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Published: January 7th 2008
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Bernard & JJ
February brought daughter JJ and friend to Tucson, AZ for a visit - the weather was perfect! Happy New Year All!!
We hope your holidays were cheery, filled with laughter and, most importantly, spent with family and/or loved ones.
I'm going to give you a recap of our year, but through photos as much as possible - a picture is definitely worth a thousand words.
We started out the year with a visit in February from
JJ and friend Jeannette, who loved it so much here they were talking about moving (from Alaska). Alas that was not to be - they are both still in Alaska. JJ recently had a proof made of an Alaskan wildlife coffee-table book (her photography) she's done; it is beautiful! She's also doing a smaller, post-card size book made to sell in gift shops in Anchorage.
In March we loaded up the van and headed east, visiting friends and family along the way: destination Miami, Florida and a reunion with all of our
exchange student daughters. For more details and loads more photos, see our blog on this same site; click on
“Previous Entry” (at top of page): (163298) Exchange Daughter Reunion/April 14 - 21, 2007. They all continue well and we started making plans for another reunion before
JJ & Jeannette
We, naturally, spent a day in Sabino Canyon hiking - do skies get any bluer than in Tucson in winter? this one ended. The big news from that group is that
Marcela and Tim are expecting a baby in June!! They have been married for a few years now so starting a family was high on their list. We are all delirious with happiness for them.
But before we got to Miami we visited friends in
El Paso, San Antonio and Elgin, TX, South Carolina and Tennessee; family in Kentucky; D.C.; Richmond, VA; New Jersey, North Carolina and Massachusetts. See photos.
Elgin, TX was by far the hardest stop to make - to say good-bye to good friend and wonderful person,
Mike Reusing. Mike died of cancer shortly after our visit. His passing leaves such a hole in our hearts - a truly remarkable person, one in a million.
From Miami Bernard and I flew to Ireland, after first meeting up with Bernie's sister,
Claudia, her daughters,
Denise & Colleen, and their daughters,
McKayla and Jonna, at JFK. See blog entry: (172686) Ireland - April 2007 (go to top of page and click on "Previous Entry" and you'll get a list of the most current journals).
Back to Miami from Ireland, picked up the van and
The Cohn Family
Our first stop was to visit dear friends in El Paso, TX - Mara & Larry and dynamite kids Alicia and Josh. What a wonderful and fun family they are! We met them in the Netherlands and our valued friendship has endured headed back to Tucson. We visited niece
Maria and husband
John in Tampa, friends
Susan and Charlie in Tennessee, but pretty much bee-lined it back to Tucson.
In July my sister,
Mary Jean (Gig Harbor, WA), and I flew to Fairbanks, Alaska for a sisters' reunion and wedding of sister
Dian's daughter,
Jaime - what a good time. With the midnight sun being up, well, ALL the time, we partied until late morning almost every night/morning.
Mary Jean and I then spent a week in Anchorage. Mary Jean lived there when she was in her 20s and still had friends there. I got to see many old friends. I had such a good time I'm trying to convince Bernardo that we need to spend the summer there this year - not hard to convince him after a record hot summer in Arizona. We also drove down to Soldotna to see our half-brother
Gary and his wife
Sylvia.
I stopped in Seattle on the way home to visit daughter,
Christina, and grandson,
Evan - yes, he is every bit as adorable as he looks; what a good-natured, even-tempered, well, PERFECT child he is. Have to give Christina and
Melissa and Mike
The saddest part of our trip was visiting good friends Mike and wife Melissa in Elgin, TX. Mike had been suffering from colon cancer for quite awhile and this visit was our last with him; he died about a month later. It was a bittersweet visit to say the least, but we got to say good-bye and tell him how much we admired and loved him. Mark kudos for that.
I started my studies at the
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum shortly after returning to Tucson. It was a 15-week course in natural history to become a Docent, which is an educational guide. Boy, do I know more than I ever thought possible about the desert! I'll work one day a week at the Museum, plus continuing education, field trips, learn how to handle birds, for example - can also work with tarantulas, scorpions, and snakes - yeah, sticking to birds for now.
In September Bernard spent two weeks in Germany at his old university taking part in a portion of the Intensive Program for the NOHA (Network on Humanitarian Assistance) course. He loved connecting with old colleagues.
October brought milder weather to Tucson and my cousin
BJ's 80th birthday and family reunion. It also brought Bernie's Polish cousin
Bogusia and husband
Mietek to AZ to visit friends in Phoenix - we drove up for a day and had a great time with all of them.
Our hearts were broken in November when
Charlie Tyrrell passed away. Bernie's sister Claudia's husband Charlie had been a New York City Transit Policeman (part of NYPD now)
Yolanda & Mark
Next stop in TX was to visit Yolanda and Mark in their new home in San Antonio. They have lived in SA awhile, but had built a new house since we'd last seen them. As usual we ate and talked way too much, and enjoyed ourselves immensely until he retired a few years ago. He then worked as a security guard in NY, then at various odd jobs in NJ - just to keep busy I think. He had a massive heart attack and died instantly in early November. His celebration of live was indeed just that - people grieved, laughed, told stories, remembered poignant times - it was a wonderful event with hundreds of people paying their respects. Definitely a loving tribute to a wonderful man.
Thanksgiving found us at
Mark and Christina's new place in Newark, CA - near San Jose and San Francisco.
JJ flew down from Alaska. Mark's company transferred them to CA, but they've kept their home in Seattle and will most likely return there when Mark's contract is up. They don't miss the rain, but do miss their friends and Seattle in general.
In early December Bernard and I flew to Germany to visit friends in Bochum and then to go on a
Christmas Market cruise - that blog is coming soon.
It was wonderful to hear from so many friends and family during the holidays, and I apologize for doing our holiday message this way. However, we
Foreign Exchange Student Daughters
Marysia, Poland; Victoria, Argentina; Camila, Brazil; Marcela, Argentina; and Jaqueline, Guatemala, are like daughters to us. This Miami reunion was the first time we had all 5 present, although we've had many reunions, someone was always missing. This was indeed special got back from Germany only days before Christmas and thus this seemed the most efficient way to reach all of you.
We treasure your friendship - family and friends - and may 2008 be filled with laughter and
adventure. Much love, Kathy & Bernard
Don't forget to go to Page 2 of the photos - click on "next" at end of photos on 1st page. You can click on a photo to enlarge it. If a photo has "more" on it, click on that and the photo enlarges and you can read the rest of the text
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Shondra Frye
non-member comment
Terrific!
Hey B and K! Thank you sooooo much for sharing such wonderful stories and photos of you, family and your travels--what a great way to keep everyone updated on your many adventures! Congrats, K on your graduation from your Desert Museum course....I know it was a challenge given your already hectic schedule, but you got through it. If I can ever find my way out to AZ....I'd love to check out the museum. BTW.....don't know if you're planning any trips to Europe in the coming weeks, but if so, I would love to meet up with you in Switzerland during the second week of Feb. '08, which is when I will be there for a training. I then hope to stay on a few extra days to enjoy the sights of Switzerland as well as some of the neighboring countries. Thanks again for sharing all those wonderful pics! ciao, ciao.... Shondra