Christmas greetings 2023!

Dear friends and family, 

This year we finally returned to our normal amount of travel, and then some!  

• Both of us continue to be significantly involved with the Union Gospel Mission of Portland (UGM).  Dan continues to be on the Board of Directors.  He is serving as Strategy Chair and led the recent search for UGM’s new Executive Director.  Nancy continues to contribute to UGM’s LifeChange for Women program by cooking and mentoring. 

• Nancy also continues to volunteer with Women of Vision, an affiliate of World Vision.  In February, Nancy traveled to San Pedro Sula, Honduras with Women of Vision.  There, the travelers witnessed communities which are moving away from gang control and generational violence through World Vision’s Christian Discipleship programs.

Women of Vision trip to San Pedro Sula, Honduras

• Dan continues to be the webmaster for the Watercolor Society of Oregon .

After postponing the trip for two years, we finally went on Viking’s Passage to Eastern Europe river cruise, along the Danube from Budapest to Bucharest.  We visited five countries:  Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania.  The cruise was outstanding, and we learned a lot about these lands and their people.

Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest

Serbian folk dancers

Rock sculpture of Decebalus,
along the Danube at the Iron Gates

Our other trips this year included Park City Utah; northern Virginia to visit Dan's mother and sister, Marco Island, Florida; Orlando, Florida; and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Washington Monument

Jefferson Memorial

SpaceX rocket on the pad during our
Kennedy Space Center tour

A trio of alligators we saw
in the Everglades

Sunset on the beach at Marco Island

The Desert Botanical Garden
near Scottsdale, AZ

We continued to pursue our usual activities.  We continued to take golf lessons and to play golf.  In addition, we saw the U.S. Women's Senior Open golf tournament, held at the Waverley Country Club in Portland this year.

2023 U.S. Women's Senior Open
at Waverley Country Club

We continued to run and to exercise.  Dan ran in the Helvetia 10K, achieving a personal best time.

Dan after his personal best 10K

Dan continues to pursue watercolor painting.  He attended the two Watercolor Society of Oregon (WSO) conventions in April and in October.  During the summer, he took a class in abstract painting to "loosen up" his artistic style.  He is now painting on his own as time permits.

"Ribbons", one of Dan's abstract paintings

For 2024, so far we have planned to travel to Hawaii (the Big Island), back to Scottsdale, the Williamsburg, VA area, back to Park City, and Hilton Head.  More golf, with hopefully lower scores....  More paintings, with maybe an attempt to get into one of the WSO exhibitions.

Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes for a great 2024!

    -- Dan & Nancy

Christmas greetings 2022!

Dear friends and family, 

This year we were happy to get back to some level of normalcy after the worst of the COVID pandemic.  We both continue to be retired, but are quite busy with our involvements in nonprofit organizations.

• Dan’s Intel-sponsored Encore Fellowship at Airway Science for Kids (ASK) ended in March.

• Dan was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Union Gospel Mission of Portland (UGM) and started a strategic planning effort for the organization.  So far, Dan’s effort has succeeded in updating the organization’s mission and values statement.

• Nancy continues to contribute to UGM’s LifeChange for Women program by cooking, mentoring, and tutoring math.

• Nancy also continues to volunteer with Women of Vision, an affiliate of World Vision.  She continues to be on the Portland area leadership team, the Chapter Development Team, and participates in projects for the local community.

• Dan joined the Watercolor Society of Oregon and is doing website design for the organization.

Our travel was disrupted again this year due to COVID and world events.  For the second year in a row, we cancelled our annual winter trip to Park City Utah, as there was a COVID spike at that time.  We also further postponed our planned river cruise through Eastern Europe, as the Ukraine conflict broke out close to our scheduled dates.  Hopefully these trips will finally happen in 2023….

In the spring, we made several trips to help Dan’s mother move from Pittsburgh to northern Virginia.  She moved into an assisted living community close to Dan’s sister.  It was a lot of work, but all worked out in the end, and Dan’s mother is now happily established in her new community.

In October we spent a week in Palm Desert.  It was a great trip including hiking, golfing, and visiting the Joshua Tree National Park.  

Hike in Indian Canyons

Joshua Trees in, of course, Joshua Tree National Park...

Nancy and her new friend at The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens

Butterflies at The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens

November brought a new tradition:  With my mother’s move to Virginia, our Thanksgiving was there with her and Dan’s sister, instead of cooking for the extended family in Pittsburgh.

We continue to enjoy the year-round nature show which takes place in the protected green space behind our house.

Pair of Red Tailed Hawks

Bald Eagle

Great Blue Heron

We continue to run, to cook and bake, and to play golf virtually year-round.  Dan has continued taking watercolor classes and is slowly improving.  He also took a drawing class in the summer to help improve the realism of his paintings.

Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes for a great 2023!

  -- Dan & Nancy

Christmas greetings 2021!

 Dear friends and family, 

This marks 10 years of our maintaining this space as our Christmas blog!  It’s interesting to go back and see the earlier years again, all available below….

2021 was a pretty quiet year for us due to the ongoing saga of COVID, but it was a pretty good year for us nonetheless.  Hope it was a good year for you as well!

Dan continues to be retired, although at times you wouldn’t know it.  He stays quite busy with his involvements with nonprofit organizations and other interests.  

Our non-profit organizations continued to deal with the disruptions of COVID as best they could.  Dan continued his Intel-sponsored Encore Fellowship at Airway Science for Kids (ASK).  He produced four videos for ASK’s annual fundraiser, and he completed a yearbook for ASK’s TeenFlight program along with fellow Intel retiree Helen Gould .

Both of us continue to be involved with the Union Gospel Mission's LifeChange program for women and their children .  Nancy continues to contribute by cooking, mentoring, and coordinating a Christmas gift exchange for the residents and their children.  Dan completed his growth plan for the program, and he led a project to document the program’s key processes.  He is currently advising the program on their upcoming implementation of an information system.

Nancy also continues to volunteer with Women of Vision, an affiliate of World Vision.  She continues to be on their Portland area leadership committee, tracks membership for the local organization, and participates in projects for the local community.

We didn’t travel at all early in the year.  We canceled our annual winter trip to Park City, Utah and we postponed a planned Eastern European river cruise until at least 2022.  However, we did start traveling in the summer.  We visited family in Pittsburgh and in Boston for the first time in over a year.  It was great to see our relatives in person, and to see some new sights in our home towns.

St. Nicholas Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Church,
seen in Pittsburgh on the Doors Open Homestead walking tour

Walden Pond, in Concord MA

Hampton Beach, New Hampshire

In October, we made our first visit to the Grand Canyon, a trip which we had postponed from 2020.

Grand Canyon at sunset

Tree at the edge of the Grand Canyon

Nancy on the Bright Angel trail

Dan on the Bright Angel trail

And in November, we resumed our tradition of cooking Thanksgiving dinner at Dan’s mother’s house in Pittsburgh.

We continued to enjoy the wide variety of wildlife in the protected green space behind our house.  This year we saw and photographed an amazing number of duck varieties which we hadn’t seen before.

Hooded Merganser

Wood Ducks

Green-winged Teals

Widgeon

We continue to be active in running, although we didn’t participate in any organized races this year.  We also continue to be active in golf year-round by playing games, practicing, and taking lessons.  We’re improving, but the improvements are modest.  As a popular golf book says, “Golf is not a game of perfect”!

Dan is taking watercolor classes via video from the local community college.  He’s making progress, but this is another long-term project….

"Sunny Flower"

"Negative painting" of vines with leaves

As the year went on and local COVID case rates declined somewhat, we resumed dining in restaurants.  For the most part we stayed in the suburbs and avoided downtown Portland, as we’re still not comfortable with the conditions there.  Unfortunately, many of our favorite restaurants have permanently closed due to the combined stresses of COVID, increased operating costs, and loss of clientele due to conditions in downtown Portland.

Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes for a great 2022!

  -- Dan & Nancy

Christmas greetings 2020!

Dear friends and family, 

Like others, we did as well as we could in this tough year, given a pandemic, wildfires, civil unrest, and more….  We’re OK and we’re staying safe; we hope that you are as well!

Our big news this year is that Dan retired in July, after 20 years at Intel and 36 years of total professional experience.  Even with COVID, Dan is staying very busy; sometimes it doesn’t feel like retirement!

Dan's cubicle, all cleaned out on his last day at Intel

Dan is engaged in an Encore Fellowship, sponsored by Intel, in which he works with Airway Science for Kids (ASK), a Portland-area non-profit.  ASK motivates elementary and high school students to be interested STEM subjects and careers through participation in aviation programs.  Dan contributed to ASK’s online fundraiser by producing six videos, which you can see at ASK’s YouTube channel.  Dan is also working with fellow Intel retiree Helen Gould to create a yearbook for ASK’s TeenFlight program, in which high school students build a real light airplane from a kit under the supervision of experienced adult mentors.

One of Dan's video shoots for ASK

Airplane being built by students in ASK's TeenFlight program

Both of us continue to be involved with the Union Gospel Mission's LifeChange program for women and their children .  Nancy continues to contribute by cooking, assisting with the women's education, and mentoring.  Dan has increased his involvement by developing a growth plan for the program, which will ultimately enable doubling the number of women in the program.

Nancy also continues to volunteer with Women of Vision, an affiliate of World Vision.  She continues to be on the Portland area leadership committee and is in charge of orientation for new members.  Early in the year while live meetings were possible, Dan served as the chapter’s event photographer.

Women of Vision event on the Syrian refugee crisis, while we could have live events....

Our annual trip to Park City, Utah in February turned out to be our only vacation of the year.  While we were there, we were able to see the world championships for single distance speed skating at the Utah Olympic Oval.  It was very cool to see a world-class event in person which we had previously only seen on television!

Action at the ISU Speed Skating World Championships

Medal ceremony

With all the time at home, we had plenty of opportunity to enjoy the wildlife in the protected green space behind our house.  The nutria continued to build their dams, maintaining the area as a wetland frequented by many kinds of waterfowl, with occasional visits by our local coyote family.  They all provide good photography subjects as well as entertainment!

Mother duck & ducklings

Great Egret

Canada Goose

Coyote on the prowl...

Given both COVID and ongoing civil disturbance in Portland, we have not been able to enjoy what was a vibrant Portland restaurant scene.  We try to support local restaurants as much as we can through takeout, but it’s not the same.  In the meantime, Nancy has been cooking many wonderful meals at home.  And in retirement, Dan has taken up bread baking, with a focus on whole wheat breads.  He now produces all of our everyday breads.

Dan's whole wheat bread

We continue to be active in running, as it’s a great opportunity to get out of the house, stay active, and stay in shape.  We did not participate in any organized races this year, as most were canceled or moved to a “virtual” format.  Dan continues to train in hope of eventually resuming participation in real organized half-marathons.  

 

Golf never closed down in Oregon, so that provided another opportunity for outdoor recreation. We continued to take lessons, practice, and play games through the year.  We progressed enough to provide some encouragement and keep us engaged, while still being a long way from mastering the game….

 

Merry Christmas to all, and we’re all looking forward to better times in 2021!

  -- Dan & Nancy

 

Christmas greetings 2019!

Dear friends and family, 

We had a very good 2019, and we hope you did as well!

Dan continues to work at Intel as the Director of Program Management for several product lines in the Data Platforms Group, including the Xeon D, Xeon E and Atom C product families.  Dan’s business travel has been infrequent this year, but did include a trip to Bangalore India.

Rush hour traffic in Bangalore - an intricate ballet!

Nancy continues to volunteer several days per week at the Union Gospel Mission's LifeChange for Women and Their Children program.  She contributes by cooking, assisting with the women's education, and mentoring.  Nancy also continues to volunteer with Women of Vision, an affiliate of World Vision.  She continues to be on the Portland area leadership committee and is in charge of orientation for new members.  Nancy has managed to rope Dan into the role of (volunteer) event photographer for the Women of Vision chapter.

Columbia-Willamette Women of Vision Fall Kickoff Meeting

Our annual trip to Park City, Utah was blessed with the best snow in several years.  The women’s World Cup Biathlon event happened to be in town while we were there, so it was a special treat to be able to attend this event.

Women's Wold Cup Biathlon in Park City, Utah

Our major international vacation this year was in Amsterdam, a long-time goal of Nancy’s.  And Amsterdam did not disappoint:  We saw the spring tulips at their peak, plus plenty of charming canals, windmills, and other attractions.  It was a very worthwhile trip.

Tulip time in the Keukenhof gardens

Amsterdam canals

Windmills at Zaans Schans

We visited family in Pittsburgh during the Memorial Day weekend.  As much as we’ve been in Pittsburgh, we continue to find new & different places to see while there.  This time we took the Carrie Furnaces Industrial Tour and the Pittsburgh 101 Boat Tour from the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area.  We also made our first visit to the Flight 93 National Memorial.

Blast furnace at the Carrie Furnaces  

The Tower of Voices at the Flight 93 Memorial

Downtown Pittsburgh from the confluence of the three rivers

In September we took a trip to Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast.  We had previously visited Cannon Beach on day trips, but overnighting there allowed us to visit attractions in more depth, plus it provided photo opportunities for sunset and night photography.  There is always something new or different to see on the Oregon coast!

Sunset on Cannon Beach, Oregon

We continued to be active in running, occasionally participating in Portland-area races.  Dan ran the half marathon and Nancy ran the 10K in the Cinco de Mayo event, and we both ran the half marathon in the new and improved Portland Marathon in October.

Nancy running in the Portland Marathon

Dan running in the Portland Marathon

Wildlife continues to flourish in the protected green space behind our house.  The ecology of the green space continues to evolve in interesting ways.  A family of nutria built dams in the green space, creating a wetland habitat which has attracted all kinds of waterfowl.  As a result we see less of the coyotes, but they’re still around, reminding us with occasional howls in the middle of the night.

Nutria proudly admiring his construction project....

Duck family enjoying the new wetland

Great Blue Herons are frequent visitors

Great Egret

The coyotes are still around, but less frequently

Other activities in the Portland area occupy the remainder of our free time.  We continue to enjoy the dynamic restaurant scene here.  We both continue to work on our golf games, with mixed success, but that’s the nature of the game….

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a great 2020!

  -- Dan & Nancy