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