Halloween Plus

Halloween Week

I displayed my "witch" and "Trauco" (evil little man who lures young girls into the forest, part of the folklore of Chiloe Island in Chile). Maybe they have put a temporary hex on Chile, which is still suffering from violent protests for better wages, schools, healthcare, lower transportation rates.

I often wonder if there is enough of interest to report, but always find there is so much packed into one week!

Sunday afternoon I thoroughly enjoyed The Saint Michael Trio concert at beautiful Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts in Saratoga, CA, built in 1912 by 3-term San Francisco mayor and first popularly elected senator from California, Phelan.
Russ Hancock (piano) Irene Sharp, (violin), and Michel Flexer (cello) played a variety of Scherzos (humorous third movement added to classic sonatas/trios, a tradition introduced by Beethoven)...magnificent!
 

 And a fun celebration dinner afterwards celebrating Marguerite Gong Hancock's birthday. Her mom, Jean, is looking great at 93. Nanci prepared a really delicious dinner for friends.

and another yummy dinner....

Joan Van (pink shirt) hosted a fun gathering of some of the moms of Palo Verde students, all having attended our neighborhood elementary school 30-45 years ago! In the blue top is a favorite teacher Ruth Carlton, who taught 4 of my 5 children in the first/second grade. It is so fun to reminisce after so many years. We all still enjoy the company of one another and have lots to talk about.

Jim Welch (center) gives a traditional Halloween concert at St. Mark's Church. This year was outstanding with a good variety of organ, piano, bass, singing.

Erin McOmber was as hilarious as Little Red Riding Hood as Christian Bale was as the Wolf!
Nicholas and Jim Welch played solo and duet pieces: toccatas and other delightful pieces on the piano and organ, as did a young student of Jim's.

It's not always fun to spend time getting flu shots, blood tests and such at the clinic, but Kaiser Permanente joined in the Halloween spirit, which is alive and well in the Bay Area. I don't know which department won the jack o' lantern contest. Which would you have voted for? I carved pumpkins but was disappointed to have one sole trick or treater this year!

Colette Taylor loves Winnie the Pooh (her son Brigham produced the recent film "Christopher Robin") and found Pooh and Tigger while visiting sons Brad and Tom and their wives serving as mission President and teacher of English training missionaries in South Korea. I have been helping her produce a fun play called "Rats" she has written for kids, youth and adults of our ward, to show November 22, in Palo Alto Chapel at 7 PM. Come and enjoy it!

Here's Colette, who has lost none of her charisma, spunk and creative talent, working with the "Pets", the older girls who are all quite talented

....and the younger Young Women (are they paying attention? They will!)

We are young older women, but we work hard to write stories about our lives and thoughts to share with our posterity in Life Stories class held at Ruth Cantwell's home on Thursday mornings.

IMG_20191018_192742.

Ruth has amazing talent and meticulous attention to detail (down to the rocks, lighthouses, etc. she has built in her re-creation of various historical sites she and her family visited this summer. This one is a model of the Acoma pueblo (with 4 authentic communities) in New Mexico.Three electric trains weave through Shiloh, Tennessee Civil War national park (where some of her ancestors fought), Holland, etc. We love to see the weekly progress she has so carefully and accurately made on this masterpiece.

If we are also on "track"with our long and short-term goals, we can feel the peace, satisfaction and joy that come from our efforts. It's comforting at this busy season to set and keep straight our priorities. I'm grateful to have the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday to remind me how blessed my life has been. All of my ancestors made sacrifices to help build our wonderful country. I try to honor them through vicarious temple work which provides them with the necessary sacred ordinances (if they choose to accept them) that will allow them to be reunited in the next life with family members who have died.

Ruth has amazing talent and meticulous attention to detail (down to the rocks, lighthouses, etc. she has built in her re-creation of various historical sites she and her family visited this summer. This one is a model of the Acoma pueblo (with 4 authentic communities) in New Mexico.Three electric trains weave through Shiloh, Tennessee Civil War national park (where some of her ancestors fought), Holland, etc. We love to see the weekly progress she has so carefully and accurately made on this masterpiece.
If we are also on "track"with our long and short-term goals, we can feel the peace, satisfaction and joy that come from our efforts. It's comforting at this busy season to set and keep straight our priorities. I'm grateful to have the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday to remind me how blessed my life has been.

If we are also on "track"with our long and short-term goals, we can feel the peace, satisfaction and joy that come from our efforts. It's comforting at this busy season to set and keep straight our priorities. I'm grateful to have the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday to remind me how blessed my life has been. All of my ancestors made sacrifices to help build our wonderful country. I try to honor them through vicarious temple work which provides them with the necessary sacred ordinances (if they choose to accept them) that will allow them to be reunited in the next life with family members who have died.