A beach walker at moonset on the beach 18 July, Pine Point ME.
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.
The chronological topics:
We visited the Lubin clan in the Oakland area last holiday season, attempting to fly out on Christmas Day to arrive in time for the holiday dinner. Alas mechanical issues delayed our arrival, and we missed dinner, arriving late that evening. Beth and Jim (Jonathan’s niece and husband) gave us a wine bus tour in Napa as a Christmas present, so on Thursday the 28th we drove up to Napa checking into a well-kept B&B where the wine bus picked us up at 10:30am to visit four wineries – Silenus, Rutherford Ranch with a luncheon, Provenance, and Flora Springs. The tour was very informative, and we learned a number of things about wine and wine tasting that we didn’t know before. The difference between aging in American oak compared to French oak was amazing. They had two representative barrels with the same vintage side-by-side for direct comparison. I want, but can’t afford much of, the French oak aged wine. That evening, we had dinner in Napa, and the next day we toured the Mumm Napa winery and gallery before heading back to Piedmont. We also enjoyed time with family, including Jonathan’s brother Mike and wife Mary, James and Dorothy Lubin (Jonathan’s nephew and wife), and the next generation of Lubins and Hughes.
We made our usual swing through Blacksburg VA in April to visit Mom. We always made a point to visit Mom and Dad around the time of their anniversary (April 7), and continue the tradition.
We headed out a day early to the Thomas Family reunion so we could swing through Louisville and visit my cousin Trudy and her family, staying with David and Maranda. I described it as a “pre-reunion” and featured a couple stops on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. On Friday, we (Trudy and Woody, David, Jonathan and I) went to the Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loreto KY, where we took the tour and sampled the wares. After the tasting, I decided that my preferred products were the standard Marker’s Mark and Maker’s 46, and since I already had a bottle of each no additional purchase was necessary (except the refrigerator magnet). David, Woody, Trudy, and Jonathan (L to R) in image above left.
After the Maker’s tour, David, Jonathan and I went into Louisville to have lunch with Maranda, after which we toured and sampled the rye at Peerless Distillery. I did buy a bottle there, along with one for a house gift or David and Maranda. That evening Amanda and Christian joined us for dinner along with Trudy and Woody, David and Maranda. Brooke, Nelson, and Sam all had previous engagements. After lunch on Friday, we drove down to Cadiz KY where we had rooms at Barkley Lodge (the Super 8 was booked!).
As we did last year, we took two weeks in July for our annual visit to Pine Point, driving two days each way. Once there, our time was spent in the usual festivities of beach and sandbar walking, tide supervision, and eating. Photo below: The ice cream breakfast at Len Libby's, (L-R) Mike, Cindy, Devlin, me, Harris, and Jonathan. I tried a recipe for lobster spring rolls that I found on the NY Times cooking website that was met with great acclaim. Cindy and Mike were already there, and we were joined, schedules permitting, by our daughters Madison, Harris, and Devlin, and their mothers M’lyn and Diane, and Diane’s sister-in-law Brenda. Nancy Rose and Ellen Perkins also drove up from Rhode Island to spend a few days with us. One day we drove down to Boston to visit Jonathan’s thesis advisor and wife, John and Carol Tate. On another, we drove up to Brunswick to see Betsy Grobe, Jonathan’s colleague from his Bowdoin days, and dropped by Ray Giroux and Dave Petrie’s in Portland to catch up on their doings. On our drive back, we stopped off in Ashland OH to visit Natalie Johnson, a colleague of Jonathan from the Brown math department.
The August Party had about 75 folks visiting during the four hours of festivities. Planning for the event went well – Jonathan did not have to run out for extra champagne (as has happened for a couple of past August Parties).
My job at Biothera came to an abrupt end on October 1st when the 2-year financing deal fell through at the 11th hour (and 59th minute). The company only had enough resources to cover our paychecks and accrued vacation time. They kept a skeleton crew of 11 on board to try to get through the current clinical trials including the collaborative ones. I told them that they didn’t need my skillset for that work, and should instead keep one of my direct reports for his skillsets, which they did. The rest of us are on our way to the next stage of our careers. I’ve been looking into starting a consultancy – I had been contemplating consulting my way into retirement, so I’ve accelerated those plans.
Our big trip started in early November. We turned in our absentee ballots about a month before we departed so we could tune out the election. The “mute” button on the remote control is a wonderful invention. We flew first to Pasadena CA for the weekend to catch up with our friends in the area. Staying with Clarli Wilson, we visited with Jeff and Amelia Silverman, Carol and Wes Louissant, Ghassan Sarkis and Kathryn Leonard, and Dar Rosario and Sue Masters. We attended both services at Neighborhood UU Church to maximize our opportunity to see folks. Monday evening, we flew from LAX to Melbourne where we visited with another friend from Neighborhood, Alyce McCarroll. From there it was on to Tasmania with the highlights being a walking tour in the Freycinet National Park, and a photography workshop in the Tarkine rainforest. In the photo, we’re at Cradle Mountain Nat’l Park in Tasmania, with the famous peak in the background. You can read all about it at the following links:
The next vacation is in the initial stages of planning – Madagascar[link] – aiming at a October timeframe. Jonathan has to decide if he feels he is up to the trip physically, and I have to get enough of a job to pay for it.
We plan on returning to the Bay area to visit the Lubin clan, again departing on Christmas morning, hoping that a non-stop will be the ticket to be in time for Christmas dinner this year.
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In less chronological topics, I continue to sing in the 60+ member White Bear Unitarian-Universalist church choir (tenor). My voice lessons transitioned from my choir director Thaxter Cunio in his role as faculty at the MacPhail Music Center in Minneapolis to Dennis Peterson, another operatic tenor. The different teaching styles between Thaxter and Dennis has been interesting and useful. Choir and voice continue to be the highlight of my week.
In other church related activities, I’m currently the past-president of the church Board of Directors, passing the gavel on to my successor (retired judge Susan Miles) this past June, and have one more year to serve on the board. The church had a successful year – the capital project to upgrade the heating/cooling systems and pay down the mortgage came in on time and slightly under budget. We hired an assistant minister and a director of congregational community closing a persistent staffing gap, and the annual pledge drive came in above target.
Jonathan continues to serve on the Endowment Committee at church and participates in one of the “sharing circles” that are part of White Bear UU Church’s small group ministry program. He also has been tutoring at Central High School, and is now working with two classes.
We lost Merry, our tuxedo cat in March to rapidly spreading cancer. Neither of us were ready for his rapid decline and departure. Pippin and Tillie have taken over various roles – Pippin is now the shower sentinel, with an occasional assist from Tillie. Tillie would still prefer to be an “only cat.”
This year’s garden included artichokes (we actually harvested and ate them this year), tomatoes, pole beans (to Jonathan’s disgust), Swiss chard, onions, and carrots. The free-range strawberries produced enough for us to enjoy them for a couple of breakfasts. Jonathan’s chrysanthemums (planted from seed) came in late, but with some pleasing colors.
Cheers, Mark (with back-seat editing by Jonathan)
Jonathan walking Friendly Beach on 12 November, Freycinet National Park, Tasmania
Our big trip started in early November. We turned in our absentee ballots about a month before we departed so we could tune out the election. The “mute” button on the remote control is a wonderful invention. We flew first to Pasadena CA for the weekend to catch up with our friends in the area. Staying with Clarli Wilson, we visited with Jeff and Amelia Silverman, Carol and Wes Louissant, Ghassan Sarkis and Kathryn Leonard, and Dar Rosario and Sue Masters. We attended both services at Neighborhood UU Church to maximize our opportunity to see folks. Monday evening, we flew from LAX to Melbourne where we visited with another friend from Neighborhood, Alyce McCarroll. From there it was on to Tasmania with the highlights being a walking tour in the Freycinet National Park, and a photography workshop in the Tarkine rainforest. In the photo, we’re at Cradle Mountain Nat’l Park in Tasmania, with the famous peak in the background. You can read all about it at the following links: