There they stood with their hands out, all five Rotarians waiting to greet anyone who came through the door but only three were official.  All eager and hospitable, VAL CARPENTER, MIKE ABRAMS, MARLIS McALLISTER, JOHN MORDO, AND JOANN ZIMMERMAN, awaited for the next hand to shake.  A Rotarian could get tired shaking hands before they ever reach for their wallet to pay LEE LYNCH for lunch. 
 
Our President JOHN MOSS is back looking prosperous and relaxed after seeing his family in Australia. He asked SAM PESNER to lead us in our salute to the flag and VAL CARPENTER started the holiday season by having us sing, “Deck the Halls” because it is the season to be jolly.
 

GINNY LEAR’S thought for the day involved the historical approach to toasting. There are many forms and customs of toasting people, but the best toast is an impromptu toast to strangers.
   

SETH MANNING asked Rotarians with guests to introduce their friends and CINDY LUEDTKE, STEVE ANDERSON, JEAN NEWTON and COETA CHAMBERS proudly did so.
 

At this time Pres. JOHN MOSS introduced the shepherd’s hook that he found in the storeroom. Memories of the long line of announcements that took place two weeks ago encouraged John to maintain a semblance of decorum and look for the hook and limit announcements that don’t apply to Rotarian business.
 
In the past several years when the Rotary didn’t meet during the holidays, ROY LAVE offered a mini Rotary meeting in Chef Chu’s downstairs banquet room. JOHN MOSS said there wouldn’t be a Rotary meeting on December 27 and January 3, but those who wish to make up a meeting date can attend those days. “This is a good deal,” John said. “They even serve wine at that meeting.”
 
The Twenty-fifth Los Altos/Los Altos Hills Joint Community Service Awards will have two Rotarians as recipients this year. Two tables will be reserved for Rotarians attending the award dinner at 12:05 p.m. December 7, in the Los Altos Youth Center, 1 North San Antonio Road.  Tickets are $25 with checks payable to Volunteer Awards Committee. Tickets are available at the door.
           
Rotary Announcements
When it came to announcements, our Holiday Award Hostess, KENDRA GJERSETH reminded us of the Rotary 6 p.m. Christmas Party at the Jesuit Retreat House December 20. “Its $50 a person, so pay up because I’m the bartender and I pour heavy,” said Kendra.
 
NANCY SIMON made an appeal for toys that are brand new for children at CSA.  For teen-agers aged 12 to 19, gift cards are recommended.  A specially wrapped box will be made available in the entrance to the Rotary meeting to put cash in lieu of a toy if you like.  The toy drive is for the Community Service Agency (CSA). Nancy said to bring the toys to the meeting and they will be given to CSA.  In the meantime CSA is looking for volunteers to check the incoming toys for lead. A thankless job this year for volunteers making sure the toys are safe.
 
DENNIS YOUNG made another appeal for donations to the Rotary Foundation to become Guy Shoup Fellows with a reminder to provide a commitment to the legacy campaign.
 
PAUL NYBERG said the City of Los Altos Civic Center Task Force is holding two public workshops to hear from residents regarding the development of a Civic Center Master Plan. The meetings will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday December 4 in the Grant Park Multi-purpose Room at 1575 Holt Avenue and at 6 p.m. December 10, at the Youth Center Multi-Purpose Room 1 North San Antonio Road.  Contact information can be had from James Walgren, Assistant City Manager, e-mail james.walgren@ci.los-altos.ca.us 
 
DICK HASENPFLUG provided information on the future Los Altos Rotary Club handbook with instructions on making any changes to their personal member input on the web.

DUDE ANGIUS reported on the Rotary AIDS Project with good news and bad news. The good news was there are only 33 million people infected with AIDS this year, while last year there were more than 40 million. Locally they have better reporting methods.

RICH CASEY provided additional AIDS information with the fact more than 2.5 million people under the age of 15 are living with AIDS.  The mother infects the children at the time of their birth. CASEY mentioned a new program is starting that is involved in testing to wipe out the problem. The Rotary AIDS Project was organized in 1989 and continues as a Task Force called Friends of RAP.
 
For the Friends of RAP, who wish to help, they should send a check made out to Friends of RAP and sent to the Rotary Club of Los Altos P.O. Box 794 Los Altos, CA 94023-0794.
 

The Ten-Minute Talk
Continuing with the ten-minute talk tradition, JOANNE KAVALARIS provided a humorous approach to her life in a 10- minute segment.
 
Born in San Francisco on a July 13, Joanne dropped names left and right that included Bing Crosby singing a song to her Mother and Father on their wedding. Her mother said it was the highlight of her wedding night, but she never told that to her husband. 
 
Her desire for a bicycle became second priority when her father insisted on braces, and when it came to the desire of a car, her frugal father said the Muni busses stop at the bottom of the hill – case closed.
 
When her father had heart surgery, Dr. Shumway presided over the operation and he lived 30 years longer. The payment for the operation was selective Greek sweets for those remaining 30 years.
 
Instead of teaching school, Joanne entered banking for her life’s career. In 1971, she was recruited by United California Bank and continued her studies in banking by going to night school.
 
Joanne was promoted to manager of the bank in Los Altos and received banker of the year award four times. Through mergers and acquisitions, she worked for five different banks in a short time.
 
Because of different bank locations, Joanne said it was an experience worth noting when they moved safe deposit boxes during the middle of the night on three different occasions. 
 
When Joanne opened her ten-minute speech she referred to the movie “A Big Fat Greek Wedding,” when she closed her ten-minute segment, she referred to her life as her “Big Fat Greek Story.” It was an amusing approach to a story with humorous segments of her life that kept members laughing and listening.
 
The Fining Segment
The groans were heavy when it came to the fining period. Fine master STEVE YARBROUGH called on members who were close to joining the President’s Club. Steve asked that the group called to stand were required to pay the unpaid amount to reach $100 to join the President’s Club without having the opportunity to say anything. Big groans!
 
With the volunteering effort by proud Rotarian members expostulating on family members, more President Club members were established. JERRY TOMANEK’S daughter passed the bar, and STEVE SHEPHERD’S daughter was made a vice president at Goldman Sacks and director of new product development.  BRIAN WARD returned from Cyprus and commented about making one woman miserable instead of making many women happy.
 
JEAN HOLLANDS paid for an announcement that she was looking for someone who may be interested in renting an office space to share with her daughter’s counseling practice.  Then the fine master called on all the women on the bottom of the fine list. Most were absent, but NANCY SIMON did join the President’s Club and KATIE NUTTER, the only other who was present, was excused from paying anything because she already paid creating lively finger-pointing between the persons responsible for that list.
 
MARY PROCHNOW brought to our attention the fact that the Bill Gates Foundation offered a pledge to Rotary International in the amount of $200 million to complete our global campaign to eradicate polio.
    

THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

Speaker for the Day
Millie Kalish was the speaker for the day and what a pleasure. The Cupertino resident living at The Forum offered excerpts from her recently published book “Little Heathens.” The book has been selected by the New York Times as one of the best 10 books of 2007.
 
Millie’s opening remarks were an expression of the humor throughout her book. “I can see I am speaking to an enthusiastic and fun group, but never judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes. Then you will be a mile away with his shoes.”
 
 At 85, in a sturdy, clear voice, Kalish conjured a bygone era in her tough little memoir, "Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression.”
 
When Kalish finished her half-hour of recollections, she had a pile of books for sale and the line formed with cash in hand.  I bought her book and it is a delight to read about the “dirty 30’s.”
 
The book is a lovely re-creation of Iowa girlhood before the invasion of electricity and computers, but Kalish admitted she organized the book on a word processor.
 
Kalish writes of "the kinship of souls that is created when everyone gathers in the kitchen to prepare a meal together."   She provides recipes (Aunt Belle's horehound candy & cough syrup, carrot marmalade, corn oysters) and folk remedies (wart removal, 1,001 uses for peroxide). She tells us how to skin a rabbit, boil a hog's head and fry a turtle. 
 
Kalish shows us the singular joys of a rural childhood all the more vivid for being set amid deprivation. So we read about stampeding horses and determined hens and ingenious home remedies.
 
I could certainly understand the next comment since I am also a child from the depression. "To crawl between crisp sheets, warm and fresh from the sun and air, at the end of a bone-wearing day, is one of the true soul-restoring luxuries of life, which hardly anyone of the current generation will ever know."
 
Another comment that will make you laugh: When Grandma catches wind that the kids were bathing out-of-doors, she is terse in her displeasure: "A body'd think you had no upbringing. They'd think that you'd been peed on a stump and hatched in the sun."
Now, at age 85, she's basking in many glowing reviews.  Her book appeared on the cover of the July 1 New York Times Book Review section and was also favorably reviewed in the Wall Street Journal.  Her phone is ringing with book-signing requests and calls from old friends. She and her husband, Harry, who was with her at the Rotary meeting, have taught at several colleges and universities, including Iowa and New York.
Kalish has an astonishingly sharp memory for details what she calls "assumed knowledge.”  During the question and answer period she provided a sharp response with great replies for her answers which included, “What happened to your father?”
“I wish I knew,” she replied. In the book she recalls my childhood came to a virtual halt when I was around five years old. That was when my grandfather banished my father from our lives forever for some transgression that was not to be disclosed to us children, though we overheard whispered references to bankruptcy, bootlegging, and jail time. His name was never again spoken in our presence; he just abruptly disappeared from our lives. The shame and disgrace that enveloped our family as a result of these events, along with the ensuing divorce, just about destroyed my mother. Is it possible today to make anyone understand the harsh judgment of such failures in the late 1920’s?  Throughout my entire life, whenever I was asked about my father, I always said that he was dead. When he actually died I never knew.”
She closed with her reference to Norfolk, Virginia. “If the world needed an enema, that’s where god would stick the tube.
 
Do yourself a favor.  Go to Borders or Barnes and Noble and buy the book.