As a Father’s Day gift from Alison I received a massage from Claudia whose studio is in Alameda. This is the second time I’ve gotten a massage from Claudia. She is very skilled, and is also a practitioner of shamanism and hand analysis. She worked on my left shoulder where I experience pain if I lift and rotate it a certain way.
This day was also marked by a first meeting I attended of the West Contra Costa Retired Educators Scholarship Fund. I was invited to attend their end-of-year meeting at which they reviewed their financials for the year, their raffle and scholarship awards, and looking ahead for participation on the major committees, which include scholarship and raffle. Next year, July 2023-June 2024 are covered, but the following year two people are stepping down from each committee, meaning that this coming year the hope is that someone new will volunteer to join each committee and receive training to take on primary leadership in 2024-25.
This end-of-year meeting is always a potluck, and I, after much agonizing, decided to make an Asian chicken salad, a combo of a Vietnamese cole slaw that I’ve made in the past, but not for a while, and Chinese Chicken Salad. What I made ended up being Vietnamese Cole Slaw with eight ounces of shredded chicken from the whole chicken I cooked in the Rommertopf casserole clay pot. It turned out quite good. The dressing was a classic salty, sweet, sour mixture of lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, and chili flakes into which I mixed the shredded cabbage (I used savoy cabbage as napa cabbage was 4.99 a pound at El Cerrito Natural, which seemed outrageous to me!) I added red onion sliced with the mandalin, chopped cilantro and mint, chopped toasted almonds, and the chicken (the herbs and almonds were added at the meeting place in Pat Dornan’s kitchen).
It was good to see people who I hadn’t seen or heard their names mentioned in at least 15 years: Pat Dornan of course, Carol Honey, Jo Scherich, Debbie Haynie (though I have seen her more recently, say within the last few of years), and several others whose names I can’t remember. The other challenging part is that because I haven’t seen almost everyone in decades, I couldn’t recognize folks because their aging appearances have changed quite a bit.
I think I will join the board; people are desperate to have help and new people. This is so true for the raffle and scholarship committees. I’m a little hesitant to take either of these jobs on, not knowing how much time and work will be involved and whether or not I can commit to that. But several people said that everyone helps each other to get things done; this is a little reassuring that asking for help, and getting it, is part of the culture.
I must get back to Sue Kahn, who recruited me, along with Debbie Haynie indirectly, to let the group know of my decision. At this point I am leaning towards doing it. Eek!
Notes of the Day 
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