R E SUNFLOW LIVING
a pp ef ao rr ai nl i gm i t ei dnt i mte ho en lsy ,e w ipt ha g e s
Peggy Medina and her Heartfelt Tribute
Memorial Hall the Legacy Lives On
3 Kind Dogs and the People who Love ’em
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FEATURES
volume 05 / issue 03
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photographers Lisa Eastman Larry Harwood Fritz Mendell
Contributing writers Patricia E. Ackerman Judy Lilly Fritz Mendell
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Doc’s Reel A retired country physician returns to his patients, fiddle in hand
DEPARTMENTS
08.
Medina and the Memory of the Twelve Hundred
Turning to professional ceramics midway through life, an artist finds fulfillment—and a response to animal cruelty—through her work
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When Love Meets Training
Canine experts provide a more meaningful understanding of dogs and the roles they can play in our lives
20.
Dyed True
From Junction City to Abilene to Germany, a local business owner creates a network for artisan fabrics
24.
Explosive Home Cooking
This is how a Chef Payne dinner begins: not with a simmer but a bang bang
30.
Memorial Hall
To honor veterans and to gather the community, Salina built a bold, functional monument in the 1920s
46.
Photo contest
This round’s winner and our next theme
fall 2014
contents
40. 14.
Small Wonders Familiar plant and animal life takes on new proportions of beauty when photographed at close range
20.
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from the editor
about the writers Regular Contributors Patricia e. Ackerman
Patricia Ackerman is a professor of language arts at Kansas State University–Salina. In addition to writing, she enjoys traveling, gardening and spending time with her family.
Karilea Rilling Jungel
Newly retired, Karilea Rilling Jungel finds each day chock-full. The Salina-based writer gives workshops and presentations and says she is “always looking forward to another illuminating interview.”
judy lilLy
Lifelong Kansan Judy Lilly is the former Kansas history librarian at the Salina Public Library. Now retired, she attends writing groups, reads, researches and travels with her husband, Dennis.
Chelsea karma mckee
Chelsea Karma McKee is an Abilene-based artist who received her fine arts degree from Emporia State University. This issue is her first appearance as a writer in Sunflower Living.
meta newell west
Meta Newell West spends a lot of time in her Abilene kitchen. She and her husband, Barry, also team up to teach cooking classes.
family
Tunes As journalists, we do not—as a rule—generally feature ourselves or our family members in our stories. This issue brings an exception to that practice. Our features writer, Patricia E. Ackerman, pitched a story about Claude Harwood, a retired small-town doctor who has taken up the fiddle as he approaches his 90th birthday and has begun performing for community members, most all of whom he at one time treated or assisted in their birth. SUNFLOWER LIVING It sounded like a delightful story … but the only issue was that Doctor Harwood was also the father of our features photographer, Larry Harwood. We hope, after reading the story, you understand why we decided to pursue it, even asking Larry to provide the photography. It is a personal narrative about Doctor on the Harwood’s life, his late wife and love for music that is cover: now a great joy for him. A mock vintage music poster It is personal, but also very universal. presents the For us, Harwood is family—but we think Patricia and lineup of stories Larry’s story about his life will also be meaningful to in this issue. Photographs by those who do not know him. Larry Harwood We hope you agree, and enjoy this and all the other and Lisa Eastman stories in our fall issue. a P P ef ao rr ai nl i gm i t ei dnt i mte ho en lsy ,e w iPt ha g e s
Peggy Medina and her heartfelt tribute
MeMorial hall the legacy lives on
3 Kind dogs and the PeoPle who love ’eM
a fabric eMPire on the Prairie
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fall 2014
PREVIOUSLY
contents
Letters, Comments and Observations about our Previous Editions
Living History
If you were to unpack the research behind Judy Lilly’s stories on area landmarks that appear in this publication, you would find layers of documents and interviews with historians and residents. Though these sources are not always detailed in the final story, they are essential to providing and verifying the historical record that Lilly narrates. One of her sources, Carl Kasey, sent us this letter in regard to Lilly’s summer 2014 article on Pioneer Cross—a landmark with a direct connection to his family. I live in McPherson and was given a copy of your summer Sunflower Living publication. In my opinion it is an excellent magazine. Several months ago, Judy Lilly, who wrote the article on the Pioneer Cross contacted me for information on my grandfather, Carl G. Linholm, who built the Pioneer Cross, in the early 1940’s. I was able to give her some information that she had not received in her research. My contact with Judy Lilly was very rewarding to me, but the purpose of this e-mail is to congratulate you on a very interesting magazine. – Carl Kasey
Warm Support
We had a strong response to our summer 2014 feature by Dave Clouston and Larry Harwood on the men and women who serve in the Kansas National Guard Army Aviation Support Facility No. 2—Salina’s Black Hawk Town. But one response went above and beyond the time it took to send in a note to the editor. A reader in our distribution area contacted us with an offer to create a handmade quilt for every service member who is a part of this facility. We are honoring that reader’s wish to remain anonymous, but we thank him/her for already beginning the project.
Civil War Sesquicentennial
Our fall 2011 issue introduced a group of local historical reenactors who portrayed members of the Kansas Eighth Volunteer Regiment. Since we published that story, over the past three years, the reenactors have participated in several events marking the 150-year anniversary of the 1861-1865 Civil War. John Tillman, who portrays the chief of scouts and couriers for the Frontier Battalion, says membership has been affected by the economy and the costs of traveling to events. But the volunteer reenacting group now includes members throughout south-central Kansas, and Salina-region members continue to lend a unique element by portraying members of Battery B—the cannon crew. The Eighth will be participating in key reenactments over the coming months as the nation commemorates the 150-year anniversary of the end of the Civil War. If you are interested in seeing members of the Eighth in costume at a nearby event, you can travel to Prairie Grove, Arkansas, for the reenactment battle on December 6-7.
YOUR TURN
If you have something to share about this edition of Sunflower Living, please send an email to sunflowerliving@sunflowerpub.com or write to us at Sunflower Living / PO Box 740 / Salina, KS 67402. We are always eager to hear from you.
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Her Picks
We were impressed with Peggy Medina’s art. But if you want to see what impresses Peggy Medina, head to Kansas Wesleyan University’s Art Gallery, where Medina is now curating shows as gallery director.
behind the
scenes
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Peggy Medina Story by Chelsea McKee
Turning to professional ceramics midway through life, an artist finds fulfillment— and a response to animal cruelty—through her work
PROFILE
of the Twelve Hundred
Photography by Larry Harwood
Medina and the Memory
P
eggy Medina says she has wanted to be an artist since she was 4 years old. But before that, she had a life to live: a job and two sons to raise. It was not until her sons moved out of the home that Medina took the plunge and went back to school full-time, graduating from Kansas Wesleyan in 2005 and reconnecting to her love of art, particularly ceramics. “Returning to art was hard, since I hadn’t been doing it for a while,” Medina says. “And it was like starting over … a completion of a lifelong journey or urge. Sports people talk about being in a zone, and that’s what I feel with art. It’s like something you’re born with, a drive to do.”
Peggy Medina creates art from her second-floor home studio.
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Peggy Medina
PROFILE
…her work reveals a mixture of right angles, asymmetrical curves and pleasing neutral colors.
With her degree, Medina opened a gallery and then, with the help of her husband, Bill, she turned her attention to remodeling her attic into a ceramics studio. Now, that home studio—where functional ceramics equipment stands near a comfortable couch surrounded by white and light-green walls—is where Medina realizes her dream of being an artist. The work she creates, like her studio, is a juxtaposition of styles. She finds inspiration in nature and is drawn to organic shapes, but is also influenced by her love for architecture. As a result, her work reveals a mixture of right angles, asymmetrical curves and pleasing neutral colors. A variety of her pieces start out as one of her signature hand-built ceramic boxes, and then change as Medina adds onto and inside of them. Medina doesn’t use many glazes, but instead adds layers of colors naturally, through her process of creating the ceramic pieces. This is achieved through a pit-firing process, a technique by which pottery is fired hard in hot coals at the bottom of a pit. Medina has modified this ancient technique by firing her works in metal, five-gallon buckets loaded with sawdust, copper wires or even other additives such as cat food. The additives and minerals burn, creating smoke, and wisps of subtle tones and colors begin to blush across the surface of her finished piece.
Examples of Medina’s signature hand-built ceramic boxes include stark forms, left, and intricate patterns, above.
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OPPOSITE: Medina created a sober memorial in simple, square forms to honor dogs who, unlike her Benny, did not survive a puppy mill.
Peggy Medina
PROFILE
But Medina’s work sometimes drops color entirely to focus on form and message. One of her recent creations was inspired by an event that had a major impact on her life, and which has started informing her work as an artist. In 2010, a puppy mill was uncovered and shut down in Oberlin, Kansas. Medina adopted one of the survivors, a lovable Welsh corgi called Benny. Unfortunately, 1,200 of the other dogs at this mill were infected with canine distemper and had to be euthanized. To process her reaction to this tragic event, as well as to help raise awareness about animal rescue, she created a large installation piece of 1,200 ceramic boxes, each one representing the life of a dog that did not survive the Oberlin mill. In display, the boxes are mounted on a wall, stacked in twos and threes, much as their cages would have been. The resulting piece—called simply 1,200—has been exhibited in Salina and McPherson. Largely architectural, all black and white with clean lines, it is a stunning piece of work with a strong message. “It’s not just about the sad waste of lives. It’s also about our culture, and the greed, how we treat people and how corporations treat people. It’s just a small manifestation,” Medina says. And the Oberlin event has affected more than her artwork. Partly in response to the abusive mill, Medina and her husband have continued to foster and transport rescue dogs to their new homes, with Benny tagging along for the ride.
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“People have to make time to train a dog.� -Dale Reitz
behind the
scenes
Great Work
The Kansas Specialty Dog Service was founded as a non-profit and continues to place animals in homes free of charge.
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dog handlers
When Love meets
PROFILE
Training
Photography by Lisa Eastman
Canine experts provide a more meaningful understanding of dogs and the roles they can play in our lives
Working their minds Dale Reitz of Abilene was a trainer of horses before joining the Salina Kennel Club and gradually refocusing his work on dogs. “A dog is a predator, whereas horses are prey, so training is approached differently,” Reitz says. But, he adds, there are also similarities in working with the two animals he knows best. “If you show them what you want them to do, they’ll do it. If you don’t show them what you want them to do, they’ll do what they want to do, and that’s when things get out of control.” Reitz began as a puppy raiser for the nonprofit Kansas Specialty Dog Service (KSDS), located in Washington, Kansas. Reitz and his wife took in dogs—mostly golden retrievers—when they were 8 weeks old, teaching them basic obedience, tasks and socialization before returning them to KSDS at 18 months for their final stages of training. Beginning in 2000, Reitz began developing his own expertise in channeling and redirecting fearful or aggressive dogs. Reitz says transforming a dog’s aggression is the easy part of his job; the more difficult part is helping people understand the specific needs of their dogs. “I’ve had to train owners,” he says. “People have to make time to train a dog.” This training, Reitz adds, should be done even if a dog isn’t on track to becoming a service animal. “Dogs need their brains turned on,” he says. “You need to work their brains as much as their bodies.” For Reitz, training has had personal benefits as well. He and his wife trained and continue to work with Griffin, a German shepherd. Griffin became a certified therapy dog who visits nursing homes, and he accompanies the Reitzes in their travels across the country to work with dog owners. “Griffin is known across the nation,” Reitz says. “He has more friends than I do. But then again, he’s a nicer guy than me.”
Story by Karilea Rilling Jungel
Big, little or in-between, any dog will provide unconditional love when raised with respect and kindness. And a dog’s happiness will only be augmented when its brains and instincts are encouraged and honed with proper training. For this training, owners can turn to professional handlers—experts in developing a happy future for dogs and the people who love them.
A dog might be man’s best friend, but this dog—Griffin—has an outgoing personality that has won him his own collection of friends.
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A.J. Jones says the key to understanding a dog sometimes begins with understanding the breed. For example, like many boxers, her dog—Breeze— thrives on warm contact.
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PROFILE
dog handlers
A.J. Jones, an animal behavior expert, says that even affectionate dogs such as hers might prefer to be in a snug, secure location such as a crate when left at home alone.
‘They can tell…’ When dogs or their owners need training, they sometimes turn to A.J. Jones of Abilene Animal Hospital, who specializes in separation anxiety and aggression issues for cats, birds and dogs. Like Reitz, Jones believes that canine issues can sometimes be traced to human mistakes. “Unfortunately, some problems are man-made,” she says. “We have to retrain the owner or educate them on the differences, then we back up and retrain the animal so we can get rid of or modify bad behavior.” Jones notes that many behavior issues begin with understanding a dog’s breed. “I hear, ‘I have a beagle and all he wants to do is sniff,’ and I say, ‘Wow, that’s amazing, that’s what he’s been bred for. His sniffer is working!’” Owners also need to realize that dogs have different perceptions than people, and that this determines what might be “good” or “bad” for them. An example of this, says Jones, is providing a secure location such as a crate. “People think dogs don’t like crate training, but adult dogs like to be in confined spaces, such as under a table with the chairs pushed in,” Jones says. “For them, it isn’t cramped, it is security. It becomes a place of solace where he can go, be safe and wait.” Jones adds that no animal should be crated for excessive periods and advises setting a crate in an area with a view. “Dogs like sight activity. Give them a window and they are happy; their minds are busy.” Jones encourages owners to understand their dogs because, after all, dogs have an innate ability to understand people. “Dogs are smart, intuitive, and will read owners,” says Jones. “They are the original body readers. They can assess someone rapidly. They can tell if you’re scared, nervous or anxious. They can read all of that better than humans can witness.”
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Being there Chevelle the golden retriever had an easy summer, going to baseball games and enjoying the weather. But now that fall has arrived, Chevelle has put on her uniform—a neckerchief—and returned to work in the Abilene school system. Trained at KSDS and sponsored by a local Lions Club, Chevelle accompanies special education instructor Stephanie Becker in her work with students. “At the beginning of the year, I introduce Chevelle to the kids and she will greet each student,” Becker says. “What kids really like is when Chevelle gives high fives. She will do ‘Paws Up’—where you tap on your arm or leg, Chevelle will put her paws on that spot.” Becker believes Chevelle inspires confidence. “Chevelle has been a major asset for my kids who struggle with behavior issues,” she says. “They want to be with her; they know they need to earn that time even if it is to get her a bowl of water.” Even children outside Becker’s class sometimes ask if they can borrow Chevelle for a few minutes. “Kids who are having an off day need to talk to someone who will just listen to them and not judge,” Becker says.
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dog handlers
PROFILE Down time! Chevelle has a moment to himself during his work with school students.
“Chevelle has been a major asset for my kids.� -Stephanie Becker
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dyed True
From Junction City to Abilene to Germany, a local business owner creates a network for artisan fabrics
I
t is not standard business advice, but it has worked out well for Marilyn Thurlow. Here is how she describes it: “It is rude to say, ‘No, thank you,’ when fate puts good things right in front of you.” This belief, combined with hard work and perseverance, has inspired the success of Picture This Plus, the hand-dyed fabric store that Thurlow owns and operates in downtown Abilene. The business began out of a friendship between Thurlow and Shari Strauss, two mothers living in Junction City who met at their daughters’ piano lessons and stumbled upon a mutual desire to learn about picture framing. At that time, Thurlow had worked in hospital laboratories for most of her adult life and Strauss had worked in computer technology. But that didn’t stop them from enrolling in framing classes in Nashville and St. Louis—and then opening a store in 2001. One year later, Thurlow was attending a textile trade show and met a woman selling hand-dyed fabric. “I thought her things were beautiful, so I bought a swatch book and rushed home to tell Shari that we needed to carry this fabric in our shop,” says Thurlow. A few weeks later, that supplier was closing her business and Thurlow and Strauss began wondering if they couldn’t take her place as their own suppliers.
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cash Hollistah Peterson Picture brothers this plus
PROFILE PROFILE Photography by Larry Harwood Story by Patricia E. Ackerman
scenes
Marilyn Thurlow examines a piece of fabric at her store.
Back Again
behind the
The building that houses Picture This Plus appeared in our fall 2010 edition as part of a story on haunted locations.
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A) Monster Mash
#
6
B)
Tycho
# C)
Mesa
# D)
Confetti
# E)
Murmur
# F)
Bashful
Tempest
Cauldron
Yule
# J)
3. “Light neutral apricot/peach/ chamois/brown. We just don’t know!”
5. “Light brown with hints of terracotta.”
7. “Hints of gray smudges on a light cream background. Reminded us of the moon’s surface, so we named it after one of the moon’s craters!” 8. “This color is a medium brown with earthen red streaks.” 9. “Medium yellow with blue and pink splashes.”
Huntress
#
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1. “Dark, deep, blackened red.”
6. “Bright green with purple smudges.”
# B) I)
There’s an art to dyeing fabrics … and then there’s an art to naming them, describing their unique blend of coloring. Here are 10 fabric names and descriptions taken from the Picture This Plus catalog. Can you match them up?
4. “The very lightest of pinks.”
# H)
Game
2. “Medium silvered gray with burnt orange smudges.”
# G)
Color
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10. “Light aqua with seaweed green and deep-water blue.” (See page 47 for answers)
With sample fabrics in hand, they approached the textile department at Kansas State University, sitting down in Justin Hall for advice from four professors. “We showed them pieces of the hand-dyed fabric and asked: ‘How do we do this?’” says Thurlow. The professors replied that they taught their students to make solid, uniform fabrics, not the mottled fabric favored by many crafters seeking colors to give depth to the background of a quilt, but the K-State gurus did point Thurlow and Strauss in the right direction. “They did not tell us how to do it, but they presented us with resources where we could find the special techniques we needed to learn on our own,” recalls Thurlow. The business owners read books and experimented with a process called low-water immersion. In July 2003, they took their first samples of hand-dyed fabric to a national trade show. During the next few years, they would attend five retail shows and two trade shows annually, building up their name in crafting circles, among needlework shops and suppliers. With success came growing pains. By 2009, the business had outgrown its store, so Thurlow and Strauss began looking for a larger building in Junction City—that is, until Strauss discovered a “For Sale” sign in the window of a downtown building in Abilene. The partners toured the building, realized it was exactly what they wanted, purchased it and spent the next six weeks renovating it. In April of that year, they opened Picture This Plus in the basement of their new building, also buying and retaining Rivendell Book Store, on the main floor. In 2012, Strauss retired from the store, selling her ownership share to Thurlow. By that time, the idea that began from two mothers talking at piano lessons had become a business with a growing reputation that was integrated into an international market. The business purchases its organic fabrics from Zweigart, a German company with mills in Germany and Switzerland. Dyes come in from California and Massachusetts. The finished product is sold locally, of course, but also shipped across the states and internationally. Thurlow says that the international orders have been slowly increasing, estimating that nearly 20 percent of the company’s retail business is now international.
A staff member pours dyes onto fabrics; Picture This Plus uses a dyeing technique that does not require a long or deep soaking of the material.
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cash Hollistah Picture this plus
Like haute couture, the fabric industry sees distinct trends each season in colors and textures. Marilyn Thurlow says she notices that a fabric’s popularity is often tied to holidaythemed patterns. For example, fabrics such as “Haunted,” a color that Thurlow describes as “greytealed with purple bruises,” will become more popular this fall as artists prepare work for Halloween. And you can probably guess which months see a high demand for the fabric color known as “Gingerbread.” But Thurlow, who has created 127 fabric colors, says she has given up trying to predict which ones will be wildly popular. One of her best sellers, for example, is a simple medium-light-brown, bronze-colored hue she called “Doubloon.” It turned out that this modest color was exactly what many artists were seeking in creating a very popular genre of traditional, Colonial-style samplers. “I’ve never guessed right,” says Thurlow. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t already thinking up new hues to dye. Thurlow says by the time you are reading this, she’s probably created closer to 130 colors. And the next one, for reasons we don’t yet understand, might just be the newest fad.
PROFILE
Fall Fabric Fashion
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behind the
scenes
cadet cals
Because Linda Payne cooks professionally for students who are often involved in sports, she keeps precise records on each dish’s nutritional value. This dish, for example, is a fairly light 339 calories.
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bang bang chicken
chef’s table
This is how a Chef Payne dinner begins: not with a simmer but a bang bang
or Linda Payne, cooking is a journey and an ongoing adventure. She began her adventure at age 9 on a farm in Illinois. “We were in the middle of butchering chickens and Mom asked me to go inside to chop up and fry the leftover baked potatoes,” recalls Payne. “I was to then mix up some eggs to pour over the fried potatoes.” Although this was her first time standing over the stove, Payne discovered she loved to cook and had an innate ability. Her mother seemed to recognize those skills, because shortly after that first cooking experience, calls were made and Payne was enrolled in a local 4-H club for cooking demonstrations. After that, Midwest home cooking became Payne’s everyday fare—and it was the style of cooking she used when raising her family in Iowa. But then fate stepped in when Payne’s husband passed away, and she had to embark on a new journey. “I decided to make food my career rather than just something I did every day for my family,” she says. After enrolling in a culinary arts program in an area community college, she was hired as the chef at a local country club, which gave her additional training and allowed her to pay for tuition. Once she graduated, Payne took jobs at a variety of country clubs and restaurants. One of her most memorable experiences was working with Peter Harman, a restaurateur, food guru and author of the cookbook The Manly Art of Macho Cookery: Food for Real Men. “We worked six days a week, and his expectation was that we would be there each and
Linda Payne prepares to eat a meal of Bang Bang Chicken at home.
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Photography by Larry Harwood
Home Cooking
Story by Meta Newell West
Explosive
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vegetable oil oyster sauce
What about the name?
New cadets at St. John’s Military School are always enticed by Bang Bang Chicken. “In the beginning, I think they select it from our menu offerings due to its unique name,” Chef Linda Payne says. Legend has it that Bang Bang Chicken was traditionally served in China by street vendors who used batons to hammer the chicken for shredding. Payne’s version has a Thai twist and simply starts with cut-up chunks of chicken—no hammering involved.
chicken breast
soy sauce
basil leaves
chopped garlic
red bell pepper, green bell pepper, onion
whole cashews
Key to some of the ingredients in this dish: All of these ingredients are available locally in most grocery stores.
• Coconut milk is made from simmering one part shredded coconut in one part water; once stirred, it has the liquid consistency of slightly thickened cow’s milk. However, don’t be confused with other coconut products including coconut water—the clear, natural juice you’ll find if you crack open a coconut—or thick and rich coconut cream, made by simmering four parts shredded coconut in one part water. • Fish sauce is an amber-colored liquid extracted from fish that have been fermented with sea salt. • Oyster sauce is made by slowly simmering oysters in water until the juices caramelize into a thick, intensely flavorful condiment. Its flavor is described as sweet, salty and earthy. • Thai green curry’s base ingredients are coconut milk and fresh green chilies; a variety of other fresh and dried herbs and spices add to its sweet but somewhat pungent flavor. Thai green curry also adds a mild level of heat to any dish.
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broccoli
water chestnuts
Thai green curry paste
chicken base
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bang bang chicken Kamila Kostolna Dandu
coconut milk
every day, never skipping a shift,” says Payne. Harman was also somewhat of a marketing genius, promoting everyday dishes in new ways and adding catchy titles to recipes. “Chicken lips” was one of those catchy titles. “Peter never claimed to invent this recipe,” says Payne, who remembers her mentor saying he stole it from a chef who stole it from another chef. Essentially, chicken lips are a variation of the ever-popular spicy buffalo wings; made from large pieces of chicken breast, they are deep-fried and served with a unique blue-cheese dipping sauce. Payne remembers preparing 52,000 chicken lips one Super Bowl Sunday. Such experiences taught her not only to put a new spin on ordinary dishes in order to make a big splash, but also to have fun with food. Mac St. John’s Burgers are just one of the fun entrées she has served cadets as the director of food service at St. John’s Military School, a position she has held since 2006. Always a favorite, these double cheeseburgers include Payne’s “special sauce” and are served with lettuce, onions and pickles. She also prides herself on offering a wide range of cuisine. She recalls her first sushi night: “Everyone loved it, and we could barely keep them in wasabi sauce and pickled ginger.” St. John’s also provides a venue where Linda can plan and oversee formal meals, hosting wedding receptions and special events when cadets are not in school. Those events allow her to practice the skills she learned while working in country clubs. When school is in session, Payne plans, manages and helps prepare meals for up to 230 cadets each day. “That’s seven days a week, three meals per day,” notes Payne. “As a result of both education and experience, I’ve gone from small- to large-quantity cooking, from Midwest home cooking to experimentation with a variety of cuisines.” When cooking for her family, Payne tried to prepare dishes that appealed to her children. At St. John’s, she has that same philosophy and encourages cadets to provide input, welcoming the recipes that they sometimes provide. Her goal is to make it possible for the young men to feel like they’re having something from home. Of course, she also ensures it is good food. Whether selecting a recipe for home use or work, she checks the ingredient list, looking for fresh items, or at least those that are not overly processed. Then she analyzes the methodology, trying to visualize the finished product. “Generally I follow the instructions the first time it’s prepared. Then I may make adjustments or simplify the process if making it again,” Payne says. Last summer, for example, she adjusted a BLT salad that was written for two, changing it into a salad that could be served to crowds of young men who frequented summer camps at the school. Though Payne has created and mastered many dishes since becoming a chef, sometimes she finds herself yearning for a skillet of good ole’ potatoes and scrambled eggs. Other times it’s on to more adventuresome recipes such as Bang Bang Chicken. “This novel name tends to attract attention, and then once you’ve tried this dish I think you’ll enjoy the explosion of flavors,” Payne says.
chef’s table table chef’s
fish sauce
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BANG BANG CHICKEN PREPARATION TIME: Approximately 15 minutes
bang bang chicken Kamila Kostolna Dandu
recipe
PREPARATION TIP — Everything happens really fast after the chicken is browned and the onions and peppers are sautéed, so Payne recommends gathering all ingredients and having them by the stove. She even has cans and jars open so they are ready to add to the wok or sauté pan. Payne also advises, “Amounts are variable, so adjust the ingredients to your own taste or preference.”
chef’s table table chef’s
serves: 4
ingredients ¼ cup vegetable oil 1 pound chicken breast, diced 1 teaspoon chopped garlic 1 red bell pepper, julienned 1 green bell pepper, julienned ½ onion, julienned 1 cup broccoli, florets ¼ cup water chestnuts 1 tablespoon Thai green curry paste 1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk 4 tablespoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon fish sauce 2 tablespoons oyster sauce 2 teaspoons chicken base 10 large basil leaves ¼ cup whole cashews
Cooking Instructions
Variations:
A) If you want to significantly increase the heat level of this dish, add 2 teaspoons sambal (very hot Southeast Asian chili sauce) and some sliced jalapeno peppers in step 4. B) Yes, you can leave off the fish sauce. But for those who might be put off by the addition of fish sauces in the recipe, Linda Payne says, “You will never know they’re in the dish, yet they add to the layers of flavor.”
1. In a wok or sauté pan, heat the oil on medium high heat; add the diced chicken and lightly brown. 2. Add garlic, bell peppers, onion, broccoli and water chestnuts. Stir-fry 4 to 5 minutes. 3. Dissolve 1 tablespoon Thai green curry in the coconut milk and add to pan. 4. Add soy, fish and oyster sauces and chicken base. Extra Thai green curry can be added at this point for more heat if you desire. 5. Simmer until chicken is completely cooked. 6. Remove from heat and add basil leaves and cashews. Serve with jasmine rice.
Sunflower living FALL 2014
29
behind the
scenes
Memories
Many Salinans have personal memories of Memorial Hall. Joyce Green Pearson, for example, remembers going with high school friends to the building’s Club Cherokee, hoping to dance with a favorite beau.
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Sunflower living FALL 2014
Memorial
hall
To honor veterans and to gather the community, Salina built a bold, functional monument in the 1920s
Sunflower living FALL 2014
memorial hall
landmarks
Singers, Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians, the Harlem Globe Trotters, Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner and the pop duo Peter and Gordon. Except for new windows, the exterior of the Memorial Hall building has weathered the decades without change. However, the passing years reduced the usefulness of its interior. By the 1960s, its sunken floor no longer fit the fast brand of basketball being played. Moreover, both city and county schools had built roomier gymnasiums. The hall’s seats offended modern sensibilities, and its heating and cooling systems were antiquated. In 1978, Memorial Hall became a neighborhood community center, used by such groups as Little House Adult Learning Center, the Food Bank and the Symphony Guild for its book sales. Today, the X-Treme Gymnastics team, the Municipal Band and various recreation classes still meet within the walls of the 91-year-old building. Twice over the years, two tanks have been placed on display near the hall’s south entrance. In 1939, through efforts of the local VFW, a 10-ton World War I Whippet, so named for its speed and maneuverability, was installed and dedicated as part of an Armistice Day celebration. Three years later, the Whippet was made into bullets, bombs and shells for World War II. The proceeds were used to buy war bonds. Currently on display is an M60 Main Battle tank, donated by the Kansas Army National Guard on December 7, 1992, the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Though the military vehicle might seem incongruous in the middle of a historic building in the center of town, it is also a reminder that Memorial Hall was erected in part to honor the soldiers who served their country; those who returned to join in the celebrations and those who did not survive.
Photography by Larry Harwood
did a “ladies’ retiring room” and a “men’s lounging room.” The second and third floors above the lobby were meeting areas designed especially for use by veterans groups and their auxiliaries. Originally, the basement held not only the usual boiler room, coal storage and fan rooms for ventilation, but also a banquet hall with adjoining kitchen and pantry. The basement housed a janitor’s apartment and additional dressing rooms for entertainers as well. For 50 years, the main body of Memorial Hall was a venue for large gatherings. The arena floor and two tiers of balcony provided a seating capacity of over 3,000. The stage with a proscenium arch was designed for traveling musicals and theatrical productions. Home basketball games, as well as county and state basketball tournaments, drew crowds every season. City and county schools scheduled events such as commencement exercises, countywide music festivals, and teachers’ meetings. The hall was popular for dances of all kinds. During the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s, Club Cherokee’s big bands brought teenagers into the auditorium on balmy summer nights. Salina was proud of its showplace, which attracted professional troupes like the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. During the 1930s, radio and screen star Nelson Eddy thrilled local audiences. Tickets to the performances ranged from $1.10 to $2.20. In 1944, Boris Karloff played a character in Arsenic and Old Lace that he had created on Broadway. That same year, ZaSu Pitts starred in the play Ramshackle Inn. Before the show, she visited soldiers at the hospital at Smoky Hill Army Airfield (as it was called then). Over the years, popular artists of every era and vastly different genres would perform on the stage, including Will Rogers, Spike Jones, Jeanette MacDonald, Gene Autry and Champion (and Little Champ), Van Cliburn, the Trapp Family
Story by Judy Lilly
I
n the early 1920s, the scars from World War I were still fresh and a heightened sense of patriotism pervaded the country. Cities across the nation began honoring local veterans of previous wars. Saline County had already funded the impressive memorial gateway to Oakdale Park, and the city of Salina was not to be outdone. As city commissioners discussed a new municipal auditorium—the old Grand Theatre on Santa Fe was inadequate, with a capacity of only 1,030 seats—they hit upon a solution. Why not combine the two projects? A monument need not be merely something to gaze upon. It could be made of stone, steel and cement, and serve a useful purpose. Land for the new auditoriummonument cost the city $80,000, and required the removal of 10 houses and a number of trees. Architect Charles Shaver designed a neoclassic building with wide front steps bracing six onepiece concrete pillars. Above each front door, large bronze replicas of veterans’ medals were to be flanked by vintage lamps to remind people of the hall’s memorial significance. Buff and pink Minnesota marble wainscoting and tile flooring would grace the lobby, whose coffered ceiling would be detailed in an intricate, colorful design of plaster of Paris. Memorial Hall, at Ninth and Ash Street, was dedicated on Thursday, September 20, 1923, with daylong festivities. A parade of marching bands, dignitaries and scores of veterans walking or traveling by car kicked off the event. Three-thousand people attended three ceremonies, held morning, afternoon and evening. They listened to speeches, prayed, sang the national anthem and cheered the American flag. When the building was new, ticket booths sat on each side of the foyer, as
31
features
34.
doc’s reel
40.
small wonders
34
S ’ C O D
L E E R ry t n u o d c is e h r i o t t e ns A r r u t e nd r a h n a n i c le i d d physi fi s, t n e i man pat Acker . E od ia arwo tric rry H by Pa a L y r y o St y b graph Photo
35
“We started learning some tunes …”
These days, Claude J. Harwood fiddles.
It is something the retired country doctor picked up in his 80s, when his daughter—who teaches at Meadowlark Elementary School in Salina—called him about a beginning strings class for adults. “My daughter called me up here in Glasco and said, ‘Dad, we’ve got that old violin of Grandpa’s and you’ve fiddled around with it a little bit. Would you be interested in taking this class?’” Harwood recalls. He thought about it and decided to accept the challenge. He dug out his father-in-law’s 100-year-old violin, had it restrung and signed up. “There were 20 adults enrolled in the class and we had a lot of fun.” First, instructor Susan Higbee taught them the parts of a violin, “and then we learned to play ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.’” Finally, after seven class sessions, the instructor told her adult students that they had probably learned as much as a sixth-grade orchestra class would learn in an entire year. Harwood proudly holds up the certificate of achievement he received at the end of Higbee’s class. “I really had no musical background,” he says. “My wife, Marilyn, was the real musician; she played piano from the age of 5. She also played organ, oboe, clarinet and guitar. Music was part of her life.” After Higbee’s class, Harwood continued to play and learn new tunes on his own. A short time later he was joined by Clark Huffer, who had moved to Glasco from California after retiring from the U.S. Air Force. Huffer had taught himself to play bluegrass on the banjo, guitar and violin. “We started learning some tunes together and having a really good time,” Harwood says. “Then the lady who runs the local farmers’ market asked, ‘Why don’t you guys come down here and play?’ We decided to give it a try. We don’t call it performing, we call it practicing. Now we practice at the farmers’ market every Tuesday morning at 10 a.m., while local people are selling eggs and produce.” Harwood and Huffer have also taken their act on the road, including at a nursing manor, where Dr. Harwood is well-known. “Some of them used to be patients of mine. I can’t believe it, but they always want us to come back,” Harwood says. “There’s a beat to bluegrass music that those folks can clap their hands to and follow along with. They enjoy the nostalgia of the old-time songs we play, like ‘Old Joe Clark’ and ‘Will the Circle Be Unbroken?’”
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Roots
Born in Larned, Kansas, Harwood was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Germany during World War II. Returning to the States, he studied at the University of Kansas Medical School, graduating in 1955. After completing his internship at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, he accepted an invitation to become a general practitioner in Glasco. “The town’s doctor had moved away and they put some funds together to build a clinic,” Harwood says. “They invited me out to see if I might be interested. I moved my family out here in 1956, built a home and later bought that clinic.” Between 1956 and 1990, the hands that now play the fiddle delivered 1,173 babies, according to Harwood’s nurse, Beth Anderson. He still sees and hears about many of the babies he helped bring into the world who have gone on to become doctors, engineers, teachers and lawyers. Harwood began working primarily out of the hospital at Concordia, about 22 miles away. There, he saw patients—many of them German, Czech and Irish descent—from a large rural area surrounding Glasco, Concordia and Beloit. “As a rural doctor, I also did home visits,” he says. “It was a cost-effective way to keep people at home and save the patient’s money.” His home phone was listed and patients frequently called, “usually around dinnertime.” But his family was used to it. And people in Glasco will tell you that Dr. Harwood always responded.
Retirement
Harwood retired in 1990 at the age of 65 because, he says, “that was what you did at that time.” In retirement, he and his wife did some of the traveling they were unable to do while he
practiced medicine. After a few years, Marilyn began to develop dementia, and for the next six years the doctor focused all of his time and attention on caring for his wife. “It was very rewarding taking care of my wife. We were able to keep her in our home, and she never had to go in to a nursing home. My son, daughter and I kept her active, taking her to see our grandchildren’s sports and other activities.” After his retirement, Harwood donated his medical clinic to the town of Glasco. The community made numerous attempts to restore medical services to the community, but was unable to attract or afford a permanent physician. Not wanting the clinic to deteriorate, Harwood bought his donated building back from the community and negotiated an agreement with a clinic out of Beloit. The doctor now serves as landlord and the clinic holds regular hours, with either a doctor or nurse practitioner traveling to Glasco every week. Harwood, who will turn 90 in 2015, plans to continue serving his community—and to keep making music for as long as he can. He describes his late-age fiddling as a joyful discovery. Pulling a clipping from his music book, he reads aloud from a column written by syndicated columnist Sharon Randall that appeared in the Salina Journal: There are many ways to make music. With instruments and voices, lifelong friendships and brief encounters, simple words and knowing looks, or even the touch of a stranger’s hand. In the end, all that matters is not how well we play, but only that we never stop trying. Harwood says, “I cut that out and put it in one of my music books. It inspires me to keep playing.” To anyone who is thinking about playing an instrument, Harwood advises them to go for it. “It is never too late. There is something about music that brings joy and satisfaction.”
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Crabapples ISO setting – 100 Aperture – f4 Shutter Speed – 1/250 Although crabapples covered this tree and provided a breathtaking bounty, I think the best shot was just this limb, pictured with early morning dew dripping from the apples.
W d 40
Small
WON ders Story and photography by Fritz Mendell
Familiar plant and animal life takes on new proportions of beauty when photographed at close range
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Close-up photography opens another world to photographers like myself—a world that you enter by discovering the right combination of camera tricks.
Technically, there are several ways to achieve close-ups, but the most common are either a close-up filter, a set of extension tubes or a lens designed for close-ups. I have tried all three of these methods and the macro lens, although the most expensive, is my favorite. I currently shoot with a 100mm, f2.8 macro lens on a Canon 7D camera. Although the lens is a macro, at 100 mm it can also serve as a very nice portrait lens and create sharp images. Another feature of this lens is that the focus is internal, so it doesn’t move toward an already frightened subject when focusing. The autofocus is as quick as on any lens in my bag, although a lot of the time I set the focus on manual when chasing bugs. Though several of these pictures were taken hand-held, I do always try to photograph small objects with a tripod for the sharpest images. If you have a great deal of patience, the best way to photograph a tiny critter is to set up your camera on a tripod and wait. This works well with bees and dragonflies, as they tend to come back to the same flower or, in the case of dragonflies, a particular reed or blade of grass. Butterflies are a bit trickier, however, in that when they alight, they do not spend very much time resting and seem much more aware and wary of the photographer. When my camera is on a tripod and the subject is not moving much, I like to shoot with a smaller aperture, which provides more depth of field. Shutter speed is also a crucial factor, the difference between a nice capture and a blurry image—particularly if you are following a moving object. In that case, if your camera can shoot several frames per second, set it to the highest frame rate to provide a much better chance of getting at least one frame in focus. The irony of this type of photography is that you seek to create images of everyday objects—often animal and plant life in your own backyard—that appear magical and amaze us with a beauty we might otherwise miss. These are some of my favorites.
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Painted Lady ISO setting – 320 Aperture – f4.5 Shutter Speed – 1/400 We have a neighbor who has an English-style garden which, depending on the time of day, usually attracts several butterflies. Some rest with wings spread, like swallowtails, while others close their wings. This painted lady was resting on a huge bush, wings half-closed.
Garden Spider
close up
ISO setting – 400 Aperture – f4 Shutter Speed – 1/400 Garden spiders are an easy capture, unless you have one in the middle of a web when the wind is blowing. Be prepared to take a lot of frames when you have a moving object. I found this one in my backyard.
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Pear Blossom
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ISO setting – 100 Aperture – f5.6 Shutter Speed – 1/800 As you shoot close-ups, you adjust your seeing and begin to shoot a subject several ways. In the case of this pear blossom, I began focusing on the entire tree—and almost missed the close-up. It was only when I looked closer at an individual blossom that I saw its possibility as a beautiful subject.
Leaf
Caterpillar Explosion ISO setting – 100 Aperture – f7.1 Shutter Speed – 1/160 A good friend called one day and said she had a caterpillar explosion at her home in the country. As you can tell by the picture, she wasn’t kidding. These walnut caterpillars, and many more like them, completely stripped a close-by walnut tree.
ISO setting – 100 Aperture – f3.5 Shutter Speed – 1/250 I promise myself to take at least one picture a day as a diary of what is going on around me. When the weather is bad, that can seem like a chore—but it forces you to find beauty, even if you do not want to look far. After a nasty ice storm, I looked no farther than our deck and found this fallen leaf.
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FALL 2014
photo contest
First Place
Theme: Been There, Done It
Ranell Ruder
Departure For this issue’s contest, we invited readers to submit their photographic take on the theme “Been There, Done It.” Our panel of three judges awarded first prize to RaNell Ruder’s photograph of a train passing through Concordia, Kansas, in July of this year.
next round Submission Guidelines:
We want to feature your photograph in Sunflower Living magazine. We accept photograph submissions from readers with a permanent address within the greater Salina region. Our panel will judge the submitted photographs and select a winning image, which will run on this page in the following edition. The winning photographer will receive a prize of $50.
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Sunflower living FALL 2014
A) Email the image to sunflowerliving@
sunflowerpub.com with a heading of “Photo Contest.” Please include contact information. B) Submission must be made before November 15, 2014. C) Only submit the image if you are the photographer and the copyright holder of the image and if you live in the distribution
area of Sunflower Living or Salina Journal. Photographs showing the image of
a person must have that individual’s consent. D) Files should be in digital form, either JPEG or TIFF, that can be printed up to 8X10 at 300 dpi. E) By submitting an image, you consent to having the image published in the magazine and posted online in connection with the magazine.
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Dedicated to Excellence . . . Focused on Quality . . . Committed to Independence. Mowery Clinic provides the Salina community with a comprehensive spectrum of specialty services delivered with compassion and sensitivity. • We strive to create a partnership with patients that promotes health and well-being in all phases of life. • We care about our patients, we care about providing quality healthcare services, and we care about our community. • We have a vested interest in the success of this community, and we remain committed to an independent practice model that promotes our proud heritage and philosophy – to provide quality medical care centered on the relationship between each patient and the physician of their choice. You have a choice for your specialty medical care. Choose a doctor dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in healthcare services. Choose Mowery Clinic. Ob/Gyn Dr. Steve Sebree Dr. Jeff Knox Dr. Joel Parriott Dr. Natalie Morgan Dr. Leslie Ablard Dr. David Prendergast
Surgery Dr. Ted Macy Dr. David Smith Dr. Earl Matthews Dr. Chris Rupe Dr. Seth Vernon
Cardiology Dr. Mark Mikinski Dr. Curtis Kauer Dr. Karil Bellah Dr. David Battin
Gastroenterology Dr. William Alsop Dr. Paul Johnson Dr. LaVelle Ellis
Internal Medicine Dr. David Dennis Dr. Richard Yaple
Pediatrics Dr. Ed Rosales Dr. Alisa Bridge
Allergy/Immunology Dr. Bennett Radford
Infectious Disease Dr. Jacob Hodges
737 E. Crawford, Salina (785) 827-7261 655 S. Santa Fe, Salina (785) 825-9024 671 Elmore, Salina (785) 827-2261
www.moweryclinic.com www.moweryclinicpediatrics.com www.mowerywomensclinic.com www.salinasurgery.com
Nephrology Dr. Brad Stuewe Dr. Henry Reed Dr. Brian Pavey
(800) 223-0845