THE SHY BIRD PHOTOGRAPHER Y EVENTS CALENDAR
WENATCHEE VALLEY’S
NUMBER ONE MAGAZINE
February 2018
OPEN FOR FUN AND ADVENTURE
Price: $3
WILD
JOURNEYS Canoeing into Ecuador’s jungle Seeing the beasts and beauty of Zambia
plus
FEELING LONELY? YOU’RE NOT ALONE — WE HAVE IDEAS FOR YOU Coming to america: russian skills, american sewn
Piloting a sailboat down the coast to Mexico
The 2018 Chelan PUD Day Use parking pass is now available. Similar to the Washington State Discover Pass, it’s good for one year at the following PUD parks operated by State Parks:
» Wenatchee Confluence » Daroga » Lincoln Rock The free pass is good through Dec. 31, 2018, as a Public Power Benefit from Chelan County PUD. The pass only is good for day-use and doesn’t include boat launch fees or camping fees. You can get a PUD parking pass if you are a Chelan PUD customer or a Chelan County resident. To get a pass:
SAMPLE
Get your free 2018 Day Use Parking Pass
2018
MY PUBLIC POWER BENEFIT
PARKING PASS This pass valid at:
CONFLUENCE | LINCOLN ROCK | DAROGA
P P P P
L L L L
A A A A
T T T T
E E E E
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DAY USE PARKING ONLY Valid - Jan. 1, 2018 - Dec. 31, 2018
Apply online at chelanpud.org/ParkingPass
March 16, 2018
O LY M P I C S EDITION
A Formal Dinner & Professional Ice Show To Benefit the Arena Youth Enrichment Fund
OR print the application and bring it into one of our three PUD offices (Wenatchee, Leavenworth or Chelan) and apply
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Ask for the moon We deliver. Apply for a Visa Luna credit card today. Visit numericacu.com for more information
or Ask to see if you qualify. 800.433.1837
*Here’s the legal stuff. $20 membership fee for new members. Contact a Numerica employee for the terms of the account.
MONTGO MERY M WASHING TON
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Contents
In partnership with
page 6
a photographer of cool birds
Features
6
cOLOR BLIND bird PHOTOGRAPHER
But he’s not blind to nature’s beauty
8 THE BEAUTY AND BEASTS OF ZAMBIA
We’re your local advantage. Call to learn more about our Medicare Advantage plans. 1-877-561-1463 (TTY 711). Daily 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. PT. Voicemail used on holidays and weekends, Feb. 15–Sept. 30. HealthAllianceMedicare.org Health Alliance Northwest is a Medicare Advantage Organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in Health Alliance Northwest depends on contract renewal. This information is not a complete description of benefits. Contact the plan for more information. Limitations, co-payments and restrictions may apply. Benefits, premiums and/or copayments/coinsurance may change on January 1 of each year. Other pharmacies and providers are available in our network. The pharmacy network and/or provider network may change at any time. You will receive notice when necessary. Health Alliance Northwest complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability or sex. Spanish: ATENCIÓN: Si habla español, servicios de asistencia lingüística, de forma gratuita, están disponibles para usted. Llame 1-877-750-3350 (TTY: 711). Chinese: 注意：如果你講中文，語言協助服務，免費的， 都可以給你。呼叫 1-877-750-3350 (TTY: 711). med-WACgenad-1017 • H3471_18_61581
African nation is a long, long, long way off, and in many ways existing in a different world
11 up a jungle river
Visiting a people who are trying to preserve and protect their environment from an encroaching modern civilization
14 against the wind
Dreams of sailing around the world gave way to a trip down the coast to Mexico... but it was still on the big O
18 russian grown, american sewing
Olga Lindsey is making her way in America by applying a skill she learned in her homeland
20 big house / little house
When visiting family became too much, these parents built a little adjoining home for themselves Art sketches n Multimedia artist Amber Zimmerman, page 30 n Actor and theater volunteer Jeff Heminger, page 33 Columns & Departments 24 Pet Tales: Catching rays in the dog park 25 Bonnie Orr: Why have leftovers lost their appeal? 26 June Darling: Fight loneliness during this “love” month 28 The traveling doctor: Is gluten-free a real concern? 30-35 Arts & Entertainment & a Dan McConnell cartoon 36 History: Gruff Conrad Rose was a friend indeed 38 That’s life: Police humor February 2018 | The Good Life
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OPENING SHOT
®
Year 12, Number 2 February 2018 The Good Life is published by NCW Good Life, LLC, dba The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 PHONE: (509) 888-6527 EMAIL: editor@ncwgoodlife.com sales@ncwgoodlife.com ONLINE: www.ncwgoodlife.com FACEBOOK: https://www. facebook.com/NCWGoodLife Editor/Publisher, Mike Cassidy Contributors, Travis Knoop, Jaana Hatton, Jill LaRue, Nicole Clennon, Jessica Draggoo, Keith Kellogg, Donna Cassidy, Bonnie Orr, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin and Rod Molzahn Advertising: Terry Smith and Lianne Taylor Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy Proofing, Dianne Cornell Ad design, Clint Hollingsworth Video editor, Aaron Cassidy TO SUBSCRIBE: For $25, ($30 out of state address) you can have 12 issues of The Good Life mailed to you or a friend. Send payment to: The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 For circulation questions, email: donna@ncwgoodlife.com BUY A COPY of The Good Life at Safeway stores, Walgreens, Mike’s Meats at Pybus, Rhubarb Market, Martin’s Market Place (Cashmere) and Dan’s Food Market (Leavenworth) ADVERTISING: For information about advertising in The Good Life, contact Terry Smith at (509) 8854922, Lianne Taylor at (509) 6696556 or sales@ncwgoodlife.com
Day after day denied the feeling of sun on our faces as our Vitamin D supplies dwindle. An occasional glimpse of our famous 300 days of sunshine, maybe a bit of blue skies and then it fades away. But there are times the sun is out there, all you need to do is go find it. One quick fix is a drive up to Mission Ridge. Take a look at their webcams and you will often be greeted with a sea of clouds over the valley while the Ridge is bathed in sunshine. Ride the lifts, take a snowshoe
yes, there is a sun in winter By Travis Knoop
I
t would seem, at least so far, that Old Man Winter is having a hard time committing to the season in NCW. We’ve had a variety of snow, freezing rain, plain ‘ol rain, bitter cold and my personal favorite, the persistent low clouds that trap the valley in a grey gloomy state. M
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Imagine the fun you could have!
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LOCAL EVENTS CALENDAR
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WENATCHEE VALLEY’S
NUMBER ONE
HEALING POWER OF STEM CELLS Y EVENTS CALENDAR
MAGAZINE
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WENATCHEE VALLEY’S
NUMBER ONE
CAVES & CASTLES OF FRANCE Y EVENTS CALENDAR
MAGAZINE
WENATCHEE VALLEY’S
NUMBER ONE MAGAZINE
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20
th
September 2015
Open for fun and adventure
(tiny) TRAILER LIFE
Price: $3
June 2015
Price: $3
Open for fun and adventure
May 2015 n Cover price: $3
LOVING THE LIFT Riding an invisible river of air exhilarates Cashmere flyer
Our
100th
RUNNiNg wiTh DOgS
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Tree wanted to be a beautiful dory
They Built This City
Who made Wenatchee the livable city it is
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hike, walk a few laps around the lot or grab a bite to eat in the lodge; I guarantee you will feel better for it! When I need a little pick-meup I’m reminded of this photo of Nason Creek from the bridge near the Lake Wenatchee State Park. The fresh snow, blue sky and a few sun spots/solar flares bring a smile to my face. Before you know it winter will be packing it up, making way for blossoming flowers and budding trees. But while it’s here, try to get out and give Old Man Winter a big hug. Embrace it, you might just enjoy it. This image, and many others by some of the best photographers in Chelan County, can be found at https://www.webguidesmarketing.com/pages/ resources.
On the cover
John Darling, Michelle Green, Nicole Clennon, Seth Ames, and guide Fausto embark on a journey down the Rio Tiputini.
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editor’s notes
MIKE CASSIDY
Those who go are in the know When our children were
young, a far-flung extended family member was working on a two-year contract in Zambia and invited us to visit to African country. Housing and sightseeing would be provided. We thought hard about it, but it’s an awfully long trip with three kids, and the airfare alone would run to thousands. I would like to say we took that airfare and wisely invested it in Google, or Apple, or even Walmart and today, I have a towering stack of $100 bills on my desk. In truth we frittered the money away like so many parents do on dentists, school clothes, allowances and fast food dinners. So, I was excited when Jill LaRue sent in a story of traveling with friends and family to Zambia. And I was even more excited when I saw the photos she sent along. I asked Jill for one special memory and she sent along this story about hunting for chameleons and bushbabies after dark. “On a moonless, pitch black night we walked along the forest path with flashlights. Shining them on the chameleons caused them to glow in the dark and the bushbabies’ eyes lit up like the headlights of small cars in the forest. “After some time walking through the dark forest, listening to spooky noises, we came upon an open meadow. “The stars of the southern hemisphere, so unfamiliar to us, gave us a fabulous display. With no ambient light around, the stars were even more numerous than we have ever seen before. It was so clear and dark the Milky
Way glowed in the night sky!”
Melissa Schiel mezzo-soprano
Jessica Draggoo didn’t have to travel anywhere to have an adventure — she just talked with a neighbor, and still she felt the charge of trying something new. Jessica interviewed Scott White about sailing, particularly sailing in the big O off the West Coast. “I hope to go ocean sailing one day,” Jessica wrote to us in an email, “it seems like something I would very much enjoy. I don’t get any motion sickness and I love the ocean and adventure.. the whole experience of sailing is appealing.” We have occasionally written about local people moving elsewhere and making a life, this month Susan Lagsdin writes about a Russian native who has moved to the Valley to tailor a life. “Tailor” being a bit of a pun as Olga Lindsey has brought along sewing skills she learned as a girl and young woman. I asked Susan if she sewed now or as a girl. “I sewed a bit when I was young,” said Susan, “but generally what I wanted to look ‘custom-tailored’ came out looking ‘home made.’ There’s a difference.” Look for the stories about Zambia, sailing and Olga in this issue — all stitched into a publication brimming with possibilities and adventure. Wild journeys: take ’em when you have the chance. Enjoy The Good Life. — Mike February 2018 | The Good Life
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Sharing winged magic
ABOVE: Tundra Swans at Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. “I’ve spent countless hours at the Ridgefield NWR near Vancouver. It’s always a great place to find and photograph birds,” said Bruce.
Green Heron at Commonwealth Lake Park, Beaverton, OR. “This pond was about 2 miles from our house in Portland,” said Bruce. “I walked the perimeter path almost daily when we lived in Portland.’
THE BIRD PHOTOGRAPHER: Color blind, but not blind to nature’s feathered beauty By Jaana Hatton When you marvel at the sharp, capture-the-moment bird photos of hobbyist photographer Bruce McCammon, you would
never guess he is color-blind. Not in a million years. His images are vivid and accurate. They are so perfect that the local Audubon chapter created a poster using 40 shots from Bruce’s portfolio. “I don’t have to see the colors to identify birds,” Bruce explained. “There are other ways, such as looking at the plumage patterns, the shape of the beak, the size and shape of the bird.” The journey from his first blurry photos to artistic images has taken decades. Bruce recalls often seeing his
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Black-capped Chickadee, photographed in Bruce’s backyard around some feeders he maintained while living there.
mother with camera in hand, and following her footsteps, Bruce began to familiarize himself with photography in his mid-teens. It was an off-and-on hobby for him then: not on the top of the young man’s list of attractions. Professionally, Bruce took the path of a wildland hydrologist until he retired 37 years later. He then plunged into wedding photography, something utterly contradictory to his quiet, introverted personality. “I decided on wedding photography so I would learn to social-
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ize better,” Bruce said. Bruce’s first purposeful bird photography event took place on Feb. 2, 2004. He was visiting the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico with his friend, Steve Howes. Bruce’s intent was to learn how to take photos of moving objects. What better opportunity could there be than to practice with birds in flight, with their wings fluttering and directions shifting unexpectedly? “We got up early, at 4:30, to witness the snow geese and
“It was amazing, with all those birds around and above you. The experience was spiritual... “On that morning, the bird photography bug latched on to me and has not let go since.” sandhill cranes take flight in the morning,” Bruce said. “It was cold, in the low 20s maybe.” They waited and shivered, chatting with a few other people who were there in the sunrise hour anticipating the spectacle. Without a warning, it happened. A roar rose from the lake and there were the snow geese, a cloud of them, passing just above the heads of the groundbound observers while quickly moving onwards and upwards. Bruce recalls the experience as absolutely thrilling. As soon as the geese had left there was more commotion in the brightening light of the morning. The sandhill cranes were ready for the “flyout.” There were hundreds of them on the water. The four-feet tall cranes created momentum a few at a time and took flight. Bruce took photos of the geese, the cranes and the scenery. He took dozens of them, but upon later inspection the enthusiastic photographer was disappointed. The images were not great. They were not even good, mostly. He had taken shots against the sun, the moving birds were blurry; many unfortunate mistakes showed on the photos. Yet, he felt happy. “It was amazing, with all those birds around and above you. The experience was spiritual. Both Steve and I felt the same way,” Bruce said. “On that morning, the bird photography bug
Yellow-breasted Chat, No. Two Canyon Road, Wenatchee. “A spring migrant and one of the most interesting birds I’ve found in the Wenatchee area,” said Bruce.
Bruce McCammon has about 100,000 bird photos on file.
latched on to me and has not let go since.” With the bug hanging on to his side and the skills gained both with perseverance as well as trial and error, Bruce is becoming an educator — not by design, but by bird karma, you might say. He is the ambassador, the good saint of the winged world. His private hobby has evolved into a larger process: the sharing of photography and bird knowledge with the community. Bruce had no plans to be in the public limelight with his photos. However, enter Mark Oswood, the dynamo of the local Audubon chapter, and things can change. Mark needed new posters for February 2018 | The Good Life
his “What’s That Bird” events, organized for schools to teach the students about birds in an outdoor setting. Soon the word got around, and the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust wanted to meet Bruce, as did Patrick Bodell of the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Wenatchee. “I now have some plans for the approximately 100,000 photos I have on files,” Bruce said. “Besides the posters, I would like to create some field-guides; those quarter sheet books that so conveniently fit in your pocket for field trips.” Bruce has also discovered that printing images on metal is a wonderful innovation. The prints come out sharp and the colors vibrant. What’s more, www.ncwgoodlife.com
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metal is durable. Such a print would be a treat for a bird lover. Bruce is overcoming his private nature and thinking about lectures and other ways of sharing the good he has found in birding and nature. He would also like to make his bird images useful. “As for the technical side of birding, there is always a challenge, the quest to be better. As for the mental part of the hobby, I find it energizing, yet calming,” Bruce said. Jaana Hatton lives in East Wenatchee but can often be found roaming the hills or strolling by the river. She is enchanted by all things natural, having grown up a wild child in the woods in Finland.
WILD JOURNEYS #1
The beasts and beauty of ZAMBIA Ox peckers grooming for ticks on a female giraffe, one of a herd of 25 Jill and Tom watched for an hour as they were so lively and awkwardly graceful.
M
By Jill LaRue
y husband Tom Ettinger and I like to travel. We don’t like to miss opportunities to visit places off the beaten path, especially when traveling with friends and family who also have a sense of adventure. Tom’s brother Bill invited us to travel to Zambia in May. Why Zambia? Bill is a biology professor at Gonzaga. His wife Ann-Scott is the biology lab coordinator. They have taken several trips with Gonzaga biology students for extended field trips to Zambia. Zambia may not be known for its wildlife or natural beauty, other than the spectacular, world famous Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River. However, there are national parks full of wildlife throughout Zambia.
This Chimpanzee was so expressive and uninhibited. “They appear charming and fun-loving but can be exceptionally dangerous. They were a riot to watch,” said Jill.
We visited South Luangwa National Park and stayed at Flatdogs (Crocodile) Camp, with luxurious tent cabins on the
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Luangwa River, listening to the hippo pods grunting throughout the day and night. We took a river trip on the
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Chobe River along the northern edge of Botswana’s Chobe National Park and saw wildlife at its best — elephants swimming
There were many police stops along the way. I’m not sure exactly why there were so many, except to give the police a chance to extort a bribe or confiscate material goods.
In Botswana’s Chobe National Park the elephants swam the river to get to islands covered with green grass. “We watched them swirl the uprooted grass in the air before eating it to remove the mud so it would not wear down their teeth,” said Jill.
Largest of all antelopes, a female Eland stands in a wooded savanna.
in the river to feed on grassy islands, gigantic crocodiles, and birds galore. Formerly Northern Rhodesia, Zambia is a land-locked country about the size of the combined states of Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. It is bordered on the
north by Republic of the Congo, on the northeast by Tanzania, on the east by Malawi, on the south by Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, and on the west by Angola. Zambia has had a fairly stable political climate and economy February 2018 | The Good Life
since its independence from Great Britain in 1964. The national language is English, although there are 7 major official provincial languages taught in compulsory primary schools of the regions. It has been estimated that there are 72 different tribal languages or dialects that continue to be spoken in local communities. There is no easy way to get to Zambia. After our 14-hour flight to Dubai, we stayed overnight before catching our nine-hour connecting flight to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. We were met in Lusaka by Emius, our driver of the 20-passenger overland vehicle, built for travel in Africa, who took us to a “campground” just outside Lusaka for our first night in Zambia. Humphrey, our cook, had dinner ready for us. He cooked simple meals for the 16 of us, usually over a campfire, throughout our visit. That night we stayed in rustic cabins with toilets and showers. We did not see many mosquitoes, visiting during the “dry” season, but all of us had www.ncwgoodlife.com
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started our anti-malarial medication by then. We heard bush babies in the trees that night. We saw giraffes, impalas and waterbucks cruising through the campground, as we arose early the next morning, to beat the rush-hour traffic around Lusaka. We traveled overland that day, all day long, to reach Chimfunshi, our destination in the northern part of Zambia. “Chimfunshi” means “place that holds water” in Bemba, a Bantu language spoken mostly in northeastern Zambia. Some roads were under construction and many more needed to be under construction. It was a long, slow, and rough ride in our overland vehicle. There were many police stops along the way. I’m not sure exactly why there were so many, except to give the police a chance to extort a bribe or confiscate material goods. On previous trips Bill drove the vehicle, full of students, and was stopped so often by the police that they decided paying a driver was cost-effective financially and emotionally. Our group consisted of friends of Bill’s and Ann-Scott’s — teachers, naturalists, volunteers, retirees, medical people, including a couple of young adults. We played musical chairs in our overland vehicle because no particular seating arrangement was perfect for any one person. We passed through the north-
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ZAMBIA }}} Continued from previous page ern Copperbelt Province, location of the second largest open cast copper mine in the world — acres of slag heaps, depressed economy now due to the low price of copper. In spite of what appears to be impoverishment, the Zambian people are very friendly and seem happy. Every morning we saw school children dressed in their school uniforms heading to school along the roadways. We finally reached Chimfunshi, established in the 1970s as an orphanage for chimpanzees confiscated during smuggling attempts or relinquished as they became larger and more unruly pets. We stayed at the education center for four days — solar power, pit toilets, showers only in the afternoon with water heated over a wood fire, simple meals prepared by Humphrey. The refuge has become internationally renowned and provides basic housing for visiting researchers from all over the world, there to study all aspects of chimpanzee life. We were fortunate enough to observe the chimps. There are several family groups that vary in size from 10 to 40 chimps. They forage and roam in four separate enclosures of several hundred acres in size. Because this area is not the natural habitat for chimpanzees, they are fed a variety of fruits and vegetables, and a staple made from cornmeal prepared daily. In the hierarchical family groups there were several males and females of varying ages in each group and a few newborns, who were very cute (although they have initiated birth control for the chimps). Some of the chimps are 40 years old. The refuge tends a farm, an orchard, and cares for a herd of cattle to fund the daily operations of feeding and caring for
The morning mist swirls around fishermen on the Kafue River near Chimfunshi.
Jill and Tom on a safari in the Al Khatim desert near Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
the chimps. In the past year the refuge has hired a full-time veterinarian, who takes care of the chimps and the herd of cattle, as well as local residents. Because of the refuge’s presence, the community’s economy has greatly improved in this otherwise economically depressed area of Zambia. While we were there they celebrated a newly completed addition to the local school, mostly attended by children of families employed by the refuge. Not only did we visit the chimps, we also explored the area’s birds, wildlife and geo-
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logic formations. We met many people from Zimbabwe who travel to Zambia for work, including our driver, Emius. In Zimbabwe, the American dollar has been used as the national currency, due to longstanding economic instability and political unrest. We had many conversations regarding the economies and political status of countries in Africa. Last year we traveled to Tanzania and were impressed by the cultural, political, health, educational and economic challenges facing the people of these countries.
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Flora, fauna, birds are so very different from those of my own country, but in many ways we face similar environmental problems. We talked about large predators and how they keep the grazers in check that would otherwise overgraze the land. This is a significant problem in Tanzania where the Masai tribes own large herds of cattle. Previously nomadic, they grazed where the grasses grow, but now they are confined to smaller areas where the cattle overgraze, cause erosion, and create a change in the native vegetation and the natural landscape. We were impressed by the creativity of the individuals with whom we traveled and by the impact that tourism plays in their economies. Never having expected to be able to travel to countries in Africa, I was amazed with the beauty, the cultural diversity, the landscape and the people of Zambia. They seemed so far, far away, in so many ways. And they are. Jill LaRue is a recently retired family nurse practitioner who loves being outdoors and jumps at the chance for new adventure. Her husband Tom Ettinger jumps, too.
WILD JOURNEYS #2
A tent on a raised platform is where Nicole Clennon stayed during the jungle expedition in Mandari Panga. The pathway made of tree stumps is guided by solar lamps which leads to the Rio Tiputini, a tributary to the Amazon River.
A dugout canoe awaits its next adventure. These canoes are meticulously carved from one large tree trunk and are a main mode of transportation in the Amazon Rainforest.
Up a jungle river
Canoeing into a remote and bio-diverse south american park where a tribe is trying to survive modern life By Nicole Clennon
This past December, two
friends and I ventured to Ecuador together… destination, the Amazon. I had flown into Quito a few times before my most recent trip, but this was my first time landing without a heavy or uncertain heart. The first time I arrived in Ecuador was in the winter of 2004 on a Peace Corps assignment. I was anxious about the two-year commitment, but was beyond thrilled to be living in Ecuador and deeply compassionate about volunteering in the Natural Resource Conservation program. I loved looking to be part of another culture, helping them better their community. I felt
like I could actually make a difference. I also felt adventuresome and self-reliant, ready to take on any challenge. Looking back, I was also incredibly naïve. And, little did I know at the time of my departure that my mother’s cancer would return in full force and quickly take over her once heroically resilient body. I returned to Cashmere a few weeks before her passing and after spending about a month home with my family, I decided through my heartache and despair that it would be better for me to be helping others so returned to Ecuador. But my heart was no longer in it, it was in Cashmere with my family. Needless to say, I did not last the full two years. At the time I February 2018 | The Good Life
felt defeated, broken, depressed. The fire and passion I had, soon became consumed by the mundane. Eventually life moved forward, and I moved on by taking on new challenges and creating new passions. I feel very fortunate to have been able to go to college and beyond lucky to have met my husband and to have two healthy and kind kids. Raising kids has by far been the most rewarding and challenging experience in my life thus far, but there has been a part of me left behind. What happened to the idealistic adventurer in me? The one who wanted to make a difference in the world. The one who wanted to soak up all there was to learn and spread that knowlwww.ncwgoodlife.com
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edge to others. What will I be teaching my kids if I am not living an authentic life? So, when the opportunity to return to Ecuador arose, I felt it was something I needed to do. We went exploring the possibility of an adventure learning opportunity with Wenatchee Valley College somehow. My travel companions — JDSA Law attorney and Wenatchee Valley College Foundation past president and current member Michelle Green, and John Darling, a retired dentist and the spouse of Dr. June Darling, Trustee and Board Chair for the Wenatchee Valley College Board of Trustees, both of Cashmere — didn’t know exactly how, we just knew the opportunities for learning
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Damiana Santamaria, center, the founder of the Mandarin Panga community, one of her 18 children, left, and his wife, right, enjoy bowls of chicha at Damiana’s house that over looks the Rio Tiputini.
JUNGLE }}} Continued from previous page
were endless. As I flew into Quito again, this time I was without trepidation. From Quito, we took another quick flight into Coca, then a two-hour bumpy truck drive down to the Rio Tiputini and the entrance of the Yasuni National Park. From there, we boarded a motorized canoe and traveled another two hours down river. As the jungle became denser modern conveniences quickly began to fade away. Finally, we arrived at our destination, the indigenous Kichwa community of Mandari Panga. It is inconspicuously situated on the lush green bank of the Rio Tiputini. Ten platforms with tents surround the humble communal building. Exotic fruit trees are intermixed with bamboo and flowering trees that hummingbirds and butterflies swarm to.
The only power on site is generated by two solar panels that provide enough energy to charge camera batteries, but not much more. No cell phone service. No internet. The only sounds are those of the jungle and each other. Early in the morning, even before the birds wake, we could literally hear the trees breathe. We spent a few days exploring the incredible biodiversity within the Yasuni National Park. It is arguably the most biodiverse place on earth with over 200 mammal species (12 of which are monkeys!), 600 species of birds, and over 100 types of each bats, reptiles and amphibians — not to mention the extraordinary plants and trees that could be found in this pristine primary rainforest. All of this in an area close to the size of Yellowstone. We had instinctive and knowledgeable guides whom have spent their whole lives in this
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We hiked through dense jungle, saw howler and squirrel monkeys jump from tree to tree, and listened as a baby monkey cried for its mama as a vulture stalked them... jungle, hunting and subsisting off the verdant land. Our Kichwa guides taught us many things, including medicinal purposes for plants as we hiked through the forest. We barely scratched the surface of the knowledge there is to gain in the Amazon. Without the distractions of the modern world, I was truly able to connect with the moment and fully embrace the experience. This was a crash course in mindfulness.
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We had the rare opportunity to immerse into Kichwa culture and learn directly from the locals about their jungle, their culture and their new project of ecotourism and education that we were getting to experience. The people we met were generous and kind, welcoming us with open arms. We played soccer with community members, ate hormigas de limon (lemon tasting ants), swam with piranhas, drank chicha (fermented cassava made by chewing the plant and spitting it into a vat to ferment), learned to make chocolate and explored the river in a dugout canoe. We hiked through dense jungle, saw howler and squirrel monkeys jump from tree to tree, and listened as a baby monkey cried for its mama as a vulture stalked them from up above. Pink dolphins even followed us up river on our return trip back. It really did feel magical. As we retraced our steps to get
Guide Fredy Gualinga, Nicole Clennon, Michelle Green, and fellow adventurer Seth Ames (counter clockwise) eat lunch in a traditional Kichwa manner. The bowls and plates are all made by hand from locally gathered clay. Most meals were served with soup to start and every meal included a freshly made juice, a different type every time.
back out of the jungle, the luxury and cost of modern society was glaring. Our phones started dinging, and the pipelines that seemed insignificant and ordinary just a few days earlier now looked invasive and ugly. Clear-cut land was in stark contrast to primary forests full of multiple canopies of thriving species that we had just explored. The people of Mandari Panga see this destruction and understand that the expansion into
their land could happen if they let it. They have banded together as a community to resist the temptation of the quick sell of their land to oil companies. They have created a plan to educate students and tourists by inviting them in to their community. This provides jobs for the community members while also giving those who visit a unique opportunity to learn about Kichwa culture, conservation and the biodiversity of the Amazon.
February 2018 | The Good Life
A view into the jungle as seen from a dugout canoe in the Rio Tiputini.
For now, their jungle and culture are safe. The guides spoke a lot of symbiotic relationships between species in the jungle — perhaps this could be another. Visiting Mandari Panga reminded me of the inescapable interconnectivity of our earth. It rejuvenated my passion for knowledge and conservation. This experience has reawakened that part of me, the idealistic adventurer, that I was once proud of becoming. Afterward I hoped that I could embrace
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my 23-year-old self and tell her that it was ok that she did not have life all figured out; that she didn’t need to be so stubborn or strong. After my renewing experience in Mandari Panga I thought perhaps I could finally give myself a little grace. Nicole Clennon returned to the Wenatchee Valley in 2010. She currently enjoys being an archaeologist, museum volunteer, outdoor enthusiast and mom living in Cashmere.
WILD JOURNEYS #3
Working against the wind
dreams of sailing around the world were realigned to sailing to mexico... and even that took refitting a boat
M
By Jessica Draggoo
any dream of buying a sailboat and learning to sail but often those dreams are squashed by jobs, family and the ho-hum of life. Scott White managed to do it all, eventually. Married to Mona and now with three grown children, Sara, Laurel, and Kevin, he’s never lost enthusiasm over the years for
The Sea Wolf at anchor: The 1976 Formosa 41-foot sailboat built in Taiwan took about two years to get sea ready.
sailing on the big ocean. I had the chance to sit down with Scott and his wife Mona to talk about how he made this happen.
Mona — an active traveler and photographer who married Scott in 1975 in Arizona — began by saying, “I like sailing, but Scott, he loves sailing.”
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You can always tell when someone enjoys something immensely — they have a certain zing when the subject is brought up. For Scott, it started about the time he was getting out of the Air Force and was working in Omaha with a co-worker who bought a 16-foot sailboat. Problem was the friend only had a Volkswagen Beetle, so he couldn’t exactly pull his new boat around. Scott had the rig to pull the boat and his friend had the boat, so it all worked out. Scott said, “It seemed I caught the bug of sailing. It was just amazing to me how a boat can go against the wind. I could barely walk against the wind and a boat can go against this strong force with ease.” Scott decided he better move to the San Francisco area so he could be by the ocean and sail year round. He came close, moving to San Diego. “All I could think about was sailing, I didn’t care about making money I just wanted to sail.” The first sailboat he bought was an Islander 34, almost twice the size of the boat he had been sailing on. “I looked at it and thought, look at all those lines. I will never know all of this.” There is standing rigging and running rigging. Standing rigging doesn’t move, it just holds up the mast. “Probably 80 percent of those lines I would never move. The running lines control the sails and those don’t take too long to learn.” The previous owner of the
February 2018
boat took Mona and Scott sailing and Scott said he probably learned 40 percent of sailing the larger sailboat that day, and the next time he learned a lot more. After that, it takes a lot of experience in different situations to become a true sailor. “At this point we had no kids and we wanted to sail the world together,” said Scott. They had the boat for a few years and did a lot of research. Then they had a couple kids but still planned on taking them around the world on an adventure of a lifetime. “(But), they say if you don’t go now, you never go,” said Scott. Then they lost their good paying jobs, got out of sailing for the next 30 years and moved to the inland Northwest where there was absolutely no ocean. This could have been the end of the sailing story for Scott — but it wasn’t. When Scott retired from Verizon Telephone as an outside technician in Wenatchee,
Scott White at the helm: Some people like sailing, Scott loves sailing.
he still had the sailing bug and although he didn’t feel like sailing around the world anymore he decided he was going to do ocean sailing. In 2011 he bought a 1976
Formosa 41-foot beautiful teak wood sailboat built in Taiwan, and he set out to make the neglected, depressed sailboat Sea Wolf seaworthy. It had two wooden masts.
Great in winter, but also available year around. Receive an adventure in reading every month. 12 month subscription $24 ($30 out of state.)
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Scott changed out the rotten wood aft mizzen mast for an aluminum mast and spent a couple of years battling leaks in the fiber glassed wooden cabin
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sailing }}} Continued from previous page and decking. The first extended voyage Scott decided to take was to be from Bremerton to somewhere in the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal. Scott kept his sailboat in Bremerton while he was working on it, almost exactly 200 miles from his house in Wenatchee to the marina parking lot. Scott left the first part of September 2014 and headed towards the Caribbean with his son-inlaw, Mike, from Tucson. They went as far as Winchester Bay, Oregon, where Scott’s parents reside. Mike flew home and two of Scott’s friends flew in from Bremerton for the sail to San Francisco. However, once in San Francisco, they left, and Scott was without a crew. “Everyone wants to go sailing, until it’s time to go sailing.” Scott waited two weeks in San Francisco with no prospective crew. “I never sailed the world and now I wasn’t even going to reach the Caribbean.” Scott reminisced. As for Mona, she didn’t feel exactly as Scott felt about sailing anymore. She agreed she would fly and meet him places but she wasn’t interested in all that water anymore. Since Scott couldn’t find a crew he decided to sail back to Bremerton. So he contacted another friend who flew down to help on the return sail to Bremerton. Regarding the sail north, “I hear no one ever does that, it was a lot of tacking against the wind, which is fun but not for days. “We would sail through the day and night, just stopping to get fuel and some fresh food. When the wind is blowing in your face the whole time it makes for a cold and harder sail.”
A rainbow in Port Townsend: Sailing is a lot of common sense, trusting your gear and using your eyes — and enjoying the visual show that is going on around you.
Bremerton to San Francisco is about a 12-day sail, around the same on the return trip. At this point Scott decided it was time to return sailing to the back burner. He talked to his sister, Mary Jo, who was retiring and offered to let her live on his sailboat. She decided she liked living on the sailboat so much she wanted to buy it. “She wanted to buy the sailboat only if I would sail it to La Paz, Mexico with her, where she wanted to retire. We left on Sept. 7, 2016 and we got into San Diego the first week of October. The rule is you don’t go south of San Diego until after Nov. 1 due to Hurricane season.” “We hung out there for a while and picked up a couple more crew members — my son-inlaw, Mike who sailed with me on the first trip, and his friend Mark, who works with Mike. I was amazed by how much Mike had remembered from the first voyage. “By the time we arrived in Cabo San Lucus, Mexico, I was confident in their sailing abilities, I’d trust them with the boat. I could actually sleep with either of them at the helm and
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on watch.” Some of the crewmembers realized they didn’t like night sailing, which surprised Scott. “I personally find it amazing, you see all the shooting stars and could celestial navigate if needed, although with today’s marine equipment, not necessary. “When the boat motor is running with the phosphorus in the water it looks pretty amazing — there is a trail of glowing beads that swirl around and around, that would keep me going on the night watch. You also would hear random splashes and you just don’t really know what it is. Night is when I may enjoy sailing most.” Sailing is a lot of common sense, trusting your gear and using your eyes, said Scott. “The coast is strewn with sailors who have miscalculated and their boats end up on the rocks. You will do fine if you always know where you are and have your depth charts. Yet, there can be uncharted islands in the ocean and the earth is always changing. There are hazards out there.” Fog is another hazard.
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February 2018
“It’s the most eerie because you have to listen for the signals from other boats. The boats send out a blast of the horn. The sounds are different for the size of the vessel. Sometimes with the fog you don’t know what is in front of you. If it’s foggy, you really have to be on your best watch. “The sea is full of life — a lot of whales, dolphins, seals, birds and flying fish. Once we saw a whole string of dolphins of about 300, they will swim around the boat and play and then get bored and go off to join the rest of the pod. “Once a whale was just 10 feet away from the boat, we actually had to turn to avoid hitting it. Those times can be crazy exhilarating and scary all at once.” I asked Scott if he had any regrets. He said he wished they would have left on the world voyage when he and Mona were laid off work in 1983. “If I could have done it over I would have just made it happen,” he said. Wenatchee writer Jessica Draggoo has never been sailing but hopes to one day as she doesn’t get motion sickness and loves the ocean.
February 2018 | The Good Life
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coming to america
Russian grown, now American sewing O
By Susan Lagsdin
lga Lindsey, 33, is in the midst of tailoring a new life in the USA. Four years ago, she brought with her from Russia to Wenatchee a tradition that was commonplace when and where she grew up but may seem antiquated in our fast-paced consumer society. She designs and sews clothing, a craft she learned not only from her mother and grandmother but in the (required) equivalent of our now-obsolete home economics classes. “When I was seven,” she said, “My mom bought me a book where you stitch a little rabbit. I taught myself to stitch by hand, and I learned to make costumes for dolls.” By 14 she was refurbishing, by hand, throw-away clothes into attractive dresses for herself. For several years, Olga worked in the clothing production industry, which later suffered a decline as cheap goods came in from Vietnam. In one factory, she injured her shoulder with repetitive stress and was let go; another was too cold for half the year. Pay was low. She described some of her sewing jobs: tights (“about 500 every five hours”) multicolored pillowcases, curtains, terry cloth bathrobes, lining for army boots — and sundresses (“Those were nice — the fabric came from Turkey… very stylish.”). Her first sewing machine at age 27, a gift from her mother, empowered her with possibilities, as did the experience with high-output sewing followed by small-scale alterations. Now she can sew almost anything, though her jumbo-sized artist journal is filled with pencil sketches of women’s dresses, and she’s finally started her own business. Olga distributes business cards, using her nickname, for “Olya’s Creations” and has started some advertising, but she’s content to keep her enterprise small and grow naturally. She makes her own patterns, using light plastic see-through sheeting, and often accompanies her clients to Joanne’s, the local fabric shop, to pick out the best material for the chosen design. Her specialty isn’t cutting-edge high fashion frocks, but simple ones, often precisely fitted, often headed to special occasions
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Showing three gowns, each tailor-made for elegant occasions, are (left to right) Olga’s husband Troy’s daughter Kristen, the proud seamstress herself, and Troy’s niece, Kelsey.
She said, “In Russia, men and women on the street dress formally — they dress to impress. The suit, dress, heels — all are | The Good Life
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commonplace in the cities.” Olga realizes American women are casual and favor more disposable clothing, but still she perseveres
February 2018
Using our language may not be her forte at present, but Olga has an enviable skill set that few young Americans have, and she’s determined to make it work for her. in her craft. Only four years away from her life in Kilm, Olga knows common English phrases and many of the words of her craft but is often frustrated with her inability to communicate clearly. Friendly and animated, she can shop and do business in East Wenatchee but avoids in-depth conversations, and sometimes she grabs her smart phone for a quick translation. As a busy mother of two it’s hard for her to take formal language classes, and her American husband Troy, who listens well and can quasi-translate, with his full-schedule job at AeroTEC in Moses Lake has little time to learn her language. “I want to take Russian along with Roman (their 3-year-old), Troy said. “That would be a great way to learn the alphabet and words together.” Their teenage daughter Anastasia, from Olga’s former marriage, is by now, as Olga said, “Just a typical American girl,” even though when she moved with her mother to Wenatchee as an 8-year-old, she knew only two words of English. Using our language may not be her forte at present, but Olga has an enviable skill set that few young Americans have, and she’s determined to make it work for her. When she watches TV’s Project Runway fashion reality show, she realizes that high-pressure competitive designing is not
for her. Better to have a woman walk back through the patio of her modest East Wenatchee house, around the end of the garage and into her little tailoring studio. She’ll come with a dream (or a sketch) and a willingness to be measured and re-measured, and then she’ll wait a bit, come in for a fitting, and pay an honest price for the satisfaction of wearing a handmade garment with personalized fit and classic style. That’s where Olga’s satisfaction comes from, too. She said, “I love seeing a happy customer.” Spring is a busy time in Olga’s studio. Soon in-progress prom and wedding dresses, pastels in chiffon, lace, crisp sateen, will be draped over the dress forms and hang on the wall, and she’ll have her hands full, quite literally, creating dream garments for dressy occasions. In the slower seasons, she keeps busy with more prosaic projects like hemming jeans, making theme aprons for a coffee company, Halloween costumes or a score of canvas boat cushions. “Those took me weeks — I work every day on the same pattern, the same material…” she said, not complaining, but glad now at this minute to be stitching appliqued flowers on to a formal. For a few years after she arrived here, Olga was one of the busy seamstresses who did alterations and repairs at both Pins and Needles and the former Mills Brothers. Some old clients still bring
her clothes for alterations. Or, said Olga, “They buy a dress cheap online, made in China. Then bring it to me because it doesn’t fit anywhere. They could save money if I sew the dress to start with. They bring material, I can make the same thing.” With a toddler at home, she can divide her time between her house and the studio that houses her growing business, though she admits, “Sometimes when it gets crazy there with little child and big dog I come here… just to get away — a refuge.” Her updated professional sewing machine is perfectly adequate, but she still has big plans for her little space. Troy recently built a mirrored dressing room for her clients, and she said, “I want another door – so customers come right in without going around and through… more shelves, and big, big closets.” The big, big closets would be for commissions-in-waiting and for a few pieces she’s made
that have no owner, yet. They’re colorful, they’re handmade, and Olga just couldn’t resist turning them from sketch to dress. So, on balance, what’s a notable difference living back home and living here? In a nutshell (or maybe, on a pincushion) Olga said, “In Russia, everybody smokes — everywhere, all the time. In restaurants, in the streets, at the subway stairs there’s always a big cloud of smoke… Here feels safer, jobs are better, more money.” And then, wistfully, she said softly, “In Russia was my home and I didn’t have to think about every word before I said it.”
People of Our Past
Local history comes alive at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Characters will perform short monologues and interact as their lives intersect in 1905 Wenatchee. Characters are community builder Belle Culp Reeves (Emma Standerford), town sheriff and theater owner Ed Ferguson (Jeff Heminger), pioneer farmers Dora and M.O. Tibbits (Peter Kappler and Megan Kappler) and developer Arthur Gunn (David Harvill). This gala includes historically themed food, wine and live music.
Saturday, February 24-6 PM
Want to learn more? Contact olga@ olgalindsey.com.
Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com
http://www.wenatcheevalleymuseum.org/event/ people-of-our-past-9/
Additional daytime shows by donation with no reservations necessary. Saturday, Feb. 24 at 10 AM and 2 PM and Sunday, Feb. 25 at 2 PM
127 S mission st. • Wenatchee, WA 98801 Wenatcheevalleymuseum.Org
Keep Moving Physical Therapy for All Ages and Abilities PHYSICAL THERAPY
(509) 665-3156
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• Sports Biomechanics • Physical Therapy • Video Gait Analysis • Orthotics • Functional Testing • Pool Therapy • Massage Therapy • Work Related Injuries February 2018 | The Good Life
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Big house / little house This stylish little house gives parents plenty of privacy with their big family vacationing close at hand ABOVE: A sunny January morning photo highlights the good bones and practical outside spaces of the Clifton house. From the left, see the fenced garden plot, the three-sided deck, and the roof of the breezeway leading to the larger, original home.
AT LEFT: Jim and Rachel agree pulling these gold chairs up around the wood fireplace on a chilly winter day in the little house is a great way to spend time indoors. Rachel’s “office” and superb view of Sleeping Lady is at the window.
Alas, the Clifton’s quarters were too close, too cramped, too all-involving.
F
Story by Susan Lagsdin Photos by Donna Cassidy
or half a year a big family composed of two retired elders, their adult children and several grandchildren spent long vacation weekends together in Leavenworth, packed into a large farm-style house in what they hoped would be multi-generational bliss. “We gave it six months to see if it would work out,” Rachel Clifton said of a remodel
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that had carved out a downstairs bed and bath for her and husband Jim, a semi-retired Swedish Hospital cardiologist. The plan was to make the rest of the two-story house available for their active family. “The answer was no.” That simple declaration eventually meant for the couple not only a creative solution but an ongoing, redounding blessing. The adventure in good decision-making started in 2010. | The Good Life
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With the nest long empty, and with their Bellevue hometown burgeoning, Jim and Rachel sought getaway property somewhere scenic that the whole family could eventually share. Scouting for perfect commenced, and it happily yielded seven private and close-in wooded acres with a half mile of Icicle River frontage. The existing house seemed almost big enough. Its ridiculously cramped guest area —
February 2018
The compact kitchen, designed for maximum utility, features tray drawers at floor level, deep under-counter storage, a high-up stove vent and pharmacy cabinets re-purposed from the old Cabrini Hospital.
originally not much more than a toilet in the center of an open space — was dubbed “The Heinous Room.” Local builder Randy Wessman, whose work they had admired a few years before at La Toscana Winery, transformed it into what’s even now called “The Hotel,” a sweet little suite and deck, the owner/master quarters, just off the main room of the big house. That’s when the experiment began. Alas, the Clifton’s quarters were too close, too cramped, too all-involving. They soon realized they needed a bit more separation from the larger family and so considered permit-heavy and flood-fraught plans for a cot-
Wood accents, books and icons from around the world create warm welcoming comfort in these twin spaces: a day bed for a snooze-read combo and a dining booth replicated from one at a local winery.
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BIG HOUSE/ little house
the couple total independence and privacy just a sandal’s throw away from their frequent family of six adult children and 17 grandchildren, some close-in (Wenatchee and Seattle) and some widespread (New Jersey and San Francisco). Their children’s friends and their kids are wel}}} Continued from comed also, as well as a previous page group of inner-city teens tage, an ADU (Accessory and their counselors. Dwelling Unit), down Jim said of the frequent closer to the water. and sometimes frenetic As swift as the Icicle use of the main building. in spring, they changed “We’ve always believed in course and made the an ‘open house’ — here wiser choice, one they the children respect that still marvel at. Why not it is ours because we own Just big enough. The one full bedroom with its gas fireplace and river view is a great place create more space more to sip coffee and read. It’s on the far side away from the big house, with access to a private the property, and they riverfront deck. simply? Avoid complicagive us whatever privacy tion and connect a little we want. And we think of house next to the alit as theirs — because it ready-existing big house, will be some day.” set back safely from the Rachel confirmed the riverbank. lovely symbiosis. “It Designed by architect was natural to ask their Peter Swindley (who also help to choose a place did their Bellevue home) we could downsize to the small ADU anchors and that they would all a breezeway off the main enjoy too. They’re all house carport and, as very willing to share the required, is under 1,200 utilities and upkeep and square feet. are really careful to keep A compact bedroom/ the place clean and wellbath and office face the organized.” river, while the highShe said twice a year ceilinged, open space everyone gathers for a living area is surrounded major spruce-up party by both water views and — the party games being the full-frontal impact of deep cleaning, repairs, Sleeping Lady Mountain. garden prep and the Randy continued with ceremonial setting out His, hers, and theirs: Rachel’s tub has wraparound views, Jim’s shower, to the left, is glassed the new project, making and taking in of outdoor engineering and aesthetic and tiled, and their personal sink spaces (another is to the far right) accommodate their height furniture. differences. Summer photos from 2014 adjustments as he built. The breezeway is a Repurposed items fill the He is delighted that the Not everything is aged. symbolic walk through the Cliftons are open to experimen- house. The new house features plenty woods to grandmother’s house. The couple brought their own tation because he was able to of new materials like glaze“There can be a crowd of people treasures like metal pharmacy invent an apple cider vinegar/ rubbed kitchen cabinetry and a over there,” Jim said, indicating cabinets, a rare chicken wire and raw-edge, satin-finished gransteel wool marinade that turns the house just yards away, “and glass hospital door, and Rachel’s ite counter, antiqued hanging new pine into old-look grayed we can be in the middle of the heavy plank desk. Randy recypine, and he burnt exterior lamps and Corten steel fireplace action if we like, or just relaxing cled Wenatchee apple boxes for cedar boards into blackened backing, and the industrial-look over here.” bookshelves, a Quincy potato high-grain using the JapaHVAC piping and chain link loft When the littlest grandchilsilo and an old barn for interior nese “Shou-Sugi-Ban” method, wall. dren learned to knock at their siding, a beam and bracket from researched online and tested in Compact and intensely perdoor and to retreat if an invitaCashmere High School. the driveway. sonal, the little house allows tion wasn’t forthcoming, they
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February 2018
but just this winter they finally relinquished their rented Bellevue pied-a-terre. They are now citizens of Leavenworth. Fully appreciative of the silence of huge views and the serenity of meadow, creek and woods, they also greet their lively loved ones with open arms. The Cliftons are glad to live smaller in square footage and bigger in family, and as Jim said, “As long as God gives us health, we will stay here.”
For many secondhome owners, this big house/little house is a reversal of space and roles; generally, the elders stay in the main home and provide a visiting space for family knew they were on the right track. The Cliftons continue to finetune their jewel-box house. Randy Wessman has remained their remodeler, builder, friend, solver of problems and go-to guy when new ideas crop up. Both the Cliftons praise his flexibility and enthusiasm. Jim said, “He’s the perfect contractor — he’s energized by thinking outside the box.” And from Rachel, “Randy is so eager to work with us; we’ll just ask, ‘what do you think about…’ and he’ll look it up, do some research, and come back with a plan.” For many second-home owners, this big house/little house is a reversal of space and roles; generally, the elders stay in the main home and provide a visiting space for family. Or, as sadly happens, grown kids don’t show up much because they aren’t attracted to the site or the house that’s available to them. Not so with the Clifton offspring. In this case, there’s a noble
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Randy Wessman and Jim Clifton continue to spend lots of time together problem-solving and fine tuning favorite features of the house. Next up? An unobtrusive mobile stairway to the storage loft.
role for what others might designate as the guest quarters: In 2015 Jim and Rachel moved
here full time. They did divide domiciles for a few years, trekking back and forth to the coast,
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The Valley’s Best Mix of Music + The Latest Local News Music The Whole Family Can Agree On! With the Biggest Hits of the 80’s, 90’s and today KOHO 101.com News you need, voices you trust, and music that keeps you moving February 2018 | The Good Life
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Dr. Leah Edwards DVM Also available to see small exotic pets.
Cascade Veterinary Clinic 509-663-0793.
D
ean Birks, 4, Wenatchee, was at the dog park on a beautiful sunny winter afternoon with his dog Marley. Marley is a 9-month-old weiner doodle, said Dean’s mother. “Marley is always excited to see us and keeps Dean entertained. They run laps at home since they both have a lot of energy,” she said. The white westie is Buddy, Dean’s grandmother’s dog.
Cindy and Billy Rietveldt of Peshastin were at the dog park with
their dog, Gladys. Gladys is a wirehaired pointing griffon. “Gladys is a cute, sweet, strong-willed dog,” said Cindy. “Our son calls her Willful.” The Rietveldts got Gladys from Craig’s List. “She was just too busy to be around small children.”
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February 2018
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column GARDEN OF DELIGHTS
bonnie orr
Why have leftovers lost their appeal? Moaned at many dinner
tables is the familiar chant, “Not leftovers again!” Leftover food served at a second meal is a common kitchen regimen — or it has been until recently. (Do you remember when Dagwood used to make the midnight raids on the refrigerator?) My interest in leftovers was peaked when I read articles about the amount of food wasted in the US. Currently, an estimated 24 percent of food rots in the refrigerator. Previously, saving food was seen as a virtue, and this is why restaurants began to offer “doggy bags” and developed special take-home containers. I asked a variety of people of different ages about leftovers and have concluded that the aversion to eating leftovers is based on age and eating habits. People generally agreed that a leftover sandwich that had become soggy was truly not palatable — nor was salad with salad dressing. Many folks felt that Asian food made with pungent ingredients such as fish sauce never made it out of the dark recesses of the refrigerator. Unsurprisingly, not a single person threw out leftover pizza. People over 50 indicated that leftovers are convenient because a satisfying meal can be served in minutes by merely reheating it. However, dishes such as stew or soup became undesirable as they reappeared at too many meals in succession, even though the flavor improved with re-heating. The worst case is when one tires of the dish and freezes the remainder — the memory of the saturation dooms it to remain
Leftovers are often seen as too much trouble to reheat, and end up getting tossed out.
in the freezer until the freezer is cleaned out. Some people confessed they purchase food with a sense of purposely eating healthier — often fueled by guilt of not eating balanced meals. Some purchases are made with enthusiastic inspiration to cook a special recipe — yet, the ingredients linger in the fridge until the inspiration is gone and the ingredients have liquefied. During the last 25 years, food has become plentiful and relatively inexpensive. The average person spends only 10 percent of his income on food, compared to 40 percent a century ago. (Of course, people with marginal incomes spend a larger portion of their money on food). Helen Veit in An Economic History of Leftovers, noted that throwing away food is a prerogative of financial security. Why is it that leftovers have lost their appeal, especially to people under 40 years old? The number of single person households is about 27 percent. Some people feel it is difficult to cook for one person. The excess, unused or uneaten food is tossed in the trash and never has an opportunity to appear as a leftover. Food is always available; why February 2018 | The Good Life
should it be stored for another meal? Eating the same meal again makes life too monotonous. A number of anonymous containers stored in the refrigerator can be difficult to identify. Used clothing from thrift shops is acceptable, but taking “used food” to work for lunch smacks of avarice. Most often, despite best intentions of eating the contents of the take-away container, the food molders away until an eater loses interest. I asked people why prepared food carried home does not reappear. Apparently, there are many reasons: the food is mixed together in the container and no longer appears appetizing. There is a fear of the food having become contaminated with germs or has spoiled on its short ride home to the refrigerator. The most prevalent reason people gave for not eating leftover takeaway food is that people, particularly people under 40 did not know how to reheat it. The microwave often changes the texture of food. The oven or toaster oven takes too much time. The skillet burns the food. Many people who purchase www.ncwgoodlife.com
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prepared meals from the deli section don’t cook enough to know how to reheat the various parts of the meal, and often it is too much trouble to use several different containers and methods to re-heat the food. Worse, it is not good cold, and even if it is re-heated, it is not the consistency, texture nor appearance of the original dish. Mostly, it is easier to buy more food than it is to figure out how to reheat the remainders. And perhaps since it takes time to reheat and wash the dishes, it is more convenient to nosh on pre-packaged snacks when feeling a bit hungry. Our attitudes toward leftovers are as varied as our lifestyles. An unexpected outcome of my conversations about leftovers was the number of people, both those who used leftovers and those who eschewed them, who mentioned general food waste in the world. One friend mentioned the continuing conundrum of up to 30 percent of produce is wasted worldwide between harvest and distribution. Several people mentioned the discomfort of eating in a restaurant and seeing vast amounts of food left on a plate that was destined for the garbage. I know there are a number of groups that collect and distribute safe and usable food from grocery stores and food processors in NCW. Over half the people I talked to expressed a concern about the number of people going hungry even in NCW, even while so much food is thrown away. Bonnie Orr — the dirt diva — cooks and gardens in East Wenatchee.
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column moving up to the good life
june darling
Feeling lonely? Here are ideas to help If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. — African proverb
In December, with my en-
couragement, my husband took off for 10 days to explore the Amazon. After he left, I didn’t feel so good. I wasn’t just alone, I was lonely. Loneliness is not just painful; it is dangerous. Humans are highly social creatures — that fact is not debatable. Researchers like social neuroscientist Dr. John Cacioppo say loneliness is not just about being alone, however. It’s more complex. Many of us can be married, in a crowd, even in a family setting and still have inner feelings of loneliness. Loneliness is partly a state of mind. Here are a few statements that chronically lonely people agree with: I often feel that there is no one I can turn to. I often feel left out. I feel that my relationships with others are not meaningful. The perception of being alone is just as important, perhaps even more important, than the actuality of being by one’s self or with others. That’s an important idea to hang on because researchers have tried to help lonely people in all the wrong ways. They’ve tried boosting social skills. They’ve thrown lonely people together. They’ve tried giving social support (for example, offering a professional listener). None of that worked well. It was concerning. Loneliness has become an increasing concern for two reasons. First, researchers have
Loneliness hurts. Brain scans show that loneliness activates the same region that registers physical pain and social rejection. Lonely people drink more alcohol, exercise less, and have less energy. reported heightened health risks associated with loneliness. Second, loneliness seems to be increasing. In terms of health, the impact of loneliness is comparable to the effects of high blood pressure, lack of exercise, obesity, and smoking. Loneliness even accelerates the aging process through stress hormones and impacts immune and cardiovascular functioning. Loneliness hurts. Brain scans show that loneliness activates the same region that registers physical pain and social rejection. Lonely people drink more alcohol, exercise less, and have less energy. Loneliness can make us more demanding, critical and passive, which isn’t exactly a good recipe for making friends. Why is loneliness increasing? Perhaps because more people live alone. People also have fewer strong friends. In 1985 researchers asked a cross-section of Americans how many confidants they had. Most reported having three close confidants. In both 2004 and in 2014, most people reported having no con-
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fidants. Fortunately, researchers like Cacioppo now better understand what loneliness actually is (the perception that the social interactions you are having is not what you want) and its causes — that part of it is caused by isolation and part is caused by perception. Loneliness affects absolutely every age group and both genders. The holidays, most assuredly Valentine’s Day, can make loneliness feel even more miserable. Researchers like Cacioppo now offer better advice on how to become less lonely and more socially connected which you can use anytime, especially when you see those hearts and flowers popping up. Find small ways to extend yourself, strike up short conversations with people, and expect the best (lonely people have a harder time trusting others). Some of those encounters can develop into more meaningful relationships. Use your social skills. Researchers have found that it isn’t so much that lonely people do not have social skills, but that they become so focused on their own pain that they forget to use them. Develop a long-term plan for becoming more socially active. Service clubs and service activities are especially good if they fit well with your values. You will be in a better position to engage with people in ways that seem meaningful to you. Understand that when you are lonely you are in a stressed state. You have a small repertoire of behaviors — fight, freeze, fight. You’re focused on yourself. Exercise, meditate, read, get outside, sleep, look for the best in others. Be relaxed, open and ap-
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propriately welcoming to others’ social overtures. When my husband went to the Amazon, I became not only curious about the research on loneliness and social connection, but also about what real people in my world did. I decided to investigate a group of women I think of as “The Bunco Babes.” The Bunco Babes started their group 17 years ago when Delores Boswell’s husband, Tim, died. Delores reached out to a friend, Claudia Spanjer who was divorced. Together they found 10 other women in Cashmere, Peshastin, Wenatchee and East Wenatchee who were single. The idea was that they would get together once a month to play this game, called Bunco. Bunco was chosen to give them a bit of stimulation, but more importantly it offered a chance to socialize. Over time, they evolved into a close-knit group. I twisted a few arms to get an inside peek at what happens when they play Bunco. What I heard and saw was both laughter and comfort as friends shared moments of triumph and woe. These women were mostly in their 60s and above; they had a lot of life stories. I was uptight before getting to Bunco, not looking forward to another night of being alone at home. As I listened to the chatter and as I interacted with others, I noticed my deep sense of relaxation. Afterwards, as I reflected on that Bunco night, the person who affected me the most was Shirley Milne. Shirley’s in her 90s though you would never know it. She has macular degeneration and accepts a little help
A minister to fight loneliness The New York Times is reporting that England has appointed a
minister for loneliness. Here is the article: Since Britain voted to leave the European Union more than a year ago, Europeans have mockingly said that the decision will result in an isolated, lonely island nation. But Britain, in fact, already has a serious problem with loneliness, research has found. More than nine million people in the country often or always feel lonely, according to a 2017 report published by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness. The issue prompted Prime Minister Theresa May to appoint a minister for loneliness. “For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life,” Mrs. May said in a statement. “I want to confront this challenge for our society and for all of us to take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by carers, by those who have lost loved ones — people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with.” Mark Robinson, the chief officer of Age UK, Britain’s largest charity working with older people, warned that the problem could kill. “It’s proven to be worse for health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day, but it can be overcome and needn’t be a factor in older people’s lives,” he said.
No matter if you feel lonely or not, take February to enrich your social connections. Have courage, be patient, exert a bit of effort. from her friends when it comes to counting her score from the roll of the die. When Shirley and I were first introduced that evening, we chatted for a moment about her life in Peshastin. Then, for no reason that I could fathom, she said with a grin, “I’m not afraid of you, June,” which clearly surprised me and made me giggle. I still don’t know why she said it except that maybe Shirley knows something — that we are more often afraid of new people than we let on. Later when I left, she gave me a hearty hug. It was Shirley that I remem-
bered the most as I went home to my empty house. Maybe she was dropping a few hints about how to successfully deal with loneliness. Be brave, don’t fear others. Hug. I slept well. No matter if you feel lonely or not, take February to enrich your social connections. Have courage, be patient, exert a bit of effort. And don’t look for perfection in your friendships — that’s impossible. A thousand friends on Facebook won’t count either, but two or three real-life ones will. How might you take February to strengthen your social connections and move up To The Good Life? June Darling, Ph.D. can be contacted at drjunedarling1@gmail.com; website: www.summitgroupresources. com. Her bio and many of her books can be found at amazon.com/author/ junedarling. Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com February 2018 | The Good Life
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column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR
jim brown, m.d.
Is gluten-free a for real concern? I
t is hard to go into a grocery store without seeing a section for gluten-free foods or at least foods labeled as such. Restaurants now days frequently have gluten-free options on their menus. I often wondered how big an issue this is or was it primarily hype. I know of people who follow or try to follow a gluten-free meal plan even if they have no known issue that suggested they were gluten intolerance. As a gastroenterologist, I had been diagnosing and treating celiac disease (also know as celiac sprue and gluten enteropathy) for years. In the “old days” when we suspected gluten as a cause of our patients’ symptoms we had to do a biopsy of the small intestine with a biopsy capsule and later biopsy directly with a gastroscope that we could insert into the small intestine to obtain tissue samples.
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(Celiac disease) is estimated to affect 1 in 100 people worldwide and supposedly 2.5 million Americans are currently undiagnosed. The diagnosis now days is much easier and non invasive with currently available blood tests. What is gluten and why is it potentially harmful to some people, you might wonder? Gluten is a general name for the proteins found in wheat, rye, barley and triticale (a cross between wheat and rye). Gluten helps food maintain its shape, acting as glue that holds food together. Celiac disease is a serious autoimmune disorder that can
occur in genetically predisposed people in whom the ingestion of gluten leads to small intestinal damage. A recent study aggregating the health records of over 35 million U.S. patients found 83,000 with celiac disease. It is estimated to affect 1 in 100 people worldwide and supposedly 2.5 million Americans are currently undiagnosed. Recent studies suggest that the prevalence of celiac disease has increased significantly in the last three decades and often goes undetected. Celiac disease is hereditary and people with a first-degree relative with it have a 1 in 10 risk of acquiring it as well. When people with celiac disease ingest gluten their body mounts an immune response that attacks the villi that line the small intestine that are responsible for nutrient absorption. Biopsies of the intestine in celiac patients show blunting to
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these villi and significant inflammation in them as well. It is very important that the diagnosis be made when suspected since the consequences of celiac disease can be serious. These patients often come to their physicians with complaints of significant weight loss, chronic diarrhea, cramping abdominal pain after eating and often show evidence of malabsorption, malnutrition, vitamin deficiency and anemia. Celiac disease can develop at any age. Left untreated it can lead to serious health problems. Dr. Daniel Karb, a researcher at Case Medical Center in Cleveland, has found a significant association between celiac disease and 13 other autoimmune disorders. The later the age of diagnosis of celiac disease, the greater the risk of developing an autoimmune disorder.
Carrying out a gluten-free diet may sound difficult. Fortunately there are many healthy and delicious foods that naturally are gluten-free. Patients with type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, dermatitis herpetiformis, certain anemias, osteoporosis, infertility, some neurologic conditions, intestinal malignancy, particularly intestinal lymphoma have a higher expected incidence of gluten enteropathy compared to the normal population. Some researchers suggest that persons with autism also might have an increased incidence of gluten intolerance. This does not mean that any of these conditions are caused
by gluten. It might make sense, though, to screen people with these conditions for gluten intolerance since their chance of getting it is greater than the normal population. The only treatment for celiac disease is the complete avoidance of gluten. Carrying out a gluten-free diet may sound difficult. Fortunately there are many healthy and delicious foods that naturally are gluten-free. A gluten-free diet is a very healthy diet as it includes vegetables, fruit, dairy products, and beef, chicken, seafood, rice, corn, soy, potato, beans and nuts. Be sure to check the labels. If the food product states it is “wheat free,” that does not mean gluten-free. The FDA only allows a “gluten-free” label if the food has fewer than 20 parts per million of gluten. It is wise, once diagnosed, to consult with a dietician who is familiar with the problem. Once
a person is actually diagnosed with gluten intolerance, it requires a lifetime commitment of avoiding gluten. The benefits are definitely better health.
Moving?
The post office will not automatically forward The Good Life magazine.
Jim Brown, M.D., is a retired gastroenterologist who has practiced for 38 years in the Wenatchee area. He is a former CEO of the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.
Feb. 2 DANGEROU
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Sacred Source — mixed media altar.
Circles in art, circles in life W
Amber Zimmerman’s multimedia talents and her full time artist-and-mom schedule mean ramped-up organizational skills (see “orders”). This big owl was almost ready to be delivered the next day to the Confluence Gallery.
By Susan Lagsdin
ithin the cozy confines of Amber Zimmerman’s studio, circles are everywhere. Since 2015, when she designed a commemorative artwork after the death of a friend, her focus has been mostly on the mandala. That intricate spherical design originated as a Buddhist and Hindu emblem of the cosmos, but many of Amanda’s designs, rich with symbolism, depict the central Cascade Mountains that she knows and loves. One is where her grandmother’s ashes are buried, one is where she got engaged, one is a favorite backpacking destination.
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Dirtyface Mountain Mandala and Sleeping Lady Mountain Mandala — watercolor and pen.
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“The circle is a comfortable shape for humans,” she said. “It’s the only shape our brain doesn’t need to interpret. Mandalas are essentially meditative; they symbolize the earth and the feminine. But these seem to have a lot of meaning for any age, any gender.” Her buyer-friendly mountain mandalas are a perfect embodiment of her artistic vision. Some creative people disdain the reality of the marketplace, but Amber, a third-generation artist, is refreshingly frank about it. This is a career. She wants to sell her work, and she does, in galleries and stores from Twisp to Leavenworth. “I love it when a piece goes to live somewhere else,” she said. “It takes on a new life and goes on to impact another person.” Amber’s experience with varied art forms has also served her well. Though she learned glassmaking from her parents at their Bothell and then Plain (for 26 years) Silvermoon Studio, she also went to Pratt Fine Arts Center and received a B.A. in Environmental Art from Evergreen State College, practicing and becoming proficient in a variety of media. For her, the vision, the idea, the mental image comes first, and only then does Amber decide the best medium to interpret it. Some other fine artists are just the opposite — their medium (paint, fabric, clay) is their mainstay, and so their search is for inspiring subjects and themes. Her small studio is organized so the potentially dangerous glassmaking equipment and the kiln are in the small back room while the paints, tools, easels, worktables, bins and walls of full-to-the-rim shelves are in the front room. Fused glass suncatchers hang across from a canvas with a vibrant painted blackbird, sketches are tacked up next to photos, and a box of flat sticks and river rocks is ready to haul to a class.
fun stuff what to do around here for the next month Write on the River writers competition is open. Categories are fiction and nonfiction, 1,000 word limit. More info and entry form: writeontheriver.org/2018writers-competition. Homegrown County Jam, every first and third Monday, 7 – 10 p.m. Riverside Pub. NCW BLUES JAM, every second and fourth Monday. 7 – 10 p.m. Riverside Pub.
Digesting the Pearls of Wisdom — mixed media.
Amber is zealous about teaching and collaborating in her community. She volunteers with LEAAP (Leavenworth Elementary Art Appreciation) and teaches after-school programs at the Wenatchee River Institute. Her traveling “Sip & Paint” classes with friend Dzhan Wiley bring art to local bistros, and she’s part of the Last Tuesdays art group. She’s recently made a painting incorporating a yoga group’s gratitude statements and helped people to weave intricate dreamcatchers and to paint lanterns — the last ceremonially lighted at winter solstice. Amber takes to the road for art classes throughout the community, and with no school bus at their remote mountainside home, she also chauffeurs her 3-and 8-year old daughters. How does a mom and artist make time for both? Amber admits, “My heart grew huge at the birth of my children, but I lost my own identity. Whittling out time for myself made me a better person.” Time management is paramount. When she gets two full school days alone, or an afterbedtime evening, she’ll dive into a complex project; when February 2018 | The Good Life
her girls are delightedly hanging around the studio (as she herself did for years) she’ll work on something simpler to share with them. Or maybe they’ll take a nature walk, decorate the seasonal faerie circles or visit their hand-painted tree stump mandalas. The studio is just a stroll away from a twice-moved, much improved two-level yurt that Amber first purchased serendipitously 17 years ago, and the whole small farmstead tucks into a timbered lot over the river and up the hill past Cole’s Corner. It’s near Steven’s Pass, where her husband Alan works and where they met as ski patrollers. It’s also just a few miles away from her parents’ home in Plain. Amber’s life is defined by circles — coming back to the territory she grew up in, teaching her own girls to love art and nature, sharing the joy of artmaking with her community neighbors. “This is what my soul is supposed to do,” she said. “I try to find the sacred in otherwise ordinary things. I chose this rural life, and I knew I’d find a way to keep doing what I love, that I’d make it work.” www.ncwgoodlife.com
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Wenatchee Paddle Club, every Tuesday, 9 a.m. open paddle, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30 a.m. masters crew rowing, Wednesdays, 6 p.m. novice kayak paddle group, Saturdays, 7 a.m. masters crew rowing. Info: wenatcheepaddle.org. Weekly Club Runs, every Thursday check in between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. at Pybus Public Market south entrance. Either a 5k or 10k walk or run on the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail. Complete 10 weekly runs and receive a free shirt. Cost: free (other than a smile). 2 Left Feet, every Thursday, 7 – 9 p.m. 2 Left Feet is a loose organization of local dance enthusiasts who would like to see more dancing in the Wenatchee Valley. Beginner lesson at the top of the hour followed by carefree social dancing. No partner necessary to join in the fun. Dance style will be 1940s swing with a bit of salsa, blues, waltz or tango thrown in. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Game Night, every 4th Friday. Board games, card games or any games you bring. Open to families and all ages. Hosted by Pacific Crest Church. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org. Wenatchee Farmers Market comes indoors, every Saturday, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Pybus Public Market. Mission Ridge has night skiing every Saturday night and live music.
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WHAT TO DO
We want to know of fun and interesting local events. Send info to: donna@ncwgoodlife.com
Jam at the Crow, 7 – 10 p.m. Every first Sunday. The Club Crow in Cashmere, 108 1/2 Cottage Ave. Cost: free. Leavenworth Winter Sports Club: Reverse Thursdays, 2/1, 8, 15, 22, 3/1, 8, 15, 22, 29, all day. Take in the view of Icicle River Trails in the opposite direction. This is a fun way to feel like you are skiing a whole new trail. Icicle River Trail Head, 7505 Cyo Road. Info: skileavenworth.com. Winter Adventure Walk, 2/1, 15, 22, 10 a.m. Grab your mittens and snow boots and join us at Barn Beach Reserve for a winter adventure walk. Explore the beauty and wildlife along the Wenatchee River. Snow permitting, this will include a basic introduction to snow shoeing. Snow shoes provided. Cost: free, $5 donation suggested. Info: wenatcheeriverinstitute.org. Writing for Clarity, 2/1, 8, 15, 1:15 – 2:30 p.m. Do you want to get your life on track, sort out past troubles or plan for new undertakings? Writing by hand is a scientifically proven method of sorting our mental mayhem. Pybus Public Market. Info: Pat Turner, 884-6955. The Hope Project, 2/1, 6:30 p.m. Dinner by Barb Andre Van-Lith of Ring-A-Bell’s Catering. Special guest, Smith Samah, Hope International School graduate. Tierra Learning Center. Cost: $50. Info: leavenworth.com. Red Cross Blood Drive, 2/2, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. The American Red Cross blood drive is at Pybus Market events room for its annual blood drive. Info: redcrossblood.org. First Friday Events Include: *Two Rivers Art Gallery, 2/2, 5 – 8 p.m. Featuring non-objective abstract presentations of Thought in Paint by artist Russ Hepler. Wines by 37 Cellars. Music by guitarist Marlena La Paz. Complimentary refreshments. 102 N Columbia, Wenatchee. Cost: free. Info: 2riversgallery.com.
Wenatchee.org. *Robert Graves Gallery, 2/2, 5 – 7 p.m. Cameron Anne Mason and Eva Isaksen artists reception. Info: robertgravesgallery.org. *Mela, 2/2, 5 – 8 p.m. Paintings and drawings by Adele Little Caemmerer. The Lucky Break Boys, 2/2, 6 – 8 p.m. Jeff Heminger and Bill Dobbins performs on the rail car. They play and sing a mix of bluegrass, folk, old-time standards, some fiddle tunes and some newer old stuff for variety. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Inward Bound, 2/3, 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. An experiential workshop that teaches you to stay sane and productive in challenging situations and with challenging people. Organized by the Ripple Foundation. Wren Recital Hall, Leavenworth. Cost: $190. Info: theripplefoundation.org/courses/inward-bound. Guided Snow Shoe Hike, 2/3, 10 a.m. Hike teaches beginners the basics of snowshoeing while exploring the family friendly trails of Saddle Rock. Hike leader will share fun and interesting information about winter animals and plants along the way. Hot cocoa at the end of the hike. Snow shoes provided by the City of Wenatchee. Meet at Saddle Rock Trail. Info: cdlandtrust. org. Conrad Rose Home Tour, 2/3, 10 a.m. – noon. Take advantage of this rare opportunity to tour the historic 111-year-old Conrad Rose Home (also known as Jones & Jones Funeral Home) with architect Mark Seman of MJ Neal Associates and learn about the renovation plans for one of Wenatchee’s iconic historic structures. Info: wenatcheevalleymuseum.org/our-events. Koho’s Chili cook off, 2/3, noon – 1 p.m. Public gets to taste and vote on the region’s tastiest chili from some of the top restaurants and chefs in north central Washington. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.
*Tumbleweed Bead Co., 2/2, 5-7 p.m. Refreshments served. 105 Palouse St. Cost: free. Info: tumbleweedbeadco.com.
Full Moon Ski and snowshoe party, 2/3, 7 p.m. Bring a headlamp, your skate/classic skis or snowshoes and play on Plain Valley’s ski and snowshoe trails. Bonfire and complimentary hot cocoa. Meet at Plain Hardware. Cost: free. Info: plainhardware.com.
*Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 2/2, 5. – 8 p.m. Light refreshments. Info:
Lip Sync Live, 2/3, 7 p.m. A wild contest where anything can happen. Contestants will show off their
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lip syncing abilities with musical numbers competing for prizes. Wenatchee Convention Center. Cost: $12. All proceeds benefit Mission Creek Players. Info: numericapac.org. Rockin’ Winter Ball, 2/3, 7:30 p.m. A benefit for the Women’s Resource Center. Featuring Laura Love, Nancy Zahn, Ben Smith, Brooke Lizotte, Rod Cook and Jon Bayless. BPOE Grand Ballroom. Cost: $50 includes two complimentary drink tokens and appetizers. Info: numericapac.org. Cold Winter Nights comedy series, 2/3, 3/16, 8 p.m. Jay Larson has been on Comedy Central, Conan, Ferguson, The Pete Holmes Show, Tosh. O, Twin Peaks and Best Bars in America. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $20. Info: numericapac.org. Fat Bike meet up ride, 2/4, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Leavenworth Winter Sports Club is hosting a meet up ride for people to ride fat bikes and check out their trail system. Learn about proper tire pressure and tricks to riding fat bikes. Info: skileavenworth.com. Paws N’ Pints Benevolent night, 2/6, 6 – 10 p.m. Silent auction, raffle, this season’s t-shirt sale and live music. Meet the Stevens Pass Avalanche Rescue dogs and handlers. 25 percent of sales donated to Leavenworth Mountain Association. Munchen Haus in Leavenworth. Cost: free. Info: munchenhaus.com. Pybus University: Older Adult Falls, Prevention and Safety, 2/6, 7 – 8:15 p.m. This class will cover why fall prevention matters, risk factors, assessment and interventions for home safety and fall prevention. Instructor Kerri Walker. Pybus Public Market. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Sip and Paint, 2/7, 6 – 8 p.m. Come create the perfect Valentine. A relaxing and fun night to learn to paint step by step alongside your friends. All supplies provided. Light fare provided and wine/cider available for purchase. Aprons provided. Broken Barrel, 220 9th St, Suite C, Leavenworth. Cost: $30. Info: facebook.com/brokenbarrelshop. Wenatchee Jazz Workshop: Jazznights, 2/8, 7:30 p.m. Professionals return for their 10th year here in Wenatchee. They will perform standard, straight ahead jazz as well as original compositions. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $10 - $24. Info: numericapac.
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org. Lance Tigner, 2/9, 6 – 8 p.m. Live performance on the rail car. Lance is a well-traveled guitarist/vocalist who has played professionally as a front man in many bands from Seattle and Honolulu. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Wenatchee Jazz Student Night, 2/9, 7:30 p.m. Over 150 jazz students from Wenatchee and Eastmont will perform. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $10. Info: numericapac.org. BNCW Home Show, 2/9 – 11. Booths filled with home building ideas, contractors, vendors, seminars. Friday, 2 p.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Town Toyota Center. Live at the Met: L’Elisir d’Amore, 2/10, 9 a.m. Pretty Yende debuts a new role as the feisty Adina, opposite Matthew Polenzani in this charming production. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $5 - $22. Info: icicle.org. Summer Camp Fair, 2/10, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Programs for kids. A great opportunity to learn more about options for summer fun from regional organizations. Pybus Public Market. Chocolate and Wine, 2/10, 11, 17, 18, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Who needs romance when you’ve got red wine and chocolate? Chocolate pairing by Tempurr Artisan Confections. Try creamy truffles, creative mendiants and chocolate salted caramels. Winegirls Wine. Info: winegirlwines. com/winery. Sip and Paint, 2/10, 2 – 4 p.m. Spend a relaxing afternoon painting alongside your friends, or make new ones. All supplies provided to complete your own Love Stone with step by step instruction. No experience necessary. Aprons provided. Woodpecker, Sleeping Lady, Leavenworth. Cost: $30 with wine available for purchase by the glass. Info: sleepinglady.com. Wenatchee Apollo Club: This is My Country – A Choral Tapestry, 2/10, 6:30 p.m. With an evening of songs that have helped define the meaning of the word “American”, the Wenatchee Apollo Club takes you on a musical journey of patriotic favorites, folk tunes, spirituals, songs the cowboys sang on the move west, songs that commemorate some of America’s
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The Art Life
// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS
A nice guy who gets a jolt out of theater A
By Susan Lagsdin
t a glance, you can probably tell musical comedy veteran Jeff Heminger, 37, is often cast as the nice guy, the handsome leading man. In years hence, some local director will doubtless demand “get me a young Jeff Heminger” to fill those hard-to-cast parts. That’s why he’s had such a good time playing bad guys: Dr. Neville Craven in The Secret Garden — he got to stage-slap a child! — and the gruff, overbearing, insensitive General Howell in Kiss Me Kate. In his many roles on the Music Theatre of Wenatchee and Leavenworth Summer Theater stages, those are his only close encounters with evil. He looks like a guy you can trust. You can. And that’s the quality — no acting involved — that he brings to his day job. As manager of the power operations for Douglas County P.U.D., the realtime working of the hydroelectric grid, he’s the person who knows where every kilowatt is at every minute and constantly studies and updates myriad contingency plans. Jeff sees connection between his work and his art. “There’s always the math and music connection,” he said. “We know those patterns are similar. And I know the kind of problem-solving I do at the P.U.D. is related to creative stage work.” At Dartmouth College it seemed natural to him to complete an untypical double major in engineering and music. He’d been blessed with parents who kept him steadfastly practicing piano and clarinet as a child, and he was very good at math. “I figured I’d go into engineering,
so I looked around and realized electricity was really cool…” His post-college job hunt in the Northwest landed him a position back at the P.U.D. where he’d interned in the summers, and he’s been working there ever since. And his matured musical abilities landed him plenty of gigs as pit musician, arranger and director. Then, because he had loved being in productions at Wenatchee High School, in 2006 he auditioned for MTW’s Urinetown (“Even the script refers to that as an awful title,” he said) and never looked back. Jeff is firmly committed to MTW both as a performer and as a long-time board member and is awed by its success. “This theater has been continuously open and operating since 1961… we own the building, we’re solvent, and sometimes we need to choose from three proposed scripts from directors for our next show.” Every cast of every show seems to bond in a certain way, and Jeff is grateful for “that sense of camaraderie, of family, that you get when you collaborate so intensely with other people.” He’s also enjoyed watching the progress of the newest, youngest performers like Jacob Scott, Emma Standerford and others as they find their voice, their footing, their place and move from chorus roles to more challenging character parts. Twelve years after his first performance back in Wenatchee as an adult, Jeff’s name has been on local play programs dozens of times, whether for musical directing/conducting/arranging positions, for playing music “in the pit,” or for singing, dancing and acting under the lights. February 2018 | The Good Life
Jeff Heminger: “I know the kind of problem-solving I do at the P.U.D. is related to creative stage work.”
Two other venues receive some of that bounty of talent: Jeff sings and plays music at his church, and he is a member of the Wenatchee Valley Symphony. Sometimes he’s had to ask Susan (his also-talented wife and mother of their five children ages 6 years to 7 months) “Let me know if that’s too much….” They decided this year they need to cut back on extra-familial activities. Just a bit. “Well,” he said, “We decided if there’s a really good role that I just can’t pass up, I’ll take it.” He knows she’s proud of him, glad he’s using his talents so well. Jeff and Susan met in a summer production in Leavenworth, and she’s eager to return to acting someday. Jeff said, “We’re thinking when the kids www.ncwgoodlife.com
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are a little older, when it isn’t so crazy around our house, we can both get fully involved again.” It’s likely at least some will follow dad into a life of performing art. Emma, 6, played Gretl in The Sound of Music last summer and will probably take piano lessons from Diane Stober, who was Jeff’s music teacher 30 years ago. Her little brother Elliot, 5 danced in The Nutcracker at Christmas. Jeff’s two big jobs are keeping lights on all over Douglas County and being a supportive dad to his big family, and they dominate his days. How about after hours? Two things keep him coming back to the theater season after season. The camaraderie is unbeatable, he said, in this arts community rich with volunteers. “Here, it’s easy to find passionate people willing to give their time to the things they love.” And, as every performer knows, there is always a thrill, an adrenaline rush, when you’re about to walk on stage. Whether you’re playing a nice guy, a bad guy or a clarinet, Jeff said, “It’s a good thing to be anxious — it means you really care!”
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}}} Continued from page 32 greatest cities and states, and, of course, a “short stop” on Broadway. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $15 - $20. Info: numericapac. org. Pybus University: Que Syrah, Syrah, 2/13, 7 p.m. Many wine drinkers are familiar with Syrah and enjoy drinking it, but most don’t know the origins and significance of this wonderful wine grape. Syrah has an interesting past and this class will cover its interesting history and background, taste profile, and importance in the world of wine. Instructor Rhett Humphrey. Pybus Public Market. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Sip and Paint, 2/14, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Step by step instruction to paint alongside your friends or sweetie. Variations on the painting will be provided for couples who want to have feathers that can hang side by side. All supplies provided to complete your vary own Valentine Feather masterpiece. Acrylic painting on 4x13 inch hanging wood. Special $6 glasses of wine. Cost: $35. Bavarian Bistro, Leavenworth. Info: facebook.com/ bavarianbistroandbar. Last Stand: The Vanishing Caribou Rainforest, 2/14, 7 p.m. A cinematic journey into the tragically threatened world of endangered mountain caribou, their home in the world’s largest remaining inland temperate rainforest, and the critical human choices that will ultimately decide the fate of this stunning ecosystem. Barn Beach Reserve. Cost: donation. Info: wenatcheeriverinstitute.org. Early Morning Birding & ID Skills building, 2/14, 7:30 – 10 a.m. Join Susan Ballinger on this low-key morning birding outing. Walla Walla Point Park. Info: susan@cdlandtrust.org. Rails and Ales, 2/16, 5 – 8 p.m. An epic evening of skiing, snowboarding, music and fun in the heart of downtown Wenatchee. Come watch some of the best skiers and snowboarders in the state throw down in this ski and snowboard rail jam contest. Mission Ridge closes down Orondo Ave and brings the mountain to you. But don’t let the title fool you – this is an awesome event for the whole family to enjoy.
Badger Mountain Brewery outdoor beer garden (21+ only) featuring local craft beer from Badger Mountain Brewing, Wenatchee Valley Brewing, Columbia Valley Brewing, and Icicle Brewing. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Eden Moody, 2/16, 6 – 8 p.m. Live performance. Eden describes her music as “sweet’n spicy countrypop with a South American twist.” Eden is a singer-songwriter …. a blonde with a brunette’s brain, a red’s intensity, and a colored soul; American citizen, culturally Brazilian; part woman, part honey badger. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Loving Vincent, 2/16, 7 p.m. The world’s first fully oil painted feature film brings the painting of Vincent van Gogh to life to tell his remarkable story. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $7 - $12. Info: icicle.org. Great Backyard Bird Count at Stormy Creek Preserve, 2/17, 10 a.m. Join Phil Archibald and Virginia Palumbo and learn about birds and explore the beautiful natural area of Entiat Valley. Register: hillary@cdlandtrust.org or 667-9708. A Different Kind of Story Time, 2/17, 11 a.m. – noon. Join us for children’s story time. We will have a new set of actors, stories and crafts. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Info: wenatcheevalleymuseum.org/ourevents. Kiwanis Kids Karnival, 2/17, 1 – 4 p.m. The Kiwanis Clubs Division 52 present the kids karnival. Over 20 games and activities of fun and to test children’s skills and talents plus lots of prizes. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Life’s a beach: Auction for the Animals, 2/17, 5 p.m. Dinner, signature cocktails, silent auction and a fast-paced, entertaining live auction that features a variety of items including: experience trips, travel packages, culinary experiences, sport memorabilia, art and much more. Wenatchee Convention Center. Cost: $65. Info: wenatcheevalleyhumane.org. Nature and Music, 2/17, 7 p.m. Pieces inspired by nature featuring flute and harp duo Jennifer Rhyne and Catherine Case in concert. Canyon Wren Recital Hall. Cost: $12 - $22. Info: icicle.org. Empty Bowls Painting, 2/18, 1 – 4 p.m. Wenatchee Valley Empty
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Bowls is an annual event designed to bring together the community through creative expression and hunger relief education. At this event community members are invited, in exchange for a $10 donation, $35 for a family of up to five, to come and paint a commemorative ceramic bowl at one of four community paintings and attend a simple soup and bread dinner. Each year the event is sponsored both financially and in-kind by local businesses and organizations who are passionate about reducing the effects of hunger and building a healthy and happy community. Pybus Public Market. Info: Kaylee Peterson: kayleep@cdcac.org. The soup and bread dinner will be March 10 at Wenatchee High School. Fly Tying Evening Series, 2/20, 27, 3/ 6, 13, 20, 6:30 – 8 p.m. Do you fly fish? Would you like to fly fish? You need flies. Come learn the basics of fly tying to make you a success as you fish our local rivers. Provided by the Wenatchee Valley Fly Fishers and assisted by Trout Unlimited. Learn about fly fishing equipment, philosophy and the basic entomological connections between aquatic food sources and local fish. Wenatchee River Institute. Cost: $50. Info: wenatcheeriverinstitute.org/events/fly-tyingevening-series. Environmental Film & Lectures series: the million dollar duck, 2/20, 7 – 9 p.m.
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February 2018
This documentary film focuses on the strange and wonderful world of the Federal Duck Stamp contest, the only juried art competition run by the U.S. government. This film explores the eccentric nature of the contestants who enter each year for a chance at wildlife art stardom, while also reflecting upon the history and challenges facing the continued existence of this successful conservation program. Duck stamps and duck stamp art will be on display and informational handouts available. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Info: wenatcheevalleymuseum.org/ our-events. Pybus University: The Connected Family, 2/20, 7 – 8:15 p.m. From Baby Boomers to Generation Z, we’re all trying to figure out how to stay connected. Join Wenatchee Valley’s own Social Media Trainer, April Welch, as she shows us what apps are out there (and how to use them on our smartphones). This class will cover: the best smartphone apps for sending videos, why Instagram is the best thing since scrapbooking and how to speed up your typing on a smartphone screen and so much more. Pybus Public Market. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Sip and Paint, 2/21, 6 – 8 p.m. Learn to paint step by step alongside your friends. All supplies provided to complete your own Peacock Feather masterpiece. Acrylic painting on 11x14 inch canvases. No
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experience necessary. Light fare provided and wine available for purchase. Icicle Ridge Winery. Cost: $30. Info: icicleridgewinery.com. Sportsmen Show, 2/23 – 25. The latest in outdoor gear, fishing boats, motors and accessories, plus guides and lodges from all over the Northwest and more. Daily hunting and fishing seminars. Live reindeer, elaborate display of northwest big game animals, fishing and scavenger hunt for kids. Town Toyota Center. Cost: $9 adults, $4 kids 6-12, under 6 free. Info: towntoyotacenter.com. Wild Ideas Spring Social, 2/23, 5:30- 7 p.m. Three short inspiring 5-minute talks about how we share our land with wildlife from local experts and an update on Chelan/ Douglas Land Trust projects. Catch up with friends and meet new people interested in our land, water and trails. Beer provided by Wenatchee Valley Brewing and wine for purchase plus finger food. Pybus Public Market. Info: cdlandtrust.org. Just Us band, 2/23, 6 – 8 p.m. Live performance. Band members are Kyle Flick (guitar), Brad Blackburn (drums), Mark Sele (bass), Heather Houtz (vocals) and Bonnie McClaine (vocals). Enjoy a night of Blues, Classic Rock and Pop. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Wenatchee Heart Breaker 5k, 2/24, 9 a.m. In partnership with Confluence Health, RunWenatchee is proud to present this event during heart month to raise awareness about heart disease and ways people can commit to a healthy lifestyle. The course is an Apple Capital Loop Trail classic – from just outside Pybus Public Market to Walla Walla Point Park and back. Info: runwenatchee.com. Write on the River Winter Workshop, 2/24, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. In the morning, Seattle based writer and speaker William Kenower presents: Fearless Writing. This workshop will shine a light on some of the dark questions about talent, intelligence, time and money that haunt many writers and provide tools to keep your attention where it needs to be to write what you most want to write. In the afternoon, Seattle based author Nicholas O’Connell presents: The Hero’s
Journey: Writing a Quest Narrative. This workshop helps you give structure and suspense to writing that might otherwise be flat and static and whether you write personal essays, travel pieces, investigative journalism or memoir, you’ll learn to propel readers forward into the narrative. (Plus a Q & A on 2/23, 7 p.m. at Leavenworth Library.) Wenatchi Hall at Wenatchee Valley College. Cost: $45 members or $60 non members. Live at the Met: La Boheme, 2/24, 9:30 a.m. The world’s most popular opera returns in Franco Zeffirelli’s classic production starring a cast of young stars. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $5-22. Info. Icicle.org. People of our past, 2/24, 10 a.m., 2 p.m. 6 p.m. 2/25, 2 p.m. Local history comes alive at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Five actors will portray real characters whose lives contributed to the development of the Wenatchee Valley. Characters will perform short monologues and occasionally interact as their lives intersect in 1905 Wenatchee. This year’s characters are community builder Belle Culp Reeves (Emma Standerford), town sheriff and theater owner Ed Ferguson (Jeff Heminger), pioneer farmers Dora and M.O. Tibbits (Peter Kappler and Megan Kappler) and developer Arthur Gunn (David Harvill). Veteran Cynthia Brown is directing the show this year. The daytime shows are free with no reservation necessary. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: free except for 6 p.m. gala, $35 members, $40 non members. Info: wenatcheevalleymuseum.org/ our-events. Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra presents Water Music, 2/24, 7 p.m. Water Music will examine four composers who were inspired by water: Smetana’s tone poem representing the Bohemian river; Elgar’s settings of poems based on the seas surrounding England sung by mezzo-soprano, Melissa Schiel; Britten’s four orchestral intermezzos from his opera, Peter Grimes; and, Strauss Jr’s classical waltz inspired by Europe’s second-longest river. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $18 $37. Info: numericapac.org. Fly Fishing Film Tour, 2/24, 7 p.m. Featuring the stories, characters and fisheries that help make up the vast world of fly fishing, the 2018 F3T will take you from Michigan to Honduras to Greenland and February 2018 | The Good Life
Field observations
Adele Little Caemmerer — an artist profiled in the July 2017 issue of The Good Life — opens a show of her works at Mela, 17 N. Wenatchee Ave., on First Friday in February. This is a collection of works that derive from ongoing investigations into her habitat. Like a field researcher, she observes and documents the colors, patterns, changing weather and light that she encounters in daily life and then translates these observations into visual forms. Show dates: Feb. 2 - 28. Opening reception Friday, Feb. 2, 5 - 8 p.m. more. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $7 - $14. Info: icicle.org. Pybus University: It will never happen to me: identity theft, fraud and scams, 2/27, 7 – 8:15 p.m. This presentation is about the many aspects of personal financial safety. Learn how to keep financial information safe, how to avoid scams and fraud and how to avoid complacency. In this age of rapidly evolving technologies, criminals are on the prowl for new ways to access and exploit your personal and financial information and threaten your safety and security. Education and awareness are key to not falling prey. Instructor Anne Crain. Pybus Public Market. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.
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WDA Appreciation Dinner, 2/28, 5:30 p.m. Dinner and celebration. Convention Center. Cost: $30 member, $40 non member. Info: wendowntown.org. Columbia Chorale presents An American Panorama, 3/3, 7 p.m. A concert of music representing American composers from the 18th century to the present, including William Billings, Stephen Foster, Aaron Copland, Randall Thompson, James Mulholland, Gilbert Martin, Seth Houston, Eric Whitaker, Vijay Singh and our very own resident composer, Ron Lodge. Grace Lutheran Church. Cost: $8 – 15. Info: numericapac.org.
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column those were the days
rod molzahn
Conrad Rose: Gruff but a friend indeed Editor’s note: This story continues a series of bio sketches on prominent early settlers in the valley.
Conrad Rose’s office at the
Wenatchee Produce Company was sparse. There was a picture of Abraham Lincoln on the wall and a few of his quotes hanging by it. One read, “From this day on I mean to do the best I can.” Along side that hung a card that said, “Let me live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man.” The most noticeable quote, in large letters, was not by Lincoln but it certainly reflected the man at the desk in front of it. “Why be unreasonable when, with a little more effort, you can be impossible.” Bob McGinnis, orchardist, remembered Rose as a “controversial person and the greatest force and the most lovable man I ever hope to meet.” Conrad Rose was never hesitant to express his beliefs and life philosophy. In a 1930 interview with the Wenatchee Daily World, Rose took on prohibition and religion. “This prohibition question is a constant source of annoyance. As far as I am concerned everyone knows my stand in the matter. If they do not know I will tell them in language that cannot easily be forgotten. “I haven’t any sympathy for the present church lobby trying to influence the people’s representatives upon the liquor question. If the church has any business let her attend to her business. Politics and national issues are most certainly out of her line.” He was just as clear about his personal values. “I believe that
Conrad Rose, 1906. Photo from Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center
seven days in the week a man should live a clean life, both by example and in deed. If I have any religion it consists in doing good.” A Wenatchee Daily World article in 1938 described Conrad Rose as “most always presenting a gruff and challenging front. To the unknowing he’s apt to have the appearance of an irritated bruin. Those who know him smiled: “It wouldn’t be Conrad Rose if he acted any other way.” Rose was 19 in 1881 when he
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“I put the baby in the cracker box and walked down the hill.” reached Sprague, Washington. He had worked his way west for the Northern Pacific Railroad as an engine wiper first, then oiler and fireman. Four years later he was promoted to engineer. With that
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job security he married Elizabeth Milner. Born and raised in England, she had come to America to visit an aunt in Iowa then traveled on to visit another relative in Sprague where she met Rose. Soon after the wedding Rose was transferred to the Tacoma to Pasco run. He and Elizabeth set up housekeeping in Ellensburg. They soon heard the glowing stories of the Wenatchee Valley and in the spring of 1886 Conrad went to see for himself. What he saw was the opportunity to have the farm, home and independent life that he and Elizabeth wanted for themselves and their newborn son, Thomas. New settlers in the early years of the 1880s had claimed most all of the Wenatchee Flat turning it into a checker board of 160 acre homesteads. Rose had come with cash and soon bought an existing farm from John Camphor for $900. The land faced Miller Street and lay east of there including the present location of Columbia School. Rose got 150 acres of uncleared rocks, sagebrush and sand, 10 acres of partially cleared land with “a few scrawny fruit trees” and a rough, two room cabin. There was no water on the land. A year later Conrad quit the railroad. He and Elizabeth loaded their belongings, two little boys (George had joined the family) and the family cat — safely stowed away in a cracker box — into a lumber wagon and headed for Colockum Pass. The road was so rough on the way up that the cat fled the cracker box and ran back to Ellensburg.
Conrad Rose became wealthy. Then the Depression took it all away. The road down the north side of the pass is steep and torturous. Elizabeth recalled, “I never imagined there could be such a road. It was the first time I had anything to do with mountains. I put the baby in the cracker box and walked down the hill.” They reached the Columbia on July 7, 1887. To Elizabeth “It was the hottest day I ever experienced. There was no shade. Nothing but sand and hot wind and sagebrush. Then I saw the house and the farm! I couldn’t believe it. I don’t know why I didn’t walk back to Ellensburg.” The Roses persisted. Together they cleared 7 acres and planted vegetable seeds, wheat, oats and potatoes. They had no concept of how much water the crops would need. Nothing came up. Conrad went into business with the lumber wagon hauling produce from his neighbor’s more successful gardens to Ellensburg and returning with supplies to sell. When the Wenatchee Development Company was expanding its substantial land holdings in early 1888 they wanted the Rose homestead. Conrad sold it to them piece by piece over the next year. He got a nearby 40acre tract in trade with 10 inches of water rights and $6,000 cash. He and Elizabeth planted 30 acres in peaches, mixed crops on the other 10 acres and built a fine home. Over the next three years Conrad Rose continued buying fruit and produce from his neighbors, hauling it over Colockum Pass and selling it to his own profit. The Great Northern Railroad arrived in late 1892 with its promise of markets from Seattle to the East Coast.
In 1893 Rose’s peach trees bore an abundant crop and Conrad Rose shipped out an entire car load, the first grower in the valley to accomplish that. Conrad realized that if he could make a profit hauling fruit to Ellensburg he could make even more with rail cars. With that idea the Wenatchee Produce Company was born and Conrad Rose became the first, large scale, fruit broker in the valley. Their first office was a oneroom shack on lower Orondo Street then a larger space on the Avenue downtown. The fruit production of the valley was expanding rapidly and soon Rose saw it was time again to move to larger quarters with fruit storage capacity. He built a compound of connected buildings between North Wenatchee Avenue and the rail road tracks. The complex was 400 feet deep and had 400 feet of frontage on the Avenue and on the track side allowing for nine rail cars to be loaded at once. Conrad Rose became wealthy. Then the Depression took it all away. The market price of fruit hit bottom. Conrad never gave up on his growers. He bought the orchards of those who wanted out. He bought the fruit of those who wanted to stay, knowing that he would lose money when he sold it. Through it all Conrad remained a friend to his friends and a champion supporter of the farmers whose crops he bought and sold. Conrad Rose brought strength and a national reputation to the Wenatchee Valley fruit industry that continues to this day. Historian, actor and teacher Rod Molzahn can be reached at shake. speak@nwi.net. 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. February 2018 | The Good Life
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the back page: that’s life
Police humor By Keith Kellogg
I served the people of
Wenatchee, and the Wenatchee Police Department for a little under 22 years. Most officers who retire are ready to get away from the stress and negativity, and to move on to other endeavors, but not me. I miss being a cop. I liked helping people, but I loved chasing bad guys. I approached every shift like a junky looking for their next fix. I never grew tired of the hunt. Even with my passion I faced stress and negativity, and it took its toll on me, but overall I loved the job. Many times over the years people asked me how I dealt with the stress and negativity. Depending on the time and circumstance my answers would vary, but one component remained the same. I tried to find humor where I could. Here are a few examples of what made me laugh: Some cops like pursuits (vehicle or foot) more than others. I understand. Pursuits are stressful and potentially dangerous. The goal of any pursuit is to catch and detain the suspect, without anyone getting hurt. At the end of any foot pursuit you are tired, so generally you grab the bad guy as best you can, and help them to the ground, so they can be handcuffed and detained. This is seldom as fluid or as easy as you might see on TV. Generally everyone goes to the ground in a heap, where a fight may or may not ensue. Use-of-force laws dictate what can be done, and depending on the actions of the suspect an officer can use any number of different options. Some of those options hurt (i.e., impact, pep-
Many times a bad guy said to me after the incident, “That really hurt!” Okay, clue #1 to the bad guy. If you don’t want to get hurt don’t run, and don’t fight. per spray, Taser, etc.) more than simply being handcuffed. Many times a bad guy said to me after the incident, “That really hurt!” Okay, clue #1 to the bad guy. If you don’t want to get hurt don’t run, and don’t fight. Clue #2: This is not like playing tag. We don’t run up and just touch you while saying, “Tag, you’re it.” We don’t know if you’re armed or what your intent is. Police will use whatever force is necessary to control the situation. It may hurt. Several years ago a bad guy robbed a north end bank at knife point. I was the first officer to arrive. A citizen did a great job of keeping the suspect in view, and directed me to him. I chased the suspect into Godfather’s Pizza, and into the men’s restroom. As I entered the bad guy was closing the stall door. The only other person in the restroom was a guy standing at the urinal emptying his bladder. Not every day do you get to chase an armed bank robber so I was totally jacked up on adrenaline. I know for a fact I didn’t casually ask the gentleman at the urinal to finish his business, wash his hands, and to then leave the restroom. I’m pretty sure my wording was a little more direct, and I
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wouldn’t be surprised if he wet himself. I never did get a chance to apologize to that gentleman, but I suspect he understood why I wanted him to exit the restroom. Things got pretty intense from there, and I eventually got the suspect to open the stall door. I clearly remember him asking me, “Why are you pointing a gun at me?” Lesson for the day: Don’t rob a bank and expect a ride in the back of a convertible in the Apple Blossom parade. That guy almost died when he decided to get off the floor and come at me. Thankfully another officer arrived a split second before that happened. I may laugh now, but I was not then. Many years ago at about 2:30 in the morning a call came out of a fight in progress outside of a south end bar. Dispatch informed officers that the call had originated inside of the closed bar. We checked the area, and no one was found. We then looked through the windows, but no one was seen. We checked all the doors, and they were all locked. I knocked on the rear door, and a voice inside responded, “Hello.” At our request the person opened the door. Some questioning showed that the subject had removed a wall panel earlier in the evening, crawled inside the open space, pulled the panel back in place, took a nap, and then after the business had closed he had let himself out. As the subject was helping himself to a few beers, and some snacks, he had noticed a fight on the street. Being the responsible citizen that he was, he called 911 from the business line to inform dispatch about the fight. He went to jail, and a lot
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of people laughed at that one. I spent an interesting few years working for the Columbia River Keith Kellogg was Drug Task forced to retire Force. I saw after suffering an a world that injury while working. Keith is now still makes enjoying as much my skin time outside as crawl. he can, and loves A big part being with his two of that job daughters, two grandbabies and is to dethree dogs. velop, and work with confidential informants. The informants do controlled drug buys or provide information. Prior to a controlled buy you meet with the informant, talk to them, and search their possessions, vehicle and person for contraband. During a female-tofemale search it was determined that the informant had an eight ball (eighth ounce) of meth in her brassiere. Oops! No one said that criminals were smart. On a frequent basis officers hear suspects state, “These are not my pants,” when you start a search after an arrest. On one occasion I felt a syringe as I did a pat down prior to a search. I queried the suspect, “Okay the pants aren’t yours, but what about the syringe?” The suspect replied, “Yeah, that’s mine.” An admission on the baggie of meth in his pants pocket was pretty easy from there. It’s seldom that easy. I miss being a cop, and though I don’t miss the negativity or the stress I do miss the laughs. Next time you see a cop, be sure and tell them thank you. It is not an easy job, and we do appreciate the recognition.
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Socialize Your Spring Community Appreciation Series Visiting Writers Winter Reading March 1, 6:30 - 8:30 pm ~ MAC Grove Hall
Community Appreciation Series Piatigorsky Foundation Concert March 23, 6:30 - 8:30 pm ~ MAC Grove Hall
Alumni Network Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours March 28, 5:00 - 7:00 pm ~ MAC Grove Hall
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