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Published: December 15th 2008
Mountain Lion
One of 2 mountain lions we have at the Arizona-Sonora Desert MuseumHAPPY HOLIDAYS - 2008
Happy Holidays, We were thrilled to realize that we have friends of many faiths - Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and even Bahai - of which many celebrate a holiday during this time of year. So we are taking this opportunity to connect with you all to wish you a happy and peaceful holiday, whatever your faith. For us it is a time to connect with family and friends of all faiths and in many countries. We greatly cherish our friendship with you all and want to thank you for keeping us in your hearts this holiday season.
Since we did many travel blogs this past year, this is strictly an update on family and our life in Tucson.
JANUARY. As many of you know, I spent three months last year training to be a naturalist guide (docent) at the
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and that has been a joy for me this past year. I work only one day a week, but there are several
Bernie w/brother Tom & wife Janet
In Feb. Tom & Janet came from Shrewsbury, Mass for a visit days a month of continuing education - workshops, lectures and outings - that continue to make me a more effective docent. I just LOVE working at the Museum. It is a special place - part zoo, part botanical garden, with specialized, educational exhibits pertaining to the desert. It is an enchanting place I love to go every Wednesday. I work with a GREAT bunch of docents - learn from them every time I'm there.
FEBRUARY. The beginning of the year brought Bernard's brother,
Tom, and wife, Janet, from near Boston, Mass. for a visit. We had almost two lovely weeks with them - February is a great time in Tucson. It is always a joy to spend time with family, so this was a special visit for us.
MARCH. Before and after Tom & Janet's visit we were in the middle of a
remodel of our condo - put in a completely new kitchen, in addition to repainting the whole house, resurfacing our ceilings, and redoing the bathrooms. It took several months to complete and we are pleased with the results. We were actually looking to buy a bigger place, but with
Gould Family
In April Tom & Janet's youngest daughter, Marie, came with husband Chris, daughter Elise and son Grif for a visit. This was taken on top of Mt. Lemmon, which is very high, otherwise it was shorts and t-shirt weather the real estate situation being what it was (got worse, but was still iffy when we were looking - many properties already in foreclosure) we decided to hang on to what we have. While we probably could have found a good deal when buying, selling our current place might have been a problem.
APRIL brought Tom & Janet's youngest daughter,
Marie, with husband
Chris and family,
Elise age 5 and son
Grif, 3, for a week. What a great family! We had such a good time with them - they were game for anything so we hiked, climbed and toured to exhaustion.
The end of APRIL we flew to
Guatemala to visit our exchange-student-daughter, Jaqueline, and her family. Her cousin, Hugo Fernando, was getting married, which is always a great excuse for a get-together. We had a fabulous time - Jackie's family is special (see previous blog).
MAY. We were only home a couple of weeks before heading to
Greece (see previous blog) for our 25th Anniversary celebration. We stopped in
New Jersey both ways to visit with Bernie's sister,
Claudia, and family. It broke up the trip
Jaqueline Barrios
In April Bernard & I went to Guatemala for a wedding in Jackie's family and gave us much enjoyed time with the New Jersey family. As you might remember, Claudia's husband,
Charlie, died last November. He was a much loved man and is sorely missed.
JUNE-SEPTEMBER. We got back from Greece to Tucson on June 5, and shortly thereafter started our drive to
Alaska for the summer. On the way we stopped in
California to visit daughter Christina and family, up to
Washington to see my sister, brother and aunt, before driving through
Canada to Alaska. We stayed there most of the summer (see previous blog), but headed home earlier than anticipated because they were having an incredibly cool summer - we got back to Tucson (again via Canada, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and Utah) September 11.
While in Alaska Bernie flew to
Berlin, Germany (August 2 - 7) to lecture in his field, International Law, at the request of the German Red Cross. Heike, Bernie's mentor and connection at the German Red Cross, has been great at getting him lecturing gigs, and he enjoyed himself very much for the short time he was in Berlin. Heike put Bernard's name forward, and he was accepted as
Patmos, Greece
In late May - early June Bernard and I went on a cruise of the Greek islands for our 25th wedding anniversary a judge for the Pictet Competition (moot court in international law) in
Evian, France in April. After he is finished with that, we'll visit our good friends Louis & Maryse who live in that area of France, and then travel through perhaps the Loire Valley for a week or so before heading home. We are planning the trip with Louise & Maryse, so don't have the details sussed out yet, but are already getting excited about it.
OCTOBER 22 - NOVEMBER 1 Bernie was in
La Paz, Bolivia and Quito, Ecuador lecturing in International Law under the auspices of the Bolivian and Ecuadorian National Red Cross organizations, together with the International Committee of the Red Cross. These lectures were a bit out of his particular expertise, so he had to do many hours of research and writing to get up to speed for the lectures - he loved it. While in Quito he met with old friends of ours (we lived in Ecuador for a year 1996 - 97).
Liz and Gustavo were our best Ecuadorian friends - through them we learned so much about the culture and are forever grateful for their friendship. They also
Christina & Evan
Christina is still taking on-line courses. She finished her interior design course and is doing a landscape design one now. Naturally she's been busy raising Evan and is doing an amazingly wonderful job visited us when we lived in the Netherlands.
In October, while Bernie was in Ecuador, my cousin Sue's husband John retired from the Air Force. They gave him a wonderful send-off with a ceremony at Davis-Monthan AFB here in Tucson (see photos below). After 27 years John is "retiring," right, since he is still in his 40s, he's got lots of umpf left in him. Next year they'll be moving back to New Mexico where they have a home - we'll miss them.
NOVEMBER of course brings
Thanksgiving and we drove to
Fremont, California (not too far from San Jose/San Francisco) to be with daughter
Christina and her family, husband
Mark and son
Evan, plus daughter
JJ/Jannay flew down from Alaska to be with us all. It was great!
Grandson Evan turned 3 on Nov. 20 (his mom, Christina, turned 39 AGAIN on Nov. 27). Mom had prepared Evan well with a "schedule" of events. The minute we arrived he went to the closet where Christina had "hidden" his birthday gifts - NOT - as he obviously knew exactly where they were. Evan had been told that he couldn't open his
Bernard with Laura & Jannay
Daughter Jannay (right - formerly JJ), with Bernard and signficant other Laura, still lives in Anchorage. presents until our arrival. The Friday after Thanksgiving he was up early getting out the Christmas tree decorations as that has become a tradition with us (after our Black Friday shopping and a visit to a spa for us ladies).
Evan is a kind, smart and funny little guy. At Thanksgiving dinner, after Christina and
Mark had said what they were thankful for, Evan pops up totally on his own, and said "I'm thankful Grandma and Grandpa are here." Just melted our hearts!!
Here we are into
DECEMBER and the holiday season is upon us. A friend from Anchorage,
Karen Russell (of Don & Karen) was here for three days taking depositions. She is still practicing law in Alaska. She did take an extra day so we could go shopping, hike Sabino Canyon, and eat sushi - very fun.
UPDATE ON DAUGHTERS: Christina, husband Mark and son Evan are still living in Fremont, California. Yeah, I told you they were going to move back to Seattle, but the company Mark works for needs him in California, so they are staying for at least another
Donna, Kathy & Diana
Me with my twin sisters in Fairbanks this summer year. They still have a house in Seattle, which is rented out, but honestly they are getting used to the sunshine of California, if not the crowds. Yes, pros and cons for sure.
Daughter
JJ/Jannay (is going by Jannay now, which is her middle name) is still living and working in Anchorage. She has a significant other, Laura, who has two very nice children. Jannay has no plans to leave Alaska any time soon, the economy being what it is. Jannay is still traveling whenever she can - did a cruise to South American last year and is going to Costa Rica in February. In addition she flies to California to see her sister and favorite (and only) nephew three or four times a year.
EXCHANGE-STUDENT-DAUGHTERS: As you see above,
Jaqueline from Guatemala is doing great. She and significant other, Nery, and her sister, Mercedes, are coming to Arizona for a visit in February. Jaqueline was here years ago when we had an exchange student reunion, but this will be the first time for Nery and Mercedes - should be fun.
Denise, Mac and Mercedes
We visited Bernie's sister, Claudia, and family in New Jersey on our way to and back from Greece. This is a photo of our niece Denise and daughter Mac with Mercedes, Jaqueline's sister when Mercedes visited them in September. We've been hoping our Brazilian daughter,
Camila, will come for another visit too - she's mentioned a desire to. She is married (to Nielsen) with three children and living in Brasilia working for a non-profit corporation. We last saw her at the reunion in April of 2007 (see previous blog).
Victoria, Marcela's twin, is living and working in Spain. We talk regularly, but haven't seen her since the reunion in Florida in 2007. Last we spoke she and Marcela (with Cal too) were headed to a family reunion in Argentina in late October. It was going to be the first time they were all together since Marcela and Tim's wedding in 2002.
Marcela and Tim are still living in Florida, but they bought a house in Boca Raton, nearer to Tim's work - he teaches flying at a university there. Their son, Calvin, was born in July and is just the cutest thing imaginable. Really, I think after the trip to Argentina last month he likely has no cheeks left from all the pinching I'm sure took place.
Marysia is still living and performing in Poland.
Heike (on right)
Bernie's mentor, Heike, works for the German Red Cross and has been instrumental in getting Bernard lecturing positions. She is a true friend in addition to being a sterling person. This was taken at our apartment in Germany when we were living there - Heike is talking to Prof. Heintze who taught with Bernard in Bochum She has had several music CDs released. As most of you know, she is also a renowned actress in Poland, but her passion has always been music. She has put her mind and body into her concerts and music - what an amazing woman. We haven't seen her since the reunion in Florida in 2007, but hear from her sporadically, if not regularly. See our latest blog on Poland to see more photos of Marysia.
We hope you all have a most enjoyable winter, oh yeah, it gets cold in the winter in some places doesn't it? It is in the 70s F. (21 C.) here and sunny most of the time - you all should think of visiting us this time of year as November through April are heaven and we'd love to see you. Peace and Love, Kathy & Bernard
IF YOU GO BACK TO THE START OF THIS BLOG, YOU'll SEE ABOVE THE TITLE IT SAYS "Travel Blogs by Kathy Bernie - Previous Entry." IF YOU CLICK ON Previous Entry IT WILL TAKE YOU BACK, ONE AT A TIME (JUST KEEP CLICKING), CHRONOLOGICALLY THROUGH OUR OTHER BLOGS. AFTER LOOKING Berlin
Oberbaumbrucke at night. Bernie went to Germany to teach Aug. 2 - 7. Flew in and out of Anchorage AT THE PHOTOS BELOW, BE SURE TO GO TO THE NEXT PAGE (CLICK ON "2" or "NEXT") FOR MORE PHOTOs.
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