March 17, 1996

I am the happy mother of a sunny 5-year-old. My husband and I have watched her progress from a serene infant to a capable toddler. We found a good nursery school for her to attend, where she revealed affinities for watercolors, library books, her classmates and the computer. We saw her become a small person who loved the city, from the tire swing in her playground to the sculpture of Perseus and Medusa at the Met. The city appeared to love her back, from the Bengali hot-dog vendor who handed her free Chee-tos to the sanitation guys who chatted over their shoulders with her as they sent barrels of recyclables crashing into their trucks.

ONLY hours after the orders went out from the White House last weekend, 81,000 tons of hardened gray steel began to shake to life in the Persian Gulf. The aircraft carrier Nimitz picked up speed, slicing through the briny waters of the gulf, its course set due east. President Clinton had ordered the Nimitz to join another carrier, the Independence, off Taiwan as a reminder to China that the United States intended to protect its Taiwanese friends. In fighting for its slice of the Pentagon budget, the Navy could not have asked for better symbolism -- a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, that most powerful symbol of seaborne might, rushing to protect a threatened ally, projecting American military supremacy in a corner of the world central to the American economy.

ALL South Carolina needs now is a seat in the Bundestag. It already has its own Autobahn, a local stretch of Interstate 85 where 43 German companies make their home. The best restaurant in town is Gerhard's Cafe on Main Street, where many of the area's German nationals gather for conversation, doses of Jagermeister and plates of Rindsrouladen. In the din of the busy restaurant, the words "Ja" and "Ya'll" mingle into a kind of weird Bavarian-Bubba dialect. And -- here's an image to keep Patrick J. Buchanan prowling the parapets at night -- a German flag shares the breeze with Old Glory over City Hall.

DO you absolutely, positively have to have a BMW Z3 right away? No problem. Two were advertised in The Dallas Morning News last week -- for $50,000, roughly nearly $20,000 over the manufacturer's suggested retail price. And then there's Steve Meronek and Isaac Marti of Miami Beach, Fla., who hold the options on 36 Z3's. "We're charging whatever the market will bear," said Mr. Meronek, a freelance investor who is advertising the cars in Car and Driver and Road & Track magazines. "We've accepted offers that are five grand over sticker."

A 31-story luxury condominium named The Siena is rising beside the 172-foot dome of the Italian Renaissance style St. Jean Baptiste Roman Catholic Church and Rectory on 76th Street between Third and Lexington Avenues. The project, to be completed in the spring of 1997, consists of 73 units ranging in price from $400,000 to $3 million. Over half the apartments will have at least three bedrooms. The developers are Quinlan & Field, the Brodsky Organization and Rose Associates.