Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. I traveled to Newberg, Oregon and spent the holiday with daughter Linda. Lovely day eating and watching the Niners and a great 12 days traveling around! Colder than home though!

She kept me busy everyday shopping, going around the quaint town and checking out antique stores. We took a trip to the Tacoma-Seattle area and stayed at Thornewood Castle Inn. It is a lovely

Sorry I haven’t been able to post a message for the last few months. I am in the final stages of a project I have been working on for 20 years.

I played in the Southern California Golf Tournament in Palm Springs on Monday the 13 of November. I was teamed up with our State Financial Secretary David Lavezzari, my son for the first time ever sad to say he is much better than I am, his god father from the Anaheim Lodge Mike Guthrie and my eye doctor Joe Occhipinti. We managed to finish one under par. It was

Brothers and Sisters,

Again, I'd like to apologize for not having an article available for the November issue of the Il Leone. I was not able to get the article completed as the Sacramento Lodge Shrimp Feed was on October 21st and my article was due on the 20th. The Shrimp Feed was a success, and everybody enjoyed the shrimp and clam chowder, and many people went home with some great raffle prizes.

In October, my monthly travels started in Fairfield where Northern Solano Lodge #2534 had their second Annual Shrimp Feed

 Congratulations to all the winners, the list is available in the November IL Leone. Thank you to all who participated.

Attended the 100 year anniversary of the CORNELIA-VITA NUOVA LODGE, # 1198, in San Francisco on November 4th! Such a nice event!

Also attended the Roma lodge of Tulare, who

It feels like yesterday I was walking across the stage at Napa High School during the scholarship ceremony. I heard my name “John Cardinale” called over the microphone as I had received the Sons of Italy, Western Foundation Scholarship. I was proud the Italian-American community had selected me. That was in 2015. Soon I would be heading to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State a long way from Napa, and a much bigger city. My goal was to become a broadcast journalist. Growing up watching news in the Bay Area

On Saturday, November 4, the Cornelia-Vita Nuova Lodge #1198 of San Francisco celebrated its milestone 100th Anniversary, only the second lodge to do so in our Grand Lodge. 150 persons attended this special event, which was held at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club, in the heart of North Beach. Guests were treated to a loop of humorous and memorable lodge pictures shown on a screen as well as historical documents and artifacts on display. The Vita Nuova Lodge gave the Grand Lodge its first and eleventh Grand Venerables, the Cornelia dei Gracchi a State Queen, and the Cornelia-Vita Nuova a State President.

The evening opened with Lodge President Jennifer De Palma Chandler welcoming our guests and setting the celebratory tone for the evening with her well-chosen words. We enjoyed a delicious meal of salad, two types of pasta and chicken piccata. Next to speak was Josephine Longhitano, who