November 2015 The Good Life by The Good Life

BIKING THE GREAT DIVIDE Y EVENTS CALENDAR

WENATCHEE VALLEY’S

NUMBER ONE MAGAZINE

November 2015

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BOOMERS & POT

‘WE SEE MORE SUITS AND TIES THAN TIE-DYES’

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Benefit Proposal Tell Us Your Quality of Life Proposal Chelan County PUD wants to hear from you. In 2015, the PUD started a Public Power Benefit Program to provide the best for the most for the longest period of time based on customer-owner priorities. Several projects were selected for funding in 2015 – 2016. Now it’s time to start planning for 2017 and beyond. You can be part of the planning process. Submit a proposal by Jan. 4, 2016. Proposal forms are available online at www.ourpublicpower.org or from any Chelan PUD office. A list of current projects, proposal criteria and other information all are available at www.ourpublicpower.org.

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Contents

marson and marson

page 16

biking the trails and backroads of america’s great divide

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Features

7 legal marijuana and the boomers

Legal weed is fast growing in the Wenatchee Valley, and perhaps it’s no surprise that some Baby Boomers are tickled pink about it

12 those inquisitive questers

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14 footgolf

You take some of the rules of soccer, only play on a golf course in this new, all-age sport. Argyle socks are not mandatory, but...

18 a nirvana for beer lovers

Long time beer writer and brewer Alan Moen makes a bucket list trip to the Oktoberfest that started them all

20 ISRAEL

Walking in the footsteps from the Bible, plus digging into the past

24 well done, team

Owner of new award-winning home is generous with his praise of builders and designers

ART SKETCHES

n Artist Lance Dooley, page 32 n Community theater director Briar Hoper, page 35 Columns & Departments 23 Bonnie Orr: Cooking with apples 28 June Darling: Under stress? Just breathe correctly 29 Pet Tales: Pearl is perfect 30 The traveling doctor: America’s unique epidemic 32-39 Arts & Entertainment & a Dan McConnell cartoon 37 The night sky: Predawn parade of planets 40 History: First white families of the Valley 42 Alex Saliby: Why wines taste differently

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PUD date change The new deadline for submitting a Public Power Benefit Program proposal is Jan. 1, 2016. See program details in Chelan PUD’s ad at top left on page 2 or go to www.ourpublicpower.org. November 2015 | The Good Life

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OPENING SHOT

Year 9, Number 11 November 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: https://www. facebook.com/NCWGoodLife Editor/Publisher, Mike Cassidy Contributors, M.K. Leech, Maureen Stivers, Molly Steere, Lief Carlsen, Alan Moen, David and Susan Weber, Donna Cassidy, Bonnie Orr, Alex Saliby, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin, Peter Lind and Rod Molzahn Advertising manager, Terry Smith Advertising sales, Lianne Taylor and Donna Cassidy Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy Proofing, Dianne Cornell Ad design, Clint Hollingsworth TO SUBSCRIBE: For $25, ($30 out of state address) you can have 12 issues of The Good Life mailed to you or a friend. Send payment to: The Good Life 10 First Street, Suite 108 Wenatchee, WA 98801 For circulation questions, email: donna@ncwgoodlife.com BUY A COPY of The Good Life at Hastings, Safeway stores, Walgreens, Mike’s Meats at Pybus, Rhubarb Market, Martin’s Market Place (Cashmere) and A Book for All Seasons (Leavenworth) ADVERTISING: For information about advertising in The Good Life, contact advertising at (509) 8886527, or sales@ncwgoodlife.com WRITE FOR THE GOOD LIFE: We welcome articles about people from Chelan and Douglas counties. Send your idea to Mike Cassidy at editor@ncwgoodlife.com

A Room With a View By M.K. Leech

took this photo last fall on an overnight backpacking trip with a couple of friends in the North Cascades. I was living in Stehekin working as a park ranger at the time and had conquered most of the day hikes in the surrounding area, including the “not-to-bemissed” McGregor Mountain, Horseshoe Basin, Cascade Pass and Sahale Arm. This hike was different. I went with two friends, Maria and Dean, both fellow park employees. Dean has lived in Stehekin on and off for many years, a local of sorts and invited Maria and me on his trip to Bird Lakes. I looked on a map searching for the destination. I couldn’t find it. “It’s not labeled,” Dean said, “Trust me. I know how to get there.” Maria and I both had a few

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days off, so we packed up our gear, caught a ride with Dean up valley in his neighbor’s old pick-up truck, and set out on Company Creek Trail. As we started out, Maria and I quickly realized why no one hikes with Dean… within 5 minutes he vanished up the trail. We caught up to him a few miles later at a river crossing; he patiently waited for us while he ate a snack. “We’re close to the turn-off, I’ll wait for you there,” Dean said in reference to the off-trail portion of the hike and again he was gone. The turn-off directions were scribbled down on a piece of paper. From there we headed straight up the side of a hill. It was grueling. As we slowly ascended into higher elevations we took note of the changing foliage and the golden larches that dotted the hillside. When we finally made it to the base of Devore Peak, we could see a few small alpine lakes, tinted a silky greenish hue. This was Bird Lakes. Between the golden larches, the green lakes, and

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November 2015

the red fall colors of surrounding shrubs, it felt like a place Dr. Seuss had created. We set up our tents, made dinner, and I listened as Maria and Dean discussed maps, compasses, and math equations. Unlike the other hiking destinations I had done that year, we never saw another hiker. We had this part of the world to ourselves. As the sun faded, a chill crept in, and I curled up in my sleeping bag. I took this photo, watched the moon rise over the horizon, and drifted off to sleep under the stars. More of M.K. Leech’s photos can be enjoyed at mkleechphotography.com, on Facebook at M.K. Leech Photography, or on Instagram at MKLeech.

On the cover

Writer Maureen Stivers is about to get lost in a forest of 12,000 pot plants at the Double Delicious farm in Malaga. See her stories, starting on page 7.

editor’s notes

MIKE CASSIDY

A new greening of the Valley I’m one of those Boomers who

never expected to be publishing stories about legal marijuana in the Wenatchee Valley, as we are doing in this issue. (And at five pages, maybe overdoing… but what the heck. At a time when more and more activities are against the law, it’s a phenomena when a once illegal act is now sanctioned — and taxed — by the state.) I’ve also had the experience of recently becoming related through marriage to a local marijuana farmer. Talking with him is like… well, like talking with about any farmer. He’s into the technical nature of raising a good crop, he worries about having the right variety for a fickle market and the financing for the next growing cycle, he grumbles about all of the taxes between planting and the consumer, and his off season is his play season. He also contends that north central Washington will be big in growing legal weed. The weather and season is just about perfect — a fact that writer Maureen Stivers points to in her stories beginning on page 7. In fact, my new relative suggests that in the not-too-distant future, marijuana could rival the local wine industry. As he told me that, my mind recalled a “second chapter” story we had a few years ago about retired teachers who cashed in their pensions to start a winery along the Columbia River. Then in the last couple of days, one of our ad sales people popped in to tell about a local business couple who were switching gears to be growers. The new greening of the Valley has indeed arrived.

From pot to beer: Something else that used to be illegal in Washington but is now just fine is home brewing of beer. My grandparents had a few stories from the Prohibition era of sneaking around the law that sounded to me — when hearing them in the ’70s — a lot like the then current stories of pot growing, selling and consuming. One of them involved a priest coming for a house call when my grandfather had a still on the back porch. Forty years later, my grandmother was still aghast at the telling of the tale but my grandfather’s point of view was that the good father — of true Irish descent — probably would have enjoyed a glass or two. Anyway, another one of our contributors this month is Alan Moen, who began homebrewing in 1978, the year it finally became legal in the U.S. He continued making beer when he began his winemaking career at Columbia Winery in 1987, and brought kegs of his homebrew to slake the thirst of fellow cellar workers during the hectic days of crush in the fall, proving — he says — that it takes a lot of good beer to make great wine. A long-time beer writer and nationally certified beer judge, he has organized and judged many beer competitions since, including the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. For us this issue, he reports on a bucket list trip to the original Oktoberfest in Bavaria.

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Plenty of plays and pre-holiday fun, too Three high school plays are

on the bill for fun stuff in November. But that is not all... no, that is not all at all. A month that includes salutes to America’s veterans also has plenty of pre-Christmas events, wine tastings from the barrel and music that is America. Here are a few listings plucked from this month’s events calendar starting with the plays: Legally Blonde the musical

— The Eastmont High School Drama Department will perform at the high school auditorium. Info: numericapac.org. Tickets $12, available at the door. First two Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays of November, 7 p.m. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang —

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Wenatchee High School Music Department’s live performance. WHS auditorium. Cost: $20 adults and $15 students. Tickets: PAC box office or numericapac.showare.com. Thursdays through Saturdays, Nov. 12-14 and 19-21, 7:30 p.m. Saturday matinees at 2 p.m.

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Hairspray, Wenatchee High School Choral Department’s live performance. WHS auditorium. Cost: $18 adults, $15 students. Tickets: Pak-It-Rite or whs.wsd. wednet.edu. Fridays through Sundays, Nov. 13-15 and 20-22, 7:30 p.m. Saturday matinees 2 p.m.

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Americana — Live performance by the Wenatchee Valley

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November 2015

Symphony, featuring the 2015 young musician competition winner Malena Evig. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Info: wenatcheesymphony.org. Saturday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m. Pybus University — Honor by

Listening – The Story of Veterans and their perspective of past-armed conflicts. Members of VFW Post 3617 will offer their stories and perspectives on past wars. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org. 11/10, 7 p.m. Festival of Trees — Holiday fundraiser for the Numerica Performing Arts Center includes a display of 11 large trees and over 50 four-foot trees, mini trees and wreaths. Patrons may bid on most of the trees and wreaths in a silent auction by 11/22. Info: numericapac.org. Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 19-22. Also part of the Festival are: n Holiday Spice — A poignant holiday revue featuring the area’s best performers. Cost: $19 -29. Thursday, Nov. 19, 7 p.m. n Little Black Dress Party — A night to don your favorite party dress and cute shoes for a ladies-only event of the season. Friday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m. n Live Auction and Gala Dinner — The evening begins with a cocktail hour, featuring Masa the Magician, followed by dinner and live auction hosted by Seattle celebrity auctioneer John Curley and PAC Executive Director, Matt Cadman. Cost: $100. Info: numericapac.org. Saturday, Nov. 21, 5 p.m. Holiday Artisan Fair —

Crafts, holiday gifts, décor, jewelry, art and more. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 21 and 22, all day.

Boomers & pot As legal marijuana sinks in its roots locally, grey-hairs are going for the green By Maureen Stivers

am standing on a Seattle sidewalk outside the house where I and others from the school play have just wrapped up our cast party. It was a welcome celebration after the dedication of daily practices for several months and the sacrificing of much of our social lives. I am a junior in a private Catholic high school and am nearly a straight-A student, as are the others I’m hanging out with. We are passing around a joint and getting high. The student body president is among us. The year is 1976 and there is nothing unusual about what’s going on. We are not the “bad kids.” We are mostly college-bound, are accomplished musicians and athletes, active in scouting organizations, go to church and come from solid families. We are the tail end of the Baby Boomers, the generation that brought marijuana into the mainstream of upper middle class society. Kids who do at least a little recreational doobie are the norm. But we are definitely sneaking around, hoping we don’t get busted. Skip to 2015, 39 years later. Pot is now legal in the state of Washington to those over the age of 21. People with ID can go into any licensed establishment and purchase one ounce of weed in plant, edible or oil form to use in the privacy of their or another’s home. With a special license, marijuana can even be grown legally at home. If a whiff is sniffed in public, the consequences vary according to county and city ordinances and their implementation is left to the discretion of the law enforcement officer. In Seattle, use outside the home is handled by a warning and information regarding the ordinance. (The chief of police there is currently lobbying to have the $27 fine erased from the books altogether.) Illegal selling and buying have been going on for a long time and still do, to a great extent, according to all the articles and blogs I read. As with the prohibition of alcohol in the early 20th Century, where there’s a demand, people find ways to make an illegal profit. According to the legal sellers, this is slowly changing but may take much time to go away.

became more like a trip and I hated it. Turns out, this was not my imagination. According to one source, the University of Mississippi Potency Monitoring Project, the average percentage of THC (the ingredient that gets you stoned) in marijuana in 1978 was 1.37. By 2008, it was up to 8.49 with the highest level tested at 27.3 percent. Other sources cite even higher average levels. Current levels in legal pot are all in the higher ranges and there is no legal limit for THC in smoked product because it is impossible to consistently and accurately measure. This is, of course, great news for avid users and smokers on a budget. When I mentioned my own experience, all the salespeople assured me that a mild, mellow high is still possible with the right product. But let’s get back to my visits and interviews. The reality was far from what I was expecting. I think many readers will be surprised as well. Here’s what I discovered: If I had to sum up the phenomenon of legal marijuana buying and consuming in the Wenatchee Valley in two words, they would be: “Baby Boomers” and “Businesspeople.” These demographics are not, however the only consumers. Fall colors take on a new look with legal marijuana Every seller with whom I spoke emphain the state of Washington. sized that their customers span the age, cultural and socioeconomic sphere of the There are currently six legal pot outlets in the Wenatchee Valley. (This excludes the area. But with one exception, every store was adamant that these two groups were their dispensaries for medical marijuana, which biggest customer bases. are being fazed-out, soon to be illegal.) “We see more suits and ties than tie-dyes,” During my research for this article, I said Jose at The Happy Crop Shoppe. Luke visited all of them. I also took two educaand Lucas at The Back Porch told me that tional, enlightening and fun tours of legal pot farms. My good friend and KOHO Radio they get every type of professional including nurses, attorneys, accountants, doctors and Garden Guru Scott Parsons accompanied me to one outdoor farm, Tolman Farms, and even one off-duty law enforcement officer one indoor operation, The Double Delicious. and his wife. The merchants cite multiple reasons for Everyone with whom we spoke was pleasant, happy to share information and gracious this: convenience, variety, lack of legal risk, and avoidance of the seedy underworld of with their time. street pot dealers. They can afford it and So, let’s start with the stores and customlove the selection and purity of the product. ers. As Christina at Green Life puts it: “They Before I begin, I should clarify one thing. feel safer.” I stopped smoking pot when I was 19 years All legal marijuana has to undergo The old. It wasn’t a moral or maturity decision, it Cannabis Analysis, the results of which are simply got too strong and I no longer enjoyed, what was for me, a pleasant high. It }}} Continued on next page

November 2015 | The Good Life

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Boomers & pot }}} Continued from previous page kept carefully arranged in a binder for customers to inspect. If even a trace of mold, bacteria, yeast, pesticide or herbicide is found, the product is sent back to the grower to be destroyed. In terms of toxic residue levels, these products are safer than most commercially grown fruit. This age demographic also has a lot to do with pot no longer being against the law. It was voted legal in the election of fall, 2012 when 60 percent of voting age voters turned out. Of these, the highest (no pun intended) percent of voters were middleaged and slightly older, ie: the Baby Boomers. Prior to the election, 50 percent of this demographic polled in favor of legalization. Thus, this age group provided a substantial number of the “yes” votes needed. Not surprising. These were the first avid, upper middle class users. According to all the pot store salespeople, the Baby Boomers who come in are thrilled to see pot legal in their lifetime. Emmalee at The Joint told me, “They’re tickled pink.” Some say they have not smoked in 30 years and are starting up again because it’s legal and safe. A grey ponytailed man at Dryden Euphorium told me, “I don’t mind paying the high taxes. It’s better than paying the court fees if you get caught buying it illegally.” When you first visit a legal marijuana store in the Valley, you may think you’ve gone into the wrong place. The outsides can be drab, have no widows, and some have bars where the windows were. They do not look terribly inviting. But once inside, it’s like you’ve stepped into a jewelry or fine accessories shop. The rooms are

Samantha and Katie, the friendly “Budtenders” at The Joint.

spacious, airy and bright with acres of product and paraphernalia. All pot products are neatly and tastefully displayed in shiny glass cases, (a state law), and some are surrounded by lovely lighting. The slight aroma of unsmoked pot is in the air. The offerings are neatly arranged in categories. The bud for smoking is in tidy, labeled, one-ounce packages made of plastic so the product can be seen. The edibles — in the form of cookies, chocolate and the like — look tempting as snacks on their own. There are also oils for vapor pens and spa-like creams and lotions. Scott Parsons likes to think of them as “museums of botanical specimens.” The shelves behind and around the cases are adorned with beautiful blownglass smoking devices, pipes of all kinds and a variety of rolling papers. The Back Porch wanted more interesting décor so it also doubles as an art gallery, showing pottery and paintings from Terry’s Signs. The art, with one

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“I don’t mind paying the high taxes. It’s better than paying the court fees if you get caught buying it illegally.” exception of a large pot with Bob Marley’s head, is not marijuana related. Since the legal stores can sell only marijuana products and ways to smoke it, the art here is priced but has to be purchased through Terry Johnson. Your cheery, helpful “budtender” is likely to be wellgroomed and dressed as a professional salesperson. ID is required upon entry and once this formality is complete, the staffs are welcoming and friendly. If you’re there just to browse and talk, no problem. If you have questions or need help with your selection, they are

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November 2015

happy to assist you. The names of the strains are an amusement in themselves. They range from racy: Bettie Page, joking: Training Day, funny: Blue Magoo, dreamy: Blue Dream to downright scary: Agent Orange, Afghan Diesel and Chernobyl. Yikes! The sellers here all feel that our Valley offers a more personal and relaxed buying experience than other places. For example, some establishments in Seattle have such a large customer volume that a menu is posted, nothing is displayed in the front, and it’s a quick in-and-out. The price for legal marijuana remains higher than street prices due to the taxes. But all the sellers, and many customers alike, agree that the quality and consistency of the products are worth it. At The Joint, bud for smoking ranges from $10 - $19 a gram. The edibles, which all contain 10 percent THC, range from $6 $14. The oils, the most pure form used in vapor pens, will run you more: from $20 for half a gram to $90 for a full gram. The first stores in the Valley have been open now for nearly a year. Some were initially met with the expected NIMBY attitude: Not In My Back Yard. The Happy Crop Shoppe was harassed both in person and by phone. Cory Wendt, the manager, explained that there was general fear of increased crime and frequenting by the wrong types. Not to mention moral and health concerns. But as time passes, these disruptions are dropping off. According to the three store managers with whom I spoke, Monique Rydberg at The Joint, Dave Mehelich at The Back Porch and Cory at The Happy Crop Shoppe, the anticipated horrors have not happened. They all feel that the selling of legal marijuana is so closely regulated by the state that in maintaining compliance there’s just no room for violence, nuisance or, quite frankly, crime,

The high and low of pot plants S

Scott Parsons stands among the giants at the Double Delicious farm.

associated with their shops. In fact, they think they are helping reduce crime. As Monique put it, “We’re trying to make it safe, get it off the streets, and educate people.” Dave’s shop is, “trying to keep prices down as much as possible to get it off the streets, help clean things up.” They all insist that the only disruptions they have witnessed have come from the people who do not want the stores in locations near their homes or businesses. And they all insist that once people understand how the process works, they are not as upset. The managers also state that there have been some “converts:” people who initially went to the stores only in a pinch, but then

cott Parsons, KOHO Radio Garden Guru, is standing among the giants at the Double Delicious farm. He explained to me why these plants were so tall while others were not. There are two main species of marijuana being grown here: cannabis indica and cannabis sativa. They are both native to Central Asia and the Indian Sub-Continent. The sativa plants are the tall plants with longer, narrower leaves. Think of them as a jungle plant. Indica, are the shorter, fatter plants with wider leaves. They are a higher elevation plant that does well in the mountains. The different plants are said to provide a different high: the indica tends to be sedating and relaxing while the stavia tends to be uplifting and creative. Yet, the two farms we visited are not only growing both but hybrids of the two as well. Just as the varieties of apples have exploded in the Valley to provide more choices for demanding customers, local pot farmers are tweaking their product — the possibilities for new strains are endless, said Dan Griffin at Tolman farms — looking for the perfect buzz in the marketplace. — Maureen Stivers

The establishments are essentially like liquor stores and are, after all, governed by the Liquor Control Board. switched from buying on the streets because the store experience was so much better. Legal marijuana has come to the Wenatchee Valley. And given that, according to state records, annual legal retail sales will easily top $2,000,000 by the end of 2015, it is likely here to stay.

With everything I learned about the selling, consuming and growing and processing, the whole thing seems pretty darned peaceful. The establishments are essentially like liquor stores and are, after all, governed by the Liquor Control Board. Monique, at The Joint, told me a story about a customer she knew when she worked for a medical dispensary in Seattle. He would make the six-hour drive over and back to buy his product there because he trusted it. Now, he buys it locally, in even purer form, from someone he knows and trusts. Keeping business local is after all, the goal of the legal marijuana stores here in the Valley.

November 2015 | The Good Life

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A visit to a couple of pot farms Endless rows of plants and busy workers By Maureen Stivers

t is impossible to pinpoint the exact number of permitted growers in the Valley. This summer marked the first harvest of marijuana grown outdoors since the growing season last year was too short after the legal permits were issued. This is the second harvest for some indoor operations. But with failed start-ups, add-ons, and the newness of it all, the growing industry here, as with the rest of the state, is in flux. Given what one can determine, there are about 20 farms in the Wenatchee Valley that are currently growing and selling legal product. There are several more in the Chelan area. I visited two farms with Garden Guru Scott Parsons. The first was The Double Delicious farm in Malaga, which is a large indoor growing and processing operation that has been in business since August 2014. Converted from an old apple processing plant, Double Delicious is a tier three farm, which means it processes both its own product and pot from other farms. After the Scott and I signed in and donned our requisite ID badges, our gracious guide and acting manager, Josie Gebhardt, gave us a tour of the entire facility.

}}} Continued on next page

Pot farms }}} Continued from previous page We saw the process from seed to packages ready to go to stores. At the time of our visit, the operation had 33 employees. There are now 50 since the harvest has hit its peak. Upon our arrival, there were people moving about everywhere inside and out, doing their respective jobs. We saw endless rows of plants outdoors, covered and indoors. At most times, they have some plants at every stage of the process. I was stunned to hear that they currently have 12,000 plants on the farm. While our tour skipped around the sequence a bit due to the locations of the procedures, the process basically goes in this order: It all starts in the Mother Room, where seeds are started and cloning takes place. We learned that the majority of plants come from clones since it is known what they are. Seeds starts are a bit of a crap shoot — they’re not sure what will grow. So, this room is where the growers determine what works and survives. Every plant here, and on the rest of the farm, must be tagged and bar coded with its name. Next, the successful small plants go to the grow rooms. Some go to greenhouses, others to rooms with bright lights and still others to rooms with light controls specific to the plant strains. Some plants will be placed in light deprivation rooms to maximize their development. Once ready for harvest the plants are taken to The Flower Room. Here, they have their leaves removed, to have easier access to the buds. But the leaves are still useful and are then taken to the lab for extraction. The Drying Room speaks for itself. I think this would be the favorite place on the farm of

Employees at Double Delicious remove bud from harvested plants.

dedicated users. There is wallto-wall pot drying everywhere, thousands of buds hanging on branches from the leaf-stripped plants. The Processing Room is where the workers remove each bud from the plants. This is handson, labor-intensive work. It’s the buds that contain the most THC, the active agent in marijuana. The Curing Room renders the pot into its most aromatic state for consumption. The Double Delicious farm did have a rocky start with this stage when the expensive machine malfunctioned and burnt an entire crop. (The manufacturing company continues to make amends.) Once cured, the buds are ready for inspection and packaging. The goods will go out to about 65 different stores in the state. (Selling out of state, even where pot is legal, is not allowed.) For both Scott and me, the extraction lab was an experience in itself. Firstly, the essence is extracted from any usable plant parts and comes out of a big machine in a solid, waxy yellowish form. From there it goes into the freezer to reduce the volatility of the substance. From the freezer, it is thawed and the liquid is removed and essentially distilled

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This is a business, after all, and despite the crazy reality of roaming around thousands of pot plants, it requires the same work ethic and perseverance as any growing and processing plant. to produce the final oil. It takes a lot of controlled science to get people high. Josie told us that Double Delicious is about the 10th largest pot farm in the state. They love their location in Malaga and have plans to renovate a nearempty warehouse on the site. (Someone is currently building a boat inside that looks too large to get out the door.) This will greatly expand their processing capability and provide space for an edibles kitchen that they wish to develop along with increasing their medicinal production. Double Delicious now has 24 hour monitoring of the site

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November 2015

in the form of a person. About three months ago, an intruder spent an hour inside the facility, which Josie welcomed as a needed wake-up call to beef up their security. The farm and plant are now nearly impenetrable and there are security cameras throughout. The Double Delicious is constantly experimenting with new strains of plants, processing procedures, and product development. Being an indoor facility, this is their second harvest and it is substantially larger than the first. The farm provides some permanent and some seasonal jobs to those in the area, which will increase as the plant grows, so to speak. Everyone we saw was working industriously as would be expected in any well-run facility. This is a business, after all, and despite the crazy reality of roaming around thousands of pot plants, it requires the same work ethic and perseverance as any growing and processing plant. Scott and I then visited Tolman Farms, also in Malaga, which is an outdoor growing operation. Their product is sold under the name Good Luck Bud. Owner D.J. Anderson gave us a tour of the farm, which included rows of different plants. He also explained the many plans and ideas they have for the farm. D.J. is a clean-cut family man who displays photos of his wife and son above his desk. Dan Griffin, the farm manager and head grower, was also on hand. As he showed us the different strains, Scott was amazed at the variety given the relatively small number of plants on the farm. He observed that, “It was impressive to see the number of varieties because the chemistry of each one may be unique. That aspect of growing this particular herb gives opportunities for a plethora of different uses in both the medical and recreational markets.” Tolman Farms has not sold

product in the coma lot of product for ing years, which will consumption yet but provide more jobs. rather spent this first He speaks much of year functioning as a wanting the farm to nursery for other legal be part of the comfarms. munity. Once they D.J. pointed out turn an adequate rows of plants as profit, they hope to examples of what they help out financially have been selling all with the completion summer. Scott and of the park in Malaga. I noticed that they They also have a were all fairly short 20-foot space outside — about two feet — the eight foot barbed and of nearly uniform fence that will be a height. It turns out community garden that this is the legal for growing vegetaheight for plant sales bles. to other farms. When I ask D.J. And this leads to about the big picture the story of the origin of cultivating legal of all legal plants. marijuana here he I had this vision of says this, “When the state issuing seeds everything is done and plants from some right, we see growclandestine governTolman Farms manager, Dan Griffin, talks pot botany with Garden Guru Scott Parsons. ing and producing ment stash. Well, as contributors, not that’s not how it hapthem. detractors from our Valley. pened. from a well in Malaga near the D.J. has a vision that Tolman “What we’re doing should be a Everyone who was ready apriver. It falls under the dominion Farms will produce much more good thing.” plied for a growing permit when of the Malaga Water District. they were first given out on The land the farm occupies is March 5, 2014. From that day, all within the well-head protection law enforcement officials closed zone, meaning that chemicals their eyes and ears (except to cannot seep into the ground. check the permits) for 15 days Hence, the product is raised while the growers acquired without chemicals. seeds and plants (of regulation Power is cheap and reliable. height) from any source they Dan could not imagine a betcould find. ter place in the world to grow Imagine: 15 days of growers marijuana. scurrying around, checking evDan said the company does ery source, sneaking in and out plan to do some indoor growof homes and gardens, traipsing ing as well when they get set up deep into the woods, etc. — all and are actually getting a break before anyone else got there. from the PUD for using modern, Now, the only way a new farm low-energy LED lighting. They can acquire seeds and plants is also hope to have solar panels from established legal farms. one day. Dan explained to us why the D.J. told Scott and me that as Wenatchee Valley is the ideal expected, Tolman Farms initialplace to grow pot outdoors. ly faced resentment and hostility Firstly, there’s the obvious: from the community in Malaga. Wen. Wild Strange but True Lunch Is On Us Look around. Things grow here. A reversal has occurred, with Tickets and News - 7:20 a.m. 8:35 a.m. Turns out that the latitude is some neighbors now keeping a More PRIZES perfect, the amount of sun is su- protective eye on the place for perior to the West side, the sea93.9 FM 97.1FM 101.3FM 101.9FM son is longer than farms north Know of someone stepping off Leavenworth Wenatchee Brewster Okanogan Valley the beaten path in the search for of here — which get earlier • Cashmere Pateros fun and excitement? E-mail us at 95.3FM 106.3FM frosts — and the soil is fertile. • Rock Island editor@ncwgoodlife.com Chelan Methow Valley • Hwy. 28 Tolman Farms’ water source is

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Morning”

Those inquisitive Questers It’s fun to search and a joy to find

Florence Robinson, enjoying the terrace at Warm Springs, loves trees, and whenever she travels on a Questers trip she migrates outside toward the gardens.

By Susan Lagsdin

Their field trip to Warm

Springs Inn on Oct. 8 was a typical midweek junket for the Questers, local lovers of history. The ivy-covered brick façade and pillars, heavy oak door and rooms full of antiques indicate the building’s age, and the gracious tour by newest owners Julie and Ludger Szmania followed an old tradition of inn keeping. Nestled by the river at Sleepy Hollow, the vintage home was a perfect place to meet four eager and loyal members of this local group of seekers — with their motto of, “It’s fun to search and a joy to find.” Questers has a quiet presence in this community, from the group’s always-intriguing displays of historical memorabilia at the Wenatchee library (like antique telephones and formal place settings) to their dedication to the long-term care of the

Bob Floyd was immediately drawn to this colorful pottery plate — it’s like dozens of intricately designed pieces he and his wife have collected in their travels over the years.

Miller and Weythman homestead cabins at the Cashmere Museum and Pioneer Village.

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You may have seen Questers posters in town, your interest almost piqued enough to attend

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November 2015

a presentation. If you are fascinated by things past, local, and unique, you would definitely be welcomed. The 25 or so members of the two local groups who live around Wenatchee share with their state and national Questers counterparts a love of history. But our local Elizabeth Weythman Chapter and the Millersburg Seekers Chapter, separated geographically from the eight other state groups over on the west side, have gone just a little rogue, creatively branching out to make seeking and finding into an art form. Joanne Prusa, uber volunteer and planner, said a love of history isn’t what first grabbed her. She’d moved to Cashmere from Edmonds seeking a sense of community, and a flyer on the post office wall caught her eye. “I thought, maybe I can just go” (and walk away afterward). But at that first Questers meeting, the introduction to

primitive cookware — from president, and her first natives’ legless clay pots to main connection to this Colonial hanging cauldrons group was entirely per— fascinated her, and she sonal. She grew up hearing immediately felt a kinship stories that connected her with the women in attento her past on both sides of dance. At the next meeting, the family. she was elected to office and Her distant great-grandsoon shared with the group father on her father’s side her own extensive hand bell (add a few “greats”) was collection, assigning each from North Carolina and a attendee a bell and a note signer of the Declaration of for making music together. Independence, and on the “The learning is fun — distaff side, her grandmothand it’s always different,” er emigrated from England, Joanne said. “I mean, say still steeped in the Edwardthere’s a presentation on anian traditions she’d grown tique doorknobs. I wouldn’t up with. know one if I saw one. But “Afternoons at 4 we had that’s OK; they always make tea. It was always beautiit so interesting…” The eight fully laid out with fine meetings a year are memporcelain. I learned to serve ber-led and after several and went every day until, years they’ve all learned well, high school age….” to create interactive ways Cheryl smiled knowingly to capture the crowd with Invited by her English grandmother to enjoy tea as both a beverage and ceremony, Cheryl — she’s aware that kids their specialties. today aren’t likely to drop Maher gravitates toward bone china and porcelain, teacups and formal tableware. Collections are the mainin for high tea with anyone. stay of many meetings (hats, mostly female group but started ‘keepers.’ Young people don’t “Oh, and there was a toffee tin dolls, cameos, Indian baskets, involving other couples. “The seem to want the collections and with names of every single one postcards, quilts and toy solfirst trip I remember we toured mementos we have gathered.” of the kings of England on it. diers) but any kind of fascinatan absolutely pristine and perKeeping the past alive is her Grandmother made me memoing process or item or a visit to a fectly displayed collection of 300 main goal, and she’s served in rize them all.” regional point of historical inter- vintage racing motorcycles. Our office at the state and local level Though she’s busy watchest is fair game for the Elizabeth goal is to learn about anything of of Questers, presently as chapter ing over westside chapters and Weythman Chapter. historical interest.” president. spearheading projects at the The Millersburg group has His group actively looks for One of her favorite aspects state level — like a trip to the definitely decided to take intriguing physical sites, often of the organization is state and Wanapum Heritage Center — Questers on the road, logging with an arts and architecture national conventions, annual Cheryl stays true to her roots about 1,500 miles a year on junfocus. (“And lunch — we always three-to-six day extravaganzas and collects fine bone china kets, said Chapter President Bob research the best place to have of tours, exhibits and on-site and blown glass. She also enjoys Floyd, to distant spots like the lunch together,” Bob said.) They learning about one region’s reading fiction about royalty, not Sierra Silver Mine in Wallace, also enjoy small city museums. history. Closer to home, she’s so much the 2015 royals but the Idaho and Spokane’s Daven“You’ve got to see Ellensburg’s, involved in maintaining the Masterpiece Theater versions. port Hotel, and closer places of and the Clymer Gallery,” he said, Cashmere Museum and Pioneer And yes, Downton Abbey is reinterest like the Cascade Tunnel “Or the Yakima Trolley MuVillage cabins and seeking a quired watching at her house. disaster at Stevens Pass and the seum.” grant for Wells House restoraEvery member who spoke Pybus building (pre-market). Florence Robinson is a cheertion. for this article had a different Bob and his wife Susan have leader for all things Quester. She’s also pleased that for reason for joining Questers, and traveled extensively on their Not a historian per se, she firmly three years the group put on the each brings a tidbit or a tome of own for years, particularly in believes in the value of studying Colonial Vista Treasure Show, knowledge about something. Italy, adding to their collection the past (she collects wooden a chance for residents to share That diversity makes the of pottery and Murano glass, toys and cast iron pots). “When their own beloved keepsakes. meetings, demonstrations and and so they particularly enjoy you’re young, with a family,” she Most recently, Florence helped field trips, like the recent one to the pace of far-flung field trips said, “you can only think about start a history club at Cashmere Warm Springs Inn, fun for all and the coed socializing that the present. But now, we have High School, where last year of them. They hold in common characterize their chapter. time to look back at the way there were several lively and the relative leisure to scrutinize “Susan joined Questers first — things were and make connecwell-attended meetings and the past and a true learner’s she would come back from these tions.” discovery trips. openness to seek out just about great trips and I was so envious. She also fears that: “Our Cheryl Maher lives in Cashanything not seen or studied I wanted to go.” He joined the generation is the last of the mere and is the Questers state before. November 2015 | The Good Life

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f l o G t o ! k Fo c ki

a t a h W By Molly Steere

had no idea the game even existed until I observed people regularly playing soccer on the fairways of Three Lakes Golf Course. Not one to miss out on any fun, I did a little research and identified it as FootGolf. Of course! The rather unimaginatively named sport is exactly what it sounds like: a combina-

How not to do it — rules state that you tee off one at a time as in golf — but this makes a fun photo.

tion of soccer and golf. I messaged a diverse group of friends and family asking if they

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wanted to try something new, and made a tee time before they could say no. I’m also not one to let others miss out on fun. Our motley crew of players ranged in age from six to 75 and not one of us had ever participated in this recently conceived sport. FootGolf is played with a regulation #5 soccer ball — or in our case, a combination of #4 and #5 balls because that’s what we scrounged up from garages and friends. It’s played on shortened holes with 21-inch diameter cups (covered with a green plastic lid during the day), in twosomes, threesomes or foursomes, and the rules largely correspond to those of golf. On the way out the door, I glanced at the rules I printed out for FootGolf. Rule number one mentions that argyle socks are preferred. Regrettably, I had missed this opportunity to embarrass my husband by shopping for the argyle socks and jaunty cap that are so revered in this growing sport, but I was sure I could come up with plenty of other antics on the fairway.

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Rule number one mentions that argyle socks are preferred. At least we had a motorized hand cart (golf carts aren’t allowed while playing FootGolf) properly equipped with a cooler full of tasty beverages. It was a beautiful fall evening in Malaga; the low-slung sun was warm, but the air held a hint of the approaching change in seasons. I felt pretty confident strutting up the path to the first tee box, with a soccer ball under my arm. I was a soccer player. I played soccer for years, and for a championship team no less. Of course, all of that was in elementary school, but how hard can it be to kick a soccer ball down a fairway? Apparently, it’s harder than you might think. I gave the ball a mighty kick and watched it roll down the fairway straight and true… to stop approximately 16 feet from where I stood. The world long jump record is over 29 feet;

surely I could do better than that. It is in this way that FootGolf is more like golf than soccer. It’s aggravatingly more difficult than it looks, yet every once in a while you make a good connection and it travels in the right direction. Sometimes it even lands within spitting distance of the hole and that’s it — you’re hooked. Incidentally, that scenario is much more likely to happen on the Toby Steere taps a ball in to the 21-inch cup. 37-yard-long hole than the 226-yardter 5 p.m. — to avoid disrupting long hole. the golfers. Similar to golf, the intent is We kicked our way through to get the ball in the hole in as nine holes while cheering, few strokes (kicks) as possible, mocking and laughing. Our with the bonus of using a lot collective lack of skill leveled less equipment at half the cost. the playing field for the whole There are no greens in FootGolf group. but there is par for each hole, Three generations together mimicking golf ’s scorecard. For on the fairways, and in the end nine holes, or eighteen holes, our score cards looked surpriswhoever has the lowest score ingly similar. Of course, some of wins. Observing our crew, and hear- us (ahem) were finding it hard ing the happy shouts, you would to kick the ball while holding a beer. have thought the object of the In the shoulder season begame was to take the most tween water sports and snow strokes to get the ball in the skiing, this was a perfect way to hole, with extra point given for spend a beautiful evening with end zone dances. This might be friends and family. We provided why Three Lakes doesn’t open the soccer balls and misguided the course to FootGolf until af-

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Your building can be customized just the way you want! bravado, and FootGolf provided the rest. I was enthused to find another sport that was so inclusive, despite our disparity in age and the cumulative joint replacements and injuries we had under our belt. I probably won’t join the American FootGolf League (yep, that’s a thing) any time soon, but I’d love to get out on the course again. After all, I relish any opportunity to display my lack of skill. One can only hope that I’ll be sporting gaudy argyle socks while doing so.

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Biking the Great Divide Arduous, remote, forested, scenic, smoky from numerous forest fires in Montana — but fewer pesky cars By Lief Carlsen

icycle touring has provided some of the best times of our lives but when a passing truck came within inches of sideswiping us in the hills of Southern California a year ago, we decided the risk outweighed the reward. While the vast majority of drivers allow bicyclists a respectful distance, all it takes is one jerk or inattentive driver. Hence the allure for us of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR). The GDMBR roughly follows the Continental Divide from the Montana/Canadian border at Roosville to the New Mexico/ Mexico border at Antelope

Wells. For 2,600 miles it snakes back and forth across the Rocky Mountains along dirt and gravel roads, occasionally becoming a single track, occasionally resorting to asphalt. Most of the riding is so remote that one encounters a mere handful of cars on a typical day. As I write, Mary and I are in tiny Pinedale, Wyoming, about 800 miles into the ride. The day before yesterday we detoured through Grand Teton National Park when an early snowfall at 9,600-foot Union Pass made that part of the trail all but impassable. The ride through the park was one of the best and worst days so far. All morning we rode in a cold rain. At times it was a downpour. A tour bus nearly ran us off the road and the Labor Day traffic was heavy but that’s what we get for taking the paved road. By noon the rain stopped and the clouds slowly parted to reveal the classic grandeur of the

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ABOVE: Lief Carlsen rides past the Tetons.

Teton Range to our west. The afternoon sun dried us out as we rode south to the delightful tourist town of Jackson where we counted ourselves lucky to get a motel room on the holiday weekend. We have been riding for three weeks now and this is our first rest day. We generally tent camp for three or four days and then luxuriate in a motel for a night (if one is available). Looking ahead through the rest of Wyoming it doesn’t look as if there will be many opportunities to soak in motel bath tubs, hence the day off in Pinedale where we scored a nice room at the Best Western. The ride so far has been pretty much what I expected — arduous, remote, forested, scenic,

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although smoke from numerous forest fires in Montana at times limited our ability to enjoy the vistas. The weather has been generally good. Headwind has been a bigger problem than rain. We undoubtedly have many challenges ahead of us but as we emerge from the forests of Montana onto the grasslands of Wyoming we can at least stop worrying about grizzly bears. Montana has a lot of grizzlies and we each have a can of bear spray handily mounted on our handlebars. Luckily, we never had to use the spray. We did see a momma black bear and her cub but I think they were more afraid of us than vice versa. Although we never saw a grizzly, we have no doubt they were there. The large, signature mounds of grizzly scat were everywhere on the back roads. We average about 50 miles per

day — riding a heavily laden mountain bike on dirt roads takes a lot more effort than riding a road bike on pavement. Early on we met several fellow bicycle tourists each day but for the last week we have encountered none — other than the Maiwalds. The Maiwalds, Michiel and Margo, are a Dutch couple that we first encountered at a campsite in northern Montana. Our paths kept crossing in subsequent days and we have gotten to know them quite well and enjoy their company immensely. We fell behind a week ago when we needed to stay in Helena for bike repairs but over the following days we often spotted their distinctive tire tracks on the trail. We traded emails when ever we had Internet access and when I emailed Michiel that we were in Pinedale, he emailed back that so were they. We had a little reunion this morning. It is amazing how many tales we had to trade about the week

A typical day starts off sunny and calm. The birds are chirping, the streams flow clear, the bicycles seem to roll effortlessly along. But as the day progresses... gone by — so much happens each day. Not to paint too rosy a picture, I must admit that the trip has not been unadulterated delight. It seems every other day we test the limits of our endurance — rarely a day passes without climbing over at least one lofty mountain pass. A typical day starts off sunny and calm. The birds are chirping, the streams flow clear, the

bicycles seem to roll effortlessly along. But as the day progresses and the inclines get steeper, the muscles grow tireder, and the headwind picks up, the beauty of our surroundings is somehow obscured by the discomfort of the moment. So far I have been able to look past these trying times and remind myself of the good times. On several occasions Mary has been overwhelmed by the immediacy of her discomfort and shown signs of despair. Fortunately, these low points have never lasted long. Just as the sunshine in the Tetons swept away the gloom, we have always had good days following bad. Today is a gloriously bright autumn day in Pinedale. The Colorado Rockies beckon and we should pass through them just in time to experience the aspen trees shimmering gold against the blue sky.

addendum: Mary and I completed the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route on Oct. 9 at Columbus, New Mexico, seven weeks after we started at Roosville on the Montana/Canadian border. The riding never got easier — each day was a new challenge, so while we were proud of our accomplishment, we were also relieved to be finished. Colorado was our favorite part. We rode through the Colorado Rockies during peak fall colors and the brilliance of the aspen groves was breathtaking. Our Dutch friends, the Maiwalds, rode with us as far as northern New Mexico when they had to exit the trail because of time constraints. The weather was ideal until the last week when a series of thundershowers forced us to abandon the muddy back roads and ride the final 300 miles on pavement. For more of the Carlsens’ ride, visit chelantraveler.wordpress.com.

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Beervana in Bavaria Visiting Munich’s Oktoberfest is nirvana for a beer lover By Alan Moen

f there’s a Mecca for beer lovers, it’s surely Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany — the biggest beer festival in the world. From the third weekend of September through the first Sunday of October, millions of people (5.9 million this year) gather at the festival site, gobbling down 114 oxen, 50 calves, innumerable pretzels and consuming some 7.7 million liters of beer from Munich’s five breweries. I was fortunate enough to attend the festival this year as the guest of the Siemens Corporation, the giant German electronics firm that produces software and high-tech controls for everything from coffeemakers to offshore oil drilling rigs — and of course, for breweries, too. Oktoberfest was begun on Oct. 12, 1810 as the celebration of the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (later King Ludwig I) to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildwighausen. It was held outdoors at a city field later named the Thereseweisen or “Therese’s Meadow” (popularly called the Wies’n) in honor of the prince’s bride. Horse races were also held there on the occasion and their popu-

Alan Moen celebrates “mass” (a liter-sized beer glass) in Munich.

larity resulted in the event being repeated in 1811. In the tradition of country harvest fairs the world over, the first agricultural show at Oktoberfest took place the same year. The big beer tents were added in 1896, as well as a carnival and amusement park. Early season snow caused organizers to move the festival back to September, and it has been held then ever since, unlike some of its copycat festivals elsewhere.

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King Ludwig himself was later undone by a Spanish-Irish dancer and adventuress with the stage name Lola Montez, who broke hearts (and wallets) all over the world. He was so taken with her that he made her a countess, but her unpopularity with the people of Bavaria led to his demise. They burned her house, forced her to leave the country, and brought about Ludwig’s own abdication in 1848. Lola (whose real maiden

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name was Marie Gilbert), died on Long Island, New York in 1861. Today’s Oktoberfest remains true to its roots as an agricultural festival, with machinery and product demonstrations, games and rides — in fact, it’s a lot like a ramped-up version of the Washington State Fair in Puyallup, only with beer as the main attraction. But those rides are pretty spectacular, too. As it turns out, Siemens technology now runs many of those rides. I was able to go “backstage” to see the control rooms for some of them. First was the “Ride to Paradise,” a 75-year old carousel/rollercoaster still driven by the original 11 horsepower Siemens motor. This oldfashioned ride with its antique wooden cars was mothballed in 1955, and discovered by accident in 2003. Now restored, its “bucking bronco” motion takes you on a trip at speeds up to 25 miles an hour. For me the biggest thrill came on the Power Tower, another ride run by Siemens technology. Strapped on a circular platform with my arms and legs dangling, I was shot up 66 meters (over 215 feet) into the sky, then dropped in free fall, stopping just above the ground, The cycle was re-

peated several times until I was more than ready for terra firm again — and a beer. There are five massive tents at Oktoberfest providing beer, one for each of Munich’s big breweries (breweries outside the city limits are not allowed to pour their beer there). I settled in the Paulaner tent, which when filled to capacity, can accommodate almost 7,000 people, with space for another 2,400 in the beer garden just outside. The standard pour at Oktoberfest is a mass, or liter of beer, which cost about $12. I drank my share of them at the tent, enjoying the traditional roasted half chicken and listening to music from an appropriately costumed orchestra that was decidedly better that the “oompah” bands we usually associate with the festival. Also in contrast to the stereotype, many of the beer servers there were men, who carted multiple mugs around just as well as the women.

And as traditional as it may seem, the beer now served at Oktoberfest is not the same as the original style. In the old days before refrigeration, beer could not be brewed in the summer, so the last beer made before the warm season arrived was brewed in the month of March, and therefore called Marzenbier. This was an amber-colored lager made stronger to keep through the summer, and be drunk in the fall. Today’s Oktoberfest beer, made by some breweries like Paulaner year-round, is much lighter in color and flavor and also not as strong (around 5.5 percent alcohol by volume) — which is probably not a bad idea, considering how much is consumed. Siemens high technology now controls the flow of beer at Oktoberfest, too. Before 2010, all five beer tents were supplied by two or three tanks at their own locations. Now three of them, includ-

ing the Paulaner tent, get their beer from four large tanks, each containing 28,000 liters (about 7,400 gallons), using a centralized computer controlled system. The beer is delivered to the tents through pipes located one meter (3.3 feet) underground. Computer software also controls the dispense of the beer (one liter is tapped in just four seconds) and the Mass-o-Meter also sends date to the breweries on beer sold — up to 70,000

liters per day. With just one day at Oktoberfest, my time in Munich was far too short. But since the festival has long been on my bucket list, it was still a joy to be there. I would recommend the “mass consumption” experience to anyone —and don’t forget the rides! Prost! Alan Moen has written about beer for over 25 years. He’s also the co-owner of Snowgrass Winery in the Entiat Valley.

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Israel fascinating mix of cultures, teeming with footprints from the bible Story By David Weber Photos by Susan Weber

anaan, The Promised Land, Palestine, The Holy Land, Zion. All of these names have been given to what is the current country of Israel, which my wife, Susan, and I toured for three weeks in May. We flew out of New York City on El Al Airlines landing in Tel Aviv. We had been warned of the tight security on El Al but found it to be similar to flying within the U.S. However, we were also told that there were numerous detailed security checks that occur behind the scenes. We were grateful for that bit of information. Israel is a tiny country with a population of 8 million people and a north-south dimension of 263 miles. At its narrowest point it’s less than 10 miles wide. In the north one can look into Lebanon and Syria from the Golan Heights and to the south

The southern end of Masada has the remains of Herod’s castle at the very top left. The trail coming down is called the Snake Trail, which is on the opposite side as the Roman Ramp. In the distance is the Dead Sea.

at Eilat you can see Egypt and Jordan. Israel is surrounded by 350 million Arabs most of whom, except for Jordan, are at political and religious odds with Israel. Sometimes those differences result in violent acts. In spite of that fact, while in Israel we always felt safe and were told that the country is statistically safer than most big cities in the U.S. That may be due to a prominent police and military presence, especially in Jerusalem. Tons of books have been written about Israel so if you wish to know more about the country you can read aplenty. There’s

much controversy about the security wall that Israel has built and about Israeli and Palestinian land allocation. I’d encourage you to read about that separately and form your own opinion. The Old City of Jerusalem is a fascinating mix of cultures and religions where the Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Armenian quarters co-exist. While the culture and boundaries of each quarter is evident there is free movement among them. Employment crosses ethnic boundaries also. Having struck up a friendly relationship with the maître d’ of a Jewish-owned hotel in

Jerusalem I asked him if he was Jewish or Muslim and he told me he was Muslim. I expressed surprise and asked him if he found conflict in working for a Jewish owner. He assured me that he was treated fairly, enjoyed his work, and thought nothing about who owned the hotel. I found that reassuring. We visited the Wailing Wall of the Old City. It is revered by orthodox Jews as the point closest to the Temple Mount where they can worship. The Temple Mount is the original site of the rebuilt Jewish Temple that was destroyed by Babylonian king Nebuchadnez-

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The Bible tells us he walked on water there and fed the 5,000 on the shore. Much of his ministry was in that area around Galilee. A unique part of our tour was having the opportunity to spend part of a day digging at the archeological site at Beit Guvrin. As strange as it seems it’s pretty exciting to find a small pottery shard from the first century AD and know that the pot from which it came was used in the lives of the Edomites who lived there. The highlight was when one woman in our group

found a nearly intact oil lamp. Masada was a spectacular site. It’s a fortress on top of a high plateau built by Herod the great between 37 and 31 BC that was subsequently occupied by a small group of Jews in 70 AD. Roman soldiers numbering about 15,000 built a massive ramp up to the fortress and used a battering ram to break into it. They found that the 960 Jews inside had committed mass suicide to avoid capture. One amazing feature of Masada was the engineering of the water supply that included a 40-kilometer long aqueduct to bring water to this very arid place. They were ancient people but they were not unskilled. Qumran is important because

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Two photos from the Beit Guvrin dig: Visitors explore a giant ancient cistern where the Edomites tossed their pottery when they were being overrun by the enemy. They didn’t want to leave anything for them. In the bucket (top right) are finds including what was probably a funnel and also the nearly intact oil lamp.

zar II in 70 AD. The current Temple Mount site is controlled by the Palestinians and entry for Jews is severely restricted. It is the site of the revered Muslim structures, the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. As Christians we found it meaningful that we could walk

where Jesus walked and taught 2,000 years ago. We sat on the Southern Steps of Old Jerusalem where he would have entered the Temple to teach. In an ancient boat we were transported across the Sea of Galilee on the shore of which He taught and where several of the Apostles worked as fishermen. November 2015 | The Good Life

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Old Jerusalem protected by the old city wall: The gold dome is the Dome of the Rock.

}}} Continued from previous page it is the site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946. These scrolls date from the last three centuries BC and are particularly important because they represent manuscripts that further attest to the accuracy of Biblical scripture through the millennia. In Israel water is a very valuable commodity and none is wasted. The sole supply is the Jordan River and very sparse

rainfall. Water is not wasted on lawns or golf courses in Israel. Israel leads the world in water recycling and the drip irrigation used in the U.S. was invented by the Israelis. They grow entire orchards on minute amounts of water. While Israel is generally a very arid land, the Negev Desert is truly parched. We could see (while riding in air conditioned comfort) why the Israelites complained so much to Moses.

It was 110 degrees with not a green living thing in sight. Even unlimited manna and quail and clothes that did not wear out could make that a desirable place. And lastly, the Yad Vashem museum was the most emotional and heart-rending place we visited. It is a collection of personal vignettes, videos and photos documenting the horror of the holocaust. The number of Jews extermi-

nated in WW II is now believed to be about 7 million. To put that in perspective, that is equal to the entire population of Washington state. An uplifting portion of the museum is the recognition of the “Righteous Among the Nations” that recognizes the many gentiles who sheltered, protected, and helped Jews escape during the war. So, all too briefly, you have Israel from a tourist’s limited viewpoint. To truly understand the country you must personally travel there and sense the history and culture. And one thing is certain: Places, events, and people in the Bible will take on a whole new meaning after you have visited Israel.

Susan is a retired family practice physician and more recently a Bible teacher. David Weber is a physician and radiologist retired from the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center where he was the CEO and chairman of the board for nine years.

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column GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

bonnie orr

Cooking with apples a Capital idea W

e live in the land of apples — we might as well feature apples in our holiday cooking. Traditionally, people have cooked pumpkin or nut pies because by Thanksgiving there was not very much fresh fruit available. Today, we seem to have every fruit every day all year round. Apple pie is my favorite for Thanksgiving. I love making an apple pie with tart apples for several reasons. Sweet apples are juicer and take much more thickening. Tart apples tend to be less moist. I also prefer the tangy contrast of apple and sugar. I do not use cinnamon. The cinnamon taste and aroma, especially when used with a heavy hand, masks the flavor of the apple. I want a fresh, light taste, so I flavor my apple pie with a pinch of orange zest, a hint of nutmeg and a swift grating of fresh ginger. I think in the Apple Capital of the World, we should feature apples in our turkey stuffing or dressing. A stuffing is baked inside a piece of meat; a dressing is baked independently. Again, using a tarter apple will make a less watery product. It is easy to make your own bread crumbs if you save the last few dryish slices of a loaf of bread for several weeks. Crumble the slices and place them in the freezer until you have collected enough. Corn bread is perfect for a stout, savory sausage stuffing, but bread crumbs will not overwhelm the tender apple flavor. Because this stuffing lacks the poultry seasoning and the bold march of thyme and sage, the fruit taste is prominently featured. As well, this recipe is a

apples. Mix them together and add the vinegar. Place the cooked rice in a greased oven-proof dish. Cover with the apples and cabbage. Top with sour cream. If you add the pork sausage, cook it; drain the fat away. Add the meat on top of the rice layer. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes—or until the kitchen smells In an herb-free stuffing, apples and cranberries provide color and tangy accents. so appetizing you can hardly stand it. Place the stuffing in the turkey cavflavorful dressing or stuffing for ity without compacting it. salmon or pork chops.

You need about a half-cup of stuffing for each pound of turkey or chicken.

Apple Stuffing 1 cup fresh cranberries slightly ground Or 1/2 cup dried cranberries 2 cups cubed apples: McIntosh, Granny Smith or Pink Lady 1/2 cup chopped celery 1 cup chopped shallots 3 tablespoons butter 3 cups semi-dried bread crumbs 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper If you use dried cranberries soak then in 1/4 cup white wine for 20 minutes. Melt the butter in a saucepan and lightly sauté the celery, shallots and hazelnuts. Gently mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. November 2015 | The Good Life

To make dressing, add 2 beaten eggs and 1 cup of water to the ingredients and bake in a greased, covered dish.

Apple and Cabbage Bake Cooked apples add fragrance to any fall meal. This colorful dish can be baked or prepared on the stovetop. This can be a complete meal with pork sausage. The apple taste is not masked by the addition of herbs and spices. 30 minutes preparation 40 minutes cooking Serves 4 2 cups cooked brown rice 1 small head red cabbage 2 large Granny Smith apples 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1/2 cup sour cream Salt/pepper

Pickled Crab Apples 1 quart crab apples 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 cup vinegar 1 cup water 6 sprigs fresh rosemary 10 allspice berries Wash the apples and remove the blossom end and the stem. Combine the sugar, vinegar and water and bring to a boil in a large pot. Add the apples and simmer for 10 minutes until the apples are tender but not soft. Remove from heat and add rosemary and allspice berries. Pack in a covered container so that the liquid covers the apples. Store in the refrigerator. Bonnie Orr — the dirt diva — cooks and gardens in East Wenatchee.

Slice and core the cabbage and the www.ncwgoodlife.com

If you make these pickled crabapples this week, they will be ready for Thanksgiving.

Afternoon sun brings autumn gold to the big living area in the Witte home, with its friendly circle of chairs. The coved ceiling defines the room and adds multiple textures with line, color and shadow.

Let’s

hear it for the home team AT e HSPoONm SOR

Story by Susan Lagsdin Photos by Donna Cassidy

arry Witte opened the door to his brand-new home, a onelevel 3,000 square foot designer original snugged in between the Highlander Golf Course and a

knockout view of Wenatchee Heights and way back beyond. The first thing he announced was, “Remember, this story isn’t about me — it’s about them. All those people who did the work.” As an owner, Larry is as active and involved as anyone building a new house. But he’s adamant

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November 2015

He’s enjoyed sunny moments basking in the chaise lounges on the patio, and has found cooking in the spacious kitchen a pleasure. about taking the back seat when it comes to heaping praise on it, as happened when it won, hands down, multiple categories of first place awards in the Tour of Homes this past September. So, from Larry, a big thanks again to architect Ryan Kelso, contractor Clarke Cook, designers Linda Purshall and Debbie Dejka, landscaper Kevin Storey and a dozen talented subcontractors and artisans. The building/design team was busy until the last few days before Home Tour weekend putting in sod, painting, staging rooms, hanging artwork, polishing floors and counters ’til they gleamed. Larry said he kept out of sight on the weekend and was given only a few jobs: to tend to the potted plants and to make sure each day of the tour that one of his gleaming restored muscle cars was featured in the garage bay. (“Some people came back again just to see the cars,” he said.)

“Open plan” in this house means really open. This kitchen, more formal dining, and two living areas are all contiguous, with a few pillars and coving for subtle separation.

“It was great having so many people enjoy the house — I didn’t mind it at all. But,” he noted, “We did have some vandalism.” (One beat, then a chuckle.) “Some ‘friend’ of mine went into the closet and tied all my shoelaces together!” Larry and his constant companion cat, Smokey, settled into the house completely on Monday, Sept. 21, right after the tour, and soon had visiting family in the twin guest rooms with their separate entrances and Jack ’n’ Jill bathrooms. He’s enjoyed sunny moments basking in the chaise lounges on the patio, and has found cooking in the spa-

September’s Home Tour visitors were greeted at this formal entrance to the one-level home, then treated to a revolving display of show-quality muscle cars in the garage (at the left).

cious kitchen a pleasure. The open plan center of the house has no visual obstruc-

tions between living spaces (just coves and pillars as markers)

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The owner spent his youth facing these same foothills from his family’s property on Rock Island Road, a little farther down the road and without the mountaintop feel of his new lot.

home team }}} Continued from previous page

and huge windows to the view. By now he’s used every bit of it, its fireplace, TV and a reading chair, small conversation nook, granite countertop and formal dining area. Many of the furnishings he pulled out of storage come from his previous home, though he’d already gifted some to adult grandchildren. He seems glad to be settled in, admitting (despite complete drawings he saw very early on), “It’s probably a little bit more house than I anticipated.” But he figures it’s a fit for the neighborhood and a good investment. Though Larry has enjoyed some large and nicely-appointed homes from Sunnyslope to Scottsdale over the years, he

suddenly found himself between domiciles last fall when his previous house sold and ground had just been broken on the East Wenatchee view lot. His solution? He purchased and parked a 25-foot trailer next to an auxiliary garage he owns, and lived within its confines from March to last month. He probably wouldn’t replicate the experience. “We used to go camping, live in tents and travel trailers,” he said, “But full time?

Not again!” Larry’s full of superlatives when he points out some of his favorite features in the house — again deferring all compliments about the home to the engineering ability and creativity of the team. Some, like high ceilings, tall doors, rounded corners and tile work resemble those in the previous house in north Wenatchee that he shared with his late wife Cheryl. Most, like granite,

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fixtures, artwork, accessories, colors and carpets are directly the brainchildren of his two go-to designers, Debbie and Linda. He’s a fan of earth tones, and so likes the combination of the hickory floors with their deep-grained variations of color, the chocolate brown cabinets, the creamy gold central walls, the sage and forest green private rooms. And he’s especially pleased with the distinctive “live-edge” treatment of shelving, office desk and bathroom counter that complements the natural colors and adds soft curves all around. One dominant fixture in the house is equal parts art work, historical treasure, and recycling coup, and it’s Larry’s very own addition. He rescued from oblivion a massive 70-year old barn board panel from his family’s apple warehouse. “I just yanked it off the wall, cut it down, sanded it, stained it, and here it is,” he said. Attached to a track, it rolls to close up his private office, and is a tangible reminder of a long good work life in East Wenatchee. Larry’s a busy guy — he and his brother Alan restore and show ’60s and ’70s high performance cars as a full-time “hobby” — and after over 40 years in the fruit industry he’s earned a 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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November 2015

Creature comforts abound in the master bathroom. A month’s experience proves that this graceful tub offers much easier access than ones in previous homes with a knee-high, deep surround.

Larry’s life free of yard work (began) with a deceptively simple plan. break from chores. He also likes to get out of town on occasion, so a low-or-no-maintenance home was imperative. The builder complied with hardy exterior materials, and the landscaper made Larry’s life free of yard work with a deceptively simple plan. Thirteen huge ceramic pots placed around the rock-edged patio and

sliver of lawn spill over with lush plantings, and each was strategically placed before any hard surfaces went in. The reason? Each pot is plumbed with a hidden automatic watering system and a dedicated drain. Like the office door, beauty and function merge. The house easily passed its first test for party-ability when Larry, the cat, his home team, family members, friends and neighbors gathered to clink a glass or two in congratulations, post-Home Tour. With howling 40-mile an hour winds precluding the intended spillover onto the terrace that evening, the thank-you din-

In the guest powder room, rock and gnarled wood work their magic with a craggy sink, live edge shelving and a salvaged trunk (invisibly hollowed out for plumbing access).

ner moved indoors. It worked. Larry’s happy to report that with plenty of room to move and maneuver, over 75 people

comingled happily. The very “open” open plan at the core of this house definitely proved its worth.

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column moving up to the good life

june darling

Stop, breathe deeply — feel better now? I recently ran across this

Chinese adage, “If you know the art of breathing, you have the strength, wisdom and the courage of 10 tigers.” But don’t we all know how to breathe for goodness sakes? Else we wouldn’t be here. A number of people including physicians, fitness trainers, and even the Navy Seals claim we can do breathing much better. As we practice various breathing techniques supposedly we can lower our blood pressure, calm ourselves, make better decisions, generally perform better, increase our lung capacity, improve our vagal tone, manage chronic pain, optimize immune functioning and even help our digestive system. According to people like Dr. Andrew Weil, breath is the key to wellness and self-healing. Weil says the chance of being a healthy person if we do not breathe well is “slim.” The functioning of all our systems requires delivering oxygen and removing carbon dioxide. The more air we move in and out, the healthier we become. We get better at breathing by practicing a few techniques. It doesn’t take much time. And it’s pretty easy to do once you get

the hang of it. Weil suggests that we start by learning to take more air in. We take more air in by first moving more air out. When you start your breathing practice, just start by exhaling a little longer. Eventually you get to the place that you can exhale slowing and deeply — you see your abdomen move in toward your backbone. After those deep, slow, abdominal out-breaths, you will be able to take in much more air. You will naturally breathe the air in from down deep in your belly. Try to make your out-breath as long or a little longer than your in-breath. Eventually you may want to practice what’s called square breathing or box breathing. (The best video on box breathing I’ve seen is done by past Navy Seal Commander and director of SealFit, Mark Divine. You can easily find it online.) Box breathing is done in four steps to create the box. Breathe out — mentally count one, two. Hold your breath — mentally count one, two. Breath in — mentally count one, two Hold you breath — mentally count one two.

Draw boxes on paper with your eyes open, or mentally with eyes closed, or set a timer. Start small drawing four boxes or so; if you are timing yourself, go for a minute or two. Box breathing is done primarily to practice controlled breathing. There’s another breathing technique, the “tactical breath,” for when you are having a meltdown — perhaps preparing Thanksgiving dinner; or you’re preparing for a “dogfight” as Navy Seal Commander, Mark Divine, calls it. It’s very simple. The tactical breath involves breathing in to the count of four and breathing out to the count of eight. The ratio is important — breathe out twice as long as you inhale. If you can’t count, just try to make the exhale longer. Weil says it’s impossible to be anxious while taking deep, slow, breaths. You will see yourself respond increasingly better over time. Both the box breathing and tactical breathing are done in and out through the nose. When I was first introduced to breathing years ago, it felt totally foreign despite the fact that we all belly breathe as babies. Nevertheless, I gave it a whirl for a time or two, but it felt so

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November 2015

unnatural that I didn’t think it was worth the trouble. Later, about 14 years ago while undergoing a certification in emotional intelligence, I was introduced to the enormous benefits of breathing. I became a believer. Over the last couple of years life was so hunky-dory for me, that I gradually let my breathing practice slip away. Then, bam. I will spare you the personal details, let’s just say, recently I had a gut-wrenching emotionally charged encounter, a meltdown. My heartbeat raced and skipped, I wanted to scream, hit, cry, jump off a bridge. Immediately, I knew I needed to get back to my breathing practice to increase my emotional stability and better regulate my emotions. If someone asked me today, “What can I do with my body to live the good life?” I would answer, “You know about exercise, sleep, diet, even posture, but learn to breathe.” Now I practice box breathing for at least five minutes every day. I do the tactical breath periodically throughout the day or as needed. I imagine breathing like a baby. And nothing beats a good ole deep sigh now and then. May you have the strength, wisdom, and courage of 10 tigers. Enjoy the holidays. How might you move up to The Good Life by learning the art of breathing? 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

“P

earl was up for adoption at the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society and we were all so happy to be able to adopt her,” said Heather Vincent. “She is sweet, loving, happy, and so smart! Pearl is the best dog and she fits in perfectly with our family.” Left to right are Riley, Heather, Noah and Braden Vincent. Photo by Kathie Teeley

yonne Horst, Wenatchee and Miss Ellie were walking in the late afternoon sun near Pybus Public Market. Miss Ellie is a 6-year-old Keeshond/Dutch barge dog. Barge dogs are the national dog of Denmark and are on board many barges as a sign of good luck. Lyonne said that she rescued Miss Ellie after her retirement of being a show dog. “I’ve had her for three years and she has been a lot of fun,” said Lyonne. Photo by Donna Cassidy

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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

column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR

jim brown, m.d.

Gun violence — America’s unique epidemic Firearms kill more than

33,000 people each year in this country — about a third of those are homicides. No other country is close to our figures. Canada is second with 200 homicides a year and Italy, France and Germany each have less than 150. Why are we so unique? Since 1968, more Americans have died from gun violence than on the battlefields of all the wars in U.S. history. Many medical associations, including the American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Public Health Association, the American College of Physicians and many physicians, want gun violence to be designated as a public health issue. Most emergency room specialists and trauma specialists agree and say that in many cities the emergency rooms are treating patients that remind them of military hospitals in war zones. I personally do not have any issue with guns used in hunting and do not think it will be possible to restrict gun ownership in this country, but there are things that can be done. When I grew up in South Dakota, hunting was part of our culture. When I was 12 years old, my uncle gave me a 20-gauge shotgun so I could hunt with him. By the time I was 16, I had a 12 gauge pump shotgun and a rifle that used nine cartridge clips and had a telescope. I loved to hunt. In early fall we hunted the plentiful pheasants, and in late fall we hunted ducks followed by northern geese. In the winter when we weren’t iceskating on frozen lakes or rivers, my friends and I hunted jackrabbits with our rifles. A box of 50 long rifle hollow

A majority of these victims were not insured, so guess who pays the bill? We taxpayers do. point bullets then cost 75 cents, and mink farmers paid us 75 cents a rabbit, which were then used for mink feed. What a great deal we thought. In fact, we all thought we had a pretty great life growing up. I didn’t know anyone who owned a handgun back then. Violent crime seemed a rarity. In my early 20s I was in medical school in Chicago. The ’60s in our country were very tumultuous and upsetting — what with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Watts riots. In the late ’60s, the U.S. expanded its role in the Vietnam war. When our military was withdrawn in 1973, 50,000 Americans had been killed in addition to 250,000 Vietnam troops and 2,000,000 civilians. From 1968-1970 I was a U.S. Navy physician and personally saw the results of that conflict. I continually asked, “What was the justification for this war that has caused all this misery and death?” There were no good answers. When Robert Kennedy was assassinated on the night he had won the California presidential primary, that was the last straw for me. I was devastated and couldn’t believe what was happening. I wrote to my parents in South Dakota then and told them to get rid of my guns. I did not want to raise my children

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around guns wherever we were to settle some day. Those events of the ’60s have shaped my beliefs to what they are today. Currently, our Congress, backed by the gun lobby, strongly opposes designating gun violence as a public health issue. They suspect that this is an attempt to restrict gun ownership. President Obama’s nominee for America’s surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, was blocked by Congress for 18 months because he had suggested that gun violence is a public health issue. The House of Representatives has prohibited funds for research that would allow the CDC to study the causes of gun violence fearful that could lead to gun regulation. This seems ironic to me. In the decade of 2000-2010, there were 275,939 U.S. victims of gunfire violence, who spent 1.7 million days of hospitalization, costing over $19 billion. This does not include emergency room costs. Of these, 89 percent were male, over 60 percent were caused by hand guns, and 40 percent of the victims were between the ages of 20-30. A majority of these victims were not insured, so guess who pays the bill? We taxpayers do. Opponents of any gun legislation point out that automobiles also kill people. There is no question about that, but what is often not mentioned is that automobile safety has improved greatly over the years in part due to their public health approach to the problem. The automobile industry has systematically taken steps to make cars safer, and the death rate from automobile accidents has continued to fall as a re-

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November 2015

sult. These steps include seat belts and airbags and recently, blind spot detection, automatic braking if your car is following too close, and a warning if your car is drifting over the midline. Currently, the U.S. has an estimated 310,000,000 guns in civilian hands. In 2012 there were 8.6 million guns manufactured in the United States and an additional 4.8 million firearms were imported. There were 1 million to 2 million handguns manufactured in this country, with an additional 2.2 million handguns imported just in 2009. Despite these numbers, only one in three of us live in homes where a gun is present and only one in four Americans own a gun. Many gun owners say they feel safer if they have a gun in their house. That seems ironic to me since studies show that people who carry guns were 4.5 times as likely to be shot and 4.2 times as likely to be killed compared with unarmed citizens. As a physician I am personally convinced that gun violence is a public health issue. The public pays for it in many ways through loss of life and injuries as well as the economic burden. It is certainly a health issue with emergency room care and hospitalizations. There is no other way to characterize it. Yet there are measures that can be taken to improve this situation. It is hard for me to understand objections to gun registration, background checks and a waiting period for all purchased handguns. There is no justification for civilians to own or be able to purchase automatic

assault weapons that have only one purpose — to kill people. I think the best answer to the dilemma we face is to make all guns safer. Teenagers using guns should be required to have a gun safety course and be licensed to use guns just as they are to drive cars. Guns can be manufactured with methods to make them childproof so 4-year-old Johnnie won’t accidentally shoot his sister. If we can make “smart” phones, we can make “smart” handguns. These handguns, like my phone, would need a pin number in order to use it. When my phone is not in use, it automatically quits working until I enter my pin number. Stolen handguns — and about 250,000 guns are stolen each year — now used in criminal activity would not be usable to the gun thief. If I lose my phone there is a “find my phone” feature. This could also be incorpo-

rated into “smart” guns. America’s obsession with guns is not likely to change, but we can make changes to limit and decrease the deaths and injuries that they cause. In a recent article in The Washington Post, Jeffrey Zalles made an interesting suggestion. He said there already is a 200-year supply of guns in this country but only a four year supply of bullets. He suggests that rather than focusing on guns we should focus on the bullets. Buyers of ammunition would need to show their license to buy with a photo ID issued by the NRA. Secondly all bullet shells need to be stamped with a serial number and stores could easily scan the bar code on the license and bullet box. Shell casings at a crime scene could be easily traced and also it would be difficult for those who shouldn’t be buying bullets to acquire them. This would not infringe in any way on Second Amend-

ment rights. After all the NRA was founded in 1871 to advance marksmanship, promote gun safety and to provide training for gun owners, long before it became political. According to Michael Rosenwald, in his recent book titled Arms, “a recent Pew poll found that 49 percent of gun owners favor a ban on assault rifles and 61 percent favor a federal database of gun sales-positions the gun lobby vehemently opposes.” In addition, “almost 90 percent of gun owners favor background checks at gun shows. When was the last time you heard from these people?” Rosenwald added, “the NRA distracts us from serious policy questions and silences dissent by framing gun control as a culture war.” To which I ask: When is enough, enough? 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.

EXTRA COPIES of The Good Life are available at: Hastings, Safeway stores, Walgreens, Mike’s Meats at Pybus, Rhubarb Market, Martin’s Market Place (Cashmere) and A Book for All Seasons (Leavenworth)

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Lance’s 200 page book, Drawing and Sculpting the Figure (due out in 2016) epitomizes his classical roots with methods and philosophy of rendering the human figure.

Lance Dooley’s WVC digs include a big well-lighted classroom, shared office space and even this storage loft for materials and works in progress.

A crooked line Lance Dooley’s Road to becoming a working artist took a few important detours By Susan Lagsdin

Created in full view and me-

ticulously documented throughout 2013, the seven-foot-tall figure of E.T. Pybus in the center of Wenatchee’s waterfront marketplace was a very public art project. It showcased Lance Dooley’s talents from his initial sketches, through the inevitable mess of clay on metal armatures, to the completed bronzed statue. Before and particularly afterward, local gallery exhibits and smaller commissions have won him fans and buyers. But Lance, a professional artist and art teacher, knows some of his success in drawing, painting, and sculpting, ironically, came

from not making art. “Join the Army! See the world!” enticed Lance into five years of military service out of Wenatchee High School. He didn’t relish the Army, but he was incomparably enriched by it. First, it sent him into the field with his artillery squad where he drew range cards, drawing the landscape marked with corresponding distances. “My range cards were the super-deluxe version,” he remembers. Without realizing it then, he was practicing atmospheric and linear perspective and foreshortening, concepts integral to the visual arts. Secondly, the Army gave him Europe. Not the bars and bor-

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Currently displayed as a plaster cast at the Rainier Club in downtown Seattle, this cougar is 32 inches long. The original clay sculpture is in storage and awaits a buyer before being permanently bronzed.

dellos his buddies frequented, but classical art in gardens, castles and art museums. Lance remembers clearly the 400-year-old foot bridge in Wurzburg, Germany with niches along its course, each with the lifelike marble statue of a pope or a notable historic figure. He touched them often in passing, not knowing yet he would become a sculptor. Then ensued a whole decade of, again, not making much art. A civilian again, Lance took his early aptitude for scientific drawing into the study of

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November 2015

architecture at Washington State University. Once there, he veered to an engineering degree, fascinated with its physics, electro-magnetics, signal processing and robotic vision. In Seattle in the ’90’s, Lance found his niche as software developer. That wasn’t the most appropriate full time job for an artist. But by 1999 the paycheck bought him a house in Bellevue, where he made one room into a drawing and painting studio for himself, took serious life drawing classes, and began his foray

This proud eagle is now a bronze Veterans Memorial at the corner of Wenatchi Hall on the WVC campus. Lance can easily reconstitute a 3-D sculpture from only a front and side 2-D drawing.

into the world of professional art. Software development also financed his next big step, one that put him in the epicenter of the art world. Lance said, “Back then, the unspoken question was always ‘Where did you go to art school?’ and I hadn’t.” He decided if he were going to get educated at this late date, he’d do it in grand style. He said, “After decades of drawing and painting, I wanted to enroll in the most difficult and serious art school I could find.” He chose the Florence Academy of Art. “That city,” he said, “has the highest density of the best art made throughout history.” Within three years Lance had local friends, had became fluent in Italian and (with overseas travel and Manhattan-level rents) had invested $80,000 in his career.

Lance’s classical art education was definitely a worthwhile endeavor and a career changer, and after a move back to his home town a few years later it continues to sustain him. With students in his Wenatchee Valley College figure drawing classes he demonstrates line, contour and shadow and the anatomical interpolation of surface forms and bone structure. Displays of their drawings have a Renaissance air about them. His own work remains faithful to those three years of intense concentration on the classics. He sees drawing (with its silhouette or contour line) and sculpture (with its gesture and proportion) inexorably linked and has naturally incorporated them in his upcoming book, due in 2016, Drawing and Sculpting the Figure. The life of a teaching and

working visual artist, Lance believes, is a conundrum understood by poets, dancers, actors and musicians. Sharing his education and experience in the classroom every quarter doesn’t leave him much time and energy to make his own art. But creating — and waiting/ hoping to sell — individual pieces doesn’t pay bills regularly enough to risk leaving teaching. (One of Lance’s highly refined large bronze pieces, for example, can take months to prepare and cost thousands of dollars.) A few times after Italy he almost literally starved and almost literally froze as a struggling artist. Though Lance postulates that hungry artists can sometimes be more true to their art than popular ones, right now he’s quite happily juggling his two disparate “jobs.” He’s been enjoying instruction and the collegiality of the academic environment since 2010, and he has prepared sculptures ready to sell and a few new works always in progress. Lance said he knows enough now that he’s absolutely fearless about doing large sculpture projects. Thinking about the ET Pybus year, with its hundreds of hours of intense labor, he said, “In retrospect, I can see how daunting it was… even so, I would do another one like it without hesitation.” You can see the Pybus statue process and more of the artist’s work at www. lancedooley.com.

onor your veteran buried at any local cemetary. Stop in before December 1st to purchase a wreath to adorn your hero’s grave for only $15. This year, Wreaths Across America Day is Monday, November 30, 2015.

884-3561

www.telfordschapel.com

WHAT TO DO

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

NCW Blues Jam, every second and fourth Monday, 7:30 – 11 p.m. Columbia Valley Brewery, 538 Riverside Dr, Wenatchee. Info: facebook. com/NCWBluesJam. Wenatchee Farmers Market, every Wednesday, 4 – 8 p.m. and Saturday, 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. Pybus Public Market. Weekly Club Runs, every Thursday check in between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. at Saddle Rock Pub and Brewery. Either a 5k or 10k walk or run on the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail. Complete 10 weekly runs and receive a free shirt. Cost: free (other than a smile). Info: Joel Rhyner 387-0051. 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. Pack Walks, every 4th Sunday at 3 p.m. Bring your friends and dogs on leashes and walk the riverfront trail. Meet on the loop behind Pybus Public Market at the boat launch. Info: wenatcheefido.org. Pybus University: Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology, 11/3, 7 – 8 p.m. Join Rhett Humphrey from Jones of Washington for an evening of debunking some common myths associated with wine and enjoy a little wine tasting to get you ready

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Usher in the holidays with Brad Miller and the

Silent movies!

Your locally owned and operated independent funeral home & crematory.

711 Grant Road, East Wenatchee

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Eastmont Kiwanis.

Proudly serving those who have proudly servedsm November 2015 | The Good Life

Singalongs! Popcorn!

Liberty Theater Pipe Organ

Thursday & Friday, Nov. 27-28 1:00-2:30 matinees at the Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center Regular museum admission

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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 for the holiday season. Pybus Public Market. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. First Friday: n Two Rivers Art Gallery, 11/5, 5 – 8 p.m. Featuring the works of Walter Graham. Watercolor, oil paintings and bronze will be exhibited, some for the first time. Music by Well Strung, Jac Tiechner on guitar and Steve Sanders on base. Wines by Stemilt Creek Winery and complimentary refreshments. 102 N Columbia, Wenatchee. Cost: free. Info: 2riversgallery.com. n Merriment Party Goods, 11/5, 5 – 8 p.m. Featuring handcrafted, custom made jewelry and religious items from Ruthy Lou Designs. Ruth has been making jewelry for 14 years and her jewelry is casual, hip, budget friendly and made with love and dedication. Come meet Ruth. Snacks and beverages. 23, S Wenatchee Ave. Cost: free. Info: facebook.com/merrimentpartygoods. n Tumbleweed Bead Co., 11/5, 5-7 p.m. Chad Yenney of Computarded will be here. He hand cuts collages using old magazines and glues them together with rubber cement. His collages are unique and eclectic. Refreshments served. 105 Palouse St. Cost: free. Info: tumbleweedbeadco.com. n Small Artworks Gallery, 11/5, 5 p.m. Local artists works will be on display at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Info: wvmcc.org. Legally Blonde the musical, 11/5, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14, 7 p.m. The Eastmont High School Drama Depart-

ment will perform. Eastmont High School auditorium. Info: numericapac.org.

Manson’s Winter Festival and Village of Lights, 11/7 – 12/5. Info: lakechelan.com.

Cowspiracy, 11/5, 7 p.m. This film is a groundbreaking feature-length environmental documentary following filmmaker Kip Anderson as he uncovers the most destructive industry facing the planet today – and investigates why the world’s leading environmental organizations are too afraid to talk about it. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $12 advance or $14 at the door. Info: icicle.org.

NWAC Tennis Jamboree, 11/7, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Schools from the Northwest Association of Community Colleges gather at the WRAC for a tennis Jamboree. Cost: free.

Business Expo, 11/5, 5 - 7:30 p.m. The NCW Hispanic Chamber of Commerce along with the NCW Hispanic Empowerment Fund will host a business expo. All funds gathered will go to support local nonprofit organizations who’s mission is to ensure that every student is given the opportunity for higher education. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: Mina Gomez 6687296. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 11/6, 6 p.m. Cast from the musical will perform some of the songs from this Wenatchee High School musical. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Dedric Clark and the social animals, 11/6, 7 – 9 p.m. Live music on the railcar. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Red Barn Event – Exploring New Guinea’s Lost Worlds, 11/6, 7 p.m. Smithsonian ornithologist Bruce Beehler shares the remote Foja Mountains of western New Guinea, rare birds of paradise, golden mane bowerbirds and creatures you could never imagine. Wenatchee River Institute at Barn Beach Reserve, Leavenworth. Cost: $5. Info: wenatcheeriverinstitute. org.

NCW Association of Realtors food drive, 11/7 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. Please help support and help feed the hungry by filling a bag of nonpersishable food items and drop off at: Dan’s Food Market, Leavenworth; Martin’s Market Place, Cashmere; Food Pavilion, East Wenatchee, and Grocery Outlet, Wenatchee. All proceeds benefit local food banks: The Salvation Army, Cashmere Food Bank, Leavenworth Food Cupboard and Oroville Food Bank. Local author book buzz, 11/7, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Browse books and meet the authors. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Holiday Open House and Wine Walk, 11/7, noon – 5 p.m. Downtown Wenatchee. Start at Davis Furniture or Out on a Whim. Info: Wenatchee.org. RotaryFest Tailgate Party, 11/7, 5 p.m. Huge choice of tailgate food, beer, wine and snacks, silent auction, live auction, raffle items, grand drawing and the dessert dash. Play games, win prizes and surprises. Leavenworth Festhalle. Wear your favorite team jersey. Cost: $50. Info: leavenworthrotaryfest.com. Americana, 11/7, 7 p.m. Live performance by the Wenatchee Valley Symphony, featuring the 2015 young musician competition winner Malena Evig. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Info: wenatcheesymphony.org.

2015 N UMERICA

FESTIVAL TREES of

W E N AT C H E E

Kairos Quartet, 11/7, 7 p.m. Carrie Rehkopf and Denise Dillenbeck, violin; Timothy Betts, viola; and John Michel, cello, perform Beethoven op. 18, no. 5, Schnittke Polka, and Walton Quartet. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $22 or $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org. Snow Fest fundraiser, 11/7, 7 – 10 p.m. Raffle, spirits, music and more. Leavenworth Winter Sports Club event. Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort. Cost: $25 online or $30 at the door. Info: skileavenworth.com. Wildfires and us summit, 11/9, 3 – 8 p.m. Learn what we can do as a community to reduce the risk of loss from wildfires. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Info: Wenatchee.org. Coffee with a cop, 11/10, 10 – 11:30 a.m. The Wenatchee Police Department will be available for questions, concerns and a get to know the officers in your neighborhood. No agenda or speeches. Café Columbia, Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org. Pybus University, 11/10, 7 p.m. Honor by Listening – The Story of Veterans and their perspective of past-armed conflicts. Members of VFW Post 3617 will offer their stories and perspectives on past wars. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Veteran’s Day Parade, 11/11, 10 a.m. - noon. The parade will pass through downtown Wenatchee, stopping for a 21-gun salute in front of the library in Memorial Park at 11 a.m. Veteran’s Day Parade, 11/11, 11 – 11:30 a.m. Downtown Chelan. Dinner and a movie, 11/12. Dine at O’Grady’s between 1 – 7 p.m. Movie: Paradise Waits at Snowy Owl Theater, 7 p.m. Proceeds benefit Leavenworth Winter Sports Club. Movie cost: $12 advance or $14 at the door. Info: sleepinglady.com. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 11/12, 6:30 p.m. Monthly movie on the big screen. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $3. Info: numericapac. org. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 11/1214 and 19-21, 7:30 p.m. Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. Wenatchee High School Music Department’s live performance. WHS auditorium. Cost: $20 adults and $15 students. Tickets: PAC box office or numeri-

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November 2015

The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

briar Hoper: theater of the fun architect By Marlene Farrell

ix musicals in six years — that is what Briar Hoper has accomplished since she revived Amberleaf Theatre, a Leavenworth tradition that dates back to the 1960s. Amberleaf began and continues to be original stage productions by and for the community, performed in association with the Autumn Leaf Festival. Briar, as the current director, emphasizes song, dance and slapstick. She hasn’t done it alone. But she has been the brains behind the script, choreography and directing. Briar was looking for an idea for this year’s musical. “How about Lord of the Phones?” her son, Hawthorne, age 8, suggested. Briar mulled it over, made a slight change, and Lord of the Ringtones was born. The play, performed in early October, would be a spoof of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, but with a focus on an all-powerful cell phone. As always, the musical would also be locally situated, offering up good-natured jabs at the Bavarian village. Briar has proven to be a master at blending pop culture and famous musicals for her annual show. She conceives and writes the script in about three months, when she is not busy homeschooling her two sons, running a dance academy, hosting dance summer camps or acting and singing in various local productions. “I do a lot of the writing after Hawthorne and Carver go to

Briar Hoper directs Chase Runions, one of the stars of this year’s Amberleaf, to “go big.” Photo by Kevin Farrell

bed,” she said. “But I’ll also work in a coffee shop. One year I wrote the bulk of the script over four hours in the bathtub. The water was quite cold when I was done.” Briar is a veteran performer, having danced since she was six and been a member of Amberleaf casts when she was a teenager. She fell into teaching dance after college. “I taught swim lessons in college and realized I was a good teacher and enjoyed it.” That, combined with her extensive dance background and the sudden availability of affordable studio space, led her to start her dance academy for youngsters in 1997. Since then, she has directed annual productions of the Nutcracker, filling the roles with her students. Amberleaf Theatre differs from the Nutcracker, because the make up of her cast varies from year to year and comes from the community. “This year I wrote the show with groups of adults, kids and teens in mind,” she said. “Amberleaf has always November 2015 | The Good Life

been inclusive. Everyone chips in and has ownership of the production.” She witnesses the transformation of newbie actors as their confidence and skills grow. “I love watching the development of actors, young and old, as they become more comfortable on the stage and want more — more lines, more challenge,” she added. Rose Babiar and her daughter Sophie have returned to act in Amberleaf for their second year. “It takes us out of our comfort zone in a good way,” explained Rose. “Briar is serious about practices and learning lines, while helping us overcome challenges and adapting her choreography, so we all feel capable. And she reminds us that it’s supposed to be fun.” Jenn Crawford, like others new to Amberleaf Theatre, has been able to grow into her roles under Briar’s tutelage. Jenn said, “I feel at ease immediately seeing her in both ‘mommy mode’ with her own young sons and directing us at the same time. She has a knack www.ncwgoodlife.com

for focusing on one or two pieces so that we can begin to feel an immediate improvement happening as a result of her comments.” Briar creates the dances for Amberleaf, 10 in this year’s show, by getting a big picture in her head, adding elements, and writing herself cryptic shorthand notes. During rehearsals, however, she rarely consults her notes, and leads the awkward participants smoothly through the routines. Over time the participants improve their kinesthetic and spatial memories, and the dances flow. Briar makes clever use of familiar songs with new lyrics to tell the story and also give the actors opportunities to “ham it up,” as she often reminds them. In Lord of the Ringtones, Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire is not sweetly sung but screeched by fiery specters threatening the hobbit heroes. The actors learn to be versatile, dancing the polka in one scene and hip-hop in another. Beethoven’s Fifth punctuates a pantomimed quarrel. Briar and the other members of her professional trio sing the more challenging songs, including an adapted version of Agony from Into the Woods. Briar used another request made by her sons, Hawthorne and Carver. They loved the Minecraft computer game parody of Miley Cyrus’ song Wrecking Ball. Kid actors, ages five to eight, get to sing about the woes of Minecrafters beset by a mob of Creepers. It will be a hit with the younger members of the audience. Amberleaf shows are built through the efforts of many, but Briar is the architect. Her husband, Jefferson said, “Writing a script is sort of like building a house, which she can also do. Having a project keeps her happy, and finishing it makes her content.”

Food & Drink Guide

WHAT TO DO

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}}} Continued from page 34 capac.showare.com. Lake Chelan Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner, 11/13, 6 – 9 p.m. Cost: $32. Info: 682-3503. Gary Stroutsos, 11/13, 7 p.m. Gary Stroutsos performs world flute music drawn from many traditional cultures. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $22 or $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org. Hairspray, 11/13-15 and 20-22, 7:30 p.m. Saturday matinees 2 p.m. Wenatchee High School Choral Department’s live performance. WHS auditorium. Cost: $18 adults, $15 students. Tickets: Pak-It-Rite or whs.wsd.wednet.edu. Holiday Gift Fair, 11/14, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Jewelry, crafts, artwork beads, home decor, pottery, gifts, hand -crafted collectibles and more. Senior Center and Foothills Middle School. Cost: free.

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Entiat Holiday Bazaar, 11/14, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Over 40 purveyors of various sundries and gifts. Santa arrives at noon with his bag of toys. Magician Jason Sims will also dazzle with his magic tricks. Entiat High School gym. Info: 784-2104. Sip and Stroll, 11/14, 3 – 6 p.m. Spend a relaxing afternoon with friends, stroll through downtown Chelan and sip some of the valleys finest wines. 10 local merchants, 10 wineries and small bites from area restaurants and caterers. Most retailers will have special offerings. Info: 682-8700. Ladies Night Out, 11/14, 6 p.m. Make it a night out with the ladies and come party in Plain. Receive a free gift with any purchase and complimentary homemade cookies. Plain Hardware. Info: plainhardware@hotmail.com.

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Laugh Riot, 11/14, 7 - 10 p.m. Ty Barnett, runner up on Last Comic Standing and Geoff Young, one of the pioneers of Seattle standup for four decades will be featured. Wenatchee Convention Center. Advanced tickets: $23. Info: Jason Austin 669-0821. Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, 11/14, 7 p.m. Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana is one of the nation’s premier flamenco and Spanish dance companies and in its 32nd season. Snowy Owl Theater.

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November 2015

Cost: $28 or $32 at the door. Info: icicle.org. Jim Brickman, 11/14, 7:30 p.m. Live performance. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Info: numericapac.org. Seahawk Rally, 11/15, 3 p.m. Join “Thomas the Seahawk fanatic” and other 12’s in a Seahawk rally. Wear your Seahawk clothing and raise the 12th man flag. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Pybus University: Light, Angle, Motion and Sound, 11/17, 7 p.m. This class will begin the exploration of photography and video through light, angles, motions and sounds. Whether you’re brand new to shooting or you’ve been doing it for years, you will be introduced to new techniques and practices used by professionals in the field. Charley Voorhis will also talk about the wide range of equipment options and costs associated with each. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Wild Reverence, 11/17, 7 p.m. This film shares the stories of West Coast steelhead, their iconic struggle in our rivers and the people who love them and are trying to ensure their survival for future generations. Barn Beach Reserve, Leavenworth. No host refreshments including local wine and beer. Cost: by donation. Info: wenatcheeriverinstitute.org. Environmental Film – Food Chains, 11/17, 7 – 9 p.m. The film focuses on an intrepid and highly lauded group of tomato pickers from Southern Florida – the Coalition of Immokalee Workers or CIW – who are revolutionizing farm labor. Their story is one of hope and promise for the triumph of morality over corporate greed – to ensure a dignified life for farm workers and a more humane, transparent food chain. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: suggested donation: $5. Info: Wenatchee. org. Film Series: Hamlet, 11/19, 7 p.m. Academy Award nominee Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC’s Sherlock, The Imitation Game, Frankenstein at the National Theatre) takes on the title role of Shakespeare’s great tragedy. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $12 or $14 at the door. Info: icicle.org. Festival of Trees, 11/19-22. Numerica Festival of Trees is North Central Washington’s premier holiday event organized by local

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column the night sky this month

Peter Lind

Predawn parade of planets For those who like to go out

and watch the bright planets show themselves, November is the month that offers a lot to see. The only problem is timing. It all takes place in the early morning, with Venus, Jupiter, and Mars dancing together in constellations Leo and Virgo. The evening sky has a few of its own treasures to find, but only one, bright Saturn, shines magnificently. Binocular users should be able to easily track down Uranus and Neptune in the evening hours after dark, and the large telescope can grab Pluto as it makes a close pass to a naked-eye star in Sagittarius. Let’s start in the evening twilight during early November. On the first, Saturn will be about the span of an open hand above the Southwest horizon with a good western view. East Wenatchee will have a good view of Saturn in the late evening twilight. A decent pair of binoculars on Fancher Heights would give excellent views of Saturn. The ringed planet sits among the stars of northern Scorpius, just northwest of the constellation’s bright star, Anteres. As the month progresses, both Saturn and Anteres sink towards the horizon. Both will disappear sometime during the month’s second week. From our perspective, Saturn passes behind the sun on Nov. 29. Neptune is much higher in the evening sky. The planet lies in the background stars of Aquarius, the water bearer, in an area that is almost due south and about half way to the zenith once darkness falls. Neptune glows very dim, so you’ll need binoculars or a small telescope to track it down. Because of

planetary mechanics, Neptune remains in almost the same position all month long. Northeast of Aquarius is the constellation Pisces the Fish, the current home of Uranus. It reached opposition with best visibility in October but remains a fine sight all through November as it resides more than half way to zenith in the evening sky. Uranus glows much brighter than Neptune and is very easy to spot through binoculars; in dark places people with good vision have seen Uranus with no optical aid. Pluto can be found in the constellation Sagittarius, as it passes within a finger’s width of the star Xi2. This star is visible with the naked eye, but as Pluto passes it you’ll need at least a 10inch mirrored telescope to see it. As we move to the morning sky, we find Jupiter appearing first on the horizon. It rises just after 2 a.m. on the first and by the 30th it comes up two hours earlier. Jupiter also grows in brightness throughout the month. As Jupiter climbs higher in the sky, experienced viewers start looking for surface features, especially turbulence in the boundaries of the cloud bands. You will definitely want to watch Venus and Mars as they dance with each other during the first few days of November. On the first, they clear the horizon a half hour after Jupiter and appear as far apart as your little finger is wide, and the gap closes even further through the week. Venus will be about 250 times brighter than the still easily seen Mars. A small telescope will put them both in the same field of view, but they will look stunningly different. Venus is a white disk that looks like a minNovember 2015 | The Good Life

iature first quarter moon, while Mars appears as a full disk but a dull orange color. On the sixth, a waning crescent moon sits just to the right of Jupiter, and then on the seventh it moves to within two finger widths of Venus and Mars. Grab your camera and see if you can’t get a picture on these two mornings. Just as the sun starts to cast light above the eastern horizon would make an incredible photo. The night of Nov. 17/18 brings the peak of the annual Leonid meteor shower. A waxing crescent moon sets about 10 p.m., leaving the best morning hours glare free. The meteors appear to radiate from the sickle asterism in Leo the Lion, a region that is high in the southeast after midnight. It is thought that observers under clear, dark skies will see up to 15 meteors per hour. The Leonid meteors strike Earth’s atmosphere at 45 miles per second, the fastest of any meteors. The high speed means they produce more fireballs-bright meteors that usually flash more brilliantly than most showers. If you read this column regularly, you might remember I’ve been on a hunt for Pluto. Throughout the years, for some reason, Pluto never sparked my interest. That was until the probe, New Horizons stirred up all the interest in poor little Pluto. I was invited to a fall star party hosted by the Seattle Astronomical Society that took place near Goldendale. On Thursday night, along with a very detailed star chart of the area, I found star patterns that matched my chart. With a pad and pencil and red light, so I didn’t ruin my vision, I drew all the stars I saw in my eyepiece. www.ncwgoodlife.com

Two days later on Saturday, I went back to the same field, and again drew all the stars I saw. Comparing the two drawings it was easy to find Pluto, the “star” that moved. Most planets in our solar system have a very definite disk, and a few have surface features. To me, Pluto appeared as a very dim star that faded in and out of my view due to the atmosphere, and seeing conditions. It was quite an experience, and I look forward to the next time I chase down poor little Pluto. Until next month, grab a friend, some warm clothes, a pair of binoculars, and go out under the night sky and do some exploring. Peter Lind is a local amateur astronomer. He can be reached at ppjl@ juno.com.

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}}} Continued from page 36 volunteers and funded by local businesses and families. The weekend is a true community event to raise funds for the Numerica PAC, a non-profit organization that hosts world-class entertainment in Downtown Wenatchee and a quality theater for local performers. There will be a display of 11 large trees and over 50 4-foot trees, mini trees and wreaths. Patrons may bid

n Holiday Spice, 11/19, 7 p.m. A poignant holiday revue featuring the area’s best performers saluting the season through dance, music, comedy, and spoken word performances. Cost: $19 -29. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Info: numericapac.org.

season. Enjoy small local bites, win prizes, toast with a classy drink, and capture the night with your girlfriends at the photo booth. Then prepare to dance the night with your favorite hits by DJ Greg. The grand prize of the evening will go to the lady with the best little black dress ensemble. Must be 21 or older. Grand Apple Ballroom at Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $25. Info: numericapac.org.

n Little Black Dress Party, 11/20, 7 p.m. A night to don your favorite party dress and cute shoes for a ladies-only event of the

n Live Auction and Gala Dinner, 11/21, 5 p.m. The evening begins with a cocktail hour, featuring Masa the Magician, followed by

on most of the trees and wreaths in a silent auction by 11/22. Info: numericapac.org.

From:

a sumptuous multi-course dinner and live auction hosted by Seattle celebrity auctioneer John Curley and PAC Executive Director, Matt Cadman. Grand Apple Ballroom. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $100. Info: numericapac.org. Seahawk Rally, 11/20, 3 p.m. Join “Thomas the Seahawk fanatic” and other 12’s in a Seahawk rally. Wear your Seahawk clothing and raise the 12th man flag. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Erin McNamee, 11/20, 7 – 9 p.m.

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WHAT TO DO

Live music on the railcar. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Holiday Artisan Fair, 11/21, 22, all day. 40 juried local and regional vendors including crafts, holiday gifts, décor, jewelry, art and more. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org. Opera Series: Lulu, 11/21, 9:30 a.m. Acclaimed artist and director William Kentridge (The Nose) applies his unique theatrical vision to Berg’s notorious femme fatale who shatters lives, including her own. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $22 or $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org. CHRIS LUQUETTE & FRIENDS, 11/21, 7:30 p.m. Cashmere Community Concerts. A night of acoustic bluegrass favorites and originals, with an emphasis on flat-picking. CCC at Cashmere Riverside Center. Cost: $3 at the door and pass the hat. Info: www.cashmereconcerts.com. Mannheim Steamroller Christmas, 11/23, 7 – 10 p.m. Live performance. Town Toyota Center. Cost: $40. Info: towntoyotacenter. com. Fowl Play 5K, 11/26, 9 a.m. Com-

munity family run through Leavenworth. Cost: $25 adults, $15 students. Info: fowlplay5k@gmail. com. Turkey on the run, 11/26, 9 a.m. – noon. 12k, 5k and kids race. Rotary Park. Info: runwenatchee.com. Holiday Pipe Organ Program, 11/26, 27, 1 – 2:30 p.m. Organist Brad Miller will perform Christmas tunes, sing-alongs and silent films accompanied by the museum’s 1919 Liberty Theater pipe organ. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: $5 adults, $4 seniors/students, $2 kids 6-12. Info: Wenatchee.org. Lake Chelan Valley’s Fall Barrel Tasting, 11/27-29. Taste warming reds right from the barrel and linger over a sample of what could be a double-gold winner at future wine competitions. Info: lakechelanwinevalley.com. A Small Town Christmas, 11/2712/21. Stroll through Historic Downtown Chelan enjoying the holiday lights and the merchant windows decked out for the Holiday Window Display Contest. Portraits with Santa noon – 2 p.m. at the Vogue and free Holiday matinee movie at

November 2015 | The Good Life

the Ruby Theater 2 p.m. on each of the first three Saturdays in December. Info: lakechelan.com.

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Eden Moody, 11/27, 7 – 9 p.m. Live music on the railcar. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

column those were the days

rod molzahn

First families: The early white settlers For thousands of years Na-

tive American families, husbands, wives and children lived in the Wenatchee Valley. They weren’t interested in building a town. That was not their way of life. When the Ingram/McBride trading post in a tent went up about 1869 at the confluence it was step one towards the creation of Wenatchee. Then it was a gathering of a few white men, tents and rough cabins. The exception was Mr. and Mrs. S.W. Perkins who, in 1870, bought a Squatter’s Claim of 160 acres below Squaw Saddle from John McBride. They were the first white family in the valley. They lasted only a year before selling out to Phillip Miller. The non-native population of the valley went back to a few white men along with a bunch of Chinese miners. It was 11 years before that changed. Real town building required women and children and their civilizing influence. The Tripp family was the first

Real town building required women and children and their civilizing influence. to start that movement. Tallman and Arzilla Tripp with their young daughter, Eva, crossed Colockum Pass into the Wenatchee Valley in October of 1882. Their first visit to the Miller/Freer store was Oct. 19. They took a Squatter’s Claim on 160 acres fronting on the Columbia River on the north end of what would become Wenatchee. Their homestead was north of the land claimed by Tom Doak, a bachelor, who also arrived in 1882. The Tripps were from Missouri. They lived during the year of 1877 in the Antelope Valley of Oregon before moving to Ellensburg then to the Blewett mines and back to Ellensburg in 1879 before settling in Wenatchee.

Tallman Tripp was a founding member of the Settler’s Ditch Company organized to build an irrigation ditch from Squilchuck Creek to the Wenatchee Flat. In 1889 Tripp purchased a sawmill on the upper Squilchuck but shut down the mill after two money-losing years. In June of 1891 the Tripps sold their homestead to the Wenatchee Development Company and bought 240 acres in the Mission Creek area where they lived until Mrs. Tripp’s death in 1906. The year 1883 brought three more families to the valley. The Charles Hollenbeck family arrived in the summer and made their first appearance in the Miller store ledger in August of 1883. They were followed by Christopher Columbus Rickman, a Missouri native, his wife from Salem, Oregon and three children. The Rickmans arrived in late 1883 and settled on 160 acres on the west side of Western Avenue between Fifth Street and Washington Street. The next year a fourth child, Ione, was born — the first white

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November 2015

child born in what is now Chelan County. On April 3 of 1897, Christopher Rickman was killed in an accident on Colockum Pass. One story claims a four-horse team pulling his freight wagon spooked and ran. However, a family descendant recounted recently that while Rickman was working on his loaded wagon a large trunk fell from the top of the load and killed him. It’s possible that both stories contain truth and are, likely, two parts of the same story. On Oct. 14, 1883, George Washington Blair of Ohio, his wife, Margaret, a Missouri native, stepson Charles Davis and four daughters, Mamie, Grace, Pearl and two-year-old Alice set off with their wagon and team from Ellensburg. They headed up Colockum Pass bound for the Wenatchee Valley. It was slow going. An early snowstorm forced them to spend a cold night on the summit on the 16th. They reached the Galler home in Malaga on the 18th where they found warm weather and saw the potential of the valley in Dutch John’s irrigated orchard, vineyard and vegetable garden. George Blair had come to the valley a short time earlier and staked out a claim to 160 acres near Miller and Millerdale streets. However, when he returned with his family he discovered that a man named Holcomb had thrown up a crude cabin on the site. The Blairs moved north and settled on land east of Western Avenue between Fifth Street and Washington Street. They were neighbors to the Rickmans.

The Blairs started the backbreaking work of grubbing out sagebrush and rocks where they began planting apples, apricots and peaches. George joined the effort to complete the Settler’s Ditch bringing water to his land and others. George got the first contract to carry mail on horseback from Ellensburg to Wenatchee, Waterville and Conconully. In 1887 George Washington Blair and Christopher Columbus Rickman joined forces to operate a stage coach to carry mail and passengers over the Wenatchee Mountains. By that

time the Colockum Road/trail had been widened to better accommodate wagons. George Blair had no formal education and learned to read and write from Margaret after they married. He became a strong proponent of education and saw the need for a school for all the children coming to the valley. He was instrumental in forming the first school district in the new town, served as a director and worked to help construct the first school building. His step-son, Charles Davis, was the school’s first teacher. George and Margaret Blair lived out their lives on their

homestead giving 20 acres to each of their daughters as they married. Blair descendants still reside in the valley. Other families followed and the town began to take shape. In 1885 the E.C. Burch family with four adult children all claimed homesteads at the foot of Burch Mountain in the area of Confluence Park and Olds Station. Also in 1885 Pete Wheeler Sr. and his wife, Medora, came from Nebraska with five children and settled on the plateau between the Squilchuck and Stemilt Valleys, an area still known as Wheeler Hill. Their young son, Pete Jr., rode his horse down

from the hill to attend the public school taught by Charles Davis. Young Pete grew up to become both the Wenatchee Police chief and Chelan County sheriff during the Depression. It was thought by many that Sheriff Wheeler was too friendly with area moonshiners during Prohibition years. 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.

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column ALEX ON WINE

ALEX SALIBY

Where does flavor in wine come from? She asked politely, “Where

exactly do all those flavors come from?” She was young and curious and seemed anxious to learn about the wine. She and her partner, an equally curious though less talkative young man, had stopped at a tasting room where I was working that day. Hers was not the first such question I’ve fielded over the years, both at private wine events and at tasting rooms around the area. Depending on the wine being tasted, I’ve been asked: “Did someone add raspberry juice — or black cherry or grapefruit juice or lemon to the wine?” Perhaps this column will help answer the question: Where does that flavor come from? I’ll try to break the answer down into the essential components of a wine’s aroma and flavor profile: the wine writer, the grape, the yeast, the winemaker(s), the barrels and finally, the cellar. The wine writer: All those descriptive phrases provided by the wine writers come directly

from the writer’s imagination and creative juices. For certain, one of the components of all wines is acids. And in some instances, the acids are indeed identifiable as being similar to the olfactory characteristics of lemon, lime, pineapple and grapefruit. However, identifying the acid, as one writer described the wine: “Hints of Meyer lemons fresh from the groves near Temecula” is a display of the writer’s creative side. In this case she, and it was a she, got the lemon part, but that whole Meyer-grown-in-Temecula thing was pure imagination. The grapes: This component is more complicated. As an example, I offer these as typical aromatic and flavor characteristics of the grape Cabernet Sauvignon: berries, black cherries, black currant and plum. Other characteristics commonly identified, such as herbaceous and green bell pepper odors, seem to be more an aspect of less ripened fruit than of ripe grapes themselves. The yeast: Renowned wine writer and judge Jack Keller said it best: “The process of making wine is simple. Single cell plants of the genus Saccharomyces consume sugar in grape or other fruit juice and transform it into approximately equal parts of alcohol and carbon dioxide. “It is the single celled plants that we commonly call yeasts that are the real winemakers. The humans who usurp the name winemaker are largely technicians.” Jack Keller should also have added that the choice of yeast affects the final aromas of the wine. The winemaker: Prof. Roger

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Boulton of the University of California’s Davis campus in the Department of Viticulture and Enology summed up the role of the winemaker this way: “All a winemaker is doing is preventing spoilage, introducing some style characteristics and bottling it.” What Boulton seems to downplay, though, is the importance of those style characteristics in determining the wines aromas and flavors. Change the winemaker’s decision on which oak barrels or for how long the wine should age in the barrels, and you change the final product. The barrels: Perhaps the most important style characteristic the winemaker introduces is in the selection of oak. It begins with the choice of using oak or not, and continues on to which oak and how much, and new versus prior use. Millions of gallons of wine are made in vats or tanks other than oak. In fact, unoaked Chardonnay is all the rage these days. But the fact is that oak plays a role in the vast majority of wines made both here at home and all around the globe. Technology has grown sophisticated enough in the barrel making and toasting business that the wineries can order barrels guaranteed to provide the wines with detailed aroma and flavor profiles. Two barrel manufactures go so far as to specify they can toast a barrel in such a way as to impart aromas of cooked bacon on the finished wine. The next time you identify those aromas: vanilla, mocha, coffee, licorice, chocolate, violets, you’ll know those characteristics came to the wine in the oak barrel.

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The cellar: We need to spend a few minutes on the wine bottle that’s in the wine cellar because it is in that final environment where the finishing touches are developed in the wine’s aroma and flavor profiles. Three important changes occur in the bottle, assuming the wine has been stored at temperatures at or slightly below 60 degrees F: n The color of the wine lightens because the tannic acid molecules have affixed themselves to the pigment molecules and the newly formed polymers settle out of the wine; n The tannins that remain in the wine become less bitter and less astringent with time in the bottle, n And the aromas of the fruits change from freshly picked fruits to dried fruits. The plums become prunes, if you will. One final note, life in the cellar is not eternal. All wines, inexpensive ones and reserve, pricey ones have a cellar life. The less expensive ones: two to three years maximum. Most of the best of the best, 15 to 20 years tops for that lifecycle. But what you really want is to open the bottle when it’s at the top of its quality/complexity curve. For most Washington top reds, that’s around the 8 to 10 year period. As you can see, the answer to “Where do all those aromas and flavors come from?” is not easy to explain. 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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