12/24/12
12/24/12
Happy Holidays!
Another year has passed by and we did our best to see as many of you as we could. For those of you we saw & those we wished we could have seen, our thoughts and best wishes are with you!
Things never did slow down for us this year, we stayed busy with lots of work and travel, but managed to have some fun as well. What did slow down was the number of new pages on our website, so our pictorial 'year-in-review' is a little lean this time. But those few things we did get to do were well worth the time & lots of fun!
Eigil lived with us the full year and has endured six-day work-weeks for most of the year. His schedule has made him appreciate what little time off he has. Cindy also continues her hard work at the office, putting in far more hours than she should. As we commute together, she holds me hostage until she's ready to go home & leaving her behind at work just doesn't feel like a good idea. I keep traveling to the Middle east every other month & trying to schedule everything else between trips. In spite of all the work, we still managed to visit San Miguel de Allende, Apache Junction Arizona, and Portland this year.
May:
The three of us visited Mom & Luis in
San Miguel de
Allende. We spent a wonderful week in town and out at the Ranch, enjoying
the excellent company and food. Mornings in San Miguel are always
punctuated by long and delicious Mexican breakfasts at any number of local
restaurants and cafes. Everyone also took turns cooking & that turned into long
periods of eating and conversation. All this indiscriminate eating and sitting
around takes away from some of the day to day creativity. This includes among
other things, Mom combining her green thumb with some alchemy to turn out some
golden Pomegranate liqueurs, Luis using his surgical & anatomical skills to
bring clay alive, Lis and Nixi work their architectural magic, adding to San
Miguel's colonial beauty, and Vivi taking what time she can away from the big
city's demand for her practice. With all these busy schedules, we all gather
whenever we can to laugh and enjoy each other's company, and remembering all
those wonderful memories that helped shape us into the family we are. Could you
ask for any more?
Memorial Weekend:
Memorial weekend was supposed to be the maiden voyage of our two-place kayak. We
packed it up and ran off to Mike & Elena's place in
Apache Junction,
Arizona. Apache Junction is just East of Phoenix & there are a number
of lakes in the vicinity. Not surprisingly, the weekend brought out a sea of
humanity & while struggling to find a parking spot, Enrique's car blew a
radiator hose. So we were never able to test the kayak's buoyancy.
On the brighter side, we did enjoy an outdoor Jam with Miguel and friends, and a
fine party at Scott & Reina's.
July:
We took the opportunity to visit Mom & Luis at their place in
Portland.
Started by heading north in the motor home & camping out in Larkspur. From there
we sailed the ferry into San Francisco & spent some time with Jane & Austin .
While up at our old stomping grounds, we toured
Sonoma & Napa valleys, trolling for wine and culinary delights, not a
particularly hard find up there. Drove further North to camp in Mark & Karen's
front yard and
spent the next day gently drifting in Lake Berryessa with them. You know your
life is changing when no one asked to ski! Then took a few days to
drive through Northern California and Oregon, camping along the way. In
Portland, we managed
to squeeze the motor home up on Luis' driveway & spent a few days in and around
Portland. Our return trip took us south east to Crater lake, where we used our
little scouter to get us around. We hiked down to the lake and up to the top of
Wizard Island, then rewarded ourselves with a wonderful dinner at the lodge. From Crater Lake we drove down to Lassen
Volcanic Park for our final campout, hiking the trails to the very active mini
geyser's and boiling mud pots, before embarking on the long drive home.
December:
Unfortunately, Cindy had to head to Philadelphia for her aunt
Marie's funeral. We'll
spend Christmas at home with Eigil, then head back to
Mike & Elena's for
New Year's eve, capping off a very fine and reasonably busy year.
Though out the year:
We covered eight races
for our Dirtfocus web
site. These races amount to mini vacations in Mexico, Arizona & Nevada. Spending
time to enjoy the pre-race festivities, contingency, race, and any post race
visits to sites in the vicinity. Although this hobby adds to our schedule, it
also allows us to relax and unwind.
Cindy has finished her holiday baking marathon, were everything from cookies to fudge gets distributed to our friends & neighbors. I count fifteen trays with a heaping assortment of over a dozen different goodies on each. That's sure to bring smiles to the neighborhood kids and dentists! That's also my cue to finish this letter and post it!
Hope you've enjoyed your year as much as we did. We wish all of you a wonderful holiday season, and with some luck we hope to see you next year!
... Jeff, Cindy, & Eigil