GIVING SEASON: Sundown tonight is the beginning...

GIVING SEASON: Sundown tonight is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the start of the Jewish High Holy Days. And it’s no coincidence that the Jewish Senior Center in Costa Mesa has chosen this time for a direct mail fund-raising effort. . . . Explains director Betty Benowitz: “It’s the time of the year for reflection and for doing good deeds. Helping others has always reflected the best in the Jewish tradition.” . . . The center provides many free services to seniors, but depends on donations for its operating budget.

CENTURY GOLF: If you’re a golfer, remember those aches after you decided to play a second round for the day--36 holes instead of 18? Try playing 100 holes. . . . That’s what Ashley Kinney and others will do Monday at Pacific Golf Club in San Clemente, to raise funds for Ecumenical Service Alliance. The Alliance helps local homeless and battered women. . . . “We plan to play fast,” laughs Kinney, an Alliance board member. “We’ll be thinking a lot about that prime rib dinner after the final hole.”

BACK AGAIN: Since winning the Ivo Pogorelich International solo piano competition in 1993, Edith Chen, 24, has barely had time to practice. It propelled the New Yorker into almost nonstop world touring, including a highly acclaimed appearance at Irvine Meadows in July. . . . Now she’s back--this time with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Saturday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The Orange County Philharmonic Society is bringing the orchestra here as part of its first North American tour.

CHRISTMAS BLUES: It’s only September, but the traditional Christmas tree lighting ceremony outside the La Habra Branch Public Library is already in jeopardy. . . . Friends of the Library, which is supposed to organize the event, say it’s short on funds. Members say the scrawny little six-foot tree, which many people have trouble seeing, needs to be replaced with a bigger, fluffier, more costly tree. Says Bette Frazier, the group’s president: “It’s just a Charlie Brown tree.”