Good Life September 2010

HOME ON A BOAT Y THE BEST LOCAL EVENTS CALENDAR

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September 2010 n Cover price: $3

LEAVING HOME Goodbye house, hello freedom ANDY DAPPEN ON: LIVE TO 100 plus

SLOWING THE AGING PROCESS

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OPENING SHOT ®

Year 4, Number 9 September 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

“We’ve been over-

whelmed over the years by the diversity and beauty of the Northwest, and I rarely travel without a camera of some sort,” writes correspondent Will Young. “And for my birthday this year, I finally received a digital SLR to replace my wellworn 35mm film camera.

“Since my wife and I moved to the Northwest, we’ve missed only a few things from back East. One is fireflies, and another is the light-shows that accompany the frequent thun-

derstorms throughout the East Coast.

“So when a storm began taking shape recently, I couldn’t help but position myself on our deck to watch the streaks spread out across the north sky. As the storm progressed and intensified in the distance, I realized I had a prime vantage point from which to photograph the storm above the ridges of Cashmere.

“This proved easier said than done, however, as lightning lasts for milliseconds, and my reaction time is far slower. Even trying to time the seconds between

strikes only provided a rough guide.

“In the end, I was grateful to use a digital camera, since I took close to 300 pictures to capture about eight lightning bolts. And I was grateful the storm was far enough away that I wasn’t one of the objects struck!”

On the cover

Editor Mike Cassidy took this photograph of Candice Reed and her husband, Ralph, in the front yard of their rental house with Lake Chelan in the background.

Editor, Mike Cassidy Contributors, Will Young, Andy Dappen, Ronald Griffith, Candice Reed, Karen Larsen, Donna Payne, Dr. Richard Stitcher, Steve Marriott, Donna Cassidy, Bonnie Orr, Alex Saliby, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin, Rod Molzahn and NCW Events Online Advertising manager, Jim Senst Advertising sales, John Hunter Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy Proofing, Jean Senst and Joyce Pittsinger Ad design, Rick Conant 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

Finding a good life in the recession Candice Reed first caught

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TEACHER LEARNS A LESSON IN NIGERIA

Features

6 LIVE TO BE 100

Outdoor writer Andy Dappen looks at places where people naturally live to 100 and says we have the ingredients right here

9 under the Belize sun

Mission trip to Belize had some work, some fun and hot, hot sun

12 goodbye house, hello freedom

Letting go of the possessions of the past in order to find a happy life in the present

14 WHEAT COUNTRY DREAM

Converted Waterville home supper club created from a memory in hopes of building new friendships

16 month in a kubul hospital

Local doctor teaches for a month in Afghanistan, where life is far from normal

18 WOMAN OF THE MEADOW

Nancy Freese is a high-country homesteader, an accomplished quilter, and a woman assertively taking charge of her health

29 DRAFTING A COACH

Professional football scout Jeff Smith knew just who to call when the Lions and Rotary needed a speaker at the Tailgater luncheon

21 At Home with The Good Life

• Concepts owner Jan Harmon picks her favorite things • Rolling with the waves, at home on a boat • Home Tour stop is stair-free, care-free and easy living comfort

Columns & Departments 30 June Darling: Helping people gain confidence 31 Alex on wine: You’re the best judge of wine for you 32 The traveling doctor: Can you really slow aging?

34 Bonnie Orr: What to do with all of those tomatoes 35-39 Events, The Art Life & a Dan McConnell cartoon 40 History: Tough as a mule and funny too 42 Check it out: Let’s go square dancing

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my eye when I read she was locally signing a book she coauthored titled, “Thank You for Firing Me!: How to Catch the Next Wave of Success After You Lose Your Job.” A few e-mails later, I discovered she and her husband, Ralph, had moved from Southern California to Chelan and were in the process of reinventing their lives from an era of comfortable paychecks to … well, no steady paychecks at all.

Or, as she said in an e-mail: “My story is this. My husband is 61 I am 52. We were struggling in San Diego … I wrote for the San Diego Union two stories a day, six days a week — my dream job, but was laid off.

“Now what?

“We did all kinds of things. We turned our home into a B&B. We were making it until the city wanted us to have bigger stoves, pay more for this and that. So we stopped and rented it out as a vacation home. We slept in our small motor home. We did REALLY well, but we were not living in our home! So we started to look and see where I could work and live cheaper. We found Chelan — so much cheaper than San Diego! “(After several months in Chelan), I am doing OK at freelancing again, writing about jobs and the book is doing well. Don’t make a ton but we travel, bought a small boat and have a great life.

“My husband had a few parttime gigs such as he worked in a winery — a dream job, and worked construction — a temp thing.

“We had the courage to pick up and go where the dream job is.

“People need to get over the fact that they used to make 100K and

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learn to live — and have a life — in this recession.”

From that e-mail grew the idea for her story in this issue. That’s Candice and Ralph on the cover — check out their story starting on page 12.

Another couple that faced a tough decision during this Great Recession is Steve and Vickie Marriott.

He was a union electrician; she had spent most of her working life as an administrative assistant until finding a job on Boeing’s assembly line. They had a house, a boat and a fun life.

When the change came and jobs were harder to find, they still had a house and a boat, but worries intruded on the fun.

They needed to make a hard decision. They did. Steve writes about how the couple found the good life. See page 24.

Andy Dappen, editor of the local website, WenatcheeOutdoors, writes this month on “Live to be 100.”

Andy, who is barely half way to that goal, has several great ideas and points out natural benefits we have in Central Washington, but I especially enjoyed his emphasis on the importance of surrounding yourself with a positive, healthcentered community of peers.

That’s what we love to do here at The Good Life — provide real examples of your friends and neighbors finding adventure and joy in their lives.

Live long, and enjoy The Good Life.

— Mike

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snapshots

Live To Be

100

The Longevity Lifestyle is within our grasp

By Andy Dappen

Newsweek’s cover story re-

cently focused on the science of healthy living. Most of the story focused on the physical side of the formula – i.e., what empirical data seems to say about what different age groups need to stay healthy.

Newsweek attempted to condense millions upon millions of pages of health-related studies and research into concise, simple guidelines that apply to different age groups. They did this by prioritizing the guidelines and recommendations put together by highly reputed disease societies and well-respected task forces.

Often these task forces are not in complete agreement

Earl Tilly, 75, poses atop Pyramid Peak — 7,182 feet high and 12 miles from the trailhead.

and their guidelines change over time — so even the experts about any given topic have no ultimate truths and are taking their best guesses about how to achieve the best health results. Nonetheless, Newsweek took their best shot at creating a boiled-down outline for what people in different age groups should focus on if they hope to live long and prosper.

These guidelines are worth studying and following.

Yet, to my way of thinking, Newsweek’s approach was woefully deficient in accounting for the long-term impacts stress has on the body and for developing strategies for positively contending with those mysterious lifestyle and mind-body connec-

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tions that affect health.

Newsweek’s guidelines for most age groups state, “Get screened for depression if proper treatment is available,” and that about sums up their approach toward mental health. However, robust mental health — which would include such factors as having a sense of purpose, developing motivations that have you excited to face each day, feeling well-connected to family and friends, developing daily mechanisms for decompressing — is known to be linked to good physical health.

All of which makes me think the guidelines formulated by studying those pockets of humanity, where the average

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resident reaches the age of 90 (or 100) at five to 10 times the rate of the average American, have more to tell us than raw scientific data.

After all, considerable research, including extensive studies of twins, indicates that genetics accounts for about 20 percent of how our individual health issues unfold. The other 80 percent of our health issues unfolds as a result of the lifestyle choices we’ve made.

Writer Dan Buettner has researched and written for National Geographic about places around the world where people are living to be 100 at 10 times the rate Americans reach that age. He has also written the

... individuals need purpose, they need something they’re excited about each day. book Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who Have Lived the Longest.

Some of these blue zones where people live the longest are Okinawa, Japan; Ovodda on the island of Sardinia; Loma Linda, California (which has a large Seventh Day Adventist community); and Icaria, an island off the coast of Turkey.

These blues zones have differing cultures, climates, lifestyles, diets, religions and standards of living, but the recipe for living longer, healthier lives seems to share these common ingredients: 1) People live actively. These are not places where people “work out” like Americans, yet they are places where people live actively — they walk, move, kneel and garden. They don’t rely on conveniences that make everything about life easier. Living with too many conveniences is probably killing us.

2) All these cultures have a way that people downshift and slow down. Maybe they pray each day, maybe their daily schedule is less regimented, maybe they take a break during the day, but they have ways

With trails in and around our towns, most of us have beautiful places where, minutes from home, we can regularly walk, mountain bike, or trail run.

to slow down and break the universal to all of these blue inflammatory state created by zones, in all of them people eat stress. little or no meat, beans and nuts 3) They have a sense of purare an important part of the pose and somediet, and they times a vorely heavily on cabulary for that fruits and vegetapurpose. It’s not bles. Most drink that everyone some alcohol but has the same they drink in sense of purmoderation. And pose, but there’s they eat in moda recognition eration — obesity that individuals is not a problem need purpose. that sabotages They need somehealth. Some of thing they’re these cultures excited about have strategies each day. and vocabularies 4) While so as not to overthere’s no single Find those things that inspire eat. In Okinawa, you... use them to your advantage. for example, an longevity diet

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expression is used (sometimes at the beginning of a meal) that you will only eat until you’re three-fourths full.

5) These cultures all have strong interpersonal connections and networks. They stress strong families. Families take care of their children and their aging parents. Having and helping friends, neighbors and others in your congregation are part of the fabric of long-life cultures.

6) Also, being surrounded by the right tribe seems vital for long life. People whose best friends smoke, drink, or overeat are 50 percent more likely to adopt these unhealthy practices.

In long-life cultures, people are surrounded by friends with healthy practices… and so they are drastically more likely to assume good practices.

7) Finally these blue zones are places where lifelong practices beget long life. They’re not about the newest fad, short-term fixes, this year’s resolution, or a pill that will fix you. They’re about balanced lifestyles. They’re about how you should live dayto-day, year-to-year, and decadeto-decade.

What does all this personal health and long-life talk have to do with WenatcheeOutdoors and life in Central Washington?

A lot actually.

We have in this place and in our people the ingredients to live longer, healthier lives than the average American. Here’s how the Blue Zone ingredients

}}} Continued on next page

Live

Live a balanced lifestyle over the long term.

Incorporating all of this into a maintainable, long-term lifestyle is doable here in Central Washington.

to be

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}}} Continued from previous page above apply to us: 1) Living actively. With quiet streets throughout our towns, most of us have the ability to commute to work on foot or bike. Likewise with trails in and around our towns (e.g., Wenatchee has the Loop, the Ditch, Saddle Rock trails, and Sage Hills trails) most of us have beautiful places where, minutes from home, we can regularly walk, mountain bike, or trail run. Incidentally, regular physical exercise (e.g., walking for an hour four times a week) is, currently, the only known way to reduce the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease (doing crossword puzzles, reading, learning new languages, etc. doesn’t work).

2) Mechanisms to downshift and de-stress. With trails, rivers and mountains flanking our towns, most of us have the ability to schedule an hour once a day or once every other day to walk, bike, run, paddle, or climb. In minutes, we can access quiet, natural places where we can shift gears, think, get perspective and shed stress.

3) Sense of purpose. Purpose can take many forms but the nut here is to find things that excite and motivate us. Family and profession may provide some of

Teach your children well... about balance and that good health is about adopting proper day-to-day practices.

that purpose but having multiple things that make us excited to tackle each day is good medicine and the outdoors can help in this respect.

Being excited about exploring a new trail, improving a trail-running time, pushing our climbing grade, becoming a proficient backcountry skier… all of these fun endeavors can add purpose and joy to each day.

4) Longevity diet. OK, our outdoor lifestyle doesn’t impact this one directly — we need to make some conscious choices here about what we eat and how much we eat. Indirectly, however, all of the activities possible here in Central Washington give us fun ways to shed calories and prevent obesity. Being overweight undermines health on multiple levels.

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5) Interpersonal connections and community. We need to focus on building strong families and connecting with our neighbors. This can happen in many ways, including getting outdoors with them on walks, rides, and adventures.

Feeling a sense of community also entails casting a wider net of social connections. Connection to charities or church congregations can provide this.

So can a connection to the church of the outdoors and the congregation of fellow outdoor enthusiasts.

Outdoor enthusiasts in this area are open, welcoming people and through local clubs (biking, paddling, running, triathlons), local activity groups (for climbing and backcountry skiing), and local conservation

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groups (Land Trust, Barn Beach, Wenatchee Sportsmen’s), it’s easy to become part of the local outdoor culture and community.

6) Being part of the right tribe.

Adventure-sport and outdoor enthusiasts tend to be a crowd focused on healthy eating habits, exercise, improving their skills, living with passion.

Being part of this tribe translates into exposure to healthy habits that are likely to be contagious.

7) Living a balanced lifestyle over the long term. Incorporating all of this into a maintainable, long-term lifestyle is doable here in Central Washington. The ingredients to live unusually long and healthy lives surround us.

All that’s missing is some planning and personalization to make all of this work for you on a day-to-day basis.

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

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Belize: A little work, a little fun under the hot sun

By Ron Griffith

I had the opportunity to join

the Leavenworth Church Of The Nazarene on their Work And Witness Mission Trip to Belize.

We departed June 22 and returned home on July 7.

The team consisted of team leader Shawn Wilkerson, his wife Shellie, daughter Mikalia, son Austin, and mother Mona. Also from Leavenworth were John Blake, Luke Groen, and Betty McGregor. From the Wenatchee area were Lynn Smallwood, Michael Petterson and Ron Griffith.

Our assignment was to put the roof on a new church school at the Cotton Tree Church Of The Nazarene. Cotton Tree is a small village just outside the city of Belmopan. This is about an hour south of Belize City, our point of entry.

The concrete floor had been poured and the concrete block walls were in place when we arrived. They were put up by a large church mission team from the U.S. Several teams would follow later to finish construction.

We also coordinated three afternoon sessions of Vacation Bible School. A better description would be to call it pure chaos. The church is small and could perhaps cram in a hundred. There were about 200 kids at each session.

They had a great time singing a few songs about God and Jesus. We also had crayons and pictures for them to color. We siphoned off part of the group to play games on a nearby playfield.

Apples in the market in San Ignacio cost 37.5 cents each U.S. — two Belize dollars equals one U.S. dollar.

Belize is home of blue land crabs.

Mona Wilkerson works with children during Vacation Bible School.

It was not all work and no play.

We visited the open-air market in San Ignacio, located about an hour south of Belmopan. It resembled the Apple Blossom Street Fair with a large number of small booths. There was a wide range of products including jewelry, clothing, food and all kinds of fresh produce. There were several displays of both red and golden delicious apples. I saw both Rainbow and Nordic

boxes. They were selling apples for 37.5 cents U.S. each.

After church, on our last Sunday, we went to Jaguar Park for a little adventure. It was a real thrill to ride the zip lines through the jungle.

We also decided to go cave tubing. This included a halfhour hike through the jungle to arrive at our entry point. It was fascinating to slowly float through the dark caves on an

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inner tube being pushed by a gentle river current.

I would have enjoyed the Belize experience a little more if it hadn’t been so hot. All I had to do was stand outside to give the appearance I was really working hard. It was pushing 100 with very high humidity.

When I got back to our 100degree days, it seamed comfortable compared with the days in Belize.

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Who? Me? Teacher overcomes fears to learn a life lesson I

By Donna Payne

leaned toward the Nigerian students trying to form my words with a British accent, while tropical rain thundered on the school’s metal roof.

I squinted through the semidarkness to see the children.

The diesel fuel had run out that morning so the lights were off.

The chanting of the class 10 feet away behind a rolling divider distracted me, as did the other seven classes in the same room.

Sweat trickled down my back and chest.

At that moment, my classroom back in Wenatchee seemed like heaven!

Eight months ago my church, Wenatchee Free Methodist, invited teachers and medical personnel to join a mission team going to Nigeria the coming summer. It sounded exciting to me to work in education across the globe.

The first meeting held lots of teachers,and I envisioned doing my small bit on a strong team.

But by the next meeting, all the other teachers had disappeared.

Then, I started getting e-mails from Nigeria: “School will be let out early for three days so the staff of 14 can attend your training. We’d like you to teach English one day, math on another and health on a third day.

Each day after you teach on a subject, you will spend the next day helping the Nigerian teachers implement your ideas into their classrooms. The next week you will repeat the process in another school.”

I am a teacher for the Wenatchee School District’s Par-

Teacher Donna Payne helps students generate ideas for writing stories about their own lives.

ent Partnered Program, Valley Academy of Learning, but not a trainer. These e-mails terrified me.

When fear arose (daily!), I began praying for help, and the prayers were answered when Shelley Henry, another Wenatchee School District teacher who works at Columbia Elementary, joined the teacher team, doubling its size. Then, while getting groceries, Shelley “happened” to run into math specialist Cindy Neace.

Although Cindy couldn’t go to Nigeria, she created a plan, oversaw the volunteers who copied, laminated and cut hundreds of sets of math games and was the liaison to the Math Learning Center that donated materials and allowed us to copy all these math games.

I had recently started using a new language arts program that was very successful, so now we had two trainings ready, English and math — but not health.

After two flights and about 23 hours we landed in Nigeria. The next day we headed right into the classrooms and observed the local teachers.

We were amazed to watch teachers instruct with just a blackboard and chalk. There

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were no textbooks or worksheets and very little on the concrete walls. Students just had pens or pencils and small booklets with a few math charts and word lists in them and lots of blank pages.

They copied from the board or recited information.

Teaching to different learning styles, small group work, hands-on activities, learning games and library books were unknown.

During our first teacher training session, two local missionary teachers, Bridget Myers and Stephanie Harris both from Wenatchee, joined us, doubling our team size again. We jumped right in asking the 14 Nigerian teachers to move their desks into groups of four and begin playing “Sum of 10,” a foundational and fun math game that strengthens student skill in our base 10 mathematics’ system by teaching how to quickly spot numbers that add up to 10. This game can be expanded to “Sum of 12” or any number as well as “Difference of 10” or any other number.

The hour flew by. Their total engagement, laughter and big smiles dissolved my fears of inadequacy. The next day we tried to get to every classroom with

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the game. The students were so excited to learn through a game and small groups. We left enough card games with every teacher so they can continue using this game in multiple ways.

We continued our training throughout the week ending with the subject of health with the aid of our team nurse, Ellen Bush, who is a nurse at Wenatchee Valley Clinic. She agreed to help the teacher team by speaking about the health needs she had seen in the students, dehydration and lack of facilities to wash hands.

We tied in teacher skills by introducing a simple assessment tool covering what was learned.

The teachers divided a paper in four squares and drew a picture of something they had just learned in the first square, wrote key vocabulary words from the lesson in the second, wrote a sentence in the third and set a personal goal about drinking water or washing hands in the last square. Some teachers laughed as they drew pictures; this was a completely new way of assessing learning for them.

Then the week was over. We’d made it through the first school.

Getting to the next school took a harrowing 12-hour ride

During a teacher training, Donna picked up one of the teacher’s children who was crying so that the mother could participate. Teachers take their infants to class often tying the child onto the mother’s back.

including fast-paced car and motorcycle dodging, navigating around or through giant pot holes, torrential rains that turned the road into flowing mud and even a group of bandits

who pulled open the door of one of our vehicles and tried to get in.

We repeated the three trainings and classroom work. It was hard. I was exhausted. Then the

These teachers are playing the math game “Sum of 10.”

headmaster stood up and smiled warmly at us. “I never knew before your training that people learn in different ways. Thank you so much for all you have taught us. We could never have afforded this kind of training!”

Was that me he was talking

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about? Our little team?

It was on that last day, as I stood in the unlit, noisy, hot and humid classroom, that I looked at the beautiful children’s faces turned to me and thought, “I am so glad that I did not let my fear steal this moment.”

Letting go of stuff to find a

life to love Boomer sleeps worry-free through the night like she’s 22 again

L

By Candice Reed

ast June, it was turning out to be a beautiful summer in San Diego, but my husband Ralph and I sat on the floor of our house surrounded by towers of packed boxes, not noticing the weather.

For the last two years we had struggled to pay our mortgage on our California dream home. Forged loan documents by a very nice mortgage broker named Mike, who sat at our dining table five years earlier and smiled and lied about hidden interest rates and a surprise balloon payment, made it impossible.

After finding out about the hidden costs, we were forced to refinance with a subprime lender which, along with the economy, had helped us down this path.

Furthermore, my once lucrative writing jobs had all but disappeared and Ralph’s paycheck wasn’t enough to keep us

Candice Reed took her own advice to go ahead by giving up the past.

in the house we had shared for 20 years.

Our children, 25 and 28, had flown the nest years ago, but they still came home as often as they could, opening the refrigerator door and snacking on leftovers, and later climbing into their beds as if they had never left. They were both saddened by the loss, so much as if they had lost their best friend, but

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they would survive; they have their own homes to create.

The bare walls that for years had held my brightly-colored posters and artwork from France, souvenirs of my travel writing days, were ready for the movers.

My mother-in-law’s cuckoo clock from Holland was packed away and the Dynasty-sized sectional sofa that could comfort-

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ably seat a dozen of my gossiping girlfriends was locked away in my daughter’s storage unit, waiting for a home.

The oak dining table on which I served Thanksgiving dinners for our large extended family and gourmet breakfasts on weekends had been sold to a young family and carted away.

In retrospect, it was fitting, since it had been given to me by a friend soon after we were married.

Ironically, I might have made more money on the table than we did the house!

We had so many happy memories in that home, but there were bad ones as well.

I wouldn’t miss the stress and sleepless nights of trying to hold onto 2,000-square feet of stucco with old pipes and dingy popcorn ceilings.

I was happy to be free of the calls and arguments with the bank, the hopes of loan modifications dashed and endless pieces of mail from lawyers and investors who could “save my house.”

I hadn’t felt this free since I was 22 and I was about to sign my name to my first mortgage.

It was way back in 1980 when

we bought our first home. Of course, at that age I worried I was too young and was getting in over my head, but my husband was 30, and his friends already had dream houses, BMWs and babies on the way. (It was 1980! If you’re old enough to remember, you understand.)

I felt the pressure to keep up with the “big kids,” so I agreed and bought a home only a few years out of high school.

And ever since that day, I swear I haven’t slept through the night.

So it’s not a stretch to imagine that when that second home finally sold in a short sale, it was a relief.

Granted, we’d never get back the blood, sweat and tears my husband and I put into the property. Together with our own two hands, we created beautiful outdoor and indoor spaces that hosted countless parties for family and friends, including a proudly-maintained large, beautiful lawn.

The children, and for awhile, the family dog would play in that yard, laughing and screaming happily.

Ralph helped me position and transform a small camper on our lot into a tiny but quiet — and child-free — office for me. It overlooked the creek-carved valley below our hillside home, and the inspirational view helped me write (and sell!) hundreds of newspapers and magazine articles, and later write my first book.

My good steward husband also

Without our family living in that house, it was just stucco, nails and old pipes... that house would easily — and immediately — transform into someone else’s home. planted gardens that flourished with vegetables and flowers, and in a year, he magnificently completed the ultimate homeowner’s project: a brick barbecue.

These were the things I thought I would miss the most.

Here’s a secret: I also had a thousand photographs stashed away that I never looked at. And without those, I had forgotten how much the trees had grown, the funny things the dog used to do, and even to some extent, the relatives who had long since passed away, and no longer joined us for Thanksgiving dinner.

Without our family living in that house, it was just stucco, nails and old pipes. Without Ralph’s carefully manicured hand shaping the yard, and with my art on the walls and gourmet meals on the table, that house would easily — and immediately — transform into someone else’s home.

After writing a book called “Thank You for Firing Me! How to Catch the Next Wave of Success After You Lose Your Job,” I realized I was writing page after page of advice to jobless people of all ages, and I wasn’t listening to myself.

If I wanted a job — and one

that I loved — I needed to let go of the stuff. I needed to go where the work was — and no matter what the headlines blasted — it was out there. Maybe not down the street. Maybe not even in a city I recognized, but it was out there.

I had to decide what was more important: Owning a fancy house/car/life or one where I would be happy going to work each day and earning a paycheck.

On that early morning of Aug. 31, 2009, I got into my car to leave San Diego for Chelan, and to leave Ralph, who was staying behind a few days longer to wait for the movers.

Only at that moment did I feel like we had failed. It was an emotional moment but I took a deep breath and tuned away from the house.

I slowly backed the car out of the driveway, waved, took one last look and honked with a new sense of relief that I hadn’t felt for almost 30 years all the way to the freeway!

Now my husband and I — two Baby Boomers who never thought we would be in this situation — live in a small cabin across from the lake. My art and posters crowd the wall and

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what furniture we didn’t sell is crammed into a rented home.

With the landlord’s blessing, I’ve painted the walls bright colors and hung the family photos.

I’m writing again for five different publications, and my husband found a temporary dream job in a winery and a construction job. (He asked me to stop finding him jobs. He wants to be known as “retired,” and has a Social Security check to prove it.)

The house is so small we bump into each other on occasion, and we make jokes that it’s only two steps to the bathroom, but it’s slowly becoming a home.

We miss our friends and family, but they’ve already started to come and visit and we’re making new friends, so I once again have a home filled with laughter.

Just recently my husband looked at me over the breakfast table, the sun shining in on him as he read the paper. He was preparing for a busy morning watching The View, followed by an afternoon of mountain biking or kayaking.

For the first time since he was 16 years old, he doesn’t work full time.

“Isn’t it great how well we sleep here?” he asked me with a smile. I agreed, but he doesn’t know the half of it. I’m finally sleeping like it’s 1979.

Candice Reed is the co-author of Thank You for Firing Me! How to Catch the Next Wave of Success After You Lose Your Job. For more information go to www.thankyouforfiringme. org.

Lifelong dreams converge in wheat country house A place for strangers to visit over good food

By Karen Larsen

When she was in her 20’s,

Lily Soderstrom, originally from Beaumont, Texas, lived in Austin and enjoyed spending special evenings at an old farmhouse called “The Inn at Brushy Creek.”

The farmhouse was located in the hill country of Texas, and featured Southern food with family style seating, an arrangement dubbed a “supper club.” Guests who were complete strangers could be paired together for an evening of good food and conversation.

“You felt like you were coming into their home,” Lily said of the inn.

As the decades passed, and Lily supported herself and daughter as an interior decorator far from her native Texas, the memory of “The Inn at Brushy Creek” remained engraved in her mind, and she had the dream of one day starting her own version.

A cook since childhood, Lily continued to create food, often in the Texas Creole style she had grown up eating.

She also continued to develop as an interior designer, carv-

ing out her own niche born of a spiritual realization that helping a person decorate a home was more about giving him or her a chance to showcase true personality than it was about enhancing status in the eyes of others.

Her approach turned out to be attractive to many and she was sought out by those who wanted just what she had to offer.

Lily was also an artist, and she continued to express herself through commissioned painting.

Now, retired from interior designing and living in the small wheat town of Waterville, Lily has created something she describes as the culmination of all the skills, both spiritual and practical, she has developed in her life.

Along with her husband Keith, she purchased a Victorian farmhouse in the town and used her decorating skills, plus a good bit of sweat and grit to transform it into her own supper club and art gallery.

The first thing one sees when entering the front door is a large, family sized dining table surrounded by the Western art of Coulee City artist Don Nutt.

At the table, strangers often

14

Lily Soderstrom with one of her paintings in front of her Victorian farmhouse that has been converted to a gallery and supper club.

meet and become friends over an evening of good food and conversation.

Some of the side rooms are fitted out with tables for private meals, and one is a wine tasting room, reflecting a further dream Lily had for her business.

Back in the kitchen, Lily assembles her creations: pressure smoked meats and fish, homemade coleslaw and potato salad with a Cajun twist, jambalaya, seafood gumbo, red beans with smoked ham, black eyed peas and classy Southern desserts that don’t skimp on the calories.

A premium is placed on fresh ingredients, and Lily makes an

| The Good Life | September 2010

effort to buy from local producers. In the long run, she envisions a garden in raised beds at the side of the house that will provide many of the vegetables and herbs for her cooking.

Lily has tried different angles to her business, beginning by offering a take-out barbecue, as well as the occasional fancy sitdown dinner.

Over the past year, the focus has been clarified to reflect the most important dream she has for the business: to provide a homelike, yet refined environment in which guests can enjoy their food slowly, often developing new friendships as they eat.

For Lily, the Harvest House has helped provide an outlet for the spiritual values that have been honed down in her search for truth.

As this direction crystallized, Lily was approached by Lynn Rehn, a chef who was interested in sharing the vision for Harvest House. Rehn has come on as sous-chef, with a strong forte in seafood.

Throughout the year, Lily opens in advertised events, often around a theme of a holiday, season, or a visiting artist or musician. She also does event planning and catering on and off site.

Many customers have suggested that Lily open a cooking class, and she has agreed to do that as well beginning this September.

For Lily, the Harvest House has helped provide an outlet for the spiritual values that have been honed down in her search for truth. These include verses from the Bible that have stood out to her over the years.

Lily especially loves the verses, “Love your neighbor as yourself ” and “Consider the lilies of the field…”

“What if everybody took a few of these things to heart?” Lily asked.

For her, Harvest House is a chance to show hospitality, to foster love, and to trust that her dream will thrive.

“It’s not about the money,” Lily said of her business.

For someone who has lived and worked in a lot of places, it is also a chance to find home, in terms of geographical place, but also in terms of relationships and in terms of living out her vision for giving to others.

Harvest House events are published at the web-site at www.harvesthousegallery.com.

September 2010 | The Good Life |

15

A month in a Kabul hospital Teaching young doctors how to rebuild the people after devastation of past decades

By Dr. Richard Stitcher While at a medical conference in Kenya this February where I was teaching African physicians updates in gastroenterology, my wife and I met a young doctor from Kabul, Afghanistan.

This family practice doctor had recently completed his medical residency in Kabul.

This is the first and only family medicine training program available in Afghanistan. It was started only five years ago by Dr. Tim Fader, an American Family Practice specialist.

As we said our farewells to

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our new friend, he extended an invitation to me to visit Kabul and participate in the education of family physicians in his warwracked nation.

In March I left my medical practice in Wenatchee in hope of teaching young medical professionals. I departed in late June from Wenatchee to spend a full month in Kabul working alongside Dr. Fader and teaching both the family medicine faculty and the residents.

Afghanistan has experienced 30 years of continuous war and paroxysms of violence that envelope the lives of the Afghan people. Kabul, the nation’s capitol, is

| The Good Life | September 2010

a city in tatters, but significant rebuilding is occurring after it was essentially destroyed during the Afghan Civil War. The infrastructure of roads, waste disposal, traffic control and municipal government, which we consider essential, are almost nonexistent. Blast walls encircle government facilities.

Buildings are guarded with soldiers carrying machine guns.

Security checkpoints are commonplace.

In spite of all these enormous challenges, life has again taken root and the people are desperately working towards establishing a “normal life.”

ABOVE LEFT: War scarred buildings still abound around Kabul — such as the decimated king’s palace called Darul Aman Palace (Residence of Peace) — left over from 30 years of war, but people are trying to rediscover “normal life.” ABOVE: Medical staff members put on a traditional Afghan meal as the going away present for Dr. Richard Stitcher.

There is a sense of living in a surreal world while navigating the extreme side-by-side images of “routine life” in this city under siege.

Life in the small shops and markets, kebab stands and newly rebuilt residential areas

is precarious due to the constant threat of suicide bombing.

It was often said during my stay that Kabul will be repaired eventually, if security can Dr. Richard Stitcher be established, but it will take much longer to “rebuild the people” after the devastation of the past decades.

Suicide bombing was not the greatest risk to me during my stay, rather it was the chaos of the daily traffic that elicited my greatest fear. The typical twolane street had two-way traffic on both sides of the road.

My time in Kabul entailed teaching the family practice residents, both formally and informally at the bedside, at Afshar Hospital.

This new hospital was built through the American AMOR Foundation. Constructed on the edge of a Shia slum, more than 250,000 people are served by this private hospital which is staffed by a small group of family practice doctors.

The patients had illnesses common in the developing world which are worsened by their abject poverty, deficient health care systems and malnutrition.

Daily we were challenged to treat people with tuberculosis,

pneumonia, infectious diarrhea, diabetes and many similar conditions using a few available tests and limited treatment options.

I taught the resident physicians about the most advanced medical techniques and treatments available in the developed world. Yet I had to focus on effective care using nothing more than a stethoscope and fingers to reach the diagnosis.

To receive CT or MRI scans, or many surgeries that we have available in our American communities, might require a family in Kabul to take their ill relative to Pakistan.

This is rarely an option for the impoverished patients that presented daily to our hospital.

The cultural differences were striking and insinuated themselves into many aspects of my experience and teaching.

One example of this dramatic difference is seen in the lives of women in Kabul.

The women become invisible in the society, physically covered by the burquas but even more so by the beliefs and practices imposed by the Afghan culture.

Even the female medical residents required the permission of their husbands or fathers to enroll in the medical residency, and this could be withdrawn at any time.

The physicians, with whom I worked, graduated from Afghan medical schools and were as committed and dedicated to their education and patient care as American doctors.

September 2010 | The Good Life |

17

Their lives include challenges, however, which American health workers do not encounter. The Afghan doctors were concerned with Taliban activity occurring near their clinics outside of Kabul and if the Taliban were shooting Afghan doctors.

This threat became a reality with the murder of 10 foreign health workers in northern Afghanistan at the hands of the Taliban a week after my return. I had met one of these dedicated health workers while I was in Kabul. We shared the same motivation to serve in that nation. These courageous men and women gave their lives to ease the suffering of the Afghan people.

Will my efforts make a longterm difference in the lives of these young doctors or the nation of Afghanistan?

This is ultimately beyond my power to control or to influence the net outcome of my personal sacrifice.

My satisfaction came in hearing from the faculty and residents that they are learning more and enjoying their bedside rounds after demonstrating a new model of teaching. It arises from the continuing e-mails from Afshar Hospital seeking my opinion for their challenging medical patients.

And it comes from knowing I gave my best to a people who are framed in our media as “extremists and corrupt” but are working unselfishly towards peace and a stable nation in Afghanistan.

Woman of the meadow Her life has been a quilt of experiences

By Susan Lagsdin photos by donna cassidy

C

amas Meadow glowed green in morning sunlight.

No elk were grazing just then, but maybe later... looking out from her deep east-facing front porch, Nancy Freese smiled and declared, “I lead a great life, let me tell you.”

She shows a remarkable ability to stitch separate interests and challenges together in a pattern unique to her. After decades as an educator, piano teacher and business co-owner, Nancy has become in more recent years a high-country homesteader, an accomplished quilter, and, on a more intimate level, a woman assertively taking charge of her health.

She offers a ready welcome to visitors at the Freese home perched high above Blewett Pass.

That spacious log home existed only as a dream while she and Gary lived and worked in Wenatchee, raising children in their Maple Street house.

Just before his retirement from the Forest Service, when some couples might think of downsizing and simplifying, Nancy and

Gary were ready to upsize and complicate.

First they built a “practice home,” she calls it, a cabin near the edge of their acreage, then 20 years ago finished the big house. It was owner-built with three truckloads of logs and is solid as the mountain it rests on.

They eschewed PUD hookup and live off the grid, using a solar power and propane setup that allows modern appliances, strong lights, well water, warmth in the winter, TV, computer.

Three deep porches, one jutting off the second story, open to big views and offer summer shade.

The functioning wood stove in the big baker’s kitchen is an important centerpiece when family and friends come up to play in the deep snowfields. Much-used chairs with reading lamps face a fireplace wall.

Then, startling in both their size and location, two fixtures loom up as you turn a corner around from the cozy sitting area. Massive twin top-of-theline Gammill Optimum Plus quilting machines, and their requisite frameworks, dominate what was initially designed as the bright cathedral-ceilinged

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Nancy Freese, her husband, Gary, on the porch, and their pets enjoy the solitude of nature on the Camas Meadow. living room of the house.

Each heavy parallel apparatus is 12 feet long and accommodates quilts up to 124 inches wide.

Nancy, petite and slim, wields the big mantis-looking machines with grace. She specializes in what is called, with visual accuracy, long-arm quilting.

She explains just what quilting really is: not just the artful piecing of colored fabric, but actu-

| The Good Life | September 2010

ally sewing all the way through the patterned blocks, the thicker inner batten, and the cloth backing to attach all three layers — sometimes just for function (so the finished item stays intact) and most often with artistry, adding subtle texture to the overall pattern.

Rollers move the fabric past the operator, but the precisely calibrated long arm is operated by hand and requires dexterity

Nancy Freese sews a quilt on one of the two huge commercial machines that now inhabit the cathedralceilinged living room.

BELOW: The woodstove in the kitchen is an important centerpiece when family and friends come up to play in the meadow.

and shoulder strength. With its speed and accuracy, it quilts more yardage in minutes than an individual might handstitch in days.

The machines are well-used.

Nancy started her particular enterprise eight years ago and has gained the trust of hundreds of women in the region with her custom quilting of their original designs.

She says “now 98 percent of

my clients say ‘you do it ’... so I get to choose both the thread color and the design.”

There’s a great deal of growing interest in old-fashioned fabric art, with guilds and shops and shows in even the smallest towns.

But, says Nancy “the modern woman wants a creative outlet and often, after the initial design is done, she wants it on the bed, or displayed on the wall.”

Her machine quilting fills that need for immediacy.

Happily sharing her skill with others is homage to the sociability of communal quilting bees. She often works solo on client’s pieces, evidenced by folded and labeled fabric stacks neatly draped around the room’s perimeter but also gives lessons and offers on-site rental. ”You’d be surprised how many people have worked with these

September 2010 | The Good Life |

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machines — from a mother and daughter who were learning together, to kids, and a local high school girl doing a senior project.”

Nancy is active in the North Central Washington Quilt Guild and contributes regularly to the Quilts of Valor program that sends comforters to veterans at Madigan Hospital. Many of her original quilts (some of them

}}} Continued on next page

“Just when my sick days were so difficult, I was bound and determined to get back to my machine . . . the creativity took my mind off the illness.” }}} Continued from previous page award winners), in designs from traditional to contemporary, are draped from high around the room, a colorful counterpoint to the solidity of logs and lumber.

It was quilting, she maintains, that pulled her up and through the worst winter of her life. On Sept. 28 of last year, Nancy’s regular mammogram indicated a breast lump. Doctors looked again, did a biopsy, diagnosed it as cancer, opted for surgery, and started treatment. Sudden discovery and swift action were fortuitous, but they combined for a dismal winter and an anxious spring, with long dark days of the unavoidable illness that accompanies chemotherapy.

“Just when my sick days were so difficult, I was bound and determined to get back to my machine. It forced me to focus . . . the creativity took my mind off the illness.” Working the big stitching machines was selfprescribed upper body therapy.

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| The Good Life | September 2010

And, with Gary’s help (“He sewed little squares on his own machine”) Nancy also re-learned hand appliqué and filled many long hours of sitting in oncology treatment piecing fabric. When nausea and tedium threatened to overwhelm her, quilting always came to the rescue. The result, what they call her Cancer Quilt, is now sewn together and almost ready to be long-armed and exhibited in the 2010 Quilt Show.

She knows that a mention of breast cancer often leads her into conversations with women of similar experience, with tips, success stories and gratitude predominating. She’s open about both her awful year and her good fortune in healing well.

Unselfconscious with her newly grown-out short ‘do, and fit and active as ever, biking the trails daily and busy from dawn to dusk, Nancy says with a disarming smile, “I’m cool with cancer.

It has certainly given me a whole new scale of ‘how are you feeling today?’”

Nancy, 71, is also calmly realistic about the sheer physical effort it will take for her and Gary to continue living four seasons high up on The Meadow. Always planning one step ahead, they have allayed their own concerns, and their family’s, by purchasing a contingency cottage, a smaller, close-in house in downtown Cashmere.

For someday; not just yet. For now there are quilts to make, new trails to discover, and grazing elk to enjoy.

At Home fresh ideas for the home

built for Easy living/26 Favorite things/22 Staying afloat: Living on the water/24

September 2010 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life |

Euro-style cherry cabinetry defines the kitchen in this Tour of Homes house. See page 26

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{

Ideas for the home from local merchants and artisans

Favorite Things }

1. Crystal Cabinets Totally custom cabinetry “so we can design anything — such as this wine cabinet — and they can build it for our projects,” said Jan. 2. Task Lighting Special task lighting is LED and ultra thin, so it is able to be used in special applications without any heat buildup. Said Jan: “The wine glass would be dull without this light” installed inside the framing of the wine shelving.

3. Lynx outdoor kitchen products.

The Mercedes of outdoor cooking. “Awesome products all specifically built for outside installations — This was very popular with the men during the recent home builders’ networking function we hosted,” said Jan.

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| AT HOME WITH The Good Life | September 2010

Everything can be a favorite

“Concepts is 23 years old plus, and we began on April Fools’ Day, because what better day to start a small business,” said Jan Harmon, smiling.

Jan, and her husband, Tom, are the owners of Concepts Kitchen and Bath Designs on Kittitas Street in Wenatchee, a showroom full of cabinet design ideas (“The whole time we have been open, we have had Crystal Cabinets, which offers, I’m told, 260,000 choices of design combinations,” said Jan), tile, counter tops, wall and floor coverings and lots of design help.

“I think the last is one of the most important, as people need guidance to put together the products that we provide, unlike a store where they go and just buy something and take it home,” said Jan, who along with having an interior design degree is a certified kitchen planner.

Jan Harmon Since Concepts is a showroom where Jan meets with customers when not meeting with them onsite, she doesn’t inventory a lot of merchandise to point to as her favorites.

She has some on-site favorites, but added: “It’s difficult for me to point out a favorite, as everything is my favorite thing. It just depends on what is needed for the project I am working on at the time.”

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September 2010 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life |

23

Staying afloat ROLLING WITH THE WAVES in today’s economy

By Steve Marriott Dear editor: A copy of The Good Life fell into our hands at the Port of Everett 12th Street Marina, where my wife Vickie and I live. I know you usually only write stories about local people, but I thought I would give your readers another view of the good life.

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Vickie Marriott checks her e-mail in the bright salon of her 35-foot Bayliner home.

As I sit here reflecting on

what led my wife and I to this point, I am enjoying a beautiful view of the Islands and listening to nature’s sounds.

The wind, geese, harbor seals

| AT HOME WITH The Good Life | September 2010

and the occasional ducks seeking a breadcrumb or loaf add to the ambience of living on the water.

In October of 2009, it was time for me to retire from the strain of construction work.

Social Security Disability benefits left us with a much shorter income than we were used to.

The medical treatments were a cost and we still had our usual monthly bills.

We had a home and a 35-foot Bayliner boat and couldn’t afford both. Something needed to be done. But, what? Do we sell the house and take a rather significant loss, or sell the boat that we both love and experience the same thing?

It did not take long to arrive at an answer. We found an agent and leased our home to a military family. By doing this, we accomplished two things. One was to secure our home investment and not lose any equity, and two was we could live a dream we had spoken of for many years.

Vickie and I moved onto our vessel fulltime in November.

Since then, we have had many journeys we would not have realized by staying in the house and the many friends we have acquired along the way.

“You find out quickly if you love your spouse.”

One of the many things we do is to take our dinghy and explore all of the surrounding waterways. We have seen many historic areas in the fingers of Foss Harbor and have explored the many avenues of what Everett has to offer.

We have yet to be disappointed in any of our adventures. The crabbing out here is phenomenal! Between the fireworks at Lake Union, Everett and Liberty Bay, it is difficult to say who has the best show.

Truly enough, however, are the people we meet in our adventures. With boaters, we share a common interest in being on the water.

Washington State has many islands designated as state parks and it takes a boat to get there.

This adds to more adventure and destinations.

The Pacific Northwest is alive at night with a luminescent glow as we move through the waters.

I have always loved the water and desired to see my end days here.

We are enjoying life more without the worries of house payments and mowing the yard.

Realizing what my wife and I have dreamed for is right here in our hands, all we had to do was to be motivated. I love to scuba dive and we have the perfect platform. We have a compressor onboard that takes care of the air issue. That being said, we have an abundant supply of fresh crab, oysters and whatever fish is in season. All we need here is butter, lemon pepper and tin foil.

Vickie and I have learned to downsize greatly and as she says, “You find out quickly if you love your spouse.” We find that

we can enjoy life much more with so much less.

After having been onboard for almost a year, we find we really Steve and Vickie go for a spin. don’t want to

move back to the house. The vessel we have is gas-powered.

We are considering either another boat or re-powering this one with diesels.

Regardless,

we are seriously thinking about cruising to South America for a visit and even retiring there.

Overall, we have discovered we enjoy each other’s company more and seek more adventure.

The house is no longer an issue, but more of a question: What do we do now with our home on the land?

NCW Home Professionals

Jason Loewen, M.D. General Surgery

Wenatchee Valley Medical Center welcomes Dr. Jason S. Loewen to its Department of General Surgery.

Dr. Loewen did his undergraduate work at Northern Michigan University in Marquette and completed his medical degree at Michigan State University where he participated in the Rural Physician Program. He did a General Surgery Internship in Grand Rapids, Michigan and a General Surgery Residency at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Delaware. He recently completed a Fellowship in Minimally Invasive/Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery at the University of Missouri.

Dr. Loewen was introduced to North Central Washington by his wife Heidi, who is from the Methow Valley. He and Heidi have three daughters, Ella (7), Haley (5) and Adeline (2). Dr. Loewen enjoys outdoor activities, especially cycling and skiing.

Physician-owned and patient-centered since 1940

820 N. Chelan Avenue • 663-8711 • www.wvmedical.com September 2010 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life |

25

The exterior of this Tour of Homes house alludes to the craftsman era, but the clean lines are Northwest contemporary.

tour of homes

Stair-free, care-free & at-home comforts

By Susan Lagsdin photos by donna cassidy

E

levated just a few terraces above north Wenatchee’s commerce and arterials, “Boulder Falls” is a 19 home cul-de-sac on the far west end of McKittrick Street.

The landmark entrance fountain, a stream splashing heartily down native rocks, is the first evidence of the developer’s regard for his own chosen neighborhood.

Ace Bollinger, whose own home up the street, won Best of Show in its Tour of Homes category last year, jokes that

anyone buying there will have easy access to him, and his intimate knowledge of each house, for anything from tools to a fix-it problem. Ace isn’t just a neighbor, he’s a third generation builder who’s put a lot of care into 15 years worth of residences in the Wenatchee Valley.

He’s protective of his family’s reputation, and said, “Some people talk about building houses — we’ve always built homes — and a lot of times we make close friends with the folks who buy them.”

The company’s ability to also keep the same subcontractors around for years means valuable collaboration, and a workplace

Earth toned 16-inch slate tiles floor the halls, bathrooms, kitchen and great room, then continues, with a subtle blend of new color, to surround the gas fireplace.

where creative individuals feel OK plying their art. Ace cites gratefully the painter who said, “I hope you don’t mind, I tried this faux leaf mottling thing in the guest bath.” Well-regarded and rewarded employees are more likely to commit to a good product.

And this home is a good product, believes Ace. It’s a three bedroom, 2.5-bath one-story on a labor-light .25 acre lot, and designed, with its street mates, by architect Roger Kelso.

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

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10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 888-6527 • sales@ncwgoodlife.com

| AT HOME WITH The Good Life | September 2010

The stark contours of the Wenatchee foothills seen from the roof-shaded back patio might momentarily draw your attention away from the architectural details, but then turn to see the luxury touches at even the rear of the house (not a concern of some builders) and you’re back in the very nice reality of terraced landscaping, plentiful entertaining space, and a premium on privacy.

The space allows but doesn’t require more yardscape ameni-

MIDDLE: The front entrence offers style and lighted grace.

AT RIGHT: A free-standing armoire holds a pantry as well as a wall oven and microwave.

ties.

The streetside view is just as civilized: easy care plantings

(with underground drip irrigation), deep eaves, rock-work base, calming chocolate, latte

and cream colors.

Leaded-look glass, pedestals, and the key motif at the roofline

September 2010 | AT HOME WITH The Good Life |

27

allude to the craftsman era, but the clean lines are Northwest contemporary.

Not flashy, but refined. No turrets, no three-level staircase or full basement, no games court, no acres of lawn — but a comfortable house you can live in or lock up and leave. The singlelevel construction and flexible room use lends itself both to families and to re-locating or retiring homeowners searching for elegant simplicity.

}}} Continued on next page

Easy comfort in Home Tour house

Tour new local homes Sept. 16-19 The 2010 NCHBA and Sangster Motors Tour of Homes is Sept.16 – 19, featuring homes in Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Leavenworth and Orondo.

Tickets are $11 for an adult and $5 for children ages 2 to 12. Coupons for $1 off will be available at various local locations and on the website, www. nchba.cc More information on the sponsors, builders and the event can also be found on the website.

}}} Continued from previous page What makes this home appealing goes beyond square footage. With 2,350 feet of living space, plus the three-bay garage, it’s not the largest on the Tour of Homes, but its new-tech materials, workmanship and design will definitely draw attention.

Ace knows his 21st century building resources. The exterior siding is Hardiplank, the woodgrained cement product that rinses down with a hose. The 21 wood-wrapped and insulated windows have a U factor of .23 (below .30 is best), air is treated with a humidifier and electronic air cleaner, the roof is 30-year architectural composition, and stamped concrete forms the drive and patio.

Part of the above-median price ($419,999) of the home reflects effective and long lasting materials.

Tasteful interior handwork adds further value. Earth toned 16-inch slate tiles floor the halls, bathrooms, kitchen and great room for visual continuity and a solid feel underfoot. The slate continues, with a subtle blend of new color, to surround the gas fireplace from floor to ceiling.

Kitchen back walls are smaller tiles with the surprise of tiny mirrored inserts.

Slate, tile and glass dominate the master bath.

Smooth as glass, the dark hemlock trim on doors and windows throughout is a pride point. Some builders economize with pre-stained trim. A workman here explained, “We take 16 different steps from when they dump the lumber to the finished trim. That’s a whole of lot of sanding, sealing and staining.

But you can sure tell the difference.” Even the wall paint, a warmed ivory, is special evocative mix. Ace demurred, “I don’t think the paint guy wants me to

28

name the color we use.”

Some structural niceties may go unnoticed by a homeowner, mostly because they make perfect sense. For instance, the workable position of natural light in the kitchen. Or the wide, welcoming foyer hallway, for greeting and milling about, that narrows a bit when it turns right to the three carpeted sleeping rooms and two full baths.

The height of ceilings is proportionate with room size, the great room not so much a cathe-

| AT HOME WITH The Good Life | September 2010

dral as spaciously vaulted. More intimate rooms flank the foyer, one free to be a parlor, studio, office, or formal dining room, the other unmistakably a wainscoted, cove-ceilinged den.

An example of the builder’s concern for livable detail is an unanticipated problem turned unexpected success. Changes in kitchen arrangement had left a gaping peripheral space that most would have turned into another (ho hum) island, or more likely, an eye-blocking interior wall. Ace and his cohorts located instead an 8-foot-tall freestanding armoire that now holds a pantry as well as a wall oven and microwave.

Stained dark, with added molding, it matches the Eurostyle cherry cabinetry that rings the rest of the kitchen. From the entrance foyer, a direct line of sight goes through to the south wall of the great room and its patio door. Only peripherally do you notice the unexpectedly traditional fixture, definite but unobtrusive, that gracefully delineates the kitchen.

Ace says he strives hard “to make sure every house we make is a place you really want to be at the end of the day.” He and his building team appreciate the opportunity to welcome 2010 Tour of Homes visitors to their latest project.

>>

VOLUNTEERS

Football scout drafts Don James for Tailgater After 2 years of cougs, ‘It was time to get a husky’

J

eff Smith has been talent scout for professional football for decades, so when it was time to draft a speaker for this year’s Apple Cup Tailgater, he turned to a long-time professional acquaintance — former University of Washington football coach Don James.

The Tailgater fundraiser — organized by the Wenatchee Rotary Club and the Wenatchee Central Lions — usually occurs just before the annual football game between rivals UW Huskies and the Washington State University Cougars.

The Kappa Sig fraternity chapters at WSU and UW relayed the game ball from the stadium of the previous host school to Wenatchee, where it is handed off to the present host school, to be run to the new host school.

Fraternity members gather pledge donations for the run.

Money raised at the Tailgater luncheon is split between the two Kappa Sig chapters. Last year, the Kappa Sigs from WSU were collecting money for Fisher House, which is a Ronald McDonald House-type housing for the families of military people hurt on the job. The Kappa Sigs from the UW raised money for Northwest Harvest Food Banks.

“When I was working, I never had the time to get involved in the community in which I lived,”

said Jeff. “The best I could do was write a check. That was not very satisfying as far as ‘getting involved’ was concerned. I was very lucky to have the career that I did, but I knew when I retired I would want to help do some good things in a more personal way.

“I really believe that if we all do as much as we can to help make the place in which we live better, it will cost a lot less than if we wait for government to get involved.”

Lions and Rotary members volunteer their time for the Tailgater, allowing the funds raised after expenses to go to the charities.

“Several members who are business owners volunteer services, such as the printing of tickets and programs, out of their pocket,” said Jeff. “This is exactly the attitude of the people and the type of event in which I felt I wanted to help. Bottom line is that I secure a speaker, sell some tickets and introduce the speaker.”

The last two Tailgater speakers were former quarterback Mark Rypien and athletic director Bill Moos, both WSU Cougars.

“It was time to get a Husky,” said Jeff, who suggested Don James, whom he got to know during Jeff’s years with the Seahawks.

Coach James, however, was not available for the usual late

Jeff Smith has cases of prized memories, but a few pieces he is most proud of are his 1993 Super Bowl ring when he was with the Dallas Cowboys’ organization, his 2006 Grey Cup ring from the Canadian Football League and a ball celebrating the first time the Green Bay Packers were beaten at home during a playoff game. He began his off-the-field work in 1976 with the Seattle Seahawks as a film grader, then became a scout for the Seahawks, then was a scout for the Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins and the Atlanta Falcons. He is now a regional scout for the British Columbia Lions in the C.F.L.

November date prior to the UWWSU game, so the Tailgater was moved ahead to October.

“He was absolutely great about agreeing to speak for a small honorarium that will be donated to a charity of his choice,” said Jeff.

“Don and (his wife) Carol are great examples of people who are willing to spend their time and effort to help others even though there is nothing in it for them.”

This year’s Apple Cup Tailgater will be on Thursday, Oct.

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21, at the Wenatchee Convention Center. Doors will open at 11 a.m., buffet lines open at 11:15 a.m. and the program will begin at noon.

Ticket sales begin in early September.

Tickets will be $20 per person in advance and $25 at the door on the day of the luncheon. A table of 10 will be $200, and for an extra $50 donation, the table purchaser will be entered in a drawing to win the table that will host Don and Carol James.

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column moving up to the good life

june darling

A few good words can make a big difference One sentence and a ques-

tion changed my husband’s life.

“Mr. Darling, when we admitted you to Pomona, we believed you could succeed here. Now, could you give us a little of your time?”

Those words were spoken by my husband’s advisor, Dr. Kemble, during his freshman year in college. I love this story and have always wondered what made those words so powerful.

Academic life hadn’t been difficult for John. He easily achieved the distinction of high school valedictorian.

When John began college, however, he felt lost almost immediately.

John felt he couldn’t keep up with peers; his roommate’s prep

“We are, to a very great extent, the very beliefs we carry inside our heads.” school background and apparent intelligence were especially intimidating. He began, for the first time in his life, to receive lower grades. He began to doubt his ability, became depressed, and stopped attending some of his classes.

As John’s situation continued to worsen, he was called in to speak with his advisor. As John recounts this period, he notes it as one of the lower points of his

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life. He felt off-balance and confused. He had lost much of his poise and had low expectations about the conference.

Surprisingly, the meeting was magic. After Dr. Kemble delivered his sentence and question, John was able to regain his footing and his self-confidence.

Self-confidence deals with our beliefs about our capabilities to make things happen. Coaches believe that people with low self-confidence have little chance of succeeding.

Dr. Albert Bandura contends that our beliefs are at the very core of our human functioning.

Dr. Frank Pajaras writes that, “We are, to a very great extent, the very beliefs we carry inside our heads.”

People who are confident take better care of themselves, see setbacks as challenges to be overcome, cope well with hardship and stress, have greater motivation and persistence, are more courageous and are more willing to take positive risks.

They feel less helplessness, anxiety, and depression.

Bandura mentions social persuasion as one source for building confidence. Social persuasion is what I believe Dr. Kemble used so well.

Social persuasion, encouraging or discouraging feedback from others, especially those in authority, can have a strong effect on us. (From our own experience, it’s probably no surprise to learn that it’s much easier to undermine than to build confidence. ) Empty praise won’t help.

Professor Kemble’s assertion was factual. His words reminded John that his records and test scores had been examined by distinguished people who placed their bets on him.

| The Good Life | September 2010

Once John was reminded of the fine people of Pomona’s faith in him, once he was shown that success often requires concerted attention and commitment — and that failure is often the result of a lack of effort or improper strategy rather than a lack of ability, he was on his way to regaining his motivation and assurance.

He started going to class, he learned to take notes, and he actually read the required readings.

He learned he could be a good student in a challenging environment if he worked at it.

John’s effort began to show up in his grades. By the time he was a junior he was receiving all A’s.

He now points to his senior year as one of the high points of his life.

He feels the positive experience set the stage for later academic achievements.

September, back to school month, is a good time for remembering the challenges those around us — our children, or grandchildren, employees, and friends — are facing.

We can learn from Dr. Kemble and help others regain their confidence by sharing a few words of faith and encouragement.

How might you help others move up to The Good Life by practicing positive social persuasion?

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

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column ALEX ON WINE

ALEX SALIBY

You are the best judge of wine for you Not long ago, I read what

had attempted to pass itself off as an academic work. It was a long work, about 58 pages in a PDF file, as I recall, and the authors wasted no time getting to their point: “Wine Judging and Evaluation is Subjective.”

I could have saved the parents of those students a ton of money just by setting up one blind tasting at which I had seated a dozen or so respected wine judges.

Better yet, I could have saved myself a lot of time and effort trying to grapple with graphs and charts these writers used in trying to prove their point.

Wine judging and evaluation is a subjective thing? Of course it is. I never believed otherwise.

Oh, I know where you’re going next. You’re wondering, why I ever bothered reading the article, as I already knew the answer to the question. Well, I have to admit, you got me there.

On a new subject, but still wine evaluation-related, I happened upon another piece about an attempt to build a relationship between highly rated wines, such as the new Ryan Patrick Vineyards 2006 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon which was rated a 91 by the Wine Spectator, and quality as perceived by the consumer.

One interesting thing to come out of that study is that nonprofessional wine consumers — you and I and most of the world — don’t work well at identifying those 91 rated wines during blind taste tests.

What I found even funnier in that study is that at the end of the blind tasting, most of us will have preferred the 82-rated wine over that 91. That’s correct: the conclusion is we not only don’t

... buy the wines you enjoy drinking, share them with friends and family and avoid reading articles that try to sway your thinking really discern a quality difference, but we actually raise our hands for the poorer wines in the tasting when asked.

From the studies we can all safely conclude wine judging and evaluation are subjective; and most of us can’t identify the good from the ordinary in blind tastes. Worse, it appears we prefer the poorer quality over the better quality in those blind tastings.

The best advice appears to be to buy the wines you enjoy drinking, share them with friends and family and avoid reading articles that try to sway your thinking. You are, after all, the best judge of what is the right wine for you.

In local wine news, big changes are in the works at Cashmere.

At the end of June, Craig and

Danielle Mitrakul, owners of Crayelle Cellars, opened their winery’s first tasting room. The facility is in Cashmere and, while small, is comfortable for pouring wines and talking with customers. Craig is noted for the wines he produces for Ryan Patrick Vineyards and for Saint Laurent, so the opening of his own winery is very welcome news.

Also at that address, and across the hall from Crayelle Cellars, is Waterville Cellars. We tasted there as well, and enjoyed their wines.

More wine-related changes are coming to Cashmere, so stay. tuned.

Mike and Donna Franks at Swakane Winery in Wenatchee, located at 7980 U.S. 97A, have taken the big step and opened a tasting room in Leavenworth.

They lucked out in finding a spot on Front Street downstairs at # 725 Front Street. You’re invited to taste in the cellar, where it’s always cool — even on scorcher days like the past few.

Last, but certainly not least, if you haven’t already read or heard, Jan and Kyle Mathison of Stemilt Creek Winery have also branched out and opened a tast-

September 2010 | The Good Life |

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ing room on Ninth Street in Leavenworth.

We attended the grand opening and the unveiling — or should that be uncorking… no, I think it’s a screw cap… of Sweet Adelaide, a refreshingly crisp, off-dry white blend that should work well with a great many summer meals on the patio.

And remember to keep watching Cashmere, as there’s more to come.

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 THE TRAVELing DOCTOR

jim brown, m.d.

Can a person really slow aging?

When I was a younger phy-

sician at the peak of my career, I would watch my then 80-yearold parents as they took their daily fistfuls of vitamins and various supplements every day.

I wondered why they and so many Americans took so many of these products at a cost of billions annually. What good did they do? I wondered. Could they be harmful?

Once I entered the Medicare/ Social Security era myself, my parents were healthy 90-yearolds. My wife and I started taking multivitamins, folic acid, Vitamin D, omega 3 fish oil supplements along with a regular aspirin.

Ever since I had participated in a Harvard study of physi-

cians that proved aspirin helped decrease the risk of heart attack, I had been faithfully taking an adult aspirin every other day for some 30 years.

Still I wondered if there was any basis for taking the other supplements. Were they doing anything for us? Did they really help in slowing down the aging process? I also wondered about what we really know about aging.

We are all aware of aging.

We have noted our parents and grandparents and even ourselves change over time. Now we know that just because our parents lived into their 90s, it is no guarantee that we will, too.

Heredity helps, but only 25 percent of your longevity is due to genetics. Since cancer and

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heart disease are the big killers in our country, one would think that by eliminating these two diseases, everyone would drastically increase their life expectancy. Actually, it would only increase the average by about 10 years.

There are a lot of different aspects contributing to our aging process. I will briefly mention a few of them, but it would be impossible to condense what is known into a few paragraphs.

The good news is that it is possible for each of us to slow down the rate of our aging.

We age because our cells lose their resilience and their ability to repair damage. Our rate of aging doubles every eight years.

Scary isn’t it?

Watching my parents, who both lived to 96, made me realize that reaching 96 or 100 is not necessarily a good thing or a goal I should have for myself.

They were healthy and active until about age 92. My dad got his driver’s license renewed at age 91, but I convinced him we should sell his car anyway when he turned 92. He reluctantly agreed.

When they moved into assisted living at 92, they both started feeling “old.”

We all love to hear about the exceptions like Stearns Eason who, at 95 still plays golf three or more times a week at the Country Club. He usually plays with the 65-70-year-old “kids.”

Recently he shot a 94, which is better than a lot of us do.

Another example would be Galen Miller, who at 92 prepares for his fifth trek down into the Grand Canyon by hiking around Sunnyslope carrying a backpack full of rocks. Galen also fills the pulpit occasionally as a preacher.

Our goal should be preserv-

| The Good Life | September 2010

ing our ability to continue an active and full life for as long as possible by slowing down our rate of aging.

The best things we can do to fight aging include reducing our caloric intake, losing that extra weight, increasing our strength through exercising and getting quality sleep without pills.

We read a lot about antioxidants and how they help protect us against oxygen-free radicals.

What are these radicals anyway? All of our cells are filled with something called mitochondria. The job of these mitochondria is to convert the nutrients we eat into energy. In the process, waste products are created which are called oxygenfree radicals.

These oxygen-free radicals cause inflammation, and inflammation contributes to aging like rust in pipes. Also, free radicals decrease the mitochondria’s ability to make energy, causing a vicious harmful cycle.

Another issue in aging has to do with our own adult stem cells. Found primarily in our bone marrow, they have the ability to grow into other kinds of cells to repair diseased and injured cells in our body.

Unfortunately, as we age our bone marrow has fewer adult stems cells. Many are used up earlier in our lives trying to repair the damage done by smoking, excessive use of alcohol resulting in liver damage, the damage caused by cholesterol and fats, and, yes, even sunburn damage.

Chronic stress can cause changes in our cells and decrease their ability to release those good guys called stem cells. Stress hormones cause

... I don’t intend to depress you readers but to encourage all of us to make changes that will make our lives better. changes in our cells and organs too. Stress is a major driver of the aging process.

Our “T” cells and “B” cells help us fight invading organisms, bacteria and viruses. But as we age, these good cells decrease in numbers, and along with it, our immune defense against the invaders.

Our current modern life exposes us to a myriad of toxins, chemicals and pollutants. Years ago when I was a resident in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic, one of the hematologists was researching the causes of leukemia and lymphomas in the surrounding counties in southern Minnesota. Even back then he was convinced environmental toxins, pesticides and industrial pollutants were playing a major role in these diseases.

Think how many more toxins we are exposed to now!

All this sounds like a downer, but I don’t intend to depress you readers but to encourage all of us to make changes that will make our lives better.

The lifestyle changes we can make right now are not so difficult: decrease caloric intake, walk at least 30 minutes a day five days a week, exercise to build up our strength, reduce our stress level and get enough drug-free sleep.

We all need to reduce our consumption of saturated fats and trans fats, which accelerate the inflammation process. Read the labels!

We need to cut down our sugar intake and avoid high fructose corn syrup entirely. No more sodas!

We need to eat more darkcolored fruit and vegetables that are loaded with natural antioxidants, carotenoids and flavinoids. A clove of garlic a day might lower blood pressure and have several other benefits. I get mine by cooking it. Used raw, it might make our spouses and children avoid us altogether.

Extra virgin olive oil is the good oil. Omega 3 fatty acids found in our beloved salmon are good for our blood vessels. I now take it in pills as well as eating salmon.

Alcohol in excess is not good for anyone, but a glass of wine daily for women and two for men has been shown to be beneficial. Red wine is loaded with antioxidants.

Dark chocolate in moderation (my wife and I love this one) increases our good HDL cholesterol and decreases the bad LDL cholesterol that does damage to our arteries.

So what about over-the-counter pills and supplements? Are they good for us or at least not harmful?

Folic acid B6 and B12 reduce homocystein that is related to heart disease. A good multivitamin usually contains all the B vitamins as well as C and most minerals that we need. Vitamin D is very important, and I have addressed that in another article. Since adults don’t get enough vitamin D from the sun or food, we should take an extra supplement of the vitamin.

Coenzyme Q is a potent anti-

oxidant that also might relieve muscle cramps that some get from the statin drugs taken by many to lower their cholesterol.

What about Vitamin E? I get mine from nuts and seeds, but some think it might help lower the risk of Alzheimer’s although that is not a proven fact. I have mentioned daily or every-otherday aspirin. This has been proven to decrease the risk of heart attack and possibly decrease memory loss since aspirin is an anti-inflammatory agent.

This article has a lot to digest and to consider. I would encourage you to discuss these issues with your physician. He or she needs to know what alternative

September 2010 | The Good Life |

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over-the-counter products you are taking as some can affect the prescription medication you are also taking or might take in the future.

Is it worth the effort to slow the aging process?

You decide. As they say, use it or lose it. Within just three months of changing our behavior, the difference in life expectancy can actually be measured!

Keep moving, keep walking, keep learning and hopefully we will live the good life to the end.

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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column GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

bonnie orr

What to do with all of those tomatoes dertaken this project. But, they sure were pretty!

Some people prefer to freeze tomatoes and thaw them to use in stews and soups.

A fun holiday treat is Tomato Granita. This inspiration was from Sunset Magazine.

H

ave you eaten a fresh tomato with every meal this week?

I like them broiled with a bit of butter for breakfast, on sandwiches for lunch and with fresh herbs and grated dry cheese on pasta for dinner.

But enough is enough. Let’s talk about preserving the taste of summer.

The day before a frost is predicted, pick the half-ripe fruit to place in a separate flat box to ripen in a few days. After you have eaten your fill of fried green tomatoes, the remainder can be saved to ripen slowly.

I consistently have the last of the tomatoes ripe for Christmas dinner. Put the blemish-free tomatoes in a shallow box in a single layer. Cover with six sheets of newspaper, lay down a second layer and cover with newspaper. Store in a cool, but not cold place. Tomatoes will not ripen at all if they spend more than 24 hours below 50 degrees.

Every week, I check the boxes for spoilage.

A delightful February lunch is home-canned, sliced tomatoes.

I add small cubes of jack cheese in the final moments of boiling so that the cheese is stringy and chewy.

One year, I decided to make fancy canned tomatoes by preserving yellow, orange and red cherry tomatoes in the same jar.

They were to be so festive.

I blanched the five gallons of cherry tomatoes; tediously slipping off each skin. I began plopping the mini fruit into pint bottles. I plopped and plopped and plopped. The jar never seemed to fill. It took 100 cherry tomatoes to fill the pint bottle. I processed the mere eight pintjars and have never again un-

Tomato Granita

Tomato Pepper Butter

My absolute favorite preserved tomato is from a recipe I adapted from The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean by Paula Wolfert. I can this “paste” to give for Christmas gifts. (You are responsible for canning instructions.)

Ingredients: • 6 pounds of any type of very ripe tomatoes.

The weight is approximate. Have enough to fill a large flat cake pan with tomatoes.

• 8 very large, very ripe red bell peppers. If you leave green peppers on the plant long enough they become dark red.

• 3 small hot red peppers (optional) • 6 cloves of garlic — about one head separated • 1 large yellow onion • Juice of one lemon • Olive oil • Salt, pepper to taste.

1. Slice the tomatoes and remove the seeds and extra water 2. Slice the bell pepper (and hot peppers) and remove the seeds and cores.

3. Slice the onion into 6ths.

4. Mix these vegetables with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and spread in single layers on sheet cake pans.

5. Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.

Watch carefully so that the peppers and garlic do not burn. You can also put the peppers and garlic in a separate pan and take them out of the oven if they start to get crisp brown edges. The tomatoes cook until no longer watery. Bake them longer if necessary.

6. Remove pans from oven and cool the vegetables.

Then, remove the peelings from the garlic, tomatoes and peppers because they will always remain tough.

7. Carefully puree all the cooked vegetables. You do not want to liquefy the “butter.” Leave a few chunks.

Re-warm the oven to 325. Spread the paste on an oiled sheet cake pan and slip it back into the oven for about 12 minutes. Watch it very carefully. The purpose is to dry out excess moisture so the “butter” is very thick.

Eat it immediately on fresh, homemade rustic bread. Or can it, and enjoy it as an appetizer with crackers or as an accompaniment to lamb or pork.

2 pounds tomatoes — select yellow or red ones. Both make a muddy brown mixture.

1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 Tablespoon lemon zest 1/4 teaspoon salt Optional ingredients: Chopped basil leaves, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce, vodka 1. Chop tomatoes and boil for five minutes.

2. Put them through a sieve to break up the flesh and to remove the seeds and skins.

3. Add the other ingredients.

Three ways to freeze the granita: • Put the mixture in an ice cream maker. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions, and store the granita in small containers in the freezer.

• Pour the mixture into pint freezer bags and store until you are ready to use one of the methods • Immediately freeze the mixture in a two-inch deep pan and freeze for 30 minutes.

Break it up in food processor so that it is “fluffy.”

Re-freeze it in a covered container.

Take the granita out of the freezer 20 minutes before serving and “fluff” it again in the food processor.

Serve this as an appetizer, between courses or as a light dessert.

Bonnie Orr gardens and cooks in East Wenatchee.

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| The Good Life | September 2010

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WHAT TO DO

These listings are created with the help of NCW Events Online, a one-stop clearinghouse for event information in Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties. Visit the website at: www.ncwevents.com.

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Farmer’s Market, 9/1, 9/4, Every Wednesday & Saturday 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. Sundays 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Columbia Street between Second and Palouse Streets, Wenatchee.

Open Micevents.com Music Night, 9/2, 7 - 9 p.m. Family friendly, outdoor venue

along Mission Creek. Cashmere Cider Mill, 5420 Woodring Canyon Rd, Cashmere. Cost: free.Info: 7823564.

2 Rivers Gallery, 9/3, 5 – 8 p.m. Fresh original art from area artists on display. 102 N Columbia, Wenatchee. Cost: free Info: www.2riversgallery.com.

Lake Boys, 9/3, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.

BBQ in the vineyards and listen to this classic rock band at Lake Chelan Winery. Info: lakechelanwinery.com.

Tomatofare, 9/4, 4 – 9 p.m. Sixth annual Tomatofare, the heirloom tomato growers of Grant County will show their wildly colored, shaped

and tasty tomatoes. The growers will have tomatoes available for tasting and sale. Several chefs will showcase these same tomatoes on their grills, the salsa maker will whip up as much salsa as you can carry away, and two bands will entertain with South American folk music and down home blues.

White Heron Cellars. Cost: $20 pre purchase or $25 at the door. Info: tomatofare.net.

Kris Orlowski, 9/4, 6 p.m. Concert at Tsillan Cellars in Chelan. Cost: free. Info: www.tsillancellars.com.

Mugsy’s Groove, 9/4, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. Live music at Muchen Haus, Leavenworth. Info: www.muchen-

haus.com.

Thunder Swamp, 9/3 & 9/4.

Meet the teams, see the boats for Wenatchee Valley’s new sprint boat races on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Wenatchee Valley Mall. Races on Saturday at 10 a.m. North of Pangborn Memorial Airport off of Urban Industrial Way. Info: www. east-wenatchee.com.

Andy Burnett, 9/4, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. BBQ in the vineyard and listen to classic rock at Lake Chelan Winery. Info: lakechelanwinery.com.

Watercolor in the Park, 9/4, 10:30 – 4 p.m. Joan Archer will

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WHAT TO DO

}}} Continued from previous page be holding a watercolor class for intermediate painters. Riverwalk Park, Chelan. Cost: $65, Info: www. cometothelake.com.

Summer Picnic Concert, 9/4, 5 – 7 p.m. Bring your own picnic or order in and listen to the music with the Kevin Jones Band. Tunnel Hill Winery in Chelan. Cost: Free.

Info: www.tunnelhillwinery.com.

Fairway Golf Tournament, 9/8.

Second annual golf tournament at Leavenworth Golf Course. A fundraiser to support SHARE, community Land Trust, providing quality, permanent, affordable homes in the Upper Valley. Cost: $75. Info: www.uvmend.org or 548-0408.

Taste of Home Cooking School, 9/8, 7 p.m. Live cooking demos with top culinary specialists with recipes and simple entertaining ideas. Prize giveaways and free gift bag. Town Toyota Center. Info: www.tasteofhome.com.

Quilt Show, 9/ 8 – 9/12. Family events of Leavenworth are hosting the 15th annual quilt show.

Meander through Quilts in the Village. Quilts will be on display in shops throughout the village and in Festhalle. Info: 548-5311 or www. quiltershaven.com.

Guy Evans, 9/9, 9/16, 9/23 & 9/30, 4 – 6 p.m. Every Thursday is Happy Hour at Tunnel Hill Winery. Relax in the waterfall garden and enjoy live music. Cost: $5 glass, complimentary chevre and crackers. Info: www.tunnelhillwinery.com.

Chelan County Fair, 9/9 – 9/12.

Animals, entertainment, food and fun. Cashmere. Info: www.chelancountyfair.com.

“Blasting the Market”, 9/10, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Writers’ workshop with Susan Wingate. Leavenworth

36

Library. Topics include getting your work to the right people in the publishing industry, targeting your market, managing your submissions, and building a strong platform. Participants should bring paper, writing tools, and if possible, a laptop computer. Info: abookforallseasons.com/events.2010_ wingate/.

Camp for Grieving Children and Teens, 9/10 – 9/12. Camp Erin Wenatchee, a three-day two-night experience filled with camp activities combined with grief education and emotional support. Wenatchee Valley YMCA Y camp north shore of Lake Wenatchee. Cost: free. Info: www.goodgriefcenter.org or call 662-6069.

Car Show & Cruise, 9/10 – 9 /11.

Hot Rod BBQ, bridge dance and general cruising the highways and byways. Downtown Chelan. Info: www.cometothelake.com.

Family Movie Night, 9/10, 6:30 p.m. Come enjoy a family friendly night to watch “Cars” on a 20-foot screen. Bring your blankets or chairs. North Shore Bible Church at the entrance of Wapato Point. Cost: $3 per person. Concessions available. Info: www.cometothelake. com.

Farmer Consumer Awareness Day, 9/10, 5 – 9 p.m. Three different chefs are provided with food from within 20 miles of Quincy.

They work with trout, beef, pork, potatoes, apples, Lima beans, dried beans, tomatoes, peppers and much more to produce a variety of plates. Live music. White Heron Cellars. Cost: $30 and all you can eat. Info: whiteheronwine.com.

Steamers, 9/10, 9/17 & 9/24, 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. BBQ in the vineyard and listen to classic rock at Lake Chelan Winery. Info: lakechelanwinery.com.

| The Good Life | September 2010

Sailing Regatta, 9/11-9/12. Event shirts and dinner tickets available.

Lake Chelan. Cost: $25 per boat.

Info: www.lakechlean.com.

Beth Whitney, 9/11, 2 – 4 p.m.

Family friendly, outdoor venue along Mission Creek. Cashmere Cider Mill. Cost: free. Info: gourmetcider.com/planning/index. php?topic=113.msg137.

David Harsh in Concert, 9/11, 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. Washington native plays a mix of acoustic Christian folk, rock and pop. Performing Arts Center. Cost: Adults $16, students & seniors $14, children 12 & under $8. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Walk A Mile In My Shoes, 9/ 11, 9 a.m. A fundraiser for Haven of Hope, a local shelter for homeless women and children. Start at Memorial Park, finish at First United Methodist Church. Includes breakfast, drawing, and more. Cost: $15 adults, $5 children. Info: registration, & pledge forms available at Haven of Hope (202 S. Franklin, Wenatchee); Journey Travel (corner of 5th & Wenatchee); Top Foods (East Wenatchee); www.hospitalityhouseofwenatchee.org; Jennifer (665-9695) or Tonya (665-0433).

“Easy as Pie at Bobby’s Diner,” 9/11, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. Susan Wingate’s latest release, Easy as Pie at Bobby’s Diner, is the second in the “Bobby’s Diner” series. Running a diner isn’t always a piece of cake. Especially when an old “friend” starts flirting with your new beau. Book signing at A Book For All Seasons, Leavenworth. Info: www.abookforallseasons.com/ events2010_wingate/ Michael Powers, 9/11, 7 p.m. Live music at River Haus in the Pines House. Cost: $45 includes dinner and dessert. Info: riverhausinthepines.com.

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WHAT TO DO

Quincy Valley Balloon & Wine Festival, 9/11, 5-9 p.m. Held at “Parties on the Green” at Twin Firs Turf in Quincy. Enjoy viewing hotair balloons, fine wines, beer, food, dancing and live entertainment at this family-friendly event. Tickets to the wine/beer garden $20 per person includes 8 tastes of wine and a souvenir glass. Tickets can be pre-purchased at www.wenatcheewines.com, or at the event.

Friendship Fest, 9/11, 1 – 7 p.m. All community celebration with live music, family carnival, cakewalk, games, inflatables, refreshments and vendors. Cascade Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1550 Sunset Hwy, East Wenatchee. Cost: $10 adults, $5 kids. Info: cascadeuu.org.

David Harsh in concert, 9/11, 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. First Place nation award winning Christian songwriter and performer. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $16 adults, $14 seniors and students, $8 12 & under.

Info: wwwpacwen.org.

Icicle Arts Festival, 9/11.

Songwriting prize, film screening, workshops. Barn Beach Reserve in Leavenworth. Info: www.iciclearts. org.

Rose Laughlin, 9/12, 2 – 4 p.m.

Acoustic guitar and vocal. Family friendly, live music, outdoor venue along Mission Creek. Cashmere Cider Mill. Info: gourmetcider.com/ planning/index.php?topic=107.0.

Foreigner - Can’t Slow Down Tour, 9/15. More than 30 years after forming, the band’s music resonates across generations with 14 Top 20 hits. Concert at Town Toyota Center. Info: www.towntoyotacenter1.com.

NCHBA Tour of Homes, 9/16 9/19. Eight homes on tour. Cost: $11. Info: www.nchba.cc Planes, Pulaskis and Forest Fires, 9/17, 7 p.m. and 9/18, 1 p.m.

- 3 p.m. The call comes over the radio: “Four-Eleven!” and fire fighters go on instant alert. Rich Faletto writes of his experiences as a Chelan fire fighter, along with other stories of our Lake Chelan country, in his engaging, informative memoir, Four-Eleven! Planes, Pulaskis and Forest Fires: a memoir of trail maintenance, firefighting and flying on the Chelan Ranger District, Wenatchee National Forest. Book signing, Barn Beach Reserve, Leavenworth. Info: www.abookforallsesons.com/events/2010_faletto/.

Yappy Hour, 9/17, 5 – 8 p.m. Raffle

The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

‘I believe I am here for a purpose — Art is it’ Teri Zimmerman is a third-

generation artist and calls her 35 years of glass work “a lifestyle, not a career choice.”

Her specialty is sculpting existing glass by etching and sandblasting. Beveling, as well as designing and piecing leaded (clear) and stained (colored) glass — a difference unknown to some — are also staples of her repertoire.

Teri’s family enterprise, Silvermoon Gallery, a custom art glass studio, is tucked into the end of a timber-ringed meadow a few miles north of Plain. She’s quick to remind you she’s part of a team: husband Steve, “my life partner and my art partner,” is the problem-solving inventor and builder, and daughter Amber brings college art experience, extending their capabilities.

For many years Teri and Steve worked the fast-paced west side business world, from the Seattle Home Show to Seattle show homes. Constant exposure brought success, but the burgeoning business was destroying creativity.

Managing 12 employees separated them from making art, and so the family made a very deliberate life-altering decision in 1992. They moved to a much smaller community, which in turn led to a simpler life and a clearer sense of purpose. She prizes, appetizers, wine and offleash fun. Chateau Fair Le Pont Winery. Cost: $5. Info: 662-9577.

Home Tour & Art Sale, 9/18, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Hospital Guild B presents 5 Lake Chelan valley homes for visitors to tour. Also art sale featuring 31 NW artists at Tsillan

Home is where the art is for glass artist Teri Zimmerman.

says, “There was an explosion of creativity and passion after we left all that behind and settled in Plain.”

Teri became president of Leavenworth’s Community Artists’ Guild and now sits on the board of Icicle Arts. She’s also a beach naturalist for the Seattle Aquarium. She looks forward to supporting other civic, environmental and humanitarian endeavors, declaring, “I believe I am here for a purpose. Art is it.”

Her chosen art form is a complex one. Research and fact checking are part of the predesign. (“I had to make sure it was really a Gala apple, not just any old apple,” she says of one piece.) And turning an initial sketch into a major installation, like the curved glass wall at Wenatchee Valley Clinic, takes myriad decisions of math and engineering vision. The logistics of complex jobs (currently the studio is replicating a set

of antique arched windows and their arched frames for a job in Oregon) match the rigors of handling heavy glass sheets and the toxic mess of sandblasting.

Collaboration, problem solving and physical skill are allied with the art. In the end, each glass piece looks deceptively pure, rarely revealing the labor.

Teri delights in both design and execution. Once she’s alone in the shop, cocooned inside her safety headgear, fresh air piped in, eyes protected, she says, “I’m in my own little world.” The vision has been carefully articulated, the template is in place, and now she becomes totally fixated on shaping and texturing that hard substance into her unique flowing design.

The best part? She’s doing it in Plain. At home with her family.

To learn more and see gallery samples, go to www.silvermoonartglass.com.

— by Susan Lagsdin

Cellars. Cost: home tour $20. Info: lakechelancommunityhospital.com.

massacre of over 30 Chinese miners. No charges were brought until a year later when one of the killers confessed. A quick trial brought no convictions or punishment, and then key documents went missing for 100 years. Book signing, A Book

Massacred For Gold, 9/18, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Gregory Nokes Signs Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hells Canyon. Hells Canyon, Oregon — the deepest canyon in North America — beheld the 1887

September 2010 | The Good Life |

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WHAT TO DO

}}} Continued from previous page For All Seasons, Leavenworth. Info: www.abookforallseasons.com/ events/2010_nokes/.

Wenatchee River Salmon Festival, 9/18 & 19. Celebrate 20 years of fins, feathers and family fun. Devoted to edu-entertainment, a form of education and entertainment. Info: salmonfest.org.

Leavenworth Crush Festival, 9/18, 3 – 7 p.m. Leavenworth Festhalle, downtown Leavenworth.

Fundraiser for non-profit Leavenworth Civic Center Foundation.

Cost: $30 includes a glass and 15 tastes. Wine, food and music.

Stomp on some grapes and enjoy the beauty of Leavenworth. Info: info@leavenworthfesthalle.com.

Gregory Nokes, 9/18, 2 – 4 p.m.

Book signing for Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hells Canyon.

Read it Again bookstore, downtown Wenatchee. Cost: free. Info: www. wendowntown.org “Taste of Harvest Festival”, 9/18. Celebrate Wenatchee’s rich agricultural heritage with this street fair for the whole family. In addition to a “Wine Garden” open from 12-5 p.m., there will be a

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

farmer’s market, an improv chef cook-off, a 5K, 10K, and halfmarathon fun run, food vendors, pancake breakfast, arts & crafts fair, kids activities, and live music all day. Tickets to the Wine Garden are $20 per person and include 8 tastes of wine and a souvenir glass.

Pre-purchase tickets at www. wenatcheewines.com or at the event. Info: 669-5808.

The Raven’s Gift, 9/24, 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. In The Raven’s Gift: A Scientist, a Shaman, and Their Remarkable Journey Through the Siberian Wilderness, scientist and kayak adventurer Jon Turk undertakes a journey of spiritual healing. Turk has kayaked around Cape Horn and paddled across the Pacific Ocean, retracing the voyages of ancient peoples. Book signing, Leavenworth Library. Info: abookforallseasons.com/events/2010_turk/.

Autumn Leaf Festival, 9/24 – 26.

Come play at Leavenworth’s oldest festival. Parade with over 80 floats, entertainment throughout and fun for the whole family. Info: autumn-

leaftfestival.com.

Family Movie Night, 9/24, 6:30 p.m. Watch “Racing Stripes” on a 20’ screen. Bring blankets or chairs.

Concessions available. North Shore Bible Church, Manson. Cost: $3.

Info: www.cometothelake.com.

The Magic of Bruce Meyers,

9/25, 8 p.m. Barn Beach Reserve, Leavenworth. Cost: $10, under 3 free. Info: brucemeyers.com.

Raptor Event, 9/25, 8:30 a.m.

Riverfront Park in Pateros. Learn about and celebrate hawk migration. Explore vendors, see live birds, participate in demonstrations and take a field trip to the Chelan Ridge Raptor Migration Site. Info: www. ncwaudubon.org.

Lion’s Club Breakfast, 9/25 & 9/26, 10/2 & 10/3, 10/1 & 10/10, 7 a.m. – 11 a.m. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, ham, coffee and milk served in the Lion’s Club Park, Leavenworth. Cost: Adult $5.50, $3 children 10 and under. Info: www. leavenworthlionsclub.org.

Lake Chelan Hydrofest, 9/25 – 9/26, 10:30 a.m. Come to Don Morse City Park to watch 12 classes of limited hydroplanes including limited inboard Hydros, Grand Prix, Flatbottom & Outboard performance craft. Food and beer garden.

Info: www.cometothelake.com.

Musical Murals, 9/25, 7:30 p.m. Jazz trombonist David Glenn, violinist Maria Sampen, violist Tim Christie and the Icicle Creek Piano Trio will perform in a concert series at Canyon Wren Concert Hall, Leavenworth. Featured winery: Wedge Mountain Winery. Cost: $20, seniors $16, students $10, kids 5-12 free. Info: www.icicle.org.

Three Diverse Authors – One Fabulous Book Buzz, 9/25, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Meet three new authors, and enter our free prize drawing! Kayak adventurer Jon Turk signs The Raven’s Gift, about

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| The Good Life | September 2010

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WHAT TO DO

spiritual awakening in the Siberian wilderness. In Simple and Savvy Strategies for Creating Healthy Eaters, Beverly Pressey shows us that raising children to have a healthy relationship with food can be fun. Amber Kizer writes two very different young adult series: the “Gert Garibaldi” series, a contemporary, frank, and funny journey of an American high school student; and paranormal “Meridian,” about a girl who shepherds dying souls to the afterlife. Book signing, A Book For All Seasons, Leavenworth.

Info: abookforallseasons.com/ events/2010_sep_book_buzz/.

Feelin’ Groovy, 9/25, 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. Wenatchee’s premiere allwomen’s chorus presents a concert of music from the ’60s. Performing Arts Center. Cost: Adults $18, seniors & students $15, children 12 & under $8. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Chance McKinney & Crosswire, 9/30, 7:30 p.m. A Rhythm Series Event. Performing Arts Center.

Cost: Adults $35, seniors $34, students 16 & under $25. Info: www. pacwen.org.

Wings & Wheels, 10/1 – 10/3.

Food and craft fair, carnival rides, car show, motorcycle parade, parachute jumps, and much more.

East Wenatchee. Info: www.eastwenatchee.com.

Oktoberfest 10/1 – 10/2, 10/810/9 &10/15 – 10 /16. Enjoy a traditional Bavarian Festival brought to Leavenworth for your pleasure. International entertainment, German food and drink. Arts and Crafts booths. Info: www.oktoberfestleavenworth.com.

Cider & Donut Days, 10/2 -10/3.

Sample apples, cider and food items throughout the weekend.

Walk around an orchard and learn about growing fruit. BBQ, local musicians, door prizes. Orondo Cider Works. Info: www.orondociderworks.com.

Crush at the Wineries, 10/2 – 10/3 & 10/9 – 10/10. Observe first hand the steps involved in grape harvest and wine production. Interact with the growers and winemakers and sample the wines of the region. Lake Chelan. Info: www. lakechelanwinevalley.com.

Sonia Dawkins Prism Dance Theatre, 10/2, 7 p.m. A company of multi-ethnic dancers trained in classical ballet as well as movement techniques established by some of the masters of modern dance - Martha Graham, Lester

The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

Once you start seeing beauty, it never stops Brad Brisbine, architect,

deliberately framed miles-long downriver views of the Columbia River valley and sideways glimpses of the mountains through the living room windows of his hillside home.

Big sky, bold hills, silver streak of river.

And Brad Brisbine, visual artist, displays dozens of his framed original landscapes on the white walls of that room — scenes that range from high mountain lakes, sunsets, and glaciers to local orchards and landmark cliffs.

He has spent decades hiking in and around the Cascade Mountains. After amassing over 3,000 photographs of the region’s natural landscapes, Brad made a major artistic leap 10 years ago. He put down his camera and started painting many of those revisited scenes.

His style is impressionistic.

Acknowledging that unlike a camera the human eye can only focus on one thing at a time, he strives to capture on canvas, with oil paints, the simple visual essence of a scene.

He said, “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t compelled to make art.” As a teenage electrician’s apprentice he first saw the bright primary colors of breaker box circuitry — that night at home he replicated its intricate complexities with wood and wire.

Brad humbly describes the straight line of his life path. Basically, excepting college years, Horton, and Jose’ Limon - their dances are a fusion of technicality, texture and expressiveness.

Performing Arts Center. Cost: $12 in advance; $15 at the door. Info: www.pacwen.org.

Painting for Brad Brisbine is not just looking, but seeing.

this Wenatchee High School grad states, “I’ve only lived in three houses, I’ve only had three jobs.” But he was raised with artist relatives, and appreciating color and pattern in his environment came naturally.

As a mature artist, he was inspired by painting mentors Rod Weagant and Bill Reese, whose works on his home gallery walls still teach him. Said Brad, “Once you start seeing beauty in the everyday, it never stops.”

Brad’s “day job,” as he calls it, also reflects his vision and creativity (for example, designing the Lifeline Ambulance building on Wenatchee Avenue) and also frees him from vagaries of the fine art market, allowing him license to experiment.

At 55, he’s proud of his recent acclaim with Apple Blossom Festival and Festival of Trees scenic paintings, and has exhibited work at Two Rivers Gallery, Caffe Mela and other venues. But after

200 canvases, he’s ready to take risks. He’s moving on.

Recently he traded his brushes for the bolder texture of a palette knife, went retro to his own youth, experimenting with paintings of car parts, and even tackled the fickle genre of watercolor, where, he said, “You don’t control the medium — it controls you.”

His medium, his technique and his themes may evolve, but Brad’s painting is still all about seeing. As his last working vacation to Stehekin reminded him, “it’s not just glancing at Rainbow Falls, but staying there in the scene, becoming part of it, studying it carefully for five hours… not just looking but really seeing all the nuances of light and color.”

To see Brad’s architecture, photos and paintings, go to www.bradbrisbine.com.

— by Susan Lagsdin

R/C Unlimiteds, 10/2 – 10/3.

Watch 35 to 45 of the fastest 1/8 scale unlimited hydroplanes compete. Riverwalk Park, Chelan. Info: www.cometothelake.com.

Oktoberfest Marathon, 10/2.

Music, parade, food and beverages.

Proceeds to cancer research. Leavenworth. Info: www.leavenworthmarathon.com.

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column those were the days

rod molzahn

Tough as a mule and a fun guy, too E

verybody in Chelan County and some beyond knew Ed Ferguson, tall and lanky with a booming laugh and a friendly face.

Ed was a back slapper, a hand shaker and a story teller but tough as a mule when that was required.

John Gellatly, twice Wenatchee Mayor, wrote in 1958, that “Anyone, in trying to describe what has gone on in Wenatchee for the past 50 or 60 years and about the people who made it interesting, would certainly have to include J. Edward Ferguson. Ed has always been the spice ingredient of every community effort…”

The Ferguson family arrived in Wenatchee in the PHOTO FROM THE WENATCHEE VALLEY MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER #90-56-56 summer of 1893 without Wenatchee’s police in 1908: From left, Nate Inscho, Chief J. Ed Ferguson and Bob 15-year-old Ed. He stayed Nelson. on in Tacoma working as a James Ferguson also served as newsboy and messenger until “Thomas L. Nixon” and deckthe town Marshall, a position he hand on other boats traveling the next spring when he rode over Colockum Pass and into the had been appointed to only days between Wenatchee and the biggest flood the valley had ever after coming to Wenatchee.

Okanogan.

After finishing seventh grade seen with water standing two On one of his many trips up at Stevens School, Ed found feet above the railroad tracks. river, Ed commented on the work on Alexander Griggs’ His father James, a tin smith, strong resemblance between a had opened a shop at Wenatchee steamboats. He was night large rock above the west bank watchman on “The City of Avenue and Palouse Street with and the profile of Abraham Ellensburg,” fireman on the living quarters in the back.

Lincoln. A photographer on the

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| The Good Life | September 2010

boat took a picture of the rock and published it with the title, “Lincoln Rock.”

In 1898 and ’99, Ed Ferguson worked with the U.S. Geological Survey crew mapping the land on both sides of the Columbia between Wenatchee and Chelan.

When that job ended he worked as a clerk in Taz Rary’s general store and next door at the Wenatchee Hardware Company where he took home the remarkable sum of $50 a month.

After that, he worked for a year for Wenatchee’s most eccentric and flamboyant publisher, Leonard Fowler, owner of the Wenatchee Republic. Ed Ferguson claimed he learned showmanship from Fowler who was inclined toward sporting green pants, spats, a red necktie, a derby and a cane.

Ferguson’s own showmanship surfaced in 1897 when, at age 18, he helped organize the town’s first brass band.

Over the years Ed played bass drum, tenor horn and tuba with the band. That same year he had a staring role in the melodrama “Turn of the Tide” performed at Haskell-Prowell’s hall at Orondo and Mission by a cast of local storekeepers and businessmen along with the postmaster…

Later that afternoon the sheriff was spotted in the rail yard behind a boxcar enjoying one of the illegal cigarettes. perhaps Wenatchee’s first community theatre.

Ed Ferguson always said there were three jobs he wanted; policeman, fireman and actor.

By the early 1900s he was well on his way to accomplishing the goal.

Ed was 26 in 1905 when he convinced O. B. Fuller, Wenatchee developer, to build the town’s first playhouse at the corner of Columbia and Palouse streets. Ed leased the building and began presenting dances, band concerts, local theatre and traveling performers with Ed, himself, often taking part.

Nationally known celebrities including William Jennings Bryan and Al Jolson took the stage at the playhouse. The theatre was the first place in town to show silent movies with Ed’s new wife Louise at the piano.

Ed had often stepped in to help his father with the Marshall’s duties. In 1896, at 17, he arrested and hauled off to jail seven drunken railroad workers who were terrorizing the downtown saloons.

One night in 1907 Mayor Frank Scheble deputized Ed to roundup a bunch of drunken “rioters” along Columbia Street. Ed soon had the whole lot of them standing in Police Court.

Mayor Scheble was so impressed he made Ed Ferguson Wenatchee’s first police chief, head of a three-man, uniformed force.

That same year Ferguson chaired a committee to create the town’s first fire department.

He was named chief.

In 1908, while still police and fire chief, Ed was elected Chelan County Sheriff. The next year the state’s new ban on possession of tobacco and rolling papers went into effect and Ed Ferguson was one of the first sheriffs in the state to enforce the law.

He was once tipped off that a shipment of tobacco was arriving on the train bound for a Cashmere store. Sheriff Ferguson met the train in Cashmere

and confiscated the tobacco.

Later that afternoon the sheriff was spotted in the rail yard behind a boxcar enjoying one of the illegal cigarettes.

Ed Ferguson went on to sell life insurance in Wenatchee.

He died July 4, 1959 at age 80. He had spent over 60 years working for the people in the town he loved, entertaining and protecting them.

His ever-positive personality made him the town’s favorite master of ceremonies at events

1st Choice Collision Center..............................42 Aaron Adult Family Homes...............................14 After Hours Plumbing & Heating.......................23 American Quality Coatings...............................25 Anderson Landscaping....................................21 Bio Sports Physical Therapy...............................6 Blossom Valley Assisted Living Community......44 Bob Feil Boats & Motors..................................36 Brad Brisbine Fine Art......................................36 Brenda Burgett Century 21..............................23 Central Washington Hospital............................38 Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery..........................17 Chelan County PUD........................................ 43 Colonial Vista..................................................33 Complete Design.............................................23 DA Davidson....................................................16 Dulce Villa of El Salvador...................................3 Dr. Steven Harvey DDS....................................14 Eagle Transfer Company.....................................6 Epledalen Retirement & Assisted Living.......... 43 First Choice Floor Covering...............................28 Fred Dowdy Company Inc...................................2 Global Car Care...............................................15 Golden East Restaurant...................................35 Health Wise.....................................................31 Healthy Options at Home.................................16 Icicle Broadcasting..........................................40 Iwa Sushi & Grill..............................................35 John L. Scott Real Estate.................................25 KCSY – Sunny FM.............................................33 Laura Mounter Real Estate & Company...........24 Lemon Grass Natural Food Market.....................8

September 2010 | The Good Life |

of all kinds. His speaking skills made him the choice to deliver eulogies for all his friends and it was his close friend, attorney Sam Sumner, that Ed chose to speak for him.

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.

Lemon Grass Natural Food Market...................42 Lombard’s Hardwood Supply...........................23 Moonlight Tile & Stone.....................................23 Mt. Stuart Physical Therapy...............................8 NCHBA Tour of Homes.....................................22 NCW Rural Health Foundation..........................20 Noyd & Noyd Insurance Agency ......................25 Numericaq Credit Union...................................27 Papa Murphy’s . ..............................................20 Products Supply Northwest..............................25 Real Deal on Home Décor................................27 Revv Import Auto Service.................................32 Seniors Reverse Mortgage...............................16 Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort ......................35 Solomon Financial Group...................................5 Stifel Nicolaus...................................................2 Sue Long Laura Mounter Real Estate & Co......23 Swim World.................................................... 43 Telford’s Chapel of the Valley & Crematory.......30 The Gilded Lily.................................................11 The UPS Store.................................................31 Town Toyota Center..........................................44 Valley Tractor & Rentals...................................13 Vita Green LLC...................................................2 Wenatchee Natural Foods . ...............................7 Wenatchee Valley College................................15 Wenatchee Valley Medical Center....................25 Western Ranch Buildings.................................24 Window Care Company....................................12 Wok About Grill................................................35 Woods House Conservatory of Music...............12

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CHECK THIS OUT // TASTY PLACES AND FUN EXPERIENCES Know of a special experience we should check out? Eating, drinking or playing, we want to know.

Send us an e-mail at editor@ncwgoodlife.com

SQUARE DANCING IS FUN AND ENERGETIC WAY TO GET AROUND

By Donna Cassidy

Betcha didn’t know Septem-

ber is Square Dancing Month and square dancing is the state dance.

The Appleland Promenaders is one local square dancing group that John and Jan Davies, East Wenatchee, have belonged to for the past five years now.

“It’s a lot of fun, has great people, is good exercise and just a wonderful social atmosphere all the way around,” said Jan. Beginner level is called Main Stream. The next level up is called Plus, the next level is Advanced, then you can go on to competition C level.

“John and I have been to Clarkston, Moxie, Cle Elum, Moses Lake and of course here in Wenatchee. There are places all over the state we would like to go to but have not been able to go because our jobs get in the way,” said Jan. Jan added there were around 50 to 60 members in the local dance club.

“John and I are new dancers compared to a lot of the people we dance with. There are

Jan and John Davies: Is this colorful enough for you?

people who have danced as few as one year up to as much as 60 years.

“We are considered what I would call experienced beginners/intermediate. It took about two years to learn and remember the main stream moves. There are 64 of them. The Plus level which we are learning now has an ad-

42

ditional 32 moves added to the original 64,” said Jan. She added, “You can take all kinds of lessons at different levels and different styles. There are theme dances, an anniversary dance, a New Year’s dance, all kinds of things. The club also does charitable donations at Christmas and Thanksgiving.

We put school supplies together

| The Good Life | September 2010

every fall which are given to the schools.”

For beginners classes start Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. at the East Wenatchee Grange on Sunset Highway. The lessons go from September to February every Tuesday. The cost is $5 per lesson with the first three lessons free.

During the fall and winter months there are dances almost every week. If you want to continue to dance throughout the summer there are a lot of clubs nearby. Circle 8 — a campground 10 miles west of Cle Elm — is a combination campground and dance hall where you can square dance for a full week. For more information visit the website www.circle8ranch.net.

For information about the Promenaders, go to www.applelandpromenaders.com or for the state website: www.squaredance-wa.org. For local lessons, call Bob or Connie Mulholand at 881-4961.

The state website also has information about three other local dance groups: Plus Bunch, Cascade Twirlers and Buds & Blossom.

As they say down at the grange hall, grab a partner and let’s get dancing

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Learn more on our website, or call (509) 661-8008.

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