Because of no column I had a phone call from Edna Stoddard who had not been able to find the previous week's column (it was there) and thought there might be something wrong with the columnist. She had spoken with her sister, Charlotte in Virginia, whose husband Carlton has just had cataract surgery. In discussing the fact that Edna will have just David and Debbie for the holiday it was discovered that both Dave and Deb have that Friday off, so they will drive to Virginia to eat their turkey with a crowd. Edna was a bit distressed that morning for she had lost her electricity, so thought she'd go out and do a few errands. Not so, because she couldn't open her garage door and was essentially trapped at home. How very dependent we all are on electricity. Maybe that would be something to be grateful for when you're giving thanks on Turkey Day.

My most recent sighting of an islander -- As I left a garden club board meeting, held at St. Andrews Village, who was administering flu shots to anyone who showed up for the flu clinic but Deb Widbiller! She was happy to be away from the construction of the new Family Care building on the hospital campus. That construction has been ongoing since last spring, and the staff can't wait to get in it.

Recently I asked what Brooks Aker was playing when he was injured. Mom Peg Aker e-mailed me that he was playing football, is on the mend and even made the JV basketball team. so I guess all is well for him.

Niki Patterson took pity on me and sent the good news that daughter Sarah had jut received a CISLA Travel Research Award from Connecticut College along with two other seniors. It will allow her to return to Spain for two weeks during January break to do more research to complete her senior thesis. Niki says that most kids who are granted this award return to the scene of their internship, but Sarah will go to Granada, instead of Madrid, where she spent a good part of last year.

The choice of Granada is because her project is about Gypsies, and Granada has a large Gypsy population. She will probably do interviewing as well as paper research. she is excited as all get out. This gal searches out great opportunities and we congratulate her. Niki and Neil had been to Florida to check on their house and his mom's and found all okay. While in Florida they were closer to that tropical storm, than Maine was, but they had bright sunshine most of the time and got in a little beach time.

A wonderful e-mail from the Mackenzie family publicist, Patsy. She and Will left LALA town after a week of the writers' strike to seek solace in N.Y.C. and ran right into the stagehands' strike! The shows they had tickets for were shut down, but off Broadway provided some entertainment as well as visits to some museums they had not visited in ages. Their visit coincided with Bob Rogers' 70th birthday and Linda pulled off a super surprise party for him. Their daughter Jessie showed up from Albuquerque, and son Robert, all the way from Buenos Aires with his new wife, Suzanna. It was a huge gathering and Bob was totally surprised because it wasn't on THE day. Continuing in N.Y. state, they will visit the Rogers' place in Cragsmoor and scoot on over to visit Azzie and Michelle in Connecticut to spend Thanksgiving with them, this first Turkey Day as a married couple. Granddaughter, Farrah is attending pee-skool, that's Patsy's term, and is having a ball. Angela is finished with a movie, Walk Hard, where she plays a back-up singer to a band led by John C. Reilly. Andy has been in a number of shows, nine episodes are on Days of our Lives, plus Two and a Half Men (I think I caught him in that), and a part in My Name Is Earl. You can see him in The Women's Murder Club on Dec. 7. Will's turn to shine comes on Dec. 6 with his latest Scrubs directorial. Again we need to be grateful for electricity to run TV to keep up with these islanders' doings.