Holiday Greetings!

Next Meeting - Tuesday, Dec. 2, at the Sheraton, at noon. December, already, and the whoop and holler over shopping for what used to be Christmas is already in full cry. But along with all the “get”, there is still a lot of “give” to be done, and we will talk about it in our business meeting tomorrow.

One major item is our Holiday Treat sale. The “stuff” didn't make it to the last meeting, which means that PP LINDA must be living in a sea of bags and boxes. [Publisher's Note: MIKE KNOWLTON kindly volunteered to have the “stuff” delivered to his office, so LINDA's van can remain relatively empty.] We have not heard, but based on past experience our meeting room will be lined by “sorted orders” for the Lions who have nuts, malted milk balls and other goodies on order. Please, if you ordered treats for sale and haven't gotten them yet, make it to the meeting and pick yours up. We need to get these things out to the consumers while the above-referenced whoop&holler has everyone enthused. Along with that, comes the “give” part, as the profits from the sale go to our service work.

A second major item will surely be our upcoming !Holiday Party! It is set for MONDAY, DEC. 15, 6:00 P.M. at the Vintage Brewing Co. That's where we were last year - it's on Whitney Way, across from Westgate/HyVee. Our understanding is that there will be pork sliders, hors d'oeuvres, and a cash bar, but we doubtless will get further details at tomorrow's meeting. Note that the party is, and/or takes the place of, our regular program meeting for December. THERE WILL BE NO MEETING on the following day, Tuesday, December 16.

At our last meeting, Pres. JACK presided, and the TailTwister produced one of the most unlikely trivia questions ever. But at least he got to the bottom of the issue.

The holiday treats had not arrived on schedule, so LINDA hoped to have them in the next day or two, and would begin notifying the big sellers to arrange delivery/pickup. All Lions who have treats coming, please get in touch with LINDA and take this stuff off her hands.

We “rang the bell” for the Salvation Army last Tuesday, and Lions PHIL INGWELL, TERRY SCHAR, SCOTT GROVER, JACK HEIM, JEFF SCHNEIDER, LINDA BERGREN and her granddaughter, and JACK'S invaluable assistant McGEE participated. Speaking for himself, the editor finds this to be a fun job, as long as it's warm and inside, and you can have a good time studying, and influencing, human behavior. Best results come from making eye contact well before the traveling public gets to your spot, but you absolutely cannot tell in advance who will donate. You also get to meet some nice people, including in this instance, two neighbors and friends of Past President JERRY HODDINOTT. (For all of you free-thinking modernistic anti-traditionalists in our readership, they recognized the gold vest!)

It was announced that this year's Ride For Sight would be held on March 13 and 14. Locations and other info to follow, but get the date on your calendar so you can participate. Since it will probably still be midwinter, remember that this is one time when you get to ride your bike indoors! JOHN JENSON noted that the District Convention will be at the Marriott in Middleton again this year, so there are no travel excuses for not going. We'll have a date for you in the next Tale.

GAIL STIRR introduced our speaker, Psychologist Vanessa Simmering, who told us a lot about what and how small babies learn in the first few years of life. Even though babies are born with much better hearing than eyesight, the vision soon catches up, and as you would expect, visual memories provide the foundation for a great variety of learned and learning skills. Babies quickly learn what (objects, faces, colors) look like, and also place them in scenes and locations and remember the locations. Your editor found the description of how this information is gathered to be nearly as fascinating as the information itself. Scientists have the most ingenious ways of figuring out exactly what is going on, and how it is assimilated. Proves once again that the grand landscape of life is made up of a lot of tiny bits and pieces, some of which are important beyond expectations, and that's why these detailed studies are going on.

Holiday Greetings!