The Good Life February 2011 by The Good Life

SWEET LITTLE LOVE STORY Y THE BEST LOCAL EVENTS CALENDAR

A H t

om e

Fr for esh id the eas ho me IN

SIDE

February 2011 n Cover price: $3

PLAYING ARMY Taking a rebel stand a few weekends a year

HOUSE SWAPPING WITH A FAMILY IN SPAIN KEEPING LITTLE HEADS WARM WITH KNITTED HATS

OPENING SHOT ®

Year 5, Number 2 February 2011 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 E-MAIL: editor@ncwgoodlife.com sales@ncwgoodlife.com Editor, Mike Cassidy Contributors, Alan Moen, Jim Brigleb, Donna Cassidy, Teri Bawden, Teri Fink, Bonnie Orr, Alex Saliby, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin, Rod Molzahn and NCW Events Online Advertising manager, Jim Senst Advertising sales, John Hunter and Mike Moore Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy Proofing, Jean Senst and Joyce Pittsinger Ad design, Rick Conant

Perfect morning for a paddle Donna Cassidy took this

picture on a cold January day. “I took this shot around 9 a.m. as Yvette Downs Matson, Kim George and Stacie Hoiland paddled upriver on the Columbia. It was a fabulous, sunny cold day,

perfect for a paddle.” These women are members of the Wenatchee Row and Paddle Club. And they paddle most Tuesdays — although they took a break in mid-month. Yvette said with the cold temperatures, they had to curb their paddling because of icebergs floating the river. “It can be a bit dangerous,” said Yvette. She also said the docks were icy as well.

TO SUBSCRIBE: For $25, ($30 out of state) 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

On the cover

Editor Mike Cassidy took this photograph of Civil War re-enactor Mark Burnett of Cashmere dressed in his period-correct Confederate military gear. Even his glasses are fashioned along the lines of what was worn in the 1860s.Mark also has some Yankee apparel in case he has to fill in as a bluecoat.

To subscribe/renew by e-mail, send credit card info to: donna@ncwgoodlife.com or phone 888-6527 BUY A COPY of The Good Life at Hastings, Caffé Mela, Eastmont Pharmacy, Martin’s Market Place (Cashmere) and A Book for All Seasons (Leavenworth) ADVERTISING: For information about advertising in The Good Life, contact Jim Senst, advertising manager, at (509) 670-8783, 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

February 2011 | The Good Life |

Contents

editor’s notes

MIKE CASSIDY

Kodachrome memories remade Somewhere in my impres-

page 16

Leavenworth home has A SENSE OF JOY

Features

BACK FROM BEER SCHOOL

Where information came bubbling over

7 THE LIGHTER SIDE

Jim Brigleb has some scientific advice, and he’ll give it as soon as you take a sip of your drink

8 COVER STORY: PLAYING ARMY

Camping, hiking, history, guns and joshing around the campfire — what’s not to like about being a Civil War re-enactor?

10 SWAPPING FOR A HOUSE IN SPAIN

Beating the high cost of travel by doing a vacation house swap

14 knitted hats warm little heads

When Aïda Bound discovered people tossing out old yarn, she came up with an idea to warm the heads of thousand of youngsters

16 At Home

with

The Good Life

• House out of a fairy tale • Twisting metal for use around the home

Columns & Departments 22 Bonnie Orr: Is cooking a science or guesswork 23 Alex Saliby: Valentine’s treats in wine country 24 The traveling doctor: A love story 26 June Darling: Ask better questions 27-31 Events, The Art Life & a Dan McConnell cartoon 32 History: Women’s work was truly never done 34 Fun Stuff Ahead: 5 activities to check out

sionable youth, I read photographers for National Geographic only shot Kodachrome slides to create their awesome pictures. “That’s for me,” I said, promptly ignoring that National Geographic photographers were also highly skilled and talented. I started shooting everything in slides, from travel to foreign countries to baby’s first birthday party. When our kids were young, we’d have slides and popcorn nights during winter evenings when the dark came early. The kids would yuck it up while I fussed around with the projector, controls only illuminated by the glow of a blurry slide of three kids in their early days. So when our youngest, now fully-grown child suggested instead of buying exchangeable Christmas presents this year, we convert our slides to digital images she could view on her computer, I jumped at the chance. First, I selected 50 slides to send off for commercial conversion at a cost of 30 cents each. But looking at boxes and boxes of carousel slide trays, I decided it would be cheaper to buy our own scanner. I could get a fine scanner capable of handling slides, film and prints for $200. I would only have to scan about 700 slides to come out. When the scanner arrived, I plugged it into my laptop, swept everything else off the kitchen table and went to work. And almost immediately, ran into my first serious time obstacle. I had estimated it would take 2-3 minutes per slide, so a couple of weeks of nights and weekends should do it.

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Yet, about every other scan, I had to stop, call my wife over, and say: “Look how cute (insert name of one of our three children here) is! Remember when we all went to (insert event)? That was so fun, we were such great parents to our kids.” Of course, there were pictures of our tiny children running around with hatchets in the forest, shooting BB guns in a jumble of chaos, standing on high perches — and then one of our second-born on his first birthday when his mom stuck a lighted candle in a popcorn ball and placed it on his highchair tray, with his parents apparently not too concerned by the little guy’s reaching for the flame. Here’s an aside: Pre-children, I would read of bizarre mishaps to kids and think, “They must have terrible parents!” Post-children, I would see the same stories (and we’re talking about the silly accidents here, not cruelty), and think: “Whew, glad that didn’t happen to us!” Anyway, by Christmas we had scanned more than 3,000 slides to burn onto computer disks for our children. And while we saved ourselves a bundle by doing it ourselves, the real holiday gift was to ourselves. While it’s said you can’t relive your youth, we found by scanning these pictures from when our family was young, we got to remember and enjoy a time of our lives we were too busy to truly appreciate what we were experiencing. Take a photo. Remember to savor The Good Life. Mike

February 2011 | The Good Life |

snapshots

“There was so much information that the instructors talked as fast as they could.”

Adventures at beer school Icicle Brewing’s Dean Priebe attends Siebel Institute By Alan Moen

or the first time since he graduated from the University of Washington in 1988, Dean Priebe of Leavenworth went back to school this November. But this time, the subject of his studies wasn’t engineering; it was beer. An award-winning homebrewer, Dean lost his job as an engineer with the Longview Fibre Company in 2009 when the company closed its mill and offices near Leavenworth. He then decided to leave the timber industry to begin a new career in brewing. He was hired by Oliver and Pam Brulotte to be the head brewer at their new Icicle Brewing Company in Leavenworth, due to open in May of this year. Prior to being hired by the Brulottes, Dean’s awards in proam competitions allowed him to brew his beer recipes at Pyramid Ales and at the Pike Brewing Company in Seattle. He also won a scholarship from the Glen Falconer Foundation in Oregon last year to attend the prestigious Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago, the nation’s oldest school

for professional brewers. And so, for the first two weeks of November 2010, Dean traveled east to embark on his first academic training in the craft of brewing. Dean enrolled in the school’s Concise Course in Brewing Technology, an intensive study of the technical aspects of the craft. Subjects included malt analysis, the nature and use of hops, yeast management, filtration, carbonation, packaging, wastewater, cleaning, sanitation and biological control. Dean’s instructors included professional brewers from Siebel and its partner, Doemens Academy in Germany. There were 48 students in Dean’s class, all men. “About 60 percent of them were homebrewers, 20 percent craft brewers and 20 percent big brewery managers,” he said. Dean stayed at a nearby hostel while going to school, taking advantage of a stipend he received for lodging as part of his scholarship. His typical day started at 9 a.m. and ended about 5 p.m., with one-hour lectures and a break for lunch. “There was so much information that the instructors talked as fast as they could,” Dean recalled. “I was surprised by

Dean Priebe: A brewer with a head of beer knowledge.

the amount of material — a year’s worth of education in two weeks. It gave me a new appreciation for how complex brewing is.” Although he learned a lot in the classroom, Dean also gained much valuable information from daily get-togethers with instructors and other students after class at Siebel’s in-house bier stube (taproom). “I met people from almost every state there,” Dean said. “We talked a lot about brewing problems. When you’re problem solving, troubleshooting is the biggie.” Dean’s extra-curricular activities also included attending Chicago’s famous Cask Beer Festival, where many beers from around the country were served in traditional style from the same vessels in which they were fermented, all with natural carbonation from the cask. “It was a great event,” Dean told me. “One

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of the winners at the festival was a beer brewed by a guy from Bell’s Brewery (of Michigan), who was also in my class.” For taking the course and successfully passing an exam, Dean got a Certificate of Completion from Siebel, but the education he received is far more valuable than just a diploma, he said. “What I learned is: as a brewer, your job is not to make what you like, but what the brewery wants to sell,” he said. “Whatever you set out to make, it has to be of the highest possible quality, and you have to do it consistently.” But the true test for Dean’s brewing education is coming, as the Icicle Brewing Company in Leavenworth takes shape. In December, Dean showed me around the impressive new facility, with its 40-foot woodbeamed ceiling and vast interior and cellar space, right across the street from the city’s handsome Fest Halle. The brewery is designed for production, not as a brewpub, but a loft at one end of the building, a taproom space overlooks the brewery and connects to a small beer garden area outside. At the time, pacing the floor, he was still waiting to receive the new 20-barrel (630-gallon) brewhouse, fermentation and conditioning tanks. Dean was visibly excited, ready to begin his life as a professional brewer. And so am I, as I look forward to the prospect of once again drinking local brews in the “beer-varian” town of Leavenworth. Alan Moen is the editor of Northwest Brewing news. He lives in Entiat.

guest column // james brigleb

Science fact revealed — but first, take a drink W

hisky can be a mistake. I dropped by my friend’s office following the close of work to say hello. To celebrate the occasion, he offered me a small glass of preferred Canadian Whisky on shaved ice. Relaxed, I slumped onto one of the two leather sofas — you know, not using good posture or anything. Rick told me he had taken a bad spill getting out of his truck the day before. “So, what happened? How did you end up falling out of your truck?” “Well, I got to work, opened the door, and proceeded out as normal. Ninety-eight percent of me was outside, but a protruding screw from the floor of the truck snagged the toe of my right shoe, and wouldn’t let go. Anyway, down I went.” “Ouch,” I said. “Did you bounce?” Then I took a sip. “Have you ever seen a bag of rocks hit the ground? They don’t bounce,” he replied. My attempt to swallow was unsuccessful. My gagger went into action as laughter wanted out. So here’s the deal: you have a mouth occupied with expensive whisky, a gagger trying to prevent the liquid from getting down the wrong pipe, and an explosive wind of laughter trying to get out of the lungs. The result is something like a spray bottle trying to vaporize the alcohol through the only available opening left — your nose. Have you blown whisky through your nose? It’s quite an experience. Whisky has an ingredient that truly raises one’s awareness of pain once in the sensitive tissues found within the nostrils. That being alcohol. Which can be used as an effective solvent.

Once I recovered, I asked, “Did you try using any elusive tactics like you might expect from Jack Bauer or Jackie Chan?” I took another sip. “There was no time for that,” Rick responded. “I broke the laws of physics by reaching terminal velocity within 18 inches.” Why didn’t I learn the first time? Why did I insist on taking another sip after finishing my question and before hearing his response. The previously described anatomical response was repeated. Mind you, I was not inebriated. Only two sips of whisky had been “consumed” and that being a relative term because neither had reached my stomach. Most of the liquid had been ejected as a mist. I’m pretty sure this was how the cave man invented the atomizer. My nostrils had never been so alive. “How bad were you hurt?” This time I waited. “I couldn’t move. I lay there like a drunk.” “What time was this?” I wondered. “First thing in the morning — about 8,” Rick said. Since his office is on a street with lots of traffic I asked, “Did anybody stop to help you?”

Jim Brigleb, a former educator in the Wenatchee Valley, has recently published a history book, United States History: Roots through Constitution, and finds himself dressing the part. He can be reached at constitutiontoday@ gmail.com.

Things had been safe, so I took another sip. “Why would they? They’re trying to get to work. They’re not gonna’ help a drunk who fell out of his car!” When I finished cleaning up, I put the drink aside and changed the subject. My wife and I have a morning ritual of a) waking up, b) going to the bathroom, and c) drinking a cup of coffee together in bed. During that time, the conversation is pretty slow as we both try to fall back to sleep. One of us usually attempts to make our mouth work, forcing out bits of

February 2011 | The Good Life |

conversation, which require the spouse’s brain to attain consciousness. Anyway, I recounted the above episode with her, line by line. I waited for her to take a sip of coffee as I said, “So I asked, ‘Did you bounce?’ And Rick said...” Well coffee has an entirely different quality than whisky. However, the human mechanics are exactly the same. Linda likes cream and sugar in her coffee — but it’s still hot. She sort of looked like a human espresso machine with the steamer going full blast. It worked three times.

civil

way to play war Shooting, drilling, telling stories around the campfire — what’s not to like about playing soldier from the civil war years? By Mike Cassidy

ark Burnett grew up in an orchard in Peshastin playing army with his buddies among the trees. “We fought the Germans every other day,” remembers Mark. “Sometimes the Americans won and sometimes the Germans won.” For the past several years, Mark has again been playing army with his buddies, only now as a Civil War re-enactor where he dresses in Confederate gear, sleeps in a tent, fires a periodcorrect musket and eats grub cooked around a campfire. And he still maintains his easy attitude about which side will prevail. A founding member of 25-man strong Seventh South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, Company K — a battle hardened rebel group from the early days of the war — he’s not adverse to dressing as a Yank when the bluecoats can’t muster up enough soldiers for a skirmish. Civil War reenactments started as a way to show the general public what the soldiers did in battle and how they lived in camp. “I have always camped, hiked,

Mark Burnett, in the straw hat, moves with his unit across the misty, smoky re-enactment grounds.

enjoyed history, been around guns, so this was just kind of natural,” said Mark. “When a good friend of mine told me he and his son had joined up, my eyes just bugged out. I had a son at the right age so we joined.” That was in 1996. Mark’s son, Ryan, has since drifted away, and while his own enthusiasm has waned a bit, Mark still will go to two or three re-enactments of the half a dozen or so that happen each year in Washington and Oregon. A typical day starts at 5:30 a.m. with the men rising from their tents. Someone gets the fire going, breakfast is eaten, roll is called around 7 a.m., and guns readied for the usual two battles a day, to be witnessed by the public. Soldiers drill prior to the battle, practice with their weapons and learn about safety. Mark emphasized that the muskets are loaded only with black powder — just a lot of smoke should be coming out of the barrels when the weapons are fired. Once a skirmish starts, the battlefield takes on an eerie semi-real effect, with noise and smoke from the muskets, cannons roaring, wounded men

Southern towns occasionally dressed their soldiers in proud colors. In some cases, entire fire departments joined and wore distinct uniforms. Modern reenactors strive to match the uniforms worn by units they choose to depict.

screaming. OK, the men are not really wounded, but if a soldier sees an enemy take dead aim on him, he can flop to the ground, tearing at his uniform in search of the wound while screaming. Being shot isn’t all that bad. “On a real hot day, if a tree is near by, you might look for shade to die under,” said Mark. The battles last 30-45 minutes, giving time for each participant to blow off a lot of powder. And similar to real battles, between

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the noise and confusion, soldiers hardly know what is going on beside them. The battle scenes are not reenactments of actual battles, but are to demonstrate what war and tactics were like in the 1860s. The goal of the armies — especially early on during the period of inaccurate muskets — was to “throw a lot of lead” at the other side as fast as possible. Soldiers were taught to shoot three times a minute, with every

got to go out and shoot Yankees.” Mark has been a Civil War re-enactor nearly four times as long as the actual war lasted. “You can get away from what you do here,” said Mark, who in real life is the northern field manager for Tree Top. “It’s a diverse group of people in our group — from an FBI agent to a former cartoonist for Disney shot taking seven actions — you cook together, eat in the loading and firing together, tell a lot of stoprocess. ries around the campfire. Battles took up a small Depicting the real lives of Civil War soldiers means being period correct around the tents and The public portions close campfires, as more time was spent there than on the battlefield. Photos from the collection of at 5 and then the camps part of a soldier’s life. Mark Burnett Most of the time was are ours… there are a lot of said. long flowing dresses can be part spent around camp, and funny things that go on.” Getting period-correct can of the civilian component travelthe re-enactors try to make that Saying the season for reing with each side. Some women enactments is coming up, Mark life as period-correct as possible. easily cost $2,000. A musket runs $550, basic leather shoes — also play soldier by tucking their added: “When I leave for camp, The soldiers answer questions called brogans — with wooden hair up under a cap and joining from the public about life back I run the confederate flag up my pegs holding on the soles cost in the skirmishes. then, and tell period-correct flag pole so my friends know I’m $100, hand-sewn uniforms are “My son started at 12,” said stories, with — naturally — a playing army that weekend.” $200 a pop. Mark. “He was our drummer fair amount of hamming it up For more information about civil Families can be involved in re- boy for a year-and-a half. When tossed in. war re-enactments, visit Washington enactments. A lot of fathers and he turned 14, we gave him a “Winners write the hisCivil War Association at www.wcwa. net. sons join as soldiers, women in musket for his birthday and he tory books, so we tell what the history books in school don’t teach,” he said. Mark has been back East to reenactments a couple of times — Your affordable Chelan County PUD fiber-optic network now carries the fastest Internet once to Gettysburg with 25,000 speeds in the area. With recent equipment upgrades in select areas, many residents now participants. “You camped in the woods, slept on your poncho, have a choice of download speeds up to: used your canteen as a pillow; 100 Mbps at your home it was hot and humid and you 1,000 Mbps (1 gigabit per second) at your business were in a full wool uniform, with as many if not more canLocal service providers now offer unsurpassed nons than the actual battle of speeds over PUD fiber including super-fast Gettysburg — there was smoke Internet access, basic and HD television, and all over.” telephone. Contact a provider to check your As quartermaster sergeant speed, get connected and start saving today. for his company, Mark has made scores of period stenciled wooden crates showing contents of weapons, ammunition or hardtack — though some, Mark cleverly made to hold modern coolers inside. Re-enactors have to look the part, so all modern gear is kept out of sight. “We have all of the uniforms, footwear, the under-garments; all of the weapons are accurate reproductions… so you have a www.chelanpud.org/fiber 509-661-4151 pretty good investment in this hobby, like any big hobby,” he

“It’s a diverse group of people in our group — from an FBI agent to a former cartoonist for Disney...”

Incredibly fast, just hit unequaled speed

February 2011 | The Good Life |

House swapping in Spain Rather than spending a vacation in hotels, why not go for a four-story manor with a rooftop view of the surrounding vineyards By Teri Bawden

he idea of house swapping started a few years ago when we began discussing a trip to Europe, and we wanted to stay longer than our budget would allow. In previous travels to Italy and Southern France, we stayed for a week in one location and rented a car to explore the region. This time we wanted to stay for a month. My husband Dave, a retired teacher, spent some time researching options on the Internet. There are several sites that offer services to people interested in exchanging houses. We selected one called Homeforexchange. com. For a $60 per year membership fee, we had access to thousands of potential home exchanges virtually anywhere in the world. We decided to narrow our search to Barcelona, Spain. The on-line information gave a description of each home along with pictures and a brief bio of the owners. We wondered if anyone would be interested in coming to Wenatchee because it is relatively unknown internationally, and it is three hours away from Seattle. Perhaps our house partners in Spain were thinking the same thing about their home, although it

ABOVE: The rear of the house in Spain. It was built between 1900 and 1913 in the modernist style popular in Catalunya at the time. LEFT: Teri and Dave Bawden enjoy a local vino on the veranda.

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We kept getting lost and located each other by yelling through the stairwell that extended through four stories up to the rooftop... certainly had many more amenities than ours. By August of 2008 we began an e-mail conversation with a family in Les Cabanyes, a small village about the size of Monitor, on the outskirts of Vilafranca, which is about the size of Wenatchee. A 50-minute train ride into Barcelona seemed like a good location for us since we quickly grow weary of large cities. We were intrigued by the pictures of their home. It looked more like a mansion. There were three stories and each floor had about 1,500 square feet. Would their family of five be comfortable in our modest 2,000-square-foot home? As we continued our e-mails prior to making a commitment, we learned they were interested in finding a good summer camp program for their three children, ages 12, 9 and 5. Since I work for Wenatchee School District, I had the perfect solution. I contacted the districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Summer Camp Director

The computer room and library was on the third floor.

and obtained a description of all the exciting activities for kids happening during the month of July 2009. That sealed the deal. By January we made a commitment to exchange houses and purchased our tickets. For the next several months we exchanged ideas about what to see and do in our respective regions including our favorite restaurants. I began seeing our home with new eyes and cleaned out closets and drawers. It was a good excuse to buy new towels and bathroom rugs. We also wrote out a detailed description of how to use appliances, the hot tub, air conditioner, computer, etc. And, of course, we left a list of emergency numbers. We also agreed to exchange cars which proved to be a very important feature for both of us.

We each contacted our insurance companies and learned that our policies would cover whomever was driving our car. Fortunately, our exchange family spoke perfect English so we did not have a problem with translations. He was raised in Chicago and married a woman from Barcelona, and the fam-

February 2011 | The Good Life |

ily spoke English, Spanish and Catalan, the language unique to this region of Spain. We flew into Barcelona the day before they left for Seattle. Our host picked us up at the airport and drove us to their home. They gave us a quick tour then went next door to her parents home where they would spend the night. During the first hour in that house we ran around like children in a castle. Honestly, I felt like jumping up and down on the beds! It was huge. We kept getting lost and located each other by yelling through the stairwell that extended through four stories up to the rooftop where we had a view of the surrounding vineyards and Montserrat in the distance. We composed ourselves and went next door for a lovely Spanish style dinner with the extended family. We exchanged last minute details and bid them farewell, as they had an early

}}} Continued on next page

Most evenings we cooked in their large kitchen and sat out on the veranda in the evenings. }}} Continued from previous page morning plane to catch. We really enjoyed our brief acquaintance with the family who would live in our home for the next four weeks. As we became more familiar with the house, we soon realized that big is not necessarily better. Each floor had 21 stairs to the next level. All five bedrooms and three baths were on the second floor. The third floor had a huge library and a beautiful view of the surrounding vineyards. After climbing 63 stairs to get to the only computer in the house, we quickly learned to plan our trips so we wouldn’t have to return to the kitchen to get a pair of reading glasses or a drink of water. The house was built between 1900 and 1913 in the modernist style popular in Catalunya at the time. Many Catalans left the country in the 19th century to seek their fortune in the Caribbean and returned wealthy, building houses combining the modernist and colonial style. It was said to have an “escondite,” or hidden room, behind a false wall in the wine laboratory,

Art, food, history, views... and a missing wallet We found Barcelona to be a vibrant and colorful city full of unique art, architecture, cathedrals and museums. It is a city of over 1,600,000 people located on the stunningly blue Mediterranean sea in the northeast corner of Spain. On our first visit we walked down the famous boulevard, La Rambla, past the numerous living statues and street artists to the waterfront and the Christopher Columbus monument We ate tapas (endless varieties of appetizers) in a local bar and reluctantly sampled thin slices of the popular Iberian ham shaved from the ham hock with the hoof still attached! On other trips to the city, we toured the Picasso Museum and walked along the waterfront. The influence of architect, Antoni Gaudi is everywhere from the fascinating Parc Güell to the massive, unfinished another vestige of that era. We never did find the “escondite,” but we certainly enjoyed the many varieties of wine and “cava” in the largest wine-producing region in Spain. We also used their bicycles to explore some surrounding small villages, including the one that makes Freixenet, the well-known sparkling wine. We soon ventured out and became familiar with the lo-

Iberian ham — with the hooves still attached.

cathedral, Sagrada Familia, that towers over the city. We also took a tram up to the Montjuric Park that affords a view of the entire area.

Our only bad experience was when Dave lost his wallet to a pickpocket. It happened at the Monserrat Monastery of all places!

cal markets. Most evenings we cooked in their large kitchen and sat out on the veranda in the evenings. It was only a 20-minute drive to the beautiful Mediterranean beaches in Sitges. We also spent about 10 days touring cities north of Barcelona, as well as Madrid, Seville and Cordoba. After paying for hotels on these side trips, we were glad to return to our free lodging and familiar

territory. Many people have asked if we were worried about someone staying in our home and possible damages. (I’m sure they were worried about us staying in their home too.) Knowing that we would have children in our house we took precautions and stored anything that we were concerned about. Fortunately, there were only a few minor things broken (in

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Would we do it again? Absolutely! We are currently making plans for a two-month trip to Australia... both homes). It was certainly worth the savings in hotel rooms. My advice to people interested in house swapping is to spend a lot of time getting to know the family online and sharing as much as possible with them in advance. Write down everything you think would be helpful to them. It helps if you both speak the same language. We have found that many people on the house swapping site have a second home, so you do not necessarily need to trade homes at the same time. This would also allow you to get to know your hosts and return the favor when they are ready to use your home (you may need to go camping for a couple of weeks if you do not have another place to stay).

Overall, house swapping was a good experience for us. We have kept in touch with our host family, and one of our nieces even stayed at their home for a few days while traveling in Europe. Would we do it again? Absolutely! We are currently making plans for a two-month trip to Australia, Tasmania and possibly New Zealand during the winter of 2012. However, next time we will swap our newly purchased home in Anacortes where we plan to move after I retire. This new location should provide us with many opportunities to share our home while exploring new places in the world. Teri Bawden is an educator in Wenatchee School District. Dave is a retired teacher.

February 2011 | The Good Life |

good DEEDS

Head Start children model their knitted winter hats.

Thousands of winter hats Kids get new hats for the winter, thanks to the boundless energy of Aïda Bound & her senior volunteers By Teri Fink From the 2010 Tim Burton movie, Alice In Wonderland: The Mad Hatter (to the Red Queen): What a regrettably large head you have. I would very much like to hat it. I used to hat The White Queen, you know. Her head was so small. The Red Queen: It’s tiny. It’s a pimple of a head.

n the recent movie of Alice in Wonderland, Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter had his hands full hatting the Red Queen’s oversized head without losing his own. But even he was no match for Wenatchee’s Aïda Bound, whose efforts are putting hats on the heads of thousands of children. Bound moved to Wenatchee five years ago from Washington, D.C., where she was a social

Todd Pettit meets the recipient of one of the hats he crocheted, a skill Pettit learned from his grandmother.

worker for inner city teenagers and their families. Leaving a public defender daughter behind in D.C., Bound moved to Wenatchee to be near another daughter, a dual-language elementary teacher. A third daughter lives in Montana. The word retired isn’t in her vocabulary, so before long Bound started up a business as an organizer. “Organizers help people get rid of their clutter,” she said. One day she was helping a client clean out her house

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when among the clutter, she noticed a large pile of yarn. An idea was born. She took that yarn to an assisted living facility, and asked some residents if they would be interested in knitting hats to give away to children in need. Many people took her up on the offer, including Todd Pettit, whose grandmother had taught him to crochet many years ago. “It isn’t just knitting,” Bound explains. “It’s crocheting and looming.”

Winter hats Over the next year Bound collected 1,000 hand-made hats and distributed them to children in the community. Then the program seemed to take on a life of its own. “The first year was a thousand,” said Bound, “the second was 6,000, and this year it’s more than 8,000 hats.” From a handful of hat makers, the number grew to more than 50. For some of these senior citizens, it had been a while since they had put their knit one, pearl two skills into practice “There was a woman who said she didn’t remember how to knit,” said Bound. “She had these big, long needles and orange yarn. She knit, and knit and knit, and out came a tiny, orange hat. We loved it. Then she remembered how to pearl. Now she is making colorful hats by the carload.” Hats are distributed through

a variety of public agencies, including elementary schools, Head Start, WIC and federally funded day care centers. “Many of these children only get hand-me-downs,” said Bound. “But now they get to choose a brand new hat.“ Besides just keeping little heads warm, sometimes the hats make a special connection with a child. “One little boy with Downs Syndrome wouldn’t wear a hat or coat,” said Bound of a child in the Head Start program. “Then he chose his very own hat, and his mother reports that he hasn’t taken it off yet.” Bound said the success of the program is built on the good will of a great many. People donate yarn, the hat makers donate their time and skills, and the Nickel Ads donates free space to advertise the project. Unexpectedly, a number of people who donate yarn are experiencing some type of grief, and looking for a way to help others. “A young woman called

who had just lost her baby,” said Bound. “She was crying her eyes out.” Donating yarn has given her a small measure of relief. Bound’s enthusiasm has grown the program far beyond Wenatchee, to include the communities of Quincy and Yakima. “We’re trying to spread this throughout the state,” said Bound. “It’s free, it’s fun, and it helps people.” In case you think Aïda Bound has gone a little, well, mad with the project, just remember Alice in Wonderland: The Mad Hatter: Have I gone mad? Alice: I’m afraid so. You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are. For more information, contact: Aïda Bound, The Hat Lady, 888-1953 or by e-mail at gutsygranny@nwi.net. Teri Fink is the Communications Officer for Wenatchee School District, where Columbia Elementary School is a grateful partner with the Hat Project.

Meet

PEOPLE of Our PAST Saturday, Feb. 5 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

David Thompson

Ida Richardson

Chief John Harmelt

Eva Anderson

Interact with ﬁve actors portraying characters from Wenatchee’s past. Admission by dona�on

Ed Ferguson

Free preventative and diagnostic care now available for adults and children! If you have a new health insurance plan or insurance policy beginning on or after September 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act mandates that numerous preventive services must be covered without you having to pay a copayment or coinsurance or meet your deductible, when these services are delivered by a network provider. To view a listing of care services, visit our website at www.wvmedical.com.

Wenatchee Valley

MUSEUM

& Cultural Center

www.wvmcc.org | 888-6240

509-663-8711 • www.wvmedical.com February 2011 | The Good Life |

Straight from a fairy tale Old World wonder built around an unusual tale of 2 families Story By Susan Lagsdin Photos by donna cassidy

Two toddler girls escorted by a neighbor

came by to ask: “Is this Snow White’s cottage? Can we come in and see where she lives?” They had been attracted from across the way by candles twinkling through window panes, snow heaped on steep gables, rock chimney, half-timbered walls and a turret —

ABOVE: A glimpse from the stairway into the casual, welcoming sitting room and its super-efficient gas fireplace. RIGHT: Rick and Jill Blackburn smile together on the staircase curving up to their second story living area.

| AT HOME WITH The Good Life | February 2011

A whimsical, hand-crafted “outside in” branch fits neatly into the shelves of this cozy reading nook.

the stuff of long ago tales even to a grownup. Jill Blackburn didn’t miss a beat. “Certainly,” she said, escorting them through her home into the kitchen’s dining alcove, “This is where the dwarves all sit together and eat breakfast.” And through a bedroom suite to the big black enameled tub, “Where all the dwarves take a bath together.” Jill and Rick retell that story with recognition because they still delight, with a sense of wonder, in the look and feel of their home: old-fashioned, romantic, with the twists and turns that a good fairy tale takes. The tale is not just about architecture. It’s about an exceptional family. Rick and Jill Blackburn and her parents, the Rautenburgs, lived together for 18 years — by choice, not necessity.

}}} Continued on next page

Angles, arches, rock, wood, glass — and the elk head — all placed with forethought and precision.

February 2011 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life |

LEFT: Shiny new fixtures, with an old manor look, add character to a spacious downstairs bathroom.

}}} Continued from previous page They shared their fortunes, talents and kitchen through child-rearing into aging, through a couple of designbuild-sell-move cycles. When the Blackburns both retired from teaching, the extended family moved from the west side to this private wooded corner of Leavenworth. And it was Jill’s mother Florie Rautenburg who, in her 80s, actually designed the home. With flair and imagination (and sometimes a builder-vexing perfectionism) Florie created the ideal house for a couple of compatible couples. Their shared household, with visiting great/grandchildren in the mix, continued happily under the same roof until recent years brought the death of the elders, and the Blackburns returned to living as two. Rick and Jill and her parents wanted their home to reflect “Old World” sensibilities, and the architecture and furnishings throughout have done just that. Before the ground was even prepared, the four owners pored over magazine pictures and chose the exact look they

wanted for the façade. Then Jill’s mother was free to design the house behind it. Peter deVries brought her visions to the blueprint stage and beyond; Chris Tiedeman was the contractor (Jill marvels, “Our contract was a handshake!”). Ambitious fantasy plans at 7,000 square feet, with cardboard models as well as sketches, defied their original goal to downsize, so Florie kept at it, honing, substituting, re-measuring. The rooms were sized by consensus, Jill says. “We just decided things like ‘this is how many people we want at a table…’” Ultimately, by 2004 the house had fitted itself into 3,200 square feet, with two visually distinct living areas. Like a folktale riddle (Which way to the treasure? Turn left or turn right?), the first steps into the home can lead to very different destinations. Turn left from the foyer and enter a sunken great room, high ceilinged and light, filled with a homey but elegant pastiche of elements. A hunting castle’s clock and a Chinese trunk coexist happily. The armoire? Flemish. The carpets?

Rick and Jill and her parents wanted their home to reflect “Old World” sensibilities... Oriental. The table? English. The dining chairs? French Provincial. Jill smiles at her mother’s design aesthetic: “The four P’s “pillows, plants, pictures… and pretty!” Eclectic upholstery is mismatched with considerable savvy: Victorian cabbage roses counter bold checks and stripes; artwork and accessories tie it all together. Even an imposing trophy elk head, high on a wall, fits the décor — it’s surprisingly congruent with the size of the room and the hunting lodge look of the timbers and stuccoed walls. Angled off that big welcoming space, the kitchen includes a two-tiered square island with work and storage space, the big

| AT HOME WITH The Good Life | February 2011

horseshoe-curved banquette, fold-out windows and a Dutch door to a screen porch. Jill and her mother spent many hours “hand distressing” in this first floor wing — scraping and gouging the paint off wainscoting, cupboards, and paneling to create a lived-in, been-there look of a much older house. The first floor has easy access to a bedroom suite with not only a luxurious bathroom but the first of several unexpected treats: a bonus cubby — a tiny office with secret access to the hallway. Go back to the front foyer and turn right, and the winding staircase is pure visual adventure — distinctive terra cotta and cedar half timbers seamlessly meld the look of the exterior into that upstairs part of the home, a unique way to signal the subtle separation of households. Stairs curl up to a small landing where a spy-ledge of a balcony abuts a gnarled tree trunk serving as support beam. A few office/guest rooms and a master suite with balcony complete this upper story; this is where the

Even under heaps of snow, copper-colored stucco and cottage rooflines reflect the home’s warmth.

views of timber and valley seem to surround the house. Florie Rautenburg’s imagination was made reality by, among others, master craftsman and way-out-of-the-box problem solver, the construction foreman Stacy Whaley. Most wood accents — staircase, archways, corbels and mantle — are reclaimed from an historic Salt Lake City railroad trestle. Stucco walls show richly textured hand-troweling throughout, many with handragged paint. And, a tribute to the whimsy of the families, there are hiding places with small doors to delight grandchildren (or to store belongings), and like a stage set, shuttered interior windows open on halls and rooms. A few found spaces became small bonus lofts, one perched above the stair landing. A wall of books is graced with a perfectly cut and pieced tree branch appearing to twine through the shelves. Rick is proud to point out the upstairs office’s knotty pine ceiling, which boasts an almost-impossible geometric puzzle — a dihedral slant to accommodate the meeting of

Tall windows bathe the great room in light; the dining table’s capacity influenced the area’s design.

many rooflines. Snow White’s cottage? Those little girls had a good eye. The Brothers Grimm and Disney may come to mind at a

first distant squint at this house, and it does invoke a certain delight and curiosity, but this very private, comfortable, low-maintenance home is thoroughly

modern — the product of a loving vision and solid collaborative workmanship. That’s not a fairy tale at all; it’s a true-life adventure.

NCW Home Professionals

February 2011 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life |

good STUFF // Ideas from local merchants and artisans

Twisting metal Devin Poff was 15 and in a high school metal shop class when his grandparents mentioned they were having a difficult time walking downstairs to get their mail and asked him to build a railing. “I borrowed some equipment from shop class and built them one. By the end of summer, everyone on Devin created cutout guitar designs in the the block wanted one,” said Devin. gussets in a table for a rock musician. That was the beginning Twisted Metalworks — his two-decade-plus up-and-down business of creating objects from metal for use around the home. Devin still loves to create ornamental railings — both interior and exterior — for local homeowners and contractors, and has a photo album showing his metal gates, banisters of ironwork and balconies of railings. He creates art pieces, such as a wall hanging of outdoor life, useful pieces like wine bottle holders and decorative business card stands, and just fun objects such as a Mickey Mouse yard ornament. Most of his work comes from local contractors, although he does the occasional show and will have a booth at the NCHBA Home Show Feb. 11-13 at the Town Toyota Center.

Art pieces, such as the elk above, sell easily, but it’s the ornamental railings and fencing that Devin wants to be known for.

| AT HOME WITH The Good Life | February 2011

Devin Poff is a busy guy, working fulltime as a hydro operator for the Douglas County PUD, remodeling a house for resale and wrapping

CAL

tools metal can be manipulated quite easily,” he said. “You can be so creative with it and yet still have the structural integrity. It has always been a challenge for me to see what I could create next.”

NCW Home Professionals

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up a limo business. Still, it’s in his metal shop he would rather be. “Most people think metal is so strong that you can’t do anything with it, but with a little bit of muscle and some of the right

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EXTRA COPIES of The Good Life are available at:

Hastings, Eastmont Pharmacy, Caffe Mela, Martin’s Market Place & A Book for All Seasons The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801

February 2011 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life |

column GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

bonnie orr

Do you cook with flair or by science? T

he editor piqued my curiosity by asking if I measured ingredients and followed a recipe. If truth be known, the most difficult part of writing this column is cooking a familiar dish and stopping at each step to measure each ingredient because I cook by feel and smell. As a bride in 1906, my grandmother wrote her own cookbook, copying advice from more experienced cooks and clipping recipes from the Spokane Spokesman Review. In her recipes, two tablespoons are an ounce; butter the size of an egg equals two ounces; butter the size of a walnut equals one ounce; 10 eggs equals a pound. Her son worked at a bakery

Do you cook by feel or do you measure according to the recipe?

85 years ago and told me that a pound cake is made from a pound each of sugar, a pound of butter and a pound of flour. Exact measurements and recipes needed to have an intuitive feel was my father’s family’s wisdom. But I feel there is more to cooking than inherited knowledge. Before I retired from the faculty at Wenatchee Valley College, my area of special interest and research was how memory works and how people learn. Many of you have heard of the Meyers Briggs personality inventory or other similar tests. People’s lives are organized by how they interact with the world around them — be it extrovert, introvert, with precision or flair. Because a person is one “type” does not exclude him from other talents and interactions, but when push comes to shove, the basic style will guide how a person approaches life. My friends described their cooking style in the language of the learning styles. When I asked follow-up questions about hobbies and careers, the an-

swers were also consistent with their learning style. I asked 12 friends who I consider to be good cooks — because their food is consistently tasty and occasionally inspired — if they measured precisely and followed recipes exactly. There were only two answers: YES and NO. Some people loved to bake. They measure because they had learned or intuitively knew that baked goods are based on a formula of exact proportion and sequence, which they could articulate. For cakes and quick breads, such as banana bread, one teaspoon of leavening and a 1/4 of a teaspoon of salt are required for each cup of flour; salt cannot be added before the yeast in risen breads. Generally, people who love detail and know facts and theory behind the things they are interested in, follow recipes precisely. They have read the recipe completely and have all the ingredients called for at hand, or will anticipate cooking the dish and buy the food before

| The Good Life | February 2011

the recipe is attempted. Even when the recipe is familiar, they at least open the cookbook for moral support and never refer to it. People who live life large with flair and choose to see facts as flexible and seldom take things at face value, are willing to wing a recipe even on the first reading of it. This is often because the recipe sounds so good that they want to make it right now, spontaneously. So what if they don’t have all the ingredients? Well, they said, a substitution could be done, or if it is only a mere 1/4 of a cup, that ingredient just could be deleted. Interestingly, everyone actually measures ingredients — either with a measuring cup or visually. According to my grandmother, a handful is a 1/4-cup of dry ingredients. A dash is equivalent to 1/8 of a teaspoon; a pinch is 1/16 of a teaspoon, and a smidgen is 1/32 of a teaspoon. The cooks said that cooking was a learned skilled and mastery increased with practice. Often, familiarity with a recipe and a knowledge of the final product inspires experimentation. Here are the conclusions of my “study” of area cooks: No matter how a good cook approaches cooking, all good cooks love to cook. It is not a chore nor a drudgery — often it is a creative, joyful process. There is no fear of food nor an obsession with calories or fat or cholesterol because all things are done in moderation, and cooking a tasty dish is a delight. Bonnie Orr gardens and cooks in East Wenatchee.

column ALEX ON WINE

ALEX SALIBY

Hey, guys, an idea for Valentine’s Day I

t’s February, Valentine’s Day approaches and scores of local gents young and old are scampering about trying to figure out how on earth they are going to find something to buy, do or say that qualifies to be labeled “romantic.” I have always failed at that mission, being romantic. As a teenager and a young man, my goal was to figure out how best to orchestrate the cheapest date possible. Anyone can spring for a movie, a show, dinner, whatever, in an effort to put together a romantic evening. That sort of activity just didn’t ring a bell with me, and the truth of the matter was I lacked the fiscal necessities to pull such an evening off. In short, I was broke most times including times I went on dates. Fortunately for me — not so sure how fortunate for her — I met a woman who, like me, took great pride in frugal entertainment. This Valentine’s Day she and I will have been together 50 years as a couple, married for 49 years 8 months of those 50 years. I’m grateful for her tolerance of my lack of interest in such things as the marketing hype surrounding special days or special activities. Maybe that’s one of the major reasons we two have continued to tolerate each other’s strong opinions on such issues as romantic escapes. It’s more like we’ve both kept the importance of such experiences in perspective with living, raising a family and learning about each other’s preferences. I know, for example, she doesn’t enjoy most of the poor grade chocolate often offered

up at events billed as “Red Wine and Chocolates” for Valentine’s Day. It’s not that she doesn’t like chocolate, and she certainly loves her red wines. It’s rather that she loathes cheap milk chocolate stuff being passed off as a complement to quality red wine. So this year, as a number of local wineries are offering Red Wine and Chocolate events over the second and third weekends of February, we must — or I shall rue the day — only partake of that which is worthy of her discerning tastes. What does that mean in terms of local places and activities? Let me drag up these experiences as sort of recommendations in no particular order: Martin-Scott Winery. We enjoyed both the chocolate pairings and the wines offered to complement them in years past. We both felt the Merlot was among the finest red wines we’d sipped both that day and for some time. This one is a no-brainer, guys. A) The place is warm and welcoming. B) The wines qualify as pleasing to the lady in my life. C) It’s just a delightful experience. Wedge Mountain Winery.

There are two new Lembergers here, both of which have won my lady’s top awards. The dry Lem she awarded her personal gold medal to. The off-dry Lem won the lady’s GWWC gold medal. (GWWC = Goes Well With Chocolate). The wine absolutely teems with raspberry aromas and flavors. Stemilt Creek Winery. Stemilt is a red wine winery (only bringing out a white wine this past year with the Sweet Adelaide), creating both a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Cabernet Franc that not only tolerate chocolate, but showcase it, if the chocolate is richly dark… 65 percent cocoa or higher. Chateau Faire le Pont. Owners Doug and Debé Brazil have mastered the art of this marriage over the past decade. They’ve created red wine and chocolate events that have pleased both of us. Ryan-Patrick Vineyards. Owners Terry and Vivian Flanagan have kept winemaker Craig Mitrakul on his toes creating red wines worthy of 90 ratings from Wine Spectator. In the Leavenworth tasting room, there may again be a pairing with the creation of Schocolat chocolate shop. Yummm to both the wine and the candy.

February 2011 | The Good Life |

This year, there will be a Red Wine and Chocolate event in Cashmere. The Horan Estates Winery, Waterville Winery and Crayelle Cellars Winery tasting rooms along Railroad Avenue will be open for that weekend offering their wines with a balanced chocolate complement. Also, the Ryan-Patrick’s Cashmere tasting room will be participating in the event for the first time this year. Wineries in Chelan and Manson as far up lake as the Blending Room in Manson are planning to participate in the annual Red Wine and Chocolate weekend. Other local wineries are involved in this Red Wine and Chocolate event; check listings and websites. Me, I’m anxious to take my partner of 50 years to her favorite spots, then return to a quiet night at home boasting of how romantic my behavior has been. Who knows, she may believe me. 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.

column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR

jim brown, m.d.

A love story spanning 50 years Started with an aimless decision to detour from the usual path home

frequently told our children and now our grandchildren that every decision they make can change the rest of their lives. They usually found that hard to believe. When I tell them what happened to me one day in college that not only changed my life but also determined their lives in this family, they began to understand. I was a junior in pre-medicine at the University of Nebraska. One day in September I walked home to my fraternity a different way than I normally did. I have no idea why I did to this day. As I was walking I noticed this cute coed across the street who eventually turned and walked into the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority house. A few minutes later I got back to my fraternity house and called my roommate’s girlfriend who was also in that sorority and described the girl I saw. She said, “Oh, that is Lynn

Lynn and Jim Brown have climbed many a mountain together.

Wright, a new freshman pledge from Lincoln.” I asked her if she could get me a date with her. Her answer was to forget it as she had been going with the same fellow for most of high school where he was the high school quarterback and she was the homecoming queen. Obviously, I was out of my league. I never saw Lynn again on the large Nebraska campus until the

following year. She, an art major and me as a science major went in different directions on campus. In my senior year I had moved out of my fraternity house to an apartment I shared with a dental student. One Sunday he had another dental student friend over. As we shot the bull, the conversation got around to girls and who we were dating.

When this fellow said he was dating Lynn Wright I couldn’t wait for him to leave. After he left, I called my friend in her sorority and asked if she could get me a date with her now. Two weeks later we had our first date and for Lynn it was a blind date. We started dating regularly and a few weeks later another of my fraternity brothers, who had also gone to high school with her, came up to me and said, “I think Lynn is the girl you are going to marry.” As much as I enjoyed Lynn I thought that seemed a long shot, as I was going to medical school in Chicago the next year and Lynn would be a junior at Nebraska. I knew she would not be lacking in dating opportunities. The next fall found me in Chicago starting medical school at Northwestern University. I was too busy to think about dating there. I did write to Lynn frequently and she wrote to me infrequently. In the spring she told me she was planning on summer school at the University of Wisconsin. I knew I had to find some way to go there too. I had no money

Energy Savings plan

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| The Good Life | February 2011

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A love story and knew I would have to find a way to support myself in order to stay there. The University of Wisconsin has a beautiful campus on Lake Mendota and a very popular place to go to summer school for students from all over the Midwest. As a result a lot of college guys want to be there so summer jobs were scarce. I applied for any job I could think of including being a waiter, tending bar or washing dishes without any luck. I then remembered hearing the name, Dr. Joseph Lalich, during my freshman year in medical school in Chicago. He was the head of the pathology department at the medical school in Madison, Wisconsin. I went to his office and asked him if he had any work in his department in which he could use a medical student. He asked me why I wanted to work for him, and I told him that the girl I hoped to marry was going to summer school there, and if I had any chance to marry her I had to be there that summer.

He told me to come back that afternoon which I did. He said he could use me as a research assistant and in my spare time I could assist with autopsies. He asked me, “Do you know why I am hiring you? You gave me an honest answer when I asked you why you wanted to work for me.” This turned out to be the best summer of my life, and that fall I asked Lynn to marry me and also asked her dad for his approval of my marrying his only daughter. I was floating on air when they both said yes. I didn’t feel I deserved someone as wonderful as Lynn Wright. We were married the next June right after she graduated from the University of Nebraska. Lynn and I have had a great life together for the last 48-andone-half years. Our marriage survived eight moves in our first nine years, including medical school, internship, residency, fellowship, two years in the U.S. Navy, plus adding three children. When I got out of the Navy we settled in Wenatchee where I joined the Wenatchee Valley Clinic as its

first gastroenterologist. I know that marrying Lynn has made me a better person. She took a rough stone and has spent the next 48 years polishing me. I have appreciated her support and advice. She has exposed me to her love of the art world. Wherever we travel we seek out the art museums and galleries. Being an artist with her sense of color and design, she has always made our apartment or home beautiful. She said one of her jobs is to “feather the nest” and make it more comfortable and livable. I was very proud of her when she went back to school at Central Washington University for a Masters degree in art education and again later to Seattle University for another Masters degree, this time in Theology. She is my conscience, confidant, lover and my best friend in this exciting journey called marriage. Our discussions on current events, religion, philoso-

February 2011 | The Good Life |

phy and family are stimulating and challenging. Most of all we just enjoy being together. One of my favorite Beatles songs is “All you need is love.” There are times I find myself just enjoying looking at her. Sometimes when she catches me doing this she asks, “What are you looking at”? All I answer is “I just like looking at you.” Most mornings I awaken early when she is still asleep. I love watching her in the early morning light, thinking how lucky can a guy get, being married to this remarkable woman. What if I had not walked down that street that fall day 52 years ago? I have been blessed with the love of my life. Everything that has happened to me since was determined that day. Jim Brown, M.D., is a semi-retired gastroenterologist who has practiced for 38 years in the Wenatchee area. He is a former CEO of the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.

column moving up to the good life

june darling

For better answers, ask better questions Sparkplug questions fire up our hope and our happiness

eople have changed their marriages, consultants have saved companies millions of dollars, communities have moved from stagnant to thriving, each employing the same technique. They’ve learned to ask better questions. Well-crafted questions allow our brains and emotions to function at their peak. On the surface, questions can look like they come in a million varieties, but coaches believe many questions can be grouped into two categories based primarily on whether they keep you stuck or move you ahead. I’ll call one group “quicksand questions” and the second group “sparkplug questions.” Quicksand questions pull us down, weaken us, dampen our enthusiasm and get us increasingly stuck the more we use them. They often provoke fear, anger, helplessness, or sadness in us or others. Quicksand questions often probe for something or someone to blame. We need to catch them before they cause too much damage. The following questions are

examples of quicksand questions. “Why are some people such arrogant jerks?” “Who’s to blame for this mess?” “What’s wrong with me (them)?” “Why can’t I succeed?” “Why am I surrounded by idiots?” “Why can’t we get anybody to listen to us?” “Why does it always rain after I get my car washed?” “Sparkplug” questions are just the opposite. They work to ignite our resources, fire up our hope and our happiness, and thrust us (and others) ahead. If we want to become more successful in our lives and work, we need to devise and ask more of them. Sparkplug questions sound like these. “What can I learn from this person (from this mistake, this success, this situation)?” “How can we make this beneficial for all concerned?” “What actions could help us meet our objectives?” “Where are our opportunities at this moment?” “What’s working?” “What do I want?” “How else could I view this?” Because questions direct our attention, our thoughts and our feelings, they dictate how well we can use the resources available to us, and therefore what sort of results we are able to achieve.

Executive coach, Dr. Marilee Adams tells the story of Susan who hated her boss. Adams asked Susan if she were willing to question her questions. Susan realized she was commonly asking herself the question, “What’s he going to do wrong this time?” Adams asked Susan if she were willing to change her question. Susan realized that her question was dragging her spirits down, getting her nowhere, stressing her and even affecting her marriage. She agreed to change her question. Her new question was this, “What can I do to make my boss look good?” A few months later Susan reported what she considered a miracle. She had received a raise and been promoted by the boss she once hated. Many people have told me their home lives and relationships have become better once they catch their quicksand, “blaming” questions. My husband says one of his significant changes was being able to catch his quicksand blaming questions such as, “How could he or she do that (stupid) thing?” and switch them into more of a sparkplug question like, “What can I do to get a better outcome next time?” If you’ve read this far, men, you’re about to get a special valentine’s gift from me. Pay attention. I sometimes catch myself musing over an old quicksand question, “How can I change my husband?” That’s clearly not a helpful rumination. That sort of question can take me right down into a mucky quagmire. I’ve found he’s most grateful, our marriage is better and I’m a great deal happier when I am able to change that question into more of a sparkplug variety.

| The Good Life | February 2011

I can ask, for example, “How can I create opportunities for strengthening our relationship?” or “What strengths do I notice and appreciate in John?” or simply “How can I improve MYSELF as a life partner?” (Men, underline the four paragraphs above, cut the article out, put it in an envelope with no return address, and send it to your wife from Leavenworth.) Despite the fact that quicksand questions are largely ineffective and usually hurtful, they are widely used. Start listening in. You’ll hear yourself asking them. You’ll hear your family members, you’ll hear people in politics, writers to the Safety Valve, and participants at community and organizational meetings asking ineffective questions. If we want to get more successful outcomes, we’ll need to become aware of those quicksand questions and gracefully switch them. Great questions get great results. We can use great questions to stir up our personal and communal resources — to nudge our curiosity, our creativity, and our imagination; to help us learn and to collaborate with others so we are more productive and happier than we ever dreamed. How might you move up to The Good Life by asking more sparkplug questions? June Darling, Ph.D., is an executive coach who consults with businesses and individuals to achieve goals and increase happiness. She can be reached at drjunedarling@aol.com, or drjunedarling.blogspot.com or at her twitter address: twitter.com/ drjunedarling. Her website is www. summitgroupresources.com.

WHAT TO DO

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

Write on the River writers’ competition — Deadline is Feb. 4. Writers may submit an essay, article, memoir, observation or other nonfiction prose piece on any theme for the nonfiction category, and a short story with any subject, topic or theme for the fiction category. Limit is 1,000 words. First place prizes are $300; second place, $200; and third place, $100. Winners will be notified in April and the awards will be presented at the Write On The River conference in May. Info: www.writeontheriver.org.

Open Blues Jam, 2/3, and every first Thursday of the month, 7:30 p.m. Bring your voice and or instrument. Mojo’s, 102 Aplets Way, Cashmere. Info: Tomasz Cibicki 669-8200. Wenatchee Blues Jam, 2/3, 8 p.m. Open blues jam every first Thursday of the month. Grizzly Lounge in the Red Lion Hotel, 1225 N. Wen. Ave. Info: Tomasz Cibicki 669-8200. The Art of Music, 2/4, 7 p.m. Art and social hour: 6 p.m. Performances by the Wenatchee Valley Symphony, Icicle Creek Youth Symphony, Columbia Chorale, The Wenatchee Big Band and the Wenatchee Valley College Chamber

Choir. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $20. Info: www.pacwen.org. Two Rivers Art Gallery, 2/4, 5 p.m. Reception. Art Reception: Valentines and Bill McGuire, 2/4, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Enjoy nostalgic mementos of Valentine’s Day with cards and photographs from the museum’s collection, in the lobby cases. Upstairs in the Gold Gallery, the “Bill McGuire: Fisherman, Sportsman, Craftsman” exhibit honoring the world-famous Rock Island resident winds up Feb. 19. McGuire will attend the reception and bring a special display of his fishing rods and gun stocks. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center.

February 2011 | The Good Life |

Pure Passion, 2/4, 7:30 p.m. A triple treat – Andre Feriante’s lush and fluid classical guitar, the inspired piano of Overton Berry, and the magnificent operatic voice of Steve Thoreson in their first reunion since their performance at Benaroya Hall. From Bach to Leonard Cohen, jazz standards to flamenco improv, Segovia to Ave Maria and classic arias. Advance tickets: www.brownpapertickets. com/producer/20696 or toll-free 1-800-838-3006. Tickets also available at Avalon Music in Wenatchee and A Book for All Seasons in Leavenworth. Sleeping Lady Chapel Theater.

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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 People of Our Past, 2/5, 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. This annual living history program features five actors portraying real characters from the Wenatchee Valley’s past. Visitors will encounter them in various museum exhibits, listen to a short monologue, and then ask questions about the person’s life and historical significance. Andrew Munro portrays explorer David Thompson; William Dick portrays his real-life grandfather, Wenatchi chief John Harmelt; Sally Knipfer portrays Monitor pioneer Ida Richardson; Pete Mathews portrays Wenatchee police chief Ed Ferguson; and Sue Lawson portrays educator and legislator Eva Anderson. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Info: www.wenatcheewa.gov. Lion’s Club Crab Feed, 2/5, 5 – 8 p.m. Over 1,400 pounds of Dungeness crab for all you can eat. Lake Chelan Eagles, 209 E Woodin Ave. Cost: $35 per person. Info: cometothelake.com. St. Joseph’s School Have-AHeart Auction, 2/5, 5 p.m. 31st annual auction. Dinner by the Mission Street Bistro served at 7 p.m., live auction kicks off at 7:15. No-host bar with beer and wine. Proceeds benefit St. Joseph School. Info: www.stjosephwen.com. Date Night AT A COOKING CLASS, 2/8, 5:30 p.m. Time to dust off the phrase, “Wanna go on a date?” Go out on a date and learn some new moves in the kitchen. Start with sexy yakitori skewers. Then hold hands while we make saffron risotto with sweet peas. Begin to snuggle when we toss a salad that has a sweet and spicy dressing and is full of love. Lean closer as we make an orange gremolata chicken over sweet potato and horseradish potatoes. Finally move in for a kiss with a ginger raspberry crème brulee. Ivy Wild Inn, 410 N Miller. Cost: $40. Info: theivywildinn@ mac.com. Forever Plaid, 2/9, 4:30 & 7:30 p.m. An off-Broadway musical comedy written by Stuart Ross in New York in 1990 and now performed internationally. The critically acclaimed show is an affectionate revue of the close-harmony “guy groups” (e.g. The Four Aces, The Four Freshmen) that reached the height of their popularity during the

| The Good Life | February 2011

WHAT TO DO

1950s. Personifying the clean-cut genre are the Plaids. This quartet of high-school chums’ earnest dreams of recording an album ended in death (literally and indeed, symbolically) in a collision with a bus filled with Catholic schoolgirls on their way to see the Beatles’ American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. The play begins with the Plaids returning from the afterlife for one final chance at musical glory. Performing Arts Center. Info: www.pacwen. org. Wenatchee Jazz Workshop Professionals, 2/10, 7:30 p.m. Six visiting world-class jazz musicians perform. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $24, student 18 and under $10, seniors $22. Info: www. pacwen.org. Wenatchee Jazz Works Students & Professionals, 2/11, 7:30 p.m. Wenatchee area middle and high school students perform with six visiting world-class jazz musicians. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $10. Info: www.pacwen.org. NCHBA Home Show, 2/11-2/13. Vendors offer a wide variety of goods to make your remodel or building project successful. Browse the huge selection of new products and innovative materials; talk to the people in the industry who can address your building questions. Town Toyota Center. Red Wine & Chocolate, 2/12 – 2/13 & 2/19 – 2/20. Enjoy local wine with your Valentine as Lake Chelan Wine Valley celebrates two romantic red wine & chocolatefilled weekends in February. Many of the local boutique wineries offer pairings of wine and chocolate to tempt and delight your sweetheart’s senses. Info: www.lakechelanwinevalley.com. Desperate House Dads, 2/12, Chas Elstner and Kermit Holiday are both dads and perform PG style comedy! Contemporary stand-up without the vulgarity! Performing Arts Center. Cost: $20. Info: www. pacwen.org. Tea with Teddy, 2/12, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. A team of children led by Sophie Looney Abney is planning this tea party for kids; parents and favorite stuffed animals are also welcome. A selection of teas and pastries will be served. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Family ArtVentures, 2/12, 10 a.m. – noon. This art class is designed

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The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

this bookmaker thinks small — PERFECTLY SMALL J

ill Timm is a bookmaker — not the Vegas sports gambler kind, but the (very small) publishing company kind. She makes “artists books.” Her first attempt in the fifth grade used a board, cardboard and staples, and she later dabbled in variations on the craft. The books created today with her array of lifetime art skills are bought up by private collectors, corporations, museums and libraries. What defines Jill’s books is that they are tiny. Miniscule. Diminutive. Small. These hand-held artworks are striking in their originality and why-can’t-I-do-that simplicity. They push our common definition of “book” by radically altering the viewing process, size, type, materials and binding we’re used to. Form melds with content; you can feel the subject as you gaze with wonder at whatever clever medium stands for pages. Why small? Why few? Jill admits to a short attention span: “One-of-a-kind books really suit me; once I solve the initial problem I’m ready to bounce on to something else.” She opens an exquisite dark brown suede box, revealing an arrowhead imbedded in a rocktextured clay cover. Then she unfolds, accordion style, a series of colorful palm-sized depictions of Southwest cliff art. Another book holds transparent photo plates of tree leaves, another reveals surreally digitized train cars. Ironically straightforward, most contain only her original art, minimal

Jill Timm: Making books to be held with the fingertips.

accompanying text, and the colophon — an inscription showing the title, artist and date. The thrill is in the imaginative shape and tactile touch to the hand. And the size matters: whatever we find charming about new kittens and puppies applies to these little gems. The pale and carpeted (small) studio in Jill’s (compact) Wenatchee home is spotless and organized down to the pencil tip, the x-acto blade. Bins of books-in-progress reach to the ceiling, work tools and materials like wood, leather, leaves, shells, handmade paper, cloth, sand and beads are in reach. Jill (also compact) learned via local rockhounds how to find, cut flat, hone and polish exactly the right-sized rocks for a multiedition project. They became (matchbook-sized) book covers. After working as artist and art teacher, Jill earned an MFA that landed her a plum position with IBM in Austin Texas, with “the biggest paycheck I’d ever imagined.” But then she wandered into a life-changing convention of book artists, admired the

February 2011 | The Good Life |

genre she’d sidelined for decades, and was hooked again on the creative possibilities. Her bookmaking restarted in a burst of confidence, and reflected her love of the natural world. She zigzagged the country doing research, contacting buyers. Jill says, “I was free to live anywhere I wanted, so any place I traveled to, selling my books, I viewed as a potential home.” One late summer afternoon in 2002, cresting the ridge on Highway 2 and first glimpsing the Columbia River Valley, “I had an intuitive feeling that this was a really neat place.” She’s watched Wenatchee flourish as newcomers like herself made the good choice. Balancing the business and the pleasure of art, hiking the close-by hills — Jill stays busy at work making this her home, and making perfect little books. See www.mysticalplaces.com for more about Jill’s work and an assortment of her artists books. The downtown Wenatchee library is also displaying several of her pieces this winter. — by Susan Lagsdin

WHAT TO DO

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

}}} Continued from previous page for all members of the family to experience together. Artist Patty Carroll will teach participants how to create greeting cards. Materials are provided, and no experience is necessary. Preregistration: 8886240. Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center. Liebestraume, 2/12, 7:30 p.m. Romance fills the air with Canyon Wren’s Valentine’s weekend concert celebrating Liebestraume. Featuring soprano Laura Loge, baritone Michael Drumheller and the Icicle Creek Piano Trio. Featured Winery: Ginkgo Forest Winery, Mattawa Fine, handmade chocolates by Schocolat of Leavenworth. Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com or toll free 1-800-838-3006. Canyon Wren Concert Hall, 7409 Icicle Rd, Leavenworth. Red Wine & Chocolate, 2/122/13 & 2/18 – 2/21. Award-winning wines paired with decadent chocolate dessert. Go to www.wenatchee wines.com for a list of participating

wineries. Or leave the driving to us, and sign up for a tour on 2/19 or 2/20. $50 per person includes transportation, lunch and tasting fees. For reservations, go to www. wenatcheewines.com. Mountain Music Festival at Mission Ridge, 2/12, & 2/26, 6:30 p.m. The lodge offers a full service restaurant with varied dinner specials. No cover charge. Live music and night skiing for only $15. Mission Ridge. Sweethearts Wine Dinner, 2/14, 6:30 p.m. Grab your sweetheart and head for the Ivy Wild Inn for an evening of food and wine pairings. Tickets: www.saintlaurent.net/ events/. Environmental Film: River Ways, 2/15, 7 p.m. This 2007 documentary explores the lives of regular working people affected by the issue of whether to remove four dams on the Snake River in Eastern Washington. Farmers, environmental groups, native peoples and commercial fishermen have different views, which the film portrays. Cost: $5 suggested donation. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center.

Harlem Globetrotters, 2/16, 7:30 p.m. Town Toyota Center. Info: www.towntoyotacenter1.com. 1st Annual Lake Chelan Trax, 2/18 – 2/20. Choose from miles of cross-country trails surrounded by stunning scenery, powdery white snowmobile trails, wickedly fast tubing hills, or the family-friendly ski hill. For the cross-country skier, come up to Echo Ridge in Manson for The Sweetest Ride. Chocoholics cross-country ski or snowshoe the trails to enjoy chocolate prepared at trail stops. When it’s time to get out of the cold, continue the chocolate journey at many of the local Lake Chelan wineries for their Red Wine & Chocolate events. For the beer connoisseur, there’s a beer tasting festival in downtown Manson of many craft beers from the Northwest. Acres of downhill and snowboard trails and a 5-lane tubing hill. There will be music, food, an outdoor movie and fireworks. Info: www.lakechelantrax.com. Summertown Road, 2/19, 7:30 p.m. This band hails straight from Ashland, Kentucky and collectively these five musicians have picked with a veritable who’s who of bluegrass and country music heavyweights. Their hard-driving, high-energy delivery heralds back to traditional bluegrass. Smokeand alcohol-free setting. Cashmere Riverside Center, 201 Riverside Dr. Cost: $3 at the door and pass the hat for the musicians. Celtic Blaze, 2/20, 7:30 p.m. A show featuring a contemporary take on Canada’s music and dance heritage told through dance, story

| The Good Life | February 2011

telling and music. The production features the talents of world champion tap dancer/fiddler/singer, Stephanie Cadman. Wenatchee High School. Info: 884-6835. Japanese cooking, 2/22, 5:30 p.m. We’ll start with a refreshing California roll with wasabi and soy sauce. Then gyoza, Japanese style dumplings with a sweet soy and rice vinegar dipping sauce. Try Tempura vegetables with a hot mustard dipping sauce. Finally udon noodles with spinach, leeks and fried tofu, gomaae, spinach with a sesame dressing, seared tofu and sweet chili salad. Ivy Wild Inn, 410 N Miller. Cost: $40. Info: theivywildinn@mac.com. Late Nite Catechism, 2/23, 7:30 p.m. This show is part catechism class, part stand-up routine. It’s an interactive comedy now in its 15th year. You, the audience member, are part of Sister’s class. She’ll take you back to the days of the Latin Mass, meatless Fridays, and remind you about that good old ruler across the knuckles! Late Nite Catechism continues to make people laugh their sins off! Performing Arts Center. Info: www.pacwen.org. Master Gardeners Winter Conference, 2/25, 7 p.m. Cass Turnbull, well-known lecturer, author, and founder of Plant Amnesty speaks on Extreme Garden Makeover — from Bushy to Beautiful. Chelan County PUD auditorium, 327 N Wenatchee Ave. Cost: free. Info: Jennifer Marquis 667-6540. Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest, 2/26, 7 p.m. Two scholars with ties to the

The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

WHO DO YOU CALL WHEN YOU NEED A FABULOUS COSTUME? A hoarding instinct, an

appreciation of the absurd and an uncanny knack for problem solving are probably not taught in college drama departments’ costume classes. But in the Wenatchee Valley, where savvy amateurs become overbooked pros in a nanosecond, Lisa Robinson has those traits, plus prodigious energy, making her the go-to woman for imaginative costume creation. Her avocation of designing and building clothes for full-scale full-cast productions started a dozen years ago with preschool class projects and snowballed with every “Yes.” (Volunteers, you know how this happens). Creating a cockroach for the Wenatchee All-District Musical “Cats”? Easy — just find an old softball chest guard and have at it. Lisa explains, “Most of it became a carapace I painted to look more dimensional, but the compound eyes were made out of the two breast protectors covered with that sequin-y cloth.” (More fun than the dozen samesize kitten suits she sewed). Lisa can make anything out of anything. She intuited that a milk jug bottom, cut off, makes a child’s mask; popsicle sticks became a bone-pipe vest, and the best discovery: the heft and Wenatchee area will present a slide show and talk. Drs. Robert Ruby and Cary Collins also will sign copies of the recently released third edition of their popular book, “Guide to the Indian Tribes of the Pacific Northwest” — copies of which are on sale at the museum. They will be joined by Dr. Charles Mutschler, archivist at Eastern

Lisa now has her sewing center set up in a spare closet.

When Shakespeare portrayer Rod Molzahn wants period costumes made, he turns to Lisa Robinson.

color of upholstery fabric, rather than dress goods, generally makes more authentic looking period costumes. After a while, Lisa says, you learn to be alert to found materials and scrounge odd fabric and accessories for that someday show. “I can’t walk in to Goodwill without thinking, ‘Hey, I could use that sometime!’” She designs not just for actors old and young, but for reWashington University and co-author with Ruby and Collins on several historical books and articles. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: by donation. Master Gardeners Conference Luncheon, 2/26, 11:30 a.m. Gourmet lunch with guest speaker Cass Turnbull, author of Cass Turnbull’s

enactors, especially those folks whose preference for bygone days leads them back to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (like SOC, The Society of Creative Anachronists). Lisa has a few recurring commissions in her costuming life: Wells House Players, Wenatchee Schools, The Central Washington Museum and Cultural Center, and she’s often called for bonus jobs, admitting, “I have an inability to say ‘No’ to anyone!” Definitely in the regional theater loop, she’s grateful for continual collaboration and a fluent exchange of favors (including swapping costumes) between museums, schools and theater companies. Her own work is mirrored by several dedicated people toiling backstage to outfit all the performers in the region, and, like her, they can probably go to other stage productions and say, ”That’s our old pirate hat!” and, “Hey — I sewed those pantaloons!”

In Lisa’s tidy studio/office, annexed by a closet with sewing machines, she has separated the parts of her art life by shelves and bins, knowing that she will always be a blender, a multiartist. She launched a graphic design career early on, and has local clients, but the tools and tackle of her other art interests (photography, ceramics, bookmaking, jewelry, felting, knitting, and painting) are always at hand, many of them abetting her costuming compulsion. At show time, when the phone rings or an e-mail pops up, it’s often about a costume problem that needs a solution right now, or a question about where extra yardage is stored or a request for a particular Renaissance ruff. No better person to defuse those dilemmas than Lisa — if she doesn’t have it; she’s bound to find it, or she’ll fashion it artfully out of something you might never expect. — by Susan Lagsdin

Guide to Pruning. Chateau Fair Le Pont Winery. Cost: $49. Info: Jennifer Marquis 667-6540.

Wenatchee native Heather Netz will be featured in Prokofiev’s 1st Violin Concerto and the orchestra will be featured in Dvorak’s 8th Symphony. Wenatchee High School Auditorium. Tickets at the Performing Arts Center box office.

Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra Concert 3: Song, 2/26, 7 p.m. The Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra will present their third concert of the season under the direction of Music Director and Conductor Nikolas Caoile.

February 2011 | The Good Life |

Smucker’s Stars on Ice, 2/27, 4 p.m. Town Toyota Center. Info: www.towntoyotacenter1.com.

column those were the days

rod molzahn

Women’s work: Why it was never done W

ork on the homesteads in the 1880s and ’90s was almost all gender specific. Wives and daughters were responsible for all inside house work and a few outside chores as well as including the garden, the chickens and the milk cow. Food — growing, cooking and preserving it — took much of the women’s time and energy. Planting and tending to the garden demanded constant attention from early spring to fall. The garden was expected to provide fresh food from summer to fall and preserved food the remainder of the year. Whenever possible, seeds were harvested from ripe vegetables to save the expense of storebought seeds. When potato planting time came on the Tramm farm near Rearden, Marie Tramm peeled potatoes as thinly as possible and planted the peelings, wasting none of the potatoes. Fruit parings were saved to make vinegar – necessary for pickling vegetables. On the Richardson farm in Monitor, the family made both cider and vinegar. Some of the cider was stored in barrels and kept in the root cellar to harden and turn to vinegar. One day

Ida Richardson looked out and saw her four youngest children “staggering” around the yard. They had gotten into the “apple juice” in the root cellar and were a bit pickled themselves. The chicken pen was also the province of wives and daughters. Eggs were gathered all year and a hen was set on a batch in the spring. When the first batch hatched the chicks were raised by hand and the hen set on another batch. Sunday was chicken dinner time on the Waterville ranch where Ina King grew up. She recalled that her father got the biggest piece, her mother took a thigh and the children, in order of age, got the next pieces. Being the youngest, she always got the “piece that went over the fence last.” Preserving food was essential to keep a family fed through the winter. Esta Tetherow, near Waterville, recalled her father raising hogs. “Father had a smokehouse full of hams and bacon… mother made the best sausage and stuffed it in cheesecloth bags and smoked it along with the hams.” Fruit was dried and canned in five-gallon cans, carrots, squash and potatoes stored in the root cellar and jams and jellies were

Ida Richardson: Her butter was so much in demand, it was used as legal tender. Photo from the Cashmere Pioneer Village & Museum

put up in bottles. Fern Kelly remembered her grandmother, Lucy Brown in Monitor, removing narrow bottlenecks by “heating a round metal ring from a horse bridle and dropping it over the neck of the bottle – the heat breaking the neck off smoothly so it could be used without fear of jagged edges.” She also remembers her grandmother storing meat, milk, butter and other perishable food in an ice house, insulated with sawdust and lined with blocks of ice cut from the Wenatchee

| The Good Life | February 2011

River. The ice held out until summer when the last was used to make ice cream. Butter was a staple. The majority of the housewives made it for home use but Leitha Coonan’s mother, near Badger Mountain, “made 80 or 90 pounds a week to sell.” At Monitor, Ida Richardson’s butter was so much in demand that, according to her granddaughter, Marilyn, “It was used as legal tender.” In the winter Marie Tramm’s cows ate only dry grain for feed and the butter was white as lard. She grated carrots and mixed the strained juice with the cream. After churning, the butter was a beautiful golden color. Much of all that butter went on fresh bread baked 8 to 12 loaves at a time in a wood-fired oven. Clothing was also part of a pioneer wife’s job description — making it, mending it and washing it. Leitha Coonan remembered that, “All the clothing was homemade except the men’s work pants,” hand sewn or made on a treadle machine from cotton or wool. There would be three or four outfits a year for

Saturday was also bath night when everyone washed their hair and body in the washtub in the middle of the kitchen floor. the children and one or two for the mothers. Ellen Wagner’s grandmother, Mary, made bloomers for her daughters from flour sacks. “She washed and bleached them to remove the writing. Then she dyed them black.” Her daughters said they were all very glad when she started buying black sateen for the bloomers. Saturday was laundry day in most of the houses. The washing could take from early morning to evening (with breaks to cook meals), depending on the number of children in the family. Ten to 15 kids was not uncommon. All the laundry was done on a washboard in water heated on the wood stove. Even in the heat of summer, white clothes were boiled before scrubbing, then wrung out by hand and hung outside to dry. They froze solid in winter then were brought in and hung above to stove to thaw out. Flat irons heated on the stove were used for pressing. Esta Tetherow recalled, “If one wasn’t careful, one could get a dress almost ironed and get a smudge on it. That meant washing, drying and ironing it all over again.” Saturday was also bath night when everyone washed their hair and body in the washtub in the middle of the kitchen floor. That called for lots of water heated on the stove. Soap for baths, laundry and dish washing was made by a process that included boiling a mixture of grease and lye. Women’s jobs went beyond

matters of food and clothing. Oil lamps had to be filled and cleaned of soot nearly every day. Eudora Miller, in the Methow, remembered that coal oil (kerosene) for the lamps came in fivegallon cans. The empty cans served as stools, storage and canning containers. Buhock powder had to be scattered over the bedding and rubbed into cracks in the pine board ceilings and walls to keep the bedbugs at bay. Mattresses needed to be filled with fresh

straw and once a year the carpets were taken up and hung on the clothesline where the girls beat the dust out of them. These were “rag” carpets, woven out of two-inch strips of cotton from worn out clothing, pieced together into three foot wide sections, cut to fit the room and sewed together by hand. Old newspapers served as the pad. Layers of newspapers were also tacked to the house walls for insulation. Pioneer women’s jobs made

1st Choice Collision Center..............................11 Aaron Adult Family Homes.................................3 After Hours Plumbing & Heating.......................21 American Quality Coatings...............................19 Biosports Physical Therapy ..............................22 Brenda Burgett Century 21..............................21 Central Washington Water.................................10 Chelan County PUD Conservation.....................24 Chelan County PUD Fiber...................................9 Collins Gifts & Women’s Fashions.....................12 Complete Design ............................................21 Concepts Kitchen & Bath Designs....................20 D A Davidson & Company..................................7 Discovery Tours................................................28 Dr. Steven Harvey DDS.....................................14 Epledalen Retirement & Assisted Living............36 Finders Keepers Consignment Furniture...........14 First Choice Floor Coverings.............................16 Fit City 24/7......................................................6 Fred Dowdy Company Inc.................................20 Gallery 4 South................................................26 Golden East Restaurant...................................27 GWATA.............................................................25 Hearthstone Cottage........................................35 Highgate Senior Living......................................19 Karie Rolen, John L. Scott Real Estate..............21 KCSY – Sunny FM.............................................25

February 2011 | The Good Life |

a long list. They were difficult, time consuming and required a wide variety of skills. They lasted the year-round. There was rarely a break. The pioneer women’s work was truly never done. Historian, actor and teacher Rod Molzahn can be reached at shake. speak@frontier.com. His third history CD, Legends & Legacies Vol. III - Stories of Wenatchee and North Central Washington, is now available at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center and at other locations throughout the area.

LarsonAllen LLP................................................36 Laura Mounter Real Estate & Co.........................2 Lombards Hardwoods......................................19 Moonlight Tile & Stone.....................................21 Mt. Stuart Physical Therapy...............................12 NCHBA Home Show.........................................13 Noyd & Noyd Insurance Agency . .....................19 Papa Murphy’s Take & Bake Pizza.....................10 Products Supply Northwest..............................19 Sadler Construction.........................................13 Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort . .....................27 Spring Hill Suites Marriott................................32 Sue Long Laura Mounter Real Estate & Co.......21 Telford’s Chapel of the Valley & Crematory........11 The Town Toyota Center.....................................36 The WRAC........................................................34 Tracey Franklin, John L Scott Real Estate..........19 Valley Tractor & Rentals....................................23 Vita Green........................................................35 Wenatchee Business Journal............................30 Wenatchee Natural Foods ...............................17 Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce...........5 Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.....................15 Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center....15 Western Ranch Buildings..................................15 Wok About Grill................................................27

FUN STUFF // check out these activities

5 for doing

SHAKE OFF THE COLD and get on the go Y

es, the weather outside is still changeable, and the roads can be troublesome. And yes, it might be nice to lay on a heater grate, cover yourself with a blanket and play a video game or read an adventure book set somewhere warm, like the south of France, where the hard bodies play in the crashing waves, as the evil villain... No, no, wait, get back here. There’s plenty of fun to be had right around our communities this month... and you don’t need a passport or a fake suntan. Here are a few events that caught our notice.

portrays his real-life grandfather, Wenatchi chief John Harmelt. Sally Knipfer portrays Monitor pioneer Ida Richardson (see a little of her story on page 32 in Rod’s history article — wow, these early day women had to work hard!), and three others act the parts of early explorer David Thompson, Wenatchee police chief Ed Ferguson and legislator Eva Anderson. Feb. 5, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center.

2. NCHBA HOME SHOW

ruary, the back of winter is broken — why not get out and enjoy the taste of local vineyards, have some chocolate, and do something fun with the one you love.

4. LAKE CHELAN TRAX

— Oh, you say you still want a little more winter? There is still wax on your skies, the kids aren’t tired of sledding, and you wouldn’t mind a small day trip? This festival happening at Manson over the President’s Day weekend might be just the ticket. There’s skiing — downhill and cross-country — along with snowmobiling at Echo Ridge, and then a beer festival in downtown Manson. Feb. 18-20. Info: www.lakechelantrax.com.

— Thinking of remodeling or building this year? Or, how about just refreshing your home and grounds? Vendors will offer a wide variety of goods and services to help make your projects successful. Browse the promised — If you’re looking to sit back and relax as huge selection of new products the lights go down, this play may not be and innovative materials, talk for you as it’s part catechism class, part to the experts, and maybe get stand-up routine. According to the your questions answered. promotional material, you, Plus, there are cash prizes — the audience memoh, and stop by The Good ber, are part of Life booth. We may not Sister’s class. have a lot of answers, The good — Perbut we’re good listenSister will take haps there is a theme in this ers. Feb. 11-13, Town you back to the month’s Good Life magazine, Toyota Center. days of the Latin with the story about the Civil Mass, meatless War re-enactor on page 8, the Fridays, and remind picture of Shakespeare portrayer you about that good Rod Molzahn in his period costume on old ruler across the — Wine page 31, and now this blurb about the living columnist Alex Saliby uncorks knuckles! Yikes! 7:30 history program at the Wenatchee Valley p.m. Wednesday, Feb. a liter of information on page Museum featuring five actors portraying real 23 about these events appearing 23, Performing Arts Cencharacters from the Wenatchee Valley’s past. over two weekends at various local winter. Info: www.pacwen. A highlight might be William Dick who org. eries. But it comes down to this: By mid-Feb-

5. Late Nite Catechism

1. PEOPLE OF OUR PAST

3. RED WINE & CHOCOLATE

| The Good Life | February 2011