Chardonnay's Board 2006

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2005

Annual Meeting – 70 attendees representing 46 units plus 23 proxies and 12 absentee ballots.
Reconstruct building #11 that was damaged due to the May 19 fire from lightning. All residents were back
in their condo within seven months.
Repaired drain on Vina Vista.
Social Committee purchased 12 chairs and an ice tea maker for the clubhouse.
Ladies Auxiliary (Chain Gang) purchased 40 place settings of dishes and tablecloths for the club clubhouse
and decorated the front entrance for Halloween and Christmas.
Pool railing was repaired – new lock put on the gate. Ken Allen and Alan Hahn repaired the emergency
stretcher.
Knox security boxes were installed by Chuck Gerhardstein, Jerry Lehkamp, and Bob Wheeler.
Fourteen terrace homes were equipped with timers or light sensors on the hall chandeliers.
Streets – City Council had their first reading on October 24 and the second reading on January 23. They
have officially accepted our streets contingent on the completion of the requested repairs and a final
inspection.
Two street signs were replaced and the welcome sign repaired by Chuck Gerhardstein.
Dedicated our new flag pole.
The gazebo was professionally decorated for Christmas.
Irrigation system was installed at the front entrance and extended 160 ft. up Chardonnay Drive.
Board meetings were changed to every other month.
Raised sidewalk at 100 Sonoma.
Drain behind building #6 was repaired by Chuck Gerhardstein.
Library installed by Chuck Gerhardstein and maintained by Pat Malloy.
Betty and Ned Barnes donated Kentucky state flag.
Dryer vents will be cleaned in April & October at no cost to the residents.
Cinergy straightened four streetlights.
Delinquencies were kept under $500.00.
Rental of the Elks Hall by Barb Schneider for $25.00.

FROM THE BOARD

At the Chardonnay Council of Co-Owners Annual meeting we re-elected one board member and elected two new board members all to a two-year term. We had 81 votes cast for the candidates. With 166 owners/units here at Chardonnay, this means that we had 85 votes not cast for the board of directors’ election. I have great difficulty with the fact that each owner at chardonnay has a large investment in their home, but more than half of the owners did not participate in deciding who would manage and maintain their investment. We have a number of owners who take an active part in our community and it pays dividends for them and the community. However we have a larger number who do not participate in any community functions. In 2006, when the board needs help, do not be surprised to get a call or a knock on your door asking for your help and support.

I want to thank all those owners that attended the annual meeting. I believe all who attended enjoyed the evening and congratulations to the lucky owners who won the door awards. Thanks for all the delicious snacks and drinks at the meeting goes to our “Chain Gang Auxiliary” ladies who also did a great job in serving as well.

I also want to give a “BIG THANK YOU and job well done” to Chuck Gerhardstein and Jim Smalley, who gave of their time and talents for the past two years on the board of directors.

This year will bring new challenges to the board. Our top two projects to get completed during 2006 are turning our Chardonnay street maintenance over to Cold Spring and finalizing the storm water management credit. If you are not familiar with these projects, I want to invite you to attend the board meetings to gain this information. You can also go to our web site and read the minutes of past board meetings for information.

Speaking for the board, I want to thank each of you who voted, for putting your trust in those you elected to serve Chardonnay. We will do our very best to continue to make Chardonnay a viable and attractive place to live, one that you will be proud to call HOME.

Bill Frambes, President

Highlights of 2005 (continued from Page 1)

Thanks to the Nominating Committee – Barb Culp, Jerry Lehkamp, and Adelene Mullins.

Awards were giving for outstanding service to:
Rhoda Wheeler, Adelene Mullins, and Chuck Gerhardstein.

Awards for serving on the Board of Directors were given to: Chuck Gerhardstein and James Smalley.

Rhoda Wheeler obtained four very nice gifts to be given as door prizes:
$10. Cold Spring Roadhouse gift certificate to
Beth Maggard.
$20. Applebee’s Gift Certificate to Madeline Ruf.
Blanket from National City Bank to Mike Wagner
Lenox crystal horse from Bank of Kentucky to
Michael Bastian.
One month’s condo fee to Rick Rummel.

SOCIAL COMMITTEE

Thirty-five residents attended the Valentine Dinner. Everyone had a good time visiting with friends and eating the delicious lasagna. As one attendee put it, “I thought it was the best lasagna I have had since Aunt Rita’s (she’s my aunt from Philly and she’s been gone for 20 years!) Mary Gerhardstein had a story to tell about Cupid and Chardonnay that left everyone with a bag of goodies after passing the bags “left and right”.

The next event will be the St. Patrick’s Day celebration on Friday, March 17th at 7 PM. BYOB and an Irish hors d’oeuvre to share. Wear your green and come enjoy the festivities.

Marilyn Jenner
Co-Chairman

CHARDONNAY GOLF NEWS

Chardonnay Golf Club is in need of some golfers. If interested, please call Ken Mueller 441-7033.
The golf season is drawing near and we would like to have more Chardonnay residents participate either as a regular or a sub.

There are many forms of Art. A world without art would be a world without movies, plays, music, books, pictures, paintings, and many more items. The arts do improve the quality of our lives.

Let me develop one art form that would be painting. Before modern art (painting) came on the scene, the paintings were dull, muted, tints, of colors in all the art centers of the world. A major change in the art was the introduction of bright colors. Vincent VanGogh (1853-1890) was the most important father of modern painting. Meyer Shapiro wrote the following about Vincent:

“In a single decade, between his twenty-seventh and thirty-seventh years, Dutch-born Vincent VanGogh created one of the most important legacies of painting ever to enrich the world. His striking use of color – much of it pure color, and thick-layered- exalted and even immortalized what he chose to depict: Cypress orchards, wheat fields, and swirling clouds all ablaze under the scalding sun of Provence; a café in Arles crowned by a star-dappled evening sky; sunflowers and oleanders almost palpable in their brilliance; and the hardworking peasants of the Low Countries and France, for whom he had a deep, almost religious feeling.”

One might, in a simple way, compare old art to modern art by comparing black and white TV to colored TV. Old art is black and white TV and modern art is colored TV. Both old art and modern art are good, but most people like modern art as most people like colored TV.

In conclusion, painting and other art forms could enhance the quality of our lives and if we can create art, it might just change our lives and that would be a most appropriate love affair.

Ken Allen

DUMPSTER

Owners need to call Rumpke for a special pick up when discarding large items (furniture, appliances, etc. Do NOT place them in the dumpster or in the area around the dumpster.

SYMPATHY

We would like to extend our sympathy to Gail Hewitt in the loss of her husband, Carol Hungler in the loss of her stepson and Teresa Mueller in the loss of her sister. Our prayers are with you.

THANKS

Thank you everyone who remembered me in your prayers, sent cards and telephone calls. My recovery went great. I am out and about not quite running – just look for the lady with the red bow on her hip. Thank you.

Mary Gerhardstein

ACTIVITIES

PLEASE NOTE – The board meeting has been changed from Wednesday Night to the FIRST THURSDAY of every other month starting in March. The next meeting is March 2, 2006 at 7 PM.

The monthly dinner on March 7th will be at Chez Nora, 530 Main Street, Covington. Please call Rhoda Frankerl (781-0555) or Mary Gerhardstein (441-8510) for reservations.

ATTENTION – ALL CHARDONNAY LADIES – Flo Eaglian and Julianna Meadows will be hosting a Cookie Lee Jewelry Party on Saturday March 18th at 1402-104 Napa Valley from 5 PM to 8 PM. Refreshments will be served. This is a great opportunity to get to meet your neighbors.

THANKS

We want to thank everyone at Chardonnay for their kindness and the many gifts we received in remembrance of Don. We are so very fortunate to be a part of Chardonnay and have so many special friends. We would like to mention several very special people, but we might forget someone, however you know who you are.

Marty and Mark Baxter

WANTED- We are in need of a person to chair the Pool Committee. If interested, please call Ned Barnes 441-1002. Please help!!

It started in Nuremberg, Germany. A town famous or infamous for being the launching pad for Adolf Hitler. The original marching trails, the gathering platforms, the Congress Hall for meetings are all there. A museum is devoted to the Nazi party, not to celebrate it, but to understand it and preserve that dark chapter of Germany’s history. Next to the museum is a large open marsh that was cleared in order to build a 400,000 seat stadium for Hitler’s speeches-almost four times larger that our biggest stadium. Fortunately, the Nazis were defeated before the foundation was set. The rest of Nuremberg includes one of the largest Christmas markets in the world, a medieval castle, and several art museums. Not traditionally a tourist city, it is still well worth the visit.

Passau Germany is a small town on the Danube River. The biggest draw here is an extraordinary view of the town that is trisected by 3 rivers. The castle in the hills overlooking the town also is very scenic. Yoko Ono, wife of the late John Lennon was in town to try to capture the mood through paintings.

Upon exiting Germany, I ended up in Vienna, Austria. Two days here is barely enough time to figure out the subway system. There is so much in this former capital of the Austria-Hungarian empire. The 1440 room palace (only 40 rooms open for tours), the amazing number of Cathedrals, and hundreds of museums could fill several books. For me, the most amazing place was the treasure museum which displayed a nail and a thorn that were reportedly kept from the crucifixion of Christ, along with hundreds of relics from the Apostles and Popes. I even went to my first opera, although the $4.00 ticket allowed for a standing room only area where 150 people were packed into an area that would normally seat 30.

One night was spent in Bratislava Slovakia. This is an up-and-coming tourist destination, although the recent movie “Hostel” may scare everyone away from there (I stayed in a hostel in Bratislava and survived intact-unlike the characters in the movie). The most

memorable things here were the food and the ice cream. The Slovakian Pub holds about 500 people in a countless number of rooms and is packed all the time. It is a dinner experience that will bring you back again someday. The ice cream comes in unusual flavors like Pistachio and Amoretto, and is the creamiest ever-watch out Graeters.

The final destination was Budapest. This is another city worthy of a weeklong stay (actually 2 cities on opposite sides of the river-Buda and Pest). The Castle Hill, on the Buda side, overlooking the river has historic Cathedrals, an underground labyrinth, Hungarian National Museum and much more. On the Pest side is the Parliament building (above picture)-one of the grandest buildings I have ever seen. Other sites include the Monument Square-a war memorial, a communist statue cemetery (where all the old statues of Soviet Leaders were set aside when communism was conquered here in 1988), and bridges over the river that was meticulously reconstructed after being destroyed in WWII. Budapest also has a “Museum of Terror” that traces the history of oppression from the time of the Nazis in the 1940s to the Communists in the 50-80s. It describes the work camps, the prison cells, and torture chambers of both political groups and allows you to tour them in the basement, which was a hidden prison for about 40 years.

To end on a more appealing note, Budapest is presently trying to become the Spa capital of the world. It is updating and cleaning numerous Turkish Baths so that it can become a destination of healing and relaxation. The largest “hot-tub” in the world is here (hold over 2,000 people). It is 104 degrees year-round so can be enjoyed outdoors even in sub-zero temperatures.

For a city that welcomed capitalism only 18 years ago, it is progressing rapidly. It has a great system of trains, subways, buses, and trolleys which make everything accessible. Most signs are in English, too. The one thing that it has to overcome is the skyline that is dominated by thousands of 20-story, dull, gray, apartments built under communist rule.  Lynn Cameron

The clubhouse is available for rent for parties, family get-togethers, showers, etc. It is decorated very nicely and is very comfortable for small crowds of 53 or less. The cost is $45.00. Please call Nancy Trowbridge at 442-0244 to make a reservation.

PUZZLE

What date (month, day, & year) was the Ohio River at its highest?

Answer to last month’s puzzle:
Mandarin. More than one billion people speak it.
500 million speak English.
450 million speak Hindi.

If anyone has any suggestions to improve the Grapevine, please call me at 441-8287 or email at amullins1@insightbb.com. I am always looking for new ideas.

LAST DAY TO SUBMIT MARCH DATA FOR THE GRAPEVINE IS MARCH 22, 2006

WEB SITE – www.chardonnayhome.com

BOARD
Bill Frambes, President 781-8852 wframbes1@insightbb.com
Marge Rauch, VP mrauch41@netzero.com
Gerrie Kortekamp, Secy 442-5116 gkortekamp@insightbb.com
Alan Hahn, Treas 781-6329 ralanhahn@insightbb.com
Ned Barnes, Member at Large 441-1002 nedbett@fuse.net

FOR PROBLEMS, COMPLAINTS & VIOLATIONS, CALL
Dave Munro, Towne Properties 291-5858 DaveM@tp1.com
Pat Kerner, Towne Properties 291-5858 PatK@tp1.com

COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS
Architect Maintenance – Alan Hahn 781-6329
ralanhahn@insightbb.com
Finance – Bill Frambes 781-8852 wframbes1@insightbb.com
Landscape – Beth Maggard 781-9138 childbeth2@fuse.net
Pool
Social - Pat Rummel 441-1088 rprummel@peoplepc.com
Co-Social – Marilyn Jenner 441-9099 majic@fuse.net
Co-Social – Marge Rauch 442-5883 mrauch41@netzero.com
Welcome - Judi Hahn 781-6329 judihahn@insightbb.com

Clubhouse Coordinator-Rhoda Wheeler 441-6185
whlrwheeler@aol.com
Co Clubhouse Coordinator-Nancy Trowbridge 442-0244
nanctr1400@aol.com

Editor –Adelene Mullins 441-8287 amullins1@insightbb.com