MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear CAL Friends,

It is Saturday morning and I am sure you are all looking at the same powdery display of snowy ground and flocked trees that I am. I have just love fresh snow. I remember the first Christmas Bill and I were living here. Our cabin on Lakeshore Drive was the perfect Christmas house strung with white lights, a woodstove blazing front and center as you entered, a tree beside the glass windows, and our dog Duffy guarding our slippers. I miss that man, that dog, that house. I also remember that the first snow of the season was in early December and I had just come out of Coldwater Creek when it was on the Cedar St. Bridge. I was carrying a couple of bags of gifts, walking through the snow, and feeling like I had been cast in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

 

All of your wonderful gifts were delivered to the Senior Center for our shut-in seniors. The beautifully wrapped gifts always stagger the wonderful people who run the Senior Center. They are so amazed at your generosity. It is the essence of Christmas to know that we have surprised and delighted strangers who may otherwise have been forgotten.

Since the last e.bulletin I have been to my old neighborhood in Northern California. I lived and taught in the Half Moon Bay area south of San Francisco. My friend Jill and I created a course in American Studies which coordinated American Lit and American History into a two hour block. We lived in each other’s pockets for a decade and instead of getting grumpy with one another we became life-long friends. One of our most beloved students was an exchange student from Italy. When she let us know that she would be spending 4 days in Half Moon Bay on her way to Hawaii for the winter it was the perfect excuse to get together. So I had a long visit with Jill, saw another teacher that is a good friend, and spent an afternoon with Marianna to catch-up with her and the last 13 years. The 18 year old is now a beautiful 31 year old woman, but it was like very little time had elapsed.

I returned last Sunday just in time to catch a few holiday parties. Everyone I have talked to say this year’s CAL Christmas party was the best they can remember. Of course, when you walk in a party and the first thing you see is Rose Chaney stretched out on a gurney, it’s a shock. Things have to get more festive from there. Well, a murder mystery ensued to a shocking conclusion that the culprit was Marcella Nelson. That little woman must be very stealthy. The food at Western Pleasure was exceptional. I went back to the kitchen to compliment the staff and found out that their food coordinator used to work at the Garden. No wonder it was so good. I still miss that restaurant. (It must be “nostalgia day” for me).

I wish all of you a blessed holiday week. I feel so privileged to be a part of our organization. Merry Christmas and I will see you in 2016.

Love,

Sherry (and Cooper)