TAKING AIM AT THIRD TITLE: Linda Pfeiffer and her team, Linda's Marvelous Supporters, are gearing up for their third annual National MS Society Walk April 17 and hopefully their third win as the No. 1 Corporate Fundraising Team. One year after being diagnosed with MS, Los Gatan Pfeiffer joined her first MS 10K walk.
A few friends joined her. The next year her team grew and became official. The team was chosen Rookie of the Year and named the No. 1 Corporate Team, raising $7,773. The second year, 2003, her team raised $11,196 and qualified as the top corporate team again.
In addition, Pfeiffer received the Mission Possible plaque for raising more than $1 for each of the 2,500 people in this area with the disease. This year Linda's team will No. 34.
Los Gatos team members include Laurie, Ron and Heather Steckel, Maureen O'Connell, Carol Anglin, Linda LaForest-Rice, Carol Laucella and Michael Pfeiffer, Linda's son. Their corporate sponsor is Integrated Financial, owned by Walt Cardinet.
Linda has worked for Ray Silva for 18 years and with Dave Culler at Ray Silva and Associates/Integrated Financial. Pfeiffer's email is Pfeiffer@aol.com. The website is www.NationalMSSociety.org.; mention Linda Pfeiffer & Linda's Marvelous Supporters team, California. The walk starts at 9 a.m. at the eBay center, Hamilton and Bascom, on the Los Gatos Creek Trail and ends at LGHS. David Landers (Squiggy of Laverne and Shirley) will do the send-off, along with Jerome Flowers of Jazzercise.
ELEPHANT SEALS: If you didn't know what you were looking for, you would have thought you were viewing rock formations along the Ano Nuevo State Preserve coastline. Until, that is, you spotted one of the alpha male sea creatures rising up on flippers to bat off a male interloper threatening his harem.
It's nearing the end of the season for the elephant seals' pilgrimage to Ano Nuevo to birth and wean their young, but you can still spot some action in the mostly somnolent wildlife. Judy Bingman of Los Gatos is a docent at the preserve, and she generously offered a handful of friends an after-hours tour of the facility recently.
There were plenty of 2-month-old elephant seals around, sleeping in pods, splashing in tidepools. They're called "weaners" because they've recently been weaned. The mothers go off to sea after weaning, and the youngsters have to learn to find their way out to sea on their own.
Females, too, were grouped together. Each harem is composed of 2050 females and one alpha male jealously guarding the girls. But all the other males reclined alone, waiting for a chance to try to slip by the alpha male and get some action. Alpha males have but one season in the sun. After that they go out to sea and are never heard from again. The next year it's a new power struggle and new males that fight for and attain alpha status.
In the ocean depths, elephant seals are solitary creatures. We saw one or two calling it a season and swimming out to sea at day's end.
The population had even thinned considerably since that morning, Bingman said. Though the birthing season is nearly over—January to March—there's usually something going on at Ano Nuevo. Some weaners that haven't gotten the knack of going out to sea yet linger. And other varieties of seals stop in for a while, too.
Docents lead human visitors the 11/2 miles from the museum/gift shop to the seals' beach area and are the reason the preserve is able to remain open to the public.
ANTIQUE SHOW & TELL: Assistance League will present its fourth annual Antique Show & Tell on March 28, 11 a.m.3 p.m. at the Saratoga Community Center. Beneficiaries of the fundraiser are needy children and seniors in the community. The event draws a hefty following.
Nearly everyone thinks she has a treasure sitting on the mantle or stored in the attic that could garner a munificent price tag if put up for sale. The popularity of the TV show Antiques Roadshow is a case in point. And this is the place to find out, at least unofficially, from the experts.
Professional appraisers will render their judgments, and the lines awaiting their rulings are often long. Cost of the fundraiser is $35 ahead of time, $40 at the door. That fee buys one informal appraisal, hors d'oeuvres, dessert, coffee, tea and a glass of wine.
Additional wine is $5 per glass; additional appraisals are $5 each. Appraisers include Michael Berry, Lynne Denman, Pat Nauer, Juanita (Nikki) Peters and Steve Yvaska. Donated antique furniture, including a rocking horse, will be on sale,.
Treasurer Jan Cavalli donated ceramic pieces and Petroglyphs donated a bisque piece, plus studio time. Gift baskets and Easter baskets will be on sale.
ART CLASS: Jean Tannhauser will teach a weekend Drawing to Painting class March 20 and 21 and Carol Huboi-Werry will teach a four-week acrylic painting class 13:30 p.m. March 18April 8 at the Neighborhood Center. Contact is 408.354.8700.
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By Mary Ann Cook