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DIARY, YEAR 2001: Jan 4--New garage door, replacing the old swing door that banged M's noggin. M now happy. Her head perfectly safe. Jan 7--Goerne at McCarter.Jan 13--cocktails at Starr S;concert at Met. Jan 14--gold show at Brooklyn. Elephant dung had been cleaned away. Jan 20--Solomon's. Jan 24--storage bins in NY. Jan 25--Writers. Jan 26--Monique G. Jan 27=Anne Marie for dinner. Feb 6--Corregio at Met; Dr Gurin, the feared dentist.Wants to do major modifications. Feb 8--Writers at Mimi's. Read my Scrooge story.Lots of good suggestions. Feb 9--Jim Motley at Cranbury Inn.Gave him my stories 'Why' and 'Heartache'.He gave me Motley-Brennan family tree. Feb 16--Balanchine at City Center. Oh, that creaking door! Sigh. One of the dancers-Deanna McBrearty from Ashland. Feb 17-- Dinner with our favorite archeologist, BBS, at Beach cafe. Feb 18-- Brunch on Broadway with our favorite IRS agent, BH. Feb 22--Writer's mtg at 7 Ham. Seven inches of snow. Complete washout. Feb24--Soiree at Lucy's: Marian on romanticism; Izumi at piano & Nathan Davis, tenor, in Schumann's Dichterliebe. Feb 27--M off to Chicago, I off to the Ur Site (Greenbury) and the Pottsville Court House to work on the family tree. Feb 27,28--Failed to find the grandparents' marriage licence at the Court House. Found a Julia Brennan from Cass, about the same age, same name as grandma, who married James Adams in 1897. But so many Brennan's. Also, no dice on grandpa's death date: mentioned in 1900 census, gone by 1910, not in death lists which stop in 1905. Next, church lists, cemeteries and Harrisburg. Mar 7 __ Black tie at the Met: Vermeer, Delft, white columns at the Nieue Kerk. Mar 13 __ Russian evening at the Met:Marian on new trends at the Hermitage, the Russian Museum, and the Pushkin; Bill Brumfield on preservation of old churches in Siberia. Afterwards, off to Le Refuge and a delicious filet mignon.Mar 18--Off by limo to Little Neck, Long Island, for dinner with M's sponsors. Loved that beamed ceiling: no nails, just dowels. Apr 6 __ Met Tom and Caroline Cassily, Dave and Bill and Linda Dell at the Patron's Lounge. Viol concert by Parthenia.Apr 22__ Pleasant time at home of Judith B and Michael C (elegant, refined, tastefully furnished with a variety art works) after a book reading by Judith's daughter Frances, a biochemist. Her book: Triplet Code, a scientific mystery. Apr.23__Tom Stix memorial service.A physicist who made important contributions to the art of fusion science, yet had a lighthanded touch, with healthy interests om skiing and water sports. Apr 23__Marian and Elena finished up their Egyptian talks with a discussion of the Cairo Museum, a charming, old fashioned museum founded by an all around savant, August Mariette, who preserved the museum from European predators. He also wrote the libretto for Aida. May 8__ Visitors from the northland, Leon & Penny L, invade New York, sampling our salmon and joining M for a tour of exhibitions at the Met. May 22__Joan in town. We sample the wares at the docent's party at the Met. Great beef, gorganzala cheese and rum and coke. Met interesting emigre from Leningrad, Mila Braigen, who is a science editor and docent at the Frick. May 26__ Nathan Davis (tenor) and Izumi Fujimori (piano) served a a melange of melodie at one of Lucy's inimitable soirees : Debussy, Faure and Chausson, songs from the 19th and early 20th century. Joan Albany sang two Irish folk songs and a Schumann. May 31 __ The great bamboo massacre! Cut down dozens of bamboo trees, some as high as 25 feet. Reason: prepare for the installation of a new fence in a few weeks. Now, what to do with all the debris, including a few hundred feet of bamboo stalks. Create a bamboo tool house? Jun 23 __ Scwick VG's 70th birthday. Great lunch outdoors under the arbor. Jun 27 __ Meeting of Clifton House. Great outrage over the hallway reconstruction, including green paint, Led by Marian.Jul 1 __ An (early) big seven party for Bob given by Nan and Tim. Too much! Felt like a seven year old! Jul 7 __ New fence from York Fence arrived 8:30 in the morning. Very accommodating Latino installers, but mediocre quality. In the evening Pesto & Pasta & Pies at the Solomon's. Real test of intestional fortitude with the three p's. Jul 8 __ Charlie's party, Charlie being the newly hatched grandson of Lucy B. Jul 12 __ Dinner with Dick and Elizabeth. Again met the new cat, but not its psychiatrist. Just think of the conversation: "Hello, Puss. What bothers you?" "Dogs, they lie in wait for me, morning, noon and night." Aren't you being a bit paranoid?" "Wouldn't you, if you were a cat?" Sep 11 __ Two days after the attack on New York & Wash. Marian in NY, I in Princeton, completely separated since bus, train and phone connections out. Smell of burning plastic lingers on for almost two weeks, even on 79th street, several miles from the World Trade Center. Tried to view the site, but was turned back by police barricades on Canal Street. Commerce on the street was well below normal. Oct 10 __ First meeting of the Writers Group at 7 Ham. Jay and I read our stories. Oct 12 __ First concert of the year in the Patron's Lounge. Oct 15 __ This week I'm on jury duty in Trenton. Lucked out on Monday--excused. Oct 19 __ Hooray! Jury duty over. A drug case that ended in a hung jury. Probably plea bargaining ahead. Great to get out in the fresh air. Oct 23 __ Marian delivered her final Met lecture on Art Nouveau: buildings in this style in Moscow and Prague. Oct 24 __ M bought a knock-off Tiffany Dragonfly lamp at the Columbus Ave flea market last weekend, so I visited the NY Historical Society to look at the real Tiffany lamps. Their lamp is a gorgeous 22 inch shade, whereas ours is only 13 inches. It's still beautiful-- a very good buy. Also took the time to look around the historical society to see the Bowery show and the four incredible empire paintings of Thomas Cole.

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Nov 3 __ Talk by Bill Brumfield on life in eastern Siberia, including Chita and Kyachta, the small town where the Chinese tea traders entered Siberia from Mongolia. His usual spellbinding yarn. Then we were wined and dined by Sue Gautier at the Patrons' Lounge at the Met. * * * Nov 8 __ Grand opening of the Neue Gallerie on 5th Ave and 86th street. German arts on the third floor, including fine collection of Bauhaus furniture. Austrian arts on the second floor, including gorgeous colored geometric and floral patterns worn by women. The Cafe Sabarsky on the first floor. Plenty of quiche, meat and fish nibblies with our champagne. * * * Nov 10 __ Conducting recital of Ryan Board at the Bristol Chapel, Westminster Choir College. Afternoon of choral works from Schubert, romantic pieces by Elgar, folk tunes three Czechs, including Janacek, two American folk songs, accompanied by Izumi. A wonderful afternoon of music just down the street from our home. * * * * Nov 11 __ New notebook computer: HP Omnibook,900 Mhz, 256 MB RAM, Windows XP with a year's free subscription to MSN. Awesome! * * * * Nov 22 __ Visit the ancestral home in Pa for the Thanksgiving holiday. All of the gang there, including Pat, Marie, Bill, etc. Caught a cold that has run at least eight days. * * * * Dec 1 __ A visit to the Friars Club for brunch, care of Evelyn Royal, back in NY from Australia. Michael and Mordecai Schehori also in attendance with his amusing tales of nastiness among the great concert idols. The Friars is the homey club for many of the greats of the entertainment world, like Robin Williams and Oprah. Then on to the Met to hear the Guarneri Quartet, compliments of Michael. * * * * Dec 10 __ Pick up Dan at the Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital on 64th St. After lunch he took me to Payard, where the yummiest french patisserie in NY exist. Every item absolutely sinful. (Lex Ave between 73 & 74 St.Later, he demonstrated his internet connection using a cable modem. Blazing fast! Downloaded the NY Times in under 2 seconds. My Princeton connection takes 30-40 sec; msn connection 8 sec. * * * * Dec 19 __ Annual visit to the sawbones. Everything OK, but the evil doctor set me up for a stress test. Arteries fine, but he wants to see whether one will pop if you try hard. * * * * Dec 31 __ New Year's Eve at the Purtos. Clear roads, convivial company, good food and drink, tv view of ball in Times Square. What else do you need for the end of a bad year?

Bob & Marian in the Sally Gap, Ireland

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