On Sunday March 23 we enjoyed a gorgeous hike in a little bit of light rain. The greens were greener and the hikers were damper. In the middle of our hike, Theresa Chung ‘85 invited us to her home that borders the trail to have a tea and cookie break. Delightful!

On Sunday February 11 we gathered at Blue Bottle Coffee in Palo Alto for our annual Galentine's Meet-up. Even though we had to compete with Super Bowl mania, we had a solid turn out and enjoyed each other's company thoroughly.

On Sunday, December 3, we gathered at the home of Joy Silver '96 for the cherished 16th Annual Smith Club of the Peninsula Cookie Exchange! What a wonderful event, giving us the opportunity to celebrate the holiday season together by sharing delicious treats and exchanging recipes. Thank you to Joy for her amazing hosting skills.

On October 21st we combined our celebrations of Mountain Day and the inauguration of Sarah Willie-LeBreton, Smith College's 12th president, by taking a hike through Castle Rock State Park, and sharing apples and s'mores.

We held our annual meeting on October 1, 2023, a potluck lunch where we welcomed any Smith alum in the Peninsula Bay Area. During the meeting we reviewed what the club did throughout the past year, went over our financial statement, talked about upcoming events for the new year, and introduced the new board for 2023/2024. A special thank you to Alice Smith for hosting us at Channing House in Palo Alto.

Our August meeting celebrated Movie Night with “All the King’s Men” and a potluck of Louisiana-inspired food at the home of Nisha Thatte-Potter. We had all read at least part of the book, with a variety of reactions, but all regretted the omissions and changes the movie made to the book’s story. We liked the movie nonetheless.

Thanks to Nisha for hosting us.

It's the most wonderful time of the year! We had a delightful event at the home of Joy Silver '96 (THANK YOU, JOY), welcoming many of our newly matriculating Smithies and catching up with a few current Smithies who are in the area for the Summer. Every year this event is such a special moment for the new students to experience a taste of the lasting connection that Smith offers, and for alums to meet these promising, brilliant young people at the beginning of their Smith journey.

At this month's meeting of the book club we discussed Destined to Witness by Hans Massaquoi, a true tale of how the author came of age as a black child in Nazi Germany. The son of a prominent African father and a German nurse mother, Massaquoi fell under the Fuhrer's spell as a young schoolboy and was crushed to learn that, as a black child, he was ineligible for the Hitler Youth. This true account of his lonely struggle for survival is brimming with courage and intelligence.

Professor Jon Caris, Director of the Smith College Spatial Analysis Lab, presented to a group of local Peninsula Bay Area alums and their guests us at Channing House in Palo Alto, educating us on his work in drones, the history of drone usage at Smith College and throughout the world, and developing a drone code of ethics at Smith.

We danced, y'all! Our very own Appalachian princess Amy Gardner '92 taught us the Boot Scootin' Boogie, the Cowboy Hustle, Texas Two-Step and more! You can listen to the workshop playlist on Spotify HERE, and listen to the at-home practice playlist HERE.

Six of us gathered via Zoom on May 17 to discuss “The Years,” a memoir by Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux. This book is noteworthy for its format: no chapter divisions, the use of “we” or “she” instead of “I,” and an unusual style of depicting history that we variously saw as impressionistic, reportorial, archaeological, insightful, and boring. We appreciated the way Ernaux was anchored in her family as the world around her changed immensely, and admired many of her turns of phrase.

What a gorgeous day for a hike! We met early at the Robert Kirkwood Entrance and enjoyed this mild-to-moderate 3-mile loop with some elevation, good shade, and amazing views.

What a beautiful day to meet some new and potential Smithies. THANK YOU to all those alums who joined us to answer questions, field concerns, and share personal experiences to TEN newly admitted students and their parents. Half of the students had already accepted their Smith College offers, and the others were still weighing their options. An extra, enormous THANK YOU to Donna Dong for opening her home and hosting this event for the 25 people who showed up, far surpassing our expectations!

A group of us met at Nirvana Soul in Cupertino on a lovely Saturday to assemble these sweet little care packages for the 25 Peninsula Bay Area students currently on campus at Smith. We stuffed small glass jars with candy and an origami craft and included a note on the gift bag to let the students know that we're back home rooting for them. As a club we gather for these micro-volunteer events twice a year -- a great way to meet your fellow local alums and be involved in the club without a big time commitment. Keep an eye out for the next one this Fall!

This month we met virtually via Zoom and we had an excellent turnout with 12 Smithies in attendance. We had a good discussion of “The Dictionary of Lost Words,” a 2020 historical novel by Australian author Pip Williams based on true historical events surrounding the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the suffrage movement for women’s voting rights, and World War I. Most of us enjoyed the book and would recommend it to others.

12 of us met in San Francisco at the Dandelion Chocolate 16th Street Factory Location for a private tour of an active bean-to-bar chocolate factory, featuring a guided walk-through of the Dandelion chocolate-making process, and plenty of samples. We learned about Dandelion's single-origin chocolate making, and its startup roots, and we snacked our way through fresh cacao pods, roasted cocoa beans, molten chocolate, chocolate bars, and hot cocoa. A delightfully tasty day!

Eight of us met on Wednesday the 15th at the home of Diana McDonough to discuss two books by Helene Hanff: “84, Charing Cross Road” and “The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street.” Thanks again for hosting us, Diana.

Not to put too fine a point on it, we loved these books. We laughed at Helene’s sometimes raucous sense of humor, we were touched by the warmth of the various English people who welcomed her on her visit to London, we were in awe of her knowledge of books and her reverence for her favorite authors. We lamented the demise of letter-writing (and then listened in amazement as one member recounted her email relationship with her reed-maker). We recommend these books to all.

We met up at Sweet55 in Palo Alto’s Town and Country Village shopping center for a sweet and festive Galentine's Day celebration! After perusing the gorgeous chocolates and more at Sweet55, we nestled in at Douce France across the way for a lovely afternoon of hot drinks and siblinghood.

On Wednesday, January 18th, Jan Collins hosted 10 of us for a discussion of “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston. We endorsed the opinion of many experts that this is a true classic, one of the great American novels. We discussed the protagonist’s character, development and relationships; the setting and its historical basis; but mostly we loved the writing: animated, with vivid images and psychological insights, a combination of dialog in dialect and elegant narrative passages, memorable lines.

On Sunday, December 4th we gathered at the home of Joy Silver to celebrate our 15th year of exchanging cookies, recipes, and harrowing stories of holiday shopping and travel plans.