Smith: Julia’s thank-yous never arrived

The price was right for the small stack of Thank-you cards, with envelopes, that Kathleen Moser found at the Sutter Care at Home thrift store in Santa Rosa.

She took one up the other day, intending to jot a note of gratitude to her sister.

What’s this? The yellow-gold Hallmark card had already been written in. So had the next card and the next.

Undated notes in youthful longhand, signed by “Julia,” thank Grandma Thelma for Christmas money and Grandma Lila for Chanukah cash. Lucky kid!

Julia also acknowledged gifts from aunts Caroline and Barbara, and uncles Greg and Dick. In the fifth card, she thanks Kelly for a lead rope that she’ll use “at Longacre on Gypsy.”

Hmmm. Google says there are equestrian schools named Longacres in East Aurora, N.Y. and near Liverpool, England.

Any idea who Julia is, and why her dutifully written thank-yous weren’t mailed and landed in a thrift store?

---

POLLY KLAAS LIVED. At this time of year, we tend to recall the unspeakable crime that stole away the beaming 12-year-old kidnapped from her Petaluma home by a demon of a man on Oct. 1, 1993.

But Polly lived. She danced and sang and shared joy with her friends and family.

It pleases her mother, Eve Reed, that a free dance performance Saturday in a park near their former home will celebrate Polly and the glee she found on stage.

What’s happening from 2 to 3 p.m. at Walnut Park is a dance exhibition by the Polly Klaas Foundation’s Artist in Residence Program. All this week, local students have trained with professional choreographer and hula instructor Shawna Alapa’i.

At the park Saturday, an opening piece by the students will be followed by a performance from the professional hula dance company.

The dancers invite us to come see, and to remember how this sort of thing delighted Polly.

---

SNOW LEOPARDS and their plight intrigue Joe Rohde, an extraordinary guy whose day job is designing Disney theme parks.

An artist, Rohde took a trip to Mongolia and created outdoor paintings to raise funds for the Sonoma-based Snow Leopard Conservancy.

On Oct. 4, he’ll be in Sonoma to show his paintings and also the documentary, “Leopard in the Land,” that friend Jim McEachen produced from his adventures in Mongolia.

They’ll both be at the Sebastiani Theatre to answer questions after a 3 p.m. screening of the hourlong documentary. Somebody ask Rohde about the fresh-cooked sheep’s ear he received as a Mongolian snack.

---

WHO’D WANT TO LIVE to turn 100 years old?

Frances Lones, who’s still driving and living independently, contributing to the community and having a fine time, heartily recommends it.

Frances is a native of Ukiah who taught high-school biology in the East Bay and retired a good, long time ago to Santa Rosa. She’s a marvel to her friends in the Saturday Afternoon Club and at the Schulz Museum, and to fellow volunteers of the Treasure House charitable consignment shop.

She offers this experience- tested counsel to all interested in celebrating birthday No. 100:

“Just don’t die.”

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.