Our oldest known Kossack has just scaled another peak in a Himalyan mountain of years, and congratulations are pouring in from across the cosmos.
Fellow Kossack luckylizard honored her here.
She got flowers from the Corneville, the freighter on which she went to the Far East in 1937 on the Cruise of the Corneville. Here she is, the gorgeous one on the right, getting ready for that encounter.
There was a fanfare from her BIG elephant friends in Thailand;
And a note from Mount Everest, which she visited the same year, 1996.
Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt sent champagne;
There were chocolates from JFK:
AND calls from that hounddog LBJ:
An elegantly written letter from the chronicler of the first Charlotte Lucas, Jane Austen:
And even a card from the death panel she narrowly evaded in 2009.
Charlotte is very busy on the latest installment of her series, on Presidential campaigns she's known. With her admirable judgment, she no doubt regards birthdays, even 98th birthdays, as less important than this work. But we who are so fortunate to know her, can take time to acknowledge what she means to us. Charlotte, it is an inexpressible privilege to read your work and hear your wisdom.