News and notes for this week

Several items of news and note for this week:

• Treats from the Social Committee tomorrow morning
  On Monday, November 6, the Social Committee will host an early-morning "Daylight Savings Breakfast" in the P1 elevator foyer. Committee members will provide coffee and breakfast items to residents on their way to work, to celebrate the time change.

• No HOA board meeting this week
  The HOA board meeting scheduled for Thursday, November 9 will be rescheduled due to conflicts with other events that evening. More information will be forthcoming.

• Esplanade Speakers Series continues this week with Dr. Shannon Shea
  The Esplanade Social Committee has now hosted five guest speakers in its series of "Esplanade Speaker Forums." These are not decision-making forums, but invited guest speakers. The next speaker, scheduled on Thursday November 9 at 7 p.m., will be Dr. Shannon Shea, Executive Director of the Tacoma Community Boat Builders.
  
  Tacoma Community Boat Builders is a community-based organization dedicated to working with local youth, crafting and sailing small wooden boats. The location of this successful program is a boat shop right here on the Foss Waterway. Each youth is paired with a volunteer mentor who is a skilled craftsman. Together these pairs form a partnership while creating beautiful projects of wood. Come learn more about the program from Dr. Shea on Thursday evening!

• Get your hands dirty and help the neighborhood on Saturday
  
  The "Friends of the Foss" group will meet at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, 11/11 for their regular work party. The group meets outside The Social, as they do every second Saturday of the month. The "Friends of the Foss" work on general beautification of the Foss Waterway Esplanade. Contact group leader Jori Adkins at joriadkins@mac.com.

• Annual food drive under way
  Donation bins have been placed in the Esplanade lobby and the P1 elevator foyer for residents to donate non-perishable food to help the poor and hungry of Tacoma and Pierce County. Food items will be taken to the Food Connection at St. Leo’s. Located just up the hill from the Esplanade, St. Leo's serves hundreds of hungry families each week. Last year Esplanade residents collected over 500 pounds of food and $300 in cash to help people in need who live right here in our neighborhood. The food drive will last until Nov. 20. Click HERE for more information.

• Books Club selections for December and January
  The Esplanade Book Club will next meet at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, 12/7 in the community room. The book for December is Call the Nurse, by Mary J. MacLeod. It's a memoir of the years the author spent serving as a traveling nurse to the unique characters who lived on a windswept Scottish isle.  "A light and uplifting fare for caregivers, Scots, or anyone tired of the hectic pace of modern life."
  
  Victoria's Daughters, by Jerrold M. Packard, is the pick for  January's meeting. "Queen Victoria bore four sons, but it's her five daughters who are of interest here. They lived privileged lives yet were 'married off' politically all over Europe and faced the kind of family turmoil and intrigue we associate with soap-opera sagas." An alternate selection for January is John Grisham's Camino Island, a page-turner involving murder, theft, a bookstore, and a millennial main character.
  
  All are welcome at the Book Club meetings regardless of whether you have read the book or not. Wine and snacks are also on the agenda; feel free to bring something to share if you like.