Christmas 2010
Season's Greetings!
We hope you are all well and looking forward to a happy and healthy new year.
Reconstruction: Garden
Back
yard renovation had been in our plans for years. Larry’s mantra had become,
“Let’s stop talking about it and just do it!” It had become impossible
to work safely on our steep hillside. Two interviews, three months, and more
than four checks later, voilá! Steps, terraces, pathways and a drip system transformed
our slippery slope into the No More Excuses slope.
All parts of it can now be reached for tree trimming, fruit
harvesting and, of course, weeding. The apricot tree responded by presenting
us with thousands of apricots for processing, sending us into a horticultural
frenzy. The improved vegetable garden is still producing cherry tomatoes and
baby red bell peppers in mid-December.
Reconstruction: Heart
In mid-January my dad underwent bypass surgery along with a valve replacement, a process that reversed the lethargy he had been feeling since before Thanksgiving. “I feel better every day,” he told us during the summer. He’s put on a few pounds, can go for short walks, minister to the garden, and write.
My mom’s about the same, stays mostly in bed, watches a little television in the evening, and still has a sharp memory of the old days. We laugh about some of the things we all used to do. Good home health care to help with the daily bathing and light housekeeping gives my dad a break and time to work on his writing.
Cathy’s Facial Surgery
On July 5, Cathy underwent surgery to have a fast-growing
malignant melanoma removed from her left jaw, and reconstruction using grafts
from her arm and leg. Her chemo will finish just before Christmas.
Once her stamina has returned to its pre-op levels, she will return to work, a day which cannot come too soon. She misses the excitement and challenge her job as LAPD Assistant Watch Commander provided.
Jenny to the Rescue
In February
Jenny quit her job as lawyer at
Jones Day to pursue other
opportunities, such as rest and travel. She became Cathy’s aide during the daily
chemo trips, a role that continues today. Kirk’s frequent trainings in San Diego
allowed us to have Tori on several weekends during September, introducing her
to hiking, playgrounds, and the fish tank at the local library. Jenny may join
the ranks of the employed next year, but she is making the most of her time
off.
Brian and Marion’s Family of Five
Arriving home from work, Brian says he stops on the front
porch, takes a deep breath, puts a smile on his face, and walks in. “Hello,
Marion, Lucie, Nicky, and Jamie.” This transition from Adobe-mode to daddy-mode
eases Marion’s job of tending to an almost 4-year old and the 15-month old twins.
In October, Adobe acquired Basel-based Day Software, a web content management company. Brian is heavily involved in the assimilation of their solutions into Adobe’s existing portfolio of products.
David’s Expanding Enterprises
In August, SafetyWeb,
which offers a product to monitor and protect children’s privacy online—think
of it as a supplement to NetNanny—hired
David. Co-founder Geoffrey
Arone recognized that the web tools David has developed over the past several
years were well-suited for promoting the site. Travel to San Francisco and Denver,
enhancements to his web advertising software, and optimizing
Google AdWords, keep him busy.
Travel to Munich and Budapest
Summer vacation was perfectly timed to coincide with a July
heat wave. Jenny traveled to Munich with Marion and Brian and kids—the Berkeley-Bayern
Traveling Circus—and at the airport, Operation Drei-Opis was perfectly
executed: three grandpas bundled up the three little Riggsies, luggage, baby
gear, and three adults into three cars and whisked them off to the Hornungs’
house, an hour away.
We arrived three days later, spent two nights in
Pullach outside Munich catching
up with Marion’s family, and then traveled to nearby Starnberg, staying at the
Gästehaus Maria
with my sister Teresa and husband John for a week. We visited Munich several
times, boated on the
Starnberger See, and took a day trip—joined by Larry’s son Volker and wife
Marion—to
King Ludwig’s Castle, all the time contributing generously to the German
economy.
Larry, Jenny, and I continued by train to Budapest, staying in an apartment with air conditioning. For five days, we traveled back and forth across the Danube between Buda and Pest, dining cheaply, while visiting sobering sites chronicling the country’s transition from Communist rule to participation in a modern, open European society.
Thanksgiving and Christmas
Thanksgiving was quite an experience, with four little ones,
their parents, and Jenny staying here for a week. The twins, Jamie and Nicky,
are lightning-quick and slippery, evading efforts to corral them. Lucie and
Tori played together till they dropped—dancing, singing, running, shrieking,
laughing, and arguing like sisters over toys. The weather was mostly cooperative,
though unseasonably cold at times, but a Friday beach trip to Ventura proved
sunny and warm, and lunch on the pier was delicious. And Christmas is likely
to be more of the same, with the Berkeley brood planning another week here,
joined by other family members.
About Us
Larry’s
been setting up software and peripherals for new computers, a process now driven
by a 50-page document he created. The 12 he has set up this year include two
for priests, five for family—yielding extended work/pleasure trips to Seattle
and Florida—and the rest for friends and church staff.
I’m still teaching at CSUN, four freshman classes this fall, not bad for a part timer, especially given the cutbacks in California’s higher educational system. Retirement is still a ways off, I think, because I’m still enjoying what I do and I’m still able to paint one day a week.
The latest big project is a very large triptych of Argentina’s Iguazú Falls for David’s living room. And he may actually get it before 2011!
We are looking forward to the gathering of the Clan for Christmas, preparing by taking naps and vitamins, and continuing the baby-proofing of the house!
Our best wishes to you all for a peaceful holiday season and a healthy new year.