Part 2

Mrs. Provinzano has traveled thru-out the west exhibiting her dolls, which range from pioneer scouts to Indians and Mexicans, at various fairs. At the International Hobby Show in California, some years ago, she won a first place ribbon for "Ingenuity".

She possesses the abiding faith in Divine guidance and protection that was her grandfather's, believing that she is on this earth to help others. She believes sharing brings its rewards, for often a remark dropped by another will open up a door to new achievements, and she has an illustrious record of achievements to her credit.

Records reveal that she taught swimming for the Young Women's Christian Association, hobbies and handcrafts for the Steel Works Young Men's Christian Association and devoted many years to showing crippled children at the St. Mary's Hospital pediatric ward how to generate their own sunshine by making things with their hands, often deformed hands that responded slowly to determined little minds. She also taught harmonica and handicraft at Sacred Heart Orphanage.

The Provinzano home is called the Kit Carson Rancho, part dream and part reality, because Attie hoped some day to acquire a mountain ranch, destined to become a summer camp for boys, that they may know some of the wonders of nature, and the pleasure of living under the stars among the pines.

Whether this dream becomes a reality remains to be seen. Though she conquered serious injuries, she is familiar with the shadow of bereavement; a daughter, some years back, and most recently, last March, the husband who had planned to work beside her to enjoy her worthwhile hobbies that she now teaches to boys at Fort Carson.

As for me, and her close friends, the sight of polished apples and citrus fruits will always be a bright reminder of the vivacious, courageous sunshine lady who now operates a Hobby Shop at Beulah, Colorado.

DOUBLE LIFE OF A SOAP SUD

It's Christmas ... visions of sugar plums dance in children's heads, What do _you see_--too much to do in a short time?

Those last-minute decorative chores, for example. Will they send you scurrying? You can end such anxieties--swiftly, and easily--with soapsuds.

That's right--_soapsuds_! It's a novel way to complete holiday projects; glistening suds whipped up like snow will decorate your Christmas tree and gift boxes ... adorn your creche ... bring three-dimensional artwork to your mirrors and windows ... provide an effective safety valve for your youngsters' excitement.

"Suds-snow" not only works like magic, it's as simple to produce as rubbing Aladdin's lamp. All you do is pour several cups of packaged soap (or detergent) and a minimum of water into a bowl. Beat with an electric or hand mixer until suds have the consistency of whipped cream--and you're ready to decorate!

Start with your Christmas tree. Realistic suds-snow will bring that white Christmas to your evergreen--no matter what the weather _outside_. Using a spoon, drift some "snow" artistically on the boughs of your tree.

If the tree is white, add vegetable coloring while mixing your suds to achieve a beautiful color contrast. (A similar "snowfall" provides just the right decor for the roof of your creche and on holly and evergreen sprigs that surround it.)

After "frosting" your tree, complete your decoration with distinctive ornaments made from the same basic soap--but mixed to a stiff, dough-like consistency. For example, fill a cookie press with these thick suds. Then press snowflake circles or diamonds--with holes in the middle--onto a cookie sheet, and add glitter for a sparkling touch. Let them dry for 24 hours and they're ready to be tied to the boughs of your tree with colorful ribbons or strings. You can also glue them to any flat surface.

Versatile suds-snow comes in handy for decorating gift packages, too. Just wrap your presents with attractive paper ... fill a pastry tube with medium dense suds ... and you're ready to "draw" any appropriate design for the occasion--initials, messages, snowflakes, candy cane, or what have you. Place these on the broadest surface of your box and accent them with holly sprigs or miniature balls. You'll find you've created the most distinctive packages under your tree!

There's one more happy side to the advent of snow-suds for the Yule season. They provide a constructive medium for your children--a happy outlet during your flurry of Yuletide activity. Let them have fun decorating the mirrors and windows of their rooms with Christmas pictures. Armed with no more than paint brushes and a bowlful of thick suds, they can create striking 3-D effects--that wash off after the holidays easily as any soap does, leaving your mirrors and windows cleaner than ever!

Youngsters can also make Christmas gifts from suds! One idea: a pencil holder made from an empty frozen juice can. First, the top has to be removed. Then your child colors the can, using a mixture of one teaspoon of soap or detergent to two or three teaspoons of tempera. This is an important recipe because tempera paints adhere to shiny, waxed, or metal surfaces only when soap or detergent is added.

After the paint dries, Junior or Sis can design a suds-snow picture over it to provide an eye-catching decoration--and an attractive gift for any member of the family.

No matter which of these refreshing soap-suds decorations you use, remember to let it dry for 24 hours. It will remain bright as frost in the moonlight for a Christmas-through-New Year's decoration that brings cheer to your holiday guests.

A Viking legend has it that the Lord sent his three messengers, Faith, Hope, and Love to aid a missionary by seeking out a tree for lighting that was as high as faith, as eternal as hope, as wide spread as love, and which bore the sign of the cross on every branch. After due consideration, they selected the balsam fir as the tree most nearly meeting these specifications.

L. D. "LEW" HAMMER Landscape Contractor Tel. WE 5-5938

DENVER BOTANIC GARDENS

_Photos by Jack Fason_

FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH

The Bible says that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, "behold, there came wise men from the east". It does not say how many but tradition has it that they were three magi or, perhaps, three kings. "And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary its mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."

At the end of His life on earth, after the crucifixion, we are told that Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, "about an hundred pound weight", which they placed in the linen shroud, "as the manner of the Jews is to bury."

Throughout the Bible, including the 37th chapter of Genesis and the 18th of Revelations, those two exotic spices--frankincense and myrrh--are mentioned again and again. When Jehovah spake unto Moses on Mount Sinai, specifying how the tabernacle, the ark and the altar must be built, He also commanded that the holy ointment should contain prescribed quantities of pure myrrh and three other spices mixed with olive oil; further, the sacred perfume or incense should contain equal quantities of pure frankincense and three "sweet spices".

These and other ordinances in the Mosaic Law were probably influenced by customs and observances in Egypt where the Children of Israel had lived for 430 years and Moses had grown up as a prince in Pharaoh's court. For thousands of years, spices had been brought to Egypt by camel caravans from India, Arabia and eastern Africa. From them, by secret formulas, the priests prepared several perfumes and ointments for religious rites and domestic use. At the feast of Isis the burnt offering was an ox, its body filled with frankincense and myrrh. When embalming their dead, the body was filled with myrrh, cassia and other fragrant materials, dried, wrapped in fine linen, and placed in a painted wooden case.

Frankincense is a fragrant gum resin obtained from three or more of five species of trees--_the Boswellias_--that grow in Abyssinia and Somaliland in Africa, southern Arabia, India and the East Indies. Usually of small or medium size, they are related to the terebinth or turpentine tree and their compound leaves, with 7 to 9 glossy leaflets, are similar to those of a mountain ash.

The gum, obtained by making deep gashes in the trunk and branches, and peeling back a few inches of bark below each cut, oozes in large white or amber "tears". After 3 or 4 months exposure they become hard and brittle, and are collected. During handling and shipping they become covered with white dust from rubbing against one another. They ignite readily, burn with a clear white flame, and give off a fragrant balsam-like odor because, in addition to resin and gum, they contain a volatile inflammable oil. The incense burned in a censer or thurible during rituals of Roman and Greek Catholic churches is a mixture of frankincense imported from India, Egypt and Somalia.

Myrrh, also a fragrant gum resin, is obtained by similar methods from two species of shrubs or small trees that grow on rocky places in Abyssinia, Somaliland and Arabia. Their bark and wood have a strong fragrance. The gum, as it oozes from the stems and branches naturally or from the incisions made, is at first a soft sticky, somewhat oily, white or yellowish brown resin very bitter to the taste. It soon hardens into reddish-brown beads.

--_From Nature Bulletin Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Ill._

The Widening of Colorado Boulevard at City Park

By J. Harrison Belknap

Our Association membership is indeed interested in the highway system within our city, and we are also interested in the beauty of Denver and our parks and their usefulness. The widening and relocation of Colorado Boulevard has been watched with interest and we are convinced that that important thoroughfare has been improved greatly. But we are concerned that in this improvement our fair city has lost valuable park area and that a beautiful planting of American Elms has been destroyed. Our concern is greatest because we fear that other contemplated highway changes may cut further into our dedicated park lands.

In the light of the very definite interest of the Colorado Forestry and Horticulture Association in the welfare of our people, and the usefulness and beauty of the dedicated park lands, I have been asked by the Editorial Committee of "The Green Thumb" to study and report on the Colorado Boulevard situation and to provide a layman's analysis of the legal aspects as presented in the "Brief of the Plaintiff in Error". That brief was presented by Mr. I. H. Kaiser, attorney for the "Plaintiff in Error", Mrs. Madaline M. Welch.

First of all, as I see it, I should provide some background for the Colorado Boulevard project. This I will do. It is known that the State Department of Highways has had a right-of-way through the city for Colorado Boulevard. That right-of-way embraces land that has been a part of City Park and land that, to all intents and purposes, has been a part of the private properties abutting on the boulevard. It was decided by the State Department of Highways to realign the boulevard and in the widening to cut largely from the park area on the west, or park, side of the thoroughfare, and to use only a small portion of the right-of-way on the east side of the boulevard, opposite City Park. On the basis of that decision all of the right-of-way land on the City Park side would be used for the realigned and widened highway, and an additional 17 feet of dedicated park land would also be used. This means that a total width of 35 feet would be taken from City Park. On the other hand, the right-of-way strip on the east and private property side to the street edge of the then existing sidewalk only would be required for the proposed realigned and widened street. Our City Council agreed to this decision and set up two enabling ordinances. In addition it was agreed, in a somewhat inconclusive interpolation, that the city would be given eight thousand dollars for the dedicated park land taken, or to provide new trees to compensate for those that would be destroyed as a result of the widening of the boulevard. Now, we are all aware that the realignment and widening of the boulevard has been accomplished, and we know that dedicated park land has been taken from City Park.

In the initial court action the plaintiff asked for temporary and permanent restraint to prevent the use of dedicated park land for other than park purposes. But at the suggestion of the court, she agreed to refrain from pressing her motion for a preliminary injunction, with the understanding that the issues raised by her motion could be dealt with at once at the trial. The defendant agreed not to permit construction on the dedicated park land until after trial, or without giving the plaintiff sufficient advance notice to enable her to call the motion for a preliminary injunction for hearing.

The trial was in open court. After due deliberation, the court decided the ordinances of the City Council of the City and County of Denver to be consistent with the trust empowered upon the Council to preserve dedicated park land within the borders of Denver. The defendants were then authorized to proceed with the widening of Colorado Boulevard utilizing dedicated park land as proposed.

Suit was appealed to the Supreme Court of the State of Colorado by Mrs. Madaline M. Welch, "Plaintiff in Error", against the City and County of Denver and the State Highway Commission of the State of Colorado to have the ordinances declared null and void on the grounds that City Council did not have the authority to take dedicated park land for other than park purposes under existing statutes and common law.

The further allegations of the plaintiff were that the greatest good for the greatest number of people as well as the public health, welfare and safety were not being served by the ordinances, and that the ordinances violated:

a. The basic City Planning concept of the preservation of dedicated park land;

b. the inviolability of dedicated park land; and

c. the consideration of available and reasonable alternates which should have been investigated before consideration was given to the encroachment upon dedicated park land.

The plaintiff has contended in the Supreme Court that error was committed in the Lower Court, and that the judgment given by that court should be reversed. It was stated in the brief that ordinances by City Council under the present charter did not have legal standing and that work should have been delayed until there had been a decision by the electorate of the City and County of Denver.

A point made by the plaintiff is that the City Council may not, according to the City Charter, sell or lease land dedicated to park purposes. And it was then contended that the action by City Council was, to all intents and purposes, a sale or lease. On the other hand, the defendant claimed that an easement only had been granted. It is understood that the City bargained with the State Highway Department and was to receive eight thousand dollars, which sum was a consideration in return for the City granting the additional land, or an interest in the land, to the State Highway Department for use as a thoroughfare. It appears also, as mentioned in the foregoing, that this amount may be used to purchase nursery stock to compensate for the loss of the two rows of American Elms.

As said before, we, as citizens of Denver, are vitally interested in our city and its services, including the thoroughfares, and we hope that the beauty of our parks and their usefulness can be maintained, and even bettered. We do not want to stand in the way of progress, but we are concerned that the action on Colorado Boulevard at City Park may constitute a precedent for similar violations of dedicated park land. We fear that our lovely Berkeley Park area and its lake will be reduced to but a small segment of its present size if presently considered plans are carried out. We respectfully appeal to the people of our fair city to be on guard against actions which do not consider all alternatives and which emphasize improvement in the arterial highway scheme, and which may tend to disregard the usefulness and beauty of our dedicated park lands.

DIG THESE QUESTIONS

Question: I recently received a potted azalea plant as a gift; can you give me some pointers on how to care for it?

Answer: Azaleas prefer a cool place, but must have some sun. They like to be kept moist, and the leaves should be sprayed occasionally with clear water. They are subject to red spider, so watch for this pest. Spraying the leaves is a preventive measure. Since azaleas like acid soil, they seem to benefit from an occasional watering with a solution of a teaspoon of vinegar to a quart of water. In the summer the pot may be sunk in the soil in the shade and returned to the house in the autumn. With good care, your azalea should bloom again and can be maintained for a long time.

Question: My neighbor uses the branches from her Christmas tree as a mulch on her tulip bed. Is this a good idea?

Answer: Yes, branches from the Christmas tree make a good mulch for the tulip bed. They keep the soil from warming up too early, resulting in too quick growth and loss of bloom. They are useful for mulching perennial beds, too.

Question: Could you give me the names of persons to contact about joining a garden club or plant society in our area?

Answer: The following is a list of persons to contact for the major garden groups:

Colorado Federation of Garden Clubs--Mrs. D. W. Viles, Durango; Mrs. C. C. Buckbee, 4190 Depew, Denver Men's Garden Club of Colorado--Arnold Perreten, 821 Adams, Denver Rose Society--Herbert C. Gundell, Westside Court Building, Denver Iris Society--Charles P. Gordon, 414 Eudora, Denver Gladiolus Society--W. H. Yarger, 12,500 Morrison Road, Denver Cactus Society--Mrs. A. L. Chambers, 850 Kearney, Denver Orchid Society--Gilman C. Daggett, 1260 Holly, Denver

MARSHALL NURSERIES _Better Built Trees--Landscaping with Personality_ 5825 W. 16th Avenue BElmont 7-0446

Garden Club Briefs

Mrs. Edmund Wallace, _Federated Garden Clubs_

The Regional Meeting of the National Council of Garden Clubs was held in Denver, October 16th, at the Shirley-Savoy Hotel. All seven states were represented. These included Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota. Mrs. George Card, Chairman of the event, was ably assisted by Mrs. F. S. Mattocks, Co-Chairman. One of the honors for Colorado was the election of Mrs. C. C. Buckbee as Auditor for the Region, a new post created at this meeting. Mrs. Daniel Mooney, past president of the National Council of State Garden Clubs, is now working on the support and endowment of the permanent home of the National Council of State Garden Clubs, in St. Louis, Missouri. She suggested, at this Annual Meeting, that each Garden Club donate one dollar ($1.00) a year to the home, so that in four, or five years, the interest from this fund would completely cover the maintenance costs of this worthy project. Let's do some serious thinking regarding this suggestion.

We are all delighted that Mrs. John Nickels was able to take a "few books" and go off to the northwest on a much deserved vacation at the conclusion of the Convention at Idaho Springs. The fact that she was elected president of Judges Council for the following year, means that she will soon be back on the job again with her own special brand of enthusiastic dedication to whatever task she undertakes. Mrs. Jeanette G. George of Boulder, is to be Secretary-Treasurer for the group.

The Columbine Garden Club members of Idaho Springs, under the handicap of an unseasonal snow storm, were ideal hostesses for the Annual State Convention of Garden Clubs held in their city September 29, 30, and October 1. The many thoughtful services, recognition of those who have long given of their time and ability without reward or favor, beautifully planned decorations and souvenirs, as well as the Convention planning itself, was done in such a fine way that those who were forced to cancel their reservations felt deprived of a special experience in Garden Club Conventions. Please take a bow, all you wonderful Idaho Springs Garden Clubbers.