Good Life March 2011

SHOOTING UP THE ENTIAT Y THE BEST LOCAL EVENTS CALENDAR

A H t

om e

Fr for esh id the eas ho me IN

SIDE

March 2011

The perfect summer job Zen and the art of trail maintenance

OPEN FOR FUN AND ADVENTURE

Cover price: $3

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OPENING SHOT ®

Year 5, Number 3 March 2011

Marc’s Mares’ Tails Leavenworth pho-

tographer Marc Dilley shot this picture, titled Mares’ Tails, which refers to the delicate cloud formations.

“I shot this in the evening from above my camp at Upper Ice Lake in the Entiat River drainage, looking on the south slope of 9,082-foot Mount Maude,” said Marc.

“I should have been somewhere else that evening. The plan was, after completing the Carne Mountain High Route, to climb Mount Maude and bivvy on top. Maude has a broad summit, stupendous views, and its south slope is an easy trudge with a heavy pack. I was imagining unique sunset, star and sunrise pictures.

“Unfortunately, when I finished the traverse and had my first look at Mount Maude, it wasn’t pretty. The upper slopes were hidden by a cloud cap and fresh snow covered the lower slopes. I wussed out and dropped down to the lake hoping the clouds would lift.

“By 4 p.m. the cap was mostly blown off by an increasingly icy wind. As the gale increased in intensity, it decreased in temperature and the sky just kept growing wilder.

“Those awesome, speedy clouds had me speeding around

The Good Life is published by NCW Good Life, LLC, dba The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 PHONE: (509) 888-6527 E-MAIL: editor@ncwgoodlife.com

sales@ncwgoodlife.com ONLINE: www.ncwgoodlife.com Editor, Mike Cassidy Contributors, Marc Dilley, Andrea Uchytil, Jim Brigleb, John Marshall, Lief Carlsen, Andy Dappen, Steve Wellman, Pauline Sweeney, Candice Henderson, Donna Cassidy, Bonnie Orr, Alex Saliby, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin and Rod Molzahn Advertising manager, Jim Senst Advertising sales, John Hunter and Mike Moore Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy Proofing, Jean Senst and Joyce Pittsinger Ad design, Rick Conant 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 Phone 888-6527 Online: www.ncwgoodlife.com To subscribe/renew by e-mail, send credit card info to: donna@ncwgoodlife.com

to put everything together for a good shot: a foreground that made sense, proper focus, exposure plus bracketing, perfect clouds and perfect light. I managed 66 exposures in that crazy 70 minutes and Mares’ Tails is my favorite.

“After that session of aerobic landscape photography, I was happy just to set up camp right there, relax on a nice boulder with my flask of liquid refreshment and enjoy the view.”

More of Marc’s images can be seen on his website www.marcMarch 2011 | The Good Life

dilley.com.

Matted and framed enlargements may be viewed through March 6 at Icicle Arts Gallery at Barn Beach, 347 Division St., Leavenworth, Thursday - Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment.

On the cover

Lief Carlsen rests in a lawn chair at Cloudy Pass looking at Lyman Lake and Spider Gap. See his story about a perfect summer job on page 12. www.ncwgoodlife.com

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BUY A COPY of The Good Life at Hastings, Caffé Mela, Eastmont Pharmacy, Martin’s Market Place (Cashmere) and A Book for All Seasons (Leavenworth) ADVERTISING: For information about advertising in The Good Life, contact Jim Senst, advertising manager, at (509) 670-8783, or sales@ncwgoodlife.com WRITE FOR THE GOOD LIFE: We welcome articles about people from Chelan and Douglas counties.

Send your idea to Mike Cassidy at editor@ncwgoodlife.com

The Good Life® is a registered trademark of NCW Good Life, LLC. Copyright 2011

by NCW Good Life, LLC.

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Contents

editor’s notes

MIKE CASSIDY

Visit us now at ncwgoodlife.com Home remodeling projects

page 5

Back on top

Features

6 GOING WITH THE FLOW OF LIFE

When life handed Leavenworth woman some disappointments, she left the country

7 YOUTH ARE TOO YOUNG TO UNDERSTAND

A father and son look at a spritz sports car — and see two different visions

8 SHOOTING OUTSIDE THE BOX

John Marshall fights through the brush to find a fresh angle

12 IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB...

Lief Carlsen is done paying bills... now he works for fun

14 MIDDLE-AGED MARATHONER

Katie Pauly wasn’t a runner — until she became a marathoner

17 REMEMBERING A HERO WHO DROPPED IN

Steve Wellman was just a kid working for $1 an hour when a man larger than life flew into view

20 TREATED LIKE A CELEBRITY IN MISAWA

Visitors from Wenatchee received the chopstick treatment when they visited the town made famous by a trans-Pacific flight

22 At Home

with

The Good Life

• A home of many inspirations • Favorite things with Indoor Tropics • Freshen your home as we head toward spring

Columns & Departments 30 Alex Saliby: Cab Franc fans are in luck 31 June Darling: Assumptions make us into fools 32 The traveling doctor: The ABC’s of hepatitis 34 Bonnie Orr: My grandmother’s cookbook 37-39 Events, The Art Life & a Dan McConnell cartoon 40 History: How Wells House came to be 42 Fun Stuff: 5 activities to check out

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take two to three times as long as they should, require frequent trips to the hardware store (and sometimes a first-aid cabinet) and — the fun news — often result in a new tool.

So, why did I think it would be any different when last fall, we decided it would be a quick and easy project to finally create a website for The Good Life?

I didn’t know how much I didn’t know about getting our magazine on-line when we began with local web developer Drew Zabrocki at Genext — but through his patience and guidance, much debate and many e-mails back and forth, we can now announce our site has gone live.

Come visit us at www.ncwgoodlife.com.

The site has some neat functions, such as photos across the top you expand by clicking on.

Great photos are a big part of our magazine.

To see past issues, you click on the covers of the magazine and then flip through the pages… just like you might at home.

Naturally, we give visitors the ability to subscribe and order back issues. We make it easy to contact the editor to say the magazine is GREAT!, or maybe not, and to suggest a story idea.

And, for information about advertising, we make that accessible with one mouse click.

Please visit our site, then let us know what you think. We’ve already banged our heads more than a few times in the development process, criticism — constructive or otherwise — won’t hurt our feelings. We have the tools to make fixes and are eager

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| March 2011

to use them.

More humor — that’s what a few readers told us they wanted in The Good Life during a recent survey.

To that end, we have added a Guest Column near the front of the magazine where we hope to have a revolving set of contributors who see the oddities of life.

Here’s your chance to tell of a life misadventure or experience that maybe our readers can relate to. Life might be serious, but you don’t have to always take it seriously.

Speaking of tweaks, we have also made a change at the back of the magazine. Now, instead of one longer story for Check It Out, we will have several items under the heading of Fun Stuff.

We want to build upon what we call “the best local events calendar” by drawing attention to a handful of especially interesting coming events.

Check it out.

A little different story for us this month was written by Steve Wellman about a hero of his, Mira Slovak. Usually, we like stories that when a reader finishes, he or she can say: “We could do something like that!”

You may not be able to say that with Steve’s story, but you might be able to identify with that first job, the first time you did something you were told not to do, the first time someone larger than life dropped into your life.

See his story on page 17.

We’re open for business on-line.

Check out The Good Life.

— Mike

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snapshots

A breathless Lisa Eidson celebrates on top of Aconcagua.

BACK IN THE CLIMB: SCALING A SOUTH AMERICAN GIANT L

isa Eidson of Plain is back home after climbing Aconcagua in South America.

She writes: “I decided to get back into climbing shape and attempt to climb Aconcagua — the highest peak outside the Himalayas, standing at 22,841 feet. It is located in the Andes in Argentina.

“I summited on Jan. 22 at 1:30 p.m. YIPPEE! As you can see by the picture, I was leaning heavy on the cross because of no air!”

Lisa said she began climbing when she was eight years old,

but stopped seven or eight years ago when she retired as an air traffic controller at Sea-Tac. “After that, I was the general contractor on our house in Plain, gained weight and got lazy. I kinda did Aconcagua for myself because I knew deep inside that I could.

“If there is any message I could give; it is never give up on your passion... it’s what makes life worth living.”

A blog entry from the guide about the summit climb can be found here: www.rmiguides. com/blog/index.php/entry/ aconcagua/aconcagua_successful_summit_on_aconcagua.

Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com March 2011 | The Good Life

www.ncwgoodlife.com

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snapshots

Going with the flow of life here and down under

By Andrea Uchytil

I had just graduated from

WSU with a Hospitality and Business Management Degree yet couldn’t find a decent job. I moved back to Leavenworth and then my boyfriend and I broke up.

So when a friend in Australia — who I had met skiing on Stevens Pass — said since I didn’t have anything going for me I should come to Australia because there were a ton of job opportunities, I jumped at the opportunity.

So began a seven-month adventure Down Under.

I flew into Sydney early on the morning of March 28. My friend picked me up and took me to her flat. The adventures and job hunting soon began.

I was lucky enough to find a job in a famous restaurant in Sydney — Doyle’s on the Beach — an iconic restaurant that had been in business for 185 years.

What was most impressive was the variety of nationalities that worked in this restaurant. Only a small handful of the employees were true Australians.

Everybody else was a student or a traveler passing through.

As I was the only American working in this restaurant, I was jokingly made fun of whenever I made a mistake it was always because, “You’re just an American.” Sometimes when something went wrong in the restaurant it was the American who was responsible for the mistake and the American wouldn’t understand the joke.

When I was not working, I would take extra time off to travel. My friend, Elle, and I

A view of Watsons Bay, where Doyle’s on the Beach opened in 1885 — the bay is a suburb of Syndey.

As I was waiting for my return to Brisbane, I sat and played cards with a French couple, a Canadian, an English guy, and a couple of Germans. went camping in the Blue Mountains near Sydney with another friend. We camped on a farm with llamas and horses walking around us.

Elle and I also went north to Byron Bay for a weekend and enjoyed the hippie lifestyle of the area with the music, food, and crafts from the local artists of the area.

I also flew up to Brisbane and bused up to Rainbow Beach and took a day trip out to Fraser Island. I had so much fun staying in the hostel. As I was waiting for my return back to Brisbane, I played cards with a French couple, a Canadian, an English guy, and a couple of Germans.

Many people had told me that I was one of the few Americans

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Andrea Uchytil has a reflective moment during a wine tasting in Adelaide.

they had met traveling and I was the friendliest. This made me wonder why we are so unfriendly and why we don’t travel as much as people in other countries.

I remembered my hometown of Leavenworth and thought of how many of my friends have traveled around the world, and it was hard for me to see what all these people were talking about.

I soon found out. The Americans I had met in the various hostels or on the tours kept to themselves and were not very friendly. They would only con-

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verse when asked a question.

How strange I thought.

When my dad came to visit, we first flew south to Adelaide for wine tasting, then north to Port Douglas where we visited the rainforest with a knowledgeable guide and a couple from New Zealand. The next day we had the opportunity to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef where we encountered a couple of American girls who were the only ones on the boat not socializing with anyone but themselves.

The reason for my love of traveling lies with the ability to meet new people, places and new cultures. I believe you learn something from everyone you meet in your life. Each person makes you grow in one way or another.

Once this is realized, then traveling becomes a whole new story. It is not just about discovering new places but about the people you meet and the situations forcing you to discover yourself.

Andrea Uchytil returned from her adventure in Australia in time for the local ski season. Next, she is headed to Switzerland to be a Student Program Coordinator at the University Center of Cesar Ritz.

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guest column // james brigleb

What a dad knows and a son will learn My son, Jack, is 16 and I’m

56. You do the math.

Jack has an attitude toward older, balding guys that I’ve discovered is common among teenage boys. This attitude can best be understood with the following anecdote.

Walking along, say Wenatchee Avenue, we spot a really sexy Porsche 911 GTS Cabriolet. The two of us stand there drooling — wondering what it would be like to drive the car.

While standing there, looking like a pair of two-legged goldfish with our mouths opening and closing, a man in his 60s comes out of what I’ll affectionately call the Stanley Center, and gets in the car, smiles and nods at the two goldfish, fires up the silverthroated steed, and drives into the sunset, probably toward his vineyard in Leavenworth.

Looking somewhat melancholy, Jack wags his head as he says, “Why do great cars get wasted on old guys who can’t possibly appreciate them?”

Jack doesn’t, and can’t, understand what us old guys do understand. Although Jack is intelligent, he is not wise. Wisdom only comes through experience, and Jack has not yet experienced what us old guys have.

It goes something like this. In the 1960s and ’70s, when a guy fell deeply in love with the one, he decided to get married.

At the time of this decision, the guy was driving a sports car or a motorcycle. After high school or college, his hormones led him to believe that his vehicle would soon be adorned with his very sexy, hormonal wife.

In fact, the guy was allowed to keep his sports car or motorcycle for a time, until one day,

the wife said, “It’s time to have children, and that’s good news for you because there is only one natural way to get pregnant.”

Oh, the guy was in his glory.

At approximately seven months into the pregnancy, the different kind of hormonal wife said, “Honey, your sports car is just not going to work for the baby. We need something more PRACTICAL.” The guy scrambled around looking for a not-so-bad Mustang or Camaro.

When the different kind of hormonal wife inquired about the car search and learned of the guy’s intentions, she said, “Oh a two-door is not going to work for a baby seat, and the trunk won’t have enough room for a playpen, diaper bag, windup swing, and our suitcases for when we visit someone. After a fair amount of fighting, the guy had to admit that she was right, and bought a Volkswagen Dasher — trying to convince himself that it was still sporty.

Two years went by, and the wife put on some sexy outfit and brainwashed the guy that the before-child hormones had returned — and it was time to have a second child. “You know what that means,” she crooned.

The guy’s hormones had never changed, and since he was thinking with them, he went like the proverbial lamb to the slaughter... with a smile on his face even.

With baby number 2, the different kind of hormone wife returned with even more disturbing news.

The Dasher wasn’t going to work. (Momentarily, the guy brightened.) With all the baby paraphernalia and the stroller, and two car seats, and the difMarch 2011 | The Good Life

“A two-door is not going to work for a baby seat, and the trunk won’t have enough room for a playpen...”

Jim Brigleb is a former educator in the Wenatchee Valley. He can be reached at constitutiontoday@gmail. com.

ficulty of putting the children in the back seat, they would need a... don’t say it... mini-van.

Oh no, not that — a veritable box on wheels. “There is no way on God’s Green Earth I’m going to own a mini-van,” thought (and maybe said) the guy. But he was wrong.

Oh, by the way... the guy with the motorcycle? The wife had become close friends with a nurse who worked in the ER. The nurse told the wife that, at the hospital, the staff called motorcycles donorcycles.

When the wife talked with her other friends, horror stories came out like fruit flies at an orchard. Every woman knew of someone who had been killed, maimed, or became a living vegetable due to a motorcycle accident.

Not only would the different kind of hormone wife not ride with the guy anymore, she cried and cried, saying her children needed their father to not become a vegetable... that he could take up motorcycle riding in the future when the children www.ncwgoodlife.com

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were grown — if he still needed that infantile fulfillment. AND, the money earned by selling the motorcycle would be needed for baby #3 — Surprise!

Thus, when the guy finally spent 20-30 years driving minivans, or even manly Suburbans, and the kids left home one by one, he started getting an itch from the past.

At first, he joined the bashing of those ahead of him who were having a midlife crisis. After awhile though, he didn’t care.

He wanted his sports car and/ or motorcycle back. He had paid his dues. It was time to pay the piper.

The now, completely different hormonal wife, at first, threw a fit. However, in time, she acquiesced due to a very large life insurance policy on the guy.

And so it came to be, that the guy found a 10-year old BMW Z3 he could afford, and did indeed, buy. A diamond in the rough, not too expensive, well-maintained, two seats, and convertible. Shazam!

When the guy brought it home, his wife smiled at him as if patronizing a small child. To make the guy feel good about himself, she oohed and aahed over the car. But then she said, “It only has two seats. Where will the grandkids sit?”

The guy smiled wryly and responded, “Exactly.”

So when my son, Jack, gives me a bad time about being an old, bald guy, driving a car that should be owned by someone in their 20s, I just smile and nod.

He’ll learn.

Breaking out of the box in

BOX CANYON PHOTOS AND STORY By John Marshall

H

aving lived and photographed in the Wenatchee Valley since 1985, I thought I had seen it all until I poked into Box Canyon on the upper Entiat River.

The Entiat River Road is hardly noticed along Highway 97 en route to busy Chelan.

The only clue as to what lies in the hills is a listing of campgrounds and the eccentric place names of Ardenvoir and Brief.

Brief is only a spot on the map; Ardenvoir has Cooper’s General Store. I once bought some 30-penny nails there, something I could not find at a big box store.

Another time, I was looking for bar oil for my chain saw. The store was out, but a guy standing in line at the cash register said he

Mad River rushes past twin western red cedars upstream from Pine Flats Campground.

John Marshall in his element. Photo by Peter Bauer

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had some. I followed him home and he gave me half a pint.

Photographers tend to photograph the same scenes over and over.

The standard joke is that if you go to somewhere like Reflection Lake in Mount Rainier National Park, you will be able to place the feet of your tripod into the same three holes in the ground where the last photographer had his.

I much prefer to explore places that have not had a lot of attention even if the scenery is less than grandiose. On the rare occasion when a scene is not only grandiose but new to me, I am thrilled. So it was at Box Canyon.

I had checked out the Entiat River from a | The Good Life

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bridge at the Lake Creek trailhead.

The rapids beneath the bridge were exciting enough, but I could see that upriver there were some large western red cedar trees and some boulders. If only I could get there.

Walking along the riverbank would be difficult. I went back out to the paved road and estimated the spot where I needed to enter the woods.

It was a struggle, with branches slapping me in the face. When I finally got to the river I was richly

rewarded.

The river plunged over boulders in a rapids, turned a corner and followed along a beautiful wall of granite. The cedar trees

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Arrow-leaf balsamroot blooms prolifically beneath a snag from a pine killed in the 1994 Tyee Fire.

were as beautiful as I imagined, and there was a spectacular hole in the river where the current plunged over a boulder.

Forest roads always intrigue me.

One such road — Mad River Road — takes off from just past Cooper’s General Store.

The road enters the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest where it becomes narrow and winding, yet paved, following closely the tumbling water course.

}}} Continued on next page

SHOOTING IN THE WILDS

John Marshall will conduct an outdoor photography workshop on Memorial Day weekend, May 27-30.

The workshop will be based out of Pine Flats Campground on Mad River in the Entiat Valley. Students will learn to recognize good situations to photograph and how to make the most of them with a digital camera. Both the technical and artistic sides of photography will be taught.

Class size is six in order for John to give individual attention. Price of $550 includes meals and campground fee.

See www.johnmarshallphoto.com or call John at 665-6451 for details.

Box Canyon of the upper Entiat River represents some of the Northwest’s finest scenery. The photos on these pages were all taken on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.

March 2011 | The Good Life

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I have also enjoyed watching beavers, as they cut down green branches of alder trees and ferry them to the family den.

The Sunset fades through the branches of a venerable ponderosa pine on the rim of Mad River Canyon.

}}} Continued from previous page

cherry, followed by the mock orange and wild rose.

At four miles, the main road climbs out of the Mad River Canyon, affording distant views to the Waterville Plateau. Rock formations punctuate the canyon rim. Charred

In spring, sprays of white serviceberry flowers lay up against the orange bark of huge ponderosa pine trees. Shrubs fill the stream bottom and bloom in successive waves — first the serviceberry and choke-

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remains of large trees killed in the Tyee fire of 1994 stand in stark contrast to fields of yellow balsamroot flowers.

I have watched the sunset through the gnarled limbs of ponderosas lucky enough to live through the Tyee fire. Once I found a nest of the diminutive white-breasted nuthatch in a crack within a massive limb.

For hiking, it is hard to beat the rewards of the Mad River Trail. It starts out at Pine Flats Campground known for open glades of large pines. Mad River crashes its way through a sieve of giant boulders.

For those who like plants, there is outstanding variety due to the combination of dry forest, wet stream bottom and cliffy areas.

Wet areas under trees have patches of false

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salomon’s seal with their intricate pattern of leaves. Lewissia tweedyi, a.k.a rock rose, is found in abundance in the Mad River area.

This exquisite plant is only found in Chelan and Kittitas counties. Its cousin Lewissia rediviva, a.k.a. bitterroot is also in the area.

Cedars and ponderosa pines live in close proximity. Some survived the Tyee fire and others were turned into sculptures of charcoal.

It seems as though there is a surprise around every corner. The surprise may be in the form of a rattlesnake! They do seem to be fond of Mad River. They are not aggressive but may have a disagreeable reaction to having a hand or foot placed on them.

The Entiat area has served up many memorable moments.

I once came across clouds of swallowtail butterflies visiting mud puddles in a road.

Another time I watched five branch-antlered bucks descend a steep slope at dawn.

I have also enjoyed watching beavers, as they cut down green branches of alder trees and ferry them to the family den.

I came across one ponderosa snag with four active nests. Two nest holes were occupied by pygmy nuthatches. The other species

Cute as a bug — this beetle was found on a thimbleberry flower.

away. Last spring I nearly stepped on a whole family of downy grouse chicks. The mother hen hissed at me while I fumbled for my camera — too slow to get off a picture.

I hope for a second chance in another year.

nesting were a pair of northern flickers and a pair of western bluebirds.

Under the forest canopy I have been startled by the sudden swoosh of owls flying by.

Fishermen talk about the big one that got

Specializing in: Photo of Rosalba Byrne, WVMC Rehab Patient

Stroke Rehabilitation

Occupational Therapy Physical Therapy Speech Pathology Family Involvement

Wenatchee Valley Hospital — CARF Accredited Rehabilitation Center —

For further program information or a tour, please contact Susan Howell, LICSW at (509) 663-8711, ext. 5983.

820 N. Chelan Avenue • wvmedical.com March 2011 | The Good Life

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Working in the woods — now that’s a dream job Zen and the art of trail maintenance

By Lief Carlsen

Have you ever wondered

what kind of job you would choose if you had no weighty economic liabilities: no mortgage, no car payments, no college tuition for your kids?

With clear title to my house and car and my children finished with college, such was my situation in the spring of 2010 when I read an announcement on our post office bulletin board that the Chelan Ranger District was looking to fill an opening on its trail maintenance crew.

I have always enjoyed the woods: the panoramic views from mountain tops, the vanilla smell of pine bark, the taste of clear mountain stream water.

Every year I take a couple of weeks to hoist a backpack and aimlessly wander through the mountains.

There is another side of me, too, that this job appealed to.

I like to build things, especially out of logs and stone.

Many times while hiking I have chanced upon rockslides comprised of exquisite building rock and toyed with the idea of building something for the fun of it — in the middle of the wilderness. Trail crew employment, I hoped, would marry my instincts and perhaps even legitimize my secret desire to build with wilderness stone.

In terms of salary, the position

was at the very bottom rung of the ladder. Seasonal work for the Forest Service depends heavily on a fresh supply of college students looking for summer work, so, at 60 years of age, I was not your typical applicant. Nevertheless, I was deemed worthy and promptly put to work.

My three co-workers were indeed young adults: Kristian, 28, a recent college graduate with a philosophy degree; Natalie, 20, a student of dance at Seattle’s Cornish College; and Halden, 30, a veteran Forest Service employee.

My age proved not to be an issue, although my young compatriots wondered what to expect when I showed up with a lawn chair strapped to my backpack on the first day. Answer: I like a real chair from which to enjoy the wilderness.

My strength and stamina were immediately put to the test on my first assignment. We climbed 3,000 feet in five miles on a hot summer day to our base camp on Devore Creek.

Our packs weighed in at 60 to 65 pounds and the overgrown trail only compounded an already thigh-burning hike.

I gained immediate respect for 115-pound Kristian who seemed to effortlessly carry the same weight pack as the one that was pushing my 175-pound body to the breaking point. Forest Service women are a breed apart.

Chelan Ranger District’s 200 miles of trails are unusual in

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that they are not accessible by car. Passage up Lake Chelan by boat is the only practical means of access.

This inaccessibility required that we stay out for 10 days at a time, which meant lots of camping. It also required that we carry 10 days’ food, which translates into 20 pounds — hence the 60-pound packs.

For the most part, trail work consists of cutting fallen logs from the trail (with hand saws), trimming trail-obscuring brush and annuals (ferns and nettles), and rehabilitating eroded tread (trail surface) — not exactly intellectually stimulating work.

Occasionally we were assigned to build or repair log bridges and build stone retaining walls — my kind of work.

But despite the repetitive nature of much of our work, surprisingly, I was rarely bored.

I really enjoyed the trail banter and the heated political/philosophical discussions around the campfire.

One evening, I wished out

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loud that it would be nice if someone played guitar to give a musical backdrop to the stillness of the woods. A volunteer worker named Katie promptly went to her tent and returned with a tiny guitar on which she played and sang with great passion. I videoed it: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=k8MClDT2YwE. I believe there was another, unspoken element that made this job engaging — pride. It isn’t any-old-body that can carry an enormous pack bristling with saws and Pulaskis (and in my case, a lawn chair) and disappear into the mountains for 10 days at a time and we knew it.

I must confess to a certain swagger each time we loaded our gear onto the Lady of the Lake and the other passengers gawked.

Once, when Halden and I, dusty and disheveled, were picked up by the Lady at the mouth of Prince Creek after clearing that trail, the passengers on the bow of the boat ac-

Lief works a log bridge and stone wall the crew built on the Railroad Creek Trail. The possibility of building with stone in the middle of the forest was one of the attractions of the Forest Service job for Lief.

Lief has fun on the job: He and Kristian Winston use a crosscut saw on a fallen tree at Hemlock Camp along Agnes Creek.

tually started applauding as we walked up the gangplank. You’d have thought we had just saved the world for democracy. Undeserved or not, I rather enjoyed the experience.

Public adulation and campfire singing were all fine, but in reality those things were peripheral.

I think for me and for the other members of the crew, the

essential draw of trail work is merely being in the mountains.

When I think back over the experience, the memory that most often comes to mind is hiking down the trail to start the morning’s work. I would positively revel in the sensory experience of it: the morning sun peeking over a distant mountain, the rushing water, the mother bear and her cub scampering up the hillside. The sights and sounds and smells seemed so immediate and sharp.

This sensory acuity was delightful but at the same time perplexing. Why did the world seem so different? It wasn’t until recently when I was watching

March 2011 | The Good Life

a show on Discovery Channel about marijuana use that I got my answer.

According to this program, marijuana produces in users an enhanced sensory experience that sounded uncannily like what I had experienced in the mountains. No, I had not been smoking dope. I had been on a 100 percent natural high!

So, am I going back next summer? Well, sort of. Mary (my wife) and I will be hiking the 2,660-mile Pacific Crest Trail.

Stay tuned.

Lief Carlsen lives in Chelan. When he isn’t writing, Lief earns spare cash building stone retaining walls as Rockman.

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WENATCHEE OUTDOORS

The middle-aged

marathoner She may not be speedy, but she’s a finisher Story and photos

by Andy Dappen

K

atie Pauly never thought of herself as a runner.

Her husband, Doug, competed in high school and their twin daughters, Skye and Chelan, were celebrated local runners during their school years.

Katie, however, most definitely was not a runner. Katie didn’t run short distances, she didn’t run long distances, and she didn’t run for fitness. She walked and was active, but she did not run.

At the ripe age of 48, with her family life changing as her girls neared high school graduation, something snapped. Rather than expressing mental instability by running around town with dangerous weaponry, she started running around Wenatchee simply for the sake of running

(an equally crazy, but socially acceptable, notion).

Eight months later, as a 49-year-old, Katie joined 20,000 other runners and, on Oct. 17, ran the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. Her time (6 hours, 20 minutes) didn’t turn the heads of the time-obsessed, but that wasn’t the point. Here was a woman who took up something new at an age where most people are making age-related excuses to avoid challenges and tackled a goal that even many life-long runners avoid.

Through the journey of training for and running a marathon, Katie determined she wasn’t a marathoner at heart, but she most definitely was a runner.

She loved the sport’s fitness rewards, its simplicity, the escape it offered, and the way it connected her to other runners.

We interviewed Katie about the journey in becoming a middle-aged marathoner. Much

of what she experienced will resonate with people who want to keep growing.

WenOut: How did this notion of taking on a marathon start?

Katie Pauly: Much of the motivation resulted from our

Pipes, Camera, Action!

DENNIS JAMES on pipe organ, accompanying two short silent comedies starring BUSTER KEATON

Sunday, March 27 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. at the

Wenatchee Valley Museum 127 S. Mission, Wenatchee | 888-6240 www.wvmcc.org

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family being in transition. The twins had finished high school and Chelan was going on a yearlong exchange (Peru) while Skye was starting college. I wanted something transitional for me — something with a consistency

Katie Pauly stretches and gives her beat-up feet a break.

I could commit to and that was totally for me.

This coincided with a flyer I saw announcing there was going

to be a Team in Training here in Wenatchee to prepare for the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. I had walked the San Diego Marathon in 2006 and was impressed with the Team in Training there. They were so exuberant and so encouraging.

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Being part of a team like that inspired me.

WenOut: What is Team in Training all about?

KP: From an organizational standpoint, it’s a group raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Everyone involved with a team raises money for the society.

From a runner’s point of view, however, they arrange for an experienced local coach for six months to train a group interested in preparing for a specific endurance event like a marathon, triathlon, or a century bike ride.

Our Wenatchee group training for the San Francisco event was tiny but, in total, 3,800 people from around the country ran the marathon with a Team in Training group.

We all gathered in a huge convention hall for a pasta feed the night before the marathon and it was inspiring to be with all the runners, most of whom hadn’t run a marathon. It was also inspiring that, collectively, those of us running this one marathon raised about $13 million for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

WenOut: Talk about the process of becoming a runner.

KP: For most of us who join a Team in Training, our goals had little to do with turning in a competitive time. We just wanted to be finishers.

For me, much of the draw was to put up a goal that seemed nearly impossible yet would

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After a month many people who were reluctant runners at the start find themselves missing it on those days when they can’t run. }}} Continued from previous page focus my energy on something that was completely new and totally for me.

Our training program had us running five times a week and the first two weeks were simply to get us to run for 30 minutes per session.

I’d only run that long a few times in my life, so it was a tremendous challenge to run that long five times in seven days.

I didn’t think I’d be able to do that but once I could, I realized I was a runner!

I got home and was proud to share this with the other runners in my family. Over the months ahead we added more and more time to our long runs.

I never got fast, but I perceived myself as a runner — I had experiences to share and a connection to everyone else who ran.

WenOut: Some people run for the love of running; others don’t like it that much but run for the health benefits or to stay

in shape for sports they do love.

What about you?

KP: I love the running itself.

It’s quieting to turn everything else off and reduce the world to simply putting one foot in front of the other.

Preparing for the marathon, I loved the training and allocating my energy to getting the training done. I loved the support coming from my coach, the others I trained with, and my family. And I loved connecting with other runners.

WenOut: Your girls and husband are serious runners. Did they train with you?

KP: Chelan ran with me once, but she could have walked faster. Still, the girls have been really proud of me and told their friends what I was doing.

They liked hearing where I ran, how it went, how I was feeling... It’s been a bonding thing to share this activity I previously just watched with the experts in my family Even our son, who is more of a ball player and dancer than a runner, kept track of my progress. He made me longer and longer play lists for my iPod as my distances increased. Everyone in the family has been supportive – partly because it’s made me so happy.

WenOut: We have lots of local trails to run. Was trail running part of the training mix?

KP: I ran up Saddle Rock a few times, used the Loop for nearly all of my long runs, and ran up Horse Lake Road once. For convenience, however, I mainly

Katie Pauly: The actual marathon was the least favorite part of the process.

ran familiar routes leaving from my house.

WenOut: How did the marathon itself treat you? Did it make you anxious for more?

KP: The marathon itself was my least favorite part of the process. I enjoyed certain aspects of it — it was exciting to run with 20,000 people and this was the culmination of all the training.

But the weather, especially at the end of the event, was raining and I was wet, cold and tired.

I also hurt my knee during the last third of the event. I was able to finish, but the injury has lingered and set me back from running for awhile. I’ll definitely continue to run but from my training runs I know that mile

16 or 17 is where it gets really hard for me and, perhaps, where it’s more likely to cause me harm.

For me, miles 7, 8 and 9 are where the running feels best.

There’s a sense of how fabulous it is to be out moving. I look forward to getting back to training and running those kinds of distances.

WenOut: Any advice for others who don’t perceive themselves as runners?

KP: To be a runner it simply takes the courage to start and the discipline to stay with it four or five times a week.

I would encourage newcomers to set a goal of running 30 minutes a day. After a few weeks, a person can add 10 minutes to their long run once a week and gradually build up to the level they want to maintain.

It’s common for people not to like running at first — expect that and simply commit to doing it for a few months before casting your verdict. After a month many people who were reluctant runners at the start find themselves missing it on those days when they can’t run.

Finally, focus on the amount of time you run, not the distance or speed you go.

WenOut: What were the biggest takeaways about this whole experience?

KP: First, there is the way I feel when I’m running versus the way I look when I am running. I keep the feeling of it in mind: I feel like a runner even though I know I’m moving in slow motion.

Second, the social side of running has been surprisingly satisfying — running has opened lots of social doors for me.

Finally, I found the training to be what I liked best. I guess life is often like that; it’s the process not the end product that really matters.

This story also appears on Wenatcheeoutdoors.org — the site covers such topics as hiking, biking, climbing, paddling, trail running and skiing in the region.

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A hero met... and met again Even President Ike thought mira slovak a hero in those crisp, clean days of yesteryear

By Steve Wellman

A

s a young man of 16, I had my first real job in 1966 pumping gas into airplanes and doing general maintenance at the Bellevue Airfield.

I rode my motorcycle to work every day and thought I had it made earning $1 an hour.

The Bellevue Airfield was to me a place of wonder. You’d come around the corner of one hangar to find a classic Piper Cub or another to reveal a Beechcraft Bonanza. Fabulous stuff. I pumped the clear green aviation fuel into all of them.

One hot summer afternoon in July, we had a special visitor land on our strip and taxi up near the office. The pilot of the shining white biplane had apparently been landing in cow pastures because there was manure on the underside of the

TOP: Mira Slovak was a well-known sight around the Northwest in his WWI biplane. BOTTOM: He also raced the Miss Wahoo — the hydro and other thunderboats made a visit to Lake Chelan last fall.

wings and fuselage.

There was no mistaking who the pilot was, he’d had his name emblazoned onto the side of the fuselage behind the cockpit: it read “Mira Slovak” in big letters.

His World War One biplane had been beautifully rebuilt with a much larger engine, and the afternoon sun gleamed on the gold leafed standing-lion-

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with-claws on the tail.

Mira was a real living hero who had escaped from communist occupied Czechoslovakia over the iron curtain to freedom in West Germany in a plane he had commandeered from the Czech airlines. Flying under 1,000 feet to avoid Russian MIG fighter planes, he escaped with his life to find freedom.

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He had come to America and had been given a certificate by President Dwight Eisenhower to become a commercial pilot.

From that point on, he flew planes for the Boeing family and had become the most successful unlimited hydroplane racer in the world.

This was huge for us in Wash-

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I felt the sweat start to trickle down my forehead in the early morning sun. The cold aluminum of the propeller’s edge felt like the machete it was — just waiting to loosen my fingers from the stumps of my hands if it got half the chance. }}} Continued from previous page ington State, watching him win races in Seattle, the Tri Cities, Spokane and Chelan.

My boss had greeted him upon landing like the celebrity he was, and after the other gas attendant and I washed his plane — including cleaning off the manure — we stored it for him overnight in the big hangar.

He was my first customer the next morning when he came storming into our parking spaces by slamming on the brakes of his convertible and spitting gravel to a stop. I stood on the office steps in amazement as he leapt from the seat and said he wanted his plane to go flying.

I grabbed the keys and ran to unlock the hangar doors.

We got it out on the apron and he came around the front and told me that I needed to “prop” it for him, as it didn’t have a starter motor. My boss had forbid me to prop any aircraft on the premises because it was so dangerous. But I didn’t say anything to Mr. Slovak — his tone and demeanor left no doubt that I was going to do it.

He pulled the prop around to the compression stroke and told me to pull down hard on it after he got in the cockpit and gave me the signal. I felt the sweat start to trickle down my forehead in the early morning sun.

The cold aluminum of the propeller’s edge felt like the machete it was — just waiting to loosen my fingers from the stumps of my hands if it got half the chance.

Normally, propping a plane was not a big deal if you were experienced and sufficiently big enough to reach up and grab it.

I had no experience at all and although I am now full grown to 5-foot, 11-inches and 180 pounds, at that time I was 5-foot, 3-inches and weighed 98 pounds.

He got comfortably set behind the controls, looked over the side and said, “Hit it.” I pulled with all the gumption I could muster and the prop started to spin downward. Unfortunately it stopped completely at the bottom of the stroke. I had pulled myself away from the spinning menace in case it came around to take my head off, but I was as

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surprised as Mr. Slovak that a quarter turn was all it did.

I couldn’t see his face as he got back out of his plane and came around to the front, but I’m sure he was as surprised as I was to see that the propeller had circled downward only a quarter of a turn and was resting in the vertical position. He seemed to take it in stride and simply pulled the prop back around to horizontal.

When he again gave me the nod from the pilot’s seat, I pulled even harder. At that point I had visions of his mighty engine roaring to life with the sound of a thousand angry bees, the prop spinning so fast it disappeared in a swirling streak of painted color and flashing light, a wave from the brave pilot in his tight leather helmet and goggles, the takeoff, flight!

Instead, there was dead silence. The propeller had spun down to vertical again and stopped. I looked on in mute denial; I couldn’t believe what I beheld. Meantime there was no movement from the cockpit.

I looked around the fuselage to see a man looking around with a searching gaze. I realized Mr. Slovak was looking for somebody, anybody, that is, except me. In 1966 Bellevue was a shadow of its current teeming mass and on that early Sunday morning in summer, people were at home sleeping or getting ready to go to church. In short, there was nobody else.

Mira got out of the cockpit, came around the wing and began a ritual that would repeat itself for the next 20 minutes. For me, time had slowed practically to a halt. I was wet with sweat by then, I felt like I had been pulling on that damn prop for a week. Every time was the same thing: I’d pull down, he’d get out and turn the prop to horizontal get back in and nod to me.

And then, a miracle.

The engine sputtered to life on the next pull and, not to lose the opportunity, Mira pushed the throttle and spun the prop up to

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several thousand RPMs. The plane started moving forward. I ran after and watched as it turned onto the runway and accelerated. Within 20 or 30 feet it was airborne, rose to about 20 feet off the ground and headed straight for the end of the runway.

Suddenly, it rocketed straight up and pulled back on itself, like it would flop backward on its top. Before it did, it pivoted back to right side up and headed back down the runway the other way!

There was a reason he painted his name upside down on the fuselage and that was so you could still read his name when he flew upside down. I stood by agape, looking up as Mira Slovak put on my own private air show, replete with loops, barrel rolls, upside down flying and all the rest.

I couldn’t believe my luck. The show lasted for 20 minutes but it lives on in my mind for a lifetime. He finally flew away to the north and out of my life.

MEETING MIRA SLOVAK AGAIN

Last Oct. 2, the day after my 61st birthday, I took my family to Lake Chelan to the wooden boat show.

I ran ahead down to the docks and started looking for the original Gar Wood cigarette boat that was supposed to be there. I found it and began looking it over carefully when a sound that I hadn’t heard in a long time dragged my attention to an adjacent part of the marina where an Allison V12 engine had just cranked to life.

Memories of summer days in Seattle at the Seafair hydroplane races flooded my head.

They’re called thunderboats for a reason, and that is because the exhaust stacks on an Allison or Rolls Royce Merlin are very short. When the engines are being started they regularly belch two-foot long flames straight out of the combustion chambers.

Once started, the 12-cylinder

I was tingling all over and prevented myself from falling into the cold water of Lake Chelan only by planting my feet wide right next to the Miss Wahoo. roar is as smooth as it is deafening.

I jumped for joy and ran down the dock and over to the hydro pits. To my amazement I saw the Miss Thriftway, the Miss Burien, the Oh Boy Oberto and the Miss Wahoo tied to the docks. I was tingling all over and prevented myself from falling into the cold water of Lake Chelan only by planting my feet wide right next to the Miss Wahoo.

It is far and away the most beautiful example in the fleet.

Its shining mahogany deck is a work of art in every sense of the word. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I perused every square inch and came to a screeching halt when I got to two words written in gold just behind the driver’s seat. There it was written: Mira Slovak.

Of course! Mr. and Mrs. Boeing built the Miss Wahoo for Mira Slovak. I immediately went up the dock to the shore to ask someone who looked official if

Steve Wellman and his hero: Mira Slovak.

he might actually be there.

On the way I began calculating just how long ago it was that my adventure at the Bellevue Airfield had happened: 44 years.

Good God, how old would that make Mira?

A pleasant, official looking guy, busily going about his duties on shore immediately informed me that Mira Slovak had been there and had earlier taken the Miss Wahoo out on the course. When I asked Mira’s age, he said 85.

But, he said Mira had left a little earlier and it was doubtful he’d be back. I was crestfallen.

My big chance to meet again one of the heroes of my life had been snatched away from me.

He went on talking about Mira and what a real character he was and then stopped. He pointed right behind us and said, “I was wrong, he didn’t leave. He’s right over there.” Twenty feet away.

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For the second time being in the vicinity of Mira Slovak caused life to slow down for me.

I walked over where he was talking to another admirer and I quietly waited my turn. It felt a little like a dream state, unreality mixing with the thoughts of years past in my mind.

He turned to me and I introduced myself and shook his hand. He still had a full head of hair but it was snow white, contrasting with the deep tan of a man used to being in the elements.

And he was now shorter than me, a fact that brought on a further sense of unreality when I had always looked up to him as a giant of a man.

I related the story of propping his original biplane 44 years earlier. We had a lively discussion about that plane and he said that he sold it but since then had bought another identical plane.

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He liked it very much but this time had a starter installed in it.

I had to laugh.

He told me stories of flying that old plane and had once landed it on a street because he was lost on a densely foggy day. That time a policeman had helped start his engine.

When I asked if he had been a little frustrated with me for taking so long to start his plane and he said no, he would never be anything but grateful to anyone who helped him start his difficult engine.

Standing together in front of the Oh Boy Oberto, I had my picture taken with him.

I no longer was in a dream, this was real. I couldn’t believe my luck.

Steve Wellman is a high school art teacher who lives in Wenatchee with his wife, Crystal, the kids are in college and moved away. His current passions are painting motorcycles and road racing them, but he now wants to learn how to drive an unlimited hydro.

If you want to be a star, visit sister city Misawa

By Pauline Sweeney

On my first evening of our

visit to Misawa, Wenatchee’s sister city in Japan, I found myself dressed in a traditional Kimono, eating with chopsticks and savoring new friends.

Cameras flashed throughout the evening of the Misawa Sister City Association Welcoming Dinner. We were interviewed by local newspapers and TV stations. The following morning, we were front page news and on many news and cultural broadcasts.

I felt very much the celebrity.

Wenatchee Valley – Misawa Sister City Association is more than a 20-year-old friendship between the cities of East Wenatchee and Wenatchee with

Misawa and is an outgrowth of the historic 1931 First TransPacific Flight.

The historic flight originated in Misawa, Japan and terminating at Fancher Heights in Douglas County, just above East Wenatchee. Our airport is named for the pilot, Clyde Pangborn, who flew Miss Veedol across the Pacific.

As representatives of our valley, my husband, John, and I traveled with a group of 24 anxious ninth grade students and adults for the annual visit to Misawa last August. We resided in host homes and shared their lives for five days, while attending numerous social and cultural functions and participated in local civic parades.

We first arrived in Tokyo where we spent two nights at

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Pauline and John Sweeney — dressing and eating in the tradition of the locals.

the International Youth Hostel.

I felt like a kid again, sharing a room with four women while John bunked down with the guys. Just like summer camp, there were new people to meet and new experiences to share.

Sightseeing in Tokyo moved from the ultra modern business and residential centers to the centuries old in little more than a turn around a corner. The Imperial Palace with it gardens and moat, the Shinto and Buddhist Shrines, the modern buildings all reside in an easy harmony.

Food was truly an experience.

The Japanese diet is health, hearty and artistically satisfying. English utensils are generally available, but that is not the Japanese experience.

The food selections are as varied as the time of day they are served. Salad is a breakfast staple as well as corn and other vegetables. And yes, eating corn kernels with chopsticks is an adventure unto itself.

The evening meal is just that, an evening meal and usually lasts much longer than in the United States. This is the time for family, friends and socializing.

On our third day, the Japanese Rail Line whisked us to Misawa in modern comfort. Consider the sensation of traveling at 140

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mph on a train and only realizing your speed if you look out a window. The train to Misawa took us north through numerous small towns and abundant farm fields.

Misawa is very much like our valley in size. It is farm-based and filled with wonderful and friendly people.

About 30 minutes from Misawa, our train trip ended and we transferred to a bus and headed to the Misawa Cultural Center.

There, we were greeted by the Misawa City Staff, Sister City Association delegates, who were our host families and members of the Misawa community.

As we walked off the bus, I started to feel like a famous celebrity. There was a large crowd of people waving and smiling at us.

As we entered the Misawa Cultural Center Rotunda, we were greeted by young children who treated us to a performance of Japanese Taiko drums. I could not stop smiling as I watched these young children, about 6 – 7 years of age, perform for us.

After a few speeches and many more pictures, we met our host family.

When we arrived at our host’s home, the ritual of the shoes began.

Outside shoes remain at the

A family cheers for the Wenatchee Misawa contingent in a parade.

Pacific Ocean 79 years ago.

Then we were off to the nearby Joint American-Japanese Air Force base. The U. S. Base Commander and his airmen put on an amazing flight and static display of aviation weaponry.

The evening concluded with our youth delegates taking part in the Community Festival of Drums Parade.

Each year in August, the Wenatchee Valley – Misawa Sister City Association sends a group of representatives to Misawa. During our Apple Blossom and Wings and Wheels festivals, Misawa sends representatives to the Wenatchee Valley.

Anyone interested in hosting a delegate from Japan or traveling to Japan as a delegate of the Wenatchee Valley can find information and applications at www.wenatcheevalleymisawa. org or by calling Teresa Allen at 886-6102.

Pauline Sweeney works at the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center and her husband, John, is retired from the U.S. Navy.

Side trips for sightseeing included visiting historic temples.

entry. Indoor slippers are worn in all rooms with bare floors.

White socks are a requirement rather than bare feet when slippers are not worn.

The tatami mat floor coverings are very expensive and hard to replace. The toilet requires toilet slippers. Toilet slippers are waiting just outside the water closet door. The Japanese home is fastidiously clean and the rules of use are based on common sense.

Our accommodations consisted of a sleeping room with an attached sitting room furnished with a large, low table and pillows for day use. Our beds were futons with buckwheat pillows.

These were amazingly comfort-

able as we were exhausted after a full day of events and adventure.

Each evening was spent in cultural immersion with some social event. We received instruction in Koto, the haunting string musical instrument; made sushi, donned kimonos, and were treated to a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony.

Our next day included a tour of the Miss Veedol Exhibit and Science & Aviation Center, which has a replica of the Miss Veedol built by an East Wenatchee company. We then visited Sabishiro Beach, the site of Miss Veedol’s takeoff for the first nonstop flight across the March 2011 | The Good Life

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The final architectural design the Lorangers chose evokes an Old World look with gables, paned windows , stone siding and half timbers.

A HOME OF MANY INSPIRATI0NS GROUNDED IN the Old World, designed in Tulsa and given a Wenatchee perspective

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Story by Susan Lagsdin Photos by Donna Cassidy

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here Maiden Lane moves past traffic and commerce, quietly curving up close to the grassy foothills, those coveted

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lots that terrace northwest Wenatchee haven’t seen much upscale homebuilding these past few years.

But Wayne and Carol Loranger, the owners of Premier One Realty, know their neighborhoods, so they carefully

LEFT: With its wide granite countertop abutting the great room, the open kitchen evokes the warmth and traditional styling of the rest of the home.

BELOW: This gracious gallery walk from entry to high-ceilinged great room epitomizes what the Lorangers sought in the “cottage” design.

bided their time in a smaller place, and then confidentially made their move to a new home they’ve partially redesigned and wholly decorated. Their perspective on the process is fresh: at the time this story was written, they had been in the house for

only six weeks.

Jack Arnold, a Tulsa architect the Lorangers admire, inspired them over the past six years with portfolios of pre-drawn home designs, from which they picked a “cottage plan.”

With their builder’s creativity

and their own décor choices, it evolved into 3,200 square feet and something “more like French Provincial,” Carol admitted, “but it definitely has that ‘Old World’ look and feel we were after.”

The homebuilding process was

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full of choices, decisions and tradeoffs, but the final effect makes the whole long year look easy.

Winter of 2009 was unusually warm, so Helton Builders broke ground then, taking the full 12

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Many inspirations }}} Continued from previous page months they’d promised. Carol said, “Sometimes we would be so tired of the project… then we would visit the site, and something significant would have been built or installed, and we were in love with it again.”

The only major problem was subterranean. Tulsa building codes assume tornadoes, so big basements are standard. The Lorangers had opted for a small cellar with a simple crawl space, but then excavators were stymied by the discovery of landfill, the removal of which required — yes — a 2,200-square-foot full basement to meet our local code.

The extra space has been used well, however, most notably for Wayne’s metal working shop. There he replicates and embellishes some of the home’s purchased hardware like fences, finials, curtain rods and sconces, and custom welds his own art pieces.

A (real wood) fireplace warms the master suite; decorative ironwork on the fire screen echoes the Wayne’s obelisk graces the Wenatchee canopy and drapery rods.

High School courtyard, and he’s well-known for his prolific production of gates, from the whimsical to the manorial, most of which have been donated to benefit others. He’s proud to have plumped the pockets of his favorite charities through silent auction gate bids from $125 to $1,200.

Carol is a visual artist, and her notebooks are jam packed with photos, swatches and catalogue pages — which ensured that every room’s fabrics, furnishings, fixtures, walls and floors add to the composition. She used her painting experience well. A London paint purveyor shipped gallons of a creamy white Carol could not find elsewhere; Ralph Lauren’s “bronze statue” color burnishes the plaster-like walls of the master suite.

She also learned to compromise deftly: slightly darker counters balance out Travertine marble tiles which, when unboxed, were more dramatically striated than the samples. Dismay at Wayne’s decorative wrought iron work transformed this originally simple metal sink pedestal losing a longed-for wall sconce (the into a lyrical component of the guest bathroom. lighting didn’t work for the bed placement) meant the perfect landscape Coordinated color, signature curved archways, painting could take its place. and oak plank flooring in this hallway view show Carol’s careful attention to detail.

Some atypical architectural features Wayne’s pleased with the reaction. “It (considered Jack Arnold signatures) makes sense to enter the house modestly add interest. The entry is human scale, with doors, the other opening first onto a dining and then have it open up — it makes the low ceilings rather than a vaulted tower. area, then the kitchen. The scale is refined, great room seem even bigger.” That space as Guests turn from the foyer and stroll down inviting. Then, the great room shows itself in well as the sensibly-sized bedrooms features a narrow gallery, one side a wall of French high-ceilinged splendor — a visual surprise. dark beams (real but non-load bearing) on

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Across the lawn from the main house is an outdoor pavilion that gets more useful, and cozier, with every new idea Carol brings to it.

trapezoidal coved ceilings.

One structure that Carol and Wayne designed and built outside the Arnold plan has proven to be the best big choice they made: a full-size covered outdoor space on a corner of their lawn, a short stroll on pavers from the long west-facing veranda.

“We’ve already had four big dinner parties here — Wayne doesn’t mind tending the barbecue if he can warm up by the fire!” said Carol. It’s a perfect place to gather in any weather.

A fireplace, and cooking and seating areas (maybe later a TV and kitchen plumbing) make the two-walled structure cozy and provide both a natural windbreak and appreciated shade in the summer.

The most open views from the house, from bedroom, gallery and veranda, look westward straight on to a mural-like swath of steep hillside across the ravine, where deer herds traverse the slope and the four seasons of the year are perfectly painted on grass and shrub. The style may be cottage and French and Old World, but the view is pure

Wenatchee: stark and subtle.

The Lorangers chose their building lot, their architect, and their builders well.

Similar to this stairway railing for the exterior basement, perimeter fencing of multiple metal panels benefitted from Wayne’s welding skill.

And they are realistic about the process. Reflected Carol: “If we ever build again we’ll remind ourselves of how long it takes

from design to final construction… but at this point we love everything about it!”

NCW Home Professionals

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>>

good STUFF // Ideas for the home

PLANTS TO LIVE BY

Kelsey Walter stands in front of a Kentia palm, grown in Hawaii.

In an area that boasts of 300 days of sunshine a year, what’s the need for an indoor plant store?

“You spend most of your time at home indoors,” explained Kelsey Walter, who with her husband, Kyle, owns Indoor Tropics in Cashmere. “Plants and humans are harmonious… plants remove toxic substances from the air and give off oxygen, providing your lungs with fresh air.”

Besides, it’s fun to grow not only decorative plants indoors, but fresh herbs and greenery that can go from the container to your plate in minutes.

“When you grow your own food for the table, it gives a whole new meaning to locally-grown,” agreed Kyle.

Kelsey worked in childcare and with mentallyhandicapped adults. Finding those jobs to be both dead-end and stressful, she found a job in plant care while the couple was living in Bellingham where they each graduated from Western. After returning to this area — Kelsey was raised in Entiat, Kyle in Mighty Wash is an unusual and Manson — they started Indoor Tropics. safe to humans anti-pest prodNow, she finds work to be a breath of fresh air. uct that uses water with an adjusted frequency to target For more information, visit www.IndoorTropics. spider mites. com.

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| AT HOME WITH The Good Life

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| March 2011

Indoor Tropics sells grow systems from small window-sill planters with a grow light to grow labs, which are indoor greenhouses as big as a closet that can be totally self-contained and water-proof, yet create an environment where light and darkness can be controlled so plants grow, bud and then produce fruit as if they were in Mother Nature’s garden.

A tropical variety of the Yucca awaits delivery.

March 2011 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life

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Voice of experience

As winter doldrums fade, it’s time to rethink look of your home

By Candice Henderson

N

ow that the hectic pace of the holidays is over and you are spending more time inside, do you find yourself tired of looking at the same things, or colors, in the same places?

We all just get used to seeing the same things in our living space and get numb to them.

Sometimes, it is a good idea to have a second pair of eyes to take a look because they can be more objective and less emotional about items they see.

I have talked to clients more

Candice Henderson has been an interior designer in the area for eight years and specializes in personalized interiors for commercial and residential spaces. To learn more visit warmele.com.

than once who have a print hanging on the wall that was given to them that they don’t like at all and it’s been there for years. If you must keep something you don’t love, put it in a

location where you don’t have to see it often, or where it could get mysteriously lost.

NCW Home Professionals

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Really think about what your rooms are used for. Do you think everything in the room has a purpose and can you navigate well in the room?

One thing I see often is a small space with too much stuff.

We try to put in large-scale furniture and too many chairs or tables. Then we wonder why we don’t feel relaxed in a room.

If you have a large area to work with, adding separate groupings of furniture or art can make the room feel cozy. Just think about what activities you would like to use the room for.

Area rugs are a great way to separate different areas in a room and make it feel smaller and cozier.

Paint is a wonderful thing.

It’s quick and one of the most inexpensive ways to give a room a new look and feel. I have heard many clients say, “I can’t believe how this room has changed” just from painting a great color on the walls.

Unless you like a really contemporary, cool feel in your room, or want to bring warmth with textured and soft décor,

Bright, clear blues and greens that remind of us of the forest floor will be out there. Combination trends include rosy pinks with carbon, lavender with brown, and pale green with camel.

As the new year begins, try to get yourself inspired to update, or change the things you do not like, the space you spend your time in each day.

It truly will have an effect on your senses each time you see it.

Start your plan today.

Before (top) and after (at left): Changes included encasing the fireplace with a new molding, adding two large scale mirrors, replacing the sofa with four updated chairs to make the room look larger, adding a geometric area rug and new lamps, changing the window panels to a floral pattern and adding new end tables with dark wood. With the new paint color on the walls, the room is warmed up without going to a major expense.

You usually have at least three favorite colors you wear all the time... If you use this for a guide for choosing colors (for your home), you will never go wrong saturated paint colors can give you a warm fuzzy feeling when you walk in. If it’s been 20 years since you painted, you will think you are in a new home (or office).

We all have colors we have loved since we were young, but as we get older, our preferences may change a little. Try to identify these new preferences.

Sometimes I will ask clients what colors, styles and patterns of clothing they have in their closet. You usually have at least three favorite colors you wear all the time. If you have ever bought clothing just because it

was on sale or was given to you and you are not wearing it, it is usually because it was not one of the above. If you use this for a guide for choosing colors, you will never go wrong.

Separate spaces and focal walls (where your eye goes or a main functioning wall) are good locations for accent paint colors but be careful where you begin and end the color. Accent colors make a big impact.

Other ideas for changing your space are: n Work with what you already have — change fabrics or put a new trim on. n Choose a new accent color or combination of two colors to bring into your space — this can be done by adding new pillows, area rugs, window treatments, throws, or wall art. n Replace or add light fixtures — if your fixtures are outdated get new ones, choosing a new finish or style. The lighting available is like art. Bronze and brushed nickel always look nice.

Floor and table lamps can bring in accent colors. n Replace window treatments (panels, valances, cornices and blinds) —there are a lot more options available, such as wood and woven woods. Roller blind styles have changed and have a

lot to offer. All of these can add texture and warmth. n Add or replace decorative mirrors — if you have mirrors already in a room and they are older, think about replacing them. If you do not have any, get some. The mirrors out now are like art. The bigger the mirror, the better, unless you have a very small space. Again, look for the molding style and color that are your style.

You need to determine your budget, style, patterns and color palette before you get started.

If you have more than one person living in a space, it is a good idea to rate in order of importance from 1 -10 the things you would like to change or buy.

If he rates something a 3 and she rates it an 8, he should be willing to give up the fight.

I have used this rating a few times when dealing with multiple people in a home or office.

Each person has at least two styles and color palettes they like so it is good to negotiate.

Some of the new trends for 2011 for color represent fire and passion. We are ready for a new direction with new energy.

Berry, magenta, purple blue, fire orange, saffron and cinnamon are paired with brown, bronze, charcoal and smoke.

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>>

column ALEX ON WINE

ALEX SALIBY

Raise a glass of Cab Franc to Ernest H. My first acquaintance with

France’s Loire Valley and its wines came from my interest in literature.

I’m an Ernest Hemingway fan, having started reading his works when I was a high school student. Hemingway pronounced the Loire’s Sancerre wine the only beverage he’d choose to enjoy with his raw oysters.

I took the message to heart.

One afternoon I entered a bar on NYC’s Avenue of Americas (aka Sixth Avenue) in the Greenwich Village district. My friend and I were hungry. We were not looking for oysters, raw or otherwise, but they were on the menu.

I was underage for ordering an alcoholic beverage, but I was armed with a bulletproof fake ID one of my other friends had made for me in his printing class, so I ordered both the oysters and the glass of Sancerre. I wasn’t carded. Whew.

Mind you, I’d not a clue what a Sancerre was. I only knew my idol endorsed it with this particular plate of ocean stuff.

The bartender, probably amused by both of us in our attempts to appear worldly and grown-up, was quick to inform us he had no Sancerre, but as it

was oysters we were about to enjoy, he recommended the white wine available by the glass. We accepted.

We ordered one half-dozen oysters on the half-shell with a Tabasco sauce kicker and two glasses of white wine, and thought we were in heaven.

The wine was almost drinkable, and in truth we both did finish the wine, but the oysters?

What can I say? I gagged and nearly vomited on the first but managed to swallow it after chewing. I ended up spitting the second one out into a napkin in utter disgust.

Was this why Hemingway needed the wine? It is why I did.

I still dislike raw oysters; it’s not the taste but the texture.

But I do love a good Sancerre, now that I know what it is and how it tastes. And I know what I like to eat when I drink one.

Funny thing about that glass of wine in my youth: if memory serves me at all, I am pretty sure I was drinking some pretty bad Taylor of New York jug wine.

“But,” you ask, “What does all this sordid history of my misspent youth have to do with the Loire Valley and Washington wines?”

Just this: the Loire region is famous the world over for one

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red wine, Cabernet Franc.

Cabernet Franc is a grape that survives cold winters better than Cabernet Sauvignon, so it can grow into its own beauty here in Washington.

I’m not alone with that opinion. The wine writer in the LA Times, in an article published in 2007, proclaimed Washington the most ideal place in the world for growing this grape.

The article also has the writer’s opinion upheld by several of Washington’s top winemakers.

Mind you, Cab Franc is widely grown in districts around the world. But in those other locations, the grape plays a role principally as a blending element.

The grape, for example, plays a minor role in the renowned Chateau Petrus. Petrus is 95 percent estate Merlot and 5 percent estate Cabernet Franc, and the current vintage sells for $1,400 a bottle.

Cabernet Franc has a distinct flavor profile that makes it a quality grape to blend into the typical Bordeaux-styled red wines. It is both fruitier and at the same time a bit more herbal — almost vegetative — than Cabernet Sauvignon, and is lighter in color and has softer tannins than Cab Sauv.

But it offers spicy aromas, with blueberries and violets on the nose, and secondary aromas of plums. Those are flavor and aroma profiles that make it a favorite wine in California for blending into the Meritage wines of Napa Valley.

Here in Washington, Cabernet Franc has proven to be worthy of more than just a wine to be blended in to Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. In Washington, for many wineries, the wine stands alone in the bottle. And those stand-alone wines have

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been garnering medals and awards in a host of national and state competitions.

If you’re a Cabernet Franc fan you already know this, but for those of you new to the grape as a single varietal you’re in luck.

You live in an area rich in examples of the quality wines this grape is capable of yielding.

Here’s a partial list of what is available here at home: Benson Vineyards, Manson Eagle Creek Winery, Leavenworth Fielding Hills Winery, East Wenatchee Hard Row to Hoe Vineyards, Manson Icicle Ridge Winery, Peshastin La Toscana Winery, Cashmere/Peshastin Napeequa Vineyards, Plain Stemilt Creek Winery, Wenatchee/Malaga Vin du Lac Winery, Chelan Wedge Mountain Winery, Peshastin All these local wineries offer a Cabernet Franc wine at their wineries. Some of the wines are blended with wines from other grapes, but all contain at least 75 percent Cabernet Franc.

I do have a personal favorite on the list but do not want to prejudice you against any of these fine wines. Let your own taste be your guide.

And to underscore my enjoyment of all these wines, I will say that we’re missing the Cab Franc from only one of these wineries in our cellar — an omission soon to be remedied.

Alex Saliby is a wine lover who spends far too much time reading about the grapes, the process of making wine and the wines themselves.

He can be contacted at alex39@msn. com.

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column moving up to the good life

june darling

Poor assumptions are mother of screw-ups U

nchecked assumptions are often the mother of miscommunications, upsetting emotions and major mishaps — not to mention bad for your health (or, as Steven Seagal said, “Assumptions are the mother of all screw-ups,” or something like that).

Here’s an illustrative scenario you may have heard.

Driving along at a pleasant speed along a windy narrow country road in his open-topped car, a man enjoyed the breeze sliding past his face. His engine purred low enough for him to hear birds chirping merrily from their perches in the leaves of the overgrown hedges.

Another driver zooming headlong around a curve on the same country lane was swerving wildly across the center line, perhaps intent on getting to her destination quickly.

As they approached each other, the man only just managed to see the woman in time, stepped on his brakes and narrowly avoided her.

She turned to face him and shouted, “PIG!” Immediately, he retorted, (cleverly, he thought), “COW!” He accelerated quickly around the corner — and crashed into the pig.

Oops!

If we were able to see around all the bends of our lives, we might be shocked at how many mistaken negative interpretations we have made particularly about others’ intentions and the meaning of their behavior.

If we courageously and objectively examined our misunderstandings, we might also see how our misperceptions have negatively affected many of our outcomes, especially in the rela-

tionship arena.

Here’s another scenario. It’s 6:15. Dinner is served at 6 p.m.

No husband, no call. What assumptions do I make? He’s been in an accident? He’s had an emergency? He’s an inconsiderate jerk?

It’s no use telling me to make no assumption. Human beings are meaning-makers. We don’t see a bunch of stars, we see constellations. We notice certain pieces of data and weave them together in a way that makes sense to us.

We create hypotheses and theories and stories that can be useful if they’ve been checked out. Unfortunately, we’re not very good at checking out our stories (even trained scientists have trouble doing this well).

Why don’t we do a better job of checking out our stories?

First, because we are pretty sure we’re right, so we don’t even bother. Second, even if we did have some doubt about our interpretation, our human tendency is to look for evidence that confirms our theory; we rarely try to prove ourselves wrong.

Third, we’ve been interpreting the world in our own way all our lives, so we often don’t realize what we’ve done until …well, until we run into a pig.

It is worth it to become more skilled at checking out our stories. Misinterpretations can cause us a lot of grief. We can stress ourselves out, waste our time, damage trust, lower our self-confidence and lose relationships because of inaccurate conclusions.

How can we catch and check our assumptions if they are part of being human and operate almost invisibly?

Here’s what gives negative assumptions away. Emotions. Not March 2011 | The Good Life

the ones we like.

If I’m angry, sad, or fearful because my husband isn’t home for dinner, then I’ve made some sort of negative assumption; I’ve told myself a negative story.

Once I feel my emotion and notice the negative assumption that preceded it, I can either begin to check it out or decide to make a more positive assumption.

If I want to lower my blood pressure quickly, I can pick up the phone and call. If I choose to make a more positive assumption then I begin thinking about all the understandable and benign reasons a person might be late and unable to call.

When I begin to think about all the acceptable reasons a person might be late and unable to call, then I’m starting to make what communication experts call “generous assumptions.”

Generous assumptions are good for us in several ways.

In addition to being good for our relationships, generous assumptions are also good for our health and our general wellbeing.

Biologist and neuroscientist, Dr. Robert Sapolsky, in Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, writes that changing how we perceive others and our world dramati-

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cally alters our likelihood of getting certain diseases.

Because of the payoff he’s received after his conversion from making negative assumptions to making generous assumptions, my husband nudged me to write this article.

He maintains this switch in thinking is one of the best transformations he’s made to alter his happiness and effectiveness.

For one thing he now begins his work calmly because he’s felt less necessity to give impolite hand gestures to his fellow drivers on his way to the office.

I can vouch for a happier hearth. (Now that he’s stopped hitting pigs, our auto insurance premiums are a lot lower, too).

How might you move up to The Good Life by noticing your stories, checking out your assumptions, and making more positive interpretations?

June Darling, Ph.D., is an executive coach who consults with businesses and individuals to achieve goals and increase happiness. She can be reached at drjunedarling@aol.com, or drjunedarling.blogspot.com or at her twitter address: twitter.com/ drjunedarling. Her website is www. summitgroupresources.com.

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column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR

jim brown, m.d.

The A, B, C’s of hepatitis & prevention ideas

One of the most complex

and the largest organ in the human body is the liver.

Our liver stores energy in the form of sugar (glucose) and iron, vitamins and minerals. The liver makes proteins including our blood clotting factors, and processes our red blood cells as they die and are replaced by new red cells made in our bone marrow.

It makes bile, which is essential in our digestion of fats and the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Our livers metabolize many of our medications as well as the alcohol we drink, plus it kills many of the germs that enter our body through our gut.

Hepatitis is an inflammatory condition that damages the cells

of the liver, thus interfering with their normal functioning.

There are many different causes of hepatitis, which are divided into infectious and noninfectious.

The non-infectious causes cannot be transmitted from one person to the next. Noninfectious causes include alcohol, toxins, industrial chemicals, some medications, plus some metabolic diseases, autoimmune disease and obesity itself, which can cause a form of hepatitis due to the excessive accumulation of fat in the liver.

Acute liver damage may resolve without residual effects, but often these illnesses develop into chronic liver damage. The end result may be permanent damage to the liver.

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There are many viruses that can attack our livers, but the most common, and the ones I want to focus on, are the viruses known as A, B and C, which cause infectious hepatitis. There also are hepatitis D, E, and G viruses, but they are currently not as prevalent in the USA. When I was a sophomore in medical school, I developed hepatitis and was hospitalized for two weeks. It was thought that I had the type of hepatitis caused by the same virus that causes infectious mononucleosis, but specific tests for the different viruses had not been developed at that time.

What I remember most was how sick I felt, and like most medical students when ill, I was convinced I was dying. It took months for me to fully recover my strength.

Hepatitis A is a very infectious type of acute hepatitis that has a sudden onset, typically with jaundice (a yellow discoloration of the skin), fever, nausea and vomiting. There is no specific treatment for this disease other than rest. Fortunately this disease generally resolves completely and is not associated with chronic disease.

Death from liver failure is very rare in hepatitis A. The hepatitis A virus enters the body through the mouth. It is expelled in the feces and is passed from person to person by infected people who failed to wash their hands after going to the toilet. This is of particular concern for people preparing food.

Hepatitis B may start as an acute hepatitis and become a chronic disease. In the USA about 1.5 million persons have hepatitis B and worldwide 400 million have it. It is a serious worldwide disease and a major

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cause of liver cancer.

When I volunteered in the late 1980s to teach GI endoscopy at a large hospital in Chiang Mai, Thailand, I saw more cases of liver cancer due to hepatitis B than I might see in a decade in the USA. Hepatitis B is very common in Asia and is often passed to infants during childbirth by their infected moms.

Hepatitis B is most easily spread through infected bodily fluids that come in contact with the recipient’s bodily fluids or blood. The most common way this occurs is through sharing of needles and syringes with someone infected, so it is common in drugs addicts.

It is also spread through sexual contact and the birthing process.

Hepatitis B virus can be acquired through blood transfusion, but since 1992 all blood has been screened for hepatitis A, B and C before a transfusion is given. These tests were not available until the last 20 years.

Hepatitis C virus accounts for 60 to 70 percent of cases of chronic hepatitis in this country.

It has been called the “silent” infection since most patients have no symptoms when it is discovered, usually through blood tests during a routine physical examination.

Hepatitis C is acquired by blood-to-blood contact. It is the leading case of cirrhosis or severe scarring of the liver and of liver cancer in this country.

The most common causes are by injection, including shared needles and syringes, blood transfusions before 1992, kidney dialysis, needle sticks, tattoos, body piercing and acupuncture.

Avoiding hepatitis It can be transmitted through high-risk sexual activity with multiple partners as well as fetal childbirth transmission. Since hepatitis C is without symptoms, this virus has been doing its damage to liver cells for perhaps 20 or more years before it is diagnosed.

The good news is that hepatitis A and B can now be prevented by vaccination, which is safe and relatively inexpensive. The center for disease control recommends that all infants should be vaccinated for hepatitis A at age 1 year and that all children at birth be vaccinated for hepatitis B. All people at risk for hepatitis B should be vaccinated, especially healthcare workers, injection drug users, persons with multiple sex partners, and all children under the age of 18.

As a result of these recommendations, there has been a dramatic decline in the incidence of hepatitis A and B in the last decade. Hepatitis is now most prevalent in males aged 30 to 44 who have not been vaccinated.

Hepatitis C incidence has declined and leveled off since 2007 primarily due to better education and the screening of blood before transfusion. There currently is no vaccination available against hepatitis C. There are now several medical treatments for hepatitis B and C that involve pills and injections that usually take from 6 to 12 months depending on the virus genotype.

The “cure” rate for hepatitis C varies from 50 to 80 percent.

This is best discussed with a gastroenterologist or an infectious disease specialist.

There are over 60 different liver diseases treated with liver transplantation.

The three most common

March 2011 | The Good Life

causes of liver transplant in our country are Hepatitis B and C and alcoholic liver disease. The most common cause for liver transplant currently is hepatitis C. Liver transplant is not a “cure” of the disease as most transplanted livers get the virus infection again over time, so these patients are followed closely after transplant.

Transplantation is a very expensive treatment. Obviously prevention and early medical treatment are preferable.

The number of patients needing liver transplants exceeds the available livers available for transplant.

If you are in the difficult position of deciding what to do with a loved one’s organs after death, donating a liver could restore health to someone in need.

Jim Brown, M.D., is a semi-retired gastroenterologist who has practiced for 38 years in the Wenatchee area.

He is a former CEO of the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.

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EXTRA COPIES of The Good Life are available at:

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

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>>

column GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

bonnie orr

My grandmother’s cookbook two eggs. Beat for 30 minutes with Dover beater. (Imagine using a hand rotary beater for 30 minutes.)

Starting as a bride, she created family heirloom

S

ince the mid-19th Century, cookbooks have been popular wedding gifts.

For a wedding present, my godmother sent me a copy of the Joy of Cooking saying that it would answer all basic questions. The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, which is still in print, was first published in 1896.

No matter who a bride consults, most begin collections of favorite family recipes. Some 40 years ago, I would call my mother-in-law to consult about a recipe. Today’s brides consult Internet websites and sort through a dozen versions and comments from other cooks.

Many cooks clip recipes from magazines and newspapers. The clippings are put in a box to be retrieved later — or not, in my case.

As a bride, I clipped recipes and put them in a shoebox.

Twenty-five years later, I courageously picked up the bulging box, and without lifting the lid, rapidly carried it to the trash can just as the garbage truck was pulling up to my driveway.

I had never used any of the recipes, and I did not want to be tempted to spend hours sorting through them.

As a bride in 1906, my grandmother, Nina Burrows Fairburn, (1883-1967) began her cookbook and continued until 1957. It is a compilation of handwritten recipes, cooking advice and clippings from the Spokane Spokesman Review and the back of product boxes such as Crisco.

My Grandmother was an exceptional woman. Not only did she clip the recipes, she glued

Creamed Dressing for Lettuce

Two tablespoons of whipped cream, sweet.

Two tablespoons of sugar beaten into the cream Four tablespoons of vinegar added slowly Beat well together and pour over lettuce previously chopped and seasoned with salt.

In 1906, a new bride, Nina Fairburn, started an eventually well-thumbed cookbook that she maintained for over 60 years, cooking family recipes for her son, Rex.

them onto pages in a two-ring binder. The recipes were even organized alphabetically: bread, cake, dessert, drinks, eggs, fish, leftovers, pickles, etc…

As she tried the recipes, she made alterations or crossed them out as no good.

She modernized the recipes.

An early one said to cook a cherry log cake in a quick oven in a wood stove, and later she determined that was 260-70 degrees in her electric oven.

An assortment of recipes called for a pinch, a dab, a walnut-sized lump of butter, and enough water to make a thin dough. When she got an icebox, recipes for Jell-O were glued in. Several recipes for Turkish Delight, what we now call Aplets and Cotlets, must have been her favorite.

The book is an educational experience.

What is cotolene needed in a date cake that Mrs. E. A. Hand of Coeur d’Alene sent into the newspaper? (An Internet search

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revealed that it is cottonseed oil.)

We eat much larger portions today. The recipe, Wolf-at–the Door, calls for 1/3 pound sausage, 2/3 pound ground beef, 3 and 1/2 cups tomatoes and 4 cups of kidney beans. It makes 10 servings!

Ethnic food was a novelty.

American chop suey from the 1920s called for spaghetti or rice, tomatoes, chopped meat and a small onion — all mixed together and baked.

My father grew up with the foods cooked from this book, so when Daddy was in his 90s I cooked these favorite boyhood recipes for him.

After-school Sandwiches

Graham crackers spread with cream cheese. Put together with thin layer of thick applesauce.

Apple Snow

Grate 2 raw apples. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Add whites of

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Rice Waffles (from WWII)

1 cup flour 1 cup boiled rice put through a strainer 3/4 cup milk 2 eggs 1 teaspoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon butter substitute 2 teaspoons of baking powder.

Mix dry, then wet ingredients.

Bake in a very, very hot waffle iron.

Tucked into the pages is cooking advice: 1. A substitute for whipped cream: Add a sliced banana to the white of one egg and beat until stiff. The banana will entirely dissolve and you will have a delicious substitute for whipped cream.

2. Soak black walnuts for 40 minutes in enough boiling hot water to cover them. Drain. The kernels will then come out in large pieces when the nuts are cracked. (This works fabulously.)

I am so pleased to have this family treasure.

Bonnie Orr gardens and cooks in East Wenatchee.

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WHAT TO DO

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

Women’s Escape Program, 3/3 & 3/31, 9 a.m. – noon. Bring a friend and join up with other like-minded outdoor types looking to improve snow skills with some of the best women skiers and snowboarders in the Northwest. Lunch provided.

Mission Ridge. Info: www.missionridge.com Wenatchee Blues Jam, 3/3, 8 p.m. Open blues jam every first Thursday of the month. Grizzly Lounge in the Red Lion Hotel, 1225

N. Wen. Ave. Info: Tomasz Cibicki 669-8200.

TNA Wrestling Live, 3/3, 7 p.m.

Town Toyota Center. Info: www. towntoyota1.com.

Special Olympics Winter Games, 3/3 – 3/4. Performing Arts Center. Info: www.pacwen.org.

“I Paint Because I Am Compelled To,” opens 3/4, an exhibition of Ken Duffin’s watercolors and oils. Duffin has been a professional artist since returning from WWII, first as a freelance artist, then as an illustrator and now, when released from the demand of deadlines, as a painter. The show opens March 4 during the First Friday Art

March 2011 | The Good Life

Walk with an artist reception, wine and food 5-8 p.m. Exhibit runs until March 26. Gallery 4 South, 4 South Wenatchee Ave. Info: 470-7714 or gallery4south@gmail.com.

Two Rivers Art Gallery, 3/4, 5 p.m. Two Rivers Gallery will celebrate its second anniversary with many works by Walter Graham.

Graham was perhaps the most famous and prolific artist Wenatchee has known. Many of his oils and watercolor paintings will be on public view for the first time along with many works by local artists.

Meet local artists, enjoy live music

by Kirk Lewellen, wine & refreshments. Info: www.2riversgallery. com.

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Creating a Fruit Revolution, 3/4, 7 p.m. & 3/5, 1 p.m. Author David Stratton book signing, 3/4 at Leavenworth Library, 3/5 at A Book For All Seasons Bookstore, 703 Hwy 2, Leavenworth. Cost: free. Info: www.abookforallseasons.com/ events/2011_stratton.

Global Climate Change: From the Perspective of a Polar Scientist, 3/4, 7 – 9 p.m. Since earning a Ph.D. in Geophysics from U.WA. in 1974, Dr. Miles McPhee has participated in over two dozen Arctic and Antarctic field programs, several as chief scientist. He will describe why research at both poles is relevant to understanding

}}} Continued on next page

>>

WHAT TO DO

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

}}} Continued from previous page climate change, what they see happening in the global context, and why we should be concerned about use of fossil carbon. Interspersed with scenery slides from Greenland and Antarctica. Barn Beach Reserve, 347 Division St. Leavenworth. Cost: donation.

Mountain Music Festival at Mission Ridge, 3/5, 3/12 & 3/19, 6:30 – 9 p.m. Live music at the lodge and night skiing. Mission Ridge. Cost: $15. Info: www. wenatcheevalley.org.

Stir-Fry Cooking, 3/6, 2 p.m.

After taking this class you will understand the harmony of Pacific Rim stir-fry cooking: balancing the four primary flavors of sweet, sour, salty and spicy in your everyday cooking and how to stock a basic pantry. The class will also introduce you to the Thai herb of lemongrass, and several of your favorite stir-fry sauces. Join Chef Mike Ables at Chateau Faire Le Pont. Cost: $45.

Info: 667-9463.

Outerbridge, 3/8, 7:30 p.m. Ted and Marion Outerbridge have combined real life experiences with a unique fusion of magic, dance and theater and the result is Magical Moments in Time. Performing Arts Center. Info: www.pacwen.org.

The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, 3/11-3/12 & 3/18-3/19. A mansion with secret passageways, a maid with multiple personalities, and series of unsolved murders; presented by the Wenatchee High School Drama Club at the WHS Auditorium. Directed by Paul Atwood, the murder-mystery-comedy is based loosely on The Cat and the Canary, one of Bob Hope’s first films. Tickets are $10 and $8, available at Pak-it-Rite, 126 N. Wenatchee Ave. Music For The Heart and Soul, 3/11 7:30 p.m. Proceeds from the concert will benefit Mobile Meals of Wenatchee, a United Way non-profit organization that provides hot meals to clients who qualify to remain in their homes. The following groups will provide an evening of entertainment: The Apollo Club, Wenatchee Appleaires Choral Society, Leavenworth Village Voices, 4 for One,

This original Walter Graham watercolor will be one of about 20 original paintings by Graham — once called the most famous and prolific artist Wenatchee has known — on display at Two Rivers Gallery, starting the first Friday of March. Graham will be the feature artist for two months, and his work will join 40 other artists showing their work at the gallery at the corner of First and Columbia Streets in Wenatchee.

First United Methodist Sanctuary Choir, Wenatchee High School Choral Group, and Wenatchee High School Mariachi Band. First United Methodist Church, 941 Washington Street, Wenatchee. Ticket prices $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Info: 665-6254 or mobilemealsofwenatchee.org.

KPQ Home and Garden Show, 3/11- 3/13. Town Toyota Center.

Cost: free. Info: www.towntoyotacenter1.com.

Self-Publishing Without Tears, 3/12, 10 a.m. Ron Lovell presents a guide to publishing and marketing your book, from manuscript to finished product. Topics include editing, page design, cover design, ISBN registration, copyright registration, dealing with distributors and bookstores, and setting up signings and other promotional events. Lovell, creator of the Thomas Martindale mystery series, has a long career in writing and in teaching writing, including as a journalist, journalism professor, and creator of five books on writing.

Kristall’s Restaurant, Leavenworth.

Cost: $28 includes lunch and copy of Lovell’s latest book. Info: www.abookforallseasons.com/ events/2011_lovell.

Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra Gala, 3/12, 5 p.m.

An elegant evening of dining plus dancing to the Wenatchee

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Big Band. Auction and more.

Wenatchee Golf and Country Club.

Cost: $60. Info: www.wenatcheesymphony.org.

Murder in E-Flat Major, 3/12, 3 p.m. Book signing by author Ron Lovell. A Book For All Seasons. Cost: free. Info: www.abookforallseasons. com/events/2011_lovell/.

Pho Sure Cooking Class, 3/15, 5:30 p.m. Will make three different types of cooking stock for pho, bee, chicken and vegetarian and fill them up with all of those fixins that make pho, phenomenal. Also will make banh mi sandwiches, fresh shrimp spring rolls and a slightly spicy peanut sauce. Ivy Wild Inn, 410 N Miller. Wenatchee. Cost: $40.

Info: theivywildinn.com.

Lords of Nature, 3/15, 7 p.m.

The role of large predators such as wolves and cougars is explored in Lords of Nature, the fifth film of this season’s Wenatchee Valley Environmental Film Series, screened at the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission St, Wenatchee. With footage ranging from Yellowstone to Zion National Park to Minnesota, the documentary reveals scientific discoveries of ecosystems benefiting from the presence of top carnivores. The film is sponsored by Conservation Northwest, whose representative Jay Kehne will lead a brief discussion after the screening. The series

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WHAT TO DO

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is presented by WVMCC, ChelanDouglas Land Trust and Trust for Public Land. Suggested donation $5.

CHS Basketball Team vs The Grizzled Old Men, 3/15, 7 p.m.

Support the Cascade Education Foundation by attending this game where the CHS Basketball team plays against a “seasoned” team made up of community members and Cascade School district staff.

Cascade High School, Leavenworth.

Info: cefhome.org.

Sensational Syrah Night, 3/16.

Taste Syrahs from four local wineries. Tastebuds Coffee and Wine Bar, 5th and Mission. Cost: $5. Info: www.wenatcheewines.com.

Shortest ST. PATRICK’S DAY Parade Route in the world, 3/17. Chalk party for kids by W.D.A 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Orondo Street. Parade staging 6:15ish on Mission Street for floats, bands, cars and groups. Parade starts at 7ish at corner of Orondo and Mission streets in Wenatchee. Sponsored by Sunny FM and Wenatchee Downtown Kiwanis Club.

“The Music Man,” 3/17, 4 p.m. & 8 p.m. The Music Man is a musical with the plot concerning con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys’ band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with the cash. In River City, Iowa, prim Marian the librarian sees through him, but when Hill helps her younger brother, Marian begins to fall in love with Harold. Harold, in turn falling for Marian, risks being caught to win her. Performing Arts Center, Cost: $39, seniors $37, students $29. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Wine and Cheese, 3/17, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Learn from a cheese expert about what cheeses to serve with which wines. Nine cheeses paired with wines. Performing Arts Center.

Cost: $30.. Info: www.wenatcheewines.com.

Cooking Class: Northern Italian Cuisine, 3/17, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Tom Gormley studied at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Early in his career he was the executive chef at the Whipple House in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he was chosen to prepare dinner for President George H.W.

}}} Continued on next page

The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

strumming music you can’t resist tapping a toe to “Yes sir, that’s my baby —

no sir, I don’t mean maybe. Yes sir, that’s my baby no-o-o-o-w.”

Can you even read those words without hearing a banjo?

A banjo. The ubiquitous bad boy of the string section, a little clangy, jazzy and bluesy and hokey sometimes and, well… of another era. Too loud to practice even behind closed doors.

So what’s a nice girl like Charlotte Gundstrom, of East Wenatchee doing with an instrument like that?

Picture this: 1970s, Big City (Spokane). Husband’s a busy college student. Bride seeks an innocent diversion, grabs girlfriend and heads downtown to bright lights and… banjo lessons.

Sessions with a master, a Bing Crosby crony, taught Charlotte all she needed to know about chords and melodies and how to coax music from the thing, and she was off and strumming.

With time off for recent neck surgery and just a few fallow periods, Charlotte’s been playing one banjo or another for 40 years, working up from a discounted modified five string to her insurable four string Plectrum.

She jammed with aficionados in the region, and eventually joined the local chapter of the Washington State Old Time Fiddlers. This is a group of musiclovers (age range 16 to 84) who will accept any acoustical string instrument into their midst. Oh, and a harmonica. And possibly an accordion. They’d like to have a mandolin again.

The group numbers “about six or eight,” Charlotte said, March 2011 | The Good Life

Charlotte Gundstrom and her four-string: Strummin’ on the old banjo.

“...tapping their feet; they remember all the old songs.” “depending on who’s around.

They’re mostly men, with just a few of us girls.” They play guitar, banjo, and of course, fiddle (aka violin if you dress it up and take it to the symphony).

A banjo player can rise to any level, from playing at home alone or get-togethers with friends, to performances and, for some, contests.

Charlotte most enjoys playing music in a group — chording for other’s solos, or bringing her banjo to center stage, and she looks forward to places like Blossom Memory Care Center “Those sweet old people — they just stay away until they hear www.ncwgoodlife.com

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the first chords, and then they start drifting in, tapping their feet; they remember all the old songs.” Looking out and knowing the audience is enjoying the music, whatever the venue, is her best reward.

About to retire from her x-ray technician career at Wenatchee Valley Clinic, Charlotte will have even more time for the banjo.

She said humbly, “I’m not really a real musician ’cause I can’t play by ear… I mean I have to hear a song a few times before I can do it.”

If you catch a Fiddlers session sometime, watch her when she dazzles that smile, takes the banjo into her capable hands, and makes it come alive with a tune that somehow we’ve somehow all danced to before.

To learn more about Washington Old Time Fiddlers, see their website www.wotfa.org.

— by Susan Lagsdin

>>

WHAT TO DO

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

}}} Continued from previous page Bush while he was visiting the area. Before moving to Chelan, he was the executive chef at Le Cumbre Country Club in Santa Barbara, CA. Culinary Apple, Chelan. Cost: $50. Info. www.lakechelan.com Ladies’ Little Black Dress Party, 3/18, 6:30 p.m. An evening for ladies to get dressed up and come have a fun time with their friends. The evening will go as late as anybody wants to stay. Included in admission will be heavy appetizers and one free drink. The bar will be open for purchase of wine, beer, water, etc. Music will be provided

by DJ, Cameron Sherman for dancing or just enjoying. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $25. Info: www. pacwen.org.

Four-Author Book Buzz Party, 3/19, 1 p.m. A Book For All Seasons celebrates its 19th anniversary with prizes, refreshments, 10 percent of sales donated to local charities and schools, and the opportunity to meet four authors. Jonathan Evison’s West of Here explodes across the page with history and wilderness as a Washington river is dammed, then freed again; Morgan Fraser’s Savoring Chelan showcases Chelan wines, produce, and reci-

pes; Robert Miller’s Deep Stepping Stones races with intrigue among Montana’s abandoned mines; and former Cascade high school principal Bill Wadlington shares his new novel, Trident Arising. Cost: free.

Info: www.abookforallseasons.com.

March Madness Wine Walk, 3/19, noon – 4:30 p.m. Visit the merchants of downtown Wenatchee to shop and sip locally produced wines. For $25, get 15 tastes of wine and a souvenir glass.

Start the walk at Davis Furniture, 125 S. Wen. Ave. . Info: www. wenatcheewines.com.

Progressive Dinner, 3/19, 5:30 – 10 p.m. Guests will be driven to four locations for a gourmet fivecourse dinner with matching wines from local wineries. Tickets: www. wenatcheewines.com. Cost: $85.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade, 3/19, noon. Bring children, dogs, etc. and wear green. Dress up your dog or dogs and try your hand at bringing home the “TOP DOG” Award.

Line up behind Wells Fargo Bank in Chelan at 11:30. Judging before the parade. Cost: free. Info: www. cometothelake.com “The Age of Stupid,” 3/19, 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. Pete Postlethwaite stars as an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching “archive” footage from today.

He wonders: Why didn’t we stop climate change when we had a

chance? He pulls together “historical” news clips that focus on six human stories. This documentarydrama-animation hybrid is directed

by Franny Armstrong. 89 minutes.

Barn Beach Reserve, Leavenworth.

Cost: $7. Info: www.barnbeachreserve.org.

Doktor Kaboom! 3/23, 6:30 p.m.

Doktor Kaboom! is an interactive one-man science variety show suitable for all audiences. The creation of actor/comedian David Epley, Doktor Kaboom! blends theater arts with the wonders of scientific exploration. Join him for a humorous journey of increasingly spectacular, and often successful, experiments and demonstrations. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $17, seniors $16, students 16 & under $13. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Jack Nisbet speaks about David Douglas, 3/24, 7 – 9 p.m. The Wenatchee Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society (WNPS) invites the public to a program featuring author, teacher and naturalist, Jack Nisbet, speaking about the intrepid botanist-explorer, David Douglas, the subject of his most recent book, The Collector.

Nesbit’s talk will be plant-focused: Douglas is credited with the discovery of more than 80 Northwest plants and animals, and his name is most famously attached to the Douglas-fir tree. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission St. Cost: free. Info www. cdlandtrust.org.

Flower Power Chili Feed, 3/25, 5:30 p.m. Belly dancers, huge silent and live auction, movies

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for the kids. Benefits the Good Grief Center. Douglas County Fire Dist. #2, 377 Eastmont Ave. East Wenatchee. Cost: $10, kids 5-12 $7, under 4 free. Tickets and info: 662-6069.

Crossing the Gates of Alaska, 3/25, 7 p.m. at Barn Beach Reserve & 3/26, 1 p.m. at A Book For All Seasons. Seasoned wilderness survivalist Dave Metz and his two Airedale terriers undertake one of the most remote and grueling wilderness journeys in Crossing The Gates of Alaska: One Man, Two Dogs, 600 Miles Off The Map. Metz’s unprecedented 600-mile trek, skiing up frozen rivers, enduring bitter nights at 20 below zero, and staggering across vast reaches of barren tundra and scrub woodlands, is a death-defying, breathtaking, and passionate journey through the Arctic outback, through the remotest regions of the untamed North. Cost: free. Info. www.abookforallseasons.com/ events/2011_metz.

A Night of Broadway, 3/26, 7 p.m. Performing Arts Center.

Mustard Seed Silent Auction, 3/26, 5 – p.m. The third annual Mustard Seed Neighborhood Center silent auction. Enjoy a fascinating selection of auction items, “hearty” hors d’oeuvres, and a nohost beer and wine bar. Wenatchee Community Center, 504 South Chelan. Cost: $25. Info: 663-3919.

The Mustard Seed Neighborhood Center is a non-profit childcare and pre-school, which benefits lowincome families in the Wenatchee Valley.

>>

WHAT TO DO

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French Chamber Orchestra, 3/26, 7:30 p.m. Orchestra specializes in bringing forgotten masterpieces to life playing the musical treasures of Mozart, Saint Saens and Ravel. Wenatchee High School.

Info: 884-6835.

Wok Class, 3/29, 5:30 p.m. Wok fried tempura cod fish with a mustard butter sauce and a tomato ginger relish, wok seared mushroom and tofu, spicy tangerine beef woked and served with wok fried green beans and pad Thai will be featured. Ivy Wild Inn, 410 N Miller, Wenatchee. Cost: $40. Info: theivywildinn.com.

Red Chamber, 3/30, 7:30 p.m.

Red Chamber is hot... steamy hot!

Whether it is fast and furious string band music, the sultry beauty of Imperial Court classics, or cutting edge contemporary creations, Red Chamber’s fiery passion embodies every note. The woman quartet consists of Mei Han, leader, and internationally acclaimed zheng (zither) master and ethnomusicologist; Guilian Liu is one of the world’s leading pipa (lute) masters; Zhimin Yu is a ruan (lute) virtuoso, and was a principle player for the China Broadcast Performing Arts Troupe in Beijing, and Geling Jiang is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist who spent 20 years with the Chime Bell Ensemble of Hubei province. Performing Arts Center.

Cost: $28, seniors $26, students $18. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Bears of the North Cascades, 3/31 7 p.m. Gus Bekker, Highway 2 field representative for Washington state’s Grizzly Bear Outreach Project, will present a slide show about grizzlies and black bears of our region. He will discuss the many aspects of these carnivores that co-inhabit our communities. The program will be held at the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center, 127 S. Mission St, Wenatchee.

2011 WRITE ON THE RIVER CONFERENCE. 5/13-5/15. This conference caters to writers of all experience levels and goals with a keynote address by New York Times bestselling thriller author, Chelsea Cain.

Cost: From $40 to $140. Info: writeontheriver.org or 860-7751.

The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

Catching the GLORY of nature through digital camera lens Great photographs are not

all about the gear. They really aren’t.

Yet, when his camera of choice and its accoutrements outweigh his alpiner’s rucksack, you know for Marc Dilley, gear is intrinsic to his art.

Marc, a lifelong mountaineer and later-in-life serious nature photographer, packs a tripod and a Canon 5D Mark II camera with a 24-70 zoom lens (heavy and long) when trekking into some of the most rugged and isolated country in the Cascades, and it’s always worth it.

For 32 years Marc snapped photos on his wilderness treks with a standard film camera.

But upon retirement in 2003, he discovered digital photography and a whole new way to interpret nature.

Now he shoots thousands of scenes in the field with microscopic precision and vast scope; back home he enhances their luminosity and color, blends exposures, digitally stitches images with an advanced computer system. (See “Mares’ Tails” on page 3 of this issue.)

He knows that’s a contentious issue in the photo art world but maintains, “Even Ansel Adams (1902-1984) manipulated his negatives in the darkroom — he’d probably love to use the technology we have available now.”

He is unabashedly enthralled with the wilderness and interprets it to give maximum meaning to the viewer. Some shots he has to wait for (in freezing creeks, midwinter, predawn), some come unexpectedly.

And Marc knows to be absoMarch 2011 | The Good Life

Backpack on, tripod firmly on the ground, Marc Dilley (also at right) captures the colors of nature.

lutely open to the serendipitous.

“Early one morning I went in search of a sunrise and turned around accidentally to find… alpenglow!” (that glorious, elusive force of nature that is the lowest sun on highest mountains.)

Marc yearns to return to some special places: the Enchantments, Stetattle Ridge above Ross Lake and the Picketts, High Pass above Trinity, Image Lake — ridges and ranges some of us will only see in photographs.

“Early one morning I went in search of a sunrise, and turned around accidentally to find…”

He maintains a kind of photoop bucket list that he keeps extending. Fortunately, with his home partway up the Icicle Valley out of Leavenworth, he can easily immerse himself in the mountains for a weeklong trek or just catch the colors of a forest at dusk or the promise of a photogenic storm front. www.ncwgoodlife.com

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Warmed by a band of winter sun inside his pale wood and manywindowed home facing Wedge Mountain, Marc speaks not so much about camera equipment but about the artful life, the spiritual in nature, and his many mentors. He’s humbly proud of his photography’s reception in the region and especially with the response to his first solo show, currently at the Barn Beach Reserve.

During half of his 30-year career with the WSU Tree Fruit Extension Center, Marc was also a licensed competitive bicycle racer.

Now he appreciates the subtle compromises of maturity: his home arts life is filled with fine woodworking and landscape gardening (and always photography) and is in better balance with his physical outdoor life of skiing, hiking, climbing (and always photography).

To see Marc’s photography, visit his website www.marcdilley.com.

— by Susan Lagsdin

>>

column those were the days

rod molzahn

How ‘Cobblestone Castle’ became Wells House The exterior design by Adelaide Clark uses a efore it became “The Wells House,” “Craftsman” style for the imposing Wenatchee home fronting the first floor and Tudor Fifth Street was known as “Clark’s Cobon the second and third blestone Castle.” floors.

In its 101 years it has been home to only Eye-catching and surprising, a turreted, two families; William and Adelaide Clark, three-story, round tower stands as the who built it, and Alfred and Emogene southeast corner of the home. All the exWells, who gave it away. terior walls, including the tower, are built Constructed in 1909 for $50,000 and of local “coursed rubble” and river stones designed by Adelaide Clark, the house from the Columbia, hand-hewn by local features several wonderful stained glass stonemasons. windows, also the work of Mrs. Clark. The William and Adelaide Clark and their house is large with a basement and three five children were farming in the Yakima floors.

Valley in 1902 when a group of Wenatchee Originally the basement held a ballbusinessmen and landowners approached room for dances, a billiard room, a fruit Clark with a proposition. storage area as well as the furnace and He had gained a reputation for buildlaundry rooms. ing a large irrigation project in the YaBuilder William Clark Second owner: A.Z Wells Designed for entertainkima Valley and the men ing, the first floor includwanted him to do the ed a reception hall and same for the Wenatchee living room, the kitchen Valley. Clark took the job, and dining room as well moved to Wenatchee and as a dining porch and sun began work on the Highroom. The second floor line Canal. had another large hall, William Clark wasn’t an five bedrooms, two sleepengineer. He was a proing porches and two bathmoter and builder on a rooms. The smaller third large scale. Clark also had floor held three bedrooms friends and through them and two more sleeping he raised $225,000 for porches. construction costs. When The Clarks finished that was gone and the the interior with handcanal not half built, Clark made cabinetry, floors, was accused of graft and Adelaide Clark designed this house on 10 acres for her husband and five children. Photos from moldings and railings. mismanagement. the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center

B

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The Wells House He persisted, raised more money and completed the canal in 1903. After that he was called “The Water Bringer” and “The Father of Wenatchee.”

He soon went to work promoting an automobile bridge across the Columbia that would also extend the Highline Canal to the east side. Clark had purchased tracts of land along the river and when the water crossed the river in 1908, Clark profited.

In 1910 the Clark family moved into their new castle on 10 acres, which they immediately set out to landscape. A driveway entered through stone pillars at Fifth Street and wound past trees and gardens ending at the carriage porch on the house’s west side.

Clark went on to build large irrigation projects in the West and Southwest including one in Montana that brought water to 50,000 acres, but the economic troubles that followed World War I diminished his fortune. In 1919 he and Adelaide sold their castle to Alfred Zachariah and Emogene Wells.

The Wells had come to Wenatchee in 1902 where A.Z. began a long career in the hardware business and orcharding. With his nephew he bought Wenatchee’s only hardware store.

In 1915 he partnered with J. M. Wade to form the Wells and Wade hardware and fruit company. Business was very good as demand for irrigation equipment rose. A.Z. Wells continued to buy and develop new orchard land through all his years of business. The large holdings at Azwell, below Wells Dam, are testimony to his ideas and hard work.

A. Z. and Emogene Wells had no children. In 1949, shortly before his death, the couple established the A.Z. Wells Foundation to use the ongoing profits

of the businesses to support a number of nonprofit community causes. Since its beginning the Foundation has dispersed more than $4 million.

That same year A.Z. and Emogene made another gift.

They gave their “castle” to the Wenatchee School District to be the home of the valley’s new junior college.

A.Z. then set about twisting the arms of neighboring property owners, convincing them to sell adjacent land to the district

at “cut-rate” prices.

In the years since, the Wells House has served as the college’s only building, holding classrooms and offices and as the girls’ dorm and cafeteria.

For years it housed offices of the Camp Fire Girls and the Wenatchee Valley Symphony.

The grounds around the “castle” have seen countless weddings as well as Shakespeare performances and Renaissance Faires.

In the late 1960s college officials announced plans to

1st Choice Collision Center....................... 31 Aaron Adult Family Homes........................ 16 After Hours Plumbing & Heating................ 25 American Shoe Shop Inc........................... 15 American Quality Coatings........................ 28 Artisan Flooring......................................... 40 Biosports Physical Therapy ....................... 21 Brenda Burgett Century 21....................... 25 Central Washington Water.......................... 30 Chelan County PUD Conservation.............. 20 Complete Design ..................................... 25 Concepts Kitchen & Bath Designs............. 26 D A Davidson & Company ..................... 19 Dr. Steve Stroud N.D., L.Ac........................ 18 Dr. Steven Harvey DDS.............................. 23 Eagle Transfer and Storage........................ 40 Epledalen Retirement & Assisted Living..... 44 First Choice Floor Coverings...................... 22 Fred Dowdy Company Inc.......................... 44 Golden East Restaurant............................ 35 GWATA........................................................ 5 Highgate Senior Living............................... 28 IWA Sushi Grill.......................................... 35 Icicle Broadcasting.................................... 42 Karie Rolen, John L. Scott Real Estate....... 25 KCSY – Sunny FM...................................... 38 LarsonAllen LLP......................................... 43 Laura Mounter Real Estate & Co.................. 2

March 2011 | The Good Life

bulldoze the house. Community members formed the Save the Wells House Committee and worked to have the grand home added to the National Register of Historic Buildings.

Historian, actor and teacher Rod Molzahn can be reached at shake. speak@frontier.com. His third history CD, Legends & Legacies Vol. III - Stories of Wenatchee and North Central Washington, is now available at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center and at other locations throughout the area.

Local Tel Communications......................... 26 Lombards Hardwoods............................... 28 Moonlight Tile & Stone.............................. 25 Mt. Stuart Physical Therapy........................ 14 Noyd & Noyd Insurance Agency . .............. 28 Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee......... 33 Products Supply Northwest....................... 28 Legends & Legacies.................................. 32 Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort . .............. 35 Spring Hill Suites Marriott......................... 17 Sue Long Laura Mounter Real Estate & Co................................... 25 Swim World............................................... 44 Telford’s Chapel of the Valley & Crematory.......................................... 10 The UPS Store........................................... 11 Tracey Franklin, John L Scott Real Estate... 28 Vita Green................................................. 43 Wenatchee Business Journal..................... 21 Wenatchee High School Drama Club......... 36 Wenatchee Natural Foods ........................ 13 WenatcheeOutdoors.org............................ 13 Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.............. 11 Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center................................... 14 Western Ranch Buildings........................... 19 Wok About Grill......................................... 35

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>>

FUN STUFF // check out these activities chi Band. March 11, 7:30 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 941 Washington Street, Wenatchee.

Prices: $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Info: 6656254 or mobilemealsofwenatchee.org.

5 for doing

SHAKE OFF THE BORING and get GOING

T

his month offers the chance to be smarter, to do good, to go for walks, to laugh at an old favorite and just have fun by getting beyond your front door.

In other words, it’s not much different than most months here in the epicenter of the fine state of Washington.

Polar express —

Since the days of Mark Twain, heck since the days of yore, famous and knowledgeable folks have traveled the outback on the lecture circuit.

These days, with 500 channels on TV and the Internet within reach where we can Google for any fact in an instant, we don’t think much about these traveling speakers. Yet they are still out there creating a personal connection with their audiences.

Dr. Miles McPhee, a polar scientist since 1974 and veteran of more than two dozen study trips to the very cold ends of the earth, will speak in Leavenworth

on global climate change. He will describe why research at both poles is relevant to understanding climate change, what they see happening in the global context, and why we should be concerned about the use of fossil carbon. March 4, 7 p.m. Barn Beach Reserve, Leavenworth.

Local talent —

One program that really helps the older citizens of our communities is Mobile Meals on Wheels.

Not only do volunteers bring by food for seniors, but they offer regular human contact so important to the mental well-being of our elderly.

One way you can help this program is turn out for a night of music, provided by seven talented local groups, ranging from The Apollo Club (itself over 100 years old) to the Leavenworth Village Voices and the Wenatchee High School Maria-

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P rhymes with T, and that means trouble — The Music Man is one

of those enduring musicals you know so well you can probably sing along to. (But, the folks in the next seats ask you not to.)

Anyway, Harold Hill is back, trying to cheat the naive townfolk but is then tripped up by the prim town librarian Marian.

March 17, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Performing Arts Center, Cost: $39, seniors $37, students $29. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Will walk for St. Patrick — It’s called the

“Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the World,” and goes all of one block, (and that’s down-

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| March 2011

hill past a local drinking establishment), but it’s grand fun. You can be in the parade with a float, playing a musical instrument or just on foot, by being on Mission Street in Wenatchee by 6:15 p.m. or so on Thursday, March 17.

The parade past celebrating people starts around 7.

For kids, there’s free chalk and permission to draw on the brick street between 3 and 5 p.m.

If you’re more of a weekend Irishman or Irishwoman, Chelan hosts a St. Patrick’s Day Parade, on Saturday, March 19. Bring children, dressed-up dogs, and wear green. Awards are promised. Line up behind Wells Fargo Bank in Chelan at 11:30. Judging before the parade. Cost: free.

Info: www.cometothelake.com.

Will walk for wine — The March Madness Wine

Walk in downtown Wenatchee offers a chance to sip locally produced wine and then shop. $25 gets you a souvenir glass and 15 tastes of wine. Start the walk at Davis Furniture, 125 S. Wen. Ave. March 19, noon – 4:30 p.m.

Cost: $25. Info: www.wenatcheewines.com.

509-663-5622 • larsonallen.com