Member Creates Miniature Worlds
CV Newcomers

Susan Chusid has a chocolate shop sitting on a table in her family room. It is an exquisite rendering, on a scale of 1 inch equals 1 foot, of an actual shop in Canada. She flips a switch, and a tiny chandelier sheds light on an interior filled with furniture, linens, tiled floors and copper cooking implements, all in a style reminiscent of the early 1900’s. One can see it all through the glass bay windows and double doors at the front of the shop. Everything, including cakes and other products are represented to scale.
“My mother introduced me to the world of miniatures in 1976” she tells me, “after a relative took her to the Miniatures USA shop in Tarzana. I fell in love with the whole process immediately.”
Back then, Susan was married and worked outside the home at her husband’s business. She made miniature buildings and furnishings in her spare time. She and her husband also enjoyed an active social life and expected to happily live the rest of their lives in Cambria, California, until his untimely death a few years ago.
“I found Cambria wasn’t the best place for me as a single person—I had to drive about 45 minutes just to get to a movie” she tells me.
Missing her husband and her job, Susan joined Newcomers in Cambria to find daytime activities. At around the same time, her sister passed away and their mother was also widowed. Susan decided to ask her mother to live with her and they both relocated to an area near her mother’s family and friends in the Conejo Valley.
“I chose a new development,” she says, “because we’d all be arriving at the same time and it would be easier to make friends.” She also joined the Conejo Valley Newcomers Club (CVNC) and has made many new friends both places.
A tour of the home Susan now lives in provides more evidence of the planning ability that makes her miniature houses so perfect. She designed the exterior hardscape and landscaping which, she points out, is resistant to damage from her three beautifully behaved but active standard poodles.
“I used Fieldturf because it’s tough and looks like real grass but cleans up when hosed down” Susan says. Beautifully proportioned stone planters outline the edge of the property and a pool provides a focal point for the back yard. The quality of the materials and installation make the area restful and elegant— it doesn’t look like a dog has ever even visited.

Margaret Fieweger, a member of Newcomers, was recently Co-Chairperson of the recently held Senior Congress.

Margaret could easily relate to its theme "Healthy Aging: What You Need to Do" having retired from Cal State University, Northridge last year. As she admits herself, “I'm of the age to age!"
Since retiring she has devoted time to the Conejo/Las Virgenes Future Foundation, a cause she has been interested in for some time.
Having worked from 1976 to 1990 at California State University, Los Angeles, and then at Northridge she is pleased to have time now to be part of two book clubs as a member of the Conejo Valley Newcomers Club.

Visit the Journal pages to see photographs of some of the recent events and activities.

View the pictures of our first wine tasting new style in the journal pages

Newcomers Artist and bridge whiz too - Diane Machale's work in Westlake.

Ventura County Star
March 4, 2005

One of the many resources involved in the Conejo Valley Newcomers is Diane MacHale, a painter and bridge player. Her art education began when she was a teenager living in Orange County.
When she was 14, she was introduced to working in oil by an art student renting a room in her parents' home. Art instructors at a nearby community college allowed her to sit in on their classes. Later, she attended the Scottsdale Artists School, where she learned many different techniques.
As she raised her two sons in Arizona, she sometimes created art, giving many works as presents to family and friends. "I took a brief hiatus when my kids were in elementary school” she said. "I have painted in oil, pastel and watercolor and enjoy them all. I paint in oil for its depth, richness and texture. "However," she continued, I think its important to try different media because that makes us better at the one we especially like.

Digital camera users learn from one another at monthly meetings

Ventura County Star
January 21, 2005

Jeneane Young volunteered to create and coordinate the Digital Camera Club because, she said, "I knew many people had good digital cameras but left them in the closet because they kept putting off learning to use them."

Now, the Conejo Valley Newcomers' Club is thanking Young for establishing the group's Digital Camera Club and serving as its first chairwoman.
The energy to start the group was based on her own experience -- a trip to China in which she found her film camera wouldn't function.

International woman exemplifies club's mebership.

Ventura County Star
November 19, 2004

Joanna Dyer typifies the varied backgrounds of many Conejo Valley Newcomers Club members.
She grew up in England, where her uncle was a chef at London's Ritz Hotel. He passed on much of his knowledge to Joanna's mother, so there was always something wonderful cooking in her childhood kitchen. As an adult Joanna went on to be a classically trained Cordon Bleu chef, and also has a second profession: information technology consultant and project manager.

“I have lived and worked in most of Europe, India. Africa. Australia, and finally the U.S," Dyer said. In Seattle she met her husband Theo, who is from the Netherlands. Joanna's travels involved hard work but also afforded her a wonderful opportunity to sample a wide variety of cuisines.

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