good life magazine october 2010

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October 2010 Cover price: $3

CLAYTON’S COMEBACK STORYEx-pro player tackles life’s problems

CAN A KLUTZ ENJOY THE GOOD LIFE?plusSOLAR HOME EARNSMONEY FOR OWNERS

AtHomeFresh ideasFor the homeiNside

October 2010 | The Good Life | 3

Year 4, Number 10 October 2010

The Good Life is published byNCW Good Life, LLC,

dba The Good Life10 First Street, Suite 108Wenatchee, WA 98801

PHONE: (509) 888-6527E-MAIL: [email protected] [email protected]

Editor, Mike CassidyContributors, John Keen, D’Arcy Burke, Jim Russell, Anita Van Stralen, James McGregor, Alan Moen, Dave Graybill, Randy Brooks, Gregg Krogstad, Donna Cassidy, Bonnie Orr, Alex Saliby, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin, Rod Molzahn and NCW Events OnlineAdvertising manager, Jim SenstAdvertising sales, John Hunter Bookkeeping and circulation, Donna CassidyProofing, Jean Senst and Joyce PittsingerAd design, Rick Conant

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Copyright 2010 by NCW Good Life, LLC.

John Keen was born and raised in Alaska, moving to Cashmere 16 years ago.

“When I was in high school, I got into photography,” writes John. “Kenai High was a mid-sized school so not everyone knew my name but all knew of “the dude with the camera.” I was on the yearbook staff so I took many of the pictures in it.

“I first moved to Maine in the late ’80s from Alaska to learn woodworking on sail boats. Then to Cashmere, working in construction.

“But I never let go of photogra-

phy. I did let go of 35 mm cam-eras and felt as if I was starting all over again. But with digital cameras, it is much easier now.”

John and his wife, Tracy, now own Midvalley Fitness in Cash-mere, where he displays some of his photos and pen-and-ink drawings. There are also poster-sized prints on the walls of pic-tures from a few trips to Europe and local places. Some in color and some black and white.

About the photo above John writes:

“I went for a day hike with a fish and wildlife officer up in the mountains to some hard-to-get-to lakes.

“This photo is from the first lake we hit. I used the A-Dep setting on the camera to keep everything in focus — fore-ground, mid-range and the mountain in the background. I wanted a 3-D feel to the photo.”

On the cOverThe Good Life editor Mike

Cassidy took this photograph of Clayton Holmes doing speed and agility training with his young students.

“Whether in sports or busi-ness, to get to the top requires extra work,” Clayton had just told the students.

OPENING SHOT >>®

4 | The Good Life | October 2010

Sailing Lake Chelan on an electric boatWe went cruising on a

recent sunny Friday afternoon on Lake Chelan in an electric-powered, 32-foot sailboat.

A lazy late summer afternoon anyway, the quiet of the electric engine allowed conversation to amble from sailing to kids to back country llama hiking.

But much of the time was spent with Randy Brooks — who with his wife, Anne, are partners in the boat with another Chelan couple — explaining how he replaced the gas engine with an electric engine, and why.

The why was pretty straight-forward. In 2008, Randy discov-ered his gas fuel tank in the 1973 Coronado MkII sailboat, the “Cabernet,” was leaking — rust had eaten pinholes in the old tank.

“That’s where the constant gas smell was coming from,” ex-plained Anne. The ever-present gas smell detracted from the natural beauty of sailing, and gas fumes in a closed interior of the boat can be explosive.

After the leaking tank was replaced with a temporary five-gallon jerrycan, the crankcase of the engine began spitting oil. Which meant removing the engine to get at the source of the problem.

As Randy explains in a blog he wrote, “As an electric vehicle en-thusiast, I wondered if we could convert the sailboat to reliable, silent, electric drive.”

So, that’s what he did. The new electric engine —

about the size of two toasters — takes up little room. The eight car-sized batteries easily fitted into the engine compartment, and the space that was taken by a gas tank is now food storage —

which is great because stor-age is often at a premium on a small sailboat.

A portable Honda generator in a back locker recharges the bat-teries when the boat has been away from shore power. But on Lake Chelan, the boat is seldom far from shore power. A recent round trip to Stehekin took a total of one gallon of gas for the generator.

The beauty of the conversion comes in the engine sound — the same sound as an electric-power golf cart when the engine is on — and the reliability.

If you have ever fussed with a gas or diesel boat engine when a storm is bearing down, or night is falling, or some other boater is yelling to “Get the (blankly blank) out of the way to the approach to the marina,” then you’ll know the advantages of an engine with far fewer moving parts to go wrong.

I mentioned early that Randy wrote a blog about the conver-sion (www.brookssolar.com/Cabernet%20Electric%20conv.html), which is a good indica-tion the project wasn’t always smooth sailing. Still, he figures it took him less than half the time to convert the sailboat as it did to convert a car to an elec-tric engine.

Randy and Anne also built a passive solar home in Chelan, and with a solar cell array, sell energy to the Chelan County P.U.D. “We haven’t paid for elec-tricity for nine years,” he said during a quick tour of his home.

See his story on page 24.

May you always have fair wind, and enjoy The Good Life.

— Mike

EdITOr’S NOTES MIKE CASSIDY

>> CONTENTS>>

Features

5 a klutz goes on a long, hard hikeTesting whether it’s possible to see the Enchantments

8 creating a B&B in el salvadorUpdate: Couple who built a home in Central America, almost on a whim, now decides to turn it into a bed and breakfast

12 claYton’s coMeBackFormer pro football player Clayton Holmes came to Wenatchee and realized this was the right place to chase his next dream

14 digging the PastFossils that have been buried in the earth for millions of years are easy — sort of — to find in Republic

16 oPening the Book on a neW ventureA former librarian now dishes out the locally-grown food at Farmhouse Table

18 cooking With daveHow Dave Graybill turned a fishing hobby into an encore career

29 have dog, Will volunteerWyatt was once one sad dog, but now he and his master have found a new way to help people

21 At Home witH tHe Good Life• Favorite things at Real Deals with Geri Elsensohn• Relying on the sun and alternative energy• Home has the heart of a lodge

columns & departments30 Bonnie orr: Making a soup from green tomatoes 22 alex on wine: celebrating cameron Fries32 the traveling doctor: the fun of mystery weekends34 June darling: tips on having a better vacation35-39 events, the art life & a dan Mcconnell cartoon40 history: ncW was hard to get to34 check it out: cooking classes

page 10 a Balloon ride earlY in the Morning


By James s. russell

reading about people’s success in The Good Life magazine intimidates me. I’m more of a klutz.

Can a klutz enjoy the good life? My recent trip up the Enchant-ments tested that question.

For the nine years Karen and I have hiked the North Cascades, people have said, “You’ve got to see the Enchantments.” They’re a chain of blue lakes scattered across 6,800 to 7,800-foot elevations }}} Continued on next page

Can a

kLutz enjoy a hike into the

Enchantments?

in Washington’s Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Mountain goats roam among them.

My 69th birthday made me fear I’d never see them, so I got a three-day permit to hike up, camp, explore the Enchantments and hike out. Then I could casually say, “Oh yes, I’ve seen the Enchant-ments.”

Karen wasn’t interested. “I wouldn’t enjoy hiking up there in the heat with a backpack.” Besides, weaving is her goodlife passion.

Jim Russell hikes south from Nada Lake, where he began doubting his ability to finish. Wedge Mountain is visible in the distant range in the background overlooking the Snow Lakes Trail.


Two children were recovering from painful surgeries, but our daughter Pam Russell Bejerano was interested. She volun-teers for Reach the Summit, a fundraiser for the American Lung Association of Oregon, where she trains participants

who climb mountains to honor friends and relatives with lung disease. She’s an asthmatic who summited Mount Hood and helped me climb Mount Adams when I was 55. She got excited about going, and I got excited when she volunteered to carry the tent and poles.

My conditioning plan was playing tennis four days a week preparing for a tournament in Sun River Oregon two weeks before the hike. We played at 4,100-foot elevation for five days.

My legs were strong although carrying a tennis racket was easier than a 25-pound back-pack. Two days before the trip, I hiked a mile around my home, convincing myself I’d be fine with rest stops.

Pam would later say I needed more hikes with my backpack and elevation. Maybe weights in

my tennis bag would work. My rest stops cut short our

goal to reach Snow Lakes at 5,400 feet. But I enjoyed the rock walls, the raging creek, and blossoming wildflowers of lupine, bluebells, columbine and paintbrush. Pam snapped photographs. After six and a half hours and 3,700 feet of eleva-tion, I trudged behind Pam into Nada Lake at 5,040 feet.

That green lake surrounded by sun-lit peaks restored us. I iced my aching knee in the frigid water. A hawk settled on a limb across the lake. Fish jumped and splashed. Karen would have liked it but she enjoyed weaving in air-cooled solitude after zero

altitude gain. The Enchantments were three

miles up 1,700 feet of elevation. They were covered in snow that lacked equipment to mush through. A mostly melted Lake Viviane was all we’d see. My casual boast could only be, “Oh yes, I’ve seen an Enchantment. If you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.”

I never doubted I’d make it until the first 400 feet the next morning. Cold in camp, I put on too much clothing. Pam recommends, “Start off hiking cold, start off biking warm.” I stripped down. Shortly after that I fell into lower Snow Lake while stepping across two logs

}}} Continued from previous page

A mother and kid watch a klutz hike past.

Jim Russell and his daughter Pam Bejerano standing at the shoreline of Lake Viviane, the eastern entrance to the chain of Enchantment lakes.


on the narrow, concrete spill wall. There was no handicap rail. I put on my warm clothing, pleased I brought it for emer-gencies.

Doubt increased as the steep-ness of the slopes increased, so I worked harder to stay positive. Head up. Breathe from your abdomen, diaphragm and chest. Your legs are strong. Your kids are suffering even worse. While sucking in oxygen, I reminded myself to enjoy the journey, not the goal.

My rests threatened our goal. Pam pointed at the ridgeline. “Can you see the waterfall? That’s it. Can you make that?”

No, but I didn’t tell her. We both knew it was getting late to return safely. Finally, gasping, dizzy, stumbling and a pulse rate at 120, I quit. “Pam, you go on.”

“Dad, when did you eat last?” “At the lake.” Two hours ear-

lier.“What? You have to eat every

45 minutes. You did yesterday. You’re strong. If you’re dizzy, you need food. Eat this. It’ll get energy to your brain right away.”

I squeezed her high-energy gel down my throat and thought, “I’m a klutz.”

“And eat this fruit bar. It’ll kick in after 15-20 minutes. It’s cherry.”

I didn’t taste cherry. I tasted cardboard boot box.

She scouted the route. “It’s two more switchbacks. You can make it.”

I bargained, “OK, I can do this until 2:00.” And enjoy it.

At 1:39 I took a picture of her by the sign, Lake Enchant-ments. I felt no elation. I worried about a trip down steep, slip-pery rocks. I was drained. I felt diminished with reduced expec-

tations. Icy blue Lake Viviane with

bright snow under granite spires and two friendly mountain goats restored me. Our return was safe and dry, with no injuries, al-though it took several days to re-cover and quit itching mosquito bites. Karen needed no recovery time even though she made great progress on her weaving.

Pam said it was the hardest hike she’d been on, but loved it. I said, “I couldn’t have made it without you.”

“I’d never have done it without you.”

My original question was, “Can a klutz enjoy the good life on an overnight Enchantment hike?”

I had to overcome obstacles non-klutzes avoid, but I like challenges and made my choic-es. I could have practiced hiking elevation with a backpack, but I enjoyed tennis and the tourna-ment with friends. We could have added a couple of rest days, but I enjoyed my bed after the

third day. I could have practiced more log walking, instead of carrying extra clothes.

So yes, this aging klutz en-joyed the good life on this hike. The trip seems to be typical of the way I enjoy the good life.

Set challenging but ever diminishing goals, pick great partners and take more frequent and longer rests to remind my-self that this klutz can enjoy the journey.

And I can say, “Oh yes, I’ve seen an Enchantment.”

Finally, gasping, dizzy, stumbling and a pulse rate at 120, i quit.


house sits on a cliff overlooking the ocean with direct access to a private beach below.

Many mornings we sit sipping El Salvadorian coffee, which is some of the finest produced in the world, and from our vantage point we can observe whales migrating in the ocean or manta rays swimming in formation. We also love to watch the pelicans float effortlessly inches above ocean waves. The gentle sea breeze keeps the temperature at a balmy 80 – 85 degrees year-

round.The indigenous people of Cen-

tral America are talented and gracious, eager to share their traditions, their lifestyle, their homes and their friendship. We have always felt welcomed by our Spanish-speaking friends. They know we are trying to learn their language and their customs — they invite us with open arms to be a part of their world; a world my husband says, “is the way life ought to be.”

Their simple lifestyle revolves

around relationships but they are hard working people who enjoy recreation as their reason-able reward.

Sport fishing and surfing are among the favorite activities — in fact, El Salvador ranks as one of the top 10 best places to surf in the world with the longest right-hand breakers.

This, combined with Central America’s largest airport, at-tracts people from all over the world, but the country man-ages to adhere to its culture.

lOvInG el salvadOr, cOuple creates a B&B there

By d’arcy Burke

two years ago, my husband, Shawn Burke, and I bought property on a whim while va-cationing in the country of El Salvador.

Despite not being able to speak Spanish, we managed to build a house with an attached two-car garage, an outdoor kitchen and courtyard and a mosaic glass infinity pool over-looking the ocean.

Local artisans were able to craft our dream. In the end, the house surpassed our expecta-tions — some of the crude mate-rials they used only add charm and character.

It was our friends and fam-ily who persuaded us to open up our home to be a bed and breakfast because once you are there you simply do not want to leave. We love to be hospitable and we also enjoy helping others to fall in love with El Salvador. So it only seemed appropriate to call our B&B Dulce Villa, with “Dulce Villa” meaning “sweet house” in Spanish.

Our view is spectacular; the

UPdATE>>

A cliff view of the sunset: The Burkes’ home in El Salvador overlooks a beach and the Pacific Ocean.


I never tire of seeing women well dressed in brightly colored clothing walking on the side of the road with baskets upon their heads bearing corn meal or fresh produce. Nor do I tire of stroll-ing one of Central America’s largest piers with fresh caught seafood of every imaginable spe-cies.

In El Salvador, I enjoy visiting artisan villages and ancient Ma-yan ruins — the history of the indigenous people is so incred-ible and yet so well preserved, despite the cruelty of the Span-ish Conquistadors.

I also enjoy the 30-minute drive into the capital of El Salva-dor, called San Salvador, where you can visit museums or go to some of the most advanced shopping malls I have ever seen. Everything is at your fingertips, a stark contrast to the rural life on the coast.

Inactive volcanoes are plenti-ful and currently a zip line is being erected over one of the largest ones… if you are brave enough.

In the mountains are aromatic coffee plantation tours and sugar plantation tours, you can smell the coffee beans ripening on the low bearing trees. Wild berries and bouquets of flowers are sold by vendors along moun-tain roads in an area known as

the “Route of flowers.” A special treat is Lake Coate-

peque, an emerald green lake, which is a virtual Garden of Eden where Jacques Cousteau, with his most advanced under water submergible equipment, could never find the floor.

People ask us all the time,

major airlines, but mostly it is the lifestyle we have longed for and found.

The spirit of El Salvador calls us back time and time again. We have one foot here in Wenatchee and one foot there in El Salva-dor, something I like to refer to as, “The best of both worlds.”

“Why El Salvador?” My response is, “Why not El Salvador?”

It is the jewel of Central America. It is affordable and they use American currency so there is no money exchange rate or confusion. It is easily acces-sible with their international airport and direct flights on

820 N. Chelan Avenue • 663-8711 • www.wvmedical.com

Molly Hogan, M.D. Dermatology

Physician-owned and patient-centered since 1940

Wenatchee Valley Medical Center welcomes Molly Hogan, M.D. to its Dermatology Department.

Dr. Hogan graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota where she was Phi Beta Kappa and competed in track, cross-country and swimming. She graduated from the University of Washington with her Doctorate of Medicine and as a Junior was selected for Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical honor society. Dr. Hogan did her Internal Medicine Residency at the University of Washington and her Dermatology Residency at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Hogan and husband, Shane, enjoy travelling and cooking together and spending time with friends. She also enjoys biking, running and skiing.

Shawn and D’Arcy spend part of the year at their home in El Salvador and part in Wenatchee — “the best of both worlds,” they say.

D’Arcy has a stone massage offered by a massage therapist who has been added to the B&B staff.


made for a pilot and a passenger or two, propane fuel tanks and burners were all stored inside.

After the crews and pilots talked and joshed with each oth-er for a while — “This is a great

GettInG hIGh wIth the sunrIse: what a pretty vIew

By mIke cassIdy

“it looks like we’ll have a hard landing,” yelled balloon pilot Tim Breeden.

I looked down at the recently mowed hayfield and saw the stubble rapidly disappearing un-der the moving wicker basket we were riding in. Then, I looked over at the GPS — 12.1 miles per hour it read — I looked back to the ground — 12 mph, that’s faster than I could run, but there was no place for me to run to escape this landing.

The morning had begun peacefully enough.

Four of us media types were gathered at Twin Firs Turf farm in Quincy where owners Kent and Kim Bacon had invited us for a demonstration hot air bal-loon ride. The balloons were on hand for the Quincy Valley Hot Air Balloon & Wine Festival in mid-September.

I say “on hand,” but at the moment — which was 6 a.m. — the balloons were not there, and neither was the sun. Hot air balloons perform best in the gentle winds just after daybreak and in the couple of hours prior

family sport,” said Art Breeden of Renton, father of my man who would be my pilot — the crews tested the wind — yep, it was windy, but not too windy — and began blowing up the balloons.

I was introduced to my pilot, Tim from Spanaway, and his family, who were helping fill the balloon that stretched over the grassy field. I asked his mother, Mae, if she had ever been for a ride.

“My first time up, they told me we weren’t going up, just for me to stand in the basket to see what it was like,” she said. “Then, the next thing, we were up in the air. And you want to know where we landed? It was right next to a freeway on-

to sunset. Within the hour, though, four

pickups came up the driveway, each pulling a trailer a little smaller than horse trailers. The nylon balloons, wicker baskets

A hot air balloon drifts across an irrigated Quincy field towards the morning sun.

BUCKET LIST>>


ramp!”I looked around and didn’t see

any freeways or on-ramps, only farm fields and a few houses. I felt good about that.

Soon, the balloon was inflated and it was time to go. “Get in!” said Tim, and I clambered over the leather-lined top of the wicker basket. Wicker is the most commonly used material for the baskets because — as I was to later learn — it has a lot of give upon impact.

“You are not afraid of heights?” asked Tim, who by now had his hand wrapped around the control to the burner, ready to ascend. So, I lied and said, “No.”

Three other balloons had lifted off ahead of us and were sailing into the rising sun. Spec-tacular.

Hot air balloon pilots only have one control — by shooting flames from the propane burner into the balloon, the hot air bal-loon rises. When the air cools or the pilot pulls a few ropes to release hot air out of the top, the balloon descends. “Let’s go over there,” is not an option, unless the wind is blowing you over there.

Later in the day, the wife of one of the pilots told a story about riding over a cornfield, repeatedly dipping to kiss the tassels of the ripening corn.

She also told this story: “An-other time, we were becalmed over a drainage pond from a cattle feed lot. It didn’t smell so good, but all we could do was go up and then down — we were there 20 minutes before a little breeze came up and moved us along.”

Storytelling is epidemic among balloonists. There were stories about ballooning over snowy fields and about deer and other wildlife, stories about bal-looning in France — where this lighter-than-air flying originat-ed — and stories of weather.

“Twice I was up and fog rolled in under us,” said Tim. By using a two-way radio — and verbally shouting to the ground below — he was able to locate his team

and they led him to a safe land-ing site.

But on the day I was up, we had no snow, fog or wild ani-mals. We did have the grey and brown fields south of Quincy flattening out for miles in all directions. I watched people run out of their homes to wave at the quietly passing parade of bal-loons. After a while, I stopped

taking pictures and put away my fear of heights — I stopped talk-ing and just looked.

Riding in a hot air balloon had long been on my bucket list — and this late summer day was as pretty as I could have imagined.

After about 40 minutes aloft, it was time to land. I watched a balloon ahead of us skip across the freshly mowed and raked

hayfield, and that’s when I looked down and noticed how fast we were going.

This would be no quiet touch-down.

“Bend your knees — it’s going to be a hard landing,” said Tim. We landed, and then unlanded as the basket bounced off the field, and then landed again.

The basket flipped over on its side, tossing Tim and I around. Being a professional news guy, I scampered out of the basket to take a picture of the confusion.

Being a man who loves his sport, Tim lay among the basket and cords, giggling in joy like a little kid. “Oh boy, I haven’t had a hard landing in a couple of years!”

All that was left to do was to pack up the balloon, talk to the farmer whose field we had landed in, straighten up some of the hay rows the landing had disarrayed, and head on down the road.

By 9:30 a.m., I was driving to-wards home, having had one of the best mornings of my life.

Pilot Tim Breeden walks past his balloon being inflated on the grassy lawn at Twin Firs Turf farm. The balloon is made of rip-resistant nylon, coated on the inside to hold in the heat.


By anIta van stralen

What would inspire a three-time Super Bowl cham-pion to start a whole new life in Wenatchee?

Why choose the NCW lifestyle over the glitz and glamour of L.A., Seattle, or New York? If you ask Clayton Holmes, it’s all about love.

“I came to Wenatchee for Apple Blossom — and was awestruck. It was so beautiful! And the people were so welcom-ing… so friendly before they’d even heard I’d played football. It wasn’t just like being at home; it was better than home.”

Quiet, unassuming, Clayton ignites when he speaks. There’s a twinkle in his eye; his fingers snap; and as he leans toward you, you realize you are already engaged in whatever he has to say.

“I want to show people what love can do for a person—espe-cially for kids. If you get love, you naturally want to give it

back. That’s what changes lives, neighborhoods, communities.”

Quite a statement from a man who’s had — and lost — it all. Clayton grew up in a tough neighborhood with little money and little hope for a better life. That changed when his high school coach embraced his tal-ent and helped Clayton focus his energies towards college.

Football was his ticket. From

college, he was snatched up by the Cowboys. From there, it was on to three Super Bowl rings. An amazing achievement for anyone, but for a boy from the “hood”, it was incredible.

Trouble came to Clayton in the form of fame. After his meteoric rise, he couldn’t visualize any new goals. As Clayton puts it, “I had nothing to do when I got there.”

“When I made it to pro ball, I honestly thought I’d trans-form, but that didn’t happen. It wasn’t the antidote I thought it would be. It didn’t make my life perfect. The money… the fame… they just caused me more problems.”

Those problems came in the guise of friends to help him spend his money and drugs to make him feel good about it.

COVEr STOrY>>

tHE COMEBACkFIndInG peace and a new dream: ‘It’s all aBOut lOve,’ says claytOn hOlmes

Clayton speaks to schools and youth groups about success and mistakes.

Clayton Holmes works with kids on sports skills — and life skills. “Winners are people who do the extra work,” he says.


The friends disappeared when the money ran out and the drugs got him kicked out of football.

All that has changed. Clayton has claimed his vision and wants to share it with Wenatchee. His mission: spread the love.

Clayton is reaching and teach-ing local kids through indi-vidual (and small group) speed and agility training classes. He tailors the training to pique the interest of the student. If base-ball makes a child’s eyes sparkle, it’s those skills he focuses on in training. If it’s jumping or running, then that’s the tick-et. Working strictly without weights, he builds strength, agility, and confidence.

“Anyone can teach someone who is an athlete. The athlete knows he has potential and just needs direction. I light up when a kid is in front of me who thinks he can’t do it. You help build confidence through physi-cal training. You teach skills that apply to life — not just sports.”

“I get really excited when I see the shy ones, the quiet ones, the heavy ones realize they can do this. I love it when they smile — that special smile that lights you up — because they realize ‘Yes, I can’.”

And those “light up” opportu-nities are going to keep coming. Clayton has become the official coach for Speed and Agility Training at the Wenatchee Val-ley Sportsplex. With the Sports-plex facilities come even better opportunities to expand and improve his training programs.

And there’s more to Clayton’s vision than sports. Although it’s not easy speaking to people, Clayton feels the call to spread

the message. At the end of foot-ball season, he’ll begin speak-ing at universities around the country. For now, he speaks to groups of adults and students on how he made it to the NFL and the pitfalls he encountered once he got there.

Giving kids the life skills to handle the opportunities they are given is a need not often addressed. Clayton wants to see that change.

He learned the hard way that in order to stay true to yourself, you have to have a dream. Goals are stepping stones toward that dream. When you achieve one goal, you have to be ready to move right on to the next. “We have to open our eyes more to the potential within and around us and judge less.”

Judging is not what Clayton is about. He embarked on a path

of self-discovery when his “old world” unraveled. “I’ve come to understand why I behaved as I did — where I was foolish and why. Success is now measured differently… in more meaning-ful things. I have a scar. I know where it is and why. I want to help others make the connection and avoid the mistakes I made.”

Today, life is good for Clayton. Things are coming together again in this new phase of his life. The mansion is gone — in fact, he is living with friends — but he has found peace. As he builds his speed and agility pro-grams for local youth, he renews his own sense of confidence.

The launch of his speaking career has him feeling that wonderful “I’m-on-the- verge-of-something-great” tingle again. He has entered into a business opportunity by becoming the area representative for a new dietary supplement, Asea, that enhances the immune system and promotes healing on the cellular level.

Quite a full plate for a man

who wasn’t sure where he’d find his next meal a year ago.

However things work out, Clayton says he is here to stay.

“I’ve been in Atlanta, Arizona, Washington — it’s time to settle. And, you know, the further west I came, the better things got… The more people ‘got’ me. When I talked about love, people listened and encouraged me to speak more… And my passion is spreading love; seeing people happy — truly happy. That’s what I want to give.”

Who can say “no” to that?

Clayton Holmes may be contacted at [email protected] Training appoint-

ments can be set with Tania Rus-sell at the Sportsplex, 888-5200. For details on the dietary supplement,

Asea, visit www.teamasea.com/real-ize.

Anita Van Stralen is happy to call the Wenatchee Valley home. An escrow officer with Pioneer Title Company, she is active in the National Asso-ciation of Professional Mortgage

Women. Her dream is to be known as a poet and writer who touches

hearts.

Clayton earned three Super Bowl rings playing for the Dallas Cowboys.

“i get really excited when i see the shy ones, the quiet ones, the heavy ones realize they can do this.”


By alan mOen

imagine a store that sold only fresh, local produce from local farmers — no processed eggs from giant chicken factories that could be tainted with salmo-nella, no salad greens saturated with sulfur dioxide to keep them “fresh,” no fruit shipped from distant locations that had ar-rived months after harvest.

Imagine a place where nearly everything sold was organically grown, right down to the salsa and peanuts — a place where you could order your vegetables in advance, and after they were picked they were packed just for you.

This place already exists: it’s Farmhouse Table Local Foods

Market, a Community Support-ed Agriculture (CSA) store on Mission Street right in down-town Wenatchee.

Farmhouse Table is managed by Kim Lohse, 63, a former li-brarian who turned the page on her old career and found a new one in food. “I love everything about food,” Kim said as she ar-ranges cucumbers and beets on a store display table. “I grew up in a family that loved food.”

Born in Nevada, Kim was raised on a second-generation cattle ranch 20 miles south of Reno. She learned to wrangle cattle as a youngster, and also remembers working in her mother’s large vegetable garden and small orchard. “We sold apples at my grandfather’s stand

there,” she recalls. Kim went to college at U.C.-

Davis in California, where she earned a degree in anthropol-ogy. While there, she got a work-study job in the campus library — the beginning of her library career. Later she moved with her husband to Toronto, Canada and worked in the library at the University of Toronto, where she also pursued a Master’s degree in anthropology. She started a garden there, too, and became involved in a garden co-op that met in a church basement.

Kim’s growing interest in both libraries and legumes then led her to the Northwest to get a M.L.S. (Master of Library Sci-ence) degree at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. She found another library job there as a technician at the University, and also maintained a large urban garden of her own.

Then romance again entered

Kim’s life. She met Phil Archi-bald, whom she had known from her days at Davis. The couple then moved to Seattle, where Phil worked as a graphic de-signer and Kim as a librarian at Seattle University.

After 10 years in the city, Phil decided to change careers and get a degree in fisheries biology. He later got a job as a fishery biologist with the U.S. Forest Service in Entiat, and Kim was hired to work at the library at Wenatchee Valley College. They moved to the Entiat Valley in 1992.

Kim hadn’t lost her interest in local food and got to know a few people in the area who wanted better access to bulk foods. She joined the Columbia River Food Co-op, with which she still works today. “About 20 fami-lies buy local produce every six weeks and get their food in the basement of the United Method-

“I love everything about food,” said Kim Lohse at Farmhouse Table.

From books to broccoli: kim Lohse turns a page at Farmhouse table


ist Church in Wenatchee,” she said.

She also met Ann McClendon and Gale Bates, two Cashmere women who started their own small farm and developed the region’s first CSA, which sold basic boxes of their produce to customers every week during the growing season. “I was inter-ested in community agriculture, too, in ways people could grow their own food,” Kim said. She volunteered to help Ann and Gale on their farm and also started Farmhouse Produce, a co-op located at the Anjou Bak-ery in Cashmere.

Deciding to go into the local food business full time, Kim quit her job at the college library in 2005. “It wasn’t like I was hit by a bolt of lightning,” she said.

“I’d been a librarian for thirty years, and I needed a change. And after ten years, I was still only a part-time temp at the col-lege. I just felt I had to move on.”

She joined the Community Farm Connection, another non-profit CSA, and collaborated with them to start her own store, Farmhouse Table, three years later. For the first year, she worked without a salary, and then got a grant from Harriet Bullitt’s Icicle Foundation.

With its space and rent do-nated and some dedicated volunteers, Farmhouse Table seems like a throwback to the past — a kind of food-centered general store that carries the various wares of local farmers. The store stocks local bread, milk, cheese, fruit, grains, herbs, spinach, salad greens, garlic, flowers, peas, jam and cookies. Although there’s quite a variety of fresh and organic produce at Farmhouse Table for vegetar-ians, the store also supplies its carnivorous customers with

beef, chicken and pork from the Crown S Ranch in Winthrop.

“We’ve tried to get bison, and we’ll have lamb in the future,” Kim said. She even sells sea-sonal wild salmon from Alaska, caught by the brother of a Quincy farmer she buys from.

With the national and state economy still in a tailspin, homegrown food is on the rise, Kim said. “We’re going to see much more interest in buying local.” She hopes to expand the operation to include a deli with prepared foods, and also to add

a classroom to teach consumers about sustainable agriculture.

“When I get a little money, I buy books. And if there is any left over, I buy food,” the Dutch philosopher Erasmus wrote five centuries ago. Kim Lohse has bought a lot of both in her ca-reer. But for now, she’d probably buy the food first.

Alan Moen has his own small farm in the Entiat Valley, where he and his

wife Susan Kidd raise sheep, goats and chickens, and grow wine grapes

for their Snowgrass Winery.

“We’re going to see much more interest in buying local.”


By James mcGreGOr

as a child I dreamt of find-ing dinosaur fossils and bones.

As I grew older, I found myself hoping to be an archeologist or paleontologist. Movies like King Solomon’s Mine and Indiana Jones inspired me to read and look for adventure.

While I was never able to fulfill my own Jurassic Park adventure, I recently found an experience close to home that filled that gap in my life.

Nestled in the northeast corner of Washington State in the small town of Republic, this town of 1,000 appears to be a normal small western town; however, there is one thing that makes this town very unique: The Stonerose fossil site.

The Stonerose fossil site was discovered in 1977 by Wesley Wehr and Kirk R. Johnson. Since then, hundreds of fossils have been identified and categorized by both professionals and ama-teurs.

This fossil bed was created over 50 million years ago. At that time a great lake covered the area where Republic is now located. Over the years plants and animals would die, sink to the bottom and be covered by sediment and volcanic ash. Eventually these layers hard-

ened, forming shale. Through geological action and time, the lake bottom was pushed up to its current location.

I, along with my wife and kids, arrived at the Stonerose Inter-pretive Center midmorning. We entered the office, paid a modest fee, and were given a quick les-son in fossil digging and recov-ery. We were then instructed on safety at the site and the tools

needed.We left the office, retrieved

our hammers, chisels and water, then walked up the street to the dig site.

As I walked, I could hear the clanging of hammers by other fossil diggers and the hollow sound of metal hitting rock. My anticipation grew.

“What would it be like?” I kept asking myself. I had seen

plenty of fossil digs, all on the Discovery Channel, so I did have a picture in my mind — but be-fore me was not the deep quarry like I had pictured but an angled rock wall cut into the hill.

There were two places to dig. The first was right next to the road, covered with rock debris and lined with sheltered picnic tables. The second site was on a hill created from discarded rock

ABOVE: Jimmy McGregor scouts out layers of stone in the hillside. Many of the layers have fossils between them. BELOW LEFT: Julene McGregor splits open layers to find fossils. BELOW RIGHT: Fossils of leaves millions of years old.

Dig it, manunearthInG FOssIls Is nOthInG lIke In the mOvIes, But stIll, we GOt sOme keepers mIllIOns OF years Old


till and under a rock overhang.I decided to start next to the

road.Figuring out exactly where to

start was harder than I thought. Was it excitement or that I was overwhelmed? In the end I just picked a spot on a wall and started pounding.

The wall consisted of over 100 layers of stone. It was less like digging and more like prying thin sheets of glass from the middle of a layered glass wall. Using a hammer and pry bar, I would break the rock behind the layer I wanted to remove. I would then pry out that section, releasing pressure and allowing for the removal of more intact layers. It is like removing a par-ticular layered cake from a stack of layer cakes, with each indi-vidual layer cake having fossils in the center.

After several hours of rock removal, I finally had enough layers to start the fossil removal process.

At this point, I knew that real life fossil hunting was not like it is portrayed in movies. In the movies, the star can be seen picking up a section of rock and tapping the hammer on the layer to reveal a fossil — sorry, but not happening in real life, at least not with every fossil.

As instructed by the Stonerose Center, I sat on the shale and dust covered ground and placed the stone between both of my feet. Then I took the chisel and carefully placed it near the center of the layer. I tapped the chisel, moving it around the

section of stone until I tapped around the entire stone. Some rocks split in half, revealing a fossil — other pieces just crum-bled.

When first exposed to air, the fossil is very fragile and in fact appears to be wet — it is. The moisture has been trapped with the fossil for millions of years. If you touch the fossil at this point, it will smear and sometimes even disappear. After about 10 minutes, the fossil is dry and able to be handled.

Each person who digs at the

site is allowed to keep three fos-sils. Every fossil removed from the site has to be identified, cataloged if necessary and if it is something unusual the Center has the right to keep it.

While we did not find any-thing unusual, we did find more than I expected. Some of our stars came in the form of pine needles, various leaves, seeds, and fish parts.

The only thing I would change about my trip to Republic is to spend at least two days at the site, if not more.

When visiting the Stonerose dig site, be sure to take extra water and light snacks. In ad-dition, the distance to Republic can be great and I would not consider it a day trip. There are a couple of motels and many camp grounds in the area.

James McGregor is a graduate of Wenatchee Valley College and has

worked in many different industries in the valley. He is also editor of the North Central Washington Prospec-

tors newsletter as well as an avid writer. He is looking forward to

taking a second trip to Republic next summer.

When first exposed to air, the fossil is very fragile and in fact appears to be wet — it is. the moisture has been trapped with the fossil for millions of years.


By dave GrayBIll

When I was about two years old I disappeared.

My Mom frantically searched the house and yard, and finally found me standing on a rock in the middle of Mission Creek. She said I had a stick in my hand and it looked like I was trying to fish! So I guess it was in my genes to always love fishing.

I have been passionate about fishing all my life and have also enjoyed sharing my experiences and knowledge of the sport with others. My first real job after graduating from the University of Washington was at Fishing and Hunting News in Seattle.

Now my full-time job and “en-core” career as the FishingMagi-cian is spreading the word about my fishing experiences here in Central Washington. Thousands of people listen to my radio broadcasts, read my newspaper articles and watch my television shows or visit my web site.

When I told my wife about my

plan to retire from my job at a local radio station, she wasn’t pleased with me. We were on a flight to Belize and she didn’t want to hear I planned on quit-ting my job as we were starting our vacation.

Yet, when we met our friends and were getting settled into our beachfront rental, she made the announcement to them before I had the chance. She had watched the progress of my business, and although leaving the security of a job was a bit scary, she had confidence in my ability to make it work.

Her agreement with the path I had chosen was important. She is part of what I have built. She had been my editor for years, and now is shooting and editing the videos we do for the fishing and cooking TV shows.

I work her pretty hard, too. Each month, in addition to providing reports and columns for 10 radio stations and eight newspapers on a weekly basis, we also are producing eight shows for cable television: four

new fishing shows and four new cooking shows.

The demands of getting the shoots for these shows sched-uled and produced each month were what drove me to the deci-sion to leave my friends at the radio station.

There is just too much to do

now to keep everything rolling. I typically drive over 25,000 miles a year exploring the fishing in our region. I am very fortu-nate to be sponsored by Bob Feil Boats and Motors in East Wenatchee that provide a Lund 1800 Sport Angler, and Town Ford that provides me an F-150

Ivy Wild Inn owner and chef Richard Kitos helps Dave Graybill prepare pizza crust for the barbecue under the dappled lighting of a maple tree in the back-yard of the Wenatchee B&B, while Eileen Graybill in the lower left captures the action for a segment on Dave’s cooking TV show.

Cooking with Dave

hOw dave GrayBIll turned a lOve OF FIshInG IntO an encOre career


crew cab to pull it.Our weeks can be pretty

busy. We may be on Banks Lake shooting a fishing TV show on Saturday, and then spend most of the day Sunday prepping the dishes that will be used during shooting of the TV show. I often don’t get a chance to write my weekly column and send photos to my web site until after 10 at night.

On Mondays, I will go to KW-CC-TV and write, produce and distribute a couple of reports for the radio stations and newspa-pers that use them every week.

The fishing shows are just plain fun. I get to fish — often with friends — and Eileen does the heavy lifting of editing a day’s worth of video.

The cooking shows are more work. All the prep beforehand and setting up at various loca-tions takes time. The actual shooting is fun, though, and eat-ing what we cook is the reward.

We have more control over these shoots, too, and the editing takes less time.

I really like creating new dishes to prepare or have some-one else demonstrate one of his favorites. There is a lot of laugh-ter while we cook on the grills or camp stove.

Eileen is certain she is going to capture a great “blooper” that will win big money on America’s Funniest Videos. I nearly set fire to the whole set one day, and now we keep a fire extinguisher close at hand. I have never claimed to be an expert angler or cook. I think most people can relate to my approach, and can laugh right along with me.

So, how did I get to where fish-ing is my job?

Ever since my first radio broadcast on local fishing on KOZI Radio in Chelan, I knew it was possible. A few years later I started offering my reports to radio stations on a “barter” ba-sis. They would get the reports

}}} Continued on next page


for free, but I would get time for an ad I could sell myself.

This then lead to interest by local newspapers to add the reports or special columns every week. I am also paid to do feature stories for some of these papers and for regional fishing magazines.

The FishingMagician Outdoor Show that I started a couple of years ago was my first venture into television broadcast and cable distribution. I am able to sell sponsorships on both the fishing and cooking TV shows, and they generate very good

revenues. My web site has great poten-

tial for generating income with the traffic it gets each month. I launched my web site, Fish-ingMagician.com, in 2001, and was terrifically excited when I learned it was getting 25,000 hits a month. Traffic has in-

creased, though. This month, my web site will end the month logging over 400,000 hits, and over 20,000 new visits. It is

a very powerful way to reach those with an interest in visit-ing North Central Washington to fish, and I now will have the time to develop it even more. I sell enough advertising to cover the costs of maintenance, but it will eventually be a significant part of my earnings.

Leaving radio wasn’t an easy choice. I had many great clients I had worked with for years, and the working environment was the best I ever had. Being in sales I had a great deal of freedom with my days, but after spending over 10 years in the business, it was time to make a change. The income from my fishing interests had far exceed-ed my radio income the past few years anyway.

So yes, fishing is my business, but it’s not all a day at the lake. It keeps us pretty busy.

The Fishing TV Show is aired on Sat-urday and Sunday mornings at 7:00

a.m. on Charter Cable channel 19 and Local Tel’s channel 12, and Genext’s Channel 12 in Chelan and Douglas

counties. The Cooking TV Show is broadcast immediately after the Fishing TV

Show on all the same channels, be-ginning at 7:30 a.m.


Smoked Fish Spread, by Dave GraybillA recipe that yields about four cups

I can give you instructions, but since I don’t measure everything (being a man) you’ll have to experiment a bit to get it to your taste. It’s really simple, though, so it’s hard to screw up.

Take two chunks of smoked fish (approx. 8 oz.) and crumble them into a container. A stainless bowl will do, but I use a two-quart pottery bowl that is high and narrow and it makes it easy to mix everything.

I then add 1/2 large red onion, finely chopped.Cover the fish and onion with a generous amount of dill (lots). The

kind you get in the spice section works fine. I have tried fresh and it didn’t make much difference.

Take two bricks of cream cheese (8 oz.) and place in a microwave on high for three minutes. This makes it soft and very easy to mix.

Take a fork and blend the cream cheese with the onion, fish and dill. Be sure to get to the bottom of the bowl so there are no pockets of un-mixed ingredients.

I put the mixture into Zip Lock containers. I let the containers cool unopened before I cover them and place them

in the fridge. It will last about a week or so in the fridge. When served, it can be heated in the microwave or allowed to warm a bit to soften to spread on crackers.

Prepare to become popular when people find out you have a supply of this stuff in your fridge!

Dave fishes in Belize: He sometimes takes his fishing and cooking shows on the road.

this month, my web site will end the month logging over 400,000 hits, and over 20,000 new visits.

October 2010 | AT hoMe iN The Good Life | 21

At Home fresh ideas for the home

FEATURED HOME

TIMBER FRAME AT ITS HEART/26

This Leavenworth home grew from a photo taken of a lodge in British Columbia

22 | AT hoMe iN The Good Life | October 2010

{ fAvorite tHinGs } Ideas for the home from local merchants and artisans

“I have tried to pick out my five favorite things — however, this was quite difficult as I love everything in our store,” said Geri Elsensohn of Real Deals Home Decor.

Brown mirror — “This one I like because of the engraved wood frame. It’s very chunky and univer-sal.”

Copper pumpkins – “These are definitely a favorite, as I love copper. These are beautiful to display from early fall all the way through Thanksgiving.”

Glass lantern – “These are unique and delicate, and can be used indoors or out. I just love the artistic scroll work.”

October 2010 | AT hoMe WiTh The Good Life | 21

sellInG Is Great Fun“I love selling things — anyone who knows me will tell you

that,” said Geri Elsensohn, who with her husband, Rich, owns Real Deals Home Décor in Wenatchee.

Yet, Geri’s first venture into a retail store came almost by accident.

“We were visiting my mother-in-law who said I just had to see a new store in Lewiston,” remembers Geri. “She took me to the Real Deals there, and when the owner found out I was from Wenatchee, said I had to open a store here because people from this area were wondering where a local store was.”

Geri and Rich opened the Wenatchee Real Deals last Oct. 1 in the Go USA Building at 501 S.

Columbia Street. The franchise store that sells items for decorating the home inside and out has the unusual concept of opening only two days a week, Thursday and Saturday, which fits into the busy life

of a mom with school-age children.

Geri Elsensohn

Map clock — “This is Rich’s favorite. Very nice clock with a great map and pendulum. Somewhat masculine, and yet another unique piece.”

Blue vase — “Elegant and classy. They look great by themselves, or with a flower arrangement.”

www.chelanpud.org

You can’t see it but you can feel it

Now’s the time to insulate your home for winter warmth and comfort. Insulation costs just a little and can help you save a lot on your electric bills. And with Chelan County PUD’s weatherization incentives program, you’ll save even more. Learn more on our website, or call (509) 661-8008.

24 | AT hoMe WiTh The Good Life | October 2010

NCW Home Professionals

tHE SOLAr LiFEtInkerInG arOund the leadInG edGe OF alternatIve enerGy FOr Fun and reBates

By randy BrOOks

i became interested in solar energy in the 1970s, during the first “gas crisis.”

I wondered why we couldn’t incorporate passive solar design in our buildings, like the native people of the southwest did cen-turies ago, to passively heat and cool our homes.

Predictions of “peak oil” had already been published, and I wondered how we would adjust to a future with limited and expensive oil supplies. I tinkered with drawing and building mod-els of passive solar cabins and homes.

In the early 1990s my wife, Anne, and I had an opportunity to build a passive solar home we had designed in my hometown of Chelan. With the help of a contractor friend, we built the house during vacations, as we could afford it. The house was mostly complete by 1996. It is passive solar, earth-bermed, super-insulated, and has a solar

hot water system. In 2001, we added a solar elec-

tric system (photovoltaic, PV) that we tied to the PUD grid. We sell all the solar energy from our system to the Chelan County PUD SNAP (Sustainable Natural Alternative Power) program. We also later added a wind turbine system and solar pool heating system. The wind turbine has since been sold.

Also in 1996, planning for retirement from my first career, Anne and I decided to return to Chelan and start a renew-able energy business. I began to prepare for this career change by attending training on design and installation of solar electric (photovoltaic, PV) systems, and reading everything I could find on renewable energy. I retired in August 2000 and we incorpo-rated our business, Brooks Solar, Inc, in the fall. We work out of a home office and use our home to demonstrate renewable energy technologies.

Over the past 10 years, we have installed close to 100 renewable

Randy and Anne Brooks: Solar home earns money each year from the Chelan County P.U.D.

energy systems totaling over 350 kilowatts of generating capacity. These systems have included all kinds of renewable energy —

passive solar design, solar hot water, solar pool heating, solar space heating, micro-hydro tur-bines, wind turbines, and solar electric systems, both off grid and grid tied.

The work has been interesting and challenging as the renew-able energy industry has grown rapidly and continued to ma-ture.

Our passive solar home has proven itself. Although it is “all electric,” like most other Chelan County homes, it is very efficient and we use less than $400 electricity annually. Our 1.6-kilowatt grid tied, solar electric system earns more than double that amount in incen-tives every year. The house is warm in winter and cool in summer — we don’t need air conditioning. We turn the circuit breaker for the hot water


tank off in May and use only solar heated water until Octo-ber. Our swimming pool, which we use from late April to late September, is heated only with solar energy.

We also have a passion for electric vehicles.

It’s discouraging to know that internal combustion engine vehicles are only about 17 per-cent efficient at turning fuel to motion on the road. Fuel cell vehicles are only about 20 per-cent efficient.

But battery electric vehicles are 60 percent to 80 percent efficient at turning electricity to motion on the road. And, they can be “fueled” by local renew-able energy systems, including our hydro powered grid. At our electric rates, electricity is equivalent to $0.40 per gallon gasoline!

Electric vehicles are incred-ibly reliable, have fewer moving parts, and require less mainte-nance than internal combustion engine vehicles.

We’ve had an electric ATV for six years. We use it for plowing the driveway and doing chores around our property. I’ve built three solar powered drag racers and competed in the annual Solar Powered Drag Race in Wenatchee. I led the effort to convert a 1948 Allis-Chalmers row crop cultivator tractor to electric. It’s been used by the local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) vegetable farm for the last three years. I converted a 2002 Toyota Echo from gas to electric drive. It goes about 30 miles between charges, recharges overnight,

and is perfect for driving around the Lake Chelan valley. I also converted our 32-foot sailboat from a gas inboard auxiliary en-gine to electric drive. It “starts” every time and never dies when we’re trying to idle into a diffi-cult dock.

We are now semi-retired and no longer do renewable energy systems installations, but pro-vide consulting for owners and contractors on renewable energy site assessments, system design, providing products, and moni-toring installation and commis-

sioning of systems when needed.We made this change to en-

courage mainstream electrical and plumbing contractors to get involved with renewable energy installations.

We also enjoy having more time for travel and sailing!

GettInG started wIth renewaBle enerGyFirst, invest in conservation.For every $1 spent on con-

servation, $3 to $5 is saved in energy production.

Second, consider passive solar design to reduce heating and cooling costs. Space heating and cooling average 50 percent of home energy use. A properly designed passive solar structure can use up to 90 percent less energy.

Third, consider a solar hot wa-ter heater. Water heating aver-ages 20 percent of home energy use. A solar hot water heater can provide up to 90 percent of your hot water. Check with your power company about low inter-est energy conservation loans for solar water heating systems. If you have a heated swimming pool, a solar pool heater can dramatically reduce your pool heating energy use. If you have an unheated pool, a solar pool heater can extend your season of use.

The most cost effective method of producing renewable energy is with a micro-hydro generator. If you are fortunate enough to have a good stream, a

micro-hydro system can produce power for $.03 to $.05 per kilo-watt hour (kWh). Intake screens are available to eliminate intake clogging and concerns about impacting aquatic species. Micro-hydro systems are non-consump-tive — removing water only for a short distance. They do not alter the temperature, oxygen con-tent, pH or other characteristics of the water.

Wind power is the next most cost effective renewable energy source ($.12 to $.25 per kWh). You should have an average annual wind speed of 7 mph or greater, and the wind system tower should be high enough so the bottom of the turbine blades are 30 feet above any obstacle within 500 feet. Tilt-up towers make erecting and servicing a wind turbine much easier. Tur-bines are available that are very quiet. Wind turbines have mov-ing parts, however, so require maintenance.

Photovoltaics (PV) modules, to produce electricity from the sun, are the most costly form of renewable energy ($.25 - $.35 per kWh). For systems not con-

nected to the electric grid, fixed arrays are recommended for best winter power production at least cost. For systems connected to the grid, tracker mounted arrays produce the most power year round. Building integrated mod-ules allow aesthetically pleasing and unobtrusive arrays.

Fossil fuel generator power, such as a home gas powered generator, is estimated to cost $1/kWh. Local PUD rates are two to three cents per kilowatt hour, and national rates average around 12 cents per kWh.

If you are connected to the grid, ask your power company about low interest loans for renewable energy systems, and if they have a program to pur-chase power that you produce with a PV, wind, or micro-hydro system at Green Power rates (up to $1.50 per kWh — considerably more than we pay for power). If they don’t have these programs, suggest they consider them. They can contact Chelan County PUD for details about their SNAP (Sustainable Natural Alternative Power) program.

— by Randy Brooks

i converted a 2002 toyota echo from gas to electric drive. it goes about 30 miles between charges... perfect for lake chelan...


A PiCturE tO BuiLD uPONIdea FrOm a phOtO OF a lOdGe In BrItIsh cOlumBIa Grew IntO a serene hOme alOnG the rIver’s edGe

stOry By susan laGsdInphOtOs By GreGG krOGstad

When Willis and Michelle Flood looked for their Leaven-worth retirement home site, a place for a new life beyond city jobs and city concerns, they walked to the edge of this acre-plus of rocky ground easing down to the Wenatchee River, a short swing of dirt drive off Highway 2, and they said, “Yes.”

The couple remembered, “We knew the minute we saw it this would be the place. There was no question.” The first big deci-sion was made.

They made their second big decision shortly after that by hiring general contractor Fred Dowdy to build the structure. Not from scratch, not from a menu of plans, but from a pho-tograph the Floods had taken of a lodge in Yoho National Park, British Columbia.

What had grabbed and held their attention was the tradi-tional look of timber frame construction, best imagined as the equivalent of an Amish barn-raising — tall timbers and supporting crossbeams creating a skeleton on which to hang the walls.

Efficient, beautiful and endur-ing, it’s more expensive, they learned, than modern stick-frame construction, almost a deal breaker from the start.

The Floods also envisioned wing additions, side rooms and halls that precluded a pure barn shape with its beamed great room and loft.

But Fred Dowdy offered an alternative they could live with: a hybrid house with the look of timber frame at the center, with structural trusses across the double-high ceiling, and the flexibility of conventional stick-framing for the other rooms.

The property is named “River

Willis and Michelle Flood enjoy the after-

noon in front of the outdoor fireplace Willis

built using rocks and driftwood from their

lot.


Rest,” though “A.S.A.P.” might be a good nickname. Ground-breaking was June 1, 2009 and the home was move-in ready only eight months later.

For a 3,200-square-foot house, an amalgam of new-tech ma-terials and carefully chosen rock and wood elements, plus a hundred designer choices, that’s fast. The list of vendors, subcon-tractors and craftsmen shows the Flood’s commitment to their new community — they’re all local but for one trusted San Francisco kitchen designer.

And although the couple are not rookies after home building experience in the Bay Area and Edmonds, they relied strongly on the expertise and instincts of their guru/builder.

Michelle and Willis grinned with appreciation, “Fred facili-tated everything from start to finish. He started as our builder and finished as a friend.” There’s even a hand painted sign in the kitchen alluding to the power

of his opinion: “FRED SAID,” as well as his life size photo-face on a tricky corner beam that intrudes (only slightly) on the pantry doorway.

Dowdy’s interior design consultant Alessandra Piro was there to help in every step of their decision-making, from un-orthodox and perfect paint colors to peb-bly tile, appliances, windows, counters, flooring and artwork, trim and doorknobs, lighting and carpet-

ing. “She was absolutely invalu-able,” said Michelle, “and a true asset to Fred.”

There are touches of whimsy. A waist-high cupboard door in the master bath opens directly into a hamper in the laundry room, which actually abuts the wall but would be a long walk down through hallways and back.

Storage space behind upstairs rooms is designated for grand-kid access, a “secret passageway” that leads all the way down the eaves of the house to an attic above the garage.

With paint chip names like “elephant” and “gorilla,” you wouldn’t expect it, but there are subtle touches of purple in some dignified gray walls. And surprisingly bright green glossy tiles were chosen to liven up what was becoming a mono-chrome kitchen.

There are touches of irony. Slabs of walnut were picked up


Builder Fred Dowdy suggested this hybrid: The look of timber frame at the center and the flexibility of con-ventional stick-framing for the other rooms.

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by a friend at an Idaho dealer’s lot. He then learned the wood had been harvested from Wenatchee’s Washington Park after the windstorm that tore across the region.

And the boulders described on a pricey invoice as “unforeseen rocky conditions” were problems that soon became elegant landscaping solutions: they made a perfect circular bench on white sand around the beachside fire pit, and a tall pyramidal out-door fireplace that dominates the veranda.

The two bedrooms at loft-level with pri-


vate baths as well as the master suite on the ground floor all look east.

Their windows and the glassed wall of the cathedral-like great room directly face the river, where sandstone shelves and a deep channel form a fluid sculpture that blends the blue-green hues of lawn, trees, and sky.

It’s a conscientiously-maintained riparian

area with an occasional raft trip floating by, bird life abounding, a place for morning cof-fee in the sun.

The wrought iron gate at the driveway is not far from the hum of highway traffic, but the home that the Floods and their builder created at the water’s edge seems to be in a serene world of its own.

ABOVE: The master bedroom has a fireplace and nature right out of the windows.

RIGHT: An open kitchen has views of the main floor.

NCW Home Professionals


VOLUNTEErS>>

From being abandoned to helping others

By dOnna cassIdy

doreen Smith rescued Wy-att from a life of sickness and abandonment. Now the male yellow lab is helping in the fight against a major illness of hu-mans.

“Our daughter, Lynette, was alerted by a friend living in Vancouver that two dogs had been left abandoned for over four months in the back yard of a home wherein a family had walked away from their mar-riage, their home and the dogs,” said Doreen.

“One dog was a yellow lab and the other a chocolate lab. The neighbors were feeding the dogs and each was excessively over weight and very sick.”

Lynette Smith took the dogs to Cascade Veterinary Clinic where Dr. Ed Womack and Dr. Don Berdan helped get both dogs back to health. The dogs had staph infection, yeast infec-tion, bladder infection, allergies to food with sores and loss of hair all over their bodies. Both dogs were 40 pounds over-weight. They were in the doc-tors’ care from August through October.

“My husband and I had never considered owning a large ani-mal, but we chose to adopt Wy-att,” said Doreen, who learned of the dogs from her daughter Lynette, who ended up with Ranger. Lynette had heard about the dogs from a friend.

“We registered Wyatt at the Wenatchee Kennel Club for obedience training and discov-ered that Wyatt listened very well, had a calm gentle tempera-ment and loved people and chil-

dren. We fell in love with him as did his trainer, Karen Hall,” said Doreen.

Health is important to her family, said Doreen. She belongs to Gold’s Gym where she joined the Gold’s Gym Fitness For Life Program 2010. She and Wyatt walked to businesses promoting health and fitness not just for humans but for animals as well. And people began donating money. The money goes toward the NCW Rural Health Founda-tion for diabetes education and support.

“Because Wyatt loves to walk, he became my inspiration and motivation to better health. Wy-att and I began walking, visiting service clubs and businesses around town to raise money for the diabetes program. We raised $1,253 for the foundation and felt very blessed by the generos-ity of the people with whom we visited,” said Doreen.

“In all of our travels, I soon discovered what joy Wy-att was bringing to people with his wagging tail, gentle disposi-tion and his smiling face that warms one’s heart. People would stop us on our walks and ask about him and ask if they could pet him. Others would tell me what a handsome dog he is and Wyatt just beamed. People have actually stopped us as we are walking Riverfront Park to visit with Wyatt and share their lik-ing of him,” she said.

With Wyatt’s love of people and enjoyment of walking, Doreen has decided to start a program called “Have Dog Will Travel.” She and Wyatt plan on visiting retirement homes, nurs-ing homes and Respite Day Care at the Lutheran Church this

Doreen Smith and Wyatt: “I discovered what joy Wyatt was bringing to people with his wagging tail, gentle disposition and his smiling face.”

winter. “Animals are an excellent way

of communicating with people,

and Wyatt brings forth smiles that can be so therapeutic to many,” said Doreen.


it is the season to think about comfort food.

I love getting the windows all steamy on these early dark nights to set the scene for great stews and soups. Be sure to decorate the table with some fallen leaves you have gathered from your garden.

Note to self: It is still time to garden so plant more onions, garlic and shallots. So many recipes call for these vegetables. October is the best time to plant these allium family members. They grow roots in the late fall and winter and can be harvested by late June. Some shallots do better planted in the spring, according to Dr. John Rudd, the shallot grower extraordinaire.

I talked last month about ripening green tomatoes, but one of my favorite uses of green tomatoes is a simple cream soup. It has a lemony zest. You can substitute red peppers for the green tomatoes to create a sweet and fragrant soup.

Try this recipe under the pic-ture of Green Tomato Soup.

My two friends, Anne and Gayle, who owned Earth Song Farm, served the most satisfying kale stew I have ever eaten. This stew — the best of any kind I have ever eaten — gets better and better. Two days in the re-frigerator is perfect — if you can wait that long to eat it.

Many people think kale and mustard greens are on the bot-tom of the vegetable chain as end-of –the-world survival fare supplemented with dandelion leaves. My experience is that

those people who curl their lips in disgust have actually never tried any of these greens — and they are missing a great taste treat.

KALE STEWOlive oil1 large onion chopped6 whole garlic cloves1-pound smoky sausage chopped

in ½ inch pieces1 pint chicken stock2 cups cooked white beans — or

open two cans3 large tomatoes peeled, seeded

and chopped4 cups chopped kaleSalt and pepperRed hot pepper—optionalParsley to garnishSome notes: I love Hemplers

Double Smoked Sausage sold at Top Foods

A 15-ounce can of beans has about one cup of beans and the remainder of the contents is salted water. During soup and stew sea-son, I often cook up a large quanti-ty of white beans and freeze them in two cup portions.

Brown onion and garlic in olive oil.

Add the sausage pieces and brown them.

Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Stir in the beans, tomatoes, kale.Cook for 20 minutes.Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add a dash of hot pepper or use hot pepper sausage for a stew with a kick.

Bonnie Orr gardens and cooks in East Wenatchee.

A zesty soup using green tomatoes

coluMn GArdEN OF dELIGHTSbonnIE orr

>>

GREEN TOMATO SOUP or RED PEPPER SOUPDon’t use both peppers and tomatoes in the same soup because it will make a

brown goop.

1 quart chopped green tomatoes OR red peppers)

1 pint chicken stock

1 onion finely chopped

1 cup sour cream OR 1 cup

buttermilk

3 Tablespoons each chopped

basil, savory and parsley

1 Tablespoon butter

1. Boil the tomatoes for 10 minutes in 1-cup chicken stock. If you use peppers, skip step #1

2. Puree the fruit — ya, ya. peppers are technically fruit, as are tomatoes. If this sounds like too much work, skip this step, and go directly to step three. The alternative method provides a chunky soup; step two creates an elegant smooth soup.

3. Brown the onion in butter. Add the remaining chicken stock and bring to a boil.

4. Stir in the green tomatoes and cook for about 20 minutes until the tomatoes are very soft.

5.Turn the heat to low and blend in the sour cream or buttermilk. The sour cream makes a thicker soup than the buttermilk. The taste is about the same for either dairy product. Fat-free sour cream is not appropriate for cooking or baking because it dissolves into a watery mush and does not emul-sify the other ingredients. I prefer to use regular sour cream rather than low fat because the taste is richer. If you wish to conserve on cream calories use half sour cream and half buttermilk.

6. Turn off the heat and stir in the herbs. Let the soup sit for 5 minutes. Serve with crusty bread or cheese crackers.

relish yourdays

To subscribe: Send $25 ($30 out of state) to:The Good Life10 First Street, # 108, Wenatchee, WA 98801or, e-mail: [email protected]


cameron Fries is a wine-maker, and like many other winemakers, is involved in more than just making the wine.

At White Heron Cellars, which is on Stuhlmiller Road just west of Quincy, he is also the tasting room manager, vineyard man-ager, and chief bottle washer.

I think it was the fall of 1991 when friends Antje and Rudy Prey, Sr. drove us around the area to familiarize us with the geography and the places of interest in our new home sur-roundings. Rudy took us to a winery operating out of a for-mer gas station in George. Rudy preferred the Riesling, perhaps showing somewhat his German-ic heritage.

But that was decades ago, and friend Rudy Prey has moved on to a higher place. Come to think of it, so has Cameron Fries. He’s no longer in that old gas station in George.

Cameron followed his dream to build an estate winery here in North Central Washington. He searched for a spot to plant his own grapes and make wines his way.

Mariposa Vineyards, planted in 1990, is the foundation for White Heron Cellars Winery, and was a site chosen with the guidance of consultant Wade Wolf. It is the realization, after years of hard and dedicated work, of a quality winery pro-ducing unique wines from estate grown grapes (and a Chardon-nay from Columbia Valley AVA designation). Well done, Cam-eron, or should that be well done, Fries family? All family members have certainly partici-pated in making this a success-ful venture.

The vineyard is planted and producing. The tasting room in

front of the production facility exists. And behind the building, the grounds have been shaped to create an outdoor perfor-mance arena. “We’ve had events at which we seated over 250 people in the arena,” Cameron told me recently.

I was at the arena for two reasons. First, it had been some time since we’d visited and tasted White Heron wines. Second, we went specifically to attend the event: the 4th Annual Bread, Cheese and Cured Meats Concert.

Also, I was eager to taste again the White Heron Rous-sanne, which we did, and I was very glad to remember we had some of the 2005 in our cellar. Roussanne is one of those rich, complex white wines with great minerality, which ages well. Another wine we tried was a 2001 Bordeaux-stye blend, the Mariposa Red, which gave us the opportunity of trying an older wine. That type of blend is

noted for its aging potential.The event was well attended

that evening. I’d estimate the at-tendance at just under 100, and considering the fact the mer-cury rested at about 94F at 5:30 p.m. and that this was also the Saturday of the annual Tri-Cities Wine Festival, I felt the atten-dance more than adequate.

Vinman’s Bakery of Ellensberg offered a variety of excellent breads for sale, Alpine Lakes Cheese had an array of their outstanding sheep’s milk chees-es, and Leavenworth’s Cured presented two plates — one of fresh sausage done on the grill and served with Kraut, and the other, a plate of Cured’s sausages

and salamis beautifully arranged and presented on a grape leaf.

I nearly panicked when I read about the music: Reggae Rock by the band, “Passing Liberty.” I enjoyed Reggae back in the ’60s, but was never a rock fan.

This group, however, per-formed music we liked. They offered originally written songs set to Reggae tempos, all of which were pleasing to my ears, and I did not need to remove my hearing aids to protect my ear drums.

We ran into old friends at the event and met new people and formed new friendships. That was one of the aspects of the event that pleased me — the collective friendship among the attendees. This was a family-friendly program on very family friendly grounds.

I watched the people seated on the hillside, the children frolick-ing in the lower field, friends sharing foods, wines, laughing. I thought, “This is what wine and food events should be all about — friends and family sharing life’s better moments.”

Some time ago, I wrote a note to a wine-loving friend who had asked me a simple question: “To whom should credit go for sparking the interest and initiat-ing the expansion of wine and winery interest here in North Central Washington?”

The list of important contribu-tors to this expansion is long, but at the top of my list, every time I write it, is Cameron Fries.

Alex Saliby is a wine lover who spends far too much time reading

about the grapes, the process of mak-ing wine and the wines themselves.

He can be contacted at [email protected].

Cameron Fries bottles wine and fun

coluMn ALEX ON WINEALEX SALIbY

>>

Cameron Fries: Creating a dream that you can drink — and dance — to.

this is what wine and food events should be — friends and family sharing life’s better moments.


Many years ago our friends the late Gary Hannon and his wife Corrine introduced us to the idea of mystery weekends.

One of them would plan a two-night weekend getaway, but the other one would not have a clue where they were going or what they would be doing.

Since Corrine was our en-doscopy nurse then at Central Washington Hospital, she and I decided to plan such an adven-ture together with our spouses and keep it secret from them until the day we all left.

We were discussing our plans to float or kayak down the Snake River in Hell’s Canyon. We were planning the details for the coming weekend while we were doing a colonoscopy on a female

patient. During such a procedure we

use “conscious sedation,” which generally causes brief amnesia for the procedure. When Cor-rine was taking the patient back to her room on the gurney, the lady quietly said to Corrine, “Pardon me nurse, but are you and the doctor planning to go away together this weekend?” So much for the amnesia induced by this drug. This is how rumors get started.

Now that I am retired, we no longer have to restrict these “mini vacations” to weekends.

For years I have kept a file of potential places and B&B’s that I read about and thought that some day we might visit. In 2008 I read an article in the Seattle PI about the Lovitt Restaurant near

Colville.This August I took Lynn on

a two-day mystery trip into eastern Washington that would include Colville so we could eat at the Lovitt Restaurant.

When we left Wenatchee and headed north, Lynn immedi-ately guessed we were going to the Methow Valley. But when I turned east onto Highway 2, she grabbed the map and started guessing.

Our first stop was at the Dry Falls Park near Coulee City. The interpretive center there has a wonderful video showing how the gigantic Lake Montana built up behind the glaciers over 15,000 years ago during the Ice Age. The lake stretched to where Missoula, Montana is now and was hundreds of feet deep.

Finally it broke through the glacier ice dam and flooded everything in its path, carrying gigantic 20-ton basalt boulders in its path.

Today these boulders can be seen scattered throughout Douglas and other counties. The falls that developed at what is now Dry Falls were once the largest falls in the world. We live in an amazing state filled with natural wonders.

From there we continued east to Creston and turned north

on Highway 25 to follow the eastern shores of Lake Roosevelt for two-and-one-half hours to Kettle Falls. Our destination was Colville, located in a picturesque valley.

I had made reservations at a B&B called Haus Ravencraft, owned by Ursula and Larry Ravencraft. They bought the 1906 Wilson house and in 2000 started to remodel and refurbish this old home to fulfill a dream of having a B&B after retire-ment. They opened for guests in 2008. It is a lovely home listed in the Historic Places Registry. The home is filled with beautiful antiques, and on top of that, the breakfast was absolutely won-derful.

The Lovitt restaurant also oc-cupies another historic treasure, a home built in 1908 and pur-chased in 2005 by Norman and Kirsten Six for the restaurant they planned to open in Colville. They previously had a restau-rant by the same name for three years in Chicago but yearned to return to Washington State.

They use local organically- grown produce, and their meat is organic meat produced for them in a local meat packing plant. The fish is flash frozen in

Surprise your mate with a mystery weekend

coluMn THE TrAVELING dOCTOrjIM brown, M.D.

>>

Ice Age AdventuresExperience geology, Ice Age mammals & Clovis

culture at the Wenatchee Valley Museum

127 S. Mission St. | www.wvmcc.org | 888-6240

Saturday, Oct. 1610 a.m.-2 p.m.


Alaska and delivered directly to them. My meal of cornmeal-encrusted cod was delicious. I would love to return to Colville just to enjoy this fine restaurant again.

The next day we drove out 13 miles to see the Lil Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge and take some pictures. My wife Lynn is a pastel artist, and I thought that I would be able to find plenty of photo ops on this trip to give her new ideas for her pastels. She wasn’t disappointed.

We then headed west on Highway 20 and turned north on Highway 395 following the Kettle River to the border. We crossed into BC at Lauriel, and drove west on Canadian High-way 3.

Stopping for lunch at Grand Forks, BC, we discovered a lovely small town of 4,000, and we learned that this town was a magnet for Russian immigrants in the early 1940s and 1950s. Every restaurant advertised Russian food. We made the good choice of The Borscht Bowl restaurant and enjoyed tradi-tional cabbage and beet borscht along with a traditional Russian vegetarian sandwich on thick, homemade, whole wheat bread.

Leaving Grand Forks, we con-tinued west toward Osoyoos. As we looked down onto beautiful Lake Osoyoos from a 1,600-foot lookout, my wife guessed we were heading for Mike and Etta Cantwell’s Lake Osoyoos home. They are our friends and “fam-ily” since our son married their daughter, and we share two

Lynn Brown at Dry Falls: With a mystery weekend, your spouse may get an unexpected view of the world.

delightful grandchildren with them.

The next day Etta, Mike and I played a round of golf, had lunch together and then we headed home for Wenatchee.

This brief two-night and three-day mystery trip was refreshing and rejuvenating. I highly recommend these mini vacations for everyone. You don’t have to go far to see interesting sights.

Here are some web sites for places and people referenced in the article:www.visitstevens.com and click on lodging to find Haus Ravencraft.

www.lovittrestaruant.com www.pastelsbylynnbrown.com

www.villamarcopolo.com

Jim Brown, M.D., is a semi-retired gastroenterologist who has practiced

for 38 years in the Wenatchee area. He is a former CEO of the Wenatchee

Valley Medical Center.

Bed, BreakFast & InsIGhtFul cOnversatIOnsLynn and I like to visit interest-

ing places and especially to stay in B&B lodgings.

Recently, I took Lynn on a mystery trip to celebrate our wedding anniversary as well as her birthday. I decided to go to one of our favorite cities, Victo-ria, BC. I found a delightful B&B called the Marco Polo Villa and booked the “Silk road” room.

The nicest thing about B&B’s is the breakfast shared with other guests.

At this time we met a couple that grew up in Kenya, Africa. He was a physician trained in Scotland and London and 30 years ago immigrated to Canada to settle in Vancouver, BC.

Another couple, blushing

newlyweds on their honeymoon, asked us some advice once they heard our marriage was in its 48th year. Another guest was a young man who had recently moved from Michigan to Port-land to a high tech job. He had come to bike the ”Galloping Goose” bike trail that winds through Victoria and extends 100 km from Sidney to Sooke, BC.

Our host recommended two wonderful restaurants in the neighborhood that we would never have known about had we not stayed there. We enjoy B&B’s for several reasons, but getting the owner’s personal recom-mendations for places to eat and local places not to miss visiting make it especially fun too.


twO stranGe truths and FIve tIps

i’ve run into a couple of strange truths about a very con-troversial question: “How can we maximize our time and money so that we have a really happy vacation?”

Here’s some insight from research. (And the timing is right. If you start planning this October, you’re bound to have a much better summer vacation in 2011 or even 2012, but maybe not for the reasons you think.)

First strange truth: We don’t really have all that much fun ON vacation. The trip we take in our imagination before the trip begins and in our memory after the trip ends is often more fun than the actual vacation accord-ing to researchers.

Three tips come from under-standing this.

Tip number one. Start plan-ning really early in order to squeeze out all the pre-vacation pleasure you can get. Announce your plan to cruise to Cancun, start looking at brochures, talk to people who’ve been there, bask in the idea of going to Can-cun. Maximize your enjoyment of the pre-trip.

Anticipating the palm trees, sunsets, and ocean breezes may be much more pleasurable than the sunburn, lost wallet, and diarrhea you may really experi-ence.

Don’t despair, however, about what actually happens. As it turns out reality is mutable.

We can largely erase much of the discomfort and disappoint-ment of things not going the way we expected if we pay atten-tion to what’s called the “peak-end” rule.

Peak-end rule basically states that, “All is well that ends well” IF nothing really awful happens and we have at least one fantas-tic moment. Tip number two explains how we can use that research.

Tip number two. When plan-ning activities concentrate on quality more than quantity and make the finale as emotionally uplifting as possible.

According to Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman, our memory of pleasure or displea-sure is mathematical. When evaluating our trip, rather than averaging all of our experiences we had, we subconsciously aver-age only two: the most intense and the last. From that, our memory will automatically ad-just reality to tell us whether we had a good time or not.

For example, it won’t matter if you get some bug bites, can’t find any good snorkeling, and miss the sunset on Haleakala in Maui, as long you catch at least one dazzling rainbow from the bow of the ferry and take the helicopter ride into Waimea canyon on Kauai your last day.

Then we can make the most of our memories by revisiting them as suggested in the following tip.

Tip number three. Create many opportunities for remem-

bering your high points. Our glowing memories can be

recalled with regularity so that we re-experience our pleasure.

I know one woman who loved a particular location in Hawaii. She went there only once, but when she’s feeling stressed, she brings it back to memory. Often she starts her day by focusing on her memories of Hawaii. It calms her and gives her pleasure 20 years later.

So, go ahead and buy that re-frigerator magnet when you visit Niagara Falls.

The following two tips come from the second strange vaca-tion truth — sipping mai tai’s on the beach isn’t all that much fun (after the first one). We don’t even have as much fun buying exotic pearls and black diamonds as we think we do. Hedonic pleasure has a fairly short shelf life.

We’ll be happier if we’re learn-ing about King Tut’s tomb, kaya-king the San Juans, or building a habitat for humanity particu-larly if we are with our friends.

Tip number four. Go on a “stretch” or service vacation.

We experience pleasure when we are increasing our compe-tence and challenging ourselves (both physically and cognitively) and when we are acting altruis-tically.

Elderhostel hosts more than 8,000 learning adventures in all 50 states and in 90 countries. Learning is available for almost anything you can think of in-cluding history, culture, nature, music — there are even learn-ing cruises.

Sierra Club has a number of service trips ranging from help-ing with research projects at whale calving grounds in Maui to assisting with archaeological site restoration in New Mexico.

Stretch ac-tivities make us happy and good relation-ships make us even happier.

Tip number five. Probably the most important tip of all is to make sure your vacation al-lows you to be with people you enjoy.

Before thinking places — Europe, Asia, South America, Mexico, Hawaii or activities — biking, kayaking, surfing, fishing, learning — ask yourself who you’d like to visit or travel with.

Human beings are social crea-tures who take great pleasure from being with other human beings of their liking. We are capable of deriving much more enjoyment from people than either activities or places.

Those who study the needs of human beings tell us that even though our brains and many travel brochures are prodding us to look for a vacation where we can just “veg out” and be pam-pered, what will actually bring us more pleasure is a certain amount of invigoration, help-ing others, and especially being with our favorite people.

Start planning it soon, throw in an intense happy moment with a positive ending and make sure we keep remembering it. The research claims then we’ll have a really happy vacation worth our time and money.

How might you move up to The Good Life by planning a re-ally happy vacation?

June Darling, Ph.D., is an executive coach who consults with businesses

and individuals to achieve goals and increase happiness. She can be reached at [email protected],

or drjunedarling.blogspot.com or at her twitter address: twitter.com/drjunedarling. Her website is www.

summitgroupresources.com.

How to have a happier vacation

coluMn mOVING UP TO THE GOOd LIFEjunE DArLIng

>>

... sipping mai tai’s on the beach isn’t all that much fun (after the first one). We don’t even have as much fun buying exotic pearls and black diamonds as we think we do.



“PICTURE THE MUSICIAN,” 10/1 through Dec. 24, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. The subject matter is individual musicians or musical groups, living or dead, whose home base is in the Pacific Northwest. Many media are included in the exhibit: paintings, posters, photographs, sculpture and more. Wenatchee Valley Mu-seum and Cultural Center.

FIRST FRIDAY AT 2 RIVERS GAL-LERY, 10/1, 5 – 8 p.m. Meet graphic artist Les Garcia, Hollywood film title designer for Universal Stu-

dios and Columbia Pictures. Les worked at Warner Brothers illus-trating Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Friends. Today, Les paints modern expressionism and is the gallery’s featured artist through October. Live music by Thistledown, refresh-ments and wine. 102 N Colum-bia, Wenatchee. Cost: free. Info: www.2riversgallery.com.

FALL FRUIT HARVEST CLASS & TASTING TOUR, 10/1, 8 a.m. Every Friday through October. Stroll the orchard, taste many varieties of tree ripened apples and pears, chilled handcrafted artisan cider and cheese. U-pick, U-eat U-learn. Cashmere Cider Mill Tasting Room, 5420 Woodring Canyon Rd,

Cashmere. Cost: $45 per person. Info: [email protected].

WINGS & WHEELS, 10/1 – 10/3. Food and craft fair, carnival rides, car show, motorcycle parade, parachute jumps and much more. Eastmont Community Park and Pangborn Airport, East Wenatchee. Info: www.east-wenatchee.com.

OkTOBERFEST, 10/1 – 10/2, 10/8- 10/9 & 10/15 – 10 /16. Enjoy the traditions of a traditional Bavarian Festival brought to Leavenworth. International entertainment, Ger-man food and drink, arts and crafts booths. Info: www.oktoberfestleav-enworth.com.

THE BATTLE OF THE BIkES, 10/2, 8:30 a.m., Meet at Lincoln Park in Wenatchee and ride to Ellensburg anyway you want — head over Blewett Pass, Mission Ridge or Co-lockum Pass on the bicyle of your choice. Goal is not speed but who will have the best story to share at the ride’s end, The Tav in Ellens-burg. Cost: Free. RSVP appreciated to Andy Dappen, [email protected].

APPETIzERS MADE EASY, 10/2, 2 p.m. Join Chef Mike Ables for his fun and creative cooking class. Learn new techniques and ideas. Receive recipes and eat what you’ve learned. Chateau Faire Le

WHAT TO dO >>

Wenatchee Ave

Mission Ave

Palouse St

Orondo St

1st St

(509) 66–SUSHI(509) 667–8744

Best New Business

8 N Wenatchee AveM–Th: 11–3, 5–9:30Friday: 11–10Saturday: 12–10

Incredible Sushi & Sashimi • Exquisite Grilled Dishes • Fine Sakes

www.IwaSushi.com

We want to know of fun and in-teresting local events. Send info

to: [email protected]


Pont Winery. Cost: $45 per person. Info: www.fairelepont.com or 667-9463.

CIDER & DONUT DAYS, 10/2 - 10/3. Sample apples, cider and food items throughout the weekend. Walk around an orchard and learn about growing fruit. BBQ, local mu-sicians, door prizes. Orondo Cider Works. Info: www.orondocider-works.com.

APPLE DAYS, 10/2 & 10/3. Apple pie baking contest, harvest hayrides, Pioneer Village tours, arts and crafts and food booths. Cashmere Museum, 600 Cotlets Way.

AN EVENING OF WINE, FOOD AND SONG, 10/2, 6:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. This fundraiser for the 2011 Wenatchee Jazz Workshop features workshop director/trumpeter Erin Smith and the Wenatchee Jazz All-Stars, the Confluence Jazz Trio and local student musicians. Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery. Cost: $10 adults, $5 students.

CRUSH AT THE WINERIES, 10/2 – 10/3 & 10/9 – 10/10. Observe first hand the steps involved in grape

harvest and wine production. Inter-act with the growers and winemak-ers and sample the wines of the region. Lake Chelan. Info: www.lakechelanwinevalley.com.

SONIA DAWkINS PRISM DANCE THEATRE, 10/2, 7 p.m. A company of multi-ethnic dancers trained in classical ballet as well as move-ment techniques established by some of the masters of modern dance - Martha Graham, Lester Horton, and Jose’ Limon - their dances are a fusion of technicality, texture and expressiveness. The visually moving, emotionally com-pelling and wide-ranging choreog-raphy of Sonia Dawkins aims to as-tonish audiences with its freshness, power and depth. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $12 in advance; $15 at the door. Info: www.pacwen.org.

R/C UNLIMITEDS, 10/2 – 10/3. Watch 35 to 45 of the fastest 1/8 scale unlimited hydroplanes compete. Riverwalk Park, Chelan. Info: www.cometothelake.com.

OkTOBERFEST MARATHON, 10/2. Music, parade, food and beverages. Proceeds to cancer research. Leav-enworth. Info: www.leavenworth-marathon.com.

HISTORIC GRAVEYARD TOUR, 10/3, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Learn about early settlers and lifestyles by visit-ing two cemeteries in Cashmere. Local historian Fred Pflugrath will guide this tour of the old Brisky and Cashmere cemeteries, talking about many of the people buried there who helped shape the history of the Wenatchee Valley. Cost: $15. Pre-register: 888-6240.

PROjECT ORIENTED PHOTOGRA-PHY – DEVELOPING YOUR TAL-ENT, 10/5, 10/12 & 10/19. Three session taught by E.T. Culling. Learn tips and resources, exposures, advanced camera settings, com-position and cropping. Two Rivers Gallery. Cost: $60. A second series of the same class will be on 10/6,

10/13 & 10/20 at Barn Beach Re-serve, Leavenworth. Cost: $60.

NCW INNOVATION SHOWCASE, 10/6, 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. Exhibits and hands-on demonstrations, tours and drawings. Touch and explore some of the hottest products and learn from the experts. CTC, 285 Technology Center Way. Cost: free. Info: 661-9000.

OPEN MIC MUSIC NIGHT, 10/7, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Family friendly, live music, outdoor venue along Mis-sion Creek. Cashmere Cider Mill. Cost: free. Info: 682-3564.

HARVEST FESTIVAL DINNER, 10/8, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. Polka music, Borscht soup/Gawumpki (stuffed cabbage

WHAT TO dO >>}}} Continued from previous page

Geraldine Warner: Featured artist at NCW Quilt Show.

QuIlt art tO hanG at tOwn tOyOta centerThe 26th “Harvest of Quilts”

exhibit involving many of the North Central Washington Quilt Guild’s 250 fabric artists and quilters from age 12 to 95, will be Oct. 8 and 9 at the Town Toyota Center.

The Guild’s Featured Artist this year is Geraldine Warner, who enjoys interpreting traditional themes with unconventional geometrics, using new and re-cycled silk.

She was chosen, said chairman Jill Therriault, “for her innova-tive style, her color sense, and her excellent workmanship.“

A new attraction on display is the group’s attempt to set a Guinness World Record with the

World’s Largest Patchwork Top, a communal project with nine-inch blocks formed into twin size quilts pieced together.

A group of 10 members started the guild 26 years ago to promote the art of quilting and pass on the skill to the following genera-tions.

With over 300 quilts on dis-play, the show runs all day Friday (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Saturday (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) and costs $5, which includes one ticket for the raffle quilt, and includes a vendor mall and many community spon-sors with booths.

For additional information, check out the Guild website www.ncwquilt.org.

They deserve the best.Get connected and get the Chelan County PUD fiber optics advantage. Local service providers offer fiber-fast, affordable services including:

High-speed InternetBasic and HD television

Telephone

www.chelanpud.org/fiber509.661.4151


rolls), new potatoes with butter and dill, sour cream and cucumber salad, dessert and beverage. Tradi-tional Polish meal prepared by Dave Fonfara. Chelan Senior Center, 534 E. Trow. Info: 682-5224.

HEIRLOOM APPLE BUTTER COOk-ING CLASS, 10/8, 10 a.m. Classes available weekly through Octo-ber. Cashmere Cider Mill Tasting Room. Cost: $45 per person. [email protected] or 782-3564.

QUILT SHOW, 10/8 – 10/9. Town Toyota Center. Over 275 quilts en-tered in this show. Featured local artist this year is Geraldine Warner. Info: [email protected].

BENEFIT YARD SALE, 10/8 – 10/10, Friday and Saturday,, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday, 3 to 5 p.m. A unique shopping activity. Proceeds go to Lake Chelan Valley Habitat for Hu-manity. Manson United Methodist Church. Info: 687-3378.

GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH SEMI-NAR, 10/9, 10 a.m. Learn from Donna Potter Phillips how to navigate the Internet to get online newspaper and church records to further your genealogical research. Chelan PUD Conference Center. Cost: free. Info: 885-6025.

FAMILY ARTVENTURES, 10/9, 10 a.m. – noon. Art class designed for all members of the family to experience together. No experi-ence necessary, materials provided. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: $5 adult, $4 senior, $2 children, 6 and under free. Pre-register 888-6240.

4TH ANNUAL SHELLFISH FESTIVAL, 10/9, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Three types of oysters, mussels, clams, sau-sage and a chef all come together to celebrate fruits of the sea. Live music. White Heron Cellars. Cost: $10. Info: 797-9463.

SALMON WALk, 10/9, 9 a.m. Walk to see native plants, wildlife, and fall colors on the Entiat River. Learn about the life cycle of anadromous fish that return from salt water to fresh water to spawn during the fall spawning season with fisheries biologist Phil Archibald. To reserve your place call CDLT at 667-9708.

MEET THE ARTISTS RECEPTION at Icicle Arts, 10/9, 5-7 p.m. Artwork by Dan McConnell (who does the “Then and Now” drawing for The Good Life), Aaron McConnell and Bryn McConnell will be on display through Nov. 15, 347 Division St., Leavenworth. Galley is open Thurs-days through Sundays.

LIVE ON THE RED CARPET, 10/9, 6 p.m. Live and silent auction, raffle, poker run, dinner and no-host bar. Apple Blossom Festival annual auc-tion to benefit the Royalty Program.

Wenatchee Center Grand Ballroom. Cost: $40. Info: www.appleblos-som.org.

FLIPPEN zE DISC 2, 10/9 – 10/10.

Professional Disc Golf Asso-ciation will hold a tournament at Squilchuck Saturday and Lincoln


WHAT TO dO >> the Art Life // SKETCHES oF LoCAL ArTISTS

‘all I ask OF yOu Is that yOu take dIrectIOn FrOm me’

cynthia Brown laughed heartily when asked if she’d be recognized by many people on a downtown Wenatchee sidewalk.

“Me? I don’t think so — no-body’s ever seen me unless they’re in a show.” Overstate-ment aside (she has a family, and a day job in home apprais-als) there’s a grain of truth.

After growing up here, gradu-ating from Wenatchee High School, marrying, living, and working close-by, and most especially after substantial hands-on involvement in over 64 theatrical productions in the Wenatchee area in 22 years, she says she’s still relatively un-known to passers-by.

That’s the nature of her art. She’s primarily a backstage woman — the one who pulls the strings, the wizard behind the curtain, the unseen mover and shaker whose name is promi-nent on the program but whose features are rarely in the follow spot.

Cynthia likes it that way. She’s moved through several tiers of dramatic endeavor from doing costuming and make-up de-sign for her first few shows in the early ’90s to directing and producing. She’s proudly non-ac-ademic, drawing on the theatri-cal equivalent of street smarts. “I got nothing… I’ve never taken one real drama class. I even dropped out of my AA (associate of arts) program!”

And yet she’s never been in-timidated by high-caliber actors — “All I ask of you is that you

Cynthia Brown: Relaxed around the bright lights of the theater.

take direction from me.” She loves theater, and “I really

care about my shows,” she said. Her casts know this: “So many people I meet have unexplored talent and ambitions. I find joy helping them find and feed that creative seed.” Interpre-tive speech awards and a crazy lip-synch contest in 1983 that unwound her fears were the first tangible products of what she called “a creative drive I’ve had since my youth.”

The Big Picture jobs (director and producer) came naturally to her once she hit her stride, and her list of main stage pro-ductions, mostly for Mission Creek Players and Music The-atre of Wenatchee, is long. You wouldn’t have seen her, but you saw her leadership on shows like “Angry Housewives,” “Calamity Jane,” “Gypsy,” “Noises Off,” and “You Can’t Take It With You.”

The plays are augmented with

classes, workshops, school pro-ductions, musical revues, galas and events, and Friday Funnies with her Mission: Improv group.

One purely theatrical pleasure is scaring Wenatchee kids wit-less with the most gruesome of autumn ventures, The Haunted House at the Wenatchee World’s Pressroom Theatre, which Cynthia has produced for seven years.

After this interview, she headed for a table where a crew of diabolically inclined design-ers, graph paper and sketches at ready, awaited her lead.

Created by committee, scary scenarios are the mainstay of “The Haunt,” and there’s an un-ending rotation of actors willing to be the creepy bad guys. Cyn-thia’s in her element once again, the unseen hand, with her own good instincts shaping a crowd-pleasing show.

— by Susan Lagsdin

An 8-week class. Pre-registration. WVC Wenatchi Hall Room 2206. Cost: $49. Info: 682-6900.

DANIEL NARDUCCI/SHERRI SEIDEN DUO, 10/14, 7:30 p.m. Classic American baritone Daniel Nar-ducci performs songs of legendary heroes and villains from Broad-way to Hollywood. Soprano Sherri Seiden is back by popular demand. Wenatchee High School. Info: 884-6835.

THE LOWE FAMILY, 10/14, 7:30 p.m. Versatile on many instruments, the Lowes offer a blend of show-stopping classical, Broadway, Irish, jazz, bluegrass, old-time favor-ites, spectacular dance, six-part harmony, gospel, patriotic music and more. Performing Arts Center. Cost: Adults $32, seniors $30, stu-dents 16 & under $22. Info: www.pacwen.org.

CHELAN CHASE: 5k RACE, RUN AND WALk, 10/16, Riverwalk Park, downtown Chelan. Pre-race starts at 9:45 a.m. Anyone and everyone can participate whether you race, run, walk or push a stroller. All lev-els. Proceeds benefit Lake Chelan Community Hospital Mammogra-phy Dept. and the Chelan Douglas Relay for Life/American Cancer Society. Info: www.chelanchase.com.

ICE AGE ADVENTURES, 10/16, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Family activity day focuses on geology, Ice Age

mammals and the Clovis people. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: $5 adults, $4 seniors, $2 kids. Kids under 6 and members free.

kIRk LEWELLEN, 10/16, 2 – 4 p.m. Family friendly, live music, outdoor venue along Mission Creek. Cash-mere Cider Mill. Cost: free. Info: gourmetcider.com.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT, 10/16. Simply purchase a $10 Goody Bag. Each Goody Bag is stuffed with gifts and coupons good at participating merchants all day. A silent auction is scheduled at Tin Lilly’s in the evening. Downtown Chelan. Info: 682-4322.

WEDDING SHOW, 10/16. Giveaways, fashion show, showcasing, cake and food tasting, venues, jewelry, bridal gowns, floral décor, and more. Campbell’s Resort, Chelan. Info: www.weddingsatlakechelan.com.

CASCADE MODELERS, 10/16, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. Come watch the Great Northern Railway HO-gauge model train at the Wenatchee Valley Mu-seum and Cultural Center. Info: Sid North 663-4495.

“CARBON NATION,” 10/19, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. A 90-minute documentary about climate change solutions. The film shares an optimistic and witty discovery of what people are already doing, what we as a nation could be doing and what the world needs to do to stave off climate change by moving to a low carbon economy. Wenatchee Valley Mu-seum and Cultural Center. Cost: $5

suggested donation.

FERDINAND THE BULL, 10/22, 6:30 p.m. Meet Ferdinand an unusual bull who prefers picking flowers to joining the bullfighters in the ring. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $18, seniors: $17, students $13. Info: www.pacwen.org.

“SHELL GAMES,” 10/22, 9 p.m. Book signing of Craig Welch’s wildlife true crime tale. Barn Beach Re-serve. Cost: free. A second signing will be held 10/23, 1 p.m. at Book for All Seasons, Leavenworth. Cost: free.

BRASS & GLASS jAzz WINE FESTI-VAL, 10/22 – 10/23. Catch the vibes and drink the vino. Various venues at Lake Chelan. Cost: free. Info: www.brassandglassjazz.com.

ANNUAL LAND TRUST DINNER, 10/22, 6 p.m. Land Trust’s 25th an-niversary. Enjoy wine, dinner and a film. Call 667-9708 for tickets.

THE PAPERBOYS CONCERT, 10/23, 7:30 p.m. Battle of the bands with special guests Red Means Go. Performing Arts Center. Info: www.pacwen.org.

“SHELL GAMES,” 10/23, 1 p.m. Book signing of Craig Welch’s wildlife true crime tale. Book for All Sea-sons. Cost: free.

MAkE A DIFFERENCE DAY, 10/23. Volunteer for stewardship activities and trail work in the Wenatchee Foothills. Call 667-9708 or email [email protected].

LOCAL HARVEST DINNER, 10/24, 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Celebrate the bounty

Rock Park on Sunday. Info: www.pdga.com.

BRIDGE TO A CURE BRA ExHIBIT, 10/10. The official unveiling of the exhibit is at 5 p.m. Women should wear colors for the evening walk — white for supporters, pink for survi-vors and black for those who have lost someone to breast cancer. The event will be filmed for an upcom-ing documentary by award-winning filmmaker Kathy Keifer. The exhibit will be on the Riverwalk Bridge at the foot of First St. in downtown Wenatchee, which is where the walk will start. Info: Laura Herrera 667-9300.

THAI FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CARV-ING, 10/12, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. Learn to transform ordinary fruits and veg-etables into pieces of art for table decorations, garnishes and special events. Supattra Pornprasit trained in this skill in her native country - Thailand. Bring a paring knife. A 6-week class. Pre-registration. WVC Music and Arts Center. Cost: $99. Info: 682-6900.

INTRODUCTION TO jAPANESE LANGUAGE AND CULTURE, 10/13, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. This introductory course covers basic conversational language skill while providing insights to Japanese culture. Learn Japanese writing system through sumi ink calligraphy as well as music, origami, crafts and food.



WHAT TO dO >>


of our valley. Taste local wine and cheese as you tour the organic garden. Kingfisher Dining Lodge, Sleeping Lady, Leavenworth. Cost: $40, kids 5-12 $16, children 4 and under free. Info: www.sleepinglady.com

MEDICARE PRESENTATION, 10/27, 9:30 a.m. – 11 a.m. Confused about Medicare? A community informa-tion presentation will be held to talk about the new Medicare and Medicare supplement changes and what you should know. Refresh-ments will be served. Hearthstone Cottage, 589 Highline Dr., East Wenatchee. Cost: free. Info: Julie Brunner 884-3938.

“ASTRONOMY THROUGH THE AGES,” 10/28, 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. This light-hearted yet informative his-tory of astronomy features Peter Lind as 17th-century mathemati-cian/astronomer Galileo, with Jack Day acting as the straight man. Galileo was imprisoned by the Ro-man Catholic Church’s Inquisition for affirming that the sun, rather than the earth, was the center of the universe. A few audience mem-bers will be invited to participate in simple demonstrations. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: $5 adults, $4 seniors, mem-bers free.

IRON GOD BODYBUILDING COM-PETITION, 10/30, 10 a.m. & 7 p.m. Performing Arts Center. Info: www.pacwen.org.

TRICk OR TREAT ON THE AVENUE, 10/30. Downtown Wenatchee, — and yes, Saturday not Sunday.

TRICk OR TREAT, 10/31, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Dress up, get hot chocolate from the fire station and candy ev-erywhere. Downtown Chelan. Info: www.wenatcheewa.gov.

RIDE THE MINIATURE TRAIN, 10/31, 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. Ride the 10-inch gauge train as it winds along a min-iature course with trestles, bridges and rails beside the Columbia River in Riverfront Park. Cost: $2 kids, $3 adults.

GORDON LIGHTFOOT, 11/2, 7:30 p.m. Concert. Town Toyota Center. Info: www.towntoyotacenter.com.

HIkING THE CASCADES, 11/2, 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Photographer Alan Bauer will give a slide show of Cascade mountain landscapes and sign copies of several Moun-taineer Books that he co-authored, including Day Hiking the Central Cascades and Best Desert Hikes—Washington. Bauer is a professional freelance photographer specializing

WHAT TO dO >>

in the natural and cultural history of the Pacific Northwest. Samples of his photographs may be viewed at www.alanbauer.com. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: by donation.

INTRODUCTION OF BIRDING, 11/4, 6 – 8 p.m. Free interactive workshop. Be introduced to the basics of bird biology, view images of common birds of the Wenatchee Valley, and learn how to use field characteris-

tics as an aid to bird identification. Participants will be introduced to field guides, audio tools, binoculars, and birding organizations. Info: 667-9708.

the Art Life // SKETCHES oF LoCAL ArTISTS

we are all natural pOets, But he Just wOrks harder

When Derek Sheffield, a full time teacher and full-time family man, talks about writ-ing poetry, it’s a short course on artistic work ethic.

“I’m a blue collar writer. I show up at my desk regularly in the morning — sometimes as early as 4:30 — ready to work.“ He dispelled the image of poets serendipitously gleaning inspi-ration out of the ethers, citing a successful Oregon friend who writes regularly from midnight to dawn.

He puts in a few hours be-fore his two young daughters burst through the always-open doorway of his home office. “The quiet, the early morning darkness, just being alone in the language…” It’s the perfect time for him. If the writing of a poem itself lags, he journals, studies, reads other authors, or does marketing and publishing chores. But he works.

Derek’s chosen medium is basic and workmanlike, too. For him, the first step of creating a poem is drafting in pencil on a pad, a tactile act that initially helps him to feel the words. He said, “They’re wilder, less rational. It’s like you’re ‘getting it’ in the fingers.” Hand writ-ing precedes formatting on the computer, and precludes editing a poem before its time.

He also contradicts the idea of poetry as a purely solo art. Der-ek values sharing poetry with two colleagues and other long-

Memorabilia and photos, writings of admired mentors classic and current, overlap each other on the tall walls of Derek Sheffield’s WVC office.

time, long-distance peers. “I get nourishment from my writing friends, whether it’s face-to-face or by e-mail. Every poet I know has a reader.”

The techniques Derek gleaned from his writing education (a BA and MFA from the University of Washington), his 20 years with poetry, and his mentors’ influ-ence have served him well. He’s been a conference speaker and an editor, and he shares tangible truths about writing with his English classes at Wenatchee Valley College, where he is an associate professor and serves as Humanities Chair.

And he’s gradually amassing grants, awards, and exposure in an array of literary journals and magazines, encouragements that are relatively rare in the po-et’s world. His poems have been first-place winners three times, and his 2008 manuscript, Black

Stems, Red Blossoms, has been a finalist for six other prestigious poetry awards.

At 42, Derek finds academia and art nicely juxtaposed in his life — Leavenworth summers to play with his family and write less, three seasons to teach and write more.

He believes that just as we can all dance, sing, make art, and act out stories as children, most people are naturally poets, maybe not published or promi-nent, but poets nonetheless. He quotes the late William Stafford, a strong influence on him, who when asked by a layman, “When did you start writing poetry?” replied, “When did you stop?”

This working poet, who hones and shares his art as part of his life, is not anywhere near stop-ping.

— by Susan Lagsdin


From trails to roads: the trials of travel

the Wenatchee Valley and North Central Wash-ington were among the last parts of the state to be settled by white people, largely because it was dif-ficult to reach the area.

Settlers and their wag-ons from the east faced the daunting Columbia River, the Wenatchee Mountains blocked the way from the south and the Cascades loomed in the path of any-one heading east from the coast.

Native people had inhabited the region for thousands of years. They traded with coastal tribes using age-old foot paths and trails to cross the Cascades.

Other trails linked the Wenatchee and Kittitas val-leys. A main route followed Swauk Creek up the south side of Blewett Pass then split. One

branch continued over the pass and down Peshastin Creek to the Wenatchee River. The other branch turned east and crossed the Wenatchee Mountains south of Mission Ridge then divided, with one route follow-ing Squilchuck Creek and the other Stemilt Creek down to the Columbia.

Another trail left from the Ellensburg area, crossed 5,000-foot Colockum Pass and fol-lowed Colockum Creek to the Columbia at a point across from Crescent Bar. Other trails fol-lowed canyons from the Water-ville Plateau down to the east bank of the Columbia. More trails, including one starting in the Chumstick, followed canyons north and east then crossed ridges and continued down to the Entiat where other routes led on to the Okanogan and Canada.

During the 1840s and 1850s, white trappers, hunters and the U. S. Army used the trails as they explored the mountains and river valleys. The 1841 army expedition led by Lieutenant Robert Johnson reached the Wenatchee Valley down either the Squilchuck or Stemilt route then followed the Columbia

north to the Okanogan River.

In 1853, Cap-tain George B. McClellan with 36 men as well as mules and horses followed Stemilt Creek to the valley on his expedition to locate a pass over the Cascades. He eventually reported to Ter-ritorial Governor Isaac Stevens that no pass existed suitable for a railroad. In 1858, an army detachment chased Yakama In-dians over the Blewett Pass trail and then to Lake Wenatchee.

About 1867, the first white settler arrived in the Wenatchee Valley, a German immigrant called “Dutch” John Galler. He hauled his belongings and sup-plies over the difficult Colockum Pass trail on pack animals and settled in the Malaga area.

The Colockum Trail was the route of choice for the hand-ful of settlers that found their way to the Wenatchee Valley throughout the 1870s. The trail was narrow and steep, one sec-tion had a 30 percent grade, often muddy or snow covered and impassable to wagons.

That changed in 1880 when the trail was widened to a wagon track. For the next 10 years nearly every new homesteader family brought their lives over Colockum Pass pulled by four horse teams with fallen trees tied to the wagons to slow them down on “Dead Man’s Hill.”

In 1879, the first wagon road was built over Blewett Pass from Ellensburg but it reached only to the Blewett mines just north of the pass. It would be nearly 10 years before the road was con-tinued down Peshastin Creek to the Wenatchee River.

In 1886, Kittitas County ex-tended the Colockum Road up the Columbia to the Wenatchee River then up the south bank of

PHOTO FROM THE WENATCHEE VALLEY MUSEUM & CULTURAL CENTER #004-36-4

coluMn THOSE WErE THE dAYSroD MoLzAHn

>>

This photo was made into a postcard showing Blewett Pass roadway in 1922.


the Wenatchee to the Tumwater Canyon. That year Wenatchee residents Christopher Columbus Rickman and George Wash-ington Blair started the first stagecoach line from Ellensburg to Wenatchee then across the Columbia and on to Waterville. The Colockum Pass Road was the only road through the valley until 1892 when J. J. Hill’s Great Northern Railroad arrived.

The railroad brought goods and people from the east and west — families with their belongings on the settler trains and business people, doctors, lawyers and teachers to make their contributions to the grow-ing towns of the Wenatchee Valley.

In May of 1891, Wenatchee’s population was estimated at 108 then the trains brought growth. Twelve years after the railroad’s arrival the town had grown to nearly 1,700.

The coming of automobiles would force the next change in area roads.

The wagon roads weren’t pass-able for cars and as the number of cars increased so did the de-mand for better roads. By 1915, the Blewett Pass road was open for cars, though still treacherous in many places. In 1916, the Pine Canyon road to Waterville was opened and in 1923, after years of effort and persuasion from lo-cal groups, the state completed the road to Quincy past Rock Island providing access from the east.

The next year saw Stevens Pass cleared for autos, though for years the road stayed primi-tive at best.

It was not until 1936 that the Knapps Hill tunnel was finished doing away with the last major obstacle on the road north to Lake Chelan.

Historian, actor and teacher Rod Molzahn can be reached at shake.

[email protected]. His third history CD, Legends & Legacies Vol. III - Sto-ries of Wenatchee and North Central Washington, is now available at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cul-tural Center and at other locations

throughout the area.

1st Choice Collision Center ...............................5Aaron Adult Family Homes ................................6Academic Tool Box ............................................3After Hours Plumbing & Heating ......................28American Quality Coatings ..............................24Anderson Landscaping ...................................26Bio Sports Physical Therapy ...........................42Blossom Valley Assisted Living Community .....44BPW ...............................................................21Brenda Burgett Century 21 .............................28Central Washington Hospital ...........................20Central Washington Hospital Foundation ........42Central Washington Water ...............................13Chelan County PUD Internet ............................36Chelan County PUD Insulation ........................21Colonial Vista .................................................13Complete Design ............................................28Cordell, Neher & Company PLLC .....................17D A Davidson & Company ...............................10 Dr. Steven Harvey DDS ...................................18Dulce Villa of El Salvador ................................41Eagle Transfer Company ...................................8Epledalen Retirement & Assisted Living ............2Festival of Trees ..............................................19First Choice Floor Coverings ............................25Fred Dowdy .......................................................2Global Car Care ................................................2Golden East Restaurant ..................................35Health Wise ......................................................8Hearthstone Cottage ......................................40

Homchick Smith Associates CPA ....................19 Iwa Sushi & Grill .............................................35John L. Scott Real Estate ................................24KCSY – Sunny FM ............................................38Lemon Grass Natural Food Market ..................33Local Tel Communications ..............................27Mike Armstrong, 12th District Representative ...7Moonlight Tile & Stone ....................................28Mt. Stuart Physical Therapy ............................18Noyd & Noyd Insurance Agency .....................24Oktoberfest ................................................... 43Products Supply Northwest .............................24Reflections Healing Studio ..............................33Revv Import Auto Sales...................................14Ryan Patrick Vineyards....................................11Seniors Reverse Mortgage ................................6Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort .....................35Sue Long Laura Mounter Real Estate & Co .....28Swim World ................................................... 43Telford’s Chapel of the Valley & Crematory ......14The WRAC .......................................................14Town Toyota Center .........................................44Two Sages Yoga ................................................5Wenatchee Natural Foods ...............................12 Wenatchee Valley Medical Center .....................8 Wenatchee Valley College ...............................32 Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center ..32Western Ranch Buildings ................................28Wok About Grill ...............................................35


Know of a special experi-ence we should check out? Eating, drinking or play-

ing, we want to know. Send us an e-mail at

[email protected]

cOOkInG classes: where the GOal Is nOt a’s But ahhs

By mIke cassIdy

With the days growing shorter and the summer out-side fun season winding down, it’s time for some of us to think about indoor fun.

Like eating.I know, I know, most of us eat

all year around — we’re built that way — but fall and win-ter have holidays structured around setting a fine table. And with darkness arriving so much sooner in the evenings, fall and winter are nice times to turn down the overhead cam lights, turn up the ambient lighting and enjoy a steaming creation from your kitchen.

And yet, as a woman reader recently told me, “I enjoy setting out a cheese plate and opening a bottle of wine as I’m preparing dinner, but I’ve been cooking dinners for so long that it was all becoming boring.”

Ah ha, that’s where a change of menus comes into play.

And, one way to change that menu is to join in the growing craze of taking a local cooking class.

Cooking classes are not like

the home-ec courses some of us had to sit though in high school (“First, you pour water into a pan, put the pan on the stove, turn the burner to high…”) but are entertaining and often explore one of the other fine cuisines of the world.

For example, The Good Life sales manager Jim Senst went to a recent class and offered this report:

“My wife, Jean, had been bug-ging me for well over a month to join her and her girl friends for a cooking class at The Ivy Wild Inn in Wenatchee. I admit my reluctance was based upon the perception I would stand around in a kitchen, chop and prepare the ingredients and then cook my own meal.

“Boy was I wrong as I found out after breaking down and joining her recently for the cooking class. I discovered you don’t prepare and cook the food. Richard Kitos, owner and chef, offers you his culinary expertise while you sit and drink wine and then sample each dish, drink more wine, sample the next dish, drink more wine… no won-der Jean and her friends haven’t missed a class yet.

“The class was ‘Indian Sum-mer, part one.’ Chef Richard pre-pared naan bread with mango chutney, and cucumber riata, green onion and coconut chick-pea curry, chicken tikki masala served with cauliflower basmati rice pilaf, and for dessert, rice

pudding. “Each course was exceptional

— you’re provided a menu to follow along, he offers tips on preparation and he is a pretty good comic as well.”

Richard — who used to be part of a cable cooking show in California — knows how to make cooking a joy and is an easy reminder that cooking doesn’t have to be a chore. It can be a creative outlet a person looks forward to.

To find out more about Rich-ard and the cooking classes at Ivy Wild, visit www.theivywild-inn.com or call 293-5517.

Wenatchee Valley College also offers cooking courses as part of their continuing education program. Check out the book-lets the college sends out peri-odically, or visit www.wvc.edu/directory/departments/conted.

The Culinary Apple in down-

town Chelan is another place that offers cooking classes, while demonstrating current kitchen gadgets during the presenta-tion. For more information, visit www.culinaryapple.com/Culi-nary_Apple_Cooking_Class.asp.

Periodically, local chefs and businesses offer special cooking classes. A couple coming up are:

n AppeTIzerS MAde eASy, 2 p.m., Oct. 2. Join chef Mike Ables to learn new techniques and ideas. Receive recipes and eat what you’ve learned. Chateau Faire Le Pont Winery. Cost: $45 per person. Info: www.fairele-pont.com or 667-9463.

n HeIrLooM AppLe BuT-Ter CookING CLASS, 10 a.m. starting Oct. 8. Classes available weekly through October. Cash-mere Cider Mill Tasting Room. Cost: $45 per person. [email protected] or 782-3564.

Watch the local ads and calen-dar listings for other classes.

They all cost a few bucks, but what the heck — you’ll be eating for the rest of your life, might as well enjoy the process of creat-ing the food that goes into your mouth.

CHECK THIS OUT // TASTY PLACES AnD Fun EXPErIEnCES>>

“i enjoy setting out a cheese plate and opening a bottle of wine as i’m preparing dinner, but i’ve been cooking dinners for so long that it was all becoming boring.”

good life magazine october 2010

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