Neidel found it in the Swedish company's parking lot and, instead of giving it to authorities, decided to track down the owner herself. She found the name in the phone book and thus were wallet and owner joyfully reunited.

This isn't the first wallet Neidel has found and returned: It's a virtual habit of hers. "I've done this three or four times," she told the owner.

One time she found and returned the wallet of a man who worked at the San Francisco airport. He was jubilant at the return, particularly since he had just cashed his paycheck. Six months later a plant showed up on the Neidel doorstep, unsigned. Somehow the Neidels--Shirley and George--were able to trace it to a man named Peter, who was the airport employee. Now the plant bears the nickname Peter.

Neidel is also the woman who sews the uniforms for Redwood Middle School's award-winning band, just one of her many services to the community.

As for the unnamed wallet owner: evidently she has a penchant for misplacing things and was afraid of being teased unmercifully by her family.

TOP STEINWAY: At the annual winter concert featuring all the musical groups at Saratoga High, a gleaming new Steinway accompanied the performance at McAfee Hall PAL. A series D 2002, it's the top of the line and this particular one has been played by such greats as Harry Connick Jr., Diana Kroll, Herbie Hancock and Jon Nakamatsu.

The Steinway, one of only five made that year, was unveiled the morning of the concert, having been flown in by special helicopter. It owes its existence at Saratoga High to the funding and efforts of the Kevin Hathaway and Jeanette Ryan-Hathaway family and its Mending Wings Foundation.

The Hathaways tragically lost two family members to carbon monoxide poisoning that went undetected in their home. Seven years ago doctors sent Jeanette home to die, she says, but after being bedridden for more than a year, she confounded the experts. Since that time she's been on a steady climb back to full health.

The Hathaways credit music with being a means of healing. Their son, Geoffrey, 18, founded Mending Wings to commemorate his grandparents and honor his mother. The foundation started the Steinway acquisition rolling by contributing to its purchase. Now the Hathaways hope to raise $75,000 more to cap off the piano's payment.

Ideas for fundraisers are being solicited. Geoffrey and his sister Monika, 17, are both members of the honor choir at SHS. It's an artistic family, says Jeanette. Her husband can trace his roots back to William Shakespeare and her own family is descended from Native American chiefs.

John Leslie is the choir accompanist who performed on the magnificent Steinway.

ART WALL: One of the artists exhibiting on Saratoga library's art wall is former football coach Doug Gerhart, who picked up his first paintbrush 10 years ago while recovering from knee surgery. With a painting primer and the encouragement of his wife, he soon gravitated to figure painting.

Gerhart's style tries to capture "a tender innocence or simple reality that lets the viewer sense the emotion or question the thought within the silent language of the figure." His paintings have a photographic quality. I particularly liked the painting of two little girls, in formal attire, hobnobbing at an outdoor wedding. They're the only ones left in the audience.

Another emotion-charged piece is of a woman hugging an older man, bespeaking welcome or farewell. Shown in the Scottsdale Artist School "Best and Brightest" show this year, the artist paints from his homes in Saratoga and Whidbey Island, Wash.

Sean Lodin is also a featured artist at the library. He says, "I use my own interpretation of nature to try and make my paintings interesting ... to find a balance between being overly didactic and too abstract. My goal is to find an intriguing composition and create harmony with the colors on the canvas."

He has a BA in studio art with honors from UC-Davis in '03, and has exhibited widely. His "The Ugly Man Coffee House" in Capitola, my favorite, has a dreamy, appealing quality.

Third artist is Judy Welsh, a fourth-generation Californian whose landscapes are nurtured by the beauty of her state "from the sea to the Sierra," she says. Welsh has been painting since childhood: her mother taught painting, and the youngster watched and participated.

With a BA in fine arts from SJSU, she works in various media and serves as an art consultant for homes and businesses. Her watercolors explode with color.

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