Announcements and Reminders
May 29th is the official date for the Capitola Aptos Rotary annual fund raiser. We will roast the man and woman of the year and have a live and silent auction. It will benefit Meals on Wheels, as well as Cabrillo College and Grey Bears. Make your reservations soon!
Meals on Wheels will be having a Ride Along so you can see how meals are delivered on March 16th thru 20th (or you can assist on site at Live Oak Senior Center). Michelle has sent around a sign-up sheet to participate in this event.
Beach cleanup dates are April 4th, June 6th and August 1st (the first Saturday in each of those months) at Rio del Mar beach at 10 am.
The area speech contest is on March 5th at the county office of education at 3:30. Come an support our club winner!
The business showcase is tentatively scheduled for April 15th. We will get a table to promote our club. Doug will send us around a sign-up sheet.
Dr. Art spoke to us about the corona virus. It’s not an airborne illness it’s passed on by touch; therefore handwashing is crucial. He says it will be very contagious.
Sandra says we only got two RYLA applications; however If there is a last minute applicant we might take them. High school sophomores and juniors are eligible.
There will be four scholarships for Cabrillo College . they will be named the Capitola Aptos John Fisher scholarships. We are taking applicants now for all four scholarships.
Monday night at 5:30 is membership Monday here at Aptos Seascape. Join us to socialize with potential new members.
Finally, Doug announced the death of Ron Derby, one of our most faithful members. Among other contributions, he was famous for his “Thoughts for the Day” and his always insightful comments on current issues. We will miss you Ron!
Our speaker today, was an author who wrote a book entitled Leonardo’s Knots, Caroline Cocciardi. She detected a knot pattern on Mona Lisa’s dress which reveals something significant about Leonardo da Vinci the man.
In the early 2000’s new technology allowed for a photograph with 200,000 pixels that revealed the knots on the neckline of the dress in the famous portrait. In Florence there were rules about what you could wear and it is clear, Leonardo added the knots on the dress that would never have been permitted on a green wool housedress. He spent a year painting the knot. It turns out he always leaves a knot on each of his paintings such as The Lady with the Ermine and The Last Supper.
Each knot has a meaning. They are also in his notebooks. Ms. Cocciardi spent several years cataloging and dating each of these knots and these became the basis for her book.
She showed us the actual knot a sequence of interlocking octagons while asking the question: What does it mean? One clue was that with a half twist the whole knot comes undone. No one has ever been able to duplicate it. It was one of a kind.
Ms. Cocciardi spoke about sacred geometry and how it helps us to understand the meaning of the knots. The octagon had religious significance. Why octagons which are made form a circle and a square and are rarely if ever found in nature. She suggested the answer to the mystery was In the Codex Atlanticus which was written three years before DaVinci died, in the center he wrote: love conquers all.