Save the Date-ALL Spring 2019 Open House

CyFair ALL Spring 2019 Open House

Friday, January 11 from 10am-Noon

Conference Center, CENT 151

Come join us for a chance to visit with our ALL friends, have some refreshments, meet instructors, drop off your registration forms and signup for craft classes, Kroger class, driver safety class, and bus trips. You will learn about our music and theater productions on campus this spring as well as what the Friends of the Library has going on. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to our great CyFair ALL members. 

See you in a few weeks! 

ALL Holiday Party - Pictures

Thank you to everyone for making the party so much fun. Linda, the decorations were great and to everyone else that brought food - Thank You!

Have a great time over the Holidays and see you soon at the Spring Open House.

Orchestral Dances and Jazz Salute

LSC-CyFair Center for the Arts presents Orchestral Dances and Jazz Salute featuring our Symphonic Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble.

Thursday, December 6th

Main Stage Theatre

7:30pm

For admission, please bring a non-perishable food item for our Food for Thought Food Pantry.

Songs of Winter Choir Concert

The LSC-CyFair Music Department presents the Songs of Winter conducted by Daniel Bircher. This choir concert will feature selections from Tchaikovsky's "The Snow Maiden" as well as songs of inspiration and seasonal favorites.

Wednesday, November 28th

Center for the Arts-Main Stage Theatre

7.30pm

For admission, please bring a non-perishable food item for our Food for Thought Food Pantry.

Auto Maintenance

Stephen Ruback presented another maintenance class, this time for our automobiles. He talked about all the basic things we should know about our cars and included some hints on getting repairs done.

You can view Stephen's presentation here.

The Halifax Explosion

In 1917, Halifax, Nova Scotia was hit with the largest non-nuclear, man-made explosion in history. Andy Morley presented the events that lead up to the explosion that killed about 2,000 people and injured another 9,000. Andy also discussed the aftermath and lessons learned.

Andy's presentation can be viewed here.

Holiday Bows

Continuing the seasonal decorating classes, Linda Gabrielson shared with our members how to make beautiful bows to use on packages or for home decorating. So much to choose from, so many options. See some of the results below.

Be a Clown! Makeup 101

How many of you had dreams of running away to the circus? Well, a few of our brave members decided to due just that under the guidance of our very own clown, Gumdrop, aka Melo Pisha. What a blast developing your own individual persona. Look at the results below.

Dance Exhibition

We have another Center for the Arts performance this Friday, November 16, 2018 in the Black Box Theatre. Free admission! See you there.

Watercolor Holiday Cards

Linda Gabrielson showed the class some watercolor techniques to help members create their own special set of holiday cards. You can see the results below.

Vikings of North America

Andy and Kathy Morley took us on a tour of Newfoundland, Canada. We saw some great sites along the way. Andy talked about L'Anse aux Meadows, a settlement founded by the Vikings around AD 1000 and now a World Heritage Site. We also learned about the latest findings about the Vikings in this area.

You can view the presentation here.

Baked Vegetables and Shrimp in Sweet Chili Sauce

This time, Lou Master introduced us to a new flavor when he prepared a combination of bok choy, mushrooms, zucchini, onion, red bell pepper and shrimp all tossed with sweet chili sauce and baked in the oven. As usual, everyone received generous samples and greatly enjoyed the dish.

You can view the recipe here.

The Chatfield Story: Civil War Letters

Terry and Peg (Chatfield) McCarty gave a presentation of a common soldier's experiences fighting in the Western Theater of the Civil War. It was based on the diaries and personal letters written by Private Edward L. Chatfield, 113th Illinois Infantry, Co. B. He was Peg's great-granduncle. The presentation was well attended and you can view a summary here.

For further information on this story, refer to the following website: www.chatfieldstory.com.

Holiday Ornaments

Ringing in the season with more holiday ornaments with Linda Gabrielson. Each member was able to craft 3 beautiful, custom ornaments to take home and decorate the tree or give as gifts. You can see some of the great work below.

Holiday Wreath

From Linda Gabrielson's endless supplies, every member was able to create their own one-of-a-kind wreath for the front door or elsewhere in the home. Beautiful job, everyone! You can see some of the creations below.

Angel Ornament

As we move into the holiday season, Linda Gabrielson started us off with three different angel ornaments. Beautiful addition to your tree or as a gift. See some of the pictures from class, below.

Australopithecus to MinDat: Mineralogy Through the Ages

From making tools to identifying new minerals with the latest equipment, Nathalie Brandes, geologist, discussed the history of mineralogy. The Australopithecus afarensis is the earliest known human species found to have used cutting tools about 3 million years ago. Since then, humans have been discovering minerals for their function as well as for their form. We learned about some of the colorful characters involved in the history of mineralogy, as well.

You can view Nathalie's presentation here.

Water, Water Everywhere... Or Is It?

Kendra Penry of the Heifer International shared with us the current state of clean, safe drinking water around the world. Water is expected to become, and already is, a very important commodity leading to conflicts this century. Kendra discussed some of the ways we can work to ensure water is available for generations to come.

You can view Kendra's presentation here.

Korean Rice Bowl

ALL Member, Lou Master, was back again with another wonderful dish. This time, Lou showed us his take-off of the famous Korean Bibimbap dish. It is a combination of seasoned ground beef topped with sauteed carrots, zucchini and mushrooms and a fried egg, all served over rice. The class also sampled some Kimchi. Another delicious meal enjoyed by all.

You can find Lou's recipe here.

Music Appreciation

Dr. Brian Herrington, CyFair Music professor, gave us a great introduction to music in our first of three classes. We learned some of the basic music vocabulary and several of the instruments found in an orchestra. Through videos and the piano, he demonstrated what we can start listening for now that we had some idea of meter, tempos, dynamics and tone. The next two classes are Wednesdays, Nov 14 and Dec 5 in ARTS 102 (Recital Hall) at 2.30pm.

You can view Dr. Herrington's handout here.

The Bonus March

After WWI, veterans wanted to redeem their service bonuses early and put a lot of political pressure on Washington and President Hoover by invading the city. Tom Kelly, History professor, gave us the background leading to the march and discussed the impact on future veteran benefits that came out of the Bonus March.

You can view Tom's presentation here.

Tsunami Hazards

There are many causes of tsunamis not just earthquakes. Nathalie Brandes, our favorite geologist, gave us a great explanation of how tsumanis may be created as well as a review of some historic tsunami events.

You can view Nathalie's presentation here.

Fire Safety for Seniors

We had a very interesting discussion with Mike Naglieri, Fire Safety Chair at LSC-CyFair, regarding safety for seniors. We covered both fire and ambulance calls during our discussion. Some of the takeaways include:

• The two most common incidents for seniors are falls and kitchen fires.
• Have a smoke detector in each bedroom, hallway and in the kitchen.
• Smoke kills most people, not fire.
• Stop, drop and roll if on fire. Hug the ground when trying to exit house.
• In case of fire with grandkids in the house - if on the second floor and can't get out, open/break window and throw out toys so fire fighters will know someone is there.
• Practice EDITH - Exit Drills In The Home and pick a place to meet (mailbox, front yard, etc.)
• Keep a fire extinguisher, type ABC, in kitchen near door, not near stove.
• Please don't use candles.

1836 Texas and the Runaway Scrape

Glenn Camp shared some stories about Texian families as Santa Anna started his march across Texas. The mass evacuations of those families, leaving everything behind, was known as the Runaway Scrape. These stories provided an interesting discussion of another piece of the Texas Revolution.

You can view Glenn's presentation here.

Culture of Volunteerism

We had an interesting discussion with Buck Buchanan, CyFair Geography professor, as he discussed his recent sabbatical. Buck visited as many of the U.S. National Marine Sanctuaries as he could to determine their environmental state and discover the work of the volunteers at the various sites. The ocean gives us many clues as to the state of our environment and we discussed many of those aspects.

You can view Buck's presentation here.

Mini-Gourd Cat Ornament

We are getting in the mood for Halloween with our mini-gourd cat ornaments. Look at some of the fun we had below with Linda Gabrielson.