To our memebers and friends:

A few weeks ago, a couple I'll call Bill and Sigrid, of Brooklyn, NY, walked into our office holding a letter I'd written asking them to renew their membership.

"We have no complaint," said Bill, "but we hadn't seen a newsletter in a while and wanted to make sure you were still in business."

I hope the surrounding pages will attest to the fact that we are indeed still very much in business. It has been a year of accomplishment and advances. It has also been a year of adjustment, with the retirement of our great friend George Wislocki.

We've always prided ourselves on a lean operation at the Council, but the fact that this newsletter reads more like a "yearbook" is evidence that some of our goals can't be achieved without growth, something we hope to do by the end of the year. In the meantime, our wonderful volunteer Karen Coy Ross deserves credit for ensuring that this newsletter made it into your hands.

Our friends from Brooklyn, Bill and Sigrid were on their way to Mass MoCA, and I suggested they drive past Ayrhill Farm in Adams, one of our favorite projects, as they headed north. A few weeks later, they kindly and most generously renewed their membership. We thank all of you who have joined Bill and Sigrid this year, and encourage the rest of you to come aboard!

- Tad Ames