Good Life June 2011

WENATCHEE VALLEY’S #1 MAGAZINE

June 2011 Open for fun and adventure Cover price: $3

EXPLORING THE SKYHitching a ride on the thermals

plusCanoeing in Cambodia

June Darling: How will you use your life?

AtHomeFresh ideasFor the homeiNside

www.ncwgoodlife.com

June 2011 | The Good Life www.ncwgoodlife.com | 3

Year 5, Number 6 June 2011

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]: www.ncwgoodlife.com

Editor/Publisher, Mike CassidyContributors, Katie Lee, Matt Prater, Molly Steere, John Mar-shall, Jessica Creel, Robbie Scott, Gordon Congdon, Michael Thomas Curran, Jim Russell, Donna Cassidy, Lynn Battermann, Bonnie Orr, Alex Saliby, Jim Brown, June Darling, Dan McConnell, Susan Lagsdin and Rod Molzahn Advertising sales, John Hunter and Donna CassidyBookkeeping and circulation, Donna CassidyProofing, Leslie VradenburgAd design, Rick Conant

TO SUBSCRIBE: For $25, ($30 out of state address) you can have 12 issues of The Good Life mailed to you or a friend. Send payment to:

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WRITE FOR THE GOOD LIFE: We welcome articles about people from Chelan and Douglas counties. Send your idea to Mike Cassidy at [email protected]

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Copyright 2011by NCW Good Life, LLC.

SUMMER IN THE VALLEYWenatchee resident Katie

Lee is a kitchen designer, mem-ber of Douglas County Fire De-partment #2 and photographer.

Sometimes, those occupa-tions overlap, such as with this photo from the hills south of Wenatchee looking upriver. In

telling the story of the photo, she writes: “The photo was taken in June 2010. I was in a repelling rope rescue class for the fire department and we were practicing low-angle rescue scenarios.

“I remember it was a hot day and the weather was a great. I couldn’t believe what a wonder-ful view we had while pulling our classmates up the hill all day through sage brush.”

ON THE cOVERStefan Mitrovich took his own

photo using a camera mounted an extendable boom during an early springtime flight, high over Tumwater Canyon west of Leavenworth.

OPENING SHOT >>®

4 | The Good Life www.ncwgoodlife.com | June 2011

The days are long, but the years fly byOnce, I convinced a girl to

go hitchhiking with me.I may have mentioned exotic

locales in the world we could eventually get to if we just got started — American Samoa, New Zealand, Australia and the like.

I must have been persuasive, for on a fresh June morning, she found herself standing on a freeway on-ramp, thumb in the air, pack sack at her feet, giant freight trucks whizzing past at 60 mph. This was a girl who — except for a few school trips — had almost never left her home-town of East Wenatchee.

That trip did take us to Aus-tralia and onward: we floated down the Mekong River, visited the Taj Mahal by the light of a full moon, slept in the back of a VW Beetle on a cold German night and had a thousand and more personal adventures.

As we hopped up into the cab of a semi truck for our first ride on that far away June morning, we had absolutely no idea those adventures were in store for us. We just knew we were setting off.

The memory of that moment flashed through my mind the other day when driving out to take a photo for a story in this month’s issue.

From my present perspective and age, I could have thought, “How young and naïve we were!” but I know adventures don’t come without a possibility of risk and uncertainty.

We took a risk when we started The Good Life — a risk on a different scale from thumb-ing down a ride from a stranger — and like any adventure we have had plenty of unexpected

delights and a few moments of panic.

We have just completed four years publishing The Good Life — this is the 49th monthly issue. Can it really be possible that our little magazine is four years old?

And yet, each issue seems so fresh as we follow a new set of folks relishing their adventures — adventures like we have this month of canoeing down the Mekong, paragliding in Mexico, finding a long-lost brother and many more.

Speaking of setting off on a new trail, Jim and Jean Senst, who cofounded this publication, are heading to Montana. Jim, a fourth-generation Montana boy, is returning to his first love of radio as a partner in a group of stations in Great Falls, while Jean will be only minutes away from her aging parents.

Jim, as sales manager, had the audacious job four years ago of taking the vague concept for The Good Life and selling ads to give it life. He went out onto the street, rate card in hand, and we held our breaths to see if anyone would buy.

Jim came back on the first day with an order for an ad, and then in following days with more orders for more ads… and we were away on the adventure of publishing a monthly maga-zine.

Now, Jim is off to a new expe-rience, but will remain a partner as The Good Life grows and keeps following the adventures of you, the readers.

Keep on truckin’. Thumb a ride with The Good Life.

— Mike Cassidy

EdITOr’S NOTES MIKE CASSIDY

>> CONTENTS>>

Features

5 LANDING A MONSTERSimple charter turns into an epic fight — and a shark attack

7 WHY BLOG?After years of belittling bloggers, guest columnist Molly Steere discovers the joy of telling her story online — and shows you how to do it, too

8 kIDS AND DANGER: HOW MucH IS TOO MucH?John Marshall grew up a sheltered child — he doesn’t want the same for his children, but still...

11 SkY PILOTThere is something almost mystical about gliding through the sky, dancing around the thermals

14 cANOEING IN cAMBODIAThe river is not so swift, but the sights... well they are not what you see around north central Washington

18 LOST BuT NOW FOuNDAfter years of searching, brother finds his big bro and a new family

20 DIXIE’S WAYCactus lover often chooses a prickly path, but finds it rewarding

22 A HOME FOR THROW-AWAY BABIESVolunteers make a quick trip to Haiti where they complete a new home for the lost babies

24 At Home witH tHe Good Life• An Eagle Rock aerie of light and color• Good stuff — ideas for the home from Culinary Apple

columns & Departments30 June Darling: How can I use my life well?32 The traveling doctor: Mysteries of IBS33 Alex Saliby: Having patience to make fine wine34 Bonnie Orr: Love of rhubarb came early in life35-39 Events, The Art Life & a Dan Mcconnell cartoon40 History: Railroad payroll a boost to early Wenatchee42 Fun Stuff: 5 activities to check out

page 24 ELEGANT HOME HAS SPAcE FOR THE IMPORTANT STuFF


FISH ON: AND WHAT A FIGHT IT TURNED OUT TO BE

BY MATT PRATER

The incredible Pacific Blue Marlin tail danced across the water in a manner one could only dream about.

“There’s a fish!” my wife An-gela had shouted just seconds before from the charter boat’s bridge where she was on look-out.

“Fish on!” confirmed Cap-tain Jeff Rogers as co-captain Rick Reager rushed me into the chair and handed me the rod. I hooked up just as he instructed and with my son, Jacob, sta-tioned next to me so he could pivot my chair to keep the rod tip pointed at the fish, I settled in to what was to become a three-hour tug-of-war with a monster fish.

That wasn’t the only fight we would have that day.

The water was beautiful in the early morning when Angela and I, along with our 13-year-old daughter Lauren and 11-year-old son Jacob, set off with Captain Jeff on the “Intrepid” for char-ter fishing off the big island in Hawaii.

Out of the harbor, Rick quick-ly went about the business of getting lines in the water on our troll to some jigging waters for Mahi Mahi or Amberjack for the kids to wrestle in.

Once he had deployed the lures, we were beckoned for an orientation on what to do should we hook into a fish. I was direct-ed to what is called the fighting chair, which is mounted in the middle of the stern of the boat and rotates 360 degrees.

While fighting the fish, it’s

imperative that the tip of the rod points in the direction of the

fish. As the fish fights from one side of the boat to the other, the

chair is turned as necessary to keep the rod tip pointed in the right direction.

Another critical aspect of the chair relates to the footrest, or platform where you position your feet. The chair performs much like a leg press. You push your feet against the footrest and use the strength of your legs to push the seat back, allowing you to gain line on the fish.

You push back and then reel line in as you bend your legs and move forward again. Without the chair and the strength of my legs, I wouldn’t be able to land a big fish.

The three or four-minute les-son ended, and out of the chair I came to settle in for a scenic trip to the jigging area.

The quick hit of the fish less than three miles offshore sur-prised everyone.

Back in the chair and a half hour into the fight, my arms were burning, my mouth was dry and I was sweating pro-fusely.

I wondered how we were going to get this beast to the boat.

Captain Jeff backed the boat in a straight line for an entire mile before the fish turned to the open sea. She dove deep and Captain Jeff began a series of circles that enabled us to keep her within a couple hundred yards of the boat.

Jacob continued to pivot my seat as directed by my com-

SNaPSHOTS>>

}}} Continued on next page

Matt Prater, his family and the shark-bitten marlin: Too big to get into the boat.


mands of “left, left, left” and “right, right, right!”

This amazing creature was having nothing to do with giving up. I lost count, but the marlin repeatedly dove deep.

We wrestled her back to the starboard side and Rick at-tempted to wrap leader line around the bill of the fish in order to take pressure off the hook. After a quick wrap, off she

would go again. Finally, Rick got a good hold

on her and Captain Jeff bailed off the bridge to assist. With a little extra effort, Jeff and Rick were able to get a couple of gaff hooks in her.

I gingerly dismounted out of the chair and Jeff, Rick and I proceeded to try to pull the marlin into the transom door at the rear of the boat. This was impossible. I was spent and the

fish was incredibly large.Meanwhile, my wife spotted

something else in the water near the marlin. Sharks? Three Oce-anic White Tip Sharks showed up and started tearing out chunks of fish from the marlin’s tail section.

The urgency to get her through the transom door be-came frantic but the sharks kept pulling her away from us. Once again, our efforts were unsuc-

cessful.We tied the fish off with the

ropes attached to the gaffs and Captain Jeff instructed Rick to motor toward the harbor, away from the sharks.

However, the sharks trailed the “Intrepid” about 30 yards behind waiting for another shot at our fish. Captain Jeff was able to sit with his foot against the marlin’s dorsal fin and held onto a rope attached to a gaff. I held on with a smaller gaff.

Together, we painfully held the marlin as Rick motored us toward the harbor, sharks in pursuit. Another boat greeted us as we neared the harbor and managed to scare the White Tip Sharks away.

At the dock, this beautiful creature weighed in at 1,056 pounds, even after losing an estimated 100-150 pounds to the sharks in an attack lasting less than a minute. A “Grander” it was called.

Less then 15 minutes into my first marlin outing, and I boat the pride of all sport fishing — a “Grander.” Amazing.

It’s been three years since that fishing trip, and now I have the grander hanging on the wall… all 15 feet of her.

To this day I stand in awe when I gaze upon this beautiful creature. And to think that I was the lucky one to be in the right place at the right time to have this amazing experience contin-ues to baffle me.

Matt Prater works for Stemilt Grow-

ers as a sales representative and lives in Wenatchee with his wife Angela,

daughter Lauren and son Jacob. The family enjoys hunting, fishing, camping and spending time in the great outdoors. Angela grew up in

Hawaii on the island of Oahu and the family enjoys the opportunity to visit friends and relatives there whenever

possible. Who wouldn’t?

SNaPSHOTS>>

}}} Continued from previous page

The “monster” mounted marlin: 15 feet of fish.

Three Oceanic White Tip Sharks showed up and started tearing out chunks of fish from the marlin’s tail section.

Know of someone stepping off the beaten path in the search for fun and excitement? E-mail us at

[email protected]


I mocked bloggers for years. Mercilessly.

Why would I want to read other people’s rants and raves, or posts written from the view point of their newborn baby? I wasn’t interested.

And then I realized that I had something to say and became very interested.

I jumped on the bandwagon and unleashed my blog (an informal version of the term web log: A journal written on-line and accessible to users of the Internet) into a sea of more than 200,000,000 blogs out there on that dang ol’ Internet.

Personal blogs are one of the fastest growing sectors on the Internet.

People start them for a variety of reasons including contribu-tion, support, sense of commu-nity and acknowledgement.

If you think a current political argument is one-sided — blog about it.

If you’re facing a monumental struggle and need support — blog about it.

If you think macaroni art is the bee’s knees and want to find other enthusiasts — blog about it.

Or if you, like millions out there, think you’re smarter than everyone — by all means, blog about it. You’ll be in good com-pany.

I poke a little fun, but I’m a huge blogging convert.

I originally started my per-sonal blog as a way to assuage the guilt I felt for not filling out my son’s baby book.

I’m not good at filling in blanks, but I can write a good letter. So, I use my blog to write to my now 17-month-old about his adventures each month. I

even attach a few pictures. My guilt is abated, and the grand-parents are kept in the loop. Bonus points for me.

I also post humorous stories about all the ways I humiliate, injure, or scandalize myself. These posts have become popu-lar among those who like to laugh at the shortcomings of others.

It’s just a fun way for me to record tidbits of my life while entertaining people.

My stories are not fascinating, but people like to read about them because it creates a feel-ing of connection (“Oh goody, I’m not the only idiot who’s done that!”).

This is one of the biggest draws of blogs. We enjoy read-ing about people like us. And even more, we like to read about people not like us.

As a society, we have lost the art of verbal storytelling to a de-gree. We’re always on the go, to the point that even phone calls are considered an impediment to our productivity. We text and tweet and update our statuses, and we consider that “keeping touch.”

When we finally make time for a face-to-face meeting it’s all about present and future activi-ties.

We’re missing the stories, the histories and the interests that make up a person.

All anyone knows about us is the stories they’ve lived with us, heard about us, made up about us, or ultimately, read about us. Every person is a quilt of tales, but only part of the quilt is vis-ible.

Blogging allows people to share more of their quilt, if you will.

Blogs can be postcards from

the past or bits of wisdom you’re lucky not to learn the hard way.

I wish my grandparents had blogged so I knew more of their vast history.

In fact, I wish everyone with life experience would blog about their passions, hobbies, hopes, opinions and histories so we can all learn from them.

A lot of naysayers — and I was one of them — will contend that they don’t want to read about someone’s Yorkie or stamp collection. Or, that they would start a blog, but they only want to share their stories with fam-

ily, not with the general public. The two best things about

blogs are that you only have to read the ones you’re interested in (if any) and you can limit who is allowed to read yours.

The actual act of blogging is very simple. Go to one of the many free blogging hosts (see sidebar) and sign up for an ac-count.

Any host deserving of your blog will have a step-by-step tutorial at the beginning of the sign-up process.

Follow the tutorial to pick your blog’s name, the site’s layout and any widgets (on-screen tools such as calendars, recent posts, subscriber sign-up) you want to appear on the site.

After that, it’s as easy as typ-ing up an entry and giving it a title.

If words aren’t your thing, you can upload photos, videos or favorite links.

A blog is like a journal in a sense; you can post to it daily, weekly, monthly or even errati-cally just to keep everyone on their toes.

If you do start a blog, remem-ber that you can delete a post, but you can’t delete people’s memories. Be cautious about what you write. Have fun with it. There’s room enough for all of us to share our stories and interests.

Someone out there will appre-ciate it.

Why blog? To tell your story to the world

GuEST cOLuMN // MOLLY STEERE >>

Molly Steere is a freelance writer, full-time mom, and reticent helper in the construction of her next house. Her blog is her therapy. You can con-tact her through her website: www.mollyflewthecoop.com.

Or if you, like millions out there, think you’re smarter than everyone — by all means, blog about it. You’ll be in good company.

FIVE FREE BLOGGING SITES TO GET YOU STARTED

Wordpress.com: www.word-press.com

Blogger: www.blogger.comLiveJournal: www.livejournal.

comVox: www.vox.comXanga: www.xanga.com


campers in search of long me-lodic sounds of loons and gentle sounds of lapping waves, not a parent shouting at his child.

But at that moment, I had other thoughts on my mind.

I have made two canoeing trips in Wells Gray, a park about 450 miles north of Wenatchee — once with my boys Charles and Theo when they were 9, and once with my daughter Sophie when she was 11. I find it gener-

ally works better to do a boy trip or a girl trip rather than all three at once.

There were many great memo-ries, like Theo catching his first big rainbow trout, but the memory that sticks out most is how Charles got too close to a moose.

It was all my fault, and to this day I feel like a derelict dad.

It had started innocently enough.

On the way into the lake we had canoed right past a young bull moose feeding on the bank of the inlet channel. The moose seemed docile as a lamb and about as concerned about us as he would be of a log floating by.

It has often been said that parents go out of their way to avoid the mistakes they feel their parents made. My parents preached safety to the point I was sure there was a rattlesnake

PHOTOS AND STORY BY JOHN MARSHALL

“cHARLES STOP, COME BACK!”

I was shouting those words at the top of my lungs across Murtle Lake from a wilderness campsite in Wells Gray Provin-cial Park, B.C.

I was making a scene and probably disturbing other

Just how much

DANGERdoes a good parent protect kids from?

A Canadian moose is no animal to trifle with, and can be as deadly as a bear.


under every bush waiting to bite me; if a stranger came down the road they had to be a kidnapper; if you got 20 feet from a cliff you would fall off; and certainly you did not want to go out on the water in a small boat, especially not a canoe.

I did not want to subject my kids to the constant worry I had been under as a kid, so my only outdoor safety lessons were to wear life jackets and follow the rules about food and bears.

Bear protocol is as much about protecting the bears as the people, as “a fed bear is a dead bear.” There are metal lockers for storing food at campsites and signs about the requirement to use them.

There are no warning signs about moose, which can be just

as dangerous as bears, as people have been stomped to death by them.

On our first morning at Murtle Lake, the moose we had seen the night before was feed-ing on submerged plants in the shallows, 100 yards off shore not far from our camp site.

Charles asked, “Dad can I take the kayak and go look at the moose?”

areas is very un-cool as people are there for the silence and sounds of nature.

I watched uneasily as Charles paddled

toward the moose.

I thought about jump-

ing in the canoe, but he

was already too far away.

Finally — with Charles about 20

yards from the moose — there was

no option but to yell. My first words

were not heard above the splashing paddle

blades. I yelled louder. Fortunately the

moose backed away about the time Charles

turned around. Arriving back at camp Charles said,

“I just wanted to be friends with him, but he was doing

weird stuff. He was looking at me real funny and moving his ears a lot.”

I was mortified, but it was not Charles fault. I felt embar-rassed and humiliated in front of the other campers — “stupid American tourists don’t know anything about the outdoors.”

I gave the moose lecture. It had too much effect — after that the boys were afraid to walk on the beach without me for fear that a moose would come charg-ing out of the forest.

I said “of course” feeling pleased that my son wanted to view the wildlife. Too bad my wife Leslie had not been along, as she would have had the sense to say “no,” but while she likes nature, she prefers a bed to sleep on.

My brain must have been oc-cupied with cooking breakfast when I gave him the okay. No sooner had he paddled past our camp than it occurred to me that he might get too close.

But I perished the thought, thinking he would use good sense, and it was too late to tell him anything without shouting. Shouting at wilderness camping }}} Continued on next page

I gave the moose lecture. It had too much effect — after that the boys were afraid to walk on the beach without me for fear that a moose would come charging out of the forest.

Sophie Marshall, left, and Hannah Tobin make music on the shore of Murtle Lake. The lake, the largest in North America where motors are not allowed, is in Wells Gray Provincial Park, 450 miles north of Wenatchee in British Columbia. Murtle Lake’s 60 miles of shoreline is surrounded by thick forest, nestled between high mountain ridges.


When it was Sophie’s turn to do Murtle Lake, I teamed up with John Tobin, and his daugh-ter Hannah who is the same age as Sophie. Instead of a moose adventure we had storms.

All four of us were in one 19-foot canoe. We could make really good time and took a cer-tain amount of pride in passing other canoe parties as we head-ed 10 miles down the lake.

Strict safety protocol says that one should not cut across large bays but should follow the shoreline around, as you never know when the weather will kick up.

It’s tempting, though, to cut across, and we did, halving what would have been a three-mile paddle. It meant being half a mile from shore, a long swim if we were to tip over.

Canoes, when they are prop-erly loaded with the heavy gear at the bottom, are actually very stable and we had plenty of free board. The crossing started out with flat calm water, but gradu-ally the wind picked up.

Our destination was Fairy Slipper Island. With half a mile to go, the wind stiffened turning the waves into whitecaps, as if Mother Nature was teaching us not to be so brazen.

The boat was handling the waves well, but I was worried. We were making very little for-

ward progress and were too far from shore.

I kept saying we would get some protection from the wind when we got close to the island, all the while admonishing the girls to paddle harder.

A canoe actually has good control in a head wind, so long as the paddlers are applying sufficient effort. We were doing a good job, but what if the wind blew even harder, might we lose control?

Tea cups of water began splashing in. I was thinking of putting one of the girls on bail-ing duty, but did not want to give up any paddle power.

Finally we reached the island. I was greatly relieved to hear the hull grind on the gravel, a sound I normally don’t like to hear as it means new scratches on the boat. The calm I was expect-ing did not occur until we were almost there.

Our other storm adventure

occurred in the night. It had been calm when we

went to bed, but sometime in the night we

were awakened by a terrific

high wind. My first thought was

that a tree was about to fall on

the girls’ tent. Stumbling out of

the tent I smacked my head into a tree

branch. As soon as my vision cleared, I could

see that the girls were okay, but what about the

boat? Had we dragged it far enough up the beach? John Tobin and I ran to

the shore. We had not lost our boat, but the people

camped next to us nearly lost theirs. A head-lamp was

trained on a guy in his white underwear, running down the

beach and leaping into the lake, lunging at a canoe that the wind seemed determined to keep away from him. He narrowly got a hand on the boat.

The wind then died as quickly as it came up.

Tourist brochures tout majes-tic mountains, clear water and pine-scented air.

Certainly these are qualities I want my kids to enjoy but there is more.

Mosquitoes, aching muscles, sand in the teeth and cold toes are part of the experience. By living through them we become stronger.

White-knuckle moments raise our senses to new levels. We give up a little safety and cer-tainty in order to gain a lot of adventure.

I would rather subject my kids to small risks in the outdoors than to raise them in a perfectly ordered environment.

Wenatchee resident John Marshall is known for his Washington State calendars, several books and has

numerous magazine credits.


Camping is not all danger: Theo caught a dandy rainbow trout.

A head-lamp was trained on a guy in his white underwear, running down the beach and leaping into the lake, lunging at a canoe...

EvEry man can transform the world from one of mo-notony and drabness to one of excitement and adventure.

Irving Wallace

>> RANDOM QUOTE


BY JESSIcA cREEL

Stefan Mitrovich, an ex-treme sports enthusiast, has gone to great heights to embrace one of mankind’s oldest dreams — the ability to fly.

“The sky is an incredible place to explore,” said Stefan about his sport. Paragliding consists of flying not powered by a motor

but instead by the unseen ther-mals from the sun.

When he isn’t drawing up plans for sustainable and eco-friendly buildings and working in downtown Seattle or remotely from his home in Leavenworth, architect Stefan finds time to frequently paraglide over Wash-ington’s peaks, embracing the glorious scene from a few thou-sand feet above.

How does one get into the sport of hiking up a mountain and then gliding off?

Stefan dreamed of flying since he was a young boy, but the moment when he realized he was going to make the dream a reality was on an expedition trip in Alaska.

“We had just summitted a long climb up and we were anticipating the hours it would

take to get down, when sud-denly this guy with a backpack hiked up the mountain, spread out a wing and ran off. On that hike down I thought, ‘I am going to do that.’”

Eleven years later Stefan is a tandem and competition pilot


Sky piloT“WHEN YOU ARE IN THE AIR IN UNkNOWN TERRAIN WITH NOWHERE TO LAND, IT BEcOMES A SPIRITUAL ExPERIENcE. YOU START TO BEcOME ONE WITH THE WING AND THE OPEN AIR”

Leavenworth paraglider Stefan Mitrovich flies over the Mesa, near Valle de Bravo, Mexico.


and can be seen soaring over Leavenworth and the Chelan Valley taking in the majestic views. Tandem flying involves a unique harness that allows him to take a passenger along for the ride.

Stefan has flown in a mul-titude of places such as the French and Swiss Alps, Italian Dolomites and Slovenia, the Dominican Republic, Alaska, Canada, and of course Mexico.

When I asked where his favor-ite place to fly, he mentioned his most recent trip was to a place called Valle de Bravo, a moun-tain town three hours west of Mexico City. He has annually visited this intriguing town, guiding pilots for the past nine years.

He has visited Valle de Bravo Mexico every year for the past nine years, usually traveling to Mexico in December or January.

Stefan runs a guide service for other pilots from around the world that want to experience Valle de Bravo and its consistent thermals. Stefan guides students and seasoned paragliding pilots on cross country flights around Valle de Bravo usually on a week-long tour that includes coaching and a stay in the well-reviewed Meson de Leyendas hotel.

Stefan has mastered what is called “thermaling,” the art of controlling a glider to soar in a thermal, ultimately gaining more elevation and allowing him to travel further.


From Chelan, Stefan has just landed on the flats near Mansfield.

Stefan has flown in a multitude of places such as the French and Swiss Alps, Italian Dolomites and Slovenia, the Dominican Republic, Alaska, canada, and of course Mexico.


Learning the texture of the sky and how to use the thermals to his advantage is a skill Stefan has fine-tuned, making him a sought-after teacher for new pilots.

He has developed into what is called in the sport, a cross-country pilot; his longest flight lasting 6.5 hours — that is a long time in the air.

Stefan recalls one of his most memorable flights — climbing to over 12,000 feet and traveling more than 55 miles from Chelan to Mazama.

“When you are in the air for that long in unknown ter-rain with nowhere to land, it becomes a spiritual experi-ence. You start to become one with the wing and the open air; sometimes even raptors have guided me to the next thermal and helped me along.

“Eventually you are able to read the sky and feel the subtle-ties of the thermals that keep you going from thermal to thermal.”

Paragliding pilots are not the only pilots who appreciate the clean sky of Valle de Bravo.

Every year this magically rich town nestled in the Sierra Madre mountain range also invites millions of Monarch butterflies from Canada. The butterflies fly from Canada, across the U.S., to arrive in Mexico by the end of their life span, which falls in October and November. On Nov. 2, it is a Mexican tradition to celebrate the Day of the Dead, and an old legend tells that

these butterflies are the souls of dead people coming back to visit their beloved ones.

Anywhere from 60 million to 90 million Monarchs arrive each year to this site, converting the

evergreen fir trees into fluttering orange-brown wings.

Lake Avandaro is the main lure for the un-winged. The town is bustling with restau-rants and art shops. There are

even restaurants on the board-walk and some that float along-side the dock. On weekends, artists display and sell their work.

It is no wonder Stefan spends part of his winter in Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

“Valle is a wonderful place to visit in the winter — warm sunny days at 6,000 feet, cool nights and wonderful people to escape the doldrums of the Northwest winter. Most people in Valle don’t know what snow looks like.”

As for the spring and summer, Stefan can be seen flying above Leavenworth and Chelan, either for fun, as an advanced paraglid-ing instructor or as a tandem pilot. “Taking people up on tan-dem flights is one of the most satisfying moments,” he said.

“When you see the excite-ment and smile of sharing with someone else the opportunity to embrace the freedom of flying — it’s pretty rewarding.”

Stefan Mitrovich has recently cre-

ated a website with aerial photos and information on the sport. It is www.cascadeskies.com.

Jessica Creel, recently graduated from Western Washington University, has returned to the Wenatchee Valley

which she calls home. Last year she met Stefan Mitrovich with whom

she took her first tandem paraglide flight with off the Chelan Butte. She says, “Nothing is like the sensation of floating in the clouds with only

the sound of air and some feathered friends next to you — you feel like a

bird! Truly one of my most treasured moments!”

Taking a tandem flight from Le Forclaz launch site, Annecy, France.


STORY BY ROBBIE ScOTTPHOTOS BY GORDON cONGDON

A chance encounter with Gordon Congdon in the fall of 2009 resulted in a canoe trip for the two of us in Cambodia in March of this year.

Gordon, the former executive director of the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust and now employed by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Cambodia, was back in Wenatchee for a short visit when we ran into each other in the Wenatchee Library.

“What would you think about a canoe trip in Cambodia?” Gor-don suggested.

He proposed canoeing the Sre-pok River, a 240-mile river start-ing in Vietnam, flowing into eastern Cambodia, and dumping into the Mekong River at a town called Stung Treng.

His plan was to travel the Cambodian portion of this river, a distance of about 165 miles, starting at a WWF outpost called Mereuch located 15 miles downriver from the Vietnam border. We checked our respec-tive calendars and determined that in February and March of 2011 we could make the trip work.

I left for Cambodia on Feb. 19, and upon my arrival in Phnom Penh, we purchased food for the trip in two grocery stores and

then made the five-hour drive to Kratie, where Gordon works and where he and his wife, Linda, live.

After shopping in the Kratie local market for additional food, and where I saw Washington apples for sale, we took a three-hour drive east to Sen Monorom where we picked up a colleague of Gordon’s, Tom Gray.

Tom is an ornithologist and works for WWF as the scientific

advisor for the Eastern Plains Landscape, an area of more than two million acres in eastern Cambodia that the Cambodian government is attempting to preserve in its natural state. From Sen Monorom we drove to the put-in on the Srepok at Mereuch.

As we drove to Mereuch, we entered the Mondulkiri Protect-ed Forest, which consists mostly of a dry dipterocarp forest of

small trees and shrubs that lose their leaves every year in the dry season that runs from Novem-ber to May. During this six-month period virtually no rain falls in eastern Cambodia. As a result, those parts of Cambodia not immediately adjacent to a body of water dry out.

In addition, for thousands of years Cambodians have regular-ly burned the underbrush in the Dry Forest so that they can eas-

Canoeing in CambodiaPADDLING DOWN THE MEkONG PAST SIGHTS YOU WOULDN’T SEE ON THE WENATcHEE

Robbie Scott solos near Khone Falls, which is actually a series of waterfalls stretching six miles across the Mekong.


ily locate their domestic animals and hunt for wild animals. Once rain starts to fall, these areas rapidly regenerate lush grasses that provide rich forage for wild-life and domestic animals.

Tom took us for a day hike through the dry forest. It was quite surprising to see some plant species flourishing within a month after the area had been burned. Because of this habit of annually burning the forest, smoke was in the air on a regu-lar basis during my three-week stay in Cambodia.

We put in on the Srepok on March 1, Gordon and I in his Pakboat (a folding canoe made of vinyl with structure provided by numerous aluminum poles), and Tom in a sit-on-top, two-person fiberglass kayak.

With an ornithologist along, identification of bird life was easy. Tom could identify virtu-ally every species by sight and by call, but with more than 1,300 species in Southeast Asia, there were a few that even Tom could not identify.

We regularly saw Gray-Headed Fish Eagles, Osprey (identical to what we see in Wenatchee), and several species of kingfisher. Unlike the Belted Kingfisher one

finds in North Central Washing-ton, the Southeast Asian species are brightly colored, including the Stork-billed Kingfisher, a large bird with brilliant, tri-colored plumage. We also saw the common, but spectacular Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, a relative of the crow with foot-long tail feathers that look like tennis rackets. Among the more rare birds we saw was the White-shoulder Ibis, of which there are only about 700 left in the world.


... we saw was the White-shoulder Ibis, of which there are only about 700 left in the world.

ABoVe: The Dry Forest starts to see new life. Photo by Robbie Scott Below: Robbie explores Mondulkiri Protected Forest by elephant.


Mammals are rare and hard to see in Cambodian forests, but on consecutive days, high in the trees along the river, we saw the endangered Indo-Chinese Silvered Langur, a leaf-eating monkey that can still be found in remote parts of Cambodia.

We also had hoped to see banteng, a very rare wild cattle species that has disappeared from most of its former range in Southeast Asia, but only found tracks. The Mondulkiri Pro-tected Forest is a stronghold for banteng and many other mam-mal species, including elephant, gaur, sambar deer, sun bears and leopards. Tigers were once common here, but have virtually disappeared because of intense poaching for the wildlife trade.

This was not a wilderness canoe trip — we regularly saw Cambodians in narrow, 20-foot long boats fishing in the river. The majority of these boats were powered by outboard engines but occasionally there were boats propelled only by oars.

These fishermen lived on the riverbank in modest huts usu-ally constructed out of bamboo and palm leaves. Notwithstand-ing the rustic nature of these homes, they frequently had a fluorescent light powered by a car battery. And as is true in

many developing countries, many of these rural folks have cell phones.

The portion of the Srepok we canoed did not present sig-nificant technical challenges. The current in the Srepok is quite slow; it drops an average of 2.2 feet per mile — by way of comparison, the Wenatchee River drops about 15 feet per mile between Cashmere and Wenatchee.

And the Srepok had no more white water than is found on the Wenatchee from Cashmere to the Columbia.

However, in numerous spots, the Srepok is marked by rock ledges that run the full width of the river. These rock ledges dra-matically slowed our downriver progress.

Upon approaching a ledge, it was usually necessary to canoe from one side of the river to the other to find the best place to cross. Sometimes we were able to float over the ledge, but on many occasions we got out of the canoe and pushed, pulled, lifted, or swam the boat over the ledge.

Being in the water was no problem as the water in the Srepok was about 80 degrees, warmer than Lake Chelan on its warmest days.

We had to be particularly careful not to hit a sharp rock that could rip a hole in Gordon’s Pakboat. One stretch of the river required two hours to travel downstream a half mile, the

rock ledges being so numerous.In the Mondulkiri Protected

Forest, the Srepok is banded on either side by lush trees, but this band is no more than 50 feet wide. Beyond that strip of green-ery is the burnt Dry Forest.

Although conservation efforts in Cambodia, as in most devel-oping countries, are a constant challenge, the benefit of having a protected zone such as the Mondulkiri Protected Forest was dramatically obvious.

As soon as we canoed out of the Protected Area, the foli-age along the Srepok changed immediately. The band of green forest was replaced by thickets of bamboo, an invasive plant that takes over the riverbank once the large riverside trees are removed.

After dropping Tom off at another WWF outpost on the Srepok, Gordon and I contin-ued down river and camped on a sandbar on a tributary of the Srepok. That evening we saw a Cambodian woman set a fishing net and the next morning she retrieved her net, literally haul-ing in fish hand over fist. In less


A Lao Woman pulls in her fishing net on the Mekong River.

These fishermen lived on the riverbank in modest huts usually constructed out of bamboo and palm leaves. Notwithstanding the rustic nature of these homes, they frequently had a fluorescent light powered by a car battery.

one channel of Khone Falls on the Mekong River.


than 20 minutes she had more than two dozen fish.

The following day we canoed down river to a village on the Srepok called Kaoh Mayeul Leu, where an acquaintance of Gor-don’s invited us to dinner.

Given our slow progress on the previous four days, we decided we needed to speed up our trip down the river so we hired Gordon’s friend to take us down the next stretch in his fishing boat. Three times in the next 18 miles all of us had to get out of the boat while the driver and his assistant carefully worked the boat over rock ledges.

Numerous times in what seemed to be flat, deep water, this wooden fishing boat hit rocks. During this four-hour trip, Gordon and I independent-ly came to the conclusion that we would not be able to canoe the Srepok to Stung Treng in the time we had available.

In addition, given the low water level in the Srepok, we were likely to seriously damage Gordon’s boat or any boat that carried us.

We decided to travel over-land to reach the Mekong and went to a village named Anlong Chheuteal, a community of ap-proximately 110 families located on the west bank of the Mekong immediately downriver from the border with Laos.

Gordon had previously visited this area in the course of his work studying the Irrawaddy Dolphin, a freshwater water dolphin found in the Mekong, and only two other rivers in the world. There are fewer than 100 dolphins left in the Mekong and WWF is working with the Cam-bodian and Lao governments

and local villagers to try to prevent the extinction of this spe-cies in the Mekong.

The day after we arrived at Anlong Chheuteal found us paddling the Pakboat in the Mekong among tiny rock islands and a pod of six to eight Irrawaddy dolphins.

This part of the Mekong is very much lake-like and there is very little current. But less than a half a mile upriver, the Mekong divides into numerous channels as it flows over an area known as Khone Falls.

Khone Falls is actually a series of waterfalls stretching six miles across the Mekong and is one of the largest waterfalls in the world. We set up camp just be-low the falls, and over the next three days we canoed up various channels, exploring this portion of the Mekong, viewing the falls and chatting with Lao fisher-men. Because the falls are not continuous over this six-mile stretch, we were able to hike above them and view the wet-lands on the upriver side.

The numerous channels im-mediately below Khone Falls provide ideal locations for place-ment of elaborate fish traps that look like small ski jumps.

These fish traps were sturdy enough to walk across, which we did one day to visit a small fish-ing settlement. Our last day on the Mekong found us canoeing downriver through a channel that contained the only signifi-cant white water I found during

my three weeks in Cambodia.However, immediately upon

running this rapid Gordon and I encountered the bane of every canoeist — a headwind that slowed our downriver progress to a crawl and stretched what would have been a 30-minute paddle into two hours.

Unlike other canoe trips I have been on with Gordon in the 24-hour daylight of the Arctic, we had relatively short days on this trip. Cambodia lies at about the 13th parallel north of the equa-tor. As a result, the days and nights are about equal length, 12 hours each. We had good daylight from 6 in the morning until 6 in the evening, but by 6:15 p.m. a headlight was neces-sary to see what we were doing. There was no lingering dusk and we usually ended up eating din-ner in the dark.

Our time on the Mekong oc-

curred during Cambo-dia’s dry season when this river is at its low-est. During the rainy season, the volume of the Mekong is 40 times greater than the volume during the dry season. The Mekong can rise more than 50 feet in elevation (think about the Columbia rising above the first story of the buildings at the bottom of Fifth Street every year!).

I ended this Cam-bodian sojourn with a tour of Mekong Blue, a women’s coopera-tive located just east of Stung Treng, that makes a variety of silk garments.

This non-profit enterprise employs 175 people, mostly very poor women who come to work here with no skills or education. Through an extensive

training program the women become skilled in all stages of the silk industry, starting from the cultivation of mulberry trees and the raising of silkworms through the dyeing, spinning, and weaving of scarves, blouses and other articles of clothing.

Gordon and I each purchased beautiful silk scarves, which although expensive, we knew were worth far more than the price we paid.

The Paul Allen Foundation provides monetary support for Mekong Blue through the financing of a cafeteria for the workers and paying for a kin-dergarten for the children of the employees.

Robbie Scott is a retired Wenatchee attorney.

A version of this story also appears on Wenatcheeoutdoors.org — the site covers such topics as hiking, biking, climbing, paddling, trail

running and skiing in the region.

A Cambodian fisherman works his line on the Srepok River.

The day after we arrived at Anlong chheuteal found us paddling the Pakboat in the Mekong among tiny rock islands and a pod of six to eight Irrawaddy dolphins.


loSTand then

FoUNDSEPARATED WHILE STILL TODDLERS, TWO BROTHERS FIND EAcH OTHER AND DIScOVER HOW MUcH ALIkE THEY ARE

My name is Michael Thomas Curran and I have a story to tell about how after years of searching, I finally found my long lost brother, Corey James Curran.

Our parents, both deaf, met at a school in Tucson Arizona for the Deaf & Blind. Our mom wasn’t born deaf — she had gotten sick with measles when she was six months old and her hearing was knocked out.

Corey was born on March 3, 1985 and I was born on Aug. 24, 1987.

Our parents split up when I was 1 1/2 and Corey was 3. My mom and I moved away from Arizona.

We have always known of each other but had lost contact. I had gone onto Facebook, Myspace and ancestry.com to try and find him, but I would always get at least 100 dif-ferent entries, none of which were him.

My father-in law, a mortgage broker, sug-gested I try whitepages.com and so I did.

There they asked for his name and city that I thought he would be in, so I typed Corey James Curran from Tucson, Arizona. I received not 100 entries but one and his address.

The date was March 5, two days after his 26th birthday. I wrote him a short letter, which read in part:

Dear Corey Curran, Hello … My name is Michael Thomas Cur-

ran and I was born in Tucson, AZ, which is where you happen to live.

(I am taking) a risk by (writing you) and my reason is that I have a long lost brother by the name of Corey James Curran, which hap-pens to be your name, hopefully. My long lost

father’s name is Thomas James Curran. If this is the name of your father then maybe, just maybe I’ve finally found you!

But if not, then the worst thing you can tell me is sorry.

But here is what I know. I know that my father, Thomas James Curran, is deaf, my mother’s name is Malinda Ann LaMay, and she is also deaf. I happen to know sign lan-guage. The Corey Curran I know to be my brother was born on March 3 of 1985. Hope-fully that is your birthday?

We were separated when I was a year and a half old so I have no memories of him at all, which is why I’m taking the time to write you.

My mother and I moved away from Tucson when I was four years old and have lived in

Michael Thomas Curran, his son, Julian, and a photo of a found family in Arizona.


Washington State ever since. I heard that my brother was raised by his grandparents on his father’s side. I am so nervous writing this letter but it has been 21 and 1/2 years. I am 23 and I live in East Wenatchee, WA.

I have two boys of my own. My oldest will be 5 in November and youngest will be 3 in two days. But if you happen to be the Corey J. Curran that I am looking for then we have 21 and a 1/2 years of catching up to do.

Please write me back and let me know.

Sincerely, Michael Thomas Curran (hopefully your brother)

Six days later I received a letter

back from him and I could tell it was him because of the fact that his letter was thicker than mine.

The first phrase made me cry like a little schoolgirl — it read, “Dear little brother.”

It was an awesome feeling knowing that he had spent just as long looking for me as I did him.

There are a couple of things I would like to share out of his letter.

He told me that my father, Thomas Curran, had passed away in Texas in October of 2007 from liver failure. That hurt me knowing that I would not get the chance to meet him.

Corey told me that he had been raised by my father’s foster parents and that he had only seen our father a couple of times in his adolescence and only writ-ten him a few times.

After 13 years of not seeing or hearing from him, Corey was charged with the responsibil-ity of pulling the plug after our father had slipped into a coma.

Corey explained he had two boys about 18 months apart; and I also have two boys who are 18

months apart, and get this — Corey and I also are 18 months apart!

Talk about destiny and fate — it is crazy how we lived a major part of our life not being around each other but it turns out that we have a lot in common.

Our boys, senses of humor and the way we speak all sounds pretty similar.

He is taking a vacation from work in late July and early Au-gust, which come to think of it, is only a month and a half away. We’re getting more and more anxious.

I have talked to him everyday since I received his letter, so by the time we see each other, it’ll be like we have already caught up and all we’ll have to do is meet.

Thank you for taking the time to hear our story.

It has been a hard-knock life for the both of us but destiny and fate have brought us back into contact again, and for that we are forever grateful.

The first phrase made me cry like a little schoolgirl...


BY JIM RUSSELL

The entrance to Dixie Dring-man’s property has three 15-foot poles with skulls on them.

Like everything else in her life, she is surrounded by sur-prises linked to fascinating stories. Each story is connected to her passion for freedom and a fierce fairness to let individuals, animals and plants survive in their individual style.

And like violence she sees in Mother Nature, she accepts conflict as an integral part of the good life.

Each skull has a story. One is Black Dog’s, a German shepherd that ran with two coyotes near her 30-acres east of Batterman Road in Douglas County. “As far as he was concerned, he was a coyote.”

Black Dog — adding another predator to existing coyotes — must have irritated someone

who shot him. Dixie and friends wrote angry letters to the newspaper about the shooting. The body was retrieved and left on Dixie’s land to complete the natural cycle of life. “When it got cleaned up good, I put his head on a pole.”

Dixie grew up collecting old bones from the South Platte River. “Always thought I wanted to be a paleontologist.”

She was raised alone, riding horses bareback at night and skipping school in the daytime.

She bought Mexie, an Ap-paloosa mare, when she was 12. The horse seller watched her ride bareback with an Indian bridle, and later paid his re-spects. “He admitted he and other horse trainers had all clas-sified Mexie as an outlaw that would never be rideable.”

Her adopted mother taught her math. “I mostly taught my-self to read books, like a big old set of ancient history. I wasn’t into romance stuff.”

Never graduating from any school (she has a GED), she left home at 16. She herded cattle, worked as one of the first fe-male switchmen in a Union Pacific yard, and after moving to Wenatchee, was employed at a savings and loan.

She loves Eastern Washing-ton. “Never have I been a people person, just liked wide open country. There’s nothing really to take care of, just cactus.”

Cactus became a passion for her and led to projects to save and promote the knowledge of them through articles in in-ternational publications from Europe to New Zealand. She read cactus journals. She potted 800 cactus, moving them inside during winter and outside dur-ing spring. Her experiences led her to write about potted cactus in her first published article.

One day a cactus-loving con-tact told her nurseries, including Molbak’s Nursery in Wood-inville, were selling a native

ball-like cactus. She started a campaign. “I just really wanted to get the word out these cactus plants are not something to be dug up and be sold.”

She wrote Molbak. “They wrote back and said they didn’t realize they were dug-up native plants, and established new poli-cies. I appreciated that.”

She complained cactus plants shouldn’t be removed from their native soils in letters to editors. She advocated for their protection in articles for Se-attle cactus journals, but they ignored them. European cactus journals did publish them. “Eu-ropean journals get all excited about that kind of stuff.”

The fight propelled her career as a writer. German experts explained the cactus were Pediocactus nigrispinus, and visited Eastern Washington. She conducts annual tours of blooming nigrispinus mid April, drawing people from Canada and Europe.

Dixie’s way A LIFE OF cAcTUS, cONFLIcTS AND FREEDOM

Dixie Dringman and the well-traveled Baby: “Sometimes a girl does what a girl has to do.”

A Pediocactus nigrispinus blooms in the rocky desert soil above Cres-cent Bar.


She’s in a constant struggle to get the Washington Native Plant Society to recognize them as nigrispinus instead of Pedio-cactus simpsonii. She’s written 15 articles about winter habitat, new varieties and local geology, some for American journals.

Her fight led to calling mar-kets in Quincy and Soap Lake. She threatened them with secret shoppers and wanted to see documents giving them permis-sion to dig up plants. “Some of that was pretty gray. Sometimes a girl does what a girl has to do.”

What she also wanted was land for her own home. In 1997 hearing about an owner who had abandoned plans to build on landslide land full of cactus, she and her husband Rick rescued the land and Dixie roughed in a house design.

Their southwestern style 1,600-square-foot ranch rests on a ridge overlooking the Colum-bia River. Mike Dorey helped design it and Tad Akerman built it.

Radiant floor heat comes from electrical cables under slate floor throughout the house. A woodburning stove is fun and augments heat if electricity goes out. They have no furnace, no fans, no vents and no noise.

Vickie DeRooy painted interior walls with grasses around Di-xie’s horse figures and a thun-derbird on the living room wall.

Permits from Douglas County were a hassle because nobody had experienced residential plans like theirs. She joked, “If I can’t fight every step of the way, I don’t want to do it.”

She writes voluminously with e-mails and blogs, particularly if she believes people are despoil-ing land or acting irresponsibly.

She and others have taken on county commissioners, exposed developers damaging Columbia River shoreline and blocked landowners wanting to raise buffalo (she mounted a buffalo skull on a pole).

She worries about running out of agricultural water, troubled that applications are being made to use irrigation water for potentially elaborate lawns in her neighborhood. “The prob-lem is Americans’ mental view

of private property rights is they have the right to do anything, anywhere and anytime to it. It’s a real harsh view.”

She works for the wife of a couple in construction and real estate, renting their units and doing odd jobs. She travels to the four corners in the south-west with her dog Baby. “The dog and I just pick a place we want to go, and just take off.”

She travels back to see her birth mother, whom she’s always known. They’re real close now. Her mom is amazed at the good life her daughter lives. Dixie says, “I just tell her the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because she and I are a lot alike.”

She’s willing to show people where she’s planted some of her formerly potted hardy cactus. June and July may have bloom-ing Opuntia (prickly pear cactus) and Lewisia: tweeedyi, columbiana and rediviva (bit-terroot). If people want to join her annual spring nigrispinus tour they can sign up before April 2012. She’s available at [email protected].

She seems settled in her good life. “I like my job, I like where I live, and I like taking road trips with the dog, so I don’t see changing much.”

Jim Russell landed in the shrub steppe landscape of Eastern Wash-ington in 2001 with a love for the

outdoors but ignorance about the beauty of flowering cactus, until he heard about a local advocate for the Pediocactus nigrispinus and her an-nual tour with international visitors

— that was too good to pass up.

“If I can’t fight every step of the way, I don’t want to do it.”

A cluster of blooming cactus.

22 | AT hoMe WiTh The Good Life www.ncwgoodlife.com | June 2011

BY LYNN BATTERMANN

children at risk of starving to death is an ongoing issue in

Haiti. Last year, after the earth-

quake, Kim O’Dwyer, a young Canadian nurse, joined many others in responding to the call

for help and went to Haiti to do medical work.

While helping the families there, she noticed a small starving baby in the corner of a house. He was 11 months old and weighed 6 pounds. The parents were not able to feed the little boy so Kim rescued him from starvation. Today, a year later, Josiah is a healthy, happy and plump 2-year-old.

Kim found similar “throw away babies” left to die as there was no food for them, with parents desperate to give

them away to someone “who cared.” A heart-breaking situa-tion.

After about a year of taking in and caring for these little ones in rented facilities that were less than adequate, Kim received help from Gleanings for the Hungry, a Ministry of Youth with a Mission that makes thousands of servings of soup mix in the spring and fall, dries tons of soft fruit in the summer. Then these foods are shipped to hungry people all over the world. They are located in the Central Valley of California and directed by Kim’s parents, Rick and Lynn O’Dwyer.

Using land donated by the mayor of a local community about an hour north of Port-a-Prince, and plans and labor from

Gleanings, a 30-foot by 60-foot building was started to house 25 kids, several nannies and Kim.

A Mission Builder Internation-al RV Associates team working at Gleanings at the time, con-sisting of Pat and Thelma Lewis, Lynn and Jacky Battermann and George Spear (all of Wenatchee) volunteered to be the team to complete the project.

Arriving in Haiti on March 23, the team stayed at an oceanfront resort owned by an Haitian woman who was also taking in starving children. They walked 12 minutes through the poor community and up the hill to the job site.

The whole building needed painting inside and out. The painting was led by George with Jacky and Thelma as assistants.

VOluNTEErS>>

Building a home for throw-away babiesVOLUNTEERS FROM WENATcHEE cOMPLETE A cHILDREN’S FAcILITY FOR HAITIAN cHILDREN IN DANGER OF STARVING

Lynn Batterman hangs an interior door on a new building to house babies and their keepers in Haiti.

Thelma Lewis cuddles one of the babies.

June 2011 | AT hoMe WiTh The Good Life www.ncwgoodlife.com | 23

Metal roofing was finished by Sheldon along with painting and mosquito netting for the baby room and many other tasks.

Painting and installing metal roofing in the brutally hot Haitian sun really drained their energy. A swim in the ocean after work was a must.

Pat installed hurricane clips, fastened down the bulging ceil-ing panels and helped complete the painting and carpentry.

Meanwhile, local subcontrac-tors were installing the tile floor plastering windows into the concrete block walls, which made for a real mess to work around The painting had to be

redone numerous times around these subs.

Lynn was tasked with install-ing doors, trims, curtain rods, shower curtains, toilet roll and towel holders, along with a safety fence along the patio for the children to be able to play outside.

The project was a magnet for all the locals to come and see the large and beautiful building the Americans were construct-ing. The master plan for the 20-plus acre property also includes a community hall, clinic, school and home for elderly women and many more kids at risk. The

objective is to raise kids to be strong, well-educated, Chris-tians with integrity who will im-pact in a positive way the society and government of Haiti.

The team took time out to feed lunch to all the locals of the area, about 360 meals. Glean-ings soup mix was prepared by Haitian women along with huge pots of rice.

On Friday, April 1, as the last paint was drying, 18 kids, three nannies and director Kim moved into the new facility with lights, ceiling fans, electricity, running water and toilets — all within the period of eight weeks from start of construc-tion. Somewhat of a miracle by Haitian standards.

For information about the serving opportunities with Mission Builders International-RV Associates call any of the team members in Wenatchee or the MBI office in Lakeside, Mon-tana at (406) 844-2683. To sponsor a

child at the Children’s Home in Haiti, call Gleanings for the Hungry at

(559) 591-5009.

George Spear paints the exterior of the new children’s home.

RV’ERS WITH A MISSIONMission Builders Interna-

tional is a ministry of Youth with a Mission that provides volunteers who do support services to over 1,400 train-ing centers around the world. MBI-RV Associates is a division of MBI that uses volunteers with RV’s to travel to and sup-port YWAM training centers in North America. The Bat-termanns and Speares started this ministry about three years ago and invite anyone with an RV motorhome or trailer to come along and have some fun and do a little work, too. The Lewises have taken up the offer and gone along, as have several others from the Wenatchee area.


STORY BY SUSAN LAGSDINPHOTOS BY DONNA cASSIDY

Steve and Claudia Ander-son’s Eagle Rock home is strate-gically situated on a rocky knoll so the wind eddies around the dining deck like a well-man-

nered friend. It’s perched so far above the

valley floor that clouds, sun and open sky become essential design elements. This synergy of structure and landscape is no lucky accident — they have carefully incorporated into their life all the natural elements sur-

rounding their home, and they took their sweet time doing it.

The couple studied their sage-covered 1.4-acre lot for five years before they broke ground in 2005.

They drove over from Gig Harbor to walk the land and sketch in every season, learning

the prevailing winds and where the sun hit before commencing their project, with architect Brad

Sized just rightTHIS ELEGANT EAGLE ROck AERIE OF LINE AND cOLOR HAS NO NEED FOR ExTRA ROOMS OR ExTRA STUFF

The chef has unobstructed views through walls of Pella windows and can be part of any party. The couple shares jobs at the range, but this is Claudia’s dream room.


Brisbane and Helton Builders officiating.

They had worked on new homes before, Steve with four to his credit, Claudia involved with their last two, and Steve said, “We finally got it right — it does take practice, trial and error.”


ABoVe: The low terrace wall was calibrated not just to define the south edge, but to shield from sight close rooftops and emphasize the wide-open distant views.

LeFT: Tall walls of fir cabinets set the storage theme throughout the house — the look is identical in the bedroom suite, the sitting area and this wide-open kitchen.


Their backgrounds tell you they are not in the habit of mak-ing errors.

Claudia, who scoured books and magazines for photos, color-matched, and filed copious lists, is a recovery room nurse at Cen-tral Washington Hospital.

Steve, now retired, oversaw for the Navy the decommissioning and deconstruction of nuclear submarines. These are people who care about the details.

Steve said, “I credit Claudia’s research and my engineering background for leaving few stones unturned.” (Appropriate-ly, the ornamental stones that

grace this place are precisely positioned.)

Driving directions up the

hill ended with “… of the three houses — we’re the smallest one in the middle.”

A 2,400-square-floor plan in this neighborhood is excep-tional.

The wings of the house are spacious, but the Andersons chose to have only one bedroom, an option they believe is gain-ing general popularity, given age demographics and the economy. Shared only occasionally with gatherings of friends, the house has no need of the extra rooms that line some hallways.

The sturdy pergola in the front, simple plantings and low roofline seem to tie the home to the earth and lend a Zen seren-ity that continues inside.

Their home’s interior is re-markably spare, with carefully selected possessions and no domestic detritus. (Claudia’s own spin on the old “five-year” rule of keeping excess is, “I say if I haven’t used it in six months, it goes.”)

Only personally significant sculptural pieces and framed artworks complement the good clean bones of the interior, like an impressionistic photo taken in Mexico and a bird carved from sage wood. “If the archi-


NCW Home Professionals

“I say if I haven’t used it in six months, it goes.”

Steve and Claudia (unfazed by a bike injury) joke about the startling design ethic she contributed years ago to his then totally-white waterfront bachelor pad.


tecture speaks for itself,” they agree, “you shouldn’t have to decorate.”

A 270-degree view centering on the Columbia River Valley wraps around the main living area, with the Cascades dis-played from the glass-walled study.

Interior materials like eu-calyptus, copper, fir, bronze and wool balance their colors and textures. Strict geometrics throughout are slightly softened by curves, and the whole design complements the outside sur-roundings.

Beyond big glass doors to the outside living area, low walls accent the expanse of concrete terrace but block nothing from view. Fireplace and cook area are sheltered for dining, and sumac and lavender coexist with native grasses and sage in a soft fringe of garden.

Steve in his leisure life is a woodworker, so a well-equipped shop was included in the house plans from the very first. His demurral: “I don’t do anything fancy — I’m a straight line kind of guy,” belies the elegance of the custom furnishings inside the house. Claudia said with delight, “Anything I saw in a picture, I just showed to him

and — there it was!” Claudia’s kitchen, the second

space that demanded attention, has a dropped cedar ceiling, vast granite counters, varie-gated copper panels and walls of fir cabinetry (the same style used throughout the house). It’s flanked by, as Steve describes it, “a pantry with every spice and ingredient known to man.”

Claudia, admittedly bold in her choices of color, recounts the complexity of numbering dozens of walls, their juxtaposed sur-faces given just a fraction of hue variance to catch 24 hours of light just right. Charcoal, khaki, and cinnamon, chocolate — the palette was never as simple as the name on the paint can. Steve said, “The painters were mortified; in the end, everybody raves.”

The couple lives essentially “home alone” and has been able to design for their own enjoy-

ment. Not far down a wide side hall

is their master suite, which especially shows the result of rigorously individualized design. The unique reality is that sit-ting, sleeping, closet and bath areas are all one interconnected space, with a significant backing wall behind the bed (the Steve-made headboard — he counted — featuring 37 layers of lami-nated wood).

Big windows wall the right side of the bedroom, facing south and east. On the left, a long bank of fir cabinetry leads to the closet, which bends to the sinks and shower (and toilet enclosure), which then bends to the big raised tub that opens di-rectly, not with a door but a win-dow, on to the bedroom again.

It’s as simple as that: there’s a broad comfy sill right between bedside and bathing. It’s a slight architectural indulgence, a no-nonsense approach to luxury that’s sumptuous yet simple.

Six years in this house and Steve and Claudia still grin with pleasure at their choices.

First, to finally move to the region they’d vacationed in for years. Then to jump at the serendipitous sale of a hilltop lot spotted on a Sunday drive. Then, to choose just the right people to guide and help them.

And now settled comfortably, they appreciate their myriad choices of details — a minimal-ist artistic ethic wedded to a love of comfort and companion-ship — that led to their func-tional, elegant home.

An impressionistic photo and the natural-edge table crafted by Steve from Gig Harbor maple are two pieces of artwork in the main area.

The color palette was coordinated with several kinds of lighting. You can see the careful choices throughout the house, as in this inviting hallway leading to the one bedroom in the house.

“The painters were mortified; in the end, everybody raves.”


ToP: These flexible measuring bowls can be pinched together to allow for easy pouring.

RIGHT: Dave Weldy handles an apple wood putter — the head is polished wood. “We have sold hundreds of these over the past 10 years,” he said.

BeLoW: Amaretto chocolate swirl fudge is cooked in the store to eat right now.

GOOd STuFF // IDEAS fOR ThE hOME>>


WHAT’S cOOkIN’?“When you walk in, it looks like a kitchen store, but when

you look around you see that we’re so much more,” said Dave Weldy who owns The Culinary Apple in downtown Chelan with his wife, Mary.

Standing amid cardboard boxes of inventory to be put away as the store ramps up for the summer, Dave glanced around the busy space and ticked off a few unexpected items. “We make and sell over 4,000 pounds of fudge a year, we have gourmet foods, we even have custom-made golf putters made from apple wood, pear wood and cherry wood.”

Not that the Culinary Apple isn’t loaded with kitchen gear — it is, from a wall of basics such as a peelers and spatulas to Italian-made stovetop espresso makers and special knives to carve the perfect slice of watermelon.

Carrying more than 800 different apple-related products, plus branded Husky and Cougar gear, and gift items such as novelty salt-and-pepper shakers, “We are a lot more than a cooking store,” asserted Dave, but then hastened to add the store offers cook-ing classes featuring chefs from the Seattle area along with regional chefs.

Now, for a piece of that fudge...

ABoVe: The bright plumage of chickens make for a colorful salt and pepper shaker set.

RIGHT: A tall waiter waits for a spot on a kitchen counter.

LeFT: Pasta bowls add color to a meal.

NCW Home Professionals

EXTRA COPIESof The Good Life are

available at:

Hastings, Eastmont Pharmacy, Caffe Mela, Martin’s Market Place, A Book for All Seasons

& Food PavilionThe Good Life

10 First Street, Suite 108Wenatchee, WA 98801

®

WENATCHEE VALLEY’S #1 MAGAZINE

June 2011

Open for fun and adventure

Cover price: $3

EXPLORING

THE SKY

Hitching a ride

on the thermals

plus

Canoeing

in Cambodia

June Darling:

How will you

use your life?

AtHome

Fresh ideasFor the home

iNside

www.ncwgoodlife.com


cOLuMN mOVING uP TO THE GOOd lIFEjunE DARLIng

>>

How can i use my life well? How will I use my life? Many of us, including my

80-year-old mother, continue to ask ourselves this question.

What’s a good way to go about answering that question?

Boomers like me were told by Joseph Campbell “to follow our bliss.” That sounded like a won-derful idea until we found we had trouble feeding ourselves.

The more practical among us often decided that feeding ourselves was a top priority and looked for jobs that remunerated well.

That approach felt good for awhile until we encountered a “dark night of the soul” when we wondered why we were here. Life without passion or enthu-siasm ultimately didn’t seem

satisfying.After looking at hundreds of

ways to go about answering this ultimate question of how I will use my life, I have one favorite approach. I won’t say it’s easy or quick. But it does help many of us unlock our passion, make a difference in the world, and be more successful.

The approach is best broken into two parts. Part one teases out information and part two puts the information back to-gether in a new way.

The information we need to know is: What we care about, what we’re good at, and what others want.

What we care about. When we address this area, we must clarify what we value. Values are our geothermal reservoir: They

motivate and energize us, they give our lives and work mean-ing. We get angry when they get stepped on. Values have been written about by many including ministers. They are often re-ferred to as nudges and callings.

One way of getting at your values is to write about a time when you felt you made an important contribution or a time when you were proud of an accomplishment. Examine the values that surround that event. Another way is to write about a person you admire. Note what you value.

What we are good at. Ad-dressing this area forces us to claim our skills and strengths. They are often associated with our interests.

One way of identifying your

strengths is to think about a time you were at your best. Write about it and share it with others, get their feedback. Describe the strengths and interests that are evident. It’s even better if you can enlist your friends and fam-ily to tell you about a time they saw you at your best.

Also think about what others compliment you for and what things you find relatively easy to do. Write it all down.

What others want. Address-ing this area requires we get out-side ourselves and look around at the world. One way of think-ing about this is to pay special attention to what the world is “hungry for” especially related to our strengths and values. Write down what you see. Think of it as a needs assessment.

Our ability to use our life well depends not only upon utiliz-ing it in ways that feel good, but also upon being able to serve the needs and wants of others in ways that they value.

Part two involves putting all this information together in a way that makes sense and can be acted upon. This can be the hardest part. Here’s how I do it.

I arrange the information within a Venn Diagram. Re-member back to high school geometry — those three over-lapping circles?

In this case circle one in-cludes what I care about. I list three to five values that surfaced earlier in the process. In circle two I list three to five things that I’m good at. In circle three I note three to five things that the world seems “hungry for.” Somewhere there, smack in the middle, is what I call the “sweet spot” — where I can best use my life. Usually it won’t jump right


out at me, but it’s there waiting for me to figure it out.

This approach can be used not only with individuals, but also with organizations.

Jim Collins uses a similar method with businesses who want to go from good to great. My own Rotary club members used the process to decide about how they wanted to serve the

community in a more passion-ate, focused, and impactful way.

Businesses and organizations may choose to do this slightly differently. The process can be broken down into the same four parts, but different groups can do each part.

Some people may work on creating or looking at the needs assessment.

Another group within the organization may identify the values through a survey or group discussions. Skills may be identified by yet another group. Then a final group kneads the information together to hit the

group’s sweet spot. Reaching that final stage of

identifying the sweet spot feels exhilarating. You finally know the answer… how to use your life. But only for awhile.

The sweet spot is dynamic. Our values can change, our

skills may change, and the world changes. You may want to revisit your personal or organi-zational Venn diagram when it’s obvious that you or the world has changed. Or you may set a regular, fixed interval, perhaps every five years to re-visit your sweet spot.

How we use our lives so that

they are meaningful, useful, and rewarding is important to us as individuals, groups, and even as communities and countries. It’s worth the time and effort.

How might you move up to The Good Life by deliberately deciding how you will use your life?

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.


You finally know the answer… how to use your life.


Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a common condition in North America affecting an esti-mated 15 percent of the popula-tion.

IBS is the most common chronic functional gastrointes-tinal disorder seen by physi-cians. The term “functional” is used for conditions in which no organic cause has yet been discovered.

This is slowly changing as increased IBS research studies are being done on this digestive disorder that many have but few talk about.

Though it does not affect survival, IBS is a cause of heavy use of healthcare resources and accounts for an estimated 3.5 million annual visits to physi-cians with an annual cost of $1.6 billion in direct costs and $19.2 billion in indirect costs, due to loss of work.

Studies show that workers with IBS miss on average 13 days of work annually compared to five days annually lost for medi-cal reasons for workers without this condition. For a benign condition, these figures are stag-gering, even more so consider-ing that only a minority of those with IBS actually seek medical

care for their symptoms.The diagnosis of this condi-

tion is made primarily on the symptoms and by ruling out organic diseases that might be a cause for the patient’s symp-toms, including inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease and lactose intolerance.

Symptoms include recurrent abdominal pain or discomfort, bouts of urgent diarrhea, epi-sodic chronic constipation or a pattern of alternating between the two, as well as bloating and excessive flatulence. These symptoms need to be present for at least six months, and have been experienced on at least three days for the previous three months. IBS is twice as common in women than in men.

It is unclear why people de-velop IBS.

Some patients find their symp-toms are triggered by certain foods, dietary sugar substitutes, excessive coffee or diet soda intake.

Sometimes the symptoms appear after experiencing ex-tremely stressful events includ-ing sexual or physical abuse in childhood.

Some cases seem to occur fol-lowing a severe bout of gastro-enteritis or traveler’s diarrhea and IBS may trouble these pa-

tients for several years following these acute illnesses.

The bacterial population in the gut is estimated to approach 100 trillion (no, that is not a typo or our national debt) with between 500 to 1,000 different species residing in our gastroin-testinal tract.

In healthy humans these bacteria act as a defense barrier and have a number of protective effects.

Recent studies suggest that excessive growth of colonic bacteria that have gained access to the small intestine may play a role in some cases of IBS. This was found in up to 35 percent of IBS patients who were older than 55 and whose primary complaints are bloating and excessive flatulence.

Some of these patients seemed to respond favorably to tak-ing an antibiotic that is not absorbed from the GI tract but works exclusively within the gut.

Probiotics or yogurt contain-ing certain beneficial bacteria are also used in these patients.

The possibility of genetic fac-tors playing a role in some pa-tients has been explored since it is seen more commonly in both twins and there are known to be family clusters of IBS. Genetic factors, however, are difficult to

prove since those with genetics in common also have had shared environmental factors as well.

Therapy for IBS has been largely limited to an individual symptom specific approach.

First of all, if triggering foods and beverages can be identified, then they need to be avoided. Standard approach to therapy has included the use of soluble fiber bulking products, OTC antidiarrheal medications and antispasmodics. Drugs aimed at reducing stress or helping depression are helpful in some cases.

Newer, more specific, thera-pies are being developed, mak-ing this field more exciting for gastroenterologists who fre-quently see the more challeng-ing cases of IBS.

Recent studies suggest that IBS is in part related to a disor-der involving serotonin, a neu-rotransmitter, which is largely contained in the gastrointestinal tract. Unfortunately, two previ-ously released drugs, which had shown great promise for IBS, have been taken off the market due to side effects of these medi-cations.

IBS is a common disorder of the gastrointestinal tract that causes significant misery for many of those who suffer from it. The actual etiology of IBS is currently unknown.

Numerous IBS studies are ongoing and hopefully will lead to finding a definitive cause and also to more specifically treat-ment for this disorder.

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.

iBS: A common yet puzzling syndrome

cOLuMN THE TraVElING dOCTOrjIM bROwn, M.D.

>>


Lake Chelan itself is reason enough to make a trip to this beautiful area, where views of the lake, distant mountains, orchards and vineyards are awe-inspiring.

Now, however, the area is home to an emerging industry which offers pleasure year-round to residents and visitors alike.

In recent years 17 winer-ies have opened, each offering something unique — not just in choices of palate pleasing, award-winning wines, but in setting and scenery. Some offer dining, entertainment, winery tours and other attractions.

Among the more recently opened wineries is Chelan Ridge Winery in Manson, now in its second year of operation. The building survived a fire that delayed the winery’s opening, but had no effect on the quality of the wines.

Winemaker Lynn Munneke and her husband Henry are hostess and host at the tast-ing room on their grapevine-covered hillside. The couple’s teamwork in the tasting room provides a double treat of terrific wines and delightful conversa-tion.

Lynn is a chemist who re-turned to the classroom at Washington State University to study enology and learn the science and art of making wine. She finished that program and moved shortly afterwards into the viticulture program to learn the skills necessary to manage their estate vineyards.

Henry, a retired airlines pilot, is enjoying his time in the vineyards and the tasting room, and, as I learned at my last visit during Chelan Nouveau, is now spending time in the cellar

helping to craft the wines. He explains, “Our small acreage of grapes will increase in the future. We’re taking it slow and building on quality, not volume.”

Lynn and Henry have, in fact, achieved that quality element.

We tasted the first-ever Chelan Ridge Estate Merlot

on our latest visit and couldn’t have been more pleased about sampling a wine. Aromatic with notes of cherry and black fruits, and rich with the flavors of those fruits, it is a wine that demands your attention.

This is not a jammy wine, but a masterfully crafted, medium-bodied pleasure that will satisfy even those who scoff at the very idea of Merlot. This is Merlot as it was meant to be: delicate, but intensely flavored.

In the cellar and awaiting bottling are barrels of two new wines: an Estate Chardonnay and an Estate Bordeaux-style wine blended by Henry.

Bottling of these wines will occur soon, but both wines will

have some time to rest in the bottle before they are offered for tasting or sale. Wine making takes time and patience. Qual-ity, especially in a red wine, can-not be achieved in a hurry.

When I inquired about the High Hawk label, Lynn said, “Our goal is to reach the point where all our wines are Chelan Ridge, Lake Chelan AVA wines, produced from our own grapes grown right here on our proper-ty. That fire set us back a bit, but I think we have recovered nicely. The High Hawk label is our sec-ond label. It’s for the wines we’ve made from grapes sourced from vineyards other than our own.”

I agreed with Lynn’s assess-ment. The High Hawk label is nothing to shy away from, for the same care was taken in mak-ing the wine from the sourced grapes as was taken in making their estate wines. All are excel-lent, and can be served with pride at any table.

On this visit, we ended our tasting by enjoying the High Hawk Riesling Henry poured for us. This is not a dry wine, or trocken, as the winemakers along the Mosel or the Rhine in Germany would say. I’m guess-ing residual sugar at about 3 to 3.5 percent (if my memory is serving me here).

It would make the perfect end-ing for a meal — a small glass of the High Hawk Riesling, slowly sipped and savored — perhaps served with my wife’s tiny fruit tarts.

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 alex39@msn.

com.

Having the patience to make good wines

cOLuMN alEX ON WINEALEX SALIbY

>>

Henry Munneke opens a bottle of wine to offer a tasting to a customer at Chelan Ridge Winery in Manson.

“Our goal is to reach the point where all our wines are... produced from our own grapes...”


My love of rhubarb crystal-lized in first grade.

I went to a one-room school in Montana. There were six first graders; Tommy and I were the two lefties who had to become right-handed so the poor teach-er only had to teach one type of penmanship.

That ordeal created a bond between Tommy and me.

In the spring, he invited me to his house to eat rhubarb. I sat in the rhubarb patch, and he ran back to the house and reap-peared with two bowls of sugar. I was so surprised because I had always eaten Rhubarb “neat,” and never knew that sugar cre-ated an entirely new taste treat.

I still eat rhubarb raw and “neat” when I want a thirst-quenching treat. I put it up in the freezer and make desserts and jam. My favorite jam com-bines apricots and rhubarb.

To freeze rhubarb, I chop the stalks into one-inch pieces and freeze them raw. My friend Sterns Eason has received a rhubarb-cherry pie several times for Valentine’s Day.

This is another plant intro-duced to the US by early settlers because it was one of the earli-est plants to eat. It was consid-ered— and botanically is — a vegetable because the stems are consumed.

As you probably know, some people love rhubarb, and some people, such as Mike, the edi-tor of this magazine, loath it. But enough people like it to have developed recipes for des-serts, along with wine, pickles, soups and salsas as well as main courses.

The following recipe is one I developed this spring to take advantage of the fruit we grow in the region.

Rhubarb Salsa

You can serve this salsa over the dependable block of cream cheese, or it can be thickened to scoop up with chunks of rustic bread.

The ingredients seem odd, but trust me, this is delicious with pork steak cooked on the grill. Make this salsa at least a day ahead before serving it.

Makes one quart6 cups rhubarb cut into 1/2-

inch pieces4 tablespoons white sugar 4 tablespoons brown sugar 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1 cup Walla Walla onions

chopped very fine 2 cloves garlic, choppedChopped hot pepper — to

your preference. Start with a teaspoon at a time

2/3 cup golden raisins 2 tablespoons fresh chopped

dill leaves 2 tablespoons cornstarchSalt and pepper to taste

1. In a large saucepan mix the sugar, vinegar and rhubarb and slowly bring to a boil

2 Add the onions and garlic and hot pepper and raisins

3. Cook until the rhubarb is soft

4. Stir in the dill5. Use the cornstarch if you

want a thicker salsa. Boil the salsa until it is thickened

Isn’t this easy? I am going to can some for Christmas gifts.

Bonnie Orr gardens and cooks in East Wenatchee.

Rhubarb — veggie of my sweet youth

cOLuMN GardEN OF dElIGHTSbOnnIE ORR

>>

Rhubarb is a versatile vegetable and can be used even in hot dishes, such as this Chicken with Savory Fruit recipe.

Chicken with Savory FruitOne pot, two servings

20 minutes

INGReDIeNTS1 pound boneless, skinless

chicken breast1/4 cup flour2 shallots finely chopped1 tablespoon butter or olive oil 1/2 cup white wine — Riesling or

any sweet wine1 tablespoon fresh marjoram1/4 teaspoon nutmegTwo cups tightly packed spinach,

chopped coarsely8 oz. of rhubarb cut into one-inch

cubes — about two large stalks1/2 cup pitted Bing or Rainier

cherries, 1 tablespoon flour1 small Fuji apple, cubed — op-

tional to create a sweeter taste1/3 cup creamSalt and pepper to taste

DIReCTIoNS Cook in a large flat saucepan

1. Cut the chicken into small cubes and roll in the flour.

2. Lightly brown the shallots in the oil

3. Add the chicken and brown it4. Pour in the wine and stir the pot

so all the yummy brown bits are lifted

5. Add the marjoram and nutmeg, and stir in the rhubarb

6. Coat the cherries in the table-spoon of flour. Chop the spinach coarsely

7. Stir the spinach and cherries into the cooking mix.

8. Cook for 6 minutes. The rhubarb should still be slightly crisp and the spinach wilted. If it is too sour for you, add the chopped Fuji apple at this point, and cook for two more minutes

9. Turn off the stove and add the cream. The cream is essential because it sweetens the fruit

Serve this colorful, delicious sauce over chunky pasta or white rice or quinoa.


MISSION: IMPROV, 6/2, 7 p.m. & ev-ery first Tuesday. Free open work-shop, theater games for novice and experienced players. Fun and casual. Riverside Playhouse. Info: www.mtow.org.

WENATCHEE BLUES JAM, 6/2, 8 p.m. Open blues jam every first Thursday of the month. Grizzly Lounge in the Red Lion Hotel, 1225 N. Wen. Ave. Info: Tomasz Cibicki 669-8200.

A LITTLE COUNTRY, 6/2, 7 – 9 p.m. Author Jane Porter will be at the Wenatchee library for her book signing. The story is about a model, loving wife and mother living in New York. When it all falls apart, can she possibly fit in back on the family ranch in Texas with her Southern Baptist family? Book sign-ing also 6/4, 1 – 3 p.m. at A Book For All Seasons, Leavenworth.

WENATCHEE FIRST FRIDAYS ARTWALk, 6/3, 5-8 p.m. Start the weekend and each month in downtown Wenatchee where participating galleries, museum, coffee houses, book store, Per-forming Arts Center, Convention Center, businesses and public art displays are open each First Friday of the month from 5 to 8 p.m., and sometimes later.Pick up a walking map and make the circuit. Info: www.wendowntown.org/content/view/168/56/.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF NANCY FIALA, 6/3. Gallery 4 South opens an exhibition of photographs by Nancy Fiala. While visiting a friend’s orchard she saw a pile of cast off orchard machinery and fell in love with the colors and peeling paint textures. In photographing them, she sought to capture their essence and resurrect them through art. The exhibition opening of “Resur-rection” and artist’s reception is during Wenatchee First Fridays ArtWalk. 4 South Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee.

TWO RIVERS ART GALLERY, 6/3, 5 p.m. Reception. Pastel artist Lynn Wright Brown and glass artist Ann Bixby Smith will be featured artists. Live music by Thistledown, Connie Celustka on hammered dulcimer and Celtic harp along with other players on recorder and guitar. Wine and complimentary refresh-ments. Info: www.2riversgallery.com.

WEST OF HERE, 6/3, 7 – 8 p.m. Author Jonathan Evison will be at the Leavenworth library for a book signing. From the rugged mudflats of the Northwestern frontier, to a rusting strip mall cornucopia, West of Here is a conversation between two epochs, one rushing blindly toward the future and the other struggling to undo the damage of the past. Book signing also 6/4, 1 – 3 p.m. at A Book For All Seasons, Leavenworth.

DAVID THOMPSON ON THE COLUM-BIA, 6/3, 5 – 8 p.m. Learn about the

Canadian surveyor and mapmaker who was the first man in recorded history to chart the entire Colum-bia River in 1811. The museum celebrates this important bicenten-nial with an exhibit that includes large maps, photographs of Native Americans and the river before hydro dams, objects related to the fur trade, sketches, sculpture, and informative text. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: free. Info: wenatcheewa.gov.

CRUIZIN CHELAN, 6/3 -6/4. Clas-sic cars line the streets of historic

downtown Chelan, offering par-ticipants the chance to step back in time. This two-day car show is filled with activities for all ages in-cluding an all-city cruise, show and shine. Info: www.CruizinChelan.com.

DAN TUTTLE ExHIBIT, 6/4, 1 – 9 p.m. New work by Dan Tuttle on display at Peshastin Creek Gallery. Cost: free. Info: www.iciclearts.org.

BURNING UP THE DANCE FLOOR, 6/4, 1 and 7 p.m. The Next Step


WHaT TO dO >>We want to know of fun and

interesting local events. Send info to: [email protected]


Dance Studio presents various dance styles with students from preschool age through adults. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $16 adults, $12 seniors and children under 12.

CANYON WREN SERIES CHAMBER CONCERT, 6/4, 7:30 p.m. Icicle Creek Music Center’s resident pianist and cellist Oksana Ezhokina and Sally Singer will give a fi-nale concert titled Sonata. Three composers, two performers, one compulsion to express the truth, beauty and richness of this human existence. Canyon Wren Recital Hall, Leavenworth. Cost: $20. Info: www.iciclearts.org.

ExPLORER DAY, 6/4, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Get a feel for what it was like to be an early explorer like David Thomp-son or Lewis & Clark. Hear Native American stories and make your own miniature canoe. At the river you’ll learn safety tips and paddling techniques, then get to paddle in a 10-person canoe. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: $5. Info: wenatcheewa.gov.

WALLY PETERSON MEMORIAL FLY-IN SHOW, 6/4, 8 a.m. until dusk. Fly in, eat a pancake breakfast, lunch, display classics, view antique air-crafts. Chelan Airport. Info: www.lakeaero.net or Will at 682-4109.

ORGANIC GARDEN TOURS, 6/4, 6, 11, 18, and 25, 4 p.m. Stroll and enjoy two acres of certified organic fruits, vegetables, herbs and flow-ers. Garden Manager Eron Drew will walk you through the tour where you will learn environmentally friendly garden techniques. Sleep-ing Lady, Leavenworth. Info: www.sleepinglady.com/event-calendar.

php?page=june.

BAVARIAN BIkE & BREWS FESTIVAL, 6/4, 9 a.m. The IMBA sanctioned XC race features a spectacular, but rigorous 8.6 mile loop with 1,800 foot elevation gain per lap. Leaven-worth. Info: www.dasradhaus.com.

ILLUSION OF ELVIS, 6/4, 7:30 p.m. Danny Vernon gives the illusion of Elvis at the Lake Chelan Eagles, 209 E Woodin. Cost: $20. Info: 682-2021 or Pat 682-0268.

BOOk BUZZ, 6/4, 1 – 3 p.m. Meet five authors, win prizes and have fun. Jane Porter, one of Seattle’s hip chick-lit favorites; Jonathan Evison, an award-winning best seller; Paul Hansen, on the true life summer that turned a troubled teen’s life around; Retired Major Robert J. Reilly shares healing true tales from Vietnam vet who went back in peacetime and Franki deMerle, novelist of psychic premonitions, past-life memories and true love will be at A Book For All Seasons, Leavenworth. Cost: free. Info: abookforallseasons.com.

RIVER STEWARDSHIP, 6/4, 7 – 8 p.m. Retired attorney and Apple Capital Loop Trail organizer Bob Parlette and Chelan County PUD district services group executive manager Wayne Wright will examine the value of the Columbia waterfront. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Info: wenatcheewa.gov.

YAPPY HOUR, 6/5 and every Sunday until 11/13, 5 – 8 p.m. Dogs play while people relax and enjoy fine wine and yappetizers. Cover charge $5 supports the animal shelter. Chateau Faire Le Pont winery. Info: www.wenatcheevalley.org.

JUST + HOUR BIkE TOUR, 6/6, 6 p.m. Come meet, eat and listen to the incredible team of bikers who are biking across the U.S.

to raise awareness about social injustice and slavery. This amaz-ing, inspiring group of people have a message they want to share and they’re making a difference across the world. Live music and dessert. Leavenworth Fire Hall. Info: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=202088379820834.

PACIFIC FEAST, 6/10, 7 – 9 p.m. Jen-nifer Hahn will be at the Barn Beach Reserve for her book signing. An intimate guide to the food at our feet, Pacific Feast shares expert advice on how to identify the good eats, harvest responsibly and cre-ate delicious meals and on 6/11, 1 – 3 p.m. at A Book For All Seasons, Leavenworth.

CAMAS MEADOWS FAMILY DAY OUT, 6/11, 3 – 9 p.m. Food, paint-balling, s’mores, dinner, movie and fellowship. Camas Meadows Bible Camp, 3000 Camas Creek Rd. Must RSVP: [email protected]. Let us know if you plan on paintball.

BIRDING AT MTN. HOME RIDGE, 6/11, 7 a.m. – 10 a.m. Join wildlife biologist Aja Woodrow and bota-nist Helen Lau for a birding field trip overlooking the beautiful Icicle River Valley. Aja and Helen will help identify and understand the many different species that use Mtn. Home by sight and sound. The group will explore how Mtn. Home’s habitat attracts an interesting vari-ety of songbirds and other species. RSVP required 667-9708 or email [email protected].

CUSICk CUP TENNIS DOUBLES TOURNAMENT, 6/11- 6/12. Women’s and men’s round robin tennis tournament. Lots of matches throughout the weekend. Wenatchee Racquet and Athletic Club. Info: Charl Grobler 662-3544.

ARTISTS ON THE LAWN, 6/11, 4 p.m. Join local artist Troy Lindsey along with Mike Bills as they showcase

their vocal stylings and acous-tic melodies. St. Laurent Winery, Malaga. Info: www.wenatcheeval-ley.org.

PADDLING FOR SUSTAINABILITY, 6/13, 7 – 8:30 p.m. Canoe instruc-tor Marc Van Grinsven and mara-thon canoe champion Jim Bauer provide a rare chance to explore the huge impact the canoe has had on North America. Learn how this simple craft is such an important icon in sustaining the health and vitality of our rivers, both through sport and adventure. Conflu-ence Technology Center. Info: wenatcheewa.gov.

MOON RISE OVER SADDLE ROCk, 6/15, Hike up to Saddle Rock to watch as the June full moon — called the strawberry moon — rises over the Wenatchee Valley. Songs, stories and poems will be shared at the top. This hike is moderately strenuous over steep, unstable trail. Participants need to be com-fortable hiking by headlamp or flashlight over this type of terrain. RSVP required 667-9708 or email [email protected].

LEAVENWORTH INTERNATIONAL ACCORDION, 6/16 – 19. Celebrate accordion music from ethnic to jazz. Feature performances in the Festhalle, Grange and Gazebo. Competitions, workshops, jam ses-sions and free accordion lessons. Info: www.accordioncelebration.org.

WHO WILL REMEMBER WILLIAM WESTON? 6/16, 8:30 p.m. Play written by Brady Dundas, directed by Nicole Villacres. Riverside Play-house. Info: www.mtow.org.

HISTORIC WENATCHEE BUILDINGS, 6/16, 2 – 3 p.m. Historic preserva-tion expert Kris Bassett will present a slide show of historic buildings in downtown Wenatchee, discuss-ing their architectural significance and various uses through history. Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Cost: $5 adults, $4 seniors. Info: wenatcheewa.gov.

HIkING WASHINGTON HISTORY, 6/17, 7 – 9 p.m. Judy Bentley will be at Barn Beach Reserve for a book signing. Hiking Washington’s History describes 40 historic trails from across the state, ranging from short day hikes to multi-day back-packing trips, from Cape Flattery in the northwestern-most corner to Chief Joseph’s Summer Trail in southeastern Washington. And on 6/18, 1 – 3 p.m. at A Book For All Seasons, Leavenworth.

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We want to know of fun and interesting local events. Send

info to: [email protected]





WENATCHEE RIVER BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL, 6/17 – 19. Alecia Nugent, Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands, Ned Crisp & Bottomline, Prairie Flyer, Brokentop Band, Bluegrass Regulators, The Callenders, The Vachon Family Band, The 32nd Street Band and more for your bluegrass pleasure. Chelan County Expo Center, 5700 Wescott Ave, Cashmere. Info: 548-1230 or www.wenatcheeriverbluegrass.com.

BARE YOUR HEART, 6/18. A concert fundraiser with live music and food. All proceeds support families in need. Riverwalk Park Pavilion Chelan.

ART ON THE LAWN, 6/18, 1 p.m. Lo-cal photographer Crystal Rashaw Austin will have her work on dis-play at St. Laurent Winery, Malaga. Info: www.wenatcheevalley.org.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY, 6/18, 2 and 7 p.m. Join students of all ages perform various dance styles in the Fabulous Feet Dance Studio’s Spring recital. Performing Arts Cen-ter. Cost: $16.50 adults and seniors and children under 12 $13.50.

BOOTH BROTHERS AND COM-MON BOND 5, 6/20, 7:30 p.m. Great Southern Gospel music at Wenatchee High School audito-rium. Cost: $16 advanced tickets, $18 at the door, $30 VIP seating. Info: www.imcconcerts.com or 800-965-9324.

SUMMER STAGE YOUTH THEATRE PROGRAM, 6/20 - 7/9. Three week long day sessions each segmented by age group and focus. Ages stu-dents entering 3 - 12 grades to be introduced to the various aspects involved in theater performance. Performing Arts Center. Cost: $250. Info: Jessica Kinsey 665-9096 or [email protected].

SUPER SUMMER ADVENTURES, 6/20 – 7/28. A colorful array of en-richment classes for kids including art, science, cooking, web design, rocketry, construction, geography, music and photography. Put on by the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center. Call for info and registration: 888-6240.

FOUNDER’S DAY, 6/24 - 26, A family event, featuring a grand parade, ping pong ball drop, games, food and live music. Downtown Cash-mere. Info: 782-7404.

WHaT TO dO >> The Art life // SKETChES Of LOCAL ARTISTS

LYNN BROWN: ‘ART SHOULD BRING PLEASURE TO VIEWER’

This modest Wenatchee artist (a professional since she toted her first portfolio around in the early ’60s) had pieces selected for Apple Blossom 2000 and commissioned for Festival of Trees 2010, and recently won a prestigious International Pastel Show award.

Early works are still at the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center. This month she’s the featured artist at Two Rivers Gallery.

“I’m really just a beginner,” Lynn Brown demurs.

What she means is that she is a constant learner — not one to rest on a comfortable platform of accomplishment surrounded by stale canvas. She’s critical of her talents and though she hap-pily paints solo, she also craves workshops, spending three or four rigorous days in the com-pany of other artists gathering ideas and honing technique.

Lynn works in pastels and acrylics and has recently branched out from her lush pastoral scenics to also paint pets and children, the toughest subjects for scrutiny by clients.

She even painted an autumn toned suite of paintings to harmonize with a client’s living room décor.

Doing painting as home décor is an old cliché of the art world, but Lynn’s no snob. “I think art should bring pleasure to the viewer, and if this can make a home more beautiful — well, that’s a good thing.”

Lynn has degrees in Theology, Education and Art, (“I guess I like going to school”) and each interest inspires the other. When Lynn is not thinking, just

Painting in “plein air” gives any painter a refreshing challenge. Here is Lynn at the easel in France recently.

intensely creating, she says, “It’s a spiritual experience for me not unlike prayer. I’m focused in the present moment, feeling a joyful gratitude.” And when she teaches young children in public school arts programs she’s pas-sionate about encouraging them to find their true artistic voice.

Her own artwork has matured with her from a gratifying start in graphic arts that put her prize winning blue and white logo on EMT vehicles and signage (seen around the world since 1964).

During years of teaching and learning, travel, time off and experimentation gradually Lynn’s work — notably those in the vibrant colors of local landscapes she loves — found both an audience and a market. That recognition in Wenatchee, where she has lived since 1970, is nice, but it’s not her prime goal. She is freed from the need to be

strictly commercial and donates half her earnings to Mustard Seed Neighborhood Center. Lynn simply loves the act of painting.

Creativity, to Lynn, is all about problem solving. “When a painting isn’t working for me, I prop it some place where I’ll bump into it unexpectedly, hop-ing to see it suddenly and maybe get a new perspective”

Or, she’ll scrub off color and squint newly at the shadow, seeking its essential form and balance. Or even work from an upside-down photograph “to break the left brain habit — to paint what I really see, not what I think I know.”

To really see what Lynn has painted recently, go to Two Rivers Gallery, 102 N Colum-bia, Wenatchee.

— by Susan Lagsdin

5K/10K run. Proceeds benefit the education fund for the four sons of fallen Chelan County Deputy Saul Gallegos. Singleton Park, Manson. Cost: $15 pre-registered or $25 on site. Info: Eileen Ervin 667-6848.

CHELAN CENTURY CHALLENGE, 6/25. The Chelan Century Chal-lenge consists of three loops, each between 30 miles and 40 miles in length, combining challeng-ing hills with captivating scenery. Each loop has an elevation gain of more than 2,500 feet with all three loops totaling 8,600 vertical feet of elevation gain. Riders are encour-aged to complete all three loops in sequential order but are free to ride only the first loop or the first and second loop if they wish. The ride passes through orchards and vineyards into the mountainous terrain surrounding Lake Chelan. Don Morse Park. Info: 682-4699.

LEAVENWORTH INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL, 6/25- 26, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Showcasing groups from throughout the Pacific Northwest and representing countries such as Croatia, Mexico, Hungary, Ireland and Leavenworth’s German Dance group. Info: www.leavenworthin-ternationaldancefestival.org.

LEAVENWORTH WINE AND FOOD FESTIVAL, 6/25, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Featuring local wineries, restau-rants, music and art. Leavenworth Festhalle. Cost: $35 online or $40 at the door. Info: www.columbia-cascadewines.com.

CHELAN CYCLE DE VINE, 6/25. The ride of 30 miles will visit a number of the area wineries. At the begin-ning of the race each rider will be given a punch card that he or she will get endorsed at each winery visited. The drinking of wine at the rest stop will be discouraged. At the completion of the ride riders will have their cards endorsed a

final time by Chelan Rotary and will be allowed to return to three of the wineries visited for an official wine tasting and a free glass of wine. Transportation to and from the win-eries will be provided. Don Morse Park. Info: 682-4699.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, 6/25, 6 – 9 p.m. Enjoy local wine, cheese and guided tours given by the Nutcrack-er Lady, Arlene Wagner as seen on the Conan Show. Live music. Leav-enworth Nutcracker Museum. Info: www.nutcrackermuseum.com.

LEROY BELL AND HIS ONLY FRIENDS, 6/25, 7 p.m. Northwest singer/songwriter LeRoy Bell is entertaining music fans with his Only Friends, with Terry Morgan on bass and Davis Martin on percus-sion. River Haus in the Pines B & B, Leavenworth. Cost: $35 includes dessert. Info: riverhausinthepines.com.

DAVID THOMPSON BRIGADE

CELEBRATION, 6/26, 4 p.m. A re-enactment of the 1811 journey of Canadian surveyor David Thomp-son. Thompson was the first man in recorded history to travel the entire length of the Columbia, stopping at native villages along the way. 200 people will canoe from Invermere, B.C. to Astoria, Oregon, stopping in Wenatchee. The celebration consists of fancy canoe maneuvers, a coming ashore ceremony, live old time music by Hank Cramer and All Strings Considered, canoe rides, interpretive exhibits and a no-host Country Boys BBQ and baked po-tato buffet. Wenatchee Confluence State Park. Cost: $12.Dinner re-serve: www.wenatcheepaddle.org. On June 28 a Departure Ceremony will be in Rock Island with a hot dog lunch. Info www.2011brigade.org.

CASCADE GOLF CLASSIC, 6/27, 9 a.m. Entry fee includes green fee, golf cart, prizes, breakfast, treats

CUB SCOUT FOUNDER’S DAY PANCAkE BREAkFAST, 6/25, 7:30 a.m. Cashmere Cub Scout Pack 1 partners with the American Legion to offer a pancake breakfast of eggs (cooked to order), ham, juice, coffee and of course, the best pancakes this side of the tracks. American Legion Hall, 401 Sunset Avenue, Cashmere. Cost: $5. Info: Deanne Erickson 782-1136.

APPLE RUN CAR SHOW, 6/24 – 26. 300 classic hot rods of 1975 and earlier vintage. Wenatchee Con-fluence State Park. Info: www.wenatcheevalleystreetrods.com.

POTLUCk, 6/24, 7 – 8 p.m. Ana Maria Spagna will be at the Leavenworth Library for her book signing and 6/25, 1 – 3 p.m. at A Book For All Seasons. In Potluck, Ana Maria Spagna explores the deep con-nection of people and place. Her affectionate, wry and wise writings journey from Tijuana to a California beach to Utah’s canyons— and, always, back to Stehekin, the North Cascades valley she calls home.

THE JUNGLE BOOk, 6/24, 6 -9 p.m. and 6/25, 1 – 4 p.m. The Upper Val-ley Connection’s Icicle Players will perform at Cascade High School in Leavenworth. Info: www.leaven-worth.com.

CORkS AND CANVAS PAINTING PARTY, 6/24. Looking for a creative outlet? Bring our creative juices to St. Laurent Winery for a guided art lesson paired with award winning wines. Info: www.saintlaurent.net/events.

DEPUTY SAUL GALLEGOS MEMORI-AL RUN, 6/25, 8 a.m. 3K/5K walk or





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throughout the day and awards banquet. Proceeds go toward the purchase of a second Automated Medication Dispensing System for Cascade Medical Center. Info: Kathy 548-2523 or email [email protected].

WV CHAMBER GOLF CLASSIC, 6/27, 11:30 a.m. Play golf with an AppleSox player. Wenatchee Golf and Country Club. Ticket includes awards and dinner. Info: www.wenatchee.org.

US-CANADA COLUMBIA RIVER TREATY, 6/27, 7 p.m. Witt Ander-son, director of programs for the Northwest Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will address the background and significance of this major treaty, which is currently undergoing the renewal process, and show the importance of the Columbia River to both the United States and Canada. Ohme Gardens. Cost: suggested donation $5. Info: 888-6245.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC, 7/1, 7/2, 7/8, 7/9, 7/14, 7/15, 7/19, 7/21, 7/23, 7/28 & 7/30, 8 p.m. A Leavenworth and Washington State classic, now in its 17th season. Set in one of America’s most beautiful amphi-theaters overlooking the spec-tacular Enchantment Peaks. Ski Hill Amphitheater, Leavenworth. Cost: $14, $22 & $28. Info: leavenworth-summertheater.com.

CHELAN CROSS COUNTRY CLAS-SIC, 7/3 – 7/8. Hang gliders and paragliders launch from the Chelan Butte and fly distance tasks, often coming back to land at the Chelan Falls soccer field park after several hours in the air.

9TH ANNUAL OHME GARDENS WINE & FOOD GALA, 7/9, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. The Wine event of the summer. Bring your friends to beautiful Ohme Gardens, over-looking the Wenatchee Valley, as you enjoy award-winning wines, gourmet food and live music. Cost: $45 per person if tickets are purchased before July 4; $55 after July 4. Order tickets online at www.wenatcheewines.com.

THUNDER SWAMP, 7/9 & 8/13. Extreme boat races in East Wenatchee. Info: www.thunder-swamp.com.

WHaT TO dO >> The Art life // SKETChES Of LOCAL ARTISTS

cHARLEY VOORHIS: SEEING HIS FUTURE AS cAMERA READY

Leavenworth filmmaker Charley Voorhis knows that art is sometimes discovery, not invention.

“My favorite moment is when I finally say I GOT IT! — when something I’ve envisioned, planned, and plotted comes to life through my lens. OR even better, when a magic moment happens that I didn’t plan on.”

Charley has known his direc-tion for long time.

What this 27-year-old Leav-enworth filmmaker did with his teen years at Wenatchee Valley Technical Skills Center was create cutting-edge, top quality experimental film from inception to production, gaining momentum as he broke a few rules, crossed a few boundaries and went way beyond the class syllabus and his teacher’s expec-tations.

Charley’s first amateur snow and skate films reflected a fascination with those sports A life-threatening snowboarding injury closely followed by his intensive college work in video production (“film” and “video” are interchangeable) pulled him into new genres.

After film school in California, full of ideas and ready to roll, he realized he could make good movies anywhere. He started his career back home in Wenatchee knowing, “nothing big was go-ing to happen for me artistically unless I did it myself.”

In July 2005, Charley screened his first hour-long concert film Midst of an Epok at the PAC, followed by Under Lamp Light, which won the Icicle Prize.

His latest film, Harmony Field, came to Caffé Mela this spring.

Charlie Voorhis: Building a filmmaker’s portfolio while teaching the art.

In his short, nature-themed work (some favorite venues: Leavenworth and Iceland) he said he “loves to explore the essence of space or landscape, hoping to see it in a new way.”

Whether creating his own art pieces or filming commissioned work for clients, he uses only his small digital Canon DSLR and plenty of advanced-tech edit-ing gear. Charley tackles large, complex projects, even though Wenatchee lacks easy availabil-ity of specialized equipment. He makes labor-intensive technical decisions from storyboarding with thumbnail pencil sketches to digital editing in the lab.

Story, emotion — that’s the center of the work, but he insists that for a truly professional film, “It’s all in the light — it’s seek-ing or creating the perfect light that really distinguishes inten-tional production from candid shots.”

Charley’s come full circle in

10 years. He now teaches at the same Tech Center that push-pulled him into a life of film, and his students know how seri-ous he is about excellence. They excelled in rigorous competition at Skills USA, the Super Bowl of tech education, and he is confi-dent that a few of them could be hired today in the industry.

He loves this valley, and his satisfying work in it. “I feel re-ally good,” he said, “when my work moves people and inspires other artists to create.”

These days, Charley admitted that playing with his two-year-old son engrosses him almost as much as video, but he’s still constantly seeking the perfect light, the unique shot, trying to tell the story his own way.

To learn more about Charley and to experience the full range of his film work, go to either charleyvoorhis.com or voortex-productions.com.

— by Susan Lagsdin




Railroad payroll gave a boost to WenatcheeJames J. Hill’s Great Northern

Railroad brought its first train to Wenatchee on October 17, 1892 filled with change and promise for the valley.

The promise was yet to be realized but the change had started well before that first train arrived.

The town had a population of about 300 people then, so when railroad men — surveyors, engi-neers and track crews — began pouring into the valley, they swelled the population and created a new surge in busi-nesses, intent on capturing that railroad payroll.

On May 1, 1892 the Co-lumbia Val-ley Bank, the town’s first, opened in a new brick building with Arthur Gunn as manager and cashier.

By early that year, Rich-ard Steele wrote later, along Wenatchee Avenue there were

“13 dance halls in one block, numerous saloons and other resorts…”

Frank Scheble opened the town’s first hardware store in 1892.

That same year the O’Connor and Company livery stable burned killing 22 horses. The fire spread, destroying six ad-jacent businesses including the new, and still empty, Minnesota Mercantile Store. Total losses

were estimated at $6,000.At the end of the year 79 men

signed an incorporation peti-tion in Kittitas County asking that Wenatchee become a fourth

class city.With the railroad on its way

over Stevens Pass by 1893, the majority of the workers moved on and Wenatchee calmed down.

An economic recession that year slowed economic develop-ment but didn’t stop E. B. Loney from opening a real estate office to compete with The Wenatchee Development Company’s Land Office run by Arthur Gunn who

had left the bank for the greener pastures of real estate develop-ment.

The Reeves family came to town that year and I.W. Reeves

opened a dry goods store. His daughter, Rose, started a millinery shop to keep the ladies of the town in hats. She opened in a small, clapboard building on the av-enue then moved to her father’s store.

They were joined in town by other entrepreneurs.

Steele reported that in Janu-ary of 1894 Wenatchee businesses in-cluded: 1 bank, 2 general stores, 1 grocery store, a paint and wallpaper store, 2 confectioner-ies, 3 hotels, 1 restaurant and a bak-ery, 2 butcher shops, J.S. Gray and Son livery stable, Frank Scheble’s Wenatchee Lumber Com-pany, Fergu-

son and Son’s Tin Shop, The Wenatchee Advance, a lime, cement and brick yard and a wholesale liquor store.

The number of saloons was

cOLuMN THOSE WErE THE daySROD MOLzAhn

>>

The original town of Wenatchee about 1890 at the corner of Miller Street and Springwater looked a little sparse. W.e. Stevens built the first store here in 1883. Photo from Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center #75-49-8


down to 4 and the dance halls were gone.

The May 26, 1894 issue of the Wenatchee Advance car-ried 12 business ads including the Wenatchee News Company handling “Leading Newspapers and Periodicals” with “Fresh Fruit, Candy and Nuts Always in Stock” alongside W.B. Ready, Wholesale and Retail Dealer in Imported and Domestic Wines, Liquors and Cigars. W.B. Mercer, Druggist, offered “Drugs and Patent Medicines.”

The City Barbershop was oper-ated by W.O. Parr who studied law between haircuts and went on to be a Chelan County Supe-rior Court Judge.

A November issue of the Advance included ads for F.M. Scheble’s Hardware, dealer in “Heavy and Shelf Hardware, Farm Implements, Barb Wire, Miner’s Tools, Ammunition, Stoves, Etc.”

An ad for Wenatchee Nursery, W.G. Perry, Proprietor, warned growers, “Don’t be swindled by traveling fruit tree agents when you can buy trees at home.”

The January 1895 ad for the Baker & Hiatt Store began “Cold Weather, Eh?” and went on to offer “Elegant Red Flannel” at 35¢ per yard and “White Baby Flannel” for 25¢ a yard. The ad finishes with “Don’t Forget That We Are The People When It Comes To Groceries.”

That year the First United Methodist Church held services

in the back gambling room of Bush Ready’s saloon. Mr. Ready, himself, drove his horse and wagon to Waterville every Sun-day to bring the preacher back to town.

The year 1896 found E.F. Sprague, undertaker, operating his glass and silver hearse out of the back of the Gash Furniture House.

The U.S. census for 1900 gave Wenatchee a population of 451. That year John Gellatly opened the first land title company serv-

ing the newly formed Chelan County. The town began to grow more quickly through the early 1900s.

The Wenatchee Advance esti-mated that, in 1902, there had been $320,000 in new residential and business construction in the city.

By the end of 1903 the popula-tion had jumped almost fourfold to 1,690 with construction of an additional 120 new buildings at a cost of $200,000.

That year, in April, the

Wenatchee Commercial Club, forerunner to the Chamber of Commerce, was organized with John Gellatly as president.

Business was flourishing in Wenatchee.

Historian, actor and teacher Rod Molzahn can be reached at [email protected]. His third his-tory CD, Legends & Legacies Vol.

III - Stories of Wenatchee and North Central Washington, is now available at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and

Cultural Center and at other loca-tions throughout the area.

1st Choice Collision Center .............................13Aaron Adult Family Homes ................................3After Hours Plumbing & Heating ....................26American Quality Coatings ..............................29Artisan Flooring ..............................................13Beaver Valley Lodge ........................................21Biosports Physical Therapy .............................23Brenda Burgett Century 21 .............................26Central Washington Hospital .............................6Central Washington Water ...............................23Chelan Co. PUD Conservation ........................38Clayton Homes ...............................................25Common Bond 5 ............................................12Complete Design ............................................26Concepts Ktichen & Bath Designs ..................42DA Davidson & Company ................................32Dr. Steve Stroud, N.D., L.A.c. ..........................22Dr. Steven Harvey DDS ...................................19Epledalen Retirement & Assisted Living ..........44First Choice Floor Coverings ...........................24For the Love of It .............................................21Fred Dowdy Company .....................................44Gallery 4 South ...............................................19Go USA ...........................................................44Golden East Restaurant ..................................31Highgate Senior Living ....................................29Icicle Broadcasting ........................................40Iwa Sushi Grill .................................................31Karie Rolen, John L Scott Real Estate .............26KCSY Sunny FM ..............................................28

Laura Mounter Real Estate & Co. ......................2Legends $ Legacies ........................................28Momi Palmieri, Windermere Real Estate/NCW, Leavenworth .............................................18Moonlight Tile and Stone ................................26Noyd & Noyd Insurance Agency ......................22Port of Chelan County .................................... 43Premiere One Properties ...................................5Products Supply Northwest .............................29Reflections Healing Studio ..............................18Security 1 Lending ..........................................29Sew-Creative ..................................................29Sleeping Lady Resort King Fisher Dining Room 31Swim World ......................................................9 Take Shape for Life .........................................15Telfords Chapel of the Valley & Crematory ...... 43The WRAC .......................................................11Therapy Works ................................................26Thunder Swamp Sprint Boat Races .................36Tracy Franklin, John L Scott Real Estate ..........29Vita Green ..................................................... 43Wenatchee AppleSox ......................................35Wenatchee Business Journal ...........................12Wenatchee Natural Foods ...............................14Wenatchee Valley Medical Center ...................30Wenatchee Valley Musuem ............................15Wenatchee Valley Musuem ............................25Western Ranch Buildings ................................19Wok About Grill ...............................................31

The city Barbershop was operated by W.O. Parr who studied law between haircuts and went on to be a chelan county Superior court Judge.


5 REASONS TO VENTURE OUTYou want beauty, you want

tasty visual treats, you want the quiet of nature or the sounds of picking fingers flying across a banjo, or even if you want the answers to one of life’s big questions, like, “What was it all like before?” well then read-ers, you’re in for a well-packed month of activities.

Take a look at a few of these, picked from the events calendar this month:

Will walk for art — A walk is good for the soul, and a walk through downtown Wenatchee in the early evening hours of the first Friday of each month could be good for the artistic side of the soul as well. The First Friday Art-Walk goes in, out and around local galleries, museum, coffee houses, book store, Performing Arts Center, Conven-tion Center, businesses, and public art displays from 5 to 8 p.m. ….and sometimes later. Hear some music, meet local

artists, sip a little wine... not a bad way to spend a warm Friday evening. Pick up a walking map and make the circuit. Info: www.wendowntown.org/content/view/168/56/. June 3.

Shhh, isn’t that a...? — Wildlife biologist Aja Woodrow and botanist Hel-en Lau lead a birding field trip overlooking the beautiful Icicle River Valley. Aja and Helen will help identify and understand the many different species that use Mountain Home Ridge, and why the ridge near Leavenworth attracts an interesting variety of songbirds and other species. RSVP required 667-9708 or email [email protected]. June 11, 7 a.m.

Hiking by the twinkling light of the stars — Now here’s something completely different. Hike up to Saddle Rock to watch as the June full moon — called

the straw-berry moon — rises over the Wenatchee Val-ley. Songs, stories and poems will be shared at the top.

WARNING: This hike is moderately strenuous over steep, unstable trail — and it’ll be dark on the way up. Par-ticipants need to be comfort-able hiking by headlamp or flashlight over this type of ter-rain. RSVP required 667-9708 or email [email protected]. June 15.

So much fiddling you’ll turn blue — The Wenatchee River Bluegrass Festival has an impressive line-up of artists, including Alecia Nugent, Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands, Ned Crisp & Bot-tomline, Prairie Flyer, Brokentop Band, Bluegrass Regulators, The Callenders, The Vachon Family Band and The 32nd Street Band along with much more. Chelan County Expo Center, 5700 Wescott Ave, Cashmere. Info: 548-1230 or www.wenatcheeriverbluegrass.com. June 17-19

Canoe on, David Thompson — When you look out of the

car window as you drive over a Columbia River bridge, you see a passive, lake-like river.

But the mighty Columbia used to be... well, mighty. And dangerous, and unmapped until in 1811, Ca-nadian surveyor David Thomp-

son became the first man in recorded history to travel the entire length of the Columbia, stopping at native villages along the way.

A re-enactment of this trip will feature 200 people canoeing from Invermere, B.C. to Astoria, Ore., stopping in Wenatchee. The celebration consists of fancy canoe maneuvers, a coming ashore ceremony, live old time music, canoe rides, interpretive exhibits and a no-host Country Boys BBQ and baked potato buf-fet. Wenatchee Confluence State

Park. Cost: $12.Dinner reserve: www.wenatcheepaddle.org. 4 p.m. June 26.

On June 28, a Departure Ceremony will be in Rock Is-land with a hot dog lunch. Info www.2011brigade.org.

FuN STuFF // ChECK OuT ThESE ACTIvITIES>>

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Good Life June 2011