William Ashley

Transcription

William Ashley

Published since 2006
William Ashley
His Passion for Photography
Turned into Generosity
MauMag.com
October, November, December 2013 - Volume 8, Issue 2
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from the publisher
Quite often I receive email messages and telephone calls
from Maumelle residents who have information that they would
like to see published in MauMag. Although some of the subject
matter is worth publishing, I must sometimes turn it down,
sometimes because of space, but often because MauMag is
a quarterly publication and the news item(s) or subject matter
offered in these communications become quickly outdated and
can be classified as ‘old’ news,
With this in mind, I am happy to announce the newly developed web
magazine “TheMaumellian.com.” Logging onto “themaumellian.com” will bring
you up-to-date information that is all about Maumelle. You will be able to learn
about local events such as the Maumelle Expo, City Codes, what new books
came to the Maumelle Library, how to plan a successful garage sale, listing of
City Building Permits, what’s happening with The Arts, adopting a pet, local
sports, Chamber of Commerce activities, contacting city officials, personality
profiles, featured businesses, community matters, and a lot more.
TheMaumellian.com is a MauMag sister publication. Its emphasis is on all
matters that are uniquely Maumelle. The web magazine will be updated as fast
as the information filters in.
Your comments and suggestions are welcome when sent by email to
[email protected]. I encourage you to “stay in touch.”
Best wishes,
Roger A. Frangieh
Publisher/Editor
MauMag | Oct-Nov-Dec 2013
Quotes of Note
04
I went to a restaurant that serves “breakfast at any time”. So I ordered
French Toast during the Renaissance. Stephen Wright
Maybe this world is another planet’s Hell. Aldous Huxley
Why do they call it rush hour when nothing moves? Robin Williams (as Mork)
There are no facts, only interpretations. Friedrich Nietzsche
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” Napoleon
Bonaparte
I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. Thomas
Jefferson
As a child my family’s menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.
Buddy Hackett
Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement. Ronald
Reagan
Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. Don Marquis
I buy expensive suits. They just look cheap on me. Warren Buffett
My one regret in life is that I am not someone else. Woody Allen
Fashions have done more harm than revolutions. Victor Hugo
I don’t believe in the after life, although I am bringing a change of underwear.
Woody Allen
Men are liars. We’ll lie about lying if we have to. I’m an algebra liar. I figure
two good lies make a positive. Tim Allen
Television has changed the American child from an irresistable force to an
immovable object. Laurence J. Peter
Since 2006
Publisher/Editor
Roger A. Frangieh
Publisher/President
RAFIMI Publishing LLC
RAFIMI Advertising & Strategic Marketing
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Samia M. Frangieh
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Roger A. Frangieh
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Writers & Contributors
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Scott Deaton
Ken Forrester
Linda Kennedy
Cary Maddox
Amanda H. Mercer
Shannon Odom
Austin Pittman
Pam Rudkin
Marion Scott
Harding Stedler
Roger A. Frangieh
Jonathon Cross
Carolyn Drane
Dr. Bryson Howard, Au.D.
Mary Lester
Michelle McCon
Candace S. Millwood
Kricia Palmer
Robyn D. Rektor
Dr. Lauren Schluterman
Mary Ann Stafford, EdD
Kathy Wheeler
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in
this issue
From the Publisher
Humorous Quotes
e.mail
to the editor
04
04
Cover Story
William Ashley
08
Bryan A. Austin, D.D.S.
14
Family in Harmpny
16
Drawing with Zentangles20
Time Management
22
Pet Obesity
24
Be Careful what You Ask for
25
Interior Design
How to Overcome Common Design Dilemmas
The Real Stuff
That Old Bridge
Poetry - Reaping the Rhythms
30
32
32
34
35
Rules of Golf
Why Gluten and I Are No Longer on Eating Terms:
My Journey to GF36
Fitness & Health
37
Healthy Tips for the Typical Holiday Feast
37
Impact of Hearing Loss on Communication
38
HIIT-High Intensity Interval Training39
He Loves Her
40
Grandpa Comes Home
41
Dear Editor:
Acts of kindness often don’t make the news. And
frankly, folks, I’m growing weary of TV shows named Bad
Girls and news stories about misbehaving youth on spring
break!
But an act of kindness was given to me recently in
Maumelle’s Starbucks.
As the young man, the manager, asked for my order I
chatted with him about the recent loss of my little doggie,
Nilly Dog. She had to be sent to doggie heaven, for she
got very sick and her liver was shutting down. A faithful
companion for a long time, she was 18 years old.
My order at the counter was a vanilla/hazelnut coffee
and a slice of lemon icing lemon pound cake. When the
handsome young man gave me my order, he said tenderly,
in observance of my recent loss and to offer his condolence,
the order was on him.
I was overwhelmingly touched with the thoughtfulness
the young gentleman showed to me. (But don’t scam this
folks, okay?__ it could have been done especially for me)
Now people, this action of kindness has no bounds.
Our current pop culture has a saying, PAY IT FORWARD
... well, you know that’s not original, albeit it is a good
way to put it for our current generation ... the saying has
been around for centuries ... perhaps you’ve heard it ...
DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO
UNTO YOU ... the Golden Rule, if you will. I challenge you
this day to work this kind of thoughtfulness every day you
find a chance to do so ... ye, even unto the animals ...
This young man sowed seeds of kindness which will
PAY FORWARD. Starbucks, hang on to this fellow.
Marsha Allen
Maumelle
06
Maumelle Photography Club
42
It’sNo Longer Just Prints
44
For the Love of Coffee
45
German Wine Nomenclature46
The Beach Penguin
48
Recipes50
Advertisers Index53
Connections “Market Place.”
53
Book Review with Pam Rudkin
The Dinner by Herman Koch
54
54
Cover Photography by William Ashley
Design by RogerA. Frangieh
www.MauMag.com
Photography
07
William Ashley...
His Passion for Photography
Turned into Generosity
By Candace S. Millwood,
Communications & Media Director
or Arkansas Hospice
WilliamAshley
08
ighty-one years ago,
an 8-year-old boy by
the name of William
Ashley worked at a little
neighborhood drugstore
in Dallas, Texas. Every day he sat
on his stool by the front door and
watched as people came into the
store, grabbed a piece of candy for
a penny, and dropped their film off to
be developed.
When they made their way back
in to pick up the prints, the excited
young lad would exclaim, “Let me see
your pictures!” He always wanted to
know what they were photographing.
“I remember thinking how great it
was,” Ashley said. “And I thought, ‘I
ought to do that.’”
And that’s when his love of
photography began.
William Ashley, affectionately
referred to as “Mr. Ashley” by his
friends at Arkansas Hospice, was
honored with a special surprise
ceremony on Thursday, August 1,
2013. The Towbin Heritage Society
recognizes those who make special
provisions in their wills or estate
plans to support the organization.
Mr. Ashley joined the society after
Arkansas Hospice cared for his wife,
Alice, in 2001. Since that time, he
has helped the organization enhance
its mission through various types of
gifts, including his photography. His
nearly 400 donated prints of flowers
and landscapes brighten the walks of
all of the Arkansas Hospice inpatient
centers and offices.
“It was beyond my capability to
give Alice the care and treatment
she deserved during the final days of
her life,” Mr. Ashley said. “Alice was
treated with such kindness and love.
She was made comfortable and pain
free.”
Mr. Ashley and Alice met on a
blind date during World War II. Both
were in the military and, at the time,
Mr. Ashley, a bombardier, was being
trained on the B-24 Liberator in Walla
Walla, Washington, in preparation to
go overseas. “My next door neighbor,
we called him ‘Pimples,’ came over
one night and said, ‘I’m going to meet
my girlfriend and she’s bringing a
friend. Want to come along?’ And I
said, ‘Yeah, I got nothing else to do.’”
Little did Mr. Ashley know that on that
night, he would meet his future wife.
www.MauMag.com
E
Bill & Alice Ashley
Continued on Page 10
09
right up there with the first two.”
Mr. Ashley’s second happiest day
reignited his love of photography. “I
started making pictures of her and
all the places we lived and went,” Mr.
Ashley said. “I have so many albums
of baby pictures … that kind of stuff.
You know, growing up.”
It wasn’t until later in life – after
developing Parkinson’s disease –
that Mr. Ashley’s focus in photography
switched to flowers, which is what he
is most famous for photographing. “I’d
never really concentrated on flowers
before, but when Parkinson’s set in, I
couldn’t hold a camera anymore,” he
said. “I had to start using a tripod.”
Mr. Ashley’s photos line the halls
of Arkansas Hospice’s offices across
the state, but none make more of an
impact than his canvassed pieces
at the organization’s Ottenheimer
Inpatient Center at St. Vincent
Infirmary Medical Center in Little
Rock. The bright, colorful flowers
breathe life into the center by giving
it a more homelike feel – the opposite
of most sterile-looking hospital units.
On a daily basis, his artwork helps
10
“I remember Fred Waring, an old
big band leader, was playing at the
dance hall down in Walla Walla that
weekend. I didn’t dance, but I loved
music,” Mr. Ashley said. “We sat up in
the balcony and listened to the music.
Come time to close, I walked her
back home and asked if I could see
her again. She replied, ‘Only on one
condition – you don’t talk about Texas
anymore. I don’t want to hear another
word about Texas.’”
He agreed, even though some
may have considered Texas his first
true love from all of the photographs
he had taken throughout the years.
“If it moved or were to stand still, I
photographed it,” Mr. Ashley said.
“Everything.
Statues.
Buildings.
Houses. The High School. Cars. I just
went crazy.”
It wasn’t long after their first
date that Mr. Ashley sold his military
overcoat and bought Alice a diamond
ring. They decided to wait until the
war was over to tie the knot. Mr.
Ashley’s love of photography – like
his desire to marry Alice – would have
to wait until he returned home from
battle. During the war, there were no
cameras or film allowed.
When the war ended, Mr. Ashley
was sent to a staging area in Fort
Meade, Maryland, located just outside
of Washington, D.C., where Alice was
stationed at the time. “I went and got
a marriage license and then told her
that I was back,” Mr. Ashley said. “It
was Friday afternoon. I remember
telling her that we should get married
tomorrow because I already had the
marriage license and the preacher
lined up.”
Believe it or not, she said OK,
and the coupled were married the
next day – Saturday, June 9, 1945 –
a moment Mr. Ashley refers to as the
happiest day in his life.
“I told them this event they did
for me was the third happiest day in
my life,” Mr. Ashley said. “The second
was when my daughter, Nancy, was
born. Third was this one – it ranks
www.MauMag.com
William Ashley...Continued from Page 9
11
With Allstate life insurance,
love wins.
patients and families feel more at ease.
To pay tribute to his impact on Arkansas Hospice,
the organization dedicated its Foundation office suite in
honor of the Ashleys. A wall in the office adorned with a
recognition plaque and a collection of Mr. Ashley’s floral
photography was unveiled during the event.
“I love all of you,” a surprised and humbled Mr.
Ashley told the crowd gathered to show their gratitude.
“I hope I live a long time and keep helping as long as I
can.”
12
Candace S. Millwood
Communications
& Media Director for
Arkansas Hospice
Matt Black
(501) 851-1038
3201 Club Manor Dr., Ste E
Maumelle
[email protected]
Life insurance offered by Allstate Life Insurance Company, Northbrook, IL, Lincoln Benefit Life Co., Lincoln, NE and American Heritage Life Insurance Co., Jacksonville, FL. In New York, Allstate
Life Insurance Companyof New York, Hauppauge, NY. © 2009 Allstate Insurance Company
www.MauMag.com
William Ashley...Continued from Page 11
I can help you protect your growing family at an affordable price.
As your family grows, so does your need for life insurance. The
right coverage can help keep them financially secure. Call me for
affordable options.
13
Bryan A. Austin, D.D.S.
Celebrating his
Twentieth Anniversary
of Service in Maumelle
By Marion Scott
I
14
t was a lucky day for Maumelle in 1993 when
Dr. Bryan Austin set up his dental practice here.
Having received his undergraduate degree
from UCA, Conway, and graduating from Baylor
College of Dentistry in Dallas, he had been visiting
in Maumelle off and on with his sister, Debbie Hedden,
while he searched Little Rock for a practice to join. Austin
had no intention of opening a practice of his own, but fate
intervened when his sister mentioned that one of the two
local dentists, Dr. Falkoff, was moving out of the area.
Falkoff’s office on Edgewood near the existing EZ Mart
was set up as a dental office. It was centrally located. It
was in a town where he loved the sense of community.
His only concern was that the population of 6000 could not
support two dental offices.
Opportunity was knocking, though, and always looking
for a new challenge, Austin borrowed sixty-five thousand
dollars from Twin City Bank and jumped in. His sister, a
trained medical technologist, offered to work with him until
he got on his feet. He feared that so enormous a sum
would never be repayable. He lost twenty pounds in six
months, but drove on. Just three years later, he purchased
the property where his existing office sits and opened
his new four-operatory facility. He expanded to six, then
to eight. He now has a 9 operatory facility and room for
one more. He has a staff of 14. Although his sister has
long been convinced that he is firmly on his feet, she has
M
arion Scott has been a
resident of Maumelle since
2006. Retired, she enjoys gardening and running. She finished her eighth marathon this
spring.
Marion also enjoys volunteering with a
special passion for senior education and activities.
You may contact Marion at:
[email protected]
continued to work in his practice, now primarily on the
financial end.
Sister Debbie was the first in the Austin family to obtain
a college degree. Bryan Austin always loved math, biology
and chemistry and knew his life’s work would involve those
elements. While in college, and during a doctor visit, he
asked his physician if he liked his job. The doc answered,
“Yes, but if I had it to over again, I’d be a dentist.” A short
time later, during a dental appointment, Bryan asked his
dentist if he liked his job. The affirmative answer was all it
took and the future was set. Dr. Austin chooses to practice
general dentistry rather than specializing. Specialists can
only work within their specialty, whereas in general dental
practice, the doctor is limited only by what he is unwilling
to learn. In fact, general dentistry makes up about 70% of
Austin’s practice while cosmetic and orthodontics makes up
the other 25%. He talks enthusiastically about the love of
expanding his knowledge and possibilities available within
the craft. Some of his diversification arose from customer
requests, such as orthodontics, but others out of a desire
to truly help others. He talks about his help for those who
have sleep apnea. He cannot diagnose apnea, but he can
make and properly fit the appliances that provide relief.
The State requires dentists to stay current in their
professions with 40-50 hours of continuing education.
Austin usually has two to
three hundred hours every
two years. He enjoys flying
his own plane to seminars
all over the country. His
goal is to practice every
element
of
dentistry
available anywhere.
He
researches diligently and
even challenges his staff to
discover anything they don’t
do. Then they do it.
Austin brought in his first associate in 2004, Dr. Clint
Fulks, who has since opened his own practice, mirroring
his mentor’s in many ways. His current associate, Dr. Julia
Gildon, while practicing in Texas, had been to a meeting at
Austin’s office in Maumelle. She followed her husband’s
work to the Little Rock area and began talking with Austin
about an opportunity. He said that everything just fell into
place like it was meant to be. Clint left on Friday, Julia
started the following Monday like she’d been a member of
the team all along.
Asked about his business philosophy, Bryan Austin
says, “We are a constant beta project, ever-changing,
ever-evolving. I am never satisfied with the status quo.”
He leads a team huddle every morning. They talk about
what happened yesterday and what is going to happen
today. Is there a team member that deserves special
recognition? Does anyone need anything? Is everyone
doing well? Asking those questions assures that every
day starts out on a positive note. He closes the meetings
by asking for prayer requests and offering an inspirational
word or motivational comment. The
meeting ends when he says, “Let’s
have fun.” The staff meets again for a
group lunch on Wednesdays with a brief
business discussion for dessert. The
goal of the entire group is to provide a
WOW experience for every patient.
Dr. Austin shares his craft with those
less fortunate. He has never refused
to treat a child because of financial
hardship. He donates to and participates
in many of the service groups in town.
He provides free labor to the Maumelle
Senior Wellness Center’s dental program
for low income seniors. Among his
favorite events is the Mission of Mercy,
set up by the State Board of Dental
Examiners. Penurious individuals line
up well before the event. As the dentists
arrive, the waiting members of the crowd
shake the volunteers’ hands and utter
words of thanks. The recipients are so
very appreciative of the help and express
that appreciation verbally and with many
hugs. The entire event is immensely
gratifying for Austin.
So what will the future bring for this
man of seemingly limitless energy? Dr.
Austin has a goal of opening other dental
facilities, possibly one a year. While
there are many excellent dentists,
not all possess the acumen or
desire to develop the business
end of a practice. Austin’s proven
business methodology provides an
excellent foundation for these new
practices. The first such satellite
office will open in December or
January at 11211 Cantrell Road,
just west of the Highway 430/
Highway 10 interchange. Austin
hopes to lend a hand to the resident
dentist, Dr. Bradley Crossfield, half
a day a week until the business gets up and running. Dr.
Crossfield has been working here with Austin part time as
they anticipate the new venture.
Golfer, hunter, fisherman, musician, pilot, philanthropist,
and extraordinary dentist, Austin is always looking for the
next challenge or opportunity, filling the entire spectrum of
current and future dentistry. Truly, it was a lucky day for
Maumelle when Dr. Bryan Austin set up his dental practice
here exactly twenty years ago.
www.MauMag.com
His Practice
Makes Perfect (Smiles)
15
By Linda Kennedy
T
16
here is something truly special and refreshing
about families that make music together. In
past centuries before the advent of television,
computers, and the host of technological
gadgets currently available, I imagine families
connected with each other in more sociable and creative
ways than many do today. This past year at an MMTL
(Maumelle Music Teachers League) Weekend Concert we
who attended had the pleasure of hearing the Lance family
(Steve, Rachel, and Harry) perform in the folk tradition on
a lap dulcimer, fiddle, and hammered dulcimer. Not only
was I moved by the mesmerizing sound (and sometimes
toe-tapping energy) of their ensemble, I was also touched
by the artistry in their rendering of some timeless, familiar
tunes. I wanted to hear the story behind their musical
journey, and I am so glad to have this forum to share it
with you.
Steve, the father, has been involved in his children’s
music education since Rachel, who is entering tenth
grade this year, started playing piano at the age of five at
the UCA Community School of Music. He says that her
first teacher, Donna Jean Glasgow, taught in the Suzuki
method, and her early instruction as to regular practicing,
thorough preparation for lessons, attention to technique,
and performance gave their family the musical foundation
they still rely on today. Rachel’s grandmother bought her
a lap dulcimer (a McSpadden, made at the Dulcimer Shop
in Mountain View) when she was in third grade. Thus
began their venture into the musical folk world. Mentoring
dad that he is,
Steve
began
Rachel Lance
taking
dulcimer
lessons
along
with Rachel from
David Peterson
in the Springhill
community.
Lessons are held
in a log house
that David built
himself.
During
the lessons, David
would often accompany them on a hammered dulcimer,
and it wasn’t long before Rachel’s interest shifted from
the lap dulcimer to the hammered dulcimer. Her dulcimer
is one of the many he has crafted over the years. (His
dulcimers can be viewed each year at the Arkansas Craft
Guild Winter Showcase at the Statehouse Convention
Center in Little Rock. Rachel and Harry attend each year
and play music for the crowd.)
L
inda Kennedy has taught music
through the piano and theory/
composition in her independent piano studio
in Maumelle for the past 22 years. She is also
organist/accompanist at NLR First United Methodist Church. Linda may be contacted by email
at [email protected].
In addition to
her dulcimer playing,
I
was
especially
enthralled by Rachel’s
fiddling and was not
surprised to learn how
much work has gone
into developing her
fine intonation and
technical skill. I can
see how she can be
so successful in both
the folk and classical
genres with her violin/
fiddle! She began
Steven Lance
playing violin in sixth
grade in the Conway
Schools Orchestra and has studied violin privately as
well since that time. Her current teacher is Drew Irwin of
Little Rock who is also a Concert Master for the ASO (AR
Symphony Orchestra). She has also studied fiddle and
mandolin with Tim Trawick through the UCA Community
School of Music. At the moment, she is really enjoying
orchestra and plans to spend more of her practice time
on the violin. During the summer, she practices her
instruments for about two hours a day, but when school is
in session and homework beckons, she is lucky to find an
hour or 45 minutes. The family’s folk repertoire is now fairly
strong, and she can just step in to participate easily. She
says she loves the structured nature of classical training,
but it is so much fun to play folk, too. She attended a
one-week summer session at the Arkansas Craft School
in Mountain View this summer and made a ukulele which
she will, no doubt, incorporate into the family ensemble.
Her favorite tunes on dulcimer are those that are fast and
showy, especially those in which the hands cross back and
forth. “It’s kind of fun to show off a little that way,” she says.
“By the way,” she tells me, “it is much harder to play softly
and slowly!” (And, by saying that, she is telling me that she
really knows what artistry in music is all about.)
Harry, a fourth grader this year, joined the musical
bandwagon
by
Harry Lance
beginning
piano
lessons with Suzuki
teacher, Pam Werner
of Maumelle, when
he was in first grade.
Soon he began lap
dulcimer
lessons
and moved quickly
on to the hammered
dulcimer.
His first
public performance
was on his eighth
birthday at the monthly meeting of the Little Rock
Rackensack Society at the AR Arts Center. He spends
about two hours each day practicing piano and will be
starting guitar lessons soon. He loves playing folk music
because he says that is just “having fun!” Another nice perk
is how easy it is to bring folk instruments to places you
want to perform. They’re very portable!
I wondered what musical background this patient and
www.MauMag.com
Family in Harmony
17
Steven Lance at the Lap Dulcimer with daughter Rachel on the Fiddle and son
Harry on the Hammer Dulcimer.
18
supportive father brought to the table at the outset. It turns
out to have been an ongoing learning experience for him,
as well. Other than some piano lessons when he was in
his twenties (although he didn’t get very far, he says), his
lap dulcimer lessons were really the beginning for him.
According to Steve, the lap dulcimer (also known as the
mountain dulcimer) is quite easy to learn. A traditional
American instrument with a sad sound, it was popular after
the Civil War. Steve says that even farmers with rough,
calloused hands could get a tune out of it. Two of its three
strings were drones, and the third was easy to play by
following the frets. A fourth melody string was later added
for more sound. There was a resurgence of its popularity
in the 1970’s.
I’m sure you’re wondering about Mom at this point,
as did I. In Mom, Dee, we find the usual support system
(often the CEO of a family!), the loving audience with a
thoughtful critique when needed, and one who also helps
drive the children to lessons!
Steve attributes many of their playing opportunities to
David Peterson and his wife Donna (who incidentally were
also the founders of the Arkansas Country Dance Society
a number of years ago). They recently performed with the
Petersons and some other dancers at the Faulkner County
Library for its Sunday at the Library series. Not only was it a
tremendously fun afternoon of singing, hoedowns, classical
tunes, clogging, and waltzing, it was also a landmark
occasion – Harry’s first paid gig! I wondered if they’d had
any gigs that were not remembered quite so fondly (as
most musicians do). They had a good time going down
memory lane to an engagement at a venue at which they
were to play as folks walked or drove by viewing Christmas
decorations. They realized quickly that this was a crowd
that did not appreciate their style of music, and, to add to
the drama of it all, they had been relegated to a metal shed
over a dirt floor. On top of all that, it rained steadily, and
the roof leaked. With indomitable spirits they played their
hearts out to the end and then cleaned up, dried out, and
headed home. One of their most memorable experiences
was playing for a memorial service at the Episcopal Camp
Mitchell on top of Petit Jean Mountain. The deceased had
loved folk music, and, as requested, the Lances provided
upbeat standard tunes including some from the sacred
repertoire. “We were so touched by the spirit of the people
at this service, and it meant a lot to us to be able to be part
of it through our music,” said Steve.
Since the folk tradition for centuries involved the
passing down of tunes more by ear and memory rather
than notation, I asked how they find and learn new tunes,
especially since Harry and Rachel are good readers
from their classical training. It turns out that even the
folk genre has its own fake book, The Fiddler’s Fake
Book, a collection of good standard tunes. Rachel adds
that they also learn from sheet music or even by going
to YouTube. Their teacher, David, also introduces them
to other tunes, some international or more recent such as
Farewell to Chernobyl, Ashokan Farewell, Wizard’s Walk,
Stone’s Rag, Creole Bells, and Jerusalem Ridge. Steve
adds, “Our repertoire of folk tunes has given my children a
firm grounding in their American heritage. Most of it is not
mainstream music, but much to their credit, the tunes are
simple, beautiful, and deeply rooted. If listened to carefully,
they help us understand the lives of this country’s settlers.
Some great examples are Blackberry Blossoms, Devil’s
Dream, Tam Lin, Drowsy Maggie, Childgrove, Trials,
Troubles, and Tribulations, There Is a Fountain Filled with
Blood, My Own House Waltz, and Redwing.”
I asked Steve why he has taken such an active role
in his children’s musical experience. He quickly answers,
“I treasure the opportunities I have had to play music with
my children, strumming background chords as they play.
Actually, performing is just the tip of the iceberg since
we spend many, many hours practicing together. That
is one thing that Suzuki taught me as a parent from our
first lessons with Donna Jean Glasgow and her insistence
that we, as Suzuki parents, are the musical coaches at
home. We don’t just send our children to another room
to play; we are part of the practice. As folk musicians we
practice a lot, and I can’t think of a better way to spend
time together.” The Lances are immensely grateful to their
music teachers. Steve says,” Good music teachers are
much more than just a ‘music teacher.’ They become our
children’s friends, mentors, and extended family. A good
music teacher is also a builder of good character, and we
have been fortunate to have our children shaped by such
devoted teachers and deeply good people.”
Steve, Rachel, and Harry have provided audio
files of some of their favorite tunes for our listening
pleasure. The audio files can be accessed at MauMag
website: http://www.maumag.com/the_arts.htm .
“They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love”--Harry
“Homage to Dorothea”—Harry and Steve
“John Stinson #2”—Harry and Steve
“Stone’s Rag”—Harry and Steve
“Ashokan Farewell”--Rachel
“Back Up and Push”—Rachel and Steve
“Cantares de me Tierra”—Rachel and Steve
“Blackberry Blossoms”—Rachel and Steve
“Ookpik Waltz”—Rachel and Steve
“Flowers of Edinburgh”—Harry, Rachel, and Steve
“Arkansas Traveler”—Harry, Rachel, and Steve
The tunes will remain on the website until December 31, 2013
www.MauMag.com
Family in Harmpny..Continued from Page 16
19
Drawing with Zentangles:
A Meditative Activity that Anyone Can Do
By Mary Ann Stafford, EdD
The art of Zentangle was developed in 2005 by Maria
Thomas and Rick Roberts. Rick was a former Buddhist
monk, and he saw this type of drawing experience as
meditative. Maria is a calligrapher and had been doing
illuminated manuscript-type drawings. The two of them
M
20
ary Ann Stafford taught
visual arts, humanities, and
English at Pine Bluff High School for many
years before becoming an Assistant Principal.
She retired from the Arkansas Department of
Education in 1993. A teacher and an artist, she
exhibits regularly and teaches drawing at the
Arkansas Arts Center and the Maumelle Senior
Wellness Center. Dr. Stafford holds signature
membership in Mid-Southern Watercolorists,
the Pastel Society of the Southwest , and the
Arkansas League of Artists.
Her art can be seen at Eurekan Art in Eureka Springs and Gallery
221 in Little Rock. Web sites are www.staffordart.com, www.fineartamerica.
com, and www.arkansasartists.com. Her artists’ blog can be found at www.
pastelanne.wordpress.com.
perfected a system with official patterns and teaching
methods. Certified Zentangle Teachers teach in many
countries and the word, Zentangle, is copyrighted. Official
drawing kits can be purchased which include “tiles” (240
lb. weight 3 ½” squares of 100 % cotton paper), Micron
pens, pencil, and an instruction booklet, but this is not
necessary. You can draw on just about anything. I have
drawn in my sketchbooks, my journals, and have made
greeting cards and bookmarks with scriptural quotations
using the method. Some of the books I recommend show
using Zentangles for photo frames, scrapbook pages,
postcards, Christmas ornaments, pillows, pottery, rocks,
and even jewelry. Come with me for a moment while I
describe the process.
To begin, make several 3 ½” by 3 ½” squares out of
heavy weight good quality art paper. You also need a
disposable black ink pen like a Pigma Micron 01. I use a .00
Koh–I-Noor Rapidograph pen, but these can be expensive.
Drawing pencils (2H and 2B), a pencil sharpener, and a
white charcoal pencil (for drawing on black paper) are also
useful. When you get ready to try using color, colored
pencils and gel pens are handy. If you’re a watercolorist,
you can also make watercolor backgrounds.
Relax and take some deep breaths before starting
your Zentangle. Focus on your materials. Make dots with
the 2H pencil at the four corners of the tile about ¼” in from
the edge. Then connect the dots with a line that makes a
border. This doesn’t have to be straight – don’t use a ruler!
Then lightly divide the space within the border quickly and
spontaneously. This is called a “string.” This is your map,
in a way.
Fill in the spaces you’ve made with some of the tangles
in the examples below using your pen.
EXAMPLES:
be found on YouTube. Just search
for Zentangles or Zendalas. Happy
Zentangling!
www.d-originals.com
www.zentangle.com
www.pastelanne.wordpress.com
www.createmixedmedia.com
www.quarrybooks.com
Bartholomew, Sandy Stein. YOGA
FOR THE BRAIN : A ZENTANGLE
WORKOUT. Design Originals, 2011.
Marie Browning, TIME TO TANGLE
WITH COLORS.
Design Originals,
2011.
Carbonetti, Jeanne. THE ZEN OF
CREATIVE PAINTING.
New York:
Watson-Guptill Publications, 1998.
Hall,
Kass.
ZENTANGLE
UNTANGLED: INSPIRATION AND
PROMPTS
FOR
MEDITATIVE
DRAWING.
Cincinnati, Ohio: Northlight Books,
2012.
Beckah Krahula. ONE ZENTANGLE
A DAY: A 6 WEEK COURSE IN
CREATIVE DRAWING FOR
RELAXATION, INSPIRATION, AND
FUN, Quarry Books, Beverly, MA, 2012.
All these can be found on Amazon.
com, of course.
AMAZE
MOOKA
FLUX
\
ZENDALA
GERMIE CHILLON
SQUISH
EXAMPLES: BOOK MARK AND GREETING CARDS
I recommend the following resources in your study of
Zentangles. In addition, numerous demonstrations can
www.MauMag.com
I’ve always believed that we all are creative if only we
can learn to trust ourselves. Non-artists always say to me,
“I can’t draw a straight line,” but neither can I without a
ruler. Why do I need to draw a straight line, when curved
ones are so much more interesting? Most artists will say
that the act of drawing is meditative, calming, and relaxing.
Making marks on paper with nothing planned in mind can
eliminate stress and anxiety, and help one become more
focused and thoughtful.
In my meager understanding, the art of Zen is being
mindful – fully present in the moment. It is a blending
of mind, body, and spirit. It is intuitive and creative, not
logical; a use of the right brain rather than the left brain.
This may be why the art of Zentangles has become so
popular with artists and non-artists alike. All one has to
do is search the topic on YouTube to find many examples.
AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AN ARTIST TO DRAW A
ZENTANGLE!
Take your time and turn the square as you work. All
the spaces do not have to be filled. Use your imagination
and your creativity. Use the 2B pencil to shade some of
the edges if you want to try a 3D effect. Don’t judge your
effort; practice patience. Many different designs can be
found in the books I recommend below, or on YouTube.
The videos on YouTube are step by step demonstrations.
When you get used to the process, try using colored
pens, pencils, watercolor pencils, or Inktense Pencils
(colored inks in pencil form). Then branch out making
scrapbook pages, greeting cards, borders, envelopes –
there’s no limit!
There are over 100 “Official” Zentangle patterns, but
you can always make up a pattern on your own. Look at
the patterns you see around you: floor tile, things you cook
with, stacks of books, carvings on wood doors, anything
that looks interesting. On my recent trip to New England, I
found many new decorative designs on the outside of the
historic buildings in the towns. Keep a sketchbook of your
ideas.
You can draw these anywhere and they take little time.
Try taking a few supplies with you when you have to wait in
the doctor’s office or the airport (but don’t do it in church!)
Eventually you might want to try a Zendala, and
adaptation of the Mandala. The word means “magic
circle” in Sanskrit and represents the universe. Carl Jung,
the psychologist used the mandala to represent unity, or
wholeness of the individual. Mandalas harmonize our
creative, emotional, and personal individuality into one
symbolic design. Circles designs are everywhere in nature
– the sun, flowers, the earth, the moon, stained glass rose
windows – you name it!
To begin your Zendala, use a compass or template to
draw a circle as your format and find the center. Using a
protractor, divide the circle into eight or more sections. You
can use either geometrical or biomorphic shapes within
each section and fill those shapes with patterns. See my
example below.
21
By: Amanda H. Mercer
id I really agree to
write an article on Time
Management? What was
I thinking? As I am sitting
here and the deadline looms, I have
waited to the last minute to write about
a subject that helps us keep from
doing that very thing! Nevertheless,
in the different stages of my life, I
have learned a few things about
time management when it comes to
myself, my family, and my job.
I am a wife to a husband that has
a demanding job and requires lots
of travel. I have two very active boys
who are passionate about sports.
If you have ever been involved in
youth sports, you know what a time
commitment it is for the family. I also
work part-time while the boys are in
school. When I went back to work
part-time a year ago, I didn’t think
working during school hours would
be that difficult to manage. However,
it has presented many of the same
D
22
Cozi Calendar
Cozi To-Do List
problems and I have learned to juggle
it all. Some days better than others!
At different stages of my life, I
have struggled to manage my time.
First as a college student, then as
a career focused newlywed without
kids, a Stay-at-home Mom, and now
a part-time working mom with both
children in school. All of those stages
presented their problems and time
wasters. At each of those points in
my life, I remember feeling like the todo list was never finished and I was
always exhausted. My mother has
often told me that our generation puts
unrealistic expectations on ourselves
every day. We make a long to-do
list that is impossible to achieve.
Ultimately, you go to bed at night
feeling like a failure because you
didn’t get it all done. It’s not a healthy
way to live.
I think first that we need to establish
the importance of our time. Your time
is one of the most valuable things you
can commit and sacrifice to a person,
hobby, a job, etc. Furthermore,
“quality time” is even more valuable.
Whatever stage of life you are in,
quality time is what you need to make
sure is always a priority. I try to remind
myself that 20 years from now, I want
my family to feel like they were my
top priority, not the house or a career.
A
manda Mercer lives in West Little Rock and moved to Arkansas from Orlando,
Florida in 2010. A wife to her college sweetheart and mom to two young
sports crazed boys, she enjoys everything fashion, antiques, decorating, Bravo TV, puzzles,
reading and writing. She has a Creative Writing degree from Florida State University and
has enjoyed exploring Arkansas with her family. Amanda can be reached at [email protected].
Motivated Moms Daily Tasks
Motivated Moms Today Chores
paying the bills, cleaning the house
and cooking dinner Mom. It’s hard to
get all of those things accomplished
in one day. I know from experience!
When my youngest child was a
newborn, I stumbled across a choreplanning site called Motivated Moms.
(www.motivatedmoms.com)
this
site changed my life. For a small
fee each year, I received a detailed
plan of weekly household chores
that I followed for an entire yearand it was great! Chores included as
simple as changing sheets, cleaning
bathrooms, cleaning out the fridge,
and included spring cleaning and
odd chores you would not normally
think to take on without a reminder,
like cleaning light switches. The best
part is that most days the chores only
took 30-45 minutes so they were very
manageable even with small children
or working full-time. At the time that
I started, you downloaded a PDF file
with all 52 weeks of the year. Now,
they have an app of course! For
around $8.00, you can have a full
year’s worth of chores sent to your
smartphone. If you are old school like
me, the PDF version is still available.
Ultimately, no matter how you choose
to do it, the best part of the program
is that at the end of each day you
can feel as though you accomplished
something. It may have been small
but I knew that by the end of the
week, everything was done. I did
not feel overwhelmed at the “whole
picture” and just did it piece by piece,
day by day!
BUSY, BUSY, BUSY:
As my
children have grown, our calendar has
taken on a life of its own. With school,
sports, church activities, birthday
parties, travel- it is FULL. I find that
I am good at getting big things on
the calendar but it is the small things
I tend to forget. I generally keep a
running list of small tasks (call doctor,
dry cleaning, pay cell phone) in the
Notes section of my smartphone. I
can quickly access it and erase things
once they are completed.
I’ve recently been introduced to
a great app called Cozi. It came
HIGHLY recommended to me by
a friend in a similar situation and
lifestyle as me. It is a free app that
includes a calendar with multiple
viewing options, to-do lists that can be
separated by business and personal,
and a journal to name a few. You can
share your calendar with anyone who
also has the app. Cozi is the new “day
planner” from the good old days just
in a digital format. I am in the process
of transitioning to this new app as a
means to go completely digital with
my daily scheduling.
Another option is to share calendars
with family members. My husband
and I both use Gmail as our email
provider. We take advantage of the
useful calendar feature that allows
us to share our calendars with each
other as well as our far flung family
all
across
the
country. That allows
me to see all of
his appointments,
his
trips
and
any
potential
scheduling conflicts
prior to planning
something.
Another strategy
to manage your
time efficiently is
to prioritize your
activitiesclubs,
hobbies,
church
activities,
school
activities,
sports,
etc. At some point,
you have to stop and
realize you cannot
do
everything!
As our kids have
gotten
older,
the
opportunity
to participate in
fun programs is
widely
available.
Everything sounds
like a great activity
you would want your
child to experience,
however, at some
point, you have to stop and really
evaluate what is important. My
husband and I have decided that each
child can participate in one sport at a
time to go along with church activities.
We try to make these activities a
family experience. If we are going to
spend Saturday at the ball field, we
are going to do it as a family cheering
each other on! However, if you are not
careful, your calendar will start to look
more like your child’s calendar rather
than the family’s, leaving little time for
what the parents have planned. One
of the lessons I have learned from
this is the importance of making sure
there is time on the schedule for me,
quality time with my husband, as well
as my children.
Time management looks different
for each family and person.
Depending on what stage of life you
are in, you will have different issues
and struggles with managing your
time. If you establish your priorities
and ultimate goals for your lifestyle,
it will allow you the chance to plan
your time to succeed and feel fulfilled.
Have I mastered this? No, but I am
working every day to make sure I feel
like I have managed my time to get
the important things done. The rest
can wait for another day!
www.MauMag.com
Time
Management
I want our time together to focus on
us as a family and not be distracted
by the other things that aren’t getting
crossed off my list.
BEFORE KIDS! I will be honest,
there are many days I look back before
I had kids and ask myself, “What did
I do with all of my time?” I was newly
married, had a career and we owned
a fixer-upper starter home. We lived
this way for almost 5 years before
our first child was born. Back before
iphones and technology to keep us
organized, we actually mailed our bills
every month and owned cell phones
that only functioned as phones! No
texting, photos, etc. At that time, I
had a paper system organizer, or a
“planner” as we called them, that kept
me relatively organized. Most of the
time we had a central calendar in the
kitchen that held our important dates
so that we knew what each other had
planned.
With the advancement of today’s
technology, like the sharing of online
calendars and apps built to organize
our lives, staying connected and
organized is much easier than it was
even 10 years ago.
STARTING A FAMILY: Nothing
can prepare you for having a child.
The changes in your daily life are not
something you can learn to adapt to
or try to plan for. You just do it. That
being said, it is easy to get sucked in
each day to the daily grind and go to
bed every night feeling like you didn’t
get anything accomplished. I often
found it hard to manage my time
between being a hands on, playing on
the floor, making lunches Mom to also
23
Pet Obesity
24
I
By Dr. Lauren Schluterman
ccording to the Association of Pet Obesity
Prevention, 52.5% of U.S. dogs are
overweight. Dogs become obese when
they consume more calories (energy) than
they expend, resulting in too much body fat.
Pet obesity is the leading health threat to our pets in the
U.S. An overweight pet, cat or dog, has many additional
stresses placed on their body and is at increased risk for
many diseases, including diabetes, arthritis, cancer, heart
disease, and liver disease.
Symptoms of obesity include:
• A large body relative to legs
• Excessive fat around the neck and under the belly
• When viewed from above, the pet has no defined waist
Owners may also notice their pet has decreased activity
level, excessive panting with minimal physical exertion and
difficulty climbing stairs or rising off the floor. Any breed
of dog can easily become overweight with too much food
and too little exercise, but there are certain breeds that
are more prone to obesity including: Labrador retrievers,
golden retrievers, beagles, dachshunds, and boxers.
Other factors that play a role in canine obesity include
certain endocrine diseases, including hypothyroidism and
Cushing’s disease.
The single greatest factor resulting in obesity in
By Robyn D. Rektor
our pets is overfeeding. “Pet obesity is plainly a people
problem, not a pet problem. The most important decision
pet owners make each day regarding their pet’s health is
what they choose to feed it” says Dr. Ernie Ward, founder of
Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. 45% of pet owners
believe their pet is at a normal weight, even when their
veterinarian determines the pet is overweight. I have seen
this many times in my own practice; clients are shocked to
learn that their pet is obese because they do not believe
their pet eats very much. Factors that are consistent
among these clients include free choice dry food all day
and multiple treats throughout the day as a reward for good
behavior or treats given as part of a daily routine. What
owner’s do not realize is the caloric equivalence these
treats represent. For example a premium pig ear (240
calories) fed to a 40 pound dog is equivalent to a human
adult drinking six 12 ounce Coke Classic (840 calories).
A few treats a day can easily add up to an entire days’
worth of caloric requirements. With this in mind, pets that
receive daily caloric needs in treats, while in addition to dry
dog food, especially when given free choice, are going to
be obese. I tell my clients to think of this feeding routine
as a daily buffet - when the food is available 24 hours a
day, 99% percent of dogs, and people alike, are going to
overeat, resulting in obesity.
The best way to determine whether or not your pet
is obese is to use a body condition scoring chart. Usually
represented as a 1 - 9 scale, the middle numbers reflect
optimum body condition, lower numbers represent low
body condition, and the high numbers represent over
condition or too much body fat. Veterinarians routinely
use this scoring chart to keep track of pet’s overall body
condition by using corresponding numbers to describe the
fat overlying the ribs, neck, back, and abdomen with four
or five being the ideal body score number. Nestle Purina’s
Body Condition System chart is an excellent visual and
r. Lauren Schluterman is a
veterinarian at The Boulevard
D
Veterinary Clinic. She is originally from West
Virginia and received her Doctorate of Veterinary
Medicine from Tuskegee University in Alabama.
Dr. Schluterman and her husband Craig, a native
Arkansan and veterinarian, live on a few acres on
the outskirts of Little Rock with their two dogs, two
cows, and two sheep. When she is not at the clinic
you can find Dr. Schluterman outdoors gardening,
hiking, jogging or collecting farm animals.
descriptive aid to determine your pet’s overall condition
(a body scoring chart for cats is also available at www.
purinaveterinarydiets.com)
Treatment for obesity involves decreasing daily
calories fed while increasing energy expenditure through
exercise. Reducing or eliminating treats fed throughout
the day is a great start to reducing daily calories fed.
Substituting low calorie treats or vegetables (green
beans make an excellent snack for dogs!) for high calorie
treats: milk bones, sausage like treats, pig ears, etc, can
make a hug difference in your pet’s weight. Additionally, I
frequently encourage people to use a measuring cup when
feeding their pet - too often owners misjudge the amount
they feed their pet and over feed. Feed the predetermined
amount twice daily (three times daily for a puppy or kitten).
This is especially helpful in a multi pet household when
free feeding usually results in one dog or cat eating much
more than the rest of the household. Knowing how many
calories your pet consumes in a day goes a long way in
monitoring your pet’s weight gain and loss over time.
If your pet currently receives very little exercise,
increasing activity level is a fun way to help your pet lose
weight. Walking, running, swimming, and fetching are great
ways for your dog to lose weight especially if performed
daily. For cats, who enjoy their sedentary lifestyle quite a
bit, will usually exercise more if given something they can
hunt and chase. Hiding cat toys around the house and in
vertical spaces can greatly increase your cat’s daily activity
level.
If you are concerned your pet is overweight please
schedule an appointment with your veterinarian to discuss
your pet’s body condition, diet and exercise schedule. Your
veterinarian is an excellent resource to help teach you what
you should be feeding your pet, and how much exercise
your pet needs based on his overall physical condition.
Keeping your pet at a healthy weight can result in many
additional years of health with your beloved cat or dog.
love basketball. Not playing, mind you, but
**spectating**. My fave teams are Oklahoma City
Thunder, Boston Celtics, and Memphis Grizzlies,
pretty much in that order. For the past half-dozen
years, I have tried to catch at least one NBA
game every year. This year's planned pilgrimage was to
watch the Griz and OKC go head-to-head on Beale Street
near the season's end but a last-minute change in plans
benched the trip.
Enter my always-to-the-rescue best bud Josh with
an invitation to Boston. The agenda we concocted would
make any sports fan salivate. I would fly in on Tuesday for
the last Celtics home game of the season and on Saturday
we would catch the Red Sox season opener at Fenway.
Throw in a stop at the North End for ginormous homemade
cannoli and a daily run to the corner cafe for crepes and it
quickly had the potential to be The Best Trip Ever.
But then the unimaginable happened.
Late Monday afternoon, as I was wrapping up at work
and bragging about my sixth-row Celtic tickets, a coworker
told me there was breaking news in Boston. I couldn't
believe my ears--a terrorist bombing at the marathon finish
line. It was simply shocking.
After making sure Josh and his family were okay, I
started fretting about my trip. Friends and family pleaded
with me not to go. The Celtics game had already cancelled,
we didn't know yet if the Red Sox would, and while I didn't
want to put myself in danger, I also didn't want to lose my
plane ride money. I went to bed still unsure whether or not
to go and prayed for a sign in my dreams to tell me if I
shouldn't.
When the alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. for my early flight,
I stumbled to the back door to let dogs out, not cognizant
enough yet to ponder what my dreams had revealed. I crept
back into the bedroom and flipped on a light. Confusion
erupted. The really, really confused kind in which you hear
your heart pounding in your ears and you think you are
either dying or already dead. I squeezed my eyes shut and
when I reopened them, the sight was unchanged.
My bedroom looked like a crime scene.
Wherever my eyes darted, I saw the same thing--drops
of blood everywhere. Right to left. North to South. Floor to
ceiling.
I followed the trail into the living room and looked
around in a daze. Then it hit me what had happened. "Oh
R
obyn D. Rektor is an educator,
writer, and editor. A centralArkansas native, she loves the amenities of
living in Maumelle, like having a very close
emergency vet.
You can reach her at [email protected].
www.MauMag.com
A
Be Careful what You Ask for
25
my God!" the faraway voice in my
head screamed, "I was stabbed in my
sleep!"
I ran to the bathroom tearing
my clothes off as I went. To my utter
surprise, the mirror did not reveal
blood dripping down my abdomen
or any visible wounds. The adrenalin
that I had thought was fueling my
ability to stand upright despite being
injured suddenly departed and I went
limp against the wall. I was again
disarmingly confused as I surveyed
the red splatters. Suddenly a second
light bulb went off: Dog!
I raced to the porch and let in
a critter. Little Maggie exhibited no
signs of trauma. I opened the door
again for 90-pound Old English
Sheepdog BenBen, a rescue who
had a rough start in life. As sweet as
he is not bright, my big guy looked
bewildered as blood dripped down his
huge head and neck. I rooted around
his wet fur looking for a wound but
only managed to get my hands
bloody without locating a source. One
thing was clear--we needed
serious help.
I shepherded Ben out
the front door and into the
car and drove quickly to
the emergency vet clinic in
Maumelle, grateful we lived
so near. I spent a fretful hour
waiting for a prognosis. The
only other customer was a
worried woman whose dog
was hit by a car during their
morning jog through Hillcrest
when he broke loose in hot
pursuit of a bunny rabbit.
We were both relieved to get
good news when the vet appeared.
The hare chaser had only a few
scrapes and bruises and was free to
go. Ben had a tiny puncture on his
ear, perhaps inflicted by Howie the
cat in an overnight game of chase
or wrestling. The wound was totally
innocuous, but because dog ears
bleed profusely, it had become an
instrument of havoc. While I slept
Ben had paced, shaking his ears the
whole way, splattering red drops from
one end of the house to the other
with impressive range and complete
You’re invited to our
2nd Annual 'Howloween Pawty’
on Saturday, October 26, 2013
2:00 p.m. until ???
26
Mention seeing this ad in MauMag and get 1 free gourmet treat from our bakery case!
coverage. For his troubles he would
be going home with a souvenir blue
bandage around his wounded ear,
which now looked more like a blue
horn.
We left the clinic about the same
time I should have been boarding
my plane. I got Ben home and put
him outside while I called the airline
to inquire about rebooking options.
When I hung up the phone and
opened the door, what I saw made
me nearly pass out for the second
time that morning.
Ben's bandage had come off,
reopening his wound, which was now
gushing with an alarming velocity.
The porch walls were literally dripping
with red rivulets. I called the overnight
emergency vet, but they had already
closed for the day. I threw a blanket
on the backseat, reloaded Ben into
it, and beelined for our vet in west
Little Rock. Amid the chaos, it never
occurred to me to try to wrap his ear
to contain the bleeding.
As I drove down Maumelle
Boulevard in morning rush hour traffic,
Ben sat in the backseat shaking his
ears against the discomfort. And
every time Ben shook, blood flew. I
could feel it splatter against the back
of my neck, and I watched it dot the
windshield. When I turned around to
check on him, I saw blood dripping
down the back windows. It's a total
wonder that no one called the police
to report a murder taking place in the
backseat of a car in broad daylight.
The good people at our vet's
office could not believe the red mess
of a dog I brought in had sustained
only a tiny ear wound. They wanted
to keep him overnight to make sure
the bleeding stopped this time. I was
grateful as I could not have endured a
third doggie bloodbath.
Driving home, I seized the
opportunity to stop at my favorite
donut shop on Highway 10. As I got
back into the car, I noticed my redbrown spotted clothes and hands
and decided stopping might not have
been the best idea. Needing caffeine
as bad as I ever had, I wisely chose to
utilize the drive-thru at the Starbucks
in Maumelle. But my good intentions
were foiled; my gold Starbucks card
was a few cents shy of my total. I
was so tired and drained that I had
misplaced my wallet after the donut
shop. As I opened the car door to
search for the wallet or loose change
under the seats, the barista at the
window glanced at me and my car,
a funny look crossing her face. She
said, "Don't worry about it, you can
just go."
"No, it's here somewhere," I
assured her. "Ma'am," she said
as nicely as she could but nearly
pleading, "Please, just go." I fully
expected her to alert the local boys
in blue to suspicious activity. The
whole way home as I sipped my venti
soy hazelnut latte, I also checked my
rearview mirror for blue lights.
The scene awaiting me at home
was beyond overwhelming. My
special ed dog had managed to do a
completely thorough job--every room
was a disaster. I called my friend
Tootie for backup. She arrived quickly
and surveyed the splattered floors,
walls, curtains, furniture, porch, patio,
sidewalk, and car, and declared the
clean-up job too big for us. The three
cleaning companies that came by to
give estimates wanted between $800$10,000 to erase Ben's handiwork.
Apparently blood removal is a big and
serious business.
I decided to do most of the
cleanup myself, postponing my trip
so I could take care of everything.
Recounting the grueling day to my
friend Michelle that evening, she
made a request, "Please tell me you
will never ask for a sign again." I had
to admit that what I got wasn't exactly
what I had in mind the previous night.
Fortunately, by the week's end
the trauma had subsided, our home
was cleaned up, and our lives were
mostly back to normal. Ben's ear
was healing nicely and by Friday
evening I was headed to Boston, my
plane landing shortly after the Boston
Marathon bombing suspect was
captured.
Although I didn't get to see my
annual NBA game, we felt lucky to
witness a very special game at Fenway
Park. The Red Sox season opener
on Saturday afternoon paid tribute
to the bombing victims, marathon
volunteers, and first responders. The
crowd went absolutely crazy when
Neil Diamond serenaded us--of his
own accord and on his own dime-with an electric Sweet Caroline during
the eighth inning. It was an incredible
experience we will never forget.
Poor BenBen on the other hand
was in need of some forgetting. Still
edgy from his ordeal, he was put on
doggie Valium to try to erase his shortterm memory of the bloody trauma.
And occasionally--just in case I
feel tempted--Michelle reminds me
that I am no longer allowed to ask for
signs.
www.MauMag.com
Be Careful What You Ask for..
Continued from Page 25
27
www.MauMag.com
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29
How to Overcome Common
Design Dilemmas
W
Kricia Palmer, Interior Stylist
Photography by Kricia Palmer
hen it comes to design and
decorating, I have observed two
different personality types: those that
readily make decisions and are ready
to put a plan into action and those
that are more cautious, requiring much more time to mull
over options before committing.
There is nothing wrong with either of these types...they
are simply different approaches to the creative process,
and it is these differences that make my work even more
interesting and challenging. That being said, I'm sure we
have all (myself included!) had a time when we have been
paralyzed with indecision regarding a design choice. I
know I want to use a white, but which white? Which rug?
Which fabric? Sometimes the more we think about it, the
harder the decision becomes.
And then...
we do...
NOTHING.
We become paralyzed with fear that we are going
to make the "wrong" choice! Has this ever happened to
you? When designing for myself, I must admit that it has
happened to me! Here are a few things you might try the
next time you are overcome with indecision:
1. Step away from it. Take a week and clear your mind.
Completely put it out of your mind, and then come back to
the decision later.
2. Take a break from Pinterest and design publications.
While resources like these can be helpful, excessive use
can create limitations. I know this may sound somewhat
counterintuitive, but I believe that excessively looking
for ideas and inspiration in this way has a way of stifling
individual creativity! In other words, if you are already
overwhelmed with a design decision, looking at hundreds
of additional options on Pinterest probably isn't going to
help! Take a break for a while, and then return to limited
browsing.
30
K
ricia Palmer is a “retired” physician who is fulfilling a lifelong
dream of becoming an interior designer. Her interior design business, Palmer Home, specializes
in residential design, and her blog, http://kriciapalmerhome.blogspot.com, features her design
projects, musings on design, and DIY tips and
tutorials. She is the mother of two rambunctious
boys and is beginning the renovation of her newly
purchased 100-year old home in Historic Hillcrest.
Kricia may be reached at 501-551-1221, or via
email [email protected].
While many types of design decisions can be difficult,
there are two in particular that I often see lead to this
type of decision paralysis: 1) selecting paint color, and 2)
selecting an area rug.
1. Approach to selecting paint color: The first thing
most people think about when decorating a room is wall
paint color. However, I've found that it's often better to
save paint color selection for last. Why? I think that too
often, if a paint color is chosen first, the tendency is to try to
find fabrics and accents for the room that match the paint
color exactly. When this happens, the result often looks
forced and one-dimensional instead of interesting and
natural. That's not to say you have to choose paint last
every single time. In fact, you may even be working with a
room that has already been painted. If you have a choice,
though, it's often easier to save the paint color decision
until last.
I try to select furniture, fabrics, and accents first, and
then I go back and ask myself, "What paint color would
look best with this?" This simplifies things significantly
and often leads to a more pleasing result. It is also much
less stressful! Another important thing is to know how to
approach paint swatches. Staring at hundreds of them
is daunting for everyone so it’s important to approach it
systematically. Always start by looking at paint swatches
in context – in other words, look at them next to the
surrounding swatches. They are arranged by color families
with different shades and intensities for each hue. The
key is using a process of elimination. Rather than trying
to immediately zone in on the “blue” that you want, start
by looking at all the colors in context. There are usually
several groups of “blues.” First, pick which group is closest
to the color you have in mind. Then closely study that
group of blues in context to the colors on each side of it.
For example, on one end the blues may have more green
in them, and on the other end, they may have more violet.
Eliminate swatches one at a time until you have 2 or 3
that you think might work. From here, I suggest buying
samples and painting them on the wall
you intend to use them in. Lighting
can change colors significantly so this
is probably the most important step. I
never commit to a paint color unless I
have seen a sample on the wall in the
room.
2. Approach to selecting rugs: On
so many occasions, clients have told
me, “Picking out rugs is so hard for me!”
If you have felt this way in the past, you
are definitely not alone. Ideally, it's best
to choose your rug first and then build
your room around it. This way, you can
pull colors and inspiration from your rug
to the rest of the room.
However, in many cases you will be
working with a room that has already
been completed and needs a rug. In
these situations, there are a few things
you can think about that will simplify
the process. First, think about what
rug material will best suit your needs.
Rugs are made in a variety of materials
including wool, cotton, silk, olefin, jute
and sisal among others. Make sure
when searching that you take note
of the material. I’ve had many clients
fall in love with a rug for a living room
or dining room online only to realize later that it was an
indoor/outdoor rug. If you are looking for a rug that will
stand the test of time, choose one made of wool. However,
there are other great options depending on the look and
durability you want. Natural fiber rugs are a great less
expensive option – sisal, jute and seagrass. Polypropylene
and olefin are best for outdoor use or in special indoor
situations like sunrooms and kids rooms. After selecting
rug material, decide which rug style works best with your
room: Traditional? Contemporary? Transitional? Then
narrow down your color palette. Make sure that you look
for a rug that includes one or more of the colors in your
room. The rug can certainly include other colors as well,
but at least one or more of the colors should also be in
your room. Last, think about pattern. Rug patterns can be
overwhelming for most people. If you don't already have a
lot of pattern in your room, then a rug is the perfect place
to bring in this element of design. If you do have several
patterns, If possible, take the rug home on approval so you
can see how it looks in the room before you commit to
buying it. The same design principles to mixing patterns
in fabrics (which I discussed in the last issue) also apply
to mixing patterns in rugs with patterns in the rest of the
room. If you follow this stepwise approach, rug selection
can be much less daunting.
Design dilemmas are common to everyone. Don’t
get too discouraged when you have a difficult time
with a particular decision. By stepping away and then
approaching things systematically, you can tackle the
problem successfully.
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Interior Design
3. Take advantage of checking out items on approval.
Many places will let you take items home "on approval" for
a short time period (usually 3 days or so). This way, you
can look at that lamp, rug, or chest in your space for a few
days before deciding if it’s the one for you.
4. Ask a few friends. Your perspective can change
when you stare at something too long. Sometimes it just
takes a fresh set of eyes to point out things you may not
have thought of before.
5. Ask a designer. Designers offer many different
types of services (It's not all like Million Dollar Decorators!)
I frequently have clients who hire me for my opinion... For
example, I had a client recently who consulted me for an
hour to give on the spot advice on paint color for trim and
kitchen cabinets. So the next time you need help deciding
which hardwood floor stain to use or which white to use on
kitchen cabinets, consider a simple consult with a designer.
31
The Real Stuff
I
By Scott Deaton
for Heroes program. Scott is a graduate of the University
of Arkansas, plus received a MBA from University of Central
Arkansas. He currently serves on the Maumelle Area Chamber
of Commerce Board of Directors, previously served on the
Little Rock REALTORS Association Board of Directors, and the
Arkansas REALTORS Association Board of Directors. He has
been married to his wife, Lora, for 22 years. They have three children. His hobbies
include serving his church, hunting, and playing golf.
every month the cost of purchasing a home decreased. So why can
I say that now? Because with the recent, and consistent, increase in
market strength, jumps in interest rates, and increasing home prices, I
believe home ownership is currently at its cheapest point. From now
on, it will only cost you more to purchase a home. Homeownership is
still the best investment in history, will always be a great investment
over the long term, and much cheaper than renting, but the cost of
homeownership will increase.
Have you noticed interest rates lately? They are still awesome! Still
below 5%, hovering around 4.5%. Yes, that is still awesome. Just ask
your parents about the interest rates on their previous home purchases.
Our current rates are great….but they are significantly higher than they
were anytime during 2012. On January 7, 2013, the interest rate for a
30 year fixed rate mortgage was as low as 3.25%, with 0% origination
fees (1% origination = 1% of sales price). Today, interest rates are
around 4.5%, with some lenders requiring a 1% origination payment
just to get that rate.
Sources of data:
www.MauMag.com
CARMLS (Cooperative Arkansas Multiple Listing Service)
ARA (Arkansas REALTORS Association)
n my last column we discussed the real estate trends for
Maumelle, and throughout Central Arkansas, for 2012. We
saw positive numbers in all areas of real estate for the first time
since 2008. The market is truly experiencing a recovery, but
we don’t have clear sailing just yet.
Good news! At the point of writing this article, we are just over half
way through 2013, and all real estate activity seems to be improving
over 2012 throughout Arkansas for the first 6 months. Remember
that 2011 was the worst real estate year in 15 years for the Arkansas
market. 2010 was the 2nd worst. We definitely hit bottom for our local
market during those years, and activity is definitely improving, but we
are not back to the ‘good ole days’ of 2003-2007. Doesn’t that seem
like ages ago?
From January – June, 2013, the number of units sold throughout the
state has increased almost 9% compared to 2012. The average sales
price has increased almost 4% over 2012. These are great numbers.
We will have to see what the second half of the year holds for us, but it
looks like it will be another positive year of growth for real estate.
As with the rest of the state, Maumelle has experienced positive
activity during 2013 as well. YTD, Maumelle has sold 260 homes
which is a 3% increase over the same period of 2012. The average
sales price during this time is also 3% higher, sitting at $223,569.00.
The average price per sf has increased 1.89% to $100.17. The only
negative we have experienced in Maumelle is in the increased ‘Days on
Market’, which is 17% higher at 74 days. Remember, positive numbers
are always better than the alternative. Maumelle has an improving
market overall, and selling your home in 2.5 months is pretty good.
Maumelle still has a slight disconnect between sellers and buyer
though. Maumelle currently has 169 homes on the market for sale.
These homes have an average list price of $292,016.00, with an
average of $109.53 per sf. These 169 homes also have an average
‘Days on Market’ currently sitting at 74 days and increasing each day.
See the potential problem? Buyers are paying the above paragraph’s
numbers ($223,569 and $100.17), but current sellers are greatly higher
than what the market will pay, resulting in higher than average time
needed to sell their home.
I tell my agents, and every buyer I come across, that “I don’t expect
it will ever be cheaper, in their lifetime, to purchase a home than it is
right now.” Think about that statement. At various points over the
past 5 years, that statement could not be true. Interest rates dropped.
Home prices dropped. Tax incentives were available. Foreclosures,
short sale, and other distressed properties increased. It seemed that
cott Deaton is Owner/Broker of Deaton Group
S
Realty, and a Maumelle resident for 21 years.
He is the Little Rock area affiliate for the national Homes
32
33
O
n retiring from teaching in
1995, Harding Stedler was
named the first Professor Emeritus of
Shawnee State University in Portsmouth,
Ohio.
Spending his retirement in Arkansas,
he is an active member of the Poets’
Roundtable of Arkansas and the River
Market Poets in Little Rock.
Reaping the Rhythms
Harding Stedler
Poetry Editor
the low moan
howled and roared
THE LOOK
and with a shriek
left the teary apple blossom
in its wake
its ancient roots plucked
from the earth
--Eileen Krause
Cabot, AR
My eyes look at you
and seem to say,
“I want you to know
I love you.”
But because I am shy,
all I say is “Hello”
and walk away.
Rules Of Golf
--Ike Anthony
Maumelle, AR
WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS
34
If there is nothing else we can do, we can pray,
and it doesn’t have to be profoundly spoken
before a capacity audience;
it can be given up in silence,
in the spirit of benevolence.
There are so many who can talk the talk,
but how many walk the walk?
There are so many caught up in an institution,
trying to maintain a certain standing
in that institution,
but how many are a part of the revolution?
How many are willing to walk out, stand up,
sit in for some elevation of the mind
where we find out who we really are?
Beyond all the transgressions,
experiencing spiritual ascensions?
There is no need to boast of the power we hold,
for it can simply be bought and sold.
From now on, we should be discussing
the showers of blessings,
and here we stay; here we pray.
--Jeff Dyer
West Helena, AR
GIVE ME THE WOODS
I don’t care for city life
or living in a town.
Just give me the woods
where trees grow tall
and nature is all around.
Instead of the roar of traffic,
I’d rather hear birds in the trees
and not be restricted by city streets
but free to go where I please.
Some folks like the city.
Some folks like the towns.
But I like the woods
where trees grow tall
and nature is all around.
caddie, etc.). Know your condition
where the incident occurred (green,
bunker, water hazard, etc.). Some
other facts to find out are a) what
actually happened, what where the
player’s intentions, and what was the
timing of the incident. A lot of fact
finding goes into understanding the
situation.
After the fact finding mission refer
back to the book. Use the Rules of
Play Index in the Rule book. The
Index covers the 34 Rules of Golf.
After you find out the information you
should be able to look at the Names
of each Rule and decide which Rule
Minute With Maddox
applies. Another great reference
is the Rules of Golf App for your
Smartphone. This allows you to click
through and even search certain
By Cary Maddox
things.
Now that we have an idea on
he USGA Rules of Golf
how to read through and somewhat
book can be a little
understand the Rules of Golf book,
intimidating at first glance.
let’s look at some common situations
There is a lot of information
you might encounter in a round of
and you feel like you have
golf.
to be a lawyer to sort through it to
I’m sure anyone who has ever
figure something out. Yes there are
played golf has hit a ball into the
a lot of procedures and penalties, but
water. You probably know that it is a
knowing and understanding the rules
one shot penalty for doing so. How
can benefit you when you play.
to proceed is always a good topic
First let’s try and go about
of discussion. First you must know
understanding the rules, then we will
if it is a Water Hazard (defined by
look at some basic rules that you see
yellow stakes and lines) or a Lateral
quite a bit over 18-holes.
Water Hazard (defined by red stakes
To best understand the Rules
and lines). Both water hazards have
of Golf you must have a good
the same options; however a Lateral
understanding of the definitions.
Water Hazard has an additional two
Understanding the definitions will
options. Let’s start with a Water
help you as you begin to read each
Hazard. Will call it a “Regular Water
rule. There are over fifty terms and
Hazard.” If you hit your ball into a
they form the foundation around
Regular Water Hazard you have 3
which the Rules of Play are written. A
options. A) play it as it lies (which
good knowledge of the terms is very
can obviously be difficult), B) go
important to the correct application of
back to the point where you hit it into
the Rules.
the water from, or C) take the point
Once you have a good
where it last crossed the yellow line
understanding of the definitions, you
and the flag and go back as far as you
must consider the facts of the case in
want to and drop it. The last option
some detail. First identify the form of
is always debated because some
play, match or stroke. Then identify
people will incorrectly think that it is
who is involved (player, partner,
the point where it crossed and the
place where you hit
ary Maddox is the PGA Head Golf
it from. It is always
Professional at the Maumelle
the point and the flag.
Country Club.
Now to the Lateral
Cary has over 15 years of teaching experiWater Hazard.
If
ence working with men, women, seniors, and
juniors.
your ball goes into a
For more information on lessons contact
water hazard marked
him at
by a red line then
[email protected].
you have the same
T
C
--R. G. Copenhaver
Leslie, AR
options as a Regular Water Hazard,
and also a few additional options. D)
take the point where it last crossed
and take a drop within two clublengths of that point no closer to the
hole, E) another option rarely used is
to take the same approach as option
D, but take it from the other side of the
hazard equidistant from the hole. The
only other option for both would be if
the committee has an established
drop area that would be marked by a
white circle and noted as a drop area.
Another common situation that
requires some knowledge to proceed
under would be a cart path. Well
we know have read the definitions
so we know that a cart path is an
Obstruction. To take relief from the
Obstruction (cart path) you will need
to determine your nearest point of
relief where the ball does not lie in
or on the Obstruction. Once that is
determined you have one club-length
(not nearer the hole) to drop your ball
in. There is no penalty for taking this
relief.
The last Rule I would like to
discuss is play a Wrong Ball. The
Rules of Golf state that it is the
responsibility of the player to put an
identification mark on his/her ball.
This way you can identify your ball.
If you play a wrong ball in stroke play
you will incur a penalty of two strokes.
That is a severe penalty so make sure
to check to make sure you are about
to hit your ball, not someone else’s. If
you do hit a wrong ball you will incur
the two stroke penalty, however the
actual strokes with the wrong ball do
not count. So must go and find your
ball and proceed.
Knowing the Rules of Golf can
help you through a round of golf. I
encourage all golfers to have a basic
understanding of the Rules. If you
have any questions please contact
your local PGA Golf Professional or
reach out to the ASGA (Arkansas
State Golf Association).
Good luck!.
.
www.MauMag.com
Poetry
35
L
By Michelle McCon
ong ago, gluten and I shared a love like no other. It hung
out in aaaall my favorite foods—pizza, spaghetti, Pop
Tarts, chocolate chip cookies—and we developed an
undeniable bond (mostly on my thighs, but that’s beside
the point), one that I had no interest in breaking. Ever.
Then one day it turned on me.
I don’t remember when it happened, and don’t ask me why, but
my once happy-go-lucky, eat-whatever-it-wants belly became a violent
pit of gastrological warfare. And my energy level? Gone. I hadn’t the
slightest clue what could be causing all the belly hullabaloo. Nowadays,
people near and far would shout, “Gluten!” in unison because
everybody’s got a friend or neighbor or Great Aunt Mabel with a nogluten belly, and restaurants now offer actual gluten-free menus, and
it’s almost hip to go GF. But, alas, all my tummy troubles started back
in the day when going gluten free was anything but cool, back before
mainstream America even knew what it meant to be GF (Gorilla freak?
Garbanzo fanatic?), and before my jacked-up gut and I could just head
on over to a certain pizza place on Maumelle Boulevard like normalbellied folks and order up a slice (six, actually) of gluten-free heaven.
And so my love affair with this sneaky substance came to a
screeching, oh-so-sad halt…once I figured out the problem, that is,
which would be several years after my issues initially began, and after
I learned that I had a cousin with celiac, an evil autoimmune disease
that allows gluten to wreak havoc on the small intestine. A blood test
and scope of my belly showed no signs of celiac, so I received nada
in the way of a diagnosis. But I found that a gluten-free diet tamed my
angry abdominals nonetheless. And any time I dare invite my former
friend back into my diet to test my gut (I’m convinced I have magical
self-healing powers. I don’t.), the belly combat starts all over again.
I’ve considered visiting another gastro specialist, now a whole decade
later. These days, doctors are more experienced with the multitude of
gluten-induced belly woes, so maybe I could finally get a diagnosis of
some sort? Truth be told, I think that’s what I crave: a medical label, a
definitive name for my stomach problems. But ultimately I know what
works for me, and it’s what’s worked flawlessly for the last ten years of
my life.
I call myself gluten intolerant.
36
M
ichelle McCon is a stayat-home mom and
writer. Hobbies include scuba diving,
blogging, geocaching, and watching
trashy reality TV.
Have a question or comment? Please
feel free to email her at:
[email protected].
I’VE HEARD OF GLUTEN, BUT WHAT IS IT EXACTLY?
Okay, so you’ve heard the term for years, and your uncle’s dentist’s
brother suffers from a gluten-related issue, but, really, what IS the stuff?
Well, it’s a protein, a sly little protein that’s found in wheat, barley, and
rye. And watch out for oats too because there’s a good chance they
were contaminated during processing and even back in the field where
they got their humble beginnings alongside a wheat crop. Gluten is
what gives breads and cakes their puffy perfection, and it’s what makes
pizza dough all stretchy and marvelous. Without it (trust me on this
one), nothing is the same. And gluten’s in darn near everything: pasta,
crackers, cereals, cookies. And it’s in lots of less obvious places too,
like soy sauce and soups and beer and certain marinades and salad
dressings and candy (Twizzlers, anyone?) and even shampoo and
toothpaste. Sly indeed.
WHY IS IT SUDDENLY SUCH AN ISSUE?
We’ve been eating gluten for years and years and years. And years.
Our great-grandparents consumed it with no belly blahs whatsoever.
But, see, the grain our ancestors ate was much lower in gluten than
what we eat today, and they harvested it only once per year, according
to Alessio Fasano, M.D., head of the Center for Celiac Research and
Treatment at MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston. We’ve
engineered our grains to increase crop yields, and with that has come a
higher concentration of gluten. Our world is a-changing, and our bellies
are having a tough time keeping up.
SO WHAT REALLY HAPPENS TO YOU WHEN YOU EAT
IT?
I’ll spare you the bulk of the gastro details, but suffice it to say that
it’s not pretty, and my belly swells all up until I look forty (thousand)
weeks pregnant. I also get headaches, have difficulty thinking clearly,
and feel ridiculously weak and tired. And anxious. And perhaps the
worst part (for my husband and kids, that is) is that my normally docile
demeanor turns fierce and fiery, and my patience level shrivels to a
mere whisper of its former self, and my normally long fuse is suddenly
shorter than short. I get MAD, and there’s little I can do to control it. My
poor family.
HERE’S THE UPLIFTING PART
On a happy note, I’m lucky in that I can eat traces of gluten (e.g.,
oats and a little soy sauce here and there) without feeling the effects.
And I’m thankful that M&M’s contain no gluten whatsoever! And I’m
grateful that GF pastas and baked goods taste approximately five
billion times better than they did back in the day, and they’re certainly
more readily available. And I’m ecstatic that I can go to local restaurants
with my gluten-eating family and friends and order myself a pizza or
spaghetti or a sloppy cheeseburger on an actual bun. And I’m relieved
that product labeling is infinitely better than it was in 2003. A decade
later, it’s so much easier to be me.
Medical diagnosis or no, the war in my belly is over. Gluten waved
its white flag, surrendered, and broke ties with me a long time ago, and
I’ve got nothing but peace in my gut. And a handful of M&M’s on my
computer desk.
Life is delicious.
Source:
Woodward, Alicia. “Q & A with Alessio Fasano, MD.” Living Without.
Living Without, Inc., Aug./Sept. 2011. Web. 29 August 2013.
Fitness & Health
Healthy Tips for the Typical Holiday Feast
T
he holidays are fast upon us. Many times
we tend to relax about our food choices
and amounts at the end of the year but kill
ourselves at the beginning of the year to lose
the 5-10 pounds we gained during those
couple of months! This really wreaks havoc on our bodies
& metabolism.
Go into the holidays mentally prepared for “the
battle”… the battle of a huge spread of Thanksgiving feast
for lunch and then another huge spread for dinner just a
few hours later. Or the battle of work Christmas parties,
the social parties, the family gatherings with EVERYTHING
being centered around food! Knowing this WILL come is
the first step but what to do with that information makes the
next step the most critical one! Preparedness is the key!
Planning ahead!
1) You don’t HAVE to eat it all
2) You can have just a spoonful to make your Aunt
June happy that you tried it.
3) Explain to family & friends that you are trying to
pay more attention to your HEALTH (emphasis on “health”
and not “dieting” because you have a higher chance of
being ridiculed if you use that ‘dieting’ word).
4) Modify your recipes to a healthier version
5) Stop eating when you are barely full
6) Slow down on your eating because it takes a good
12-15 minutes for the stomach signal to travel up your
spine & into your brain to shoot of the “I’m full” hormone.
Sip that water between each bite.
7) Focus on the company and not so much the food
8) Limit the carbohydrates
9) Never skip lunch because a feast is taking place
for dinner! Going more than 6 hours without eating during
the day slows the metabolism down and when you DO
eat that feast, you will most likely over-consume because
you are starving. Over-consuming brings on weight gain,
diabetes, and heart disease.
C
hristie Brooks is a Registered
Dietitian and a CrossFit Level 1
Trainer. She and her family live in Searcy. She
has taught at Harding University, worked
at several hospitals, a dialysis clinic, and a
gym. She has also worked under a childhood
obesity grant, diabetes and HIV clinics, and
has owned a restaurant.
She started the Why Weight
Lifestyle Program, which comprises of an
individualized meal plan, and weekly one
hour consults targeting hormone balancing, detoxing, clean eating,
exercise, and disease prevention.
By Christie Brooks
10)And as the old saying goes… “You are what you
eat” so fuel up the body properly & wisely to prevent that
5-10 pound weight gain!
Here are some ways to healthy tips for the typical
Holiday Feast:
Turkey:
• Control portions. Eat about the size of the palm of
your hand.
• Self-basted birds have more calories per ounce
• Avoid the skin
Stuffing:
• Stuffing is loaded with invisible fat (1/2 cup
contains about 19gms Fat and 200 calories)
• If hard to resist, take just a taste – about 2
Tablespoons
Cranberry Sauce:
• Loaded in sugar and sugar increases calories and
insulin (which increases weight gain)
• 1/8 cup is 80 calories and 15gms carbs (that’s 1
full carb for people with diabetes!)
Salads:
• Choose dark green over iceburg and have
dressing on the side, dipping your fork into that dressing
before dipping into the salad
• Use translucent type dressings such as Italian,
vinaigrette, or oil & vinegar
Gravy:
• An average ladle holds about 2 Tbs, so giblet
gravy=64 calories; regular gravy=45 calories
• Volunteer to make the gravy and skim off the extra
fat by making it the night before. The fat will rise to the top
and harden by morning. Skimming of the fat saves you
100 calories per tablespoon.
Vegetables:
• Choose plain ones – avoid sauces, butter, or
creams
• Limit the higher caloric/ carb content vegetables
such as peas, beans, potatoes, and corn
Dessert:
• One piece pumpkin pie (1/8 of 9” pie)=250 calories
• Fruit is a healthier alternative, especially if it’s not
canned in syrup
• Limit the nuts – they are great plant fats to too
much can pack on the calories quick (1/8 cup provides an
average of 45-90 calories)
• Use less sugar, and if you MUST use a sugar,
try coconut sugar or turbinado sugar for a vitamin/mineral
packed punch. A good sugar substitute is Stevia.
www.MauMag.com
Why Gluten and I Are No
Longer on Eating Terms:
My Journey to GF
37
(continued)
Impact of
Hearing Loss
on Communication
T
38
By Dr. Bryson Howard Au.D.
he capacity to carry out successful
communication depends on many factors. First,
an individual’s hearing ability will influence how
well you converse with someone. Hearing loss
makes communication difficult, stressful, and
fatiguing. However, there are also many other situational
factors that influence successful communication such as
background noise, room acoustics, context, and familiarity
with the speaker. These factors are important to everyone
but are often critical to people with hearing loss. First I
would like to talk about what causes the problems then
give tips to create a better listening environment.
Background noise is just one obstacle for successful
communication for people with hearing loss. Even those
with normal hearing, including myself, struggle to hear at
some of the noisier restaurants. Many people with hearing
loss can function quite well in a quiet one-on-one situation.
However, the presence of background noise can make it
difficult even when the speaker is close and addressing
you directly. It all comes down to how sound works, how
the ear is designed, and the type of hearing loss present.
High frequency hearing loss typically presents the most
trouble in background noise. High frequency hearing loss
is impairment in the high tones and is present in close
to 20% of adults. However, with the prevalence of MP3
players that number is also steadily rising in teenagers and
young adults. Below are the most common indicators of a
possible high frequency hearing loss:
1. As mentioned previously, trouble understanding
in background noise is the number one complaint that I
receive as an audiologist. Background noise is usually low
frequency and speech is more high frequency. With a high
frequency hearing loss you hear the background noise
better than you do speech.
2. “I can hear you, but I don’t always understand
you.” With high frequency loss you are essentially missing
certain sounds of the alphabet like “s”, “f”, and “th.” When
you miss these letters it can lead to misunderstandings.
Some people cope with this through lip-reading and
context of conversation but this makes communication, as
mentioned earlier, stressful and fatiguing.
3. Often times you will hear men’s voices better than
females and small children. Men have lower tones whereas
females and small children tend to be higher frequency
which is often where the hearing impairment is.
If any of these sound familiar, I recommend setting
up an appointment with an ENT physician and audiologist
r. Bryson Howard Au.D. graduated high
school in Russellville, AR. He received his
bachelor of arts in communication disorders from
Harding University in Searcy, AR in 2007. In 2011 he
graduated with his Doctor of Audiology from UAMS in
Little Rock, AR. He is a proud member of the American
Speech-Language-Hearing Association and local
Kiwanis chapter. He is married to Alicia Howard and
has a beautiful daughter named Leela. He enjoys
hunting, fishing, sports, and playing guitar and drums.
D
to detect if a hearing loss is present and to develop the
most appropriate treatment plan. In the meantime, I would
like to leave you with some recommendations to create
an optimal listening environment. These are the same
recommendations that we give to schools for creating
effective listening environments in the classroom; decrease
the distance, minimize the background noise, and reduce
reverberation. Some specific suggestions below:
1. Decreasing the distance – the closer you are to
the source the better you will hear.
a. Sit on the front row or close to the front.
b. Face the speaker. Even when close, if you
aren’t facing the speaker you may have difficulties.
This also allows us to read lips which are just one more
enhancement to communication.
c.Remove barriers between you and the
speaker. Even though you may be just one room over the
walls reduce the intensity of speech.
2. Minimizing Background Noise
a. Turn off the TV at mealtime. If you are at a
restaurant ask for a table or booth in the corner or to where
you can situate yourself with your back to a wall. This will
eliminate some of the ambient noise behind you.
b. Choose quiet meeting places.
c. Schedule meetings before or after rush hour.
3. Reducing Reverberation – reverb is the persistence
of sound after the original source sound has stopped and is
most affected by the size of the room and surface materials
used. To reduce reverb and increase speech intelligibility
we can:
a. Use soft furnishings – carpets and curtains
are better at absorbing sounds than hard floors and bare
windows.
b. Place a rug in the room if carpet not an option.
c. Other sound absorbing materials such as
acoustical panels and tiles can be used on the wall.
In addition to the environment changes we make, there
are things the speaker can do to make it easier for people
with hearing loss. As a speaker, it is important to maintain
eye contact, keep our hands away from our face, speak
slowly, and speak distinctly. As the listener, never say yes
if you do not understand what the question was. This often
times lead to awkward social situations and embarrassing
outcomes. I hope some of the things we talked about
can improve listening environments and create better
communication skills. Hear better…live better.
HIIT
High Intensity Interval Training
By Kathy Wheeler
Do you enjoy spending hours on the treadmill or in the
gym to lose weight and get in shape? What would you
say if I told you I have a method that will allow you to lose
weight and spend less time in the gym? You’re probably
thinking, what’s the catch? Here’s a little secret….there is
no catch!!!!
Let me introduce you to high intensity interval training
or HIIT. HIIT alternates intervals of high-intensity exercise
(such as sprinting, treadmill, elliptical, or even weights)
with intervals of either low-intensity exercise (such as
walking at a slow pace) or complete rest.
While you are pushing yourself beyond the upper
end of your aerobic exercise zone or “comfort zone”,
HIIT offers several advantages that steady-state exercise
(where you keep your heart rate within your aerobic zone)
can’t provide:
• HIIT increases the amount of calories burned
during your exercise session as well as continues to burn
calories for up to 1.5-24 hours post exercise session.
• HIIT causes metabolic adaptations that enable
you to use more fat as fuel. Therefore, reducing abdominal
and subcutaneous (just under the skin) fat.
• HIIT also significantly improves aerobic and
anaerobic fitness.
• HIIT can also limit muscle loss that can occur with
weight loss, compared to traditional steady-state cardio
exercise of longer duration.
By including HIIT in your exercise plan, you can
realize remarkable results in a short amount of time, which
is good news for busy people.
able to exercise for at least 20-30 minutes at 70-85% of
your estimated maximum heart rate. (To estimate max
HR, subtract your age from 220)
How does one get started?
HIIT is physically
demanding, so it is important to gradually build up your
training program so you don’t overdo it. Always warm up
and cool down for at least five minutes before and after
your exercise session. Work as hard as you can during the
high intensity intervals (you will feel a burning sensation
indicating you have entered the anaerobic zone). If you
experience any chest pain or difficulty breathing during
your HIIT workout, cool down immediately! Don’t just stop,
walk it out, or else your blood will pool in your extremities
and lightheadedness or fainting can occur. Here is a
sample program from the American Council on Exercise®
(ACE):
Time
Interval
Exertion
Level (0-10)
5 min.
Warm-up
3-4
1 min.
Speed
7-9
2 min.
Recovery
5-6
1 min.
Speed
7-9
2 min.
Recovery
5-6
1 min.
Speed
7-9
2 min.
Recovery
5-6
1 min.
Speed
7-9
2 min.
Recovery
5-6
5 min.
Cool-down
22 min. Total
Time
(4 min. total
speed)
3-4
HIIT is designed for people whose primary concerns
are boosting overall cardiovascular fitness, endurance,
and fat loss, without losing the muscle mass they already
have. Before starting any HIIT program, you should be
If you find that this sample program is either too difficult
or too easy for your current fitness level, make adjustments
to the duration and/or number of high intensity intervals as
necessary. Always maintain an intensity level of 60-70% of
your maximum heart rate.
K
You will not need to swap all of your aerobic exercise
sessions for HIIT to gain the benefits. Perform HIIT 1-2
times per week, along with 1-2 sessions of steady-state
aerobic exercise. Also, this high-intensity training method
is best used periodically for up to 6 weeks or so to enhance
regular training rather than as year-round.
athy Wheeler is the creator
and instructor of FitGirlz, a
circuit-training small group fitness class especially for Women. She is an ACE-certified Personal Fitness Trainer, Cooper Institute Master
Fitness Specialist, IDEA Professional Member,
SCW Yoga and mat Pilates certified and CPR/
AED certified.
To learn more about FitGirlz or Personal
Training call 501-519-1746.
As usual, moderation is key to long-term success. So
challenge yourself! Don’t drive yourself into the ground
and get ready to see major changes in your body and your
fitness level!
www.MauMag.com
Fitness & Health
39
By Mary Lester
W
hen
the
producer
is
serving
the
salads it is not
a good time to
share. Yes, I wrote almost a whole
poem and a complete song before my
delicious crepes arrived. I wrote the
song about the couple sitting across
from me. They looked so in love. I
wanted to remember them and their
love. I often wind up at The Starving
Artist Café on a Tuesday. That’s the
night The Starving Artist hosts Tales
from the South, a radio show featuring
southern writers reading their own
true stories. I have had the privilege
of sharing some of my tales there.
Just being at The Starving Artist Café
inspires me. The entertainment is topnotch and the food is fabulous. What
southerner doesn’t like to eat and
hear some good yarns! So I savor
delicious food, share a story, or soak
in inspiration and put new words to
paper, and—the icing on the cake—
hear some great storytelling.
Before heading home, after a
perfect evening, I decided to go to
the powder room. When I opened
40
M
ary Elaine Lester is a
career
mathematics
instructor, currently teaching at the
Distance Learning Center in Maumelle.
Her hobbies include gardening, treasure
shopping, decorating her Hillcrest home,
collecting seashells and traveling. Mary
loves life, people, and telling their stories.
She enjoys C-Span , documentaries, as well
as, classic black-and-white movies. Today
her favorite quote is: Carpe Diem.
“Yes. He's my husband,” she
answered. “You wrote a song about
me?” She asked and I would imagine
not sure what to say next.
I filled in, “Yes, I wrote a song
about you and your husband. I will
sing it for you, if want me to.”
“Uh...sure.” Southern politeness
took over. “No one has ever written a
song about me.”
I hoped I had not misread the
body language “okay…” and quickly
stepped out into the hallway, before
she could bar me in, and started
singing as I looked at both of them.
Her husband put his arm around her,
probably to protect her from the crazy
woman. Words, brand new melody
and all, I started singing, reading the
lyrics from my journal.
He loves her.
He's holding her hand.
He loves her.
She smiles back at him.
Casting my glances—
Across and to the right
Such a strong man—
Tattooed and suntanned.
He loves her.
Then I introduced myself. And the
dam broke.
“Oh, that is so sweet! That is
so sweet! No one has ever done
anything like that for me before!” She
couldn't keep from smiling now.
By Carolyn Drane
R
“I want to take a picture of the
song,” she squealed, not wanting the
moment to end. I signed my name
with hers at the end of the lyrics to
make it official. Flash. Flash. Picture
taken. I forgot to take a picture myself,
I was so caught up.
Still dizzy from the exuberant
reception but trying to capture the
amazing event, I got out, “You have
one of those fancy phones. I bet you
could record the song. I wouldn't
mind singing it again.”
“Would you?”
“Of course, I just don't want to
end up on You-tube. I am brave but
not that brave.
You promise I won’t end up on
You-tube.”
So, we had an encore right
there in the hallway across from the
silverware tray.
In the next few minutes, the back
story poured out. Jennifer and Abel
were married three years ago. Abel
is in the military and when he got his
orders to be deployed he and Jennifer
only had three weeks. So they were
married at the courthouse down the
street. They celebrated their nuptials
with a dinner at The Starving Artist
Café. They sat at the magical table
where I wrote, "He Loves Her."
All we need is love. Jennifer and
Abel have it and now they have their
own song.
Who needs the Beatles?..
.
egardless of which part of the country
you may be from, dear reader, just about
everyone can identify with the terms “garage
sale, yard sale or tag sale.” Whatever you
choose to call it, it nets out to being a
synonym for “We are about to witness a feeding frenzy
and we are nowhere near a shark tank.” Or, even more
graphically, “It’s VERY early on a Saturday morning and
there’s already been to fights over an old lamp!” Grandpa,
inadvertently became a part of this happening sixty-five
years after his untimely demise.
Our house had simply become too big for my husband
and myself. To big and WAY too expensive and difficult
to keep up with its pool, spa, large yard and many fruit
trees. Our kids were all grown and gone and we are just
rattling around in a too-big home which now longer made
any practical or financial sense. The time had come to face
the obvious solution; we needed to sell the house.
When one is confronted with downsizing, usually the
next thought (close on the heels of “We’re Moving!) is
GARAGE SALE! Since we had been in our home nearly
eight years and had come from a much larger place prior to
that, we had managed to accumulate tons of “stuff.” It was
stashed in every closet, the garage, and the attic. We were
the ideal candidates for a garage sale. Dutifully, we threw
ourselves into the sorting, trips to Goodwill, preparation
and pricing for a truly monumental sale which would be
held not only in our garage but also in several rooms of our
house. (You cannot drag a refrigerator into the garage just
so someone can get a good look at it!)
The morning of our sale dawned clear and sunny. At
least an hour before our advertised opening time, a line of
people stretched from our front door, down our driveway
and out to the street. “Oh Good!”, I thought, “What a truly
awesome turnout.”
Please allow me to condense the next several hours
into saying that we had a frenetic, wonderful, raucous time.
The interesting thing about garage sales is that you really
“get into it.” A couple of hours into it we were selling things
we had no intention of selling for prices we’d have sneered
at the night before.
Soo. . . It didn’t seem odd at all to me that this pleasantlooking lady asked me if I’d take five dollars for that “old
picture standing over there by the workbench.” (We had
decided that the end of the workbench was the end of
C
arolyn Drane has had two careers in
the past. She was, for many years a
Registered Nurse and then sold Real Estate for
twenty years in California, where she was also
a member of a writer’s club. She is currently a
part-time staff member at the Maumelle Senior
Wellness Center and loves her job. Carolyn has
five children plus their spouses and nineteen
grandkids.
the
“sell/no-sell”
zones.)
“Sure,
you can have that
for five dollars,” I
said in a distracted
way (I was in a hot
negotiation on a big
ticket item at the
time.) barely looking
over my shoulder to
see what picture I’d
placed there. The
sale went happily
rolling along, we
made a lot of
money, sold a LOT
of stuff
And ended that day going out for a celebration dinner
with a bit of our new-found wealth.
A couple of weeks later, I was shopping in one of the
quaint antique shops that had sprung up in our town like
so like so many wildflowers. There was a really lovely
display in one corner of the store that had an end table with
Victorian knick-knacks on it, a really pretty hand painted
lamp with a picture hanging behind it. As I leaned over
to read the price tag hanging on the lamp, I found myself
staring “eyeball-to-eyeball” with my Grandpa. . . And he
didn’t look happy!!
OMIGOSH! That was the “old picture” the lady had
asked me about! When we had closed up my Grandparent’s
home in northern Ohio, we had brought to California a
number of large, framed family pictures. Most of these had
somehow never made it into our house, but sat for years
in one corner of our garage. Somehow, I had accepted the
fact that we had never actually hung these pictures, but the
fact that I had “sold Grandpa” was little more tan even I can
take, and I am usually fairly impervious to guilt.
Do you have any idea what it feels like to stand in
front of a cash register, portrait of your Grandpa in your
arms, about to pay four times the amount you sold it for
from your garage, hoping that your name has not already
mysteriously disappeared from the “Births” column of the
old family BIBLE??
I should tell you, before I go any further, that I have
been properly chastised and paid my debt to the family. The
two children that I chose to tell about the incident (the two
I that are least likely to be blabber-mouths) have heaped
enough grief and guilt on my head to last me a lifetime.
“Geeze, Mom, you sold GRANDPA??!! How could you do
something like that? What were you thinking?” Also, after
years of living in the garage is now prominently displayed
in the Guest Room of our new, smaller house. He gazes
out on the antique furniture as if to say, “You know, you
wouldn’t even have this room furnished if it wasn’t for
me. It’s MY darn furniture, you know!” My husband gave
Grandpa a long, searching look on the day we ensconced
him in that back bedroom, turned to me and said, “He
STILL doesn’t look happy!
I agree, he doesn’t and it’s making me nervous!
www.MauMag.com
He Loves Her
Grandpa Comes Home
the door, the next occupant was the
woman I wrote the song for! I gasped,
but characteristic of me, I just went for
it. Off the high dive, scared to death,
but afraid of missing this surely oncein-a-lifetime opportunity I blurted out.
“I know this is really going to sound
weird, but I wrote a song about you.”
I peeked around the door and into
the hallway. Standing next to her, as
I opened the door a smidge more, I
could see the other person in the
song. I winced, still trying to read her
face. “Really, the song is about you
and ...is that your...husband?”
41
Photographs courtesy of members of the Maumelle Photography Club. - 501.960.6077
By Larry Egger
By John Schwankhaus
By Max Baker
By Larry Egger
By Roger A. Frangieh
By Angela Wiser
42
By Desmond Walls Allen
By Harvey (Bill) Durham
www.MauMag.com
By Roger A. Frangieh
43
By Austin Pittman
ifteen years ago when
I started working in the
photo industry there
was basically one thing
that you could do with
your photographs. You shot a roll
of film, brought it
in for developing,
and got your prints.
You could enlarge
the prints and frame
them to put them on
your wall, but that
was about the extent of the choices
that you had. With the advance of
digital photography however, all of
that has changed. Although there are
far more images being captured today
than ever before, fewer and fewer are
being printed in the traditional 4X6,
5X7, and 8X10 format. So what are
people doing with all of these images?
There are some really cool new things
out there that you can now do.
Photo gifts are becoming a very
popular way to display your pictures,
and they allow you to see your best
shots every day while working,
playing, and living your lives. You
can have your pictures put on mouse
pads, coffee mugs, t-shirts, iPad/
F
44
iPhone cases,
puzzles, cutting
boards, aprons, golf towels, koozies,
Christmas tree ornaments, and just
about anything else you can think of.
They make great gifts for parents or
grandparents. Who wouldn’t want to
look at their adorable grandkids every
day while drinking their morning
coffee?
Custom-made
photo
books
are another very popular choice.
You can take
images
from
your
summer
vacation
and
build a hardbacked photo
book, complete
with
custom
photo layouts
and text on each page. Or how about
a photo calendar?
With custom
images, birthdays, anniversaries, and
other important dates, you build it how
you want it. As you can see, there is
an almost unlimited variety of ways to
show off your favorite images, going
way beyond your standard 4X6 print.
The popularity of canvas gallery
wraps has exploded over the last few
years. These canvas prints, mounted
and stretched on boards, are beautiful,
easy to hang, and a great way to
display your photographs. They are
available in multiple sizes, as small as
8X10 inches and as large as 24X36
inches. Because they are mounted
on the boards, they
ustin Pittman is the Vice Presi- stick out a few inches
dent of Operations for Bedford’s from your wall when
Camera and Video stores in the Little Rock area.
Austin has been a Certified Photographic
Consultant since 2000.
He lives in Maumelle with his wife Shannon and son Andrew. Austin may be reached by
email at [email protected].
A
For the Love of Coffee
By Shannon Odom
mounted,
giving it a cool
three dimensional look. Also the
texture of the canvas material gives
the print a very unique look.
The wave of the future is going
to be pictures printed on metal. The
photos are sublimated directly on
to a sheet of brushed aluminum,
and they look incredible. “Stacking”
these metal prints is a brand new
concept, and gives you a really cool
look. You print a background image
on a large piece of metal, then put
smaller metal prints on top of the
larger one.
Spacers in between
the images help to distinguish and
separate the foreground images from
the background. What you get is a
customizable
t h r e e
dimensional
print
that
looks great as
a piece of wall
art. I believe
that we are on
the cusp of an
explosion in
the popularity
of metal prints similar to what we
have seen the last few years with
canvas gallery wraps.
As you can see, there are some
really cool new ways to show off your
photography. Don’t leave your great
pictures on your camera, computer,
tablet or phone! All of these ideas
are easy to do, either in a store using
kiosks or online. Give it a try, and
amaze your friends and family with
your creativity! all along!
I
t’s no secret to anyone who
knows me- I am an addict.
From the wee age of two, I
can remember holding that
warm cup between my small
hands, and carefully sipping the
brown liquid. Granny would prepare
it for me, and put my cup on a saucer,
with a spoon on the side, so I could stir
it. It wasn’t hot, just lukewarm, filled
with milk and sugar, as if the coffee
itself were only a side note. Still, it
was the best thing to me; it made me
feel grown up and I loved the special
attention. As a mischievous toddler,
I would inevitably get caught by my
mother, who would chastise not only
fter careers in the real estate and
A
hospitality industries, and raising
one beautiful daughter, Allie, Shannon Odom
devotes her time to working in the family
business. Her hobbies include cooking, writing
and being a home body. She and her elderly dog,
Dayzi, live in North Little Rock.
me, but her own mother as
well.
Coffee is a tradition in
my family. Everything about
it – the smell of fresh ground,
the sound of an old percolator,
the taste of that first sip –
gives me pleasure and brings back
memories. Raised in the South, I was
always prepared when I had a home
of my own to offer someone coffee
and dessert on a moment’s notice.
Over the years, I’ve owned every kind
of coffee maker, taker and contraption
on the market. I have roasted my
own coffee beans, and even eaten
a few roasted beans when I was in
a crunch, with no brewed coffee in
sight. I broke the glass carafe of my
first three French presses before I
received a large stainless steel press
one Christmas. I still have that one. It
bounces.
According to StatisticBrain.com,
54% of Americans over the age of 18
drink coffee every day, which equates
to approximately 100 million of us. We,
as a country, spend $4 billion per year
importing coffee to the US, 30% of
which comes from Brazil. On average,
60% of us claim we “need” coffee to
start our day, whether it’s black (35%
of us prefer it) or a specially blended
coffee beverage, such as lattes,
cappuccinos, or mochas. Americans
spend around $18 billion per year
on specialty coffee- whether blended
into a beverage or not- yet on average
each person in
America spends
only $164.71 per
year.
I’d like to think
I’m one of those
people, but that
statistic blew my
mind. If that were
my coffee budget,
I would only make
it through the first
quarter of each
year! And no,
that’s not a fact,
because the fact
is I don’t want to
know how much I spend on coffee. I
love it so much I would gladly give up
a meal for a perfectly prepared latte.
It’s a good thing I’m willing, since
it often costs as much as a meal,
and has as many or more calories.
Incidentally, thirty percent of coffee
is consumed between meals, though
sixty-eight percent of us have it within
the first hour of waking up. If you’re
like me, it’s probably best to table
all discussions until an appropriate
amount is ingested.
As a superpower, the United
States is the biggest consumer
of coffee in the world. Earlier this
year, Bloomberg, one of the largest
data compilation companies in the
world, reported that 83% of adults in
America drink coffee, up from 78%
last year, according to the National
Coffee Association online survey
that included 2,840 respondents.
The survey also showed daily
consumption decreased in ages 18
to 24, and 25 to 39, but increased in
ages 40 to 59, and 60 and over. We
now know who is running our countryother addicts like me.
Many quotes in our society verify
our feelings on the subject. Everyone
from Abraham Lincoln to Charlie
Sheen commented on it, and here are
a few of the more interesting quips:
“I have measured out my life with
coffee spoons.” –T. S. Eliot
“Television is not real life. In real
life people actually have to leave the
coffee shop and go to jobs.’ – Bill
Gates
“To me, the smell of freshmade coffee is one of the greatest
inventions.” –Hugh Jackman
“Although oil is a commodity,
it’s still not a commodity like coffee,
which, thank God, we will have with
us always. At some point the oil will
www.MauMag.com
Photography
It’s No Longer
Just Prints
Continued on Page 47 45
O
46
ne of the puzzling,
sometimes amusing,
aspects of American
wine writing
is
the reliance
by
far too many writers on imagined
language skills that sound impressive
but fail to communicate. Instead
of straightforward, plain-spoken,
descriptive wine words, they use
terms that have no reasonable
connection to wine. In a five line
wine review, a writer might report
flavors of oyster shell, lemon, white
peach, and vanilla, together with
a mineral aspect, combined with a
briny seashore element on the middle
palate.
So, what does such a wine taste
like? I don’t have a clue. I’m fond
of oysters but have never tasted
(and have no intention of tasting)
oyster shells. I would be at a loss
to describe in a way that could be
understood how the taste of a white
peach differs from other colors, or if
such tastes actually exist in wine. I
have not the vaguest idea of how a
briny seashore element fits into wine
tasting, since brine is salty and salt
is not an element of drinking wines
(although it is sometimes added to
drinking wine to turn it into “cooking”
wine so that the wine can be sold
for cooking in areas where the sale
is otherwise unlawful). Then I would
question just how a “briny seashore
element” tastes or how it differs from
one farther out at sea away from the
seashore or, conversely, even a bit
inland. I have no idea how wine tastes
on the middle-palate or on whatever
other palates may exist nor what the
mineral might be that the taster found
in wine.
Many years ago when I started
writing about wine an experienced
wine writer wrote a book in which he
listed descriptive tasting terms. There
were only a few dozen such terms,
K
perhaps sixty. Today, you may find
several hundred wine adjectives in
one issue of one wine magazine, few
Except for the amusement they
provide, I am totally turned off by such
nonsense. I even have a word that
describes it. Yes, that’s the correct
word, “nonsense.”
I am happy that such writing is
almost totally absent from the writing
Germans do about their wines.
Take my word, you will never find a
German wine described by its maker
as having a startling resemblance to
(I’m making these descriptions up, of
course, but actual examples abound),
“the sterile yet flinty end taste of
immature Yucca plants from an arid
American desert.”
Instead, on German wine labels
you will find amazingly helpful,
understandable descriptions. These
usually include the name of the
person who produced the wine, the
vintage, the village which is nearby,
the region surrounding that village,
the name of the grape variety, the
alcoholic strength of the wine and
the size of the bottle. And that’s just
the basic information which starts
the emphasis on standardization and
completeness.
The German wine scale starts
with the inexpensive, everyday wines
which are quaffed in Germany but
which, for obvious reasons, are
seldom
brought into the United
States.
Upscale a bit from these most
basic wines are the more superior
wines of higher sugar content, each
with its own Germanic description
and quality.
These start at the lower end
with
Kabinett
(English:cabinet)
wines which, originally the owner put
aside for his own use. These wines
usually have few negatives but their
superiority may rest mostly in the
mind of the owner and the price he
asks for it. Most often, Kabinetts
though are sound, well made and
worth exploring.
A bit higher on the quality scale
of German wine is Spatlese which
is made from late harvested grapes
and is usually (but not always) sweet.
en Forrester, a retired administrative law judge, is the published author of numerous articles and columns on wine.
Ken is a member of the Authors League, the American Wine Society and
the Society of Wine Educators.
The required later (7 day minimum)
harvest exposes the grapes to rain,
insects, fungus and other negative
factors, causing the somewhat higher
quality Spatlese to cost more.
Auslese (select harvest) wine
is made from selected, very ripe
hand-picked bunches of grapes
with an expected increase in quality,
sweetness and price.
While Auslese wines are made
from selected bunches of grapes.
Beerenauslese wines are made
not from selected bunches but from
selected, individual grapes, picked
from those bunches, so it’s easy to
guess what happens to quality and
price.
At the upper end of quality, taste
and price are the trockenberrenausles
(no, it won’t be on the spelling test)
which may be translated as “select dry
berry harvest” or something similar.
These wines are made from selected
overripe, shriveled, raisin-like grapes,
which makes them extremely rich. As
used here “Trocken” (dry) means the
grapes are dried on the vine, not that
the resulting wine is dry (non-sweet).
Before we leave our truncated
discussion of trockenberrenauslese
we must mention “noble rot,” which
is generally known as botrytis cinerea
and more specifically is edelfaule
in Germany and pourriture noble in
France. This is a mold that forms on
the skins of ripening grapes, bringing
a concentration of sugar and flavor
and an unbelievable price increase.
You may recall that it is a mainstay
in the production of some Sauternes
in France where it reaches its peak
in Chateau d’Yquem. Then there is
Tokay wine. Not the cheap American
version beloved by winos but the
Hungarian wine, Tokaj Aszu, which
starts as resembling somewhat an
Auslese and increases in sweetness
as additional baskets of over-ripe
grapes which have been attacked by
the noble rot are added to the basic
grapes. These baskets are called
puttonyos. A wine indicated on the
label to be five puttonyos or higher
and called Eszencia is rare, full
bodied, expensive and delightful
In a class by itself among German
wines is Eiswein (Ice wine), made
from grapes that are partially frozen
by the combination of late harvest
and the low temperatures that are
common to Germany. The grapes
are harvested and pressed and the
juice is made into Eiswein which is
enjoyed as a rarity rather than as
a necessarily top wine. Ice wine is
sometimes produced in Arkansas but
weather conditions rarely favor its
production.
The German-type wine with
which Americans are likely the most
familiar is Liebfaumilch, a catch-all
name for a white wine. This is one of
the best known wine names and the
wine ranges in quality from poorest
to the best. Its enjoyment depends
more on the expertise and ethics of
its maker than on far-out adjectives.
This column is a start but only a
start toward the enjoyment of German
wines.
For greater enjoyment,
experiment a bit, find one (or several)
that suit your individual taste, enjoy
some today, then lay down bottles
or cases for future enjoyment. The
rewards can be great.
For the Love of Coffee...Continued on Page 45
run out.” –James Surowiecki
“Coffee is a language in itself.” –Jackie
Chan
“If it wasn’t for the coffee, I’d have no
identifiable personality whatsoever.” –David
Letterman
“I am a coffee fanatic. Once you go to
proper coffee, you can’t go back. You cannot
go back.” –Hugh Laurie
“I judge a restaurant by the bread and by
the coffee.” –Burt Lancaster
“I make a mean cup of coffee, if you give
me the right ingredients.” –Ice Cube
Many of us have memories that involve
coffee, like mine with my grandparents, but it
seems that coffee, as a subject, and a product,
and a beverage, means different things. If
that is your industry, it is how you make a
living, and that is certainly a major part of life. I as a writer use it as a subject
matter, but also it is a need, a want, a wish. Just as a beverage, it can bring you
up when you’re down, and not just from the caffeine. Coffee gives, especially
when enjoyed with others, a feeling of well-being and camaraderie. When you
visit your favorite coffee shop, no matter what time of day, the sights and smells
welcome you. Whether there is a logo of a multi-billion dollar organization above
the door, or it’s just a local café where you hang out with others from your neck of
the woods, they share an absolute truth: no matter what time, what day or who
you came with, there is someone behind the counter waiting to pour you a cup.
They might offer you a pastry, listen to you complain about your day, or simply
take your money,
but
they
all
participate in the
experience that
is coffee. It is a
love affair like no
other, and most
assuredly a longterm relationship,
encompassing
many
different
events in our life.
Surely a heart
to heart talk with
your best friend
wouldn’t be the
same
without
it,
nor
would
bonding
with
that child who so
wants to be grown
up. It is served at
churches, at AA
meetings, and at
parties.
I’m thinking
I’ll have a cup
now. Why don’t
you join me?
www.MauMag.com
German Wine
Nomenclature
By Ken Forrester
47
An Original Children’s Story
P
By Jonathon Cross
eaches the penguin
broke out of his shell and
waddled into the Land of
Sand. The Great Penguin
had only blessed his
parents with one egg but by nature
Beach Penguins are humble, and
count their blessings. Their Peaches
was the first of his generation.
He was
the pride of his
entire
family,
named after the
fruit of the Great
Harvest that came
each Leaf Down
and fed the village
all the rest of the
year. The High
Penguin of the
order of Emperors
gave
him
a
necklace as his
birth-right
and
from it hung the
Seed of Life, a great peach pit
which had been inside the first peach
to fall during the first Great Harvest
in their new village. Penguin legend
said that the first seed from the first
harvest held within it the magic not
just one tree, but a whole field of
trees, and that Peaches could be
Emperor of his own village someday.
He had many cousins, nieces and
nephews, but with him came hope
for a bright future and a new village
in his name. Nothing would make his
parents more proud.
As Peaches grew older his
parents told him stories of the Great
48
J
onathon Cross has his B.A. in
English Literature yet he works
in the banking industry. Writing by night
and reading in-between, he shares a home
in Maumelle with his loving wife, Lindsay,
and playful puppy, Raji. He can be reached at
[email protected].
White North and the sacrifices his
ancestors made to travel out of the
Land of Ice. He wished his family
would take a trip to visit that magical
place but his parents were too old to
make such a journey again. He had
a difficult choice to make. He loved
his parents very much and knew he
would miss them dearly, but he knew
he had to go while he had the chance.
So, on his third Egg Day, he
ventured out of the hills and toward
the Great Water. His parents cried as
he waddled away, wondering if they’d
ever see him again. Peaches was
sad, too, but he had to see the world
his parents had seen, to make his
own choices and decide for himself
what was the best life to live. Peaches
took a deep breath, dove into the cool
water, and began his long journey. He
saw the Big Fire come and go many
times, and the Big Ice melted into a
hook and froze back whole again
before he finally made it to the frozen
beaches of the Great White North.
A small group of penguins
huddled together for warmth, their
backs turned to the cold, while here
and there he could see huddles of Fin
Feet dotting the horizon. There were
only a few Big Teeth scattered across
the Land of Ice and from this distance
Peaches thought they were sleeping.
He shuffled to the huddle and
worked his way towards the middle.
“I am grateful for the warmth of your
huddle, kind penguins,” he started,
“but where are all the others?”
“What others?” replied a tall,
unhappy looking penguin standing
next to him.
“The other penguins,” he said.
“We are the other penguins, kid,”
another said. “All those who could
leave left with the fish.”
“You mean you’re the only
penguins left?” Peaches asked,
shocked.
“This far north, yes, little one, but
not by choice,” a third penguin said.
“This is no place for a southern
penguin like you. There’s not enough
food to go around and you’re not
wanted, in any case. No one invited
you,” the first penguin said.
Peaches didn’t want to be the
reason the other penguins were
hungry, and he had never thought he
would find a place where he wasn’t
wanted. Discouraged, he squeezed
his way back outside of the huddle and
waddled across the ice towards the
Great Water. Head hung low, staring
at his feet he noticed the necklace he
had been given by the High Penguin.
The first seed of the first fruit of the
first harvest, so too was he the first
of his generation and according to
penguin legend it held magic.
Peaches waddled back to the
huddle, took off his necklace and
handed it to the bitter penguin.
“Here,” he said, “I want you to have
this. It seems you need it more than
I do. I now know I belong on the
beach where I have a home where
everyone loves me. It is my hope that
one day this too can be said for you,”
he finished, once again turning to
waddle away.
“What’s your name, kid?” the
bitter penguin asked, now from the
outer edge of the huddle.
“Peaches,” he said, before he
dove back into the Great Water and
began his long journey back to the
small village on the beach.
Peaches was welcomed by the
entire village. Everyone was happy
to have him back and was sad to
hear of the news from the North
until they asked what had happened
to his necklace. “I gave them their
village back,” Peaches said, and
Penguin Legend grew in the years
that followed, as more and more
penguins made the journey south to
tell tale of a seed that was planted in
snow and a Great Peach Tree that
grew right out of the ice to feed those
who remained in the village. Every
penguin who made the journey tried
to convince Peaches to come back
and be their High Penguin Emperor
but by this time he had his own family,
Penny and their baby penguin, Polly,
and his decision to stay was final.
Many new villages were founded
in his name and all the baby penguins
were told the Legend of the Peach
Tree Penguin who saved the village
in the Land of Ice. That village once
again became an empire and every
High Emperor was named after their
savior. A whole orchard of Peach
trees now grows across a field of ice,
an everlasting gift from the beach
penguin.
www.MauMag.com
The Beach Penguin
49
Recipes
Curried Eggplant Soup
Ingredients
• Two large Eggplants
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• One Cup Clear Vegetable or
Chicken Broth - divided in two
half cups.
• One Cup Heavy Cream (or Half &
Half).
• 1 teaspoon Curry Powder
• 1 teaspoon Grated Fresh Ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon Freshly Ground
Black Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt.
Preparation Method
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
With the tip of a knife, slit three
to four small punctures in each
eggplant.
Place eggplant side by side in an
oven tray (Pyrex dish is ideal).
Roast eggplants until they
completely collapse (about one to
one and a half hours). Checking
periodically.
50
After eggplants cool down, scrape
the eggplant from the skin and put in
blender.
Add half a cup of the Broth, Heavy
Cream and mix thoroughly.
Add the remaining ingredients
and blend well until very smooth.
(You may add a little more broth as
needed for consistency).
The soup should have a semi-thick
consistency.
Transfer the soup to a pot and heat
on stove top (Medium Setting) until
you detect small bubbles at the top.
It is important to keep stirring during
the heating process to prevent
scorching.
Adjust seasoning to taste.
Paella With Chicken
and Seafood
Sea Bream (Bass)
Spanish Totrilla
(alla Veneziano)
(omelette)
“Andalusian Region”
Ingredients
This is an Andalusian version. It differs
from a traditional Valencia Paella.
Ingredients
• 1 dozen mussels, scrubbed, steamed open
• 1 lb / 1/2 kilo jumbo shrimp (prawns)
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 2 lbs / 1 kilo chicken or rabbit, cut into small pieces
• 1/4 lb / 100 grams pork, cut in cubes
• 1 green bell pepper, cut in pieces
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 medium squid, cleaned and cut in rings
• 1 large tomato, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup shelled peas (or green beans, broad beans or artichokes)
• 6-7 cups water or stock
• 2 1/2 cups medium-short grained Spanish rice
• 1/2 tsp saffron, crushed
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 red pimiento, cut in strips
• 1 lemon, cut in wedges
Preparation Method
Discard empty half-shells of the mussels.
Strain and reserve the liquid. Peel most of the
shrimp (shells can be boiled to make a stock).
Cook a few unpeeled ones to garnish the
paella. Drain and save the liquid.
Heat the oil in a paella pan, large frying pan
or flat-bottomed wok and slowly brown the
pieces of chicken or rabbit and pork. Add
the green pepper, garlic and squid, then
the tomatoes and peas. (If using beans or
quartered artichokes, parboil them first.)
Measure out 6 cups of reserved mussel,
shrimp broth and water or stock. Add it to the
pan and bring to a boil. Stir in the rice with the
peeled shrimp. Combine the crushed saffron,
paprika, salt and pepper in a cup and dissolve
in a little water. Stir into the rice. Cook briskly
for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat. Garnish
the rice with the cooked mussels and cooked
whole shrimp. Top with strips of red pimiento.
Cook for a further 8-10 minutes, without
stirring. Add a little additional liquid to
prevent the rice from scorching. Allow
to rest 5 minutes before serving.
Garnish with lemon wedges.
Ingredients
• 1 sea bream (about 1 lb.)
• 10 cherry tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 to 1 cup white wine
• 10 olives, pitted
• 1 Tbs. fresh parsley
• 1 Tbs. capers
• 2 anchovy filets
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 large lemon
• 1 peperoncino, chopped
• salt, to taste
6 Tbs. olive oil
Preparation Method
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
Fahrenheit.
2. Squeeze the juice of one lemon
onto a plate.
3. Clean the fish, and place it into
the lemon juice.
4. Finely chop the garlic, capers,
parsley and anchovies, then saute
them in the olive oil until the garlic
is a light golden color, using low to
medium heat.
5. Add the salt and chopped
peperoncino according to personal
preference, and saute for about two
minutes more.
6. Add the white wine and cook until
wine has evaporated, then add the
chopped tomatoes and cook for
about 10 minutes.
7. Spread the remaining olive oil
into the bottom of a baking dish and
transfer the fish from the lemon juice
to the baking pan.
8. Pour the sautéed ingredients on
top of the fish. Add another 1/2 cup
white wine, and then bake for 60
minutes.
• 125 ml olive oil
• 4 large waxy potatoes, peeled and finely
sliced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon chopped flat leaf parsley
(optional)
Preparation Method
1. Heat some of the olive in a 20 cm skillet.
Add some of the potato slices so that you
cover the skillet with a layer of the potatoes.
Next, add some of the onions and season
with salt. Alternate the potatoes and onions,
adding olive oil as you go. Cook this over
medium heat, turning the mixture once in a
while until the potatoes are tender but not
browned. This will take around 15 minutes
but cooking times can vary.
2. When the potatoes are done, they should
be tender enough to be pricked with a fork
without any resistance, drain them in a
colander, reserving the olive oil to use for
cooking the rest of the omelette.
3. Cool the potato mixture slightly, around
10 minutes and place this in a bowl with the
beaten eggs. Allow the mixture to rest for
around 10 minutes more. Season with salt
and pepper.
4. Clean the skillet and heat 2 tablespoons
of the olive in the large skillet until very hot
and add the potato mixture, rapidly spreading
it out in the skillet. Lower the heat to medium
and shake the pan often to prevent sticking.
Use a thin spatula to run along the sides of
the skillet so that some of the egg can run
under and cook more evenly. This takes
around 6 to 8 minutes.
5. When the mixture begins to brown and
just before you flip the tortilla, loosen it by
sliding a thin spatula between the egg and
the side of the skillet walls. Place a plate
slightly larger than the skillet over the skillet.
Remove the skillet from the heat and flip the
omelet on to the plate so you can brown the
other side.
6. Add about 2 tablespoons of oil more to
the skillet, and then slide the flipped omelet
back on to the skillet so that the cooked side
is facing the top. Cook the omelet for another
5 minutes over medium heat.
7. Flip the omelet 2 or 3 more times (this
helps to give a good shape), cooking briefly
on each side.
8. Transfer to a plate; use some kitchen
paper to drain the excess oil. Sprinkle with
chopped flat leaf parsley.
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Book Reviews
Family. Friends.
Community.
by Pam Rudkin
The Dinner
By Herman Koch
T
he Dinner was first recommended to me
by a friend, and I have to say: I probably
would have passed it right on by otherwise.
But this plot and somewhat deviant story is
as fascinating a read as I’ve had in a long
time. (I owe many thanks to my friend Barbara.)
The story is narrated by the main character, Paul
Lohman, and the reader is privately introduced to all
his most jealous, self-righteous, and loving thoughts, all
wrapped up in the mind of a terrified parent.
Paul’s only son and his two nephews have taken part
in a hideous crime, and he and his wife (first separately,
then together) plot to conceal the crime. They find
themselves willing to implicate their adopted nephew and
go to practically any lengths to protect their own child’s
future—willfully overlooking the fact that their son,
Michel, has shown no remorse and has even perpetuated
similar crimes since their gruesome discovery.
Paul’s brother is a rising politician, on his way to
becoming the next Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
The two sets of parents are all finally aware of the horrific
crimes of their children, and they meet to have dinner
and discuss how to deal with their crisis. The dinner is
the entire setting for the unfolding story. Koch manages
to keep you completely bug-eyed to turn the page as he
weaves this plot and sad tale…to its shocking end.
The reader is empathizing and revolted all at the
same time. As a parent, so many thoughts race through
your mind as you follow Paul’s thought process. And
P
54
am Rudkin is the librarian for the
Maumelle Library, a branch of the
Central Arkansas Library System. She is a
graduate of Texas Woman’s University,
where she earned her Master of Library
Science degree. Rudkin grew up in Harrison, Arkansas and continued her education at the University of Central Arkansas
where she earned her bachelor’s degree in
journalism.
Pam is married and is the mother of three children. Her interests include reading and music composition.
Lee Tuxhorn, Agent
11605 Maumelle Blvd
Maumelle, AR 72113
Bus: 501-851-0875
[email protected]
1211007
while you never really respect Paul, you can somehow
understand him. Paul’s rich, popular, politician
brother, of whom he is immensely jealous, offer a
“martyr’s” solution, willing to expose the young boys
to the authorities as a public relations gesture, hoping to
ultimately further his own career.
This book has an unexpected and surprise ending
that leaves you wondering what the future holds for these
characters, and whether or not you could have taken
such a road as they chose. The characters in this book
are genuinely interesting, and you simply can’t wait
to turn the page to find out what horrible (or hopeful)
decisions they’ve made.
This book is available through the Central Arkansas
Library System in print, eBook, and downloadable
audio book.
For the latest arrivals to the Maumelle Library (New
Fiction, non-fiction, young adult, paperbacks and large
print books), please go to the following link:
http://www.maumag.com/maumelle_library.htm
New arrivals are updated monthly.
We’re all in this together.
State Farm has a long tradition of being there.
That’s one reason why I’m proud to support the
teaching of art to children.
Get to a better State .
®
®
State Farm, Bloomington, IL

William Ashley

Transcription

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Sept-Oct 06 MAUMELLE LIVING.indd

An Accomplished Exit