San Luis Obispo Newcomers Club

The SLO Newcomers '' Evening Book'' group met via zoom to discuss the book ''The Libray'' written by Susan Orlean, and we all gave it a ten! What an elegantly written book that is a love story to all libraries throughout the world and the L.A. Library in particular. It takes you through library's past, present and future. The book starts with the L.A. Libray in 1986 catching on fire, causing the heat to rise to 2000 degree's burning 400 hundred thousand books in seven hours. You are immediately mesmerized by the world of possible arson, and you realize how important the library is to the the community. Please add the book to your quarantine reading!

A wonderful time was had by one and all at the SLO Newcomers Board Christmas party via Zoom. The day before, the co-president Nadine and Gail played Santa's helpers and delivered charcuterie boxes for members to enjoy with their drink of choice while attending the virtual party. Laughter was heard, holiday plans talked about, and we took turns opening our secret Santa gifts from names drawn previously by members and delivered to their homes. Thank-you Nadine and Gail for coming up with a great holiday party and Happy 2021 to everyone!

Woohoo! The Morro Bay Newcomers Wine group, the SLO Newcomers '' Afternoon Delight '' and SLO Newcomers '' Winos'' group came together via Zoom to enjoy a presentation by Stephen Lloyd-Moffet on his book '' The Spirit Of Wine'' Finding Religion in the Fruit of the Vine. We came together at 4 p.m., glass of wine in hand, and were mesmerized by his enthusiasm, knowledge, energy and simply had a wonderful time! Some of the take aways were to find the spirituality of wine: 1/... Know the story of your wine, 2. drink mindfully, 3. Be open to its mystery 4. Drink with a conscious Community ( meaning drink with friends but also cats, dogs and house plants you take care of are considered community ) 5. Culivate Spiritual Drunkenness. A good thing to remember, Galileo said,'' Wine is sunlight held together by water.'' which is so true! After the talk, we all broke off into our groups and it was wonderful to see so many faces that we have not seen since the pandemic has started. We shared what we have been doing during the quarantine and long walks and drives were big on our daily activities, wearing face masks, and going through these long ago family pictures and finally putting them in albums or on photo sticks to share with families at Christmas! Thank you Nancy for putting this together!

Some members of the '' Boomin Bloomers'' garden group used lessons they learned from past holiday projects to create unique and individual Christmas wreaths and centerpieces! We had a great time via Zoom sharing where we found the perfect accent pieces, tree pods, berries and small Christmas lights at the dollar store to adorn our masterpieces! What a great way to stay connected, share ideas, and celebrate the season!

Woohoo! A '' joyful'' Zoom Webinar presentation was given by Professor Craig H. Russell on '' Unearthing California Musical Missions''. It was a breath of fresh air to listen to in a difficult political environment, and he had us transported by his passion for the baroque guitar and love of classical mission music! We learned that in 1772 at the Mission San Luis Obispo, on Founder's Day, the first mission music song was sung called '' Lauda Sion Salvatorem''. Professor Russel...l played a video of the choir Chanticlear singing this song, and we were mesmerized by the beauty of the song and the clarity of their voices. He also shared that mission music is composed of four styles. The first style is plainchant, the second style is Figured Chant ( like Bod Dylan ), the third style is four-part harmony ( lots of repetitions and high's and low's ), and the fourth style is the Modern style where orchestra's are used! What a memorial webinar and thank you professor Russell for sharing your time, passion and knowledge with us!

The SLO Newcomers '' Book Ends'' group gave a twelve thumbs-up book review to last month's book selection '' Beneath A Scarlett Sky'' by Mark Sullivan. They met via Zoom and all agreed that the book was beautifully written, mesmerizing, and would recommend it to everyone! It's based on a true story of a forgotten hero, Pino Lella, who at the age of eighteen during World War 11, becomes a driver for Hilter's left hand General Hans Leyers and his incredible courage spying for the allies.