Because you are reading this, we can only assume that you like reading Christmas letters. I like them, but they seem to be frowned upon in some quarters, so we figured if you took the time to type in the URL, you too enjoy these missives.
Most of the holidays last year and January were spent unpacking and getting comfortable in the new house. There were piles upon piles upon piles of boxes – the kitchen was so full you could barely turn around at the stove. The cats adapted rapidly to the new digs and all the cartons were nothing more than a feline jungle gym. In the image to the right, Merry explores possibilities that weren’t available in the Pasadena house.
One of the first things we arranged, providing motivation for clearing out all the boxes, was some remodeling in the kitchen. The back corner of the kitchen provided an excellent spot to relocate the laundry from the basement. In fact, I had bought the new washer and drier before we had closed on the house in anticipation. We also had a kitchen island installed (finished product shown left). Tom Klein of Appliance Specialties suggested that we repeat the black and white theme from the floor and use white marble to complement the black granite countertops, while bringing in the wood tones from the dining room on the base. The island is more like a piece of furniture than a kitchen cabinet.
This was our first “real” winter since we left New England, and Minnesota did not disappoint. The locals told us it was an unusually long winter – the first snow (12”) came on December 12th and the last major snow of 4-6” was May 3rd or so, with piles of snow in the back yard persisting into April. The picture of the back yard to the right was taken March 6th. For us it was such a novelty after 15 years that it didn’t bother us much. We’ll see how we respond to the second year and we’re already experiencing January-normal temperatures now in December.
We didn’t realize, when we moved in here, what a fabulous neighborhood it would turn out to be. Very social, but not oppressively so: for example, within a month of our arrival we found ourselves on the invitation list for the annual late-December party given for everybody by Joe and Carol twards the end the street. And the people here are eager to help you out, as when Bonnie three doors away shoveled us out from the first snowfall before we arrived in December 2012, and the whole neighborhood conspired to leave an open space on the street in front, so that the moving van could fit in. For another example, when Jonathan was chatting with Bonnie and Mark G. about the peculiarities of the house and complained that the windows in the sleeping porch up on the second floor were thoroughly (thoroughly!) painted shut, Mark offered to come over and look to see how he might help out. Two weeks later saw him scampering up a 30-foot ladder to help free the sashes. After 15 years in California, we’re not used to this!
At the beginning of May, we left for a Country Walkers’ tour of Scotland, specifically the Isle of Skye and two nights on the elegant Royal Scotsman train (think Orient Express). Our departure assured we’d miss the last major snow of the season – shucks-darn! We had a splendid time and discovered that haggis is quite tasty. When researching the trip and scoping out our time on the train, I found that the Royal Scotsman required formal dress for the dinner and suggested Highland dress. So working through the kilt maker they recommended, I “hired a kilt” for the farewell dinner that was to be held on the train. The image to the left was taken on the lounge car during the cocktail hour that preceded the dinner. The tartan I selected was "Isle of Skye", there was no King or Thomas plaid listed - my sister joked that our family tartan was probably plain beige. Links to our travelogues are:
JDL's Scotland travelogue | MTK's Scotland travelogue
Not long before we flew off to Scotland and while there were still piles of snow in the back yard, we had made arrangements to have the front yard landscaped. There was a grassy slope that had two flaws – it was grassy and it was sloped. Having a sturdy case of hay fever, I don’t care to mow lawns if I can avoid it, and mowing grass on a slope is even lower on my list. So we contracted with Don Engebretson, d/b/a the Renegade Gardener to do something about it. Replacing the slope was a no-brainer, but the walls Don crafted are a work of art using five different colors / types of stone that he fit together one stone at a time. We are very pleased with the outcome.
The summer was filled with our usual habits. In June we drove down to Cadiz KY for the annual Thomas family reunion. It’s a long 15-hour drive, and despite leaving at zero-dark-thirty, we arrived Saturday at the tail end of the cook-out that precedes the reunion on Sunday. There were about 45 or so folks at this year’s get-together, and we already plan to attend next year’s reunion. After all, it’s just a quick drive. Illinois is an awfully long state.
In early August, we flew to Portland ME to go to our vacation house in Pine Point. The image at the left shows one end of a double rainbow that went from horizon to horizon after a passing thunderstorm as seen from the deck of the family cottage across the street from our vacation house. At various points we had - my parents, sister Cindy her husband Mike and their son Mason, our daughters, Madison, Harris, and Devlin, their mothers M’lyn and Diane, our friend Nancy Rose, and fellow Scotland travellers Roger and Wendy Wickenden - present for various periods of time. We also drove up to Portland to see Ray Giroux and Dave Petrie, and further north to Brunswick to spend an afternoon with Chuck and Betsy Grobe. We spent the week eating, eating, and eating some more – mostly seafood, and it was wonderful!
The first August Party in Saint Paul was a rousing success. Although not as big as the previous year’s party in Pasadena, the attendance bodes well for the future of the St. Paul editions of the party. We were delighted to have Clarli Wilson and her daughter Chris Richards attend, taking the time to fly out from California by way of Omaha NE for the festivities. We had a wonderful time with them here, and make a point to check in with Clarli on a weekly basis. In the image to the right below, the surplus balloons from the August Party have been distributed to the neighborhood youngsters that afternoon.
After Don had completed the front landscaping, he took a month or so to work on other projects before starting on the back yard. Again we gave him wide latitude for the design with only a few specific requests – a Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas, a dogwood with edible fruit) and re-directing the path to the garage that had been overgrown by the 30-foot blue spruce. As seen in the image below-left, Don’s design creates four “rooms” in the back yard using the red stone pathway crossed at the arbor by a row of dogwoods – a miniature conifer garden, a space for the Cornelian cherry and a fountain (three basalt columns with the spiral of stones), a water garden (covered in plastic for the winter) with small patio, and space for a raised-bed vegetable garden. There are a few plantings that he'll be back in the spring to finish off, but again we're very pleased with the outcome.
In February we signed the membership book at White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church in Mahtomedi, and north-east suburb of Saint Paul. Although Unity Church is closer and has a vibrant church community, we felt that WBUUC had the “vibe” closest to Neighborhood UU Church in Pasadena. Because my effort to establish a bell choir has to sit on the back burner for larger church issues, I joined the choir (baritone) as a musical outlet. I’ve been enjoying the experience and Wednesday evening practice is the high point of my week. I’ve also been drafted to serve on the Development Committee and did some consultation with the Service Auction Committee (while steadfastly refusing deeper involvement, having run two of them at Neighborhood). I did get the go ahead to bring Dining for Dollars fundraiser to WBUUC as a complement to the Service Auction and the first session is this May. Jonathan has been participating in the small group ministry which goes by the name “Sharing Circles” locally. We both have occasionally volunteered to hand out orders of service and other activities. We expect to get even more involved as time passes.
Work at Biothera continues to be stimulating and rewarding. It’s nice to be busy again and feel like your work helps the project move forward. Scientifically, the project is unusual (the active ingredient is a carbohydrate, compared to the proteins, peptides, and DNA I’ve worked with previously) and I have the opportunity to learn new things and broaden my experience, making work fun again.
Jonathan continues to enjoy retirement, although he still keeps busy in mathematics, and published a paper in the Journal of Number Theory this year after publishing two other papers in 2007 and 2011. He doesn’t seem miss teaching freshman calculus at all. He cycles through his various hobbies having set up his woodworking shop in the basement under supervision of the feline contingent. Photography is almost exclusively a digital process now, although his film cameras are still used especially for black and white work. The resulting negatives are scanned, processed, and printed via computer. He has also done work remotely for the Pasadena League of Women Voters, although that has tapered off. He has been baking a lot of bread lately and is getting more adept at it. He says he doesn't like what's available at the local grocery stores, and it’s too expensive anyway.
Although I didn’t get back to Blacksburg for any Virginia Tech football games, we did spend Thanksgiving week there with Mom and Dad. Except for the Thanksgiving dinner in Charlottesville with Cindy, Mike, and Mason, the entire time was spent in Blacksburg. We enjoyed a delightful meal and evening with our “other family”: Waverly and Nancy Evans and offspring, Alaina and Reece, and Mary Evans Arnold. We don’t do this enough.
The Moravian stars seen on the Christmas card have been installed – we get compliments from the neighbors on them. I added an LED-lit wreath on the front door this year, although the big project – we farmed it out – was to put Christmas lights on that big 30+ foot blue spruce in the back yard. The installers didn’t use any ladders or lifts, but extendable poles with a “U” shaped hook at the end of them, lifting the string of lights onto the boughs of the tree. The sparrows who inhabit the tree don’t seem to mind too much. I didn’t want the tree to be a second sun, so we chose the minimum number of lights – 1,820 – to put on the tree. One of the neighbors told us she was going to have to move her bedroom so she could admire the tree. The strings are LED lights – if they were the usual incandescent bulb a dedicated circuit might have been required. Jonathan took the photo below one evening shortly after sunset.
We have no big plans for the holiday, just some socializing with friends in and about town, although I do have to sing in the Christmas Eve service at church. After the holidays are over in January, we’re looking forward to flying to San Francisco to visit with all the Lubins and Hugheses in the area.
Cheers, Mark and Jonathan
