Guests at the annual donor’s receptionat the State Department’sDiplomatic Reception Roomsrealized that their host, Secretary of StateColin Powell, would not be present thisyear, as he was off on a mission for PresidentGeorge W. Bush, hoping to bring resolutionto the Middle East muddle.

Undersecretary of State Grant S. Greenwelcomed the guests, as did Gail Serfaty,director of the Reception Rooms. Theevent celebrated the 40th anniversary ofthe Americana Project that has providedso many lovely early American furnishingsto the chambers. Each year, thanks to thedonors, the rooms grow more beautiful,(and each year, even jaded Washingtoniansagree, the dishes on the well-laden buffettables are ever more interesting!)

Guests from all over the country treasureinvitations for this event, (which canbe obtained—it’s a not too well-keptsecret—by an annual minimum donationof $1,000.) Many give far, far more thanthat, and have for years, because they wantto ensure that the foreign diplomats andvisiting dignitaries who are received heresee the handsome and historic treasuresthat illuminate our nation’s past.

It works. Donors can contribute to thegeneral fund, or can choose to earmark theirgifts from a list of items available for purchase.Even foreign visitors have beenknown to contribute. The value of the collection,assembled without any tax dollarsbeing used, is now estimated at $90 million.

Fine arts specialist Pat Heflin was keptbusy during the evening pointing out theacquisitions, and explaining their provenance.Items this year ranged from a pairof gilded wall brackets (c. 1800) to a magnificentBidjar carpet (c. 1891) from thetown of that name in northwest Turkey.

The group included Alma (Mrs.Colin) Powell, Ruth Buchanan Wheeler,Esther Coopersmith, LeonardSilverstein and wife Elaine, AustinKiplinger, Deanna Stepanian (here fromPalm Beach), and Washington’s carpetgurus, brothers Jim and HaroldKeshishian and Harold’s wife, JohnPeters Irelan, Eleanor and Philip Merrill,Hope Ridings Miller, Dr. Ahmad andJudy Esfandiary, Jane Lingo, theHonorable Secretary of Labor ElaineChao, John Gleiber, Coca Cola executiveJanet Howard, Mary and MandellOurisman, Judith Terra, Richard andSarah Booth Conroy, and back from winteringin Palm Beach, Denise andBraddock Alexander, whose family foundationfor many years has been listed among the most generous donors.

One of the special items in the StateDrawing Room is the desk where ThomasJefferson is thought to have signed theTreaty of Paris ending the RevolutionaryWar. The very next night after the StateDepartment reception, the indefatigableViscountess Albert de Ponton (Gertrude)d’Amecourt brought a bit of related livinghistory to town.

No one knew what she meant whenshe promised her guests a “Jeffersonianevening” at her Kalorama home, but thatwas exactly what she produced: the great-great-great-great-great grandson of ThomasJefferson, Rob Coles, born 200 years latera few miles from Jefferson’s Monticelloestate in Charlottesville.

Rob not only looks like the traditionalJefferson portraits, he is the exact sameheight, six-feet-two inches tall, and evenhas the same red hair.

Gertie’s international guests were fascinatedby the monologue Coles deliveredin the spirit of his ancestor, who not onlywrote the Declaration of Independence atage 33, but was also a farmer, philosopher,scientist, and statesman. Coles remindedus that the late John F. Kennedy, indescribing a group of Nobel Prize winnersdining at the White House, termed them“the most extraordinary collection of talent,of human resource that has ever gatheredat the White House with the possibleexception of when Thomas Jeffersondined alone.”

Gertie d’Amecourt was also one of the20 guests at an assemblage of women thatWashington hostess and real estate ace, AllisonLaLand, brought together for a luncheon to meetRima Al-Sabah, wife of the new ambassador ofKuwait. She is one of the very attractive, very brainywave of young wives currently accompanying their ambassadorhusbands to Washington.

Formerly a journalist, the tall blondeRima majored in International Relations atthe University of Beirut, and welcomedthe opportunity to meet some ofWashington’s most prominent women.

Another guest, and another pretty newface on the embassy scene belongs toZohor Jazairy, wife of the ambassador ofAlgeria, and still another is that of CarmenDucaru, wife of the ambassador ofRomania, a model-slim economist.

Other guests included the popularNermin Fahmy, wife of the ambassador ofEgypt, who has made many friends duringher stay here, and who sported a fetchingnew hairdo, Carol Lascaris, president of theboard of the National Museum of Womenin the Arts, and president of the LascarisDesign Group, Nicole Reibel, wife of thegeneral manager of the Willard Hotel,author Gail Scott, Renee Robinson, amember of many cultural committees, philanthropistMary (Mrs. Eric) Weinmann,Janet Langhart Cohen, (wife of WilliamCohen, the former secretary of defense) whoorganized a privately sponsored tour overseas to visit our troops after September 11,Bonnie Armacost, wife of the president ofthe Brookings Institute, Ariadna Miller,whose husband William served as secretaryof the treasury, and Loraine Percy, whosehusband, former Senator Chuck Percy, isengaged in a major undertaking that willbring us a new national park within a fewyears. Since he was appointed chairman ofthe Georgetown Waterfront Park Commission,Chuck, with the enthusiastic cooperation of Mayor Anthony Williams, has beenable not only to revive the plan for a nationalpark on the Georgetown waterfront that wasmandated by Congress in 1801 and neveracted upon until now, but he has obtaineda congressional grant of $1 million. Thisseed money has now been matched and surpassedto the total of $4 million, and inthree more years the park will be a reality.

Guests at the Braxton Moncures’annual “Margaritas with a Latin Beat”party were greeted with sombreros to don,and a snazzy machine churning out thedrink of the evening (with endless bottlesof champagne on hand for those preferringthe grape.) The hit of the evening’sdishes was the giant platters of sushi (Latinsushi? Never mind.) Among the 80 or soguests were several European journalists;CNN’s Candy Crowley; cinematographerMichael Deane and his wife DanielaDeane of the Washington Post; AbeshGhale, a filmmaker from Nepal; ShelleyThrakal of the BBC; Brian Ehle and hismuralist wife Oksana; surgeons Dr.Richard Fox and his wife Dr. KathyAlley; and Marian Blakey, chairman ofthe National Transportation Safety Board,one of the busiest women in Washingtonsince September 11.

An especially warm and intimate dinnerfor 32 was given by Turkish AmbassadorOsman Logoglu and his wife Mimi,who set the tone for an evening of friendship.The ambassador is an excellent raconteurand a generalist whose knowledge isextensive, and several of their guests, suchas Esther Coopersmith, were an equalmatch. The ambassador’s spirited toast wasresponded to warmly by Alfred Moses.

The dinner began with two separatecourses of a dozen “mezze” appetizers, bothhot and cold, which gave a wonderfuloverview of Turkish cuisine in all its glory.Guests enjoying the many-course mealincluded former Senator Richard Stone ofFlorida and his wife Marlene, theUndersecretary of Defense for InternationalSecurity J.D. Crouch and Mrs. Crouch,and Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn.

Lily Safra was in town to host a dinnerat the Folger Shakespeare Library and attenda National Institutes of Health luncheonwhere she was honored for donating $3 millionfor a residential facility named for herlate husband, Edmond Safra. Both Mrs.Safra and her international banker husbandhad long been known for their global philanthropies;his mysterious death in Monacoin 1999 led to endless speculation both infinancial journals and in the tabloids.

John McLaughlin was in rare formduring the brunch at the Willard Hotel heand wife Cristina threw to celebrate the20th anniversary of “The McLaughlinGroup.” So were his “groupies,” the panelof journalists who appear on his syndicatedTV show. Present and former paneliststook turns toasting—and often roasting—the foghorn-voiced host. Seen:Arianna Huffington, Pat Buchanan,Eleanor Clift, and a clutch of Carlsons:Ambassador Richard, Tucker, andMargaret, (the first two father and son, thethird unrelated), Clarence Page, PaulaZahn, Chris Buckley, Josette Shiner,Tandy and Wyatt Dickerson, GeorgieAnne Geyer, author John Nance,Georgette Mosbacher, Dana Delaneyand half a dozen ambassadors who danceduntil well after teatime.

Fastest feet on the floor? Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and his always- vivacious wife Lois.

Most amazing feat on the floor? Ivonne A-Baki, the Ambassador of Ecuador, whocan salsa like mad in five-inch heels and never miss a beat.

John Nance, the novelist and ABC aviationanalyst, was feted at Café Milano celebratinghis latest aviation thriller, “Turbulence.”

“Just as John Grisham uses legal backgroundsfor his books,” said Nance, “I useaviation.” “But you’re also a lawyer, said oneguest, “Double whammy.” SEEN: TV’sTammy Haddad, Lisa Stark of ABC,Garry Clifford, Ann Hand, radio’s JimBohannon and Annabelle, Ellen Rattnerof Talk Radio News and Fox Commentator,Beverly and Tom Malatesta, DianaMcLellan, Paul Rodriguez, (managingeditor of Insight magazine), Joe diGenovaand Victoria Toensing. Ubiquitous IvonneA-Baki, after a day-long session at theCouncil of the Americas, arrived with herson Faisal, just in by plane from his work asan economist in Ecuador.