HAPPY NEW YEAR!
THE HIKING CONTINUES, PLUS PLANNING FOR THE ANNUAL HOT CIDER PARTY,
TEA DATE WITH A SMITHIE, AND A LOOK BACK AT 2021
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UPCOMING EVENTS IN JANUARY |
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Saturday, January 8, 2022
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
This intermediate-level hike at Mount Umunhum is a prominent peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains just a 45-minute drive south of Silicon Valley. The concrete cube on its summit, visible throughout the Bay Area, pops in and out of view on the Mount Umunhum Trail, a surprisingly shady and gently graded 3.7-mile trail from the Bald Mountain Parking Area to Mount Umunhum’s summit. Hikers will return on the same path to the parking lot, for a total of 7+ miles.
ALTERNATIVE NON-HIKING OPTION: For those who would like to join the group but do not want to attempt this somewhat strenuous hike, you can also drive to the Summit Parking Area and climb 159 stairs to the summit, or drive all the way to the summit where there are a couple of handicap parking spaces available.
The intrepid hikers will arrive at the summit by 10AM where hikers and non-hikers will gather to explore the area and the museum-quality displays explaining the history of the summit’s concrete radar tower, known as “the cube”, the local flora and fauna, and the native tribes that lived on the land. The 360-degree views of the Diablo Range, Santa Clara Valley, Santa Cruz Mountains, and Pacific Ocean, coupled with the mountain’s history, promise a stunning and enriching experience.
NOTE: There is a latrine available at the Bald Mountain Parking Lot, but there are no facilities and no running water at the Summit. Please plan accordingly.
Members received a proactive Evite with details in December.
All local Smith alums and their family members are welcome to join the fun.
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Annual Hot Cider Party (virtual)
Sunday, January 23, 2022
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM via Zoom
SAVE THE DATE! In an abundance of caution, this year's Annual Hot Cider Party with be virtual once again. We've asked that applicants and their families RSVP by January 18th so we can be sure to have lots of alums available to welcome them to the Smith community, field questions, and address concerns. There will be a follow-up email to all members once the Zoom meeting is scheduled and we have RSVP details. Stay tuned!
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Tea Date with a Smithie!
This is a new event format where you can go on a "blind date" with another Peninsula Bay Area Smithie! Click here to sign up in January. After you've signed up for a tea date via the Google form, every month you will receive the contact details for your tea date. The two if you agree upon a day and time that works for your tea date, and then meet up and have a wonderful time getting to know each other! You can even keep it anonymous until you meet up -- it’s all up to you!
Please be sure to schedule your tea date for that month - as you will receive a new tea date partner next month. If you want to be extra helpful to the organizers, send us a photo or a note. We'd love to know how the meetup went and new content for our website and newsletter!
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Juliane Bombosch ‘20 and Adia Hoag '02 met up at K Cafe Patisserie & Tea House in San Jose for their Tea Date with a Smithie, November 2021 |
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Laura Hyatt ‘89 and Margaret Mumbi Mongare '10 enjoyed Tea Date with a Smithie at Maison Alyzee in Mountain View, December 2021 |
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Juliana Bombosch '20 had this to say about her tea date: "I had a wonderful time with my tea date! It was really wonderful to explore and visit one of her favorite spots, the K Cafe! It had a super cool vibe, with flowers everywhere and delightful pastries. I had seen Adia in passing at some Smith events and thought she was really clever and fun. I was delighted that we were matched and that we got the chance to have a deeper conversation. Of course, we reminisced about Smith but we were also able to connect about family and identity. It was a wonderful opportunity to sit across from and get to know such an incredible person. I know I am excited to maintain this connection and I am even more enthused for my next tea date."
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STAY APPRISED OF MORE UPCOMING EVENTS |
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Follow us on social media to stay up to date on our virtual and in-person gatherings.
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SUGGEST A GROUP EVENT
As opportunities to gather in person emerge, we're always looking for new ways to meet up and connect. If you have great ideas for group events, there's a new way to make those suggestions: Go to our website under the Events tab, or just click here, and you will be presented with a Google form to guide you through your event suggestion. Please complete the form, including as much information as you can. After you submit the form, someone from the club's events team will contact you.
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The book club meets at 7:00 p.m., generally on the third Wednesday of each month.
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Per our tradition, there was no meeting in December.
UPCOMING: JANUARY 19
“Swann’s Way” by Marcel Proust, Penguin Classics, Lydia Davis translation and/or “In Search of Lost Time: Swann’s Way,” graphic version, Arthur Goldhammer translation. If you wish to do additional reading we suggest “How Proust Can Change Your Life,” by Alain de Botton, and “Lost Time: Lectures on Proust in a Soviet Prison Camp,” by Jozef Czapski. All of our January books are available at Kepler’s -- mention the Peninsula Smith Club purchase for a 15% discount.
UPCOMING: FEBRUARY 16
“The Souls of Black Folk” by W.E.B. DuBois
REVIEW: NOVEMBER 2021
“The Optimist’s Daughter,” by Eudora Welty, provided plenty of material for nine of us at the book club’s November meeting. A Pulitzer Prize winner, this novel focuses on Laurel, a 40-ish designer, as she navigates her father’s illness, death and funeral. We found the book easy to read and difficult to understand. Subtle and indirect, rich with imagery, it shows a woman freeing herself of the claims and deceits of memory—a protagonist we never get close to and never warm up to. We appreciated Welty’s portrayal of a small Mississippi town, a close-knit and supportive society that is also judgmental and restrictive to a young woman who wants a career; its abiding traditions; its class structure. We were struck by a kind of timelessness in the novel: set in the 1960’s, it shows nothing of that era’s politics, racial strife, and cultural clashes. All told, a multi-layered book that would probably reward a second reading.
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Saturday, December 11, 2021
Annual Cookie Exchange
Thanks to club member Joy Silver '96, we were able to gather outdoors on her back patio and take the necessary precautions to rekindle our annual tradition of the cookie exchange. It was a great way to reconnect and an excellent excuse to eat our weight in cookies.
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What a joyous cookie exchange! December 2021. |
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Sunday, November 21, 2021
Care Package Assembly (a micro-volunteer event)
This micro-volunteer event was an opportunity to meet up at a local park in Santa Clara for a quick task to assemble care packages for current students from the Peninsula Bay Area, letting them know that their local Smith Club is thinking of them and wishing them the best during finals.
Each student received a metal pencil tin with a highlighter, pencil, pencil sharpener along with a typed calligraphy note reading "Smithies are so sharp!". Thanks to everyone who helped out!
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Assembling care packages for current Smith students, November 2021. |
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Saturday, November 13, 2021
Pulgas Ridge Hike
What a beautiful day for a hike! 7 Smith alums met up at Pulgas Ridge near Woodside and had a lovely time climbing up the ridge and finding some very funky purple algae. Our next hike is January 8 at Mount Umunhum, kicking off at 8AM. Join us! (details on our website and above in this newsletter)
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Hiking at Pulgas Ridge, November 2021. |
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