Last week’s breakfast speaker was Peruvian Admiral Hector Soldi, Gonzo Accame’s brother in law, who was in our area over the recent holidays. He spoke within the context of his career as a Naval officer. on his life experiences working in the Pacific Ocean, the Amazon basin and the Antarctic Continent.

Among other experiences, Admiral Soldi traveled as an oceanographer with Jacques Cousteau on the Amazon 1982 expedition. He did research on El Nino with the international scientific community trying to understand and ultimately forecast this phenomenon and then a brief history of the Antarctic Continent. Lastly, he told us about the importance of the Pacific Ocean and the activities he is still involved with in this region as Secretary General of the Permanent Commission for the South Pacific.

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Victoria Feldman was a last minute substitute speaker last week and talked about the “Burlington House Cartoon” by Leonardo Da Vinci which is also known as “The Virgin and child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist”.

The painting was created while Leonardo was in Florence, as a guest of the Servite Monastery. The eye-witnesses say that for two days people young and old flocked to see the miraculous drawing as if they were attending a festival. This would date the cartoon to about 1500.

In 1791 it was inventoried as belonging to the Royal Academy in London. Today, it is located in the National Gallery of London. The value of the sketch, also known as the “Leonardo Cartoon”, has been placed by some art experts at more than $35 million. The Cartoon was damaged in July, 1987 by a man (Robert Cambridge) who entered the gallery with a shotgun under his coat.

As a footnote to the above, Victoria is to be thanked for sending Holiday Greeting cards to a number of our former and departed members (Charlie Nash, Frank Lankowski, Ed Miles, Glenn Blong, Tas Tousimis, Don Howard). This is a practice our club should adopt for future years!

Montgomery County Sister Cities aims to build cultural and business partnerships between Maryland’s dominant county and local jurisdictions all over the world. It needs private support, because the program receives no direct public funding. Bob Levey (left) is the sole director of the program. He absorbs all the operating expenses which includes some traveling abroad. All donations go directly to the program.

Some of the many purposes donations to Sister Cities will serve are creating larger and deeper opportunities for international business, raising spirits and employment prospects among Montgomery County’s immigrant populations, and celebrating Montgomery County’s diversity—among the widest and most evenly spread of any county in the United States. The County has changed from 85% whites to 55% whites, 15% Asian, 15% Hispanic and 15% black.