The Good Life August 2017

A PHOTO VISIT TO CUBA Y EVENTS CALENDAR

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August 2017

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bee rancher

Keeping the buzz alive

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12 nurturing nature

Contents

Couple converts wet lands into an amazing animal sanctuary

14 business planner & biathlon coach?

page 22

Jim Fletcher is the coach, the analyst and the mentor. Only the surroundings change

RELAXING AT THE WARM SPRINGS INN

16 sip and paint

Skeptical but curious, writer picks up a brush and a glass, and fun results

18 what’s that bird?

Volunteer loves the enthusiasm of grade school kids discovering the joys of using binoculars to find and identify birds

20 sea of surprises

Fishing expert Dave Graybill returns to the Sea of Cortez and finds the fish both bitting and enticing Art sketches n Poet Susan Blair, page 32 Features

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BEE RANCHER

To overcome stress in her life, Maria Langer took up beekeeping, and now she is trying to keep the buzz going

8 cuba through the lens

Dakota Shae took a camera to Cuba and captured an eye-opening experience

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Columns & Departments 26 Pet Tales: Baby bulldog likes to chew 27 Bonnie Orr: The many uses of cauliflower 28 June Darling: Avoiding becoming evil 30 The traveling doctor: The good health of best friends 32-35 Arts & Entertainment & a Dan McConnell cartoon 36 History: 1880s: A decade of rapid change 38 That’s life: Marriage, when two become one

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Year 11, Number 8 August 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, Dan Fitting, Jaana Hatton, Dakota Shae, Mary Gallagher, Dave Graybill, Susan Rae Sampson, John Darling, Lance Stegemann, Donna Cassidy, Bonnie Orr, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin and Rod Molzahn Advertising manager, Terry Smith 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)

A cool day in the benson vineyards

By Dan Fitting

I

n the late 1970s, my younger brother Jim and a good friend of mine got me interested in photography. I replaced my pointand-shoot Kodak with a “real” camera, a Nikon FE, which I still have.

After puttering around for a bit, I took a class at an upscale camera shop in Bellevue and really got hooked. My skills and technique improved, but cir-

cumstances in my life changed and my enthusiasm waned for a number of years.

When digital cameras became popular, my interest was revived, and it’s been my passion ever since.

Because I enjoyed drawing and painting in my younger years, appreciation for scenery comes naturally. I find beauty and interest in unusual settings as well as contemporary landscapes.

While never passing up the beauty of everyday images that I see when traveling around Eastern Washington, my passion for the wine industry has added diversity to my portfolio. I took

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August 2017

this photo of the Benson Vineyards overlooking Lake Chelan.

Such a beautiful winery with an outstanding view. There are not that many wineries that are amongst a large vineyard which adds to the atmosphere and beauty when going wine tasting.

That along with great wine is why I like to go there.

For more of my photos, including some images from my travels, visit danfittingphotography.com.

On the cover

Donna Cassidy took this photo of Maria Langer in her beekeeping suit.

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editor’s notes

Have a magical day I’ve just left taking a photo of

Susan Blair (aka Perri, the Poetry Fairy) and as she shook my hand goodbye, she leaned in and said: “Have a magical day.”

Well, why not?

Before going off to take Susan’s photo, I had spent the morning editing stories for this issue of The Good Life, and then I took a mental break to cruise the news sites for what was happening in the outside world.

In fairly rapid order I read about a mom who had stabbed her family to death, a doctor who took an assault rifle to his hospital where he shot and killed another physician and more yammering from Washington D.C. best summed up as: “Did too.” “Did not.” “Did too.”

Boy, was I relieved to return to my work. And as I did, I thought about how The Good Life brings a different perspective on the world.

Elsewhere, you can read about the worst of humanity… humankind being, well, neither human nor kind.

Here, we showcase humans in their better moments… striving to grow, to fill their brains with new experience, to do good, to create positive memories that can feed their future lives.

Jaana Hatton has a story this month about Jim Fletcher, who I have known for years as a calm, quiet business planner and analyst. At a recent business luncheon roundtable, Jim was introduced as a biathlon coach.

What?

You mean the sport where people ski like heck with a rifle strapped to their backs, plop down every so often to fire at a tiny target, and then jump up to continue skiing like heck? Yes,

MIKE CASSIDY

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The message here is that people are more complicated than we think, more filledout than the one-dimensional caricatures we often get on the news.

Along those lines, Jaana wrote our cover story about bee rancher Maria Langer.

During the course of the interview, Maria told Jaana: “I’m going through this weird phase in my life. I go mushrooming, I have a garden and the bees.”

Knowing she is also an expert mechanic and can fix her helicopter or Jeep with no trouble seemed like such a huge contrast to her new “back-to-the-basics” life style, added Jaana.

You might say Maria was finding joy coloring outside the lines of her usual life.

What I like to think is that people can choose to live big or live small. So much of what passes for news these days are examples of people living small… of being mean-spirited and small-minded, not to mention small brained.

Here at The Good Life, we celebrate people living up to the moment... of being fully human in the best sense.

It’s good to be a newsmaker in our pages. After all, wouldn’t you rather be in The Good Life than be a 30-second item on one of those national news shows?

Or, as poet Susan Blair asks in a haiku: After all’s said and done, the give and take, bend and break, what mark will you leave?

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BEE

RANCHER When Maria Langer needed a little stress relief in her life, she became a keeper of bees

I

By Jaana Hatton

learned about Maria Langer’s interested in beekeeping while we were both taking a course this past May about local wildflowers, taught by Susan Ballinger.

“I’m going through this weird phase in my life,” Maria mentioned to me. “I feel really connected to nature.”

But is that weird? Only a few generations ago we lived with nature, we survived through nature, yet in the modern world it is something we have become strangers to. Removed from our daily realms filled with technology and machines, sadly we can feel weird when walking amidst the trees and suddenly unable to have a cell phone connection.

Maria enjoys mushrooming, making her own cheese, keeping chickens and growing vegetables. Her approach to life has become natural and sustainable.

You wouldn’t think she is also a helicopter pilot, knowledgeable of all things mechanical and no stranger to blinking buttons and switches that make things fly. When she isn’t busy operating her helicopter as the chief pilot of her company Flying M Air, she tends to smaller air-borne things: much smaller, namely bees.

Beekeeping suits her annual migration schedule well. Maria leaves her Malaga home in the

fall, which is also when bees go dormant. While Maria spends the winter in Arizona, the bees sleep, never knowing that their caretaker is missing.

I visited Maria’s property to see what is involved in keeping bees. She lives on 10 acres that offer expansive views of the Wenatchee valley and flowering hillsides where bees can happily harvest nectar.

“I became interested in beekeeping when I was going through a divorce in 2013,” Maria said. “The bees were a new focus, a distraction from the stress.”

She had friends in Wenatchee, beekeepers themselves, who helped her get a start. Maria is now a seasoned apiarist and was glad to explain about the process and even show me the little buzzers.

That is when a cold stone settled in my belly. When Maria brought out the beekeepers white suits I realized I would have to get up close and personal with possibly thousands of bees. “Wear socks and closedtoe shoes” had been her instructions in the email. I certainly was, but still… they get your toes?

Maria reassured me it was okay, so off we went in her red Jeep, bouncing along the dirt road to the site of the swarms.

My hands were beginning to sweat but I forced a smile. I had

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All suited up and looking a little like an astronaut, Maria Langer tends to one of her hives. Photo by Donna Cassidy

to convince myself this was purely fun. Maria wasn’t sweating at all.

As we reached the bee colonies, Maria lit up the smoker and suited up, then helped me to get inside my outfit and zip and tie every possible bee-sized passage on it. We looked like two astronauts ready for lift-off.

I followed my host as she confidently strode towards the bees.

I could hear the steady buzzing ahead. Or was it the elevated blood pressure that caused the whooshing in my ears?

As Maria lifted off the cover

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August 2017

of the wooden hive, she released a quick puff of smoke into the hive. The smoke is not harmful to the bees, it only confuses them temporarily.

Let me get scientific for a moment: bees react to scents they emit as messages to each other.

When they are alarmed, they produce pheromone and when other bees smell it things start happening. The bees will start eating honey as fast as they can in order to store it and then

start moving it. You had better not get in the way.

However, the smoke disguises any other smells and the beekeeper can go about his or her business.

Maria pulled out one frame at a time, inspecting it for the quality and quantity of honey. The frame is a rectangular piece with tiny honeycomb shapes imbedded on it. The bees naturally before the cure is given. like to store honey in such Maria showed me the a form. She seemed satisbasic tools for beekeepfied with the product, ing, which are few: a suit, which she keeps for her a smoker, a brush and own use and to give to a scraper-looking tool friends. which is handy for open“Look here,” she said, ing hive covers tight with pointing at a fairly full honey as well as for a frame. “This one is ready. multitude of other tasks.

They have put wax on it.”

Bees naturally like to store their honey in the tiny honeycombs. There can be upwards of The hive is quite Once the honey-making 30,000 bees in a hive. Photo by Jaana Hatton simple, too. It is a stack process is done, the bees fered from some kind of a behavior in the bees and they of wooden boxes with 10 cap the product with wax disease, there would have been also scratch off quite a few mites frames inside each container for in order to preserve it. Clever some dead ones left in the hive. in the process. The sugar is also the bees to store honey. The rest little guys.

The most common maladies for food for the bees. is up to nature and good luck.

Maria said that she checks the bees are varroa bee mites and It is customary to have a “I am not so much a honey hives once a week or so. screened bottom under the hive, producer as a bee rancher. I “This spring was the first time nosema, which is a fungus.

Varroa is an external parasite sized exactly so that the mites would like to grow bees to sell,” I had an empty hive. I mean which sucks the blood out of fall through and bees do not.

Maria explained about her pascompletely empty: no bees, no bees and the larvae.

The probUnder that is a sticky board sion. She was getting ready to honey, no dead ones left behind. lem can spread from one colony where the corpses rest. fly to Stehekin the next day to I don’t know what happened.” to another with drifting worker Nosema resides in the gut deliver bees to replace the ones Maybe somebody else does. bees.

There are medications of the bee and is impossible to that had died over there this It must be quite a sight when for it, and early detection is the detect.

One sign is brown spotpast winter. the swarm takes off and moves. best cure. The most harmless ting on the outside of the hive.

What Maria does is no small There can be 30,000 bees in way to treat it is powdered sugar The nosema spores are passed thing. Bees are dying all over a hive. That’s a cloud of bees, treatments, which the bees actu- around within bee waste. There the planet from known and clearly visible to the naked eye. ally like.

The beekeeper simply is also a chemical treatment for unknown reasons. Bee ranch“Bees swarm because they run dusts the hives with powdered it, but as the fungus is hard to ers like Maria are keeping their out of space,” Maria said. sugar that activates a grooming analyze, many bees may be lost buzz alive.

If her missing bees had suf-

“I am not so much a honey producer as a bee rancher.

I would like to grow bees to sell.”

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Cuba: Through the lens

By Dakota Shae

Cuba is a fascinating place, with a rich history; an ex-

otic land, forbidden to Americans. When the travel ban was lifted (which has since been re-instated) my wife Bridget jumped on the opportunity and surprised me with a trip to celebrate our eighth wedding anniversary. Little did we know, we would experience a different Cuba than we had heard about.

A common misconception of traveling is that it’s the same as going on vacation, and that it should always be fun. After returning from Cuba, many people were shocked when I told them Bridget and I did not have a “fun” time in Cuba, rather an eye opening experience; an experience that gave us a look (and feel, and smell) into the daily lives of people who are oppressed by their government.

These photos and captions are not meant to judge Cuba, or de-value the experiences of others, but simply share the impact Cuba had on me while traveling through the very beautiful, mysterious and oppressed country.

If you are interested in seeing a more in depth look into our experience in Cuba and throughout the world, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel iLa Life. We create travel VLOGS of our journeys around the world and at home, and have seven amazing videos of our day-by-day experiences in Cuba.

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Bustling Havana

I took this photo from the carriage of a horse-drawn taxi (which were quite common, especially in Trinidad) as we dodged the chaotic Havana traffic, at times holding our breath to avoid taking a nice big breath of car exhaust. The vintage American cars were beautiful, and driving in and amongst them made it feel as though we were stuck way back in time. In fact, most of Havana felt as though it was stuck in the 1950s, crumbling, neglected by the government, and left for the people to deal with.

Butcher

In Cuba, the majority of food, and all goods for that matter, are not sold in stores, but rather in people’s homes.

Walking down the street, many people would have something for sale laid out on the sidewalk in front of their door, this pig was no exception. A young man, of maybe 20 years, had butchered this pig and laid out all its parts on an enlarged window sill, including the heart, liver, and fat he rendered into old, used water bottles. The lack of refrigeration made it a very unappetizing (and foul smelling) place to shop. The flies however seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. www.ncwgoodlife.com

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August 2017

Live Music

Curious Kids

With so many freedoms withheld from the Cuban people, music is a place where their creative spirit really shines. With limited access to the internet (and restricted website access) Havana comes alive at night with the sound of Spanish guitar, drums, shakers and horn instruments.

Rural Cuba is much different than Havana. In Havana we were constantly hassled, asked for money, to go on a tour, to come look at something, all of course so we would pay them, and after my realization of the way their government operates, I can see their perspective. However, outside the big city, off the beaten path, there is a far different vibe. People were generally happy to help, happy to see us, and curious as to what we were doing and why.

As we walked home from this bar, through the thick Caribbean air, saturated with car exhaust and cigar smoke, families and friends sat outside their homes creating music, laughing and singing together.

After driving a while on a dirt road, we stopped to figure out where we were; immediately about five kids ran out of a tiny house made of rusty sheet metal and came over to us.

Curious about us, they touched our skin, asked us questions in Spanish (which we could only partially understand) and this boy, grabbed my GoPro and tried to look through the (nonexistent) viewfinder. He had obviously seen a camera before.

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Not For Sale

Fishing Boats

We stumbled across this shop late at night walking around Havana. It was definitely the best antique store I’ve seen, some real relics. I really liked this fan, and asked the price.

The man told me that it wasn’t for sale. I asked, “Why not?

What if I offered you a couple hundred dollars?” he said, “Still no. It is very difficult to find fans in Cuba, if I sold you this one, we would have nothing to keep us cool during the day.”

The beaches in Cuba are beautiful, white sand, turquoise water and relatively un-crowded once you get out of the touristy areas. We saw many locals fishing, even in Havana, attempting to put a little more on their plates than the standard ration cards allow.

With our moped, we were able to explore more remote stretches of beach outside Trinidad, which is where we found a small fishing village where these colorful boats were beached for the day, and Bridget snapped this photo. One man was building a small wooden shack with only hand tools, while another was mending nets. We decided to go for a swim and see what there was to see. Bridget dove down and came up with the huge conch shell in the photo on the next page.

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August 2017

Deserted Caves

After leaving Havana, Bridget and I spent four days in Trinidad, a Spanish colonial town much more our style. We rented a moped and really started exploring rural Cuba.

An hour west of Trinidad, we stumbled upon a nearly vacant resort on the coast, parked our moped, and began exploring a trail system that soon turned into a network of caves.

Climbing into the cave was like walking into a substance not of air or water, but somewhere in-between. It was stifling hot and smelled strongly of guano. Our lack of a flashlight made navigating the caves a tedious task (luckily we had our phone with us to use as a light).

I’ve explored many caves around the world, and this deserted cave system was the most magnificent I’ve seen. It even spit us out at a secret lagoon where we snorkeled until dusk, which meant finding our way back in the dark.

To see more of Dakota Shae’s adventures through photos, you can follow him on instagram @viadakota.

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A curious Douglas squirrel hides in Mary’s pot of pansies. Squirrels, birds of many a feather, deer are some of the creatures that visit during the seasons.

Nurturing Nature Couple converts marshy land into an amazing animal sanctuary

W

By Jaana Hatton

hat do you do with a piece of wetland property that nobody wants because it’s too wet?

You buy it for little money and turn it into a sanctuary for living beings of many kinds.

At least, that is what Mary and Tom Guthrie did with their two acres in Leavenworth.

“I saw the possibilities right away,” Mary remarked. “The pond was already there and it’s spring fed. We just started adding to the landscape.”

Mary and Tom both studied oceanography and are well equipped with knowledge about natural environments.

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The view from the pond toward the Guthries’ log house.

Their goal was to benefit the wildlife around them while enjoying the location themselves.

“The pond was the first landscaping project we tackled. However, we couldn’t just do what we wanted: there were permits involved.” | The Good Life

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The Guthries obtained the approval of the Army Corp of Engineers, the Fish and Wildlife Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, and then set to work.

“Something unexpected happened when we started digging the pond deeper,” Mary explained with a smile. “The first day it filled

August 2017

up. When we got up the next morning, the water was gone.”

It turned out there were two holes on the bottom of the pond. Once those were filled with a cementlike substance the water has stayed in. Two drains lead out from the pond and the excess water feeds the surrounding land area. The water feature is now the home of hundreds of bright orange goldfish and a good number of bluegills, as well.

Mary bought the bag of goldfish for a dollar years ago, and the fish multiplied — and multiplied.

“Birds come to the pond to eat. We see ducks, herons, sora rails and kingfishers,” Mary said.

There are many other kinds of birds that have made the property their home. Red-winged Mary and Tom Guthrie almost disappear into the tall wetland lupine. blackbirds flutter about in numbers too many to count. They like to make their by and once we spotted a bear.

While I was sitting on the nests in the four-feet tall wetThey all like the pond.” terrace with the Guthries, a land lupine that naturally grows The Guthries made careful de- little Douglas squirrel came throughout the lot. The birds cisions as to what kind of trees hopping along. He nibbled on dash across the pond to catch an to plant. Initially, the lot was some seeds, inspected the pot of insect or two and then visit the just grass and lupine. During pansies and just looked at us for feeders attached to the terrace the past 15 years, the trees they awhile. for an easier meal of seeds. introduced have taken hold and “This guy makes a nest here,” The Guthries also keep humthrived, probably thanks to their Mary said. “The babies scurry mingbird feeders filled, and the selections of native plants. about all over the outside of the little buzzers stay close by to get “I especially like the servicecabin.” their share of the nectar. berry, elderberry and the ornaEven though the land is wet“There is an anthill down mental crab apple trees because land, it was hard work for the there,” Mary said, pointing they offer food to the birds,” Guthries to get things to grow towards the edge of the meadow. Mary explained. during the first year.

“We let it grow for the sake of There is a large weeping wil“The damp ground helped, of the birds.” low giving shade to the pool and course,” Mary said, “but Tom They also keep a pile of brush the grandchildren when they sit and I had to water our newly so the spotted towhee has a there and fish. Evergreens, scatplanted trees for hours on end to place to visit. tered around the property, offer keep them alive. We also had to It’s not all about birds, though. hiding and nesting places both put up a deer fence.”

Turtles like the environment at for resident and visiting birds.

After the initial push, the the Guthries and even lay eggs It is never really quiet at the Guthries let nature take over. in the garden. There are snakes, Guthries. When the sun goes They do keep a vegetable garden too, but beneficial ones. It is too down and the songbirds hush, and more formal looking front wet for rattlers. you may hear the coyotes howl yard, but mostly the property is “We have seen — and heard or the snipe out and about. the result of natural evolution.

— coyotes close by. They have a “It makes this unique sound And what an amazing environden just on the other side of the with its tail feathers that is ment it has become. property line. Deer also come called winnowing,” Mary said.

The Guthries property has August 2017 | The Good Life

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been an official part of the Leavenworth Birdfest for the past 10 years as a hands-on learning site.

The gates are open for visitors anytime, according to Mary. Besides bird watchers, they have entertained garden clubs, as well. The two-acre property has been certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a natural wildlife habitat.

Mary apologizes for the lack of grooming on the landscape, but that is actually the charm and the benefit in it all.

She has been more focused on Tom than gardening since 2005, when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgins lymphoma. The complications of the disease have gradually claimed both of Tom’s legs from the knees down as well as his right hand. He gets around the property along a mowed path on his motorized scooter, maybe pausing under the weeping willow to watch the goldfish or keeping company with the birds from the expansive terrace of the house.

The log house on Spring Pond seems like a good place to be.

Jaana Hatton is a freelance writer from Wenatchee and a lover of the outdoors and most creatures that dwell there.

The bucket list Have you recently crossed out an item on your bucket list — that list of goals you want to reach before you kick the bucket?

Send us an e-mail — with pictures if possible — to: editor@ncwgoodlife.

The two aspects of

biathlon

Mild mannered business planner during the week, Jim Fletcher morphs on the weekends into a... well, still mild mannered but coach on shooting while skiing

By Jaana Hatton

The group dashes through

the snow-covered landscape as if chased by a pack of wolves.

Their skis cut into the snow and the legs push for momentum. Thrusting and pulling with the poles they gain more speed.

With teeth clenched and their breath exhaled in frosty clouds, the group moves like a swarm of giant inchworms.

Their rifles sway left and right in rhythm of their body movements. Fast, faster — they try to out-do each other. Suddenly, the motion slows down and then halts. The atmosphere changes in an instant.

The skiers fall onto their knees and with a rehearsed motion, reach for their rifles. In the blink of an eye, they have entered into a zen-like calm with eyes focused and the breath under control. They stretch on their stomachs on the icy ground and remain completely motionless to steady their aim.

One target, one bullet. A single chance to hit it. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. It’s the only sound you will hear. And the second the shot has been completed, they jump up and the chase starts again.

That is how the sport of biathlon is carried out.

I recently met with Jim Fletcher of Wenatchee, who is a biathlon coach and event official. My interest in the activity is more or less an inheritance as I grew up in Finland where biathlon is a national sport.

“I started 13 years ago,” Jim said. “I took my son, Chris, to the Methow Valley ‘Try Biathlon’ event in 2004. He was hooked and I joined in as a score keeper for my son’s team.”

Methow Valley is the only location in our area that offers a youth program.

A lot has taken place since that time. Jim participated in his son’s training and also learned how to coach others. He took an online course offered by the Canadian Biathlon Association and became a certified “Chief of the Range.”

Four years into their participation in the sport Jim and Chris had a unique experience: testing the Olympic venue in Canada in 2008. They took part in the British Columbia Cup at Callahan Valley, which had been set up for the following year’s Olympics.

“Biathlon can also be done in the summer. Instead of skis, we use mountain bikes or run,” Jim explained.

Chris and Jim went to the 2009 Exhibition mountain bike race at West Yellowstone. The sport is a good incentive to travel.

“Chris’ current goal is to participate in the World Masters in Finland in five years,” Jim said.

There is little equipment involved in biathlon, but the transportation of the rifle is always an issue. There are permits and paperwork that need to be submitted and one can expect questions at airports. The importing country has to approve the gun. The skis are much

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Chris Fletcher starts at the U.S. Nationals at Donner Pass, CA, in 2015.

“Biathlon can also be done in the summer.

Instead of skis, we use mountain bikes or run.” easier to handle.

January through March is the busy time for Jim. This past winter he attended eight races over three months, which meant six weekends of events.

Jim’s enthusiasm for biathlon may seem surprising considering his day job at the Small Business Development Center in Wenatchee.

In the office, he spends hours making business plans and looking at statistics, financial data and business regulations.

He sits at meetings and helps

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August 2017

people with their business strategies. And on the weekends he is outdoors at Mother Nature’s mercy, giving instruction in target shooting and beating your competitor.

But wait, that isn’t so different, after all. In both cases, he is the coach, the analyst and the mentor. Only the surroundings change.

“We race in any weather,” Jim pointed out. “The only things that might stop a race are very cold temperatures or high winds.”

The Nordic Center at Steven’s Pass is the venue most used for biathlon races in our area. The center offers to help in the sport from Jan. 1 onward.

“Last year we had 40 people at the beginner’s clinic,” Jim said with a happy smile. “We are always hoping for more participants, especially in the younger age groups.”

A group of Junior Women race at U.S. Nationals.

TOP: Jim Fletcher, left, a “Chief of the Range,” and Bob Valor look on at a junior race at Liberty Bell High School in the Methow. Bob is president of Washington Biathlon Association.

BOTTOM: Victor Woo, a Master Men 4 competitor (age 60+), shoots.

The “younger” groups means people under 50. The participants seem to be mostly older, but certainly fit and enthusiastic.

This year three people from Washington participated in the World Masters and did quite well: Dave Shaw placed 13th in the age 60-65 sprint group, Bryn Black placed 6th in the women’s age 45-50 sprint group, and Martha Bellisle was 1st in the women’s age 55-60 sprint group.

“Our total membership is currently 50, mostly Seattle residents.”

People practice the skiing, running and biking portions of the sport on their own or with groups, and go to shooting ranges for target practice. In our area the Fancher Heights range

is available for biathlon practice.

“Every race is different,” Jim said. “The weather is never the same, even throughout the day, the snow can be fast or slow.”

Nature creates the conditions, and the racers must be prepared to adapt.

The race time is 80 minutes.

In the individual race there are four shooting stops and five laps.

For each missed target there is either an extra lap of 150 meters or a time penalty. Biathlon also has such races as mass start or sprint, each with slight variations to the rules.

“I like biathlon because it’s challenging. The challenge is within you, trying to beat yourself each time. And you never know until the end who is going to win,” Jim said.

August 2017 | The Good Life

Jim enjoys the outdoors, and that’s what biathlon is all about.

Being out there, come rain or shine.

“I will keep doing this,” Jim reassured. “It’s fun to help newcomers, and I get to meet a lot of people in the races. As far as coaching, I think my strength is the mental part, helping people believe they can do well.”

That is the fascination of biathlon, the two skills that have to be developed: mental focus and physical stamina. Likewise, the contestant needs calmness for the target shooting and competitiveness for the skiing. As in any sport or most anything we do in life, the mind rules the body.

The next in-state biathlon event will be a Cross and Mountain Bike Biathlon event on Aug. 20 in Tukwila, just south of Seattle.

For more information, go to the Washington Biathlon Association website at www.wabiathlon.org. www.ncwgoodlife.com

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Lean Meats, Fresh Vegetables & Delicious Sauces !— —A ll Grilled To Perfection

WENATCHEE

Downtown across from the PAC 509.662.1154

LEAVENWORTH Downtown across from Brewery 509.548.WOK2 (9652) — Full Service Bar! —

Sip and Paint

A blank canvas, brushes, fellow painters and a glass of wine — let the giggles begin

The “sip” part is optional, non-alcoholic beverages are also provided.

The “paint” part is not optional. Everyone starts with a blank canvas and finishes with a completed painting. No experience is needed. The only things you need to bring are clothes you won’t mind getting paint on, your camera and an openness to being creative.

To find an event near you try to Google “Sip and Paint” or “Brews and Brushes” or “Class with a Glass” or “Paint Nite.”

In Leavenworth area: www. sipandpaint.org.

In Wenatchee: www.classwithaglass.com.

By Mary Gallagher I first heard about “Sip and Paint” on Facebook.

Friends and family were posting smiling faces, a drink in their hand and colorful paintings they claimed were created in a span of a few hours. Some were with their spouses, others with friends and even one who shared the experience with her young daughter.

I was skeptical but curious. A blank canvas and brushes, working with acrylic paint, creating a painting intimidates me. Doing it with others, all of whom I am sure will be better than me, sounded scary. The sipping part sounded the best.

In April, I was asked by my friend to attend a local sip and paint at Mountain Springs Lodge in Plain. Another neighbor was inviting all the ladies in the neighborhood to get together and learn more about each other while being creative and drinking wine. What harm in that?

Eleven of us from our neighborhood and several others showed up. The night was filled with giggles and silence, focus and sharing, as Amber Zimmerman, the professional artist, guided us step-by-step from a blank canvas to a completed painting.

About the sipping...

Ann Reynolds looks up from her nearly complete project. “The reason I get such a kick out of the Paint and Sip experience is that it is crazy fun to paint in a relaxed situation with other people having a good time,” said Ann, who is an artist. “We artists spend so much time alone working on a painting just as writers do, it is so joyful to not take it so seriously. There will be no heavy expectations of a masterpiece here. It’s simply refreshing to paint what someone tells me to do, no pressure to perform, sip some wine, and laugh at the running commentary surrounding me. I absolutely love the giggles and patter going on as we paint.”

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Wow! I enjoyed it much more than I thought AND I wanted to do it again. Looking online there were many available options.

Hard to choose, I was attracted to the paintings not only on canvas but also on rocks or wood.

Locations varied. Finding an open evening on my calendar was the deciding factor.

On June 12, six friends and I joined 13 others to once again try a sip and paint. Just so happened this one was also at Mountain Springs Lodge and once again led by Amber. We all had a copy of the picture we were going to paint. We were all given the same blank canvas, the same assortment of brushes, the same palette of colors, the same directions from Amber and a cup of water.

shared experience with individual results.

Confidence and creativity were enhanced by all being in the same room at the same time, painting the same picture, led by the same professional artist. Truly one plus one can equal three.

Today I am posting I decided what to sip pictures of myself on and snack on. But, once Facebook, with smiling again, I was intimidated friends and a completed by the blank canvas. colorful painting in my Amber began by calmly hands. saying, “Pick up your big I have no plans to go fat brush, dip it in water, out and buy blank canand mix white in with vases, brushes or acrylic your blue. We will start paints. with your sky and your I will participate in stream.”

Mary Gallagher paints “my sky and my stream” with neighbor and friend, Julie Burrage smilanother sip and paint.

My sky and my stream. ing across the table.

It is a fun way to allow Time to paint my paintmy inner artist to come out and ing. I took a deep breath, tried “Mix a black-green or a blueGetting up and walking strengthen my confidence. to focus and picked up my big green. Shadow in with black for around the room, seeing each Creativity with guidance while fat brush. your riverbank. Then we will other’s progress was quite reWe each held the same brush, work on your trees.” warding. We all had painted the hanging out with others for a few hours is a great way to enmixed our colors with water and “Trees are hard,” several parsame picture but with our own rich a good life. It has enriched followed the directions as we ticipants exclaimed. hands and through our own mine. interpreted them. We each were Amber’s response, “Relax and eyes and own color choices. A painting our own unique version breathe.” of the same painting.

Time went too fast, no one Amber walked around the was ready to leave but we had to room, answering questions, finish.

On March 1, 1910, the deadliest observing our progress, picking “Dot your meadow with flowavalanche in North American up on hesitations, sharing ways ers,” said Amber. history swept down the snowy to handle a brush or mix in the I went for yellow, pink-purple Cascades, burying two trains and water, always encouraging us and red. Buttercups, lupine and killing 96 people. Join historian and calling out directions.

Indian paintbrush. This was my and museum curator Melanie “Pick up your medium, round meadow.

Wachholder on a tour of the Wellington site. brush and scruffle in your green I felt confident and relaxed. I meadow.” felt closer to my friends and the For more information and tickets call now!

Giggles and muffled laughter others I didn’t know. A shared from around the room followed experience of being “artists” (509) 888-6240 WenatcheeValleyMuseum.org Amber’s words. together for a few hours.

I took a deep breath, tried to focus and picked up my big fat brush.

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Volunteers

WHAT’S THAT

BIRD?

Identifying this bird is easy: It is an osprey, perhaps looking for its next meal.

When a student exclaims “Whoa!” volunteer birder knows she has shared her enthusiasm

To learn more about the local Audubon Society

Information about the North Central Washington Audubon Society is available on its website at www.ncwaudubon.org and on Facebook.

The website allows a visitor to read the June 2017 newsletter, including Merry Roy’s list of books about birds that she recommends for summer reading.

By Susan Rae Sampson

Why am I freezing my butt

off on a windy day in the state park at the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers?

I’m here at “Youth on the Columbia,” a program of the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, a day of field trips for school children. They’ll visit the museum, paddle a 25’ long voyageur-style canoe, courtesy of the Wenatchee Row and Paddle Club, and take a lesson in using binoculars to finding and identifying birds.

I help with “What’s That Bird,” staged by the North Central Washington Audubon Society.

We expect to coach six teams of 12 to 20 students each, third through fifth-graders, for each

A childhood illness introduced Susan Rae Sampson to the joys of wild bird watching.

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of these field days. We ask the kids to spot nine replicas of local birds that we’ve perched in nearby trees, then to identify each from photographs on field guide posters, and finally, to check its name on a long list of local species that birders call their “life lists.”

For me, the enjoyment of birdwatching goes back to exactly my 10th birthday. My throat was sore from a tonsillectomy and I was being held out of school while I recovered.

To keep me busy while she

The kids here at the Confluence are clamoring to use the binoculars and are racing from tree to tree looking for birds. attended to my younger siblings, Mom pulled a chair close to the living-room window and handed me a 1950s edition of Audubon’s Birds of America. She told me to identify the wild birds feeding in our front yard.

I already knew the robin; my first new identification was the Oregon Junco. A few weeks later, I was thrilled to see a Pileated Woodpecker beating its redcrested head into a bug-ridden pine tree.

When November came, I was distressed when my father brought home ducks from a hunting trip, and mentioned that the beautiful Wood Ducks were becoming scarce. I asked him to stop shooting the pretty ones. He agreed, but he continued to buy a federal duck stamp every year, because money from the stamps was used to conserve duck habitat.

Every year he gave me the duck stamp to put into an album. I don’t think he ever hunted ducks again.

The kids here at the Conflu-

See birds the way Audubon saw them

Switched-on Audubon: The original lithographic plates of John James Audubon’s Birds of America have been digitized and are available for downloading in a high resolution format for free.

See www.Audubon.org/birdsof-America.

Birds are listed by name, or by state birds.

Clicking on a picture opens a text about the bird, with a small picture in the upper right hand corner. Underneath that picture, you can click to look at the full sized plate, or to download it. When you click to download, you are asked whether you would like to receive an Audubon newsletter. You have the option of saying “No thank you,” and you can download the plate anyway.

ence are clamoring to use the binoculars and are racing from tree to tree looking for birds. I help with the binoculars. They can be tricky, but I know that a student has focused correctly for the first time when he shouts, “Whoa!” I’d love to share this enthusiasm with my own grandsons, but they live the width of the continent away, so I’ve borrowed 90 grandchildren-fora-day.

Opening our plein air class-

room, retired college biology professor Mark Oswood warns kids that our replica of a robin is undersized because it ate too many Twinkies for breakfast and stunted its growth. They laugh, but they get the message.

He also answers serious questions from children and other volunteers.

He explains that even animals that are normally vegetarian will eat meat if they are starved for protein, particularly during their breeding seasons.

That’s why leaf-eating bugs will cover a dead salmon, deer will eat road-kill, and yes, you can believe your own eyes — you saw a Steller’s Jay kill and eat a sparrow.

Meredith Spencer points out the first Loon that I’ve ever seen, and mentions that her life list is 428 species long. Merry Roy uses her teaching experience, keeping the kids attentive during her safety briefing, and later, teaching them the call of the chickadee, “Chickadeedeedee” from a bird app on her smart phone. Writer Susan Blair shares her plans for the next volume in her series of children’s activity books.

Photographer Bruce McCammon shows us beautiful bird images that he uses to illustrate his birding blog (https://bmccammon.wordpress.com/). He also shares a tip — I should dial my point-and-shoot camera from auto-focus to manual focus so I can photograph that Eastern Kingbird that is fluttering

close to me without accidentally focusing on the mallards swimming through the background.

I think we all hope that the children at the river will become intrigued enough about birds to become the next generation of good citizens who want to protect their habitats, and thus, the environment.

So, if I’m standing out here on a riverbank today in a cold wind, it’s for kids, it’s for birds, and it’s for me to learn a few things and to enjoy talented company.

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Sea of surprises

This is how close the whale sharks came to the boat during a snorkeling trip. They were all longer than the boat.

Return to the Sea of Cortez, where the fish are putting on a show

I

By Dave Graybill

was so impressed with my experience on the Sea of Cortez at Loreto last year that I just had to return to this body of water.

This year my wife Eileen and I took a group back to spend time in La Paz, which is about three hours north by road from Cabo San Lucas.

Once again the marine life we observed surprised us all.

To be sure I had a place to stay that would please our group, and to find a good fishing charter service, I traveled to La Paz last February. During my short stay I discovered the Costa Baja Resort, which adjoins a marina complex just north of the city of La Paz.

The hotel itself has two restaurants. Steinbeck’s is rated as one of the best in La Paz and named after the famous author, John Steinbeck, who made La Paz one of his favorite getaways. The other restaurant served excellent breakfasts and lunches and served hot meals and poolside snacks.

There are many excellent restaurants in the city of La Paz. One of my favorites is the Tres Virgenes, which is located near the cathedral square, and housed in the historic former home of three former Baja Sur’s Governors. It offers both dining in a patio setting, when it’s cool enough, in the evenings, inside air-conditioned comfort. It is famous for its “Mexican original” Caesar salad, which is prepared at tableside.

There were three days of fishing planned, and each of the fishing days our charter service would pick us up at the hotel

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La Paz is about three hours north of the airport. located at Cabo San Lucas.

lobby and deliver us to a small marina just to the north.

We caught a variety of bottom fish, including delicious triggerfish, cabrilla and pargo, plus some huge roosterfish, and most all of us caught dorado, too. The charter service vacuum-sealed, labeled and froze all of our catches so we could take home coolers full of fish.

The fishing is always fun, but the time on the water in the Sea of Cortez means you will be seeing amazing things.

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August 2017

As we ran from various fishing locations we would have surprise encounters with a variety of marine life. We would see flying fish skipping across the water. Sea turtles would dive as the boats approached. Many times pods of dolphins would be seen and at times would play under the bow of the boat.

We saw many manta rays and some jumping high out of the water.

On two different days we spotted whales from our boat. On one occasion we followed two humpback whales for 20 minutes. They fogged our camera lenses with the spray from their spouts and one large male gave

us a deep-throated chortle before dipping just below the surface.

When we were in Loreto we heard of whale sharks being sighted, but here in La Paz they had actual tours where you can snorkel with them.

We did just that one morning.

We were fitted with snorkels and fins and boarded the boat, which ran a couple of miles out into the bay.

Before we entered the water we received very detailed instructions. They explained much about the habits and behavior of the whale sharks, but also gave us very specific rules about how to conduct ourselves while in the water with them.

We were told to keep at least three feet from the sharks, and to never touch them. If you touch a whale shark on these tours you will be “red carded” and banned from all whale shark tours in La Paz. The boats would slowly cruise a safe distance from the slowmoving creatures until they were just ahead of them, with us sitting on the side of the boat with fins on and snorkels in place. When given the signal we would launch into the water and swim to either side of the shark.

These are the largest fish in the world and to be face to face with one and have it pass by at close range is quite a thrill.

Another one of our group took a tour with the same tour operator a couple of days later, and got a different set of instructions.

He was told that these animals would actually come up to you and even nibble at your arms and legs. “Don’t pull away,” they said. “They have very sharp teeth.” He was a little bit intimidated by this news, but found these animals friendly and curious and were like large puppies.

On the video he shot, you can see them swimming on their backs so people could rub their bellies.

On both my February and May trips I had a rental car and have driven both highways north

Dave caught this dorado while fishing on the Sea of Cortez.

from Cabo to La Paz and all over the town of La Paz. Stop signs can be “optional” here, but I had no problems driving around.

Once again the Sea of Cortez provided a marvelous experience. There are many different destinations on the Sea of Cortez, from small villages to the city of La Paz. I have visited just two, Loreto and La Paz. I would return to either of these in an instant. The towns, resorts and restaurants are a pleasure.

More than anything it is the access to the wonders of the Sea of Cortez that makes these destinations so special.

Dave Graybill is the owner of FishingMagician.com LLC, and provides current fishing information for Eastern Washington. His reports are delivered to newspapers in the region, radio stations, and appear on his Facebook page and on his web site at www.fishingmagician.com. He is also currently serving as Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife commissioner for this region.

August 2017 | The Good Life

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Down by the riverside Warm Springs Inn and Winery: A labor of love and a peaceful haven

This big front porch, pillars and predominantly brick and ivy exterior contribute to the storybook charm of Warm Springs Inn and Winery. Rockers and rattan chairs welcome guests to the cool side in mid-summer.

By Susan Lagsdin

Warm Springs Inn and

Winery is easy to like, hard to forget.

A traveler seeking respite from city stresses feels immediate peace after turning on Lower Sunnyslope’s Love Lane, then driving down toward the river on a narrow shady drive lined with roses.

Like many of Wenatchee’s oldest stately homes, the structure and grounds have prevailed nobly through a century of varied use, deferred maintenance, and major remodels. Most owners appear to have cared for it lovingly, so as it approaches its hundredth year the trees and flowers thrive and the big old house glows with good health.

First built as a family home, it was used as a sanitarium from World War I until 1940; then it became a working orchard, Arabian horse farm and dog facility and again a family home. Ludger and Julie Szmania are the fifth owners to run Warm Springs as an inn.

With generations of European hospitality tradition and soughtafter chef status in his background, and a high-powered business degree with finance and property management experience in hers, the Szmanias prospered and raised their children in Seattle, running their

Each of the six guest rooms (this is the English Room) has its own visual theme, with colors and fabrics carefully choreographed by Julie. Two lower-floor rooms with hot tub and decks, added in 1991, have more modern décor.

well-regarded Magnolia restaurant for 25 years. In 2007, seeking, Julie says, a late life challenge and “an escape route from the restaurant,” they discovered the Wenatchee area.

In 2007, they purchased 20 acres of wine-growing property and a farmhouse up Brender Canyon in Cashmere as an occasional getaway for themselves and as a vacation rental. Their vineyard made excellent wine, and became, as Julie describes it,

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“A hobby that got a little out of hand….” Its award-winning 2012 vintage led them to conceive of a more elegant venue with room for catered events, so they acquired the Warm Springs Inn the next year.

The idea of hosting B&B guests seemed like a natural segue for Ludger and Julie as they looked toward their retirement years. A piece of cake: six bedrooms on the river and hearty breakfasts.

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August 2017

It may come naturally, but it’s not, however, a piece of cake, and it’s considerably more complicated than it looks.

Months of cosmetic improvements to the old house — opening and brightening and redecorating — ensued. The serenity and comfort of the inn caught on, showcasing their estate wine (now from their own on-site winery) and Ludger’s creative cookery, whether it’s breakfast from the small kitchen, crudités

With careful furniture groupings like this, there’s space to get away as well as space to gather. View windows all around the main floor, not practical in the original 1917 design, are a recent and distinct part of the home’s appeal.

for a meeting, or festive meals for huge events.

They soon found that travelers were eager to explore eastern Washington, regional businesses and industries saw the value of introducing their people to a fine Wenatchee experience, and local couples and families saw a perfect place for reunions, weddings and even private anniversary overnights.

The Szmania’s still expect to be surprised with every reservation. “It used to be mostly middle-aged people in B&Bs, but they are such a hot item with young travelers now — 50

percent of our customers have never stayed at one before.

People from Europe and Asia know us only online, so the whole demographic seems to be shifting.”

Six rooms are available for guests, and the couple lives in their small private quarters at the inn. Mostly. They’ve made both the Cashmere farmhouse and their big Seattle home available for short-term rentals, but they and their grown children use all three properties for their own pleasure when possible.

Julie acknowledged that, “Ludger is the chef and wears

The riverside gazebo, seen at dusk, makes a pleasant little getaway spot for meals or just relaxing.

Julie said in the extreme high-water last spring, they took the precaution of tethering this structure to the main house.

the toolbelt,” and she spends her days in the Inn’s office or on the road managing, with the help of a part-time event planner, the intricate interplay of people and goods for the three popular properties.

The Szmanias have grown to love Wenatchee for shopping and socializing and are sometimes torn between their big city obligations and their smaller city pleasures. Asked jokingly, “So, where’s your best toothbrush?” Julie answered, “They’re everywhere.”

She can troubleshoot a business crisis — or westside fam-

ily obligation — adroitly, any rootlessness assuaged by being content exactly where she is at any given time.

“This is year three of a very clear five-year plan,” she said.

“In two years, we’ll know exactly where we stand.” And, presumably, where they’ll sleep. Nice choices abound.

Meanwhile, she and Ludger are consummately conscientious hosts. When they are at home, Julie said, they are at work, giving attention to their guests.

Ironically, Julie confessed, “We have never in our lives stayed

}}} Continued on next page

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This main floor fireplace room is a conversation hub for guests who prefer to socialize. Glass doors all around open onto a deep, full-width deck facing the river and allow both easy access and refreshing cross-breezes.

All proceeds are used to purchase needed medical equipment for Lake Chelan Community Hospital

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Warm Springs Inn }}} Continued from previous page in a B&B.” But they are avid learners and members in good standing of the state B&B guild.

They love to entertain and keep bound photo journals of every big event that’s been held at Warm Springs, dominated by the glitter and joy of wedding parties.

Five stories from cellar to tip-top apartment, the house gracefully retains the warmth of history with thoroughly modern updates. Big bedrooms, four of which early in the 20th Century already had bathrooms and either closets or nurseries, are all furnished in antiques and country chic décor, and Julie adapts their colors and fabrics seasonally. Comfy living room couches and river-view dining tables are always open to guests.

As innkeepers, the Szmanias have learned to estimate their visitors’ tolerances and needs.

“Some people immediately feel

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August 2017

comfortable, as if they live here full time. Others may want to come and go without much interaction, and for them it’s like a nice hotel,” Julie said. Rooms with level outside entrances suit some; others love going up and down the staircase in the central foyer.

Most people head for the lawn in good weather (to Adirondack chairs in pairs at the riverbank); others rarely leave their rooms.

Julie reminds prospective visitors to bring their “toys” to match the season: kayaks, bikes, snowshoes, fishing gear and birdwatching binoculars, and she encourages them to enjoy local culture and local nature.

She said more than once people have curtailed plans to move on down the road to add another night or three.

“One honeymooning couple from Denmark was actually scheduled for the Tetons and Yellowstone, but they stayed

Ludger and Julie love their home and have shared it with hundreds of guests in the past three years. Here, in some infrequent down time, they enjoy each other’s company with their new Brender Canyon wine and their old friendly dogs.

These lawn chairs are actually facing Warm Springs property across the Wenatchee River. The inn sits securely high and dry, but almost half of the 10 acres are either underwater or form densely wooded peninsulas and small islands.

The Szmanias host weddings year-round, providing elegant food and wine in settings like this front lawn reception area. They often house the bride and groom’s families and help book other local accommodations for relatives and friends.

here the whole week instead,” she said. “The Inn was booked, so we gave them the farmhouse.”

while, I’ll be at Pybus or downtown and I’ll recognize someone who’s stayed with us — and

509.884.6563 Wenatchee, Washington

Julie knows that a few nights at the inn can have a powerful effect. She said, “Every once in a

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they’ve decided to leave the city and move here. That always feels good.”

Cell: 509-679-4625

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Windermere Real Estate/NCW

PET tales

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

B

ailey Trainor, Wenatchee was enjoying her walk on Riverfront park with her dog Phoebe.

Phoebe is a 4-month-old English Bulldog. Bailey said she really like Phoebe’s fun personality.

“She likes to chew on people’s feet and she likes to eat. She acts like I never feed her.”

When the photographer said now Phoebe will be famous, Bailey said, “She already gets lots of attention.”

Charles, a 2-year-old Springer Spaniel, flew all the way from

Ohio to Portland where Barbara Bennett picked him up.

Barbara and Kelly Kuhnhausen of Wenatchee were walking Charles along Riverfront Park. Kelly calls Charles Chas and Barbara calls him Charles. Barbara said that Charles is a great dog. “He is friendly, good with kids, a good watch dog.”

Kelly said that Chas is “a hell of a swimmer.” Charles was not cooperating with the photo and anxious to move on down the park.

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>>

column GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

bonnie orr

You can do so much with cauliflower 1/2 cup flour liberally doused with your favorite spices and herbs 1/4 cup butter Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cauliflower is the vegetable

equivalent of tofu.

It is fairly flavorless and is nearly always embellished with something lip-smacking tasty.

The most remarkable feature of this vegetable is that it can be eaten raw or boiled, steamed, sautéed, pickled, baked, roasted, pureed or chopped, and this versatile white powerhouse still maintains its integrity.

It can be served as a soup, a salad, a hot vegetable dish, a cold vegetable dish, as crudites. Can you think of any other vegetable that has this much diversity?

Fortunately no one has created a dessert from this veggie, but the current rage is to form a wheat-free pizza dough with the pureed fiber.

One of the most interesting times that I ate cauliflower was when a restaurant featured cauliflower swimming in a white cheese sauce, accompanied by steamed white fish and white rice and served on a white plate.

I thought at first it was a parody but it turned out that the chef did not have a sense of humor.

Cauliflower comes from a large family that includes similarly flavored cousins: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collard greens, kale, kohlrabi and veronica.

Fresh cauliflower directly cut from the garden or purchased from the farmer’s market provides the most favorable, sweet veggie. The longer it is cut from its stem and stored in the refrigerator or at the grocery store, the stronger, the flavor becomes, and it can take on the sulfur smell like old Brussels sprouts.

If your little white orb got pushed to the back of the crisper, it can be restored by blanch-

OMG, it’s curry crackers made from cauliflower. ing it in water that has a bit of lemon juice added to it.

Chris Rader’s favorite newswatching-with-chardonnay snack is cauliflower and homemade salsa. With a little more effort she makes this delicious salad.

Often cauliflower is dished up with its cousins broccoli or veronica (the cauliflower broccoli hybrid.) Cauliflower’s main attraction is its crunch, so lightly cooking the veggie will preserve this desirable characteristic.

Salads are very popular because the cauliflower is raw.

Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad

Serves 6

1/2 cup sliced almonds (or pumpkin, sunflower seeds) 2 tbsp. sesame seeds 1-2 tbsp. sesame oil 3 c. broccoli, sliced to small heads 2 cup cauliflower, small florets 2/3 cup onion chopped in 1” slices 1/4 cup wine vinegar 2 tbsp. sugar 1/2 cup mayonnaise In heated skillet sauté almonds in oil August 2017 | The Good Life

till lightly browned, stirring constantly.

Add sesame seeds and toast lightly Remove from heat and let cool.

Combine vegetables and seeds in a bowl.

Mix wine vinegar, sugar, mayonnaise pour over vegetable mix.

Keep refrigerated until serving time.

Roasted Curry Cauliflower Curries are a tantalizing companion for cauliflower.

Lightly oil one cauliflower broken into florets.

Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of each of the following spices: turmeric, cumin, ground coriander and ground cloves and minced garlic.

Put on an oiled cookies sheet and roast at 450 degrees until the cauliflower sizzles- about 8 minutes. Serve hot.

Crispy Cauliflower Heather Seaman creates a crispy outside and creamy inside delicious appetizer, side dish or alternative to French fries.

Curried Cauliflower Crackers Pizza crust made from pureed cauliflower? I used the pizza crust recipe as the base for the crackers.

1 medium head of cauliflower 1 egg beaten 2 teaspoons corn starch or tapioca flour 1 tablespoon oil Salt and pepper 1 ½ teaspoons purchased curry powder OR ½ teaspoon each ground cumin, coriander, garlic powder, onion powder and chili powder Pulse finely the cauliflower in a food processor.

Wrap in a tea towel to absorb extra water. The vegetable should be very dry.

Mix in the beaten egg, corn starch, salt and pepper.

Pat out evenly onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 400 degrees until it is light brown and dry.- about 45 minutes.

Cool. Spread with yogurt and chopped cucumber.

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

1 cauliflower www.ncwgoodlife.com

Steam until tender-crisp cauliflower broken into florets.

Drain well in a teacloth.

Mix the cauliflower into the seasoned flour and toss to coat.

Pour mix into a sizzling pan with the butter. Stir to get nice brown bits. Do not overcook.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

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>>

column moving up to the good life

june darling

It’s so easy to go along with evilness One man’s story of resisting evil, of being an eyewitness on savagery, could help us all become a more heroic people

“D

on’t be evil.” “Do the right thing.”

Those mottoes are familiar, popularized as Google’s code of conduct and ethics. They are, in a nutshell, the moral slogans of our civilization. It’s what our parents, teachers and theologians preach.

Despite our mantras, incivility, hate, violence and downright evil are obvious in our families, institutions, and communities around the world.

We are both the most noble as well as the most savage creatures alive. Our history, our humanity, houses both Gandhis and Hitlers.

How can we become more noble and less savage? One place to start is by reading a new book.

Eyewitness: My Journey to the Hague is the story of Isak Gasi (pronounced eesock gahshee) written by Shawn Koos. The book will be available for purchase in October or November.

I got a sneak peek in June, which propelled me toward deeper research on morality.

Most Good Life readers will have heard of Shaun Koos, the capable COO of Confluence Health, until retirement in December of 2014. Koos, who has never written a book before, has spent the last two years writing for, with, and about his friend, Gasi.

Gasi is the survivor of Luka death camp. He continues to testify at the Hague for the

Two gritty guys, Shaun Koos, left, and Isak Gasi met and became close friends while paddling internationally in the late 1990s. Now they have used their perseverance to successfully write an intense, morally provocative book about Isak’s survival of a Serbian death camp and his determined search for justice. Photo by John Darling

International Criminal Tribunal against high ranking officers accused of atrocities committed during the Bosnian War. The book is captivating for a number of reasons. The story is well-told. It’s history up close and personal, the writer and main character live in the Valley.

What’s provocative and riveting, however; is the horrific struggle between good and evil that transcends Luka, Bosnia and Yugoslavia and mirrors what’s inside us all.

When I talked with Shaun about the book and how it had impacted my own search for moral insight, he bowed his head, looked at his hands in his lap, and said he was uncomfortable moralizing. “People are complex,” he said. Then he mentioned the story of the two

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| The Good Life

wolves.

The story of the two wolves is a familiar legend often attributed to Native Americans. It’s about a grandfather who uses a metaphor of two wolves fighting within him to explain his inner conflict between good and evil.

The punchline comes when the grandson asks which wolf wins.

The grandfather answers whichever one he “feeds.”

One point of the two wolves story is that we all are capable of being evil or doing good. We aren’t the guys with the white hats nor are we the guys with the black hats. We are both; we are complex.

Pause a minute and take that in. That’s why we need all these mottoes, slogans and reminders. We must repeatedly make a conscious choice to work with

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August 2017

ourselves.

Experts like Dr. Phillip Zimbardo largely agree. Evil, he explains, is the exercise of power to intentionally harm others.

It’s easy to manipulate psychologically healthy people to harm others.

Zimbardo points to his own Stanford experiments in which regular ole college students became sadists within three days.

Then, he points to the experiments done by Stanley Milgram.

Using simple psychological processes like group pressure and authority, 90 percent of the participants were willing to give what they thought were lethal electrical charges to others.

If we want to be less savage, Zimbardo says we must get this.

We must understand just how easily we are influenced to be

Even these very small acts of kindness can naturally lead us into focusing more on others and doing the right thing. evil. He’s written a book called The Lucifer Effect with the details.

Nevertheless, even though we are easily influenced; Zimbardo points out, we can resist. People are capable of being compassionate, even heroic in the midst of awful circumstances.

Researchers like Zimbardo are speculating and learning more about how it is that these heroes emerge. This is part of an initiative that Zimbardo calls the Heroic Imagination Project.

Researchers have learned those people who do not become evil — despite all the right conditions for doing so — don’t overly care what others think of them.

They are, what Zimbardo calls, “positive deviants.” Positive deviants are better able to hold on to their values despite what others are doing or telling them to do.

In Eyewitness, the reader recognizes positive deviancy in Gasi.

Even after Gasi realizes how serious his situation is, he mentally weighs how he can sur-

vive without compromising his principles. He wants to be able to live with himself.

If people want to be more like positive deviants, Zimbardo offers an offbeat way to begin. He suggests that they take a black marker and draw a square in the middle of their foreheads.

Zimbardo assures his audiences and workshop participants that others will want that black square washed off. He encourages would-be positive deviants to continue wearing the square all day to break the hold that others have on them.

Researchers have found people like Gasi who better resist becoming evil — even becoming heroes when the opportunity arises — often demonstrate concern for others.

Zimbardo says they have moved from being egocentric to being sociocentric — from a focus on me, to a focus on we.

In those who are highly morally developed, the “we” continually expands to include everyone.

One easy way to move toward sociocentrism is simply to give a sincere compliment to five people in five days, says Zimbardo.

Especially pay attention to those outside your regular circle.

Even these very small acts of

kindness can naturally lead us into focusing more on others and doing the right thing.

We are capable of transforming climates of hate and cowardice into climates of kindness and heroism.

If we want to survive as a species and be able to live with ourselves, we’d better learn quickly how to constructively work with our two internal wolves.

Start by checking out the Eyewitness website: www.eyewitnesshague.com. Understand the processes that incite and feed our incivility, hate, and violence.

Notice when you are feeding your own hatred.

Take intentional steps to feed your courage and kindness. Do

Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at editor@ncwgoodlife.com

The Good Life can be found at: Safeway stores, Walgreens, Mike’s Meats at Pybus, Rhubarb Market, Martin’s Market Place (Cashmere) and Dan’s Food Market (Leavenworth)

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29

acts of kindness like giving compliments.

If you want to go further, browse The Lucifer Effect by Phillip Zimbardo; research the Heroic Imagination Project online. Make sure to read Eyewitness and discuss it when it comes out this fall. For extra credit, put a black square on your head and wear it all day.

How might we move up to The Good Life by learning how to not be evil and to do the right thing?

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.

>>

column THE TRAVELing DOCTOR

jim brown, m.d.

Best friends: A gift you can give yourself R

ecently my wife and I have been on a mission to pare down and de-clutter in an attempt to downsize.

I have finally been going through what seems to be a ton of stuff that I have accumulated over a lifetime. It is a slow process since I have saved so many things, ranging from cards, letters, articles and financial information.

The process has brought back many wonderful memories. I recently took over 230 pounds of papers to Shred-it-Rite and watched it all disappear, but the memories remain.

One of the papers I came across was something I wrote on a retreat years ago. We were told to write on the topic: “When I was young in....”

Rereading that short paper about my earliest best friend, Mike Rost, made me think about best friends — how we become and keep friends and what having a few best friends really can mean to us.

Like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, Mike Rost and I spent endless days exploring the exciting world that lay eight miles west of Sioux Falls, S.D. My dad dropped us off on his way to work, at 8 a.m. to return to find us at 6 p.m. after he finished work. Fishing poles and sack lunches in hand, we were on our own like pioneers.

When I was young at Skunk Creek, like Porgy and Bess, it was summertime and the living was easy. Never bored we climbed trees, made forts, fished and swam. Sitting naked in the thick mud up to our necks we worried about snapping turtles eyeing our live “bait.”

When I was young at Skunk Creek, there was no time. We

didn’t need watches. Was my mom worried about us? She didn’t let on if she was. She did however refuse to cook bullheads we caught so the Rost family feasted.

When I was young at Skunk Creek, I remember the sounds of that slow moving creek, farm tractors in the distance, cows mooing and the birds making us feel like we were in our own exotic jungle. The smells were of fresh-cut hay, cow manure, and the fresh morning smells of dew evaporating as the sunlight filled the shadows.

We were inseparable from a very early age and all the way through high school. All through high school Mike and I and our girlfriends double-dated to everything — dances, movies, sporting events, etc.

In summers we both were lifeguards at the large city pool in Sioux Falls where we grew up. It was there he met Judy, also a lifeguard, who eventually became his wife.

After high school, we went our separate ways to different colleges, and both of us ended up

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| The Good Life

at different medical schools. We didn’t see much of each other over the years, but I always looked forward to receiving their updates at Christmas time.

He was my best man when I married Lynn. I stood next to his brother when he married Judy.

Our paths crossed infrequently over the next 50 years until we finally reconnected at our 50th high school reunion after which we made a point of getting together more often over the next few years. It was as if nothing had changed between us.

Later when he died of esophageal cancer, it left a hole in my heart that has remained unfilled.

“Happiness is being with an old friend after a long time and feeling that nothing has changed.”

The author is unknown, but I heartily agree with this.

It seems that many times we make friends due to “chemistry,” our backgrounds or due to shared interests. I have had racquetball friends, tennis friends, and now pickleball friends.

Some of my best friends shared careers in medicine with me. After I finished my internal medicine residency and a gastroenterology fellowship, I entered the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam era.

At San Diego’s U.S. Navy Balboa Hospital, I was put in charge of a medical ward as well as being the only gastroenterologist there.

A different Mike was a resident physician assigned to work under me. I think my enthusiasm for gastroenterology lead him to specialize in that field as

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August 2017

well, and at the same institution where I trained.

He loved tennis, so we got away at least once a week for tennis matches. Mike’s wife’s name also was Lynn and their daughter Kate was born on the same day as was our daughter, Kirsten.

After my Navy commitment was over, we went our separate ways but managed over the years to meet at national GI meetings. We also visited them several times over the years in San Diego where he went into practice.

They eventually moved to Hawaii to build their retirement home there. During the building process, his wife had a stroke and suddenly died.

After her death he came to visit his friends stateside in what I felt was a healing trip for him.

We were one of his first stops.

Later he remarried, and we have gotten together with them several times in Hawaii.

We remain in constant communication thanks to the internet. We still share many things in common and remain “best friends” despite the distance that separates us. I look forward to meeting him in Eugene this fall as he roots for his Ducks and I for my Huskers.

“We don’t meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our path for a reason.” (Author un-

known) That certainly was the case with my friend Ian, from Queensland, Australia.

Even though we met only one time, I look upon him as a very good friend. We were on a trip

Despite our brief A cure with less distaste Jim Brown wrote in the July original meeting, issue of The Good Life about I feel like we are the truly unpleasant type of best friends. colitis known as Clostridia Difseveral years ago to Australia that was set up by an Australian trip planner. We flew from Australia’s mainland to the state of Tasmania where a rental car was waiting. We drove about 60 miles to a small town there to stay the night in a B & B called The Stables. Yes, it was formerly a stable.

It was in a small one-horse town that had one pub and one little store that sold pizzas. At the store we got a pizza and a bottle of wine from the pub. We were sitting at one of three sidewalk tables outside when a man left the tiny store with his pizza.

He stopped at our table and greeted us, asked us where we were from and wished us well on our trip. Five minutes later he returned and asked us to bring our pizza and wine to his place, which we did.

He was an economics professor at the University of Queensland on the mainland and had been coming to Tasmania for one month a year for holidays, each time renting “Grandmother’s Cottage” as it was called.

We spent three hours that evening with his wife and him.

It turned out to be one of the highlights of our Australian trip.

We started to share emails, including pictures that we each had taken of our home areas. We exchange discussions about our politics as well as theirs. This internet relationship has continued on for over eight years, and I think we hear from each other at least once a week.

Despite our brief original meeting, I feel like we are best friends.

The lesson is that it sometimes takes not only mutual interest but persistence in communication to keep a friendship going.

I hope some day we might visit them in Queensland or they

ficile (C. Diff. Colitis), and its rather distasteful treatment called “fecal transplantation,” which involved ingesting healthy feces from donors.

Shortly after the issue was out, he emailed he had heard important new information.

Jim wrote: “An oral gel capsule of concentrated fecal microbes has been developed and used successfully at the University of Calgary in 27 patients with more than three episodes of recurrent Clostridia difficile Colitis.

“It obviously was much better tolerated than fecal enemas or a tube put into the patient’s stomach.”

Likely so.

might come here. Who knows how these things might work out?

Although social media seems to promote a different narrative, I don’t think we really need to have a lot of friends, although that might be nice.

Brene Brown (no relation) says, “I think it is unfortunate that our social media world today has given many the idea that we need a large posse of ‘friends,’ when in reality, if we have one or two really good friends, we are lucky.”

Having good friends is actually good for your health. We don’t really know what draws people to become “best friends” but it is certainly worth the effort to promote it.

Finally, I feel very fortunate that my all-time best friend is also my wife, Lynn, of 55 years. I have been blessed.

Jim Brown, M.D., is a retired gastroenterologist who has practiced for 38 years in the Wenatchee area. He is a former CEO of the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center.

August 2017 | The Good Life

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The perfect word A Wenatchee poet’s search for gems I pad through the bone yard of discarded poems, pawing through broken metaphors and remnants of rhyme, sniffing for a trace of freshness among the similes.

Mold and moss drape the old thoughts; the staleness stifles.

I gasp for clarity.

T

By Susan Lagsdin

his opening passage from Old Poems for New by Wenatchee writer Susan Blair exemplifies the dilemma of many poets who search for new ideas in new language.

She’s serious about finding ways to connect with readers (she’s serious, too, about being “Perri The Poetry Fairy” in local elementary classrooms, as seen in last August’s The Good Life) and, with several years of poetry competitions and readings under her belt, Susan, 62, has decided it’s time to publish her first formal collection.

She characterizes her own style as “lyrical and accessible… through my writing I try to reach out to the world with grace, attention and humor.”

What Remains of a Life (called

Susan Blair has a split personality: she writes for kids and for adults.

a chapbook, usually a 20-30 page collection of poems) centers on moments with people, gone now, who have significantly impacted her over her lifetime.

Susan described a few of the subjects: the gas-station guy who bantered with her every week for years and whose sudden death left the first heart-gap she recognized could come from brief encounters.

A terminal cancer patient, enrolled in Susan’s therapeutic movement class, whose good cheer under pressure brought joy to the group. Her father, whose hands holding her doll’s teacup, gripping a tennis racket or slapping in anger were the same hands folded on his own funeral suit.

Some of the poems are intensely personal and were difficult to bring to light, but she’s ready to share them with the world.

These years, any writer seeking publication has an array of options, from the

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| The Good Life

Some of the poems are intensely personal and were difficult to bring to light, but she’s ready to share them with the world. traditional publishing house to purely self-financed and self-printed books. Susan has chosen the medium-risk option of working with Finishing Line Press, contributing the cover artwork and sharing contacts of a 100-person focus group to help them test the readership waters.

Strong results mean the company will start distribution and promotion on mainstream online book-selling sites.

With realism and optimism combined, Susan knows she may not have a blockbuster, but she’ll

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August 2017

have readers, and that’s what most writers envision when they take this leap of faith: people holding the book (or the tablet) in their hands and saying “Oh, this is really good.”

Good poetry doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

The old image of the lonely garret has been displaced by a more vital scenario — assisted by technology — featuring classmates, teachers and mentors, writing groups, first responders and critics. Susan says she’s benefitted from all these connections.

She found fellow poets and performance opportunities through the Write On The River organization when she moved here four years ago, and she especially praises her local Castlerock Writers Group, comparing it to an earlier Seattle one. “This is so much more alive and supportive — the writers are much more committed.”

As with publishing, there are many options for managing the

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This is the image Susan is using for her poetry chapbook, What Remains of a Life. She said the image of the dandelion reminds her of how all our cares, hopes, dreams, concerns scatter to the winds after we’re gone.

critique process. In this group, each person emails everyone else ahead of time a short piece for close reading, and then every three weeks the six friends meet, and one-by-one around the table they take time to comment from notes on each writer’s selection.

Susan said the genre are varied, “We have a science fiction writer, some poets, a scientist who’s done academic writing trying flash essays. One of our members uses this group for her humorous essays and another one for her novel in progress.”

Writing groups have multiple benefits for writers. Susan feels that the imposed deadline is important for defeating procrastination.

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good will at the sessions, and best of all responsive readers are willing to point out flaws or highlight excellence.

A poet’s job is mind-wearying, and publication is a little scary; staying with it is certainly eased by good company. And yet, struggling word-by-word, image-by-image is often how a poet really puts it all together.

The last lines from Susan’s poem show her willingness to do just that.

A glimmer among the refuse, and I pounce.

The hunt has yielded this gem: “Hope is bone-deep.”

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Bike to O’Grady’s!

Ride your bike to O’Grady’s at Sleeping Lady and receive a free drip coffee with the purchase of a breakfast entree, or a free lemonade or iced tea with the purchase of a lunch or evening patio entree. We’re partnering 509.888.9019 SleepingLady.com with BikeLeavenworth, to promote healthy 2.6 miles down Icicle Road, lifestyles and reduce emissions. Bike on! outside Leavenworth

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33

fun stuff what to do around here for the next month at the dawn of the sensational ‘60s and studded with splashy production numbers that spill off the stage. Hatchery Park Stage at Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery. Directed and choreographed

by Casey Adam Craig. Info: leavenworthsummertheater.org.

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.

Early morning birding & ID skills Building, 8/2, 30, 7:30 – 9:45 a.m. Join Susan Ballinger on this low-key morning birding outing. Meet at north end near the restrooms at Walla Walla Point Park. Info: susan@cdlandtrust.org.

Mountain bike racing, every Tuesday during the summer. Racing for all ages. Squilchuck State Park.

Info: wenatcheevalleymtb.wordpress.com.

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).

Leavenworth Community Farmers Market, every Thursday, 4 – 8 p.m. Local eggs, meats, cheeses and breads, produce, fruit, prepared foods, local crafts and more. Lions Club Park. Cost: free.

Guided Explorations of Barn Beach Reserve, all summer Thursdays, 10 a.m. No need to register, just stop by and enjoy the native plants and animals, learn about the history of this iconic Leavenworth landmark. Tour takes about 45 minutes.

2 Left Feet, every Thursday, 7 – 9 p.m. 2 Left Feet is a loose organization of local dance enthusiasts who would like to see more dancing in the Wenatchee Valley. Beginner lesson at the top of the hour followed by carefree social dancing. No partner necessary to join in the fun.

Dance style will be 1940s swing with a bit of salsa, blues, waltz or tango thrown in. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Tread Lightly Fridays, noon. This concept is simple – as a business or

Looking for free, music? Check out Mike Bills Aug. 18, at 7 p.m. at the railcar at Pybus. Seth Garrido plays at the railcar on Aug. 4, and Slim Chance on Aug. 11. 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.

Wenatchee Valley Farmers Market, every Saturday 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. and every Thursday, 3 – 7 p.m. thru October. Stop by and explore the unique mix of vendors offering seasonal fruits and vegetables,

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cut flowers, one-of-a-kind artisan goods and tasty cuisine. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

City of Quincy Farmers Market, every first and third Saturday through September, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Lauzier Park. Cost: free. Info: social media.

Pack Walks, every Saturday, 9 a.m.

Loop trail behind Pybus market. All dogs must be on a leash and bring doggie waste bags. Cost: free. Info: wenatcheefido.org.

Hot Rodzz Espresso Saturday Night Cruise-Ins, every Saturday night, 4:30 p.m. Hot rods and motorcycles cruise on in. Check out the cars and motorcycles, $1 tacos.

Pybus Public Market parking lot.

Cooking Demo with Ruth Leslie, every last Saturday of the month. Ruth will cook with ingredients from the market. 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.

Bye Bye Birdie, 8/1, 5, 10, 15, 19, 24, 20, 9/1, 8 p.m. Don’t miss this hip swiveling musical comedy set

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August 2017

The Sound of Music, 8/2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 18, 23, 25, 30, 9/2, 3, 8 p.m. The Leavenworth village classic story of the von Trapp family, becomes a truly magical evening in the mountains, out under the stars. Directed

by Kevin McKee. Ski Hill Amphitheater, Wenatchee National Forest.

Info: leavenworthsummertheater. org.

GWATA’s Summer Social, 8/3, 5:30 – 8 p.m. Buffet dinner, raffle prizes and live music by Eden Moody. Highlander Golf Course.

Info: gwata.org.

The Infinity Project, 8/3, 6:30 p.m. The nations hottest Northwest journey tribute band. Ohme Gardens. Cost: $29. Info: ristickets. com.

Short Shakespeareans: The Taming of the Shrew, 8/3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 7 p.m. 8/5, 12, 2 p.m. Riverside Playhouse. Info: numericapac. org.

Hot August Nights: La Cage aux folles, 8/3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 7 p.m. 8/4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19, 8 p.m.

8/12, 2 p.m. Live performance.

Numerica Performing Arts Center.

Cost: $25, $29. Info: numericapac. org.

Annie, 8/3, 9, 11, 17, 22, 26, 31, 8 p.m.

The world’s most beloved musical makes its way to Leavenworth.

Directed by Paul Atwood. Hatchery Park, Leavenworth. Info: leavenworthsummertheater.org.

Seth Garrido, 8/4, 7 – 9 p.m. Live on the railcar. Pybus Public Market.

Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org.

First Friday venues include: *Two Rivers Art Gallery, 8/4, 5 – 8 p.m. Featuring. Wines by.

>>

WHAT TO DO

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

Complimentary refreshments. 102 N Columbia, Wenatchee. Cost: free.

Info: 2riversgallery.com. *Merriment Party Goods, 8/4, 5 – 8 p.m. Sips and snacks available.

23, S Wenatchee Ave. Cost: free.

Info: facebook.com/merrimentpartygoods. *Tumbleweed Bead Co., 8/4, 5-7 p.m. Refreshments served. 105 Palouse St. Cost: free. Info: tumbleweedbeadco.com. *Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center, 8/4, 5.

– 8 p.m. Light refreshments. Info: Wenatchee.org.

AlpenFolk, 8/4, 5, 12, 5 – 9 p.m.

8/6, 13, 20, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Music and folklore of the Alps with authentic instruments, singing and yodeling. At the Gazebo, downtown Leavenworth. Cost: free.

Wenatchee Riverfront Railway Train, 8/5, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Ride the mini train. 155 N Worthen, east end of the railroad pedestrian bridge. Cost: $2.

Children’s Art Class: Little Pets, 8/5, 10 - 11 a.m. An hour long art class for children ages 4 and up. Class taught my local artist, Natalee Aalgaard. Cost: free. Call to register, 888-6240.

Twilight Alphorn Serenade, 8/5, 12, 19, 26, 8, p.m. At the Gazebo, downtown Leavenworth.

Slim Chance, 8/11, 7 – 9 p.m. Live music on the railcar. Pybus Public Market. Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket.org.

Children’s Charity Classic golf tournament, 8/11, 1 p.m.

Proceeds benefit Royal Family kids.

Sponsor a hole, sponsor a child or sponsor a team. Wenatchee golf and Country Club. Info: 662-5632.

Historical Walking tours of Leavenworth: Railroad/mill walks, 8/12, 10 a.m. Tour begins at Upper Valley Museum, Leavenworth. Cost: $5 donation. Info: uppervalleymuseum.org.

German marches, waltzes and polkas. At the Gazebo, downtown Leavenworth. Cost: free.

Concert Series: Shawn Mullins, 8/12, 7 p.m. Singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins’ newest album addresses his perceived relationship failures. In fact, many were written as he was falling out of his third marriage. Live performance.

Meadow Stage, Leavenworth. Cost: $28 advance or $30 at the door.

Info: icicle.org.

David Crowder, 8/12, 7:30 p.m.

Christian artist David Crowder will perform live with opening act Jon Guerra. Town Toyota Center. Info: towntoyotacenter.com.

Blues and Brews, 8/17, 6 - 9 p.m. Featuring Badger Mountain Brewery, food by Mike’s Meats and Seafood, music by the Bucket List Blues Band. Numerica Credit Union, East Wenatchee. Cost: free. Any donations benefit the Wenatchee Valley Human Society.

Write on the River Four Minutes of Fame, 8/17, 6 p.m. Sleeping Lady. Read your poetry, essay, short fiction, journal entry, or other original work, on O’Grady’s back patio. Or simply come and listen. Sign up: info@writeontheriver.org.

Mike Bills, 8/18, 7 p.m. Live music on the railcar. Pybus Public Market.

Cost: free. Info: pybuspublicmarket. org.

Gordanairs, 8/19, 1 – 5 p.m. 8/20, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Brothers, Gordon and Danny have been playing music together for over 30 years. German tradition songs. At the Gazebo, downtown Leavenworth. Cost: free.

Lake Chelan Slam n’ jam, 8/1920, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Three on 3 basketball tournament. Proceeds benefit the Chelan Youth AAU programs. Don Morse Memorial Park.

Info: lakechelan.com.

Lake Chelan Creative Arts Festival, 8/19-20, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Enjoy fine arts and crafts by juried artists and the Rustique Divas will bring booths full of vintage, antiques and re-purposed treasures.

Food, vintage trailers, fun activities and a few surprises. Riverwalk Park.

Squirrels of Shame, 8/12, 3 – 6 p.m. Live performance. Benson Vineyards, Manson. Info: bensonvineyards.com.

Wenatchee Riverfront Railway Train, 8/19, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Ride the mini train. 155 N Worthen, east end of the railroad pedestrian bridge. Cost: $2.

Musikkapelle Leavenworth, 8/12, 3 – 6 p.m. 8/26, noon – 3 p.m.

The Bavarian Village town band.

Wellington Tour, 8/19, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. March 1, 1910 was the deadliAugust 2017 | The Good Life

est avalanche in North American history that swept down the snowy Cascades, burying two trains and killing 96 people. This tour will visit this site and four other sites between Leavenworth and Stevens Pass that played important roles in the history of the Great Northern Railway Company. Join historian and museum curator Melanie Wachholder on this tour. Info: wenatcheevalleymuseum.org.

American Fool, 8/19, Live performance. Benson Vineyards, Manson.

Info: bensonvineyards.com.

Color Rush 5k fun run, 8/20, 8 a.m. The best excuse you’ll have all summer to make a huge mess without a run-in with the law or mom. A fundraiser that encourages fitness in the outdoors, while raising money to support Youth United.

Pybus Public Market. Cost: $40.

Info: colorwenatchee.com Citizen Science: eBird monitoring, 8/23, 6 – 11 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? Join Susan Ballinger at the Mountain Home Preserve. And 8/24, 6 – 11 a.m. at Horse Lake Reserve. Info: susancdlandtrust.org.

Low Input turf grass, 8/24, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. This program will examine field trials of different grass

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species and suitability of use to reduce water, fertilizer and herbicide inputs. North Central Regional Library on Columbia St. Cost: $10.

Info: 667-6540.

Beyond the Orange Doors, 8/24, noon – 1 p.m. Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the YWCA’s iconic orange double doors? Get a firsthand look at the facility, emergency shelter, transitional housing and learn about the life changing work that the YWCA does. Light lunch and refreshments provided. Sign up: info@ycwancw. org or phone 662-3531 ext. 118.

Children’s Art Class: Jar Aquariums, 8/26 10 - 11 a.m. An hour long art class for children ages 4 and up. Class taught by local artist, Natalee Aalgaard. Cost: free.

Call to register, 888-6240.

Kevin Jones Band, 8/26, 3-6 p.m.

Live performance. Benson Vineyards. Info: bensonvineyards.com.

Wenatchee Wine and Food Festival, 8/26, 6 – 9 p.m. Town Toyota Center.

Rock’n Road Trip, 8/27, 6:30 – 10 p.m. Featuring Fuel, Eve6, Marcy Playground and Dishwalla. Town Toyota Center. Cost: $45 and $30.

Car and Bridge Dance, 9/9, all day. Open to all makes and models, bikes too!. Live music, beer garden, dancing on the old bridge at 7 p.m.

Downtown Lake Chelan. Cost: free.

>>

column those were the days

rod molzahn

1880s: A growing influx of white settlers Change was rumbling to-

wards the Wenatchee Valley like J.J. Hill’s steam locomotives.

It was 1881. The next decade would bring growing population, farms where there had been sagebrush and towns where none had been. By mid decade all of north central Washington was sharing in the progress.

For the P’squose people in the valley the decade would threaten their life, way and culture.

For the Indians a single event in 1881 was the alarm bell.

There was a handful of white men in the lower valley who had made a sort of village of crude cabins and tents scattered around the Miller/Freer trading post at the confluence. They

Christopher Columbus Rickman and his wife homesteaded across Western from the Blairs.

Their daughter was born the next year, the first white child born in the valley. prospected, trapped, cut timber, raised some stock and grew gardens but they never moved up the valley.

with stories of cold winters with deep snow and boiling hot summers but Brender was persistent and found a canyon in the Old Mission (Cashmere) area to his liking. Much to the Indians dismay they had their first white neighbor.

In the spring of 1882, Tallman Tripp and Arzilla Tripp with their young daughter, Eva, fought their way over Colockum Pass with a wagon of possessions. They claimed 160 acres fronting on the Columbia River near Fifth Street. They were the first white family to settle on the Wenatchee Flat.

That same year the upper valley gained two more white

There were also large numbers of Chinese miners working the banks of the Wenatchee River but they showed no interest in claiming land.

The Indian’s bulwark against up valley expansion was Article 10 of the 1855 Yakima Treaty that guaranteed them a township (6 miles by 6 miles) sized fishery reservation at the forks of the Wenatchee (the Wenatchee/ Icicle confluence).

In the spring of 1881, Alexander Brender, a young man from Yakima, rode into the lower Wenatchee Valley leading a pack animal but he didn’t stop there.

He continued over an old trail near Horse Lake and down into the upper valley. He was looking for a place to settle.

Indians tried to dissuade him

Write for fun and adventure.

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men when D.S. Farrar claimed a homestead in Nahahum Canyon and Billy Bourgwardt settled at the mouth of Alex Brender’s canyon.

1883 was busy. George Washington Blair and his wife, Margaret, settled on 160 acres between Washington and Fifth Streets bordering on Western Avenue. They brought four young daughters and an older son.

Christopher Columbus Rickman and his wife homesteaded across Western from the Blairs.

Their daughter was born the next year, the first white child born in the valley.

Deak and Lucy Brown put down roots in “Brown’s Flat,” later Monitor. Up on the Waterville Plateau the Corbaly family, Ole Ruud and the Titchenal family claimed homesteads within days of each other.

1884 brought the extended Burch family to take up adjacent homesteads on “Burch Flat” near the west end of the Odabashian Bridge. It was there, the next year, they built the first ferry in the valley to cross the Columbia.

It was a steam powered sidewheeler that operated for five years before being replaced by the Wenatchee Ferry at the foot of Orondo Street.

Homesteading in outlying areas began to take hold in 1884.

The Zimmermans were the first to settle in the Squilchuck.

The A.H. Bills family liked the mouth of Stemilt Creek while James Fulwiler took his family up into the Stemilt hills. Frank Thorpe, lawyer and teacher, took land up the Colockum and Lewis Detwiler with his family settled near Orondo.

There was a population surge in Wenatchee and the surrounding area in 1885. More new people than in any previous year arrived, a record not broken until 1892.

Good homesteads with water on the Wenatchee Flat were becoming hard to find. New arrivals were forced to either buy existing homesteads or look

to surrounding possibilities like Squilchuck, Wheeler Hill, Malaga and East Wenatchee.

The upper valley continued to fill. George Brisky claimed his land in the Icicle Valley, causing more anxiety for the P’squose.

Chief Moses was given a reservation by the government in 1879. It was to be for Moses’ people, the Sinkius/Kwachin as well as for the P’squose, Entiat, Chelan and any other northern tribes not already living on the Colville Reservation.

The reservation stretched from the south shore of Lake Chelan to the Canadian border and from the crest of the Cascades to the Columbia and Okanogan Rivers.

None of the intended Indians ever moved there, not even Moses. Only the Indians already living on the land stayed.

In 1884 the government bought back the reservation and in 1886 it was opened for settlement. Homesteaders were waiting. A new wave of families spurred the growth of towns at Lake Chelan and in the Okanogan and Methow valleys.

In the Wenatchee Valley, in 1886, Herman Simmons brought his family to a homestead along the Columbia River, where the tracks of the Appleyard now run, south of the budding town of Wenatchee.

That marked the beginning of a small community that called itself “South Wenatchee” for years until big Wenatchee expanded to include it.

That same year at the southern foot of Badger Mountain, now northern East Wenatchee, Fred Kamholz took a homestead.

Others followed him and the area of orchards and farms came to be called “Southside.”

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.

August 2017 | The Good Life

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201 S Wenatchee Ave, Wenatchee, WA 98801 heidi.simplyunique@yahoo.com

the back page: that’s life

Marriage

Is when a man and woman become as one; The trouble starts when they try to decide which one

By Lance Stegemann

Ten years ago this summer,

Barb and I met through our mutual friend and now sister-inlaw Natilyn Stegemann. It was a brief introduction, but like most chance encounters, the stars were aligned.

My brother George had his doubts about the relationship from the very start given his knowledge of my outdoor lifestyle and less than extravagant nature.

My idea of comfort was a little far removed from what Barb considered basic necessities. Barb’s lifestyle included such luxuries as a home with a roof and four walls, a toilet that didn’t involve a shovel or moving every two years, and a vehicle that didn’t double as sleeping quarters.

I had a pretty good reputation for my eccentricities and somewhat frugal behavior. The relationship almost ended before it ever got off the ground when Barb told me of her favorite event at Ohme Gardens in which we could experience a decadent spread of table fare and wine for our first date.

I remember Natilyn warning me not to be cheap, but luckily I had misunderstood that this event was only a mere $7 per person, which was completely within my budget given a six month job of steady wages and the coupon clippings which I had diligently saved for purchases at the local dollar store.

As it turned out, my brother George found himself paying for the entire first date, which — when wine was added to the fare — ended up a bit more than I had stuffed behind the nine

I no longer eat with my hands from a paper plate on my lap, but now sit at a dinner table with utensils and linens. point deer head mounted on my living room wall.

It seemed this wasn’t going to be just any Bud Light and buffalo wing event at Kelly’s Bar and Grill. This was something a little more sophisticated, and at the time, unfamiliar to my way of thinking.

Somehow despite the fact that Barb had never experienced the pleasure of mowing her own lawn and it had never occurred to me to pay someone for such menial labor, we found there would be many such compromises over the course of this new-found relationship.

Barb’s introduction into my world involved a long drive through a heavily treed forest, up a bumpy pothole-filled gravel road, that led to a shanty in the woods, complete with intoxicated wild land firefighters and miscellaneous vagabonds.

A much different scene than the lavish poolside service of umbrella drinks and coconut oil she experienced at my brother Lathe’s Las Vegas home only weeks earlier.

Even through the many trials and mishaps over the past 10 years, Barb has somehow left behind her pampered world of manicures, pedicures and facials to find herself cleaning dog hair

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| The Good Life

from the cashmere sweater she didn’t buy at Walmart.

It’s been a bit of an adjustment, but she now knows the essentials of outdoor life and can spot a riser that leaves a ringlet of ripples when surfacing for insects, or tie a fly to her tippet with an improved clinch knot.

She knows how to dry camp in a trailer that has less than 128 square feet of floor space and what is meant by the pecking order in the hierarchy of the chicken world.

She has become familiar with what is meant by bushwhacking and can imitate the call of a bobwhite quail.

She has learned the language and translation of humor used by the blue-collar comedy tour and frequently finds herself using the catch phrase “Getter Done” when inspiring me to take part in household chores.

I have not been without my own learning and can now distinguish the difference between Bordeaux and Pinot. I know what not to wear and to just say yes to the dress.

My dinner plate is no longer made up of just meat products but is now well balanced with other food groups. I no longer eat with my hands from a paper plate on my lap, but now sit at a dinner table with utensils and linens.

I still forget to put the toilet seat down and sometimes don’t bother to shut the bathroom door but I’m a work in progress and no man has had his manhood eradicated overnight. It requires dedication and persistence so that the process goes unnoticed and I will someday find myself asking whether the jeans I’m wearing make my butt

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August 2017

Lance Stegemann has lived, worked, and recreated in the outdoors throughout his life. He now enjoys sharing that lifestyle with his wife Barb. They currently reside in East Wenatchee where they keep a few backyard chickens, grow a vegetable garden, and dote on their two Australian Shepherd dogs.

look fat.

Somehow in all this there must be balance between man and woman. It is the laws of nature that keep these things in check.

So with that said, Barb and I have become better individuals in the eternal pursuit of equilibrium.

The world is once again as it should be: Two very different individuals working toward a common goal and each morphing into something much different than either had envisioned, but in the process, becoming better individuals for it.

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