A CELEBRATION OF RED, WHITE AND BLUE

Many from Leland Street were amongst the throngs who witnessed the Inauguration Ceremony, the stories continue to be shared. Miriam Daniels spent all of Inaugural morning wandering around with a good friend visiting from California, trying to get into the Purple Section of the Mall. Finally they found a Jumbotron and were happy to see the inauguration. That evening, three of the Wolff family, Miriam, Larry, David, and friends attended the Southern Inaugural Ball and were thrilled to see President Barack and Michelle Obama as well as Vice President Joe Biden and his lovely wife, Jill.


The Kazins had a wonderful time on Inauguration Day. With many thousands of their fellow Obamaites, Beth and Michael watched the ceremonies on a Jumbotron near the Washington monument. The night before, Maia slept at a friend’s house on Capitol Hill and so got a better view the next morning. Danny saw it all on another giant TV perched in the middle of the Columbia University quad in Manhattan.

Some of the Rubashkin/Karasiks did decide to brave the cold and the crowds on Inauguration day. David discovered that Metro bus was running an express bus from CC circle to 18th and L., so Pamela, Hannah, and Sophie, dressed in many layers, with sandwiches in one pocket, a water bottle in the other, and a camera round the neck, headed downtown at 7:30 am. No traffic, and they were downtown by 8 am. They walked to the mall, with a crowd that was happy, excited, and well behaved, swelling in numbers the closer they got to the mall.

They parked ourselves in front of a Jumbotron at 12th and Constitution, surrounded by a group of high school students and their teacher (who had an infant in tow from Alaska!). The crowds kept them warm and out of the wind and the ceremony brought pride to thousands. Except for the crowds trying to get off the mall at the end of the ceremony (for some reason the park service decided that all of those in one section of the mall needed to exit through a six foot opening in a gate at 12th and Independence), the day was perfect. The family made its way back to the bus, and were home by 3 pm, enjoying a hot meal! David and Jacob joined friends in Bethesda, choosing to watch from a warm restaurant. The whole family watched the parade from home and marveled at those hardy souls who waited all day! Now back to work and school (snow storms not withstanding), Hannah and Jacob are preparing for their MCYO concerts this month. Sophie wants very much to get her new racing cycle out for a test ride in the warmer weather.

The Ayaz Family celebrated Arianna’s 5th birthday with a Glamour Girl party! We have enjoyed spending more time with friends in the neighborhood and are headed to Florida for Spring Break! We are looking forward to Spring!


Last month the Duffys enjoyed a trip to Florida. They were joined by Charles’ mother, and all had fun in the sun. One of the highlights of the trip was watching the Pittsburgh Pirates in spring training practice, with Matthew an enthusiastic fan.

Matthew finds fun in both snow and sand. He made a winter friend of the last snowfall. The Duffys are looking forward to the warm temperatures of spring and seeing more Leland Street Neighbors.

Both Jimmy and Leanne Boland were out of town for the Inauguration, but watched the festivities on television. Leanne was helping parents move, and was in Louisiana again this weekend. Patrick is home and working for Insurance House. Monty is training clients in their homes in addition to his work as a certified fitness trainer at the University Club. If anyone needs some help getting into shape, he’s your man and is available daily until 3 pm. (301 767 5356).
Leanne and Jimmy are very blessed to see the grandchildren often, and can’t wait to introduce them to the town’s new playground equipment. Will is 2 1⁄2 yrs and loves to play with his uncles. Mae, quite calm in comparison to her brother, will be 5 months old in a week. Her smiles are showered on all!
Since January, Leanne has enjoyed performances by the American Ballet Theatre, The Washington Ballet and New York City Ballet.


Leanne is looking forward to working in the garden, and plans on going to the Washington Home and Garden Show with her sister who lives in Easton.



Marcy and Arthur Forrest look forward to the ballet season, in particular the astounding Alvin Ailey Ballet, which is an annual family event.

Marcy and her sister, Sheila, enjoyed a few days in Philadelphia for the annual Flower Show. This year’s theme was Italy, which unleashed such a creative force for the presenters of ten acres of the seven regions of Italian landscape, architecture, music and fashions. In celebration of the theme, Marcy wore sunflower colors and Sheila wore her sunflower pattern jacket.


Imagine stepping in from a grey, drizzly winter morning to the sensory explosion of colors, fragrances, as well as, garlic clusters, peppers, and even stalks of pasta. There were waterfalls, fountains, gondolas, statuary and some home settings from all of the regions of Bella Italia! At the close of the day we were treated to live opera performances from heart of the Flower Show .



Nicole and Steve recently spent a few days in NYC. They toured the Calder exhibition at the Whitney Museum,enjoyed a matinee performance of South Pacific, took a carriage ride through Central Park, strolled through the zoo and had brunch and cocktails with friends. Ahh...New York, New York...so much to do and see.


Zak and Chad are busy this month taking ZF-Films to St. Louis, Los Angeles.



The Kazin family has returned to life as normal since the excitement and activity of the Inauguration events, at least as normal as possible during the recession. Maia did travel to Los Angeles to sing with the Maret choir, and Michael spoke at Rutgers on the past and future of liberalism. Zoe clearly enjoyed gamboling in the snow last week—but not as much as when she was a puppy and didn’t give a thought to her freezing paws.


Beth and Michael have become addicts of The Wire, a police drama series set in Baltimore, Maryland, perhaps setting a record for watching more DVDs of the show in less time than anyone in history.

Julie Trocchio is traveling to Scottsdale and LA this week, just when the weather on Leland Street is at its best, oh, well. Elizabeth had her office Christmas party last week, since she works for a caterer, December was too busy! Have you tried the new cheese stand at the farm woman’s market? Farm fresh eggs and milk too, highly recommended.

The Simpson/Payne family went skiing for the first time at Wintergreen. All three kids loved it and after one day at ski school were all doing great. Jack took to snow boarding and has declared it his second favorite sport after soccer.


The family is enjoying a new life with Chloe, a golden doodle. She is keeping them all more fit and is a source of constant entertainment. Jack and Sarah are loving their first year at Chevy Chase Elementary and the whole family is looking forward to Spring on Leland Street. If anyone is looking for last minute ideas for Spring Break/summer, the Simpson/Payne beach house is for rent.
Click on this link for more information and pictures: http://homeexchange.com/show.php?id=100930

Dorothy and Fred Solomon were visited in February by their Williamstown family, including their 13 yr old step-grandson who was especially thrilled by the Spy Museum.


Later in March, they’re expecting a visit from their Philadelphia family—which includes their granddaughter (age 7) and grandson (age 4 1⁄2). Do neighbors have any suggestions for super entertaining events or activities for this age group ? Thanks!

The Lubans are proud to announce the engagement of their son Ben to Kim Kulik, a graduate of UCLA and an LA native. Ben is finishing up an MBA at Columbia Business School. An engagement party will take place April 4 at the Cosmos Club with the wedding planned for August in LA. In expectation of many visitors, the Lubans replaced the floor tiles in the kitchen and family room.
Naomi reports that forty doctors will be at an all day retreat at her home on Thursday for junior faculty at GW medical school and Children’s Hospital. (so Leland Streeters know where to go if there is a Thursday emergency).
Naomi reports that Ben Rainey is doing well at the Armed Forces Home on Oregon Avenue and that she and Norm visit him as well as his wife Dorothy regularly. Ben and Dorothy lived for many years at 4100 Leland Street.

The Davies/Martz’s have lots of news. Stephanie has just begun work as the Chief Counsel to Senator Charles Schumer of NewYork.


Chris was just back from a six week trip to India (Mumbai and Hyderabad) and is returning next week. He is working to defend Price Waterhouse India, the auditors of Satyam Computers, of any liability, after the CEO of Satyam admitted that he was involved in a billion dollar scam.


Kyle’s hockey team won their regular season in the Capital Beltway Hockey league, but they lost 5-3 in the playoffs. Nora had a violin recital, and she is now playing Song of the Wind. Pip has been accepted to the Oneness Family Preschool where she will begin next fall.

The Wolff/Daniels were happy to have a four day visit from Becky who is working in Seattle for Microsoft as “associate product developer” for Windows Live, focusing on improving the look and feel of Microsoft’s web services. Becky says that Seattle is not as rainy as people say and she likes its informal style. She had a nice ski trip to Whistler in Canada. This weekend she met many of her college and high school friends who are living in the DC area.
David has just rented an apartment in Cleveland Park with one of his college roommates. He continues to teach music to preschoolers at Bach to Rock, as well as voice and musicianship to pre-teens, and recently joined the Cantate Chamber Singers, a local group performing classical and modern choral music. For performances go to www.cantate.org.



Larry and Miriam were in Florida where Miriam’s father received a “Lifetime Award for Service” from the American Reform Zionist Association, the Zionist arm of the Reform Jewish movement. Larry will be attending the annual conference of the Comparative and International Education Society in Charleston, SC, where he will be presenting papers on community colleges and on education assessments in Latin America. Miriam has started up again on Hebrew language lessons. After many years of begging others to help him, Larry is learning to use Microsoft Power Point in a course offered by Montgomery College’s extension division.

Leanne Boland’s book club recently compared All the Kings Men, by Robert Penn Warren, to Huey Long, by T. Harry Williams, and watched the 1949 film based on All the Kings Men.


Arthur Forrest is currently reading the new novel by John Grisham, The Associate, and also enjoyed rereading The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon.


The town has received the Bedell commemorative plaque and plans to install it once tree mulching has been completed, probably later this month. Neighbors will be reminded of Dorothy and Henry when walking past the tree between 4113 and 4111 Leland Street.

Leland Streeters send their collective thanks to Ann Lee’s Girl Scout granddaughters - those Girl Scout cookies are still the best!

The LSSN looks forward with Leland Streeters to warmer and better days to come!

Everything is Coming Up Roses

Marcy and Arthur enjoyed a rosie start to the New Year at the Tournament of Roses Parade where Arthur once again served as
Executive Producer/Director for the NBC production. This year's theme was "Hats Off to Entertainment."

The new year brings New Neighbors to 4111 Leland Street


We extend a warm welcome to Phil and Jody Fidler.
Jody writes:
We're looking forward to warmer weather so we can be outside more! We arrived here at the beginning of January with Max(10), Jack (soon to be 7) and our shitzu-poo Suzie, after nine years in Fairfield, Connecticut. The boys have been playing a lot of basketball at the Leland Center and they are enjoying the fact that school closes if there is a snowflake sighting. They are both looking forward to playing baseball in the spring and Jack is hoping for "kid pitch". We are very grateful to Melissa, Doug, Molly and Gordon for their hospitality, local guidance on important things like Chinese delivery and most of all, outgrown Pokemon cards! We look forward to meeting everyone. Feel free to stop over! Jody

AYAZ:
Nicole reports that the family celebrated the holidays with many visitors! Nicole's parents came from Arizona and her brother came for his first visit from Los Angeles. They enjoyed several family reunions with relatives visiting from Philadelphia and San Francisco!!!

They took Arianna and Sophia to New York to visit the ice rink at Rockefeller Center and take a Carriage Ride through Central Park. The girls were thrilled with the snow in NYC!!! Leland Street was beautiful and the whole family enjoyed everyone's festive decorations. We took the kids sledding at Chevy Chase park. The girls are loving the snow! Nicole sends wishes for a happy and healthy New Year to all her new neighbors!

COSMAS: The Cosmas family had a wonderful Christmas holiday. Will was home and Bill and Farrell spent a quite day with him and Ned and Lisa Fitch, brother and sister-in-law. Before Will went back to move into his new apartment in Somerville with Lady-love Karen, they all saw a lot of his old friends from St. Albans. It was great fun to catch up with all of these young men who used to gather at our house virtually every weekend and who call Farrell "Mama Cos" and Bill "Hot Bill." They are all now thirty and pursuing careers from acting, performing and writing music to promoting sustainable fish cuisine, doctoring and lawyering. Hard to believe! Time does fly.
Bill and Farrell welcome to the world their new grandson, Casey William Armstrong Boone. New born son of daughter, Jenny and husband, Evan Boone.

The family enjoyed a visit by daughter Lisa and her two toddlers Oscar and Josie on January 23rd.

Matthew Duffy and Oscar enjoyed the first snowfall of the year, it was so cold that icicles froze into fangs on Papa Bear at the Forrest home!


Delancy:
Special thanks to Ann Lee for hosting her annual caroling party. It was such a festive start to the holiday season, and a cheerful setting for catching up with neighbors. Most of Vicky's family was here for Christmas and Paul's 14th birthday, which was on the 26th. For a birthday outing, we all went to see the movie "Valkyrie," which worked for all ages, teenagers and up, and then later had dinner at Clyde's in Friendship Heights. Russell and Vicky spent nearly 5 hours at the MVA on new year's eve day and came away with Russell's driver's license. Mission accomplished in 2008!!

Other movies we saw recently and would recommend are "I've Loved You So Long" and "Gran Torino," (though we didn't take the 14-year-old to either of these -- these are adult movies!). Now that school has started again, we are hoping for snowy days and school cancellations, so that we can take the boys snowboarding. Paul's birthday present was a snowboard (or was it his Christmas present?!? --it's all a blur.) May 2009 be a happy, healthy year for all!

We had a wonderful day down at the inauguration. So exciting! I think we did well because we didn't have tickets. We just took the metro down at a reasonable hour and walked over to the WWII Memorial, in front of 2 jumbotrons.



Then later walked over to Ben's office on Penn. Ave. to get a good window view of the parade. Saw the Obamas for a split second before they got back into the car. It was a wonderful, memorable day!!



DUFFY:
Bonnie reports that they all enjoyed being with family in Chapel Hill for Christmas. Afterwards, they joined Charles' sister and family on a short trip to Philadelphia. They found the city to be quite fun and interesting.

Matthew particularly liked the "Please Touch" children's museum and the Fire House Museum. The older cousins were fascinated by the history lessons of Independence Hall. And Matthew's cousin Sophia found out how loud the guards yell when you reach past the cord and touch the liberty bell.
Charles' mother joined the Duffys for an extended visit to ring in the New Year. Matthew enjoyed a January visit by Farrell and Bill Cosmas' grandchildren, Oscar and Josie.

Matthew and cousins got into the full spirit of the 2009 Super Bowl game.

Happy New Year to all our Leland Street neighbors.

FORREST:
Marcy and Arthur flew to California on Christmas Day for Arthur's final production week for the NBC Rose Parade. It is a lively week of socializing with long time friends in addition to NBC events and Rose Parade events. A highlight of the week for Marcy is taking a tour of the Rose Parade float constructions. It is fascinating to see everything from petals to peppercorns attached to the huge floats. Here is a photo of the magnificent "Wizard of Oz" float under construction.

The parade rolled down the streets of Pasadena in bright sunshine and cool breezes on New Year's Day. As Arthur stepped into the control booth and put on his head set, Marcy was joined in the stands by family and friends. Following the parade, Arthur flew home to Chevy Chase and Marcy and her family drove south to Laguna to clear out and close down a family home.

Zak had a full house between the holidays with production buddies enjoying hours and hours, day after day of friendship, film, food and editing work they have recently filmed at music festivals.
Nicole hosted a holiday brunch with her girlfriends, and enjoyed a full vacation week of holiday fun catching up on newly released films and seeing the classic "It's a Wonderful Life" at the AFI in Silver Springs. She also enjoyed a varied round of holiday parties including a poker party and a New Year's Eve dinner.

Nicole and Steve were among the warm hearted souls with cold feet and frozen fingers on Inauguration Day. They had a great view of the proceedings from the lawn of the Capital. It was a thrilling experience on many levels.

PAYNE: The Paynes had a wonderful Christmas. Maggie's three sisters and their families flew in from France and Ohio to celebrate their mom's life and had a family reunion at the Inn at Vaucluse Springs in Virginia...a wonderful old, rustic country inn only an hour and half from DC. We first read about it in Washingtonian and have been going there for past 2 years...great place in winter and summer...a world away, which we highly recommend, especially the Chumley House.
The whole family then drove 9 hrs to our beach house in Charleston, where we had a fabulous week in 75 degree weather with sunny skies and a very happy puppy.

Yes, our big news is that Santa brought a puppy for Xmas. We have a 12 week old Golden Doodle called Chloe. Our first dog ever and we are loving the new addition. Hope to see all of you more now that we have great motivation to take long walks around the neighborhood. Chloe is particularly fond of the Taplins front lawn polar bear which she will miss greatly when the Xmas decorations come down.

TROCCHIO: The Trocchio's had lots of company over the holidays, travelers from Atlanta to Long Island. Jennie was home for Christmas but went back to Florida where she spent New Year's Eve in Key West. Julie saw Marley and Me and loved it, Elizabeth saw Yes Man and said it was mostly good.


WOLFF/DANIEL: The Wolff/Daniel family spent Christmas and New Years in Sarasota and Long Boat Key, Florida, where Miriam's father lives, and were joined by many family relatives. Highlights included gorgeous weather, wonderful fresh fish meals, tennis, yoga on the beach, beautiful sunsets, and warm reconnecting with relatives. They also spent a morning canoeing and kayaking the Myakka River, where they nearly ran into a six feet long alligator and also paddled up to great blue herons, roseate spoonbills, black vultures, egrets, and ibises.

David spent a long weekend after New Years in Atlantic City with his college buddies and decided that gambling was not for him. Becky has since returned to snow and rain in Seattle, where she works for Microsoft helping to market Windows Live. Toby (dog) stayed home but was happy to see the family again.
Larry traveled to Pretoria South Africa to attend a conference on education assessments in early December. He visited the Apartheid museum in Johannesburg, and began to understand the dynamics of South Africa's multi-racial society. He did not have time to travel around the country but did get to pet baby cheetahs in the mini game park near the hotel.
Elizabeth saw Yes Man and said it was mostly good.

Miriam recommends the Indian movie "Slumdog Millionaire" which is violent yet deeply moving.
The Wolff Daniels wish everyone a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year.

From from our dear former neighbor, Sylvia Jones exciting news about her daughter in law Emma:
Robert Skalli, chairman of family-owned St. Supery Vineyards & Winery, is pleased to announce the appointment of Emma Swain as president of its acclaimed Napa Valley estate winery effective March 2, 2009. In this newly created position that reports to C.E.O. Michaela Rodeno, Ms. Swain will assume responsibility for vineyard and winery activities as well for SFWAmericas, the winery's import division focused on the Skalli family's wines from the South of France.
Elizabeth saw Yes Man and said it was mostly good.

Ms. Swain brings a strong background in strategy, sales, marketing, finance, operations and export to her new position from 17 years of experience at Sebastiani Vineyards, a venerable Sonoma producer she helped restructure as a super-premium winery, and Niebaum-Coppola.

The holiday season begins with finding a perfect tree.

Leland Street Sunday News
December 15, 2008
Editors: Vike and Wendy Vicente
Anyone still needing a Christmas tree can visit Sundback's on Wisconsin Avenue where Patrick Boland is working for the holidays. He'll be happy to help you. Patrick will begin training in Atlanta with Insurance House. After his training he will return to a local Insurance House office to work.


Many families look forward to sharing the holiday with friends and family while the children look foward to a Christmas Eve visit by a man in a red suit.




Leland Street is lighting up for the holidays. Our lovely block is sparkling after dark as we find our way home during the holiday season.




Ann Lee and her family's annual Caroling event brought merriment to a bitter cold first night of winter.

Following the caroling up and down Leland Street, everyone returned to the Lee home for mulled cider, wine, gingerbread cookies, and a tempting display of homemade holiday cookies.

The rain and cold that swept over Chevy Chase this fall has kept neighbors from seeing much of each other, so it was great fun to sgather together and catch up on family news.




Marcy and Arthur want to thank Vike Vicente for the greatest act of neighborly kindness and concern.

Arthur slipped on a pile of wet leaves late on a Saturday night upon returning from a trip to California. Arthur hit the street with such an impact it was immediately evident that stitches were called for. Arthur received terrific treatment at Suburban Hospital Emergency Room including a CAT scan, hand X-Ray and stitches.

After hearing about Arthur's injury, Vike came by to check on him and then returned a few days later to personally remove the stitches. It was great for Arthur to have such personal caring treatment in the comfort of his own home. We are grateful to have such a wonderful neighbor. (your editors humbly state, the Forrest's comments are unsolicited)

Ayaz
We spent Thanksgiving in Arizona this year and enjoyed the sunshine! Arianna and Sophia had a lot of fun with their Grandparents. We celebrated Nicole’s father’s 60th birthday and her brother’s 40th. Arianna learned how to go down the big water slide for the first time! We are excited to be back in Chevy Chase and are looking forward to all of the Holiday festivities. We wish every one a very happy Holiday Season!

Boland
Our wonderful Thanksgiving was followed two days later by the Baptism of Mae Catherine Burkhart, Shannon and Joe's second child. The two events, attended by extended family, created a memorable weekend.
In January, Leanne and Jimmy will enjoy a weekend in NYC seeing "South Pacific" and "In The Heights".




Neighbors have expressed interest in ordering a tree plaque in memory of Dorothy and Henry Bedell, as was done for Sue Patch. Dorothy lived at 4111 Leland Street for 45 years, and Henry for 24 years. The plaque would be placed below a young tree, previously planted by the town, close to 4111. With more donations this plaque could be ordered soon. Kindly send donations to Leanne Boland.

Cosmas
Late breaking news: Daughter Jennifer and her husband Evan Boone had a BEAUTIFUL baby boy on Friday morning (just after midnight) in California. His name is Casey William Armstrong Boone. 7lbs. 8oz. 20.5 inches. Mother and baby are fabulous, but exhausted after 28 hours of labor and an ultimate C-section. His grandfather and I are beyond ourselves. What a magical and wonderful thing to happen just before Christmas.

Will was home for a week at Thanksgiving and it was such a treat to spend so much time with our busy newly minted lawyer.


A high point of the week was meeting the family of his lady-love, Karen Clawson, on Saturday night. Karen, who lives in Cambridge, MA, came from Pittsburgh with her mother and step-father to celebrate the 30th birthday of her brother, Ken, who lives in Germantown. Happily for us, they were all able to join us for a Greek feast at our house. Karen is smart and beautiful. Her family is terrific. In fact, her step-father, Phil, is an affirmed member of the Bad Joke Club. This is an invention of mine to explain the great affection I feel for my husband and Arthur Forrest during joke swapping sessions.

Call it mother's intuition, but watch this space for more Will and Karen news.


Duffy

Matthew and Bonnie travelled to Chapel Hill, NC for a few days leading up to the election. On election morning, we were tickled by this very creative effort to get voters to the polls.

Bonnie reports that callers to the Duffy household should not be surprised if Matthew answers the phone. Editors note: Matthew is a pro, and is more polite than any of the adults I spoke with today (okay, maybe other than Bonnie.) When Matthew pulled into the parking lot of White Flint Mall to see Santa Claus this year, he asked, “Mommy, is this the North Pole?” The whole family looks forward to spending Christmas in North Carolina. Here is a photo of the family gathered in North Carolina. The day after Thanksgiving we celebrated Charles' mother's birthday. All of Charles' siblings and their children were there - Matthew loved being with his large group Duffy cousins.

We all recently enjoyed a trip to Homestead farm where Matthew enjoyed helping Charles cut down our Christmas tree.


Forrest
Arthur and Marcy had a quick trip to California for Arthur’s first production meetings for the NBC Rose Parade. This year’s theme is “Hats Off to Entertainment.”

Upon return, they had a full house prior to and throughout the Thanksgiving week. Zak returned home along with two friends and production buddies from a five day film shoot of concert bands in NYC, Connecticut and ending with the 20 plus band Brainwaves Music Festival in Boston. They immediately immersed themselves in the round the clock editing process before setting out for a project with another rock group.

Also checking into the “Forrest Inn” was recently married, niece Emily and husband Rob. In addition to the pleasure of their company, Rob, a professional photographer, took individual portraits for his project of capturing every extended family member at this point in time.

If there is a Washingtonian happening, it seems Nicole is there. She recently attended the DNC election night party, the reopening of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History


and she also attended the Mark Twain Award night at the Kennedy Center posthumously given to George Carlin. Nicole said it was wonderful to laugh all night long. The guest list included performances by Jon Stewart, Denis Leary, Lily Tomlin, Lewis Black and Bill Maher. Marvelous entertainment. Nicole says, anyone who ever made her laugh contributed their humor to the evening's presentation.
Marcy is preparing for the family Solstice celebration and loves seeing all the holiday decor go up in their home, on the street and in town. She is also quite pleased that our exterior lights went up without any tumbles.



Arthur was honored that Maria Olsen took an interest in writing an article about him for the November-December edition of Bethesda Magazine. Maria did an extraordinary task of sorting out the information and quotes she collected in researching for the article. Arthur particularly thanks Vicky Delancy and Charles Duffy for being kind in their quotes about him....he says he is sure they have material to the contrary!

Kazin/Horowitz
Our big news is that Maia got into Stanford last night. We're all thrilled.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with friends in North Carolina. Michael is reading Half a Life by V.S. Naipaul, which is brilliant and depressing. Beth is reading a biography of Lincoln by Fred Kaplan, which traces the literary influences on his oratory. The four of us will be in Key West for a few days over Christmas, chasing the sun.


Strother
The Strothers have enjoyed their usual Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas activities, beginning with Thanksgiving dinner for twenty in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania hosted by Molly's sister and brother-in-law. William is in tenth grade at St Albans, has made the transition from being JV quarterback to lacrosse winter conditioning and Sunday league play, and is winding up his thirty hours of driver's education. Molly was a house chair for the St Albans Christmas House Tour, showing a beautiful Georgetown home that all of us could dream of inhabiting, and Jim helped out with the buses transporting guests between the houses and the school.

Trocchio
We had a houseful for Thanksgiving: my sister and her sons visited from Wisconsin and the boys looked at some colleges. My brother and his family came back from their new home in NYC and of course we had Jennie and Elizabeth. Jennie loves her job at Casa Blanca Academy in Hollywood, a brand new school for autistic children. If anyone wants to make a Christmas donation that would make an impact, the school needs lots of thing. Ask Julie for a wish list.

Your editors wish everyone a safe and happy holiday.