2010

                                                  December 17, 2010 

Dear Family & Friends

Year 1

Suzanne in Retirement

Ziplining

When I reserved our Kauai timeshare, I cleverly selected the second and third weeks of January so as to give Suzanne time to clean out her BP office.

I figured it might take her two weeks, but I was wrong. It took her five, but she started early. I was pleasantly surprised when she returned home on January 3rd with only a few cartons of files. But then FED EX showed up and filled my garage with the stuff she hadn’t finished reviewing. It’s still there. Kauai was a great way to introduce Suzanne to retirement. We spent the 1st week with the daughters and the second with our friends, Tom and Karen Reepmeyer. Suzanne didn’t even check her email…okay maybe a few times, but just to monitor her ebay bids.

 

Hidden Falls in Kauai
                                   


               Hidden Desk at Home

Christie in London

In September, Suzanne and I accompanied Christie to London to help her get settled at Central St. Martins School of Art and Design where she was restarting her formal art education. A minor glitch in her housing (she didn’t have any), a transit strike and all those cars driving on the wrong side of the road made for a somewhat stressful trip, which is why we only have one picture where we’re smiling.

                                             Christie’s apartment building in Tottenham Hale

 
 
Stephen in Skaneateles

Stephen is in his 2nd year of graduate study (Chem PhD) at NYU. He teaches Chemistry to undergraduates as part of his fellowship. He now lives in Queens with his girlfriend Anne Clark. In September, while we were in London, Stephen visited his grandmother in Skaneateles. He had planned to compete in the Skinnyman Triathlon, but hurt his knee while training and had to have surgery.

Mom is 94, and soon after Stephen’s visit we persuaded her to move to an assisted living facility, about five miles from Skaneateles. We’re pretty sure she likes it, even though she refers to the residents as inmates.



Nicole in Hats

A week after Christie left, Nicole and her cat moved home so there would be someone around to harass Suzanne. Before Suzanne retired and Nicole returned, it was theoretically possible to get a car in our garage. There’s still room for both of my bikes, but only if I stack them. Nicole’s in the last year of her program at the Art Institute (I hope). She’s a hat designer and earlier this year took “Best in Show” at an Institute event.


 
 
 
 
Len in the Running
 

Two years ago I said my novel was 99% complete, so I guess now it’s 99.9% finished. It’s good, but to get published it needs to be great. That last tenth of a percent makes all the difference, so I’m still working on it.

I won a scholarship to attend the Norman Mailer Writers Colony in Provincetown. That was fun – a week at Norm’s house on the Cape – and really helpful. In my other career pursuit, I ran three international distance triathlons and two half-Ironmans. Suzanne came along to cheer and take pictures, but I was moving so fast she almost missed me as I headed out on the run.


We hope you all have a great holiday season.


Len & Suzanne






Holiday Letters from 1988 to 2009 are posted here: http://theholidayletter-len.blogspot.com/