Las Madres March 2012

8-Ball
WHEN: Saturday, March 24, 7:30pm
WHERE: Casa de Gomez
BRING: Appetizer or Dessert, BYOB (Soda provided)

It's that time of year to battle it out on the table! No skills needed, just a good sense of humor and a willingness to suffer to agony of defeat. Please RSVP Ginny. She would also appreciate the loan of a card table and some chairs.

Missouri Missive

Happy March from Missouri

    Can’t say February was very eventful. We are still enjoying a very mild winter and that is just fine with me. There was one full day of snow and it was followed by unseasonably warm days in the high 60s to low 70s.
    Walt and I continue to unpack a box or two, here and there. It still amazes me that the two pairs of winter shoes set aside last April have never shown up. If I didn’t know Merrilee and Shirley wore larger size shoes, I would accuse them of pinching them when they were packing up those final days.
    The company visits are slowing down and we are venturing out into the Hidden Shores neighborhood. We attended a Valentine’s Day potluck dinner and were coerced into joining the Horse Canasta group on Monday nights. It is a derivative of Hand and Foot which is familiar to some of you….only a lot more rules. I have also joined the book club but they do not meet in January and February as many households bale for warmer weather. Traditionally February is the cold month in Missouri but some of those returning from Florida would have been warmer staying home.
    Walt and I are trying to clear the “outback” as we call it. It is the land owned by the Corp of Engineers between our backyard and the lake. They want it to remain natural but give us permission to clear brush and trees with 2” diameter or less. The land is mostly oak and cedar with the occasional dogwood. It is the thorny vines that crawl up into the treetops that cause us the most angst. We want to get as much done before Spring so we can create our meandering pathway to the lake. Table Rock Lake has a shoreline of 857 miles and we have 300 ft of shoreline to call our own.
    Did you know Missouri ranks a close second to Tennessee as the state with the most caves? Do you know which president was born in MO? How many other states border MO? (5, 6, 7, 8 or 10)
    Well that’s about it from the Midwest. Oh- our grand daughter, Kendra is having surgery next week to put two pins in her hand. She is her father’s daughter in the bone break department.

RE: Joan's Mom
    Need to brag a bit. As many of you know, my mother, Margaret Halliwell (soon to be 86) is a knitter. In February she was written up in two venues for her knitting dedication.
     For the Christmas season she knitted 28 sets of sweaters, scarves and hats that she donated to the Child Advocates of Silicon Valley and they were given to local foster children.
     Several years ago on a Las Madres trip to Calistoga, I picked up a local newspaper. In the paper was an article about Baby Love, a ministry at Grace Episcopal Church in St. Helena. I showed the article to my mother and she contacted the church. She is now an active contributor to Baby Love. Last year she made 242 baby hats and six baby sweaters. They put the hats into gift sets that are distributed to low income and homeless new moms in the San Francisco area.
     So if you have any spare yarn or would like to use the 40% coupon at Michaels to good use, buy a skein of yarn for her to continue her works of love.

Tornado News Update......from Joan
    Just want to say thank you for the calls and emails after hearing of the news. An E2 tornado hit Kimberling City and took a 22 mile path 400 ft wide on to the "strip" of Branson, Missouri. We had been out for an evening of cards and turned on the news at 11pm. We were aware of tornado warnings for the area north of Springfield which is about 40 minutes north of us. We were wakened about 1:30am with noisy high winds and after looking outside, we returned to bed for the rest of the night. Unbelievably, we were awoken in the early morning by phone calls from concerned family and friends who had heard the news of a direct hit to Branson. Feeling more shocked than anything else we too turned on the TV. Kimberling City is a harbor on the lake just around the bend from us. Boats and docks were destroyed. The tornado then passed over our Highway DD ( an eight mile two lane road that ends in our subdivision). One house on DD was demolished as the tornado headed on towards downtown Branson.
    Walt assured me that tornados don't go over the lake because of the mountains that surround it....so much for his expertise. We do have a safe room but never felt the need to go to it.
    Long and short, we are fine and appreciate your concerns. It was nice to hear from Mrs. Renteria and hope Shirley isn't thinking twice of visiting the midwest.

Saturday Coffee Clatches Continue

We meet every Saturday morning at 9 am at Le Boulanger at San Felipe and Yerba Buena. There is a Starbucks across from it if you need something "special" to go with your bagel or pastry. Away Coffee for March 17th (Happy St. Paddy's Day!): A suggestion was made to go to the new "New" Leaf Community Market on Silver Creek Valley Road and have away coffee there. I understand they have a sitting area and great pastries. See you there!
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=new+leaf+silver+creek&fb=1&gl=us&hq=new+leaf+silver+creek&hnear=0x808fcae48af93ff5:0xb99d8c0aca9f717b,San+Jose,+CA&cid=2700985333001652008

e-Mail Tidbit

PARAPROSDOKIANS:

(WINSTON CHURCHILL OR WILL ROGERS LOVED THEM!)

I had to look up "paraprosdokian". Here is the definition:

"Figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected; frequently used in a humorous situation."

"Where there's a will, I want to be in it," is a type of paraprosdokian.

1. Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on my list.

3. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.

5. We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

6. War does not determine who is right - only who is left..

7.. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

8. Evening news is where they begin with 'Good Evening,' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't.

9. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

10. A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.

11. I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted paychecks.

12. Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says, 'In case of emergency, notify:' I put 'DOCTOR.'

13. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

14. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

15. Behind every successful man is his woman. Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

16. A clear conscience is the sign of a fuzzy memory.

17. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

18. Money can't buy happiness, but it sure makes misery easier to live with.

19. There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.

20. I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.

21. You're never too old to learn something stupid.

22. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

23. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

24. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

25. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

MARCH WEBSITE
St. Patrick's Day - Food Network Style
http://www.foodnetwork.com/st-patricks-day/package/index.html

(Check out Bobby Flay's tour of the Emerald Isle)

CLUB OFFICERS
President - Merrilee Claverie
Treasurer - Sue Ballard
Newsletter & Webmaster - Ginny Gomez
Coffee Coordinator - Randi Heinrichsen
Executive Committee - Randi Heinrichsen, Sally Brooks-Schulke, and Tina Cuneo