Holiday Edition 2018
I n s i d e Candlelight tour displays area homes’ Christmas spirit for fundraiser
Fort Gibson couple takes long-term view of preserving the past
Couple shares Southern
hospitality in form of food
MUSKOGEE muskogeephoenix.com Green Country Living
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Holiday Edition 2018
Green Country Living
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Larry and Cheryl Brashier put a collection of repurposed items on display at the Candlelight Tour.
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24 Marilyn Palmieri’s home puts winter on display with cool blue-white lights and faux snow.
Real estate agent Cindy Teel-Hoffman is going for a natural approach to match the woodwork and stonework.
42 32 Leslie Scott’s decorations complement her contemporary, modern furnishings.
Beyond the Listing: Architect’s home features a courtyard with a curved stone walkway.
52 58 Art of the Matter: DeAnn McDaniel appreciates many different art styles.
Renovate and Restore: Building brought back from ruin to house Granny’s Porch.
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STAFF
Issue 49
Publisher Dale Brendel editors Ed Choate, Elizabeth Ridenour ADVERTISING Director Marci Diaz Apple ADVERTISING SALES Therese Lewis, Angela Jackson, Debbie Sherwood, Kris Hight WRITERS Mike Elswick, Cathy Spaulding, Chesley Oxendine, Wendy Burton, Melony Carey, Heather Ezell PHOTOGRAPHERS Von Castor, Shane Keeter, Mandy Lynn, Chesley Oxendine, Cathy Spaulding, Abigail Washington, Kenton Brooks Layout & Design Josh Cagle Green Country Living is published by the Muskogee Phoenix. Contents of the magazine are by the Muskogee Phoenix. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior consent of the Muskogee Phoenix. Green Country Living, P.O. Box 1968, Muskogee OK 74402. email echoate@muskogeephoenix.com - Editorial: (918) 684-2933 Advertising and distribution: (918) 684-2804
on the Cover
Holiday Edition 2018
I n s I d e Candlelight tour displays area homes’ Christmas spirit for fundraiser
Fort Gibson couple takes long-term view of preserving the past
Couple shares Southern
Cook’s Pantry: Russell and Camille Sain open kitchen of their Founders’ Place home spreads Southern charm. 4
Holiday Edition 2018
84 Wonderful Wine: Beverage shopping landscape changes with Oklahoma’s new liquor laws.
hospitality in form of food
Cindy TeelHoffman and Dr. Barry Hoffman’s living room shows off a natural look for the Christmas by Candlelight home tours. Photo by Von Castor
MUSKOGEE muskogeephoenix.com Green Country Living
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Tis the
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Holiday Edition 2018
Residents share holiday spirit in Christmas
home tours
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rom natural warmth to cool, contemporary style, variety marks 2018 Christmas home tours, benefiting Kelly B. Todd Cerebral Palsy and Neuro-muscular Center. The Candlelight Tour will be 7 to 10 p.m Nov. 30. The tour will feature entertainment, finger foods and desserts at each home. Cost is $25 per person, and tickets are available at any of the houses. • Barry and Cindy Teel Hoffman, 3122 Country Club Road. • Leslie Scott, 3505 Porter Ave. • Marilyn Palmieri, 3733 E. Harris
Road. Christmas Home day tours will be 1 to 4 p.m. Dec. 1 and 2. Cost is $10. Tickets are available at any of the three homes, or during the Candlelight Tour. • Lois Beard Gregory, 402 N. 17th St. • Larry and Cheryl Brashier, 3501 Bona Villa Drive. • Mike and Evalynn Massey, 2514 Fredonia St. There also will be a drawing for a necklace, earring and bracelet set, valued at $1,500, by Haley and Lloyd. Tickets are $1 each and are available at each home.
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Larry and Cheryl Brashier’s home on Bona Villa Drive features an eclectic mix of country, industrial and comfortable home decor for the holidays.
Featured home
Larry and Cheryl Brashier 8
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Repurposed treasures on display Brashier home eclectic, industrial
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heryl Brashier was convinced by a friend to include her somewhat eclectic, barnstyle home in the annual Candlelight Tour because of her flair for repurposing items she finds at auctions, junk sales and antique stores. “I post things on Facebook and call it ‘Brashiers being Brashiers,’ with before and after photos all the time,” she says. “And we get a lot of feedback that our house is really interesting, so we thought this would be fun to do.”
By Wendy Burton Photos by Von Castor
The family’s main Christmas tree is decorated with poinsettias, glittering snowflakes and white lights in one of the living areas.
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One of the home’s entryways includes a rustic wreath and rocking horse.
Cheryl and her husband, Larry, are into repurposing vintage items throughout their home, and they’ve managed to incorporate their Christmas spirit into their holiday decor that goes perfectly with their unique treasures. Even their home is a bit vintage with an interesting history. The two-story barnlike home was built in the 1960s in a neighborhood that used to be called “Bonacelli Estates.” “A lot of people call it the barn house. There was a lady living down the way, and there was a pond where our house is now. We fell in love with the rock wall and iron gate along the front,” Cheryl said. “We were told if she
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lot of people call “itA the barn house.
There was a lady living down the way, and there was a pond where our house is now. We fell in love with the rock wall and iron gate along the front.
”
— Cheryl Brashier
liked you, she let you build in here. We hear stories that she was a neat little lady.” Wreaths adorn every window across the front for the holidays, hung with black and white “buffalo” ribbons,
Cheryl reimagines found treasures like this organ repurposed into a desk.
and featuring plenty of pine cones and natural greenery. Another wreath proclaiming “welcome” to all hangs on the home’s bright blue front door. Cheryl calls it “very farmhouse” but also “industrial, in a way,” and the interior brings it all together. Inside the home’s entryway is a
whatever “IHelike,takes wires it up,
fixes it up, and I have interesting lights. — Cheryl Brashier
”
staircase with its rail wrapped in pine boughs, fur-trimmed plaid antique ice skate ornaments, shiny red Christmas balls and white, sparkling lights. She’s hung boughs with sparkling accents in her home, over doorways and mirrors throughout. Among the Christmas decor are some of the couple’s most unusual items on display year-round
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ABOVE: The family has incorporated greenery with holly and pine cones throughout their home. RIGHT: Stockings are hung above one of Cheryl’s vintage finds — a cast iron fireplace screen with a lit wreath.
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This stuffed monkey from the 1920s and its crank organ get into the festivities at the Brashier home, too.
ABOVE: The family dining table is set for Christmas dinner using Cheryl’s mother’s china. BELOW: Many Christmas-inspired mementos are scattered around the home.
The family found this antique German cabinet at a sale and brought it home to fill with mementos.
One of Cheryl’s favorite “finds” is this 1920s megaphone from Muskogee’s former Central High School.
— repurposed antique lights made by Larry. “He takes whatever I like, wires it up, fixes it up, and I have interesting lights,” Cheryl says. There’s a vintage gas station light turned into a stand on a base made from stacked old gears, a candelabrastyle light made from old glass insulators, and an Aladdin floor lamp with a railroad lantern head for the shade. The lighting fits well with Cheryl’s natural, country-style Christmas decor. The living room features a tree
bedecked in gold ribbon, sparkling white poinsettias and snowflake ornaments. In the dining room, Cheryl has hung more wreaths with glittery pine cones and plenty of greenery on the doors of a tall cabinet she found at an auction. The two-door cabinet was built in the late 1700s or early 1800s, she said, probably in Germany. She’s also filled it with Muskogee memorabilia, including a cheerleading megaphone from the ‘20s and a vintage wooden box from the “Carnation Co.” in Muskogee.
The couple’s holiday table-setting features deep wine-colored chargers, her mother’s gold-rimmed, white-on-white vintage china, and more poinsettias, pine cones and greenery. She brings more of the black-and-white ribbon theme into the room with checked napkins, and black-and-white striped ribbons on the wreaths. In the family’s den, Cheryl has hung a lit wreath with a burlap bow from a vintage cast-iron fireplace screen, and next to it is one of her prized collector’s items
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A refurbished church pew makes a cozy seating area with its own little Christmas tree. The light is a vintage gas station light that Larry repurposed.
— an F&B monkey from the ‘20s (he has his own stocking, of course) with a working handcranked organ from the 1800s. On an antique egg incubator repurposed into a coffee table, she’s placed a tiny pine tree adorned with vintage red bells and “planted” in a burlap sack. Comfy pillows bearing warm holiday wishes are nestled here and there, and stockings line the mantel. Even the couple’s pets get in the Christmas spirit, with a little tree just for the puppies, paw print stockings and Christmas balls included. Cheryl and Larry said they look forward to welcoming visitors to their home for the Candlelight Tour from 7 to 10 p.m. Nov. 30. They love to answer questions about their unusual collections, and their home is a warm, friendly place filled with holiday happiness they are delighted to share with others.
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Featured home
Marilyn Palmieri 16
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Winter Wonderland Muskogee resident’s Christmas decorations reflect love of winter Christmas decoration spreads often lean into the holiday’s traditional green and red trappings, a bevy of warm lights and rich colors spread across statues, ornaments and wreaths. Visitors to Marilyn Palmieri’s home will find themselves amid a different interpretation that blends the reason for the season with the season itself – cool blue-white lights and faux snow included. “I love winter, and I love Christmas,” Palmieri says of her decoration theme. “I just like nature – so I wanted a natural look, primarily.” It starts in the parlor of Palmieri’s sprawling, onestory home: snowy ornaments decorate countertops and dressers, evoking wintry outdoor scenes against the house’s pastel walls. The day is cloudy and rainy outside, making the interior seem especially warm.
By Chesley Oxendine Photos by Mandy Lynn
Marilyn Palmieri’s holiday decorations blend wintry nature and holiday cheer – like one of her Christmas trees, adorned with white lights and fluffy faux snow. Green Country Living
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“I wanted to take the beauty of winter-time and Christmas and sort of blend it that way, like with birchwood and fir and candles and snow,” Palmieri said. “I wanted a good balance of the two.” In the den, a tree covered in
I wanted to take “ the beauty of winter-
time and Christmas and sort of blend it that way, like with birchwood and fir and candles and snow. — Marilyn Palmieri
”
fluffy faux-snow and laden with white lights serves an anchor for the rest of the room’s decor, which consists of more snowy ornaments and lights. Just off the den is the dining room, where wreaths forming the letters “J,” “O,” and “Y” hang in the windows leading out to an expansive backyard. On the long table, plates are laid out amid snowy pinecones
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ABOVE: Palmieri’s dining room features more wintry ornaments, such as pine cones and little trees, as well as wreaths hung in the window spelling out JOY. LEFT: There’s too much holiday cheer in Palmieri’s home for just one tree — so there’s four, including this small one between the kitchen and living room.
ABOVE: Palmieri’s den’s muted, but warm, color palette invites guests to relax while admiring the blend of winter and the holidays. LEFT: Palmieri’s home is a sprawling single story, laden with Christmas decorations from front to back. As Christmas gets nearer, the house will be adorned with lights.
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ABOVE: Wreaths hang on cabinets to help the kitchen feel more in keeping with the holiday spirit. RIGHT: Even Palmieri’s bedroom has been decorated to represent Palmieri’s love for the holidays.
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Palmieri’s living room is warmly lit by another Christmas tree.
and pine branches, lit by the warm glow of candles. On each plate rests a wreath comprised of real rosemary – something Palmieri keeps in her fridge when not out for decoration. Along one wall are monochrome pictures of Palmieri’s grandchildren baking cookies – save for their sweaters, whose bright red colors are preserved. The atmosphere in the kitchen in particular is meant to evoke the sort of place where family and friends can come visit,
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I want this to be a gathering place for everyone. This is a great home to handle that kind of crowd. — Marilyn Palmieri
”
Palmieri said. The home can comfortably fit “50 or 60” people, she said. “I want people to come here for the
holidays,” Palmieri said. “I want this to be a gathering place for everyone. This is a great home to handle that kind of crowd.” Beyond that is Palmieri’s living room, where not one, but two more Christmas trees can be found, serving as the primary lights for the room. One tree is a dark pine dotted with blue-white lights, while the other tree is white with warmer lights. Palmieri says many of the ornaments
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ABOVE: A wreath decorates the front door, featuring the white theme that characterizes much of Palmieri’s decor. LEFT: Another bedroom in the house features similarly cheerful decorations.
decorating the walls, countertops and trees were given to her by friends or family. In the den, there’s a winter scene painted by Palmieri’s grandchildren just over a small piano. On the central Christmas tree, the fir covered in snow, glittering ornaments dangle from the branches.
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One contains a picture of Palmieri’s mother. “She has to be on the tree every year,” Palmieri said. “She passed away six years ago.” Palmieri said she’s amassed a large collection of ornaments she’s used throughout the years.
“They’re all just things I like,” she said. That collection does a good job speaking about Palmieri’s personal tastes – and her blessings. “Everything in my home is personal. A lot of these are things people have given me,” she said. “I have a lot of best friends. I’m very blessed.”
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Warm wreaths welcome visitors to the home of Cindy Teel-Hoffman and Dr. Barry Hoffman.
Featured home
Dr. Barry and Cindy Teel Hoffman 24
Holiday Edition 2018
Couple mixes things up
Natural-looking decorations fill a tall Christmas tree at the home of Cindy Teel-Hoffman and Dr. Barry Hoffman.
Hoffman home prepares for holidays with new look for Christmas Tour Real estate agent Cindy Teel-Hoffman is no stranger to the Christmas Home Tour. This year’s Christmas by Candlelight features the stone house she owns with her husband, Dr. Barry Hoffman, prosthodontist at the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center. She said this is her fifth time to be on the home tour. Don’t expect to see the same look her home had the last time she showed. “I do something different every year,” she said. “I like so many different things that I never do the same thing twice. I’m a Realtor, so I love houses and I love to change things around.” This year, Teel-Hoffman is going for a natural approach to match the woodwork and stonework in her custom-built house. The three-bedroom house features honed and distressed pine wood floors. Antler-shaped chandeliers can be found in several rooms. The family room features a chandelier made from an old barrel. Teel-Hoffman said she got the fixture from Restoration Hardware.
By Cathy Spaulding Photos by Von Castor
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Cindy Teel-Hoffman and Dr. Barry Hoffman can luxuriate in the natural setting in their living room.
A stone two-sided fireplace divides the living room and family room. A Roger Davis painting of a buffalo hangs over her dining room fireplace; its frame used to surround an antique mirror, she said. The living room fireplace features a flatscreen TV and a mountain goat’s head with swirling antlers. Animals abound in the Teel-Hoffman home. A bison head faces the kitchen. A water buffalo head was moved to the patio after proving to be too heavy to be mounted indoors. A ring-necked pheasant
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is mounted atop a living room table. A bear rug, complete with a head, rests in the sitting room. A buffalo rug is in the family room. Longhorn cow horns hang in the office, and moose antlers hang in the family room. “A lot of guys come in and say ‘Oh my gosh, I love your house. My wife won’t let me put any horns in the house,’” she said. Teel-Hoffman said she and her husband would not kill anything. “We’re animal lovers,” she said. Teel-Hoffman said she especially wants
Christmas Home Tour visitors to appreciate her home’s style. She said her home has been described as a Texas Hill Country style. She describes her decorating style as eclectic. “I like a mix of things,” she said. Sunlight streams through a window that spreads behind the kitchen’s farmhouse sink. Some kitchen cabinets have glass doors. She said the granite countertop comes from comes from Surfaces in Bixby. Christmas by Candlelight visitors can
A double-faced stone fireplace rises in the dining room of the Hoffman home.
expect to find holiday decorations in every room. Teel-Hoffman said one reason she decorates the whole house is because she and her husband host the VA physicians’ Christmas party each year. She said about 50 people come. Otherwise, the two just entertain family during the holidays, she said. “We’re not big partiers,” she said. This year, visitors can expect plenty of natural decor. A five-point twig star tops the family
room Christmas tree, which towers above the French door entrance to a sitting room. Teel-Hoffman said she got all new ornaments, mostly from Pottery Barn. They include bird ornaments, pheasant feathers and glistening pine cones. She has kept a “Baby’s First Christmas, 1980” ornament for many years. Teel-Hoffman said she’s had her Christmas tree, an artificial one, for two years. “I had a huge one and I gave it to
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ABOVE: A sitting room features a bookish coffee table and a bearskin rug. BELOW: A stuffed pheasant is one of many animals found at the home of Cindy Teel-Hoffman and Dr. Barry Hoffman.
An antlered chandelier and two sets of candles add warm light to the formal dining room.
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A buffalo head and a mountain goat head are mounted on a double-faced stone fireplace.
my son for his funeral home,” she said. The natural look continues in the dining room, where greenery surrounds gold candelabras on the table. A golddusted tree bark pattern surrounds three candles by the dining room fireplace. Two table-top trees made with evergreen and pinecones come from Bella Mea’s of Muskogee. A gold reindeer seems to take flight next to one of the trees. On the dining room table, golden antler napkin rings surround hunter green napkins atop charger plates. Each place setting has a fur placemat. Teel-Hoffman said she also finds lots of good decorations at Pottery Barn,
to have antique. “ThisI used is reclaimed wood. ” — Cindy Teel-Hoffman
Anthropologie and Restoration Hardware in Tulsa. “I changed out my dining room suite not long ago,” she said. “I used to have antique. This is reclaimed wood.” Other wooden table-top trees can be found in other rooms. Teel-Hoffman, who lived in Muskogee since age 3, recalled spending Christmases with her aunt and uncle in Fayetteville, Ark. “We didn’t spend a lot on Christmas,” she said. “We didn’t have much money.” Teel-Hoffman said she now wants her two grandchildren to have everything. “Spoil them,” she said. “You want them to have everything you didn’t have.” New Christmas memories are made when the grandchildren come over each Christmas Eve. Presents surround the
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A display hutch features an array of plates, mugs and pitchers, along with a variety of fowl.
family room tree. “They usually get one large gift and some smaller ones,” she said. On Christmas Day, they go to Tulsa to visit their son, Chris, and his wife. Teel-Hoffman said the most memorable Christmas present she ever received was Zoey, a hairless sphynx cat, given to her by her husband shortly after they wed six years ago. “That was our first cat together,” she said. Teel-Hoffman said she learned to love the hairless breed when she got one for her son. “He wanted me to keep the cat while he was moving,” she said. “I got attached to it, I wouldn’t give it back. That’s the one that passed away June 16.” Teel-Hoffman got a sphynx bambino kitten, Ziggy, as a recent birthday present. Ziggy and Zoey keep warm in knit sweaters. “These are the most spoiled cats,” Teel-Hoffman said. “They’re just precious.”
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You’re Invited . . .
Christmas on Main Thursday, December 6th Friday, December 7th Saturday, December 8th
Open 10am-8pm Thurs. & Fri. Sat. 10am-6pm* *Shop hours may vary per location.
Main Street Shops will keep their doors open longer to let Christmas shoppers browse, sample goodies, paint and find unique one-of-akind items. Most importantly, you will be Shopping Local!
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Gather around a welcoming fire on Leslie Scott’s patio and toast the holidays.
Featured home
Leslie Scott 32
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Scott holds onto family decorations
Presents already are appearing around a tree in Leslie Scott’s home.
Contemporary home features minimal, meaningful ornamentation
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andlelight Tour visitors to Leslie Scott’s home will find Christmas decorations as minimal as her contemporary furnishings. However, much of what Scott does use for decoration has special meaning, she said. For example, a ceramic tabletop tree with tiny, colorful lights sits on a dining room counter. Scott said she was a fifth-grader at Tony Goetz Elementary when she made it for her mother. It now is one of her favorite decorations. A modern art wooden Nativity scene atop a living room chest is one of the first decorations visitors might see when they enter the house. The Virgin Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels and wise men are blond wood figures with dark, round heads. A wooden star shines above.
By Cathy Spaulding Photos by Von Castor
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ABOVE: Four festive wreaths top bay windows in Leslie Scott’s dining room. BELOW: Former Muskogee High School Choir Director Bill Hearn crafted this Nativity scene, which complements Leslie Scott’s contemporary home decor.
“That was from my mother,” Scott said. “She got all of her children a set of those.” She said they were crafted by the late Bill Hearn, a longtime choir director at Muskogee High School. She said she sang in the choir in junior high. “I probably had that set for at least 20 years,” Scott said. “I lugged them every where I lived.” She said nearly every decoration in her living room was handed down by 34
Holiday Edition 2018
her mother. So are many ornaments on her tree. “We always gave her an ornament each year,” she said, adding that she always puts up a natural Christmas tree. Scott said she remembers spending her childhood Christmas mornings around the family tree. “I remember coming down and having presents under the tree,” she said. “We’d wake up so early in the morning and our parents would make us go back
to sleep.” After that, the family would spend time with relatives. “We’d trade off every year,” she said. “My mother and one of her sisters lived here. Every other year, we’d have it at the other person’s house and it was so much fun, getting the cousins together and the grandparents.” She also recalled caroling. “Nobody does that anymore, do they,” she said.
Crystal stemware, greenery and elegant candles add to Leslie Scott’s dining room table.
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Scott said two stockings hanging by the chimney were her mother’s gifts to her children. A third was one Scott said she just picked up in Nashville 25 years ago.
probably took “downWeabout 40 trees. We burned wood for two, three years in a row and it was kind of like we were tired of cleaning it. — Leslie Scott
”
The stockings hang from what looks like blank, gray space over the fireplace. The wall surrounding the fireplace is cold rolled steel. “It’s really inexpensive material. I took it down to Erik
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ABOVE; Garlands line each side of Leslie Scott’s stairway. LEFT: A skinny tree is tucked by a baby grand in Leslie Scott’s living room.
Leslie Scott says her back patio is one of her favorite places. A fireplace adds warmth in the winter, and a heated swimming pool (Bottom) is filled year-round.
Fleak’s place,” Scott said. “They did what they call breaking it. They come and measure and they turn the metal and cut it.” The remote control fireplace features gentle flames against fire glass beads. “We used to burn wood in here all the time,” Scott said. “We probably took down about 40 trees. We burned wood for two, three years in a row and it was kind of like we were tired of cleaning it.” A skinny artificial evergreen rises in a corner behind a black Kawai baby grand piano. It’s up year-round. “It’s whatever you want it to be,” Scott said. “You can decorate it all year around if you want.” A clear bowl of red cloth ornaments rests atop the piano. The dining room features a small wreath on each of four bay window panes. Scott said those, too, came from her mother. A wooden reindeer,
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Stockings are hung by a steel chimney with care in Leslie Scott’s contemporary living room.
greenery, red candles and white votives line a shelf below the bay window. The dining room table features crystal stemware and family tableware against red cloth placemats and napkins. Two trios of white candles rise from the greenery centerpiece. Greenery also surrounds two steps of bannisters leading upstairs. Outside, greenery tops a mantle for a stone gas fireplace. “Friends came over and helped me do that,” he said. Pine cones filling clear glass vases and decorating the dining room table were
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easy to find. Scott said they came from a prolific pine tree out back. “My neighbors are always coming, saying, ‘you mind if I take some?’ And I say ‘please, take them.” Scott said the back porch, which also features a sitting area and a year-round swimming pool is one of her favorite places. She said she looks forward to sharing the space with home tour visitors. “I hope that it’s warm enough that people can come out here,” she said. “I do have some heaters. But, I live out here. It’s just a great place to be.
Scott moved into her Country Club area ranch-style home in 2007. She said she spent 2008 through 2010 remodeling. “We took it down to the studs, so everything’s new,” she said. The kitchen features black countertops. One kitchen island features a thick wood chopping block and vegetable sink. Another island features a gas stovetop and dining area surrounded by white stools. “The look is more contemporary,” she said. “The house is ranch, but the inside is a little bit different.”
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Shop Fort Gibson First
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Shop Fort Gibson First
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Beyond the Listing Roger Richter’s home is hidden amid trees, leaves and stones on a west Muskogee hillside.
FEATURES »» ADDRESS: 2400 N. 55th St. »» ASKING PRICE: $495,000. »» SQUARE FOOTAGE: 37504000. »» BEDROOMS: Three. »» BATHROOMS: Two full, two half. »» HEATING AND COOLING: Gas
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heating, central heat and air. »» APPLIANCES: Stove, convection oven, dishwasher, disposer, microwave. »» FLOORS: Stone, oak. »» OTHER FEATURES: Cable TV wired, vaulted ceiling, dry bar,
walk-in pantry, cantilevered patios, screened porch, two-sided fireplace, motorhome storage building, outbuilding with dog kennel. »» INFORMATION: https://lakemoore.wixsite.com/lmre
Beyond the Listing
Attention to
detail
evident in home Architect seeks to sell personal home
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ettled in a hillside on the west of Muskogee, it’s easy to miss architect Roger Richter’s home. Drive up the winding road, the first thing you see is just the rooftop. Pull closer and step down into a serene courtyard with a curved stone walkway. The stonework continues inside, with square columns rising on each side of the double-faced fireplace, as well as other parts of the house. The entry also has a stone floor. Most of the rest of the house has three-quarterinch oak hardwood flooring. The interior offers a sweeping view of nature, with thick floor-to ceiling windows.
By Cathy Spaulding Photos by Von Castor
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Beyond the Listing
Mitered corner windows bring the outdoors in and make the indoors seem outside.
“I’m a firm believer in mitered corner glass windows to do away with the wood mullions in the corner,” Richter said, referring to vertical bars between window panes. He said the windows seem to disappear in the corner. “I’m trying to bring as much of the outside in and the inside out as I can,” he said. Interior woodwork and trim is western
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red cedar with a natural cedar stain, he said. A 14-foot vaulted ceiling adds to the expansiveness. Afternoon sun shines through narrow west-facing windows under the ceiling. Sconces on the fireplace columns offer indirect lighting. Built-in red cedar bookshelves in the living room evoke the Prairie-style look
made popular by Frank Lloyd Wright. However, the look doesn’t get too arts and craftsy and can easily complement other styles, such as mid-century modern. A small, screened porch, perfect for breakfast or coffee, extends over the hillside. Wood screen doors give it a cabinlike feel. “We sit around, especially in the summer,” Richter said. “It’s a good place to
Beyond the Listing
ABOVE & RIGHT: A double-sided fireplace doubles the openness in Roger Richter’s home. The dining room, top, features an ornate window from a Haskell antique shop. The living room mirror, bottom, reflects the space.
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Beyond the Listing
A roomy kitchen features red cedar cabinets, lazy Susans in the corners and an island.
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Beyond the Listing
ABOVE: Sunlight shines through the master bedroom windows. BELOW: A soaking tub and glass shower are in the master bathroom.
ABOVE: Riger Richter’s home features several dining areas. RIGHT: The master bathroom features his and hers vanities.
get away from the bugs and just enjoy the spring and fall air.” More formal dining can be arranged on the other side of the double fireplace. Above the hearth, an ornate window pane, came from a Haskell antique store, Richter said. Casement windows in the living room, dining room and other areas open horizontally with cranks.
An island in the kitchen features a red granite countertop and a bar sink. The rest of the kitchen features red monolithic laminated countertops. The double sink is stainless steel with a restaurant kitchen type spray faucet. The sink’s window looks into the courtyard. The kitchen also features a Thermidor gas stove and convection oven. A built-in wine rack and a walk-in
pantry are just off the kitchen. There also is a nook with a small fireplace. A wood ceiling offers warmth to an office and sitting area by the master suite. In the master suite, natural light spills through floor-to-ceiling windows and French doors. Outside is an intimate patio for two. The master bath features a soaking, whirlpool tub. A separate shower features
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Beyond the Listing
LEFT: The Roger Richter home features a cozy study.
BELOW: Step down into the home’s courtyard entry area.
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Beyond the Listing
ABOVE: The screened porch adds old-style, woodsy comfort to the modern house. BELOW: A broad roofline and cantilevered decks evoke the Frank Lloyd Wright style.
mitered glass corners. Husband and wife get his-and-her sinks. The two bedrooms on the other end of the house are connected by a full Jack-and-Jill bathroom. Each bedroom has indirect lighting. Also by the bedrooms, a utility room features a wash sink and plenty of room to fold clothes. There also is a place to hang clothes to dry. With a two-car garage and a workshop garage the house offers ample places to park and store things. There also is an equipment building large enough for a motor home, bass boat and tractor. A shed features a fenced kennel. Outside, two cantilevered back patios extend over the hillside. When there are no leaves on the trees, the eastward view might
seem endless. “The only thing that stops your view is Braggs Mountain on the far side over there,” Richter said. “You see the lights of the city at night, a lot of deer, turkey, quail.” The patios are supported by two steel beams each and have lights underneath for indirect exterior lighting. Richter said he was drawn to the area’s hillside and trees. “I didn’t want to bump elbows with anybody, and I love the woods and trees,” he said. The house is surrounded by a stone retaining wall. He said he preferred to build the house “into the hillside rather than on the hillside.” “It keeps from destroying the looks of the hill and it is a lot better out of the wind,” he said.
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Santa’s Little Helpers
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Santa’s Little Helpers
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Art of the Matter DeAnn McDaniel shows a print of one of her works. She is skilled in watercolor, pencil and alcohol ink.
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Art of the Matter
McDaniel enjoys various art methods Retired medical software developer returns to Muskogee as full-time artist
D
eAnn McDaniel can spend weeks — months — sketching detailed colored pencil art. Or she can take a couple of hours creating art with alcohol and ink. Regardless of the medium, McDaniel’s work brims with color and personality. McDaniel said she’s been drawing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. “I thought everybody did that when I was a little kid,” she said. “I did art all the way through high school.” She attended Tony Goetz Elementary. The family later moved to Oklahoma City, where she graduated high school. After high school, however, McDaniel followed her parents’ advice and went into “something I could make a living at.”
By Cathy Spaulding Photos by Shane Keeter
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Art of the Matter She majored in microbiology at the University of Oklahoma. She eventually landed a career as a medical software developer for VA hospitals across the United States. McDaniel found some time for “a little bit of watercolor” painting, then got into pencil art around 2000.
have to be able “You to have an eye for detail, because that’s what makes pencil art interesting.
”
— DeAnn McDaniel
She went full-time art after she retired in 2012. At the time, she lived in the southwest Colorado town of Ouray. She captured the beauty of the mountains — as well as the uniqueness of the area — in award-winning watercolor and pencil art.
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DeAnn McDaniel’s skill with colored pencil shows in the grassy detail, top, and each rock and bullet hole, bottom.
Art of the Matter
DeAnn McDaniel brings out color in an acrylic ink painting, top left. An pencil work, top right, shows attention to detail. She’s versatile in a variety of media, bottom.
After returning to Muskogee last year, McDaniel quickly got involved with the Muskogee Art Guild. She can be found at the gallery Wednesday afternoons, often doing some sketching or painting. McDaniel needs little space for her art. Her home studio is a table in one of her bedrooms. Sharpened pencils in more than 150 colors poke straight up from pencil holders. “In colored pencil, you develop your painting by layering,” she said. For her pencil sketch of a white flower, McDaniels uses light green as the foundation of a petal’s shadow on a white rose. “I added a little yellow in there, a little gray and a little darker green,” she said. “Because
the petal’s leaves are green, it’s got reflected light.” McDaniel’s experience in microbiology makes her accustomed to minutiae. “You have to be able to have an eye for detail, because that’s what makes pencil art interesting,” she said. “I have a highly developed sense of detail, which is why I do well with colored pencil.” Her Native American woman sketch is an example. “I got every wrinkle in there and even little wisps of hair,” she said. “And you have to have a good sense of color and color value.” She said value is how light or dark something is. “You have to know how to put them together in a good
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Art of the Matter
Alcohol ink work enables DeAnn McDaniel freedom to blow with a straw, top right, or paint with a brush, left and bottom right.
composition or you’re hosed right off the bat,” she said. “It’s all those little things you have to be able to see. A lot of people don’t see that.” It takes patience to draw with pencil, she said, “because the stuff takes forever to do.” McDaniel said it might take about a month to do the white rose. A large pencil drawing can take two months. She said her alcohol ink work goes
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much faster. For example, an ink work of a lion, “The King,” took only a couple of hours, she said. She said she used a brush for the lion’s lush mane. “After it was all done, I took an X-Acto knife and scraped the whiskers,” she aid. The process involves concentrated ink suspended in alcohol. McDaniel squeezes red ink into a drop of isopropyl alcohol on a ceramic tile.
From there, artistic options seem endless. McDaniel said that if she wants more control of her work, she lets the alcohol evaporate and uses brushes and alcohol ink markers. She said alcohol ink markers are like magic markers. For example, for a painting of socks and Crocs shoes, McDaniel used the markers for the holes in the shoes and stripes in the socks. “If I am doing something that’s very
Art of the Matter DeAnn McDaniel keeps dozens of colored pencils nearby, allowing her to add shading and detail.
abstract, I blow on it,” she said. As the ink dilutes, McDaniel can move it with a minute blast from a compressed air keyboard duster or blow through a straw to make the ink move across the tile. The ink can be a tad uncontrollable at this stage.
“It kind of has a mind of its own,” she said. “It runs everywhere. You can’t really control it very much, but it makes the painting go very fast. You just have to learn to love what goes down, because you can’t really control it.” However, the ink does not soak into the tile.
“If you don’t like it, you just wipe it,” she said. “You have to let the ink evaporate just a little bit, the alcohol evaporates off, and then when it’s a little thicker, you have more control over the pigment.” A spray of alcohol helps dry the ink. “It’s fun, like you’re in first grade,” she said.
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The downtown Fort Gibson twostory building, which today is home to Granny’s Porch, is seen in this undated photograph. The Lee Street structure is believed to have been completed in 1898 but first shows up on an insurance map of the town in 1903, according to research by Carolyn Corley. (Submitted)
Preserving the past Renovated Fort Gibson building housed mercantile, opera house, dance hall and gambling spot By Mike Elswick Photos by Mandy Lynn 58
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Carolyn Corley said both her grandmothers were “porchoriented.” She said the porches were where all the work got done, hence the name, Granny’s Porch.
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arolyn Corley said an 18-year long restoration project involving an important part of Fort Gibson’s history has been both a passion and labor of love. “I’m not sure if we were crazy or what,
but we decided we wanted to save this old building,” Carolyn said of the renovation project she and husband Larry Corley embarked upon. “The building had fallen into disrepair, windows were broken out and mortar was gone and you could see daylight through the holes between the bricks.” Green Country Living
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ABOVE: Larry and Carolyn Corley’s restoration of Granny’s Porch was a labor of love.
Carolyn and Larry Corley have turned a dilapidated structure into a business full of collectible items.
RIGHT: A bottle labeled J.L. Landwirth Department Store is one of the items the Corleys have in Granny’s Porch.
She said the building represents an important part of early Oklahoma’s history and architecture. “So many towns are losing them,” Carolyn said of that link to the past. Like many structures that precede statehood, she said stories about the early history of the structure indicate it likely had a colorful past. Cosmetically, work on the ground floor is about completed. 60
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“But above this floor, there’s about 5,000 square feet of space that hasn’t been rescued yet,” Carolyn said. Her research indicates one of the large rooms upstairs housed the old Fort Gibson Opera House in 1898. “I found a newspaper article that said in March of 1898 they had the first opening night performance with a group called “Lady Africa Speciality Company” from Chicago,” Carolyn said.
Big city shows did not normally make stops in towns as small as Fort Gibson. The man who built the building was the mayor of Fort Gibson. He had some pull and persuaded the troupe to perform with a packed house showing up. She said there are five two-room apartments upstairs and two large open rooms that she said she would love to renovate. One of the large second-story rooms served as a meeting hall for a fraternal
Long before the front porch was applied to the front of Granny’s Porch in downtown Fort Gibson there was years of work going on in the renovation project to bring renewed life to the century-old structure. A new roof, replacing crumbling mortar between rocks and bricks and gutting the interior of years of dropped ceilings and old wiring has been among the work owners Larry and Carolyn Corley have had done. (Submitted)
organization, Carolyn said. “In the 1930s there was a gambling hall upstairs, and on the wall there’s a sign that says ‘Don’t play if you can’t pay,’” she said. That is the kind of thing she would want to save if the couple should tackle more renovation work. Carolyn said that is unlikely. Other research has led her to believe at least one previous owner used the building to sell his moonshine whiskey. “We’re probably about 50 percent finished,” she said. “Structurally, I’ve been told the building probably has about 100 years of new life because of what we’ve done to it.” “We were both in our 50s when we started and are both in our 70s now. It’s hard to climb up and down steps, much less get on the scaffolding it would take,” she said. “It still has a lot of potential.” Her research has indicated the structure has housed a drug store, mercantile, upstairs opera house, fraternal lodge, dance hall, department
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When the Corley’s restored Granny’s Porch they wanted the interior to look like it originally did, with high ceilings covered in pressed-tin.
store and flea market before coming under the caring eye of the Corley couple. Granny’s Porch, 117 S. Lee St., in downtown Fort Gibson is a two-story commercial brick and stone structure that was in need of lots of tender loving care, she said. Prior to opening Granny’s Porch and tackling the restoration project, the Corleys had relocated to Fort Gibson in 1982 and were in education prior to retiring from those careers. “The building was in really bad shape,”
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you buy one of these “When old buildings you know what you think you know until you get started. — Carolyn Corley
”
Carolyn said. One of the first tasks undertaken was in shoring up large panes of glass in the front
of the building which had slipped in the window sills and were in danger of falling out, she said. In addition, the building and the lot it sits on were sporting a healthy crop of poison ivy which Carolyn came in contact with sending her to the emergency room. “On top of everything else, the roof leaked and Larry actually took plastic kiddie pools upstairs to catch the water so it wouldn’t come down here,” she said. “We’d get the roof repaired and then the next
A niche in Granny’s Porch contains all kinds of antiques and collectibles.
ABOVE: A variety of stoneware crocks, bean pots and pitchers fill a set of shelves. BELOW: Decorative cloisonné pieces are grouped together in a display.
time it’d rain, it leaked somewhere else.” She said the couple had so many priorities they focused on. Finally, after a big rain that left water standing inches deep in a corner of the shop, the couple took out a loan and moved forward with having a new roof installed. “When you buy one of these old buildings you know what you think you know until you get started,” Carolyn said. “It’s like adopting a little child. You do whatever you have to do.”
Larry did a lot of the work “himself up on an 18-foot ladder with height vertigo. ” — Carolyn Corley
While today Granny’s Porch highlights the original brick walls and high pressed tin ceilings, when the Corley’s tackled the interior work there was mold on the dropped
ceiling that had been installed over the years and plaster covering the brick walls. “Larry did a lot of the work himself up on an 18-foot ladder with height vertigo,” Carolyn said. “Everything we did had to be done in steps and stages, because it was so expensive, unless you were incredibly wealthy, you just couldn’t do it all at once.” Saving the century-old structure was daunting, but the couple had been assured the building “had good bones” and was worth saving. But they were warned by an
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ABOVE: Another corner of Granny’s Porch is filled with dinnerware, glassware, paintings and delicate pieces. LEFT: A collection of teddy bears are waiting for new homes.
architect if nothing was done the building probably would only remain standing another five or 10 years, she said. Opening day for Granny’s Porch was in 2002. The replacement of mortar between the bricks took several years while interior work slowly progressed with power washing, painting and more. Carolyn said she wanted a
I have two grandmothers who “were porch-oriented, because
every time I went to see them that’s where they were, always working maybe peeling peaches. mending or whatever needed to be done. — Carolyn Corley
”
front porch on the building because she wanted to name the enterprise Granny’s Porch. Toward that end she researched photographs of period buildings constructed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including the porch that had been on the front of the Five
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All sorts of jewelry can be found in Granny’s Porch.
Civilized Tribes Museum. “I have two grandmothers who were porch-oriented, because every time I went to see them that’s where they were, always working maybe peeling peaches. mending or whatever needed to be done,” she said. “I told Larry that if I ever get to have a shop I wanted it to be named Granny’s Porch because that’s where all the work gets done.” When it came time to take out the dropped ceiling, it left old wiring and insulation hanging and exposed with years of mouse droppings falling down. Carolyn said the sight made her do a double take and question the process of moving forward with removing the dropped ceiling. She called Larry to have him look up at the mess. “I had Larry look up and he said, ‘what am I looking at?’” Carolyn said. “I said Larry, ‘you’re looking at a huge commitment.’ I said ‘do you want to just go get new tiles and cover it like everyone else has done for the past 50 years?’” Larry said he knew Carolyn’s dream was to take the interior back closer to what it originally looked like with a high ceiling and the pressed tin ceiling exposed. He encouraged her to move forward with those plans. “So, night after night after night we came down and worked taking down the ceiling, old wiring and duct work,” she said. Granny’s Porch remains a work in progress, but it provides a unique look back in time and a place where the Corleys look forward to coming to work at everyday, Larry said. “Stores like ours are going out of existence. It’s kind of an unusual place,” he said. “She loves to come down here, and I like antiques and collecting.”
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Scene and Be Seen Boo-Nanza 2018 Thousands visit downtown for Halloweenthemed event. Photos by Kenton Brooks
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Scene and Be Seen Goat Yoga Goats jump on participants at Hunt’s Green Space. The event helped raised awareness, funds for Fostering Hope. Photos by Cathy Spaulding
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Scene and Be Seen Business and Industry Awards Banquet Annual ceremony recognizes businesses and individuals who have contributed to the economic growth and quality of life in Muskogee. Photos by Chesley Oxendine
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Scene and Be Seen
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Scene and Be Seen Art Guild Show Muskogee Art Guild hosted a show and sale for members. Prize money was awarded to one beginner artist and one advanced artist. Photos by Chesley Oxendine
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Scene and Be Seen
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Scene and Be Seen Ag Appreciation Dinner Greater Muskogee Area Chamber of Commerce and Tourism organized a dinner in honor of local agricultural efforts. Photos by Chesley Oxendine
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Scene and Be Seen Moonlight and Monarchs Rainy weather couldn’t stifle people’s spirits even as they moved the benefit dinner for the Friends of Honor Heights Park from the Papilion to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center. Photos by Chesley Oxendine
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Guide To Area Restaurants
On The Menu
On TheMenu Guide To Area Restaurants
On The Menu Guide To Area Restaurants
Food & Drink
Sou t h er n hospita l it y
a way of life here
F
or Russell and Camille Sain, the term southern hospitality isn’t just a saying, it’s a way of life. One step into their historic home in Founders’ Place and you know charm, good food, and congenial company can be found there. The Sains, who hail from Atlanta, decided to get out of the city in favor of a slower
pace. When a job opened for Camille at the Muskogee Veterans Affairs office, Russell sold his electrical construction business and they made the move to Oklahoma. “We got to Oklahoma and fell in love with the people and countryside,” says Russell. “And, Camille finally got her historic home where she can show off her antique furniture in the proper setting. We feel right at home.”
The Cook’s Pantry Melony Carey
Photos by Abigail Washington Green Country Living
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Food & Drink Camille dishes up the dessert course, her famous bread pudding made special with freshly baked pumpkin bread.
As for spreading the Southern charm, the Sains wasted no time making fast and true friends in the area. Both have a love of entertaining that goes back to family gatherings. “I grew up in a household where my father would invite huge crowds for a barbecue to celebrate any and everything,” says Camille. Russell, who was Camille’s high school sweetheart, remembers these parties fondly. “I loved to go to her house for parties,” Russell said. “Now entertaining allows us to carry on that tradition with two favorite things, eating and visiting with our friends and family.” Russell is no stranger to the kitchen, having helped his mother cook as a child. “I always had an interest in cooking from a very young age,” he said. “When I was in my twenties I cooked my way through most of the Grand Diplome cooking course, a series of 25 cookbooks that I bought at a garage sale.” A prized possession is a cookbook of handwritten family recipes given to him by his mother. Because they grew up in Georgia, eating southern or
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Food & Drink
ABOVE: Camille and Russell add the finishing touches to the main course of Steak Diane, onion Yorkshire pudding, Camille’s famous green beans and roasted acorn squash with Brussels sprouts. LEFT: Russell lights the piece de resistance, Steak Diane, a favorite recipe refined over the years. The flambÊ adds a spark of holiday flair.
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ABOVE: Camille lights a candle in the centerpiece in preparation for the party. RIGHT: A first course of salad with apples and Camille’s special balsamic vinaigrette whets the appetite.
Dinner guests always find Southern hospitality at the Sains’ holiday parties. From left, pictured here are Sara Combs, Russell Sains, Melony Carey and Dower Combs.
soul food is their favorite day-in day-out fare. These are tried-and-true family recipes and specialties they have perfected. “When we go to family gatherings on the holidays, our southern-style green beans and sweet potato soufflé are always required for entrance,” Russell says. When they are entertaining at home, the menu usually includes their legendary recipes and one or two experimental items, such as the sweet potato bisque featured here. As Russell sums it up, “We both really enjoy cooking, eating interesting food, and engaging in lively conversation. Entertaining combines all three, plus, it’s a lot of fun.”
Sweet Potato Bisque
2 tablespoons butter 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 Vidalia onion, finely chopped 1/2 inch knob ginger, peeled and finely chopped
Sweet potato bisque topped with sour cream and sprigs of fresh thyme is a festive touch to a holiday dinner.
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 chipotle pepper canned in adobo sauce 4 cups chicken broth 1 1/4 cups apple cider 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and
cubed 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream Sour cream for serving Sprigs of thyme for garnish
Add the butter to a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Once the butter melts and becomes foamy, add the garlic,
Food & Drink
Russell’s dry-smoked salmon served with sour cream, capers, and diced red onion makes a delicious party appetizer.
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Food & Drink onions and ginger and sauté until tender and fragrant, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the chipotle pepper and sauté for 1 minute longer while breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken broth, apple cider and sweet potatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Puree the soup using an immersion blender until smooth and velvety. Finish by stirring in the heavy cream. Top each bowl with sour cream and a sprig of thyme, if using.
Steak Diane
2 boneless shell steaks, 8-10 oz. each Salt and pepper Clarified butter 1 oz. cognac 1/2 oz. dry sherry 2 tablespoons un-melted butter 1/2 lemon 1/2 teaspoon prepared hot English mustard 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
Steak Diane steaks are sautéd in clarified butter and set ablaze with cognac and sherry.
2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Sprinkle steaks with salt and pepper. Sauté in clarified butter until steaks are brown on both sides. Add cognac and sherry and set ablaze. When blaze
subsides, remove steaks to warm plates or platter. Do not pour off liquid in pan. Add un-melted butter to pan. Squeeze lemon juice into pan. Add remaining ingredients. Stir well then heat sauce to bubbling and serve over steaks.
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Food & Drink
Pros and cons of
beverage shopping locations T
hese times they are a-changing. Oct. 1 marked a significant transition in our great state as the antiquated liquor laws we voted to modify last year then took effect. No longer is it necessary to drive across state lines to pick up strong domestic
beer. We now also have the option to pick up already chilled wine and strong beer at many places we weren’t able to before, such as the grocery store, drug store, convenience store and even liquor stores. Another revision includes the ability to buy wine/beer related items alongside our beverages.
Photos by Von Castor
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Wonderful Wine Heather Ezell
Food & Drink That means corkscrews, openers, glassware, even gift bags. How silly was it that we couldn’t buy an opener or a gift bag? Clearly, we were long overdue for much needed changes. These updates allude to progress, but what does this mean for us as consumers and also for small business owners? You’ve been buying your favorite beverages at the liquor store for years, as there was no other choice. But before you hastily abandon them, pause and reflect on these points: • Loyalty. As a long-term patron, more than likely you have a relationship with the staff/owners. Continuing to frequent them helps keep small businesses in business. • Customer service. At your neighborhood establishment, you are sure to find helpful advice from knowledgeable staff. At the giant buy-everything-here conglomerate, what’s the likelihood that 1) anyone will be around to answer any
Gift bags, openers, glassware and other accessories can now be purchased along with your beverages.
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Food & Drink
ABOVE: Many liquor stores have gone to great expense to offer chilled beer and wine. RIGHT: Being able to pick up alcoholic beverages alongside nonalcoholic drinks illustrates convenience created by new law.
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Food & Drink
Tristan Warren carefully chooses beer, wine and liquor.
Liquor stores are now able to sell ice under new laws.
questions, and 2) if so, how much will they actually know? • Special orders. These stores are willing and able to locate and bring in that memorable bottle of wine you enjoyed at a restaurant or the mindblowing craft beer you discovered while traveling. Hosting a special event that calls for a case (or more) of champagne/wine/beer/keg/etc. — this is particularly the time to do business with them. Most places will offer bulk discounts for such occasions. • More intimate experience. Shops are smaller with less “distractions.” What is the possibility that you go in for your favorite tipple and end up with a basket full of unwanted/ unneeded items? • Select clientele. Let’s face it, do you really want to run into certain members of the community (think Sunday school teacher, boss, your neighbor in recovery) with a buggy full of beverages? If you do happen to run into someone here, it’s likely that they are happy to share a libation with you versus raising an eyebrow. • Options. They offer choices, from basic to mid-range on to high-end, and as a rule, more of them. • One stop beverage shopping.
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Food & Drink
Laura Young and her girls shopping for all of their family’s needs.
Beer, wine and liquor-spirits are only available here. • Discounts for senior citizens and military. It may not be the hard and fast rule for every store, but commonly you will find this added benefit. I am not suggesting that you only shop for alcohol at the liquor store, otherwise why did we vote to alter the laws? Reasons to pick up potent potables at your favorite grocery store include:
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• One stop shopping. All of your basic needs in one location. How easy is it to pop in, grab a cart, fill it with tomorrow’s lunch, this evening’s dinner and a nice bottle of wine to go with it? Convenient for certain. • Children. You cannot (and should not) leave your kids in the car to pick up drinks that you need later for dinner, girl’s/guy’s night, the game, etc. You can have your kids with you (where they belong) when you run in for a bottle of wine or a six pack at
the grocery store. So this is extremely helpful to parents. Besides, they probably need snacks. • Necessities, If you like to walk in, pick up the exact same item every, single, time, with no assistance, this works for you. Grocery stores are going to have basic, everyday, good choices of beer and wine. Some will offer slightly more, but tried and true beverages will likely be available. • Accessibility. Open seven days a week.
Food & Drink
Above: A new sight. Adult beverages bought next to children’s snacks. BELOW: Wine guide, Janice Thomas assists customer Todd Newton with his selection.
A basket full of necessities.
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Food & Drink
Ice cold domestic, imported and craft beer in a refrigerated beer cave.
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• Somm Service. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that one locally owned grocery store (with multiple locations) has employed nearly half a dozen sommeliers (wine stewards) to work in their stores to assist patrons. That isn’t often the case at corporate owned and chains. • Carry-out service. This is something shared by both liquor and grocery stores but seldom in the big chain stores. Modern laws have given us additional alternatives as to what we buy and where. Competition, comfort and convenience are part of your choices as is being conscientious. Shopping locally helps everyone, and pricing is (or should be) very close anywhere you go. Ushering out the old and welcoming the new is exciting and uncertain, but as we move forward, hopefully these changes will benefit all of us. Cheers!
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