Monday, December 12, 2011

A Recap of 2011


On the whole, 2011 was a great year for us. We did not spend as much time in Italy as we would like but life on Whidbey Island is always interesting.
In January, I began walking regularly with Ladies of the Beach. The Ladies meet on Monday mornings and mostly do beach walk. It is an informal group ($5 lifetime membership!) and they have divided the shoreline of the island into forty-eight numbered walks. If you complete all of them you have circumambulated Whidbey Island. When the tides are uncooperative there are lots of inland walks that are also interesting. I completed about twenty walks this year so it will be a while before I "graduate."


 Of course, Dom and I skied as much as possible but never as much as we would like. This is from last winter but we have already been on snow two days this season. We have had great early snow.

 The bulk of the winter was spent remodelling our master bathroom (see earlier post). The above picture is after we installed our fabulous storage units from IKEA. We still have a few things to do to be 100% complete.

Dom in his work gear last winter. He is a rock star when it comes to DIY!

As you know from previous posts, we spent seven weeks in Italy during which we completed the purchase of our new condominium. At the end of May, on our way back to Nice, France to fly home, we stopped in Monte Carlo for lunch and a walk around the Formula 1 track. It was the Wednesday before the race and there was lots of activity. It was the last nice weather we saw until mid-July. The Seattle area had a horrible summer.

My niece Kate graduated from 8th Grade. It was a lot of fun attending her graduation. This is Kate, her parents (my brother Charlie) and her two brothers.

I continued walking with Ladies of the Beach during the summer. Sometimes our access to the beach can be pretty exciting. It has been interesting exploring the Whidbey shoreline and it is a great group of women.

 We have a bubbler fountain on our waterside deck. The birds often use it for baths. They like to sit right on top of the bubbler. We have christened it the Birdy Bidet!

Over the summer we sold the Mercedes SUV and bought my mother's Lexus sports sedan. The latter is a fun car to drive but I sometimes miss the larger vehicle, especially when I want to haul something large. Thankfully we still have the Toyota Tacoma pickup.

Living on Puget Sound we see some really strange floating vessels. This was the oddest--a giant floating radar dome heading out after being repaired in Everett. This past year we have also see aircraft carriers (goodbye Abraham Lincoln!), lots of submarines, floating cranes, freighters, tugs and barges and all sorts of other ships and boats. Also, one day we watched a pod of orcas frolic in front of the house for well over an hour.

 We had four weddings to attend this year. Here's Dom at one of them with our dear friend Leeds.

 Here we are at another wedding with my parents.

 In mid-September Dom's brother and sister-in-law came for a visit. They took this picture of us on the ferry from the island to the mainland. This is the ferry we take ALL the time. It is only a twelve minute ride--just enought time for coffee and pastry in the morning. Otherwise, we rarely leave the car during the crossing unless we have guests.

Here are the guests themselves--Ang and Frank.

Right after Ang and Frank left, I received a job offer. So, I have been doing consulting work since late September. An old friend asked me to job share with her and we have been developing a competency assessment and training system for a pathology laboratory in Seattle. Mostly I work from home but usually go to Seattle once a week for meetings. It has meant a lot more driving but I am really enjoying it. The project will last until early spring so I will be free to leave for Italy in April.

Since we returned from Italy Dom has been making good progress on his Formula V project. The body is done and he is working on the rest of the racecar. He says it should be finished before we go to Italy but we will see.

 In October we went to another wedding in San Francisco. Above is Coit Tower from the top of the Serpentine on Lombard Street. We had a couple of days to sightsee but kept the trip short because of my work commitments.

 My second cousin Amy and her new husband Tim cutting their cake. It was fun to see most of our San Francisco based family.

 Not going to Italy means we spent October in Western Washington for the first time in twelve years. It was interesting seeing how the garden changed during the time we are usually away. Here is a shot of one of our many maple trees. This is a Lion's Head Maple which is one of the last to lose it's leaves.

 We spent Thanksgiving at Alpental with my parents, my brother Charlie and his friend Tracy. It was quiet without any of the kids but we got a lot of chores finished. My parents did a big remodeling job on the place over the summer and there have been a number of things to do afterwards. This picture was taken at dinner the day after Thanksgiving and includes our friend Ingrid.

Christmas will be spent at Alpental with lots of family. In addition to my parents, my sister, her husband and two kids and my brother and his three kids will be there. It will be a really full house! The nieces and nephews are getting very grown up and now range in age from twenty to twelve.

Dom and I send you our very best wishes for a joyful holiday season and a happy and successfull 2012.

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