editor@yourmonthlypaper.com
July 2011
Serving the Lafayette Community Project Second Chance
By Fran Miller
Lamorinda 4-H youth at the California Youth Fair June 28 – July 2. Pictured from left to right are Allison Kostecki, Kieran Manning, Madison Gibson, Jenn Chan, Natalie Vigo, Sarah Manning, Anthony Cannon, Olivia Glemser, and Morgan Vigo.
Do You Know How?
By Fran Miller
Are you a current or former professional with a wealth of knowledge or expertise in a particular subject? Are you willing to share that knowledge in order to make a difference in your community? If your answers are yes, and you are 55 or older, the Know How Network would like to recruit you. The Know How Network (KHN), formerly the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), connects volunteers, age 55 and older, with local nonprofits in Contra Costa County that have projects matching volunteer interests, skills, and schedules. By utilizing personal experiences, energy, and enthusiasm to help complete short-term, high impact projects, skilled volunteers help KHN registered nonprofits advance their missions and client services by providing marketing or technology services, developing programs, training staff, fundraising, and more.
Share your professional experience by volunteering with The Know How Network. Pictured left to right, Carol Ann Barber, program manager, Alissa Fencsik, program manager, and Ann Wullschleger, KHN program director.
Established a year ago in response to baby boomers’ desire to volunteer their professional skills and experience within their communities, KHN and its volunteers are changing the volunteer landscape with the mutually beneficial partnerships between skilled volunteer labor and worthy non-profits. The staff of KHN recruit, interview, and match volunteers age 55+ with “know how” to assist nonprofits with short-term projects, typically one to three
See How continued on page 24 PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Permit 21 Lafayette CA
With nearly 20% of the United States population estimated to be dyslexic, it is almost certain someone you know struggles with reading. Many hide their illiteracy behind excellent coping strategies, and many have managed to get through school and even graduate with high school diplomas. Challenged readers are everywhere, and, according to Laura Seaholm, program manager at Project Second Chance literacy program, it is not due to lack of intelligence. “Many people, particularly those with dyslexia, simply needed to learn to read differently,” says Seaholm, who states that about half of Project Second Chance’s students were born and educated in the United States, but never learned to read and write at the level they wish – probably due to some type of learning disability. Project Second Chance (PSC), the Contra Costa County Library Adult Literacy Program, offers free, confidential one-on-one basic literacy instruction to people who are over 16 years of age, out of school, and conversant in English. Most students are between 35 and 55 years of age, and they come from a wide Project Second Chance volunteer tutor Helen Byer with her student, Ike range of economic backgrounds. Since it began in 1984, the program has helped more than 4,000 adults improve their reading, writing, and spelling skills. It has even brought out the poet in Ike, a PSC student for the past 18 years. “Ike started at PSC when he was 54,” says his tutor for the past four years, Helen Byer of Alamo. “He is now 72, and he has discovered through our working together that he has a passion for poetry. He even did a public reading recently – something he could not have ever imagined doing.” Like many PSC students, Ike passed through school, earning a high school diploma despite Volume V - Number 7 the fact that he never learned to PO Box 1335 read. While moving from grade Lafayette, CA 94549 to grade, his learning disabiliTelephone (925) 405-NEWS, 405-6397 ties were overlooked, and he Fax (925) 406-0547 editor@yourmonthlypaper.com fell farther and farther behind. Regardless, he managed to hide Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher his disability, and he went on to The opinions expressed herein belong to the writers, and do not reflect that of Lafayette Today. Lafayette Today is successfully support and raise necessarily not responsible for the content of any of the advertising herein,
See Chance cont. on page 11
nor does publication imply endorsement.
Page 2 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
Assistance League Way Side Inn Thrift Shop
Step back in time while you step up your fashion game. Assistance League® Thrift Shop, located at 3521 Golden Gate Way in Lafayette, has scheduled its annual Vintage Hats, Gloves, Purses, and Clothing promotion that will help you capture that finished look. Mark your calendars; this starts Tuesday, August 2nd. You don’t have to attend a royal wedding to don colorful hats that convey style, flair, and authenticity. You will also find a wide selection of gloves, something hard to find these days, that finishes “that look” to perfection. Find that distinctive purse that defines you. And as for vintage attire, an assortment of dresses and other garments for both daytime and evening wear will evoke an earlier and perhaps less confusing time. Speaking of which, don’t let anyone else “get the jump on you”! Member volunteers Patty Smith and Leonie Bonarius are putting on the final touches for your shopping convenience. As Assistance League of Diablo Valley’s primary fundraiser, Assistance League Thrift Shop continues to serve your fashion needs while putting your generous donations and purchases to very good use by helping those in our community who are in need and at risk. Please accept our thanks and a tax receipt for your support. You might want to peruse our website at www.diablovalley. assistanceleague.org.
7th Annual Summer Wine Festival
The 7th Annual Summer Wine Festival to benefit student scholarships will be held on Sunday, August 14, from 2 - 5PM at the Soda Center at Saint Mary's College Campus in Moraga. Tickets cost $35 per person until August 7 ($45 thereafter) and include a SMC logo wine glass, appetizers, and wine tastings. For tickets and information, call 925-631-4200 or visit stmarys-ca.edu/wine.
Junior Achievement Needs You
Junior Achievement, a non-profit funded by foundations and businesses, offers an exciting opportunity for you and your office to partner with local schools to educate students about business and financial literacy. By volunteering in the schools or hosting a Job Shadow, companies can increase outreach. Programs are offered to the schools at no cost. For more information, please contact Jenni Beeman at 465-1082, email info@janorcal. org, or visit www.janorcal.org.
Summer Outdoor Movie Series
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The City of Lafayette and the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce jointly announce the inaugural Summer Outdoor Movie Series to be held the third Thursday of the month through August, starting at 8PM. This summer, as part of our ongoing effort to enliven downtown, the City of Lafayette and the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce are planning, once again, to screen outdoor movies in the Lafayette Plaza. Below is the summer line-up: • July 21 ~ Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark ~ PG • August 18 ~ Finding Nemo ~ G Residents can shop for their local produce at the Farmer’s Market and stay for the familyfriendly film! So invite your friends, family, and neighbors, bring a blanket or two, shop at the farmers market for a fresh and delicious picnic or pick-up a meal to go at the nearby restaurants, and stake out your spot on the Lafayette Plaza greens for the free family entertainment. The movies will follow the Farmer’s Market at sundown. Sweets and drinks will be available for purchase. A raffle with prizes awarded each evening will be held. Donations will also be collected at each event. All proceeds will go towards maintaining this event as a recurring summer series next year and beyond. We’re also looking for volunteers to help coordinate, manage, and raise funds for this event. If you are interested, please contact Michael Cass at (925) 299-3219.
Rock the Plaza and Lafayette Summer Music Workshop
The Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, the City of Lafayette and Red House Studios present the summer music series, Rock the Plaza. The Rock the Plaza series will take place Friday nights in August at Lafayette Plaza located at the corner of Mt. Diablo Boulevard and Moraga Road. The headliners start at 6pm and are presented free of charge. Arrive a little early for a good spot on the lawn. This year’s line up includes • Friday, August 12 ~ Stagefrite • Friday, August 19 ~ The Floorshakers • Friday, August 26 ~ Tall Shadows “Lafayette has countless numbers of musicians, both aspiring and accomplished, as well as music fans,” said Raja Singh, owner of Red House and a Lafayette resident. “The Rock the Plaza series is another great way for these musicians to share their music with the local community.” On Friday, August 5th the Lafayette Summer Music Workshop will be hosting non-stop music being performed from 3:30pm to 9:30pm at Stanley Middle School. The annual jazz camp sponsored by Generations in Jazz features bands made up of this year’s attendees. For more information about the Summer Jazz Camp, please visit http://lafayettejazz.wordpress.com/. Food and beverages will be available or you can pack a picnic. We will provide the music. Your job is to enjoy yourself! For more information visit www.lafayettechamber.org or call 925-284-7404.
Lafayette Hiking Group
For hikes, bring lunch, water, layered clothing, good walking shoes, sun protection, and money to contribute toward gas, bridge tolls, and parking ($3 local, $5 if further). From BART we form carpools to the trailhead.
July 30 - Rush Ranch, Grizzly Island
Explore Grizzly Island with three easy hikes, and climb a hill for a beautiful view of the surrounding wetlands. Spot birds and wildlife on a walk through the marsh, walk through the fields to the Indian grinding stones, and see the horses and interesting displays at Rush Ranch. Experiences breezes to cool you down! To participate, meet in the parking lot out from Lafayette BART’s main entrance at 8:30AM. Moderate 6 miles. Leaders: Allan & Jennifer Deal
August 13 - Clayton Walk and Outdoor Concert
We will walk to the downtown park for a free concert from 6 to 8:30PM. Music will be performed by Vocal Ease and the Boogie Men featuring music from the forties, fifties and sixties ragtime, big band, swing, doo wop and Motown. Buy food in Clayton or bring your own picnic. To participate, meet at 4:30PM at Lafayette BART, or 5PM on Regency Drive in Clayton. Easy, paved walk about one mile each way. Leader: Catherine Jolivet
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Boulevard View
By Alisa Corstorphine, Editor
I just got back from a trail ride around Mt. Diablo and the surrounding foothills and canyons. Thanks to my friend Lisa and her friend Jackie who shared her horse Missy with me. I had always wanted to explore the foothills by horseback but never had a horse to ride. Being out on Mt. Diablo reminded me of a summer trip I took as a camp counselor in Washington State. For two weeks I helped lead a covered wagon, pulled by a team of horses, as we traveled over logging and fire roads in Washington and Idaho. It was fun to bushwack our trail, swim in cold, uncrowded lakes, and cook our food over the campfire. Ahh, the simplicity of summer. You don’t have to go far to be far removed from the daily grind. Right around the corner, Lafayette Reservoir offers fishing as well as rowboat and paddle boat rental as well as a 2.7 mile trail for walking, biking, or skating. Mt. Diablo offers three family camping areas with 64 camping sites as well as five group camping sites that can accommodate another 150 campers. For information on reserving a space, visit www.mdia.org/spcamp.htm. There is abundant wildlife, amazing views, and miles and miles of trails for walking, hiking, running, mountain biking, horseback riding, and geocaching. As a child we spent many nights camping in the backyard. We roasted s’mores, read books by flashlight, and tried to scare each other with our best ghost stories. First we camped out in the tent from my father’s family. It reminded me of something from Arabian Nights - a HEAVY canvas fort with a stout pole in the middle. We then upgraded to a two room Coleman “motel room suite” tent.
Dinner Benefit for Khaled Hosseini Foundation
On Wednesday, August 17th Artisan Bistro of Lafayette is hosting a fundraising dinner event for The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit, humanitarian organization which assists in providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. The Foundation supports projects which provide shelter to refugee families and economic and education opportunities and healthcare for women and children. In addition, the Foundation awards scholarships to students who have migrated to the United States under refugee status and to women pursuing higher education in Afghanistan. The success of this fundraising dinner event will be possible with the assistance of generous donations from our loyal patrons. Your support can help us make a positive difference in the lives of people coping with the miseries and misfortunes resulting from the long term conflict in Afghanistan. Chef John Marquez, who has worked at the French Laundry and Coi in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as at Picasso in the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas and Per Se in New York, are preparing a seven course dinner along with wine pairings (Minimum tax deductible donation is $250 per person). In addition, come and meet Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Artisan Bistro will donate 100% of the sales to the Foundation to provide food and shelter to those in need. We look forward to receiving your generous donation. Reservations are required. For additional information or reservations, please contact Artisan Bistro at 925-962-0882 or visit www.ArtisanLafayette.com.
Lafayette Today ~ July 2011 - Page 3 These days outdoor fun and exploring seems to have gone by the wayside as electronic distractions, safety concerns, and a busier pace of life has taken over. When our kids were growing up we bought a few rocket kits and had the opportunity to launch the rockets on my brother’s property in New Mexico. The kids loved seeing how they could get their rockets to fly, chasing after the rockets after launch, and hopefully finding all the pieces to reassemble the rocket ships to fly again. Another time we found instructions on the internet for building a potato launcher, also known as a potato cannon or spud gun. The construction and assembly was easy and the hours of fun well worth the investment of a few feet of PVC pipe, pipe glue, a BBQ igniter, some hairspray, and a bag of potatoes. Summer days were also spent tiedyeing numerous t-shirts, bandanas, and socks, making plaster masks, panning for gold, playing hide-and-seek, kick-the-can, and “snipe” hunting. We whipped up multiple batches of hand-cranked homemade ice cream and had chubby bunny contests to see how many marshmallows we could stuff in our mouth and still say the words, “chubby bunny.” Our cheeks were poofed out with the wad of marshmallows, and sugary drool ran down our chin, but we were laughing and having fun in the outdoors with friends...ah, summertime!
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Page 4 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
Lafayette Parks and Recreation
Camps are rocking and rolling here at the Lafayette Community Center, but summer is not over yet, so come join the fun! Love to dance? Tippy Toes Ballerina Camp, Hip Hop Camp, or Kinderdance are just the camps for you! Maybe you are bursting with creativity – then you would really enjoy Kids’ Carpentry, Jewelry Making, or Critters ‘n Clay Camp. If you are a young athlete full of energy, try a new sport at a Soccer, Golf, Dodge Ball, Flag Football, Cheerleading, or even Fencing Camp. We also have camps to exercise your mind like Mad Science, Engineering, Chess, and LEGO Camps. And Camp Awesome is for EVERYONE, so don’t miss out on an exciting week of games, adventures, and new friends! Don’t let the kids have all the fun. Lafayette Recreation has lots of classes for adults to enjoy as well. We have onenight cooking classes that will make you look like a star in the kitchen. Everyone should know CPR and First Aid, so get certified or renew your certification with us. Mix up your exercise routine or start a new one with a Jazzercise, Seniorcise, Yoga, or Line Dancing class. The Lafayette Community Center is more than great summer camps. Have you been to an Awesome Friday Show at Lafayette Community Center? There are five more opportunities to catch a great show for only $3 per person. All shows start at 11AM in the Manzanita Room at the Lafayette Community Center. The next show on July 22nd is a mesmerizing juggling act. After the show, spend some time having a picnic in our park or stroll along a shady trail. Don’t let summer slip away--there is still plenty of time to fit one or more of these fun activities into your schedule. Summertime Rocks with Lafayette Rec!
Lamorinda Peace and Justice
The Lamorinda Peace and Justice Group meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 7 – 9PM in the fireside room of Lafayette Methodist Church, 955 Moraga Road, Lafayette. Our group is committed to working to support a healthy planet, a thriving local community, and a safe, equitable world for all. For more information, call 925-946-0563.
Lost Dog!
$50 REWARD If you find him and your name is drawn!
He is very small, so you will have to look hard if you want to find him.
Lafayette Luther is Missing He has become lost in this paper.
To be eligible send a letter telling us where you found him, along with your name and address to: Lost Dog! Lafayette Today, PO Box 1335 • Lafayette, CA 94549
Susan Fredericks is our winner! Luther was hiding on page 8 last month.
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Household Hazardous Waste Recycling
Have you spent some of your summer days cleaning and tidying your garage, cabinets, and storage sheds? Have you found old batteries, almost empty cans of paint, old cleaning products, gardening chemicals, and spray cans of products you no longer use? Many of these products can poison, corrode, explode, or ignite when handled improperly. When thrown out in the trash they can threaten human and environmental health. The City of Lafayette, in cooperation with other Central County cities, funds the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility in Martinez. In its first 10 years of operation the facility collected more than 16 million pounds of hazardous waste. This facility accepts household hazardous waste from residences for recycling, reuse, and safe disposal. There is no charge to use this service, and no appointment is necessary. The facility is open to residents of Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, and other participating Central County jurisdictions on Tuesday through Saturday from 9am to 4pm. Small businesses must make an appointment to use the facility and are charged a nominal fee based on the type and quantity of waste. Products that are in their original containers and deemed to still be usable are checked and placed in the Reuse Room where they are available to be taken at no charge. To transport materials to the facility please pack items in sturdy, non-leaking containers no larger than 5 gallons. Original containers are recommended. Small, leaking containers can be individually placed in Ziploc bags. Larger containers should be placed in separate, covered, and non-leaking containers for transport. Boxes lined with plastic garbage bags also work. State regulations limit the transport of household hazardous waste to 15 gallons or 125 pounds per vehicle, per trip. The Hazardous Waste Collection Facility is located at 4797 Imhoff Place near the intersection of Highway 680 and Highway 4. For more information, call 800-646-1431 or visit www.centralsan.org/hhw. Examples of household hazardous waste accepted include paint, motor oil, batteries, aerosols, fire extinguishers, flares, fluorescent light bulbs and tubes, household cleaners, thermometers, grease and cooking oils, automotive care products, garden care and pest control products, pool chemicals, glues, gas, resins, and other materials. Not accepted include medications, medical waste such as sharps, radioactive material, treated wood waste, or eWaste. Visit the website for a complete list of accepted and not accepted items.
Dog Days of Summer
A fundraiser for the White Kitty Foundation will be held on the patio at Pyramid Brewery located at 1410 Locust St in Walnut Creek on Saturday, July 23 from 3-7pm. The afternoon will feature music by Tone Pony and will include appetizers and custom ales from Pyramid Brewery. There will also be a silent auction with items donated by local merchants. The White Kitty Foundation (www.whitekittyfoundation.org) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the care, nurture, and quality of life of the domestic animals in our community. Through donations and fundraising, the Foundation shelters, rehabilitates, and cares for animals, regardless of condition, to ultimately find them a home where they can flourish. Advanced ticket purchase prices are $20 for adults and $10 for children. For tickets, call (925)837-2411 or visit www.brownpapertickets.com.
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Lafayette Today ~ July 2011 - Page 5
Tours at The Ruth Bancroft Garden New hours, days, and themes.
The best way to get to know The Ruth Bancroft Garden is by spending some time in The Garden with one of the knowledgeable and inspiring docents. From April to October docents are present to offer their interpretive skills and conduct tours on Friday and Saturday from 10 to 11:30am and on Sunday from 11am to 12:30pm. During these months there is also a sunset Docent-Led Tour on the 2nd Friday of the month between 6 and 7pm, and a Theme Tour is held at 11am the first Saturday of the month. The 2011 Theme Tour calendar includes Common Garden Succulents August 6th and History of The Ruth Bancroft Garden September 3rd. From November to March our Docents are present between 10 and 11:30am on Saturdays. The Ruth Bancroft Garden is a unique example of the art of garden design with drought-tolerant plants, and it is known as one of the finest dry gardens in the world. The Garden displays an expansive collection of plants from the world’s desert and Mediterranean climates, collected by Ruth Bancroft for over 60 years. When you step into the garden, you step into an exotic world that could only have been created by an individual with Ruth Bancroft’s background, interests, and enthusiasm. This visionary feat of garden design combines elements of a mid-century modernist design sensibility with the exuberance of a Victorian-era plant collection, woven together using a striking palette of succulent plants. Ruth Bancroft is considered to be a pioneer in the field of gardening. She designed, planted, and maintained the garden herself, with the help of two gardeners, until her retirement at age 97. The Ruth Bancroft Garden, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization that owns the garden and raises the funds necessary for its preservation. The mission is to preserve this exceptional example of garden design and to continue to develop its collection of water-conserving plants for the education and enjoyment of the public. The garden is located at 1552 Bancroft Rd. in Walnut Creek. For more information call 925-944-9352 or visit www.ruthbancroftgarden.org.
Shop Local R Dine Local R Play Local
Downtown Danville
Thursday, August 11 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
CHANGING OF THE GUARD -- Thomas Peeks, right, hands gavel to Alex Arnold, taking over as president of Lamordinda Sunrise Rotary for 2011-12. The club, in its 25th year of operation, conducts business every Friday morning over breakfast, starting at 7:15, at Postino restaurant on Mount Diablo Boulevard in Lafayette. Guests are always welcome. Arnold, a longtime resident of Moraga, has been a club member since 2007. Photo courtesy of Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary.
Happy 100th Birthday!
Longtime Lafayette resident, Hermina (Herm) Moglia, celebrates her 100 th birthday this month. Congratulations!
Live Bands Bistro Dining Wine & Beer Gardens Shopping Kids Zone 2 Demonstration Areas
Text Danville at 87365 to Win $500 in gift cards from local Danville Retailers & Restaurants For more information: www.discoverdanvilleca.com www.discoverdanvilleca.com
International Film Showcase
www.shopdanvillefirst.com
The International Film Showcase at the Orinda Theatre returns August 1925 with the USA Commercial Premiere of Loose Cannons, an Italian family “dramedy.” Tommaso, the younger son of the Cantone family, is called back to his southern Italian town (Lecce) to help take over the family's pasta business. He wants to stay in Rome with his gay lover and write. So…he has a plan to thwart his father’s demand in this highly entertaining film. The trailer, showtimes, and ticket information are available at www.lfef.org, www.lamorindatheatres.com, or on the International Film Showcase Facebook page.
Page 6 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
The Bookworm By Joan Stevenson
In hushed library tones, the bookworm overheard rumors about a gala, Celebrate the Magic, coming to the library on 9/10/11. I had to know more…details are my assignment. So I went right to the top. I invited Kathy Merchant, Executive Director of LLLCF, and Leida Rodenburg, Chair of the Gala, to join me at the Bookmark Café for Mona’s fabulous peach smoothies. I will spare no expense to get the whole story! When I asked Leida what it was like to return to Lafayette after a ten year absence, she said, “Lafayette still has some the same feeling. The traffic is definitely much tougher, but on the flip side of that I see more people walking downtown and shopping around.” I wondered why she volunteered to chair such an awesome challenge as the gala. It was no surprise that our fearless motivator, Karen Mulvaney, had a part in her decision. “Karen is a dear friend, and I offered to help her. And here I am. It is a wonderful way for me to re-connect with the community and at the same time help out a great cause. The library is place were both young and old people connect.” The gala is themed “Celebrate the Magic,” so I was hoping to learn what magic I would see at the gala. I asked my insiders about the buzz - I heard that the raffle prizes are over the top, and they confirmed that is true. How about the Grand Prize winner having the choice of a 2012 Volkswagen Beetle or Passat? And for second prize, designer and owner Steve Ware has created a showpiece 14 carat yellow and white gold necklace. Visit www.lafayettelib.org/magic/ where the complete raffle and auction list is posted and updated. The night of the gala, the entire Library will be open to enjoy, inside and out. You will be able to dance under the stars to the music of Martini Straight Up, or, since Golden Gate Way will be closed, grab a table to feast on culinary creations offered by Spring Loaf catering. Kathy Merchant has been part of library magic since the idea was only a tiny seed. Since magic turns reality into something supernatural, I asked her, “Were there any supernatural moments in these past years?” In response she said,“By far the most magical moment was 6:30pm, Saturday, November 9, 2009, when the doors of the sparkling new Lafayette Library and Learning Center opened to the community. With over 600 guests that evening
www.yourmonthlypaper.com and the next Saturday public Grand Opening with 8,000+ attendees, enchantment with this stunning, warmly inviting, something-for-everyone community gathering place has only grown. I feel the magic daily when I walk through and see faces of people who come every day, or hear the exuberance of 150 students flowing in after school, or see the 100+ audiences at a myriad of programs. And there are tiny magical moments several times a day...the toddler dressed as Elmo working self-check, tutor and student head to head in the Homework Center, 100+ at Story Hour twice a week, adults nestled in chairs reading periodicals, and teens actually studying on one of the 48 free computers!” While the gala will be festive and fun, I do understand it has a much bigger role. “Why is it that important,” I asked. Kathy explained, “The Library Foundation funds 53% of the operations of this city-owned building (city pays just 6%) including extended hours from 35 to 56 (with Friends' support), the facility's maintenance and operations, and presentation of Consortium and other programs. With an operations budget for the LLLC of almost $1million, this means a striking fundraising responsibility. So the gala is both a community celebration of all the magic and imagination the LLLC represents, but also it is the primary fundraising effort which relies on our generous community's support.” “So what does the future hold, Kathy? What dreams do you have for the months ahead?” “I hope to see friends and newcomers of all ages at Celebrate the Magic, dancing, dining, and reconnecting or making new connections. I love that the graphic designer Madplum and caterer Spring Loaf are residents of our town. And programs, programs, and more programs. Please see the schedule below for the amazing events to partake in. Given the extraordinary breadth of our Consortium partners, we've started outreach programs where we bring enriched learning opportunities not only to our schools, but we've received grants to share those same experiences with under-resourced communities. We are always looking for ways to live up to the promise of a Library as a Learning Center!” Tickets for this event will go on sale July 25th so check the website. All we need is YOU to continue what YOU started. It isn’t the sleight of hand that makes the magic here. It is the many hands that make the stirring and imagining become a reality.
LAFAYETTE LIBRARY AND LEARNING CENTER HOME OF THE GLENN SEABORG LEARNING CONSORTIUM (GSLC)
LAFAYETTE LIBRARY AND
GLENN SEABORG
Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation – Information at LLLCF.org or 925-283-6513
LEARNING CENTER
F O U N D A T I O N
LEARNING CONSORTIUM
Date–Time–Location
JULY PROGRAMS
Cost
Date–Time–Location
AUGUST PROGRAMS
JULY 19th…Tuesday 7:30–9pm CH
The Steins Collect:.....................................................$5 Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde Hear how the friendship and patronage of Gertrude Stein helped spark an artistic revolution. reserve@LLLCF.org Social Media Marketing for Local Businesses.....FREE Learn how social media and other “inbound” marketing efforts can help your business. Reserve at: workshops@lafayettechamber.org Lafayette Historical Society Presents: A Tour of Town Hall Theatre.... $10 mbrs, $15 nonmbrs Take a back stage tour of Lafayette’s unknown historical gem on School St. since 1914. To reserve call 283-1848 Sustainable Lafayette Film Series..... suggested donation $5 “Queen of the Sun - What Are the Bees Telling Us?” The dramatic story of the honeybee and the problem of colony collapse disorder. No reservations necessary The Commonwealth Club (GSLC)..............$12 mbrs, $22 nonmbrs, $7 students Ellen Tauscher– Prospects for U.S. and int’l security in the midst of global unrest. commonwealthclub.org
AUG 3rd…Wednesday
Summer Classic Film Series..................$8, Seniors $6 Great Queens in History: Queen Christina, Garbo brings the Swedish queen to life. reserve@LLLCF.org Summer Classic Film Series..................$8, Seniors $6 Great Queens in History: The Scarlet Empress, Dietrich stars as Catherine the Great! reserve@LLLCF.org Sean Ross, French Horn Recital...........................Free Relax and listen as Sean shares the uniquely haunting and rhythmic sound of the French Horn. reserve@LLLCF.org Summer Classic Film Series..................$8, Seniors $6 Great Queens in History: The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, Bette Davis gives a very realistic rendition as the aging Elizabeth I. reserve@LLLCF.org Summer Classic Film Series..................$8, Seniors $6 Great Queens in History: Mrs. Brown, Judi Dench plays the grieving Queen Victoria. reserve@LLLCF.org The Commonwealth Club (GSLC)..............$12 mbrs, $22 nonmbrs, $7 students Urban Wine Uncorked - Taste wine and hear from East Bay wine gurus. commonwealthclub.org
20th…Wednesday 8–9:30am A&S 21st…Thursday 7–8:30pm Town Hall Theater 26th…Tuesday 7–8:30pm
CH
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28th…Thursday 6:30–7:30pm
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Club
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7–9pm
10th…Wednesday 7–9pm CH 14th…Sunday 5–6pm
24th…Wednesday 7–9pm CH 25th…Thursday 6:30–8:30pm VM
ICON LEGEND:
Art
C
Kids from 0 to 90 years old…map your way to thrilling prizes by picking up a reading record.
Go to LLLCF.org, click on “Do You Believe in Magic”
Commonwealth Club
Lecture
C
Through August 20
...at the Library and Learning Center
Design…John Otto
Club
Summer Reading Program
CELEBRATE THE MAGIC Club
CH
17th…Wednesday 7–9pm CH
A gala celebration...
Event and Raffle Tickets now Available
CH
Cost
Literature
Music
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y ..
Science and Health
Youth
Check for Updates at LLLCF.org
LEGEND: CH=Community Hall, A&S=Arts & Science Discovery Center, HC=Homework Center, VM=Veterans Memorial, GSLC=Glenn Seaborg Learning Consortium Program
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Lafayette Today ~ July 2011 - Page 7
Staycations: The Sustainable Holiday Plan By Kim Curiel, Sustainable Lafayette
When planning your next holiday trip, consider that airplanes guzzle gas three times faster than cars and create a huge carbon footprint. Rather than purchase airline tickets to some far away place, look around you for places right here in the Bay Area that folks from around the world consider worthy of travel. Consider what makes a vacation great? Doing things you’ve never done? Eating new foods? Getting away from it all? All of those elements can be found right here. Playing tourist in your own backyard has become a green trend called “Staycation.” My family has been doing this for years partly due to the economics of purchasing six airline tickets or booking a hotel for six, but also as a serious commitment to keeping our carbon footprint small. Some of our favorites have been a week long stay in Felton, CA, (an hour and a half south) at the Fern River Resort, where cabins that sleep 6-8 cost $185/night. From there we explored the quaint shops in town, the redwoods of Henry Cowell State Park, Natural Bridges State Beach, and the Santa Cruz Boardwalk including bowling and pee-wee golf, and we even got to see where all those bumper stickers that say “The Mystery Spot” come from. All of those were less than 20 minutes from our “home base.” Another trip we did was to rent a condo outside of Monterey, where beaches, museums, the Aquarium, Cannery Row, beachside horseback riding, and Carmel Mission were all within an easy drive. Because we had our own kitchen, meals were the same cost as at home. I made four casseroles ahead and filled our refrigerator with easy to reheat food. Of course, if cooking isn’t your idea of a vacation, you can dine at some of our area’s world famous restaurants like Chez Panisse, Greens, Sardine Factory, or Scoma’s. Renting a vacation home just an hour’s drive away can feel like you’ve left everything behind. Three bedroom homes in Stinson Beach area can cost $2,200 per week. This can be shared with two families to cut costs. A great resource for finding homes for rent is Vacation Rentals by Owners at www.vrbo.com. An example of homes in the Stinson and Tahoe area where beaches, hiking, and local art venues abound are found at www.vrbo. com/102952 and www.vrbo.com/143445. Taking public transportation to your hotel also cuts carbon. Once we took BART to San Francisco and spent a weekend at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, and from there we explored San Francisco like the best of tourists. We went through Chinatown, rode the cable cars, walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, ate in North Beach, enjoyed a hot fudge sundae at Ghiradelli Square, and put our toes in the Bay. We drank tea at the Japanese Tea Garden and paddled across Stow Lake. Sometimes sleeping in your own bed is best, and that can be the center point for your vacation too since the Bay Area offers something for everyone. For the Artist: Visit art museums: SFMOMA, De Young, Legion of Honor; Oakland, Berkeley, and SF all have wonderful art galleries too. The website for Oakland’s first Friday of the month gallery collective showing is http://oaklandartmurmur.org/. The Geek: Visit science museums: Exploratorium, Chabot Space and Science, Academy of Science, Lawrence Hall of Science, and the Tech Museum in San Jose. The Naturalist: Visit a local State Park. Climb Mt. Diablo and see the greatest view from any peak besides Mt. Kilamanjaro in the world. John Muir’s House in Martinez, Henry W. Coe State Park, or Fremont Peak Trail are other great sites. For a map of local national parks, go to www.nps. gov/state/ca/index.htm?program=parks. Explore East Bay Regional Parks: www.ebparks.org/. A great deal is a $10 annual family trail permit from EBMUD available at www.ebmud.com/recreation/trail-use-permits/. The Sports fan: With two major league baseball teams, two NFL teams, a collection of college teams surrounding the Bay, basketball, hockey, soccer, horse racing, and swimming events happening throughout the year,
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there is truly something for every enthusiast. The Musician: Venues abound in the Bay Area for all types of music. There is everything including the world renowned San Francisco Opera, the lesser known 924 Gilman for hard core punk, Davies Symphony Hall, the Greek Theater, the La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, to the Filmore in San Francisco. The Adventurist: How about sky diving at www.skydivesf.com or bungee jumping at www.icarusbungee.com? Try one of the scariest rollercoasters at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk www.beachboardwalk.com. Are you up for a hot air balloon ride? Visit www.sanfrancisco-hotairballoons.com for more information. How about hang gliding - http://bayareahanggliding.com/? All these can be done right here in the Bay Area. Playing tourist in your hometown can be a lot of fun for the family, you’ll help the local economy, and you’ll be saving fuel, money, and lots of travel time.
Lic# 1100014354; Bay Area Entertainment
Page 8 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
Take a Back Stage Tour of Lafayette’s Gem By Julie Sullivan, Lafayette Historical Society (LHS)
Artistic Director Clive Worsley calls Lafayette’s Town Hall Theatre, which has stood at 3535 School Street since 1914, an unknown gem because many Lamorinda residents aren’t aware it exists.
On Thursday, July 21st, from 7 – 8:30PM Lafayette Historical Society is providing an insider’s tour of this historic structure, including back stage, prop and dressing rooms, and Worsley’s overview of the building’s history. The tour is limited to the first 50 people who make reservations, and a donation of $10 for LHS members and $15 for non-members is requested. (Handicap access is limited to the theatre itself and is not available backstage. Parking is on School Street.) To make reservations, call 925-283-1848 or send an email to lafayette.history@comcast.net. Those attending will sit in on a rehearsal of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town currently in production, visit with directors Joel Roster and Dennis Markam, and be able to purchase refreshments at the concession stand. Worsley will outline future productions and offer any new subscriber who signs up that evening a discount on season tickets. Town Hall is the oldest continuously active theatre in Contra Costa County, according to the Town Hall website, www.thtc.org. Check there for more information about future performances. “We decided to sponsor this tour because Town Hall is one of the few remaining historical buildings in Lafayette,” according to Mary McCosker, LHS president. “This year is also the one hundredth anniversary of the Lafayette Improvement
Loan Limits are Changing – Buyers and Sellers Beware!
By Art Lehman, Village Associates Realtors
It looks like a drop in some mortgage loan limits for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) scheduled to occur on October 1 could reduce housing demand and place downward pressure on home prices in major housing markets. The size of conforming mortgages for the GSEs is currently limited to $417,000 in general, but that ceiling can rise to as high as $729,750 (which it has been in our area) using a statutory formula based on local median home prices. Unless Congress acts to extend these levels, they will revert to the lower permanent criteria for high-cost areas under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). The base limit will remain at $417,000, but the formula for establishing limits for high-cost areas will change from 125 percent to 115 percent of the area median home price, and the national ceiling will drop from $729,750 to $625,500. Purchasing homes that go above the GSE ceiling will require non-conforming loans that currently have been about 60 basis points (0.6 percentage points) higher than conforming loans, and based on a report by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the non-conforming mortgages are expected to be 50-75 basis points higher. Looking at limits published by the FHFA, 204 counties—or 6.5 percent
www.yourmonthlypaper.com Association (LIA), the group that raised the money to build Town Hall.” Mary provided a history of the building and the groups that have met there. Under the impetus of the Lafayette Improvement Club (renamed the Lafayette Improvement Association in 1941), the building, originally intended for community and social events, was constructed in 1914 on land donated by Frank and Rosa Ghiglione. Hundreds of people attended the Saturday night dances, many arriving by train from Oakland, Martinez, and Antioch. Often the trains waited at the station on School Street until 3AM to take revelers home. Use of the building for theatrical performances began in 1941 with the Lafayette Playshop, and in the late 1940’s the Straw Hat Review held summer productions there. In 1955 the Dramateurs began performances and contributed time and money in modernizing the building. In 1956 the Laf-Frantics began performing at the hall, and both groups entertained residents for many years. In 1964 Town Hall was temporarily shut down for safety reasons, and LIA and the Dramateurs conducted a Save Town Hall fundraising drive that successfully restored the building. The Laf-Frantics ended their performances in 1986 after 30 years, and in 1991 the Dramateurs reorganized as the Town Hall Theatre Company of Lafayette. One of the goals of this group is to bring in younger audiences and present modern theatre, including somewhat controversial works like Madam Butterfly. Three times in recent years plays presented at Town Hall have garnered local Shellie Awards.
“From the early years Town Hall has been an integral part of the Lafayette community,” Mary adds, “as a locale for fund raisers for community improvements, a temporary stand-in with extra space when local facilities could not keep up with rapid growth, and as a gathering place for socializing and entertainment.” For more information, call 925-283-1848 or visit www.lafayettehistory. org. LHS History Room in the Lafayette Library and Learning Center is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, 10AM – 2PM. of the 3,143 counties in the U.S.—will see a decrease in their high-cost conforming loan limit. These counties represent relatively dense concentrations of population and housing and contain 20.7 million owner-occupied units out of the 75.3 million nationwide, or 27 percent. In counties (like Contra Costa) facing a decline, the average decline in the loan limit will be $67,018, down 11 percent from current levels. Under present law, 3.63 million owner-occupied homes are priced above the conforming loan limits. Under the changes set to take place on October 1, an additional 1.38 million owner-occupied homes will be above the limit, leaving a total of 5 million homes that will not be eligible for GSE funding. What does this really mean? Well, if you’re a buyer who was planning to purchase a home in Lafayette and put 20% down, you’d likely buy a place around $912,000 to stay in the jumbo conforming limit. With the limit change you’ll need to purchase a home of closer to $782,000 to stay within that limit or bring more cash to the table. Obviously some buyers are in a position to do so while others will need to pass on our area or pay higher interests with non-conforming loans. It’s hard to say the true impact of all this except many trade groups believe the lower limits will place a constraint on home buying in high-cost housing markets like ours. Geez--another thing to deal with! If you have any questions on selling or buying a home in the area, please contact me at Village Associates at (925) 200-2591 or by email at art@ artlehman.com. If you’d like a free automatic email update of current listings and sales, visit my website to sign up www.artlehman.com or call! Also, if you have any topics for future articles, please let me know! Advertorial
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The Benefits of Photo Tagging By George Swan, Aberscan Imaging
Digital photography is a wonderful technology, but the ease at which we amass photos with our trusty digital cameras and mobile devices has introduced two new problems in our lives; there is nowhere to store information about the photo (for example, who are the people in the photo, or what was the event), and with thousands of photos now stored on your computer’s hard drive, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find what you are looking for! Photo tagging solves these problems. It takes some up-front work to tag all of your photos, but once you discover the power of tagging, you will wonder how you ever survived without it!
What is Photo Tagging?
Photo tagging is the modern equivalent of hand-writing names, places, years, and events on the back of old photos or around the borders of slides. Basically, tagging lets you store this type of information within the file that contains the digital photo. You can tag any information you want, but standard tags typically include: • Location (GPS): Where the photo was taken • Time: When the photo was taken • Keywords: Anything you want to record about the photo (e.g., people, event, year, place, etc.) • Caption or Title: Tagline to go along with the photo Nearly all photo viewing applications will allow some form of basic keyword and caption tagging. The more advanced photo library applications such as Picasa (Google), iPhoto (Apple), Live Photo Gallery (Windows), and Photoshop Elements (Adobe) greatly simplify the process of tagging people by using complex facial recognition technology to scan all the photos in your library and collect together all the faces it believes are of the same person. You just have to accept/reject its suggestions, and it will do the keyword tagging for you. Newer digital cameras and mobile devices will automatically tag location and time into each captured photo.
Why Tag your Digital Photos?
There are two main benefits to tagging: • Storing key information with the photo: Most photo preview applications let you see the tagged information alongside the photo being viewed. What’s also nice is that when you share the photo with family and friends, they will also see the tagged information. For example, my mother had some great print photos of ancestors going back more than a century, but only she knew who these people were. It was great to preserve this family history by scanning them, tagging the names and family relationships into the photo file, and sharing with my siblings. • Photo organization and search: Storing your photos in named folders on your computer disk quickly becomes limiting. For example, do you store your family 2010 vacation photos in a vacation folder, in a family folder, or in a year folder? What makes sense today may not make sense a year from now when you are trying to find the photos again. Once your photos are tagged, you can use powerful computer search tools to find exactly the photos you want, irrespective of where or how they are stored on your computer. For example, you can easily create searches such as “Find all the photos from our vacation in Italy,” or “Find all the birthday party photos,” or “Find just the photos of Susan and David when they were young.” With families now storing thousands or even tens of thousands of digital photos, automatic search becomes essential.
Lafayette Today ~ July 2011 - Page 9 A few last comments about tagging--It takes some up-front work to tag all of your photos, so before you embark on tagging your entire photo collection, it pays to do your research and decide what features are most important to you. The features offered by photo library applications vary dramatically in regard to the effort required to create the tags, the quality of automatic facial recognition, whether the tagged information is stored in the application’s database or in each photo file, and the power of their search capabilities. However, once you discover the power of tagging, you will wonder how you ever survived without it! Visit the Aberscan website at www.aberscan.com, call 925-3620801, or email custservice@aberscan.com. Contact us today and find out how easy and convenient scanning can be! We are located in Walnut Creek. Advertorial
Page 10 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
Cinema Classics
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By Peggy Horn A Letter to Three Wives
Saint John’s Anglican Mission
If Hollywood could be said to have a royal family, I should think that Joseph L. Manckiewicz and his brother, Herman J. Manckiewicz would am be members. Among Joseph’s credits is the movie All About Eve, which Sunday Worship 11 he directed and for which he wrote the screenplay. With Orson Welles, at Chapel of Santa Maria Church, Orinda Herman co-wrote Citizen Kane, which some critics regard as one of the Visitors Welcome 925.386.6393 finest films ever made. Given his stature as a director and screenwriter, info@saintjohnsanglican.org Joseph continues the precedent in the movie A Letter to Three Wives, www.saintjohnsanglican.org • http://anglicanchurch.net which garnered him two Academy Awards. This movie was released in 1949, four years after the end of WWII, and stars Jeanne Crain as Shop Local t Dine Localt Play Local Deborah, Ann Sothern as Rita, and Linda Darnell as Lora Mae. These three ladies are all married and live in close association with each other in the same small town. Their lives and marriages are thrown briefly into tumult when a mutual female friend writes the three wives a single 8th Annual letter, read by them simultaneously, in which the friend claims to have $25 run away with one of their husbands – but refrains from revealing just which husband it was! For the duration of an entire day, circumstances prevent each wife from verifying whose husband is missing (alas, no cell phones), and each lady has her own reasons to suspect that it might be her husband that has flown. This movie, like so many others from this era, depicts aspects of elegance that are very appealing at least on film. For instance, at a dinner Thursday, August 25 party in her own home, Rita and her female guests are wearing evening 5:30pm - 8:30pm gowns, and her husband and the gentlemen guests are wearing tuxedos – ARTISTS :INE TASTING although their manner of dress is attacked by one of the husbands. COMMEMORATIVE WINE GLASS A very contemporary issue is raised in the film when Rita, who wants LIVE MUSI& 75OLLEY RIDES to increase the family revenues, asks her husband why he doesn’t want DOWNTOWN DANVILLE to give up his job as high school English teacher to make more money. Danville LIVERY George asks her to consider if people like him don’t teach the kids – who & The ROSE GARDEN SHOPS TROLLEY RIDES BETWEEN ALL LOCATIONS will teach them about the glories of the human spirit past and present? Finally, the ending is very clear to some viewers (like me) but apparently others have been confused about how the movie actually concludes. See what you think when you watch this fine movie, available inexpensively online or at select DVD rental establishments. Tickets available at these locations:
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Cottage Jewel - 100 Prospect Ave. La Buena Vida - 806 Sycamore Valley Road W. The Studio - 730 Camino Ramon, Suite 200 and online at www.discoverdanvilleca.com
Also coming...
Heartland Danville Antique & Art Faire Monday, September 5th For more information - contact Cottage Jewel at (925)837-2664
Backyard Bounty
Backyard Bounty
Is your garden about to “take off”? Are your fruit trees about to bear a bonanza of excess fruit? Have you planted so many zucchini, tomatoes, and other vegetables that you may find yourself with more than you can eat? For the fourth year, Lafayette Today invites you to participate in our Backyard Bounty program. Last year over 3,000 pounds of fresh produce was collected by our readers and passed on to those in need. The need for food, especially fresh produce, is great. Our goal is to gather over 4,000 pounds of produce this year. We wish to provide produce at its optimum ripeness so nothing goes to waste. A call a week before your produce will be ripe will help us provide the fruits and vegetables at their prime. To coordinate picking or pick-up of food for donation to local food banks, contact Greg or Lise Danner at 925-552-7103 or email thedanners@aol.com. Please share your bounty with those who are less fortunate.
Everyday Heroes
By JC Dala, Salvation Army Volunteer Coordinator
Every day, over 76,000 people in Contra Costa County are affected by poverty, and children represent half of that number. Contra Costa Food Policy Advocates report that 33,175 children in this county alone live in poverty. One of The Salvation Army’s core missions is to serve the community by alleviating people of their hardships and day-to-day struggles. Thanks to our volunteers, we are able to extend our helping hands and services to those in need. Volunteers enable us to make our resources accessible to our disadvantaged neighbors. Through the operations of our Concord Food Pantry, over 1,500 people are fed on a monthly basis. Through our annual Holiday Season Assistance Programs, over 200 families and 3,000 children were able to look forward to opening gifts on Christmas morning. These good deeds were made possible through the giving hearts of everyday people, such as volunteers like yourself. Becoming a volunteer can make a difference. The Salvation Army Volunteer Program offers a variety of volunteer opportunities, depending upon your interests. You can help provide a pre-prepared meal to a family by volunteering at our food pantry. You can help a child find solutions to their math problems or help them read an entire sentence with full confidence by becoming a tutor in our after-school program. Or you can take the lead and influence the direction of our community outreach and services by becoming a member of our Community Gymnasium Campaign board. Whatever your choose, you can change a life by becoming one of our everyday heroes. To get involved, please contact Volunteer Coordinator, JC Dala at 925-676-6180, ext. 16 or jc.dala@usw.salvationarmy.org.
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Tablet Wars
By Evan Corstorphine, Portable CIO, Inc.
Since the iPad came out in 2010, other computer manufacturers have scrambled to come up with competitive devices. The market has heartily embraced the iPad, and in February it helped fuel record Apple profits and its new (if perhaps fleeting) status of being the most valuable technology company. In my opinion they deserve a lot of credit. Between the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad Apple has single-handedly reinvented personal electronics and created a whole new market for devices that no one had previously thought of. Most importantly, the devices work well. There’s substance. But not all products are created equally. Today I’m going to recommend that you avoid a bunch of products for at least the immediate future because they’re just not ready for prime time. It all started when my daughter planned a trip to Europe. She wanted to save weight, and she didn’t want to bring her laptop. She thought she might purchase an iPad since it’s so compact. After a long process, she decided to take a different path and purchase a competitive tablet for less money, use it for a month, and then sell it on eBay; the difference between purchase and selling price would be her “rental” fee. It sounded like a good plan, and we’d get to tinker with another device in the meantime. After some research she purchased the Acer Iconia A500 tablet. The device was gorgeous, with a huge 10-inch screen and a brushed-aluminum case. It ran the Google Android “Honeycomb” operating system, which has been optimized for tablet use. It had a micro-USB connector, a micro-HDMI connector, Wi-Fi, BlueTooth, a 5 megapixel camera on the back, a 2 megapixel camera on the front, and YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Picassa built-in. And it came in beautiful packaging. What more could she want?! Well, as it turns out, software that works well would have been a nice touch. So here is where the wheels fell off. We were really excited to read about this device, and it was so pretty. But when we actually turned it on and tried
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four children. But he could not completely overcome the difficulties of not knowing how to read. “He is a very upbeat, generous, and determined person,” says Byer, who, through her 25 years as a PSC tutor has worked with four students. “Where he used to struggle with photo captions, he now is able to read entire magazine articles and book passages. We continue to work together, mostly on his poetry.” Byer was initially drawn to PSC through a radio ad seeking tutors. “I could do that,” she thought to herself. She was immediately taken with the feeling of helping others to achieve their dreams. “It has been so rewarding to see my students blossom and to witness the epiphany of their worlds opening up to possibility.” Danville resident Susan Klingman has been tutoring for just two years and is now working with her second student. “Tutoring at PSC is truly the highlight of my week,” says Klingman. “The changes in the lives of our students can be profound. They can sail over hurdles that have stopped them throughout their lives through the ability to read. My current adult learner was initially shy to read to her small son. Now she not only reads to him, but she is instilling in him a love of literacy! There are so many small joys - when a student arrives for a session smiling and saying they were able to read the words on the side of a truck or the ad on a store window! The gains they make each week are theirs forever - it’s just a privilege to be a part of their success.” PSC tutors must be 21 years of age or older and comfortable with their reading, writing and spelling skills. They tend to be empathetic, patient, able to give clear directions, and are willing to learn new skills themselves. PSC tutors work with students in communities served by the Contra Costa County Library, and in addition to working one-on-one, both tutors and students can participate in small group classes, practice their skills in the Computer Learning Center, and attend Families for Literacy events with any pre-school children. Tutors are always needed,
Lafayette Today ~ July 2011 - Page 11 to use it, we were completely disappointed. For example, she wanted to be able to upload her photographs from her camera or her camera memory card onto the tablet. From there she was going to deposit them into the “Dropbox” software, which copies them up to the internet where they’d be safely backed up while she was away. The only problem was that we could connect and view the photos on the tablet, but we could not copy them onto the tablet. We tried everything. Even though the software alluded to the possibility of doing this, it positively wouldn’t budge. We researched the problem on the internet and couldn’t find anyone who had an answer. But, there were all sorts of nerdy postings from guys who ran “jail breaks” on the device and hacked the OS and did all sorts of super technical modifications to make it work the way they needed. What I concluded from this is that Android Honeycomb (and thus any device using it), is still a developer’s toy, a curiosity for the supertechnical, and perhaps an awesome programming platform – I don’t know. What I do know, is that it’s 100% unsuitable for a kid to take to Europe. It couldn’t do the most elementary task, even though all the flashy advertising leads the casual observer to conclude it can. If we couldn’t make it work, there’s no way a less technical person is going to make it work. One helpful posting we read explained a real-world solution to the problems we were having. They researched the problem like we did, then they wiped off the device, put it back into the box, returned it to where they purchased it for a full refund, and used the proceeds to go buy a new iPad. So we did the same. The next day, we brought home a new iPad 2. We hooked up her camera, which it immediately recognized, and the system asked if we wanted to import the pictures. We said “Yes”; the pictures were imported with no problems in about 30 seconds, and our decision was instantly vindicated. Draw your own conclusions. Have you been struggling with your portable electronics or want to figure out how to make them work in your business environment? It’s best to work with someone who’s done it before to save you time and money. Give your friends at Portable CIO a call at 925-552-7953, or email us at helpdesk@ theportablecio.com. Advertorial and currently, PSC is seeking tutors willing to work with students in Central or West County. Fourteen hours of training are required; each training series consists of one Wednesday evening and the following two Saturdays. The next training class is in September. Laura Seaholm started at PSC as a volunteer seven years ago. She loved it so much that she jumped at the chance to be involved in the program full-time as a staff member. “I have been on staff now for about 5 1/2 years and have never for one moment regretted leaving corporate America,” says Seaholm. “I love seeing the confidence level of our students increase by leaps and bounds. Once they realize that they can learn to read, they blossom in every aspect of their lives. They start making better decisions for themselves, their family, and our community.” PSC tutoring services are free, confidential, and one-on-one. And students don’t have to go back into a classroom setting where they may have previously failed. “Our methods and materials work!” says Seaholm. “We are here for you, and you will be treated with the dignity and respect you deserve. I always say that this is the only job I’ve ever had where I cry for good reasons!” she adds. “It’s so encouraging when our students realize they are now able to do things many of us take for granted, such as reading to their child, voting, reading their medication, filling out a job application, etc.” One PSC student, Martha, said of her experience, “Learning is a joy now, and I am relaxed, comfortable, and pleased with where I am in my life. I regret the ignorance of people in my life, but I have left their insults behind. Everything I am learning from my tutor is taking root in my heart. Every new word I learn increases my confidence and self-esteem. I am very proud of myself.” If you know adults who need help with reading, writing or spelling, please call PSC’s Pleasant Hill office at (925) 927-325 or visit www. ccclib.org/psc.
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Page 12 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
Dirty Laundry - Fuhgedaboutit By Daniel A Barnes, CFA
Lic# 1100014354; Bay Area Entertainment
Town Hall Theatre Announces Its 2011-12 Main Stage Season
As Contra Costa’s oldest continuously active theatre, Town Hall Theatre renews its commitment to bringing the best of live theatre to the Lamorinda community and beyond with its new 2011-12 Main Stage season. Come see the exciting line-up we have in store for you!
Dates And Show Information
• Picasso at the Lapin Agile, by Steve Martin, directed by Lisa Anne Porter. Previews September 22 and 23; runs September 24 – October 15. In this intelligent and touching farce from one of America's most loved comedians, Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein meet in a Paris café and muse upon the nature of life, love, and creativity. • Scrooge, by Leslie Bricusse, directed by Jessica Richards. Previews: December 1 and 2; runs December 3 – 18. Town Hall Theatre’s holiday tradition continues with the return of the world’s most famous miser and his journey toward redemption. A musical delight for the entire family. • Distracted, by Lisa Loomer, directed by Clive Worsley. Previews: February 23 and 24, 2012; runs February 24 – March 17, 2012. Nine-year-old Jesse is “distracted.” His teacher thinks he has ADD, his father thinks he is “just a boy,” and Mom just wants him to live a “normal” life. • Pygmalion, by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Dennis Markam. Previews May 31 and June 1, 2012; runs June 2 – June 23, 2012. Renowned linguist Henry Higgins makes a wager that he can transform young Eliza into a sophisticated lady. But will changing her speech change her mind? To buy season subscriptions, contact Town Hall Theatre Box Office at (925) 283-1557, or purchase online at www.TownHallTheatre.com. Established in 1944 as the Dramateurs, the 66-year-old Town Hall Theatre Company is the oldest continuously active theatre in Contra Costa County. The award-winning company is also home to an extensive children’s educational program. Town Hall Kids has been voted the Best Children’s Theatre Company by Bay Area Parent Magazine twice, once in 2008 and again in 2010. Town Hall Theatre is located at 3535 School St., Lafayette.
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About once a week, a client asks me what he or she should do or think due to the impending (fillin____) disaster. You fill in the blank. It could be the dollar collapse, the deficit, Greek default, Portugal, California’s Bond Rating, the collapse of the Euro and Europe. I haven’t heard it all, but I’ve heard all of the above fears expressed in the last few months. But the real question to ask is this: How do the dramatic events of this year and the concerns the media reports on affect the safety and potential returns of your portfolio investments? The cheeky answer is: It depends. But let’s keep it simple. Most people are invested in a combination of domestic equity funds (Dow Jones and SP500 stocks) as well as various bonds and other investment products of a fixed-income nature. The Dow, i.e. the Market, is saying that disaster does NOT lie ahead. The average stocks could have broken to new lows in the last two months; they had every opportunity to do so, but they did not. I have a lot of thoughts on why they didn’t and on what’s actually happening, but I don’t want my opinions to distract you from the facts that we know. We know that the stock market averages have looked ahead and decided that stocks do not deserve to be sold down. We know that economic growth is now expected to not pick up, and that deflationary forces still seem to command the upper hand (because job growth is abysmal, and labor simply cannot demand pay increases in this economic environment). The consequence of this is that it virtually assures continued high corporate profits. It also means moderate growth and low inflation in the developed world, which is why bonds have RALLIED over the last three months, and currently German and 10-year bonds only pay 3% annually. Those bond rates are close to historic bottoms. Fear about the future is reflected in the low returns of those bonds. If you are invested in solid corporate bonds, don’t worry about the dirty laundry. If you are invested in blue chips stock, don’t worry about the dirty laundry. If you are invested in gold, don’t worry about the dirty laundry. If you are invested in real estate - you have some real concerns. If you are invested in running a small business - you have some real concerns. If you are subject to the vagaries of politics, elections and government finance, which includes having a government job, you have some real concerns. Let’s take a look at some more “facts” that we know.
Facts
Oil is in ever greater demand due to two billion people not driving but wanting to. Sooner or later, likely sooner, its price is going to rise quite high. Driving will become more of a luxury than a right, even in America. Technology is changing our lives, and it will continue to do so. What’s more, most of the productivity gains from a wirelessly connected world will be breathtaking, once we get through the next 5-10 years. This means that its going to be hard to predict what the 2020s look like. People will find ways to “make it work.” Right now, people in the developed world have responded radically to higher unemployment and underemployment by radically abstaining from forming new households. Despite there being almost 20 million more people in the U.S., there are no more households than there were in 1998. This won’t continue forever, but it will continue for a while, and it’s going to keep housing prices in the dumps for some time to come.
Today
Italian and Spanish bonds collapsed several percentage points. Equity markets are down hard. Does it change my mind? Well, these new facts by themselves don’t. However, I just read an important reminder that today unemployment is more of a structural nature rather than a cyclical nature. That means that even if the economy strengthens into the next year, we shouldn’t expect much job creation. That’s a real problem for growth. So, I am not excited about high allocations to equities. For most people, 60%-75% invested in stocks is probably too high. If that’s what your portfolios look like, please call my office to schedule a complimentary portfolio review. Barnes Capital LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor located in downtown Lafayette in the Bay Area. We manage trusts and retirement income portfolios. Financial planning is an integral part of our process. We protect client capital using municipal bonds, high-quality dividend-increasing companies and precious metals, which have protected wealth in every epoch spanning five millennia of bankruptcies, inflation and other forms of attrition. Call 925-284-3503 and visit www.barnescapital.com. Advertorial
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Shop Talk from Urban Suburban Value Versus Savings By René Aguirré
Summer is here! Hot and cold, believe it or not, we are mid-way through July! I hope everyone is enjoying some good old fashioned summer fun - wherever you are! We all want to save money in this economy. However, one thing we need to remember is the great saying, “Getting the best bang for your buck.” The cheapest prices rarely mean the best service. On the other end, the most expensive fees may not translate into the best René Aguirré service either. How do you know who is just trying to get you in the door? The common theme- Get to know who you are doing business with. The days of yore when you had coffee with your mechanic are coming back. Honestly, they never should have left. Many opportunities exist to find reliable, dependable businesses in our community. All the time we talk about shopping local and getting to know who you are doing business with. In the past, I have mentioned finding out which businesses are giving back to the community and which events they are supporting. Another resource is the local Chamber of Commerce. The Lafayette Chamber of Commerce lists their membership online. The first clue to a business caring about your community is if they are a member of the local Chamber. The next step is to find out how long they have been in business. These two things are good indicators if they are good quality people to do business with. “Bang for the buck” – getting what you pay for. How many of us are familiar with these old adages - “You get what you pay for,” “You get out what you put in,” and “Getting the best bang for your buck.”? There sayings are tried and true. How many times has each of us taken the cheap and easy way to only pay for it in the long run? I know I have more than once thought saving money in the short run was the answer. As a business owner, this is a tough subject to talk about. We all want your business. We all compete with each other to get your business however some are willing to compromise certain aspects of service to get your business. Fortunately not all of us are that way. A good business person works with other businesses in town, recommending other businesses for special services, products, and merchandise. A good business person is not afraid to charge the prices their products and services are worth. In the Lafayette community we
Lafayette Today ~ July 2011 - Page 13 are lucky to have a large amount of businesses who want to earn your trust and loyalty. Some businesses are not willing to compromise their bottom line just to get you in the door! Imagine that! These are the people you want to do business with – the business owners who give you great value for your dollars. Thank you Motorama! Lamorinda Sunrise has done it again! They had a successful weekend of events celebrating Fathers’ Day. The events included an amazing Gala at the Lafayette Veterans Hall, wine tasting sponsored by Wine Thieves, and an amazing dinner put on by Chef David Isenberg and his students from the California Culinary Academy. Team Urban had the opportunity to have a few of our clients as guests. Thank you to all of you who joined us! The Rotary club successfully raised funds for the Buena Vista Auxiliary Tutoring Program, The Rotary Home Team, and many other programs the Lamorinda Sunrise Club participates in. On Sunday, the weekend was rounded out with the 2nd Annual Motorama – World of Wheels main event. We were treated to an even higher level of excellence with all things on wheels from Grace Kelly’s Jaguar, an original Austin Martin, a Baja 1000 motorcycle class winner, cars from the movie Bullitt and more! Krysten was at the helm of each of these events, designing, implementing, and coordinating. She had a great team behind her with the Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary and volunteers from the Lafayette Rotary Club. Not only was Team Urban out and about, but Ed Anderson and the Big O Tire team were making a presence as well! Ed was the main sponsor for the weekend’s events. Thank you to Ed and his staff for being such a great part of Motorama. By day’s end, everyone was wearing a tee-shirt or carrying a goodie bag from Big O! Team Urban around town- Team Urban is off and running this summer. As we continue our adventures to get to know more of our clients outside of the shop, we are trying new things too! Preparations are underway for me to participate in Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats in August. My team and I are making the adjustments to my Suzuki 750 for a run on the salt flats. I will do a timed speed run on a 7 mile straight course and a speed run on an 11 mile straight course. The whole team is looking forward to this adventure! If you have any questions about this or any other Shop Talk issues, call US today at 925-283-5212 or visit our website www.urbansuburban.com. Our hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 7:30am - 5pm. Urban Suburban is your dealership alternative for All German, All Japanese, and All Domestic vehicles. We provide free shuttle service to the local area. Advertorial
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Page 14 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
Pruning for Fire Safety By Brende & Lamb
In the spring and early summer, the landscape grows lush, beautiful - and out of control. Our Mediterranean climate is b l e s s e d b y s u ff i c i e n t w i n t e r rains to make plants grow, but our dry summers, and our even drier autumns, can make that new growth a fire hazard. In the greater Bay Area, we live surrounded by an ecosystem that has been shaped, over the last 10,000 years, by frequent wildfires. Because these woodland fires are inevitable, landscape trees, even healthy ones, require occasional pruning to prevent them from becoming fire ladders––bridges of flammable material that could carry flames from a woodland fire to your home. The threat posed by fires in the greater Bay Area is real and significant. The Oakland/Berkeley Hills fire of 1991 caused $1.7 billion in property damage, and it was the nation’s worst urban fire since the San Francisco fire of 1906. Failure to properly maintain landscape trees and shrubs played a significant role in allowing that fire to grow, intensify, and move. The Comprehensive Overview of the Berkeley/Oakland Hills Fire recommends that the risk of wildfire can be reduced by proper care of landscape plants: • Break up fire ladders • Reduce flammable biomass by thinning crowns • Limb trees back from structures • Remove dead trees and shrubs from the landscape • Remove deadwood from live trees and shrubs Breaking up fire ladders helps prevent a fire from moving easily from the woods, or from your neighbor’s property, to your house. To break
Gardening With Kate By Kathleen Guillaume
I have harvested my early peach and my apricot, and I am waiting patiently for my “will be ripe by the time you read this” peaches. This variety has already been thinned to one peach per every 4” so that they have room to grow and air can circulate around them. This week I have to get up on a ladder and thin out my large pear crop. I try to thin my pears so that there is full air space around each one. I take off the smallest and leave the best shaped pears. If you haven’t taken advantage of the Contra Costa Times Garden lecture series, treat yourself to some great knowledge sharing. They give classes at the CCTimes Garden located at 2640 Shadelands in Walnut Creek (take a right off of Wiget) on Wednesday mornings. Having had minor disputes with some arborists as I have tried to keep my fruit trees low enough to manage, I was more than pleased to hear about “Summer Pruning and Orchard Care” which was presented by Janet Caprile (University of California Davis), the Farm Advisor: Commercial Crops. She shared what the growers and producers that fill our grocery store shelves know about orchard management. For years everyone told me that you only prune dormant trees. As I have moved from perennials to more food crops in my garden, I knew something was not working as my fruit trees would put on 5 to 7 feet each spring of thick growth and medium crops. Well guys, now I know--You summer prune to train for shape, control size, maintain light penetration (needed for healthy crops), and prevent disease. So when is the question? First thing to remember is that when you prune a dormant tree you invigorate it by helping it create more branch buds encouraging a tremendous growth in the spring. When you summer prune you de-vigorate them by removing some of the food producing leaves. This brings your crop yield into balance. If you have been a winter pruner, you
www.yourmonthlypaper.com up fire ladders, increase the space between plants, both vertically and horizontally. In the 1991 fire, blowing brands of flammable material landed on ground plants, and, if there was sufficient dry matter, caught the ground cover on fire. The fire burned along the ground plants horizontally for as long as it found material to burn. If it encountered trees with low branches, the fire would move vertically from the ground up into the crown of the tree. If those burning trees were close to a house, they would set the house on fire. If their crowns touched the crowns of other trees, the fire spread from crown to crown. Landscape plants pose little fire hazard when they are properly maintained; and proper maintenance does not mean sacrificing a natural, woodland aesthetic. If the limbing up, dead-wooding, and crown thinning are done by a craftsman with a sensitivity to plant aesthetics, then the trees will look natural, even though they may have had 30% of their biomass removed. Knowing how to identify potential hazards is important, but it is also important to know how to reduce those hazards in a manner that keeps your property looking natural, and which doesn’t sacrifice important screening plants. Brende & Lamb specializes in balancing the conflicting needs for privacy, fire safety, tree health, and landscape aesthetics. It is possible to improve the fire safety of your property while promoting the health and beauty of your plants. Tree care is a craft requiring study and experience. Our trimmers are master craftsmen who understand that a well-pruned tree should not only be safer and healthier, it should look beautiful as well. At Brende and Lamb we take great pride in both the science and the art of pruning. If your trees need a little TLC, give us a call at 510-486-8733 for a free estimate. Additionally, go to our website, www.brendelamb. com to see before and after pictures, client testimonials, and work in your neighborhood. Advertorial have probably noticed that you have a heavy bearing year followed by a light bearing year the following year. Summer pruning balances that out. The best system is to start with young trees, and shape them for strength as you go. For vigorous growers like cherry, peach, and apricot, for every two to three feet of growth in the spring, prune down half of that growth, and repeat with every new two to three feet of growth. Once fruit is set, prune to allow sunlight into areas where fruit has set. Sunlight assists with telling the tree to set fruit bearing buds rather than branching buds. Did you ever notice that all of your cherries are on the very tops of the tree? Well, that is where the sunlight gets to the branch and bearing buds are encouraged. Always take out “water sprouts,” those absolute vertical branches that grow long and whippy in search of sunlight no matter when they appear on the tree. Two things to remember when summer pruning fruit trees: They need lots of deep watering after pruning, and if you have exposed a lot of the branch structure post harvest pruning, you might want to make a white wash out of “Interior” latex paint mixed 50:50 with water. It’s a very inexpensive sunscreen. Just paint all of the branching that now gets good sunlight. It will keep the branches from getting sunburned. Yes, I know this method is a little more work, or seems to be, but it keeps the tree manageable as it is so much easier to harvest a tree that is 8-12 feet tall than one that is 18-30 feet tall. None of us really belong on 15 foot orchard ladders, so we prune more frequently but end up pruning less, making it seem like it is not such an overwhelming chore. What you should be trying to create with most trees is an open vase shape, with no tight “V’ shapes branches which are very weak. Treat yourself to a good pruning book like Storey’s Gardening Skills Illustrated “Pruning Made Easy” by Lewis Hill. Even if you pay someone else to do the pruning, it’s a good idea to know enough to give them good directions. Thin your fruit, and remember to water deep less frequently all through the summer months. And share the bounty...Happy Gardening.
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Life in the Lafayette Garden
Process for a Successful Design By John Montgomery, ASLA, Landscape Architect #4059
What does it take to create a successful landscape design? Some might say that success is measured by critics and experts, but I believe it is measured by the end user, you. A successful landscape design has to meet the expectations of the owner. What I love the most is getting a call a few years after my client has been living in their yard and they say, “John, I’m sitting here in my backyard, and I was thinking of how much I enjoy the peacefulness and beauty, and I wanted to call you to say thank you!” For me, that is my measure of success. Here are the three phases I use in creating a successful landscape design. The first phase of the design process is a “Conceptual” design. Our first task, along with you, the owner, is to develop design goals and a design program to fit your needs. Some of these design goals are practical and functional, while some are your dreams and desires. After we develop the goals and design program, we will analyze the site and off-site conditions so that we are familiar with the existing conditions and parameters with which we are working. Once we receive the necessary information, we draft an accurate scaled base plan (site plan) from which your conceptual design will be created. When we complete your conceptual design, you will have an accurately scaled, illustrative, and schematic landscape plan that will represent the owner’s design goals, existing conditions, and your dreams and desires. The “Conceptual” design is visual communication so the owner can “visualize” the possibilities. Every idea, even a conceptual one, has an associated cost. From the concept design we develop a budget, a line-item spreadsheet detailing the cost of the project. At this point the owner has necessary information to make an educated decision based on what they want and how much it costs. Phase two is the “nuts and bolts” of the design. We will need to communicate to the contractor your design, details, and specifications in order for you to acquire bids, accept a contract, and build your project. During the Construction Documents phase we provide services that will complete the Landscape design so that you may enter into the Construction Phase to bring your outdoor environment to reality. The Construction Documents will be the “building” set of drawings necessary for your contractor to acquire permits and build the project to the design and specifications. Construction documents include a detailed Planting plan with planting specifications, botanical and common plant sizes and quantities, a hardscape plan, and plans detailing lighting, grading & drainage, irrigation, material selections, notes, and specifications. Working drawings (how to build) are included for built site elements like arbors, trellises, pergolas, swimming pools, cabana, retaining wall, etc. After the completion of the Construction Documents, you are ready to build your project. The Construction Documents is the vehicle to communicating the parameters of your landscape project to the necessary contractors so they may provide you with “apples to apples” bid proposals. This will assist you in selecting your contractor(s)
Lafayette Today ~ July 2011 - Page 15
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to build your project. You will also need the plans to acquire permits. Phase three is the Construction Phase. It is very important that the design intent and vision is brought to reality during construction. Construction Phase Services becomes a very important part of completing the design. The design process actually continues into construction. During construction, design decisions and interpretation are necessary in order to lay the design onto the land and bring the design vision to reality. Typically, this is when the design can be misinterpreted or contractors can make subtle changes to cut corners. This part of the design process ultimately guarantees the success of your design because it puts the control of the outcome in the hands of the owner and landscape architect. My clients have told me that the design process saved them time and money during construction by not having to make decisions under pressure, paying for changes, and not having to take time of work to manage the contractors. A hot tip from your local Landscape Architect: Built landscape structures must be executed with proper construction techniques which are ensured through proper design, construction details and specifications, and on-site observations during the construction process. Landscape architects are licensed and qualified to draw construction documents. Gardening Quote of the Month: “Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day.” ~Author Unknown If you would like me to write on any particular subject, email your ideas to jmontgomery@jm-la.com or for design ideas visit www.jm-la.com. Advertorial
Page 16 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
Wine That Packs a Punch By Monica Chappell
In July with the mercury still rising, there is nothing more refreshing then a pitcher of sangria. For most people, however, the word “sangria” brings to mind a blend of bargain wine, cheap spirits, and soggy fruit. This classic Spanish red wine punch has been through some hard times, but making outstanding sangria is simple, and the combinations are endless and delicious. Traditionally the punch, which gets its name from the Spanish word sangre, meaning blood, is made by infusing red wine with a splash of brandy and fresh fruit then serving it over lots of ice. The Spanish brought the centuries-old recipe to the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. Today you can create your own version of this uncomplicated summer drink by mixing red, white, sparkling or rosé wine with quality spirits, exotic fruits, and aromatics for a sangria you can be proud to serve.
Tips for the Perfect Sangria
You can follow the basic formula or create your own twist on the classic recipe; either way, the goal is to create a flavor-forward concoction with just the perfect balance of fruit and acidity. Pick Your Wine Carefully. The sangria formula is a simple one. For a classic red sangria, use a Tempranillo wine from Spain. Pinot Noir is also a good choice. Either way, make sure the wine is not too tannic. For white sangria, try a crisp, dry white wine like an unoaked Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio. For a spritzy sangria, use a sparkling Spanish cava. Keep in mind that the heavier the wine, the heavier the sangria will be on the palate -- and likely, the less refreshing. Look for Market-Fresh Seasonal Fruits. There is no set rule about which fruits to use. Don’t be afraid to experiment because part of the fun is choosing the best mix of what’s fresh and what goes best with the wine and any food you’re serving. Look for mangoes, pineapples,
Brainwaves by Betsy Streeter
www.yourmonthlypaper.com peaches, strawberries, and at least one citrus fruit for some zip. Select a Sweetener. In addition to wine and fresh fruit, some recipes call for a sweetener such as honey, orange juice, and sometimes a small amount of added brandy, triple sec, or other spirit. Another way to go is to make a simple syrup by dissolving one part of sugar in one part of simmering water. Cool completely before adding to the sangria. Let the Sangria Hang-Out. The key to a sensational sangria is to let it sit overnight, refrigerated, so that the flavors meld. If sangria is made right before it’s served, the flavor of the fruit will be distinct from the flavor of the wine. By steeping the fruit in the wine overnight, an okay sangria becomes an excellent one. A well made sangria is a perfect summertime pick-me -up, so raise a glass to sunny days, and picture perfect nights with a sip of something cool and refreshing. Monica Chappell teaches wine appreciation classes in Lafayette, Walnut Creek, and Danville. Visit www.wineappreciation101.blogspot. com for a list of upcoming classes.
Share Your News and Events With Us! Contact us at 925.405.6397 editor@yourmonthlypaper.com www.yourmonthlypaper.com Ask Dr. Happy Dear Dr. Happy,
My wife and I have been married for six years. We are both in our 50’s, and this is a second marriage for both of us. We are generally happy, but she suffers from chronic depression for which she takes several medications. She is pretty well controlled, but she does still suffer from frequent depressive episodes, and when she does, it casts a pall over everything. At those times, it seems whenever I suggest something that I think might help her, she just gets mad, and it ends up making a bad situation worse. Fortunately, her bad moods usually improve after a few hours. Dr. Happy, I really want to help her and be as good a caregiver for her as I can. What can I do? ~Not Helping
Dear Not Helping,
Depression, especially the chronic form unrelated to specific external events, is painful for everyone. As a matter of fact, ‘Not Helping,’ I do have personal experience similar to yours. I’ve found that what helps most during those down-times is for me to just be with the depressed person, reassuring her that I love her, understand how she is feeling, and appreciate that she is doing the best she can under difficult circumstances. Before, when I used to offer helpful suggestions for lifting her mood, all I succeeded in doing was making things worse. So be empathetic and compassionate, but leave treatment to the professionals. You might, if it’s agreeable to all parties, sit in on one of her sessions with the psychiatrist, and ask what you can do to help. However, be assured, living with someone suffering from chronic depression won’t stop you from being happy if you do it with sensitivity and compassion.
Happiness Tip
Can someone be happy being the caregiver for a loved one? The answer is yes, but it will probably require making some attitude adjustments to succeed. You’ll need to emphasize the happiness keys of kindness/ compassion as well as appreciation/gratitude to carry it off. Each of these has been shown by positive psychology research to yield an impressive bounty of happiness for both the recipient and the giver. I wish more people would focus on incorporating them into their care giving; there’d be a lot less angst in it if they would. Please send questions/comments for Dr. Happy to Pollyannan@aol.com.
editor@yourmonthlypaper.com
Estate Planning – Managing Uncertainty
Lafayette Today ~ July 2011 - Page 17
By Robert J. Silverman, Esq.
Uncertainty can be very scary, but it doesn’t have to be if you manage it properly. We encounter it daily, and there’s no shortage of it these days. Sometimes, the uncertainty involves our jobs or careers; other times, it’s a personal or professional relationship. Sometimes it’s our health. The most overarching uncertainty involves our mortality. Here are some of the ways people deal with uncertainty: try to deny it, ignore it, fear it, let it control you, or manage it. Recently, I heard an interesting speaker talk about his extraordinary challenge with severe obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and how he overcame this very difficult illness. After a tremendous amount of work and sound professional help, he developed his own, effective way of managing his profound doubts about himself and the world around him. Fortunately, most people reading this are not burdened with OCD. Nevertheless, we all must make many decisions about how to handle things that are in doubt. Most would agree that attempting to manage uncertainty is far preferable to letting it scare, paralyze, or control us. If you commute to work, you can never be sure about the traffic situation. There might be an accident that delays us substantially, and causes us to be late. Is it productive or comforting to ignore or worry about this variable? Of course not. How do those commuters feel who leave a extra early so they’ll still be on time even if it’s an unusually bad traffic day? Prepared, relaxed, comfortable. In a word, the best way to manage the uncertainty that surrounds us is to “plan.” Instead of being troubled by uncertainty, we can, to a certain extent, embrace it by affirmatively recognizing that it exists and planning for it in advance. It seems obvious that we should also thoughtfully prioritize our planning so that we are able to protect ourselves and loved ones from the most important kinds of uncertainty. In the grand scheme of things, how relatively important is the uncertainty about what would happen if we suddenly became incapacitated or died? Specifically, below are some questions that outline the types of uncertainty you can manage (instead of hoping the State of California makes the right choices for you) by establishing a comprehensive estate plan: 1) Who would you want to manage your financial affairs if you became incapacitated? 2) Who would you want to make medical decisions for you if you became unable to make health care decisions for yourself? 3) To whom do you want your assets distributed on your death? 4) Who would you like to manage the administration of your estate? 5) Would you prefer your estate to be managed privately and without court intervention? 6) Would each and every loved one whom you want to inherit your assets be able to manage those assets responsibly and protect themselves adequately? 7) If you are married and you die before your spouse dies, what access and control do you want your spouse to have over your (half) of the marital property until your spouse dies (and would your answer change if you consider that your spouse might remarry and/or have additional children)? 8) Do you know if Federal Estate Tax liability might diminish the amount of your assets your loved ones receive, and what strategies are available to avoid that result? If you have a comprehensive estate plan in place and you have had it reviewed by your attorney in the last 3-5 years, you should know the answer to all of these questions. As a result, you should feel comfortable that the provisions in your estate planning documents serve to manage all these uncertainties in precisely the manner you wish. If not, focus on how easy it is to manage this uncertainty and thus achieve the peace of mind you deserve. And recognize that continuing to merely think or talk about it won’t get you there… Mr. Silverman is an attorney with Shapiro Buchman Provine Brothers Smith LLP, 1333 N. California Street, Suite 350, Walnut Creek, CA 94596; (925) 944-9700; rsilverman@sbllp.com. His practice emphasizes Estate Planning, Trust Administration & Probate, Real Estate, and Business. Call for a free introductory consultation. This article is intended to provide information of a general nature, and should not be relied upon as legal, tax, financial and/ or business advice. Readers should obtain and rely upon specific advice only from their own qualified professional advisors. This communication is not intended or written to be used, for the purpose of: i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code; or ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any matters addressed herein. Advertorial
Page 18 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
Daily Sunscreen Use Cuts Melanoma in Half By Dr. Kelly Hood
Adults who use sunscreen daily can drastically cut their risk of developing melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. A new landmark study done in Australia found that daily application of an SPF 16 sunscreen to the head, neck, arms, and hands reduced melanoma incidence by half in study parDr. Kelly Hood, Lafayette ticipants. More than 16,000 white Australian adults between age 25 and 65 were studied for more than a decade. The subjects were divided into two groups, one told to continue using (or not using) sunscreen as they always had, the other given careful instruction in proper daily sunscreen application. The subjects were monitored closely through daily self-reports of sunscreen use, as well as collection and examination of all sunscreen containers they used. Only 11 melanomas developed in the daily sunscreen users, versus 22 in the control group. The control group had a 50 percent reduction in the occurrence of melanomas. In addition, invasive melanomas were reduced by 73%. The trial’s findings are the first to provide strong direct evidence for a reduction in the incidence of invasive
The Tipping Point By Jeffrey Johnson, D.C.
In the year 2000, author Malcolm Gladwell published a book called The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. In this book Gladwell defined a “tipping point” as “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.” Last week the 28 Days to Health™ program and products were recognized locally by Diablo Magazine and its readers as the Best Cleanse Program of the East Bay. This recognition proves that the key principles of clean eating, minimizing toxic exposure, and maximizing the body’s natural detoxification pathways have in fact reached The Tipping Point. When we first started teaching the tenants of the 28 Days to Health™ program, we were met with skepticism and reservation. But, results speak for themselves, and before we knew it, hundreds of happy clients turned into thousands. Along the way we have heard the detractors try to poke holes in our process, but the reality is most of the detractors have turned into competitors trying to offer like programming under different names. Ironically, several of them have even tried to pirate our materials. Nonetheless, it proves the point that our system works…really well. Even though we’ve won Diablo Magazine’s award for Best Cleanse Program of the East Bay, the reality is most people reading this article still have no idea what 28 Days to Health™ is all about. The concepts are simple really and don’t require a PhD to grasp, just some plain old common sense. First is the concept of clean eating. Simply put, you can’t continually eat a diet full of sugar, preservatives and other inflammatory foods like gluten, soy and dairy without experiencing some serious challenges to your body composition and general health profile. If you took the time to journal what you actually ate for one week, you’d probably be shocked to find you rarely eat nutrient dense, whole foods. Even more concerning would be the realization of how irregular your eating patterns are throughout the week. Our recommendation for addressing these issues are simple enough. Eat three times a day and when you prepare your meal, make sure you’ve included some lean protein, high fiber carbs, healthy fats, and a boat load of non-starchy, nutrient dense vegetables.
www.yourmonthlypaper.com melanoma after regular application of broad-spectrum sunscreen in adults.
Britain Bans Indoor Tanning for Those Under 18
Thanks to the United Kingdom’s new Sunbeds Regulation Act, children under 18 years of age are now banned from using ultraviolet tanning devices in Great Britain. UV radiation is a proven human carcinogen, and the World Health Organization includes UV tanning devices in its list of the most dangerous Dr. Shanny Baughman, Alamo cancer-causing substances. People who start tanning before the age 35 increase their risk of developing melanoma by 75%. Tanning bed users are also 2.5 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma and 1.5 times more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma. Melanoma rate have tripled among Britons ages 15-34 years in the past 30 years. UV tanning devices have become increasingly popular over the same period. In some areas of the UK, around 50% of 15-17 year old girls have tanned indoors. In the US, where tanning is regulated by the states, debate in regulating indoor tanning continues. The Skin Cancer Foundation, along with several other organizations, has testified before the FDA on the necessity of limiting the use of tanning beds. REMEMBER: “All tanning is dangerous. A tan indicates that the skin’s DNA has already been damaged.” Perry Robbins MD President of the Skin Cancer Foundation To schedule a consultation with one of us, contact Dr. Shanny Baughman at Alamo Oaks Dermatology, 3189 Danville Blvd, suite 130, Alamo, 925-362-0992, shanny.derm@gmail.com, or Dr. Kelly Hood, 970 Dewing, Suite 301, Lafayette, Advertorial 925-283-5500, khoodderm@yahoo.com . Sound too fringy or just what a good doctor might have recommended? The next controversial concept outlined in the 28 Days to Health™ program is limiting your exposure to toxins. It should come as no surprise that the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat is burdened with toxins. This of course means WE are being burdened with exposure to toxins. You have never been at a higher risk for exposure to man-made toxic compounds than you are today. Pesticides, herbicides, household cleaners, body care products, fire retardants, fertilizers…the list goes on and on. It is important to consider your exposure since all of these compounds have been linked to increased risk of cancer, thyroid disorders, obesity, developmental impairment in our children, and a whole host of other serious health issues. It is commonly said an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The last time I checked, we aren’t doing too well in the “cure” department when it comes to cancer, obesity, developmental impairment in our children, etc., since the incidence of all of these conditions are on the rise! One simple solution recommended in our programming is to effectively limit your immediate and long term exposure to toxins by eating organic. Too expensive you say? How expensive is the alternative? Is the nation healthier now than it was even ten years ago? No. Is the healthcare system broken? Yes. Are you really relying on a simple, quick fix from our healthcare system with regard to your diabetes, obesity, or cancer? I hope not! The final set of totally controversial recommendations found in our program are all grounded in the concept of maximizing your body’s natural detoxification pathways. This is accomplished with four eye-popping, radical recommendations. First, get your colon moving. Get regular as in one to three times per day. Second, get hydrated by drinking at least half your body weight, in water, in ounces, each day. Third, get moving and raise your respiration rate and sweat out those impurities. And finally, get some sleep! You need 7-8 hours per night to allow your body’s restorative process to work. Again, sound too fringy or just like what a good doctor might have recommended? The reviews are in and 28 Days to Health™ gets two “thumbs up.” It takes 21 days to make a habit, give us 28 Days to Transform Your Life! Start Your Countdown! For further information go to www.28daystohealth.com or www.movepastyourpain.com. You may reach Dr. Johnson at Johnson Chiropractic Advertorial Group in Danville. 925-743-8210.
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A Pain in the Neck
By Steven Marcinkowski, PT, DPT
In the mid 1980’s, a politically incorrect, stereotypical cartoon figure of an elderly gentleman entered my life. I was doing my best to stay out of my wife’s way as she was in her final year of studies as a physical therapy student. However, as I passed by her desk that fateful day, I noticed an assignment from one of her classes with the caricature of “Mr. Bald.” Mr. B. was a hypothetical patient referred to physical therapy for neck and upper back pain. The goal of the assignment was to take note of Mr. B’s posture, and describe what role his posture may have on his pain symptoms. As it may come as no surprise, the patient was bald, but to his credit had an impressive moustache. The seventy-five year old was drawn sitting on an exam table with a significantly hunched forward posture. Correspondingly, Mr. B’s head protruded forward and his mid-back was very rounded. The fictitious Mr. Bald often comes to mind as I evaluate and treat patients who are referred to my office with symptoms of headache, neck and shoulder blade region pain, and arm pain, numbness, or weakness. Even though he was portrayed as a seventy-five year old, he could have easily been a forty year old who works at a computer or even a fifteen year old girl. A February, 2011 study by Williams and Sambrook entitled “Neck and back pain and intervertebral disc degeneration: Role of occupational factors” reports that neck and back pain are a “near universal human experience.” The most common reasons for the pain symptoms are due to mechanical factors. Examples of mechanical causes include muscle strain, joint irritation such as arthritis, and disc ailments. These causes of neck pain are consistent with ageing, but they are also secondary to occupational demands such as lifting or computer work. Additionally, the study proposed that neck pain may also have a significant genetic component to it. In other words, it may be inherited from your parents. In a separate June, 2011 study by Hoftun et al, “Chronic idiopathic pain in
Lafayette Today ~ July 2011 - Page 19 adolescence,” 7,373 teenagers aged between thirteen and eighteen were given a questionnaire about pain and its interference with everyday life. Chronic pain was reported by 44.4% of the participants, and 25.5% reported pain in at least two locations. The neck and shoulder were the most frequently affected body regions. Females tended to report more pain symptoms than male subjects, and their incidence of pain increased with age. A third study published in August, 2010 was based on the premise that neck and shoulder pain complaints are more prevalent in sitting occupations characterized by concentrated computer use. Andersen et al, “Protocol for Work place adjusted intelligent physical exercise reducing musculoskeletal pain in shoulder and neck,” concluded that “specific strength training is a promising type of physical exercise for relieving neck and shoulder pain in office workers.” The information gathered from the above three studies concludes that neck pain occurs at all stages of life, most often is the result of muscle strain, joint irritation, or disc problems, and it is intensified by poor postural positioning such as being in front of a computer or perhaps texting for long periods of time. Physical therapy exercise techniques including stretching and strengthening play an important role in relieving the symptoms, especially those that may involve radiating pain and tingling into the arms. The techniques are designed on an individual basis to address each specific trouble area. Correction of mechanical factors begins with posture improvement, particularly while seated in front of a computer. Recommendations include upright sitting and subsequent adjustment of all related work station equipment. Please refer to www.hp.com/ergo/workarea.html for appropriate fitting methods to arrange your computer work area, especially as it relates to your monitor. For assistance with neck pain, other orthopedic injuries, post-surgical rehabilitation, or injury prevention methods, please contact Steven Marcinkowski, DPT, at 925 284 4486 or sjm.dpt@gmail.com. Steven Marcinkowski has been located in Lafayette since 1991. His physical therapy office is located at 3730 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Ste. 100, Lafayette. He can be reached at 925 284 4486 or lamorindaorthopt.com. Advertorial
Cancer Support Community
The following classes are held at Cancer Support Community located at 3276 McNutt Avenue in Walnut Creek. Classes are free of charge, but reservations are required. For information, call (925) 933-0107.
Kids Circle & Teen Talk -- When Mom or Dad Has Cancer
A program for families with school-age children when a parent has cancer. Each workshop has an activity-based group for children where they identify feelings and learn coping skills. There is a support group for teens and a group for parents. The workshop ends with lunch and a family activity to enhance communication. Saturday, July 9th from 10AM – 1PM.
Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer Workshop
This 16 week series is for women who have just been diagnosed and are either in treatment or starting treatment. Guest medical experts will present information to assist in understanding the disease. The group aspect assists you in finding the tools for coping with the diagnosis and gaining the support of others who share similar experiences. Meets Wednesdays, July 20th through November 2nd from 10:30AM – 12:30PM.
Cancer Survivorship 101
Roller Skating • Hockey • Parties • Food • Private Events • Games • Music Award-winning rink accommodates up to 1,360
925.820.2525
2701 Hooper Dr, San Ramon • www.thegoldenskate.com
This is an introduction to post-treatment recovery and beyond. Learn how to create a summary of your treatment and map out a care plan for your recovery. You will leave empowered with the tools to improve your quality of life and achieve a greater sense of well-being. Patients and support people are welcome. Class is held with Shell Portner, RN, Survivorship Nurse Navigator at John Muir Cancer Institute, and also a cancer survivor. Saturday, July 23rd from 10AM – Noon.
Hearing Loss Association
Come to meetings of the Diablo Valley Chapter of Hearing Loss Association of America at 7pm on the 1st Wednesday of the month at the Walnut Creek United Methodist Church located at 1543 Sunnyvale Ave., Walnut Creek Education Bldg., Wesley Room. Meeting room and parking are at back of church. All are welcome. Donations accepted. Assistive listening system are available for T-coils, and most meetings are captioned. Contact: HLAADV@hearinglossdv.org or 925.264.1199 or www.hearinglossdv.org.
$1 off entrance with this coupon One coupon per person
$10 off a birthday party reservation One coupon per party
Page 20 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
Can a ROBOT fix your tooth? With Today’s Technology the Answer is Yes!
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By Alex Rader, DDS
Many of us have had the experience of a cracked or a broken tooth that was in need of a partial or a full crown. In the past we went to the dentist office and were given anesthesia. The doctor then prepared the tooth for the proper type of restoration. Once the preparation was complete, a tray with a lot of goopy material was placed in our mouth for six minutes 1 which seemed like forever! After slobbering all over ourself, a temporary crown was made. Two weeks later, if the temporary did not fall out earlier, we were back at the office, to finish the replacement, having had to take more time off from work. The temporary was “yanked” off, and the final crown was cemented in place, if it was a right fit. Well, no more. The magic answer is CEREC (Chairside Economical Restoration of Esthetic Ceramics, or CEramic REConstruction). This new procedure allows for the tooth to be painlessly numbed up and a preparation made. A small camera is placed in the mouth, and a three-dimensional digital model of the tooth is taken. The restoration is fabricated 2 by the dentist with the assistance of the most modern software to date. With a push of a button, a message is sent down the hall, where “Michelangelo,” in the form of a machine, creates a restoration out of a solid block of porcelain. The restoration is finished and ready to be placed on your tooth usually within 20 minutes! CEREC means one appointment, no more temporaries, less time off from work, and metal free restoration. Health minded people are increasingly becoming concerned with metal in the mouth (particularly mercury). A CEREC tooth restoration isn’t just convenient, it is also healthy. Many years ago, dentists had few options to repair decayed and damaged teeth other than amalgam, gold, and other metals. With CEREC, the doctor uses strong, tooth colored 3 ceramic materials to restore your teeth to their natural strength, beauty, and function. These materials closely match the composition of natural tooth structure. This means when you eat hot food and then drink something cold, the restoration and tooth expand and contract at almost equal rates. So, your tooth does not crack, and you can go on enjoying your meal. Also, the materials are chemically bonded to your tooth, so the doctor can save as much healthy tooth tissue as possible while providing you with a dental restoration that strengthens your tooth. The CEREC enamel like material is biocompatible with the tissues in the mouth and provides a high-grade, anti-abrasive and plaque-resistant finish. 4 A patient’s overall visit time, of about 90 minutes, is spent relaxing, reading a magazine, watching TV, or checking emails. 1. Patients desire to have broken teeth repaired and remaining metal fillings replaced to prevent the risk of further breaking more teeth. 2. Prepared teeth are digitally scanned and designed on the computer. 3. A ceramic hybrid layered block is used to mill out computer design restoration. 4. Final restored teeth are ready to “perform and look like natural teeth.” 5 5. After the metal fillings were replaced and broken teeth restored with enamel hybrid ceramics. To see if the CEREC procedure is right for you please contact Dr. Alex Rader at 925-932-1855, or visit www.alexraderdds.com. Dr. Rader’s office is conveAdvertorial niently located in Walnut Creek.
SAVE THE DATE
Lafayette Art & Wine Festival – Saturday, September 17 & Sunday, September 18, 2011 Summer Classic to Fight Juvenile An American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry survey reveals that 92% of adult respondents say an attractive smile is an important social asset. Diabetes 74% believe an unattractive smile can hurt a person’s chances for a successful career. More than any other facial feature, a smile can reflect trust, comfort, confidence and the shortest path to reflecting your personality. Dr Rader is a graduate of the prestigious Las Vegas Institute (LVI), a renowned center for cosmetic,TMJ, and Neuromuscular dentistry. He is one of a few dentists nationwide to complete Full Mouth Reconstruction curriculum at LVI.
925.932.1855 Alex Rader DDS
General, Cosmetic, and Neuromuscular Dentistry 1855 San Miguel Dr, Suite 12 • Walnut Creek, CA www.alexraderdds.com
Actual patient, smile design by Alex Rader, DDS
On Friday, August 19th the Summer Classic will be held. The day features 18 holes of golf on the premier course at Wente Vineyards in Livermore followed by an evening under the stars with cocktails, a gourmet dinner, award winning wine, live and silent auctions, and dancing to the cool summer sounds of tribute-band Super Diamond. The day of festivities benefits Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s (JDRF) search for better treatments and a cure for type 1 diabetes. “We are so excited for the ‘Summer Classic’ 2011,” said Kelly Craft of JDRF. “The money raised helps our treatment, education, and prevention programs aimed at kids and their families coping with juvenile diabetes.” For ticket and sponsor information, see www.JDRFbayarea.org/summer. Since its founding in 1970 by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, JDRF has awarded more than $1.5 billion to diabetes research, including more than $107 million last year. More than 80 percent of JDRF’s expenditures directly support research and researchrelated education. For more information, please visit www.JDRFbayarea.org.
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Oncoplastic Surgery for Breast Cancer By Barbara Persons, MD, Persons Plastic Surgery, Inc.
A coordinated approach to breast cancer treatment is being embraced by our country and by many physicians in our area. Surgical oncologists, medical oncologists, radiologists, plastic surgeons as well as nurses, social workers, geneticists, and psychologists work together with the patient for the best possible experience and outcome. This coordinated approach involves oncoplastic surgery. Oncoplastic surgery is the goal and practice of treating the entire patient and of leaving the patient the same or even better than we found her. It is important to take care not only of a woman’s breast cancer but also to maximize her result by minimizing incisions, side effects, recovery time and pain. This is my job as a plastic surgeon. The history of breast cancer surgery dates back to Dr. William Halsted in the late 1800’s who advocated the radical mastectomy for breast cancer – removing the skin, nipple areola, breast tissue and chest muscles. If the patient survived the operation, she would be left with a significant deformity and no reconstruction. He said “beware the man with the plastic operation.” We have progressed a long way since then. In many cases, the cancer can be removed and the breasts can be lifted, reduced, or rearranged to repair the cancer defect without compromising the main goal of removing the cancer. Even a woman choosing preventive bilateral mastectomy may be able to have immediate nipple sparing reconstruction and avoid years of worry and monitoring with MRIs, and mammograms. Every patient with breast cancer should, in my opinion, have the option of: 1. Meeting with a plastic surgeon before surgery 2. Skin sparing or nipple sparing mastectomy 3. Oncoplastic surgery when possible, especially in women with large or pendulous breasts 4. Breast conservation surgery 5. Restoring balance between the affected breast and the nonaffected breast 6. Reconstructive options to include flaps, breast expanders/ implants, biological matrices, fat grafting and microsurgical reconstructions. The patient’s initial treatment is usually guided by the oncologic or general surgeon. He or she helps the patient understand the breast cancer diagnosis and the options for treatment. The plastic surgeon works with the patient and the oncologic surgeon to help achieve the patient’s reconstructive and cosmetic goals when the cancer is removed. Oncoplastic surgery may be a good option for patients who are candidates for breast conservation surgery, lumpectomy, total mastectomy as well as those who are candidates for breast reduction or breast lift. Lifting or reducing the other breast is usually covered by insurance. Hopefully many women with breast cancer will have the opportunity to have their breast cancer removed, to gain the support of the associated specialties for diagnosis, chemotherapy and radiation, and to have cosmetically acceptable breasts at the completion of therapy. Each patient, with knowledge of the possibilities, has the power and control to determine her path through the breast cancer process. As a community we are all affected by this disease. More than one in nine women will have breast cancer in her lifetime. As a plastic surgeon and woman, I would be pleased to discuss your oncoplastic surgery options with you. Barbara Persons MD owns Persons Plastic Surgery, Inc. located at 911 Moraga Rd in Lafayette. Please call 925-283-8811 or email at drbarb@personsplasticsurgery.com. Advertorial
Lafayette Today ~ July 2011 - Page 21
Fireworks in the Brain By Dr. Michael Nelson
Seizures are uncontrolled electrical storms in the brain. They remind me of the fireworks I saw over Moraga on the 4th of July. With a firework, there is the initial bright flash followed by sparkles shooting out in bright colors that slowly fall towards the ground. In a similar way, most seizures start in one small part of the brain and then rapidly spread. The seizure will also have an expected course and then also fade away. While we enjoy seeing fireworks one after the other, I would hope that most seizures are a single event. The terms seizure and epilepsy are confusing. A seizure is the actual event, and epilepsy is a condition in which patients are prone to seizures. You can also have a seizure and not have epilepsy, and you can have epilepsy but not have had a seizure for years. Epilepsy and seizure disorder are the same thing. Epilepsy is an older term, as is calling someone an epileptic. Even older names for seizure are a spell or fit, which I find humorous because I think of seizures every time I see someone driving Honda’s smallest car. Most people will think of a generalized convulsion when they think of seizure. This is when the patient stiffens, falls over, and has rhythmic shaking of their arms and legs. This movement usually lasts 30 seconds to a minute, but if you are watching one, it probably seems like five to 10 minutes. The patient may bite their tongue or lose control of their bladder. Afterward, there is confusion and sleepiness for about an hour. But seizures also present in many different ways. A simple motor seizure may involve just rhythmic shaking of one limb. There are also absence seizures in children and complex partial seizures in adults which may just look like the patient is in a day dream. Seizures are one of the medical conditions that it seems only neurologists feel comfortable dealing with. I’ve seen normally calm doctors and nurses who panic when a patient has one. Once you realize it will pass and you know what to do when it happens, it’s not that big of a deal. But I can also see why other doctors would not want to be responsible for a patient with a seizure disorder. The reason is that why the seizure itself is generally not that dangerous, the sudden loss of consciousness is. Just think of all the situations that suddenly losing consciousness would be a very bad thing. There’s also the California law that requires physicians to report any seizure to the Department of Motor Vehicles which may result in the suspension of someone’s license. Not fun. There are plenty of misconceptions about seizures. One of the more dangerous is trying to stop someone from “swallowing their own tongue” during a seizure. Do not ever try to place anything in the mouth during a seizure. The reason is that the patient will have uncontrollable clinching of their teeth and will bite down very strongly. I want you to keep all of your fingers. Accidentally removing fingers are what power tools are made for! During a seizure, roll the patient on their side, wait for the large jerking to pass, and then call 911. Falling into the stranger than fiction category are pseudo-seizures. Pseudoseizures or non-electrical seizures are events that look like seizures, but are not actual electrical events in the brain. It’s not fair to say that a patient is “faking it” during a pseudo-seizure because very rarely are they purposefully committing the act. But the events do have psychological undertones. This is similar to the fact that patients can have chest pain and tingling in their limbs during a panic attack, but it is much more extreme. In one study, up to 30% of patients with seizures may also have pseudo-seizures. Since seizure medications can’t help pseudo-seizures, this makes my job very challenging. Predictors that a patient might have pseudo-seizures are if the adult patient brings a stuffed animal to the EEG test or EEG inpatient monitoring or has pelvic thrusts or eye closure during the event. There are many other fascinating aspects of neurology, and I hope you have enjoyed learning a little about seizures. The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to substitute for proper medical care. Due to the unusual nature of these symptoms, proper diagnosis and treatment should be performed by a neurologist. If you should think you or someone else is experiencing a seizure, please call 911. Dr. Michael Nelson is a board certified adult neurologist who has been serving general neurology patients in the East Bay for the past nine years. His office is located at 970 Dewing Ave, Suite #300 in Lafayette, CA. He can be reached at 925-299-9022 to schedule an appointment and can also be found on the web at www.michaelnelsonmd.com. Advertorial
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Page 22 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
Events for Lafayette Seniors
All classes are held at the Lafayette Senior Center located at 500 Saint Mary’s Rd in Lafayette unless otherwise noted. Space is limited. Please call 925-284-5050 to reserve a spot. Annual Membership fee: $10 per person. General Event fee: Members $1; Non-Member $3. Special Concerts fee: Members $3; Non-Members $5. Ongoing Caregiver Support Group: Members: no charge; Non-members $1. The World Wide Web - Practical Knowledge for Today Thursday 7/21 • 10:30-Noon • Sequoia Room, Lafayette Community Center Edward Zeidan, from Nerd4Rent in Lafayette, will help us to understand the webs’ basic underpinnings and to most expeditiously use these tools to feed our curiosity, plan anything, tease our fancies, and stay in touch.
Anne Randolph Workshops
• Exercises for Daily Living, Friday 7/22 • 11:30AM – 12:30PM • Sequoia Room Anne will demonstrate simple low key exercises you can perform in front of the TV or on your patio in the privacy of your own home. • Pain Management, Friday 8/26 • 11:30AM – 12:30PM • Sequoia Room Learn how improving posture and muscle strength can reduce or eliminate pain altogether. Stop suffering and take control. Following the Anne Randolph Workshops... • Free Blood Pressure Screening - John Muir Senior Services At 12:30 PM, Blood Pressure screening is brought to you through John Muir Medical Center Senior Services and is available for a one-time check or to assist individuals who monitor their health status regularly. • Free Memory Screening (by appointment) - by Caring Solutions There are many reasons for memory loss including simple age-related decline to more serious conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Early diagnosis and intervention provide the best outcome. Call 284-5050 for an appointment. Appointments at 12:30, 12:50, and 1:10PM Driver’s Safety Class Offered through A.A.R.P. Saturday 8/6 • 8:30AM - 5:00PM • Elderberry Room The Driver’s Safety class offered through A.A.R.P. will help you to refine existing skills, develop safe, defensive techniques, and may help lower your auto insurance premium. The course also includes tips on avoiding stress while driving as well as accident prevention. $12 A.A.R.P. members/$14 Non-Members. The next Driver’s Safety class is a two-part class scheduled for November 1 and 3 from noon-4pm. Making Friends with Your Digital Camera Workshop II: 7/26 • 10:30 – Noon • Sequoia Room, Lafayette Community Center Writer, photographer and graphic designer Rajshree has been teaching photography for many years she will present simple strategies for creating wonderful portraits and even sports shots (your grandson’s tennis game? A friend finishing the Bay to Breakers in record time). Aperture settings? You’ll be a pro. Bi-Monthly Caregiver Support Group Mondays 7/25, 8/8, 8/22 • 1:30– 2:30PM Sequoia Room, Lafayette Community Center Caring for frail older adults in the home often creates great stress and emotional anguish for spouses and family members. Licensed Geriatric Care Manager Carol Shenson, M.A., CMC, offers a bi-monthly support group for family members who will be or are involved with the direct care of an older relative. Drop-ins welcome. Ballroom Dancing Every Wednesday (**except NO dance on 8/3**) • 12:30 – 3PM • LCC: Live Oak Room Enjoy afternoon dancing every Wednesday, and learn some great new dance moves. On the first Wednesday monthly, professional dancers Karen and Michael will provide a dance lesson and live DJ services, playing your favorites and taking requests. $2 Members/ $4 non-members.
Positive Living Forum (a.k.a “Happiness Club”) - Positive Living Forum features eminent
speakers on a wide range of topics that will stimulate and guide participants towards a more ideal and positive life experience. Drop-ins are welcome. Next meetings 8/11 • 10:30 – noon. Moderated by Dr. Bob Nozik, MD. Lafayette Senior Services Commission The Commission meets on the 4th Thursday of the month at 3:30 – 5:30PM at the Lafayette Senior Services Center. View agendas at the City of Lafayette office or at www.ci.lafayette.ca.us.
Two Birds with Two Stones By Matthew Sirott, MD
Medical professionals and lay persons have long known that heart disease, the number one cause of death in America, can be modified by exercise and aspirin. Less well publicized, but probably of equal importance, is the newly emerging data of their benefits in cancer prevention. Clinical trials have clearly documented the benefits of moderate exercise daily (40 minutes of rapid walking). Exercise has been shown to prevent both the initial occurrence as well as a recurrence of some cancers in patients at risk for relapse. Almost 100 studies performed worldwide have documented the benefits in breast cancer; the magnitude of benefit may be as high as 50%. The implication is that if 10 young women were destined to relapse (and likely die) from recurrent breast cancer, then “only” five will relapse if they all exercise adequately. Similar findings are documented in colon and prostate cancer. The mechanisms explaining these results have not yet been clearly elucidated, but they have been postulated to include reductions in systemic inflammatory mediating compounds. Aspirin use has also been shown to reduce cancer development and recurrence; much of the data was initially developed in colon cancer. However, a clinical trial published in 2011 in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet combined multiple randomized published trials evaluating the use of aspirin to prevent vascular events into one single analysis (called a meta-analysis), which looked retrospectively at cancer prevention. The results are astounding: a 34% reduction in risk for all cancers and a remarkable 54% reduction in gastrointestinal cancers. The risk of death from all cancer was reduced by 20%, with an incredible 60% reduction in death from gastrointestinal cancer with greater than 7.5 years of aspirin consumption. The types of patients included those with esophageal, pancreas, brain, lung, stomach, and colorectal malignancy. The use of any new medication, including aspirin, is not without some potential risks, and daily use should absolutely be discussed with your personal physician. Similarly, an exercise plan should not be initiated until reviewed by your physician, to be certain that you are physically fit. Those caveats aside, I am hard pressed not to recommend throwing these simple, but powerful “stones” at the two “birds” that cause more deaths in America than all other causes combined. Diablo Valley Oncology founded the California Cancer and Research Institute. Located in Pleasant Hill, the cancer center is the largest freestanding, non-hospital based facility in Contra Costa County. The center brings together medical oncology, hematology, radiation, chemotherapy, diagnostic imaging, laboratory, pharmacy, clinical trials, and supportive care services – all in one convenient location. The facility provides the latest in technology and therapies – to better serve patients in the community. For more information call us at 925-677-5041 or visit Advertorial www.DiabloValleyOncology.md. Our mission is to provide personalized care, help maintain independence and enhance our client’s quality of life on a daily basis.
Heartfelt & Supportive At All Times... www.excellentcareathome.com
• Free in-home assessments • Regular home visits ensure the right care plan • Hourly care for you • Live-in care • Fully bonded and insured • Geriatric care mgmt. • Elder referral and placement 3645 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Suite D Lafayette, CA 94549 (beside Trader Joe’s)
925-284-1213
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Let Freedom Ring! By Mary Bruns, Program Coordinator Lamorinda Senior Transportation
The driving force and joy behind LamorindaSeniorTransportation,An Alliance of Transportation Providers is to help seniors improve the quality of life and maintain their independence and freedom by making transportation available to essential activities of daily living: social outings, grocery shopping, errands, and medical appointments. When the Lafayette Senior Needs Assessment was conducted, it was clear that it was important to seniors to continue to live in their own home as they aged and that transportation is a key element to meeting that goal. The Lamorinda Spirit Van is here to help you meet those goals, and you are cordially invited to try it out by yourself or with a friend, family member, helper, or care-giver. Those who have gotten in the habit of using the van are delighted with the friendly drivers and really enjoy the other passengers they go to lunch or shop with and they appreciate the economy of using the van to get to medical, dental, and physical therapy appointments. • Who can use the van? Any Lafayette, Orinda, or Moraga person who is age 60 or older. There are no other requirements. • Where does the van go? ~ To the C.C. Café at the Walnut Creek Senior Center for lunch Monday through Friday. ~ Grocery and sundry shopping on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons (for Lafayette seniors) and Thursday afternoons (for Moraga seniors). ~ To Monday and Friday afternoon medical appointments beginning at 2:30PM or later in Walnut Creek, Concord, Martinez, Pleasant Hill, Lafayette, Orinda, and Moraga. ~ NEW: To Monday morning appointments (medical or otherwise) between 8AM and 10M – pick-ups can begin at 7:30AM at your home. ~ NEW beginning in August: To Tuesday morning appointments between 8AM and 10AM – pick-ups can begin at 7:30AM at your home. • Why should I use the van (or why should my elderly parent/ neighbor use the van? ~ Because it allows you to be independent and self sufficient. ~ You gain strength, courage, and confidence in getting out and about. ~ You can save those personal requests for help from family, friends, and neighbors for those important occasions when you really need their support. ~ You will create a larger network of new friends and support. ~ You will get out of the house, enlarging your world. ~ It is cost-effective - $10 round-trip. Rides to lunch are free. ~ You can bring a friend.
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Lafayette Today ~ July 2011 - Page 23 ~ You provide our drivers with an opportunity to give to their community – which is what they all want to do. • Where will the van pick me up? What is the route? ~ Our driver picks you up at your door and takes you where you need to go. The route is individualized, and the driver will also take you back home.
Lamorinda Senior Transportation An Alliance of Transportation Providers
Call each program for information, opportunities to volunteer, or to donate.
Lamorinda Spirit Van
283-3534
Serving Lamorinda Seniors with transportation to medical appointments, special events, grocery shopping and lunch at the C.C. Café. $10 round trip; rides to lunch are free. Reserve your seat two business days ahead of time by 1PM.
Contra Costa Yellow Cab and DeSoto Company 284-1234 20% discount for Lamorinda seniors.
Volunteer Driver Program
Volunteers driving their own cars provide free rides for seniors.
Orinda Seniors Around Town
402-4506
Senior Helpline Services Rides for Seniors
284-6161
Serving Orinda seniors with rides for appointments and errands.
Serving Contra Costa County seniors with rides to doctors’ appointments during the week, grocery shopping on Saturdays.
Hospice of the East Bay Offers Support
Hospice of the East Bay is pleased to offer a variety of support groups and workshops for adults, children, and teens experiencing grief after the death of a loved one. Classes are held at 3470 Buskirk Avenue in Pleasant Hill. For more information and/or to register, please call: (925) 887-5681.
Adult Support Groups/Classes:
• Adults Who Have Lost a Parent - Tuesdays, 7 - 9PM ~ August 30 - October 18 • Widow and Widowers’ Support - Thursdays, 1 - 3PM or 6 - 8PM ~ September 8 - October 27
Children and Teens Support Group:
•Footsteps - Tuesdays, 5:15 - 6:30PM ~ September 20 - November 1 To learn more, or to make a donation of time or money, please contact (925) 887-5678, or visit www.hospiceeastbay.org.
Is Food a Problem for You?
Overeaters Anonymous offers a fellowship of individuals, who through shared experience and mutual support, are recovering from compulsive overeating. This is a 12-step program. Meetings are for anyone suffering from a food addiction including overeating, under-eating, and bulimia. The fellowship is free. The group meets Wednesdays at 6PM, at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Lafayette. See the website for additional meetings and more information at www.how-oa.org.
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MUSIC INSTRUCTION with Robbie Dunbar. Bach to Beatles and beyond. Piano, guitar, other instruments. All ages and levels welcome! I travel to your home. Decades of experience, including Masters of Music Composition. Also PIANO TUNING. (925) 323-9706, robbiednbr@gmail.com
JOHN ROLF HATTAM - ARCHITECT Specializes in modest budget, new and remodeled residences. Over 200 completed projects. AUTHOR: Houses on Hills and Other Irregular Places. Also, National Parks from an Architect’s Sketchbook Call for a brochure: 510-841-5933. 737 Dwight Way, Berkeley.
Lafayette Today Classifieds
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Page 24 - July 2011 ~ Lafayette Today
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months. These volunteers come from many backgrounds, including IT, finance, legal, management, and public relations. KHN also helps nonprofits define the scope of their projects and provides coaching and support to both the volunteer and the nonprofit throughout the duration of the project. KHN volunteer Hal Bailey, an Alamo resident, has experience in planning, funding, and executing start-ups in the North American Pacific Rim, in Asia, and now in Europe. He takes management teams into a planned operation and market effort with a specific timeline for execution and achievement of goals. As a KHN volunteer, he is now doing the same for the new board of an established non-profit. He is taking the board through the planning process to establish TEAM assignments for current programs and operations and establishment of future program goals, expanded volunteer participation, and broader contribution sourcing. “My first volunteer experience is still in progress,” says Bailey, who notes that the non-profit for which he is volunteering very quickly understood his role as guide to their own decisions and planning. “This effort provides me a refreshing opportunity to use profit-oriented planning and marketing
July Special
www.yourmonthlypaper.com techniques in a very personally satisfying manner. With each step we take toward a business plan, funding prospectus and project plans, there is the satisfaction of working with people that give to our communities and care about real contribution to Contra Costa County.” NQR is the acronym that KHN volunteer Kathy Jakel uses to describe herself. It stands for “Not Quite Retired,” laughs Jakel, a Lafayette resident. A banking expert, Jakel wanted a non-profit volunteer job that would utilize her extensive experience as project and team manager. KHN provided the perfect match. “I was matched with Job Connections -- a Bay Area professional networking group out of Danville that meets weekly to support and encourage unemployed and underemployed while they navigate their search for a new career,” says Jakel, who oversees the Job Connections annual half-day Summit – an educational conference and networking requiring extensive planning and management, from fundraising to promoting to registering attendees. “Working on this event has been a great experience for me,” says Jakel. “It reminds me that I have unique project and organization skills that are transferable to other businesses. I feel a sense of accomplishment and am proud to be volunteering for Job Connections. It seems to really make a difference for people who need support as they get on-track for a job search or career change, rebuild their confidence, and receive encouragement during these tough times.” Signing up as a volunteer is simple. After completing the enrollment form (found on their website), KHN will contact you to find out more about your skills, interests, and availability. They will let you know about projects that best match your needs, and they will participate with you and the nonprofit staff at an introductory meeting to obtain detailed information about the project. When you accept a volunteer opportunity, KHN assists in writing the Scope of Work, which defines the project and its outcomes and establishes roles and responsibilities, and they provide project management support and coaching during the execution of the project. Projects are flexible and usually stretch over a one to three month period, with an average of two to four hours per week. And, often the majority of work is done virtually. Carolyn Daly of Danville has a background in sales and marketing for seniors assisted living. She specializes in event coordination. When she found herself without a job, she sought volunteer opportunities to match her skills. Her search led her to KHN where she has been instrumental in event coordination for both KHN itself and for Hospice of the East Bay. “I spent 2 ½ months working with Hospice of the East Bay planning their annual Tree of Light fundraising ceremony,” says Daly. “I loved every minute of it – from lining up event speakers and entertainment, to helping procure 18 trees. It’s what I do. KHN is a great organization for those who are looking to fill some time and give back to the community. It feels good to use your talents to help others. It’s rewarding and does wonders for your self esteem.” For more information on the Know How Network, visit their website at www.knowhownetwork.org.
We Pay the Sales Tax!
Molise 9 Piece Collection Includes - One 42” x 84” rectangular table plus eight dining chairs.
Retail $3748. Sale
$2249 Valid through 7/30/11