Debbie visits the Liberace museum
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Happy 2010!
Last year's letter ended with the phenomenal
Christmas snowstorm of 2008. Niels flew back to Rochester for his next quarter at RIT,
and Saskia back to Holland to continue her studies at the University of Wageningen.
In January, Hubert and Debbie spent the MLK weekend in Las Vegas for the yearly old-guys'
soccer tournament. Hubert played in the over-55 division while Deb took in some of the
sights unique to this crazy place.
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at the inauguration
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After the tournament, Hubert flew to Washington, DC to start his year 'on loan' from the Lab to
work at the Department of Energy, in the Office of Science. He arrived just in time to
join the ecstatic crowd on the National Mall to witness the inauguration of the new President.
Who cares that it was freezing cold! After this, Hubert settled in in Germantown, MD, where
this section of DOE is located,. This is 20mi North of the city. He got an (empty) apartment
close enough to bike to work every day, and filled it mostly by buying stuff via Craigslist.
Weekends were filled with soccer, and all the things that the DC area offers: (free) musea, concerts,
historic sites, quaint towns, and biking along the C&O canal. Not enough weekends.
Throughout the year, we found ways to get together about
once a month in Washington, Santa Fe or elsewhere.
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Lolo and Cynthia
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From Vegas, Deb flew to Louisiana to help her mother, Lorene (aka "Lolo"), get settled in Assisted
Living at St. James Place in Baton Rouge. Lorene did not relish the move, to put it mildly.
Moving from her
condo, where she had been fiercly and feistily independent since the mid-80's, was an admission
that she needed more help. She had not liked having sitters around at the condo but her health
was deteriorating. She felt that her body was giving out on her incredibly sharp mind and spirit.
This was a tough sale, but the support was needed. Her apartment was lovely and with the help of
Jeff and Glenda it became homey. There was even a bird feeder by the window that eventually
attracted a host of Mom's favorite creatures.
This visit would become one of 4 or 5 more visits during the year, culminating in our last time
together in July for the celebration of Lorene's 92nd birthday. When asked, she requested a
number of her favorite people be called to attend a small gathering on July 21st. Although quite
frail, she seemed to enjoy seeing everyone. Ten days later, our sweet Lolo passed away in her
apartment with devoted family members and sitters there by her side. We all miss her terribly but
are comforted by the fact that she was able to be a part of her children's and grandchildren's
lives for so many years.
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the refurbished house
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This spring, we finally finished the process of renovating the exterior of our home.
Built in 1964, it was poorly
insulated and had leaky single-pane windows. The plaster needed to be redone and the roof turned out to be in
need of replacement. We had the windows replaced, had 3" of sculpted insulating foam sprayed on
the outside, had the roof replaced with an insulated metal one and had the outside replastered.
Since of course the heater decided to die at the same time, we also now have a super-efficient
furnace. Our heating bills are half of what they used to be. It
looks like a new home. A friend who didn't know that we were working on the house came by and drove
past twice before determining that it really was our house. This year we hope to work on the entryway
and then, when the kids are out of college we'll tackle the kitchen. Little by little, many of you
know how this goes....
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Saskia and Roan
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In September, Saskia and her friend, Roan, hopped on an airplane and flew to Baltimore, the starting point
of a two month cross-country journey. After spending two weeks with Hubert they continued on,
meeting many beautiful people and landscapes along the way, not to mention many a flor and faun
including black bears, pink spoonbills and gray, scaly, hairy armadillos. They visited such
exotic ecosystems as a Baton Rouge Bayou, Mississippi cotton field, and ancient, exposed
permian reef in the semi-alpine Texan desert. They went to every National Park even remotely
on their route, and learned how to Cajun dance and fix a busted tire.
They surfed nice folk's couches, biked about, and chased mosquitoes out of each other's ears
with varying success rates. They visited friends, many a family member, and even some
extraterrestrials, and finally reached the "land of enchantment" and the
City Different: Santa Fe, New Mexico!
If you want to see an interactive map of the trip, click
here, and click
here to see some photos.
They spent most of October, November and December working and playing in the Santa Fe area,
with side trips to Colorado, Western New Mexico and Arizona. Roan even visited the world
famous Grand Canyon and Monument Valley! They spent the holidays at home and started their journey back to
The Netherlands on December 30th.
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Navy 1 on the South Lawn
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In September, Deb came to Germantown so we could share some time with Saskia
and Roan in the Washington area. Saskia's long-time friend, Annie Vavruska, who now works in
Senator Tom Udall's office, had gotten us tickets for a tour of the White house. By chance,
the President was about to leave by helicopter, and we were allowed onto the South
Lawn to watch him take off. When he came out, he shook everybody's hand before
getting onto the helicopter. Made our day! No camera's allowed on the tour, so later
in the day we took this picture elsewhere in town.
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Pueblo Alto at Chaco Canyon
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The Thanksgiving Holiday was the first time this year that we were
all in the same place at the same time, so we went on a short family vacation. We
visited places in our own state where some of us had never been. We spent a few
days in Chaco Canyon, and also went to the other-worldly
Bisti Badlands, a vast otherworldly landscape with no trails or paths,
and we went underground into a half-mile long lava tube near Grants. We took
Roan to Acoma Pueblo, and finally revisited Canyon de Chelly, where we had been
a dozen years ago.
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Niels at a kung fu demo
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Niels is still studying computer game design and development at Rochester Institute
of Technology, currently in his third year.
He is taking four different martial arts during his 'free time' and hopes to get an
internship soon. Doin' well!
In January, Hubert's year in Washington was up. He drove the furniture to Rochester,
where Niels and friends plan to move out of the dorms and into an apartment. After the
MLK weekend in Vegas, everything is back to what goes for 'normal': Niels is at RIT, Saskia
and Roan in Wageningen and Hubert and Deb, servants to our cat Lalo, in Santa Fe, .
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