By Chefs Who Care at Florentine

This month’s Chefs Who Care benefit for the Community Services Agency is scheduled for 5:30-7:30 p.m., Tuesday, at Florentine Restaurant, 118 Castro St., Mountain View.

Entrées include stuffed pasta shells, chicken piccata, wild mushroom lasagna and cheese tortellini primavera.

Half the dinner cost is donated to CSA’s Food & Nutrition Center to feed needy residents.

Cost is $20 for adults, $10 for children (ages 6-12) with a pre-paid credit card reservation. The reservation number is 961-3584. Cost at the door is $22 for adults, $12 for children.

Halloween window painting contest

The 38th annual Halloween Window Painting Contest, sponsored by the City of Los Altos Recreation Department, in cooperation with the Los Altos Village Association, will be held Oct. 25-27. The contest is open to all fourth- through eighth-grade students. Applications can be obtained from the Los Altos Recreation Department, 97 Hillview Ave. Completed application forms must be received by 5 p.m., Oct. 17.

For full contest details, call 941-0950.

Call for more blood donations

In the wake of the Sept. 11 tragedies, the American Red Cross has put out the call for more blood donations. While blood centers across the country have reported a tremendous initial response, personnel note blood has a short shelf life and a continuous supply will be needed.

To this end, personnel with the Stanford Blood Center, affiliated with the Red Cross, will be at the Los Altos Coldwell Banker office on San Antonio Road between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. this Friday to receive blood donors. For an appointment, call 949-9919, ext. 2175, or call Nancy Eiger at 941-7040, ext. 262. Appointments are scheduled every 15 minutes.

Behind the scenes at San Jose Rep

Friends of the Los Altos Library has scheduled John McCluggage, associate artistic director of the San Jose Repertory Theater, to describe the process “Architecting a Play: Concept through Performance,” in a lecture and video presentation at the Los Altos Library 7:30 tonight. McCluggage will also review the 2001-02 San Jose Repertory season. After the lecture, there will be a drawing for several pairs of tickets.

McCluggage has worked with the San Jose Repertory Theater for 13 years, directing performances and developing new works. He manages the outreach program for the Red Ladder Theater Company, which works with elementary and high school students and troubled and disabled youths and adults. McCluggage has taught directing at San Jose State University and is a frequent speaker at Rotary Clubs and other community organizations.

Federated women invite author

The Federated Woman’s Club of Los Altos will hold their monthly luncheon meeting today at Michael’s at Shoreline Restaurant, 2960 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View. The business meeting will begin at 11 a.m., with luncheon and program following.

Yvonne Olson Jacobson, daughter of the Olson family whose cherry stand has been on El Camino in the same location since the 1920s, will be the guests speaker. She will review and show slides of her book, “Passing Farms: Enduring Values,” written in 1984, and soon to be re-released. The book is about the lost way of life in the Santa Clara Valley as it was before the orchards gave way to suburbs and freeways. For more information, call 948-3553.

WBO’s ‘Faust’ set to premiere

West Bay Opera will open its 2001-2002 season with Gounod’s “Faust” on Oct. 12. Sung in its original French version with English supertitles, “Faust” will be presented over the weekend of Oct. 12 and 19, with performances on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.

Music by Charles Gounod and liberetto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré accompany Goethe’s poetic drama of the philosopher, Faust, who turns to the devil in order to win the heart of a young girl, Marguerite. The Town Crier is the media sponsor for “Faust.”

West Bay will continue its season with an English translation of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” in February, followed by Puccini’s “La Bohëme” in May.

Tickets are $38, with a special $19 youth ticket for under 18 for Sunday matinees only. For more information call the West Bay Opera box office at 424-9999 Monday through Friday, 1-6 p.m. or visit their web site at www.wbopera.org.

Tickets may also be purchased directly from the Holt Building, 221 Lambert St., Palo Alto.

Local heroes of open space

The “Heroes of the Peninsula Open Spaces” exhibit is on display through Nov. 4 at the Los Altos History Museum.

Since 1972, Santa Clara County has been acquiring public access land purchased with property tax funds. The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space district presently has 26 open Space preserves encompassing approximately 46,500 acres of land. The exhibit will address common questions, such as “What is open space?” “Why is open space important?” “Who made open space happen?” and “When did open space begin to be preserved?” It concludes with “What can I do to help preserve open spaces?”

For more information, call 948-9427 or logon to www.losaltoshistory.org.

Challenges of being a Silicon Valley mother

The Los Altos-Mountain View Branch of the American Association of University Women will meet at 10 a.m., Oct. 20, at Foothills Congregational Church, 461 Orange Ave., Los Altos. The speaker, Alison Diggelen, founder of siliconmom.com, a noncommercial Web site for mothers in Silicon Valley, will discuss “Motherhood: The Challenges and Rewards of the High-Tech Era.” The meeting is open to the public. Admission is $5. For reservations or information, call 941-8363.

At home with Princess Diana

The Mountain View Library’s Author! Author! Series meeting at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 18, will feature author Susan Maxwell Skinner’s multimedia presentation of her years in the Buckingham Palace press corps, assigned to covering the daily activities of Princess Diana and her family.

Copies of her books, including her latest, “Diana, Memory of a Rose,” will be available for signing and purchase.

For more information, call 903-6337.

Music for Minors holds workshop for teachers

Music for Minors will present “Gems for Teaching Music,” a workshop for teachers taught by Joanne Hammil, 7-9 p.m., Oct. 16, at the Hillview Community Center, 97 Hillview Ave., Los Altos.

Participants will learn a variety of songs, games and exercises for teaching the elements and joy of music to children in grades K-6.

Music for Minors is a non-profit organization founded in 1975, whose mission is to nurture a lifelong love of music in children.

Cost for the workshop is $15 general; $10 students. To register, call 941-9130.

Flu shots at El Camino

El Camino Hospital, 2500 Grant Road, Mountain View, will conduct their one-day Flu Shot Clinic 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, in the hospital cafeteria, while supplies last. The fee is $12. For more information, call 988-7622.

Stanford Hospital seeks interpreters

Stanford Hospital is seeking volunteer interpreters to work with patients at Stanford Hospital and Clinics. An application and interview are necessary before training begins Oct. 13. For more information, call 723-6940.

Talk on Steuben glass Oct. 22

The Glass & Decorative Arts Club of Garden House (formerly Glass Club) will meet Oct. 22 at the Garden House in Shoup Park, Los Altos. The subject is “Jade: Colors of Steuben Glass.” For more information, call Karen Emerzian at 917-4367.

Leadership program looking for members

Leadership Education Advancement is accepting applications for the 2001-02 series. The program is a community involvement education course aimed at Los Altos area residents interested in learning more about their community and seeking to become more involved. For more information, call Marge Bruno at 941-6570.