The Lewin Family Virtual, Interactive Year-end Letter - 2014 ©
[New, improved and Y3K compliant]
Just like that holiday fruitcake that you are not looking forward to receiving, here is The Lewin Family Virtual, Interactive Year-end, Letter for 2014.
It has been a busy year with a few travels mixed in.
One of the highlights was participating in the 2014 Encinitas Garden Tour. We were fortunate to have been chosen as one of the featured gardens in the neighborhood. Visitors even paid to visit Carol’s garden and others on the tour.
Carol even built a shed aka studio in a corner of the back yard. Here are some pictures from Carol’s garden and some pictures from the entire tour. Carol was asked to join the 2015 Encinitas Garden Tour Committee.
Carol is still active with her gardening interests, volunteering time at the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas, as well as the Master Gardener Program. She is also in several book clubs, getting together with others to discuss new best sellers or established classics.
Early in the year, my photography mentor and friend, Al, and I took a trip to the Eastern Sierras. We spent a very cold evening at Mono Lake and got some excellent shots of the rising moon.
In May, we had the opportunity to cruise along the fjords of the Norwegian Coast. We cruised the inlets and the North Sea from Bergen over the top to Nordkapp and then to Kirkenes, on the Russian border. The towns visited were beautiful, the sights on the cruise were each better than the one just before. Could be why we took over 4,000 pictures. But not all of there have been posted...only the good ones and the semi-good ones (including the ones I like). Before the cruise, and because we were in the neighborhood, we spent a few days in the Netherlands: Amsterdam and then in Bodegraven visiting our ham radio friends, Rob and his family, Joop, Peter and Fred.
After the cruise, we spent a day in awe on the Norway in a Nutshell cruise/bus/cruise/train to Oslo. More pictures here.
After a day in Oslo, Dave, Maureen, Roy, Carol and I rented a car and drove to Copenhagen, stopping in Varberg and Ysted, Sweden along the way. A few more pictures.
We concluded the trip in Copenhagen enjoying all there is to offer and more. Even more pictures.
In July we flew up to Portland and visited with Mark and Carolyn. We then met our friends Cary and Nancy, Rob and Kathy and Mickey and Ron in Portland, staying at a nice B&B, touring some gardens and a few other touristy things.
FEMA called and I went from there to Bloomington, Minnesota for six weeks. While I was in Bloomington, Carol flew to San Francisco to visit Steve and Cathy and then to attend a wedding in Sebastopol.
Now, we need to discuss this wedding in Sebastopol. Due to mounting pressure from the Polan Wedding Party, the immediate need to identify some of the members has just surfaced. How about the mother of the groom? The father of the groom? And then there is the happy couple.
Sadly, our Ted (the cat) passed away this year, complications from asthma and diabetes. Anthony picked him from the local shelter website 12 years ago and he was a very wise choice. Ted was a lovable, kind and a very smart cat. He will be missed. A walking partner of Carol's is a painter. Here is her painting of Ted. It was a bad year for pets, Mark and Carolyn in Portland lost Reilly, a wonderful golden retriever who we adored.
Mid October we flew to Denver to visit Anthony and Erin. It was the weekend they began house hunting. We looked at ten houses and the last was a winner. It is now theirs and they are working there every weekend painting kitchen cabinets, painting the bedrooms, fixing up the bathroom, buying furniture and turning the house into a home. The house is a brick house and is over 60 years old in a great neighborhood. The house also has a complete basement, which they may, in the future, rent out. While in Denver we visited the Denver Botanic Gardens that had a wonderful Dale Chihuly exhibit. Here are pictures of the gardens and at the end of the set are pictures of their new house.
Don't forget, you can relive all these exciting minutes and many more with all the pictures on Flickr. There are only 12,000+ of them.
We wish you a wonderful holiday season and a happy and healthy 2015.
(PS: To my high school classmates, if you haven't signed up to the website, do so now. September 18, 2015 is fast approaching)