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.
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As we settle into the new covid world, we hope you are navigating the new normal in good health and good spirits. I came down with (presumably) the omicron variant at the beginning of May, two days before I was scheduled to get my second booster. My experience was three days of a moderate flu (fever, body aches, cough). I slept in the guest room and we made a point to not stay in the same room for any length of time, and masked up when we did. The cough lingered for weeks before it faded away. Fortunately, Jonathan has managed to avoid coming down with any variant so far. We’re hoping it stays that way.
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The chronological topics:
We visited the Lubin clan in the Oakland area last holiday season, getting there in time for the holiday family dinner hosted by Jonathan’s niece and husband, Beth and Jim.
In April, we flew back to southern California for the memorial service of our dear friend Clarli Wilson. Clarli and her late husband Scott were the witnesses at our marriage ceremony and signed the certificate as witnesses. While in Pasadena, we got the chance to visit with former boss/coworker and current friend Jeff & Amelia and with former boss/coworker and current friend Dar and Sue. We also visited with Ghassan Sarkis and Kathryn Leonard – both Brown graduate mathematicians with Ghassan being Jonathan’s final Ph.D. student, who teaches at the Claremont colleges.
In May, I attended the Science Days conference at the Center for Translational Microbiome Research at the Karolinska Institute in the Stockholm area. The conference was held at the Nobel Forum where they announce the Nobel Prizes. While there, my co-worker Kristi and I took the bus to the Vasa Museum to appreciate the ship that was raised from the bottom of the harbor. From there, I flew down to Ferring’s facility for several days of meeting as well as introductions in 3-D. Like the conference, it was a chance to meet a lot of colleagues who I had only met through Zoom or Teams.
In the image below, Nyhavn in Copenhagen, were a couple of US coworkers and I boarded the harbor and canal cruise.
June brought Ghassan and Kathryn to the Twin Cities for a conference, so we got a second chance to visit with them, and later in the month I attended the Microbiome Movement/Drug Discovery conference in Boston.
The Thomas Family Reunion was held on the traditional date of the Sunday after Fathers’ Day which would have been Mom’s 100th birthday.
In the image below, the youngest generation heads down to the creek after the eating is done with parents in tow.
In mid-July, we drove to Pine Point by way of Lindsay ON to visit Káča. Once in Pine Point our time was spent in the usual festivities of beach and sandbar walking, tide supervision, and eating. Cindy and Mike were already there, and we were joined, schedules permitting, by our daughters Madison and Harris, and their mothers M’lyn and Diane, and Diane’s sister-in-law Brenda. Daughter Devlin was unable to get enough time off from her job the Army Language School in Monterey CA teaching Russian. One day we drove down to Boston to visit Carol, the wife of Jonathan’s thesis advisor. On another, we drove up to Brunswick to see Betsy, Jonathan’s colleague from his Bowdoin days and her son Fritz (one half of the Diet Coke and Mentos duo). On our drive back to Saint Paul, we stopped off in West Lafayette IN to have breakfast with Barb, a colleague of mine at RepliGen.
While in Maine, Cindy and I started investigating the possibility of remodeling the kitchen in the Little House (the house across the street from the King Cottage). I was expecting the estimates to be out of our budget, but was surprised that the costs seemed quite reasonable. So the kitchen has been gutted, the cracked drain pipe in the corner of the kitchen repaired, and the carpentry to hide that pipe and others underway. Cindy and I have been texting pictures of possible accent tiles to go with the white subway tile backsplash, and finally found something we like. I’m hoping the kitchen will be ready when Cindy and Mike return to Pine Point in May.
L: Designer's rendering looking north; M:looking east; R: looking south
The August party was another success, in addition to the Lubin clan from Oakland (Michael and Norma, Beth and Jim), Devlin flew in from California and her boyfriend, Arman, drive up from Chicago with his parents, Imelda and Apollo. As usual we had the chance for some enjoyable visiting with family both before and after the party.
Later in August, we returned to Pine Point (flying this time) for my cousin Sallie’s memorial, which was held in the back yard of the house my grandfather had acquired, refurbished, and was Sallie and Roger’s summer home. I got to meet Sallie and Roger’s other offspring – Dan and Greg, along with their spouses Diane and Monica – along with cousin Don’s daughter Robin.
We had a couple of visits from Rhode Island friends and family in late summer with John B. dropping by on his way to/from Nebraska for a reunion. And in September, Madison and M’lyn passed through on their way back to Rhode Island after a summer of camping and rock climbing. M’lyn was celebrating her retirement from her position in the library at Quinebaug Valley Community College in Connecticut – mother and daughter (and dog Fable) were having a grand time.
In October we started to look for a new house/condo. With Jonathan turning 86 this year, we decided to follow Mom and Dad’s example and stay ahead of our aging process and find age-in-place friendly housing on our schedule rather than having to do so as the result of some crisis or emergency. Ultimately we selected a condo not far from the Saint Paul farmer’s market in Lowertown. Lowertown is a historic district with specific boundaries from which the new place is just one block north. For those who would like to get a jump on the new address:
209 8th Street E #302, Saint Paul MN 55101-3389
Our unit is on the third floor between the pink arrows.
Closing is scheduled for December 16th. We will put 1177 Lincoln Ave on the market after the Super Bowl – our real estate agent tells us that marks the beginning of the spring RE market. It gives us time to move in a thoughtful fashion as we were hoping to do some downsizing. We are meeting with a local company, Gentle Transitions, that specializes in downsizing and relocating to small quarters including into assisted living and nursing homes. Jonathan has already started disposing of his wood shop and its tools – our neighbor’s son has taken most of them so far, with a coworker of mine acquiring a number of hand tools.
We flew to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving where Jonathan and I cooked the meal while daughter Harris provided the baked goods which included, schnecken, flan, and a pumpkin cheesecake. We were joined at times by Madison’s boyfriend Andrew and Harris’ girlfriend Molly. While there we got a chance to visit Nancy and Ellen the day before Thanksgiving and have a pre-Thanksgiving meal with them at the Matunuck Oyster Bar. The day after we returned John B.’s visit. That evening, we attended a play that Madison directed – Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” based on a script by Kate Hamill.
L: Ellen, Nancy, Jonathan & at Matunuck Oyster Bar; R: Harris and Andrew on their phones with the flan and pumpkin cheesecake to be served.
On November 30, my company (Rebiotix, a Ferring company) received the final approval from the FDA for our flagship product REBYOTA™ for the treatment of recurrent C. difficile infection culminating 11 years of work. It marks the first approval by the FDA of a live biotherapeutic product which represents a historic milestone for the industry. That's me signing the banner at celebration (R). Bubbly was popped, but I’m not sure it went that well with the cupcakes…
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In less chronological topics, in-person choir has returned to church finally. Post pandemic we are down to about 35 singers compared to the 60+ in “before times.” We are also missing a choir director as the previous one retired just over a year ago, and with the congregation between settled ministers, the Board is waiting until we have identified the new minister before hiring a new one. In the meantime, various musicians have stepped up as song leaders, including directing the choir, so we perform at services about once a month. I still take my voice lessons at the MacPhail Music Center in Minneapolis with Dennis Peterson, an operatic tenor. Choir and voice continue to be the highlight of my week.
Jonathan maintains his usual habits of mathematics, perusing the New York Times and Washington Post online. His wood working hobby is coming to an end with the relocation, but the photography will continue. He misses tutoring at Central High School.
The cats are in fine shape – Pippin has even shown additional dietary success losing another pound down to 15 (he was 17lb two years ago). And Tillie still wishes she were an "only cat."
In mid-July, we drove to Pine Point by way of Lindsay ON to visit Káča. Once in Pine Point our time was spent in the usual festivities of beach and sandbar walking, tide supervision, and eating. Cindy and Mike were already there, and we were joined, schedules permitting, by our daughters Madison and Harris, and their mothers M’lyn and Diane, and Diane’s sister-in-law Brenda. Daughter Devlin was unable to get enough time off from her job the Army Language School in Monterey CA teaching Russian. One day we drove down to Boston to visit Carol, the wife of Jonathan’s thesis advisor. On another, we drove up to Brunswick to see Betsy, Jonathan’s colleague from his Bowdoin days and her son Fritz (one half of the Diet Coke and Mentos duo). On our drive back to Saint Paul, we stopped off in West Lafayette IN to have breakfast with Barb, a colleague of mine at RepliGen.
On November 30, my company (Rebiotix, a Ferring company) received the final approval from the FDA for our flagship product