Our October 26 meeting was lunch at Seascape We had 21 in person attendees
Lowry ran the meeting. He is going to be assuming full presidential powers. Pam is going to be coordinating speakers and helping organize our major fundraiser - she has already contacted honorees and picked March 22 at Seascape for the date - please put in your calendars.
Nelson brought his wife Betsey and gave her a touching tribute about how she exemplifies the Rotary motto of Service Above Self. And she's not a member because...? too many other commitments? Including being in charge of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts? Fabulous.
Marcia Dasko was a drop in visitor- new to the area- let's recruit her? Ana Matheson also joined us - sign her up too!
Lowry reminded all about the Jade street park pumpkin painting which was held 10/28.
We had 80 people at our Cabrillo veterans' benefit pickleball tournament! Awesome. Let's try to get half that many at our meetings. Maybe just a coincidence that the Sentinel ran a big article about pickleball last week, but your author thinks that now that CapAp Rotary has been doing it everyone is joining in.....trendsetters that we are.
And not just trendsetters in sports- we have new Aprons! Look for the Kardashians to be modeling the knock-offs soon. Will we soon be developing a line of under-apron garments? Accessories?
The Holiday party will be at Sam Nigh's house in Soquel again. Last year's party was full of Rotary spirit, holiday spirit and many of the attendees got full of alcoholic spirits. Ample and delicious food, and the Nigh's house and property are gorgeous!!
Pam was the detective and on topic, the subject was Pickleball But first there was a well-deserved shoutout to Lowry and Laura for their work putting the tournament together; it took a year to plan which means we are already starting planning for the next one....soon to rival our country's never-ending cycle of presidential campaigns but many would argue- much more utility.....
Some of the vital facts we learned: Players are called Picklers "Been pickled" means lost the match The kitchen is the non volley zone A "Dink" is a short shot- hopefully someone recorded Karen running in place to simulate the effort entailed
Also hoping someone else noticed that Michele stood up to answer her question like she was still in catholic middle school answering a history question from Sister Mary Elephant? There are 400,000 players nationwide Florida has the most picklers and the densest (pickleball) city- Naples
Did anyone else notice that Sgt Jack collects fines with a Cal hat? It is so hard for the Stanford grads to put anything in that....
Nelson was our "guest" speaker. He provided a very informative speech and slide show on Harper's Ferry, which he and Betsey visited recently. It's much more than just the site of John' Brown's infamous raid (which many people, including Frederick Douglass, see as the real start of the Civil War). It was the 2d armory founded in the USA and is at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers in what is now West Virginia, in 1799. It became a mechanized manufacturer of firearms at a rate far greater than hand-built weaponry. It had a series of canals that provided water power to run the machinery.
In addition to Mr. Brown's raid- which resulted in many deaths including a freed slave who tried to stop the raiders, many others were killed- some in combat, the mayor was shot trying to broker a peace deal others were hanged after the fort was re-taken. When the Civil War began the armory was targeted by the Confederacy which took control of the armory in April 1861 after the small defending union forces retreated and torched the buildings so- much of the original site was destroyed.
