Su namer pleasures ASK FOR SALLY 58-5788 CATERING25F8=A FOR GROUPS 20 - 5000 ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Banquets Barbecues Bar Mitzvahs Cocktail Parties Garden Parties ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Grand Openings Meetings Open House Proms Rehears& Dinners ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Retirements Reunions Seminars Showers Weddings Your complete party ouitter ► • • • • • • • Hors D'oeuvres Buffets •.Hot & Cold Party Tray For All Ocassions Complete Dinners Complete Alcoholic Beverages Banquets Delivery & Service Featuring J. Lohr Estates Monterey—Chardonnay and Paso Robles Cabernet c:, Gracious Dining & Off Premises Catering 190 N. Hunter Blvd. • Birmingham 258-5788 June 24th ,20Community poi f loe %Han a2s# Galina Classic COME JOIN THE EXPERTS, including Chefs Milos Cihelka, Jimmy Schmidt (his Rattlesnake Club was chosen as Detroit Monthlv's 1995 Restaurant of the Year). Peter Loren and Lorraine Platman; authors Fred and Linda Griffith and Maggie Oster; Master Sommelier Madeline Triffon; and Bob Campbell and Robert Plantenberg of the Robert Mondavi Winery. An exciting day Wood, wine and culinary wisdom including Seminars, Wine Tastings, Cigar Selections, Urban Marketplace, Grand Tasting & more. Prelude to a Classic Strolling Dinner to introduce the Chuck Muer Culinary Resource Library program June 20th - S50 per person. Culinary Classic (Full Day) June 24th - $125 per person. OAKLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE Prelude Dinner and Culinary Classic Package - S150 per person. Grand Tasting only - $65 per person. Susan Muer C.A. Muer Corp. /995 Chairperson For seminar & event schedules & ticket information, please call 810-471-6340 Proceeds from this event benefit the new Chuck Muer Culinary Resource Library and the Oakland Community College Culinary Program. Major Sponsors: Aramark, C.A. Muer Co., Northwest Airlines, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Thermador, Detroit Monthly Mountain Valley Spring Water, Management Supply Co., Colavita Olive Oil/R. Hirt Jr. Co., Hammen Music Company and a special thanks to Hudson's. On the grounds of OCC Orchard Ridge Campus, Orchard Lake Rd. & 1-696 16 • SUMMER 1996 • STYLE Treehouse Offers Place To Dream GLENDA WINDERS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS Every kid with an imagination has wished for a private spot that could be a fort, a hideout, a castle, a jungle outpost, a spaceship. For many children, that special place is a retreat cra- dled in the arms of a friendly tree. A treehouse is a place where a child can disappear on a sum- mer afternoon with a bag of ap- ples and a book, or huddle with friends, away from inquisitive parents and annoying younger siblings. Often it satisfies a child's longings for a place to think and dream — a child's first home. Yesterday's kids are today's parents, and many of them re- member their childhood hide- aways or the dreams they had of a place they could call their own. Often, they call on their mem- ories and dreams to create havens for their own children, as did these three families. For Paul, a history professor, the idea for building a treehouse for his daughter Natasha began with memories from his own childhood in Boston. "My father was a builder, and there were always scraps of wood around," he said. "My brother and I and our friends were con- stantly building things, but they were out in the woods. Our par- ents didn't know where they were or where we were." Paul wanted the one he built for his daughter to be a quintes- sential storybook model, but sturdier, safer and closer to home than the ones he remembered from his youth. He began by studying the available trees in his back yard. The eucalyptus wouldn't work, he decided, because its shallow root system could cause it to top- ple in a storm. The branches on the pine wouldn't support the weight of the construction he had in mind. Finally he selected the Chinese elm. 'This is a hardwood tree with deep roots," he said, "and it's not going to go anywhere." The branches lend them- selves to being pruned and sculpted to envelop the treehouse and render it almost invisible, he added. From the beginning, the tree dictated the kind of structure Paul would build. "I spent the greatest amount of time looking at the tree, try- ing to figure out what would work and what would look nice," he said. "You can't make it any bigger or any different shape from what the tree wants. "The dimensions are deter- mined by the configuration of the branches. How high up it's going to be, which direction it's going to face — all gets determined by the way the tree looks." He settled on a structure that is about 10 feet by 5 feet and nes- tles in the fork of the tree's branches. The trunk goes through the roof, lending sup- port to the main ceiling beam. In the unlikely event the branches below were to give way, the house would continue to "hang" in the tree. The house is lashed to the tree with plastic rope (since hemp would rot and fray), and spots where it might rub and cause damage to the tree are protected with pieces of rubber. Paul built the house himself, mostly out of scrap lumber. He kept careful records of his expen- ditures; the whole house cost $450. "Treehouse purists say buy as little as possible and use what's around the house," he said. "When you buy, measure care- fully so there isn't much left over and you don't waste anything." For the platform, which is 13 feet off the ground, he started with a discarded piece of wood on which his wife, an artist, had planned to paint a mural. "The real trick was to get it level, because the branches be- low aren't of equal thickness," he said. "I had to imagine which ones would sag more and which less to get a level floor." He solved the problem by wedging beams between the floor and the branch. TREEHOUSE page 18