Let the season begin

While Cherise ran the preliminary 5K to the Seattle Marathon with Jen and Missy, and Shawn and Andy dug razor clams at Moclips, Tom and I entertained Sylvia. We took her to the tree lightening ceremony, gingerbread house display, then to the Christmas trees at the Four Seasons. The next day we hit the holiday carousel, the Monorail to the Seattle Center to view and run the holiday train, then to ice skating. Whew! After a brief meltdown at the ice skating rink, Sylvia recovered in time to choose a mix of candies at a store at Westlake Mall before heading home and taking a much needed nap. The blinking snowflake in the pictures was given to her by a passerby making her night.

The Four Seasons really gets us into the spirit.

Holiday carousel

Waiting for the Monorail

Sylvia knew to sit in front for the best view.

Operating the train at the holiday village.

Ice skating with grandpa.

Looks like an art installation but it's Sylvia's socks on her Barbie dolls. If she meant them to be sleeping bags she's missed the point slightly.

Who is that masked man? boy?

I've been helping out in Andy's school art class and managed to take some pics even with plaster of Paris fingers. Danny is the "artist" while Andy is the "model". This week we paint them. Great fun. Really.

4 novembre 1966

We are all remembering the anniversary of the Great Flood of Florence, 1966. We were students together and we experienced the flood together. All of us remember fondly Thanksgiving dinner at the Maybeck's. There home was in a magical setting through a gate and then a garden. With a massive fireplace and long antique dining table, the warmth and comfort of that night among really close friends is a treasured memory. On the anniversary, Joanne, Marghi, Gloria and Janice all wrote to remind il Gruppo. Below is Joanne's email and then a few photos that I had close at hand.

Carissimi amici,

Vi sto pensando a tutti questo giorno, l'anniversario dell'alluvione a Firenze.  Figurati, 45 anni fa!!!  Dove sono scappati gli anni!

Abbiamo fatto bene come giovani studenti.  Sono orgogliosa di essere fra di voi..."angeli del fango"

Mi ricordo bene questo mese e specialmente tre settimane dopo e la festa del ringraziamento dai Maybeck senza tanti convenienze ma avevamo noi stessi e la nostra bella amicizia

di cui ne ho tanti bei ricordi.  

Vi penso sempre e spero di ospitare un'altra riunione di "Il Gruppo"!

Cari saluti.  Vi abbraccio tutti e vi invio tanti bacioni!

Joanne

aka "Giovanna"

Book purchased by Joanne as my Christmas present December 15, 1966

Il gruppo lending a helping hand and dubbed "the angels of the mud"

Proof sheet from a Finnish journalist I took around to report on the devastation for his magazine. Somewhere I have proofs with me in it and the story in the magazine he later sent to me.

Joanne and I were diverted on the "rapido" train from Rome to Bologna where we were stuck (I say that loosely because we fared much better than our fellow students who remained behind in Florence). We amused ourselves with this set of Monopoli and eating Lasagna Bolognese and the Tre Vechhi. Ah, I remember it well. This set was the only one that we had in our household while the kids were growing up. I think they thought Monopoly was Italian and that playing in Lira was the norm.

At our 44th year reunion in San Jose, CA in September 2010.

David Horsey Nails It

So much for the idea of trickle down economics and tax cuts lead to job creation.

Exactly. I was looking at a TED conference about inequality and the U.S. is the most unequal economically of all of the democratic market nations. As the speaker said, "If you are looking for the American Dream, go to Denmark."

So much for the civil contract and the idea of contributing for the benefit of the whole.

I know this guy and the horse he rode in on.

I'm working on it. A little late, but I'm working on it.

David Horsey has been gracing us with his political commentary in the form of cartoons for a very long time and (http://blog.seattlepi.com/davidhorsey) and I always feel like he's expressing what I've been thinking. If I were talented in this way, I can't imagine a better occupation. In any case, I just finished looking over months of cartoons and though I loved them all I chose a few to reproduce here along with my comments.

BOO!

Fun Halloween this year with Sylvia dressing in her best purple fairy princess outfit complete with purple hair and Andy as a fierce ninja, the best ninja (and there were many) who came to the door Trick or Treating Halloween night.

Sylvia's spooky picture.

I just had to include a few photos from Halloweens past.