Magazine

Garden art mixes whimsically with daffodils and other bulbs that rebloom every year. Tanya Kucak/ Special to the Town Crier

Liz Calhoon loves flowers.

When she moved to her Los Altos home several decades ago, she grew fuchsias and even served as head of the fuchsia society.

Courtesy of Malika Junaid
The split-level Los Altos Hills home of Donna and Keith Yue takes advantage of the hillside and bay views.

The house Donna and Keith Yue built on Taaffe Road in Los Altos Hills is the culmination of their visits to countless open houses.

Eliza Ridgeway/Town Crier
Los Altos resident Enid Davis honed her storytelling skills as a children’s librarian and a grandmother. She teaches local seniors to confidently share beloved stories, with a minimum of memorization required.

The elder storyteller has an image - village rememberer, family entertainer, perhaps even the picture book "quiet old lady, whispering, Hush." The idea of storytelling is simple - sharing a narrative without the benefit of notes.

But tale-tellers are often made, not born. Los Altos resident Enid Davis has been teaching local seniors how to become a storyteller for one’s own grandchildren.

Gary Anderson/Special to the Town Crier
Seniors sing carols at the Grant Park holiday party. The Senior Commission aims to expand such programming.

When the new Senior Commission was seated in July 2016, with two members named by the Los Altos Hills City Council and five members named by the Los Altos City Council, we were reminded by the chairs of the two previous Senior Commissions of the three key foundations for living a long and satisfying life: Maintain an active social life, exercise appropriately and on a regular basis and exercise the mind as much as the body.

These three principles were incorporated from the outset in the commission’s work program for 2016-2017, with its primary focus on the programs and facilities for seniors at the Hillview and Grant Park community centers.

I think you and I have discussed poetry contests before. As you’ll recall, the really good stuff (ahem!) never wins - the judges are always young English professors who think blank verse or haiku is au courant. And there I stand, wistfully clutching my verses that rhyme and have meter.

Such was the case when, some years ago, Caltrain sponsored a poetry contest linked to Valentine’s Day. The rules: 100 words, love, trains. I could do that, and I did.

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier
Local seniors with a wealth of experience and years lived abroad gather weekly to discuss foreign affairs and current events.

The morning after the United States launched a missile strike on a Syrian airbase, only hours after Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed to the Supreme Court, nearly 30 Los Altos seniors packed a classroom at Hillview Community Center.

The Foreign Affairs class had not yet begun, but the room was alive with chatter: Did you hear about the terror attack in Sweden? What will the filibuster-killing "nuclear option" mean for the future of Senate collegiality?