Fern & Al Leland live in “…the old Talbott house” on Runnymede Road.  Everybody on the West side of Far Hills Avenue “…lives in the old ‘somebodies’ house.”  Doesn’t make any difference if you’ve owned ‘the house’ for fifty years – you still “…live in the old…”

An alumna of Oakwood High School Class of ’67 had occasion to be with Strobe Talbott – in Minneapolis – several days ago.  Strobe is now president of the Brookings Institute and was the speaker for the national Planned Parenthood meeting in Minneapolis.  Strobe’s aunt and uncle, Doug & Polly Talbott, lived in the family manse and, as a boy, he spent most every summer with them – hence his knowing Nancy who lived in [‘…the old Reynolds/Grant house’ on Oakwood Avenue – across Houk Stream. Strobe’s parents, the Nelson Talbotts lived in Cleveland…”But I lived in Dayton ‘til I was six years old,” he said.
At dinner Strobe mentioned hearing about Oakwood’s new park along Houk Stream (Strobes grandmother was a ‘Houk’).  ”I hear it’s being named ‘Talbott Park.” “No” corrected Nancy – “It’s been named ‘Centennial Park’ …I was in Dayton for Thanksgiving and that’s all I heard about!”.  Fellow dinner guests were Walter Mondale, former VP, and MN Senator Amy Klobuchar.

The Little Exchange, on Park Avenue – across from the City Building – in the charming Victorian house – is offering extended hours during the Christmas-shopping-weeks of December.  The ‘Little Ex’ is a unique shop offering rare and hard-to-find items for brides and babies and every room in the house and silver and….all proceeds go to the Children’s Hospital. Elsie Mead founded both the hospital and the shop.  It’s ‘womaned’ by volunteers – who are really ‘-pros’ in the retail/gift operation.
So, to facilitate your gift shopping – the Little Ex will extend their Thursday hours from ten a.m. until SEVEN p.m.  Regular hours are ten ‘til five on Tues., Wed., and Fri.  On Saturday, the hours are ten ‘til three.  You’ll know every ‘clerk’.  And also remember the shop offers free gift wrapping for those ‘wrapping-challenged’ – husbands?  And there’s also free local delivery!

Last Sunday’s ‘Afternoon Musical’ at the Dayton Art Institute was a delight!  It was a concert of ‘Music From Italy’ played by ‘The Dayton Philharmonic Junior Strings Orchestra’.  And the Renaissance Auditorium was packed.  There are fifty one ‘junior’ string players in the Orchestra.’ So, with fifty one ‘sets’ of parents, siblings, grandparents, music teachers – plus the ‘Music Critic’ of the Oakwood Register – Burt Saidel -  plus just plain local music lovers - it was a ‘full house’.

The violin, cello, and bass players are from grades 6 through 12 – chosen by audition from throughout the Miami Valley. This past year one hundred junior string players auditioned – and fifty two were selected. They were unbelievably talented! Their Bach, Verdi, Rossini sang! And their ‘Nutcracker’ brought down the curtain with wild acclaim.  

A seat-mate and now a ‘new friend’ - Elizabeth Huter - knew the Director, Karen Young, and spoke of her dedication to the junior players and talented instruction. “She’s also a ‘Docent’ at the Institute!” Huter said.

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