TAHOE SINGLES NEWS

         Thanks to a matching grant, over $1,000.00 was raised for The Smile Train (a non-profit providing cleft palate surgery for free around the world) at Barbara's Burning Man Party.    The food provided by the guests was really super as usual.  Stan's home-made Swedish Meatballs were outstanding and the salads, sides, main dishes and deserts were all balanced out. Everyone must be psychic!

        The Soroptomist's Taste of Gardnerville at Genoa Golf Course was a not-to-be-missed event.  Great all-you-can-eat hors d'hoeuvres from all the local restaurants and all-you-can-drink wines from a variety of suppliers.  Be sure and put it on your calendars for next year.

        Marilyn's ice skating trip to Tahoe was great fun.  Rick and others who stayed late got to meet a future Olympic star who was training at the rink.  (They also got to skate on ice without a film of water on the top.)

        Maggie's Christmas Brunch was a great success.  Not only was the food great, it seemed that everyone found time to make it home cooked.  Even Maggie cooked!  Ordinarily against her principals.  Her guests were so kind that she had to teach them how to steal (within the rules of course) during the White Elephant Exchange.  

        Barbara made it to Burning Man and will be showing her pictures soon.  Stay tuned.  Probably in February.

       The outrigger canoe races at Santa Cruz were fun as usual.  Our team didn't make it to the run-offs, but they had a great time paddling and their tee shirts will bring back many memories I am sure.  The dinner at Shadow Brook was great as usual.  Nothing like taking an open elevator down the side of a hill full of tropical foliage  to get to a restaurant.

        Little Shop of Horrors was amusing and chilling all at the same time.  Our group took up the entire front row of chairs.   It was held out doors and the weather was perfect.  Starting off at Red's 395 was the a great way to go.

       The Pirates Party at Barbara's was really fun and the weather was perfect.  Stuffed teddy bears costumed as pirates were given out to the winning teams in the many games.  Everything from bocce ball to dominoes was played.  Leona, Ruby and Carol looked like they had just stepped out of the Pirates ride at Disneyland and they were joined by lots of other pirates and beachcombers.  The Margarita Man machine was filled with rum and mango punch and a dinner of ribs, chicken and corn was supplemented by the many delicious items brought by the guests.  The gardens and views were lovely as usual and a great time was had by all.

        Janey's BBQ had a great turnout and the weather obliged by being absolutely perfect.  The BBQ'd turkey was perfect and many remained for cards and games afterwards.  Thank you Janey!

          Leona's Saint Patrick's Day party in Carson City had the greatest corn beef ever eaten by anyone.  Gordon has a fantastic recipe and was really a hit with the ladies.  There's nothing more appealing to ladies than a man that likes to cook.  Ruby's homemade biscuits ran a close second.  Dinner was followed by games and a great time was had by all.

     There was snow falling all about but  nevertheless, 20 intrepid party goers arrived at Sharon's beautifully decorated home for our annual Christmas party.  Sharon had outdone herself, providing not only a turkey, side dishes, but an ever so delicious whole ham in addition to the pot luck dishes brought by guests.  Much food and drink was enjoyed by all.

        Rhymer's Rodeer at the Carson Valley Inn provided good food and good poetry.  The singer who wrote her own songs was very, very interesting.  Can't remember what the songs were about,  only that they were very different and very original.  The only problem was that our table was not up close and the dark room and the soothing voices put Barbara to sleep.  No one else had this problem though.

        We had a great time at Villa Gigli.  Due in no small part to the fact that half the ladies had gone on the art tour and had to kill one and a half hours at the Cutthroat Saloon before dinner started.  The other ladies quickly caught up.  We were outside in the tool shed /car port and had our own private party with one end open to the beautiful view.  Our "no-shows" were replaced with a fun couple from Oakland and a great time was had by all.

        The summer BBQ was a great success  due in great part to Carol who brought most of the Nevada Singles with her.  We had almost 50 reservations.  The weather cooperated but got too cool too fast for any great bocce ball games.  When the sun went down and the wind came up "Flanagan's Pub" proved very practical as we were all able to eat in the spacious three car garage decorated for the occasion.  The ping pong table turned out to be a great dining table and we discovered that six people can eat at a round card table.  The hors d'hoeuvres that the ladies brought were just out of this world and Maggie and Max did an unbelievable job on the BBQ.  If you missed it this year, we hope to see you next year.  We'll be sure and start earlier so we can get all those games in too.

"Chicago" at the Pioneer Center was really outstanding.  We followed with dinner at Lexie's next door.  We didn't sit next to the window this time and so didn't have a view of the river but food was really good as usual.

The lead actor in Death of a Salesman was superb and I can see why Arthur Miller won an award for his dialogue.  It was a wonderful experience to sit in the front row right beside the actors.  And what an actor!  The funeral scene was so close to the audience, we had to move our feet back.  I think that's what makes a play at the Brewery Arts so much fun.  You really feel like you are in the middle of everything.

The River Raft trip was great.  High water just means a faster trip and fewer rocks!  The weather was perfect, no one got dumped and you couldn't have asked for more.

The travel photos shown on Alicia's extra-large screen TV were really impressive.  Giraffes, lions and much more, up close and personal.   Maggie Allen was a great travel narrator.   Humpback whales breaching, killer whales coming right up to the boat  and glaciers "calving" were provided by Barbara.  The CD of Barbara gliding between the trees hanging from a cable in the forest canopy at Puerta Vallarta had everyone ready to try it.

Kung Fu at the El Dorado was spectacular!  Dinner first at the Bistro Roxie (after Happy Hour martinis at the martini bar, of course) was excellent as always and only $12.00 because it was part of the package.  The Choreography was absolutely amazing, and to think that that it was all done with kung fu movements.  Definitely a not-to-be forgotten experience.

The Christmas Party at Barbara's was a smashing success.  Fifty-seven guests attended, evenly divided between men and women.  The ladies were beautiful in their silks and satins and the men  who came in their tux's were the hit of the evening.  The food was fabulous and Cheryl did her usual great job of serving as DJ and the foyer was filled with dancers after dinner.  Eddy collected donations for the Eagle Valley Children's Home and a great time was had by all.

Liz's get togethers at Madigan's are so popular (13-16 people) that they have been moved to the dining room.  One TGIF had 17 ladies and few men and the next had 17 men and few ladies.  Just hang in there guys and gals!

The Halloween Party was a great success with 40 ghosts, goblins and ghouls attending with lots of flappers and dance hall girls there to keep them company.  The Tahoe Yacht Club had the perfect ambiance for a party.  Barbara got the place decorated but managed to forget her costume down in Gardnerville and had to come as a rancher.  Judi Hannon did her usual great job at the door and Cheryl and Karen were great as our disc jockeys.  We raised over $200.00 for the Humane Society for hurricane relief.

Speaking of charity, the North Tahoe group donated over 50 pounds of canned goods to Project MANA.  We're doing pretty well on the charity front!

Liz has had some very popular TGIFs up in Truckee and Tahoe where they plan all manner of activities to keep us from getting too much rest.  See the link to "Liz's Activities in North Tahoe." 

Alicia held a BBQ in Gardnerville with 35  people attending.  Mike's BBQ and Barbara's pina coladas were a great hit.  David Burns and Max Ravenscroft were the big winners in the games department.

Over 25 people attended the pet psychic and medium lecture at Barbara's and there were several requests to do it again next year.  Was it the array of deserts and champagne that influenced them?

Barbara's annual kayaking trip was held at Silver Lake again this year.   We rented our own kayaks with "two for one" coupons, Rick Alswede brought his two kayaks and Barbara prepared the picnic lunch.   The marinated tomatoes and mozzarella balls were a big hit.  The weather was perfect, the scenery unbeatable and it was a truly relaxing and delightful experience.

The outrigger races at Santa Cruz were a ball!  A not-to-be- missed event.  Thanks Judy.  We fielded two teams, one of which made it to the quarter finals.  Team members were Judy Hannon, Genny Eckart, Ted Erlich, Barbara Flanagan, and Karen Boardman,   Leona Porter served as official photographer and Anneliese Herbig was our team cheerleader.  We went to some really wonderful restaurants, one of which gave you the option of traveling by cable car down the cliff through the gorgeous fern gardens to reach the restaurant.

CHANGE OF FORMAT 

As you know, Tahoe Singles evolved from a newsletter based group of singles into a web site based group of friends.   If you're having a party or just want company hiking, send your activity and all the pertinent information to Barbara at the address below and we'll put it on the web site under "News Flash."  

If you would like to receive notices of new events and reminders of upcoming events via email, you will need to send your email address to Barbara Flanagan at bflanagan@ccarabians.com for activities in the Carson Valley and tahoesingles@yahoo.com for activities in North Tahoe.