An unending stream of the best and the brightest

It seems like forever; it seems like only yesterday that I first encountered David and Diana Nicholson and enjoyed a "Wednesday Night."  In the winter of 1993, I was political minister counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, and I attended this first Night as "spouse of" my wife Teresa who was the economic/commercial officer at the U.S. consulate in Montreal.

It was a unique and fascinating experience, entering a mansion that could have been a museum or a television studio and meeting individuals that epitomized the full range of excellence across Montreal specifically and Quebec generally.  I quickly concluded that it was the last surviving example of a European salon transplanted to North America wherein there was an unending stream of the proverbial best and brightest with expertise that was ever new and engaging coupled with vigorous but never mean-spirited exchanges within the group.  It was, and has remained, unique and fascinating with individualistic touches ranging from snacks limited to peanuts (and wine) to a rapid fire collage of television snippets of the key events of the week.  

For an individual entranced by Canadian society and politics, the Nicholsons are always a source first resort--for insight, explanation, and introductions (as well as a place to arrange for senior opposition politicians to quietly visit for private discussions).

Endlessly hospitable, endlessly charming, endlessly engaged with life and friends, who ever thinks of them as other than "David and Diana"?  It has been an honor and a privilege to be a "Friend of Wednesday Night"--leaving only the ongoing mystery of "How did 'mouse' originate?"