Another Great Visit with the D.C. Alumni

It's time to start catching up with some long-overdue blog posts. Summer has ended and we’re almost halfway into the fall semester, so I’d better get some of these things up before they disappear into the abyss of memory.
Summer was a busy one around the Park School, as construction of the new Ithacan office stretched from just after Commencement until (OK, until after, really) the beginning of classes. It’s up and running now, of course, but more on that later. The summer was also noteworthy in that the Ithacan staff made an active effort to update the website regularly. News editor Sabrina Knight was in town interning for the Ithaca Times, so she was able to do some local reporting for us as well. Incoming editor in chief Megan Devlin edited the stories from San Francisco, where she was spending the summer, and Kira Maddox and Vicky Wolak copy edited/proofread.

Roger Custer ’05, Ann (Walters) Custer ’04 and Megan Tetrick ’03

As always, a high point of the summer for me was my annual trip to Washington, D.C., to get together with our alumni there. In addition to our customary group dinner at the Old Ebbit Grill, I was able to spend some extra time with quite a few people this trip: Jazz in the Garden of the National Gallery with Erica 

Ann Uhls ’07, Alex Palombo ’11 and Max Steinmetz 09.

Alex Leary ’97, Lena Yue ’10 and Erica Hendry ’09.

Hendry and Max Steinmetz, later to be joined by Alex Leary for dinner at Zaytinya; visits to some exciting new D.C. breweries with Erica and Max the next day, followed by a great Ethiopian dinner at Dukem (thanks for dinner, guys!); a delicious Sunday brunch with Jill Agostino at Kafe Leopold in Georgetown (thanks for brunch, Jill!); dinner with Charlie and Caitlin (Connelly) Ellsworth in their new home (Caitlin is a terrific cook, incidentally); and lunch with Rob and Missy (Bloomrose) Bluey ’00 at Bistro Cacao near their Heritage Foundation workplace, along with Melissa (Thornley) Bloomrose ’02 (thanks for lunch, Rob!). Sadly, Melissa’s husband Michael Bloomrose ’02 couldn't make it — he was off on an aircraft carrier somewhere. It was a very good trip from both the companionship and culinary points of view. And like I always say, food always tastes better when it's free — thanks again, everyone!

Bonnie (Flock) Tabasko ’01 and
Mike Tabasko ’00.

Dinner at the Old Ebbitt brought in a full complement of alumni: Jill Agostino ’86, Rob Bluey ’00, Ann (Walters) Custer ’04, Roger Custer ’05, Charlie Ellsworth ’04, Caitlin (Connelly) Ellsworth ’05, Erica Hendry ’09, Alex Leary ’97, Alexandra Palombo ’11, Beth Quill ’06 and fiancé Seth Zuckerman, Kate Sheppard ’06, Max Steinmetz ’09, Bonnie (Flock) Tabasko ’01, Mike Tabasko ’00, Megan Tetrick ’03, Anna Uhls ’07, Nate Weixel ’08 and Lena Yue ’10.
And since it also happened to be my birthday, Alex Leary and I went down the street to The Hamilton after dinner to continue the celebration. But the less said about that, perhaps, the better.

Caitlin (Connelly) Ellsworth ’05

Beth Quill ’06 and her fiance
 Seth Zuckerman

It was great to see everyone, as always. I hadn't seen Megan Tetrick since Ellen (Stapleton) Hale’s wedding back in 2006. Megan is now in Washington working as a Foreign Service officer at the Russia Desk in the State Department. It also had been awhile since I'd seen Anna Uhls, who was in D.C. working as a summer associate at the WilmerHale law firm before returning for her final year of law school at the University of Colorado. And it was a pleasure to meet Bonnie (Flock) Tabasco’s husband, Mike, an HSHP alum of the college. It's always a pleasure to welcome a new member to the ever-growing Ithacan family.