Saratoga Sampler

Spiders the size of cats and other Amazon wonders

By Mary Ann Cook

SUMMER VACATION: This is a summer vacation? Amy Rice graduated from Harvard with a bachelor of science in biology recently and now she's spending the summer measuring the carbon levels in the rain forests of the Amazon. She won a grant from Harvard to do this work, which is concerned with analyzing the effects of global warming.

Rice is currently in Brazil, and evidently living under very primitive conditions. She describes spiders being the size of small cats, and reports that she's in a very remote area. Amy's mom, Debby Rice, was going to join her for part of the time, but has reconsidered after getting these firsthand reports.

Amy grew up in the East Bay, but spent summers in Saratoga, worked as a counselor in the summer camp program through the parks and recreation department during her high school years. She is the daughter of Debby and Tom Rice of Saratoga.

Tom is a venture capitalist; Debby owns Concept, a marketing/advertising business in Saratoga. Debby was the weather girl fill-in on Channel 11 for 20 years when she was Debby Coburn.

Amy's sisters include Molly, in vet school at UC-Davis; and Ellie, who is studying agricultural genetics at Cornell, and who is in Mexico this summer doing field research on wheat and maize. Adding up the three sisters' scholastic paths, there have been 29 years of college tuition for the Rices.

FAREWELL SALUTE TO STAVE: Gretchen Podd, Joyce Miller and June Weldon from Saratoga and Mary Sanders from Los Gatos threw a farewell salute to Kay Stave, who is moving to Seattle. Friends came from as far away as Rancho Mirage and Santa Rosa to join the festivities.

Most of the women originally met through the Brookside Club, being long-time members. Miller was hostess for the al fresco dinner that was served on the patio. Round tables were set up to seat the 30 guests.

"There was a lot of catching up to do," said Weldon. Many no longer play tennis and hadn't seen each other in years. There were lots of hugs and lots of tears, as the long-term close friends said goodbye to Stave. The honoree is originally from England and sent congratulations to Princess Diana before her nuptials--and received a gracious reply.

SARATOGA SAILOR: Greg L. Geurin, chief petty officer and assistant navigator of the U.S.S Mount Vernon, took part in the festivities at the annual Portland Rose Festival this year along the Willamette River. The ship was open for touring by the public for five days.

An estimated 50,000 festival-goers took advantage of the open vessel to look it over during the celebration. Geurin is a 17-year Navy veteran, a graduate of West Valley College and the son of Steve and Jan Kyne of Saratoga. He is in charge of the ship's navigational charts.

PATRIOTIC DOINGS: Sue and Jack Mallory were sorely disappointed to find there were no village-wide July 4 festivities this year as there have been for the past several years, so they organized their own ritual, and neighbors joined them to pay homage to our country's Independence.

The Mallorys have a large, 18-inch school bell that Jack rang at 11 a.m., traditionally the time when the Liberty Bell is struck in Philadelphia. As neighbors gathered, including several children, Jack read the Declaration of Independence and, after the reading, the children led in extending 13 Hip, Hip Hoorays.

One for each of the original colonies, of course. A large flag was in evidence and martial music played. There were 15 or so gathered for the commemoration, which was enthusiastically received, Jack reports. He encourages others to stage similar enclaves throughout Saratoga, especially since there don't seem to be any plans for a town-wide July 4 ceremony in the future.

The Mallorys finished off the afternoon by attending the Los Gatos Fourth of July celebration on the front high school grounds, hosted by the town and civic organizations.

"I liked the community feeling that gave me," he said. Why can't Saratoga do something similar? he wondered. In Wildwood Park, say, with music and food, martial music and flags. Jack, you may recall, played the Thomas Jefferson role at the village patriotic celebrations at Montalvo in past years.

Another inveterate Fourth of July celebration is held yearly at the home of Norma and Bill Ford. A garage-door-sized flag hangs over the garage door, and patriotic music issues forth as the Ford grandchildren cavort in the pool. The tradition is at least 26 years old, because it was first initiated the year of the country's Centennial.

It, too, was a neighborhood affair that has continued, though many neighbors and friends have moved over the hill to the Santa Cruz/Capitola area and the Fords have changed neighborhoods. Killer spareribs purchased from a barbecue stand in the Cambrian area are the linchpins of the dinner menu.

I can personally attest to their excellence. Even schoolmates from Bill's veterinary school days, who are now stationed in Ashland, Ore., showed for this event.

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