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The Four Seasons at Beaumont Rainbow Group meets in alternate months for casual dinners. This will allow our LGBT neighbors and friends to socialize, update each other on what we have been up to and to discuss social issues. Our next dinner will be on Thursday, Sept. 22 at 6 pm. Let's gather at Smitty's, order whatever dinner items you wish and have dinner either on the patio, weather permitting, or in the adjacent Conference Room. Should you wish to enjoy your own beverages, please feel free to bring whatever you desire. If you have any suggestions or questions, please call/email Dale at (951) 797-0364 or dale. beckes@gmail.com; or Barbara at (951) 845-6246 or bamerton@alumni.ucla.edu. ~ Dale Beckes 34 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | SEPTEMBER 2016 Rainbow Group Classical Music Club We are classical music lovers with an interest in sharing our love, knowledge, and interest in classical music. We meet on the second Thursday of each month at 7 pm in the Theater. We listen to and watch musical selections on the big screen. Each month we focus on a particular work or several selections of one composer. We also discuss current musical performances in the area. We welcome new members. Contact Steve Benoff at steve.benoff@verizon.net or (310) 413-4896. ~ Steve Benoff Leaves go red, but you needn't! Drinking "seasonally" generally focuses on color. A pink rosé in spring, whites in summer, robust reds in winter. Nights grow longer and days shorter, but like reds and whites, we still have both. More reds generally find their way onto a table in the fall, but a medium- bodied white, such as an oaked Chardonnay, Roussanne, or Viognier can also have a significant place at the table to complement your fall harvest foods. Fall begins on Sept. 22 and Taste d' Vine Wine Club is excited to feature at our September Wine Club Meeting "Fall Favorites." Please join us at our September meeting on the third Thursday, Sept. 15, at 6 pm in the Ballroom for an evening of "Fall Favorites." Bring an appetizer such as bread or crackers and cheese, your own favorite bottle of wine if you wish, and a glass or two for tasting and sharing. Members $5, guests $10. ~ Gracy Luna Taste d'Vine Wouldn't it be wonderful if dying and death could be wrapped up as easily as we see it on television? We begin by watching cartoons as children. Characters are beaten down, run over, pushed off of cliffs and done in by a multitude of nefarious means. And then they pop up onto their feet and the rollicking begins anew. No one dies or even gets a lasting injury. There is no doubt that television, some cartoons included, has become increasingly violent. We regularly watch both the good guys and the bad guys get tortured and killed. But the attendant grief is rarely portrayed in a realistic manner. The focus, of course, is on the story action, not on the gut wrenching sadness that accompanies all that death. If grief were the focus, who would watch? A month or so ago I was flipping through channels and saw Carol Burnett. I love her, so I watched the rest of the show. Apparently, her character in the show had gone to Hawaii to visit old friends, bring her husband's ashes for a burial at sea and most importantly, to die. She revealed to friends that she had an inoperable brain tumor. She also had a bucket list that she wanted to complete before her death. So during the duration of that program she crossed off one activity or accomplishment after another. And amazingly, at no time did she exhibit discomfort or disability from that brain tumor. And one morning she didn't come down for breakfast, so the husband of the friends she was staying with went to get her. When she didn't respond to knocks on her door, he walked to her bedside. She opened her eyes, gave him an angelic smile, raised her hand with her fingers curved to wave goodbye, then as the wave completed she closed her eyes and died, still with a smile on her face. How nice, neat and sterile! But not an unusual portrayal of dying and death we see on TV. And those images get internalized so that when our loved ones are ill and when they die, we expect it to be easier. And many of our friends and family expect it to be easier, or to at least not take so long to heal. But it is not easy at all. The world as we know it will never be the same. Someone who really mattered to us is gone and we have to learn how to get on in this world without them. And that is what we do in the Bereavement Group. We share our pain, listen to our fellow members' pain, and little by little the agony begins to subside. The privacy and shared focus make our group a most safe place to talk and to have our feelings. No one judges or gives a timeline. You are welcome to join us. Come see what a safe, healing group we are. We meet on Mondays from 1 to 3 pm in the Crafts Room at the Lodge. You may just show up or you may call me at (951) 922-0934 or email at lauriemlarson425@gmail.com. All contact is confidential. ~ Laurie Larson Bereavement Group

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