Prime June 2014

HIGH ART

Crown Point’s Al Horvat’s aviation-inspired scenes

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A LIFESTYLE RESOURCE • JUNE 2014

Amatulli & Associates “The Safe Money People”

60-SOMETHING Guilty pleasures aren’t just for kids

SANTA FE

Arias in the desert at opera festival

60-something.

Guilty

pleasures

Sometimes you have to plan a little treat for yourself in order to get yourself to complete a task. It’s a delayed rewards thing. Many of us learned how it works at our mothers’ knees. • Eat your vegetables, then you get desert. Clean up the puzzle you are playing with, then you can get out your paints. Put on your hat, mittens and boots, then you can go outside.

S

ome of us got money after we got good grades. Others got better jobs, after we completed training. Like that. Some folks hit their kids; others are positively reinforced. That works better.

Smoking cigarettes was a great reward. Do the dishes, clean up the kitchen, quick-mop the floor—then sit down and have that cigarette. Those little ice cream tootsieroll-like treats were great payback for vacuuming. A gin martini was a fine reward for just about anything.

Unfortunately those treats are off of my personal “can do” list.

So where does one find delayed rewards when you realize that all your old ones were really, really bad for you? Netflix. I know there are other on-demand collections of movies and television shows like Amazon, Roku, Hulu, X-finity, and there probably will be more.

Lately, for me, it’s the amazing number of English-language series I find on the Netflix.

England, for sure. But you won’t believe what they’ve been up to in Canada, Australia, Scotland and Ireland. Last week I stumbled upon my favorite delayed reward of all time: “Outrageous Fortune” from New Zealand. This series ran for six seasons for 107 episodes. That’s one hundred and seven hours of commercial-free hysterically funny and kind of raunchy viewing of a show with great acting and writing which regularly surprises and delights. It’s kind of a drama and comedy combined. I personally allow myself one or two per night—after I brush my teeth—and boy, are they lots of fun.

I found “Outrageous” looking up an actress who was terrific in the Australian series “Rake”—which was one of the best naughty-nice shows I’ve seen in

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awhile—Robyn Malcom.

In 2005 (when the series started) she was in her 40s and played a mom with four children (a lawyer, an “intellectually challenged” low-level thief, an 18-year old girl who only wants to be famous, and an overlybright high school girl who manages to pay someone to go to school for her).

Malcom’s character, Cheryl, is a bit of a floozy, Denise Declue who tries to steer her family away from the crime life they know, when her husband is sent away to prison.

These people are not necessarily victims of a bad system, and they don’t seem to create victims in their wake. But when the jobless, penniless son tries to buy a house for the gal he loves or Cheryl tires to get a new business going, we get a sense of how hard it is for people with no assets at all to get a toe-hold in the middle class.

In so many ways, these folks are like the rest of us.

They have tendencies and complexities. The mom is not ready to give up on life in her mid-forties, but she worries about how her love life is affecting her children (they don’t like it, partly because she falls for a cop, who personifies everything they don’t believe in).

In a very smooth move, her twin sons, Jethro and Van are played by the same fabulous actor with fantastic eyes, Antony Starr. Jethro is willing and able (actually loves) to twist legalities for those he loves.

Van is a bit hapless, but loyal and when he falls in love, absolutely determined to succeed in making his beloved happy.

Daughter Pascalle (Sibohan Marshall) at first seems to be just another uninformed and selfcentered hot chick cipher on the Aukland scene—but then, surprise surprise, she turns out to have a talent working with the elderly. (She’s sentenced to community service in a retirement home when she’s busted for shop lifting).

Her little sister, Loretta (Antonia Prebble) seems like a nerd, whose major talent is telling lies, until she seduces her sister’s boyfriend and starts writing screenplays. Then there’s the going-senile, safecracking grandpa, the policeman-boyfriend, the crime-bent dad, and an assortment of hangers-on and couch-sleepers, recognizable to anyone who remembers growing up and being the one who had a job and an apartment when many friends did not.

“Outrageous Fortune” won every award possible after its first 2005 season and most seasons after that. Co-creator Rachel Lang, (with James Griffin) says part of her idea for Outrageous came from the a low-life family that energized “Mercy Peak”, a previous long-running show she created. The Wests are Faulkner’s Snopes down under.

All the shows are named with quotes from Shakespeare and there’s more than enough here to make us think. There’s also more than enough sex to make us realize how relatively sanitized U.S. shows are—and to make us feel a little guilty about watching it. It’s like a very smart “Married With Children” crossed with “The Sopranos”, the flip-side of “The Waltons”—a martini, a Marlborough, or one of those little ice cream things.

-Denise DeClue A Special Publication of The Times Media Co.

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volume 2 • issue 5

publisher Christopher T. White

vp of sales John Tucker

associate publisher/editor PAT COLANDER

advertising operations manager Eric Horon

managing editor KATHLEEN DORSEY

advertising managers Craig Chism Dee dee white

associate content producer Tara McElmurry design director BEN CUNNINGHAM designer April Burford

contributing editors Jane Ammeson, Denise Declue, Jane Dunne, Julie Dean Kessler, Kathryn MacNeil, Carolyn Purnell, Carrie Steinweg

published by Lee Enterprises The Times of Northwest Indiana Munster 219.933.3200 Crown Point 219.662.5300 Valparaiso 219.462.5151 Copyright, Reprints and Permissions: You must have permission before reproducing material from Prime.

calendar.

MAY 21 Maintaining Vascular Health and Preventing Stroke,

5:30pm, Valparaiso Family YMCA Y Community Room, 1201 Cumberland Crossing Dr, Valparaiso. 888.909.3627. valpoymca.org. Presented by Sherry Mosier, RN, BSN, CNRN, Stroke Coordinator, this seminar covers the latest advancements in the maintenance of vascular health and stroke prevention.

JUN 3 Taking Steps to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes, 6-8pm, Community Hospital Fitness Pointe, 9950 Calumet Ave, Munster. 219.836.3477 or 866.836.3477. comhs.org. A registered dietitian and registered nurse will coach participants on the steps to take to prevent Type 2 Diabetes— including healthy eating, being active, stress management and reducing risks. No physician order needed. Registration by phone required.

JUN 12 Franciscan Senior Promise Monthly Meetings—Hearing Loss, 10-11:30am, Franciscan St. Margaret Health – Dyer, Dyer.

800.931.3322. franciscanalliance.org. An audiologist from Franciscan St. Margaret Health discusses what is normal hearing loss and possible treatments.

Our team of specialists treats every mother like one of their own – offering unparalleled care available 24/7 with your comfort and safety in mind.

We used our experience gained from thousands of births to build an allnew state-of-the-art family birthing center – one of the most advanced in NW Indiana.

Experience the newly-built Family Birthing Center • • • •

Proudly part of Community Hospital – the only Indiana hospital awarded Healthgrades® America’s 50 Best Hospitals 7 years in a row One of the most experienced hospitals in the region, delivering the most babies per year The only NW Indiana hospital with board-certified neonatologists inhouse around the clock Ultramodern medical facilities and equipment, including Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

JUN 13 Huey Lewis and the News, 8pm, Horseshoe Casino Hammond, 777 Casino Dr, Hammond. 866.711.7463. horseshoehammond.com. With their simple, straightforward rock and roll, San Francisco-based Huey Lewis and the News became one of America’s most popular in the mid80s and beyond. The band will play their hits “Workin’ for a Livin’,” “Hip to Be Square” and “The Power of Love.” www.comhs.org/community 901 MacArthur Blvd. Munster, IN 46321 219 • 836 • 3477 or 866 • 836 • 3477 A Special publication of the Times Media Co.

June 2014 |||||| Prime |||||| 3

Sensational Santa Fe:

Where Carmen meets Don Pasquale

W

hen my friends and I would talk about our favorite places to visit, I could only listen while they all (and I mean all) raved about Santa Fe. “What?” they would gasp, “You have never been to Santa Fe?” Well, I have never been to Shanghai, Singapore, or Katmandu, but no one cared or commented, so what was so special about Santa Fe? “If you want to know,” chirped Susanne, “just go there…and since you love opera, the best time is during their opera season, which is unprecedented.”

So I reached out to Esther, the operaphile. She knows when the diva hits one little wrong note and has actually seen Wagners Ring Cycle twice! She can tell you what Rossini ate for breakfast and how Verdi had a secret mistress. She loves opera from her heart and was the perfect person to accompany me to scintillating, sensational, sophisticated Santa Fe. We flew into Albuquerque, rented a car, and drove to Santa Fe. Actually, there is a train from there, so don’t bother with a car. Once you are situated in a hotel, there are buses that take you everywhere, including the opera.

We settled in at the Sage Hotel, which was in a perfect location next to Whole Foods so we didn’t have to eat out all the time. When we did, the food was great and so were the restaurants. We couldn’t wait to go to the opera and see the famous opera house. During our stay, the operas included the world première of Oscar, a two-act work depicting the life of Oscar Wilde; a new production of Offenbach’s comedy The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein; as well as Rossini’s La Donna Del Lago and revivals of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Verdi’s La Traviata.

This year general director Charles MacKay announced a repertory this season (June 27-Aug. 23) of six new productions: Beethoven, Fidelio; Bizet, Carmen; Donizetti, Don Pasquale; Mozart, The Impresario; Stravinsky, Le Rossignol; (two shorter operas paired as a double bill) and an American premiere

by Huang Ruo, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. Go online to santafeopera.org/index.aspx for information about the performances, 4 |||||| PRIME ||||| June 2014

Above: Dancers at Guadalupe Church, Santa Fe (Mark Kane).

Right: Soprano Brenda Rae headlines the Santa Fe Opera Festival (provided). artists, tickets and much more.

However, it’s not only the fact that the production by one of America’s premiere summer opera festivals is what visitors have been drawn to experience.

The jewel illuminating the productions is the spectacular Santa Fe Opera House.

The high desert landscape of Santa Fe is breathtaking. Everywhere you look you see beautiful mountains and the most gorgeous sky. The opera house blends in harmoniously with this landscape, creating a fusion of nature art that leaves an enduring impression on all who come. More than half the audience of 85,000 comes from outside New Mexico, representing every state in the union as well as 25 to 30 foreign countries.

Of course, there’s much more to experience on a visit to Santa Fe.Think of this New Mexico city as a large collection of historic artistic and architectural gems. A must see is the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, which is the only museum in the world dedicated to an internationally known American woman artist. More

examples of which are displayed at the New Mexico Museum of Art. The early Pueblo Revival-style building houses 20,000 regional masterpieces.

Then, get ready for dining! Especially, if some like it hot, the Santa Fe question is, “Red or green?” The reference is to chili, with green chili hotter, red more pungent. Try them both at restaurants on the Plaza. The Blue Corn Café serves

typical New Mexican food like tamales, enchiladas and tacos as well as their own house-brewed beer. Coyote Café has earned a reputation for adding creativity to New Mexican standards, like porcinis and prawns over corn cakes or rib-eye steak with chili onion rings. For other authentic popular Mexican fare, we loved Café Paquale and The Shed.

As you can see, Santa Fe is a marvelous place to visit at any time, but the Opera Festival is definitely a must for Opera lovers. Take it from the lovely and talented soprano Brenda Rae, who critics raved about as Violetta in last season’s La Traviata. Lately, she performs with Oper Franfurt but again, this summer she will be featured as a “dueling diva” with soprano Erin Morley in the two shorter operas, The Impresario and Le Rossignol. Brenda said, “It’s a wonderful opportunity to be able to be featured during this stunning Festival. Nowhere else in the world can opera singers enjoy the atmosphere of changing sunsets, storms and lightning while our voices harmonize with Mother Nature.”

So pack your bags, make reservations, buy tickets and then you too can admonish your friends by commenting, “What, you’ve never been to the Santa Fe Opera Festival?” -Lois Berger

A Special Publication of The Times Media Co.

G

PROVIDED

etting older doesn’t mean you have to lose your style, grace or good looks. Aging gracefully is an art, and one that you can master with practice and healthy habits.

STAY POSITIVE

How to age

gracefully

You know the saying. You are as young as you feel.

Well, attitude plays a big role in determining exactly how we feel as we age. Smiling, laughing and maintaining a positive demeanor—even when times are tough—can help keep us young at heart.

Projecting happiness and excitement about life will help others around you, too. And speaking of others, surrounding yourself with an equally positive social circle can help keep your focus on the good things in your life.

Growing older is often accompanied by health issues, grief and challenges.

It’s how you decide to deal with these issues that will help or hurt your chances of aging gracefully.

FIND A HOBBY

Getting involved in something you are

passionate about can help you maintain your vigorous spirit and positive glow.

Join a garden club to show off your flowers, plants and shrubs. Make bingo night a weekly endeavor to get out of the house and make new friends through healthy competition. Spend more time taking your grandchildren to the park.

Anything you enjoy doing can be transformed into a hobby that you can relish for years to come. Without meaningful activities to partake in, you might be left feeling bored or alone.

Options are endless for getting involved in something that will ultimately help you age gracefully.

STAY INFORMED

For many women, the beauty shop holds the key for vibrant, smooth skin and youthful hair-dos. A trip to the local hot spot allows women to discuss emerging beauty trends and skin-care products.

Women and men, alike, can also join their city gyms to find tips for maintaining their bodies. If you are constantly seeking out information on how to age gracefully, then you have won half the battle.

Utilize the guidance you receive to choose the best ways for you to ensure a graceful aging process.

Living Well,

Living Wise.

Hartsfield Village, a service of Community Healthcare System®, is an exceptional, not-for-profit, continuing care retirement community.

At Hartsfield, we celebrate the full continuum of life, from Independent Living to Assisted Living, Memory Support and Skilled Nursing/ Rehabilitation. We promote successful aging and provide a plan for your changing senior living needs.

The Assisted Living community at Hartsfield Village is ideal for people who choose to maintain their independence, but can benefit from assistance with some of life’s everyday tasks. We offer studio, one and two bedroom apartments. High quality care is provided by licensed and trained professionals in Hartsfield’s beautiful and safe Munster campus setting.

The real advantage? ...The opportunity to maintain your independence at the highest possible level.

Call us at 219-934-0750 or 800-297-6188

10000 Columbia Avenue Munster, IN 46321

Visit us on the web at www.hartsfieldvillage.com A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE TIMES MEDIA CO.

JUNE 2014 |||||| PRIME |||||| 5

work/after-work.

Retired CP Realtor combines his passion for art and aviation into second career Al Horvat’s passion for both art and aviation developed at an early age. Despite two strokes which resulted in medical issues, the 85-year-old retired Realtor has combined his talent and passion into a post-retirement career as a successful award-winning artist. And doing what he loves has had the added benefit of improving his overall health and dexterity.

“I

first found my love of aviation when I was 11 years old,” Horvat says. “My dad and uncle took me to the Gary Airport which was located at 61st and Broadway. TRI-Motor landed there and gave rides to people for five dollars. My dad asked me if I wanted to go up and take a ride. I told him ‘yes’ and ever since then aviation was my love.”

At Gary’s Froebel High School, a teacher encouraged Horvat to pursue art as a career. In 1950 he graduated from the Academy of Art in Chicago, Illinois, however, the war and life interfered with the pursuit of his dream.

Married to Rosemary Feczko in 1951, Horvat served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War in Germany.

There, Horvat helped set up division maneuvers and was an observer for the Air Division which flew over the Czech border looking for refugees trying to escape Russian control.

After his military service, Horvat sold insurance, later working as a timekeeper for a transportation company and at art instruction schools before beginning his 20-year career as a Realtor. He was President of the Merrillville Board of Realtors in the 1980’s and was named Realtor of the Year during that decade.

In the early stages of his retirement during the 1990’s, Horvat began painting watercolors under Mark Polomchak.

“He was discouraged from not being able to get the amount of detail needed for his aviation art so he naturally progressed to acrylic painting,” Horvat’s daughter Karen Cox says. “However, he started colored pencil workshops with Fred Holly who eventually led him to acrylic detail work in his paintings.”

6 |||||| PRIME ||||| June 2014

Horvat says Holly has been his mentor and inspiration.

“At times he has also had health issues but has never let those issues affect his pursuit of his artistic endeavors,” Horvat says.

After Horvat’s stroke in 2003, he had to learn to regain the use of his hands and refine his hand-eye coordination, Cox says. Doctors advised Horvat to resume and pursue his passion for painting with great results.

“Once he returned to painting and

his art, his blood pressure returned to normal,” Cox says.

Horvat says his art work has been exhibited in shows and galleries throughout the United States. His proudest accomplishments he says are receiving the Peoples’ Choice Award at an acrylic show in Ohio in 2004, a First Place Award in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2005, First Place and Second Place Awards in the “All Acrylic National Show” in Cleveland, Ohio in 2007 and being selected to represent aviation

in a nationwide travelling art show sponsored by the Lily Foundation in 2010-2011.

“I consider myself a life-long learner,” Horvat says. “I always am looking to learn new techniques and I don’t feel anyone can know everything.

Also, the older I get the more I look around and realize all the beautiful things around us that we take for granted.”

Most satisfying for Horvat is the enjoyment others get when they look at his artwork.

“Also, I realize that I could paint for the rest of my life and still be able to learn new things,” Horvat says.

To get ideas for his artwork, Horvat constantly reads magazines and books on aviation.

“I often find a particular plane or aviator that interests me,” Horvat says.

“Once that piques my interest, I do research to find out everything I can about the plane. Oftentimes during my research, a story plot develops and I include that story plot when I paint the plane.”

A second stroke in 2010 affected Horvat’s speech and walking.

“He also suffers from left neglect so his brain does not recognize anything to the left of center of his vision,” Cox says. “Of course, as an artist that has provided many challenges but he has not let any of those challenges stop his efforts.”

Horvat says painting after retirement has its advantages.

“That freedom from having to make a living with my art has removed restrictions and I am allowed to make the kind of art that I want to without worrying about people buying my art,” Horvat says. “It seems to have worked out well as I found a niche with my aviation art and people seeking me out.”

-Diane Poulton

A Special Publication of The Times Media Co.

photo finish. orthopaedic specialists

of Northwest Indiana

“Visionaire Instrumentation” Custom Alignment for Knee Replacement Here the imaging is used to precisely measure how much bone and cartilage is removed so that the knee replacement components have the ideal fit for each individual patient.

FIRST PLACE: “The Pink Hat” by Marsha Ellis

One orthopedic manufacturer, SmithNephew,uses a preoperative MRI,which is used for the measurements.That data is reviewed by the company engineers and the patients surgeon and when all that information appears correct, custom-made cutting blocks are created for component placement during surgery. Branded “Visionaire” technique, the cutting blocks are made of a hard nylon material, come sterilized for use in the operating room and fit exactly over the bone. Once secured to the bone, they have a cutting slot where the bone cuts are completed.

New Techniques in Joint Replacement Computer modeled cutting blocks, custom designed for each patient and based on their own X-Ray and MRI imaging helps the surgery become even less invasive, faster and with less blood loss.

SECOND PLACE: “Foggy Flock”

by Jennifer Lynn Boland

THIRD PLACE: “Forsyth Park”

by Linda Kuck-Miklusak. “This was taken in Forsythe Park in Whiting. This photo was taken for a very dear friend who loves simple, uncluttered black & white photos of trees. It was late afternoon and the fog had started to roll in. Printing the picture in black and white gave the picture a mystical look.”

There are several advantages to this. One, as already mentioned, is precision and customized component placement. Additionally these blocks are smaller than even the minimally invasive instruments, so the surgery can be less invasive. Since they come “pre-aligned,” there are no larger alignment instruments needed, so the surgery is often done in significantly less time. Finally, there is no rod placement down the central bone canal as in traditional techniques, which can lead to extra post-op blood loss.

ARTHRITIS UPDATE:

ADVANCES IN JOINT REPLACEMENT ♦ Residency/Training: Univ. of Chicago ♦ Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons (ABOS) ♦ Member American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS)

For more information about Visionaire Custom Alignment Knee, I can be contacted at:

Joseph Hecht, M.D ARE YOU A PHOTOGRAPHY ADDICT? Are you a photography addict? Do you carry your camera with you wherever you go, looking for the perfect shot?

If so, send your photos in to prime@ nwi.com and you will be entered for a chance to have your photos run in an

upcoming edition of “Prime.”

The photos should be no larger than 4 MB in Jpeg format. Please provide your full name, address, telephone number and caption information for the photo.

Good luck, and happy shooting!

A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE TIMES MEDIA CO.

Orthopaedic Specialists of Northwest Indiana 730-45th Street, Munster, IN 46321 www.josephhechtmd.com

Phone 219-924-3300 Fax (219) 922-5424

JUNE 2014 |||||| PRIME |||||| 7

Yourheart’shealth belongsincapable, caringhands.

Your heart is important to you — and to your loved ones. It’s important to us, too. At Franciscan Alliance, you receive care from some of the region’s finest heart specialists, Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgical Associates. You can trust their experience; they performed over 2,000 heart surgeries last year alone. You can find answers in their extensive clinical knowledge, new treatments and hope in the face of advanced disease. And you can feel comfort in the compassion our doctors, nurses and staff bring to every minute of your care.

For the finest in heart care, simply follow your heart.

We’ll take care of the rest.

Chadrick A. Cross, MD Eias E. Jweied, MD, PhD Hilton M. Hudson II, MD George T. Hodakowski, MD Michael A. Bresticker, MD Paul J. Gordon, MD Not pictured: Pat S. Pappas, MD, Antone J. Tatooles, MD, Mini Sivadasan, MD

Need a physician? Call (800) 931-3322 Visit us at FranciscanAlliance.org/heart

inspiring health 8 |||||| PRIME ||||| June 2014

A Special Publication of The Times Media Co.