The Lewin Family Virtual, Interactive Year-end Letter - 2022 ©

Back by little, if any, demand.........here is The Lewin Family Virtual, Interactive

Year-end, Letter for 2022, our 26^th year!!!

Can you believe it? We have been doing this for a quarter of a century,

25 plus years, an entire generation.

And the most amazing thing is that you are still reading these. (Bless your heart)

An update on the dwindling, but yet increasing pandemic and burgeoning political scene, we continue to hoard toilet paper and myriads of other paper products. Toothpaste, too. You just never know…

Most import and most exciting, our grandson, Archer (now also known as Bubba), is proving to be a very active little boy and a joy for all of us. We again traveled to Colorado this past February to be with Anthony, Erin and Archer. And they were able to come to California this past June to spend a week with us. They did many of the tourist spots: the zoo, Seaworld, the beach and visited our friends on Mission Bay. Here are a few pictures from that visit. And you can see all the pictures as he is so quickly growing.

Erin and Anthony are very committed to documenting for all to see, his activities and how quickly he is growing. I cannot post the videos, but most of the still pictures I upload to flicker and here they be. Needless to say (or write), he is a growing and incredible bundle of joy.

We re-started our travel, as we were both booked for a trip to Iceland. Sadly, Carol developed ear problems just before the trip and had to back out. She is doing much better now, but I had to go it alone.

Here are my pictures.

Because, I like to travel to extremes in (what’s left of) my old age, I had booked a trip to Svalbard. Look it up, it is an archipelago, north of Norway. We started and ended in Oslo and in between, we were on a ship, the Ocean Diamond, for nine days making landings around the islands, weather and wildlife permitting. We only saw one polar bear from afar, so my pictures from the ship are not that great. We visited the two towns of Longyearbyen and Ny Alesund. There are two Russian towns, Pyramiden and Barentsburg, but due to the ongoing Ukrainian war, we were not able to visit. If you are interested, there are several videos of these towns on YouTube. At one point, at a landing called Texas Bar, we were on the 78th parallel, about 600 miles south of the North Pole. Here are my pictures with all the wildlife and glaciers.

Yes, Sylvester still resides at home, eating, sleeping, pooping and throwing up. Apparently, that is what cats do and that could loosely be termed, the joy of owning a cat. Or does the cat own you?

Carol and her friend Maureen, went to Germany to view the Passion Play in Oberammergau. They had originally scheduled to go two years ago, but the performances were postponed due to the pandemic.

Carol again supported the Flower Fields in Carlsbad being instrumental in assisting the flower breeder with various varieties of the Tecolote Giant Ranunculus. She also coordinated the Master Gardener’s working in the flower beds to pick the best of the best of these flowers.

She is also continuing to share a small raised bed in the community garden and we have enjoyed “home grown” broccoli, onions, lettuce, cauliflower. There is just something about growing and immediately eating home grown veggies that taste that much better. Nothing is better that freshly cut lettuce and broccoli and, of course, onions.

And she is still very active in her book clubs. The meetings have occasionally resorted to Zoom and occasionally in person.

Speaking of knitting and Archer, Carol the Knitter continues to knit sweaters, shawls, blankets and give them as gifts to friends. I am still waiting for mine.

Being a weather nerd, I mounted the WeatherFlow Tempest on the roof. It still works and you are reminded to check the conditions in Encinitas at https://tempestwx.com/station/46607/ .

All the News that Fits, we Print:

Here are the latest pictures from the very recent trip to Colorado, apologies for the lack of clarity, they were taken with the camera in the phone.

Be well, do good work and keep in touch.