Our 2023 Inaugural lunch meeting was 1/5/23 at Seascape.

15 intrepid members braved wind and rain to attend in person and 13 of them braved the lunch (kidding?)

4 members attended by zoom.  The rest of y'all best have notes from PG&E that you were without power or equally convincing excuses for not at least zooming lest 'ye be fined (Assuming a Sgt at Arms attends)...(your reporter had a deposition all day 1/12/23 and you don't want to know).

Konstantin attended in full storm regalia which even matched- a tribute to his European stylishness.

Sam led us in the Welcome Song and 4 Way test song.

Mardi zoomed us a presentation about the Christmas gifts to the Watsonville Nursing Center- it was touching to hear and see how grateful the seniors were and how much small things meant to them. 
Mardi also presented a rousing montage of photos of Capitola Aptos Rotary's Greatest Hits of 2022 Video here
 


None of the Red Badgers, which will not excuse them from fines nor giving their requisite autobiographies. 

But as an additional affront, since they all whimped out in their debut we had no program. Co-President Kendra filled the time nicely.  We won First Place in the Community Groups Division for our Christmas Lights exhibit at the County Fair!!! Congrats to all who planned, set-up, maintained and took down! Video here. 
 
 
 
The car seat drive organized by our club and Area 7 Presidents in conjunction with Baja Bridges had 30 seats and 6 bases collected from our drop off sites, and the local Rotary total was 80 seats, eight additional bases and one stroller.  There will be another round of donations in the Spring. ( No, past-prez Ken does not need a booster seat for our lunches.....) More pictures here
 
Nelson and Dr. Art ad libbed about the cleanup of trash mostly on Park Ave. in Soquel the Monday after Christmas by Pam, Dr. Art's grandson Noah, Dr. Art and Nelson.  They collected a disheartening amount of trash but prevented all of that from getting into the ocean.

Lowry told us about his trip to Europe and brought back a Rotary banner from Budapest.  He told us the club there is mostly expatriate Americans.  Hungary is feeling some strains from the war in Ukraine- their lunch prices have gone up 40%....See him privately about the pros and cons of Europe in the Winter.
 
 
Bill Witmer told us about his trip to Antarctica (warmer than Budapest?) and the thrill of seeing penguins, elephant seals that are twice as big as the ones here, and getting to spend 5 days in covid quarantine overlooking a monochromatic landscape....remind us of the days of black and white tv?
 
Sam told us about a murder mystery game played in his house- seems like much fun....more so if there is also mystery alcohol tasting?

Julie was in Vegas for the Oregon State Beavers' victory over the Florida Gators.  No clue what the over-under was or how she made out.  But it was a rare victory for the Pac 12 (soon to be 10?) in the post-season.

Segueing artlessly-we will be experimenting with a schedule other clubs have been using where meetings alternate between lunches and dinners.  Feb. 2 will be regular lunch but at a different locale, Feb. 9 will be a field trip day, Feb 23rd will be a dinner meeting. March 9th is our speech contest and that will also be a dinner meeting.    
Time for the 2/9 board meeting is thus tbd.