Christmas 2018
Season's greetings to you all from a sunny and damp Portland, Oregon. The weather is still mild here, with occasional breaks in the cloud cover for some amazing sunrises, sunsets and views of the mountains.
In brief...In January, Richard made a surprise trip to London for Josephine’s eighteenth birthday celebrations, and she got to buy her dad a pint at the pub. Then, after 8 months of searching, Richard got a new job in May and loves where he landed at the State of Oregon! In June, we made a family trip to England to pick up Josephine from her first year at Uni, got to see the CHESS revival (never thought that would happen in our lifetime!), made a road trip to Bath (just the three of us, so wonderful!), and built a new backyard patio just in time to host guests.
In July, we had the BEST time getting to know Josephine’s French family, Benedicte, Bertrand, and Timothe. Every evening we sat out on the deck and cooked on the new grill (after 24 years, it was time to say bye-bye to the old one), laughing and learning about cultural differences and more importantly, what we have in common. No language barrier when love and laughter are in the room. We also celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary in July, amazed at how quickly time has flown by and how we haven’t seemed to age a bit (well Jennifer at least!)
Josephine’s boyfriend Peter visited in August for two weeks, enjoying all that Portland has to offer (Powell’s Books, food carts, wine, beer & whisky tasting, outdoor excursions, and coffee). In September, Josephine headed back to school for her second year and quickly found her groove, reconnecting with friends and deep diving into her coursework. She is already planning her third year that will be spent attending one of a number of universities in Paris.
Richard is now happily ensconced in his job at the Oregon Secretary of State as their Deputy CIO and Applications Development Manager. He gets to manage the IT Strategic Plan and help guide the transformation to a modern infrastructure and development technologies in the public and private Cloud. He has also signed up for the Leadership Oregon program in the new year, with twelve, 2-day training events. Richard is hoping to write and speak more about ethics and getting smart about how we all use technology.
After five years of immersive studying of an ancient shamanic tradition called Ka Ta See, Jennifer has begun the process of setting up her new spiritual counseling practice and is excited to offer this unique non-Western modality of healing, practices, and ceremonies to her clients and wellness communities throughout Portland and beyond. For the new year, Jennifer is also continuing with her French lessons, horseback riding her favorite draft horse Appa, planning a visit to France in April with Josephine, and trying raised-bed gardening. Percy continues to chase squirrels and protect the backyard from invaders.
Needless to say, it looks to be a busy and exciting year for us, full of new adventures. Our warmest regards and best wishes to you for 2019.
Richard, Jennifer & Josephine.
