NORWAY IN A NUTSHELL Y EVENTS CALENDAR
WENATCHEE VALLEY’S
NUMBER ONE MAGAZINE
January 2015
the blues feels so good “A gift to myself that just keeps on giving”
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Dr. Jim Brown Should our lives have a ‘Discard by’ date?
Cary Ordway Central Washington Experience
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Contents
7 writing
a ‘surprise’ book
Children’s book about a snowman discovering the meaning of family is author’s homage to her ancestors
8 what are they doing now?
Catch up with 8 or so people from past articles who are finding new thrills in their lives
20 NORWAY IN A NUTSHELL
Taking a fast trip around this Scandinavian country with modern transportation and ancient fjords
22 back to nigeria
Joani Flanagan, and Katherine March — Women rid-
Local church ers of the Pasayten. Page 12. members have a special connection to cattle-raising people of this troubled African nation
24 a natural teacher
Retired teacher Tim Abel combines what he knows best with his love of the natural sciences
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BACK FOR ANOTHER VISIT We drop in on three homes featured in past issues to see how the new owners are changing — or not changing — their habitats
ART SKETCHES
n Catching up with four artists from earlier stories, pages 34-35 Columns & Departments 29 June Darling: Here’s how to feel younger 30 Pet Tales: Christmas card beautiful 31 Bonnie Orr: It’s cold — let’s make soup 32 The traveling doctor: Is 75 the time to die? 34-38 Arts & Entertainment & a Dan McConnell cartoon 37 The night sky: Watching 3 moons cross Jupiter 39 History: How the P’Squose people ‘disappeared’ 42 Alex Saliby: Fine local Grenache wines January 2015 | The Good Life
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OPENING SHOT
all is still on a cold morning in Wenatchee By Lynette Smith
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love the Wenatchee Valley and the four seasons we are fortunate enough to experience. Throughout the year I enjoy taking photos of our local valley and our four seasons. Last year, about this time, I was driving around looking for
®
Year 9, Number 1 January 2015 The Good Life is published by NCW Good Life, LLC, dba The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 PHONE: (509) 888-6527 EMAIL: editor@ncwgoodlife.com sales@ncwgoodlife.com ONLINE: www.ncwgoodlife.com FACEBOOK: Find us by searching for The Good Life
some areas with a good snow cover and view and headed to Confluence Park. When I was at the top of the drive into the park I saw this view in the photo above, and loved how peaceful and calm everything looked. It was a beautiful winter morning and there was still a little steam coming off the river and some low clouds hovering. It had just snowed the night before and the snow looked like glittering diamonds. I spent about an hour in the park taking photos from different angles and viewpoints. Photography has always been
a passion of mine and it’s a great way for me to stay connected to my dad, who gave me my first camera years ago. I’m blessed that my passion for photography has blossomed into a full-time business. It’s not very often in life that our passion becomes our career. I love looking at the world from different perspectives, and capturing moments that will last for a lifetime. Lynette is a Wenatchee based wedding, engagement, event and senior portrait photographer. In addition to her business photography, she also photographs cowboys, horses and
Editor/Publisher, Mike Cassidy
Proofing, Dianne Cornell
Contributors, Andrea Anderson, Larry Cramer, Jenny Erickson, Terri Bawden, Chris Phillippi, Katherine March, Rhys Logan, Collette DeNet, Cary Ordway, Trish Simmons, Mike Henry, Marlene Farrell, Donna Cassidy, Bonnie Orr, Alex Saliby, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin, Peter Lind and Rod Molzahn
Ad design, Rick Conant
Advertising manager, Terry Smith Advertising sales, Lianne Taylor and Donna Cassidy Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy
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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 TO SUBSCRIBE: For $25, ($30 out of state address) you can have 12 issues of The Good Life mailed to you or a friend. Send payment to: The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 For circulation questions, email: donna@ncwgoodlife.com
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January 2015
dust and has a western series titled Horses in Dust that can be viewed on her website. Lynette spends her free time hiking with her two labradors and venturing into the hills on horseback. You can learn more about Lynette by visiting her newly-designed website: Lynettesmithphotography.com or, Facebook.com/Lynettesmithphotography
On the cover
Editor Mike Cassidy took this photo of Blues musician Larry Cramer and his favorite Strat — the electric guitar is the one he plays 90 percent of the time.
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editor’s notes
MIKE CASSIDY
‘…the worst that can happen is…’ I
was wasting time reading Facebook posts when I saw an acquaintance’s husband had recently left his steady job. Out of idle curiosity — and since this acquaintance had once written an article for us on one of their adventures — I emailed her asking what was up and if there might be another story in their life change. To which she responded: “At this point we are just being complete idiots — which we definitely don’t want publicized! (ha ha) …” And then after telling me her dreams — which, to abide by her wish of not making pubic, I am skipping past — she added: “I’ll let you know when we hit it big! :) I do think this will be a great year for us, and the worst that can happen is we’ll have to go back to work.” Sweet. Back when I used to watch pro basketball — when Seattle still had the Sonics — there was an expression to “Jump, and then decide.” The idea being you leapt into the air with the ball and then decided where to pass it or whether to shoot. Having the agility to leap and then decide comes through lots of stretching and practice. If you never push against your self-imposed boundaries, you’ll have weak boundary-stretchingmuscles. Which brings me to our multipage feature this month, where we catch up with a few people from stories in our 2014 issues. If there is one over-riding trait of these people it is that they didn’t just take one adventure and then quit. None of this one and done. No grand adventure
followed by endless nights sitting on the sofa playing video games. Keep stretching, keep leaping for opportunities. As another basketball phrase says: “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” A guiding star to follow: Our resident designated wine drinker — and columnist — Alex Saliby writes this month about pleasing local Grenache blends, known for their fruit tinged, aromatic soft taste. (See his column, page 42.) In introducing his topic, Alex mentions leading man David Niven — the very essence of “good breeding” throughout his film career. In a separate email to me, Alex had this to say about David: “No one in my life has had a greater influence on my behavior than David Niven. “In my youth, I didn’t want to play centerfield for the Yankees, or win wars by defeating the Japanese, or fly like Superman and save women in distress. I wanted to be like David Niven’s characters in the movies: suave, sophisticated, debonair and living the Good Life. “I never tried to develop an accent but I did strive to behave as a Niven character would in polite society.” I told Alex that it’s fun to have movie characters be our heroes, especially if they push us to be better people. If you were to style your life after a movie personality, who would that be? Elevate your game. Enjoy The Good Life. —Mike Cassidy January 2015 | The Good Life
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fun stuff a full LISTING of what to do begins ON PAGE 36
Good things come in twos in January
Gone with the Wind — 1939 American epic historical romance film. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $5. Info: numericapac.org. Thursday, Jan. 15, 6:30 p.m. Lake Chelan Winterfest —
Two bridal shows, two com-
munity winter festivals, a couple of blasts from our popular culture past, a chance to walk off a few of those holiday pounds while looping through downtown Wenatchee, and then a fiery finish with a chili cook-off contest. Oh boy, January is going to be fun! Here’s a few items selected from the What to Do list: Katrina’s Bridal Premiere —
Town Toyota Center. Cost: free. Info: towntoyota.com. Saturday, Jan. 3, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Bella Sera Event — Bridal show with venues, photographers, caterers. Limos and everything you need for your big day. Wenatchee Center. Saturday, Jan. 17, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Walking Wednesday — Meet
in the Hedeen Plaza (next to Owl Soda Fountain) and walk the loop. The loop is Kittitas to Second Street – just over one
Ice carver at Chelan’s Winterfest: Sunny enough for sunglasses, cold enough for a furry hat. Week of Jan. 16-25.
mile long. Cost: free. Info: wendowntown. org. Noon Wednesday, Jan. 7. Bob Eubanks: The not so newlywed Game — Bob Eu-
banks hosts a replica of the TV game show using For hot and spicy this month, there’s Gone With The Wind at four local the Numerica Performing Arts Center Jan. 15 — and a chili couples: cook-off at Pybus Public Market on Jan. 31. Clyde and Ruth Ballard (married nearly 60 Gustavo Montoya (married one years), David and Linda Herald year). Numerica Performing (married 33 years), Scott and Arts Center. Cost: $23-$29. Info: Jennifer Devereaux (married 11 numericapac.org. Saturday, Jan. years) and Norma Gallegos and 10, 7:30 p.m.
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Bavarian IceFest — Snow sculptures, the Great Frisbee Sweep, Ice Cube Scramble, Snowball Toss, ice fishing, Bavarian Mug Relay, Smooshing, Tug-O-War, snowmobile sled pull, live chainsaw ice carving, dog sled rides, beer garden, chili crawl, fireworks and more. Downtown Leavenworth. Info: leavenworth.org. Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 17-18. Koho’s Chili Cook-off Contest —Taste and vote on the
region’s tastiest chili from some of the top restaurants and chefs in NCW. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. All day Saturday, Jan. 31.
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Lights will twinkle, gorgeous ice sculptures will be scattered throughout the Lake Chelan Valley. Wine walk, alefest, kids activities and more. Downtown Chelan. Info: lakechelan.com. Friday through Sunday, Jan. 16 - 25.
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January 2015
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BUCKET LIST
Even though I am normally terrible at keeping surprises a surprise, it’s now been four years...
Dear editor: I just marked one off my bucket list Hello, My name is Andrea Anderson. I just happened to be sitting in the chiropractor’s office today and picked up your Santa edition of The Good Life (which was awesome, by the way). As I was reading about the Christmas celebrations and rituals in different countries, I noticed your bucket list advertisement — which is totally perfect because I have spent the last four years working on something from my bucket list and was able to mark it off as of a couple days ago. I wrote and illustrated my own children’s book. It’s called A Family For Rudy and it’s a Christmas story. It’s about a snowman named Rudy who, with the support of his friends and a little help from Santa, realizes the true meaning of family. It’s aimed at preschool-aged children. I not only wrote the story but hand drew/painted every page (35 total).
Each character is/was inspired by either my grandparents or great grandparents. Rudy, the snowman, was the name of my great-grandpa who was a wonderful, very likeable man; Nellie, the bluebird, was inspired by my great-grandpa’s amazing wife, who I never had the opportunity to meet but heard nothing but amazing things about (and would’ve named my son after had he been a girl); Floyd, a fox who tells the
January 2015 | The Good Life
Andrea Anderson and the cover she created for her Christmas book surprise for her family.
funniest stories, was my grandpa — the most soft spoken, generous, and humorous man I’ve ever met; and Betty Bear, who is an exceptional cook, is my grandma... the most faithful
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and patient woman I know. Even though I am normally terrible at keeping surprises a surprise, it’s now been four years and I have not yet told anyone from my family about my book. I was able to publish it in November and am receiving my first copy in a couple days, which I will then surprise my family with on Christmas Day. It is available to order online and also as an e-book. I even told my publisher, when they asked me what my motivation was for becoming an author, that writing a children’s book was on my bucket list. I felt like it was just meant to be for me to stumble upon your magazine. I hope this was even somewhat as inspiring as this whole crazy adventure has been for me. — from Andrea Anderson Andrea Anderson has lived in Wenatchee her entire life. Her greatgrandmother and grandfather lived here for years until they passed away, and her grandmother still lives in East Wenatchee.
updates
What are they doing now? Follow-up stories of people from past issues who are finding new adventures
Playing the Blues leaves him feeling younger and more alive than in decades Backstory: Longtime music lover Larry Cramer wrote in the February issue about how — after long bouts overcoming cancer — it became his bucket list dream to be in a blues band and perform at least once on stage. Quote from earlier story: “What I often ask myself — and this is a question we should all ask ourselves — why did I wait until life took a big dump on me and I was staring mortality in the face to do this?”
By Larry Cramer
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t’s amazing, how deciding to do something that you’ve always wanted to do can have a far more profound impact on your life than you may anticipate. A little over a year ago, after coming out of a long hard bout with cancer, I decided to do something I always wanted to do, but never thought I would. I talked to a few friends about putting together a Blues Band and the Bucket List Blues Band was born, so there you go, item checked off my Bucket List... Done, right? Wrong. When you decide to do something like this, it has a much farther reaching impact
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Larry Cramer poses with Grammy award winning Blues artist Tab Benoit. “I got to not only meet, but actually hang out with him for a while and talk gear and the Blues. Blues artists tend to be more down home. This was the thrill of a lifetime.” said Larry.
than you think. First of all, fulfilling a goal or should I say dream, is much more than a momentary point of satisfaction — it alters your life and your perception of life from that moment on. I had forgotten the huge love of music I had in my youth. I no longer savored and
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appreciated artists’ interpretation of a song, or how a song was arranged and what the artist’s delivery of a song had on the way it makes you feel and react. I’d lost all of that. I just listened to music in the background like most everyone else does. The deep love of music I had was missing. It’s back now and I am enjoying the art of music more now than I ever have. I am also having a blast playing with my band at gigs all over the region. We have played at venues from small to large, we’ve played at festivals, and had the privilege of playing what I consider to be THE Blues Club in our region, Club Crow (that actually was another Bucket List Item in itself). To play on the same stage as some of my Blues heroes such as Curtis Salgado, Sammy Eubanks, The Delgado Brothers and many more, well let’s just say putting the band together has been a gift to myself that just keeps on giving. I look forward to all the great opportunities we have to look forward to this year and beyond. Add to all of this the great new friendships that I now value so highly and I have to say this has been a good life lesson. Even though I turn 60 this February, in many ways I feel younger and more alive now than I have in decades. The thing is, this has nothing to do with money, job,
January 2015
updates putting food on the table, or any of the day-to-day efforts of life. It’s about feeding your soul. All I can say, based on what I’ve learned from all of this, is if you have something you have always wanted to do — not some simple little thing, but something that really pushes you, even scares you, but it’s something that you would really love to do — Do It! The effort it will require and the journey it will take you on, will change you and your life for the better. There’s an old proverb: “You eat life, or life eats you.” So why wait, take a big bite and savor the flavor of The Good Life.
Living room concerts are fine, but this time a cherry orchard was better Backstory: Jenny and Scott Erickson were featured in the February 2014 issue for occasionally converting their living room into a concert venue and inviting in 50 or so music lovers to hear interesting touring bands perform. Quote from earlier story: “It’s crazy that they played in our living room, but it’s wonderful.”
Pickwick plays an outdoor concert in Wenatchee Heights. They have grown too popular for a living room. Photo by Josh Tarr
the first Caffé Mela New Year’s Eve Celebracut it. tion. We had As their popularity grew and the country held an became aware of their music, we were still outdoor able to have them stop in Wenatchee two show in July at our By Jenny Erickson additional times. But still, people wanted friends that have a cherry them AGAIN and AGAIN. orchard in the Wenatchee Heights. The n the three years that we’ve been bringWe knew that they were playing Chinook setting was amazing — we also knew that ing musicians into the valley, there is one Fest in Naches last September and thought the homeowners were HUGE Pickwick fans band that was most frequently requested to 151 South Worthen Street, Suitewere 201 ever · (509) · (800) 664-9063 if the time right664-9063 to get them and thought, why not? return — Pickwick. it wouldSIPC be now. We also knew Once we got their OK and had Pickwick Davidson again & Co.— member · www.dadavidson.com They first played at Harvest FestD.A. in Sep}}} Continued on next page that our home with 40 guests would not tember 2011 and then blew people away at
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Wenatchee Office:
151 South Worthen Street, Suite 201 (509) 664-9063 (800) 664-9063 www.dadavidson.com D.A. Davidson & Co. member SIPC
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updates }}} Continued from previous page onboard, we went about selling tickets — we needed 200 tickets to break even. Once people saw that Pickwick was back and saw a view from the orchard, tickets sold quickly. The setting allowed for people to picnic and sit in the grass before and during the show — the night was clear and comfortable. Attendees showed up with coolers, baskets, blankets and smiles on their faces. Pickwick did not disappoint — they played two sets that had people dancing. Guests got to socialize with the musicians — this does not happen in big venues. Even with 200 attendees, the evening was incredibly intimate — it’s hard to describe the “feel good” sensation. Our main focus is still the more intimate house show. We seek to hold an event once a month — sometimes more often, sometimes less. We have already booked through March 2015. Wenatchee has become a legitimate stop for traveling musicians — we just happen to be the lucky recipients.
Hey, let’s trade homes and use our savings to see more while traveling Backstory: Terri Bawden wrote in the May 2014 issue about home exchange vacations. Quote from earlier story: “By allowing us to live in someone else’s home for an extended period of time, we can live like a local and save about half the cost of the entire trip.”
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Dave and Terri Bawden traveled in Switzerland, using a home exchange house as a base.
By Terri Bawden
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e spent seven weeks in France, Switzerland and Italy last summer with two days in Iceland, on the way home. Four of those weeks were in home exchanges and the rest of the time we stayed in quaint, two-star hotels and traveled on trains, planes, buses and boats. Our first home exchange was in Brit-
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tany where we stayed in a 200-year-old stone house in the oyster capital of France, Cancale, just across the bay from Mont St. Michel Abbey. Our French hosts greeted us with home-made crepes filled with our choice of smoked salmon and creme fraiche or ham and cheese. They also left us one of their cars, which allowed us to visit Normandy just a few days after the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. It was a very memorable and powerful experience. We spent two more weeks traveling through France in spite of the rail strike, which altered our plans considerably. We then settled into our Lucerne home for two weeks and traveled all over Switzerland using the Swiss Pass on trains, cable cars and boats. Our home in Lucerne was very modernistic, efficient, and somewhat sparse. Everything in Switzerland was orderly and on time, so we were surprised at how much we enjoyed the relaxing, unpredictable atmosphere of the Lake Como area in northern Italy. We stayed in a small village called Menaggio, and in retrospect, we wish we had stayed longer and skipped the chaos of the Cinque Terre. We continued the laid-back attitude when we spent a week as house guests in Toulon, France. Our hostess, Pascaline, sent us on daily excursions to pristine
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updates beaches, seaside towns and hilltop villages that only the locals visit (most tourists go to Cannes, about 30 miles away). In the evenings she would come home from work and serve us an amazing French meal on her deck overlooking the city. We moved on to Arles where we stayed with some friends who have a Wenatchee connection. Their son married former Wenatchee resident Kim Cushman, daughter of Paul and Mary Cushman. One evening, they took us to see the opera, Carmen, in a bull-fighting arena in a nearby village. We also spent some time with friends from New Zealand who were on a home exchange in southern France in a small town called Uzés. On the summer solstice we were having dinner together in a large plaza watching France play Switzerland in the World Cup when a familiar looking man sat down at the table next to us. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was Jon Magnus, Wenatchee teacher and author of the book, S.H.I.N.E. He was on a trip through France and Spain with 44 of his students. We ended our trip in Rejkavik, Iceland on a two day stop-over before returning home. We took the Golden Circle tour that included incredible scenery of grand landscapes, steaming vents and geysers, and the Niagra-sized waterfall, Gullfoss. It was a dramatic conclusion to an action-packed trip. Terri Bawden lived in Wenatchee for 36 years before moving to Anacortes in 2011 after retiring from the Wenatchee School District. She wrote in the May 2014 issue how she and her husband, Dave, travel the world frugally by exchanging homes rather than staying in expensive hotels.
to the cider house and distillery again, as well as enjoying a respite after six months of harvest. The distillery and cider house report is that we bottled both Kirschwasser (cherry brandy) and Pear Brandy since the article. With Applejack, we have created spirits from each of the three main local tree fruits. We’re working on a hard cider fortified with Applejack for our next release, and we’re also working on getting our products into the marketplace. This endeavor is both as challenging and as enjoyable as I anticipated. As far as the good living report, my family spent much of August at Lake Chelan after cherries ended. When September rolled around, we got bit by the camping bug and purchased a travel trailer. Two other families we are friends with also purchased trailers, and we enjoyed camping near LaConnor, Plain, Potholes Reservoir, and near the Gorge for the Zac Brown band show, before sadly putting it away for the winter. We celebrated the end of the apple harvest with our annual cider press the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and that marked the transition between our busy season and the quieter time of year. With family and friends we pressed several bins of apples into fresh cider for
Still working to the cycles of the ag industry — with time to tan and ski Backstory: Chris Phillippi wrote in the May 2014 issue how six generations of his family has harvested the good life by working in the local fruit industry. Now his generation has opened a cider house and Twin Peaks Distillery, making 80 proof Applejack, which seeks to capture “the fresh apple overtones and fiery nature of this American spirit.” Quote from earlier story: “I’ve skied around 40 days so far this winter, and I’ll likely spend that many days at Lake Chelan in the summer. I go to work each day with my sister, my mom, my dad, my uncle, and my five-year-old (two days a week). At least as far as I’m concerned, I’m living the Good Life.”
By Chris Phillippi
Soon after our article in The Good Life
was published in the Spring of 2014, cherry season started. Those two months of cherries are our busiest of the year, and it’s the type of busy that puts the rest of the year in perspective. When cherries ended apples and pears were already beginning to harvest. So the distillery dropped down a few notches on our priority list, but since our original vision was for it to keep us occupied in the winter months that was not unexpected. As I’m writing this the harvest has only recently ended, and I’m turning my focus
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>> RANDOM QUOTE
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. George Bernard Shaw
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updates }}} Continued from previous page Thanksgiving and shredded 300 pounds of cabbage into sauerkraut, all the while enjoying a potluck of hearty treats, hot-spiced cider, and the camaraderie of an event that has become the kick-off of our holiday season. We plan to visit my in-laws for Christmas, and by the time this article is published I hope to be spending quality time on the slopes of Mission Ridge again. That brings us full circle to where The Good Life article found me. The seasons roll on, and while my version of the Good Life may sound busy it’s a good kind of busy for a guy with an active family and a restless spirit. One of the things I love about living in Chelan County is that each season brings its own pace and set of activities. There are moments where everything shows up at once, but there’s so much Good Life around here to live that I don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon.
A trip not taken realizes one dream (br-r-r!) ... and then the song of the ride Backstory: Katherine March wrote in the March 2014 edition about how a group of women friends for the past five years have ridden into the Pasayten Wilderness for five days with a backcountry outfitter. Quote from earlier story: “Depending on who you talk to, and to who is listening, we have been called dudes, guests, wild women of Wenatchee and kick-butt women.”
By Katherine March
It’s hard to beat the annual horse pack
trip with my friends in the Pasayten, but life goes on. Winter was highlighted with the Great Trip to Tanzania. My husband, who went on safari, would agree with that because he was the one who took that trip while I was the one keeping the home fires burning, with the only snow we had all winter, the worst cold ever, and a horse that had to be sedated and walked every day on the ice and snow as part of his rehab from an injury. The trip I did not take to Tanzania was a
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Horse Crazy Cowgirl Band and Kristyn Harris sing a sendoff from the ranch before the 2014 ride out into the Pasayten in August.
huge reminder for me that friends (plowing and shoveling) are priceless. All my life I had wanted to live where I could ski out my door. The cliché “Be careful what you ask for” should be changed to “Go ahead and ask for something, but be sure to specify when.” Remarkably, I became a Seahawks fan during the trip I did not take to Africa, when I turned to the Super Bowl in desperation, as a last resort for comfort. Until then, I had been proud to say that I slept in the Kingdome through nearly the entire first game the Seahawks ever played. No, I’m not making this up. I have awoken to realize that these guys are amazing athletes. Go Hawks. Spring began with a road trip, visiting Tombstone, AZ with Joani Flanagan, a member of the ladies who ride together in the mountains each year. Boot Hill and the OK Corral will never lose their charm, but the reason to be there was to see fellow Pasayten rider Kristyn Harris, who was performing at the Tombstone Western Music Festival. The teenager who had wrangled horses and ladies, and sat around the fire singing and yodeling, proved she can even be a hit when she is clean, and without horses or campfires in sight. Summer never fails to keep me enter| The Good Life
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tained with the hiking, riding and gardening, but my energy went into adjusting to a summer of historic wildfires. It was dry enough here that staring at the sagebrush might have caused it to burst into flames, and I often wore a respirator on the many runs back and forth to the barn. During the month of smoke and heat I finished indoor projects, and watched the fire maps obsessively to see if my friends up north still had homes. Working the dogs and horses was put on the back burner. When 245,000 acres burns between home and where you are planning to ride, it takes some discipline to avoid thinking about the possible cancellation of the annual adventure to the Pasayten. But, the power of positive thinking pays off. The morning we rode into the Pasayten was the first day that the ban on campfires in the wilderness had been lifted. Again, we had another Trip of a Lifetime as fall began, and may that circle be unbroken.
January 2015
updates
Photographer’s summer finds him hiking and shooting in the mountains Backstory: Rhys Logan, who grew up in Waterville, wrote about how he is traveling the world by saying “yes” to opportunity and taking amazing photographs and vidoes.
A photographer on vacation is still a photographer: Rhys Logan takes a selfie of a high lake catch.
Quote from earlier story: “I’ve been charged by wild animals and seen more smiles and superhuman feats than I can count. I’ve seen wonders of the world. I’ve been to four continents. I’ve been lucky enough to work with and be inspired by pro
athletes, writers, newspapers, magazines, production companies, artists, actors, missionaries, clothing companies, bloggers and book printers and am still not satisfied.”
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1201 S. Miller St., Wenatchee, WA 98801
When you or a loved one are sick or injured, the last thing you should be concerned about is where to go for treatment. To make sure you receive the right care at the right time, it’s important to know what common ailments can be treated by a walk-in clinic or what conditions require a trip to the emergency room.
509-423-4722
509.665.6163 Open 24 Hours | Seven Days a Week Where to go:
Walk-in Clinics Wenatchee Valley Hospital & Clinics 820 N. Chelan Ave., Wenatchee, WA 98801
509.663.8711 Open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Seven Days a Week
East Wenatchee Clinic 100 Highline Dr., East Wenatchee, WA 98802
509.884.0614 Mon. – Fri.: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Sat.: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
confluencehealth.org January 2015 | The Good Life
Shortness of Breath Head Injury Broken Bones Laceration
When to go:*
Visit facebook.com/tumbleweedstudio for our Downtown Tuesday Deals!
M-F 11 AM – 6 PM SAT 10 AM – 4 PM
Dizziness Stomach Pain Chest Pain
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Sprains / Strains Minor Burns Flu or Cold Sore Throat Fever Ear Ache Stings or Bites Work-Related Injuries *These lists are not exclusive.
updates }}} Continued from previous page
Other than that things have changed quite a bit for me recently. I took a job at Western Washington University as a visual journalist for the communications and marketing office for Western so now I do videos and media for them on a regular basis, some samples from that are here: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=YJIevQNgQGw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiQC UOYDp_k&list=PL98zNPVeQdIWoJAiwZp WtVX_ZkNiIiO48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqaC zoT9BCI&list=UUT845gB1xx0wrqfCIhUYe Ag Now I am just really looking forward to the winter in Bellingham and getting up to Mount Baker and Stevens Pass and the North Cascades as often as humanly possible. I’m also still working out the details of another road trip/Mexico break but we’ll see if it works out, and I’m currently laying a ton of groundwork for shooting a fly fishing film based on fly fishing in the Northwest.
By Rhys Logan
I have travelled recently but only close
by really, as I have been focusing on shooting a lot here in the great Northwest. I signed a contract with National Geographic a while back for freelance submitting, have been collaborating with my good buddy Jonathan Gipaya doing some video work and you can see one of our projects at https://vimeo.com/110912079. We have several more coming out from shoots in Boston and New York City. Our stuff we shot in Kashmir and India is up for a Coldsmoke Film Festival award so hopefully we can get some more votes and see what happens. (See at: www.coldsmokeco.com/awards/ holder/kashmir-2) I usually create a summer recap video just of short summer adventures and that’s here https://vimeo.com/109344928 Another short fishing trip for a new media tool called exposure is here: https:// rhyslogan.exposure.co/powell-river
After the long, long trek, short local hikes and beer on the beach is just fine Backstory: Collette DeNet wrote in the August issue how she and her boyfriend, Ryan Whittaker, spent 100 days together hiking the Appalachian Trail. Quote from earlier story: “At 28, my life wasn’t exactly playing out the way I had envisioned and it was a chore not to lose myself in my thoughts. Some days, that was more arduous than hiking.”
By Collette DeNet
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ife post-hike has been treating Ryan and I very well. The demands of every day life are notably less exhausting than life on the trail, and our daily routine has shifted back to the average creature comforts afforded by urban living. We are settling in here in Wenatchee, feeling both grounded and at home.
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updates On trivia night at Badger Mountain Brewery we are known as “White Blaze,” our team name inspired by our unforgettable hike. While our team name is typically displayed on the wall somewhere near seventh or eighth place, it’s always fun when we get asked about it. Ryan is all too humble when providing his account of the 2,186-mile trek. Most people are awe-inspired by his feat, as I believe they should be. Recently, I accepted a position with Confluence Health, and am pleased that I can be of assistance to the North Central Washington community. My experiences from the trail have carried over into many aspects of my day to day life, and I feel extremely fortunate to be in an area that promotes healthy living and an appreciation for the outdoors. Our time this summer was sweetly spent, devoid of time constraints or nagging agendas. It was nice to be free of the pressing urgency we felt on the trail. Long distance treks provide ample rewards, but with the many miles looming ahead it can be difficult to pause and
ing in the bay on Orcas Island, climbing through lava tubes near Mount St. Helens, playing in the snow near Mount Baker, driving the winding road through North Cascades National Park, marveling at the man-made Grand Coulee Dam, and camping along Lake Roosevelt. We hosted both of our families and took advantage of the beautiful weather, while enjoying delicious Columbia Valley wine. Fresh summer fruit was also high on our list of favorite things, and we tried never to miss a trip to the Saturday morning farmers’ market. Our next adventure involves a trip to Turks and Caicos for a family wedding this February. As we look back on our first year living in Wenatchee we are so thankful for the friends we’ve made and experiences we’ve had. We are happy to call Wenatchee home.
breathe it all in. Our hikes and exploration this summer offered fun challenges, along with plenty of leisure relaxation. Stehekin, in particular, awarded a great blend of the two, as we enjoyed biking, camping, and star-gazing. While I could sense Ryan longing to be up on the remote peaks, it was also fun to lounge by the water in wooden adirondak chairs, beers in hand, and watch the setting sun disappear behind the mountains. The last several months, we made a point of exploring as much of our new state as possible. Despite our affinity for hiking trails, we eagerly tackled new activities like kayak-
January 2015 | The Good Life
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Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com
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Calling Mother Nature
Wenatchee’s Mission Ridge has a favor to ask Articles in this section written by CARY ORDWAY
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iving in North Central Washington during the winter is like a huge bargain we’ve all made with Mother Nature: Okay, “Mom” – we’ll put up with your bone-chilling temperatures, icy roadways and freezing rain, but you need to at least give us enough snow to ski Mission Ridge.
resolved to do better this year. They have not yet called someone in to do a Spirit Dance for Snow, but they did the next best thing last fall with their Pray for Snow Dance featuring the Posies rock band. A late December snowfall seemed to indicate Mother Nature was listening.
Not everyone, of course, skis or snowboards, but the Mission Ridge Ski and Board Resort has become such an integral part of the Wenatchee community that even non-skiers can see the benefit of keeping a good snow base on Mission Ridge. The area attracts not only locals, but brings in hordes of sun-seeking Western Washington visitors who abandon the “Cascade Cement” they call snow on the other side of the Cascades to come to the dry powder snow here that skiers and boarders find so much more appealing.
Just in case it’s needed, Mission Ridge does know how to make snow, and they were able to open with man-made snow in November. Once they are in full operation for the season, the resort will feature more than 36 designated runs spread over 2,000 acres – a wonderland of trails, chutes and bowls that most skiers or boarders will be able to handle. In fact, only 10 percent of the resort’s terrain is difficult with 60 percent intermediate and 30 percent beginner trails. In December the resort announced they had recently purchased 800 acres for future development.
That translates into hotel rooms, restaurant meals, shopping in local stores and of course good, steady revenue for the ski resort itself. So, please Mother Nature – bring it on. Unfortunately, last season came up a little bit short in the snowfall department with about 10,000 fewer visitors over the course of the season, or about 93,500 skier visits total. Mission Ridge has
The area’s four chairlifts – including one high-speed quad – and two rope tows keep skiers moving up the mountain, reducing lift
lines. In fact, visit Mission Ridge midweek and you’ll be sharing the mountain with only about 700 other people, way below the lift capacity for the area. On weekends, about double that number visit the mountain. While there are no overnight accommodations at Mission Ridge, the area is relatively quick and easy to get to from Wenatchee, where the lodging and restaurants make a Mission Ridge weekend attractive for skiers and boarders from Western Washington. The area appeals to a lot of families, according to Marketing Director Sam Chapin, who adds that it’s an especially family-friendly ski area because all of the trails funnel down to the same spot allowing families to meet up in between
Cary Ordway is publisher of NorthwestTravelAdvisor.com and host of Exploring the Northwest, heard at 8:45 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. weekdays on KPQ 560 AM, Wenatchee. Central Washington EXPERIENCE is made possible by the sponsors appearing in these articles. Email: getawaymediacorp@gmail.com; Twitter: @getawayguy Winter 2015 | THE GOOD LIFE | Central Washington ExpEriEnCE |
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runs and for meals. The 400-person capacity Hampton day lodge serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and, in recent years, has become the scene for the annual Mountain Music Festival. This season the festival will feature 10 bands over 10 Saturdays, Dec. 27 through Feb. 28, with music starting at 7 p.m. The concerts are popular with skiers and boarders, but they also attract local residents who drive up for the festival and have dinner in the lodge. It’s all part of the resort’s outreach that helps bring together the mountain and its community. “We would not be here without the way Wenatchee supports Mission Ridge,” says Chapin. “We are extremely thankful for our proximity to Wenatchee. “ For more information on Mission Ridge, call 509/663-6543 or visit www.missionridge.com ✦
NORWAY in a NUTSHELL aren’t they good, Norwegian fjords By Trish Simmons
One of my dreams came
true this past August, when I had the chance to visit Norway and to spend time in the stunning fjords. I traveled with my Boise sister, Penny, and London cousin, Fran. We met in Oslo and were so lucky to have fabulous weather. The scenery was outstanding. There is a very popular itinerary called Norway in a Nutshell that has a number of options. This takes you to the Southwestern coast of Norway and features traveling by train, boat and bus, traversing the mountains and dipping down into the base of the Sognefjorden fjord. We chose to travel from Oslo to Myrdal by train. This portion was on the Norwegian train system, so we used two days of our multi-day Eurail Pass. On the way to Myrdal, we passed over the mountains seeing many bikers using the trail system designed for bikes. Adding to the adventure on this train, we had a high school group that was going to spend an overnight in the mountains to search for wild flowers for their botany class. We reached Myrdal and our transfer point to the Flamsbana. This unique train that travels from Myrdal to Flam, covering 20 km (approximately 12 miles) dropping from an altitude of 863 meters to 2 meters.
We ... had a traditional Norwegian dinner with a variety of reindeer dishes. This short 55-minute ride takes you steeply down the mountain, passing by beautiful waterfalls and stopping at this thundering fall, allowing us to get out and feel a light spray. We arrived in Flam, which sits in the Aurlandsfjorden. The view is spectacular and I took a walk along the water to the next village. We spent the night in a small waterfront apartment, enjoying the view from our deck and had a traditional Norwegian dinner with a variety of reindeer dishes. In the morning, we boarded a small boat for a two-and-a-half hour trip on the fjord from Flam to Gudvangen. It was a beautiful morning, with glassy water. We made a number of stops at small towns along the way for passengers and mail delivery. The surrounding mountains appeared very steep and we saw one little farm where we were told the farmers climbed up ladders to reach the pastures. It was so interesting traveling on this small boat. Most of the passengers were tourists so the cameras were all busy. There
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The winding road leaving Stalheim — very steep drive.
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FAR LEFT: A small town on the Aurlandsfjord is squeezed in between mountains and water. LEFT: The Kjos Waterfall flows from the Reinunga Lake to a power station.
were even hikers that were let off to navigate through the mountains for a hiking adventure. We reached Gudvangen and continued by bus, climbing up to a small resort in Stalheim and then winding down a very steep road back to the main road on our way to Voss. There were many wonderful waterfalls to gaze at. Our drive to Voss took about an hour and we passed by some picturesque lakes. Once in Voss, we rejoined the Norwegian Railway for our trip to Bergen. Bergen is vibrant city with more great Norwegian food and a number of museums, including the Hanseatic, Bryggens and the Leprosy Museum. Norway’s Resistance Museum highlights the World War II activity along the Norwegian coastline. I’d heard about this from my father who had been there with the British Navy.
We found all the places we visited to be very comfortable, with either English translations and/ or guides at most stops. We took the Floibanen Funicular up to a mountaintop above Bergen for a magnificent view of Bergen. After two nights in Bergen, we boarded M/S Nordkapp, one of the ships owned by the Hurtigruten Cruise company for our final leg of our Norwegian Fjord adventure. We spent two nights aboard the ship and enjoyed a
January 2015 | The Good Life
lovely day sailing from Bergen to Trondheim. We stopped in Alesund and took a short walk in this little city and saw the beginnings of a wooden boat being made. Our ship took a two-hour detour to travel up another scenic fjord so we could simply enjoy the beauty of the water, the mountains and the waterfalls — we even spotted a little snow on the very top on the mountains. When I think of this trip,
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it warms my heart. The scenery in some ways reminded me of going up to Stehekin or going through the Inland Passage from Alaska. Yet, it was so different. The waters were so still. Around each bend was a new surprise — steep cliffs, towering waterfalls or gentle villages nestled in small valleys.
Trish Simmons, loves the outdoors and loves to travel. She manages the AAA Washington Store in Wenatchee.
Cattle at the first rotational grazing site. The development of the site could better relations between nomadic herders and local farmers.
Back to Nigeria Looking to promote peace in a country that knows great turmoil By Mike Henry
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ur Nigeria connection began seven years ago when we met Missionary Phyllis Sortor. A tall, slender, passionate woman who has worked in Nigeria for 10 years, Phyllis captivated the congregation of the Wenatchee Free Methodist Church. Her love for Africa began as a child raised in Mozambique by missionary parents. She conveyed her passion and presented me with a challenge: “Why don’t you bring a team to Nigeria?” About six months later I was in Nigeria with a team of church members that included Devin Myers, a generation hydro mechanical planner for Chelan P.U.D. and all-around handyman, and we began an adventurous partnership with Phyllis that eventually led the Myers family living there for two years. Our recent visit in November was my fifth and a reunion trip for Devin, Bridget, and their
sons, Jack and Ben. I was invited to teach four sessions of spiritual formation for church pastors and leaders at an annual convention. Devin’s task was to confirm that the water pump, supply tanks and irrigation lines were functioning and that the road was graded and brush cleared for vehicles to a cattle grazing site. Nigeria used to be known for email scams but now it’s in the news for the atrocities of Boko Haram, the terrorist organization that kidnapped over 200 girls and attacks churches and schools. The name “boko haram” literally means “western education is a sin,” which explains their agenda as they murder Muslims and Christians alike. Fortunately for us, they are most active far north of where we were, which was in Emi Woro village near Lokoja, in the state of Kogi. Last summer some cases of Ebola were treated in Nigeria.
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Bridget Myers poses with her Fulani friend.
Flights from Liberia and Sierra Leone were cancelled and all incoming and outgoing air travelers were screened. Nigeria was declared Ebolafree after 42 days without any new cases and was acknowledged by the World Health Organization as the leader in global efforts to contain the outbreak. The Nigerian Center for Disease is sending over 500 medical volunteers to assist patients in the stricken countries. So, why would we go to such a risky place? Simply because our Nigerian pastors, churches and schools needed encouragement, the friends we made there need support, and because Phyllis Sortor inspires courage. Phyllis lives with the risks and danger every day in order to offer support for schools and sponsored children through International Child Care Ministries (ICCM).
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Years ago, Phyllis met Bature, a Fulani chief, who had vision enough to face threats against his life to open a school for Fulani children. The Fulani have been nomadic herdsmen for centuries. They live in primitive huts that they will move to follow the herds to grass and water in different seasons. The decision to settle down and send their kids to school is a radical shift in their culture and family structure. Now boys and girls are allowed an education and only the young men follow the herds. Another hurdle for the Fulani, being Muslims, was to permit their children to attend a Christian school. Hope Academy opened in early 2008 under a cloud of tension by local Muslims. Our first team was present during an open house event to which parents and local leaders were invited.
Devin Myers training grazing site workers on the water system.
One man in particular, Chairman Dauda, the regional Fulani chief, was strongly opposed to the presence of a Christian school. But after seeing young children speak and sing in English after a few months, he announced that he, too, would be sending his children to Hope Academy. Now the school educates more than 400 students in primary and secondary classes and offers a computer lab. Students are from Muslim and Christian families, and from those who don’t declare a faith. The school provides well water and a health clinic to many of the villagers. The lifestyle of the Fulani is bringing them into increasing conflict with others in Nigeria. Our friend Bature has had cattle stolen and poisoned and his workers have been threatened and in some cases killed because the cattle have wandered into a farmer’s crops. This kind of tension exists throughout Nigeria and is a matter of increasing civil strife with an estimated 10,000 deaths. The Fulani have become a despised people. The only answer is for them to make a radical change in lifestyle. Once again Phyllis Sortor had a bold vision. This time she connected Bature and other leaders with Allan Savory from Zimba-
bwe who operates very successful rotational grazing programs. Serving as a consultant, Savory has guided the development of this ICCM Cattle Grazing Project. For example, a rotational grazing system divides a 120-acre lot into 14 sections. A herd of up to 200 cattle will graze one section at a time while allowing the others to recover. The section at “rest” will recuperate with deeper roots and renewed vegetation systems after being naturally turned up and fertilized by the cattle. The irrigation system will provide well water during the dry season. Devin and Bridget have been vital elements in developing the school and cattle project. Devin has made subsequent trips to set up the computer lab and to install the water supply and irrigation system for the grazing site. Bridget always engages with children and women in the village and the Fulani camps out in the bush. Their family is greatly appreciated and loved by the people of Emi Woro. While we were in Nigeria, the first rotational grazing site was commissioned during a ceremony that included more than a 1,000 people, including the national Minister of Agriculture, a representative from the state January 2015 | The Good Life
governor’s office, and several Fulani and area chiefs. In a speech, the Minister of Agriculture explained that this effort is a re-dedication of lands previously allocated to the Fulani for nomadic grazing but has been encroached upon by population growth. Now, in a managed, localized grazing site neighboring farmers can provide crops for silage or permit cattle to graze in their fields after harvest. Both parties will benefit from a mutual agreement rather than arguing or fighting about property rights or intrusion. If successful, these grazing projects have the potential to bring some peace in Nigeria. One of the best moments of the trip for me was watching Salihu, a 17-year-old student of Hope Academy, make a speech at the commissioning ceremony. Because Salihu’s legs were crippled by polio, he must walk with flip-flops on his hands. Before the crowd and on na-
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Missionary from Nigeria to speak in March Phyllis Sortor, missionary to Nigeria, will be speaking at the Sunday morning services at the Wenatchee Free Methodist Church, 8:45 and 10:30 a.m. on March 8. She will be bringing an update on the Cattle Grazing Project and an inspirational message about being good stewards of the land.
tional television, Salihu shared that as a Fulani he would never be able to work with the cattle but now that he is being educated his life has new meaning. I have not been prouder or more inspired than by this young man in the midst of overcoming his life’s challenges.
Mike Henry is a staff pastor at the Wenatchee Free Methodist Church and enjoys mountain hiking with his wife, Shelley.
A natural teacher
Tim Abel gets right into the water with Osborn Elementary students to explore life in the Wenatchee River.
Volunteer environmental teacher loves seeing young faces light up with amazement By Marlene Farrell
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s a kid growing up in southern California, Tim Abel camped in the scrubby hills around Santa Barbara but dreamed of taller, whiter mountains. A poster of the North Cascades hung on his bedroom wall like other kids had posters of rock stars. He remembers being inspired by Mr. Hill, one of his high school teachers, who went
beyond basic science lessons to introduce Tim and his classmates to ecological principles and environmental ethics. Although Tim didn’t follow a career path in biology, he said, “My interests were always bent that way.” Living in Everett and now Plain, he’s hiked extensively on the west and east slopes of the Cascades. Along the trails, he takes the time to know the flora and fauna around him. When he returns to the mountains, he recalls the marmots and the trillium like old friends. After 30 years working in the Everett and Wenatchee school districts, Tim retired and started looking for something to do when he wasn’t hiking. He
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found the perfect intersection of nature and working with kids at Wenatchee River Institute (WRI), an environmental education center in Leavenworth. Soon after he started volunteering in 2008, he realized he wanted to make it a priority. So it is no surprise to find Tim on a crisp fall morning, waiting calmly for a class from Osborn Elementary to arrive. The other volunteers are busy reviewing notes and making final adjustments to the activities; they aren’t WRI fixtures like Tim. The approaching kids sound like a 20-person parade coming down the streets of Leavenworth — full of the joy of this small adventure and their freedom from the confines of desks and quiet
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hallways. The students congregate around Youth Education Director Deandra Early, Tim and the other volunteers to learn about the day’s activities. The students’ energy almost bubbles over and, with the students split into small groups, it’s each volunteer’s job to channel this energy into learning about the local ecosystem. Tim is particularly skilled at this aspect of outdoor learning. He loves the kids’ energy and doesn’t try to cap it. “I let them run and jump. It’s supposed to be fun,” he said. Deandra said, “In many ways, Tim is like a big kid himself. One of the funniest things that he does is kick the Horse Chestnut trees really hard so that the
“I let them run and jump. It’s supposed to be fun.” nuts will fall and crack open and all the kids scramble around to pick up the inner seeds. At other times, Tim will be out with the kids searching for lizards who are sunning themselves on the rocks. And he’s the one to get wet in the river to pull out dead salmon for the kids to see and smell.” Tim wants to help kids know the natural world as he does and maybe come to love it just a little more. One of his favorite lessons is having the kids explore with their five senses down by the Wenatchee River. The only tools are a pencil and clipboard, and the kids have to move slowly and quietly. Little discoveries reap buckets of awe. One time, during just such an activity, a giant buck crashed through the brush between Tim and the kids, trotted to the water’s edge and swam across the river. Tim said, “I loved seeing that experience reflected in their faces.” The students learn that in nature anything can happen, and they’ll be rewarded if they are observant. The setting for WRI at Barn Beach Reserve’s nine acres of riverfront habitat provides many such opportunities to get close to deer, bears, otters, beavers and a variety of birds. In one lab the students used purple cabbage “tea” as a pH indictor of common household chemicals. As the test tubes turned every shade of the rainbow, Tim said, “I could watch the light turning on for them.” It’s the volunteer’s reward to witness that “height of amazement,” he said. Sometimes a student’s perspective diverges from the lesson, and Tim loves it when he can respond, “I never
Tim helps Osborn students harvest potatoes. The students plant them as third graders and get to eat them in the fall when they come back as fourth graders.
thought of it that way before.” Tim gets the students to talk and voice their opinions. It’s his style of teaching, relying on kids’ naturally inquisitive nature. “I like to engage the kids a lot. I ask them more questions, and spend less time talking. I don’t want to tell them the answer.” The students who visit WRI are definitely learning key science concepts. It shows in the standardized test scores of fifth graders. In the last four years, the percentage of kids meeting the science standard at Osborn has improved twenty-four percent over the previous four years. And now Osborn is one of the leaders in the state, with 20 percent more students meeting the standard than the state as a whole. Thanks to the hands-on activities at WRI, the students could tell you the significance of photosynthesis, adaptation, aquatic macroinvertebrates and lichen. They’d say lichen are January 2015 | The Good Life
formed by a mutualism between algae and fungi. Each organism gives something to the other. Tim and the students have formed a similar mutualism. Tim said, “The kids teach me, too. I am sure I get more from them than they do from me.” And the students thrive when being taught by Tim, according to Deandra, who added that the students know that Tim “truly cares. He wants them to have a good time, to explore, to learn, to grow.” And so it will continue that, with Tim’s help, local school kids will come to know the trees, salmon, birds and bugs like neighbors and friends. If you are interested in teaching small groups of kids about the natural world, please check out the volunteer page on Wenatchee River Institute’s website: http:// www.wenatcheeriverinstitute.org/ get-involved/volunteer. If you know a school group that might like to visit WRI, please visit this webpage: http://wenatcheeriverinstitute.org/ youth-education/field-days.
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Return visits
When a house becomes a home By Susan Lagsdin
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o, where’s your favorite sit spot, that go-to chair in just the right place? What’s something about your new digs you didn’t know you’d appreciate so much? Can you even remember back to the feel of the first morning waking up in your The remodeled Snyder home on Country Club Drive. current house (whether years ago or just last month)? And — would you do it all over again? mer the fate of 1730 Country Club month it was completed — as a Many of our The Good Life home stories feature owners who’ve remodel. (Barb’s not bragging, Drive in East Wenatchee hung just signed off on new construction, generally at the peak of their just saying thank-you to 1,000 in the balance as Dick and Barb pride and optimism, and we think it’s kind of fun to revisit them nice people who walked through Snyder, seeking feasibility bids, after a few years to ask “How’s it going?” the halls and into the rooms queried three local contractors. The “new” owners you’ll revisit here (Larry Hutchinson, the that long weekend.) It was Ed Gardner of EDY ConSnyders and Sandy Covey) each had a very particular vision of how There are little adjustments struction who took the slow walk they wanted to live. The results were perfect for them — and now to contemplate: Barb enjoys her in and around the four story, cothey’ve settled in and definitely made a house a home. lonial style home and proclaimed kitchen’s central vacuum system so much (just sweep stuff to the it good enough to save. edge and — voila!) she wishes The Snyders were also advoit were in several places on at the edge of Wenatchee Coun- cates of a re-do, already feeling each floor. And maybe someday try Club. an affection for the place and they’ll add a small new balcony The rehabilitation of that imhoping to capture the views and probable treasure was the focus space that four stories would give to the master bedroom; the first idea for one was thwarted by of the August 2013 Good Life them. replacing a downstairs deck roof story. The views and the space are with a pergola. Guess what the current conbrighter and bigger than they’d But here’s almost the best tractor wisdom usually is with an dreamed. In a phone interview, change of all: a non-change. hen Dick and Barb Snyoutdated 83-year-old house on a Barb declared that all their deciOne dramatic early revision der went searching for a home in premier view lot abutting the first sions and Ed’s work turned out was opening up the dungeonthe summer of 2012 they didn’t fairway of a golf course? just the way it was supposed to. like walk-in basement with realize what a gem they would Tear it down. Implode, scrap, In fact, it was so good that it spacious windows and French find — an older, well-worn tradi- level, rebuild from the ground up. won the 2013 Tour Of Homes doors. The Snyders saved its tional hidden right in plain sight For one dicey week last sum“People’s Choice” award the
A time to remodel, a time to stop W
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cosmetic remodel for last, intending that big room to eventually match the elegance of the upstairs. And then they started living in it. And then they started loving it. With the basement’s easy access to the lawn, and a bar, piano, fireplace and TV, Barb said, “we’re in there all the time. I can’t imagine what we were thinking — now that we’ve settled in, we realize it’s perfect just the way it is!”
A home fit for a vintage car collector Builders Matt Brownlee and
Flint Hartwig put the finishing touches on Larry Hutchinson’s Sunnyslope house just over a year ago, designing it to nurture his longtime avocation. Here are excerpts from that November 2013 story: The entire 2,000-square-foot lower level of his home has been uniquely engineered to store a collection of restored cars, and the truck and trailer they came in on… Though pampered and prized, they have most recently languished in various normal garages and sheds, probably never expecting such posh living quarters. Their new lower-level “apartment” has shiny cement floors and bright white 14-foot tall paneled walls, and it contains tool and equipment storage, year-round HVAC, a hoist, and a north-south oriented set of tall doors that allows easy drivethrough of the toy-hauler. Now, Larry has comfortably settled in to his 2,000 square foot upstairs living area, which was in mid-sheetrock stage when the story was written. The west-facing deck, living area and bedrooms give him the “maximum lateral views of spectacular sunsets and cloud-
play on the Cascades” that were described then. He’s stayed true to his plan for a low-maintenance, lawn-less yard, with rocks, blocks, cement steps and asphalt pavement shaping much of the sloped lot. Inside, soft neutral paint tones and spare lines form a backdrop for another, borrowed hobby: displaying art and artifacts. Besides a formidable stack of framed artwork he’s still placing and re-placing, Larry displays collectibles from his mother’s estate, shown to their advantage in several antique glass fronted hutches throughout the house. Scrimshaw, dishware, gems, Indian basketry, Hummel figures and arrowheads fill the shelves. Larry’s cherished car collection, however, influenced the most dramatic changes since he moved in. The cavernous garage, still pristine and squeaky clean, stables four cars (two enshrouded in plastic to thwart dust motes) and he’s decorated the walls with photos, pins, posters and banners from myriad car shows. One notable creature comfort is a ’50s Philco refrigerator cusJanuary 2015 | The Good Life
Larry Hutchinson has filled the bottom garage floor of his Sunnyslope home with vintage cars and special objects — such as the ’50s Philco refrigerator painted in fiery hotrod colors.
tom painted with a hotrod-look flame job. Outside, he had an addition built recently. Extending the south wall of the lower story is a compatibly-
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designed 12-foot by 20-foot storage building holding all the car restoration tools he wrongly assumed would fit in the original downstairs space.
}}} Continued on next page
Return visits }}} Continued from previous page He’s also created a second long, gradual curve of driveway directly from the storage garage up to the road — an easy drive on flawless pavement — for when he takes his vintage darlin’s for a spin.
Light, view and now the sound of nature T
he Good Life’s 2013 Mothers Day issue featured a home built by Shane Covey for his mother in Sunnyslope’s Madison Acres. Sandy Covey had just sold her East Wenatchee home to her son and his family (after she’d bunked in the basement for a while) and was eager to move in to the new place. You may remember this description from that first story. Nothing is quite typical in this house. It could have faced the street directly, like the rest, “but we looked at the arc of the sun in different seasons,” said Sandy, “and we choose this different angle. It’s perfect!”
A fountain on the edge of the lawn splashes the wonderful noise of water around the home of Sandy Covey. Photo by Travis Knoop
The position of the house was compass-driven — winter sun will come streaming in; summer sun will hit the protected east and west walls. It could have had the trending/traditional Craftsman feel of most of the houses on the street, but Sandy wanted modern, and modern she got. Not crazy, but edgy. “I love the shed roofline,” she said. “It looks like a bird getting ready to soar,” she said with a smile, adding, “Like me.”
Sandy declared that she uses every square inch of the 1,747-square-foot house, even the just-right-height dog washing sink in the garage. And as planned, the flexible table/ Murphy bed arrangement on the wall of one room has given her a good work space for her jewelrymaking. The house is compact, chic and sensibly organized: common space in the center, master suite on one end, two small rooms
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(studio and sleeping) and a bath on the other end. Dead simple. But what Sandy’s friends always exclaim about when they first enter is the tall wall of living room windows looking south over rolling pastures to the Columbia. She’s still enthralled. “The best part of this house is the light and the view — they’re the whole feel of the place.” The outside is a very deliberate work in progress. Last year, Joe’s Landscaping designed and installed a basalt fountain near the base of the lawn. Sandy said, “the sound of the water is wonderful — the neighbors will even come by and say, ‘You haven’t turned on your fountain yet.’” Another major outdoor element (slowed by diverse circumstances but still on track) is the framework at the west wall, meant to create a little privacy and cool, shady patio space. It looks right now like a pergola — Sandy’s confident it will soon be replete with wisteria, so she refers to it as an arbor, and the vines and the pale colored flowers that cover it will be like ones she admired in her old neighborhood.
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column moving up to the good life
june darling
Feel younger by remembering the old days Wait just a minute. Do not
turn that calendar so quickly. Stay awhile with Auld Lang Syne. Most of us confusedly mumble through the Scottish ditty on New Year’s Eve. In the 1980’s romantic comedy, When Harry Met Sally, Harry asks Sally: “What does this song mean? My whole life, I don’t know what this song means. I mean, ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot?’ Does that mean that we should forget old acquaintances? Or does it mean that if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot them?” “Well, maybe it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or something,” Sally reasons. “Anyway, it’s about old friends.” The title, Auld Lang Syne, translates to “times gone by” and it is about remembering friends from the past and not letting them be forgotten. But is that really good advice? Less than 50 years ago, reminiscing or being nostalgic was thought to be pathological. Current research suggests otherwise. Thinking about valued people and experiences is quite healthy. Researchers even provide assessments for how often you reminisce and how you can do it better in order to be happier. Two or three times per week is recommended for most. You might even want to go a step further than remembering the old happy days of yore. Relive them. What? Haven’t we been warned about living in the past? Yes and, evidently, it was at least somewhat wrong-headed. Consider the “counterclockwise”
... men who acted like they were younger ... showed the most rejuvenation. research done in the 1970s by Dr. Ellen Langer. Langer took two groups of older men to live for a week in a vacant monastery. The monastery was completely filled with artifacts from their young adulthood, around 1959. One group of men was instructed to talk about their memory of old times. The other group was instructed to act as if they were themselves, young men, in 1959. The results? Both groups showed significant signs of getting younger like improved eyesight, hearing, memory, dexterity, and appetite. Some who had arrived using canes ended up playing touch football. The group of men who acted like they were younger, however, showed the most rejuvenation. How can you apply this? First of all, do intentionally remember the old days. Not to compare them to today, but to consider what your life has meant — what has made your life worthwhile. Call up old friends. Discuss cherished old memories. If you want to experience the paraphernalia of 1959, go to the Fifty-Niner Diner (no affiliation, but I did recently eat meatloaf and chew a half stick of Juicy Fruit gum there) and enjoy pictures of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Bobby Darin. Watch an old movie from the January 2015 | The Good Life
1980s like When Harry Met Sally or Casablanca (Steep yourself in that famous Bogart line… “We’ll always have Paris.”) Look at old pictures. One man told me today that one of the joys of his life was looking over pictures from a trip that he and his wife made to Kenya 10 years ago. For an even better rejuvenator, why not have a milkshake and act young? What about a sock hop? Nothing brings back old memories like old music. Check out the effect of reminiscing about good times and swell folks. Pay attention to what happens. If the nostalgia starts out with you thinking mostly about the tough times, does it eventually turn into a warm memory? Do you feel hap-
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pier, more youthful, more connected to others? Many people also report feeling less afraid of death. Keep experimenting with the past to invigorate, enliven and enrich you. And… start making more memories this year as a resource for you to look back on next year. How might you move up to The Good Life by remembering and re-living the good old days? June Darling, Ph.D. can be contacted at drjunedarling1@gmail. com; website: www.summitgroupresources.com. Her books, including 7 Giant Steps To The Good Life, can be bought or read for free at Amazon. com.
PET tales
Tells us a story about your pet. Submit pet & owner pictures to: editor@ncwgoodlife.com
Mary Long of East
Wenatchee has had a themed portrait taken with her dog, MeiLing, for the last four years in our studio and chooses her favorite image from each session to send out as Christmas cards. This year, we had the shoot at Mary’s home, and while I was building the fire for the background of her photo shoot, Mary found out that I’m also a camera/computer tutor and hired me to help her figure out her new computer that she was struggling with because Windows 8 is quite a bit different than her faithful XP. Within the week, we had her Christmas cards shot and printed, contact list restored and updated (which she had “lost”
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e rescued our 8-year-old English Bulldog Lulu almost a year ago. She loves our 1-year-old son Leonardo so much. She is a gentle giant. We wouldn’t trade her for the world. Bulldogs can be very stubborn but all she wants to do is make us happy. She has found her forever home and we are thinking it is a great place for her to retire. — Mikayla and Michael Rivera
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from her transfer), mail merged, custom address labels printed, found lost documents and she had relearned Word and Excel. And I called her Internet provider and Mary now saves almost $40 per month on her bill. When my wife and partner Poppy picked me up after running errands in the area, Mary exclaimed to Poppy, “I was so excited, I almost kissed him, but I figured you wouldn’t appreciate that.” Extremely satisfied customer (1.) Actually kissed by customer (0). Photography is my passion, but helping others is my joy. — John Kelly, owner/photographer, JP Portrait Studio
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column GARDEN OF DELIGHTS
bonnie orr
It’s cold — let’s make warm soup On gray Janu-
ary days, comfort food hits the spot. I can’t tell you how many people have told me that grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup are the ultimate comfort meal. Golden brown sandwiches and tomato soup served in front of the fire. Is that homey romantic? You want this meal to be a real treat, and since you can’t be playing in the garden and you have free Ah!... rich tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich warm the insides when it’s cold and wintry outside. time, make your cheese sandwich with homemade rustic bread. dried Walla Walla sweet onions. Davina Hartley brought this It is easy and fool proof; you Chopped mushrooms go well tomato soup last month, and we just have to plan a few days in with any type of cheese. all raved about it. I have a friend advance since these breads use Canned soup does not meet for whom I made Davina’s soup. a yeast process that is about 18 the standard for this comfort After he tasted it, he said, “You hours long. Cook’s Illustrated in food meal. know I don’t like tomato soup, Jan/Feb 2008 “No-Knead Bread I think the best flavor is home- but I love this!” 2.0” (www.cooksillustrated.com) made tomato soup because you I am sharing her recipe and an has the recipe that I started with choose the fresh fruit and conexpanded recipe. and have modified for my own trol how much salt to add. Duruse. The recipe calls for water, ing the summer, many people flour, salt, yeast, vinegar and preserve stewed tomatoes and beer. It makes a very flavorful make tomato sauce. Using home and “toothy” bread. canned products produces the Rustic bread has a chewy most favorable soup. 20 minutes; serves 6 crust. It is crisped as you grill Good quality purchased it in butter — it just makes my canned chopped tomatoes and 1 cube butter mouth water writing this. tomato sauce will do the trick as 1/4 cup flour 1 quart whole milk Sometimes I use a Belgium well. 1 quart chopped tomatoes waffler to grill the sandwich. I know a delightful group of 1 quart tomato sauce The cheese should be special friends called the Sunday Soup Salt and pepper as well. My favorite indulgence Sisters. Once a month we have a is WSU’s Cougar Gold, a sharp soup dinner together. Each of us In a very large saucepan, melt the cheddar. Sometimes, I use Swiss makes enough soup for dinner butter. cheese and finely chopped, fresh that night and portions for evAdd the flour and stir it thoroughly spinach between the slices of eryone to take some home. We into the butter. Over low heat stir this bread. You can add dehydrated have eaten dozens of delicious roux until it is thick and slightly golden tomatoes and either fresh or soups this last year. color.
Davina’s Rich Cream of Tomato Soup
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Carefully stir in the milk and warm it until it is slightly thickened. Pour in the tomato sauce and chopped tomatoes and stir. Heat until very hot. Do not boil. If you have other vegetables in the freezer or fresh in the refrigerator, Davina’s soup can be a different soup with the addition of those ingredients. This soup retains its charm as a tomato soup.
Garden Tomato Soup 4 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour 1 medium onion 1 medium bell pepper 1 carrot 1 stalk celery 1 large clove garlic 2 cups whole milk 2 cups buttermilk 2 quarts tomatoes and sauce Coarsely chop together all the vegetables except for the tomatoes in the food processor. Make the roux in a large saucepan. Add the chopped onion, garlic, red bell pepper, carrot and celery and cook until they are soft. Add the milks and heat thoroughly. Add the tomatoes and tomato sauce, salt and pepper.
With both of these soups heating on low, light a fire in the fireplace, and make the cheese sandwiches of your choice. Enjoy a comforting winter meal. Bonnie Orr — the dirt diva — cooks and gardens in East Wenatchee.
Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com
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column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR
jim brown, m.d.
Dying at age 75 Should our lives have a ‘discard by’ date?
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hen I first read the lengthy Atlantic magazine article in which Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, oncologist and bioethicist, said he only wanted to live until he was 75, I was angry. He suggests that life was not worth living after that age since among other things people at that age are no longer “contributors.” The AMA strongly blasted his article since it implied that life becomes less valuable with age. I was angry because he was talking about me and my generation, including many of my friends whom I feel are not only enjoying their post retirement lives but are making positive differences in many ways. I like to think we are not just consumers with nothing left to offer society, friends and families. I have read Dr. Emanuel’s article four times now to try to figure out his message and to see if I was missing some of his points. First of all, Dr. Emanuel makes it clear that he has no desire to or plan to end his own life just because he has reached the age of 75. He says that when or if he reaches age 75, his approach to his own health care will change. While he won’t actively end his life, he also will not try to prolong it either. Essentially he says that he will no longer visit doctors or take any more tests or treatments no matter how routine or painless. Screening tests for cancer such as colonoscopies or a PSA test, which he has never done, are out for him. If he develops cancer, he will
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refuse treatment. If he develops heart disease, he will not have a pacemaker, defibrillator, stent, bypass or valve replacement. He has decided he will not take antibiotics as he feels a death from an infection is quick and relatively painless. He does not want to be resuscitated or have any life sustaining interventions, under any circumstances. Essentially he is going to let “nature” take its course. He is not advising or recommending his approach to dying to anyone else, and he is not trying to convince anyone that he is right. Since he is currently age 57, I suspect he might change his mind somewhat as he approaches his target age. So what is he trying to say? He asks, “How do we want to be remembered by our children and grandchildren?” He wants his family to remember him in his prime, active, vigorous, enthusiastic, warm and loving, but not stooped, sluggish, forgetful and repetitive. Dr. Emanuel suggests in his article that he is either an atheist or an agnostic. My own faith reassures me that each person has value no matter what his or her age or physical circumstances. The Franciscan priest Richard Rohr, whose writings I enjoy and admire, believes that our soul or our “true self ” is where God resides within us and that at our physical death our soul returns to God. No one really knows for sure, but I like his thinking. My parents each lived to be 96. Their last two years were in an assisted living facility. They never complained. My mother was the best
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January 2015
example of unconditional love I have ever seen. I am certain that my children, who loved them dearly, did not feel they were a burden and hopefully won’t think that about Lynn and me if we were to live that long. I am very grateful to my parents for their example and the sacrifices they made for me all their lives. I am grateful I had them in my life for as long as they lived. Rather than having a goal as the number of years to live, I think a better question would be, “How do we measure our life?” This can’t be measured in years or by degrees, awards, status, net worth or the accumulation of “stuff.” These are frequent common ways our society measures “success.” More important measures are how you loved others, how generous you were with what you had, the kindness you showed to strangers, the example you were to your family. None of these things have to do with worldly goods. An estate auctioneer once said that in four hours he could dispose of one’s lifetime accumulation of “things”. How fleeting is that! So where is Dr. Emanuel coming from? As a bioethicist and the head of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, he spends a lot of time thinking about and discussing life and death issues. Why choose age 75? The United States ranks only 49th amongst all countries in life
expectancy at 79.5 years of age compared to Japan (number 3) at 84.4 years of age. Dr. Emanuel feels strongly that we should be spending more resources in biomedical research on issues of Alzheimer’s, chronic health conditions and the disabilities of old age rather than on our large expenditures on prolonging the dying process. I do agree with him on this. Currently a quarter of all Medicare expenditures are spent during the last year of life and 70 percent of that in the last six months, with one-third of that in the last month of life. An article in Forbes magazine suggests that the millions of dollars spent on the last year of life often make things worse rather than helping. Patients seem to endure bad experiences on a daily basis, and their quality of life remaining is sacrificed as the cost of prolonging it increases. The article questions, “Why do we continue to reward a sys-
tem that pushes life-at-all-costs instead of quality of life?” Fortunately, in recent years a new medical specialty has developed called palliative care medicine. These practitioners deal primarily with helping patients who are facing death or dealing with their terminal illness. Dr. Susan Block, director of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care in Boston, asks, “Does a better quality of death take place when the costs rise?” Dr. Blocks says, “We need to ask our patients the right questions. Instead of focusing on procedures, we need to focus on goals, values, fears, quality of life, suffering and survival. These are the things that matter to most patients.” I am pleased to say that Confluence Health now has a division of palliative care addressing these issues. I think it is very important that we all have a living will or directive to our physicians and
family as to what our wishes are when we face a terminal illness or are nearing our death. As for me, I am thoroughly enjoying life now even though I have reached Dr. Emanuel’s cutoff. I have now survived 11 years since major cancer surgery. I have been blessed with a wonderful family, fantastic parents, a phenomenal wife and amazing children and grandchildren. I had a career that I loved every day and am grateful that I was allowed to share the lives of so many patients. I am not afraid of death, but I am not looking forward to it either. I feel a little like Woody Allen when he said “I am not afraid of dying; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Jim Brown, M.D., is a retired gastroenterologist who has practiced for 38 years in the Wenatchee area. He is a former CEO of the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.
We offer a high level of care. And even higher level of caring. As the years accumulate, so do the challenges of age. Illness. Memory loss. Depression. But there is hope. Because there is Highgate Senior Living. Our team of clinical professionals is trained to handle almost anything, even severe cognitive impairment and complex medical issues. Our services include: › Diabetic care › Oxygen management › Wound care
› Ostomy management › Injectable medications › Catheter monitoring
› Two-person transfers › Hospital recovery › Hospice care
Highgate at Wenatchee offers this high level of care seven days a week, in a lovely, homelike environment in which each resident is supported in living each day to the fullest. Call or email us to schedule a tour of our Assisted Living or Memory Care community. email: wenatchee@highgateseniorliving.com | phone: 509-665-6695 | web: HighgateSeniorLiving.com January 2015 | The Good Life
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Come see what’s
happening at the Museum!
January 17
Multicultural Day
January 20
Environmental Film
January 31
Winter Wine Gala
February 6
First Friday
Wild Reverence sponsored by Cascade Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group Presented by Forte Architects and US Bank
February 10 Erratics February 14 Symphony Soirée February 17 Environmental Film Return of the River sponsored by Trout Unlimited
February 28 People of our Past Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center 127 S Mission Wenatchee WA 98801 509-888-6240 www.wvmcc.org Website under reconstruction. Please excuse the mess!
updates
Taking flight: four artists moving forward By Susan Lagsdin
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ere at The Good Life we like to applaud all kinds of achievement, from intense epiphanies, to satisfying re-invention, to go-for-broke first time adventures. In the lives of some artists, all this can happen in the course of a year (or sometimes even in a week!) and can bring about big life changes. Let’s catch up with four artists we have featured in the past few years — Peter Bauer, Jamie Howell, John Ryan and Cynthia Neely — who open themselves to serendipity, but whose success they find in their lives comes mostly from hard work — laboring the long hours while the muse looks on.
Peter Bauer In July of 2013, Wenatchee photographer Peter Bauer was in mid-stride toward complete retirement from his medical practice, looking forward to more photo exhibits, more travel, and better bird shots. Those wishes have largely been fulfilled, with a bonus that’s even more life-changing: he and his wife Janet settled into Methow Valley life, moving first to their vacation cabin in Winthrop, then to a larger home on the Methow River. Here’s some of what you may have read about him last year: Peter’s developed an eye for the perfect landscape shot, both his and the artists he admires. And he knows he needs to be outdoors, a lot, to get it. “It used to be when I had a few spare hours in the week, I had to use them mostly for exercise; now I can take longer photo trips, with no pressure,” Peter said. He’s going to upgrade his camera, and he’s aiming for a little more regional gallery exposure, but he certainly doesn’t want to turn his art into another full time job. What to do with all this freedom? Someday
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Peter Bauer’s wildfowl photos continue to challenge him. Here, he’s captured two hooded merganzers on still waters.
Peter would like to travel America, taking photos at all the bird refuges. Right now he’s currently planning a horse packing trek deep into the Pasayten Wilderness, with plenty of camera equipment and the luxury of new found time. The first impulse of many newly-retired couples is travel, and travel they did— domestically, and to Panama, Norway and Iceland, with his camera always at the ready. His newly-chosen community means new gallery space where he’s enjoyed sharing his wildlife photos and landscapes. Peter’s patient as he develops his avian avocation. He said, “To take my bird pictures further I will need to learn more about setting up blinds, and be willing to sit in them longer; that will have to wait for spring.” It’s not all play. Peter has found satisfying substitute work in Brewster, Omak, Waterville and Walla Walla. Even farther away, he’ll work with an Indian Health Clinic at the bottom of the Grand Canyon this April. (Havasupai Falls? Yes. Camera? Yes.) Peter may echo the sentiments of many new retirees. He explained, “We realize what a gift of time we have given ourselves. How to spend that time to maximize connections to our community, laughing with friends and exploring new wild places — that we’re figuring out as we go along. “ | The Good Life
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Jamie Howell Back in 2012, Wenatchee’s Jamie Howell was busily building his co-owned documentary film company Howell at the Moon. Here’s what we wrote about in the original interview: The company is making a name for itself by making a name for other organizations, industries and individuals in the region, with films like Gee Whiz: The Grady Auvil Story, the current Pedal-Driven: a bike-umentary and over 20 shorter promotional films. Jamie’s a lifelong storyteller … and has always played music. A varied journalism career taught him to interview, then to write short, fast and accurately, and his music training gave him an appreciation of sound tracks. But it’s Jamie’s ideas, his humor, his sometimes quirky take on reality that kicks the operation into high gear and keeps the clients calling. Soon after, Jamie took Howell at the Moon solo and marketed his documentaries. After creating a series for Seattle’s PBS station this year, he’s kept some commercial accounts but plans to write, direct and produce primarily feature films. He also integrated his talents, aligning a love of film, music and especially writing in very different but soul-satisfying artistic
January 2015
dren Olive and Dylan, young musicians who are happily carrying on the family tradition.
“My goals are simple. I want to write novels that are read around the world...”
Cynthia Neely
endeavors. Last June, he became Artistic Director for Film, as well as Technical Services Director, at Icicle Creek Center for the Arts. Big titles, great jobs. He curates and screens plays, opera and documentary films in the Snowy Owl Theater, and also creates film courses, trains tech staff, and runs shows at all three venues on the Icicle Creek campus. He said, “I’m learning hand-overfist theatrical lighting and design, sound production, recording — and loving it!” And all this time, he’s been writing. Jamie started experimenting with a new literary love: long form fiction and he realized, “You don’t know how much you don’t know until you actually dive in.” He dove deep: his two novels are in the late editing stages, ready to submit to agents and publishers in the coming year. Jamie’s art life is clearly in focus: “My goals are simple. I want to write novels that are read around the world. I want to make movies that make a difference. I want to foster both the idea and the reality that making a livelihood as an artist is important and attainable.” Then he added, “Oh, and I want to do it all while living right here.”
John Ryan John Ryan was interviewed on Riverside Theater’s Man of La Mancha set just over two years ago. After several seasons of rehearsals and performances, it was a comfortable locale for him, and on opening night he took the stage once more, breathing life into Cervantes’ Don Quixote character. Our story in 2012 told about his early beginnings as a performer and most recently his work on Wenatchee area stages: Since their move to north central Washington in 1984, he’s become part of the community and high school theater scene — you may have seen John recently in I Hate Hamlet or Xanadu, or thrilled to his direction of Wait Until Dark. A performer since childhood, at 57 John loves it when somebody spots him in the grocery store or running on the Loop Trail and
The accompanying photograph of Cynthia Neely’s first book of poetry, Flight Path, symbolizes the coalescing of her creativity in the last 15 months. This is an excerpt from her October 2013 artists profile in The Good Life: A life-long visual artist, Cynthia started her career working with textiles and tapestries, and then went on to pastels and paint. Visual art was an adequate voice for years, but in 2005 she desperately needed words and so turned to writing. Cynthia discovered it was the nuance and spare power of poetry, more than fiction or essay, that enabled her to share her thoughts most clearly. She said her work has been called accessible, a sometimes tricky compliment for artwork, but one she treasures. “Yes — I want people to understand me. I hate reading a poem I just can’t get.” Cynthia’s ongoing work with other poets and her creative writing master’s degree were a strong foundation, and she’s been variously published in journals, but it took intense concentration on perfecting her craft to create a full length volume of poetry and see it through to publication. Soon after Flight Path was published in June of 2014, in a special evening at the Leavenworth Library, she joined her long time mentor Derek Sheffield and Washington State’s Poet Laureate Elizabeth Austen for an evening of poetry reading. Three published poets seated next to each other, three strong original voices spontaneously choosing correlated poems, each enjoying their similarities and differences — they were all in excellent company. Cynthia’s words rang fully as true and clear as those of her companions. She works on her canvases as diligently as she works on her writing pad. The cover of Flight Path is notable because, as ever, she is a painter — those are her birds tumbling through the darkened sky. Cynthia’s paintings are exhibited locally; this winter she’s in the 220@Mela show (WVC advanced women painters) and in March she’ll fill the Music and Art Gallery with a solo show. Some of the paintings will be related to a manuscript that’s slowly taking shape — her second book of poetry.
Cynthia Neely created the painting used on the cover of her first book of poetry.
compliments him on a show they saw, or a role they remember. He says, “To know that I was able to remove them, for a few moments, from the harsh realities surrounding us, fills my soul.” John reflected on this current update and observed, “It seems strange to talk about myself. I’m usually admiring others. I normally don’t think about what the next thing in my path might be — things just seem to appear, and if I can contribute somehow, I get involved. I hope my kids recognize the opportunities for sharing that cross our paths.” The paths that John follows in this community are varied terrain. He’s on the board of Icicle Creek Center for the Arts, coaches middle school instrumentalists and filled in, long term, for the Wenatchee High School orchestra teacher; he directed The Quiltmaker’s Gift, a 2013 children’s Christmas show and he even recently invented a (very theatrical) guillotine for The Haunt — a Wenatchee Halloween tradition here. John’s resume this past two years is equally crowded with his own on-stage performances — from Columbia Chorale concerts to strong roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Fantastiks and 9 to 5. But he’s most vocal about the delight of continuing to sing duets (after 25 years) with his wife Louise, and with nurturing the multi-instrumental talents of his chil-
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WHAT TO DO
We want to know of fun and interesting local events. Send info to: donna@ncwgoodlife.com
Writers’ Competition. Write On The River writers’ competition includes categories: non fiction (essay, article or memoir, on any theme or subject) and fiction (short story on any theme or subject), each with a 1,000 word limit. All submissions must be postmarked by Feb. 18. First place in each category is $300, second place $200 and third place $100. For complete guidelines, plus entry form: writeontheriver.org. Slam poetry night, every Tuesday, 7 – 8:30 p.m. Clearwater Steakhouse and Saloon, 838 Valley Mall Pky. East Wenatchee. Pybus Public Market, every Tuesday Deborah Strahm, personal chef cooks at the market. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Country Western open mic/ jam session, 3-6 p.m. Every second and fourth Sunday. Clearwater Saloon, 838 Valley Mall Pky. East Wenatchee. Pybus Public Market, every Thursday night is locals night, 5 – 8 p.m. Live music, cooking demonstrations and local vendors. NCW Blues Jam, every second and fourth Monday, 7:30 – 11 p.m. Columbia Valley Brewery, 538 Riverside Dr, Wenatchee. Info: facebook. com/NCWBluesJam. 2 Left Feet, every Thursday, 7 – 9 p.m. 2 Left Feet is a loose organization of local dance enthusiasts who would like to see more dancing in the Wenatchee Valley. Beginner lesson at the top of the hour followed by carefree social dancing. No partner necessary to join in the fun. Dance style will be 1940s swing with a bit of salsa, blues, waltz or tango thrown in. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Wenatchee First Fridays ArtsWalk, 1/2, 5 - 8 p.m. Check out Wenatchee’s arts scene. Venues and exhibits change monthly. Self-guided. WVC Campus and Historic District. Cost: art-walk free, after-events may have admission fees. Monthly info: wenatcheefirstfridaysartswalk.tumblr.com. Two Rivers Art Gallery, 1/2, 5 – 8 p.m. The new year starts off with a celebration of art and artists in the Valley. Come meet watercolorist Dave Kocher. His work will be
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on exhibit through January. Local wines, music by jazz pianist Patrick Thompson and complimentary refreshments. 102 N Columbia, Wenatchee. Cost: free. Info: 2riversgallery.com. Merriment Party Goods, 1/2, 5 – 8 p.m. Merriment will feature Filtered Art, which specializes in home décor, event supplies and art made with gently dyed coffee filters. 23, S Wenatchee Ave. Cost: free. Info: facebook.com/merrimentpartygoods. Tumbleweed Bead Co., 1/2, 5-8 p.m. Refreshments served. 105 Palouse St. Cost: free. Info: tumbleweedbeadco.com. Small Artworks Gallery, 1/2, 5 p.m. 13 local artists works will be on display at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Info: wvmcc.org. Katrina’s Bridal Premiere, 1/3, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Door prizes. Town Toyota Center. Cost: free. Info: towntoyota.com. Ski for Health day, 1/4, noon – 3 p.m. Free Nordic rentals, lessons and trail passes. Take mini ski lessons in classic or skating techniques and enjoy refreshments. Icicle River Trail, Leavenworth Info: skileavenworth.com. Walking Wednesday, 1/7, noon. Meet in the Hedeen Plaza (next to Owl Soda Fountain) and walk the loop. The loop is Kittitas to Second Street – just over one mile long. Cost: free. Info: wendowntown.org. Of Mice and Men, 1/8, 7 p.m. A Broadway hit production filmed live and broadcast to Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $10 advance or $13 at the door. Info: icicle.org. Bob Eubanks: The not so newlywed Game, 1/10, 7:30 p.m. A replica of the TV game show using four local couples: Clyde and Ruth Ballard (married nearly 60 years), David and Linda Herald (married 33 years), Scott and Jennifer Devereaux (married 11 years) and Norma Gallegos and Gustavo Montoya (married one year). Plus, a lucky audience member will have the change to win $100,000. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $23$29. Info: numerciapac.org. Seattle Mariners, 1/13, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Seattle Mariners players and team officials will be at Pybus Public Market for questions and autographs. Prizes, too. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.
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WHAT TO DO
We want to know of fun and interesting local events. Send info to: donna@ncwgoodlife.com
Alzheimer’s Café, 1/13, 2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. Mountain Meadows Senior Living Campus hosts a cafe the second Tuesday of every month. This is a casual setting for folks with Alzheimer’s, dementia, their loved ones and caregivers. Desserts and beverages will be served free of charge. Entertainment and activities for those wishing to participate. Join us to meet new friends and share experiences. Located at 320 Park Avenue, Leavenworth. Info: 548-4076. Gone with the Wind, 1/15, 6:30 p.m. 1939 American epic historical romance film. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $5. Info: numericapac.org. Pretty Faces, 1/15, 7 p.m. A film celebrating women who thrive in the snow. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $10 advance $13 at the door. Info: icicle.org. Lake Chelan Winterfest, 1/1625. Lights will twinkle, gorgeous ice sculptures will be scattered throughout the Lake Chelan Valley. Wine walk, alefest, kids activities and more. Downtown Chelan. Info: lakechelan.com. Piatigorsky Foundation Concert, 1/16, 5 – 7:30 p.m. The Wenatchee Valley College Foundation presents a Piatigorsky Foundation Concert featuring pianist Doris Stevenson and violinist Marcus Thompson. Reception at 5 p.m., concert to follow at 6 p.m. WVC, Grove Recital Hall. Multicultural Day, 1/17, all day. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Info: wvmcc.org. BirDING BUDDIES BIRD WALK, 1/17. Walk from Walla Walla Point down through the Horan Natural Area and into Confluence State Park. Info: Jenny 886-4518. Bavarian IceFest, 1/17-18, 9 a.m. Snow sculptures, the Great Frisbee Sweep, Ice Cube Scramble, Snowball Toss, ice fishing, Bavarian Mug Relay, Smooshing, Tug-O-War, snowmobile sled pull, live chainsaw ice carving, dog sled rides, beer garden, chili crawl, fireworks and more. Downtown Leavenworth. Info: leavenworth.org.
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column the night sky this month
Peter Lind
3 moons cross face of Jupiter January’s best show is Jupiter,
whose moons deliver a triple shadow transit, not happening again until 2032. The New Year’s tour of January’s night sky starts in the southwest just after sunset. Venus and Mercury spend the first three weeks of the month within just a few degrees of each other, or about a hand’s width at arm’s length. From the 10th through the 13th the two innermost planets will climb higher above the western horizon and move closer to each other. After the 13th, Venus moves away from Mercury. This is a great time to watch how planet motion works. From night to night you can see movement between Mercury and Venus. As twilight falls over the valley, a distinct orange point of light comes into view above Mercury and Venus. Mars will brighten until it shines brighter than any nearby stars. The Red Planet shines high above the southwest horizon an hour past sunset throughout the month. Views through a telescope will be disappointing, however, from the lack of any detail showing on the planet. On Jan. 19 Mars has a close encounter with Neptune. The two planets pass each other almost touching. Through a telescope you could compare Mars’ orangey glow to Neptune’s blue gray hue. Uranus is high in the southwest after darkness comes this month. In the middle of the month it’s halfway to the zenith as darkness comes and sets around 11 p.m. The planet shines at magnitude 5.8 so binoculars will let you find it easily. Star charts on the Internet will pinpoint its location for you. Jupiter emerges on the eastern January 2015 | The Good Life
horizon around 8 p.m. in early January, and two hours earlier by the end of the month. The king of the planets resides in the stars of the constellation Leo, to the west and just above the constellations brightest star, Regulus. Our solar system’s largest planet never seems to disappoint those with even a small telescope. On the night of Jan. 23, the shadows of three of the Galilean moons will simultaneously cross Jupiter. If you watch this event, the shadows of Io, Castillo and Europa will move across the face of the planet. Shortly before the shadows disappear the moons will emerge from the edge of the planet, as they are not visible when in front of the planet. Viewing Jupiter through a telescope will be better as it climbs higher into the sky. November was the month that Saturn passed behind the sun from our perspective, but it quickly returns to view before dawn. The ringed planet rises around 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 1 and about two hours earlier by the end of the month. We’ll have to wait until springtime for good telescope viewing of Saturn. One of the best meteor showers of the year peaks the night of Jan. 3. The Quadrantids can produce over 100 meteors per hour under best conditions. Unfortunately this year they arrive just at full moon so best conditions will be all but impossible. It’s a new year and I thought I might mention a few of the amazing things that happened and discoveries made in astronomy. The first thing I’ll mention is a program where scientists are www.ncwgoodlife.com
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measuring asteroidlike objects called Centaurs that lie between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus. While studying one of these Centaurs, scientists watched as it eclipsed a distant star. They were surprised to find two dense rings around a micro-planet only 155 miles in diameter. They do not have much data but rings around a body that small changes what we thought we knew about space mechanics. Another story is about NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which started orbiting Saturn in 2004. In early 2005 Cassini spied plumes of water erupting from Enceladus, one of Saturn’s major moons. The question became from where was the water coming. They flew Cassini within 60 miles of the ice-covered moon’s surface. Scientists had to take into account the moon size, gravitational pull from other bodies in the system, the radiation pressure from the sun, pressure from the onboard energy source, and the drag that Cassini felt as it passed through the geysers. With all those measurements they concluded there is a lake with the mass almost identical to that of Lake Superior, all below 25 miles of ice. Finally, just two months ago, the lander from the Rosetta spacecraft settled on comet P/67. While the lander’s batteries ran dry in what seemed like a very short while, the amount of data collected will take years to sift through and study. Peter Lind is a local amateur astronomer. He can be reached at ppjl@ juno.com.
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WHAT TO DO
We want to know of fun and interesting local events. Send info to: donna@ncwgoodlife.com
}}} Continued from previous page Opera Series: Lehar’s The Merry Widow, 1/17, 9:55 a.m. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $20 advance or $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org. Bella Sera Event, 1/17, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Bridal show with venues, photographers, caterers. Limos and everything you need for your big day. Wenatchee Center. Winter Piano Festival, 1/17, 7 p.m. Canyon Wren Recital Hall. Cost: $20 advance, $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org. Compassionate Friends, 1/19, 7 – 8:30 p.m. A grief support group that helps assist families dealing with a death of a child. Grace Lutheran Church, 1408 Washington St. Cost: free. Info: tcfwenatcheevalley.org. Wild Reverence, 1/20, 7 p.m. A documentary film chronicling the plight of the iconic wild steelhead along the west coast of America. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center.
Our Town, 1/22-24, 29-31, 2/57, 7:30 p.m. 1/31, 2 p.m. Music Theatre of Wenatchee presents an inspiring play about the transience and beauty of human life. Riverside Playhouse. Info: mtow.org. Kingston Trio, 1/23, 7:30 p.m. The original ’50s trio performing enduring folk music such as the timeless classic Tom Dooley. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $19-$29. Info: numericapac.org. The Fantasticks, 1/23-24, 30-31, 7 p.m. The longest running show in the history of American musical theater, this wonderful story of fatherly abduction and the triumph of young love will take you on a mystical adventure of crazy characters and magical interventions. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $20 advance or $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org. A Self-Publishing Primer, 1/24, 9 a.m. – noon. Part 1: The Basics: Getting Started, Part 2: Moving on to Publication. Mini workshops last for 75 minutes, taught by Theresa Monsey. Learn the steps to distribute and market your writing without a brick and mortar publisher. Van Tassel Center on the Wenatchee Valley College campus. Cost: $15 for WOTR members/$50
for non members. Bundle Up Fest, 1/24, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Stanley Civic Center Fountain Plaza. S’mores, crafts, L-Bow the Clown, kids 1k run, hayrides and more! Downtown Wenatchee. Info: runwenatchee.com. Disney Live, 1/24, 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Pirate and Princess Adventure on ice. Town Toyota Center. Cost: $22 and up. Info: towntoyotacenter. com. Book Launch, 1/24, 4 – 5 p.m. Author Dan Gemeinhart – a teacher in the Wenatchee School District – will be on hand with his new book The Honest Truth. Pybus Public Market. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org. Pack Walks, 1/25, 2/22, 3/22 and 4/26, 3 p.m. Bring your friends and dogs on leashes and walk the riverfront trail. Meet on the loop behind Pybus Market at the boat launch. Info: wenatcheefido.org. Great Bear Stakeout, 1/29, 7 p.m. A film of the secret life of the grizzly. Snowy Owl Theater. Info: icicle. org. Cost: $10 advance $13 at the door. Info: icicle.org. Opera Series: Offenbach’s Les Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com
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Contes d’hoffman, 1/31, 9:55 a.m. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $20 advance or $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org. Winter Wine Gala, 1/31. 6 - 9 p.m. Twelve of the top wineries and six of the top chefs will be on hand for sampling. Live music. Fundraiser for the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Info: wvmcc.org. Koho’s Chili Cook-off Contest, 1/31, all day. Taste and vote on the region’s tastiest chili from some of the top restaurants and chefs in NCW. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. TRUE NORTH, 1/31, 7:30 p.m. Cashmere Community Concerts. True North combines traditional bluegrass instrumentation with fat harmonies and folk-edged song writing for a distinctive sound that is fresh, warm and memorable. CCC at Cashmere Riverside Center. Cost $3 at the door and pass the hat. Info: www.cashmereconcerts.com All You Can Eat Crab Feed, 2/7, 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. Fresh crab, tangy coleslaw, baked beans and dinner rolls. Bring your crab cracking devices and your appetite… stretchy pants optional. Lake Chelan Eagles Club upstairs. Cost: $40. Tickets from any Lion’s member, at Lake Chelan Mail Boxes, Kelly’s Hardware or at KOZI radio.
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column those were the days
rod molzahn
Lost in translation How the P’squose River and its people ‘disappeared’
When Lewis and Clark
reached the confluence of the Snake and Columbia rivers, at what is now Tri-Cities, they were in the country of the Yakamas. The explorers were greeted by a gathering of Indians in-
cluding chiefs. At the confluence the Columbia turns 90 degrees and heads north. Knowing that the party did not have the time to explore up river, Clark asked if a chief could draw a map of the Columbia to the north.
On Friday, the 18th of October, 1805, Clark wrote in his journal, “The great chief Cuts-sah-nem gave me a sketch of the rivers and tribes above on the great river and its waters on which he put great numbers of villages of his nation and friends as noted
on the sketch.” The sketch was made with charcoal on white buckskin. Clark labeled all the rivers with names including the Taptette
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savor the setting… Savor a delicious selection of café delights, amid a truly inspiring setting. O’Grady’s Pantry at Sleeping Lady Resort, 2.5 miles out Icicle Road, offers both breakfast and lunch. Relax with friends while enjoying a warm meal, coffee or hot chocolate. SleepingLady.com | 509.548.6344
January 2015 | The Good Life
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THOSE WERE THE DAYS }}} Continued from previous page (now the Yakima) and the next river to the north that the Sahaptin speaking chief called the Wah-na-a-cha. Six years later the first American fur traders on the Columbia made their way up the river in search of a location for a northern trading post. On the 24th of August, 1811 Alexander Ross along with eight other men “reached the mouth of Pisscow’s River” where “Indians met us in great numbers…” with their chief, Sopa. These Indians spoke the Salish tongue and called themselves and their river by the Salish name, not the Sahaptin name used for them by their Yakama neighbors to the south. Three years later Ross wrote again of these same friendly people calling them Pisscaws and their chief, Lopa. In May of 1841 a United States Navy exploring party led by Lieutenant Robert Johnson started from Nisqually, crossed the Cascades then the Wenatchee Mountains and reached the Columbia somewhere near the mouth of Stemilt Creek. From there they “passed along the banks of the Columbia to the junction of the Pichous.” Lt. Johnson’s commanding officer, Lt. Charles Wilkes, on his expedition map labeled the river with Johnson’s name, Pichous, writing that, although some Indians call it the Wainape, Pichous is “more commonly known.” Twelve years later, in 1853, Lieutenant George B. McClellan (later general of the Union Army and presidential candidate) led a surveying exploration along the east slope of the Cascades in search of a rail route over the mountains to Puget Sound. In the Kittitas Valley he met the Yakama Chief, Ow-hi, who agreed to guide the soldiers across the Wenatchee Mounwww.ncwgoodlife.com
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Lt. Charles Wilkes, on his expedition map labeled the river... Pichous, writing that, although some Indians call it the Wainape, Pichous is “more commonly known.” tains. McClellan wrote that Ow-hi “promises to go as far as Wenatsapan with me.” McClellan continues in further reports to call the river by Owhi’s Sahaptin name, Wenatsapan. McClellan’s party included George Gibbs, an ethnographer and geologist. In his book, Indian Tribes of Washington Territory, Gibbs calls the people living along the river the Pisquose. In 1855 Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens held a treaty council in the Walla Walla Valley. In the introduction to the treaty with the Yakama peoples a listing of the tribes in attendance included both the names Pisquose and Wenatshapam. Article Ten of the treaty gives, as a reservation, six miles square at “the forks of the Pisquose or Wenatshapam River, and known as the Wenatshapam Fishery.” During the summer of 1858 Mortimer Robertson led a party of 76 miners north from The Dalles bound for the Fraser River in British Columbia. They crossed Blewett Pass guided by an Indian Robertson called Alex (most likely a Yakama) on Saturday, June 19, and, in Robertson’s words, “reached the Weenacha River… and the camp of Chief Skamow. Jack Splawn, cattleman and
resident of North Central Washington from 1860 through the 1880s, in his book Kamiakin, always refers to the river as the Wenatsha and its people as the Wenatchas. Splawn was a friend of Sam Miller and often visited the Miller/Freer trading post at the confluence on cattle drives to and from the Okanogan Valley. Splawn, like the other early white men who came here came from the south was likely influenced by Sahaptin speakers they encountered before ever reaching the Wenatchee Valley. When Sam Miller took over daily operation of the trad-
ing post on Aug. 27, 1872 he headed the first page of his new store ledger with the name, Wenatchee. When a post office opened at the store Miller changed the town name in his ledger to Millersburg but when the post office moved the ledger heading returned to Wenatchee. That was the name on the last ledger page when the store closed in 1888. That same year, in June, D. C. Corbett, a member of a Seattle law firm that included Thomas Burke, L.C. Gilman and Morgan Carkeek, acting on insider information about the future loca-
tion of Great Northern railroad tracks, bought 700 acres of land along the Columbia south of the confluence. On Sept. 4, the plat for the new town was filed at the Kittitas County Courthouse in Ellensburg. The infant town officially became Wenatchee. John Gellatly, one of the town’s mayors in the early 1900s, in his 1957 history of the town, wrote that it was named for Chief Wenatchee but there was no Chief Wenatchee, never had been. There was, instead, an 83-year linguistic journey that started with a Sahaptin name on a
buckskin map and eventually drowned out the Salish name, P’squose, a name favored by the people of the valley for themselves and their river. Historian, actor and teacher Rod Molzahn can be reached at shake.speak@frontier.com. His third history CD, Legends & Legacies Vol. III - Stories of Wenatchee and North Central Washington, is now available at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center and at other locations throughout the area. Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com
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column ALEX ON WINE
ALEX SALIBY
Fine Grenache wines by local wineries Grenache is a versatile grape
used in blends in many of the world’s most prestigious wine grape regions. It’s also a grape widely planted in the wine world; there are nearly 600,000 acres of Grenache vineyards in the world. At last count however, there are a mere 15,000 acres of Grenache grapes in California and Washington combined. The most famous of the blends come from the Southern Rhone in France, and one of the most publicized of the Southern Rhones is Châteauneuf-du-Pape. I can still hear David Niven, attempting to impress some young lady in a film, pronounce that name when he ordered not only the wine, but a very specific
year of the wine, “…Oh, and a ’46 Chateauneuf du Pape please. (Adding with slightly raised voice), And not the ’48 thank you.” For characteristics of American-made Grenache based wines, expect a typical, fruit-forward, aromatic wine with medium tannins and acidity. Those medium levels partly account for why Grenache is blended. Syrah adds tannins and a touch of viscosity, so you’ll likely find the blends contain a small amount of that grape. There may be other grapes as well, and in the Southern Rhone, a common component is Mourvedre, and often, in Southern Rhone wines, the estate will have randomly planted grapes they intend on blending to cre-
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ate their finished wines. In a great many such instances, the blend is the winery’s signature and is a kind of proprietary trade secret, if you will. We’re fortunate though, we live here, in north central Washington where winemakers have been blending Southern Rhone styled wines for several years now. The 2009 Ryan-Patrick Vineyards Syrah was really a Southern Rhone blend style of wine. It scored 90 points from the Wine Spectator judges and is one of my favorites of the wines using Grenache. Unfortunately, that one is sold out. But, don’t despair. There are a good many Grenache-blended wines in our area to please most palates. Here’s a short list of my favorites in alphabetical order by winery, and it is not my intention here to list every Grenache blend locally made or available.
winemaker at Crayelle Cellars keeps making it. Remember earlier I mentioned those Southern Rhone proprietary blends, well, this is exactly that sort of wine, a field blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre, and the percentages are relevant only to the vintner.
Baroness Cellars — 2011 Grenache Horse Heaven Hills AVA. I should confess here first of all that I’m a fan of Danielle Clement’s wines in general. The owner/winemaker at Baroness Cellars makes one of the rare bottles of Dolcetto produced in our area. All her wines are memorable for the quality of their grape varietal characteristics and that is true here too with her Grenache. This 2011 though, by my guess is not a 100 percent Grenache, color and acids speak of Syrah in the blend. In any event, it’s a marvelous bottle of wine.
Karma Vineyards — Karma has two such blends on their list of quality wines, and before I go on, I’ll also mention, they have a Mourvedre on the shelf. However, for this column, two wines: 2011 Karma Vineyards South, and the 2011 Karma Vineyards Zen. Both these wines are blends that echo the Southern Rhone styled blends. South is a blend of Mourvedre, Grenache and Syrah, where as the Zen starts with Syrah and Grenache, but tosses in a splash of Cabernet Sauvignon to complete the aromatic and flavor profile. If none of these sound interesting to you, there are others. Milbrandt offers a Grenache, and a blend they call Mosaic; Ryan-Patrick has both a Grenache and a Southern Rhone blend called Rebel, and Tildio has a blend they call Hermit, 50 percent Syrah and 50 percent Grenache, all are done with a quality you’ve all grown to expect and respect here in NCW. Here’s my suggestion; get out of the house, get out of the grocery store’s wine aisle and get thee to a winery (apologies to the bard of Avon, of course).
Crayelle Cellars — 2012 Bishop’s Block vineyard blend. This is Craig Mitrakul’s third creation of the Bishop’s Block; all I can say is, I hope this owner/
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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