November 2017 The Good Life

PIE, YES PIE, FOR BREAKFAST Y EVENTS CALENDAR

WENATCHEE VALLEY’S

NUMBER ONE MAGAZINE

November 2017

OPEN FOR FUN AND ADVENTURE

Price: $3

‘They always take a shoehorn to my heart and stretch it out one Stories of feeling fine by doing good size larger.’

Molly Steere

plus awkward little lot yields a graceful home 20 years as a medical guinea pig

joel lhamon Price: $3

rich watson www.ncwgoodlife.com

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Contents

page 20

well conceived home lets the light in Features

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20 years a medical guinea pig

Poked and prodded, subjected to difficult memory tests, scanned by a robot — all in the name of science

8 office mom

Molly Steere has found a way to help foster kids in transition, and it makes her heart sing

10 reframing more than retiring

When Rich Watson left his employment, he upped his labors in helping his community

12 hail valhalla

The Most Important Meeting of the Day...

A break in the weather creates an opportunity for a fast hike into a classic wonder

14 amazing greenland

Late summer reveals dramatic mountains, glaciers running to the sea and the tundra in full bloom

16 Climbing the space needle

Step by step, raising money for cancer treatment

18 an overlooked piece of wwii

A nightmare inspired veteran to research and then write about an under-reported battle area of WWII

20 Graceful house on an awkward lot

Clever house design and reshaping the landscape creates a view home with a private yard Art sketches n Actor and director Matthew Pippin, page 30 n Author Laraine Burrell , page 33 The World’s #1 Selling Spa Brand Come See Why.

Columns & Departments 17 Pet Tales: Morning at the Hale dog park 25 Bonnie Orr: Pie for breakfast 26 June Darling: On a hunt for the good stuff 28 The traveling doctor: Type 2 diabetes 30-35 Arts & Entertainment & a Dan McConnell cartoon 36 History: Sam Miller was a welcoming man 38 That’s life: Tagging a calf November 2017 | The Good Life

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OPENING SHOT

®

Year 11, Number 11 November 2017 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, Travis Knoop, Susan Rae Sampson, Molly Steere, Nancy Warner, Joel Lhamon, Brad Brisbine, Vicki Olson Carr, Annamarie Harden, John Darling, Allison M. Bergstrom, Donna Cassidy, Bonnie Orr, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin and Rod Molzahn Advertising: Terry Smith and Lianne Taylor Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna Cassidy Proofing, Dianne Cornell Ad design, Clint Hollingsworth Video editor, Aaron Cassidy 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 Safeway stores, Walgreens, Mike’s Meats at Pybus, Rhubarb Market, Martin’s Market Place (Cashmere) and Dan’s Food Market (Leavenworth)

Fall morning at Lake Wenatchee

By Travis Knoop

Fall brings with it a sense

of change, ushering in a season of shorter days, dips in temperature and leaves turning bold colors.

Flip flops and shorts are reluctantly traded for boots and fleece while summertime toys are exchanged with winter

counterparts in anticipation of the first snow.

Visiting Lake Wenatchee on this moody and misty morning had me reflecting on the sunny days filled with laughter and excitement that fill the State Park all summer long, now transformed into a quiet and peaceful scene.

This image, and many more by different photographers, can be found at www.ChelanCountyCommons.com, a stock photography website focused on our local area. Whether you need an

ADVERTISING: For information about advertising in The Good Life, contact Terry Smith at (509) 8854922, Lianne Taylor at (509) 6696556 or sales@ncwgoodlife.com WRITE FOR THE GOOD LIFE: We welcome articles about people from Chelan and Douglas counties.

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

The Good Life® is a registered trademark of NCW Good Life, LLC. Copyright 2017

by NCW Good Life, LLC.

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November 2017

image for a website, a marketing campaign or just some new art to hang, check out what the site has to offer.

On the cover That’s Molly Steere’s quote about how she feels when she comforts foster kids in transition. See her story on page 8.

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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editor’s notes

ENVIRONMENTAL FILM & LECTURE SERIES PRESENTS

MIKE CASSIDY

SEED: THE UNTOLD STORY

Tuesday, NOVEMBER 14 @ 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM The event is free and open to the public. A $5 donation is suggested. There will be light snacks and an opportunity to purchase beer or wine.

Kids are welcome to attend. The Museum Makerspace is open for hands-on science activities for children thanks to support from Wenatchee Valley Medical Group.

The film is sponsored by Food Action.

Success stories O

n the return drive over the pass Sunday afternoon after visiting my daughter and her beautiful son — and watching the Seahawks on TV eke out a not-so-pretty victory over the L.A. Rams — I started thinking about success.

It’s an odd concept.

With sports teams, success is pretty easy to define. Just look at the scoreboard. “An ugly win,” as one sports figure said, “is still a win.”

But in life, success is much harder to quantify. It’s elusive, always seeming to be just a bit out of our reach. The next paycheck, or next year, or the next job/relationship/shiny new object will mean success.

It just so happens we have a bit of an expert on success with us in this issue.

Nancy Warner is the coordinator of IRIS — the Initiative for Rural Innovation & Stewardship — and is in the process of finding people’s success stories to highlight at its annual NCW Community Success Summit, which takes place Nov. 8 in Chelan.

I asked Nancy how she defines success, and while on a road trip to California, she emailed back her response: “I see success as thinking like a whole community — people and nature. Self interest is bound up in the interests of all. We are in this together and depend on each other.

“We want to live in a community that is welcoming, caring, healthy, diverse, prosperous, learning, creative, innovative, engaged, generous, cooperative and hopeful and resilient.

“So we look for success stories that show us that we are moving toward those things we want and celebrate them to grow

them — we want more people seeing how even small successes can have a positive impact and contribute to community success.”

Nancy wrote a success story for us in this issue, about Rich Watson of Chelan, who gathered community members to talk — and listen — and then act on community problems.

Sometimes, it takes a community to make a difference, and other times, single efforts add a stick to the bonfire of success.

Molly Steere writes this month about dedicating time to just “being there” for foster kids in transition in a program called Office Moms and Dads.

“I have always wanted to be a foster parent, but we don’t have the room or time currently. This is a way I (and other community members) can fulfill my need to help out local children,” wrote Molly in an email pitching the story for The Good Life.

Joel Lhamon reached out to us with a post on Facebook, saying he was seeking donations to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for him taking part in the Seattle Space Needle stair climb.

As Joel writes in his story, “In exchange for fundraising efforts, the participants would have the opportunity to climb the 832 stairs of the Space Needle, right next to the perfectly serviceable elevators.”

He made it to the top and we added to Joel’s fundraising total in exchange for his story.

Success can be measured in many ways — sometimes it’s just a matter of placing one foot in front of another. Keep moving forward and enjoy The Good Life.

— Mike November 2017 | The Good Life

Sponsors of the film series are WVMCC, The Trust for Public Lands, Wenatchee River Institute, Chelan-Douglas Land Trust and Wenatchee Valley Medical Group.

wenatcheevalleymuseum.org/our-events/

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my turn

20 years a guinea pig I

By Susan Rae Sampson

don’t remember how I was recruited, but I am one subject of a long-term study of health and happiness among middleaged Americans. It all started 20 years ago, when I was only 50.

My study is a “longitudinal” study, meaning that the same subjects are followed year after year.

My study is known as “MIDUS,” for mid-life in the U.S. It looks at physical, genetic, social and psychological factors that a subject experiences during his or her middle-aged years that may affect health and happiness while aging.

I had at least three reasons for agreeing to be studied.

First, such studies provide data that become evidencebased medicine. I am a believer in evidence-based medicine, including both western and traditional Asian therapies.

MIDUS recently studied me for several days at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where posters near my room touted UCLA’s “Integrative Medicine” program blending western medicine with holistic Chinese medical practices such as acupuncture.

Second, I owe my robust good

In the past was a test involved naming as many animals that I could think of in one minute — I can still race through aardvark, bear, camel, donkey, elephant, fish, goat, hippopotamus, ibex, jackass, kangaroo, lion, monkey, nene, octopus, pig, quetzal, rooster, snake, tiger, unicorn (nobody said it had to be a real animal)... health, and my very life, to medical interventions at least three times in the past. Being a guinea pig is a way I can express my gratitude to medical science. Further, one of my sons is a health sciences researcher who has told me how challenging it is for researchers to keep subjects

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involved in longitudinal studies, so I don’t mind helping out.

Third, the MIDUS study is not very invasive. I’d be away from home a couple of nights, I’d have to give up my morning coffee and my evening wine for the duration. No big deal.

Whether to participate would be a much tougher decision if I were asked to take an experimental medicine with possible unknown side effects. That would be the situation of former President Jimmy Carter, who was treated for melanoma with an experimental drug at age 90.

I suspect that he and his doctors agreed to his being a guinea pig for the drug because he had already lived a long full life, in case it didn’t work.

I’d also have a hard choice about taking part in a study if I had a condition that needed treatment when I might actually receive a placebo instead.

Rather than leave patients wondering what they were taking, a grant proposal that I read recently would give subjects their choice of being treated with the conventional surgery or a variation on the conventional technique. Since the proposal would examine an unpredictable outcome, choosing to participate would still present a difficult

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November 2017

Susan Rae Sampson studied Northwest Nature Writing to learn local flora and fauna after retiring from her Seattle-area law firm and moving to Wenatchee. She has since had environmentally-related poems and articles accepted for publication by five literary magazines.

decision.

But as I said, MIDUS is not very invasive. It involves reporting a very detailed personal and family health history, reporting physically and emotionally traumatic events, sleep patterns, significant happy events, and generally on a sense of wellbeing and contentment. It tests physical agility, but only gently.

Yes, I can stand up and sit down out of a chair five times quickly.

The researchers were emphatic that my data would be treated confidentially. Information including identity would be kept in a locked metal file cabinet in

A decade ago, and again recently, I was connected to electrodes enough to look like Frankenstein’s creature and wrapped in loose elastic bands around my chest and abdomen to measure my blood pressure, pulse and respiration rate... a locked office. I laughed when I saw the locked cabinet: It was a standard office file cabinet. A cop friend once showed me how he could pick a lock like that in one minute — he did it all the time on drug raids.

In the past was a test involved naming as many animals that I could think of in one minute — I can still race through aardvark, bear, camel, donkey, elephant, fish, goat, hippopotamus, ibex, jackass, kangaroo, lion, monkey, nene, octopus, pig, quetzal, rooster, snake, tiger, unicorn (nobody said it had to be a real animal), vixen, walrus, zebra, then supplement that list, if anybody ever asks me again.

A decade ago, and again recently, I was connected to electrodes enough to look like Frankenstein’s creature and wrapped in loose elastic bands around my chest and abdomen to measure my blood pressure, pulse and respiration rate, then I was tested on computer games.

Four words flashed on the monitor in front of me, one at a time, repeated randomly and rapidly. The words were “red, yellow, green, blue.” The words were shown in colors that might not match the word. For example, the word “red” might be shown in any of the colors.

My task was to concentrate on

the color, not on the word, and to press a key in the color that matched the color on the screen.

Concentrating was more challenging than I expected, and I suspect that a kid who played video games regularly could whup me if the test were a contest. Before starting and after I finished the exercise, I soaked my saliva into a plug of cotton.

It will be tested for cortisol, the stress hormone.

After resting and soaking another cotton plug, I faced the next game, doing arithmetic. I saw an addition or subtraction problem momentarily, then the problem disappeared and I saw an equal sign. The sign faded, and I saw an answer that was either correct or not, and I had to press a key that said either “Yes” or “No” to the answer.

The simple problems were easy to mark, but the game went much too fast for me to add or subtract pairs of three-digit numbers, even though I’m quick with arithmetic.

I realized that I needed a strategy: I calculated only the right-most digit of the answer, then when I saw the answer, if the last digit was correct, I figured I had a 50-50 chance of choosing the correct answer. Of course, I could have guessed the answer every time, but I think I improved my odds of getting a correct response by calculating the right-hand column. I needed a strategy — I found a strategy.

The purpose of the test was not to test my mathematical ability; it was intended to stress me out. The game only amused me, so I’d be surprised if my cortisol went up terribly much.

I got a full body bone density scan while lying on my back with blood pressure cuffs on my arms and ankles. A machine passed a bar over my body like the spray bar in an automatic car wash. My bone density wasn’t great — thanks for that gene, Mom and Grandmother.

I had good circulation to my extremities (yes!) I donated a sample of my rare type B+

blood. Weird as a vampire, the phlebotomist turned off the lights before he drew the blood sample. He rushed to seal it in an opaque box. It will be examined for the level of immune system activity reflected in my RNA, but RNA breaks down if it’s exposed to light.

He loved my prominent veins — he admitting looking at peoples’ veins habitually. Otherwise, he was a nice young man.

The last battery of tests measured my gait.

A decade ago, I walked up and down a long hall for two minutes while a trained observer watched. Only neurologist, orthopaedist or physical therapist could assess a great deal from that, but this time, the test was metered precisely and generated data that anybody could read.

I wrapped sensors around my shoes and around my lumbar spine, and took off for my twominute hike.

When we were done, the MIDUS technicians escorted me to a waiting Lincoln town car and whisked me off to LAX for my flight home.

MIDUS will provide me the results of some of my individual tests in due course, but the results will pertain generally to 3,000 subjects.

MIDUS data are available to researchers through the National Institute on Aging, and the study has generated over 1,400 papers published in 250 medical journals as of 2017.

I expect to be a subject until the study ends when I’m 74.

Extra credit reading: • www. MIDUS.wisc.edu • Do You Believe in Magic, by Paul A. Offitt, MD. Dr. Offitt distinguishes evidence-based medicine from so called “alternative medicine.”

• Gene, by Siddhartha Mukerjee, Scribner NY (2016) The author, a physician specializing in cancer, is the author of the prize-winning book The Emperor of all Maladies. His new book focuses on the rapidly emerging science of the effects of genetics on physical and mental health, beginning with his own family’s experience of mental illness.

November 2017 | The Good Life

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Volunteers

Comforting local foster kids in transition A

By Molly Steere

s I navigated the maze of cubicles hung with beautiful quilts, I donned a black apron embroidered with “Office Mom” in purple.

Jennifer Thomason, Volunteer Coordinator, led me to the lunch room of DSHS’s Children’s Administration, and introduced me to three waiting children.

The oldest, a teenage girl, was on the couch reading a book of poetry she had recently checked out from the library. The two younger kids were quietly coloring. I sat at the table and casually engaged the three siblings in conversation while I colored. We talked about school, poetry and friends.

We didn’t talk about why they were there.

All three kids were smart, friendly and polite. Under different circumstances, I would never know that their lives had been turned upside down that morning when they were taken away from their mom due to neglect or abuse. It was my first day volunteering for the Office Moms and Dads program and meeting kids entering the foster system.

I love kids. I am a mom, I usually have a “bonus kid” (or three) running around

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Molly Steere: Being there for kids in the midst of a traumatic event.

the house, and I try to keep an eye out for ways to help local children in need. Last year, when a friend told me about the Office Moms and Dads (OMD) program, I knew it would be a great fit for me.

The Wenatchee branch of the OMD program was introduced in 2015 and currently has 24 approved (but only six to seven active) volunteers who are called in to care for, feed and entertain children who have recently been removed from their homes.

Prior to the program, children entering the foster care system would often sit and wait for hours as social workers made calls in an attempt to find a relative or foster family who could house them.

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Program coordinator Jennifer Thomason: Freeing up social workers.

They were uprooted from unstable or abusive homes and then subjected to hearing rejection after rejection. They had no family or friends to comfort them, and spent time with as many as 10 different social workers while they were being placed.

The OMD program, a volunteer-based nonprofit, was created to ease this transition, and comfort the children during a scary, vulnerable time. “The office parent is a neutral party who is there to distract the kids from their recent traumas and provide consistency. This helps children connect and feel more secure and stable,” said program coordinator Jennifer.

The program also increases productivity.

November 2017

While there, our only goals are to show the kids that they matter and are loved, and to allow the social workers to focus on finding them a safe and loving home.

“It frees up social workers to find placements, locate relatives, investigate cases, get court paperwork completed and all the other many steps included in placing a child in out-of-home care,” said Jennifer.

Office Parents volunteer on an on-call basis. An email or text will go out to the group asking, “We have a 3-year-old coming in, is anyone available to watch her for a couple hours?”

Volunteers have the choice of responding and can come in for 30 minutes to eight hours, depending on the need and their availability.

Each of my experiences as an Office Mom has been different.

The children who are brought in are in the midst of a traumatic event. Their reactions, coping mechanisms, personalities and abilities run the gamut.

They can be disruptive or quiet, heartbroken or stoic, have special needs or not, but one thing is constant — they always take a shoehorn to my heart and stretch it out one size larger.

Often, kids come in without any belongings, or have what little they own stuffed in a plastic garbage bag. While they are with an Office Parent, waiting to be placed, each child is given a duffel bag filled with brand new, age- and gender-appropriate toys, books, a stuffed animal, school supplies, personal toiletries, a soft blanket and clothing — all theirs to keep — thanks to the national nonprofit My Stuff Bag, and local community members.

How to help Office Moms and Dads is a

nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.

Volunteers interested in joining the OMD program must complete an hour and a half training course, a background check and a volunteer packet.

For more information, or other ways to help the foster community, contact Jennifer Thomason at 665-5341 or jennifer.thomason@dshs.wa.gov.

Each child also gets to pick out, and take home, one of the beautiful hand-sewn quilts from Project Linus that are hung on display throughout the office.

The duffel bags and quilts are fun distractions for the kids, and I adore watching their faces light up as they inspect their new treasures.

Office Parents are not to stay in contact with, or know the circumstances of the children they meet, unless it’s imperative to their care. While there, our only goals are to show the kids that they matter and are loved, and to allow the social workers to focus on finding them a safe and loving home.

Being an OMD volunteer requires patience, empathy and the ability to bear witness to some heartbreaking family situations. The reward of seeing a child’s body language relax, a smile emerge through tears, or fear give way to excitement while playing a board game, makes it all worth it.

These kids deserve the love and care of their community.

My husband is still a little nervous that I’m going to come home with a couple of extra kids, like some sort of kid collector. His fears might be valid, but for now, the Office Moms and Dads program is the perfect fit for me.

In partnership with

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Confluence Health Conference Room 1000 Miller St · Wenatchee Wednesday Nov 15 | 2 p.m.

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For accommodation of persons with special needs at sales meetings, call 1-877-561-1463. Health Alliance Northwest complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. Other providers are available in our network. ATENCIÓN: Si habla Español, servicios de asistencia lingüística , de forma gratuita , están disponibles para usted.

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What was your BEST DAY IN 2017?

Tell us a story about your best day in the past year, and perhaps win a $100 gift certificate to one of our fine advertisers.

Did you climb a mountain, check off an item on your bucket list, cross an ocean, hold a new life in your hand, discover a new talent, set out on a new path, get a surprising check in the mail, make a difference in someone’s life, begin a new chapter in your life...

Write us an email -- 200 to 500 words or so -- telling us of your best day in 2017. Send along some digital photos, too.

We’ll choose one of the writers for a $100 gift certificate to any one of The Good Life’s advertisers from 2017.

But be quick... the deadline is Friday, Dec. 8. Get writing, the prize could go to you... if you’re swift!

Molly Steere is a local freelance writer and outdoor enthusiast who can play a mean game of Hungry Hungry Hippo when the opportunity presents itself.

November 2017 | The Good Life

HealthAllianceMedicare.org 1-877-561-1463 (TTY 711) 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays.

Send photos and stories to: editor@ncwgoodlife.com www.ncwgoodlife.com

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Reframing more than retiring Rich watson brings home ideas from far-flung places and creates conversations on bettering the local community

By Nancy Warner

People often say that when

you love your work it is not work. And one of the things I love about my work with IRIS, the Initiative for Rural Innovation & Stewardship, is our process of finding people’s success stories to highlight in our NCW Community Success Summit each year.

It’s the best kind of hunt — challenging, fun and rewarding — enabled by the beautiful landscape, many positive people we meet, and the diverse and interesting stories they share.

We highlight stories from all corners of our region about how people are contributing to the health of our lands, waters, and communities. And we harvest these stories in a sustainable way — not too many from any one place in a given year, just like huckleberries, and share them with others so they’ll be inspired to grow their own successes.

This year the Success Summit is being held in the Chelan Valley, a community defined

by the lake and known around the region for its long history of success in trade, agriculture and tourism.

It’s also a place that is increasingly known for the locals’ ability to work together to resolve community problems, in part, because of the work of Rich Watson and the informal leadership group he started in 2007 known as the Chelan Community Roundtable.

A generator of success in the Chelan Valley, the Roundtable provides a model for addressing community needs across the region. It has already been replicated in Twisp in the Methow Valley. *** You can hear it in his voice.

A soft-spoken man with a gentle easy laugh, Rich Watson claims attention when he begins to talk about his community.

The passion he feels for his Chelan Valley neighbors, for their right to share in the life of a caring community, comes across so strong it can drown out the obnoxiously loud hiss of the espresso machines in the

Rich Watson said of the Chelan Community Roundtable: “Civic concern and social consciousness multiplied the efforts and the number of volunteers.”

coffee shops where we often meet.

So when I hear that passion rise in his voice, I lean in and listen. I know I’m going to learn something.

While I have understood it was his passion for engaging others in envisioning a better community helped draw many people to participate in the Chelan Community Roundtable, I wanted to know more about what fed that flame over the years.

I also wanted to know more about how we, as a community, could replicate and nurture Rich’s brand of leadership in other parts of the region to create a whole system of community roundtables. So we sat down this fall to record an interview

about his background and experiences that contributed to his community service work.

Born in Havre, Montana in 1945 along the Great Northern Railroad where his dad worked as a brakeman, Rich grew up with a love of history and an appreciation for rural communities.

He earned a degree in education and history from Northern Montana College where he had his first exposure to community service via the College Kiwanis Club. “We worked at the rodeos, Red Cross blood drives and other college events,” he remembered. “I credit that as the catalyst for what started me down this road,” Rich said about his passion for working with people to make a difference in

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November 2017

“My role was to facilitate the discussion and to make sure that everyone felt welcome and could share their ideas and projects. And I have to tell you it was fun, probably one of the most fun things I’ve done.” their lives.

Prompted by one of his professors, Rich joined the Peace Corps after graduation and moved to eastern Africa. He worked for two years in Ethiopia teaching Ethiopian, African and world history, training new Peace Corps volunteers and developing a resource center for local teachers that made good use of local resources.

He also began his lifelong practice of bringing home lessons from many far-flung places that he and his wife Mary would travel to over the years.

Returning from the Peace Corps in 1969, Rich settled in Seattle where he began working in the banking industry; soon thereafter he and Mary got married and began raising their family.

By 1992 Rich left his job with the large multi-national bank where he had been working, moved his family to Manson, and began working for a community bank in Chelan. He joined the Chelan Rotary Club and became increasingly active in the community in the years before retiring in 2001.

Not ready to sit back and put his feet up, Rich began reframing his life and directing his skills and experience to benefit the community. He joined the board of the NCW Business Loan Fund, a non-profit

Chelan Community Roundtable Recipe for Success: n Maintain a welcoming and inclusive group where people can flow in and out as their time and interest allows; coffee and baked goods contributed to this atmosphere. n Develop a culture of shared ownership with light-handed facilitation. A volunteer-led effort, the Roundtable agenda was flexible and responsive to the group instead of grant or other outside deadlines.

n Maintain enough structure to keep projects moving forward; each agenda included at least one presentation or update by another group and meeting notes were circulated via email. n Honor the good in people by starting each meeting with an aspirational quote and setting a goal that everyone in the Chelan Valley volunteers for something.

that works to pair capital with non-traditional small business clients.

After a few months on the Loan Fund board Rich had a chance to reframe again when they recruited him to serve as their Executive Director, largely focusing on the diverse cultures and communities of Okanogan, Chelan and Douglas counties.

“We’re very fortunate to live in a community of mixed cultures,” Rich noted, “but when there were early signs of the economic downturn in 2007-2008 I wondered how that would impact the more vulnerable members of our valley,” he remembered.

He felt strongly that there was a need to open up the discussion in the community. So after seeking advice from many he convened the first Chelan Community Roundtable bringing together more than 40 people from churches, schools, service clubs and other groups to talk about what they could do to ensure that their neighbors would be able to find the help they needed to stay in the community.

“We were only going to do it for one time to raise awareness,” Rich said with a chuckle, “but we ended up doing it for years gradually moving away from the question of people in need to talking about a lot of other issues and opportunities.”

He said it was great to have a forum where people could learn

about what was going on in the community, emphasizing how they could “talk about what they were most passionate about and just have the freedom to listen.”

To him, one of the best outcomes of the Roundtable was the number of times people told him how they felt compelled to get involved after having a chance to learn about the needs and how they could help resolve them. “Civic concern and social consciousness multiplied the efforts and the number of volunteers,” he said reflecting on those days.

The monthly meetings of the Chelan Community Roundtable continued for seven years with a mix of regular and occasional participants coming to the table.

As each need or area of concern was discussed, organizations began to form such as Chelan Valley Hope, a one-stop resource for people in need where they could find help and

November 2017 | The Good Life

hope; Refuge, an outreach to atrisk-school kids; and the Bridges team, which connected schools to the community.

These groups, plus many more, began raising awareness of issues, creating solutions and involving a greater segment of the community.

“My role,” Rich said, “was to facilitate the discussion and to make sure that everyone felt welcome and could share their ideas and projects. And I have to tell you it was fun, probably one of the most fun things I’ve done.”

After a three-year hiatus, talk is bubbling up in the Chelan Valley about bringing back the Chelan Community Roundtable to generate more needed projects. As he retires from the NCW Community Loan Fund later this year, Rich plans to reframe again, focusing this time on developing a forum for emerging leaders and millennials. One wonders if it might be called Chelan Community Roundtable Two. The NCW Community Success Summit will be held on Wednesday November 8 in Chelan. Register by November 3 at www.irisncw.org.

Nancy Warner serves as the coordinator for IRIS, a position she has held for 10 years. A communitarian by nature, she seeks to connect people and their stories about success across NCW. She also serves on the “Thinking Like a Community” Legacy Project, a multi-platform book that IRIS aims to release in 2020.

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The Henry M. Jackson Wilderness straddles 30 miles of Cascade Crest in three counties, sporting 60 lakes.

A serendipitous fall hike into Lake Valhalla W

By Brad Brisbine

e cherish our annual fall hike.

The colors can enrich our souls until spring (boosted midwinter with uncut powder on Wenatchee Mountain). Yellowgreen, gold, orange and red. All there for our enjoyment; if we “get out.”

My favorite dayhikes are in the Stevens Pass area. Ample precipitation supports huckleberry ground cover, bearing nature’s candy and providing the deepest reds in the sub-alpine and alpine zones.

One of the unique challenges of the fall hike compared to our beloved summer trips is trying to get the team together on the favorable weekend. Some years we postpone to the following weekend for better weather, but lose out completely with an early major snow. I’ve learned not to bank on the 10-day extended forecast.

On the first Saturday of October, five of us were packed and ready to head out to a remote

The forest was immediately resplendent, with rich, healthy aroma and the sound of trickling creeklets from the day’s snowmelt. alpine gem at 6 a.m. At 5:30 Neal phoned to say it’s raining in Leavenworth, and a snowstorm was blowing in at Stevens Pass.

Reluctantly, we agreed to postpone until the following weekend. Roll the dice.

However, Sunday weather was much improved. Remembering years of being totally aced-out by kicking the can farther into October until too late, I spontaneously jumped in the car at 1 p.m. By 2:15 I was hiking solo up the Smith Brook trail.

The forest was immediately resplendent, with rich, healthy aroma and the sound of trickling creeklets from the day’s

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Sky-piercing Lichtenberg Mountain towers above Lake Valhalla, first lake north of Stevens Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail. Adjacent Mount McCausland

snowmelt. Hiking much faster without my standard 50-pound overnight pack, I reached 5,100foot Lichtenberg Pass at 3:15.

Looking down at Lake Valhalla was like visiting an old friend.

Without stopping, I headed half way up Mount McCausland for a good view of the Valhalla lake basin, and hung out for a couple hours taking in the view.

I never tire of this place.

Pulling out of the now-empty parking lot at dusk, I reflected on what a blessed, good life we enjoy in north central Washington. A wilderness paradise just an hour’s drive and an hour’s hike away.

AT RIGHT: A forest clearing provides ample light for the other king of red, vine maple.

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November 2017

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The intricate rock patterns of banded argillite could be re-created in fabric or paint.

The iceberg below the water glowed teal green.

Amazing GREENLAND LATE SUMMER REVEALS DRAMATIC MOUNTAINS, GLACIERS RUNNING TO THE SEA AND THE TUNDRA IN FULL BLOOM

By Bonnie Orr

I told my friends that I want-

ed to see Greenland before it melted. I was not prepared for the “WOW.�

I went to Greenland in late summer, which meant that I would miss most of the arctic birds that already had migrated

south. Usually birding is a focus of my travel, so I did not know what to expect in east Greenland as the little cruise ship sailed along the coast and up the fjords.

Of course, the icebergs greeted us shortly off shore, and we could see the glaciers running to the sea as well as those glaciers

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that had receded landward for several miles.

I expected to see fabulous ice, but I did not expect to see the huge icebergs striated black, grey and white that had recorded the eruption of nearly every world volcano for hundreds of thousands of years.

The ice chunks breaking from

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November 2017

the base of the glacier were clear because the air bubbles had all been pressed out. Some icebergs are blue above the water, but the part below the water glow teal green.

The morning we woke to see the shoreline of Greenland was truly an eye-opener. The mountains are the most dramatic I

A trunk of a hundreds-year-old Birch tree in the foreground is overwhelmed by the harebells and dryas.

The brilliant red is bilberry, the European name for types of huckleberry.

Bonnie on an iceberg: It is really colder than it looks.

have ever seen — sandstone shaped by grinding ice and violent uplifting and folding and severe erosion.

The mountains rose for thousands of feet and were pocked with remnants of ice that had carved cirques and pinnacles.

When we went walking on shore, we were treated to curved and twisted red, cream and pink ribbons of sandstone that

resemble the formations in “The Wave” in the Escalante Canyon area of Utah.

I felt the complex rock patterns should be translated into the most intricate weavings or perhaps a knitting pattern for a snug, woolen sweater.

Then — the most unexpected “view” of all — the tundra was in full bloom at the end of August.

November 2017 | The Good Life

Two species of trees flourish in forests that cover the bare coastal hillsides. They were easy to see because the leaves of the willow and the birch were turning autumn gold and yellow.

But these hundreds-years-old trees never grow taller than five inches.

The berries were ripe on the bright fall red bilberry (huckleberry) plants that also were www.ncwgoodlife.com

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miniaturized to three to four inches in height.

The national flower of Greenland is our familiar fireweed. However, it does not grow waist-high with willowy, bright pink flowers but is a compact four-inch tall plant with deep pink flowers and fleshy leaves. I used my close-up lens more often than I have ever used it before to photograph the flowers.

On dry sunny days, the mosses appeared pale green and the lichens were grey and crisp. On moist days, the mosses glowed green and the lichens were soft, pliable blue green. These are Greenland’s soil builders for blooming plants and provide forage for musk ox and arctic hares and various birds.

Never have I been so happy to see another part of the world.

Joel starting out: Pace yourself, what?

Climbing the Space Needle, step by step Joel 832 steps later: Made it.

By Joel Lhamon

the big day.

On Oct. 1, I entered the queue at the Space t started with a commercial I saw on Needle’s base to wait for my turn to begin KING TV last summer, bringing my atmy climb. I was accompanied by 2,600 enertention to the Base 2 Space: Seattle’s Most getic friends I hadn’t met yet.

Iconic Climb — an opportunity to raise An enthusiastic announcer on the loudfunds for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research speaker remarked that the fastest climb so Center in Seattle. far had taken place in just under 5 minutes.

In exchange for fundraising efforts, the I wondered which elevator was used to participants would have the opportunity achieve that gazelle-like pace. to climb the 832 stairs of the Space Needle, The same announcer offered a bit of advice right next to the perfectly serviceable eleva- which I discounted: “Pace yourself.” tors.

There was no visible digital counter giving The idea spoke to me for two reasons. me a clue as to my pace, though the sponsors First, I have lost dear friends and family were timing each of us. After 2 minutes or members alike to this disease, and I wanted so, I was winded and remembered the advice to be a part of this constructive energy. Also, to pace myself, and rested frequently.

I grew up in Seattle, and the steel used in the That turned out to be good advice because Space Needle’s construction was fabricated I saw a climber being carried down the adjaby my father’s employer, then Pacific Car and cent stairwell by paramedics in a stretcher.

Foundry, later known as PACCAR. When I returned home the next day I I began my brief training for the event by looked at the event website and learned short climbs on a stairmaster, first 100 steps that I had completed the climb in about 15 then 200, and so on. When I achieved the minutes, much faster than the stairmaster desired 832 steps on the stairmaster in about simulations during my training. I guess 25 minutes of time, I thought I was ready for adrenaline kicked in.

I

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Joel’s dad worked at Pacific Car and Foundry, the company that fabricated the steel used in building the Space Needle. Museum of History & Industry Photograph Collection/image 2005.6.83

This was a very gratifying experience. I was overwhelmed by the generous response to my fundraising — which hit $1,000 — in total more than $2 million was raised by all the participants in this memorable climb.

You can still make a donation for the stair climb at: https://www.classy.org/fundraise?fcid=1087041.

November 2017

PET tales

Tells us a story about your pet. Submit pet & owner pictures to: editor@ncwgoodlife.com

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Stephanie Nicholas and her grandfather Larry Nicholas take

Kiara for a walk every morning at Hale Park.

Kiara is a dog pound mix, said Larry. Stephanie said Kiara is a Chihuahua/Cavalier King Charles Spaniel mix.

Kiara is 3 years old and was rescued from the Yakima Humane Society.

“She is very attached to me,” said Stephanie. “She likes being around other people, too.”

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Ted says that Autumn is a good friend and is “living up to all my expectations.”

Autumn is very friendly and loves to retrieve tennis balls, play, go for rides and eat, said Ted. November 2017 | The Good Life

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Terrifying dreams

Vet publishes book about an unrecorded piece of WWII history A

By Vicki Olson Carr

young man is sitting in the dark in the middle of the night looking at a glowing radar screen. Alone. He is at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida studying the Southeast sector of the United States He is to determine whether the blips on the screen are friend or foe aircraft passing between Cuba and U.S. The Cuban Missile Crisis is at its peak.

President Kennedy has issued his directive to the Soviet Union to get their war weapons out of Cuba or else.

The whole world is holding its breath, or so it seems to 23-year-old Fredio Samples who is feeling absolutely alone this night, like world peace is resting on his shoulders alone. His heart pounds and he is drenched with sweat as he studies the radar screen intently and compares it to the information coming through on the teletype.

Later, this Air Force enlistee from rural Kentucky went with due respect and humility to ask his superior officer why he had to face this awesome responsibility alone.

All the man had to say was: “Well, you really had to do some growing up, didn’t you?”

Maybe this test was what put Fred — the name he prefers to use — on the list of radar operators to be sent to remote SE Asia during the beginning stages of the Vietnam conflict.

Arriving at Naha on Okinawa, Fred is directed to find a bunk in the transit barracks. “Don’t

unpack. You’re not going to stay here,” he hears. Bewildered, he learns soon that he is on his way to Miyako-jima Island, a 7-mile by 12-mile island, largest of the seven semi-tropical Sakishima Islands which are closer to Taiwan than Okinawa.

It is 1964 and he is to identify all air traffic in this sector of the east China Sea. “We had to identify everything that flew,” he said. “And China was only 80 miles west of us.”

In his off duty hours, exploring this small, flat island covered with sugar cane fields, Fred found underground bunkers and an airfield with two bomb craters on it. In 1872 the Japanese government incorporated the Sakishima Islands into Japan, and they became strategic in Japan’s invasion of China prior to WWII. During WWII, US forces gained control of the Philippine Islands, and continued their sweep north toward Japan invading island after island.

Training kamikaze pilots on this remote island was a last ditch effort to destroy the airfields of US planes — that is, the aircraft carriers that infiltrated the seas around the Japanese Islands.

One day Fred saw a cloud of dust headed toward the base. A

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Fred Samples self-published a book (at left) about the WWII history of the Sakishima Islands, where some Japanese kamikaze pilots were trained.

local father and son were leading a horse with a large bomb trailing behind tied to a rope.

“Dozo, dozo (please),” the younger man said, pointing to the “USN” stamped on the bomb. A munitions crew from Okinawa was flown in to remove it and drop it safely into the sea.

Fred also noticed the indig-

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November 2017

enous population was very nervous and frightened when planes flew overhead. “It was years after the war, but they still flinched and reacted,” Fred explained as he thought about this remote corner of the world.

These reminants of WWII on Miyako-jima Island piqued the young Airman’s interest.

The first three nights on Miyako-jima Island, he had terrifying dreams of Japanese soldiers shooting up the barracks. Later he felt the aura of death — some call the Spirit of Death — lingering in the dark alleyways of Nobaru village.

“Wings over Sakishima is my contribution to those of our greatest generation. We will always remember them as long as we have their true recorded history.”

He heard the anguished stories of locals and saw the reminders of Japanese WWII activities training kamikaze pilots on the island. Though he searched diligently and returned to Miyako-jima Island in 2004 and 2007, he could not find any war history documents.

It all came to a head when Fred retired and decided to record the historical evidence he had been collecting for 47 years.

Fred is the first to admit he is

not a history buff nor a writer, so organizing his research notes and island experiences took years of thought and time.

However, Wings over Sakishima was self-published by Fred in 2010. He writes in the book’s introduction: “Wings over Sakishima is my contribution to those of our greatest generation.

We will always remember them as long as we have their true recorded history.”

In November when the U.S. honors its veterans — fewer and fewer who remain from WWII — Fred feels especially gratified that he was able to preserve a slice of world military history, which had gone unnoticed and unrecorded.

He hopes Nobaru’s restless Spirit of Death is at peace.

Wings over Sakishima is available in the North Central Washington Regional Library system, and King County, Snohomish County and Skagit County libraries, as well as 60 other libraries across the United States.

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What was your BEST DAY IN 2017?

Tell us a story about your best day in the past year, and perhaps win a $100 gift certificate to one of our fine advertisers.

Did you climb a mountain, check off an item on your bucket list, cross an ocean, hold a new life in your hand, discover a new talent, set out on a new path, get a surprising check in the mail, make a difference in someone’s life, begin a new chapter in your life...

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This street-level house is tucked into what was formerly a steep “unbuildable� lot. Now neighbors on the cul-de-sac are treated daily to a landscaped terrace, koi pond and waterfall.

Graceful

house rose from an awkward lot F

Story by Susan Lagsdin Photos by Donna Cassidy

lint and Jamie Hartwig knew they wanted to build a house for themselves in 2007, and their drives around the Wenatchee area finally yielded the perfect, imperfect property.

The more-or-less half-acre triangle of steep dirt they

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Jamie and Flint Hartwig (and their little dog, too) pose on the bridge that links the patio to their hot tub. Deep shade on this side of the house means that summers are mostly spent outside. www.ncwgoodlife.com

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November 2017

Flint enjoys a view from the deck south to the foothills. The home’s three-story design was modified somewhat to fit the odd-shaped lot, but the big sunny windows were always part of the picture.

bought up a dead-end street on the way to Burch Mountain basically offered friendly long-time neighbors, a few mature birch and fir trees and a very reason-

able price.

Well, there were a few more perks: the existing water, sewer and electric service would give them a travel-trailer site while

they built the house. And the view across farmland all the way to the distant foothills south of Wenatchee was a pleasure.

Flint was already established

as a builder. He had friends and his dad available to work, as well as access to house plans he’d admired that would fit the odd lot.

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ABOVE: An example of a good glitch — the poured foundation was off a bit from the blueprints, so extra space at this level became this shelf alongside the staircase. Another spot allowed some convenient closet space.

RIGHT: This formal dining room (not found in new, open plan homes) demonstrates a good balance — it’s off to the side of the main traffic flow but easy to access from the kitchen for big family gatherings.

Graceful house }}} Continued from previous page

Months of trailer living on the site, albeit with a cute newlybuilt “his and her” building nearby for shop and laundry, was losing its charm. All he had to do was take time off from paying clients’ demands and construct their 1,850 square foot house as soon as possible.

The house took shape over nine months. Space constraints meant three vertical stories: the street level floor is a spacious garage with a long, closed staircase up to the main living area with its two bedrooms and a bathroom. An open staircase curves up to the loft level with office

space, laundry and the master suite with its roomy closet and bath.

Flint built houses, but he also owned earth-moving machines for excavating and bulldozing, moving tons of earth to prepare other properties. This site was a little trickier than most.

Jamie remembers that early steep yard of theirs. “Every day we had to sweep dirt off the porch that blew down the hill — we couldn’t keep the east windows open because of the dust. Flint said, “I’d come home every once in while with a load of rocks we got from an orchard in Orondo and just dump them

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at the top of the hill.”

For three years after they moved into the house, the deeply-pitched property behind and to the side of them lay fallow, with swallows nesting in the sand cliffs. Then, in a burst of resolve (and given a window of opportunity while Jamie was vacationing) Flint went to work with the accumulated rock and 150 truckloads of fill dirt.

He strategically placed defining terraces and intricate layers of walkway, pools and stream, garden beds and retaining walls that form the basis of their current private oasis. They did their own yard work; trees and shrubs were placed carefully — shade, privacy and bird song followed

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November 2017

in due time.

Now, after a decade of comfortable living, and that much time spent building other people’s houses all over the valley, Flint and Jamie realize their home has everything they need and very little that they don’t.

The big kitchen was enlarged in the building process, for which Jamie is grateful, and opens to dining and seating areas in full sun from the cathedral windows. They’re glad they placed the laundry room up on the loft level, instead of the traditional space in the basement.

Their choice of engineered Armstrong flooring in the high traffic areas still pleases them. (“Amazing stuff! It never loses

Original plans for this kitchen would have included a solid wall starting about where the dishwasher is. Jamie, the head chef, still appreciates every day the walk-around room and copious countertops.

its shine and wears like crazy….” said Flint).

Flint’s dad helped build and install the elegant curved and cantilevered wrought iron handrail — one so painstakingly placed that Flint imagines it will react like a giant spring if it came out if its moorings.

The joist and beams for the high living room ceiling and the complex roofline were a collaborative engineering feat, but the labor yielded just the grandeur and openness they wanted.

From spring to fall, their yard gives them peace and comfort.

They enjoy the pergola, the ponds and the hot tub, and there’s room for the dogs to frolic. Just a few steps outside the sliding doors, cushioned chairs and low tables around a propane campfire make a hard-to-leave outdoor relaxing space.

The Hartwigs are young enough to postpone thinking about disability access, and they have no “downsize when the kids are gone” calendar. So — why are they even thinking of another house? “Well, I’m always looking at new houses, building some huge, beautiful places,”

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Flint explained, “And I’ve got to admit, sometimes it’s hard not to wonder what it would be like….” …To have a high-tech “smart” house. To have a dressing room not accessed through the bath.

A coat closet, a warm shop.

Not to walk up two flights of stairs to the bedroom. To have a level lawn. To have views of city lights, sunset and the Cascade Mountains.

Jamie’s not as specific in her yearnings. She said, “I love this place, but this is the longest we’ve lived anywhere! It just

feels weird to be in the same house for 10 years. It seems like we should want to move.”

She’s aware that any big change could, of course, be disappointing. That even if Flint and his partners (he formed Eider Construction with Mark and Andy Miller in 2014) take time away from their major projects all over the region to design and build the new house, it might never feel like home.

Like any good structure, Flint’s success in the industry started from the ground up, with years of dawn-to-dark building work, six days a week.

Wise investors who value incremental income over the big turnover, Flint and Jamie also own Bella Bistro and have acquired a few lots and rentals, so they have means to build again, but the push-pull factor isn’t in play. They are not being pushed from their present home, they are not being pulled by another.

The status quo is a subtle but powerful force.

It’s easy to see why this home holds their hearts.

On a warm October day, with their feet up, a glass of good wine, music piped to the porch and the dogs resting, dappled sun through the leaves, lush yard in full autumn color, they are not inclined to start over again. Life is very good in this tall house on its crooked little lot.

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>>

column GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

bonnie orr

Pie — yes, that’s pie — for breakfast D

aylight is arriving later each day, so rather than parading out to the garden in the morning, it is time for leisurely breakfasts.

Special breakfasts call out “family time is important.” As the holidays approach, design some special daybreak meals.

My favorite early morning meal is a pie or tart. It makes the house smell good enough to want to get-up and see what’s cooking! Or it can be assembled the night before and popped in the oven when everyone is on their second cup of coffee.

Breakfast pie is not as intimidating as it sounds. The crust can be as simple as laying some flour tortillas in a pie dish and arranging the filling on them.

The next level of complexity could be a half recipe of yeastbased pizza dough that needs to rise for 40 minutes — or you could splurge and make a regular butter-based pie crust.

Oh what the heck — purchase a pie crust from the freezer section of your favorite grocery store.

It may not be as good as what you can create, but the family breakfast is about companionship and love.

My favorite crust is made with potatoes that I can still dig from the garden the night before.

There are many ways to create a potato crust. Brush a pie dish with oil and line the dish with last night’s leftover mashed potatoes. The most beautiful potato crust is made with thinly sliced potatoes arranged in a scalloped pattern in the bottom of the pie dish. Use the food processor to slice three potatoes into thin, even slices.

The easiest method is to grate potatoes in cold water, drain and pat dry, sprinkle with salt and

Fragrant, savory pies create the perfect family breakfast in November.

ing together: 4 eggs lightly beaten 1 cup meat gravy or stock thickened with 2 tablespoons flour or 1 tablespoon corn starch 1 cup half and half thickened with 2 eggs.

Then depending on your morning palate, chop leeks, onions, peppers, well drained tomatoes, olives.

pepper and press into a pie dish.

After each of these potato crusts are fitted into the pie plate, sprinkle with salt and pepper. it needs to be baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes because the raw potato takes more time to cook than most fillings.

Pre-baking also crisps the potatoes, so the filling will not soak into the crust.

While the crust is cooking, feel free to be creative with the filling’s ingredients. Consider a meat such as cubed ham, precooked sliced bacon, chicken or sausage.

People in many countries enjoy various fish for breakfast.

Fish pie is delicious. If your family is not up to a fishy early morning wake up sniff, use mild November 2017 | The Good Life

A suggested topping to sprinkle on the pie to brown and crisp: Mix together 3 tablespoons bread crumbs 2 teaspoons olive oil 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

seafood such as shrimp, crab or salmon.

Breakfast pie Serves 4-6 375 degrees 60 minutes/30 minutes baking Here are the basics: 3 cups sliced, grated or mashed potatoes

Or crust of your choice 5 ounces of meat or fish 5 ounces grated cheese: Choose one or more types — Cheddar, provolone, mozzarella, Monterey Jack, Parmesan, Gruyere 2 oz. blue cheese Salt/ pepper Choose one of these to stick the fillwww.ncwgoodlife.com

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Panettone

Maybe you want faster and easier?

In November the Italian Christmas bread, Panettone, is sold at the grocery stores. It is intended to be eaten as toast or just served at room temperature with butter.

But this bread makes the ultimate French toast. Slice the bread into oneinch rounds. Dip each slice in a mixture of milk and eggs. It takes about 2 eggs and 1 cup milk to soak 6 slices of Panettone. Fry each slice on a griddle that has been coated with butter.

Panettone makes a memorable breakfast.

Have a wonderful November day.

Bonnie Orr — the dirt diva — cooks and gardens in East Wenatchee.

>>

column moving up to the good life

june darling

Let’s go on a hunt for the Good Stuff T

his November, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, I want to express my gratithe good stuff. tude to you, readers of The I could HTGS Good Life. You make my when I’m taking a life more rewarding and walk or when I’m worthwhile. interacting with If it weren’t for you, I others — workdoubt that I would be ing, playing, or vigorously scanning the eating Thanksworld — hunting the good giving dinner stuff. with my family Hunting the good stuff and friends.

(HTGS) is an actual powWhen I turn erful exercise. The reason off the lights that HTGS is powerful and ready myis because it ushers in self for sleep, gratitude, which leads to I could review the good life physically, the day hunting psychologically, and espethe good stuff. I cially socially. could write down On the physical side, three good things gratitude is linked to Paige Lowers pours tea — watching her is a reminder to look for the good in life. Photo by John Darling I found when I optimally functioning hunted for good stuff and write immune systems, lower blood around them.) why I appreciated them. I could pressure, better sleep and being Clearly, better relationships take pictures and share the good bothered less by pain. are built by those who are gratestuff I found on my hunt.

Psychological benefits of grati- ful for each other and take the Even when something stresstude include more happiness, joy time to express their gratitude. ful — perhaps even traumatic and pleasure as well as increased I’m only touching the surface — has happened, I can practice alertness. Grateful folks are of the gratitude research, but hunting the good stuff. That sort more mentally tough, hardier, maybe it’s enough to remind you of use of HTGS can lead to what and resilient (HTGS is taught to that being grateful is something researchers call post-traumatic soldiers to improve resilience). you want to practice. growth.

People who are grateful also Why do I say “practice” rather This is not intended in any have less of what are often called than do? Gratitude, for most of way to ignore suffering and bur“toxic” emotions — resentment, us, requires specific attention. It dens. HTGS doesn’t deny that envy, and regret. You simply isn’t something most of us can a couple of days. Unless. life is not perfect. It means we can’t be grateful and resentful, continually do even if we know Unless I have a system for may be able to find some good envious and full of regret at the it’s good for us. Things get in knocking me out of my complastuff among the suffering if we same time. our way. cency, for slapping my senses look for it.

The biggest bang from gratiOne of the biggest blocks to into awareness, a “practice.” A But, but, but. How do we retude comes with how it affects gratitude is hedonic adaptation, practice like HTGS. member to practice the practice? people socially. which simply means that we get Hunting the good stuff is doPeople higher in gratitude used to the good stuff in our ing just that, purposely being on How do I remember to hunt the good stuff to provoke my gratiare more generous, more helplives. the hunt — scouting out, snifftude and bolster my spirits? ful, more compassionate and For example, how often are ing, searching for the tracks of Forgetting is the second big less lonely. (Researchers warn you truly grateful for clean air? anything good. It means calling that loneliness has become an For me, it’s mostly when the my brain to attention, putting it obstacle to gratitude. We aren’t epidemic, not caused only by smoke from forest fires is cover- to work to look around and spot going to become more grateful by practicing on occasion. people being isolated but more ing the state. Otherwise, I just anything good.

“Visual cues” are the answer. from people feeling isolated from don’t notice clean air. After the Technically speaking there are others even when people are all smoke is cleared, I’m grateful for lots of opportunities for hunting Visual cues are primarily ob-

One of the biggest blocks to gratitude is hedonic adaptation, which simply means that we get used to the good stuff in our lives.

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November 2017

directs my attention to the value of nice neighbors. For whatever reason, she’s an effective HTGS cue.

An effective visual cue for you might be a picture of your own grandchild, a neighbor kid, your puppy, or your pet turtle — whatever works. Experiment.

You are certainly welcome to use Paige’s image as well. Cut out her picture and put it on your refrigerator or bulletin board.

The cue will prod your brain to remember, “Ah yes, hunting the good stuff leads to gratitude and gratitude leads to the good life! Let me see what good stuff I can uncover today.”

How might you move up to The Good Life by using a gratitude practice like Hunting The Good Stuff?

The cue will prod your brain to remember, “Ah yes, hunting the good stuff leads to gratitude and gratitude leads to the good life!” jects, posters, words, calendars — something you put where you can see it, as a mental nag.

It’s like the string around your finger. “Oh, yes, I’m supposed to do something.”

What sort of visual cue could you use to remember to hunt the good stuff?

Well, you have many possibilities, but I’ll tell you mine just to get you thinking.

My visual cue is a picture of Paige.

Paige is my five-old-neighbor.

Just looking at her helps me remember to hunt the good stuff, which naturally leads me into appreciation and thanksgiving.

Why does Paige work so well for me as a cue?

Maybe it’s her November coloring (the gorgeous red-hair and brown eyes) that remind me of Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s her smile as she samples cashews and juice that remind me of the simple pleasure of a little afternoon snack. Maybe it’s that she reminds me of how much I love my grandchildren, or maybe she ES

M

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June Darling, Ph.D. can be contacted at drjunedarling1@gmail.com; website: www.summitgroupresources. com. Her bio and many of her books can be found at amazon.com/author/ junedarling.

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>>

column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR

jim brown, m.d.

Type 2 diabetes: deadly, costly, preventable I’m a bit old fashioned in that

I get my news from the news papers, magazines and watching the evening news, primarily Lester Holt on NBC since I like that he ends his program with a feel-good story about positive things going on, which often go unnoticed.

Since our current news seems to be predominantly bad news, a feel good end-the-day to the news cycle is heart warming.

I am struck by all the promotional advertisements from the pharmaceutical companies promoting their newest and undoubtedly expensive and very profitable drugs.

The focus seems to me to be on type 2 diabetes, psoriasis, dry eyes and inflammatory bowel

Ironically (Type 2 diabetes) onset can be delayed and potentially prevented by maintaining a normal weight, exercising regularly and eating properly. disease including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.

In my years of clinical practice I can’t recall a patient asking me about a specific drug they saw advertised on television.

One of the most heavily adver-

tised medications I see on television is that for type 2 diabetes and its complications.

Because of this I decided to do an unscientific random survey of people to see what they knew about type 2 diabetes. The vast majority answered: Nothing, not much, very little, or that is has to do with eating too much sugar.

No one mentioned the longterm risks and complications of the very significant disorder.

Type 2 diabetes can be easy to ignore in its early stages since the patients feels fine, yet it is a very serious condition since it affects so many major organs including the heart, blood vessels, nerves, eyes and kidneys.

These complications are due to chronically elevated blood sugar

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over time, which develop gradually and can become disabling and life threatening. They increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and high blood pressure.

Long term elevated blood sugar levels injure the tiny blood vessels that nourish the nerves, especially in the legs. This results in numbness, burning or pain that begins in the toes and fingers and gradually spreads upward leading to a loss of feeling in the affected limbs.

Severe damage can lead to the necessity of amputation of toes and even feet. Diabetic retinopathy due to vascular damage in the eyes can lead to blindness.

A high percentage of illnesses that physicians see are considered “life style” illnesses.

Type 2 diabetes is a prime example of this.

Type 2 diabetes also raises the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Type 2 diabetes is usually diagnosed by an elevated fasting blood sugar or an elevated blood sugar two hours after eating.

Physicians suspect this disorder if the patient is obese, has a family history of diabetes or has symptoms suggesting one of the complications mentioned.

Type 2 diabetes is related to a decreased production of insulin by the pancreas or else the development of insulin resistance where muscles, liver or fat cells fail to respond adequately to normal levels of insulin.

Symptoms of increased thirst, increased hunger, recurrent vaginal infections and excessive fatigue also make the diagnosis suspect.

Our country’s consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, saturated fats and trans fat and eating excessive amounts of white rice are all contributing factors. A high percentage of illnesses that physicians see are considered “life style” illnesses.

Type 2 diabetes is a prime ex-

ample of this.

There are a number of medications marketed to reduce blood sugar well as to decrease insulin resistance.

Nevertheless the primary treatment should be weight loss, exercise and dietary changes first and foremast before irreversible vessel damage has taken its toll.

Over 90 percent of diabetes is type 2 which primarily occurs as a result of obesity and lack of exercise.

Ironically it is potentially preventable by maintaining a normal weight, exercising regularly and eating properly.

Unfortunately the United States is one of the world’s most obese societies with 40 percent of U.S. adults and 20 percent of children being obese.

In 1980 there were 30 million people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. That number has sky rocked to 392 million worldwide in 2015 and by 2030 that number is expected to reach 592 million.

There also is a huge economic burden from this disease. The U.S. has the highest health care costs related to this disease, which averages $283,000 per affected person over their lifetime.

In all countries men with type 2 diabetes were found to have worse employment opportunities and women with it reduced their employment opportunities by 50 percent.

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Life as an entertainer:

‘THIS is what I know how to do’ W

By Susan Lagsdin

enatchee actor and director Matthew Pippin’s life rotates around two major non-competing forces: a love of family and a love of performance.

His devotion to both gives him an intense sense of purpose.

Though he’s 35, he admits, “I don’t make a very good grownup,” referring to his benign disregard for real-world concerns like taxes, investments, insurance, mortgage, utilities… the to-do stuff that bogs down many of us. “But, (aptly quoting Angela Lansbury in a favorite movie, The Poseidon Adventure) “THIS is what I know how to do.”

Matthew headed straight out of town after Eastmont High School graduation, all the way from The Apple Capital to The Big Apple. He remembers being dazzled by his first distant view of the city’s towers. “I couldn’t wait to be in it — and then I learned that it is sooo huge… you just have to walk one block and you are somewhere else totally different.”

Studying at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy

Matthew Pippin as (clockwise from top): Director of 12 Angry Men, Zaza from La Cage Aux Folles, Dale Harding in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Robert in Boeing Boeing (with TJ Farrell and Kevin McKee).

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“If something ever was to happen to me, I’d hope to be caught in the middle of a scene, or at least die after curtain call in the dressing room.”

Matthew Pippin as Albin from La Cage Aux Folles.

and living in Harlem gave him a lifelong love of the thrilling diversity it offers. He said, “I miss New York City every day of my life.”

It was there, after his dad and sister dropped him off with their good wishes in 2001, that he discovered another family, fellow actors who called themselves the 511’s. Their dorm hangout room in the Stratford Arms Hotel was #511, and 16 years later they still celebrate May 11 as their special holiday. They’ve attended each other’s weddings — his and husband Phat’s was on the Riverside Theater stage — and are still in constant contact.

That surrogate family bolstered Matthew on 9/11, and in the tragic weeks that Manhattan was shut down, he resolved that all he wanted to do in his life was be an entertainer. To bring joy, sadness, escape and healing through his art was a high calling.

He said, “If something ever was to happen to me, I’d hope to be caught in the middle of a scene, or at least die after curtain call in the dressing room.”

Ironically, it was also family that pulled him away from his new best city and back to Wenatchee, and family that keeps him here. His beloved grandmother Melba Pippin needed close attention in the last months of her life, and Matthew became her 128-hour a week companion and caregiver.

“She was the sweetest girl,” he said. “Every bit a Southern lady and my very dearest friend.”

Again, family and performance became intertwined.

Because he was new again to his hometown after a decade away, he linked up with old friends in the theater community and eventually became involved in Music Theater of Wenatchee, Leavenworth Summer Theatre, Snowy Owl Theater and Hot August Nights at the PAC. His birth family, local and loving, is still extant. But now the Wenatchee area theater community — and by inclusion any cast he’s connected with — has become family to him also. The long hours, the collaboration, the shared goals, the unconditional acceptance and the “misfit and loving it” attitude of some creatives all create an undeniable bond.

No venue is out of the question. Early on his return, he even did a few drag shows: “Not my favorite genre,” he said.

Small roles, chorus parts, then bigger roles, a little directing — since 2011 he’s been involved in 30 local theater productions. He wryly quotes comedienne Bea Arthur, “I’ve done everything except rodeo and porn.”

Matthew’s been in Boeing, Boeing, Wait Until Dark, Rocky Horror Show, Chicago, and many more plays. Cabaret was tough. “I played a nazi — I’ll November 2017 | The Good Life

never capitalize that — and it was very heavy,” he said. “I would cry after every performance.”

But his most recent lead role as Albin in La Cage Aux Folles was “terrifying” to him. “I don’t have a pretty voice so ‘I Am What I Am,’ a Mount Everest of a song, petrified me. I lost 54 pounds so I could play the part properly. There were 13 costume changes — three in one song!

That was a production to be very proud of.”

In October he directed a stark and highly-charged Twelve Angry Men on stage at the Riverside Theater. Some of Matthew’s best friends were in the cast or backstage, and during the concentrated rehearsal periods he was at Riverside’s front door every day minutes after work.

Back stage, front of the house, under the lights — it’s all good.

“I absolutely love being at the theater. It’s my home,” he said.

“But what would be the point of performing if nobody was watching? When it comes to the audience — it’s my life, for you.”

fun stuff what to do around here for the next month NCW BLUES JAM, every second and fourth Monday. Riverside Pub. Sign up starts at 6:30 p.m., music starts at 7 p.m.

Wenatchee Paddle Club, every Tuesday, 9 a.m. open paddle, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30 a.m. masters crew rowing, Wednesdays, 6 p.m. novice kayak paddle group, Saturdays, 7 a.m. masters crew rowing. Info: wenatcheepaddle.org.

Upper Valley Running Club Run, every Tuesday night through the fall, 4:30 – 6 p.m. check in time.

Maps available for a marked 3 mile trail route. Run or walk. Participate 10 or more times and earn a run club tech tee. Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort. Info: sleepinglady.com.

Weekly Club Runs, every Thursday check in between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. at Pybus Public Market south entrance. 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).

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

2017 Choral Concert Series

Christmas hristmas in the Mountains TICKETS

CONCERT DATES

Friday, 12/1/17 - 7:30pm

Adults - $15.00 Students - 12.00

Friday, 12/8/17 - 7:30pm

(Children 5 yrs & older welcome)

Special Pricing for Sunday Ma�nee

Sunday, 12/10/17 - 4:00pm

together at christmas www.leavenworthvillagevoices.org www.ncwgoodlife.com

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PURCHASE TICKETS HERE:

Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce 509-548-5807 and at the Door

Leavenworth Church of the Nazarene

>>

WHAT TO DO

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

}}} Continued from previous page or tango thrown in. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Tread Lightly Fridays, noon. This concept is simple – as a business or employee, do something environmentally mindful each Friday. This could mean riding a bike to work, utilizing a self-container for takeouts, selling locally sourced foods, composting waste, or something else entirely. It can be as simple or complex as you like. This project, as part of the Our Valley What’s Next community visioning and development initiative, aims to help reduce the community’s carbon footprint while having fun at the same time.

Participating businesses and individuals will receive attention on the Tread Lightly Friday Facebook page.

There also will be classes held to educate businesses on how they can “tread lightly” and save money at the same time. Contact Tandi Canterbury with The Hunter’s Wife Health Bar at 509 264-7466 or tmcanterbury@gmail.com.

Game Night, every 4th Friday.

Board games, card games or any games you bring. Open to families and all ages. Hosted by Pacific Crest Church. Pybus Public Market.

Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org.

Jam at the Crow, 7 – 10 p.m.

Every first Sunday. The Club Crow in Cashmere, 108 1/2 Cottage Ave. Cost: free.

Early Morning Birding and ID Skills building, 11/1, 29, 7:30 – 9:45 a.m. Join Susan Ballinger on this low-key morning birding outing. Walla Wall Point Park. Cost: free. Info: susancdlandtrust.org.

Writing for Clarity, 11/2, 9, 1 – 2:30 p.m. Meet in front of the community kitchen. Bring journal/ notebook and pen. Informal type writing, no experience need, just a desire to try something new. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Trail Thursdays: Foothills Trail Maintenance, 11/2, 9, 16, 23, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. Volunteers will hike along sections of the Foothills Trail System and work with hand tools to fix erosion and drainage issues as well as any tread damage.

Info: hanne@cdlanddtrust.org or 667-9708.

Renee Montagne, 11/2, 5:30 p.m.

NPR’s Renee Montagne will be live in an interview-style presentation, joined by NWPR hosts Thom Kokenge and Gillian Coldsnow.

Numerica Performing Arts Center.

Cost: $15. Info: numericapac.org.

First Friday events include: *Two Rivers Art Gallery, 11/3, 5 – 8 p.m. Featuring acrylic paintings by Marti Lyttle. Her landscapes, figures and botanicals are an emotional impact of form and color. Music by Well Strung — Jac Tiechner and Steve Sanders. Wines

by Horan Estates Winery.. 102 N Columbia, Wenatchee. Cost: free.

Info: 2riversgallery.com. *Tumbleweed Bead Co., 11/3, 5-7 p.m. Refreshments served. 105 Palouse St. Cost: free. Info: tumbleweedbeadco.com. *Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 11/3, 5.

– 8 p.m. Light refreshments. Info: Wenatchee.org. *MELA, FIRST FRIDAY ARTISTS RECEPTION 11/3, 5-7 p.m. Alessandra Piro exhibits “Confluence,” a new collection of encaustic paintings inspired by the topography of familiar Washington streams and rivers at their convergence. Show runs Friday, Nov. 3, to Tuesday, Nov 28. 17 N. Wenatchee Ave. www. alessandrapiro.com.

Jeffrey Foucault, 11/3, 7 p.m.

Live performance by an American songwriter and singer. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $20 advance or $22 at the door. Info: icicle.org.

Eden Moody, 11/3, 7 – 9 p.m. Live on the railcar. Pybus Public Market.

Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org.

Charlie Solbrig Music Students Recital, 11/4, 9 – 11 a.m.

Pybus Public Market. Cost: free.

Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Chelan-Douglas Land Trust Annual Dinner, 11/4, 6 p.m. Bring a savory or sweet appetizer for sharing during happy hour from 6 – 7 p.m. Dinner at 7:15 p.m. Program 8 p.m. Leavenworth Festhalle.

Cost: $40 includes wine and beer, dinner and dessert. Info: hilary@ cdlandtrust.org.

Sounds of Scandinavia, 11/4, 7 p.m. Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra performs. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $18-$37.

Info: numericapac.org.

The Brave Warrior Family Portrait Event, 11/5, 12:30 – 5:30

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p.m. Have your portrait taken by award winning photographers Chris Ohta, Erica Moshe and Amanda Tacker for free. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Concert: Kairos, 11/5, 2 p.m. Live performance. Canyon Wren Recital Hall. Cost: $20 advance or $22 at the door. Info: icicle.org.

Citizen Science: eBird Monitoring, 11/6, 8 a.m. Would you like to spend a weekday morning hiking, viewing wildlife, wildflowers and snow-capped mountains while being part of a small team collecting bird species data? Mountain Home Reserve. Info: cdlandtrust.org NCW College and Career Expo, 11/6, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Wenatchee Valley College. Cost: free.

Water, wind and fire tour, 11/6, 7 p.m. Climate Conversations leaders and Audubon volunteers will speak about warming temperatures, their impact on Washington citizens, and how we can move past partisanship to address the challenges of plentiful and affordable energy, a growing economy with lots of good jobs, and managing risk as a result of climate change. Grove Recital Hall, Wenatchee Valley College. Cost: free. Info: tinyurl.com/waterwindfiretour Geologic Wonderland Speak Series, 11/7, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. and all Tuesdays in November. Explore the epic geologic saga shaping our past and future. Hosted light fare and casual conversation. A select dinner menu of Milepost 111 signature dishes and tasty beverages are available. All four events: $100. To register and for info: wenatcheeriverinstitute.org/events.

Success Summit, 11/8, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. The Initiative for Rural Innovation and Stewardship plans to showcase success stories when it teams up with partners with NCW Community Success Summit in Chelan. “Pristine Lake, Passionate People – Where Beauty Runs Deep” is scheduled at the Chelan Community Gym. Info: irisncw.org.

Nick Ceto – The Hanford Story, 11/8, 7 p.m. Join former project manager with the Department of Energy Nick Ceto for a discussion of The Hanford Story. After a short film there will be an extensive question and answer session.

Wenatchee River Institute, Leavenworth. Info: wenatcheeriverinstitute.org.

www.ncwgoodlife.com

|

November 2017

Rotary Veteran’s Day Program, 11/9, noon – 1 p.m. Celebrate our Veterans with MH-53 pilot Col. Marshall Groves. How his combat experiences apply to current survival, escape and evasion training of USAF flight crews.

Wenatchee Red Lion. Cost: $15 for lunch.

The Little Mermaid, 11/9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 7:30 p.m. 11/11, 18, 2 p.m.

Live performance by Wenatchee High School students. Wenatchee High School auditorium. Cost: $15 students, $18 other. Info: numericapac.org.

Harlem Globetrotters, 11/9, 7 p.m. Live at Town Toyota Center.

From $25.50 to $250.50. Info: towntoyotacenter.com.

Vince Allis and Markus Hoyer, 11/10, 6 – 8 p.m. Live performance on the railcar. Pybus Public Market.

Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org.

Femmes of Rock: Bella Electric Strings, 11/10, 7:30 p.m. All –new arrangements, original material, a live rock band, video, lights, choreography, comedy and more can be expected in this high-energy show.

Numerica Performing Arts Center.

Cost: $21-$35. Info: numericapac. org.

Holiday Open House and Wine Walk, 11/11, noon – 5 p.m.

Downtown Wenatchee. Cost: $35 includes 12 tasting tokens and a signature glass.

Wenatchee Riverfront Railway Veteran’s Day Run, 11/11, 1-5 p.m. Ride the mini train. 155 N. Worthen, east end of the railroad pedestrian bridge. Cost $2/ Vets free.

Ladies Night Out, 11/11, 6 – 8 p.m.

Receive a gift with any purchase and complimentary homemade cookies. Plain Hardware, downtown Plain.

Peter Pan – National Theatre Live, 11/11, 7 p.m. A recorded performance of Peter Pan. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $14 advance or $16 at the door. Info: icicle.org.

In My Life, 11/11, 7:30 p.m. A musical theatre tribute to the Beatles.

Numerica Performing Arts Center.

Cost: $27 - $35. Info: numericapac. org.

Pybus University, 11/13, 7 p.m.

Holiday Wines. come learn about some of the most traditional and classic holiday wines for Thanks-

}}} Continued on page 34

The Art Life

// SKETCHES OF LOCAL ARTISTS

Former dancer looks back on the steps of her varied life

By Susan Lagsdin

Laraine Burrell, who took

a major step moving solo to Wenatchee in January, is invigorated by her law position at Jefferson, Daniels, Sonn & Aylward and eager to involve herself in the community.

And she finds the size of the town, the friendly relationships and the walking path reminiscent of her childhood home in England. “And my woodstove!

It’s the first one I’ve had for many years,” she said.

Dramatic transitions distinguish the lives of many artists, but the story of Laraine’s life shows a particularly affirming link between sadness and success.

It was 1995. Working out on the treadmill was a standard practice for members of the dance troupe of the long-running “Hello Hollywood Hello” but something went very wrong that day. With one huge misstep Laraine’s ankle was ruined — the tendons dis-attached from bone and pain shot up her leg.

Help was immediate, but recovery was excruciatingly slow.

When she fell, Laraine (then only 38) knew that her previous night’s dance performance with its camaraderie, vivid costumes, bright lights and applause would be the very last one of a long successful career that started in earnest when she was five.

She’d taken dance lessons as many little English girls do, but unlike the many, at 16 was accepted into the London Academy of Dance. After graduation she started touring, performing nightly on cruise ships and the-

ater stages and in major nightclubs around the world. She did it all, singing, acting and especially dancing: ballet, Latin rhythms, swing, ballroom, jazz, spectacular stage shows, even a “tap rap” composition.

And then, the accident. There she was in the States, in Las Vegas. In rehab, out of work after 12 years in a sell-out show, with a new house and big mortgage, a son grown and ready to leave home, and suddenly her husband (also her full-time adagio dance partner) waltzed out the door and out of her life.

Most people would fall and not get up with a quadruple-threat round of bad luck like that.

It was a time for collapse or re-invention, and Laraine made a decision that propelled her life upward.

She decided to become a lawyer.

Working hard and poor for eight years and still feeling the physical pain of her dance injuries, she garnered not one but three college degrees and on completion was employed as an intellectual properties attorney at worldwide legal firm Greenberg Traurig.

Life was good (its tangible symbol her first silver Jaguar convertible).

But then, the world tipped once more. A long visit home to England to visit her father, who was ill, was shortened by his much-too-sudden death. On the 10-hour flight back to America, after the eulogy and the family farewells, Laraine had an epiphany.

She achieved what she had because of her father’s life and November 2017 | The Good Life

Laraine Burrell: Our Grand Finale could be the start of a writing career.

sacrifices, and felt she’d squandered the time she could have spent with him at the end. “I had no time to tell him how I loved him, how he was my hero.”

She owed her father the gift of remembrance. So, over the next eight years, while continuing to practice law, she wrote her recently-published book Our Grand Finale.

The book jacket summarizes it as “an exploration of both the author’s and her father’s unusual life experiences, and the reminder that ‘later’ doesn’t always come.”

It is a memoir, her life intertwined with that of her father, who rose from poverty to become a naval officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross for service to his country. Not educated as a narrative writer, Laraine www.ncwgoodlife.com

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33

depended on her considerable professional skills and a passion for the project to complete and publish the book, which came off the press in October.

She found that writing the book, as rigorous as the work was, gave her hope that she could write more.

Now 60 and settled freshly into her Wenatchee home, Laraine hopes to keep honing her skills, perhaps attempting fiction novels. Our Grand Finale cleansed her conscience of the lost years she’d spent far away from home; now she’s ready to move on.

She said, “I have so many potential books I want to write – I fear I’ll run out of time!”

New town, new job, new outlook, new art — what more could a creative person hope for?

>>

WHAT TO DO

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

}}} Continued from page 32 giving, Christmas and New Year’s as Rhett Humphrey from Jones of Washington talks about holiday wine and food pairings. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Environmental Film and Lecture Series: Seed: The Untold Story, 11/14, 7 p.m. Follow the

story of seed keepers protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy.

Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: $5 suggested donation.

Ping Pong Tournament, 11/14, 21, 28, 7 p.m. Kid and fido friendly.

All skills welcome. Der Hinterhof, Leavenworth. Info: dehinterhof.net.

Citizen Science: eBird Monitoring, 11/16, 6 a.m. Would you like to spend a weekday morning hiking, viewing wildlife, wildflowers and snow-capped mountains while

being part of a small team collecting bird species data? Horse Lake Reserve. Info: cdlandtrust.org.

for a

Mainstreet Christmas Enjoy the holiday season in Downtown Wenatchee. Experience the magic!

Saturday, November 11th | 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Holiday Open House & Wine Walk

Sponsored By: Dave & Sandy Gellatly, Cordell Neher & Co, Central Washington Water

Saturday, November 25th

Small Business Saturday Saturday, December 2rd | 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Community Tree Lighting & Free Photos with Santa

Sunday, December 3rd | 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Mingle & Jingle Sponsored By: Columbia Pet Service

Saturday, December 9th | 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Sponsored By: Jake Davison - American Family Insurance, Washington Federal Bank, Key Bank, NCW Foundation for Youth and Parson’s Photography

Sunday, December 10th | 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Free Photos with Santa

34

| The Good Life

Miles Hodges, 11/17, 7 p.m. Miles Hodges with just a microphone and spoken word, harnesses the power of storytelling and finds a way to make the sad become beautiful, the beautiful becomes necessary.

Canyon Wren Recital Hall. Cost: $18 advance or $20 at the door. Info: icicle.org.

Holiday Spice, 11/17, 7 p.m., 11/18, 1 p.m. Kicking off the Festival of Trees weekend is Holiday Spice, a poignant holiday revue featuring the area’s best performers saluting the season though dance, music, comedy and spoken word performances. Numerica Performing Arts Center. Cost: $21-$35. Info: numericapac.org.

Stanley Civic Center Plaza

Free Pizza, Photos, & Crafts with Santa Wenatchee Convention Center

Small Town Christmas, 11/17 – 12/25, noon to midnight. Fun family events each weekend: Santa photos, free holiday matinees, children’s activities and more. Downtown Chelan. Info: historicchelan. org/small-town-christmas.

Nic Allen, 11/17, 6 – 8 p.m. Live performance on the railcar. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Little Black Dress Party, 11/17, 7:30 p.m. Dance by the light of the moon. Grab that little back dress, your favorite party shoes and dance the night away. Prizes, shop

www.ncwgoodlife.com

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November 2017

and get your photo taken on the red carpet. Wenatchee Convention Center. Cost: $30. Info: numericapac.org.

Pybus Market Holiday Artisan Fair, 11/18, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Featuring over 40 local and regional vendors including crafts, holiday gifts, décor, jewelry, art and more. Pybus Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

The Exterminating Angel – Met: live in HD, 11/18, 9:55 a.m. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $22 advance or $24 at the door. Info: icicle.org.

Bavarian Boondockers Snowfest, 11/18, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. A snowmobile winter power sports event. Avalanche seminar, raffle, industry professionals, giveaways, swag, great food and a movie premier. Leavenworth Festhalle. Info: bavarianboondockers.com.

International Survivors of Suicide Day, 11/18, 1 – 2:30 p.m.

A gathering of remembrance and healing for anyone touched by the loss of a loved one to suicide.

Central Washington Hospital room C. Info: Linda 888-2742 or Carol 860-3620.

It’s a Wonderful Life dinner and live auction, 11/18, 5 p.m.

Enjoy dinner with friends, a live auction featuring experiences you cannot purchase anywhere else along with live entertainment. Auction hosted by Cody Hodges and Matt Cadman. Door prize. All funds

>>

WHAT TO DO

raised go to benefit the Numerica Performing Arts Center. Wenatchee Convention Center. Cost: $60. Info: numericapac.org.

Drop Everything, 11/18, 7 p.m.

The funniest, most action – paced ski movie of 2017. Features the world’s preeminent free skiers along with quick-hitting comedy, stunning locations, a potent soundtrack and stellar cinematography.

Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $14 advance or $16 at the door. Info: icicle.org.

FARMSTRONG, 11/18, 7:30 p.m.

Cashmere Community Concerts.

Farmstrong’s singing and distinctive style of arranging songs mixes a deep history of American stringed music together. CCC at Cashmere Riverside Center. Cost: $3 at the door and pass the hat $8-$11. Info: cashmereconcerts.com.

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis, 11/20, 7 p.m. The show features classic Christmas hits with dazzling multimedia effects in an intimate setting. Town Toyota Center. Cost: $40. Info: towntoyotacenter.com.

Christkindlmarkt, 11/24, 25, 26, all day. Authentic Bavarian foods, handmade arts and crafts and other gifts, family friendly, Bavarian and Christmas themed entertainment. Downtown Leavenworth.

Cost: free. Info: Leavenworth.com.

Holiday Lighting Ceremony, 11/24, 5:45 p.m. Come to Pybus Public Market for a festive holiday spectacle. Music from 6 – 8 p.m.

Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org.

Slim Chance, 11/24, 6 – 8 p.m. Live performance on the railcar. Cost: free. Pybus Public Market. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Russ Hepler, 11/27 – 12/14, 9 a.m.

– 1 p.m. Monday – Thursday. Art showing at Robert Graves Gallery.

On Wenatchee Valley College campus. Cost: free. Info: robertgravesgallery.org.

Bronn Journey Christmas Concert, 11/28, 29, 30, 7:30 p.m.

Bronn, Katherine and the harp bring music that is nothing short of glorious. Community United Methodist Church. Info: leavenworthumc.org.

Advance Care Planning Workshop, 11/21, noon – 1 p.m. Who will speak for you if you couldn’t speak for yourself to help future medical decisions? Gain an understanding of Advance Care Planning and the role of a healthcare agent. 1000 N Miller, Confluence Health Sleep Study Center. Cost: free. Info: Tamara Steffen 662-1511 ext 3715.

The Price is Right live, 11/30, 7:30 p.m. Come on down. Town Toyota Center. Cost: $29 - $59. Info: towntoyotacenter.com.

Banff Mountain Film Festival, 11/21, 6 p.m. Festhalle, Leavenworth. Info: skileavenworth.com.

Bah Humbug, 11/30, 12/1, 2, 6:30 p.m. and 12/2, 1:30 p.m. Come share the magic of this musical adaptation of everyone’s favorite Christmas classic. Live performance by Stage Kids of WA. Numerica Performing Arts Center.

Cost: $13 - $19. Info: numericapac. org.

Fowl Play 5K, 11/23, 9 a.m. Put the turkey in the oven and join us for a family and pet friendly 5k run Thanksgiving morning. Cascade High School, Leavenworth. Info: cascadesd.org/cascadehs.

Turkey Run, 11/23, 9 a.m. 12k, 5k and kids run. Rotary Park, Wenatchee. Info: runwenatchee. com.

Fall Barrel Tasting, 11/24, 25, all day. 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/events.

Homemade, authentic tamale sale, 11/24, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Come early to watch tamales being made.

Purchase a dozen for $15. At the kitchen. Pybus Public Market. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Journey to Bethlehem, 11/30 – 12/3, 5:30 p.m. Experience the town of Bethlehem as it was the night the Christ child was born.

5th and Western. Cost: free. Info: j2wenatchee.org.

A Handbell Christmas, 12/1, 7:30 p.m. Celebrate the holiday season with Leavenworth’s Marlin Handbell Ringers and friends. Snowy Owl Theater. Cost: $22 advance or $24 at the door.

Leavenworth Village Voices Together at Christmas, 12/1 and 12/8 at 7:30 p.m. and 12/14 at 4 p.m. The choir aims to inspire the Christmas spirit by sharing the joy and hope of Christmas with a variety of sacred, secular and even humorous choral pieces. Featured guest artists include pianist Steve Morton, the Christmas Brass, Gracie Camp, and the Village Voices Ladies’ Ensemble. Leavenworth November 2017 | The Good Life

Leavenworth Village Voices: Sharing the Joy of Christmas for 35 Years

By Allison M. Bergstrom

T

his holiday season the Leavenworth Village Voices will present Together at Christmas, this year’s theme for the choir’s annual Christmas in the Mountains concert series.

This season marks the 35th anniversary of the community choir, which was founded in 1982 as a nonprofit organization.

This group of music lovers is dedicated to fulfilling the mission of the Leavenworth Village Voices: to enrich the community and visitor experience by promoting choral music and traditional Bavarian songs, to contribute to Leavenworth’s Bavarian theme and festive atmosphere, and to provide an opportunity for locals to sing in a professionally-directed, mixed-voices choir.

Clad in traditional black and red Trachten (Bavarian attire), the choir aims to inspire the Christmas spirit by sharing the joy and hope of Christmas in our alpine wonderland this season.

Music selections include a variety of sacred, secular and even humorous choral pieces. Familiar favorites like The Christmas Song and The Christmas Waltz are set to fresh arrangements, and you may find yourself chuckling during the cheeky Twelve Days of a Regifted Christmas.

In keeping with Village Voices tradition, the audience will be invited to sing along to the HalChurch of the Nazarene at 111 Ski Hill Drive. Info: www.leavenworthvillage voices.org.

Christmas Lighting Festival, 12/1, Over a half million lights light up every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in December with live musical performance of your favorite Christmas songs with St. Nicholas

www.ncwgoodlife.com

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35

lelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.

Featured guest artists include pianist Steve Morton, the Christmas Brass, Gracie Camp, and the Village Voices Ladies’ Ensemble, a subset of the choir founded in 2015. Actor and audio book narrator David Heath will emcee the event.

Larry Henderson will direct the choir for his 17th season, and Jennifer Sidebottom will accompany the choir on piano.

Performances are on Friday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 8 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 10 at 4 p.m. at the Leavenworth Church of the Nazarene at 111 Ski Hill Drive. Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance at the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce (5485807). For more information, visit the Facebook page or website, www.leavenworthvillage voices.org.

Evening performances are $15 for adults and $12 for children ages five to 18. The Sunday matinee offers a special rate of $30 for a family and $12 for a single ticket. Children ages five and older are most welcome to attend.

You may also hear the Leavenworth Village Voices at the Festhalle and Gazebo during Christkindlmarkt and caroling downtown each weekend of the Christmas Lighting Festival.

Allison M. Bergstrom is the vice president of the Leavenworth Village Voices.

arriving at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sundays festivities kick into gear starting at noon. Downtown Leavenworth. Cost: free. Info: Leavenworth.org.

Seth Garrido, 12/1, 6 – 8 p.m. Live performance on the railcar. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

>>

column those were the days

rod molzahn

Sam Miller: Blazed the way for Wenatchee Editor’s note: This story continues a series of bio sketches on prominent early settlers in the valley.

Sam Miller worked tirelessly and was instrumental in keeping peace in the valley. He was trusted by Chief Moses and by General O.O. Howard, army commander for the area.

Only a few days after Sam

Miller’s death in 1906 Clara Lanham wrote a tribute for him in the Wenatchee Advance.

“No influence exerted by any citizen of Wenatchee, past or present, has been a greater factor in the upbuilding of the country than the life work of Samuel C. Miller. He blazed the way… that others might follow.”

Sam Miller was born in Ashland, Ohio in December of 1828.

At the age of 25 he crossed the country to California following stories of gold.

He was too late for the gold rush at Sutter’s mill and pushed on to Oregon still following the promise of yellow riches. He came up empty there as well. He did, however, profit by meeting Franklin and David Freer, brothers who had also followed stories of gold through California and Oregon.

The three men, together, moved on to Walla Walla in 1862. There they discovered that miners in Idaho and Montana sorely needed food and supplies and Walla Walla was the closest place to find them. Miller

Sam Miller: Called “Uncle Sam” out of respect for his years of service to the valley.

and the Freers went into business with 100 mules freighting supplies from Wallula on the Columbia through Walla Walla and on to hungry miners.

By 1870 wagon roads were replacing mules and the pack train business, so lucrative for years, was drying up. They sold their mules and equipment and headed north up the Columbia in search of a good investment for their accumulated profits.

They had heard of a trading post business that could be had for a good price at the confluence of the Columbia and

Wenatchee rivers.

They found it, a store in a tent, operated by Jack Ingram and John McBride. The two men had recently been convicted of selling whisky to Indians and sentenced to nine months in the prison at Walla Walla.

On Aug. 27, 1872 Sam Miller took over the daily operation of the trading post. That day he also began making entries in a day book and ledger that would continue until the store closed 16 years later.

The books show clearly that while Philip Miller (no relation to Sam) at the south end of Miller Street worked to grow his ranch and make it productive, Sam Miller, at the north end

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| The Good Life

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|

November 2017

of the street, worked to provide for and support all the early settlers of the valley.

The Miller/Freer trading post was also the first bank and lending institution in the Wenatchee Valley.

There were three groups that regularly traded at the store.

Chinese and white gold miners made up the largest group and always paid their bills when they came in for supplies. They paid with dust and cash.

A small group of Indians also traded at the store and were also prompt with their payments, usually with gold dust and cash like the miners.

White settlers made up the third group. They were only a trickle in the 1870s but their numbers began to increase in the 1880s.

Their needs were great but their pockets were empty. They needed food staples — flour, salt and bacon. Clothes, shoes and gloves — worn out by hard work — needed to be replaced. Tools were a necessity — shovels, picks axes and more. Sam supplied all these along with tobacco and whiskey, pain medicine, soap and rope.

They also needed a labor force to help clear land, build fences and haul logs. They hired Indians to do the work but had no money to pay them. The Indians went to the store with pay slips from the settlers. Sam paid them and added the amount to the ever-growing store bills. No interest was ever charged on the bills.

In just over a year’s time Pete Butler ran up a bill for $530.18.

He paid it all off with lumber and logs, 25 days of work for Sam at two dollars a day and 210

Sam “will long be remembered for his innumerable acts of kindness towards the newcomer who was invariably poor. He gave them a welcome.” pounds of root vegetables valued at just over $11.

Some settlers bills were years in the making.

Tom Doak began charging goods in 1879 and paid off his $1,100 balance eight years later with $19 in cash and credit for 34 months and 20 days of labor for Sam. George Blair and his family arrived in the valley in the fall of 1883 and finally paid off their bill in the spring of 1891, three years after the store closed and Sam retired. Their neighbor, Christopher Rickman took five years to pay his tab and Ira Freer took three years. An entry in the ledger shows that Blair and Rickman got credit for digging an irrigation ditch for Sam. Sam Miller financed the building up of the valley, assuring the success of many early settlers.

They got the time they needed to develop rugged, sage brush covered homesteads into producing farms and ranches.

In October of 1874 Sam changed the town name in his ledger from Wenatchee to Millersburg and became the valley’s first (unofficial) postmaster.

Mail could be left at the trading post and carried on from there by travelers heading for the next settlement.

In May of 1884 the government approved Sam’s application to be a formal post office with Sam as postmaster. The town name was changed back to Wenatchee.

The post office meant that the little community was on its way to town status.

Sam remained postmaster until December of 1890 when the post office was moved to the new town growing around Springwater and Miller streets and a new postmaster was appointed.

Sam planted peach pits around the trading post and by 1877 there were peaches on the trees. Following Sam’s lead, Philip Miller planted an orchard of peach trees on his ranch below Saddlerock. Four years later he was providing quality peach brandy to his neighbors.

Sam Miller worked tirelessly and was instrumental in keeping peace in the valley. He was trusted by Chief Moses and by General O.O. Howard, army commander for the area. Sam carried messages between Moses and Howard and sat in negotiations between the two leaders.

Sam died on Nov. 11, 1906.

He was called “Uncle Sam” by the townspeople, respected for his years of service to the valley.

Clara Lanham wrote that Sam “will long be remembered for his innumerable acts of kindness towards the newcomer who was invariably poor. He gave them a welcome.”

The editor of the Wenatchee Advance added that “his funeral cortege was followed to God’s green acre by some of the most prominent men in this valley.”

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

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the back page: that’s life

What can go wrong when tagging a calf

By Annamarie Harden The air was cool and fresh during the spring day, early in the year.

I was requested to help my landlord and her dad with a bull calf that was only a few weeks old. The bull calf needed to be banded (as to become a steer) and tagged.

The mother of the calf was known to be quite cantankerous and was especially ornery when her baby is separated from her; however, to begin, we had to get the mother away from her calf. As we did this the mother became agitated and upset, bellowing her frustration.

We got the mother, known as Blonde, on one side of a gate and her baby on the other. My landlord was sprawled out on the calf to hold him down on the ground so he could be worked.

Her dad tagged the calf ’s ear, but realized the tag was in upside down. Therefore, the tag had to be removed and replaced.

But my landlord’s dad didn’t anticipate putting the tag in wrong the first time so he wasn’t prepared to have another tag ready.

As my landlord held her weight down on the calf so he couldn’t move, I ran into the house to get another tag for the ear. All the while as each minute

passed, Blonde was to get to her baby becoming quite upset regardless of the cirand angry that her cumstances. baby wasn’t by her Having little exside. perience with cows, When I got back this experience was outside, I rushed into eye opening to me the corral with the about the adventures new tag. life has to offer when Flustered, my landworking with differlord’s dad punched ent types of animals. the new tag in the In addition, humor calf ’s ear. Meanwhile, can be found in many Blonde reared up and different events in tried to get her front life. If anyone had feet over the top of seen all three of us the gate to get to her out there in the corral calf. We all saw her lying on the calf and do this and started Blonde trying to come yelling at her to get over the fence, laughback. If she were to ter would have filled come over the gate, his or her soul while all three of us would we scrambled up as be in danger of her to not get trampled or trampling on top of injured. us.

Life may have its As we stumbled challenges, but allowup from holding ing oneself to see the onto the calf, Blonde humor regardless how decided that she difficult things may would jump over the be will allow happibarb wire strands ness to fill the soul.

In the foothills of Wenatchee, Annamarie Harden enjoys spendthat were next to ing time with dogs: Diesel and Sierra. Photo by Jesemynn Cacka Growing up in the valthe main gate. She ley, Annamarie has the jumped with her opportunities to ride horses, spend front feet and drug her hind feet flinch during the ordeal. time outdoors, and develop a sense of through the barb wire.

Blonde managed to get her “country” that defines the person she is and the life she lives.

I figured she would be injured hind feet released from the wire, from the barbs, but cow’s hide is and trotted over to the side of quite tough and she didn’t even the corral. She was determined

What are you laughing at?

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