THANKSGIVING dinner, with the family gathered around the dining room table, used to be like a Norman Rockwell painting. The mother of the family, assisted by assorted aunts and cousins, labored in a hot kitchen to prepare the stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes and yams, cranberry sauce and all the other goodies. Nowadays, Thanksgiving dinner may well be at a posh restaurant, or the meal may have been prepared by a caterer. Mom may have picked up a ready-made dinner at the supermarket. Or the dinner might be a beach picnic. However it's done, Thanksgiving is largely a day for families. It's also a day that should live up to its name, a day to be thankful for the many blessings we enjoy in this land. Here's wishing our readers a great Thanksgiving Day.
THE 1996 Historic Home Tour sponsored by the Los Gatos Museum Association turned out to be a terrific success, despite the best efforts of the weather to cross it up the weekend of Nov. 16-17. "We grossed over $15,000, which is just a phenomenal amount," exulted Peter Tiernan, association president. "I want to thank the people of Los Gatos for their support, and especially the indomitable women who came with their galoshes, raincoats and umbrellas. We're very grateful for their efforts." The museum is also grateful to the homeowners who, despite the rain, welcomed visitors.
Fortunately, the rain had eased off by Sunday. To add a personal note, I took tickets at 142 Johnson Ave. that morning and added up 167 visitors there from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. People seemed to enjoy the tour.
BACK to Poland where she taught English and other studies to Polish students for more than a year, Dorothy Weller of Los Gatos met with 25 of her former students. "They're all doing well," she said. "One of them is now attending the Institute for International Studies in Monterey." Her three-week return trip included a visit to a salt mine in southern Poland. "It took three hours to get to the bottom of the mine through a series of caverns," she said. "It's a huge mine that extends into Czechoslovakia. On the way down, you see salt sculptures." A "cage" elevator took her to the surface.
NO CATS in Los Gatos? "The town's name is Los Gatos. You'd think there'd be cats," writes Jan Behrs, whose travel column, Wanderin' the West, is in the Sunday Oregonian. "But no, it's dogs, dogs, dogs." The only live feline Behrs found on her wanderin' in our town was one commanding the checkout counter at Purrsnickety. Behrs found the people she consulted uncertain as to the location of the sculptured cats pictured on postcards. (Leo and Leona stand guard at the onetime Erskine Scott Wood estate off Highway 17.) She did run into a young woman who remembered hearing in school the legend of Jose Hernandez and a party of Mexicans and Indians hearing wildcats fighting as they searched for water. Hernandez named his land La Rinconada de Los Gatos, the corner of the cats.
"Being rich and thin seems to be a requirement for residency," Behrs says. "They don't allow thighs and wrinkles around here." Most residents, she concluded, seemed to be either retirees or couples in their early 30s. Her article refers to many Los Gatos shops and restaurants.
YOU can travel back through time when you read Images of Long Ago by historian and former Los Gatos mayor Mardi Bennett. The author, who reports she's sold 4,111 copies of her West Valley history since its publication in the Los Gatos Centennial year of 1987, will be signing her books Sun., Dec. 1, at Forbes Mill Museum from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Unlike George Bruntz's History of Los Gatos, now out of print, there are still some copies of Images available. Illustrated with photographs of Los Gatos, Saratoga and Monte Sereno, it focuses on the founding families of the three communities.
Bennett plans to devote 10 minutes of each hour to a "reminiscent session." The $10.95 for her book includes a 20 percent donation to the Los Gatos Museum Association.
ANOTHER signing is scheduled for Dec. 8, from 2 to 6 p.m., when Thomas Mangelsen, the nature photographer who takes those marvelous animal pictures, will be signing his latest limited-edition prints, as well as copies of his new book, at Images of Nature Gallery, 5 N. Santa Cruz Ave. The book is Born of the North Wind, Polar Dance. Mangelsen's work is currently at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
AFTER "sailing" along in the Christmas Parade Dec. 7, members of Los Gatos Yacht Club will hold their annual holiday party at Number One Broadway, where the idea for a yacht club here originated.
HELP someone less fortunate by bringing a clean, warm coat to the Coldwell Banker office, 497 N. Santa Cruz Ave., through Dec. 15.
VILLAGE House and Garden Restaurant, 320 Village Lane, is holding its second annual Christmas Boutique through Dec. 20, with holiday gifts, ornaments and baked goods for sale.
WANT your child's picture taken with Santa Claus? Stop by the Los Gatos office of Cornish & Carey Residential Real Estate, 325 Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, Dec. 8, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and it will be done, compliments of the firm.
HOW many footballs does it take to play a pro game? One, you might think, but Bill Leavy, a field judge with an NFL referee team, describing his job to Los Gatos Rotary Club, said preparations for the game include rubbing down 36 footballs and testing them for air and weight. Training and preparation for officiating includes hours of watching tapes and reviewing past games. Yes, but how do they keep from getting run over by stampeding players?
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 27, 1996.
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