail got off the hillsides and more into the canyons and valleys. I was becoming much more

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December 2014

comfortable about what I had taken on and was heading down a steep ridge when I hit a small sage brush on the right side of my motorcycle and instantly a blast of steam and hot coolant sprayed on my right knee.

I quickly stopped, shut off the engine and tried to see where the spray was coming from. As the spray slowed I could see that it was coming from a pinhole leak in one of the rubber, cool-

help if needed.

I also had tools and emergency supplies for surviving the night if necessary.

I forced myself to stop, take a deep breath and take assessment of my situation.

The pinhole leak in the hose was somewhat near the end of the hose so my first action was to try to move the pin hole point of the hose up over the metal tube and thereby stopping the leak.

It was very difficult and hot but I was able to move the hose up to where I felt it would not leak. However, the only way to know was to start the engine and ride. I also didn’t know if there was any coolant left in the engine.

Since I had no temperature gauge on the motorcycle, I would not know if it was overheating or not.

So being on top of a ridge and not knowing how much climbing I had yet to do, I decided to call two people and let them Bill Landsborough takes a selfie over Wenatchee from a trail above the Alcoa/Malaga highway during a ride in May. This ride was less scary than the ride he took above Peshastin in August.

ant hoses leading from the radiator to the engine.

I had no idea how much coolant had been exhausted nor did I know how much coolant the radiator held. All I knew was that I was in trouble.

I was alone at least 15 miles from the nearest gravel road in a very rugged area with a potentially non-operating motorcycle.

There was thunder and lightning in the distance and several wildfires burning nearby.

However, I am not stupid.

I do not embark on such dangerous, solitude journeys without some precautions. I had my cell phone with a couple of bars of reception and I had my satellite connected “SPOT” transmitter that could call for emergency

know what was going on. I called my daughter and my friend and reached voicemail for both. I explained my situation and where I was, where I was going and what I was planning to do.

I then sent a message via my SPOT transmitter saying I was in trouble but did not need help yet but to please stand by your email until I get out of this mess. (The SPOT transmitter sends pre-written email to my contacts.) I then pushed off down the hillside coasting on my motorcycle.

I knew the majority of the trail would be downhill since I was very high and my destination was Peshastin.

However, I did not know if I would have to cross canyons and consequently, climb the other side.

Occasionally I would have to start the motorcycle to get up small hills then quickly shut it off once I resumed my downhill decent. I was pleased that when

I did start the engine there was no leak. When I finally reached the trailhead, I gave a thanks to God and headed off towards Wenatchee and home.

When I got to my house I quickly called my contacts and reached both parties live this time.

I told them I was safe and they didn’t have to worry anymore and they both replied, “What are you talking about?” Neither one had listened to their voicemail nor checked their email.

I was very thankful I was able to fix the leak and get out on my own.

Later I took the hose off of my motorcycle and found a factory defect in the making of the hose.

I replaced it with Americanmade hose and clamps and will ride that trail again someday.

Bill Landsborough, a resident of Wenatchee, is retired and greatly enjoying hiking, mountain bicycle riding, motorcycling, kayaking, golfing and Jeeping in God’s paradise we call home.

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Evoking Philadelphia roots with its strong Federalist style, the house welcomes visitors with a swoop driveway and a spacious all-season portico.

The Federalist East Coast born couple pay homage to their past while blending in ideas from local designers Story by Susan Lagsdin Photos by Donna Cassidy

After years of packing up

and moving between Navy base quarters and rentals, at career-

changing time Chris and Marnie Kocher were lured from San Diego to Wenatchee by friends who’d praised the area.

Decision made and job secured, they leased a home while they searched for the perfect building lot.

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This last May, they and their three children, ages 4, 5, and 7, moved into their very first, brand-new “own house.”

But this new house just wouldn’t be the same if their young son hadn’t accidentally bolted himself into the bath-

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December 2014

room of their local rented home a few years ago.

Builder Corey Van Lith — a stranger, but the only person around when Marnie rushed to their neighbor’s in-progress house for help — came right over and spent an hour and a

above: The white coffered ceilings and wide, deep archways are among the architectural themes that give this house its sense of unity and calm.

LEFT: As hoped, the great room really works as a gathering place for the family. Transoms, barn board floors, and sliding doors above the fireplace masking the TV are specially chosen features echoed throughout the ground floor.

half manipulating lock, door and hinge to extricate the boy.

Marnie said, “I told him when we were ready for our new house, I’d definitely call him.”

Corey (exterior, construction and heavy lifting) and his

wife Jessica (interior, finishes and cool design ideas) are a homebuilding team. Jessica said they strive to give owners exactly what they want, “with just enough guidance to help them make smart choices.”

December 2014 | The Good Life

Marnie agreed that the yearlong process of building and finishing their 6,000 square foot house was seamless and stressless.

That came from working closely with design professionals who welcomed Marnie’s dozens of idea photos gleaned from magazines and online sources.

She said, “Jessica, Buffy Faulkner (from Boswell’s furniture) and I worked together on the whole

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look of the inside,” at meetings that felt like shopping trips.

Besides expert help with finishes and furniture decisions, another major element made this project a pleasure. After years of living in sometimes toosmall temporary housing, Marnie was given free rein to design her family’s very first home of their own.

“I did let Chris choose the

}}} Continued on next page

The

Federalist

Happy homeowner Marnie, left, and interior consultant Jessica Van Lith agreed that finding all the right flooring and finishes “was just like shopping with a girlfriend.”

}}} Continued from previous page doorknobs!” She joked. Then, “He was proud that I could do this. I wanted the house to be perfect, and I think it is — there isn’t a thing I’d want to change.

Sometimes even now I’ll walk into a room and enjoy just looking at it …”

The rooms certainly do bear individual scrutiny: a houselength carpeted play area for the three children. Their son’s bathroom with its old-fashioned washroom style sink, the sisters’

pretty bedrooms and Jack ’n’ Jill bath. A glass-doored upstairs study with a fireplace, a wall of library shelves and the very best view. A formal dining room with dark navy walls and ceiling for come-together comfort, with a parlor (for grown-ups only) across the wide hallway.

The basic size, placement and flow of rooms are the most important elements at the outset when a builder looks at plans.

Then, the exterior look of a new home can often adapt well to

The butler’s pantry (at the rear, opening onto the plate racks) and swinging door to the formal dining room were an homage to Marnie’s aunt’s old home, the rest of the kitchen is old look, new tech.

different styles (like Tuscan, Craftsman or mountain lodge).

This Federalist-style home keeps its aesthetic promise, suggesting authenticity from the distant view to the front walkway and throughout both floors.

A tribute to the couple’s roots in Pennsylvania and New York, the

NCW Home Professionals

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house has an early 19th Century look, with pillars, Palladian windows, transoms, porticos and a sense of classical symmetry.

Human-scale ceilings are maximum 10 feet rather than soaring cathedrals. Uncommonly deep and layered trim, all white, accents the doorways, windows and arches. Another standard is traditional dove gray paint on most walls with deeply coffered white ceilings.

French doors (no sliders) keep the rooms light, and deeplyburnished reclaimed barn wood floors add warmth.

Keeping the photo gallery of ideas always in mind, Marnie and the Van Liths shifted a few design options to maintain unity.

For instance, Marnie explained, “Jessica liked my interior door choice but called it a little ‘cottagey’ for this place. I love the switch we made to the more formal ones.”

Corey, with a builder’s eye for

This kitchen banquette comfortably seats the family of five and frames a wide-open view across the property and south down the Columbia River Valley.

“I wanted the house to be perfect, and I think it is — there isn’t a thing I’d want to change.” balance, suggested adding the formal glassed transoms over every downstairs room opening.

A few heavy tables were handbuilt in town, and the kitchen island light fixtures and farmhouse sink evoke an earlier time.

(One distinctive choice was the mahogany butcher block island.

Can you actually chop on it?

“Oh, yes!” said Marnie, then she paused judiciously: “I… choose not to.”)

Three major structural changes became valued amenities: a jetted tub was swapped out for a super-sized walk-in shower in

the master bath. A big balcony overlooking the great room was deemed unnecessary, becoming the unplanned but much-loved study. And augmenting the twocar space at the main house is a separate “carriage house,” a twocar garage with studio sleeping area above for long-term guests.

Although the extended families on the East Coast are disappointed that the much-traveled couple and kids didn’t land back home, Chris and Marnie look forward to having the relatives around them.

Marnie explained. “We’re hoping now that there’s space in the main house and the carriage house we’ll get both my folks out here for a while, and Chris’s dad. Maybe even our brothers and sisters and their kid.”

This big comfortable home is designed to accommodate all kinds of family. To twist the adage, “Wenatchee’s a good place to visit, but —” (Who knows?

Maybe they’ll want to live here!)

December 2014 | The Good Life

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>>

column moving up to the good life

june darling

Get real: Enough with the safe small talk If you really knew me, you’d

know that… … one of my peak moments was finally getting my Ph.D. when I was 49 years old, I often choke up over unexpected acts of kindness, and I am a bit of a hypochondriac.

There I did it.

I took a small step toward revealing parts of myself that I do not normally share.

What do I normally talk about?

I recently took a little inventory. What I noticed is that I mostly talk about the weather, what my children are doing, our next trip — blah, blah, blah.

Small talk has its place in greasing the wheels of social connection. But what some of us

both crave and fear is being real.

We would like to lay down our pretenses and roles at least occasionally with some people.

But that would probably mean giving up the image of perfection we’ve worked so hard on. It could make us vulnerable to all sorts of hurtful things like rejection, criticism, unwanted advice, betrayal, and gossip.

Being real can be very painful; it can also be wildly liberating.

Authenticity can even set the stage for love.

A few months ago, I was one of 18 mentors for a high school program aimed at connecting students.

My small group consisted of five high school students and me. I didn’t notice much about them. Three were Caucasian,

My belief is that being real can sometimes be worth the discomfort that it may cause.

And that’s what the researchers confirm. three were female, one smiled occasionally. Two looked mostly at their feet. Two examined their hands.

At some point, we were invited to get to know each other.

Each person in the group had two uninterrupted minutes to talk about himself or herself.

Everyone started by saying “If you really knew me, you’d know that….”

We heard about others’ fears, dreams, challenges, hopes, and disappointments. There was some discomfort, some tears, some smiles, and a lot of feeling.

We suddenly seemed to have become more alive. I could see each person as a very distinct, interesting and valuable individual. (I had the strongest urge to hug and kiss everyone, not just

my small group, but everyone.)

Well, what do we take away from that story?

My belief is that being real can sometimes be worth the discomfort that it may cause. And that’s what the researchers confirm.

When we are real with people who are worthy of our trust, it often feels good. And it’s good for us. People who are more authentic seem to have better psychological well-being and satisfaction with life. They have stronger, more intimate relationships.

If you think you, too, are spending more time than you want in a teensy superficial box, here are some ideas: 1. Write a letter to yourself.

Mention your goals, hopes, dreams. Be open about the moments in your life you are proud of.

Then, if you dare, step a little over the edge. Spend a bit of time in a slightly more uncomfortable place. Write more about yourself — what you fear, a worry, a guilt, even a shame.

If possible have a friend nearby and just let them know that you did visit some of those more uncomfortable places. You may

Imagine the fun you could have Subscribe to The Good Life for yourself or a friend.

12 months for $25 in Washington, $30 out of state ______________________________ Name

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December 2014

I know how safe it feels to just talk about superficialities...

But it’s not all that good for us. even let them know that you are working on being more real with yourself and others.

2. When you find yourself wearily talking about the weather to a friend, you may decide to open up about something you

are hoping for, are proud of, or even an embarrassment. You may find that, not only does it feel good, but you may have also laid the groundwork for a stronger friendship.

3. Be alert for people who may be wanting to be more authentic with you.

Notice your own comfort or discomfort with hearing others’ revelations. Don’t feel that you need to say anything (and don’t beat yourself if you say something stupid. So have I). Just listen.

Practice being compassionate.

We get better with practice.

4. During the holidays do some reading. You might drag out the children’s classic, The Velveteen Rabbit about an old sawdust-filled bunny who becomes real. You could follow it up with The Velveteen Principles: A Guide To Becoming Real by Toni Raiten-D’Antonio. Daring Greatly and I Thought It Was Just Me by Brené Brown are especially good books for women (and those who love them.)

I know how safe it feels to just talk about superficialities. We seem to be doing it more than ever. But it’s not all that good for us.

Friday / Saturday / Sunday

December 12, 13, and 14 2:00 – 6:00 pm

Join O’Grady’s Pantry & Mercantile for a sweet evening of holiday cookie decorating. We’ll be keeping the doors open and the fire burning until 6:00 pm.

Let us do the cooking, our regular menu will be available while you do the decorating. We’ll have seasonal sugar cookies, frosting, icing, candies and sprinkles, plus we’ll clean up the mess!

Cost $6

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We may be stunting our emotional growth, character, mental health and opportunities for deeply connecting with others.

What if we started telling each other who we really are? Could be worth the gossip.

How might you move up to The Good Life by becoming more real?

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.

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column GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

bonnie orr

Nearly anything tastes better with spuds People who grow potatoes

say harvesting spuds is like finding buried treasure.

What a delight to unearth a hidden tuber not knowing its size or shape. Growing potatoes is easy in most of NCW except in the few areas that have heavy clay soil.

Spuds are easy to cook and delicious no matter how you fix them. The house smells so homey when potatoes bake.

One of the best parts of cooking potatoes is the leftovers. I always cook way more than I plan to use for one meal so that I can design a yummy dish for a meal the next day.

Different potatoes are cooked in different ways. Boiled potatoes will produce fluffy mashed potatoes. The most flavorful boilers are yellow Yukon Golds.

The best baked potatoes are any variety of Russets.

And please don’t smother taters in foil when baking. Foilbaked potatoes reminds me of sweaty gym socks. If you must hurry along the cooking, insert metal cooking nails to convey the heat more rapidly to the center of the tuber. If worse comes to worst, microwave the Russets for four minutes, and then bake in the oven until cooked.

Leftover baked or mashed potatoes are commonly served as hash browns, as a base for a creamed soup for lunch, or as a casserole topping. Personally, I think nearly anything tastes better with spuds.

With both of the following recipes, either chop up the baked potato with the skin or scoop it out of the skin depending on your preference. If the mashed potatoes have lots of sour cream, salt and pepper, then moderate the seasonings in these recipes.

Salt/pepper 1. Clean the mushroom caps with a damp paper towel and remove the stems.

2. Put the shallots, peppers, mushroom stems, paprika, salt and pepper in the food processor and chop finely.

3. In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese and potatoes together. Then stir in the chopped ingredients.

4. Fill each mushrooms hollow with the mix so that the filling is heaped into a stiff dome shape. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

5. Place filled mushrooms on a greased baking sheet and bake until golden brown — about 30 minutes.

Mashed potato chocolate cake For a colorful left-over meal, add a medley of winter vegetables, like red peppers, squash and yellow, red and brown potatoes.

Potato leftovers stew Make this with yellow potatoes for a colorful, unusual and delicious stew.

Serves 4; 30 minutes preparation 4 slices of bacon, chopped 1 large onion chopped 2 cups raw winter squash 1 small red pepper — hot or sweet — chopped 1/4 cup chopped Kalamata olives 2 cups leftover cooked potatoes 2 teaspoons savory or sweet marjoram 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 2 cups buttermilk Salt/pepper 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese In a large saucepan, cook the bacon until crisp. Drain off fat.

Add the onion and cook until limp.

Cut the squash into one-inch cubes.

Cook the squash cubes in the microwave for 4 minutes until the squash is tender.

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Add the olives, potatoes, pepper, herbs and buttermilk. Cook until very hot.

Pour the stew in a serving bowl and garnish with the Parmesan cheese.

Filled porcini mushroom caps Serves 4 10 minutes preparation 30 minutes baking; 350 degrees You can substitute large cremini mushrooms to make individual serving portions. Efficiently chop the filling ingredients together in the food processor.

2 large porcini or 4 large cremini mushrooms 1 large shallot, coarsely chopped 1 sweet red bell pepper, coarsely chopped 1 tablespoon paprika 2 cups baked or mashed potatoes 2/3 cup cream cheese 3 tablespoons toasted breadcrumbs

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If you don’t tell anyone, they will never know the secret of this moist cake. The dough is mixed in three stages.

45 minutes; 350 degrees Cream: 1 cup butter 2 cups sugar 2 eggs Mix together: 1 cup mashed potatoes 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup buttermilk Mix together: 2 cups flour 1/4 cup baking cocoa 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder Grease a 9x13 baking dish.

In the mixer, cream the first group; blend in the second set of ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and blend well.

Pour the batter into the baking dish.

Bake until an inserted cake tester comes out of the cake clean.

Cool and frost or serve plain.

Bonnie Orr — the dirt diva — cooks and gardens in East Wenatchee.

PET tales

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

M

M

y wife, Pam, was taking care of grand babies in Idaho.

On her way home, she called me to say she rescued a dog — a German Shepherd.

Having three dogs at the time, I really wasn’t eager for another dog in the house — but she knew a German Shepherd was something I always wanted.

This is my so-called German Shepherd, Little Bit, who sits on my shoulder, not at my feet.

I believe I was tricked.

— Maynard Lamb

December 2014 | The Good Life

y son-in-law, Roger Starkweather, brought home a puppy.

His wife, Donnas, decided that with her working they could not take care of the new puppy. So I said I would take the dog.

Daisy is now 7 years old and she still likes to lay in my lap.

She weighs about 80 pounds and is a good watch dog.

At home, she lives on four acres and loves to chase ground squirrels and foxes.

— Lorna Weary (who is 92, and lives on the Continental Divide in Montana summers and winters here in Wenatchee with her daughter and son-in-law.)

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column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR

jim brown, m.d.

Visiting Quebec and the St. Lawrence River For years I have wanted to

return to the St Lawrence River, which borders Canada and the United States in the northeast.

My maternal grandparents and great aunt Mathilda were teenage immigrants from northern Norway. They landed at Ellis Island in 1908 with their first stop in Brooklyn, where my grandparents met for the first time and subsequently married.

Eventually my grandparents ended up in Stoughton, Wisconsin, then known as “little Norway.”

Aunt Mathilda went to Detroit where she found a job working for the founder of the Hudson department store. A life-long spinster, she eventually managed the staff of his mansion,

Old Quebec City (called the Paris of North America) adjoins the St. Lawrence River.

reminiscent to me of Downton Abby.

During the Depression, my mom and her sister Ragnild made their way to Detroit after high school graduation, found

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work at Hudson’s, and both eventually got married. I was born in Detroit.

We looked at Aunt Mathilda as our “rich” relative since she gave us wonderful Christmas gifts, lived in a mansion and had purchased a cottage on an island in the St. Lawrence River near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Our visits there were magical for me and remain my favorite childhood memories.

I also had desired to visit Canada’s French province, Quebec and visit Old Quebec City, called the Paris of North America.

Old Quebec, founded in 1608, is North America’s only fortified city north of Mexico and one of the oldest European settlements in North America. The citadel and the well-preserved fortress walls make for a great walk with beautiful vistas.

In an Internet search I found a riverboat trip on the St. Lawrence from Quebec City to Kingston, Ontario that covered 375 miles of the seaway including the famous “1000 islands” area, actually 1,864 islands, where the salad dressing by the same name was invented.

The Canadian Empress is a 62-passenger riverboat that was

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December 2014

built to simulate an early 1900’s steamship.

We first flew to Montreal, staying at the quaint Hotel le Saint Sulpice in Montreal’s old town. Montreal, located on a large island, is Canada’s second largest city with a population of around 2 million.

Old Montreal, on the river, has its own charm with stone buildings, narrow cobblestone streets, wonderful French restaurants and patisseries and the large Notre Dame Cathedral.

A subway trip took us to the 1976 Olympic Park and Montreal’s famous botanical gardens.

We went by bus from Montreal to Quebec City, and discovered it was a much more enjoyable way to travel than the airlines that brought us there.

Our flights through Chicago had long delays in Chicago due to the fire sabotage in their air traffic control center two days before we traveled.

After three wonderful days in Old Quebec exploring the historic narrow “European” streets with wonderful restaurants and quaint shops, we boarded the Canadian Empress to meet our fellow passengers who came from Canada, the United States

The seaway opened in 1959 at a cost of $470 million, $336 million of which came from the Canadian government. as well as two couples from Perth, Australia who did not know each other.

We were pleasantly surprised to learn that nine of the passengers were from Nebraska where Lynn and I had gone to university.

There is one thing about all Nebraskans; they love their football team.

Our second night we would be docked in the town of TroisRivieres.

These Nebraskans had already scoped out a sports bar that would be showing the Nebraska–Michigan State football game.

The game was being shown on two of their six televisions. Nebraska was losing badly until the fourth quarter when we scored three touchdowns in a short time that brought us within five points.

By then all the TV’s were on this game, even the Canadians were cheering the Huskers on, but alas, it was to no avail.

Nonetheless, it made for a fun evening.

The St. Lawrence Seaway and the St. Lawrence River extend 2,038 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to Duluth, Minnesota connecting all the great lakes.

The Seaway has a system of 13 Canadian and two U.S. locks, channels and canals that allow ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Superior.

Original proposals for a joint Canadian–U.S. hydro and navigation works on the river were voted down by our Congress in 1941 and 1945. Canada decided

Expensive summer homes to tiny cottages are built on the small islands of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

to go it alone until finally in 1954 the U.S. Congress finally approved an American seaway role. The seaway opened in 1959 at a cost of $470 million, $336 million of which came from the Canadian government.

This seaway, dedicated by President Dwight Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II in 1959, is now considered to be one of the great engineering feats of the 20th Century.

Since the dedication, more than 2 billion tons of cargos have moved along its channels and canals. There are several hydroelectric plants on the various channels along this river as well. This is possible since the water level from Lake Ontario to Montreal drops 376 feet, controlled by locks.

In addition to commerce, this vast seaway has become a recreational treasure attracting 2.5 million tourists, boaters, fishermen and sightseers annually from all over the world who enjoy its beauty, parks and historic sites.

On this trip we experienced nearly all modes of transportation including walking, horse drawn carriages, subways, taxis, bus, rail and air. Our least favorite was by air.

Universally, those we talked with felt that travel by air is no longer enjoyable with frequent December 2014 | The Good Life

delays, missed connections, airport crowds, long lines for security, and airplanes packed with as many passengers as possible. It has become an ordeal to be endured.

I remember it was once said, “Getting there is half the fun,” but no one is saying that anymore when it comes to air travel.

Though we love to travel, there is nothing better than returning to our beautiful Wenatchee Valley that we call home. Here is the good life.

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.

Available at these local locations

Wenatchee Wenatchee Valley Museum Owl Soda Fountain @ Gifts Wenatchee Antique Mall Hastings Books and Music Hallmark Gifts Pak-It-Rite www.ncwgoodlife.com

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Rhubarb Market Cashmere Apple Annie’s Leavenworth A Book For All Seasons The Upper Valley Museum

This day bag features natural Chromexcel from Horween Tannery in Chicago and hand-waxed canvas. It’s a good all-around bag and is often used as a diaper bag, said Dustin.

bag it up hands-on entrepreneur sews an artist’s passion into a business with worldwide attention

By Susan Lagsdin “Here’s my sketch,” Dustin Spencer joked as he picked up a piece of khaki-colored twill fabric, a burnished leather handle secured with brass bolts flopping from its edge.

“Actually, I don’t draw anything — whenever I get a new idea I just make it up right away to see if it will work.”

And when it works, it’s solid gold. Toiletry kits, briefcases, duffles of all sizes, portfolios, wallets (“…and maybe 3,000 belts a year,” he figures) — each one is a visual and tactile pleasure, made to last and stay beautiful.

At 32, Dustin is an artist, a craftsman and an entrepreneur. In 2008 he started Vermilyea Pelle (vur-MIL-yuh pel-le), designing and hand-manufacturing his own line of quality bags and leather accessories,

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Dustin Spencer poses with his 16-inch standard briefcase in black overdyed Japanese twill with Canadian wool lining and vegetable tanned leather from Horween. Often used as a business briefcase — it is designed for files and a 15-inch laptop.

which sell for prices from $70 to hundreds of dollars.

Savvy about on-line business practices, Dustin stays close to his Wenatchee home and still catches the eye of buyers, individual and wholesale, all over the U.S. and in Japan, France, Spain and the U.K. Social media and a web presence (and the faithful UPS truck) are all he needs to keep materials coming in, his goods moving.

But he is also a workman following an older tradition.

Picture an open shop in a medieval settlement, with a craftsman bent over his labor, creating out of native materials sturdy | The Good Life

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bags for the gear and tackle that needs to be toted around.

Every day Dustin dedicates himself to making those kinds of useful objects and said, “I treat each one as an art piece. They have to be perfect.”

His media are leather, cotton and metal.

Dustin admits when he talks to clients about the process, “I kind of ‘nerd-out’ a little. Not too many people want to know all that.” But he thrives on details: the warp and weft of twill, the waxability of wool, the durability of copper; tannages and denier, selvage and tensile strength.

His best cotton fabrics come from Japan,

December 2014

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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.

The 20-inch weekender/field duffle features brown Chromexcel from Horween and 18-ounce waxed twill fabric. “I found that the 20-inch was very universal, holds a fair amount of goods, is very maneuverable, and is perfect as a carry on,” said Dustin.

Canada and England. Of 500 tanning formulas available at his supplier of choice (Horween of Chicago, founded 1905), he uses only seven on the cow, horse and bison hides he purchases.

Dustin, his wife and their three young children live in a city neighborhood, but he operates his business out of an elderly double-wide trailer on his father’s orchard property in Malaga, which became his full time shop two years ago.

Now it’s crammed with 19 (count ’em!) sewing and binding machines set up on tables throughout the rooms.

Not for 19 employees — he still works solo in the old tradition, only occasionally contracting out piecework to one friend. He uses each of the machines in the course of his work.

The rest of the shop is walls lined with finished earth tone bags, shelves of patterns and piece goods in mid-assemblage, one room of rolls of fabric, stacks of leather, one room filled with a massive cutting table.

The surroundings are comfortable for him. He was raised in a “make-it yourself ” household by a farmer and an artist and allowed free rein to create in untypical ways.

He said, “I started designing

and sewing my own expedition gear when I was about nine — I’d finish sewing something, then rush out to my motorbike and go up to Jump Off Ridge to try it out.”

Later, the birth of his first child was the impetus to strike out and do what he loved part time, and a dozen years learning both marketing and craft at American Shoe Shop gave him the confidence to operate independently.

He took the leap and started his own business, “learning by Braille at first,” he admitted.

Busy and busier every year since then, Dustin is in the enviable position of making art, enjoying his work, supporting his family and knowing that in the future, one or more of his kids will likely take up the tools and try their hand at bag making.

His five-year old daughter, who loves to hang around the shop, designed and built her own apron recently, with only a little guidance from dad.

Dustin believes in hands-on learning, literally: “I want my kids to know that if you don’t know how to do something, you don’t need someone to teach you. Just go ahead and do it.”

December 2014 | The Good Life

Country Western open mic/ jam session, 3-6 p.m. Every second and fourth Sunday. Clearwater Saloon, 838 Valley Mall Pky. East Wenatchee.

Pybus Public Market, every Thursday night is locals night, 5 – 8 p.m. Live music, cooking demonstrations and local vendors.

Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market, every Saturday through December. All day. Pybus Public Market.

NCW Blues Jam, every second and fourth Monday, 7:30 – 11 p.m. Clearwater Steakhouse, East Wenatchee.

Info: facebook.com/NCWBluesJam.

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2 Left Feet, every Thursday, 7 – 9 p.m. 2 Left Feet is a loose organization of local dance enthusiasts who would like to see more dancing in the Wenatchee Valley. Beginner lesson at the top of the hour followed by carefree social dancing. No partner necessary to join in the fun.

Dance style will be 1940s swing with a bit of salsa, blues, waltz or tango thrown in. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Cider Monday, 12/1. Visit downtown Chelan and enjoy a warm cider and other treats while shopping.

A Small Town Christmas, 12/1-24. Stroll through downtown Chelan and enjoy the holiday lights and merchant windows decked out for the Holiday Window Display contest. Earn Jingle Bucks at participating merchants. Santa’s Big Red Mailbox accepts letters in front of the Lake Chelan Historical Museum. Professional portraits with Santa are taken from noon to 2 p.m. at The Vogue and a FREE holiday matinee movie at the Ruby Theatre at 2 p.m. 12/6, 13, 20.

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WHAT TO DO

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

}}} Continued from previous page El Sendero Backcountry Film Festival, 12/3, 7 p.m. Nine unique films aimed to inspire winter adventurers to seek the snow less traveled —highlighting the beauty, diversity and fun of the winter backcountry experience. Submissions come from world-renowned filmmakers who travel every corner of the globe to submit their best backcountry work, and from grassroots filmmakers who take a video camera out on their weekend excursions. Funds raised are used locally to support human-powered recreation and conservation efforts. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $10.

Scientific Illustration Workshop, 12/4. The Wenatchee River Institute at Barn Beach in Leavenworth is hosting a Scientific Illustration workshop with Marlin Peterson. In this course students will learn watercolor techniques to record their observations of the natural world. Students will use local aquatic macro invertebrates from the nearby Wenatchee River as drawing specimens. Each student will leave with an over-sized insect painting of their own. Beginners welcome. Info: wenatcheeriverinstitute.org.

Journey to Bethlehem, 12/4-7, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. walk in tours.

Experience the town of Bethlehem as it was the night the Christ child was born. Includes over 150 actors and supporting cast in full costume and a living nativity with sheep, goats, donkeys, chickens and a

camel. 5th and Western. Cost: free.

Info: j2bwenatchee.org.

Wings ‘n Wishes, 12/4, 6 - 8 p.m.

Santa arrives on a fire truck and stops at East Wenatchee City Hall on 9th St. Girls Eastmont choir group will sing carols, hot chocolate and Christmas cookies will be served. A fire pit with the smores will be made outside. Cost: free.

Info: east-wenatchee.com.

The Game’s Afoot, 12/4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 8 p.m. The Theatre Department at Wenatchee Valley College presents an evening of murder, comedy, and holiday cheer with playwright Ken Ludwig’s newest satire, The Games Afoot (or Holmes for the Holiday). The full-length award winning play promises to keep the audience on the edge of their seats or rolling in the aisles.

Wenatchee Valley College Campus Theatre (Wells Hall 1068). Cost: $10, students and seniors $8. Tickets available at the door.

Christmas Lighting Festival, 12/5, 4 – 9 p.m. Live musical performances of your favorite Christmas songs with St. Nicholas arriving at 4:30 p.m. at the Front Street Gazebo. The first three weekends in December are filled to the brim with holiday cheer and over half a million Christmas lights. On Saturdays and Sundays live music begins at 11 a.m. with a noon Santa Parade.

Performances including hand bell choirs, select dance performances from The Nutcracker, top-ranking Army National Guard Dixie Band, breakout solo artists, high school and professional choirs at the Front Street Gazebo. You’ll find carolers strolling, the smell of roasted chestnuts, sledding in Front Street Park, selling hot spiced wine and cider, a Christmas Story corner, costumed Christmas characters and more. Downtown Leavenworth.

Info: leavenworth.org.

Wenatchee First Fridays ArtsWalk, 12/5, 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: wenatcheefirstfridaysartswalk.tumblr.com.

Two Rivers Art Gallery, 12/5, 5 – 8 p.m. Jon Browder is the featured artist. Jon was a cinematographer, making documentary and television commercial films.

Jon worked in Dallas as a technical illustrator for Texas Instruments.

Since retirement Jon pursued his love of pen and ink drawing,

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watercolor and sculpting in clay and paper mache. Wines by Horan Estates Winery, music by guitarist Kirk Lewellen and complimentary refreshments. 102 N Columbia, Wenatchee. Cost: free. Info: 2riversgallery.com.

Merriment Party Goods, 12/5, 5 – 8 p.m. Merriment will feature handcrafted, artisan jewelry by local artist Brenda McGowan Jewelry/Studio B. 23, S Wenatchee Ave. Cost: free. Info: facebook.com/merrimentpartygoods.

Tumbleweed Bead Co., 12/5, 5-8 p.m. Showcasing Dancing Aspen Design. Refreshments served. 105 Palouse St. Cost: free. Info: tumbleweedbeadco.com.

Small Artworks Gallery, 12/5, 5 p.m. 13 local artists works will be on display at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Info: wvmcc.org.

Kelsey Lockhart and Gavin McLaughlin live, 12/5, 6 – 8 p.m. Acoustic duo with a sultry pop feel. Live at Pybus Public Market.

Cost: free.

Christmas Show, 12/5, 6, 12, 7 p.m. Singers and musicians with all your Christmas favorites: an oldfashioned radio show format with a tender Christmas story, chestnuts roasting, hot chocolate bubbling.

Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $20 advance or $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org.

Bruce Bjornstad – Ice Age Floods Expert, 12/6, all day.

Bruce Bjornstad, author of two books about the Ice Age floods and the landforms they shaped in eastern Washington, will show his new aerial videos of those outstanding landforms, and will be available to chat, sell and sign his books. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

A Small Town Christmas Celebration, 12/6, all day. Treats, specials, entertainment and holiday cheer. Kids can create graham cracker cottages at The Vogue 10 a.m. – noon. Portraits with Santa and don’t forget the free movie.

Downtown Chelan.

Tree Lighting and Santa, 12/6, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. Community tree lighting and free Santa photos.

Stanley Civic Center Fountain Plaza and Wenatchee Convention Center.

Cost: free.

Marlin Handbell Ringers, 12/7, 2 p.m. Cashmere Riverside Center.

Cost: $3 at the door, $8-$11 pass

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column the night sky this month

Peter Lind

Watching meteors streak to earth Jupiter dominates the night

sky in December but the highlight will be the Geminid meteor shower.

Early evening sky watchers will still see Mars above the southwest horizon after sunset throughout December. It moves from the constellation Sagittarius into Capricornus during the first week of the month. Mars is the brightest object in Capricornus and in late December it will be about a finger’s width at arm’s length from the brightest star in the constellation.

Mars sets more than three hours after the sun, which seems like plenty of time to examine it through a telescope, but it is a great distance from earth and would be disappointing.

Venus returns to our view by mid-December after three months of hiding. It will set just above the southwestern horizon a half hour after sunset. The best views will be from the east side of the river and through binoculars.

By the end of the month Venus will be twice as high above the

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horizon and much easier to spot.

Mercury, the innermost planet, passes on the far side of the sun from our view (an event known as superior conjunction) Dec. 8, but its fast orbital motion brings it back into view three weeks later.

On the 31st of the month Mercury will stand half as high off the western horizon as Venus.

The two planets will pass within 1 degree — or your little finger’s width — early in January. This will give you a great opportunity to follow their relative motions over a few days.

Jupiter comes above the eastern horizon around 10 p.m. in early December and two hours earlier by the end of the month.

The king of the planets will be the brightest point of light in the night sky. It resides in the stars of Leo the Lion all through December. Around the 9th it comes close to the bright star Regulus.

If you have never seen Leo, it is a grand constellation. When it’s high in the sky, around midnight in December, you can see a backwards question mark with a triangle of stars behind it.

WHAT TO DO

the hat suggested donation. Info: cashmerecommunityconcerts.com.

Wonderwomen, 12/6, 7 p.m.

The Wenatchee Valley Symphony will perform Rossini’s Overture to L’italiana in Algiers. Previn’s Honey and Rue, based on poetry by Toni Morrison, will feature soprano Kari Ragan. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Info: numericapac.org.

It’s a Wonderful Life, 12/6, 12, 13, 19, 20, 8 p.m. 12/7, 13, 14, 20, 21, 1 p.m. matinees. Live performance.

Festhalle Theater, Leavenworth.

Cost: $15, $20, $25. Info: leavenworthsummertheater.org.

Santa arrives by helicopter,

12/7, 1 p.m. Tried finding a sled, but couldn’t locate one worthy of the Pybus Public Market, sooo…

Santa will be arriving in a bright red helicopter. Watch the skies to the east in the south parking lot. Free photos with Santa 1 – 3 p.m. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Alzheimer’s Café, 12/9, 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

}}} Continued on next page December 2014 | The Good Life

The final planet, Saturn climbs above the Eastern horizon about an hour before sunrise. It is quite bright but because it is low on the horizon it would not be worth viewing through a telescope yet. Saturn will be more interesting when spring comes.

Earth reaches winter solstice at 3:03 p.m. on Dec. 21. At that time the sun lies farthest south in our sky. The solstice marks the beginning of winter for people in the northern hemisphere and summer for those to the south.

The last quarter moon occurs as the Geminid meteor shower peaks on the 14th. This is a good time to catch lots of meteors before midnight. The streaks of light emanate from the direction of the constellation Gemini, which climbs high in the sky by late evening.

The Ursid shower produces only about one-tenth as many meteors as the Geminid. This year it peaks under a new moon on the 22nd. The meteors seem to emanate from a point in the constellation Ursa Minor.

Buying a telescope Last year at this time I talked about telescopes as Christmas gifts. I related the difficulty I had with my first telescope, which was mounted on an equatorial tripod, and the Dobsonian telescope and the ease of use with them.

I thought this year I might give a few specific telescopes that are good buys and easy to use.

Dobsonian telescopes are made from a basic Newtonian reflector. The Newtonian reflector is a type of reflecting telescope invented by the British scientist Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), using a concave primary mirror at the bottom of www.ncwgoodlife.com

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the telescope tube that reflects light to a flat diagonal secondary mirror and into the eyepiece.

Newton’s first telescope was completed in 1668 and is the earliest known functional reflecting telescope.

John Dobson (1915-2014) is the inventor of the Dobsonian mount, which puts the telescope close to the ground so it is easier to look through the eyepiece.

Orion Telescopes and Binoculars sell a variety of beginner and intermediate Dobsonian telescopes. For the beginner I recommend a 6 or 8 inch Dobsonian. Look at the Orion skyQuest XT6 Classic Dobsonian telescope. This is a very good telescope for $300. The 8-inch Classic is also a good telescope for around $400.

Orion also has tabletop telescopes called the StarBlast series that are worth looking at.

One more thing to mention is that binoculars are a good place to start with astronomy. They give you the ability to look at the moon close-up, to see the discs of planets, see star clusters, and rich star fields.

Some nights I am out with only binoculars and have a great time. Binoculars need a 50mm objective lens for good night viewing.

Meade Telescopes is another company with a limited variety of Dobsonian scopes to look at, and they tend to manufacture higher quality and more expensive telescopes.

Both manufacturers sell online and there is some basic assembly required with telescopes.

Peter Lind is a local amateur astronomer. He can be reached at ppjl@ juno.com.

>>

WHAT TO DO

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

}}} Continued from previous page 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.

Winter Family and Friends choral Concert, 12/9, 7 p.m. A concert by the Wenatchee Valley College Chamber Singers. The Grove Recital Hall at Wenatchee Valley College. Cost $5 or $10 per family. Proceeds benefit the Choir Assistance Fund.

Downtown Sisters Shopping Night, 12/11, 5 – 8 p.m. Join real-life sisters Jessica Russell of Tumbleweed and Brianne Vertrees of Merriment for an evening of holiday shopping and fun. Both Wenatchee shops will stay open late, serve snacks and beverages and feature yummy artists like 2 Chefs Catering and Yeti Chocolates.

Opera Series: Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, 12/13, 9 a.m.

Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $20 advance or $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org.

Coming attractions Santa’s Arrival

Free Pizza, 12/13, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Free pizza, crafts and photos with Santa. Wenatchee Convention Center.

Chance Brothers, 12/12, 5:30 – 8 p.m. Live country western band. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Sugar Plum Saturday, 12/13, all day. Find out who wins the Holiday Dessert Taste Off as you cheer on local restaurants while a panel of judges sample their sweet creations. Sweet treats for all. Portraits with Santa and don’t forget the free movie. Downtown Chelan.

Free Photos with Santa, 12/13, 14, 20, 21, 1 – 3 p.m. Just bring your camera or phone to snap as many photos as you like with Santa. Pybus Public Market.

The Nutcracker, 12/13, 7 p.m., 12/14, 2 p.m. The Wenatchee Valley Symphony will present Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet The Nutcracker. Fabulous Feet Dance Studio director Melissa Miller and choreographer Tracy Trotter will stage the production with local talent. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Info: numericapac.org.

A Classic Christmas: Noel Harp, 12/13, 7 p.m. Celebrate the Yuletide season with Noel, an exceptional ensemble featuring harps, flute, strings, percussion and poetry. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $20 advance, $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org.

Free Photos with Santa, 12/14, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Wenatchee Convention Center.

Worldwide Candle Lighting, 12/14, 7 p.m. The Compassionate Friends 18th Annual Worldwide Candle Lighting to honor the memory of children who have died at any age from any cause. This tribute creates a virtual wave of light around the globe, transcending all ethnic, cultural, religious, and political boundaries. There is no charge to attend, but donations to support this mission will be accepted. Church of the Nazarene, 1011 S Miller, Wenatchee. Info: 8603620 or tcfwenatcheecvalley.org.

Compassionate Friends, 12/15, 7 – 8:30 p.m. A grief support group that helps assist families dealing with a death of a child. Grace

To advertise your event, contact Sales at sales@ncwgoodlife.com

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Lutheran Church, 1408 Washington St. Cost: free. Info: tcfwenatcheevalley.org.

Men’s Night, 12/18, Twin Peaks Ciderhouse and Distillery will have tastings. Tumbleweed Bead Co., 105 Palouse St. Cost: free. Info: tumbleweedbeadco.com.

White Christmas, 12/18, 7 p.m. A Christmas movie classic, starring Bing Crosby in a romantic tale that takes place in a Vermont lodge.

Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: free. Info: icicle.org.

Rocklyn Road Band, 12/19, 6 – 8 p.m. Danika Nolton and Gary Johnstad will be playing a mix of classic rock, country and rockabilly. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Magical Strings Celtic Yuletide, 12/19, 7 p.m. A gala of Irish music and dance, storytelling, juggling and songs of the season.

The Boulding family is joined by champion Irish Dancers, lively Canadian fiddle, irresistible voice accompanied by a Dublin guitarist and percussion binds it all together with the sounds of harp and hammered dulcimer. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $20 advance or $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org.

Christmas with the Columbia Chorale, 12/19, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata and Robert Shaw’s suite of The Many Moods of Christmas

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December 2014

are just a part of this concert filled with delightful music of the season.

Numerica Performing Arts Center.

Info: wenatchee.org.

Illumni Men’s Chorale, 12/20, 7 p.m. Renowned for their constant pursuit of new songs and arrangements. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $20 advance or $24 at the door.

Info: icicle.org.

Gingerbread Factory, 12/21, 3 p.m. & 4:30 p.m. Families are invited to a Christmas candy land on the stage, where every seat comes with a gingerbread woman and man to decorate. Santa will be there, too. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $10 per seat.

Info: numericapac.org.

Holiday Movies, 12/21, 12/22, 23, 6:30 p.m. Elf will show on 12/21.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation will show on 12/22. White Christmas on 12/23. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $2. Info: numericapac.org.

Chloe Grace, 12/26, 6 – 8 p.m.

Singer/songwriter Chloe Grace will perform. Pybus Public Market.

Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org.

Pack Walks, 12/28, 1/25, 2/22, 3/22 and 4/26, 3 p.m. Bring your friends and dogs on leashes and walk the riverfront trail. Meet on the loop behind Pybus Market at the boat launch. Info: wenatcheefido.org.

The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

back from the dark Karen Dawn Dean is creating again and wants to help other artists find the light of opportunity

K

aren Dawn Dean suggested her interviewer try a piece of candied ginger. Sweet, uniquely tasty — but it was proffered with a motive.

“See this?” She picked up the flat rectangular tin it came from. “I figure if I can collect a whole bunch of these, I can hinge the covers like so (she held up a little door arrangement) and make a whole wall full of ‘retablos’ — little curio boxes with scenes — maybe PG to X rated to triple XXX. Hmm… what would that be, I wonder…?”

For the woman who had recently created an intriguing stack of what she calls “gumbies,” vaguely futon-like sculptures in the window of a shared Mission Street art space, and who had layered white clay on canvas to form geological-ish cracks for a show at the MAC Gallery at Wenatchee Valley College, the idea seemed pretty reasonable.

From soil-of-the earth traditional pottery in the ancient tradition to ginger-tin scenes, Karen is all arts all the time.

Born and raised in East Wenatchee, she’s also a woman who’s come home again, in a few different ways.

After high school, she experienced working in clay with mentors in Montana and at Eastern Washington University. “I loved that,” she said. “I thought I’d be throwing pots ’til I died.”

Karen Dawn Dean: An artist creating opportunities for other artists.

After a successful show (where she paid a 30 percent commission on sold pieces) she realized, “I know how to do that!” and moved back to the area to open her own shop and to help out with family.

Her folk art gallery in Leavenworth, showcasing her own work, thrived for 20 years in that town’s first Bavarian tourism boom. The acquisition of a home and studio on riverfront property were about to open up her art life.

Then the unexpected, the awful, the life-changing event.

A car crash left her traumatized with brain injuries that didn’t show but were acutely disturbing to her. She moved back home with her mother, where “I spent 15 years in a darkened room,” she said.

A metaphor? “Not really. I rarely made forays out — I didn’t function well.” She calls it now, December 2014 | The Good Life

Her hands-on artistry at the potter’s wheel was replaced by a more global collaborative vision. “a personal universe without a center.” She attributes new therapies used for sport injuries and Gulf War victims with eventually helping her to cope with pain and sensory over-reaction.

Gradually, around 2008, Karen started re-dabbling and re-practicing.

She took a pottery class with Ruth Allen, painting with Scott Bailey. (“I wasn’t very good at making brush marks,” she admitted.) Making art was ... satisfying, but the kick she used to feel at completion wasn’t there. www.ncwgoodlife.com

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And the art world had shifted.

Over the years technology and the mass marketing of art had crept in, gradually downshifting reverence for the exquisite and handmade to more acceptance of production-line bargains.

Her hands-on artistry at the potter’s wheel was replaced by a more global collaborative vision.

Now she’s an arts advocate, researching and consulting with others, studying to find the best way to encourage local artists to market their work and the community to value it, or, as she graciously states, “to encourage artists to understand the multiple constituencies in the art world, the multiple strands of opportunity.”

There’s been talk in town of the need for a nonprofit group for visual artists, but Karen’s gone a step beyond that, working with like-minded colleagues to bring visual, literary and performance artists together.

Her base of operations is orangutan (“that’s orangutan with a small o”), an arts incubator space donated by the Woods family to her and two other artists, and her year-round project is co-planning downtown’s Friday Art Walks.

Currently, her focus is on producing multiple backdrops for a performance piece by Nicole Benoit’s multi-arts LEAP (Local Enterprising Artists Project) as well as curating a show at Caffé Mela of women from WVC’s spring 2014 advanced painting class, called 220@Mela.

Karen thinks like an artist, she acts like an artist, she creates and dreams and imagines like an artist. No clay or wheel or kiln, no paint or brush are needed.

Karen’s aspirations for her fellow travelers in the arts are high, and for these few years she’s willing to put time and talents toward her particular masterwork: a supportive community of artists and for artists.

— by Susan Lagsdin

>>

column those were the days

rod molzahn

Warm fun lit up cold pioneer winters Celebrations and entertain-

ment were essential to the early settlers of north central Washington.

Demanding, physical work filled their days and danger and hardships were always part of pioneer life. Any opportunity for a respite from daily demands, be it a birth, a birthday, a wedding or a holiday, was enthusiastically seized, often turning a family event into a community celebration.

Winter’s colder, darker and shorter days only heightened the need for entertainments and diversions. Dances, music and good food brought people together indoors while sleigh rides, sledding and skating topped the list of outdoor offerings.

Farm horses pulled wagons on runners, filled with giggling children, through the winter snow and homemade wooden sleds plied the hills and slopes from Wenatchee to Waterville.

But there was nothing more

grand than the sight of a matched team and a sleigh gliding through a glistening field, seats full with a family wrapped in long coats, hats and gloves, scarves over their noses and chins while the harness bells kept a bright rhythm.

Each year as winter began to settle into the Wenatchee Valley children and adults waited for the river ice to get thick enough for skating. It was not unusual for the Columbia to freeze from shore to shore.

In those years ice was harvested from the river and the cable ferry couldn’t operate. In the winter of 1886/87 the river froze so solidly that teams and wagons crossed on the ice all winter.

George Blair, who settled in the valley in 1883, recalled crossing with his six-horse team and stagecoach carrying passengers and mail from Ellensburg through Wenatchee and on to Waterville. Blair was pleased… the ice didn’t collect a fee like the ferries did.

A two-horse team pulled

an eight-foot wide scraper to smooth a section of the Columbia River at Wenatchee for skaters.

During most winters the Wenatchee froze over at the confluence, providing ideal skating from bank to bank.

Mike Horan was the official ice tester. The Horans lived along the north shore of the Wenatchee at the confluence and each winter everyone waited, no one skated, until Mike Horan successfully crossed the frozen river on horseback.

A winter dance and party would draw settlers from surrounding towns and outlying farms. Violins, banjos, harmonicas, guitars and pianos made the music.

In Wenatchee, the parties at the Horan house were eagerly looked forward to. The gas lights burned bright, Mike Horan played his violin and everyone sang. Dancing began in the early evening dark and went on from room to room until dawn.

Mildred Mitchell Sexson re-

called dances in the Okanogan. “Dances were the most common form of amusement. Usually they were scheduled for Friday nights so they would not extend into the Sabbath. They were held in homes, schoolhouses and community halls.

“Entire families arrived in wagons or carriages, or in winter by bobsled. For lack of babysitters, children could not be left at home. They were bedded down on benches or on straw ticks in a corner. Furniture was moved back, waxy powder sprinkled on the floor, and Mitter and Billy Brassfield tuned their fiddles.

“I can still hear them sawing away on the French minuet, Spanish waltz, tuxedo, Baltimore, polka, two-step and square dances which we called quadrilles. Waltzes were slow and dreamy,” added Mildred Sexson.

At midnight, women spread a supper. “Then,” according

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December 2014

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to Mildred Sexson, “dancing resumed. Home Sweet Home or Good Night Ladies announced the end of the dance. That was usually at the crack of dawn, because by then we could see our way home, where morning chores were awaiting.”

Okanogan and Big Bend settlers were famous for their five and ten gallon parties, named for the amount of whiskey available at the gathering. A tengallon party always drew a big crowd.

Another popular winter entertainment for north central Washington communities during the early 1900s was Chelan rancher, King Kennedy.

Kennedy was an accomplished magician and ventriloquist who performed in towns from Wenatchee to Conconully and into British Columbia.

King Kennedy amazed his audiences with card tricks, disappearing coins and appearing rabbits. He had three ventriloquist dummies named Punch, Judy and Mortimer that astounded the children by talking.

But all the audience, young and old, were mesmerized by Kennedy’s magic lantern shows, the first moving pictures ever seen in north central Washington.

The highlight of winter was, of course, the Christmas season.

There was no finer opportunity for celebration.

You could find it in Wenatchee in a house full of neighbors sitting down to roast chicken and venison, fresh baked bread, carrots and potatoes from the root cellar, canned peaches from Sam Miller’s orchard, a little peach Brandy from Phillip Miller and Dutch John Galler’s Malaga wine.

Or you could find Christmas at a two-room cabin in Yaxum Canyon warmed by a cook stove, filled with the sound of a harmonica playing The Holly and the Ivy.

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Historian, actor and teacher Rod Molzahn can be reached at shake.speak@frontier.com.

December 2014 | The Good Life

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>>

column ALEX ON WINE

ALEX SALIBY

Wines for warm holiday get-togethers The first wine I ever tasted

was a sacramental red, and no, it’s not what you may be thinking. It wasn’t a sip I sneaked as an altar boy.

The first wine ever to pass my lips was a Manischewitz wine, tasted when I was seated at the table of my friend Steve’s grandparents in Irvington, N.J. Mr. and Mrs K. were reasonably devout Jews, and the occasion was a Chanukah celebration meal with the family.

Steve had invited me, and his sister, Eileen, had invited her friend Nancy. Both Nancy and I were non-Jewish guests invited as part of the grandparent’s plan to help non-Jewish friends of their grandchildren understand something of their faith.

I remember little of what I learned about the reason for the celebration, nor do I remember much of the ceremonial activities Steve, Eileen and the family carried out.

I do remember the honor for Steve, who, for the first time in his young life, got to light both the shamash and the candles of the Menorah.

He was extremely pleased with himself for his success at completing these tasks, and I understand now more than I did

back then why his parents and grandparents beamed with such delight when he led the singing of the hymn. He was 13; I was 12.

I remember, too, that the wine was sweet. That surprised me. I was expecting something more along the lines of the bathtub vodka my grandmother made at our home, but that’s a topic for another day.

What I remember most is the warmth and friendliness of family and friends and the foods.

Oh my, the food! Those elements, my readership friends, are the real joys of the holidays.

It’s the season for spending as much time with friends and family as you can squeeze into the days.

Whatever faith or religious preference you claim for yourself, and how ever you and your family choose to celebrate the Christmas season… and for me, it is Christmas, not Chanukah or simply “The Season”… it’s a time for you to thoroughly enjoy yourselves.

To help with that, the entertainment, I’m here to offer a few suggestions regarding some beverages you might enjoy before, during and even after any celebratory meal you might have.

Hors d’oeuvres beverages Sparkling wines fit the bill for some, so try these: n Karma Vineyards offers both a rose and a blanc sparkler: Karma 2010 Pink Methode Champenoise and Karma 2009 Methode Champenoise Brut de Brut. n Cave B created: Cave B 2011 Blanc de Blanc.

Others will prefer a still wine (a non-bubbly wine) with their appetizers, so I recommend: n Hard Row to Hoe Shameless Hussy Rosé, now available in Leavenworth. n Wedge Mountain 2011 Cabernet Franc n Crayelle Cellars Albariño n Silvara Chenin Blanc At the dinner table Whites (remember the words of famed wine writer Hugh Johnson: “Offer both a red and a white.”): n CR Sandidge 2013 Sabrina, made from 100 percent Clos Chevalle Vineyard Gewurztraminer n Jones of Washington 2013 Estate Riesling n Martin-Scott 2011 Sauvignon Blanc (light alcohol on this one — 12.9 percent) n Horan Estates 2011 Viognier (2013 Chardonnay not avail-

able yet; be patient.)

Reds n Benson Vineyards 2011 Estate Cabernet Franc n Fielding Hills 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon n Silvara Vineyards 2012 Malbec n Tsillan Cellars 2010 Estate Bellissima Rossa n Cashmere Cellars Ardy’s Blend or Pinot Noir End-of-dinner ideas n Pasek Cellars Blackberry Dessert Wine n Wedge Mountain Roses and Rubies And finally: a very popular wine for any part of the meal at this time of year is Pasek Cellars Cranberry Wine. It pairs well with our brisket with cranberries and mushrooms.

Oh, there are so many more choices… so many wines, so little time.

A very merry Christmas to all of you; to my old friend Steve, “Happy Chanukah.”

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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December 2014

Wishing you a happy holiday season.

Roxanne Bryant Senior Vice President/Investments Branch Manager

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