German-American Social Club of Peekskill, Inc.
11 Kramers Pond Road
P.O. Box 395
Putnam Valley, NY 10579
845-528-5800
January 2008 Newsletter
Dear Members,
December was a busy time for our club. Paul Geppert prepared a delicious tilapia dinner for our December meeting on the 7th. It should have been the elections meeting, but attendance was far short of a quorum. So we held a brief informal meeting and postponed the election until our Christmas dinner dance. The following day should have been the Children’s Christmas Party. But because of the threat of freezing rain, we moved that party to the 23rd. Lots of kids came on the 23rd, and they all had a good time. Magician Tom Swetz entertained them and, afterwards, brought his two white doves around to let the kids (and the grown-ups) caress the birds’ soft feathers. Thanks to Rudy Meyer for donating the hot dogs and to Ruth Ann Ritter for providing the crafts. And a big Ho Ho Ho and thanks to Fred Yarkovsky, Holly Wellin, and Jessica Scherer for making sure that Santa arrived right on time to greet the children and hand out presents.
Our Christmas Dinner Dance
The weather cooperated with us this year, with light snow beginning to fall only after the dance ended. And almost every other aspect of the celebration was a success. The food was excellent, with peeled shrimp as the most popular appetizer. All the people we spoke with thought their entrées were very good as well. Bud and Linda provided lively entertainment for dancing and our traditional singing of Christmas songs. This year, two members, Marianne Kapfer and John Brown, received Member of the Year awards for outstanding contributions to the club. John was not well enough to attend the dance; but we all pray for his speedy and full recovery. Our one disappointment was the poor attendance by club members. We had only forty-nine members and guests, including several special guests—nonmembers who helped at the Oktoberfest or who housed band members.
Upcoming Events
If you’re looking for some fun on New Year’s Eve, stop by the clubhouse for an informal evening with friends. Admission is one potluck dinner to serve four to six people.
Note to board members: the January board meeting will be held on Thursday, January 10th at 7:30. This is a change from our normal board meeting schedule.
We will hold our next membership meeting on 26 January at 7:30. This meeting is our annual potluck dinner.Admission is free to those who bring dishes. Please bring enough food for six people. Sign up with Marilyn Buck at 845-227-5159 and let her know what food you will bring. For those not bringing dishes, admission is $8 for members and $10 for guests
And please bring along a gift-wrapped item for the blind auction and attach a subtle but provocative hint of what’s inside the package.
The February membership meeting will be held on 16 February at 7:30. The rats will be running wild as we hold the ever popular Rat Race after the meeting.
Super Bowl Party
No one yet knows for sure which teams will make it to Super Bowl XLII. But one thing is certain: the club will hold its Super Bowl Party at the clubhouse starting at 4:00 pm Sunday,
3 February 2008. Admission is $5 per person, $10 per family. Kids twelve and under are free. There will be large-screen TVs for watching the game, raffles, pools, and plenty to eat. So come over and root for your favorite team among friends.
Do You Know?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a January birthday baby. He was born on 27 January 1756 in Salzburg, Austria and died in Vienna on 5 December 1791. It took the boy Mozart only thirty minutes to master his first musical composition. The work, a scherzo by Georg Christoph Wagenseil, had been copied by his father into Wolfgang's sister’s notebook. Below it his father, Leopold, wrote: "This piece was learnt by Wolfgangerl on 24 January 1761, 3 days before his 5th birthday, between 9 and 9:30 in the evening."
By the time he was seven years old, Wolfgang and older sister Maria Anna were famous musicians. Just after his seventh birthday, Wolfgang and his family went “on tour” traveling from Salzburg through Germany and then on to Paris. His stops in Germany included München, Augsburg, Frankfurt, Koblenz, Köln and Aachen. The trip took more than four years. Mozart believed that travel to other countries and cultures was important to the development and maintenance of his career. In 1778 he wrote to his father in 1778, “A fellow of mediocre talent will remain a mediocrity, whether he travels or not; but one of superior talent (which without impiety I cannot deny that I possess) will go to seed if he always remains in the same place.”