MARCH 28, 2012SUPPLEMENT TO THE OKLAHOMAN

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Sugar bluesShould high fructose corn syrup and other forms of sugar be regulated like alcohol and tobacco?

New clot busterA breakthrough procedure for destroying blood clots in the brain is showing promise in clinical trials.

Local market meets high-end cuisineEdmond’s new Uptown Grocery offers an full-service shopping experience.

Writing off cursiveFor centuries, people have put hand to paper to communicate their thoughts with the bold loops and gentle swirls that comprise the cursive alphabet. Is cursive handwriting going the way of the pocket watch and the ink well?

Divorce boomer styleOne in every four divorces is now a boomer couple untying the knot. And a majority of those “gray di-vorces” — 66 percent — are instigated by women.

Seascapes and historyCrystalline seas and Byzantine mosaics make Istan-bul and Aegean coast a splendid vacation spot.

Wine and vineFind unexpected treasures of taste and experience with a tour of central Oklahoma’s wine country.

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SUGAR:By Mary McReynolds | For The Oklahoman

Indulging in a candy bar, cookie, tart, cake, pie or soda pop exposes you to a barrage of

dangerous chemicals called crystalline carbohydrates. These aren’t artifi cial additives. They’re the stuff of sugar. They usually come from pretty plants — sugar cane or sugar beets — and go by several harmless sounding names. But they’re anything but harmless, ac-cording to researchers at the University of California-San Francisco, who cite sugar as a prime culprit in global disease and mortality. Granulated sugar evokes families gath-ered at mealtime. Powdered sugar brings to mind light, airy desserts. Brown sugar is often considered healthier than its white cousin. Corn syrups marshall pictures of fi elds of yellow ears. “Dextrose” and “fruc-tose” put on fancy scientifi c airs, while “raw sugar” reeks of the risque. Then there’s tur-binado sugar with images of turbines ener-gizing the human anatomy. By any other name, the researchers say,

sugar would be just as sweet and every bit as toxic, a substance with a vast potential for abuse because of its addictive qualities, a dietary staple long popular in the West and increasingly so elsewhere. The UCSF team — Robert Lustig, M.D., Laura Schmidt, Ph.D. and Claire Brindis, D.P.H. — wrote of sugar’s eff ect on health in the February issue of “Nature.” They analyzed new evidence claiming that crystalline carbohydrates kill millions of people every year. Non-communicable diseases now pose greater threats than infectious diseases. Sugar is cited as a major contributor to incidences of diabetes, heart disease and cancer in what experts term a global obesity pandemic killing some 35 million people each year. These statistics underscore how Lustig described sugar, as being “toxic beyond its calories.” Consumed at levels abused by most Americans, sugar changes metabolism, raises blood pressure, alters hormonal signals, and dam-ages the liver. In addition, chronic fructose exposure can cause hypertension, myocardial infarction, dyslipdermia, pancreatitis, obesity, malnutrition, hepatic dysfunction and addiction. Finding issue with these comments, the Sugar Associa-tion, Inc., Washington, D.C., countered that the UCSF re-search is based on fl awed data and fear inducing estimates, which render the studies biased and inconclusive. “We consider it irresponsible when health professionals use their platforms to instill fear by using words like diabe-

A BITTERSWEET TREAT

Sugar, continued on page 4

Robert Lustig, M.D.

Laura Schmidt, Ph.D.

Claire Brindis, D.P.H.

tes, cancer, and even death, without so much as one disclaimer” that the refer-ences are incomplete, a response on the Sugar Association’s website said. The Sugar Association agreed that there is a national and inter-national obesity problem but it should not be blamed on one cause but rather a combi-nation of over-consumption of all foods and lack of exercise. Still, sugar can be highly addictive, according to Cuyler Caldwell, M.D., a board certifi ed family practice doctor at Mercy Clinic Edmond Signal Ridge. Caldwell points out that sugar can be a highly addictive carbohydrate sought for its “sugar crash” sensation, entering the blood stream and spiking the blood sugar as fast as it leaves. This hit-and-run off ensive sets up the sugar-seeking cycle that leads to abuse.

“High carbohydrate diets actu-ally decrease the HDL (good) cholesterol,” Caldwell says, “while increasing blood concen-tration of triglycerides, glucose and insulin. This can contribute to the development of a meta-bolic profi le called insulin resis-tance syndrome, often a precur-sor to coronary heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.” The UCSF study echoes senti-ments and science expressed in William Dufty’s sugar blasting book published 26 years ago. In 1986 Americans were consum-ing 100 pounds of sugar per person per year. Though “Sugar Blues” made many converts and topped the best-seller list with 1.6 million books in print, tastes emerged stronger than ever with worldwide sugar consumption tripling in the last 50 years. Undeterred by sugar propo-nents, the UCSF team propose that limiting sugar use involves more than educating people about the dangers. Sugar is associated with fun and par-ties, culture and celebrations, patterns of thought which may

prove diffi cult to change. Still, with 75 percent of U.S. health care dollars spent treating sugar-related diseases, the researchers said they would like to see sweets controlled, like alcohol and tobacco. Schmidt, professor of health policy at UCSF’s Institute for Health Policy Studies and co-chair of its Community Engagement and Health Policy Pro-gram, added that there is a wide gap between what science knows and what people practice in real life. The challenge of sugar abuse “needs to be recog-nized as a fundamental concern at the global level,” she said. The answer may rely on medicine and governments combining eff orts to pro-tect sugar addicts from incessant cravings while promoting interventions like those modeled by alcohol and smoking cessation programs. Other ideas might include levying special sales taxes, controlling access and tightening licensing requirements on vending machines and snack bars catering to a sugar-hungry public. The ultimate goal, researchers agree, is to communicate the concept that

even “normal” amounts of sugar are harmful. Schmidt stressed that UCSF is not promoting prohibition or major govern-ment intrusion. “We’re talking about gentle ways to make sugar consumption slightly less convenient, thereby moving people away from the concentrated dose. What we want is to actually increase people’s choices by making foods that aren’t loaded with sugar comparatively easier and cheaper to get,” Schmidt said. Other problems associated with sugar abuse include intense sleepiness, muscle fatigue, lethargy, pallor, coated tongue, persistent thirst, bad breath, heartburn and sour stomach, excessive gas, fl u-like symptoms, feeling run down. “Sugar Blues” claims that sugar is as addictive as nicotine and as poisonous. Science today is leaning toward more serious measures to help people resist sweets as evidence mounts that consumers can do something positive to im-prove their health.

Overweight

Heart disease (raised blood triclycerides and sticky blood platelets)

Duodenal ulcers and increased stomach acidity

Hypoglycemia

Diabetes

Hyperactivity

Kidney enlargement

Liver enlargement

Increased uric acid in blood

Cancer

Hindered breakdown of dietary protein

Cavities in teeth

Weakened immune system

PMS

Yeast overgrowth

A partial list of physical conditions caused or worsened by sugar in the diet according to scientists:

Sugar, continued from page 3

Mary McReynolds | For The Oklahoman

A breakthrough neurological procedure off ers hope for victims of intracere-bral hemorrhage (ICH), an often fatal brain condition. The procedure was reported at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans held Jan. 31-Feb 2. Johns Hopkins neurosurgeons working with the surgical review centers at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Chicago announced a minimally invasive surgery with reduced negative side eff ects. Neurosurgeons worked with 93 patients ages 18 to 80 at more than twenty-four sites in the United States, Canada and Europe employing either standard, supportive treatment

or the new procedure using CT-guided catheters to deliver clot shrinking medication. The latter technique is considered safer without compro-mising brain tissue or removing large portions of the skull. Standard, supportive treatment often occurs in an ICU. About 10 percent of these surgeries

involve craniotomy surgery, an inva-sive and risky procedure which

removes portions of the skull and cuts through healthy tissue to remove the

clot. With the ICH pro-

cedure, neurosurgeons drill a hole the size of a

dime in the skull close to the clot site. A CT

catheter is fi nessed into the clot to release small

amounts of t-PA, a power-ful, clot dissolving drug. Up

to 20 percent of the clots are shrunk each day for up to two

days compared to a 5 percent result via the standard treat-

ment method. Side eff ects are fewer and less severe.

Ninety-three percent of pa-tients in the Johns Hopkins mini-

mally invasive study experienced an increase in their functionality

by 10 to 15 percent six months fol-lowing the new surgical procedure. The study was also found to be as safe as general supportive therapy which includes intense monitoring and control of blood pressure, artifi cial ventilation, drugs to control swelling, and cautious observation waiting for the clot to dissolve on its own. Often the result of uncontrolled high blood pressure, ICH is a pernicious bleed in the brain that causes clots to form and is fatal in 30 to 50 percent of all oc-currences. Once termed the most lethal and debilitating form of stroke, it was basically considered untreatable. Most survivors are left with signifi cant motor

Intracerebral hemorrhage treatment dissolves clots in most deadly of strokes

STROKE HOPE

Clots, continued on page 6

Early Parkinson’s link to vitamin D defi ciencyA recent study shows patients with early Parkinson’s had a high prevalence of vitamin D insuffi ciency but vitamin D did not decline with disease progression, U.S. researchers say.Dr. Marian L. Evatt of Emory University School of Medicine and the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center and colleagues examined the prevalence of vitamin D insuffi ciency in untreat-ed patients with early Parkinson’s disease diagnosed within fi ve years of entry into the study.The study authors found a high prevalence of vitamin D insuffi ciency and defi ciency in 157 study participants with early, untreated Parkinson’s disease. At the baseline visit, 69 percent had vitamin D insuffi ciency and 26 percent had vitamin D defi ciency.

ThirdAge.com

Clinical trials could offer new opportunities to fi ght ovarian cancerOvarian cancer affects an estimated 21,000 women and causes more than 14,000 deaths every year in the U.S., and as many as 125,000 deaths around the world. That makes it the most deadly cancer of the female reproductive system and the fi fth-leading cause of cancer-related death in American women.One of the most challenging aspects of ovarian cancer is that it is most commonly diagnosed when it is already in advanced stages. Because the incidence and mortality rates for ovarian cancer have remained steady over the last decade, new possibilities in treating it are note-worthy. For those who have had surgery and chemotherapy to treat ovarian cancer, upcoming trials in the U.S. will be conducted for a vaccine called DPX-Survivac. Potential participants are screened for their eligibility to participate in the trials, which will test the safety and effective-ness of the vaccine, and its ability to bring about an immune response.For more information about these clinical trials visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.

and cognitive disability. Although only 15 percent of stroke victims have ICH, this represents 30,000 to 50,000 people, primarily Asians, Hispanics, African-Americans, and the elderly. Study leader Daniel F. Hanley, M.D., professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said “the last untreatable form of stroke may well have a treatment.” He called for larger studies to augment and prove recent fi nd-ings and said the new procedure will “substantially reduce the burden of strokes for patients and their families by increasing the number of people who can be independent again after suf-fering a stroke.” Dawn Tartaglione, D.O., INTEGRIS Southwest Neuroscience Institute, said that the new ICH procedure is one with which she is familiar. A Board Certifi ed Osteopathic Neurosurgeon, Tartaglione is also President of the Discipline of Neurosurgery for the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons and com-pleted a fellowship with emphasis in specialized skull-based neurosurgery and complex spine surgery. “The catheter delivery of t-PA to shrink clots is a powerful option in selected cases,” Tartaglione said. “The results of this recent study provides even more data on the procedure and outcomes, vital information when considering surgical op-tions.” While shrinking clots with t-PA can be eff ective at the right time and place, she added that she considers treatment on a case-by-case basis. “I have no hesitation implementing this new procedure when it is warranted,” Tartaglione said. “It all depends on the patient and the clot.”

HEALTH BRIEFSClots, continued from page 5

Ludivine Restaurant’s intention from day one was to celebrate the bounty of Oklahoma. Now Oklahoma has a chance to celebrate the achievements of Ludivine.

Jonathon Stranger and Russ Johnson are chef/owners at Ludivine, 805 N Hudson Ave. Their farm-to-fork con-cept has garnered them nominations for The People’s Best New Chef award by the national magazine Food & Wine.

The award, in its second year, allows patrons and fans to determine the best new chef from a fi eld of 100 nominees broken down in 10 regions across the country. Winners from each region will be fi nalists.

The chef with the most overall votes will be featured in the July 2012 issue.

Dave Cathey | The Oklahoman

EDMOND — Crest has its fl agship store in south Oklahoma City, Whole Foods planted its fl ag near Nichols Hills, and last month the owners of Buy For Less unveiled their crown jewel, the Uptown Grocery Co., 1230 W Covell Road.

Owners Hank and Susan Binkowski will off er a huge deli and bakery plus a large number of prepared foods, including soup and salad bar, sushi station, artisanal cheese and pizza counter. Takeaway items such as rotisserie chicken, barbecue and a bevy of salads, will be available at the Gourmet Grille, under the direction of

chef Jermiah Duddleston.The north portion of the market also

includes a demonstration kitchen for cooking classes, plus a dining area. The prepared foods take up about a quarter of of the building, with the remainder housing a mix of basic to premium groceries, including a butcher shop with dry-aged prime beef plus a multitude of organic and natural ingredients and products. The store also will carry plenty of local products, such as Peach Crest Farms produce.

A hub at the front of the store is home to a master fl orist and event planning and catering services.

FOOD

Uptown grocery offers upscale shopping experience

Dave Cathey | The OklahomanLudivine chefs are nominees

Erica Millar eats Roasted Bone Marrow for the fi rst time at Ludivine’s. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman

Sherri Nelson shops the produce on the opening day of the new Uptown Grocery in Edmond. Photo by David McDaniel, The Oklahoman

By Sheila Stogsdill | For The Oklahoman

More and more, schools are having to write off studies in penmanship and handwriting in favor of keyboarding. Although it prepares students to function in a technological world, failure to teach children how to write cursive could be setting them up for a life of prob-lems. “Cursive writing is a lost art,” said Brenda Petty, a Duncan-based forensics document specialist. Petty has worked for four years as a forgery expert in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Arkansas. Time Magazine reported in 2009 “people born after 1980 tend to have a dis-tinctive style of handwriting: a little bit sloppy, a little bit childish and almost never in cursive.” “Cursive started to lose its clout back in the 1920s, when educators theorized that because children learned to read by looking at books printed in manuscript rather than cursive, they should learn to write the same way,” according to the article. Cursive writing is generally taught in the second grade but studies show stu-dents are not continuing the practice as they go through school. When older students return to college, they frequently use an iPad or a laptop to take down notes while a professor lectures. As cursive handwriting continues to decline we will begin to see more printing and more signatures blotched and the slurring of lines, Petty said. Cursive writing utilizes the subconscious area of the brain, while printing re-

quires only the conscious area of the brain, she said. “The ability to spell is not getting down to the subconscious part of the brain,” Petty said. “We already know texting pro-duces shortcuts which lead to misspelled words and words not correctly used in context.”

An example is “K” for OK and “B4” for before and “No” typi-cally misrepresents “know.”

“I am so concerned with the future of our children if cursive handwriting is eliminated from their training,” Petty said.

According to the website Handwriting Without Tears, handwriting is one of the fastest growing areas of referral to occupational therapy.

The international program based in Maryland strives to make legible and fl uent handwriting a natural and automatic skill for all children.

Many students need help with handwriting and a small number of those students qualify for occupational therapy while other students

struggle with handwriting because it isn’t taught eff ectively in the class-room, said Jan Z Olsen OTR, founder of the program.

Cursive writing builds the brain, develops cognitive abilities and improves a child’s fl uency, she said.

The more fl uid and automatic a student’s handwriting is, the more time they will have to concentrate on the content of writing, Olsen said.

The program has 12 certifi ed handwriting specialists in the state of Oklahoma, including the communities of Edmond, Norman, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Mari-etta and Spavinaw. Lauren Cloud learned cursive writing in the second grade. The 19-year-old Grove native attended private school and was home schooled before she was accepted into the prestigious honors program, the Sam Walton

College of Business, at the University of Arkansas. “I was required to do all my school assignments in cursive — homework, quiz-zes, tests, everything,” Cloud said, referring to her grade school and high school education. From the second grade through the fi fth grade Cloud was required to take a penmanship class, she said. “My handwriting is pretty good, although it lacks the ‘pretty’ element that a lot of girls’ handwriting has,” Cloud said. Cloud continues to take most of her class notes in cursive handwriting. “If I’m taking notes non-stop for 50 minutes, I use cursive because it is so much faster.” Cloud said. “If the class is a bit slower paced, I use print, because it is a bit easier to read at a glance.” Cloud said cursive handwriting is a lot “classier and more professional,” but printing ensures legibility. “I’ve actually gotten lots of comments on my writing style,” Cloud said. “Peo-ple will say ‘I can’t read it — it’s so pretty’ or ‘that looks like it could be on the Declaration of Independence.’” Cloud said she is often asked to re-write something in print because the person can’t read cursive. “I defi nitely think teaching cursive should be a much higher priority in pub-lic schools,” Cloud said. When Cloud took her ACT exam there was a section on the test where the student had to copy the statement in cursive handwriting. The students were grumbling about the assignment and supervisor remarked this por-tion of the test was the hardest but that she would give them all the time they need, she said. “The students were complaining they didn’t know how or they couldn’t remember how to write and I’m think-ing, ‘I’ve known how to do this since second grade!’” Cloud said.

Annette Price | For The Oklahoman

The handwriting may be on the wall for cursive. The connected-letters form of writing dates back in English to before the Norman conquest, but now, after more than a thousand years, the advent of computers, texting and standardized testing may consign cursive to the same fate as its cousin shorthand: an interesting odd-ity that few put into practice. In the renaissance era, cursive was key: quills were expensive, and lifting them up and putting them down led to more breakage. In an era where nearly everyone carries a computer in his pocket, the cost of quills is less of a concern than it once was.

In Oklahoma, perfect penman-ship isn’t necessary for a high school diploma, but schoolchil-dren are still required to mind those curly P’s and Q’s as part of Oklahoma’s PASS skills. Ty Bell, principal of Cleveland Elementary School in Norman, said his students are taught to print up until 2nd grade. As 3rd-graders, they learn the formation of cursive letters and are expected to write their assignments in script until they reach 5th grade. “I don’t think it’s as vital of a skill as it was 20 to 30 years ago, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not worthy to be taught,” Bell said. In Norman, children don’t work out of penmanship books, as their

parents did. For the older grades, sentence drills and manuscript paper with dotted lines are gone too. Bell said by age 8 and 9, fi ne motor skills are already in place. Teachers instead teach letter formation over several months, then incorporate cursive into everyday work. “We don’t necessarily sit around and practice cursive writing. We teach it, and then we practice it in our work, which I think is a much more authentic practice,” said Brook Meiller, language arts curriculum coordinator at Norman Public Schools. More schools are fi nding ways to combine lessons, as their teaching objectives seem to multiply. For instance, with keyboards and touch screens becoming more common in everyday life, schools are feeling the pressure of teaching keyboarding skills to younger ages. “What’s going to be a better life skill, keyboarding or cursive? I do believe it can be both,” Bell said. “It’s the same old adage you hear in education: It’s one more thing we’re expected to teach, but there’s no extra time to teach it. At some point, something’s going to get

squeezed or shoved or condensed.” A bigger concern to educators is not only keeping up with the technology, but also teaching application of those communi-cation skills. Meiller expects the state will switch entirely to online standardized tests for grades 3-8 starting in the 2014-2015 school year. This means that students will be required to type all answers, including any essays, through a keyboard. “It’s one thing to teach them where the letters are on the keyboard, but to actually sit and compose on the keyboard is diff erent,” Meiller said. “We’ve already been in a lot of discussion on how that looks for our youngest students, because it’s not something you can just start in 3rd grade. Society and the world is on our side because kids are using keyboards all the time.” Keyboarding may start earlier for Cleveland students, Bell said. “You hate for their hunt and peck to interfere with their fl uency of thought, and then not to score well because they were having to hunt and peck letters,” Bell said.

The demise of

Kelsi Sanders, a third-grader at Cleve-land Elementary School in Norman, takes a spelling test in cursive.

cursive

Noah Rivera, a third-grader at Cleveland Elementary School in Norman, writes sentences containing his spelling words.

WHY KEEP CURSIVE?

MAKING A CASE FOR CURSIVE?

Cursive allows you to be faster and more effi cient.

Cursive is faster than printing, and greater writing speed allows writ-ers to write better by lessening the burden on working memory.

Diffi culty with it may mean lower grades.

The College Board found that stu-dents who wrote in cursive scored slightly higher than those who print-ed, on the handwritten section that added to the SAT college entrance test in 2005.

It can boost your confi dence. SOURCE: Handwriting Without Tears

Is cursive handwriting going the way of the pocket watch or the ink well? This shift in writing not only signals another step toward a more technological society. It also could result in unintended consequences such as in the development of motor skills, in research, perhaps even in an increased risk of forgery.

ve should

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VE?Approximately two out of every fi ve teachers indicated that poor hand-writing adversely infl uenced self-concept.

Jobs require it.

A recent Monster.com search reveals that positions in security systems, healthcare and engineering, as well as childcare providers, writers and utility workers, require legible handwriting in their job descriptions, underscoring the ongoing value of handwriting in the workplace and the importance of the skill for lifelong success.

The kids go off to college, the dog dies and someone, increasingly the wife, wants a divorce.

While divorce among older couples was once rare, those over 50 are shedding their spouses at double the rate of two decades ago. One in every four divorces is now a boomer couple untying the knot, accord-ing to the National Center for Family and Marriage, up from 1 in 10 in 1990. And a majority of those “gray divorces” - 66 percent - are instigated by women, said the authors of a 2004 AARP survey. “More women are in the work place and not as dependent for income as wives who have never been in the workforce,” said Oklahoma City-based marriage and family therapist Charlotte Lankard. “Women who have not worked outside the home, now understand if they have been married 10 years or more that legally half of everything belongs to them - they are not left ‘hoping’ their spouse will be generous.”

Financially buoyed by their own pay-checks, many of this fi rst generation of career women are approaching retirement with secret reveries. Can I leave my job and a marriage that feels like a second shift? When people are living longer, does mar-riage have a sell-by date? “Today’s woman is likely in a full or part time job or very involved in community volunteer work, yet she may be married to a spouse whose mother ‘did everything’ at home,” Lankard said. “Women today want and need a partner who is willing to help with household chores - cooking, laundry, cleaning, childcare etc. If this is not hap-pening, she may begin to see her partner as ‘another child’ to take care of and decide she doesn’t want to live like that.”

Low tolerance for discomfort Previously, people divorced because of infi delity or money issues. With boomers, it’s a diff erent criteria.

UNTYING THE KNOTAfter age 50, women are divorcing at double the rate of 20 years ago

Divorce, continued on page 11

“Boomers are less likely to stay in a relationship where they are not happy, do not feel appreciated or valued, do not feel respected,” said Lankard, who is a weekly columnist for The Oklahoman. “If they believe they have made a mistake in choosing a partner, they get out. They are much less tolerant of discomfort.” Too, they have grown up in homes where parents fought or were emotionally distant or abusive and they are determined not to live like that, she said.

A new life For many women, their 50s are a time of reinvention, when they’re ready to loosen the ties that bound them to home, children and husbands, said Amy Sherman, a mental health counselor from Lake Worth, Fla. They’re weary of the incessant work of housekeeping, not to mention husband-keeping, especially if the couple has grown apart through the years. “There is any old saying that, ‘Men get divorced to have a new wife; women get divorced to have a new life,’” Lankard said. “A typical scenario in a long-term mar-riage is a wife will begin to say, ‘We need to get help...go to counseling.’ The husband says, ‘I’m doing fi ne, you’re the one having problems.’ So the wife goes for help and eventually when nothing she does changes the dynamics at home, she will decide to divorce. When she tells her husband, he says, ‘Let’s go to counseling!’ And it is too late.”

After a certain age, following a lifetime of nuturing others, some women long for an independent life alone, posited Dominique Browning in a New York Times essay last month. Unlike men, most have built strong social support networks of friends and family for when they want company. “We know that men do not do as well being single, while women often thrive.” Lankard said.

— Barbara Marshall, Cox Newspapers

Melissa Howell contributed to this story.

Divorce, continued from page 10

turing life alone,imes essayg social en they

ingle,

05

10152025303540455055

15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

1990 2010

SOURCE: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS, VITALSTATS, 1990 ANDU.S. CENSUS BUREAU, AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY, 2010

Divorce rates by 10-year age groups, women only

GIOVANNA DELL’ORTOFor The Associated Press

ISTANBUL - The sea of Marmara shimmered to my right, a pod of dolphins played improbably in the ferry-and tankers-choked Bosporus strait, and minarets pierced my jet-lag fog on my fi rst Istanbul evening. Walking down the main road in Istanbul’s old city the next morning, I was pulled out of my reverie when an older, heavily mustachioed man leaned out the window of his rickety car and boomed, “American?” Suddenly aware of my short sleeves and skirt on a trip last summer to a city where many women wear long coats even in hot weather, I smiled sheepishly. “Ah, have a good day!” he yelled in English, breaking a wide grin, to which all I could do was reply “cok iyi,” meaning very good, the Turkish words I had learned on my fi rst day here in an impromptu lesson from a taxi driver. And so the friendliness of Turkish strangers accompa-nied me for the three weeks I spent in Istanbul and along

Istanbul and Aegean coastSeascapes and history

Coast, continued on page 13

The coastline of the Datca peninsula, near the ruins of Knidos, a sev-enth-century B.C. Greek town, Turkey. AP Photo by Giovanna Dell’Orto

At left: The fourth century B.C. temple of Apollo at Dydima, now in the middle of the mod-ern Turkish city of Didim on the southern Aegean coast, Turkey. AP Photo by Giovanna Dell’Orto

Turkey’s Aegean coast, where I found a wealth of antiquities, architecture and art with few parallels in the Mediterranean, not to mention impossibly blue seas and feasts of small plates known as mezes at non-euro prices. From Istanbul, I made a daylong drive to the stunning northern Aegean vil-lage of Assos. Swimming off its pebbly beach into empty green-blue waters, under cliff s studded with olive trees and humming with cicadas, near ruins visited by both Aristotle and St. Paul, was such perfection that I nearly spent the rest of my vacation there. After all, the camel I saw slurping tree leaves off a dusty road seemed happy to stay where he was. But Greco-Roman sites, Byzantine and Islamic art masterpieces, and un-touched Mediterranean scenery beckoned, and everywhere, people went out of their way to make this stranger welcome.

GRECO-ROMAN SPLENDOR: To grumble, as many tour books do, that there is not much to see at Troy is akin to calling the Eiff el Tower a jumble of iron bars. True, technically, but that is to ignore the breathless feeling of gazing at walls and columns where Homeric heroes lived 3,000 years ago, of looking over the same cultivated plain baking in the midday heat. Ancient Greek civilizations built acropolises a few hours south of Troy, none more “high city” than Pergamon, where the remains of a superb temple and a theater from the third century B.C. are carved atop a barren mountain. Not far off are evocative ruins of three Ionian cities, including the giant theater of Miletus and the elaborately carved columns of the Dydima temple, so tall that you feel Lilliputian.

APOLLO’S SWIMMING HOLE: You can dive into that vivid blue in the sea off Oludeniz natural park, where the Aegean meets the Mediterranean. Sur-rounded by tall mountains covered in fragrant brush and pines, with wisps of clouds perched on their tops, it felt like the swimming hole of the ancient gods. Off a tiny cove in the sadly overdeveloped Bodrum peninsula, a kid engaged me in a freestyle competition through crystalline water as his grandmother, decked out in a turquoise long-sleeved suit, blue Crocs and pink noodle, pa-tiently tried out a few strokes. From my terrace at one of the peninsula’s many luxury hotels, Lavanta, over-looking Yalikavak harbor, I watched the sun set over Greek islands as a muez-zin’s call to prayer wafted over the whitewashed village up to the windmills topping the barren hills. If Bodrum has luxe, the Datca peninsu-la just to the south has solitude. Near the ruins of Knidos, a seventh-century B.C. Greek town, I spent an hour fl oating in transparent water without seeing a soul. A few hours south of there, in Patara, I found miles of sandy beach popular with sea turtles, past an arch and other ruins of an ancient Lycian city. It’s a tough call, but I might have had the best meal of the trip in Patara, under the grape arbor of St. Nicholas restaurant. Mezes kept fl owing, ranging from tangy beyaz peynir cheese (a Turkish version of feta) to grilled fi sh and lamb to a dazzling variety of dishes made with eggplant (“patlican,” which means eggplant, is essential Turkish vocabulary). And of course, I ended up deep in conversation with the owner’s son, a young man just out of ar-chitecture school, who shared his dream of a green development in Patara so that “in fi ve years you might read of me.” “Cok iyi,” I told him, and I hoped that fi rst Istanbul cab driver would have been proud.

Coast, continued from page 12

A dromedary camel outside Assos, Turkey. AP Photo by Giovanna Dell’Orto

V ineyards and wineries have sprung up all over Oklahoma due to the favorable weather and soil conditions which produce wonderful grape harvests. Central Oklahoma, in particular, is home to a large number of

popular wineries, that can be visited in a one-day tour.

Tres Suenos Vineyard and Winery The fi rst stop on the tour is Tres Suenos Vineyard and Winery in Luther, just northeast of the Oklahoma City metro area. As you pull through the gate and onto the property you are greeted by beautiful vines winding around tightly stretched wire making them appear to fl oat. Nestled in a tall gathering of pine trees directly in front of you is the wine tasting room and gathering hall. Stepping through the front doors you catch a glimpse straight through the back doors and into a picture-perfect setting for a wedding or just a relax-ing getaway with friends. Pine trees create a canopy above your head, and the lights that are strung from tree to tree make for a fairytale scene. Sit on the balcony of the tasting room building, picnic under the pines, or enjoy a view over the vineyards on the opposite side of the building.Tres Suenos off ers a varied list of wines ranging from dry to sweet and they can accommodate any palate delightfully.

Tidal School Winery From Luther, head northeast to Drumright for a visit to Tidal School Winery. The historic school building that Tidal School Winery calls home is a beautiful red brick building originally built in the early 1920s during Oklahoma’s early

oil boom days. The school has been saved from the ravages of time and is now well-loved by the people who visit her. The tasting bar has a nostalgic fl air and only makes the wines you sample that much more pleasing. The basement is fi lled with kegs containing all the white, red and blush varieties of wine made on the premises. The winery features a large deck that is raised above the

grapevines to create a spectacular view at sunset. By calling ahead you can order lunch and have it served to you on the patio while you enjoy a glass of wine. Tidal School frequently hosts special events including live music on the patio and even dinner theatre. StableRidge Vineyards and Winery StableRidge Vineyards and Winery, on historic Route 66 in Stroud, is the third winery on the tour. The tasting room and gift shop are located inside a quaint wooden structure that was built in 1898 to serve as the town’s Catholic church. Jerimiah’s Red is one of the many wines StableRidge is known for in Oklaho-ma and on Route 66. Wine tastings are served with cheesecake to bring out the fl avor of the wine. Tours of the vineyard and wine-making facility are available with advance notice. StableRidge is truly one of Oklahoma’s best kept secrets.

Territory Cellars Also located in Stroud, just a short hop off Route 66 on Highway 99, is Terri-tory Cellars. The grand room is beautiful with a large stone fi replace.

Territory Cellars Chef Raquel is a culinary artist capable of creating food that will make you melt. When you visit Territory Cellars, there are a variety of ways for your inner wine connoisseur to enjoy the experience — sit inside in the cozy grand room or tasting room, kick back on the rear deck, or relax at tables on the covered front deck.

Greenfi eld Vineyard and Winery The last stop on the tour is at Greenfi eld Vineyards and Winery in the countryside near Chandler. Greenfi eld is a winery far from everything ex-cept peace and quiet. Visitors will instantly fall in love with Greenfi eld and its stunning surroundings. Set on a hill overlooking the neatly spaced rows of the vineyard, the large, white winery building is very welcoming. A large pond creates the perfect scenic addition to this little slice of heaven. Green-fi eld has put a unique twist on the tasting room by locating it on the second fl oor, with a fabulous balcony. In addition to these establishments, there are many more fantastic winer-ies in Oklahoma waiting to off er you a tasting and tour, and maybe even a chance to enjoy live music or other events along with your wine.

SOURCE: Oklahoma Department of Tourism

Find unexpected treasures of taste and experience with a tour of central Oklahoma’s wine country.

Wines and vines

Tres Suenos Winery in Luther. The Oklahoman archives.

Tres Suenos Winery in Luther. The Oklahoman archives.