Dear Neighbors -
 
Welcome to returning board member Anne Fee and to new board members, Amy Giampetroni, Lynn Rutkiewicz, and Maria Watson. I'm very excited about the new energy and ideas that the new board members (as well as other neighbors) bring up. This is exactly what makes the neighborhood so great!
Speaking of new ideas, coming this winter is the first ever Damon Woods Neighborhood Cookbook. We hope to have it ready for purchase at the cookie exchange in time for Christmas gift-giving. See the details in the cookbook article.
Please also check out the article about our 3rd Annual Harvest Fest. This one should be better than ever! Let's see if anyone can wrestle away the traveling chili cook-off trophy from Kris Gehrke. Hmmm, perhaps a few of those recipes could make it into the afore mentioned cook book!!!
Please join us for the next TGIF on August 19th hosted by Chris & Betsy Daniels as well as the September TGIF on the 23rd at Chad & Laurie Lehman's home.
On a final note, thanks to all of those who worked so hard to make the pig roast a success, especially chairperson Anne Fee, Bill Duyser and the roasting crew, children's activity coordinator Karen Roy and the two bands that played.
Enjoy the rest of the summer and I will see you around the neighborhood.

Karen McNeely
 

ANNUAL MEETING AND PICNIC
Approximately 90 neighbors turned out for the Annual Meeting and Picnic on July 9th, at the Damon Woods Historical Museum on Wauwatosa Ave. and Rogers Ave. The white board in the center of the photo shows Dan Giampetroni's winning entry for the 10th anniversary neighborhood association t-shirt logo. See the t-shirt article and the t-shirt order form for more information.

PLAY GROUP NEWS
The neighborhood playgroup is open to all moms, dads and kids in the neighborhood association. We meet on the following Thursdays from 9:30 until 11:30 am (please note the exception on August 31st. The host house provides light refreshments for all. Please join us for a morning of fun! Contact Julie Janisch with questions at info@damonwoods.org.

UPCOMING LOWELL DAMON WOODS ASSOCIATION EVENTS

	October 2nd - Damon Woods Harvest Fest
	October 31st - Trick-or-Treat
	December 3rd - Christmas Tree pickup and Christmas Cookie Exchange

UPCOMING TGIF PARTIES
TGIFs start at 7:00 pm and are open to everyone in the neighborhood. Watch for the TGIF sign on the front lawn of the host one week prior to the event. As always, please bring an appetizer or beverage to pass. TGIFs are a great way to meet new neighbors or reacquaint yourself with old neighbors in a very casual setting.
If you are interested in hosting an upcoming month, please contact Kris Gehrke at info@damonwoods.org.

	Chris and Betsy Daniels of Stickney will host on August 19th.
	Chad and Laurie Lehman of Jackson Park will host on Sept 23rd.

POKER CLUB ANYONE?
Jim Gehrke is looking for about 10 guys (two tables of five) to play poker once per month. The person who hosts would rotate and would pick the game for the night (Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Dealer calls, etc.)
Everyone would bring their own beverage to share and the host would provide snacks and appetizers. Jim is thinking that the second Monday of every month would work out fine and would like to start it in September. You can contact Jim if you are interested at info@damonwoods.org.

BOOK CLUB
Date: September 19th, 2005 at 7:30 pm 
Place: Jeanine Schoen's home on Jackson Park Blvd.
Book: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.
 
Mark Haddon's bitterly funny debut novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a murder mystery of sorts-one told by an autistic fifteen-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone, mathematically gifted and socially hopeless, raised in a working-class home by parents who can barely cope with their child's quirks. He takes everything that he sees (or is told) at face value, and is unable to sort out the strange behavior of his elders and peers. When he comes across his neighbor's poodle, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork,. he is arrested . After spending a night in jail, Christopher resolves-against the objection of his father and neighbors-to discover just who has murdered Wellington. He is encouraged by Siobhan, a social worker at his school, to write a book about his investigations, and the result-quirkily illustrated, with each chapter given its own prime number-is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

MEMORY WALK TEAM FORMING
A reminder! Chris Vogel hopes to have a Damon Woods team in the Memory Walk on Saturday, Oct. 1st. The Walk, which benefits the Alzheimer's Association of Southeastern Wisconsin, begins at 11 am at Mount Mary College. A hotdog cookout and entertainment follow. Registration is $18 for adults, which includes a short-sleeved t-shirt (or $20 for a long-sleeved t-shirt) and $8 for kids under 12. Email Chris Vogel at info@damonwoods.org if you're interested. If you do the Walk in the morning, you'll have plenty of time for the Wauwatosa Historical Society's Tour of Homes on Church Street in the afternoon.

NEXT BOARD MEETING
The neighborhood association's next board meeting is at 9:00 am, on September 10th at the Mad Mug Coffee Shop, on the corner of 80th and Burleigh. Please join us and share your ideas.
 

 
NEWS TO SHARE?
Has someone in the neighborhood had a birth? How about newsworthy items or accomplishments in your family. Pass it on to Larry Kopperud at info@damonwoods.org for inclusion in the next newsletter. 

 
“NEW NEIGHBORS” WEB PAGE TAB
Are you new to the neighborhood? Go to our neighborhood association Web page and select this button from the list along the left hand side to go the New Neighbors Form page. Fill in the information to introduce you and your family. After receipt, the Newcomers Group will stop by with a nice welcoming packet for you and your family. 

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
Richard and Linda Beaudoin of Pleasant Street announce the birth of their new grandson, Ian Alexander Kobb, born on July 2nd to daughter Meggie and son-in-law Alan Kobb. Meggie is a '99 graduate of Tosa East.
Ian weighed in at 8 lbs., 8 oz. was 20 3/4 inches tall. Meggie and Alan are living in Philadelphia, PA.
Aunt Kate Beaudoin, also of Pleasant Street (and a graduate of Tosa East in '05 ), will be a culinary arts student at The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia in September.

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
Brian and Kristin Skrade, along with big brother Ben (2-1/2 yrs), welcomed baby Charlie (Charles Nicholas) into their family on June 16, 2005.
Charlie was born at St. Mary's Hospital and measured 7 lbs., 11 oz. at 21" tall. Ben has decided having a little brother is a pretty good thing and he is looking forward to playing with Charlie as he gets bigger.

CONDOLENCES
Our sympathies to Lonnie Turner of Richmond Court, whose brother-in-law, Joseph Gray, died June 12 of brain cancer. He leaves behind a 2-year-old daughter, Josephine, and Lonnie's sister, who is pregnant and due in July.

A TASTE OF DAMON WOODS
Our Neighborhood has great cooks! The word "potluck" doesn't begin to justify the delicious dishes, appetizers and desserts that grace a buffet line at the Summer Pig Roast, a Thursday night Bunko party, a TGIF gathering, the Christmas cookie exchange or the casual meals with neighbors and friends.
If you have recipes to share, please share them! We want all the good recipes the great cooks living in Damon Woods create in their kitchens, especially the ones brought to neighborhood events. Send us your hors d'oevres , your salads, and your casseroles. We need your grilling recipes, desserts and the best ideas for the summer fruits and vegetables our many gardens produce.
One of the keys to a good cookbook is to have a variety of recipes and lots of them! You may drop off recipes at Marcy Minix home on Stickney Ave, or e-mail recipes to her at info@damonwoods.org - and the sooner the better. We hope to have the cookbooks ready for the Christmas Tree Pick-Up/Cookie Exchange in December. Take some time during these summer days to look over your recipe collection and then submit your best and favorite recipes so that Damon Woods neighbors can love them, too! If you have any questions, please e-mail Marcy at info@damonwoods.org. Happy Cooking!

RAIN GARDEN TO HELP REDUCE WATER RUN-OFF
Anyone driving or walking past Bill and Lois Tetzlaff's home on Jackson Park Blvd. this spring and summer has witnessed a curious transformation - and probably wondered just what was going on. The simple answer is that they are installing a rain garden and stream. But there is much more to the story. Last year, Bill and Lois attended a Sierra Club meeting in the neighborhood because they were interested in changing the water runoff from some of their downspouts. While there, they learned about rain gardens and took the opportunity to visit a few of them. Subsequently, Bill was interested in installing a rain garden in his back yard because of the problem of standing water he and Lois encounter in the spring. Instead, the project moved to the front yard.
Their front concrete porch had started to sink so Bill was interested in changing the stoop and the front walkway leading from the house to the sidewalk. They met Rich Christopherson, a landscape architect originally from California currently living in the area.
The Tetzalff's contracted Rich to design a plan for the front yard which, with some revisions, is what you see when you pass their house. The walkway has been moved and now includes a bridge. There is no grass, only a stream, plants, and stone. Located in the near the house is the rain garden. There are two downspouts that "feed" the garden. The downspouts are both connected to underground tubes leading to the garden. By definition, a rain garden is planted below the normal surface of the ground to collect rain water from the roof and allow the water to slowly drain into the soil.
In addition to Rich, additional contractors completed the brick and stone and stream. If you are interested in learning more about their project, Bill and Lois can certainly answer many of your questions. To learn more about rain gardens and reducing rain runoff, you can also contact Rosemary Wehnes, a Damon Woods resident who works for the Sierra Club, at her office at 414-453-3127.

HELP WANTED: 10th ANNIVERSARY NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONS
A special tenth anniversary issue of this newsletter will be published in October. To help illustrate the changes that have occurred in our neighborhood over the past decade, we are looking for pictures or stories that neighbors might have. They could include before-and-after home remodeling/landscaping photos, early neighborhood event photos, such as trick-or-treat, Christmas Tree Pick-up, the Annual Pig Roast, or even pictures of neighbor gatherings over the last ten years. You might want to share a story about participating in an event, or people you've met or relationships you've developed through our neighborhood association. Please send or drop off selections at Larry Kopperud's home or send via e-mail at info@damonwoods.org. Submissions are needed by the first week of September. This special edition newsletter will be in color and we hope to show the many changes that have occurred over the last ten years and see the wonderful opportunities for us to grow into the next ten years. Thanks for your support of our neighborhood!

DAMON WOOD INFORMATION
Keep in touch with upcoming events and news as it happens. Sign up to be a member of our neighborhood news list at Topica.com. Send an e-mail to damonwoods@topica.com with “subscribe” as the subject. Follow the online Topica instructions. The information you fill out is confidential and you will not get e-mail spam. If you find out that you don’t like it, you can unsubscribe from the service.
   

TAR AND GRAVEL ON TAP
The city has sub-contracted out to have the streets re-surfaced with tar and gravel this year (you may have noticed the work on 76th Street north of North Ave.) and some of those streets affect portions of the Damon Woods area. Contact city hall to see if and when your street may be getting this treatment and when our affected streets will be closed to vehicular traffic.
 
2005 VILLAGE EVENTS

	August 2nd: National Night Out and Tosa Tonight Concert
	August 6th: Firefly Art Fair
	August 17th: Tosa Tonight Concert
	September 9th and 10th: Tosa Fest
	September 30th-October 1st: Fall Art Walk
	October 1st: Wauwatosa Historical Tour of Homes

Things we need help with to make this event a success:

	If you enjoy baking, we need a variety of baked goods: bulk or whole items such as breads, coffee cakes, pies, cakes, etc., as well as individual items such as muffins, cookies, bars, etc., or anything else you enjoy baking (preferably items that do not need refrigeration)
	Patio tables (ideally with umbrellas) and chairs.
	Volunteers to cashier for one hour between 8:00 am and 12:00 am.
	Volunteers to distribute flyers around the neighborhood a few days before the event.

If you are willing to help with any of the above, please e-mail Meg and DJ at info@damonwoods.org.

Most importantly:

	Come to the bake sale whether it's for breakfast, a mid-morning snack, or coffee with a neighbor, (Coffee donated by Starbucks and other beverages will also be available).
	Spread the word to your friends and family!
	If you can't make it to the bake sale, you can still make a donation. Checks can be made out to "Share Our Strength".

Your contribution will fund direct service organizations across the nation and in our own community. The millions of children who go to bed hungry would appreciate your support. Here are some facts about childhood hunger:

	Thirteen million children in America are hungry or are at risk of hunger.
	Every fourth person standing in a soup kitchen line is a child.
	Hungry children are more likely to get sick and be absent from school.
	Hunger impairs a child's ability to learn in school.
	Childhood poverty is more widespread in the United States than in any other industrialized country.

Thank you in advance for your support.
-Meg and DJ Lee

10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY T-SHIRT WINNING ENTRY
Fifteen entries were submitted for selection of the 10 year neighborhood association anniversary logo at the Annual Meeting and Picnic on July 9th. Dan Giampetroni's winning entry is shown below. See the apparel order form insert to get a larger view and to place your order. Orders will be available for pick-up at the Damon Woods Harvest Fest on October 2nd. Just another good reason to attend our neighborhood Harvest Fest.

END OF AN ERA
Mrs. Carol Rogers, longtime Lincoln Elementary School teacher, is retiring.
Many of our children enjoyed Mrs. Rogers when they attended Lincoln School. She has brought her 2nd graders to the Damon House every year that she has taught at Lincoln. During my 5+ years as the Damon House caretaker, her visits with her classes were always one of the highlights of the year. She will be missed!
- Art Steadman

Mrs. Rogers (far left) and her 2nd grade class visiting the Damon Woods Museum 
on a recent class trip during her last school year before retiring this year.

DAMON DESCENDANTS
As was previously reported, numerous Damon descendants have been coming to the Damon House over the course of the last year. Bob of Colorado Springs and Tom of Appleton seem to be the Damon family genealogists. The last time Bob visited and shared additional family history, museum caretaker Art Steadman jokingly asked if Matt Damon - the heart-throb actor - was related!
Art tried to check himself but could only trace Matt's family heritage back to the late 1800's. Bob and Tom both did considerably better and have since confirmed that Matt Damon is indeed related! So how about if we all write to the Matt Damon Fan Club and seek his attendance at the Harvest Fest!?!
Next on Art's list is Johnny Damon of the Boston Red Sox!
 
CONGRATULATIONS!
Bob Gintoft of Stickney Avenue recently won the inaugural Lifetime Service Award from the Riverworks Development Corp., a redevelopment partnership of public and private agencies and organizations in Wisconsin. Bob is the senior vice president at NAI MLG Commercial in Brookfield.
Tom Persin of Forest Street has been named by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as Golf Coach of the Year for his success with the team at Marquette University High School. Persin's golfers won the Greater Metro Conference, regional, and sectional championships.

LEFTOVER ITEMS FROM DAMON WOODS PICNIC

	Blue, glass salad bowl - with large plastic fork
	Clear plastic salad bowl with white lid
	Orange plastic 2" X 8" X 8" pan - had a chocolate covered dessert in it
	Green canvas folding lawn chair
	Large wood table

Contact Art Steadman to recover these items. The longer they remain in Damon House garage, the more likely they will be damaged-or "absorbed" into Art's possession.

NEWSLETTER DISTRIBUTION
THANK YOU-to those who helped deliver the June newsletters! Ellie Bjorkman, Pam Christopherson, Patty Hovel, Cathy Kebbekus, Larry and Kathy Kopperud, Kathy Mannebach, Karen McNeely, Linda Merklein, Agnes Radabaugh (we will miss you!), Jeanine Schoen, Frank and Joanne Shansky, and Kathleen Romfoe.
If you would like to help deliver, contact Karen McNeely.