11 minute read
Living
DANCING HIGHLAND PARK SWEETHEARTS ‘STILL HAVING FUN’
Helms boogie through the decades to the competitive stage
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Larry and Kathy Helms stepped their way into the finals of the Diamond Dance-Off hosted by The Senior Source at Klyde Warren Park. (PHOTOS: KATHRINE DAVIDSON)
By Maddie Spera
people newspapers
Larry and Kathy Helms have been dancing together for 55 years, and they don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
The Highland Park couple met in high school and have been dance partners ever since.
Kathy was a Baptist when they first met, so it was up to Larry to lure her into dancing shoes and get her boogying.
The lovebirds enjoy the physical and mental benefits of dancing, as well as the romance of it.
The song “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry never fails to get their feet moving.
“We love to dance,” Larry said. “It is so much fun, and we love music. We always dance at parties when there is a band.”
In June, the Helms competed in the finale of the Diamond Dance-Off hosted by The Senior Source, which advocates for the DFW senior population.
Participants submitted dance videos, and people went online to vote for their favorites.
Larry and Kathy stole viewers’ hearts and made it to the final, in-person competition held at Klyde Warren Park, where they received the Dollars and Diamonds Award for raising the most money for The Senior Source.
“We’ve been supporters of the Senior Source for about 30 years,” Larry said. “The dance-off celebrated their
60th anniversary, and it was just something we thought we could do to help promote awareness for the organizaWe love to tion and all the great programs dance. It is so they have for much fun, and seniors.” The dancewe love music. off also providLarry Helms ed an excellent outlet for Larry and Kathy during the pandemic. It kept things light and gave them a bigger goal to focus on, they said. But what was Larry’s favorite part of the competition?
“Dancing with Kathy, of course,” he said.
Just like the song they danced to in the competition, for Larry, Kathy is “Still the One” he wants to dance with through life.
THE SENIOR SOURCE
Mission: To enhance the quality of life of older adults in Dallas. Visit theseniorsource.org.
Fourth of July Coloring Book Contest Winners
Donation Strikes A Chord Adletas help Highland Park UMC land rare Fazioli concert grand piano
By Rachel Snyder
rachel.snyder@peoplenewspapers.com
Jack and Dianne Adleta didn’t get to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their flooring company last year as planned. Still, they hope what they helped Highland Park United Methodist Church accomplish instead will have a much more lasting impact.
“It was a God thing because now we’re able to do other things,” Dianne said.
The Adletas provided the primary funding to their longtime church to acquire a rare, reportedly $225,000 Fazioli concert grand piano. They have also helped fund new choir robes and stoles for the chancel and youth choirs and made numerous donations to the Highland Park United Methodist Church Tower Arts Program and the children’s choir.
“I think that the piano especially is going to be there for generations,” Dianne said.
Each Fazioli grand piano takes about three years to build. The red spruce wood used in the piano’s soundboard comes from the same forest in the Western Italian Alps and is the same kind of wood that violin maker Stradivarius used, HPUMC senior minister Paul Rasmussen explained.
The opportunity came about because former Highland Park United Methodist Church Alan Raines helped persuade the Adletas to support replacing the church’s old Steinway piano with the Fazioli.
Renowned pianist Natasha Paremski performed in a recital at the church in June using the new Fazioli.
Jack and Dianne Adleta (PHOTO: ALEX YOCUM-BEEMAN/HIGHLAND PARK UNITED METHODIST CHURCH)
“Everyone that was at the recital that night came away just awed not only from her talent but from the sound of the piano because she was really able to bring that out and to bring that forth,” Dianne said.
Rasmussen called it an exciting debut.
“The piano was installed in early 2020, just before the world was impacted by the COVID pandemic, and we are excited to share this beautiful instrument with our congregation, the Dallas Community, and music lovers everywhere,” he said.
The Adletas went to see Paremski perform again in San Francisco in July for their 44th wedding anniversary.
Jack’s family had attended Highland Park United Methodist Church for generations, and Dianne began going to church with him after the couple got married.
“After Jack and I married, I was teaching Sunday school at Wilshire Baptist, and I don’t think he was as interested in going there, so I decided if I wanted to go to church, which I do believe in wholeheartedly – I went to church with him,” Dianne said.
Dianne’s mother was a pianist/organist at a couple of Baptist churches in Dallas.
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One of the trendiest ways to use wallpaper is to take individual panels, frame them, and display them as art. I have worked with framed wallpaper panels on two Dallas projects recentMARGARET CHAMBERS ly. Here are some reasons why designers like myself recommend them: 1. They are less of a commitment. It’s much easier to remove framed panels than to remove wallpaper from the wall itself. 2. They are more affordable. They’re a smart way to add wallpaper to large voids, like in a high-ceilinged room or a staircase.
3. Using panels can help break up bold
patterns. Sometimes a dramatic wallpaper would be too much for your room. But the same pattern divided into visual blocks could fit better into your design.
4. You can take them with you to your
next home. Framed wallpaper panels can come with you when you move, making them a wise investment. 5. They are less hassle. Even if you’re planning on framing the panels yourself, this will still be an easier project than putting up wallpaper.
6. They can add some much-needed in-
terest to plain walls. For example, framed wallpaper panels are great for homes without many architectural details.
LEFT: Custom-colored de Gournay panels in a rising sequence next to the staircase help to add interest to the wall space in this highceilinged room. RIGHT: Although the Gracie wallpaper panels in this upstairs hallway are part of a matching set, each is slightly
different. (PHOTOS: MICHAEL HUNTER)
Sounds appealing, right? If you’re sold on the idea but don’t have much experience with wallpaper, here are some pointers to help you get started.
Before you even pick a pattern, measure your wall space carefully so that you can figure out how many panels you need and what their dimensions should be. The dominant color in your wallpaper pattern should be based on at least one other color from the surrounding room.
Your choice of frame can have a significant impact on the wallpaper’s presentation, so pick a complementary one. For example, one-inch gold bamboo frames are the perfect match for chinoiserie wallpaper. Your frames should always be small to make them lightweight and keep the focus on the wallpaper. Adding glass or plexiglass will create glare and make your wallpaper panels heavier and more challenging to hang, so I don’t advise it at all.
I believe that this is one of those occasional design trends that is classically beautiful enough to stand the test of time.
Margaret Chambers, a registered interior designer (RID) and member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), leads Chambers Interiors and Associates. Her colleague Caitlin Crowley helped edit this column. Find more design advice at chambersinteriors.com/blog.
I love summertime days that stretch endlessly and slowly.
There’s leisure time to sip a second cup of coffee after breakfast, reflective hours digging and planting in the garden, quiet moments reading on the front veranda, and in-
CHRISTY ROST vigorating hikes through Swan’s Nest’s forest, following deer and elk pathways once we pass the springfed upper pond.
When it comes to summer meals, I like to keep things relaxed and easy, too.
The key is anything that can be grilled, served with side dishes that go together quickly, especially if they take advantage of just-harvested ingredients from local orchards, farms, and my garden.
I make bi-weekly visits to the Dillon, Colorado farmers market – a feast for the senses when I stop by booths overflowing with ripe, juicy tomatoes, peaches, plums, and melons so fragrant, my mouth waters in Summer Fruit Salad with Creamy Honey Orange Dressing (PHOTO: CHRISTY ROST)
anticipation. On other tables, baskets are piled high with ears of corn, cucumbers, potatoes, onions, and squash, still moist from an early-morning harvest. Try as I might to stick to my shopping list, by the time I’ve walked through the market’s first section, my canvas bags are heavy from purchases too delicious to resist.
My recipe for Summer Fruit Salad with Creamy Honey-Orange Dressing was inspired by a visit years ago. My husband, Randy, and I were in the midst of a more than two-year restoration of our historic 1898 mountain home. As if 10-hour days onsite weren’t enough, I was simultaneously developing recipes for my second cookbook, Where’s My Spatula.
The kitchen in our temporary quarters was the size of a postage stamp, so dining room chairs often held ingredients, cookware, and serving dishes. With a setup like that, it’s no wonder the recipes are quick and easy, but each is nutritious and packed with flavor.
This colorful salad highlights summer fruit at its peak of freshness. On a bed of crisp leaf lettuce, I arrange plump, juicy strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries with bite-size cubes of cantaloupe or honeydew melon, sliced peaches or nectarines, and kiwi fruit. Of course, depending on one’s preference and what’s in season, apricots, grapes, plums, watermelon, pineapple, mango, and other tropical fruits make great additions or substitutions. A creamy citrus dressing, enhanced with orange zest and sweetened with honey and fresh-squeezed orange juice, elevates this dish to another level of enjoyment, making it a welcome seasonal dessert.
When your summer menu needs an infusion of color and flavor, or it’s simply too hot to cook, a fruit salad can be the answer. Add a refreshing citrus dressing that not only whips up in minutes but can be halved, doubled, or tripled, and it’s extra versatile for dinner-for-two, a family reunion, or a backyard summer holiday celebration with friends.
Cookbook author and PBS television chef Christy Rost is a longtime resident of the Park Cities and Preston Hollow. See her “Celebrating Home” four-minute cooking videos at youtube.com/ ChristyRostCooks and christyrost.com.
Ingredients:
1 cup nonfat sour cream 2 tablespoons mayonnaise 2 tablespoons orange zest 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice 2 tablespoons honey 1 head green leaf lettuce, rinsed and spun dry 1 small ripe cantaloupe, rinsed, seeded, and cut into bite-size pieces 3-4 ripe nectarines or peaches, rinsed 2 6-ounce containers fresh blackberries, rinsed 2 6-ounce containers fresh raspberries, rinsed 1 16-ounce container fresh strawberries, rinsed 1 pint blueberries, rinsed
Fresh mint sprigs, rinsed and dried, for garnish
Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream, mayonnaise, orange zest, orange juice, and honey until they are well blended. Cover and chill while preparing the fruit.
Line a large platter with leaf lettuce and arrange fruit as desired.
Just before serving, give the dressing a quick stir, then drizzle it over the salad. Spoon any remaining dressing into a container and serve it alongside the salad. Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Running on recycled parts.
Mike was an avid runner, but his severe liver issues prevented him from doing what he loved. The doctors at The Liver Institute at Methodist Dallas Medical Center diagnosed him with two chronic inflammatory diseases: autoimmune hepatitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), which can both lead to liver scarring. Mike was put on a liver transplant list, but when his health deteriorated, the specialists at The Liver Institute took immediate action. Today, Mike is proud to be “running on recycled parts” in honor of the organ donor who gave him a second chance at life.
Trust Methodist. Visit us at MethodistHealthSystem.org or call or 214-947-1800.
