The BSHS held their annual members only Christmas program potluck on December 7th at Rancho Grande. We are always grateful to be able to use the house for our event! There were almost fifty members there, all bringing for everyone’s delicious enjoyment a buffet of different dishes to have for dinner. Heather Foster’s chicken pot pie brought rave reviews from everyone who sampled it!

The weather outside was frightful as the song goes, but we didn’t care, being cozy warm inside with good company and the warm fire that Marcus kept going.

Our program was presented by Heidi Hopkins on her book she compiled from her Mother’s letters, “These are my Flowers’. From the first slide it transported us to a different time, when, I think, life was simpler and far less hectic.

Times of picnics with friends in their gardens, the wonderful old Big Sur reviews, Nepenthe in the early days when it wasn’t open year round. You got the feeling from looking at the pictures that even though they were of the same areas we pass by or see often, it was different. Kind of hard to describe….

Heidi did a great job taking us on a journey through time, photos of fishing, the really BIG fish that used to be here, and hunting, playing in the infrequent snow on the ridge, the “menfolk” deciding that they wanted to enlarge the tunnel through Partington landing so they could drive their boat through it to launch in the ocean. I’d like to see that nowadays!! Jaime de Angulo and Sam Hopkins prophesy that no good would come of the new highway. 

We all enjoyed the evening and the brief respite from our busy worlds very much! Heidi’s book is available for sale!!