The Lewin Family Letter - 2005 ©
(In case you forgot our Cast of Characters, let's review...Carol, the wife and mother; Anthony the son and student; Arnie, your demented and screwed-up author; Mickey, Carol's mom and our two cats, Teeger and Ted).
For one member of this family, it has been, pretty-much, a typical, mundane year..however for the other two, it has been a whirlwind year of global travels. Let me explain....
Anthony, as mentioned in last year's letter, went to study abroad, or a few broads, we're not totally sure sure. He spent the first semester of the year at Redlands, then on July 1, left Los Angeles for Sydney, Australia. Spending nearly six months down under, Anthony purported to study at the University of Wollongong, taking several courses. He was able to find time to visit the Great Barrier Reef and the Australian Outback. When school was out, he visited Melbourne and Adelaide before flying to Hawaii for a few days on his way home.
As well as Anthony, Carol was quite the world gadabout, getting a lot of usage from her passport. As opposed to this writer, I only used my passport at the local liquor store to prove my age.
Carol started her travels in February with an eight day trip to Prague...something about a good deal...as the rates were cheap and temperature was below freezing. This was her first Eastern European country to visit and she really enjoyed the architecture. Here are a few pictures.
July was a popular exiting month...with Anthony leaving for Australia and Carol departing for China. She climbed the Great Wall (can you spot her), visited the Terra Cotta Soldiers in Xian, as well as numerous other tourist traps. As cold as it was in Prague in February, it was that hot in China in July. She said she had lots of Chinese food during her travels and couldn't wait to come back to fine gourmet cooking.
Still involved with the San Diego Horticulture Society, the Master Gardeners, and Quail Botanical Gardens, Carol found the time to work with her partner Katie at Pelican Design, the North County Coastal landscape designers, now in their third year. Carol was also active, taking classes in gourds and mosaics.
And if Prague and China weren't enough, Carol cashed in my frequent flier mileage and took off in October for New York City and Rome, Italy, visiting family in each location.
Carol became enamored with the local La Jolla Playhouse production, Jersey Boys, the story of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, mumbling something about Franki's falsetto voice. Seeing it four times in La Jolla, she followed the production to New York and was able to get pre-opening night tickets.
In August, we celebrated Mickey's (Carol's mother, in case you have short-term memory loss) 91st birthday. She had a wonderful time. Anthony also passed a milestone, his 21st birthday. (He and I have a joint membership at the local store).
I, on the other hand, spent most of the year working on my 40th high school reunion. It was Tucson High School, {Class of 1965, for those who had trouble with math}. Working with four fantastic, older women, we pulled off one of the best reunions ever experienced. Of over 600 students in the graduating class, we found over 300 and enjoyed a weekend with 110 classmates and their families. Being the nerd and dweeb that I am, I put together a quick website for our class that quickly turned into an obsessive compulsion. With all the pictures from the reunion, Then and Now pictures of our classmates, it takes over 50 megs. In order for our classmates to easily communicate, I also started a Yahoo group for our class with over 100 classmates as members. Working on the reunion, the website and the Yahoo group lead me to develop an acute case of Tourette's Syndrome that is being treated by the family proctologist. (Prognosis is, however, looking up). If I say so myself, the website is a website to behold...check it out, take a look around and see how old some of my classmates really are. I never knew that I had gone to school with kids my parent's age.
During Hanukah, we took a short trip up the California Coast to the San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles area. We stopped in at numerous wineries. It was a good thing that I kept my passport handy.
Mickey (Carol's mother, [you forgot already, didna?]), has recorded the annual holiday greeting for everyone. Please click here to download the file. It is about a 3.5 meg file, so those with a dial-up connection, go get a cup of egg nog and relax.
Life only gets better and we get younger. If you are so inclined, sent us a note... Carol, Anthony, my buddy Guido or me.
Previous Family Holiday Offerings: