The Good Life November

CLIMBING KILIMANJAR0 Y THE BEST LOCAL EVENTS CALENDAR

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November 2010 n Cover price: $3

PITCHING IN TO BUILD A HOME Community helps injured bicyclist

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OPENING SHOT ®

Year 4, Number 11 November 2010 The Good Life is published by NCW Good Life, LLC, dba The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 PHONE: (509) 888-6527 E-MAIL: editor@ncwgoodlife.com

sales@ncwgoodlife.com Editor, Mike Cassidy Contributors, Eleanor T. Culling, Jim Russell, Al Piecka, Darel Ansley, Chad Hurst, Jim Senst, Roger Bumps, Matt Erickson, Susan Lagsdin, Shannon Cline, Bridget Egan, Chuck Dronen, Donna Cassidy, Bonnie Orr, Alex Saliby, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell and Rod Molzahn Advertising manager, Jim Senst Advertising sales, John Hunter Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy Proofing, Jean Senst and Leslie Vradenburg Ad design, Rick Conant

Fall colors E

leanor T. Culling, born in Massachusetts, grew up and taught choral music for 20 years in Michigan. After her husband died, she moved to Leavenworth in 1982 and owned a retail business, Images, Sounds and Rubber Stamps II, until 1999.

Now retired from that and a web design business, she has

much more time for both photography and travel.

“I think that fall is the best season for photography in the north central region of our state,” she said. “Every spring and fall I go up the White River drainage, north of Lake Wenatchee, to visit the falls and for hikes both to the left and right at the end of the road. A few side trips are available off the main road as well — where this photo was taken.”

For more about Eleanor, see an art sketch on her on page 39 in this issue.

For more of her photos, visit www.eleanorstravels.com.

On the cover

Chad Hurst took this photograph of Mark Lindman and his wife, Amy, on the site where volunteers are beginning construction of a wheelchair-friendly home for the injured bicyclist.

TO SUBSCRIBE: For $25, ($30 out of state) you can have 12 issues of The Good Life mailed to you or a friend. Send payment to: The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 To subscribe/renew by e-mail, send credit card info to: donna@ncwgoodlife.com or phone 888-6527 BUY A COPY of The Good Life at Hastings, Caffé Mela, Eastmont Pharmacy, Martin’s Market Place (Cashmere) and A Book for All Seasons (Leavenworth) ADVERTISING: For information about advertising in The Good Life, contact Jim Senst, advertising manager, at (509) 670-8783, or sales@ncwgoodlife.com WRITE FOR THE GOOD LIFE: We welcome articles about people from Chelan and Douglas counties.

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

The Good Life® is a registered trademark of NCW Good Life, LLC. Copyright 2010

by NCW Good Life, LLC.

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Contents

editor’s notes

MIKE CASSIDY

Grandma Cassidy might not approve M

page 5

Seeing france from a bike seat

Features

8 A WHALE OF A GOOD TIME IN ALASKA

Photographer Al Piecka goes on a small ship charter where he gets up close and personal with wildlife

11 CLIMBING KILIMANJARO

Roger Bumps told his daughter they would one day go to Africa — he kept his promise and reached the summit of the continent

14 building a home for mark

What started as a church project to build a home for injured cyclist Mark Lindman snowballed into a community house raising

16 hot fun on the ice

Very nice people take up the sport of curling

18 here comes the red coat

Matt Erickson decided to take his political beliefs door-to-door — and he found just the uniform to walk in

20 LEGEND OF THE PROP-MAN

Many a local Boy Scout has heard the story and then shivered in his sleeping bag through the dark night

22 At Home with The Good Life

• Builder creates a just-right home for himself • Favorite things, with Robyn Skaar of Willow • Remodel opens kitchen to light and communication

Columns & Departments 30 June Darling: Why being thankful is so hard 31 Alex on wine: The why of local wine prices 32 Bonnie Orr: On the road in Transylvania 34 The traveling doctor: Yes, adults can get this disease 35-39 Events, The Art Life & a Dan McConnell cartoon 40 History: John A. Gellatly was good for Wenatchee 42 Check it out: It’s cool to be a bird watcher

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y grandmother had a rule for visitors in the house where I grew up: No discussing religion or politics.

This rule made sense because we had a very diverse family.

Uncle Gordon was proud to admit to being a “card-carrying member of the Communist Party” (this during the 1950s and early 1960s during the “Red Scare” years) who advocated breaking up the large timber companies into 40-acre plots to be handed out freely to the public.

Uncle Oscar, on the other hand, was a tight-fisted farmer who — once seeing a county road grader smoothing the ruts in the public gravel road that ran past our home — said the government shouldn’t spend money to maintain highways.

“People should take their own shovels and pickups and repair the roads in front of their places.

We don’t need the government to do it.”

Uncle Oscar also had an interesting idea about paying taxes. On the day when the local county assessor was coming out to evaluate his personal property, he ran his cattle across the river to the neighbor’s place.

When the assessor went to the neighbor’s, the neighbor ran his and Oscar’s cattle back across the river to Oscar’s land.

Uncle Frank was a union organizer, and Uncle Chet worked all of his life in a local brickyard for not much more than minimum wage and believed unions were too powerful.

And religion, well, that was stranger yet.

Interestingly enough, take these two topics off the table,

| The Good Life | November 2010

and the family got along very well.

Fascinating human interest stories flowed, usually helped along by the food my grandmother cooked on the old stove in the corner because that was her second rule: Insist that anyone who came in the front door had something to eat.

My grandmother’s first rule seems like a good idea for The Good Life because we are not here to advocate or expound one particular cause over another, but to entertain and perhaps inspire readers to try new adventures of their own.

So, why then are we publishing a story in this issue about Matt Erickson whose strong political views have him going door-to-door in a red, white and blue Colonial suit, espousing his beliefs on life, liberty and the U.S. Constitution?

First of all, because if you see him walking the streets in his period costume, you want to know: “What’s that guy’s story?”

And second, he writes with a nice touch of self-deprecating humor, an element sadly missing by advocates on both the left and the right these days.

But mostly, because as Matt conveys early in his story, there comes a time in life when if you want to do something with the years you have left on this planet, you had better get out there and do it.

And that is one message we do stand behind with every issue of The Good Life.

Be committed. Enjoy The Good Life.

— Mike

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snapshots

ABOVE: Bikers approach Chateau de Chambord, built in the mid-1500s.

RIGHT: Bicyclists enjoy the shade and serenity of numerous forested trails like this one near Chateau de Troussay.

Can A Klutz Enjoy the Good Life on a Bike Through France?

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By Jim Russell

y wife Karen proposed a four-day REI bike tour through the relatively flat Loire Valley southeast of Paris, famous for wines and classic chateaus of royal families.

Four days was three-anda-half days longer than this 69-year-old klutz had done, but

it was an irresistible good life experience.

Day one we left Bloise at 8:45 a.m., shattering my hope for a slow start on a serene ride over country roads. We squeezed by commuters idling diesel engines, plunged past pedestrians walking on cobblestones and rolled around a roundabout to the Loire River.

Scenery improved my mood.

We rode past wildlife on the river and an immaculate cottage aglow with blossoms. We entered a forest canopy in the national park surrounding Chambord, the largest chateau in France.

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Jim Russell is relieved he made it to the moat surrounding Chateau du Chambord.

I snoozed on the grass. Charlie, our back-up guide, said, “Just like a Frenchman and his nap.” }}} Continued from previous page Each chateau was unique with elaborate grounds, period architecture and thousands of artifacts managed by the French museum. For centuries artists produced tapestries, paintings, tableware and figurines. Woodworkers carved intricate designs in cabinets, canopy beds, floors, moldings and banisters.

I imagined the pride of artisans whose work adorned a chamber in the chateau dominating their village.

We ate lunch in Brocioux,

a tiny hamlet where 17 of us would’ve overwhelmed the local cafe. Alyn, our van driver, covered a picnic table with warm French bread, salmon, cheeses, fruit, vegetables, local red wines and a circular block of tomme de savoir, an aged cheese made only at his family’s restaurant.

I snoozed on the grass. Charlie, our back-up guide, said, “Just like a Frenchman and his nap.”

We slept in a gîte, a farmhouse converted to an inn for tourists.

France subsidized farmhouse conversions to stimulate the rural economy beginning in 1950. Our room’s décor matched my college apartment, but an exquisite dinner more than made up for it. Besides, after riding 35 miles in four hours, I fell asleep quickly while Karen snuggled with her Kindle.

Day two began with a shuttle to the Cher River spanned by

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Guides arrange a lunch feasts of salmon, chunks of special cheeses, meats, fruits, vegetables, french bread and, of course, local wines.

the Chenonceau Chateau with an Italian garden maze designed by Catherine de Medici.

Afterward, we headed uphill to farmlands, leading to questions about advertising this as flat land. I vowed to ride up every hill. Foolish me.

We became comfortable with our bikes and roads. I rode a Trek Gendarme, Karen a Trek Elite. Unlike my 21-gear bike

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at home, this one had 24 gears that required practice to shift up with finger pulls and down with thumb pushes. Bike-tour signs at intersections gave directions.

We fanned out at individual paces.

That day I lagged behind to watch us snake through the country. However, I got lost in a village. I turned onto a street at a sign but should have turned

We rolled past vineyards, apple orchards, sunflower fields, poplar tree farms and strawberry patches. more sharply onto a narrow path next to a locked gate on a private driveway. Ten minutes later I was alone at the edge of town with no sign out of, or into it. I headed back to the last sign and saw Charlie searching for me. He said, “You did the right thing. Turn around when you’re lost.”

It’s comforting to possess two survival instincts for a bike tour in France: return to the last sign when lost and take naps.

In Amboise, we visited the estate where Leonardo da Vinci lived his last three years. At an outdoor cafe I ate a hot goatcheese salad and chocolate

éclair while we sipped local wines.

Tours, a major city, was the most harrowing part of the trip when we had to detour into it.

First, Karen and I stepped inside a bathroom kiosk on the street while others waited. She sat down and I pressed the button, ouvert, to lock the door, but it opened. I quickly stepped outside, hit the close, and jumped back in.

Then our lead guide, David, led 12 of us through wet roads in rush hour traffic jammed with drivers not happy to see us.

An appetizer of aspic and pork cheeks soothed the memories.

Day three began with a downpour drumming on our window.

While I donned rain gear over my REI gel underwear, Karen announced she didn’t need mascara or eye shadow. She was right.

The day went well. The rain stopped within three miles.

Three of us shared the lead into the wind with Karen tucked

behind our wheels. We rolled past vineyards, apple orchards, sunflower fields, poplar tree farms and strawberry patches.

One Frenchman energized Karen with a thumbs-up when she topped a rise. People called out, “Where you from?”

At dinner David recommended the sweetest wine I’ve ever tasted, so I asked its name. David’s a photographer for wine magazines, so he gave me my wine lesson for the trip: Le Vent Fleuri, the vintner was Jean Christoph de Pelletier and the region was Domaine des B’eguaires in Chinon on the south side of the Vienne River.

Since it was too sweet to meet Chinon standards, they called it a Touraine. I haven’t seen it at Costco.

Our last day I was anxious because we faced the toughest ride with two hills. We enjoyed a second picnic at Candes-St. Martin, rated the most scenic village in France. Instead of my nap Karen lured me up a hike to

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see the confluence of the Loire and Vienne rivers.

That afternoon on the last hill I mis-shifted into the highest major gear and ground to a halt.

My timing was off without my nap. Frustrated, I marched past another bike-pusher with my speedometer reading 2.5 mph.

He said, “Hey, you’re passing me and I’m five years younger.”

That was my one sprint victory — walking uphill at 2.5 miles per hour.

That night Karen and I ate sea bass prepared with different recipes so elaborate the guides couldn’t translate. We didn’t care. We’d covered 130 beautiful miles in 13.5 hours over four days, with an amiable group, knowledgeable guides and passers-by cheering us on.

So this klutz bumbled through again.

The next day I fell asleep on the train ride to Paris and didn’t finish our tour plans, which caused problems. But that’s another story.

Whales swam and dove within 50 feet of an inflatable boat of tourists.

WHALE

a of a good shoot in ALASKA TEXT AND PHOTOS By Al Piecka

T

he crack like that of a dozen rifle shots rang out and our guide yelled, “Oh my, there it goes! There it goes!”

A wall of ice about 250 feet tall and 100-plus feet wide began, as if in slow motion, to slide into the bay. Glacier Bay’s Margerie Glacier had just given birth to an iceberg.

The splash shot water 40 to 50 feet in the air, and a miniature tsunami about six to eight feet high slowly rolled under our 16foot inflatable.

It all started one afternoon in Juneau when 22 people from around the country walked aboard the 120-foot Safari Quest to begin our eight-day wilderness cruise with champagne and smiles from the crew.

We would meander through the largest national forest in the

United States and home to grizzly bears, black bears, mountain goats, eagles, whales, sea lions, wolves and more. There would be no tourist ports and shopping as the boat anchors each night in small bays rather than going to traditional cruising ports.

Carol and I have always thought about going on an Alaskan cruise but never liked the idea of going with more people than lived in our home towns combined. We are not big on shopping in the tourist ports.

And as a photographer, I saw no opportunities to add to my portfolio from six stories up on a ship deck.

The small boat cruise met all my expectations and more for getting photos that I wanted.

The small group size and sleek profile and maneuverability of our boat gave us great access to places the larger cruise ships

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cannot get into.

Our itinerary was flexible and our captain would stop whenever we saw anything interesting and wanted to spend more time.

We spent much of our time in either the kayaks or inflatable skiffs or going ashore to hike along the glaciers, forest trails and shorelines.

One of the events we got to witness was a dozen or so humpback whales bubble net feeding — from an inflatable sometimes not more than 50 feet away. We watched them for over an hour.

Seeing a group of 40-ton whales from what appeared to be about the length of one whale is an interesting experience to say the least.

| The Good Life | November 2010

Seeing a group of 40-ton whales from what appeared to be about the length of one whale is an interesting experience to say the least.

If you are not familiar with bubble net feeding, it is a display that appears to be choreographed by Hollywood producers.

Several pods of humpbacks

Humpback whales engage in bubble net feeding, where whales swim in a circle while letting out bubbles that trap herring. Then the whales all rise up at once, with mouths open, to feed on the herring. Meanwhile, seagulls fly overhead looking for scraps.

will combine to put on the performance. It is interesting that only the humpback whales in southwest Alaska perform this maneuver. It is not known how and why only these whales hunt in this manner.

The communication between them is amazing as we were able to listen to them by using the hydrophone brought on the skiff by the guide.

The whales gather on the

surface in something like an organized parade until one would arch its back, raising its fluke out of the water and start a deep dive. One by one the others would follow all along communicating to each other by various sounds heard through the hydrophone.

The one apparently leading the hunt would begin a pattern of sounds gradually getting louder and louder. The “leader� whale would begin emitting a series of bubbles in a large circular pattern.... which was visible to us as well as a large group of gulls that flew to the center of the circle. The edge of one pattern was not more than 20 feet

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WHALE of a good shoot }}} Continued from previous page from our skiff.

Then simultaneously as if on cue, the whole group of whales would rise out of the water about a half body length, mouths wide open collecting all the herring trapped in the “net” of bubbles.

The birds apparently got the herring that get killed or stunned and left behind by the whales. Then, as if written in a script, the whole show would start again with the whales swimming maybe 50 to 100 yards to a new location and the deep dive would begin a new hunt.

On a couple of occasions, as the lead whale began the loud continuous sound and the bubble circle, it would begin a “chirping” sound and all the whales would slowly rise to the surface and begin over as if the leader had called off the hunt.

The communication occurring between the whales is astounding.

On another occasion, we spotted a pod of four Orcas about a mile away splashing on the surface — apparently hunting.

After about 10 minutes they appeared to take a bead on our boat and began to swim straight at us. All four, three adults and one calf, came close enough

CRACK! A chunk of ice breaks off Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay.

A seal swims past to see what the humans are up to.

to the boat that we could have touched them as they passed under the bow. They then dove and swam straight off not to

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give us another chance to see them.

We laughed and said it must have been the Chamber of Commerce pod trained to excite visitors. Over the next few days we saw several other pods but never anything that close again... but close enough to get some good photos.

Along with the whales, we saw seals, sea lions, sea otters, mountain goats and a number of birds including puffins, oyster catchers, eagles and many others.

We saw only one brown bear but saw numerous tracks on our shore hikes so we knew they

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were there. Another group we talked to later saw eight bears feeding on a dead whale carcass.

There was no one home when we went by.

The park ranger at Glacier Bay told us the wolves were also seen feeding on the carcass, which was estimated by the ranger to have weighed about 40 tons.

It was relegated to a bunch of bones and some remaining blubber when we floated by.

The ranger told us the bones were to remain in place on the beach and not collected as souvenirs except for a piece of the jaw which was to be used to study the whale.

Along with a very nice collection of over 2,000 photographs and about five or six extra pounds, the trip was everything we expected and more. The 22 people were a kick and we spent the evenings playing crazy card games and charades.

The crew said we, without a doubt, were the loudest and most energetic group of the year.

Most of the crew at one time or another even joined us in the evenings for the games.

The first day of the climb began by heading up through the rain forest. The hikers went through five climate zones before reaching the top.

On top of old

Kilimanjaro O

By Roger Bumps

n the fifth day of our climb of Mount Kilimanjaro, we reached Arrow Camp at 15,977 feet, the last camp before we were to head up the Western Breech.

Breathing was getting harder as the air thinned — and a variety of intestinal conditions were cropping up among our party.

We gained 1,100 feet today and

our bodies are adapting.

The drug diamox helps with the altitude sickness and a slow pace contributes to our acclimatization. We can clearly see the breech, our route for the summit climb tomorrow.

The Western Breech route looks like an absolute rock face and very steep. It is a shorter summit route, but more difficult, and consequently, climbed by fewer people.

I can see no route up it but our head guide Paul keeps telling us it will be “a piece of chocolate,” he means “piece of cake.” Food, by the way, has no appeal at this altitude, but we force ourselves to eat as we need the calories.

We head to bed with the Western Breech, Crater Camp, perhaps the summit climb and 19,340 feet waiting for us tomorrow. We will climb before sunrise to get up the breech before

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A porter slides down the scree, kicking up dust, after reaching the summit.

the sun hits it, which can cause rocks to fall making it very dangerous.

Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is the highest mountain on the African continent and the world’s highest freestanding mountain. Our party consists of six of us with ages ranging from my daughter Katie at 31 to Lloyd Berry, Wenatchee, at 72 years young. Also with us is Kevin

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Tackling the Western Breech near the crater rim at 18,700 feet is a matter of climbing up rock cliffs.

}}} Continued from previous page Kennedy, Wenatchee, his friend Sam, Seattle, and Katie’s friend Kelly, Salem. We had just spent the last five days hiking through five climate zones to reach the final camp before our ascent to the summit.

When Katie was in high school we talked of going to Africa. I told her we’d think about that after she graduated from college. Climbing a mountain wasn’t what I had in mind, but after discussing it with Kevin we decided why not add a little

Kilimanjaro glacier looms tall in the crater near the summit. “People asked me when did we hit snow,” said Roger. “I tell them we didn’t.”

challenge to the trip.

Another motivation came from my uncle Frank’s 1954 journal of his climb up Kilimanjaro.

While our equipment is better, he did it at 29 and I’m just a few months away from 60.

Day six is the biggie.

I slept a little fitfully last night and awoke about 3:30 a.m. to get started. It’s very cold at this altitude and has been for a couple days. Sometimes we awaken with ice in our tent, but we have good bags and warm clothes that keep us generally comfort-

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able. Once we begin climbing we will shed some layers as body temperature goes up.

Off we went in single file with headlamps pointing to the feet of the person in front of each of us.

It wasn’t long before Kelly began to have significant trouble with the altitude. Paul took her pack and encouraged us all onward. I think Kelly suffered more than any of us, but through determination, encouragement and a strong will, completed all parts of the climb.

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Another motivation came from my uncle Frank’s 1954 journal of his climb up Kilimanjaro.

It wasn’t long before we got into the rocks of the Western Breech. It reminded me of the rock cliffs along the highway past Rock Island Dam. Several times I looked back and thought: “How in the heck did we get here?” We ascended slowly step-by-step, being careful not to dislodge rocks that would be a great danger to climbers below us.

I usually kept my eyes on the next step or two as looking up could have been a bit daunting.

At times we would drop our hiking poles and scramble up on all fours. All the while our amazing porters slowly passed us with

I hugged Katie and knew that our relationship had deepened even further as we experienced this adventure together. heavy loads on their backs or heads.

We got a bit of a lift as it got light and the sun came up on the horizon. Up and up we continued, occasionally stopping for water, a quick snack or just to catch our breath as we headed for the crater rim.

We finally neared the top after about five hours and I thought I could see porters waiting to encourage us to the rim. I kept my eyes lowered and climbed so as not to make a mistake — and I just didn’t want to look before I got there.

Finally, there was the top with Paul and others waiting for us with open arms! The feeling of exhilaration and accomplishment flowed over us as we all hugged.

The crater is immense with glaciers and a gritty sand-like surface of volcanic rock. We took photos and celebrated, but we still had the steep 600-foot climb on the opposite side of the crater to reach the summit. We all said, “Let’s do it.”

An hour later we had negotiated the loose rock called scree and finally stood on the top of Africa at Uhuru Peak — 19,340 feet.

We took photos, shook hands and enjoyed the moment. We had made it. The elevation gain had been almost 3,500 feet that day. I hugged Katie and knew that our relationship had deepened even further as we experienced this adventure together.

We slept in the crater that night, then packed up and headed down the opposite side in the morning.

Made it! Roger Bumps pumps his fists, surrounded by the other hikers and the guides at Uhuru Peak, elevation 19,340 feet.

We passed a long line of climbers making their way up

the scree towards the summit.

Most were very somber with

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heads down and blank expressions. Some were aided by guides carrying packs or even being pushed or pulled towards the top.

As the day progressed, we saw three or four groups of porters with severely sick climbers being transported on gurneys to lower altitudes and the hospital.

Our descent that day would be 9,000 feet.

The last day we continued down through the rain forest to our final destination. Hiking down was also a challenge, certainly a different set of muscles to discover.

As we completed the descent, porters greeted us singing African songs of celebration.

I went to Kilimanjaro to make a memory.

I received not one memory but many and as I contemplate three generations of the Bumps family climbing this mountain. I wonder if maybe my uncle Frank’s grandchild or maybe even my own will make it the fourth.

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VOLUNTEERS

Mark and Amy Lindman: Volunteers jump in to help injured bicyclist.

Rising from the ashes From families to construction professions, volunteers eagerly lend a hand to build a wheelchair-friendly home for injured bicyclist

Volunteers install tubing for radiant heat in the floors of a home being built for Mark and Amy Lindman.

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By Darel Ansley

t this time of year, Mark Lindman would normally be riding his bike and enjoying the autumn colors; however in July, Mark, the IT Manager at Alcoa, was severely injured in a cycling accident.

As a result, he is paralyzed from the chest down and now requires an electric wheelchair for mobility.

Wheelchair life not only elimi-

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nates cycling, but is also incompatible with the Lindman’s split-level home, so their fellow members at Grace Covenant Church resolved to pull together and build a new house to meet Mark’s accessibility needs.

Once the project was announced, many of Mark’s coworkers at Alcoa stepped forward offering to help with the cause. “It’s the right thing to do,” has been an oft repeated comment.

The home will feature onelevel living with extra room

| The Good Life | November 2010

throughout the master bed and bath for easier mobility.

All doorways will be wider, giving him access to every room in the house. Countertops in the kitchen and bath will also have portions at a height to allow the wheelchair to slide under, while allowing Mark to have his arms above.

The greater Wenatchee community has erupted with enthusiasm to help make this home a reality.

Most evenings and every weekend, the jobsite is a hive

of activity with families showing up to help with digging and hauling, working alongside construction professionals.

People come and go bringing food or coffee and snacks, and on one recent day, 23 fellow students of the Lindman’s daughter put in a full day hauling over 1,000 concrete blocks.

Word is spreading rapidly; as the volunteer coordinator, I walked into a pizza restaurant and was greeted with an enthusiastic “We’re going to paint that house for you!” from a local painting contractor.

Mark Mulhall, a local builder and fellow church member, took on the design and construction planning phase of the project.

Due to the small size of the church, Mark knew several skills would need to be contracted; for instance, there are no excavators or electricians at Grace Covenant Church.

Repeatedly, as a need arises, so does the answer. Joe Roberts of Roberts Construction, saw Mark

his own jobsite. Upon hearing about the project, he responded, “I’ll dig that hole.” In 24 hours, excavation was underway.

This generosity saved the Lindman’s thousands of dollars.

While Mark’s accident is tragic, his attitude is not.

He declined full disability and instead plans to continue working to provide for his family.

He did not take the easy choice. Life in an electric wheelchair with a severe spinal cord injury will still be a

Sharon Kanareff, Human Resources/ Public Strategy coordinator at the Wenatchee Alcoa plant, moves dirt for the retaining wall during a sunny Sunday work party. Work party photos by Jim Senst

Mulhall measuring the Lindman’s lot across the street from

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daily struggle; fortunately with a technological career and a caring employer, modifications will be made at Alcoa so he can persevere.

It’s this “rising from the ashes” attitude that is contagious.

To see the construction progress, and to volunteer or donate materials, go to www.thelindmanproject.wordpress.com.

Darel Ansley is a construction and mortgage lender at Peoples Bank and a member of Grace Covenant Church.

Throwing rocks at houses Curling is a sport of cool ice and warm competitors

R

By Katherine Helgeland

oger Carlson was channel surfing when he came upon a reality show that caught his eye. The challenge was for the contestant to throw a rock into the house — curling lingo for sliding a 42-pound granite stone on the ice toward a target.

When the contestant finally succeeded, he enthused, “This game is great! We have to get it going back in America.” It had been 35 years since Roger last curled but this reminded him of the fun he had curling when he was a teenager and prompted him to get the sport started in Wenatchee.

There were plans for a new ice arena in Wenatchee, so he went to the Sports Council with the suggestion to include curling.

“They told me to go down to the old rink and get it started. So I did.”

Roger had not intended to spearhead an effort to get curling started in Wenatchee but his desire “to just throw a few rocks” prompted him to do just that. With the support of Dick Lyons, manager of the old ice rink, and a handful of curling enthusiasts, the Wenatchee Curling Club was born.

Roger Carlson launches a 42-pound granite stone towards it target.

In the four years since, Roger has become even more enthusiastic about the game.

“What I like about curling is that people of all shapes and sizes can do well. And when you see your opponent do a good shot, you congratulate them. When somebody makes a good shot, everybody appreciates it, whether you’re on that team or you’re an opponent. That leads to a good atmosphere on the ice.

“Since I’ve started this endeavor,” he continued, “I’ve met 495 nice people and maybe three less nice people. I think a lot of people in the sport have a quiet passion for it.”

Experienced curlers are happy to help out and encourage new curlers. This is true on and off the ice.

When the Wenatchee Curling Club was organizing, Roger called an expert curler from Bismarck, N.D. to ask him about curl-

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| The Good Life | November 2010

ing rocks. “He told me the complete history of curling rocks — from the time the granite was still liquid, through the time it was first quarried in England, up to the present day.

I just wanted to know what kind of curling rocks to buy but I appreciated his passion and willingness to take the time to help me out.”

Roger said he likes the aspect that everybody on the team participates in every shot.

“You are constantly moving.”

There are four players on a team. The skip develops strategy and calls the shot. One player throws the rock. Two players sweep the rock. In really fun games, both teams are making their shots, strategy is constantly changing, and the winner isn’t decided until the final shot of the game.

Curling is more exciting and challenging than a newcomer to the sport might expect.

A short primer on curling — like, why the sweeping?

Curling is an ice sport that originated in Scotland in the 16th century.

It is played by teams who take turns sliding 42 pound rocks at a target at the opposite end of a sheet of ice.

As the rock travels down the ice, team members use brooms to sweep the path in front of the rock to control its speed and direction. Besides the physical benefits derived from delivering the rock and sweeping it, curling offers a mental workout. The strategies employed to outwit the other team have led to curling being called “chess on ice”.

The game is played by two teams of four players each equipped with eight stones.

The circular stones are polished granite and weigh about 42 pounds and have a handle on the top. Alternating with

a player from the other team, each team member takes up a position in a foothold (the “hack”) at one end of the ice and propels a stone to the opposite end of the ice sheet.

The team captain, or “skip,” directs the game strategy by indicating to the delivering player where the stone should lie when it stops moving. The other two players assist by sweeping with brooms in front of the stone in order to clean the ice and warm it so that the stone travels further.

The game is called curling because, when releasing the stone, the player turns the handle about 1/4 turn clockwise or counterclockwise (depending upon the desired direction of the curl). This causes the stone to travel in a curved trajectory down the ice.

The curling motion gives

greater control of the rock and allows it to be positioned behind other stones.

After all 16 stones have been delivered (called an “end”), the team with one or more stones sitting closer to the button than any of the opposing team’s stones wins the end, with each of those stones counting for one point. A typical game is 8 or 10 ends long, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours of play.

The Wenatchee Curling Club offers “Learn to Curl” sessions as well as weekly league play.

You can find members curling most Sunday evenings at the Town Toyota Center, 5 p.m. 7:30 p.m., October - March.

For more information send an e-mail to wenatcheecurlingclub@gmail.com or check out the Wenatchee Curling Club’s website at http://www. wenatcheecurlingclub.com.

“Curling is easy to learn but difficult to master,” said Roger.

“When people at our level make shots, it’s even more fun than at the professional level. There it can get a little boring because those players are so good. But occasionally they make a shot that is just out of this world.”

A year ago, Roger participated in a bonspeil (curling tournament) in McCall, Idaho. Roger had made some shots, missed some shots, and had a good time — and now was on the sidelines watching the championship game.

Playing for first were a group of sons versus a group of fathers.

The sons were ahead but the fathers were in good position to tie the game with a rock in scoring position and guards out front to protect it. The sons had the last throw.

Roger expected the player to do a finesse shot, curling around the guard rocks to try and nudge the scoring rock just enough to replace it and score one point.

November 2010 | The Good Life |

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The shooting player’s team all urged him to do the finesse shot — the “come around.”

Instead, the player did a very difficult and dangerous shot, requiring power and precision, which blasted the scoring rock out of play and left the sons scoring three points. Game over.

When asked why he didn’t do the safer shot, this very young player responded, “I could have done the come around, but where’s the nostalgia in that?”

“Curling is a good fit for me because I don’t take myself too seriously,” said Roger. “I like to play and curling is play for all ages. I think curlers have more fun.” It’s not hard to find the nostalgia in that.

Katherine Helgeland is married to Roger Carlson and new to the sport of curling. When Roger tells people about curling and that he likes “sweeping,” Katherine wishes that he liked sweeping at home.

Red-coated messenger

By Matt Erickson

As the old saying goes: Life is what

Matt Erickson is a walking, talking committed guy coming to your door

tion of handouts: a pocket-sized constituhappens while you are busy planning tion booklet, four-inch by six-inch Amerisomething else. can flag, and some reference material for Life can be difficult to decipher as it is the Patriot Corps and the Foundation For unfolding, especially when it runs conLiberty. trary to one’s plans.

There are a number of potential downIf one is paying close attention, perhaps falls, unfortunately, in choosing red for something could be done to avert disaster the coat. The first is that it would serve as at the early stages of mounting contrary the brightest target for those so inclined evidence. Of course, if you are like me, it (no attempts yet, thankfully). will take a brick wall crashing down upon After knocking on my first thousand you before you realize that you should doors, I have deduced that there is yet have taken an about-face and reversed another missing link in the evolutionary your course far earlier. chain, as dogs are clearly related to bulls; A lot has changed in my life in the past free-range dogs charge at my coat whenyear. In December of 2009, my stepson ever the opportunity presents, as if it were and I closed our cabinet shop of five years the red cape held by a matador. due to too much indebtedness and too I feel compelled at this point to posit little profitable work (if I had only listened that believing dogs color-blind is a masto that little voice of reason… no, not my sive, left-wing government conspiracy conscience, but my wife screaming at the espoused by the liberal media, designed to top of her lungs). lull patriot-attired people into complacenWhat we had spent years building up, cy when choosing their clothing colors. we methodically dismantled in short This is so government bureaucrats raorder. After liquidating our assets, often tioning health care can deny them treatfor only pennies on the dollar, “things” ment from rabid dog bites, hoping to limit matter to me much less now. I value time the number of offspring from those who — time to spend on activities that matter don’t take their carbon footprint seriously, most to me. who would otherwise transmit such views Matt Erickson in his outfit: “A downfall of choosing red Raising awareness of threats to individ- is that it was the traditional color of the British forces through their “jeans” to an irresponsibly ual liberty and limited government is very seeking to curtail American efforts at independence. A large family. important to me. As my grandchildren So far, though, dogs’ barks have proven number of homeowners have thus asked if I portray a sit on my lap as I am writing today, I find British ‘Redcoat.’ If the opportunity presents, I explain worse than their bite and the first nip that my frock is a civilian-style coat, all one color; while didn’t pierce the skin. Oh yes, I forgot it difficult to reconcile what the past few generations have allowed to threaten this the British uniform of the era had off-white trim, blue to mention earier that I carry a walking great American nation and worry that this facing, elaborate button stitching, and was cut much dif- stick, which also serves as a handy canineferently. Neither am I carrying a musket or firelock with blocking device. The stick is quite effecyoungest generation will not be allowed the same or better opportunities than we bayonet or sword (imagine the stares if I did). Mostly, tive at thwarting the liberals’ devilish, though, I just say no, that though I wear a red coat, I am of my generation faced. population-control tactics (though pernot a Redcoat.”

I cannot help but feel that America is at Photo by Pam Erickson haps not as effective as my wife’s method the crossroads of great change, and not of “get off me”). for what I had hoped.

Walking down the street, I wave to passsion, I am wearing what my four-year old Many people of opposing viewpoint on ers-by who look at me somewhere between granddaughter affectionately calls my “silly limited government have told me over the amazement and indifference. years that I “should be committed.” Though I costume” — my red, white and blue colonial Surprisingly enough, even a 16-year-oldpatriot outfit. may have chosen to understand their recish young man listening to rap noise (I I wear a long red frock coat, ruffled white ommendation differently than they likely mean music) will stop and ask me what is shirt, and blue waistcoat vest. My breeches intended, I cannot be anything other. going on. His curiosity at my “commitment” (pants which stop just below the knee) and That brings us to my activities today. Beprovides me a brief opportunity to hand him sides writing on liberty and the U.S. Consti- long stockings are also white. I top off my and others like him a packet of information outfit with my black, fur-felt “tricorn” hat tution, I have been doorbelling my neighand urge them to study the Constitution and bors, many of whom I had never before met. and finish it off with brass-buckled, black reflect upon what a blessed privilege it is to In order to make a “committed” first impres- shoes. In my haversack side bag is my collec- be born an American.

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| The Good Life | November 2010

I suppose there is a certain amount of risk of being viewed as a “crackpot” by doing something out of the ordinary, something no “normal” person would willingly choose to do.

getting a tanning appointment before Halloween).

As I knock on the doors of strangers, a few invite me in and begin building a friendship.

Others take a quick look at my get-up and tell me to “get out.”

Some want no part of what I am “selling;” many others seem eager to listen, and quite a number take the opportunity to voice a few concerns of their own.

I suppose there is a certain amount of risk of being viewed as a “crackpot” by doing some-

thing out of the ordinary, something no “normal” person would willingly choose to do.

To me, however, it is a “commitment” thing: Why would I not take every opportunity possible to help my grandchildren have a wonderful future?

Why would I not try to restore these United States of America as a bright beacon of liberty in a world all too full of darkness and despair?

I have little idea what tomorrow may actually bring; and I

Of course, not all I talk with were born here or are even in the U.S. legally, so I should add in the appropriate disclaimer for the latter, “What a blessing it has become for them that they chose a competent coyote to help them cross the border (here we are back again to canines — see how intertwined conspiracies can become!).

I hear the occasional screech of tires as I walk down the sidewalk as a driver does a double take, rolls down the window and asks what in the world I am doing. So far, thankfully, no “bang” has followed the screech. I wave early at oncoming cars, so drivers have more time to assess the situation and be less likely to cause an accident.

I had never before been in the position whereby a stranger would ask to take my picture; now it happens up to a half-dozen times in a single afternoon as I walk the streets of Wenatchee.

One of the more memorable comments on my attire came in early October from a gentleman with extensive Halloween decorations in his yard who had just returned from a trip to Gettysburg. Evidently on the tour of that Civil War battlefield, his guide explained that many people there report seeing ghosts of the war dead. The startled homeowner relayed that his first thought when he saw me was that a ghost had followed him home (note to self: Consider November 2010 | The Good Life |

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may well get it wrong if I make extensive plans for it.

Yet that cannot provide me with sufficient excuse to evade the responsibility of trying to make life a little more just while properly oriented at liberty, at least to the extent of my limited means and ability.

God Bless America, land where we are free to be committed.

Matt Erickson is the founder and president of the Foundation For Liberty and the Patriot Corps.

The legend of the Prop-man Story to scare young scouts becomes more real as the night darkens

By Chuck Dronen Prop-man is alive and well, at least in the minds and imaginations of young scouts.

Like many campfire stories told from one generation to the next, they really take on a fantastic life of their own. This is true for the Prop-man tale based partially on truth and partially on the creativity of Scout-a-vista summer camp staff circa 1960.

In this story the truth lies in an event that took place on a stormy September night in 1944.

Flight crew 22, flying a B-24 Liberator - Heavy Bomber on a routine training mission from the Walla Walla Army Air Corp Base, was lost and off course somewhere over the Wenatchee mountains.

Tragically, due to visibility, fog and navigational issues, the aircraft crashed into the rocky basalt cliffs 500 yards below the crest of Mission Ridge.

Quoting the plaque that memorializes this event, “Around 8 p.m. the Beehive Lookout reported hearing the drone of a plane’s engine as it passed directly overhead. Within mo-

ments a fire was seen faintly illuminating the fog, alerting the lookout that the plane had probably crashed… The next morning when a rescue party reached the rocky bowl they found pieces of wreckage strewn hundreds of yards across the slope and the bodies of all six crew members were found.”

The preceding paragraphs above recount a tragic wartime accident, but in this true-life event were the makings of a classic local campfire yarn well known and repeated by North Central Washington Scouts for more than 50 years. Thus the 1944 bomber crash spawned the Legend of the Prop-man.

“There were no survivors or were there?” This was the question posed to me and fellow scouts one sultry evening while sitting around the Scout-a-vista campfire bowl during the summer of 1966. As a brand new Troop 1 scout and recent sixth grade graduate, I was hanging on the storyteller’s every word.

He went on to say that based on reliable information there was a big cover up to this tragic story. According to our trusted camp counselor, Flight 22 had been carrying top-secret war documents that under no circumstance could be known to the general public.

The recovery crew actually gathered up everything of a sen-

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sitive nature, filled the fuselage with TNT, then blew the plane to smithereens. Curiously, all of the crew bodies were accounted for except the tail turret gunner. From what the rescue crew could determine, a word must have gone out from the captain to abandon ship. It appeared that the tail gunner was the only one to parachute out.

Then, even more curiously, it looked like the gunner must have hit the ground at the same time the B-24 crashed. From the crash site it was evident that a piece of propeller had zig zagged across the ground towards the gunner who was obviously lying on the ground tangled in his parachute. At the tail gunner’s location the rescue party found a pool of blood and the parachute but the tail gunner and the prop were missing. They followed a trail of blood into the underbrush but never could find or recover the body.

Now the camp councilor paused to see what effect his story was having on his very young and very attentive audience. He went on, “I’d like to say that that’s the end of my story but there’s more. Several years after the crash, reports started coming in about strange sightings in and around the Wenatchee mountains. Hunters and hikers reported seeing what appeared to be a human

| The Good Life | November 2010

Chuck Dronen felt Prop-man’s touch.

form with some type of metallic object protruding from its side.

“Even more strange were reports of deer and other smaller animals found partially eaten and mutilated. There was no real hard evidence that these stories were anything more than outlandish tales but the stories continued to persist.”

The councilor went on. “But this is where things really get interesting. At summer camp last year we had a bona fide sighting.

“One of our scouts staying with his troop down in the Nut Grove campsite was scheduled to go on a patrol hike to Beehive Lookout. He was delayed in camp finishing noontime K.P., but said he’d catch up to his patrol in a few minutes. Finishing K.P., he left camp to catch a spur trail that would take him north to the Beehive trail.

“As the scout took off down the spur trail he quickly found himself quite alone on a poorly maintained trail. He traveled the overgrown trail but before long had that queer feeling that he was being watched. Have you ever had that eerie feeling when you feel like you’re being watched and the hair on your neck stands up?

“This is what the fellow was feeling and about this time he also sensed that something was traveling parallel to his path, at

“For a moment he stood in frozen fear looking into the haunted wild eyes of his worst nightmare.” the same speed and to his right.

He would stop, and whatever it was would stop. He’d start, and whatever it was would start. If he went faster, it would go faster. If he slowed down, it would slow down. By this time he was becoming frightened and started running as fast as he could when suddenly he came to a right bend in the trail and knew he was about to face his pursuer.

“His heart beating and his lungs burning, he turned the corner to see something that could hardly be called human crash out of the bushes onto the trail. Twenty feet in front of him, clad in tattered army issue coveralls, a jagged shiny metal prop projecting from his right side, bare-footed, wild eyed, shaggy hair and beard stood what could only be the lost tail gunner of the doomed flight 22.

“For a moment he stood in frozen fear looking into the haunted wild eyes of his worst nightmare. Then, the specter of flight 22 vanished into the forest. Somehow the scout found his way back to camp and as you might expect was incoherent and hysterical. When he was finally able to tell the story it was hardly believable but it was also obvious the scout had experienced something beyond traumatic.

“The epilogue is sad as the scout demanded to be taken home from camp immediately.

Shortly thereafter he left the scouting program and has not to my knowledge ventured back into the woods.

“So all I can say is it’s a pretty wild story and whether it’s true or not I can’t really say. But if it were me, I’d probably rec-

ommend staying in your tent tonight.”

After I heard this story I was in full agreement that whether the story was true or not it was sound advice to stay in my tent for the full duration of the night.

There was a problem though.

Earlier that day, actually the first day of our first summer camp experience, Timmy Hink and I had set up our B.S.A. Explorer Tent some distance away from the rest of troop on an abandoned road with a slight incline.

Now fast forward to evening time. The campfire program had ended, darkness had descended and we young scouts with much fear and trepidation were groping our way back to our campsite.

It had been an exciting day.

Tim and I were ready to hit the hay but we were also pretty much in agreement that we could have done without the Prop-man story. We also agreed from a philosophical standpoint, the purpose of the Prop-man

story was a staff exercise to keep young scouts in their tents at night. Not really convinced with our totally logical explanation, we tried to get some sleep.

When you’re a 12-year boy at your first summer camp, sleeping in a tent pitched too far away from the rest of the troop sometimes makes things seem magnified — like night sounds, darkness and a sense the Propman was lurking nearby.

In the middle of the night I awoke to find my sleeping bag had slipped halfway out the bottom of our tent. This was due in part to the fact that our tent didn’t have a floor in the first place and that we had pitched it on an incline.

What I discovered next lives vividly in my memory to this day.

On the exposed section of my sleeping bag I could feel something most assuredly metal (most likely a prop) moving slowly back and forth.

I was frozen with fear, not

November 2010 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life |

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daring to move a muscle or even breathe. In my mind I knew it was the dreaded Prop-man.

After what seemed an indeterminable amount of time I was spared and the Prop-man returned to the woods.

As an adult, I realized it was likely some older scouts who used a stick or axe to rub on my sleeping bag. But like the camp councilor said on that night so long ago, “It’s a pretty wild story and whether it was true or not I really can’t say. But if it was up to me, I’d probably recommend staying in your tent tonight.”

Endnote: I recently met with several Troop 1 Senior Scouts who were at that summer camp in 1966. I posed the question to them if they had anything to do with the episode described above. They could not confirm or deny that they had anything to do with this incident but with a twinkle in their eyes indicated it was not beyond the scope of possibility.

The former Tour of Homes dwelling sits on a hillside with unobstructed views.

BIG SKIES VIEW Home on a bluff is spacious, yet offers space where family can spend time together

By Susan Lagsdin Photos by Donna Cassidy

T

he first thing you notice when you turn down East Wenatchee’s Navajo Street to approach the Roberts’ place is the distant view.

You know that the west face of

the house will open on to dark basalt buttes in the far distance, blocks and crescents of orchard green, Stemilt Hill and Malaga.

Unadorned and plentiful windows and glass doors will fill the home with sky.

With just a slice of lawn beyond the house before downhill begins, in all seasons and

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all lights there will be that far landscape.

But the life of the house is inside Mike Roberts moved his wife and daughter into the house just a week after the 2009 Tour of Homes closed. It had won the “best floor plan” award,

| AT HOME WITH The Good Life | November 2010

and still contained exquisitely staged furnishings and décor.

The twist? Mike Roberts, the new owner, was both the owner and the builder — he operates Roberts Construction with his father, from whom he learned as a toddler that if a job is worth

Welcoming wrought iron bannisters open up the stairway to the ground floor.

Pure sky above and southern horizon views below frame the fireplace.

doing, it’s worth doing well. He says he brings the same exacting quality to their many custom and spec homes as he did to this very personal family home.

He knows that at a spacious 5,600 square feet the home is bigger than they need, but it suits his family. He loves this house. “We are very happy with it, totally pleased with how it turned out; there’s nothing about it we’d want to change.”

There were no surprises at move-in time. Not only was Mike able to change several aspects of the architect’s design to suit the family’s personal needs, but as the builder he was there to oversee every step of construction, choosing and installing materials with professional diligence and then giving the final OK to his own house.

The main floor design lends itself to family life: “We usually gather in one spot.” He points to a big table at the windowed corner of the kitchen. “I’ll be on the computer, my daughter will be doing homework, and cooking will be going on right here. With all this space, we find ourselves together in here a lot of the time. “ A few surprising elements are a special point of pride. Just

>> RANDOM QUOTE

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Buddha November 2010 | The Good Life |

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“People really like to just stand around and lean here — and it’s just the right height.” inside the main entrance, the dining area is defined by the beams of a Tuscan-inspired trellis. A tall, massive rock fireplace front is softened by a ledge and window high above. The elbowhigh granite island between kitchen and great room deliberately sports no pesky barstools.

Mike says, “People really like to just stand around and lean here — and it’s just the right height.”

The master bath boasts a re-

}}} Continued on next page

ABOVE: Protected from wind and close to the kitchen, the outside patio adapts to entertaining needs.

Left: A two-level granite island subtly divides the great room from food preparation.

}}} Continued from previous page cessed TV above the first of two walk-in closet doors, a walk-in shower with multiple spray options, and opposite-facing sink

areas with abundant counter and mirror space.

Predominately, the interior color is a signature of many Roberts’ homes. With “skip-trowel”

and rag texturing, the rich hue (think dark crème brulée, or marigold spiced with chocolate) subtly transforms itself on every surface. The total effect

ifs warmth and elegance — when asked, Mike says simply, “Well, we all just call it Roberts Brown.”

The color contrasts with the

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| AT HOME WITH The Good Life | November 2010

Dropped ceiling beams add interest and intimacy to the formal dining space.

predominately dark woods throughout the house — walnut flooring, dark kitchen cabinetry and trim.Mike chose untypical eight-foot doors (also dark wood) proportionate to the relatively high ceilings. A variety of vaulting, skylights, coves and recesses throughout lends more visual interest, as well as an ever-changing play of light.

Accessed by glass doors leading off most rooms, the house-length wraparound deck extends indoor activities to the outside. Tucked into its windbuffering L shaped end is a fully equipped outdoor kitchen, with seating, appliances, and a fireplace for warm-weather dining.

The home is notably wellappointed, still replete with designer furnishings, décor and immaculately clear surfaces.

Mike admits, “I know this seems kind of like a staged home, but we are really clean people. It actually looks like this most of the time!”

With their daughter moving on in the world in a few years, and the fact that some rooms, though luxurious, lie relatively unused, the Roberts family is thinking once again of the perfect (somewhat smaller) home.

Mike’s put the place on the

market, already envisioning for himself their next home — something more compact, maybe single floor, but with the favorite features of this one replicated in as many ways as possible.

November 2010 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life |

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{

Ideas for the home from local merchants and artisans

Favorite Things }

“I am the buyer for the store, so I like everything,” said Robyn Skaar, but she admits some items talk more to her heart.

Vietri pot: Vietri rustic garden pot, handturned in Tuscany by master artisans Slate: “Live out Loud” message on slate taken from a historic building destroyed in hurricane Katrina Angel photo: Guardian angel photographed at the world-famous Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris

They deserve the best.

Get connected and get the Chelan County PUD fiber optics advantage.

Local service providers offer fiber-fast, affordable services including: High-speed Internet Basic and HD television Telephone

www.chelanpud.org/fiber 509.661.4151

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| AT HOME WITH The Good Life | November 2010

EXPRESSING HER RETAIL SOUL

“My grandmother and my mother both had retail stores, so it’s as though I have the retail bug,” said Robyn Skaar about her lifestyles store, Willow, in downtown Chelan.

Robyn moved to Chelan 12 years ago and three-and-a-half years ago opened the store that features home accessories, jewelry, bath and body products and some clothing.

Many of the items come from women artisans, some of whom are local, which means a lot of the merchandise is one of a kind.

Some of the pieces are reclaimed art, such as old windows made into mirrors, or discarded bottles topped with sparkling glass crosses.

“I really enjoy working with women who are creative, and I really like to support them,” said Robyn. “When I was thinking about opening this store, I saw a place where different women could come togeth- Robyn Skaar with “Life er through collaboration — I really like the has a soundtrack” tee energy and spirit behind that idea.” shirt.

Bottles: Vintage antique bottles with stained glass embellishments made by Port Orchard crafter, Claire Montrose Wing: Vintage and distressed one of a kind handcarved wooden angel wing

November 2010 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life |

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{

Voice of Experience }

Kitchen remodel: Wall goes down and openness floods in T

By Shannon Cline

he trend in kitchen and bath design has leaned strongly toward renovation in recent years.

This is no surprise given the weak housing market and mortgage companies’ current lending policies. Due to this slowdown in new construction there is no shortage of skilled craftspeople to do the work.

Every city has houses, a neighborhood sometimes, where each house seems to have the correct proportions. Many are simple pre-war homes influenced perhaps by Greene & Greenes’ “American Bungalow,” or perhaps mid-century modern designs with open and flexible

plans inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright.

These homes are still available and many are being “rescued” by families that enjoy being closer to schools, parks, work and town. Often these houses have qualities that would be unaffordable or unattainable in today’s market such as plenty of beautiful windows, unique architectural details, covered porches and gardens and the like.

With a little TLC, the renovation of these homes can be very rewarding, and our neighborhoods and community benefit when these houses are repaired and preserved for the future.

Matt and Lisa Dahlgreen of Wenatchee tackled one such home and are nearing the end

Removing a wall where the old range was (see before photo) allowed a center island and opened light and communication in the remodeled kitchen. Top photo by Roger Turk

of a process that has made the house their own. Because they are located in an historic district and have retained the historic character of their home, they have qualified for property tax advantages.

Their home was built in 1925.

The kitchen was expanded in 1949, increasing the size of the

NCW Home Professionals

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| AT HOME WITH The Good Life | November 2010

kitchen and adding an eating area.

In their first meeting with me, the Dahlgreens shared thoughts and ideas about how they wanted the new space to function. My job was to listen carefully, but also to make as many observations as possible in order to come back with a design that met their stated needs as well as incorporating the more subtle, personal elements.

They had already made the decision to replace the steel frame windows from the ’49 re-do with wood insulated windows of the same style as the original windows in the house. The difference would be the doubleglazing component. One fixed window at the south end of the room was made a casement in the replacement, allowing for better cross ventilation.

I suggested the wall dividing the kitchen from the eating area should go. Removing the wall would not only allow a longer countertop, but also let light cross through the room, and

open communication and energy flow between the two areas.

A discussion followed. Design is a process of layering, and one job of the kitchen designer is to glean pertinent information on which to base a design and then present to clients a well-considered proposal that includes all of their requests for the new room.

A series of meetings then refines the details and cost projections can be made.

If there is a firm budget in place, the process can work backward with a breakdown for each item (i.e. cabinets, appliances, fixtures, floor covering, countertops and labor). The budget then dictates some design elements and most certainly product selection.

Most renovations have certain

constraints that enter into the design process and are best flushed out early in the game. Some conditions are not revealed until you get into the demolition stage, but most can be uncovered with a little investigation.

Removal of existing walls always triggers an inspection by a professional of the crawl space and attic to determine the manner in which the roof load has been distributed and what can and cannot be altered.

This responsibility fell to Steven Freis, an experienced and competent building contractor, who would ultimately be bringing the design to reality.

During the site inspection other issues may come up such as wood rot and asbestos insulation.

These things can add cost and need to be checked out.

There are new rules for professionals to be aware of when dealing with lead paint and other toxic materials.

Homeowners doing their own work should become familiar with the precautions necessary as well.

By removing the wall in the Dahlgreen project, we were able to not only open communication, but also make room for a large work island.

A pair of French doors to an outdoor eating area and a window seat with file drawers underneath next to the computer, and taller upper cabinets made possible by removing the soffit, all added dramatically to the functionality and enjoyment of the room.

A tall food pantry with pullout shelves, wine storage, double pullout recycle receptacle, large drawers and vertical storage were also added.

We selected appliances that were small in size, high on energy efficiency and long on life. The 18-inch wide Miele dishwasher is a winner on all three points and is one of my most often recommended appliances.

The refrigerator is only 30-inches wide.

Matt appreciates the GE Chef ’s gas range, and his wood worktop, for his weekly bread baking. The generous countertop at the sink allows plenty of room for Lisa’s espresso machine and functions as a secondary work center.

Marmoleum flooring (made from flaxseed), cherry wood island top, soapstone countertop and glass tile backsplash were chosen because of a the Dahlgreens’ commitment to the environment and because of their durability and beauty.

Lighting was updated to include halogen and LED fixtures for task light and incandescent for ambient light.

Style choices were guided by historic reference. These included inset doors/drawers in painted cabinetry, bead board panels and glass doors. Color was taken from vintage wallpaper in the adjacent dining room.

Art glass in the pendant light fixtures and a balsam leaf motif carved into the soapstone drain board by sculptor Gretchen Daiber respond to the Dahlgreens’ desire to incorporate elements from nature in their home.

Matt’s collection of lunch pails from his childhood create a colorful display. With a new coat of paint, Matt’s Great Aunt Eve’s table and chairs still do the job.

The addition of heirlooms in a renovation helps balance the “newness” factor and creates a familiar and reassuring sense of continuity for the family.

Shannon is a Certified Kitchen Designer and has been designing kitchens and bathrooms in Wenatchee for 22 years. For more information, visit www.jhkitchen.com.

November 2010 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life |

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column moving up to the good life

june darling

Being thankful is hard, but it’s good for you “B

e thankful for what you’ve got.” Cindy had heard that phrase said and even sung a zillion times and it bugged her more than ever this year.

Cindy scowled at herself in the bathroom mirror, “Yeah, I’m thankful for my stiff aching bones, my 50 pounds of extra blubber, and my empty bank account. I’m especially appreciative that my son’s a drug addict and that I’ll be working until I’m 90.”

Psychotherapist and Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello died before Cindy was born; nevertheless, he had dealt with plenty of Cindy’s. De Mello’s life work involved alleviating psychological, as well as spiritual, suffer-

ing.

The most powerful idea I learned from de Mello, I would put into a quote: “There’s only one reason you are unhappy — you are thinking about what you don’t have instead of what you do have.”

De Mello and others have pointed out that we seem drawn to noticing the negative — to what isn’t working well and to what we don’t have. As we indulge this inclination, we filter out anything positive and find more and more negatives.

The result of this singledminded negative focus causes us to feel increasingly irritated, depleted and unhappy (not to mention distorts our ability to see reality in its fullness).

The antidote to this form of

unhappiness is to work with our attention. We take responsibility for where we allow it to dwell.

We practice moving it around so that we are also able to notice what we do have and what’s going well.

When we shift our focus to the positives, we become increasingly appreciative, energized, and happy.

Unfortunately directing our attention is not as easy as it sounds.

First, some of us have been letting our attention go wild for a long time and it’s become unruly.

Second, some of us are afraid we’ll become Pollyanna’s and overlook problems we need to address.

And third, it can be difficult to learn how to appreciate because of what psychologists call the hedonic treadmill. We quickly tire of our pleasures and begin to take them for granted.

So when we’re told to just be thankful for what we’ve got, it DOES takes effort — and it’s worth it.

The main intervention coaches use with clients is to ask them to choose a specific time each day to write down what went well.

This forces clients to direct their focus toward the positive and

allows an opportunity for savoring and appreciating what’s going well.

If you’re one of those who fear too much attention on the positive will unduly warp your brain or that you simply must get the bad things “off your chest,” then feel free to write down what’s troubling you first, but take only five minutes. Set the timer.

Then spend the next 10 or more minutes prodding your brain to remember what happened that was positive and felt good.

Coaches say, “What you appreciate, appreciates.” When we savor our blessings, they seem to grow. Coaches also believe by being in a more appreciative state, we increase our ability to be resourceful, creative and perform well.

When we change what we focus on, what we focus on changes. Ponder that for a while.

While that idea sinks in, take November, our official month of Thanksgiving, as a time to devise a way to take control of your attention and to direct it toward noticing and appreciating your blessings.

Adopt a Thanksgiving mantra like “What I appreciate, appreciates” as a delightfully effective way to improve your life.

How might you move up to The Good Life this Thanksgiving by noticing and appreciating what you do have?

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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| The Good Life | November 2010

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column ALEX ON WINE

ALEX SALIBY

Why local wine costs what it does I had plans for an article

that spoke kindly of two of our area’s newest wineries. Truth is, I saved the draft and will probably finish it sometime in the future.

I changed those plans because of some in-person comments I recently received from a reader.

“I like your column, Alex,” the man said as I poured him some wine, “but I really enjoy reading it when you talk more about the ‘what’ of things rather than where to go.”

That comment got my attention. “What exactly does that mean?” I wondered. Not wishing to be impolite or to appear in the least bit worried, I asked, “So, do you have a favorite column I did in the past?”

“Oh, you know, all the ones where you write about why you drink a certain wine or what to eat and drink, rather than where to go to get the beverages; I like learning why this wine is better with that dish.”

It was a friendly conversation in a friendly place, and he was, after all, enjoying some wine — all the more reason for the convivial exchanges.

But friendly or not, the comment left me wondering. He already knows there’s a new winery in Malaga called Malaga Springs Winery. So I’m offering him no new information when I tell him they are open and selling their wines.

At least for this month, I’ll take a stab at trying to please at least one reader by speaking more to the “what” or “why” rather than to the “where” of things. After all, we all know where to find our local wineries.

A question often asked is, “Why do some bottles of wine sell for $2.99 and others for over

Some grapes in Washington command more than $3,500 a ton.

10 times that amount?”

The big factor in price is the cost of producing the wine. How much did the winemaker have to spend to get the grapes? The price of grapes is largely driven by the supply factor as well as by the reputation of the vineyard, so grapes that produce awardwinning, highly rated wines regularly command higher prices per ton. Some grapes in Washington command more than $3,500 a ton.

Then there is the cost of equipment and supplies. New oak barrels used by many winemakers are an expensive item, and a small winery shopping on its own and buying only a few barrels at a time might have to pay $1,000 or more for a barrel.

For some perspective here — and these are round numbers I’m using — a ton of good fruit might produce enough wine to fill three standard oak barrels.

One barrel will yield 25 cases of wine. Three barrels then will provide 900 bottles of wine to market, if all has gone well in

the process.

The math teachers out there have already finished the computations, but for the rest of you, just add that up: $3,500 for a ton of grapes and $3,000 for three oak barrels means our winemaker had to invest $6,500 for just these two items related to the cost of producing the wines.

Divide that by the 900 bottles of wine created from that ton of fruit and you begin to see why some wine is priced as high as it is.

In addition to that $7.20 per bottle cost for the fruit and barrels are the other equipment costs, the travel expenses, the label costs, the cartons, the bottles themselves and the corks and the caps on the corks. Pretty soon you are talking about real money.

The intangibles are more difficult to quantify: labor from start to finish, payroll costs, insurance costs, and the time value of money and having it tied up for the past 24 months or more while the wine ages in those expensive oak barrels Is there a cost and quality difference between the Two Buck Chuck at Trader Joe’s (which in Washington is really Three Buck Chuck) and a local winery’s bottle price, say, Chateau Faire

November 2010 | The Good Life |

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le Pont’s bottle of Tre Amore?

Well, the hard facts prove there is a cost difference.

Juice for that Three Buck Chuck is “surplus juice” and costs less than 50 cents a U.S. gallon, that’s roughly five bottles of wine. Since there is no barrel cost for Three Buck Chuck, the cost for the wine is approximately 10 cents a bottle.

Those local premium wines would not be the same without the oak barrel aging, but even if you remove that cost for the barrels, our local premium wine juice costs about $3.90 a bottle, and that’s quite a difference.

So yes, cost is a major factor in the price difference between that Three Buck Chuck and our local premium wines. But is there a quality difference?

For the answer to that question, you will have to rely on your own taste preferences, and not on anything I or anyone else might have to say.

But, there’s no Three Buck Chuck in my cellar.

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 GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

bonnie orr

Eating on the road in Transylvania When I travel, I love to eat.

Early this spring, I traveled to Transylvania and to the Danube Delta on the Black Sea in Romania.

Transylvania has multi-national affiliations from Roman to Turkish. Currently, the food has Hungarian accents — think paprika and goulash and noodles and sausages.

The Danube Delta’s cuisine is fish, fish, fish. The pensione where I stayed served a different fish at each meal. I lacked language to ask questions, but it was all delicious whether fried, stewed, baked, made into a paste or dumplings or layered in a casserole.

I spent a goodly part of my time in villages — Romanian villages are generally poor, have no paved roads, only some have electricity and all have questionable water sources.

Most Romanians drink expensive bottled water that creates a massive litter problem everywhere from the national parks to riverbanks to roadsides.

Horse drawn carts are common in the village areas and pose hazards on the potholed national roads that lead from town to town. The villagers

The Danube River looking across to the Ukraine. Photo by Bonnie Orr

grow their own fruit and vegetables and keep cows and chickens

and goats. The two villages that I explored extensively featured

a single store that sold items such as salt, sugar, flour, tractor parts, flashlight batteries and baby bottles.

Primary schools educate children until upper elementary age, and then the children are sent to boarding schools in nearby towns.

My visit coincided with Easters — Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox and Protestant — celebrated on different Sundays — so I spent weeks indulging in Easter pastries and breads.

In Transylvania, the poppy seed cake and bread were most common; further south the sweets featured walnuts, raisins and honey.

We know the quality of the ingredients determines the tastiness of the finished dish.

I learned about chicken stock.

Now, I have made my own chicken stock for about 40 years — according to late 20th Century standards.

Starting in the 1970s, lowfat foods became the cache for cooking, so I skim the fat from my chicken stock.

I nearly swooned when Margarete, my Transylvanian hostess, served chicken soup awash with golden globules of chicken

Pipes, Camera, Action!

BRAD MILLER on pipe organ, accompanying silent comedies starring Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson and the Keystone Kops

Saturday, November 13 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. at the

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

Tickets $12 adults, $8 children; members $8/$6

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| The Good Life | November 2010

fat and laced with homemade noodles. The rich taste was so filling and satisfying.

So, all things in moderation: I am going to splurge my fat calories on chicken fat.

To my great delight, I was served a unique treat, Sour Cherry Soup.

Scandinavian fruit soup is a pale rendition of this flavorful soup. My hostess and I struggled with no shared language but lots of gestures and smiles and our shared cooking experiences to suss out the recipe and convert from grams to ounces.

She cooked on a wood stove

Sour Cherry Soup Makes 4 servings

1 large onion chopped finely 1 tablespoon oil 2 large carrots grated finely 1 quart chicken stock 1 pint pie cherries with juice – Purchase frozen ones. Don’t use canned cherries coated with cornstarch and sugar 1/2 cup sour cream. Low fat does not thicken as effectively. Do not use fat free products to cook with.

Salt Chopped parsley for garnish The sour cream is used to thicken the soup. Margarete beat two eggs into a 1/4 cup of cold water and slowly

stirred them into the simmering soup to thicken it.

1. Brown the onion in the oil in a large pan. I prefer the taste of butter for browning onions.

2. Stir in the carrots and brown very lightly 3. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil until the carrots are tender 4. Turn down the heat. Add the cherries and simmer lightly 5. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the sour cream Serve into bowls and garnish with parsley Serve with fresh sour dough toast.

and was a wizard at moving pots from hotter to cooler areas of the stovetop. She laid out the soup ingredients and then gestured with pinched fingers dipped into salt, and cupped palms to measure out the home canned cherries. Her soup included the cherry pits that the diners moved around in the bottom of their soup bowl.

I made mine with pitted pie cherries, and I think it is equally tasty without the hint of almond from the cherry pits.

Bonnie Orr gardens and cooks in East Wenatchee.

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column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR

jim brown, m.d.

Rethinking an old food-intolerance disease

E

arly in my career in gastroenterology, celiac disease was thought to be primarily a disease of childhood and a fairly uncommon condition occurring in adults.

Until recent years, celiac disease was thought to occur in approximately 1 in 10,000 adults.

Now it is estimated to occur in between 1 in 100 to 200 adults.

Celiac disease has been given many names over the years including celiac sprue, idiopathic sprue, non-tropical sprue, gluten enteropathy and primary malabsorption syndrome. It remains the most common chronic disease of childhood. This condition was first described in the medical literature in the late 1800s.

Celiac disease is the most common food intolerance in the western population and is a major worldwide health issue.

This small intestinal disease is triggered in susceptible people by an autoimmune reaction to gluten, which is the protein in wheat, barley and rye.

It has both genetic and developmental causes. It has been thought to occur in genetically susceptible children who have had gluten introduced into their diet before 3 months of age.

Digestion and absorption, the major functions of the gastrointestinal system, occur in the small intestine. The small intestine on average is about 10 feet in length and is divided into three parts, the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. The majority of absorption occurs in the duodenum and upper jejunum.

The working portions of the small bowel lining are fingerlike projections called villi and each villous cell has about 600 microvilli per cell with approxi-

mately 50 million microvilli per square millimeter of small intestine mucosa. The total absorptive surface has been said to be the size of a football field.

We humans certainly are miraculous, aren’t we?

If these villous cells are damaged or reduced in numbers, the result is malabsorption of ingested substances including fats, carbohydrates, proteins, water, electrolytes, iron, calcium, selenium, copper and vitamins, especially the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Celiac disease is a unique autoimmune disorder in genetically susceptible people.

The autoimmune reaction to gluten causes an inflammatory response in the small intestine lining, damaging the cells and their villi and reducing their ability to function in their primary role of absorption.

The symptoms in children may be failure to thrive, wasting, malnutrition, weight loss and diarrhea.

However, I want to focus on celiac disease as found in the adult population.

Celiac disease can present symptoms of unexplained weight loss, chronic diarrhea, fatigue and loss of energy due to failure to absorb ingested nutrients. There are many people who have sub-clinical celiac disease who may have little in the way of gastrointestinal symptoms but have other manifesta-

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tions of the disease.

This disorder should be considered when people have unexplained anemia due to iron or B12 deficiency. It should also be considered in patients with unexplained osteoporosis.

Some patients thought to have an irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea and bloating might have celiac disease as a contributing cause.

Patients with celiac disease have a higher than expected incidence of type 1 diabetes, rheumatic disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, some neurological disorders and skin disorders.

Dermatitis herpetiformas is gluten caused skin disorder.

Some cases of infertility may have celiac disease as an underlying cause.

Curiously, this disorder has been increasing in incidence in western populations for many years despite the fact that newly developed blood tests allow easier diagnosis.

Until recently, the diagnosis was made by a positive small bowel biopsy plus having a favorable response to a gluten-free diet.

In recent years new blood tests have been developed that are very helpful in suggesting the diagnosis. If these tests are positive, then small bowel biopsies are typically done to confirm the diagnosis. In some situations a gluten-free diet is started without the biopsy.

If a patent fails to respond to a gluten-free diet, a biopsy is needed to confirm or rule out the diagnosis.

Some people try a gluten-free diet without a diagnosis. Many of them say that they feel better and think that they are healthier by avoiding gluten.

There are also people cur-

| The Good Life | November 2010

rently adhering to what has been called the “G diet” or gluten-free diet popularized by a number of Hollywood celebrities for weight loss. Chelsea Clinton’s wedding cake was said to be gluten free.

I think like most weight loss diets, this fad has come and will go.

Feeling better or losing weight on a gluten-free diet is not diagnostic of celiac disease. Patients who truly have celiac disease have to maintain a life-long total avoidance of all gluten, and they should to be under the guidance of a licensed dietician.

Recently, a study was done on foods advertised or sold as gluten-free. Researchers found seven out of 22 of these products had small amounts of gluten, and one type of soy flour said to be gluten-free had significantly elevated gluten levels.

I want to emphasize again that patients with celiac disease need to totally avoid all gluten forever. The greater prevalence of the disease will no doubt lead to more aggressive FDA testing and requirements for gluten-free products in the future.

Celiac disease has many clinical manifestations. Gastroenterologists like to make the diagnosis since it can explain the causes of some serious symptoms in certain of our patients.

Best of all, we like making diagnoses of illnesses where we can explain the cause, specifically treat or cure it and thereby help our patients lives to be improved in the long run.

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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WHAT TO DO

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

Wenatchee Valley Follies Guild annual Christmas wreath sale now through 11/10.

Fundraiser that supports area children’s needs. Delivery of wreath before Thanksgiving. Info: 6638362.

Gordon Lightfoot, 11/2, 7:30 p.m.

Concert. Town Toyota Center. Info: www.towntoyotacenter.com.

Hiking the Cascades, 11/2, 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Photographer Alan Bauer will give a slide show of Cascade mountain landscapes and sign copies of several Mountaineer Books that he co-authored, including Day Hiking the Central Cascades and Best Desert Hikes— Washington. Bauer is a professional freelance photographer specializing in the natural and cultural history of the Pacific Northwest. Samples of his photographs may be viewed at www.alanbauer.com. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center.

Cost: by donation.

Introduction to Birding, 11/4, 6 – 8 p.m. Free interactive workshop.

Be introduced to the basics of bird biology, view images of common birds of the Wenatchee Valley, and learn how to use field characteristics as an aid to bird identification.

Participants will be introduced to field guides, audio tools, binoculars, and birding organizations. Info: 667-9708.

Bill McGuire of Rock Island has been fly fishing for more than 60 years and continues to innovate the design of rods. An exhibit of his gear will be at the Wenatchee Valley Museum from Nov. 5 through Feb. 19. Dave Graybill photo Alice In Wonderland, A rock opera, 11/5, 7:30 p.m. Performing Arts Center. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Fly Fishing Exhibit, 11/5, 5 – 7 p.m. Bill McGuire of Rock Island holds the world distance record for spin casting (325 feet). Join him and his exhibit of photographs and

fishing gear that spans 60 years.

The exhibit runs through Feb. 19.

Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center.

Riding with Reindeer, 11/5, 7 p.m. book signing. Bob Goldstein pedals out of Helsinki into the wide-open

}}} Continued on next page

Stars in the Making, 11/4, 6 p.m. Karaoke contest. Grand prize $1,500. Mill Bay Casino. Info: melissap@colvillecasinos.com.

Table Top Designs for the Holidays, 11/4, 11 a.m. Manson. 7 p.m.

Hosted by Nicky Allison and Diana Hoyt. Info: 687-3534.

Pocahontas, A Musical, 11/5, 4:30 p.m. Performing Arts Center.

Cost: $15, seniors $14, students $10. Info: www.pacwen.org.

First Friday at Two Rivers Gallery, 11/5, 5 - 8 p.m. Fist Friday reception invites the public to meet the gallery’s featured artist, Ken Duffin. Ken is a well known Northwest artist who has won many awards for his oil and watercolor paintings.His work will be on exhibit with 50 other area artists through December. Live music by guitarist Adam Bristow. 102 N. Columbia, Wenatchee.

November 2010 | The Good Life |

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WHAT TO DO

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

}}} Continued from previous page arctic, encountering humor, history, furious storms and innumerable reindeer. Leavenworth Library.

Cost: free. Also on 11/6 at A Book For All Seasons bookstore at 1 p.m.

4-H Spurs & Spokes Concert, 11/6, 7:30 p.m. Wenatchee Valley Appleaires, the Wenatchee Apollo Club, the Columbia Chorale and

Leavenworth Village Voices will perform at the Performing Arts Center. This Harvest of Love Benefit Concert helps children and adults with disabilities in Chelan and Douglas counties. Cost: $12. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Laugh Riot 2010, 11/6, 8 p.m.

Stand-up comedians Troy Thirdgill and Chris Alpine will perform at the Wenatchee Convention Center.

Cost: $20-$22. Info: 669-0821.

Multicultural Fest, 11/6, 11 a.m.

– 4 p.m. This family event cel-

ebrates the diverse cultures of our region with entertainment, crafts, food and information booths.

Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: by donation.

Cellist Eugene Friesen, 11/6, 7 p.m. Grammy award winning East Coast cellist Eugene Friesen will perform “Soul of the Cello” as a benefit concert. Barn Beach Reserve, Leavenworth. Cost: $15 in advance or $18 at the door.

Students and seniors $12. Info: 548-2278.

Share your adventure Life needs a little adventure.

Whether you are finding yours around the corner or at the ends of the earth, The Good Life readers want to share in your passion.

Tell us what you are doing and we’ll help you tell a good story.

NCW Audubon Society, 11/6, 2-hour field trip at the Horan Nature area in Confluence State Park.

Instructor Susan Ballinger, biologist and educator. Info: 667-9708.

Family ArtVentures, 11/9, 10 a.m. – noon. Art class designed for all members of the family. East Wenatchee artist Martha Flores will lead “Flavors of the Harvest: Still Life.” Materials provided.

Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Preregistration: 888-6240.

History of Fish and Fishing in the Pacific NW, 11/9, 7 p.m.

Dennis Dauble has researched fish of the Columbia and Snake rivers for more than 30 years. His presentation will describe how fish and fishing are intertwined with the lifestyle and culture of Pacific Northwest residents from American Indian tribes and the Lewis & Clark Expedition through modern water. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center.

Flag-Folding Ceremony, 11/11, 10:15 a.m. Fredi Simpson and local Boy Scouts and Civil Air Patrol cadets will demonstrate the correct way to present, handle and display the US flag. Fredi also will share the history of the bugle “Taps.”

Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center.

Suggest an idea Have you just heard of personal doings from a friend or neighbor that fascinated you? That made you think: “Boy, that would be fun to do”? Drop us an e-mail, and we’ll try to get that story into the pages of The Good Life.

Veteran’s Day Parade, 11/11, 11 a.m. Starting at Memorial Park, Wenatchee.

Veteran’s Day Parade, 11/11, 11 a.m. The Chelan VFW Post 6853 is sponsoring the parade in downtown Chelan.

Wreath Making, 11/11, 4 p.m. Join Heidi Griffith and Allison for wreath making class at The Gallery at Allisons in Manson. Info: 687-3534.

Write for us

Bad Boys of Arena Cross, 11/12 – 11/13. Indoor motor sports event.

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

We encourage freelance writers to submit ideas and stories.

Perhaps the story is about you, or someone you know... help us make The Good Life the local magazine that readers eagerly look forward to each month.

Transformative Birds and Nature, 11/12, 7 p.m. Michele Burton is an avid avian photographer who will share her photography techniques, tips and her own photographic explorations of the details of light and nature. Barn Beach Reserve, Leavenworth. Cost: free.

Bodily Harm, 11/12, 7 p.m. book signing. Robert Dugoni delivers a searing courtroom thriller. Leavenworth Library. Cost: free.

Contact us at:

editor@ncwgoodlife.com

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sales@ncwgoodlife.com

| The Good Life | November 2010

Oklahoma, 11/12 – 11/20, evening performances 7:30 and Saturday

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WHAT TO DO

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

matinees 2 p.m. The Wenatchee High School Choral Department presents Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma. Directed by Matt Lodge and Paul Atwood. Wenatchee High School Auditorium. Ticket info: 888-0780.

Holiday Gift Fair, 11/13, 9 a.m. noon. More than 140 booths with great ideas for the holidays. Lunch and bake sale. Wenatchee Valley Senior Activity Center 1312 Maple Street. Info: Lori Kosters 662-7036.

Cost: free.

The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

Larry Henderson is alive with the sound of music W

ithout missing a beat, Larry Henderson agreed to stand and sing a solo on demand, accompanied only by the tumble and rush of the Stanley Civic Center fountain.

Rag Rug Weaving, 11/13, 9 a.m. – 3 “The hills are alive with the p.m. Weave a small rag rug in one sound of music, with songs they day. This class is for both beginhave sung for a thousand years…” ners and more advanced students.

Passersby felt that magical Weaving a rag rug is a great way to moment, that clear strong voice recycle old cotton sheets, but you can also use purchased cotton fabon a sunny day downtown. Larry ric. After tearing the cotton to the seems like a man who would be correct width, students will weave unselfconsciously glad to break a rug using their own design. After into song anytime, anywhere. knotting the fringe, the rug will be ready to use. Contact the instructor Though he has studied and for supply list at 663-1391. Space is experienced music for years, limited, pre-registration is required.

Larry can still describe choral Weaving Studio, 2201 N Duncan singing clearly to a layperson.

Rd. Cost: $89. Info: www.wvc.edu/ directory/departments/conted/de“There’s a feeling of ‘corporatefault.asp. ness’ in a chorus,” he said. “It’s wonderful when all the voices Three Authors, 11/13, 1 p.m. Meet authors Robert Dugoni, Bodily are equal, none too soft, none Harm, Byron Newell, Looking Back, too loud. But to blend all the a Visual History of Early Plain, and voices you need to have everyBarbara deRubertis, Jeremy Jackrabbit’s Jumping Journey, and enter one listening all the time — not a free prize drawing. A Book For All just to their own voice, but Seasons bookstore, Leavenworth. everyone else’s.”

Cost: free.

A professional computer Jim Faddis & Kevin Brown CD programmer, he indulges himRelease Party, 11/13, 7:30 p.m. self in concentrated musical Cashmere Coffee House. Cost: $3 at the door and pass the hat for the pleasures: first he experiences musicians. Info: www.cashmerecof- the joy of blending seamlessly feehouse.com. into liturgical and vintage pop songs with the 65-man chorus Holiday Wine Walk, 11/13. The of Wenatchee’s Apollo Singers, Wenatchee Downtown Association and Wenatchee Wine Country one of the state’s most venerable welcome wine enthusiasts into male singing groups. Then he downtown stores to sip, shop and get ideas for holiday wines. The fun makes his way to Leavenworth where he stretches a few differstarts at noon at Pak-it-Rite, 126 N. Wenatchee Ave., where guests can ent musical muscles directing pick up a complimentary glass and eight tokens for $20. Then stroll the downtown merchants for wine tasting and other special events in many of the stores. For more information, go to www.wenatcheewines.com or call 669-5808.

Bach to Gershwin and Beyond:

The History of the Piano Trio, 11/13, 7:30 p.m. The Icicle Creek Piano Trio takes us on a light-hearted trip through this musical form, exploring the musical tapestries of Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Ravel, Gershwin and Ives and

Larry Henderson: Bursting in the song.

The Village Voices — half the size, mixed gender, different repertoire.

A strong director can help chorus members to listen and hear all the parts. And Larry says “empathic” directing works best for him — where the director’s expression and posture also help musicians to tell the composer’s story, while transmitting nothing extraneous to the singers. Though he enjoys group song, and especially solos, his own goal is to direct even more than he sings, and to that end he actively absorbs all the good ideas he can from his mentors.

Larry has already lived a life immersed in music. Born into a music-loving family, by the age of six he was standing in front of his church’s congregation with a pitch pipe, leading the group in unaccompanied plain song.

He learned shape notes, spent summers at music-centered camps, and throughout his childhood sat at his father’s

knee, absorbed by his guitar playing. He went on to win scholarships by drumming up music program enrollment touring with small groups. He remembers, “That one summer we traveled 17,000 miles throughout the West recruiting singers and instrumentalists for the college.”

With that background, no wonder Larry, at 60, is devoted to making beautiful music. Even at home.

“All of our babies started to sing by three months,” he said matter-of-factly, then went on to explain how practice with infants in mimicking sounds elicits a kind of call and response pattern that eventually creates an ear for pitch and rhythm.

Another goal beyond directing is to help whole families participate in music education and performance. “Singing is not an innate, genetic skill. It takes early practice — but every child can learn to sing,” Larry said.

— by Susan Lagsdin

Higdon. Featured winery: Magyar Arubehozatalok/Hungarian Imports. Canyon Wren Concert Hall, Leavenworth. Cost: $20 adults, seniors $16, students $10, kids 5-12 free. Info: www.iclcle.org.

Pipes, Camera, Action! 11/13, 7 – 9 p.m. Former Wenatchee resident Brad Miller will return to play the Liberty Theater Pipe Organ, accompanying a silent film classic. Admis-

November 2010 | The Good Life |

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}}} Continued on next page

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WHAT TO DO

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

}}} Continued from previous page sion includes popcorn and soda.

Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: $12 adults, $8 children, members $8.

Paul Taylor 2, 11/14, 4:30 p.m.

Veteran dancers performing with a blend of athleticism, humor and emotion. Performing Art Center.

Cost: adults $39, seniors $35, students $15. Info: www.pacwen.org.

ica’s best barnstormer pilots. In 1931 he and copilot Hugh Herndon set out to break the world’s circumnavigation record in a single-engine Bellanca Skyrocket, the Miss Veedol. Herndon’s errors slowed them down so they switched their sights to making the world’s first nonstop trans-Pacific flight.

They flew from Misawa, Japan to Wenatchee and received a $25,000 prize. Steve Joy from the modern Spirit of Wenatchee group, which has built and flown a replica of Miss Veedol, will give a slide show and describe Pangborn’s colorful life and career. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: $5 adults, $4 seniors.

“Food Fight,” 11/16, 7 – 9 p.m.

This 70-minute documentary investigates the development of American agriculture and policy in the 20th century and the birth of the counter-revolution of the organic and local food movements.

Following the film, Joan Qazi of EAT (Education and Agriculture Together) will speak briefly and answer question. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center.

The Celtic Tenors, 11/18, 4:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $40, seniors and students $37. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Clyde Pangborn and the Miss Veedol, 11/17, 2 p.m. -3 p.m. Clyde Pangborn was born in Douglas County and became one of Amer-

Festival of Trees, 11/19 – 11/21.

Ladies Pre-View Party, 11/19, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Meet the designers and directors, enjoy the holiday social,

Perfect Cheese Trays, 11/17, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Be a connoisseur of types of wine, bread, fruit meats and cheese. Tasting room at the Old Firehouse, Chelan. Cost: $45.

Info: aslee@b2wine.com. hors d’oeuvres and one beverage choice. Be the first to place your bids on silent auction items, wear the “little black dress!” Cost: $25.

Dinner and live auction, 11/20, 5:30 p.m. Cost: $130. View the trees.

Red Lion Hotel. Info: www.pacwen. org.

Byron Gatlin, M.D. Obstetrics & Gynecology

Wenatchee Valley Medical Center welcomes Dr. Byron Gatlin to its Obstetrics and Gynecology Department.

Dr. Gatlin received his Medical Doctorate at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, Florida and completed his Internship and Residency at Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort Lewis, Washington. Dr. Gatlin is a Diplomat of National Board of Medical Examiners and also Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology. His professional interests include: high-risk obstetrics, urogynecology, infertility, endoscopic surgery, and laparoscopic hysterectomy.

Dr. Gatlin and his wife, Lisa, come to us from Yakima, Washington. They have two daughters, Rebecca and Rachel.

Dr. Gatlin enjoys hunting, fishing, running, backpacking and woodworking.

Physician-owned and patient-centered since 1940

820 N. Chelan Avenue • 663-8711 • www.wvmedical.com 38

| The Good Life | November 2010

Learn to paint a Poinsettia, 11/20, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Learn to paint the Christmas season flower in acrylic paint and then use the design as a holiday card for friends, family, co-workers or just for yourself. Beginning and intermediate students are welcome. Space is limited, pre-registration is required.

Wenatchee Valley Music and Arts Center. Cost: $79. Info: www.wvc. edu/directory/departments/conted/ default.asp Holiday Open House, 11/20, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Christmas party with door prizes, refreshments and live music. Allisons of Manson. Info: 687-3534.

Tom Landa & Kalissa Hernandez, 11/20, 7 p.m. Tom Landa from The Paperboys and his talented fiddle player Kalissa Hernandez will perform at the River Haus in Leavenworth. Cost: $35. www. riverhausinthepines.com.

Icicle Creek Youth Symphony, 11/22, 7 p.m. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $5. Info: www.pacwen. org.

Fall Barrel Tasting, 11/26 – 11/28. Lake Chelan Wineries. Barrel sampling and other treats. Info: info@lakechelanwinevalley.com.

Christkindlmarkt, 11/26 - 11/ 28. Christkindlmarkt will be held outdoors on Front Street at the Leavenworth City Park to welcome the Christmas shopping season with food, music and activities for children. Info: www.christkindlmarktleavenworth.com.

>>

WHAT TO DO

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

Arrival of Santa Parade, 11/27, 9:45 a.m. Parade starts at Eastmont Community Park and goes down Grant Road to Wenatchee Valley Mall. Info: www.eastwenatchee.com.

Holiday Spice, 12/2, 7 p.m. Fourth annual concert of the area’s best performers featuring holiday music and the Holiday Spice Big Band under the direction of Glenn Isaacson. Performing Arts Center. Cost: adults $18, seniors and students $15. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Christmas Tree Lighting, 12/3, 6:30 p.m. Christmas carols, tree lighting, refreshments and pictures with Santa. East Wenatchee City Hall. Info: events @east-wenatchee. com or 886-6108.

Christmas Lighting, 12/3 -12/ 5, 12/10- 12/12, 12/17 – 12/19. Nationally acclaimed Christmas Lighting Festival returns for an emotional visit to a turn of the century Bavarian Christmas, Holiday personalities and a ceremonial lighting of the town. New for 2010 - Lights on Friday nights!

Common Bond 5, 12/4, 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. Sounds of Christmas. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $15 advance, $18 at the door. Info: www.pacwen. org.

Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra Concert, 12/4, 7 p.m. Annual holiday concert under the direction of Conductor Nikolas Caoile. Wenatchee High School Auditorium. Info: www.wenatcheesymphony.org.

Holiday Gift Bazaar & Gift Basket Classes, 12/4 & 12/11. Tasting Room at the Old Firehouse, Chelan.

Info: ashlee@b2wine.com.

Christmas in the Mountains Choral Festival, 12/9 & 12/10.

7:30 p.m. 9:30 p.m. Church of the Nazarene, Leavenworth. Cost: $12, seniors and students $10. Info: 548-9797.

Apollo Club Holiday Special, 12/12, 7:30 p.m. Wenatchee’s all men choir finishes up its first 100 years with holiday music. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $15. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Columbia Chorale Family Christmas, 12/17, 7:30 p.m.

Holiday choral music concert with piano and orchestral accompaniment. Performing Arts Center. Cost:

The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

Looking for the next good shot in a world of light Eleanor Culling’s camera

captures landscapes ranging from her own property up Eagle Creek to the Red Rock region of Utah and the rocky green hillsides of Wales.

Her single shots are evocative enough, but she then creates projects — compilations of carefully sequenced photographs destined for gallery walls, museums, community exhibits, magazines, photo essay books and her website.

Raised with SLR cameras and film, and the resultant darkroom work and printing expenses, she luxuriates in the freedom of her small Canon D5 digital camera. When she moved to that technology, “The world of photography opened up to me — I now have control over my pictures.” She’s an experimenter with the medium, appreciating “raw” photos but also taking full advantage of computer software.

Already retired from teaching public school choral music, Eleanor, now 74, left Michigan as a new widow in 1982. It was an extreme move, but she says, “My parents brought me up to be independent and self-confident.”

An earlier hike in the Cascades had riveted her attention on the area, and Leavenworth seemed the perfect place for reinvention.

She came, saw, started a business and purchased a home in swift progression and 28 years later still grins with delight at adults $14, seniors and students $8. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Next Step Dance Studio, 12/18, 7 p.m. Join students from preschool age through adults perform various dance styles in this annual Christmas program. Performing Arts Center. Cost: adults $16, seniors and children under 12 $12. Info: www.

Eleanor Culling: Artful living.

her wise choices.

Eleanor soon involved herself in the community with her shop (Images, Sounds, and Rubber Stamps II) and with her music life: Village Voices, the Marlin Hand Bell Ringers and the German band. Over the years she’s been recognized as a valuable leader and participant in many area arts groups, and she reigned as 1996 Leavenworth Royal Lady of Autumn Leaves.

Currently, it is her photography that most strongly defines her creativity. She travels wisely (surgeries make her less able than before to hike high and carry heavy) but capturing beauty in nature has lead her boldly around the world. A place she’d gladly revisit is the vast region of Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand, where she has chronicled aboriginal art in her documentary style.

For the portrait for this arpacwen.org.

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, 11/18, 7 p.m. Presented by Next Step Dance Studio. Preschool age to adults will perform various dance styles in this Christmas program. Performing Arts Center. Cost: adults $16, seniors and students $12. Info: www.pacwen.org.

November 2010 | The Good Life |

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ticle, Eleanor maneuvered the photographer to dappled shade in her yard, a red tree branch, an open view of hills. Squinting into autumn sun, she suggested, “Let’s try his spot over here, maybe a little to the left to block out that building…” Aware of the composition, following the light, she’s very much at home with the medium.

Eleanor’s creekside house is a haven of artful living. Her spacious, mountain-facing upstairs workroom is packed with computers, prints, books, and mementos — not a museum but a studio. She’s still actively seeking the next good shot, shaping with sun and shadow, following the next opportunity to show the world through an artist’s lens.

You can see Eleanor’s work on www.eleanorstravels.com and etcetc@crcwnet.com.

— by Susan Lagsdin Matinee-Joy to the Word: A Christmas Concert, 12/19, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Icicle Creek Piano Trio and Leavenworth’s Marlin Handbell Ringers will ring in a joyful brand of holiday cheer. Enzian Hotel Banquet Room, Leavenworth. Cost: $16.99.

Info: www.brownpapertickets.com or 1-800-838-3006.

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column those were the days

rod molzahn

John A. Gellatly went all in for Wenatchee J

ohn Gellatly and his wife Laura walked through downtown Wenatchee on their first evening in town.

In the darkness a man passed them, turned back to look, then walked on. Only moments later, as Laura Gellatly looked back and exclaimed, “He’s after us!” the man attacked John from behind.

Gellatly managed to take a swing at the man then chased him toward the railroad tracks.

The man shouted, “Stranger, I’ve made an awful mistake.” Gellatly shouted back, “You bet you have!” After overtaking the man, John Gellatly turned him over to the marshal.

It was October of 1900. The Gellatlys, with their two children, Lester and Flossie, had arrived in town at four in the morning on the train from Seattle. Their plan was to take the stagecoach from Wenatchee to Waterville where John intended to become a wheat grower.

They delayed their departure for Waterville the next day so John could testify in police court. The attacker claimed that he was sorry and that, in the darkness, he had mistaken Gellatly for, “The man who’s been stepping out with my wife.”

In his first effort to make Wenatchee a better place, John Gellatly agreed to drop the charges if the man would, “Leave town at once.” The man left.

The Gellatlys stayed and “John A.” spent the next half century dedicated to improving the government, parks, schools,

PHOTOS FROM THE WENATCHEE VALLEY MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER

ABOVE: The John Gellatly home on Kittitas Street and Okanogan Avenue was built in 1908 at a cost of $20,000. It was the first home in Wenatchee to have a hot water heating plant and lawn sprinkling system. In 1915, it became a hospital and was razed in 1955. (#80-67-75)

LEFT: John A. Gellatly worked for Wenatchee, and Wenatchee worked for him. (#78-218-22d)

irrigation systems and morals of his adopted city. Wenatchee was the seat of the 10-monthold Chelan County and the new officers had no experience in running county government.

Gellatly’s four years as a county auditor in Oregon soon got him appointed Chelan County Deputy Auditor, Deputy Clerk and, at the pleading of the county prosecutor, police court judge.

In the weeks before his new county jobs began, Gellatly shoveled rotten vegetables, ashes and trash from the basement of Taz Rary’s general store, nailed down carpets in Rary’s new house, hauled freight for the town’s drayman and screwed down new student desks in Steven’s School.

He bought five downtown lots

40

for $100 on a 90-day contract with $10 down. He charged two loads of lumber from Scheble’s lumber yard and, in five days time built his family’s first Wenatchee home, 14 feet by 22 feet, with one room on each of its two floors.

Gellatly’s son, Lester, said that politics was his dad’s main interest in life and that quickly became apparent.

John A. was elected to the city council in 1901 and won the mayor’s job in 1903 then again in 1907 serving a total of six years in that office. John Gellatly ran for mayor, and won, on the promise to close the town’s multitude of saloons and bawdy houses which Gellatly referred to as, “The resorts along Columbia Street.”

Due greatly to his efforts Wenatchee became Washington

| The Good Life | November 2010

State’s first “dry” town.

A teetotaler all his life, Gellatly often told the story of being taken up to see Philip Miller’s farm below Saddle Rock during his first week in the valley. Miller’s farm had been established in 1872 and boasted mature orchards and gardens.

All new arrivals in town were shown the Miller farm as proof of what could be done with irrigation. During the visit Gellatly was given a glass of what he thought was fruit juice. He downed the contents and soon began to feel the effects of Philip Miller’s famous peach brandy.

John A. was much relieved that the effects, in time, wore off.

By 1907, with profits growing from the land title business he had begun in 1901, John A. built the largest house in town for his growing family.

Estimated to cost $8,500, the two-story, brick colonial on the corner of Okanogan and Kittitas streets had hot water-radiator heat (the first in town), a lawn sprinkler system, a curved, mahogany staircase, a Tiffany chandelier and a concrete porch around three sides. His daughter, Bernice, remembered that it was the only place in Wenatchee where the kids could roller skate. The final cost of the house reached $20,000. The Gellatlys sold a prime orchard on Wenatchee Heights to pay for the new house.

John Gellatly believed in community service, claiming that, “It was just my privilege to work for Wenatchee and Wenatchee has always worked for me.” And work he did.

John A. worked tirelessly to see that the High – Line canal was built, often raising money

When his doctor told him he needed to get more exercise to lose weight, he got together with friends to spearhead building the Wenatchee Golf and Country Club. on the strength of his word and personal guarantee. He went to Olympia in 1908 to make sure that the bridge across the Columbia carrying irrigation water and people would remain free when the state proposed that there be a toll.

He was the first president of the Wenatchee Commercial Club (now the Chamber of Commerce), served on the Wenatchee Library Board and the Wenatchee School Board where he championed the cause of shade trees on the grounds of Whitman, Lincoln and Lewis & Clark schools.

John Gellatly was elected to the state House of Representatives from Chelan County in 1918 and along with Representative Belle Reeves, also from Wenatchee, he worked to convince the state that a road could be built to Quincy through the Rock Island area.

State highway engineers had said it couldn’t be done but Gellatly and Reeves changed the engineer’s minds and got the funding allocated for construction.

The road opened in 1926 with Gellatly and Reeves in the first car over the Rock Island section.

In 1928, Gellatly was elected Lieutenant Governor and served a four year term.

John Gellatly personally guaranteed the bank loans to build the YMCA and when his doctor told him he needed to get more exercise to lose weight, he got

together with friends to spearhead building the Wenatchee Golf and Country Club. John A. didn’t play golf but he learned.

He also planted by hand all the shade trees on the golf course.

Gellatly liked cars and once owned the town’s Packard agency.

He was also a great proponent and backer of roads. In 1909, with his entire family along, he drove his Thomas Flyer over Colockum Pass on a trip to Oregon and two years later was

the first to drive over Colockum Pass to Ellensburg then back to Wenatchee over Blewett Pass.

Both roads were barely passable to wagons then. Gellatly was also instrumental in seeing that an automobile road over Stevens Pass was built.

In 1946, John Arthur Gellatly was named Wenatchee’s Eminent Citizen and he said, “There’s only one way to get what you want, and that’s to get up and go after it with all your heart. Never accept defeat! Go

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November 2010 | The Good Life |

after your objective over and over and over again if necessary.”

John Gellatly did that for all of his years. He died in 1963 just short of his 95th birthday.

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

Iwa Sushi & Grill..............................................33 John L. Scott Real Estate..................................28 Laura Mounter Real Estate & Company............17 KCSY – Sunny FM.............................................27 Lemon Grass Natural Food Market...................30 Local Tel Communications................................15 Marson & Marson Lumber Company.................. 2 Mike Armstrong, 12th District Representative...19 Moonlight Tile & Stone.....................................24 Mt. Stuart Physical Therapy...............................32 Noyd & Noyd Insurance Agency . .....................28 Products Supply Northwest..............................28 Papa Murphy’s Take & Bake Pizza.....................16 Performance Footwear........................................ 3 Products Supply Northwest..............................28 Real Deals on Home Décor..............................27 Reflections Healing Studio...............................14 Revv Import Auto Sales....................................43 Ryan Patrick Vineyards.....................................35 Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort . .....................33 Sue Long Laura Mounter Real Estate & Co.......24 Telford’s Chapel of the Valley & Crematory........43 The Gilded Lily................................................... 7 The UPS Store..................................................29 Town Toyota Center...........................................44 Wenatchee Natural Foods ................................. 5 Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.....................38 Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center....32 Wenatchee Valley Senior Activity Center............10 Western Ranch Buildings..................................29 Wok About Grill................................................33

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>>

CHECK THIS OUT // TASTY PLACES AND FUN EXPERIENCES

Hip deep in cool, watching antics of local birds R

By Bridget Egan

ecently, a young intern at the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust where I work laughed when I mentioned the words birder and cool in the same sentence.

I understand that a birder isn’t typically who most folks have in mind when they think of hip, but birding is an art form. It is wanderlust and humor and science all rolled into one. What could be cooler?

Birding is a hobby that combines the best aspects of our region — outdoor recreation, friendly people and appreciation of our wild heritage. It’s not just about checking birds you’ve seen off a list; it’s about walking through the foothills hoping to catch a glimpse of a Lazuli bunting and sipping coffee at dawn listening as the first songs of the day commence.

In Chelan and Douglas counties, there are countless places to watch the amazing behavior of birds.

Our area has prime habitat for noisy Belted Kingfishers, Calliope Hummingbirds, and the beautiful Western Meadowlark.

It is a stopover for regal Sandhill Cranes and provides vital supplies for tiny migrating song birds.

Each year — as your skills improve — you can hear as the songs in backyards and foothills get noisier and more complex.

On the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust’s Horse Lake property, David and Beth St. George lead a bird walk each spring where newcomers like me as well as expert birders walk though wildflowers and the smell of sagebrush. We hear the whistled song of Brewer’s Sparrows and see the brilliant blue flash of the Western Bluebird.

It’s a great shared experience.

I’d recommend this to anyone — cool or not.

As the weather cools, many birds leave our area for warmer climes, but winter is actually a great time to view birds.

Colorful waterfowl and raptors like Bald Eagles are readily seen on our local waterways.

Backyards are still visited by twittering Dark-eyed Juncos and Black-capped Chickadees, and each December, Christmas bird counts take place. During these counts, thousands of citizens take a census of their local birds and contribute it to a national database in order to help guide conservation decisions.

Last year, I took my parents to their first Christmas Bird Count on a crisp December morning. My mom proved to be a

The Downy Woodpecker is a regular resident of north central Washington.

Photo by Liz Johnson of the Nature Conservancy at the McCartney Creek Preserve

natural, spotting a Red-breasted Nuthatch and Red-tailed Hawk before I could even get my binoculars ready.

It was a memorable day spent visiting beautiful local places we rarely would go to otherwise.

If you would like to get out this winter, there’s a great way to prepare and meet potential birding buddies.

The Land Trust is hosting a free Introduction to Birding class this November taught by local educator and biologist Susan Ballinger. It will cover how you can identify our local common birds — basic biology, pictures and illustrations, and characteristics to look for in the field. This is a hands-on interac-

tive session, so bring your field guides, binoculars, and questions. Susan can help you with all of them!

There is a follow-up field trip with local Audubon members at Horan Nature Area to practice identification skills and socialize with the hippest birders in north central Washington.

For more information, please email bridget@cdlandtrust.org or call 509-667-9708. RSVP required for workshop.

Bridget Egan is the membership coordinator for the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust and program chair for North Central Washington Audubon Society. She has been a beginning birder for more than a decade.

Winter energy savings plan

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Install energy-efficient windows or insulation.

Get a check for a portion of the cost from the PUD.

Save this winter - and all year long - on your energy bill.

Chelan PUD customers: Learn more about Weatherization Incentives on our website or call (509) 661-8008.

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| The Good Life | November 2010

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