Leland Street Sunday News

Leland Street Sunday News
October 8, 2007
Editors: Vike and Wendy Vicente
Leland Street Halloween Fest – October 28

*************Neighborhood Watch*************
The Rubashkin family reports: Both of our cars were rifled last night parked in our driveway, they were unlocked. This is the second time in a couple of months. The police recommend that we lock the vehicles, even in the driveway, and take care not to leave any valuables in the car.

Regarding the Leland Street Halloween Fest:
Please see volunteer opportunities for drinks (contact Jill Bateman) and tables and chairs (contact Farrell Cosmas) below.

Seven Ladies of Leland Street, Bonnie, Marcy, Leanne, Melissa, Stephanie, Farrell, and Jill, met for lunch at Mon Ami Gabi to plan the Annual Leland Street Halloween Fest.


However, many other women are helping to plan and organize the Halloween event and continuing the traditions we have come to enjoy. Arthur Forrest will once again serve as Grand Marshall, and Maggie Simpson and family will be presenting their Haunted House. There will be games and a piñata and of course the buffet dinner that evening. The event is planned for October 28th so mark your calendars!
There was also plenty of social time at the luncheon. Stephanie arrived with two and a half week old daughter, Pip. Pip did not make a peep during the whole lunch.

She was absolutely adorable and we all loved having that time with the newest little lady on the block. Claire Bateman arrived towards the end of the lunch to meet Jill.
They are planning another college tour trip. The afternoon ended with the first of Farrell’s birthday celebrations.

Mon Ami Gabi presented Farrell with a birthday candle in her profiterole. Farrell made a wish as we all wished her a happy birthday. The celebration continued for Farrell later in the week as Bonnie, Vicky and Marcy took Farrell out for a Birthday dinner at Rock Creek Grille on Elm Avenue.


FLORENCE LLOYD:
Florence's wonderful vacation with grandaughter, Rachel and friend, Gretchen was mentioned in the September 23rd edition of the LSSN but we did not have photos to post. We now have photos to complete the travel journal.
Florence spent a glorious month with her granddaughter, Rachel and Rachel’s friend, Gretchen in Santiago de Compostela. Rachel is a professor at University of Pennsylvania and Gretchen is a professor at Hofstra.

Gretchen, Florence and Rachel
Gretchen is a mathematician and was attending a conference for Mathematicians from all over the world, she also spoke at the conference. The town is named after the Apostle Saint James ("Santiago"), who is buried here Santiago is certainly one of Spain's most monumental towns, with a particular architectonical style all of its own and onen of the most famous Universities within it’s historical walls. This ancient town was built in the 700’s and has been kept intact. They rented an apartment near the University. They rented a car and did several day trips up and down the coast, enjoying the fishing villages, sights, sounds and seafood.

The region's cuisine is of great reputation, and it is said that nowhere you can eat better sea-food than in Galicia. Florence said they consumed everything that creeped, crawled or swam. Here you see Florence at the market. They were there as part of a "gastronomical tour" offered by the tourism office. They ended the tour with a wonderful feast of octopus, cockles, sardines and a lovely local wine called albariño.

This is a woman at the market selling "pimientos de padron" a local mild pepper that is prepared deep fried with salt.
While they were there, an annual pilgrimage took place, that was fascinating to observe. Santiago de Compostela is the final destination of the legendary medieval way of pilgrimship Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint James), now considered by Unesco a World Heritage Site. It attracts visitors from all over the world, many come in costumes. Florence said they met a man from Massachusetts, who heard them speaking English, so he joined their merry group of three. This man had walked from France to Spain with the pilgrimage.

This is a picture of Gretchen and Florence discussing the architecture of the main cathedral. You can see the cathedral steps behind them.
Florence laughingly told her granddaughter that she just loved Spain and wanted to die in Spain (not necessarily on this trip) she said, “If I do, don’t bother to bring me home, just spread my ashes!” However, we are happy to report, Florence came home on her own and might just return on her own again one day!


Bateman

The Batemans are off this weekend for yet another college visit with Annie and Claire. We are also looking forward to Will coming home next weekend for fall break....and to the Halloween Block party on Oct. 28th. Jill is requesting a volunteer to be in charge of sodas/other drinks and ice for the block party. email me at jillan1@comcast.net

Boland
Leanne says: we might be the only family that has moved into 2 homes on the 4100 block of Leland Street. In 1983 we moved into [the Vicentes’] house, 4132, and in '88 we moved into 4115. When we moved into 4132 I remember thinking that the backyard was huge, but by 1988 we had 4 children and were "bursting at the seams" inside the house. (The attic hadn't been finished at that time.)

I remember how lucky we felt to be shown 4115 by Walter Gardner when he'd decided to move. The house and grounds needed a tremendous amount of work, but the house was so charming. After we'd seen the house I enthusiastically wrote Mr. Gardner a note on the back of one of the children's school drawings, the first piece of paper I could lay my hands on. Little by little over the years, as we could afford them, we've made home improvements. I don't think we'll ever be "finished," but all the work and our great neighbors affirm that "there's no place like home." It's been a pleasure coming home to Leland Street.

As far as our family news, Jimmy and Monty have both been suffering from colds, but are now on the mend. I enjoyed the block party planning luncheon at Mon Ami Gabi and am looking forward to October 28th and our annual parade and block party. One evening midweek the temporary pipe at the end of our driveway sprung a leak and WSSC sent out a repairman. However, he arrived in an unmarked car and out of uniform, and not able to communicate very well. I wondered if he was the real thing. Fortunately he was, and ably repaired the leak. The water was only turned off briefly, and the work was completed swiftly. I'm awaiting a call back from the WSSC point man who told me that he'd try to find out from the job captain when the work will be completed on our block. Meanwhile the car wash businesses in the area are thriving!

Cosmas
Farrell sends a plea for tables and chairs for the Halloween block party – please give her a ring if you can help (she’s having email troubles and can’t read emails now).

Farrell remembers when she and Bill moved into their new house nearly thirty years ago; Farrell was thrilled they didn’t have to move far from the house that they had rented on Meadow Street. The first neighbors they met were Florence and Joel Lloyd, who had them over for dinner with some other neighbors.

Duffy

Charles, Bonnie, and Matthew spent the weekend attending Bonnie’s aunt’s wedding in Chapel Hill, NC, and they all enjoyed great time with family. Bonnie reflects about an early encounter she had with Leland Street neighbors when she was dating Charles. Bonnie had just taken Missy for a swim in Rock Creek. Ben and Vicky’s front door opened at the wrong time, and a wet Missy bounded into their house. Bonnie laughs and says that Ben was very gracious about it, and she has similarly been overwhelmed with the kindness of the neighborhood since she officially joined our street.

Forrest

Arthur’s Reflections: In 1994, the big earthquake hit Ca. in the area where Marcy and I were living. We had decided to move a few months before this, but it really made up our minds. The big decision was where would we move? Eventually we found ourselves in the company of a real estate agent, being driven down Leland St. in the dead of winter. Snow, ice you name it. We settled in front of 4136 and looking at the house as it sat there, it looked like it was about to fall down. Not quite like something from a Stephan King novel but close. After looking through the home, and deciding that we were really choosing a neighborhood, not just a home, we made an offer. Twenty minutes later we were the new owners. As you all know, we tore the house down to its foundations and Marcy designed the wonderful house that now sits at 4136 Leland. Three months after we moved in, I had surgery. The morning after I came home from the hospital, Marcy went out to get the newspaper, and discovered that our front porch was filled with pastries, casseroles, pasta -- a veritable buffet! We were overwhelmed with the kindness of our new neighbors. The decision to move to this street was probably the most important decision of our marriage, other than deciding to have our two wonderful children. I could go on and on about the wonderful warmth, friendliness, good nature of the residents of Leland St. This and so many other things have made our living here a true joy. Needless to say we are NEVER leaving this street.

Marcy’s Reflections: I was on a plane from Los Angeles to D. C. just four days after the major 6.9 Earthquake of 1994 to look for a new home in Chevy Chase. The Earthquake was not the reason I was seeking to relocate on the east coast; let's just say it was the final straw. I arrived in the middle of an ice storm on January 20th, hardly the best time to buy a home. I saw a For Sale sign on 4102 Leland Street and knocked on the door. Dee Gold invited me in. As it turned out, her home was not right for our needs but she was so welcoming. Dee poured me a cup of tea and told me all about Leland Street and several of the neighbors. She showed me a copy of The Leland Street Sunday News and I thought "Wow, what a neighborhood". Soon after I received a call from a Realtor, Polly Crane, telling me she had a quirky little house at 4136 Leland Street that just might interest me. We bought the house in twenty minutes. The house we bought was a very different home from the one you now see on this plot of land, but the skeleton of a California bungalow along with everything Dee Gold had told me about the neighborhood seduced us into the decision of a life time.

During the course of construction, we became acquainted with the neighbors. One blazing hot afternoon, Julie Trocchio invited me in and quenched my thirst with a glass of water, then John Trocchio poured me a glass of wine. Mary Stuart-Proctor allowed me use of her home while mine was without plumbing. A doctor friend of ours told us that his daughter's favorite teacher, Anne Lippold, lived on Leland Street. Bob and Sylvia Jones knocked on our door, smiled and said, "Hi Neighbors!" Bob and Sue Patch gave us a warm smile at their Banana Split Party and said, "We were hoping you would come." Well, we had heard all about the Patch's annual event and were so eager to meet our neighbors. Bill Cosmas invited us to dinner the following week. I thought we would need to hear that invitation from the lady of the house and sure enough, Farrell called to introduce herself as soon as she arrived home from Nantucket. By the time we attended Dave and Ann Lee's Holiday Caroling in December we had the chance in one way or another to know just about everyone up and down the street. Since the time we arrived on Leland Street in 1994, so many additional families have taken residence: Batemans, Martz/Davies, Taplin/Delancys, Duffys, Peppe/Gibsons, Horowitz/Kazins, Simpson/Paynes, Strothers, Vicentes, and Daniel/Wolffs. Imagine that each of these families who have relocated here from points north, south, east and west, have all become active members of this incredible community! We love you all!

Editor’s note: Marcy urges any neighbors who want to put a photo on the Leland Street blog for this week to send it to her.

Patch

Editor’s note: Marcy Forrest received this from Bob Patch, and we are including it for our “Homecoming” (i.e., nostalgia) edition of the LSSN.

The LSSN was begun by two children, Andrew Patch of 4106 Leland and Claudia Kolker of 4108 Leland, both eleven years old at the time. The inaugural issue was November 11, l973. The first few issues were duplicated by Andrew's father on an office copier. Then Claudia's father, the late Dr. Jonas Kolker, bought a "Ditto" machine on which subsequent copies were literally cranked out, until electronic word processing took over.

Payne/Simpson

The Paynes had a great Trash and Treasures weekend. If you noticed a mom with three little kids pushing a big ping pong table on wheels from Virgilia Street all the way along the roadside to 4138 Leland around 1:30pm on Sunday -- you now know who those crazy people were. What a find -- it's in great shape and came with new nets and ping pong balls -- and to top it off there was "no assembly required"...for any of you who have ever ordered a ping pong table online I know you will appreciate this. And thanks to the Peppes, Turner now has a brand new bike with training wheels which he loves (ps: don't say a word but I tore off the barbie decor before he even noticed). These new additions forced us to spend the rest of the weekend cleaning out our garage and basement and getting rid of a ton of toys and equipment we never use so it was a very fruitful weekend all around.

First memories of our street: I remember 12 years ago... I used to drive through this neighborhood every day after work looking for houses for sale determined to live in this beautiful spot. Everything was out of our league. But I did notice this one house that seemed to have been on the market for quite a long time and I thought "well maybe we can get a deal." And we did. It needed a lot of work, for sure, but Michael and I fell in love with the high ceilings and the pond in the backyard -- not to mention the street itself.

A few years ago we seriously looked into moving into another home not too far away with a bigger lot where our kids would have more room to play. We were sure they'd be very excited about the idea. Not so. "But where's the pond mommy? And what about the Leland Street Parade?" Clearly we had all the home we needed.

Trocchio

The day we moved into Leland Street, we were greeted by Leanne Boland with warm chocolate chip cookies. I returned the favor a few years later when I alerted her that her sons were on her roof.

News: last month we pulled up wall to wall carpeting that had covered the floors for about 30 years. The floors were a mess with paint stains and other problems. Carpet Palace on Wisconsin Avenue did a fabulous job at a great price cleaning and polishing them. We are looking really good.

Vicente (your authors)

We arrived four and four score minus eighty years ago, which in Leland years means we are still newbies. We first saw the neighborhood on a cold, wet March Saturday. We saw this house and about 25 others that day. Wendy immediately took it off the list in her head and didn’t pay attention to any details about it until, at the end of the day, it was the only house with a neighborhood that said “home.” A couple of months later, Wendy introduced herself to Arthur Forrest and asked him if it was a nice neighborhood. An hour later, she was sure that it was! I met her at the closing office and as we signed away all the mortgage papers, those papers with all those zeros, she kept telling me “We found a great place!” I was excited, thinking that maybe she had found a master bathroom above a drive-in garage, along with a jacuzzi, that we had not noticed during the home inspection (Wendy notes that it is possible to buy a house without knowing if there is a master bathroom). But after meeting everyone here, I agreed we lucked out. What a bargain -- there are blocks out there with lots of houses, but none have so many homes as Leland.

Vicente news:
we just returned from a day trip to Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Mark bravely rode the bumper cars and kiddie roller coaster, although the princess was a bit overwhelming for him. Peter toddled about, pretending to be a cow and a monkey. The boys are looking forward to a visit from Wendy’s parents at the end of October, when Mark will have his first-ever sleep-away from both parents. Wendy thanks Stephanie and Chris for salvaging their Halloween plans – Wendy had put an incredible amount of thought into planning a “Peter Pan” family costume theme this year, which was foiled when Mark announced that he was going to be a cowboy, not a crocodile with a tick-tock clock. Stephanie and Chris graciously offered the use of Kyle’s cowboy costumes for the boys (thanks!).