Redstone December 2022 / January 2023

CHRISTMAS SERVICES

Lyons Community Church services

LYONS – The Lyons Community Church, at 350 Main St. on the corner of 4th and Main, offers United Methodist Church services every Sunday at 10 a.m. and Catholic Mass every Saturday evening at 5:30 p.m.

The United Methodist Church services will include an All-Age Christmas Pageant at 10 a.m. on Sunday December 18.

The Church will hold a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at 7 p.m. on Saturday December 24.

The Church will hold a Christmas Day Service at 10 a.m. on Sunday December 25.

The Church will hold a Bluegrass Service with the Weld County Ramblers at 10 a.m. on Sunday January 1.

Allenspark Community Church

ALLENSPARK – Christmas is fast approaching and the church will be celebrating the birth of the Christ Child on Christmas Eve, December 24, at 3:30 pm in the church at 16 Washington St., across from the post office.

The sanctuary will be filled with music – Don Shelley, church organist, will open the service with a solo; anthems will be sung by the choir under the direction of Leigh Bogardus; Kayleen Patrick, Colette McDonald, Cindy Rockett, and Julie, Jerilyn and Jamisyn Fischer will use their respective talents to help tell the story of this night; and familiar hymns will be sung by the congregation. The account of the birth of Jesus as told in the book of Luke will be shared by Pastor Ralph Patrick. And, as is our tradition, everyone will be given a candle to turn on for the singing of “Silent Night” to close the service.

As Jesus was God’s gift to mankind on that special night, the church will have a gift bag for all those in attendance.

Everyone – area residents, families, friends – is invited to join us. If you have questions, call the church at 303-747-2821. There will not be a service on Christmas Day, December 25.

Board denies developer discount, clears way for coffee drive-up and sewer rate increase

By Greg Lowell Redstone Review

LYONS – At its December 5 meeting the Town of Lyons Board of Trustees denied a developer’s request to pay discounted cash in lieu of water shares.

The board, by consensus, denied developers Dave Wickum and Keith Chatfield’s proposal to offer less-than-market-value cash in lieu of Colorado Big Thompson (CBT) water shares for development of eight house lots on McConnell Drive.

Wickum and Chatfield proposed paying the town $29,100 in cash per house instead of the current CBT market rate of $70,000 to 75,000. They based their offer on a comparison of Longmont, Fort Collins, Berthoud and Loveland – all of which accept cash from developers to manage their water requirements. The board had heard their detailed proposal at the November 21 meeting.

Under the 2003 intergovernmental agreement with the City of Longmont (from whom Lyons receives its water), each new lot in town that taps into the water system requires the owner to bring to the town a CBT water share. Alternatively, the Lyons municipal code allows the trustees to accept the cash

equivalent of the current market price of the CBT share in lieu of the actual share.

Lyons currently holds 727 CBT shares, of which 709 are committed to Longmont in “water year” 2023 for existing water taps. Eight of the remaining town’s balance of shares would have to be transferred to Longmont if the town decided to accept cash in any amount from the developers.

Prior to their decision, the board heard from Utilities Director Aaron Caplan that the cash in lieu of shares would be deposited in the town’s wastewater fund to be used for related projects.

There was discussion on how that cash might be used to shore up the town’s wastewater fund, which is facing a shortfall in 2023 due to increased expenses at the wastewater treatment plant. The town’s advisory Utilities and Engineering Board had recommended that the town accept only full market value cash in lieu of water shares.

Town attorney Brandon Dittman said that the development agreement for Lyons Valley Park (where the eight lots are located) specifically requires CBT water shares for each new home. The lone exception to that agreement was for Summit’s affordable housing units in LVP that, by town code, could use far less ex-

pensive Lake McIntosh water shares (currently in the $10,000 range).

After hearing these details. Mayor Hollie Rogin asked the board if any of them were interested in discounting the value of the water shares for the developers. There was no response in the affirmative. Rogin then said that there was no need for the town “to give a subsidy to build million-dollar homes,” and told Keith Chatfield (who was present via Zoom) the town is not willing to discount the water share values.

The matter being closed, Chatfield said he would pursue buying CBT shares on the open market.

The board also weighed approval of the conditional use of a drive-up window and a waiver for unpaved parking for the planned Mud Hut coffee business at 4033 Ute Hwy., adjacent to the existing U-Pump-It gas station. The board had adopted Ordinance 1136 on November 21, which added “drive-up windows” to the list of allowable conditional uses in the B-Zoning District.

The drive-up/walk-up business will have a single CDOT-approved entrance and egress off Rte. 36 and an unpaved circular drive. The business itself will be a trailer with sewer and water connections that can be quickly disconnected in the event of a flooding emergency.

There were no comments at the public hearing, and the board unanimously approved

Redstone stands with President Zelensky and the people in Ukraine

Baby’s first Christmas – Seven-month-old Reese, from Lyons, had his first visit with Santa at the Lyons Holiday Artisan Market on December 10. Reese came dressed in his green Grinch hoodie to make sure Santa knew he meant business. And he gave Santa’s beard a little tug just to make sure it was the real thing.

PHOTO BY CATHY RIVERS

OBITUARIES

Died November 7, 2022

Andy Clark, owner of Moxie Bread Company, died on November 7. He was 46. He is survived by his wife Phillippa (Pippa) and their three boys.

Family, friends, co-workers and others are morning his sudden and untimely death. Andy Clark is well known for being the Chief Executive and owner, along with his wife, of the Moxie Bread Company chain of bakeries, which specializes in artisan breads, specialty muffins and sweet rolls, and even soups and sandwiches along with some ready-to-cook-orbake dishes.

Clark launched his first small bakery and cafe at 641 Main St. in Louisville in 2015 after a career at Whole Foods and Izzio Bakery. Moxie gained popularity immediately and soon gained a reputation as one of the best bakeries in the state, receiving a James Beard award nomination in 2018. The bakery expanded in 2020 opening up a shop in Boul-

der and a third bakery in Lyons last year.

Andy Clark’s impact on each community was immediate as his bakeries have become gathering places for friends and neighbors to meet for coffee and pastries or for lunch of soup and sandwiches. Friends and associates gathered at the Moxie Bread Company Louisville, leaving flowers and mementoes, offering condolences.

Andy Clark’s philanthropic work is well known in the communities where he had his bakery. Right after the Marshall fire in Louisville, he started up his mobile oven and handed out free pizza to families that were impacted by the fire. During COVID, Caleb Dickinson, a city councilman, said Clark was making full meals for customers to pick up, and he applied for a loan so he could continue paying his employees.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help support Andy Clark’s wife Pippa and his children. The page is at https://www.gofundme.com/f/b6eku6-andys-family. No date for a funeral or memorial had been set at press time.

Walter Kinderman

Died December 3, 2022

Walter Kinderman passed away on December 3 at a hospice facility in Longmont. Kinderman was the editor and publisher of the Lyons Recorder, a weekly newspaper that was originally started over 100 years ago. Throughout its history, the newspaper was called The New Lyons Recorder, The Old Lyons Recorder and Lyons

Recorder. Later he also owned and published the Berthoud Recorder.

Prior to owning the Lyons Recorder, Kinderman worked at a publication on Colorado Congressional issues called The Colorado Statesman in Denver.

Kinderman was still publishing the Lyons Recorder when the Redstone Review came out in 2000 and continued to publish the Recorder newspaper for a year or two after the Redstone was in print, until he eventually sold the paper and his Main Street office in Lyons. He sold the paper to a newspaper group out of Wyoming. After that it migrated though a long string of owners and in 2019 it went out of print and went on to become a digital publication.

Kinderman and his first wife Joan had three children, John, Brian and Walter. He later married Patti Padilla and the two of them ran the Lyons Recorder together.

He, along with other Lyons residents, fought the Coffin Top Dam proposal. He often disagreed with various town mayors and town administrators and expressed strong views in the Lyons Recorder . He also ran for mayor of Lyons in 2008 and was defeated.

No memorial services had been planned by press time.

Library hosts virtual award winning author talk series;

Neal McIntyre to perform; teens to celebrate MLK event

By Kara Bauman Redstone Review

LYONS – Is there someone hard to shop for on your holiday gift giving list? Join Arianne Thompson at the library on Friday, December 16 at 10 a.m. to conclude the 2022 Drawing and Sketching Series with art games, technique review, magical gift ideas, and edible art. Attendees will also create a one-of-akind handmade art piece perfect for gift giving, complete with wrapping and all the trimmings. Space is limited and registration is required.

The holiday festivities continue at the library on Friday, December 16 and Saturday, December 17 when the Teen Advisory Group will host the two-day creation of an entire – and surely delicious – gingerbread village. Area teens in grades 6 to 12 are invited to come one night or both to let their creativity flow while constructing collaboratively with their friends. Each session will run from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. and requires separate registration. Families are invited to ring in the New Year with Lyons’ own Neil McIntyre, aka “Mr. Kneel,” at a rockin’, hip-hoppin’ preNew Year’s interactive performance on Thursday, December 29 from 6 to 7 p.m. With beatbox and vocal percussion, Mr.

Kneel will bring the same magic and cheer that has inspired thousands of kids with an uplifting message of character and self-respect. Mr. Kneel is an award-winning hip-hop musician and educator with over 20 years of experience on stage and in the classroom.

Are you a fan of Geraldine Brooks or Fredrich Back man? Did your book club recently read Lessons in Chemistry or Beauty in Breaking Did you happen to miss the live Q & A sessions with those au thors earlier this month? The Lyons Commu nity Library is now showcasing a live, virtual author talk series featuring bestselling, award-winning, and highly acclaimed authors and thought leaders from around the world and covering a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres. These free live events take place two or three times a month and include time for Q & A. A complete list of events is available on our

website under the Programming tab. Don’t miss Margaret M. Cho and Cassandra Clare coming soon.

The new year is a great time to focus on your writing goals. Our monthly Word Wednesday program, facilitated by Kayann Short, Ph.D., is a wonderful opportunity to meet other writers and share writing projects in a supportive environment. Word Wednesday meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. and is open to all genres and levels of writers. The next installment will take place on January 4. The new year is also a great time to focus on giving back to one’s community. Area teens and tweens are invited to save the date of Thursday, January 12 for a Day of Service project to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy. This project, a hands-on donation to a local

charitable organization, will stand in place of the regularly scheduled TAG meeting and more details will follow.

Please note baby storytime will take a break on December 20 and 27 and return for an 8-week session on Tuesday, January 3 at 10:30 a.m. All-ages storytime and craft will take a break on December 21 and 28 and will return for an 8-week session on Wednesday, January 4 at 10:30 a.m.

Make sure you are stocked up with all the books and family-favorite movies you might need ahead of the upcoming holiday closures. The library will be closed to the public on Saturday, December 24 and Saturday, December 31. We wish all our patrons and visitors a magical holiday season.

The Lyons Community Library opens Monday through Saturday at 10 a.m. We close at 5 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays; 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays; and 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Our online catalog is available 24/7 at lyons.colibraries.org and we’re always open for digital downloads on both the Libby and CloudLibrary apps. Give us a call at 303-823-5165 or email info@lyonslibrary.com with any questions. Please see the calendar on our website for additional program information and for registration instructions.

Kara Bauman is the Director of the Lyons Community Library and holds an MLIS from the University of Kentucky. She’s an avid fly angler, enjoys craft beer, and in non-COVID times travels extensively to see her favorite band, Widespread Panic.

Bauman

Andy Clark

Comprehensive Plan is a milestone to celebrate

By Hollie Rogin, Mayor of Lyons Redstone Review

LYONS – For more than a year, you’ve been hearing about our Comprehensive Plan update. The Comprehensive Plan is the guiding document for our community for the next ten or more years; it outlines our values and priorities, and how we can become an even more vibrant community. After countless Zoom meetings, well-attended in-person education and input events, and the exceptionally hard work of the Comprehensive Plan team, I am happy to let you know that we are at the finish line.

When the plan is officially adopted, likely over the next weeks, we can then begin negotiations with Boulder County to update our Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs). IGAs may sound boring, but bear with me if you will. IGAs are agreements made between governments. They guide those governments in addressing issues of mutual concern, such as land use and future growth areas.

Our 2012 IGA with Boulder County was set to expire in 2022; we received a generous extension to re-negotiate

Dairy Arts Center: Outlandish Redux

BOULDER – The Dairy Arts Center in Boulder will host the re-installation of works produced for Outlandish Redux by Natascha Seideneck in the Caruso Lounge, West Entrance. This is a two-person exhibition with Regan Rosburn and is a playful composition of works from two bodies of Seideneck’s work Uncanny Territory and Terra Incognita. The show runs from January 17 to Febebruary 23, 2023.

About Uncanny Territory: “How much fiction have these imagined worlds? Natascha Seideneck has developed a work process that, in a way, approaches natural processes and cycles of formation, as well as human manipulation and transformation.

About Terra Incognita: Terra Incognita are images of small ice objects representative of fictional planets yet undiscovered. These small frozen objects are made of water, oil, debris, pieces of maps and discarded paint and photographed while melting.

it while the Comprehensive Plan was in process. Now, we can finally look forward to conversations with Boulder County about how we can work together in the best interest of our community.

I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Mayor Pro Tem Farrell, who has worked tirelessly and relentlessly to get us where we are today. Planning and Community Development Commission (PCDC) Chair David Hamrick has likewise led the charge, enduring seemingly endless meetings and conversations with the can-do, pragmatic, and even cheerful attitude he brings to all of his work on the PCDC. The members of the PCDC likewise made the Comprehensive Plan their priority, and deserve our thanks and gratitude for their immeasurable contributions. Deborah Scott, Barney Dreistadt, Neal Evers and Megan Kram, thank you.

Staff Liaison Alexander Painter jumped right in when he joined Staff last summer, and his expertise, hard work, and attention to detail have been invaluable to the success of this Comprehensive Plan process.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Starry, Starry Night parade of lights this year and wish you all a peaceful, healthy, and happy holiday season and new year! See you at the ice rink.

For more information contact the Dairy at: office@thedairy.org. The Dairy Arts Center is at 2590 Walnut in Boulder.

Boulder County Motor Vehicle moved to appointments-based service model

LYONS – This month, to better serve Boulder County residents and to reduce public wait times, the Boulder County Clerk and Recorder’s Motor Vehicle Division moved to an appointments-based service model for all in-person services. Additionally, annual vehicle registration/license plate renewals will need to be completed online, by mail or drop box, or at a self-service kiosk.

For over a year, the three Motor Vehicle branches – Boulder, Lafayette, and Longmont –have continuously faced wait times that average an hour or longer. This is partially due to staffing shortages, similar to what other employers are facing, and partially due to a large increase in the number of transactions residents need to complete in one visit. These wait times have persisted despite implementing numerous scheduling and process efficiencies over the last year.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

By Joe Neguse Redstone Review

LYONS – With the end of the year, and the start of a new Congress on the horizon, I want to take this opportunity to provide you all with an update on our work over the past two years. The 117th Congress was busy for folks in Washington D.C. and for many of us here in Colorado.

From securing the single-largest investment in climate action in this country’s history to ensuring significant resources for rebuilding America’s infrastructure, we’ve had some monumental accomplishments.

In fact, this Congress, we secured the enactment of several critical bills, including the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the American Rescue Plan, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

For the people of Colorado, we’ve taken action to lower costs for families, support small businesses, invest in education, and provide access to critical programs for our nation’s veterans. And as a result of this hard work, I am proud to announce that we’ve had 13 of our bills – and counting – signed into law. We’ve also taken key steps to address the Western wildfire crisis, and this past August, passed my land-

mark legislative package, the Wildfire Response and Drought Resiliency Act, which encompassed over 50 standalone pieces of legislation.

In looking to the future, I’m excited that in the new year I will have the opportunity to represent Colorado in House leadership, having been recently elected by my colleagues to serve as the Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. Through this leadership position, I will continue to prioritize the interests of Coloradans and further House Democrats’ work to put people over politics.

A new Congress brings new opportunities, and just as we did in the years before, we will continue our efforts to lead locally, listen to our communities in Lyons and beyond, and work to solve problems for our district and Colorado.

Wishing you all a happy holiday season, and here’s looking to the new year!

Congressman Joe Neguse represents Colorado’s 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected to his first term in November 2018, becoming the first AfricanAmerican member of Congress in Colorado history. He serves as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.

from the Lyons Redstone Museum

B • R • I • E • F • S

Hollie Rogin was sworn in as Mayor of Lyons on April 18, 2022. Before that she was elected to serve on the Board of Trustees for the term of 2020 to 2022. In 2015, Rogin created the foundation for what is now the City of Boulder’s Commercial Affordability program on a pro bono basis. While serving as a Trustee, she was the Board liaison to the Economic Vitality Commission and the Historic Preservation Commission.

Neguse

PHOTO BY WHITNEY LAUREN HAY

“Fine Museum in Lyons”

By Monique Sawyer-Lang Redstone Review

LYONS – Did you know that the Lyons Redstone Museum, which opened to the public in 1979, was not the first museum in Lyons? The August 1, 1941 edition of The Lyons Recorder heralded the opening of a museum in Lyons with the banner headline: “Fine Museum Started in Lyons, Historic Relics of American History Are Put On Display Today.” The following excerpt describes what treasures awaited visitors to the museum.

“This week in Lyons is an important one to everyone in Lyons and the state of Colorado for through the efforts of Bill Hervey, John Smith and donations by George Van Dewarker, John Bartells, M.J. Hutchinson and many Lyons people one of the most interesting Museums in the world has been established. The Museum is located at the Lyons Theatre, the use of the building donated by Chet Brodie. The words of a famous archaeologist seeing the display ‘the finest collection of North American Indian arrowheads in the world’. Over 1800 arrowheads on display, gathered from Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico fields.”

The Lyons Recorder article lists additional Native American items that were on view to the public including: grinding stones, stone knives and scrapers, Hudson trading beads, bracelets and tomahawks. Also on display were historic guns used before and during the Civil War, flintlocks and first rim fire shells. Additionally, there were wood carvings by M.J. Hutchinson, a 1,359-piece mosaic card table, an 1820 Bavarian embroidered cloth sampler, and historic newspapers.

Admission to the museum was free which no doubt contributed to the August 15 Lyons Recorder headline and narrative: “Large Crowds Enthusiastic Over Exhibition Of Historic Displays At The Lyons Museum. The Lyons Museum has attracted large crowds to witness the grand array of historic articles. Over 5,000 people have visited the Museum since the doors opened last Friday. Everybody

A Christmas

By Oliver Ward Redstone Review

Many people have not actually read A Christmas Carol, yet they know it so well because it completely permeates our concept of the Christmas holiday, which is heavily influenced by the Victorians, and Dickens’ novel was a big part of establishing that history.

When Dickens was writing A Christmas Carol, English society was rapidly changing in response to the Industrial Revolution. England was changing from an agricultural society to one where many people were moving to the cities and working in factories. The earlier tradition among the Georgians was for nobility to host feasts in their manors, some lasting up to 12 days, for their tenant farmers, but that practice had begun to fall out of favor

visiting the exhibition has expressed satisfaction and enthusiasm over the spectacle they had seen.”

The newspaper also noted that more items were added to the original displays including: “...an old-coin collection,…more arrowheads (bringing the total on display to about 3,000) and…original issues of the various papers in Lyons: The Lyons News, Longs Peak Rustler and The Lyons Recorder.” The current Lyons Redstone Museum is fortunate to have an extensive collection of issues of both the Longs Peak Rustler and The Lyons Recorder and is always on the lookout for issues of The Lyons News, a short-lived

to the National Park. With the proper advertising that need not be expensive, the museum would prove of great value to the community…The price required to ‘put-over’ such a worthwhile enterprise seems to be very small, especially when the merchants will derive great benefit from the visitors who stop to witness the display.”

Unfortunately it appears that the museum was shortlived. A search of editions of The Lyons Recorder newspaper after the August 29 edition failed to turn up any additional articles about the museum, its operations, or even its closing. It was only a little over three months later that the U. S. entered into World War II with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. It can be assumed that the priorities of the Lyons community changed at that time.

The building where the original 1941 museum was located is believed to be one of the three stone buildings destroyed by fire in 1967 on the northwest corner of Fourth Avenue and Main Street.

As true today as it was written in 1941 is the statement “This museum is the result of fine cooperation of a community pulling together, by donating labor, articles, the building and goodwill, that have made possible the fine display now on exhibition.” Now, as it was then, admission is free, residents entrust their keepsakes to the museum, the school building from the St. Vrain School District is essentially free (it costs us $1 a year), and we have an extensive display, created in 2017, on the history of the newspapers in Lyons including the Longs Peak Rustler and The Lyons Recorder

paper published by Carrie Byrd in 1890.

An August 29, 1941 newspaper article titled “Plan Suggested To Give Lyons Permanent Museum” put forth the benefits of making the museum a permanent addition to the town. “This display is a collection from hundreds of homes that have entrusted their valuable keepsakes for the purpose of building a museum for Lyons. This manifestation of goodwill was done in anticipation of a permanent display to attract the many visitors that otherwise would not stop here in Lyons, but drive straight through

The Lyons Redstone Museum is funded solely through donations and grants. As you plan your end of the year charitable giving please consider donating to the Lyons Historical Society. Donations may be mailed to Lyons Historical Society, PO Box 9, Lyons, CO. 80540.

Monique Sawyer Lang is the Collections Manager of the Lyons Redstone Museum. She is also a volunteer with the Lyons Food Pantry and a former member/chair of the Lyons Community Foundation Board. She lives in Spring Gulch.

during the Victorian era as a result of industrialization and urbanization. And there was an uncertainty about how to celebrate Christmas in the cities.

A Christmas Carol was very influential in demonstrating to the Victorians that they could uphold the generosity of the Georgians’ way of celebrating Christmas, the idea that the wealthy needed to provide for the poor, and move it into the city and into the private home. Instead of a being a communal feast or party, the celebrations became smaller, more intimate, and focused on families and children. Amid their changing world, A Christmas Carol showed the Victorians wonderful images of warm family celebrations and of people sharing their good fortune.

Oliver Ward, is in the University Communications Department at CU Denver.

Sawyer-Lang

How did

Carol come to be the classic we know and love?

This display at the Lyons Redstone Museum shows the history of the newspapers in Lyons.

Best Christmas gift ever

By Greg Lowell Redstone Review

LYONS – My parents never let me down on Christmas. Much of what I asked for was given and sometimes gifts unasked for were also given, like the one I regard as my best Christmas gift ever.

Our little cape-style house sat on the outskirts of town and provided easy access to fields and woods and, in particular, a river and large remote reservoir that was a draw for me in the early days of my budding passion for fishing.

I was 12 years old that Christmas, in between the toys of my childhood and grownup holiday gifts. On Christmas morning, I expected no lavish display of Santa’s gifts – and I was right. All my gifts were properly wrapped and under the tree: a sweater, a book or two and some ice fishing tackle.

Near the end of the unwrappings, Dad said (not unlike Darren McGavin in A Christmas Story) that there might be one more gift for me. Where, I asked as I looked around anxiously. With a wave of his hand, Dad beckoned me to follow him. He led me through the kitchen and opened the door to our covered back porch.

There it was – standing on end with a giant red bow tied around it. The enclosed porch smelled like fresh-cut lumber and the gift barely fit between the floor and ceiling.

It was a boat, a pram to be exact. Nine feet long, screwand-glue plywood construction, the wood unfinished. I could not have been more surprised. I hadn’t asked for a boat, but my parents knew me better than I knew myself.

My mother was a Mainer through and through. She grew up on the water and in the woods, skiing and skating, swimming and canoeing. My dad built iceboats, skied and accommodated my own blossoming interest in all things outdoors. And so, they reasoned, what better gift for a fishing-obsessed boy than a boat?

I ran my hand over the curve of the gunwale and imagined the adventures I’d have with it. I wanted to launch it right away. Certainly, there must be open water somewhere, I reasoned.

But Dad tempered my enthusiasm and said there was a lot of work to do before it was ready for its first voyage: caulking seams, priming, painting, buying oars and installing hardware.

Later that day we wrestled the boat through the bulkhead to the cellar where I spent many hours of that long, cold New Hampshire winter sanding, priming and painting, getting it ready for the adventures it would surely provide. I painted

LEAF wants you to know “We are Here”

By Lory Barton Redstone Review

LYONS – Happy Holidays from LEAF, (Lyons Emergency & Assistance Fun). It can be easy to get distracted by the hustle and bustle of this season. Here at LEAF, we are doing our best to remain focused on our mission and to serve well as we approach 2022’s end.

LEAF’s mission is to provide a human services safety net in the Greater Lyons area. We accomplish this through Lyons

Community Food Pantry, Lyons Meals on Wheel, Mental Wellness & Addiction Recovery, Basic Needs & Resource Matching, and Lyons Volunteers. We are the only human services agency located in Lyons. With just a few staff members – most of them very part-time – and one hundred volunteers, LEAF is a little organization that is doing big work right here in Lyons.

Our theme in this next season is, “We Are Here.” That’s right, LEAF is here, in Lyons. We are local and accessible for people who need human services support. We are here, for good. We do our best to do good work for our community. I invite you

the outside gray and the inside white in a classic style.

The ice was barely off the local water when I asked Dad to take my friend and me and the boat to the local reservoir where the previous summer we had looked longingly at the islands and faraway coves we knew held big fish yet were unreachable on foot.

The tiny boat was just big enough for the two of us and our gear. I sat in the rear and paddled forward and my friend sat up front. Over the next two years we traveled up the far reaches of streams and winding marsh channels, surprising ducks and herons, while casting spoons to pickerel and bass that seemed to have never seen a lure. A few times we crammed the boat with camping gear and found uninhabited shorelines to spend restless nights around campfires.

That little boat opened a world of wonder and adventure for me and contributed to my passion for water, fishing and days outdoors that has spanned six decades.

My point in regaling you with this odd Christmas tale is that what that long-ago, surprise gift did for a young boy is what parents (or grandparents) can do for their own children today.

When you sense a spark of interest in your child for nature and the outdoors, nurture it through a gift. It might be a fly rod, a field guide and binoculars, snowshoes, a backpack, a kayak – any gift that promotes your child’s budding interest and you’ll be giving them not just a holiday present but a lifelong gift.

That little boat is long gone. It was sold and became a tender for someone’s sailboat when I replaced it with a canoe, which provided yet another gateway for my outdoor adventures. But I think of the pram often when I’m on the water and remember the prescience of my parents who gave their son a gift far beyond its material value that long-ago Christmas.

to visit our website (leaflyons.org) to learn more about what we do.

Here are some important year-end updates:

The Holiday Parade of Lights was fantastic Thanks to Barney Dreistadt for designing our float and leading the project.

LEAF’s Holiday Giving Tree is winding down. The Giving Tree is our community’s way to ensure that everyone has a gift to open at Christmas. Folks submitted gift requests, which were turned into tree ornaments, and placed on trees at Lyons Public Library, Uniquely Lyons, Moxie, Diner Bar, and Bellwether. Caring people picked ornaments, then purchased and wrapped the gifts before dropping them off at the gift drop-off station at Oskar Blues.

This weekend, our team of elves will deliver all of the wrapped gifts We owe so many thanks to Jesse Garland and Pam Browning for leading this project. As you

can imagine, it is no small feat to organize this endeavor.

The Super Duper Holiday Food Pantry is set for Wednesday, December 21 from 2pm to 6pm. This is our biggest Pantry of the year, where we distribute plenty of food and holiday treats. Santa will be there, as well carolers from Lyons Senior High School. We’ll have hot chocolate and other goodies, too.

Please note that LEAF will be closed for the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Our teams have delivered on a grand scale all year long, and they have definitely earned a week to rest.

Finally, it’s not too late to support Lyons with a year-end gift to LEAF. 2022 has been a difficult year and we have served more people than ever before. It’s easy to give, right on our website at leaflyons.org. If you can help us start 2023 strong, we would be so grateful.

Additionally, this change is coinciding with the implementation of a new online appointment system. The new modernized system allows appointments to be booked not just by time and day, but by the service needed. It also features Spanish-language options, text reminders, and a mobile check-in process.

To learn more about this change or to make an appointment for services, visit www.BoulderCounty.gov/MV. Those without internet access can call to make an appointment: 303413-7710.

Boulder Opera Company presents Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck

BOULDER – An abridged version of Hansel and Gretel will be performed by the Boulder Opera Company at the Grace Gamm Theater on December 17 and 18 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $30.

Based on the Brothers Grimm classic fairytale, Engelbert Humperdinck’s adaptation follows Hansel and Gretel on a journey of self-discovery during which they meet the Sandman, the Dew Fairy, and of course, the

Children will cheer when Hansel and Gretel use their cunning, wits, and most importantly, their brave hearts to defeat evil and live happily ever after. A great introduction to opera through the well known beloved story, the opera is sung in English and lasts one hour with a Q&A at the end. Featuring Aric Vihmeister at the piano and cellist Mathieu D’Ordine. Directed by Brandon Tyler Padgett. Recommended for kids ages 3 and up.

The Grace Gamm Theater is located at 2590 Walnut St. in Boulder. For tickets and information call 303-440-7826.

Lowell

Barton

B • R • I • E • F • S

Living with animals: Put some animals in your life and rebalance your soul

By Peter Butler Redstone Review

LYONS – “Don’t touch it or you’ll get impetigo.” I don’t know how you are supposed to pronounce it, but my Mother always said “im – p’t – eye – go” in her Scottish lilt.

The Sair, local dialect for sow/female pig. Ronnie the owner brewed his own beer, which tasted like heaven and acted like an anesthetic. Norman the cat lived in the brew house and one day Norman had kittens. The chalk board said “One Norman and two Norwomen.”

I was 6 years old and was approaching a cat on the sidewalk outside my grandmother’s house. Even at that young age I sensed the joy of another species in your life. “You’re allergic and your eyes will water,” she insisted.

Butler

My family life growing up as a kid was idyllic, but sadly lacking animals. Unless you count Timmy. Timmy was a hamster: very cute and cuddly but not someone to go trail running with. Timmy lived in a pretty little blue cage. I think it was cerulean blue, as Meryl Streep declares in The Devil Wears Prada

Also Timmy was nocturnal and my bedtime was a strict 8 p.m. That meant that I rarely witnessed the gleeful pounding in his little treadmill. He must have run miles on that wheel with only his self-motivation to drive him. No smart watch to tell him how far or how fast. I bet modern hamsters get a little display screen and subscription to Peloton so they can race against small rodents in other countries.

Once I escaped the embrace of maternal caution it didn’t take long for me to adopt a cat. In my sordid digs in Liverpool there was a very fluffy cat that I named Sibelius.

I can’t remember ever buying cat food but I must have used some sort of bribery to gain his friendship. Eventually the medical student in the room next door re-adopted said feline and named them Sally. This might have been more gender correct but it hardly summoned the majesty of the Finnish maestro’s Karelia Suite or his Second Symphony –philistine.

As Deirdre and I started to create our family life more cats appeared, Omar and Jaco, then the triplets. When we lived in the north of England we frequented a pub called

“I would like to adopt them,” I explained to Ronnie’s spouse but added, “I would have to ask my wife.” Those were almost the only words that could have snagged those three black kittens – Whammy, Bongo and Nimbus. A cat generation or two later, here we are in Lyons and the domestic menagerie has expanded to 18 chickens, 5 cats and 1 dog. It makes it hard to leave the house for long but the compensation is a full-immersion mood moderator and calming machine.

Our locale has a rich fauna and we can receive visits from rabbits, foxes, deer, elk, bobcats and occasionally bears and lions. They give us a connection with nature but there is still a distance that we cannot cross. Mankind began to cross the divide with dogs and cats thousands of years ago after the first human settlements in the fertile crescent started to practice agriculture and its associated necessities of food storage. The unnatural accumulations of grain attracted rodents and eventually wild cats must have started to exploit the concentration of easy prey. Over hundreds of years there would have been increasing instances of closer contact between people and cats and the eventual first entry of a moggy into a household. Houston, the Bengal has landed.

Research shows physical therapy should be the first stop for people with back pain

By Bronwyn Muldoon Redstone Review

LYONS – Most people who end up seeing a physical therapist for back pain do so after seeing their family doctor, getting an x-ray or MRI, and maybe seeing an orthopedist. Current research says that this is the wrong order. People should be seeing a physical therapist first for back pain, as they are the musculo-skeletal (movement) experts in the medical field.

Studies have shown that people who receive early physical therapy (PT) have better outcomes, lower costs, and are less likely to have surgery, use opioids or have unnecessary testing. Current clinical

practice guidelines for treating low back pain support the use of manual therapy and exercise – two things that physical therapists specialize in.

Unfortunately, only 2 percent of people with back pain start with PT, and only 7 percent get to PT within 90 days. What’s wrong with the other options? Stories about the opioid epidemic that the country is currently experiencing are everywhere, and the number one reason for opioids prescriptions are back pain.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has recommended against the use of opioids for back pain since 2016, and supports the use of non-drug treatments like PT. Surgeries for back pain are common, but the outcomes aren’t always successful, and currently have an average 50 percent suc-

cess rate. A large study looking at worker’s comp patients with back pain found that people who have surgery have a 1 in 4 chance of having a repeat surgery, a 1 in 3 chance of a major complication, and a 1 in 3 chance of never returning to work again.

Low back pain (LBP) is a leading cause of disability in the United States, increasing by 50 percent since the 1990’s. To reverse these numbers, its crucial for everyone to start acknowledging that there are other options besides surgeries and drugs. Physical therapy is an excellent place to start when experiencing low back pain and is covered by insurance.

Bronwyn Muldoon has a doctorate in Physical Therapy, is a Sports Certified Specialist and opened Lyons Physical Therapy 24 years ago.

PHOTO BY DEIRDRE BUTLER

Muldoon

Credit cards, old typewriters and a chance meeting

By John Gierach Redstone Review

LYONS – Because of the international dateline, dialing New Zealand from Colorado amounts to calling tomorrow from yesterday. Once I’d have had to work it out on a world time zone map and it would have been easy to get wrong.

When I had a British publisher back in the 1980s, he was forever calling me at 2 a.m. in the morning and wishing me a “good afternoon.” But this time I simply asked Google, “What time is it in Auckland?” and got the answer. It was either four hours difference or 28 if it mattered what day it was. The reason for the call was an email I’d gotten from Susan the day before. She said she’d forgotten to tell her credit card company that she’d be out of the country and was worried that they’d shut off her cards, so would I call her credit union and sort it out for her. Sure, sounds easy enough.

But, of course, it wasn’t. A woman at the credit union informed me that they couldn’t respond to a request from a third party and that Susan would have to go online and do it herself. The implication was clear: I was just a voice on the phone and could have been anyone, including a pickpocket who’d just stolen Susan’s credit card.

So that’s what the phone call was about. I knew Susan had a tablet with her and thought it would be easy, but again, no. I learned from a subsequent email that the credit union’s computer refused to recognize the tablet, so it couldn’t be done online, either. In the end, she had to call, after doing her own calculation so she’d get them during business hours.

This kind of thing happens constantly now. Barely a week goes by without some time-consuming electronic stumbling block that one or the other of us has to get past in order to accomplish what would once have been a simple chore that two people with telephones and pencils could have completed in five minutes.

I remember my first glimpse of this dystopian future – not the actual date, but the event. It was back when computers were just beginning to enter daily life. Most people didn’t have one, but some did, and screens and keyboards were just begun to replace cash registers at checkout counters. I was in rural Pennsylvania fishing with friends when we stopped at a gas station that had roller dogs for sale – an old weakness of mine – so I decided to get one. But the clerk said he couldn’t sell it to me because the computer was down.

We’ve all heard this so often now that it’s become the basis of 21st century humor, but back then it didn’t compute, so to speak. I said, “Look, here’s the money, there’s the hot dog: what’s the f****g problem?”

The problem, of course, was that a simple-minded fisherman and a poor schmuck working for minimum wage had both just been steamrolled by the new technology. No sale for him; no hotdog for me.

For a while I thought it was because Susan and I grew up in a generation that not only didn’t have computers, but didn’t even know what they were. Ironically, it was my uncle Jim (James C. Worthy) who was involved with installing the first government computers when he was an assistant secretary with the Commerce Department under President Eisenhower. These were huge, gray machines

Luddites, we’re not. We’re both writers who’ve worked on computers for decades, first by necessity and later by choice. It’s just that we don’t belong to a generation who saw their first computers before they were on solid food and so aren’t the least bit intimidated by them. It’s not that people half our age don’t have trouble, it’s just that they’re too young to have bought the pitch that computers would make life easier, so they didn’t feel cheated when the opposite turned out to be true.

So, I have some unavoidable nostalgia. For decades I worked on a typewriter. It was slow and tedious, but it was dependable. Programs never updated, leaving you wondering how to do something you’d done easily a thousand times before; words never inexplicably vanished from a sheet of typing paper; hitting the wrong key simply resulted in a typo, it didn’t send you into an electronic labyrinth that you’d take hours finding your way out of.

And if it weren’t for typewriters, I might never have met Susan. When I first started writing a column for the old Longmont Daily Times-Call newspaper, I typed it at home and then delivered it once a week to the newsroom 20 miles away. At the time, Susan was the business editor. We noticed each other in passing, managed to meet, struck a spark and started flirting. (Who flirted first depends on which of us is telling the story.) Anyway, we soon began a romance that has now outlasted both our jobs there – hers first, then mine – then the newsroom itself and finally the local ownership of the newspaper.

that operated on punch cards: strips of paperboard about the thickness of playing cards that somehow conveyed information by way of rectangular-shaped holes. (If you’re too young to remember punch cards, think of hanging chads in the 2000 election in Florida; another imperfect interface between the physical and the digital.)

When I was in college in the 1960s, each of our classes was represented by a separate punch card that we collected from various offices and transported to another office in another building in order to sign up. There was a joke about a student who stepped on a punch card while wearing his football cleats and accidentally transferred himself from advanced calculus to modern dance. Even then, computers seemed pointless and ridiculous.

But although Susan and I might occasionally sound like

If I’d had a computer back then and could have sent my column in electronically instead of making that 40mile round trip drive once a week, it might never have happened. But as it is, I consider our lives together to be a triumph of the old ways over the new.

John Gierach is an outdoor and fly fishing writer who writes books and columns for magazines including a regular column for Trout Magazine. His books include Trout Bum, Sex Death and Fly fishing, and Still Life with Brook Trout. He has won seven first place awards from the Colorado Press Association for his columns in the Redstone Review. His latest book, All the Time in the World, will be released in June 2023 and will be available at book stores and fly fishing shops everywhere including South Creek Ltd. on Main Street in Lyons.

Gierach

Hi, John, Wanna go for coffee?

Why my New Year’s Resolutions never work

By Janaki Jane Redstone Review

LYONS – I like New Year’s resolutions. I use them more as intentions, to remind myself of how I want my life to be. One I used for too many years is some version of, “I will allow more organization into my life.”

I am not sure that one has ever worked, though: I seem to be perpetually living in an uproar of magazines and clothes on the floor. But, still, I persist, and each December I use the impending change of the calendar to think about my life and figure out something that I want to encourage myself to work on for the year.

This resolved intention, or whatever it is, cannot be too general: “I want to be a better person” is always true for me, but far too general for the reminder I need my New Year’s resolutions to be.

Also, too specific does not work for me: “I will lose five pounds a month,” while it would probably be a good idea, would have me diving into leftover pumpkin pie and stollen on January first. I find as I get older that I want to be both gentler and more, well, resolute in what I resolve. Therefore, this year, I intend to do one thing: get my office organized. It is one room; how hard can it be?

Well, quite hard. My office is also the room where my closet and dresser live. I have already mentioned the clothing on the floor issue – don’t judge. My office is also where my art supplies are – a lot of them – and my notebooks from decades of journaling and writing. It is where I have my active notebooks from the current projects and groups I am involved in, to take notes at meetings and keep my thoughts about them organized: writing, speaking and storytelling, grant writing, mental health, diversity and inclusion, LGBTQ+. It’s how I keep my mind organized, all those notebooks, digital just makes it harder, for

me, so paper it is.

This is a small room: 7 ft. by 9 ft., maybe a bit smaller, in a very small house. It also has a love seat and two small bookcases of my most used and inspirational books and my file cabinet and a tall bookcase that is supposed to hold the items I am currently using but ends up being a catchall for things that seem to have no real place.

When my office is organized, I love it. It is cozy and my very small desk sits under an east-facing window through which I can see the rosy skies of our mountain mornings; it has a cream and rose rug that keeps my toes warm and helps me to feel centered and grounded.

Williams and Rilke I like; books by Marshall MacLuhan and Pema Chodron and the Dalai Lama and Joseph Campbell and Angeles Arrien. There are many books on writing and creativity that are Post-It® filled and often referenced by others on Zoom® meetings: Stephen King’s On Writing, inspiring for anyone to read, not just writers; Christina Baldwin’s Calling the Circle, a mainstay of my life; Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, a writing bible for more than one generation. Books by Julia Cameron and Betty Edwards and Anne Lamott also find themselves there.

Those books and the desk are the heart of my office, and as I sit at that east facing desk and write this, and look up at that bookshelf beside me, I realize most of why my office is still, after many resolutions, a mess. Those books are taken down often, read, referred to, displayed on Zoom®, and always put back where they live. Unlike my clothing, which ends up on the floor, or even my art supplies, that seem to spill out of the bassinet that is their home, those books are where they should be, always, if I am not actively reading or using them. I can lay my hand on any one of them within a moment.

Which explains, perhaps, why I keep resolving an intention to get organized but never get there. It just does not matter to me that much. Those books, which I use and peruse frequently, are always where they should be. They are my friends. My clothes? I do not really care that much. My art supplies do need a better container.

Hanging on the wall above the loveseat is a two-shelf bookshelf, with the books that feed my soul. I can get up and grab Sam Watterson, or The Wind in the Willows, C. S. Lewis and Phillip Pullman or Patrick Rothfuss any time I am in the mood; my 1963 edition of The Hobbit given to me on Christmas, 1964, when we lived in Edinburgh, Scotland, and that inspired an article on my memories of visiting a castle in Scotland and being shown an original manuscript of The Two Towers with Tolkien’s edits by a close friend of his.

There are at least ten books by Ursula LeGuin; wellleaved and well-loved poetry by Archibald MacLeish and e.e. cummings and John Donne and William Carlos

My kitchen is just too small for all the things I need to do the cooking I do. But on examination, the important things, my books, are organized, and easy to access, my friends on paper who will always be there for me whenever I need them. I guess I can be organized when it really matters to me.

Janaki Jane writes on issues of society and mental health. She is the Program Director of the Wide Spaces Community Initiative, a program of the Lyons Community Library. The Initiative’s vision is “A Community of Belonging and Personal Safety for Everyone.” She can be reached at widespacescommunity@gmail.com.

Support reducing human impact on the environment

By Dawn Weller Redstone Review

LYONS – One specific action that can be done in every home and business is recycling. As you know, recycling conserves resources, saves energy, and reduces landfill waste and methane emissions. Per the EPA the national municipal (commercial and residential) recycle rate is 32 percent; sadly the municipal recycle rate in Colorado last year was 16 percent. Lyons municipal recycle rate in 2021 was 14 percent. We know we can do better.

Local trash haulers offer curbside re cycling, making collection and pickup extremely convenient. In addition, we have a local recycle dropoff located at 198 2nd Ave., across from the Bohn Park entrance. This facility is provided by Boulder County and the Town of Lyons. Comingled recycling and card board can be dropped off daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Remember that it is illegal to leave any other ma terials at the dropoff center.

And how about your trips to the Lyons Post Office? Of course, you can take the

Winter happenings in Lyons

By Kim Mitchell Redstone Review

LYONS – Thank you, Lyons, for all your effort and enthusiasm for this year’s Parade of Lights. It was a great weekend to celebrate the festivities in Lyons including the Holiday Artisan Market and the Parade of Lights.

We also want to thank our committed sponsors: the

mail home to sort and recycle. There are two bins provided in the PO lobby for recucling only. Please remove any plastic cards and covers (like a plastic bag cover) before placing the unwanted mail, flyers, and magazines in the bins. Following these guidelines will help the PO staff recycle these materials.

A great resource for recycling in Boulder County is available online and as an app at: https://ecocycle.org/guides-and-

Lyons Community Foundation, Kissinger and Fellman, Ramey Environmental Compliance, CEMEX, Consor Engineering and Laura Levy Group-Coldwell Banker. Their support ensures a fun, family event.

The parade and entries were super. Congratulations also go to this year’s entries and winners.

Most Spirited: DandeLyons Brigade; Best Use of Lights: George’s Towing; Best Representation of Theme: Lyons Portable Welding; Overall: Mayama/Laura Levy GroupColdwell Banker.

Hopefully you’ve been able to stroll through town and enjoy the holiday lights along Main Street and in Sandstone Park. Maybe you’re planning some family time along with some local shopping at our great restaurants and shops. ‘Tis the season to explore and share in all Lyons has to offer.

As the days grow shorter and the nights last longer, there are plans for more winter events. The fun and festivities continue into the winter season, and we plan for opening the ice-skating rink and adding three Winter Wonderland Concerts, which is a nice way for our community to get outside and gather in the longer winter months.

In early February, the Old Man Winter Rally will return to Lyons and will be based in Bohn Park. New this year at the event is both a 5K and the traditional 10K running route. Perhaps you’re including a running plan in your New

resources/popular-tools/a-z-recycling-guide/.

The Lyons Sustainable Futures Commission (SFC) was formed to support and increase sustainable practices in our community and to continuously improve the environmental stewardship of the Town and its citizens. The SFC strives to inspire, motivate, and lead the community towards a future that is increasingly resilient and locally sustainable by reducing human impact on environmental systems.

Thank you for your focus and commitment to take this simple step to help us move to a more sustainable and healthful planet. We can and must do better.

Dawn Weller is a longtime resident of Lyons and member of the Sustainable Future Commission.

Year’s resolutions. A local race could be the way to go. Whatever your winter plans include, we hope to see you at our local gathering places or events which bring the community together, sharing ideas, stories and a positive vibe.

Kim Mitchell is Director of Communications and Community Relations for the Town of Lyons. Mitchell has called Lyons home since 2009.

Weller

Jane

By Sally King Redstone Review

Finn, age 22, has made his way out west He’s 10th generation Northern Maine… He’s John’s sister’s daughter’s son It’s a tongue twister.

He’s been sleeping in our shop.

I gave him a set of carving tools And he’s been whittling by the fire, Showing up the next morning, Holding a tiny hand carved wooden boat and paddle. It’s a treasure and I am the keeper of such treasures!

We’ve had family visiting for 20 days... It’s been a constant irritation, More cooking and laundry and trips to the airport But it’s how these connections are made.

Sunday afternoon we hugged Finn goodbye (He’s not much of a hugger)

Public Service Notice

Redstone Review

LYONS – The Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission (LAHC) and the Town of Lyons are thrilled to announce a call for artists for entries in our public art collection now known as the heARTS of LYONS – an outdoor arts collection – all over town. We wish to judiciously expand our current outdoor art collection through the careful selection of an additional five high quality pieces.

And I wrote him a check for some siding work he did. Saying goodbye is sad. I remember how sad my mom was when I would leave. Leave taking is especially hard on elders, We want you here even though it’s hard work and it’s sad when you go.

We’re going to Denver today John and I are wiggling back into our lives Finn was supposed to go to Denver with John But he has a cattle ranch sitting job in Washington State So, the two of us have loaded a pick and a shovel In hopes of installing a name tag on a piece of art In Denver at Dartmouth and Havana. A necessary step to receive a final payment.

Life presents us with all these details. But it feels like a lark, a joy ride After constant visitors Just the two of us and the dog Going to the big city.

Sally King is a local artist who has created whimsical bears and delightful wild flower acrylic paintings to enhance the appearance of Lyons all over the town. She lives with her husband John King, a kinetic sculptor, near Lyons.

To be considered for this two-year commitment, artists are encouraged to do an online submission for up to three pieces for juried consideration. There is no submission fee. The window for submissions is now through February 22, 2023.

The Town of Lyons and the LAHC have identified where placement of art is permissible and will assist with the installation of mounting blocks and placards for each piece, adding to this outstanding opportunity for high visibility.

Artists are paid a $1,000 honorarium (paid in two installments) for a two-year placement. Artists are encouraged to sell their work showcased in this main high-traffic corridor to Rocky Mountain National Park; if the existing work sells, the expectation is that said piece is replaced by a comparable piece in a timely fashion for the duration of the two-year contract.

For further details, please contact Melinda Wunder at melinda@creativeconvs.com.

Current outdoor sculptures by Jon Corson-Rikert (left) and Jodie Bliss.

It’s like Santa’s workshop, so many delights to behold at Priscilla’s clay studio in Lyons. Priscilla and other local artisans shared their wares at the Stonebridge Holiday Fair, just east of town.

Chickens are harder to get close to. They tolerate your presence but it takes patience to get close. When I am woodworking in the garage/woodshop I have quite detailed conversations with Big Whitey. She has lived in the garage since the flock rejected her due to a wonky foot. I listen to

chickens a lot and am constantly adjusting my estimate of how many words they use. Maybe ten words: danger stranger; I just laid an egg; here’s some food; I’m over here. You get the picture. BW does a soft purring sound and I am still guessing at whether it indicates contentment.

Our first rooster had a phrase for, “The human is leaving the coop now.” He said it a hundred times. When you embrace your inner Dr Dolittle and “grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals” I think it encourages a little humility that their society is more complex that casual observation reveals.

Most people get a pet for comfort, companionship and the unconditional love that is often absent from human relationships. If the Meryl Streep character in The Devil Wears Prada had a cat or dog maybe she wouldn’t have been such a tyrant.

Peter Butler was born in India and lived in a house facing a giant kapok tree. Growing up in England there were trees but never quite enough. After qualifying as biochemist there as a gradual evolution into being a graphic designer. He and his wife Deirdre moved to the States in 1997 and to Lyons in 2000. Finally there are enough trees.

Priscilla Cohan in her pottery shop by Sally King

Is he my father or my son?

King

John King’s sculpture “Talk to the Birds” was a 2022 commission with the City of Denver. It can be viewed at the crossroads of Dartmouth and Havana.

“What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future.”

Agnes M. Pahro

Lyons Community Foundation 2023 college scholarships available

By Tanya Mercer-Daty Redstone Review

LYONS – The Lyons Community Foundation (LCF) is pleased to announce that there are now eight college scholarships available to graduating high school students from the greater Lyons area for the 2023 school year.

Thanks to Cemex and the Lyons Garden Club, there are two new scholarships available this year. Cemex is funding a $1,000 scholarship to students wanting to be a steward for the environment. The Lyons Garden Club is sponsoring a $1,500 scholarship for students interested in pursuing a career in horticulture. Thank you to these local organizations/businesses for stepping up to help more students attend a post-secondary institution.

As prices increase everywhere, LCF has realized that the rate of tuition and books has also increased. Based on the scholarship committee’s recommendation, the LCF Advisory Board decided to raise the maximum scholarship amount up to $5,000 per recipient for three of the scholarships LFC funds. If you are interested in honoring the memory of a loved one, please reach out to LCF, scholarship@lyonscf.org., to set up a scholarship fund in their name.

Applications are available online at www.lyonscf.org under the scholarships tab. Below is a brief description of each scholarship; please refer to the 2023 LCF Scholarship List on our website (www.lyonscf.org) for complete information about eligibility and submission requirements. All applications must be received by March 10, 2023 at 3 p.m. Hard copies of complete application forms and required documents may be returned to the counseling office of Lyons Senior High School or mailed to the Lyons Community Foundation, PO Box 546, Lyons CO, 80540. The scholarships may be used at any accredited post-secondary education program in the country or as otherwise noted for each scholarship. Students must be accepted to or have acceptance pending at their prospective school(s) when they submit their applications.

Lyons Community Foundation Mission Scholarship: One scholarship up to $5,000, offered by the Lyons Community Foundation, will recognize any graduating senior from Lyons Senior High School, a graduating senior living in the greater Lyons area, 80540 zip code, attending a different high school, or home-schooled student from the greater Lyons area, 80540 zip code, who embodies the LCF's mission of improving the quality of life, building a culture of giving, and encouraging positive change for the greater Lyons area.

2022 Lyons Community Foundation 2-Year Study Scholarship: One $2,000 scholarship, offered by the Lyons Community Foundation, will recognize any graduating senior from Lyons Senior High School, a graduating senior living in the greater Lyons area, 80540 zip code, attending a different high school, or home-schooled student from the greater Lyons area, 80540 zip code, who plans to attend a two-year program at college / university, trade school or other technical/vocational training. The scholarship will recognize a student who embodies the LCF’s mission of improving the quality of life, building a culture of giving, and encouraging positive change for the greater Lyons area.

Uncle Louis “Bud” Winkler Memorial Scholarship: Honoring the memory of businessman Louis Winkler, one $1,000 scholarship is available to any graduating senior from Lyons Senior High School, a graduating senior living in the greater Lyons area (80540 zip code) attending a different high school, or home-schooled student from the greater Lyons area (80540 zip code) who has at least a 3.0 GPA and plans on majoring in business or finance.

Janet Orback Memorial Scholarship: Established in 2018, this scholarship up to $5,000 honors the memory of lifelong Lyons resident Janet Orback, who along with her husband Dave, tirelessly helped to provide support and friendship to her neighbors whose homes and lives were destroyed in the 2013 floods, as well as being stewards of the Lyons Cemetery for over 15 years. Recipients of the

Janet Orback Memorial Scholarship must be a graduating senior from Lyons Senior High School with a minimum 2.5 GPA, and be active participants in the community, and show a commitment to caring for the environment. Lyons area homeschooled students who participate in Lyons Senior High School through sports and/or academics are also eligible.

Gerald Boland Memorial Scholarship: This scholarship honors the memory of Gerald Boland, a 54-year resident of Lyons who taught in Lyons Schools for 31 years. He was a coach, Boy Scout Leader, and mentor who had a passion for learning and the outdoors. One $1000 scholarship will be awarded to a graduating senior who shares these passions. Eligible students must attend Lyons Senior High School and have at least a 3.0 GPA.

Steve Ralston Memorial Scholarship: Created in 2009 to honor the memory of Lyons resident, businessman, and community supporter Steve Ralston, one scholarship, up to $5,000, will be awarded to a graduating senior who best expresses their passion for learning and sharing one’s interests, skills and joyful life experiences with their community. Eligible students include any graduating senior from Lyons Senior High School, a graduating senior living in the greater Lyons area, 80540 zip code, attending a different high school, or home-schooled student from the greater Lyons area, 80540 zip code.

CEMEX Environmental Stewardship Scholarship: This $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to a Lyons high school graduating senior who best stewards natural resources in the community and beyond. The candidate may pursue studies in natural resources, engineering, wildlife biology or geology.

Lyons Garden Club Scholarship: This $1,500 scholarship will be awarded to a student interested in pursuing a career in horticulture or a related field. Eligible students include any graduating senior from Lyons Senior High School, a graduating senior living in the greater Lyons area, 80540 zip code, attending a different high school, or home-schooled student from the greater Lyons area, 80540 zip code.

If you have any questions about the scholarships, inquiries can be directed by email to scholarship@lyonscf.org. All applications are reviewed and kept confidential by a committee consisting of Lyons area community members.

Tanya Mercer-Daty is the new Marketing and Communications Associate for Lyons Community Foundation. She has lived in Lyons for the past eight years after immigrating to the USA with her family in 2011. Feel free to contact her at tanya@lyonscf.org.

Mercer-Daty

2022 Scholarship Recipients, left to right: Gage Basey, Becky Knapp, Arjen Wynja, Isaac Tostanoski, Gylian Hay and Cassidy Jennings Batts

SEASONS

Caring for animals through the seasons

By Kaite Fletcher Redstone Review

LONGMONT – The winter solstice, on December 21, 2022, signals the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Soon, the darkness will be overcome by sunlight once more. There are a variety of traditions across the world that celebrate the rebirth of the sun; however, most use this celestial event to welcome a fresh start and voice hopes for the New Year.

With each shift in season, the type and number of wild patients at Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center follow suit based on their natural cycles. Over the course of the year, the number of onsite animals at a specific time depends on many factors, such as specific species, required level of care, and rehabilitation progress. In 2021, over 4,000 animals were treated at Greenwood. This year, that number is more than 4,500 patients.

Winter Fluffy insulation and cozy dens help Colorado wildlife survive through the colder months. Some birds will migrate south to more ideal temperatures, whereas

small mammals like raccoons and squirrels hunker down in their dens and nests until the temperatures rise once more.

During this time, Greenwood does not have as many critters onsite. This gives the caretakers time to prepare for the spring season and review how to better help the wildlife community in Colorado next time around the sun.

Spring Wildlife conflicts pop up along with the wildflowers again as the temperature warms. The number of onsite animals rises at Greenwood. April and May bring groups of baby squirrels into the wild world. Nesting season begins for birds. Fox and racoon kits start to make an appearance.

To prepare for their babies, mother mammals and birds try to find safe spaces to raise their young. Nests of baby bunnies in compost piles are common, as are bird nests in precarious hanging baskets. Spaces under houses or sheds may seem like ideal dens for foxes and raccoons, as do attics and even window wells. This is the time to block these openings before critters make it their home.

Summer The summer season proves to be the busiest time here at the center with more babies and more human-wildlife conflicts as we participate in our favorite

the drive-up window use and waived the requirement for paved parking.

The board passed at first reading an ordinance that will increase the wastewater service rates and charges for the town’s residential and commercial users of the town’s sewer system. The ordinance seeks to raise rates by 8 percent to cover increased expenses. The ordinance would increase the residential sewage base rate to $24.45/month from its current $22.65/month. The averaged rate for January, February and March water usage goes to $14.60/month from $13.50/month. The commercial rates will also increase.

Utilities Director Aaron Caplan said the town’s wastewater enterprise fund continues to see higher than planned expenses at the wastewater treatment plant due to the increased cost of chemicals, lab testing and hauling. A $270,000 shortfall in the wastewater fund is projected for next year; $180,000 of that is budgeted for the Town’s current lawsuit against the plant’s building contractors.

warm weather activities.

Most birds nest into mid-summer, even laying multiple clutches of eggs. Our feathered patients are abundant at the peak of the summer season with about 500 birds, including songbirds, waterfowl and shorebirds, onsite during this period in 2021. This can be due to injury or illness and, more commonly, the concerned citizen.

does have a smaller capacity for these cute creatures. This makes it especially important to do everything we can as a community to reunite racoon kits with their mothers. Other smaller mammals, such as bunnies, chipmunks and foxes, mostly inhabit Greenwood’s facilities in the summer months as well.

Autumn As the heat begins to dwindle, so do the number of critters in need of care, except our squirrel friends. Due to their mating patterns, these baby mammals find themselves at Greenwood twice a year. By September, most of these critters have found their way out into the wild world after about 12 weeks with their mothers. Last year, about 150 squirrels were onsite during the fall season – more than any other animal. The center was able to release over 250 squirrels over the course of 2022.

Many birds that make their way into our care are unnecessarily removed from the wild in fear of being orphaned. This year, more than 700 birds were released back into the skies.

Racoons hold a steady population of about 80 onsite throughout the summer months. Based on the specific space and care required for these critters, Greenwood

The town’s municipal code allows an increase equal to the consumer price index each year on the base rates, although that increase has not been enacted every year.

Caplan said that there are events that may prevent future sewage rate increases, such as sale of the old Apple Valley water treatment plant and the 2024 payoff of a water bond that will free up $300,000 a year. The cash received or saved would go directly to the wastewater fund.

The ordinance passed unanimously on first reading, and a second reading of this ordinance and a public hearing will be scheduled.

Ecology Advisory Board chair Steve Simms presented the board with a resolution passed November 15 by the EAB supporting town participation in a joint task force with Boulder County to update the county’s parks and open space weed management plans.

Simms said the resolution was precipitated by the recent aerial spraying of the Corona Hill area in October with a synthetic herbicide by Boulder County Parks and Open Space. The ostensible purpose of the spraying was

If you find a healthy juvenile squirrel on the ground, it may just need time to be reunited with the mother. Remember to contact Greenwood with any concerns with small mammals or other wildlife in need.

to cut down on cheatgrass – a volatile fuel for wildfires.

The resolution points out that Boulder County has not updated its weed management plans since 2004 and currently has no formal plan for managing cheatgrass.

Simms pointed out that Lyons is in “a unique situation of having open space on three sides of town” with a county policy of weed management that doesn’t jibe with Lyons’ own integrated weed management plan, which severely limits the use of synthetic herbicides such as that sprayed on Corona Hill.

Mayor Rogin said she would like to get the perspective of town staff and the newly formed Lyons Climate Action group before considering the resolution. Mayor pro tem Jocelyn Farrell suggested that a workshop with the town board and staff, EAB, and the climate action group would be appropriate to avoid duplication of efforts. Simms said the EAB would work to that goal.

Lyons resident Greg Lowell is a former Lyons Town Board Trustee and serves as a member of the Ecology Advisory Board.

Kaite Fletcher is the new Communications and Content Associate at Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Centery in Longmont.

Fletcher

Snowy berries to spot on snowy slopes

By Jessie BertaThompson Redstone Review

LYONS – Do you see a flash of white peeking out among the trailside scrub?

Up close, a tight clump of white berries? The first snows have come for Lyons, and ripe snowberries are here, too. The plump, bright fruits of the snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) stay on their twigs throughout the winter, or at least until the birds get to them. This species grows in the hills around Lyons and across much of the U.S. (except the Southeast) and Canada. In Colorado, it can be found in dry slopes, forests, and meadows of the Front Range, from the

genus, Symphoricarpos, grows out of two Greek roots, symphorein for ‘to be borne/carried together’ and karpos for ‘fruit’. Snowberry fruits tend to be in tight clusters at the ends of stems or where leaves meet stems. That karpos root shows up in many botanical names, like the red barberry (Berberis haematocarpa), an evergreen shrub with blood-colored berries, notable among its blue-fruited relatives.

Snowberry is in the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae). Other members of this family growing wild in Colorado include twinberry (Lonicera involucrata), twinflower (Linnea borealis), and escaping honeysuckles introduced from Eurasia. Twin in the names is not a coincidence –many flowers in this family grow in pairs.

There are about a dozen species of snowberries across North and Central America and East Asia. Most have white berries, but the coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus) has dazzling pink fruits.

Four species are native to Colorado, each adapted to a different habitat. The snowberry (S. albus) described above (also called white or common snowberry), favors dry, gravelly soil at moderate elevations. Wolfberry or western snowberry (S. occidentalis) grows near streams and lakes or in meadows, to 8,500 ft. (note, very different plants with edible berries in the genus Lycium are also called wolfberry). Desert snowberry (S. longiflorus) grows on dry, sandy slopes at the western edge of Colorado, with elongated pink flowers. Mountain snowberry (S. rotundifolius) is common across the western half of Colorado at higher elevations, from 5,500 to 11,000 ft.

its toxicity). Medicinally, berries and whole-plant decoctions were used by the Cree, Flathead, and Cowichan to treat skin ailments like rashes, sores and burns, among countless other uses by peoples across the continent. The Paiute made small arrows from the straight new shoots. There’s also a record of the Crow using snowberry as a horse laxative.

foothills to 9,800 ft. The snowberry is a deciduous shrub that grows into low thickets. Its flowers are little pink to white bells, blooming in summer. Its leaves are small ovals that turn pale yellow in fall. On older branches, its bark forms fibrous shreds.

The botanical name for the snowberry

The various snowberry species are toxic but nonetheless intensely meaningful and useful to indigenous peoples. Some tribes of the Pacific Northwest call these plants ghost or corpse berries, a colorless mirror of edible berries to serve as food for the dead. Farther south, among the Nez Perce their spiritual significance led to a practice of decorating cradleboards with snowberries to ward off ghosts.

The Navajo used snowberry leaves as a ceremonial emetic (a hint at the nature of

As European invaders moved into the American landscape, the plant quickly attracted their scientific and horticultural attention. Merriweather Lewis’s journal entry for August 13, 1805, when the Lewis and Clark expedition was near the IdahoMontana border, reported “a species of honeysuckle much in its growth and leaf like the small honeysuckle of the Missouri only rather larger and bears a globular berry as large as a garden pea and as white as wax.” Thomas Jefferson, in turn, was quite taken with the snowberry, planting (that is, getting his slaves to plant) some of the first cultivated specimens in his garden. He wrote to his nursery source, Bernard McMahon, on October 11, 1812, “one only of the cuttings of the Snowberry failed. the rest are now very flourishing and shew some of the most beautiful berries I have ever seen.”

Snowberries continue to be popular garden plants, for their pretty fruits, hardiness, and wildlife value. Many native species, cultivars and hybrids with white or pink berries and various growth habits are available at nurseries. At the Rocky Mountain Botanic Gardens in Lyons, common snowberry plants installed last year have thrived, setting fruit abundantly and sending up perky new shoots via rhizomes. To deal with the plant’s gradual underground spreading, gardeners can do annual trimming or use this property to fill in challenging spaces. The plants like sun or part shade and are drought-tolerant. They feed bees and butterflies with summer blossoms, and birds in winter, as well as providing cover for small wildlife. Fruits brightly reflecting the Colorado winter sun, the snowberry valuable part of our landscape, in the mountain wilds or backyards.

Jessie Berta-Thompson studied algae in school, and loves gardening and learning about plants. She has a degree in biology. She currently serves as Treasurer on the Rocky Mountain Botanic Gardens board and as an Adjunct Researcher at the Denver Botanic Gardens, where she works on the diversity and evolution of Colorado mushrooms.

Thank You, Lyons!

The Starry Starry Night Parade was one to remember because of your spirit, energy and participation.

Thanks so much to all the volunteers, sponsors and entrants who made this year’s Lyons Parade of Lights magical!

Be sure to check out the lights along Main Street and in Sandstone Park. Also, please stop by our local restaurants, shops, and other businesses to support them this holiday season— and all year long! We are grateful that they have chosen Lyons as their home. Happy Holidays, and Shop Local – Shop Lyons!

Berta-Thompson

By Bob Brakenridge Redstone Review

LYONS – After the 2020 Calwood Fire burned 22 homes and the 2021 Marshall Fire destroyed 1,084, any government initiative towards reducing wildfire risk is welcomed. Unfortunately, herbicide spraying to control cheatgrass in our natural areas has not been documented to accomplish this. Nonetheless, the spraying campaigns now include fire mitigation as one justification.

Cheatgrass, also known as downy brome, is not a new species in Colorado’s open spaces. It has been widespread in the region since the early 1900s. It occupies newly bare ground and can provide the first vegetation after disturbance – from cattle grazing, fire, or the herbicide applications themselves.

Neither the Calwood nor Marshall fire was fueled by cheatgrass. The tall dry grass the Marshall fire traveled through was not mainly cheatgrass. Ditto for the Calwood: in the lower foothills, the fire burned through areas of cheatgrass and “restored” sprayed areas alike.

According to presentations by Boulder County Parks and Open Space staff, some of the Calwood burnt areas had been treated in 2018 by Bayer Esplanade (19%) indaziflam). The treated areas still burned. Ironically, the focus of open space fire control has long included controlled burns to remove excess fuel, including tall perennial grass. Yet these same tall grasses are what indaziflam spraying of cheatgrass is designed to nurture.

There are other measures that can decrease fire hazard. Reducing fuel loads in the forests and shrublands is one approach; fire breaks are another, resistant building materials are another. Providing our public agencies, in the name of fire protection, with blank checks for helicopters to spray herbicides from the air to “treat the cheat” is not responsive to the need.

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is not sensible. For decades, the chemical companies have been selling the herbicide glyphosate and other synthetic herbicides to control cheatgrass in Colorado open space parcels. Thus, a recent Boulder County-sponsored study documents glyphosate, indaziflam, indazipic, quinclorac, aminopyralid, and mesulfuron methyl spraying histories in

grams, advertised the webinair and described the product this way: “The Solution: Rejuvra Herbicide”.

• At a 2021 virtual conference held by the Colorado Chapter of the Wildlife Society, county staff presented “successes” using Rejuvra, together with a Bayer employee as co-author.

In this way, public employees are collaborating with company personnel to jointly

• Wyoming: “Shallow and deep native seed bank density and shallow native seed bank richness were significantly reduced in treatment plots.”

In Boulder County, the potential negative effects include rare annual species, which are especially vulnerable to aerial spraying campaigns such as recently conducted. Plants present in sprayed areas include “slimleaf milkweed, grassy-slope sedge, redstem springbeauty, stiff sunflower, wild lettuce, blue toadflax, venus’s looking-glass, bell’s twinpod (found only in Boulder and Larimer counties), deer pea vetch,” and others. This study notes: “Until proven otherwise, we expect that Esplanade will also control or suppress native annuals, biannuals, and perennials.”

areas that were burnt in 2020.

Now the Bayer company is heavily marketing the pre-emergent herbicide Rejuvra. It contains the same 19% indaziflam active ingredient as Esplanade and was approved by the Trump EPA for aerial spraying. Unfortunately, while there are studies supported by the company in “partnership” with public employees that appear to demonstrate the utility of this approach, noticeably lacking are the independent analyses of efficacy for hazard reduction and also the needed evaluations of the ecological costs.

Two examples:

• In April 2022, a Boulder County Parks and Open Space staff member was a speaker at a Rejuvra herbicide webinar along with three Bayer employees. The Colorado Open Space Alliance, an organization of publicly funded open space pro-

advertise and endorse, by brand name, the extensive use of a patented herbicide. Then, their own land management agencies purchase the same product, which only this company sells. The Colorado public will not obtain impartial findings about weed control, public safety risks, or fire-protection efficacy in this way.

Meanwhile, there is secure knowledge that aerial spraying of our “priority conservation” and other open space land not only poisons next-year’s emergent cheatgrass, but most other annual plants. Recent studies elsewhere demonstrate profound negative effects. From the research literature: • Montana: “Indaziflam was highly effective at controlling the emergence of annual mustard… Unfortunately, the richness and diversity of the nontarget plant community was significantly impacted.”

Can we poison our way into ecological wildland restoration, and a fire-resilient future? It appears that unless thoughtful citizens and independent organizations scrutinize these plans, as well as the influence on public decision-making being exerted by major chemical companies; unless we insist that the usefulness of aerial spraying be validated by independent studies before it is used, our public lands will continue to be locked into a cycle that benefits only the sellers of the products. This is: spraying expensive chemicals to kill the cheatgrass and most other annual species, resulting in bare ground and a diminished flora, then new cheatgrass growth, and then more spraying for “wildfire mitigation.”

This cycle will continue unless the public and our elected representatives demand accountability and objective science.

Robert Brakenridge, of Lyons, is a senior research scientist at Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado.

This essay is reprinted with permission from The Colorado Sun, published there originally on November 20, 2022. Follow this link to see the original publication: https://coloradosun.com/2022/11/20/yet-bouldercounty-continues-to-spray-harmful-chemicals -to-kill-a-grass-that-isnt-responsible-for-fire/

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Opinion: We can’t poison our way to wildfire resistance yet Boulder County continues to spray harmful chemicals to kill a grass that isn’t responsible for fire

Aerial spraying of the Bayer/Envu herbicide Rejuvra (19% indaziflam) at the Hall Ranch Open Space near Town of Lyons, Colorado, November 1, 2022. A long tail of the spray extends behind the helicopter. Photo by S. Knight.

Brakenridge

Gingerbread offers the perfect combination of spices for short days

By Barbara Shark Redstone Review

LYONS – As we approach the solstice, I sometimes begin dinner preparations at 4:30, following the prompt of the fading daylight. When I realize it’s too early for dinner I decide to make a dessert.

I hunger for spicy, deep tastes. Gingerbread fits the bill. And it perfumes the house with irresistible aromas. This is an easy dessert to prepare at the last minute, requiring about 15 minutes of prep and 30 minutes of baking. My mom served gingerbread with a dollop of whipped cream. We sometimes add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I like it plain with a cup of coffee or tea.

Combine 1 2/3 cups unbleached flour, 1/2 cup brown

sugar, 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger, 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon salt. I add fresh ginger for an extra punch, about a 1/2 inch piece, finely grated.

Stir in 1/2 cup blackstrap or other molasses, 1/2 cup safflower oil, and 1 large, beaten egg. Add 1/2 cup boiling water and mix well. Pour into a buttered and floured 8 or 9 inch square pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Make the glaze while the cake is baking. Combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar with enough lemon juice to make a pourable glaze, about a tablespoon. Pour glaze over the hot cake and cool on a rack.

Barbara Shark is an artist and author of How I Learned to Cook, an Artist’s Life. She lives near Lyons, Colorado. For more recipes, read her blog at www.howilearnedtocookanartistslife.blog.

Baccalà stew: Salted cod makes the holidays ancient and new

By Catherine Metzger Redstone Review

SAN MIGUEL COUNTY – Codfish has been salted to preserve it without refrigeration for most of recorded history. The Vikings brought it south into France and the Norman Conquest of Italy brought it further down into Italy at the end of the 10th century. The Italians quickly co-opted salted cod and called it their own – “baccalà” – and haven’t looked back since. After making this dish for the first time today, I can see why it’s so close to their hearts.

Salted codfish saved millions of people over time from starvation around the world. The air-drying and salting process allowed the codfish to be transported inland from the coast and to be stored so that the land-locked could eat it all year long. And the delicious tradition continues.

When you are selecting for good salted cod, look for fish without any yellow coloration and no fish smell. I ordered mine two weeks ago from Parthenonfoods.com via Amazon and I paid $29 for one-and-ahalf pounds. However, as the holidays approach, the price has gone up. The cost for the same amount of fish from Parthenon is $32 as I write.

Salted cod will need to be rinsed and soaked in cold water for at least 48 hours, with a change of water every 12 hours. Even when cooked, cod will be firm and flaky and delicious.

This recipe is from Naples and it includes tomatoes, olives and capers. It is one of many Neapolitan recipes, where there are reportedly hundreds of recipes for baccalà.

Many Italian New Jersey housewives know this recipe by heart and make it for Christmas. By making this peasant dish you too can close your eyes and discover and share in the ancient, delicious flavors that will transport you through history and right to southern Italy by way of your kitchen.

Baccalà Stew

Serves 4; soak time 2 to 3 days; preparation time 45 minutes; cooking time 25 minutes

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces

1 1/2 pounds salted cod, rinsed, and soaked in fresh water in your fridge for 2 to 3 days with a water change every 12 hours

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 large, sweet onion, diced

2 large celery stalks, diced

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup vegetable stock

1, 14-ounce can diced Italian tomatoes

A pinch to 1/8 teaspoon red chili flakes

1/4 cup whole, buttery green or black olives

1 1/2 tablespoons of chopped capers

1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped

•

• Cut the cod into bite-sized pieces. Add half the olive oil to the same Dutch oven.

• Lightly flour the codfish pieces just before placing onto the hot oil in the pan. Do not move the pieces for 3 minutes then check. If they are golden, turn the pieces and continue frying for the next several minutes. Remove fried fish to a plate and repeat this step until all the codfish is cooked to a crispy, golden brown. Note: Use a splatter shield to prevent coating your stovetop with oil splatter.

• Add the rest of the olive oil to the pan

then add the onions and celery, cooking until the onions are transparent, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

• Pour the wine over the onions and celery, and let the mixture reduce until most of the moisture has evaporated.

• Add the stock, potatoes, tomatoes, chili, olives and capers to the pan and cook covered until the potatoes are tender, about 20 more minutes. Add the fish back into the pan for the last five minutes of cooking. Garnish with refreshing chopped parsley and serve hot with a nice piece of crusty bread.

Catherine Ripley Metzger has been cooking professionally and privately since 1979. She was a French cuisine journeyman at the celebrated Henri d’Afrique restaurant in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Today she is the proprietor of the food blog www.foodfortheages.com and cooks with curiosity from the ground up in her log cabin home on the western slope of Colorado.

A book about race and guns in a fatally unequal America

By Andi Pearson Redstone Review

DENVER – The Second – Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America is a book by Carol Anderson, Ph.D., and professor at Emory University in Atlanta. Her book is carefully researched and historically supported and, while the second amendment is law, this discussion probably opens more questions than it provides answers.

As early as 1639, the colony of Virginia prohibited Africans from carrying guns because “what White Southerners feared the most ... was an armed Black man unafraid to retaliate against both the system of slavery and those who fought to defend it.” Nevertheless, uprisings and slave revolts took place in virtually every state and every year while Virginia was a colony and into the time of statehood.

In South Carolina, rice was the key cash crop and slaves were needed to plant and tend and harvest. Even after statehood and after the U.S. Constitution was premiered in 1776, Blacks outnumbered Whites in the South. In 1774, 81 percent of slave owning estates owned firearms. Why did slave owners arm themselves? Because they knew that should there be organized uprisings, blacks with guns could outnumber them and overthrow the system that functioned profitably for plantation owners.

The Articles of Confederation were drafted in 1777 and ratified in 1781. Vir-

ginian James Madison stated that America was in “disarray.” In an effort to protect the Southern states, Madison went so far as to voice the idea of scrapping the Articles of Confederation and drafting a new Constitution.

By 1787, Madison was squeamish about slavery but South Carolina legislative delegates had no such qualms and Charles Pickney argued that slavery was “justified.”

John Rutledge of South Carolina clearly threatened that if Blacks were allowed to own firearms, “the dismemberment of the Union” might easily be a consequence.

And this is the climate that prevailed when the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution were written. Called the Bill of Rights, the first amendment protects freedom of speech, a founding principle of those who first came to the shores of the

new country. And the second amendment says that “the right to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” It’s easy to read but it was a complicated process to write the amendment and its meaning and interpretation still presents complex conversations. So how was this controversial amendment arrived at?

Madison, at one point in the heated debate, had proposed that Blacks be counted “at least as three-fifths” of a person. When North Carolina and South Carolina demanded that become the wording, Madison caved in. Why? Fear. And three-fifths of a person could not vote, could not own land and definitely could not own a firearm.

Andrew Johnson, who became President upon Lincoln’s death, pardoned many leaders of the Confederacy, upheld White supremacy and affirmed that “people of African descent cannot be considered as citizens of the United States.” He made sure that black troops were withdrawn from the interior of the South and sent to “outpost on the coast.”

Anderson follows the historical thread of unarmed Blacks right up to George Zimmerman and Kyle Rittenhouse. And she raises more questions than answers.

What is the future of the second amendment? What is the role of the NRA and what will the law of the land be going forward?

Andi Pearson writes book reviews for several publications in Denver.

In a large Dutch oven parboil the potatoes for 5 minutes on medium-high heat then remove from water and drain, then set aside.

ADDING THE FRIED FISH TO THE VEGETABLES

Carol Anderson, Ph.D., and professor at Emory University in Atlanta, has written The Second – Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America, a damning look at the history connecting slavery and the creation of the second amendment.