Our October 20th lunch at Seascape had 27 attendees in person.
Pledge Follies. Seascape’s American flag also attended, so we did not have to salute a virtual flag. Co-President Laura Grinder virtually missed seeing the real flag but recovered and did a great job leading the meeting.
Attendance, Visiting Rotarians, and Guests. Al De Camara led us in the Welcome song on keyboard. Jimmy Kutch made it in person and is looking great! Likewise, nice to see Pam Goodman and Trish Glassey in person. Visiting Rotarians Anders Per and Constantin Gehriger again provided their European sophistication. Nelson Crandall claimed that his guest Barbara Meyer has been a friend of Nelson’s wife for 60 years; not so sure Nelson, they both look way too young for that. Michele Bassi brought her guest banking buddy Alicia Kretsch from Santa Cruz Community Credit Union. Your author remembers the days when bankers all looked like Milburn Drysdale (Beverly Hillbillies) pictured below.
Announcements:
- The Capitola-Aptos Rotary Foundation board of directors meeting is set for next Thursday at 10:30. New directors will be elected.
- District Governor Savita Vaidhyanathan will attend our Club board meeting at 11. Her focus project is to help end “period poverty” by increasing access to menstrual products in parts of the world where they are in short supply. The board meeting agenda will be light. It is protocol to stand in recognition of the district governor.
- Membership Mondays have resumed thanks to Michele at Vino Cruz in Soquel at 5:30. The first one was 10/24- see Michele for a report.
- Michele had the Willy (Elliot-McCrea) Roast sign up list, which Laura handed out—make sure you sign up if you haven’t already
- Win Fernald advised that the deadline for community grant applications was that day.
- Win also gave an update on former member Thomasjohn Wells Miller’s cancer condition; there is reason for cautious optimism.
- Immediate Past President Ken Gorman reminded all that he is leading the next foray into the lesser- traveled trails of The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park on Sunday, October 30, at 10:30 am. Dress warmly/layered, wear shoes with good treads. 3.5 miles of trails, about 400-foot elevation gain/fall, should take about 2 hours. “Re-hydration” at Ken’s house afterwards. Rotary donations accepted/expected.
- BTW, Ken has also been handing out tequila shots and kamikazes to adult trick or treaters for about 20 years. Vienna Woods is a great neighborhood for trick or treaters of all ages. So feel free to stop by and/or hang out at Ken’s house.
Detective. Nelson was the Detective.
- Nelson first fined Doug Deaver and Karen Semingson in absentia to celebrate their anniversaries of joining our Club.
- He then quizzed us on Zoom camera location, urged us not to walk out of the picture when speaking, and mentioned how we missed Co-president Kendra Cleary and her iPad, which normally provides a second camera.
- Questioning then devolved to National Pumpkin Cheesecake Week. Unfortunately, no samples were provided. We learned that pumpkins are native to northern Mexico and southern USA, that they are fruit, and that they are fruit, and have been cultivated for around 8,000 years (give or take a millennium).
Guest Speaker. Vimmy Khatkar, an ER nurse at Kaiser Santa Clara, El Camino, and PAMF cardiology, spoke and presented a power point on Diwali, the Festival of Lights, which this year was celebrated on October 24.
How Diwali is Celebrated. The festival is one day, but celebrants start preparing a week or more in advance. The holiday is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs (Vimmy is Sikh), and Jains, but anyone can celebrate. The celebration includes cleaning sprees, lighting of lamps, new clothes, fireworks and bringing sweets to friends. Metaphysically, it is a celebration of the triumph of good over evil.
History. The Hindus began observing Diwali more than 1,000 years ago to celebrate the return of Rama after his imprisonment and to welcome the goddess, Lakshmi. Sikhs later updated the occasion to commemorate the release of Guru Hargobind sahib, the 6th profit of the Sikhs, from wrongful imprisonment by the Mughal emperor Jangahir in the early 1600s. Jangahir had tortured Hargobind’s father to death for not converting to Islam, and imprisoned his son and successor, Hargobind. After a few years, the emperor allowed the guru to leave with as many prisoners as could hold his robe. Hargobind sahib had 50 strings on his robe and led 50 prisoners to freedom.
Treats. Vimmy brought chai tea and delicious sweets - it doesn’t appear that Seascape charged a corkage fee.
About Vimmy. Vimmy’s family emigrated from Punjab to Modesto where her parents still live. She is multicultural and tri-lingual (speaks 3 languages). A person who speaks 2 languages is bi-lingual. A person who only speaks one language is … American.
Click here to view Vimmy’s PowerPoint presentation.
Raffle. Bill Gray won the raffle!
See everyone tomorrow Thursday!