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From Bill Doying, who came up with one of the feature articles for this edition,

We’ll be driving to Florida (Apalachicola, via several nights in Charleston) , starting December 18th, but returning before New Years. Happy Holidays.

Chris Snow writes that his 4-year term on the Bainbridge Island (Wa) City Council ran out 12/09. His comment:

“Almost nothing in my thirty five years in the Foreign Service prepared me for the cut and thrust of local politics.” He has a book coming out on this theme, titled Politics Abroad and at Home.

Chuck Elkins in D.C. has taken on the mission of starting an alumni association for former US Environmental Protection Agency employees, reminding us that it is 40 years’ worth!

Another glancing blow from Father Time, albeit unintended.

From Peter and Karen Bell:

(editor’s note: readers may recall that Peter recently relocated from Atlanta, after years on the Emory U. Faculty and research at CDC, to his childhood roots in Gloucester, Mass)

On January 20, we celebrated Obama’s inauguration at a party with other Gloucester volunteers who had worked for his election. In February, we reaffirmed our commitment to place by reshingling our roof. It is meant to last 50 years! During the summer we reaped the rewards of our composting with fresh raspberries, tomatoes, Swiss chard, and arugula, as well as bouquets of sweet peas and zinnias.

Peter continues as a senior research fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He and Sherine Jayawickrama, a former CARE colleague also at Hauser, organize semi-annual retreats of the CEOs of major relief and development NGOs. Peter also serves on several nonprofit boards.

In early October, Peter and I embarked on a 10-day cruise (our first ever) in the Mediterranean, visiting Tunis, Pompeii, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and other ports. Onboard the gigantic Noordam, we confronted momentous decisions with equanimity: whether to play scrabble or take part in a sing-along, whether to follow the chef’s dining recommendations or make our own selections, and how many laps to fast-walk on the Promenade Deck.

In November, the Bell family gathered in New York to see children Emily ( Yale ‘ 99) and Jonathan run in the NYC marathon. This was Jonathan’s fourth marathon, but Emily’s first. She used it to raise money for the Touch Foundation, which seeks to improve health care in Tanzania. Jonathan, Veronique and Melanie came from London for the weekend of Halloween. Window shopping in Greenwich Village and Soho and walking the new High Line urban park, Melanie created a sensation dressed for Halloween in a princess costume. For the marathon the next day, New York and New Yorkers were at their best. Posted at First Avenue, we managed to catch sight of both Jonathan and Emily 17 miles into the race, but later missed them nearing the finish line on Central Park South

From Bill Wheeler (the former wine Wheeler of Belvedere): photos showing a couple of paintings that he has done in his house in San Miguel de Allende where the Wheelers spend two months a year:

And another (Murray) Wheeler:

I’ve continued to go on the Yale Alumni Chorus trips, this summer to Guatemala and Mexico, next June to Cuba, and they’ve inspired me to rejoin a very good chorus here in Boston. I continue to do some acting with a small company here. A lot of tennis, event planning for the Yale Club of Boston, managing my condo association and a bed and breakfast apartment in mid-Cambridge, and a few volunteer efforts seem to keep me with very few complaints.

Rev. Rod Quainton and family had an eventful year, as these excerpts from their Xmas newsletter show:

Tucson in March -to enjoy close friends, the desert sun and a margarita or two. On the plane the Quaintons struck up an acquaintance with a scripture-citing young bull rider on his way to a rodeo, and he made rodeo fans out of them.
New Mexico in May – more friends, desert sun and a margarita or two. Quaintons lead a spiritual retreat to Ghost Ranch in New Mexico for 26 centered on Georgia O’Keeffe – A Sense of Place. The activities included hiking, fine dining – Coyote Grill, now there’s a margarita! -meditation, prayer, art viewing, star gazing, reading, and gorgeous weather on top of it all. On our way out of Dodge we stopped to browse in the local General Store along with celebrity Rod Stewart. His tell tale spiked out coif gave him away in the midst of the cow pokes.
Africa in June -The adventure that stretched us into a new comfort zone, thanks to the church, was our two week African mission trip to Zambia, Botswana and South Africa. The purpose was to build relationships at the Kafakumba Mission, outside Ndola, Zambia where our group of five hearty travelers participated in the Pastors’ School. Rod preached four times in our week there. Nanci, along with two colleagues, participated in the pastor’s wives’ group. We took away memories of a joyous and committed people of faith and were humbled and exalted simultaneously. We hope to return in 2011 when Rod expects to take a sabbatical. After that week in Zambia, including a side trip to Victoria Falls and the Chobe Game Preserve in Botswana, we headed to Cape Town, a truly wonderful cosmopolitan city. There we visited Robben Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 27 years as well as a township to experience urban poverty in contrast to the rural poverty we encountered in Zambia. Invictus, the recent Clint Eastwood movie release in which Morgan Freeman plays Mandela provides glimpses of the Cape Town we experienced.
Victoria in September – This year’s adventures were capped off by a Q Family reunion in Victoria, B.C. Canada. Rod was honored with the preaching responsibilities at Christ Church Cathedral – a glorious reunion and family gathering supplemented by perfect fall weather.

Rod, in his everyday life when not traveling, has been focused on First United Methodist Church’s Ministries to the unemployed, a newly created internal mission program. The circumstances in Michigan are difficult for many and he is doing his best to address the job situation for those in and around the church community.

Steve Rosenthal had a book published last Fall, a very elegant and lovely photographic album titled White on White, the Rural Churches of New England. Steve, a distinguished professional architectural photographer , presented the book at a signing ceremony held December 8th in his old home town of Newton , Mass.[ Back in the early ’90’s, Steve was a leader in CorSec’s Newton neighborhood of Auburndale, and we fought together the grandiose expansion plans of our arrogant local college President. Because of this history, CorSec journeyed across town to the book signing but the crowd was so thick I couldn’t make it up front to say hello and ask for a complimentary copy – hey – the sticker price was $70! Kidding aside, the photographs in this book are expert and beautiful and together with the essays by Verlyn Klinkenborg and architecture critic Robert Campbell, the book captures a big part of old New England’s architectural and landscape heritage.

From Roman Weil, still rambling through the groves of academe:

During the year, I taught as visitor at Harvard Law School, Carnegie
Mellon Tepper School of Business, King Fahd University of Petroleum and
Minerals. In addition, I had some other duties involving Executive
Education at both Univ of Chicago Booth School of Business and Stanford
Law School. Starting February 2010, I visit at a small college in
central New Jersey.

Another indefatigable scholar, Alex Garvin, writes,

WW Norton this spring will publish my new book Public Parks, the Key to Livable Communities. Continue to teach at Yale, now in my 43d year. Recently designed a 110-acre park for Collierville, Tennessee, and a 900-acre subdivision for Austin. Texas.

From (Dr) Paul Wortman:

I’m a retired prof. who specialized in the assessment of new medical interventions. In a previous life I was a Professor at The University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, School of Public Health. My wife is a Professor of Social/Health Psychology here at Stony Brook U. She’s currently the main blogger for the PBS website dealing with grief and loss.

Paul had this letter to the Editor of the NY Times published on Dec 24th:

Re “Senate Passes Health Care Overhaul Bill”
Christmas came just in the St. Nick of time for the Senate as it finally passed the major health care reform bill. The whiners may yet complain about not finding the public option in their stocking, and the Scrooges may fret about the costs, but the bill follows the Millsian principle of providing the greatest good for the greatest number. It is truly in the spirit of the season that celebrates human compassion and charity. And for that, I say hallelujah.

From Tony Brooks in the mountains of Wyoming:

It was one of those years that seemed to fly past faster than usual. Was it our age, the strange rhythm of weather, or something else? Whatever the cause, it felt like a new low in time-management skills. Nonetheless, the birth certificates don’t lie, and we are in a year of numbers divisible by five- our 70th birthdays and 45th anniversary. It feels like a Lewis and Clark expedition, unexplored territory and exciting.

Winter was largely here on the mountain. We have a new tram, twice the capacity and faster, and had the good luck of 500+ inches of snow. Did our annual trip, probably 20 or 25 of these, to Canada for a week of heli-skiing. In March, the terror of the Town Downhill. All in, a great winter which allowed us some respite from the Country’s woes and the world’s financial system and the stock market.
Spring started normally with a trip down to Florida to see friends and family, and an unsuccessful repair to the golf swing. A fishing adventure in Yellowstone Park and another memorable trip on the Smith River. We danced between the raindrops in June, and only biking was really affected. It is unusual out here for that month, but how green it was through the summer, a rarity at this altitude. Leith and Stew had Brooke, a third daughter, and Linda went West for that- anyone surprised?
Summer was a short affair after June. Rivers were very high with run-off flows, and fishing the big water was no option. A trip to the east coast, Rhys and Mandy and kids, a special day at the Lake cabin, far too seldom these days. A spectacular fishing adventure in Yellowstone Park, followed by an equal experience on the Blackfoot River (setting for Norman Maclean’s classic) in Montana. We enjoy fishing on foot, and these were the stuff of memories.
Fall. If we ran a vineyard, it would have been a vintage bust. October forgot the concept of Indian Summer. Squeezed in two upland bird trips (got wet again), followed by visits to both coasts, producing total emersion for Linda with the g-kids.

At this writing, we are about to embark on a trip with everyone for a week in celebration of family and numbers divisible by five. (We must be getting old to leave in the ski season!) As an update, “everyone” is Rhys and Mandy and Berkeley 10, Olivia 8, Keeley 5 and Rhys 1, and Leith and Stew with Haley 8, Annie 5 and Brooke 9 mos. Counting the girls, we now have a women’s hockey team, and finally, a coach. Sounding like a bewildered grandparent, it is awesome how fast they grow and change. We are fortunate and grateful, to say the least.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and an improved New Year, and may God bless you, each and everyone.

Just before press time, we were happy to have a news-full bulletin from Lew Spratlan, who like many of us keeps very busy post-retirement. He writes:

My opera LIFE IS A DREAM will receive its world premiere and four additional performances at the Santa Fe Opera, on July 24 and 28, and August 6, 12, and 19. All old friends will be warmly welcomed. A SUMMER’S DAY was premiered last May by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. IN MEMORIAM and STREAMING were recently released on a Navona CD. And I’m at work on an anthem celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Yale Glee Club, on a text by Elizabeth Alexander, the wonderful Yale-based poet who created such interest with the stirring poem she wrote for Barack Obama’s inauguration. The anthem will be premiered as part of the YGC’s 150th anniversary celebration in February 2011 at Woolsey Hall.

Since my retirement from Amherst College in 2006 I’ve been busy full-time with composing and traveling around getting pieces put on. Melinda just retired after 40 years of teaching singing at Mount Holyoke College. Our main residence is still Amherst, but we spend much time at our hilltop retreat on the Vermont border in the tiny (pop. ca. 300) town of Rowe, Mass. We’ve enjoyed annual Tanglewood rendezvous with the Stewarts, Kaestles, and Sipples and have welcomed many old friends to our place in Rowe.

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