About Us

Pete Barthell is my dad.   He loves to read, and he writes short stories.  Pete grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and around Luddington Michigan, and lived and worked in the greater Chicago area all his life, apart from his military service in Korea and his college days at Michigan State U.

Pete Barthell (L) with Cesar Medel

He used to build model airplanes in the basement when I was growing up, but they weren't plastic kits, they were his own designs made from balsa wood and tissue paper, real planes that flew with a real engine. He also made boats the same way. 

Dad loved gymnastics and competed in college.  Once out of school and back in the Chicago area, he had a class on Saturdays teaching kids how to tumble. 

He also played a tenor guitar and sang in a quartet called The Four Lorns. They sang barbershop music.

He painted.  For a while he had his own basement business making switches, called, Pike Laboratories.  Back in Illinois and here in the PNW  he has a backyard garden. 

Dad loves designing tools and stuff, and around 1975 he started building guitars, and the jigs for building guitars.  He built classical guitars until 2013. The picture above shows him with Chilean classical guitarist Cesar Medel, who plays one of Pete's guitars. I got to build with Dad for about three years, and built three of my own under his guidance.  Now he focuses more on his garden and on writing.  An avid reader, he admires many authors, among them, O'Henry and Garrison Keillor. 

Sidney Barthell, photo by Johanna Wagner

I am my father's daughter in many respects,  and the arts are where I am most comfortable.  The garden restores my soul, and music and drawing have been a large part of my life. Writing came along in high school and remains a permanent fixture. With the exception of music, these are solitary endeavors, and it's true my dad and I are both rather introvertish, preferring a quiet corner to a brightly lit stage.  None the less, we are making our marks and leaving crumbs on the trails of our lives.

The usual things have occurred in my life; marriage, birth, child raising along with the predictable menagerie of pets, moving, changing, reckoning, divorce, death of significant people, picking up and carrying on.  I make my living in the field of massage, in private practice and with Hospice as a comfort therapist.  I have been in a duo we call "Blackbird" for over 15 years, playing folk music locally, singing traditional and original songs with my musical partner, Noel Forest Price. I am happily ensconced in relationship with two Cats and a soulful Man.

Interesting that my music partner's wife, Marina Shipova, is our Professor right now, as we learn the ins and outs of publishing and social media at Peninsula College in Port Angeles WA.  So grateful!  Catch us around the Peninsula!