February 20, 2010, we had a wonderful hike at Cataract Falls, on the slopes of Mt. Tam. Hikers were new member Sondra M., Shirley A., Rose T., Angelika S., Sharon K., and guest Joan D. (soon to be new member)

The creek has benefited from all the recent rains and the multiple cascades were better than I ever witnessed. They plunged down the fern and moss covered slopes. We hiked 1.6 miles up to Laurel Dell starting along Alpine Lake and then continuing through a dense forest of redwoods,, tan-oaks, maple and ferns. There were both stone and wooden steeps that helped with the 800 ft climb.

Our picnic was in a meadow clearing, alongside the creek.  Our hike took a total of 5 hours (including 1/2 hour for lunch). We stopped NUMEROUS times for photos of the falls, all sorts of mushroom and fungi, wildflowers including sorrel, western trillium, hounds tongue, milkmaids, and fetid adders-tongue (scoliopus bigelovii). [How could I forget that name, Joan?]

Happy Trails,

Sharon Kovar

Add this post to your favorite social networking site:

The supplement is at the printers now.  The recipes will be added to your existing cookbook.  We still have some of the original cookbooks available for sale at $10.00.  Call Sharyn Rossi 361-6121, if you need any.

The recipes have a 2010 twist and are easy to prepare and lighter in calories.  Look for more information within the next couple of months in the newsletter and on the web page.

Add this post to your favorite social networking site:

March 26, 2010 at 12:00

Foods from the 50’s will be featured (Tuna Casserole, Cole Slaw, Baked Beans, Jello Mold, Chocolate Cake, Chips with Onion Dip)  Let’s have a Blast from the Past.

Give Sharyn Rossi a call (361-6121)  if you are coming and dress in your favorite 50’s outfit. Jeans rolled up with bobby socks, pony tails – all that fun stuff.

1171 Stoney Creek Drive, San Ramon

Cook Book Update:  Should be available by May.

Add this post to your favorite social networking site:

It’s time to celebrate Mardi Gras at the Rossi’s house on Saturday, February 20th at 6:30 pm.  Wines from Livermore will be served along with Jambalaya and King Cake (Delivered from New Orleans).  Bring your appetizer and glass. Please RSVP no later than February 13th, as wines need to be purchased.  $15.00 per person.  See newsletter for more details.

WHO DAT!!!

Sharyn Rossi 361-6121

Add this post to your favorite social networking site:

WHEN: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2010

WHERE:  THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE OF PERFORMING ARTS, OAKLAND

MEET:  Sycamore Park & Ride, Danville

TIME:    10:45: A.M (We will carpool to OAKLAND)

PRICE:  $10.00

Oakland’s Paramount Theatre is one of the finest remaining examples of Art Deco design in the United States. Designed by renowned San Francisco architect Timothy L. Pflueger and completed in late 1931, it was one of the first Depression-era buildings to incorporate and integrate the work of numerous creative artists into its architecture and is particularly noteworthy for its successful orchestration of the various artistic disciplines into an original and harmonious whole.

National Historic Landmark.

RSVP:  Bernice (925) 365-1059 or Pam (925)837-0672 by March 15th .  The tour will be at 1:30 so we will have lunch first.  I will make reservations for lunch at Pecan’s Restaurant in Oakland

Add this post to your favorite social networking site:

Sharon, Aleta, Shirley, Muff and Angelika joined me for the hike to Little Yosemite Falls in Sunol. As you can see I don’t have a photo of the falls but Sharon took some good ones and I know she will be sending them on.

We stopped at Bosco’s in Sunol for lunch to say ’so long for now’ to Jacky as she leaves for southern California. Bobbi and Celia joined us for lunch. Our group photo was taken at the restaurant’s bar with Bosco behind Muff in the picture. We well all miss Jacky and hope she comes back to the area.

Fran

Add this post to your favorite social networking site:

What a blast we had at the Gad-Abouts outing on January 28,2010.  The group went to the Walt Disney Family Museum and took a shuttle tour of the Presidio.

We started the day setting up five car pools for all 21 of us to carpool together.  While driving in caravan formation with cell phones constantly ringing between cars, we discovered there are two – 104 Montgomery St. addresses in SF (our intended destination). The maps were wrong and the GPS’s had us going all over town, which was all part of the fun, but we finally ended up at the right place.

The exhibits in the museum are arranged in chronological order, recounting the history of Walt Disney’s life and career…very interesting.  We had lunch at the Museum Café operated by Wolfgang Puck…very tasty!

Add this post to your favorite social networking site:

On the Friday hike, Sharon, Bobbi, Muff, Lois, Angelika, Shirley, Aleta joined me for a vigorous, we believe 6 mile, hike. It was a  foggy day so we could not see across the Strait and during the last  mile we actually had light drizzle. It was refreshing to be out  hiking, getting our grove back for our weekly exercise and catching up  with each other. What a wonderful group of women!  Its a privilege to  help lead the hikes with Sharon.

Trekking the Wilds
Fran

Add this post to your favorite social networking site:

I hope your Thanksgiving was as nice as mine. We enjoyed our Turkey and the works and afterwards my husband and I took a  walk out along Finley Rd. It was a beautiful day for a walk.

Here is the recap for our last hike on Nov. 20th. Five of us, Shirley, Aleta, Fran, Angelika, and Sharon hiked around the far side of Lake Chabot. The skies were dark but the rain held off until the very end of our hike.

We saw a lot of birds along the lake including a blue heron, egrets, and swans. We crossed a bridge and continued around the lake until we got to a small dock. We turned around  where the trail starts to climb up into the hills. The skies told us it was time to head back to the cars. We hiked for 2 hours.

Afterwards we enjoyed a Greek lunch at Mykonos.

Happy Trails, Sharon Kovar

Add this post to your favorite social networking site:

Nov. 13, we had a beautiful day for a hike at Point Pinole. The hike took us along the shoreline for most of the 5/2 mile hike which we accomplished in 2 hr. 15 minutes. Along the way we stopped to see what remained of a large explosive manufacturing industry that was in the once remote area from 1880-1960. We saw sunken bunkers, a black powder press, and a the foundation of a dynamite packing building.

Most of the area has been restored to beautiful marshes where we saw egrets, herons, and shorebirds including sandpipers. The area is home to several endangered shorebirds. A “birder” pointed out two peregrine falcons to us and let us look through her binoculars at them. We only saw one monarch butterfly so we were too early to see them in mass like we did when we went in 2005. We also saw one hummingbird.

There were quite a few fishermen fishing for striped bass on or near the pier.

Hikers were Angelika S., Aleta S., Muff C., Bobbi J., Judie B, and Sharon K. AFterwards we had sandwiches at Kinders in Hercules.

Happy Trails, Sharon Kovar

Add this post to your favorite social networking site: