Greetings from Stamford, CT:
It's been another exciting year, and we're going to try to catch
you all up if for whatever reason we'd been negligent in doing
so recently. First off you'll notice that we're writing from
a different location than last year. We are no longer in the
heart of Georgia, and as such we are watching snow build up outside
our windows. Which is just fine by Winston, but Julie's ambivalent
about it at best. You may wonder how we ended up here in New
England, and rest assured we'll get to it.
MacTank Booth at MacWorld Expo - San Francisco, CA
Cousin Christina at the Glas Kat - San Francisco, CA
Julie, Winston, and Winston's Great Aunt in Little Japan - San Francisco, CA
In January we made our annual pilgrammage to MacWorld Expo in San Francisco where MacTank had a booth. Winston made a house of cards with the MacTank post card handouts. While out on the west coast we visited with friends and family. Roger & Michelle, Michael & Cynthia, Jessine, Cousin Christine and Winston's great aunt. We got to explore Palo Alto, Little Japan and the Glas Kat.
Jessine and Winston at the W - San Francisco, CA
Li'l Red as an Etch-a-Sketch - San Francisco, CA
Roger, Michele, Cynthia, Michael, Winston and Julie - Palo Alto, CA
Wedding Desk - Atlanta, GA CA
On February 14th, we celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. To commerate the occasion we set up our "Wedding Desk". It composed of our wedding decorations, photos and decorative gifts.
Back in Atlanta, there was no snow, not while we were there, there were some rumors of snow a couple of days, but we didn't see any flakes. And since we were down where it was warm, other people made it a point to visit us. Diane & Paul, Brendan and Van, Julie's Brothers, as well as Winston's whole family came down to see the sights and sounds of the South: ZooAtlanta, the Coca-Cola museum, Stone Mountain, and the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
If you ever find yourself in Atlanta, those are some of the sights we recommend, Except for the Coke museum, unless you like Coke and all the ad propaganda that goes with it that is.
Stone Mountain is the southern equivalent of Mount Rushmore, General "Stonewall" Jackson, General Robert E. Lee, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis are carved into a huge granite mountain.
The Atlanta Botanical Garden has a great set of gardens and greenhouses, includeing the Fuqua orchid center.
Winston, Paul, Julie and Diane- Atlanta, GA
Billie and Peggy - Stone Mountain, GA
Winston, Peggy, Julie, Billie - Stone Mountain, GA
Winston, Julie, Peggy, Dad, Mom and Billie in the Atlanta Botanical Garden - Atlanta, GA
Mom, Dad, Peggy and Billie in the Atlanta Botanical Garden Greenhouse - Atlanta, GA
Julie and Winston in the Founder's Garden at the Atlanta Botanical Garden - Atlanta, GA
We love Zoo Atlanta, they have Giant Pandas, one of only four Zoos in the U.S. to have them (National Zoo in D.C., the Memphis Zoo, and the San Diego Zoo are the others). The Admission price is a bit steep, because Zoo Atlanta is paying a million a year for the Pandas, and you can see everything in about 3-4 hours. But we enjoyed visiting it often, and became members.
Van's wish list at the Zoo Atlanta Gift Store, Atlanta, GA
Julie, Winston, Van and Brendan - Atlanta, GA
Giant Panda at Zoo Atlanta - Atlanta, GA
Otter at Zoo Atlanta - Atlanta, GA
Winston's Lasik Eye Surgery, Emory Vision Center- Atlanta, GA
In April, Winston underwent InterWave LASIK eye surgery at the Emory Vision, to reduce his dependence on glasses. Prior to his surgery Winston was pretty much blind as a bat without his glasses (and no echo-location skills to speak of either). His prescription was around -11. After the first surgery, (there will be another one early next year) he has 20/20 vision in the left eye, 20/25 in his right (a prescription of -1). He does require glasses for driving at night still, but we're really happy that he had it done. The second, touch up surgery, should completely remove the need for glasses. (Until, that is, the need for reading glasses, if necessary).
Everyone knows how much of a shutterbug Winston is, and with his arsenal of batteries and memory cards, he's pretty much incorrigible with his digital camera. Well you'll be happy to know (or not) that his trigger-happy finger has paid a small dividend. IPST (Where Winston worked) had a photo contest. The theme was Winter, and the area was Pets and Animals. Winston's submission won First Prize and a $100 gift check. We've included a copy of the winning photo with this letter, and you'll likely be surprised that he did not submit a photo of Basil or Joules, mainly because Basil and Joules are not snow cats J. The photo is entitled "Ducks" and was taken just upriver of Niagara Falls on the US side in 1998.
"Ducks" - Niagara Falls, NY
At the end of April, we went to the Georgia Renaissance Festival. It is a typical renfaire, and we enjoyed the shows, espeically the Birds of Prey show put on by Earthquest.org. We also enjoyed the huge leg of turkey, which we were wise enough to finish prior to the birds of prey show.
Jousting at the Georgia Renaissance Festival - Fairburn, GA
Earthquest.org's Free Flight Birds of Prey Show at the Georgia Renaissance Festival (Also at Callaway Gardens) - Fairburn, GA
View of 2nd Mayflower Fire from our Balcony - Atlanta, GA
Within 2 months there were 2 fires at adjacent apartment buildings near ours. The local fire officals said the fires were "suspicious." The first of the fires occured as we were at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, making the trip home all but impossible as they shut down the main road leading to our apartment complex. Julie was home for the second one and had a front row seat watching the fire fighters and news helicopters.
We spent most of the Baseball season attending as many Braves games as we could afford. That worked out to be about 2 games a month. Including the games we went to last year, the Braves have a record of 13 and 1 when we attend in person. The one game they lost, they did in extra innings, so all the games were quite exciting for us. It was often suggested that the Braves front office should find a position for Julie. And some friends would specifically inquire as to which game we were going to, so that they could make plans to be there as well.
In fact we went to so many games, that our niece Jessica a die hard Yankees Fan, was partially assimalated to Braves baseball.
Jerry, Gabby and Julie after a Braves win over the Yankees at Turner Field - Atlanta, GA
Jessica, sporting a Braves Batting helmet, and arm painting - Atlanta, GA
Winston and Julie on the trail at Chicopee Lake in the Elachee Nature Center - Gainesville, GA
Julie and Winston on the Pine Mountain trail in the F.D.R. State Park - Pine Mountain, GA
F.D.R. Little White House - Warm Springs, GA
It was not all spectating for us. We took advantage of the good weather, and went hiking about twice a month. We made use of the extensive Georgia State Park system, and variety of Nature Centers in the area. We especially enjoyed the Elachee Nature Center, and the FDR State Park.
Elachee Nature Center is about 45 minutes north of Atlanta, and has a very nice system of trails, we did a couple of 5 mile hikes there to the Chicopee Lake and back.
FDR State Park, has a 22 mile hiking trail about 90 minutes south of Atlanta, we only hiked about 7 of it, but we really enjoyed it.
Near FDR State Park, is FDR's Little White House in Warm Springs, where Roosevelt liked to convalesce.
Kolomoki Mounds is where the Swift Creek and Weeden Island Indians had built seven Earthen mounds. Including a very impressive Temple mound.
Providence Canyon, is Georgia's "Little Grand Canyon", though impressive in it own right, is miniscue compared to its big brother. Especially when you can see the tops of the trees growing from the base of the canyon. The canyon walls are very colorful, and is worth a stop if you're ever in southwest Georgia. But we'd be hard pressed to find a reason to be passing through that area...
Julie and Winston at an Overlook in the F.D.R. State Park - Pine Mountain, GA
Kolomoki Mounds Historical State Park - Blakely, GA
Providence Canyon State Park - Lumpkin, GA
Fernbank Science Center is a museum that was built in the sixties and shows it. It does however have a few fascinating things: an observatory (which we visited quite a few times, including the martian close encounter), Fernbank forest, a 65-acre tract of relatively undisturbed mature mixed hardwood forest, and the Apollo 6 Command Module.
Another attraction we enjoyed (although it was pricey) was Callaway Gardens, which is an rather extensive, resort like recreation area. High points included hiking and biking trails, ponds, a butterfly conservatory, free flight birds of prey show, and of course gardens, vegetable and flower both. We originally planned to spend a couple hours there, we ended up renting bicycles and spending 6 hours.
Julie in front of the Fernbank Science Center - Atlanta, GA
Small Blue Grecian in Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens - Pine Mountain, GA
Julie in front of Corn Stalks in Mr. Cason's Vegetable Garden at Callaway Gardens - Pine Mountain, GA
Julie and Jim - Atlanta, GA
Kelly, Gabby, Jerry, Julie and Winston - Atlanta, GA
Jessica, Jimmy, Joe, Julie and Josh - Atlanta, GA
The month of June brought more visitors to Atlanta. Julie got to see all of her brothers within a week, as well a college professor of hers. Once again we were privileged enough to host our niece Jessica for the summer. We went skating, hiking, and visiting museums, but most importantly we took her along the following:
In July, the 3T Crew (group of Winston's college friends) made a trip to Las Vegas, and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon over the 4th of July weekend.
Las Vegas highlights: Lunch at the top of the Stratosphere Tower, and the Bellagio fountains.
Grand Canyon is the highlight especially Sunrise and Sunset at various points along the rim (especially Cape Royal and Bright Angel Point). The photo of us is at Bright Angle Point at Sunset. Piece of advice, if you're looking for Angel's Window and are having trouble finding it, you may be standing on it!
2 observations regarding lodging: Grand Canyon Reservations are best made 6 or more months in advance, and Las Vegas can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want (travelworm.com got us $29/nite at the Stratosphere and $39/nite at Harrah's.)
The Strip from the top of the Stratosphere Tower - Las Vegas, NV
Lunch at the Top of The World Restaurant - Las Vegas, NV
Bellagio Fountains - Las Vegas, NV
Winston and Julie, sunset at Bright Angel Point - Grand Canyon, AZ
Julie and Winston, dawn at Cape Royal - Grand Canyon, AZ
Daybreak - Grand Canyon, AZ
Winston and Julie and Angel's Window - Grand Canyon, AZ
Zoe, Jeff, Mom, Dad, Shari, Van, Brendan, Julie and Winston after lunch on Uncle Jim's Trail - Grand Canyon, AZ
Michael,Cynthia, Jessica, Shari, Van, Brendan, Julie, Winston, Jeff, Zoe, Mom and Dad, sunset at Point Imperial - Grand Canyon, AZ
Julie and Winston in empty apartment at Summit Brookwood - Atlanta, GA
The other major thing in July was that IPST formalized their merger with Georgia Tech. This was beneficial and detrimental at the same time. Beneficial in that Georgia Tech has a higher name recognition than IPST. Detrimental in the fact that Winston's boss no longer had enough funds to extend his Post-doc appointment. So as of the end of August Winston became an official statistic by filling for unemployment benefits. He's still looking for an engineering job that utilizes computer modeling.
This conveniently coincided with the Winston's parent's tenants moving out. And them generously offered for us to stay there. Which by the way was the 4 bedroom colonial Winston lived in while going to elementary school. So we moved to Connecticut. Fortunately we had plenty of warning so the move was a lot less hectic than last time, in fact, one could say it was glacial in its pace.
Sun, Sep 21, 2003
4 Bedroom Colonial w/ 2 car garage - Stamford, CT
Kangaroo Conservation Center - Dawsonville, GA
Josh, Dawn, Jessica at Amicalola Falls State Park -Dawsonville, GA
Dawsonville Georgia (about 1 hour north of Atlanta) holds two gems definitely worth visiting. the Kangaroo Conservation Center, and Amicalola Falls State Park. The Kangaroo Conservation Center boasts the largest collection of kangaroos anywhere outside Australia. You get to see mobs of kangaroos bounding about, see them up close and even get to pet them. Amicalaola Falls is the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi.
We did attend a wedding Labor Day weekend. One of Julie's bridesmaid, Chitra, married Kermit both of whom declared Julie responsible for their meeting during graduate school at Virginia Tech. Conveniently the wedding was in Clearwater, FL, where Julie's brothers Jerry and Jimmy live, and we were able to spend some time with them and grandmother Ann.
Chitra and Kermit Wedding Belleview Biltmore Resort- Clearwater, Fl
Winston, Julie, Chitra, Kermit at Indian Rocks Beach after sunset - Indian Rocks Beach, FL
Jerry, Winston, Kelly, Julie, Gabby, Jimmy, Grandma outside Chili's - Brandon, FL
Nancy, Emma and Julie at Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway - Meadows of Dan, VA
Winston and Julie at Rocky Knob Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway , Meadows of Dan, VA
Julie and Winston at Julie's alma mater Ferrum College - Ferrum VA
In September we moved to Connecticut, and in October Winston had a follow-up eye check-up in Atlanta. We chose to drive both times, using waypoints in Baltimore with Winston's Grandparents, and Rocky Mount, VA with Nancy and Bru. And since time was not a factor we took the scenic route, we drove the full length of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, and all of the Blue Ridge Parkway north of Roanoke, VA. This was done piecemeal over the three times we drove by the region, and we were glad to have taken the time to do so. On our trips we also hiked to the top of one of Peaks of Otter (Sharp Top) and Blackrock Summit.
Driving along the Blue Ridge, is definitely a time consuming process, especially if you're like Winston, who likes to stop at as many overlooks as possible and take photos.
Julie at the River Lock near the James River on the Blue Ridge Parkway - Big Island, VA
Julie and Winston at the Bald Mtn. Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway
Shenandoah National Park Entrance, Julie and Winston - Front Royal, VA
Julie and Winston at overlook in the Shenandoah National Park - Browntown, VA
Bru, Nancy, Kala, Julie, Adrianna, Winston on Sharp Top - Peaks of Otter, VA
Winston on Blackrock Summit in Shenandoah National Park, VA
Autumn Foilage - White Mountains, VT
We also made a trip to the White Mountains in VT, to see the foliage, and it was quite spectacular and colorful. We went via Boston to see the contingent of the 3Tcrew there. Two things were learned, Friendly's in Stoneham is the only restaurant that serves Breakfast in Stoneham, MA on Sunday, and if you order fruit for breakfast, you will literally get half a melon.
Shari and her breakfast fruit - Stoneham, MA
Cove Island Beach is on the Long Island Sound, and actually has 2 beaches, and 1 mile or so of multi-use trails. This is Beach Winston went to when he was younger.
Winston at Cove Island Beach - Stamford, CT
Julie is an avid baker, not a week goes by that, hot rolls, cookies, or muffins aren't emerging steaming hot from the oven. This year she attempted for the first time to make pies. She now has a few double-crust apple pies, and a pecan-honey pie under her belt. We were inspired to attempt the apple pie because of this online tutorial from endorphin.com on Macintosh Apple Pie. This is the receipe we followed for the honey-pecan pie
Homemade Apple Pie - Stamford, CT
Living in a house in a suburban neighborhood has re-introduced us to the world of yard work (There's nothing quite like watching the latest windstorm completely undo weeks of leaf raking), and holiday decorations. For Halloween we carved a jack-o-lantern and made pumpkin pie. We had 65 trick-or-treaters visit our house as well as a few miscreants who absconded with our carving masterpiece.
Jack-O-Lantern - Stamford, CT
Decorated for Halloween - Stamford, CT
Autumn foilage at Mianus River Gorge - Pound Ridge, NY
Autumn foilage at Mianus River Gorge along the S. J. Bargh Reservoir - Pound Ridge, NY
Lunar Eclipse - Stamford, CT
November in Connecticut is a pretty time of the year, we spent spent some time on the trails along Mianus river. The mianus River gorge in Pound Ridge, NY has a 5 mile out and back hike that takes you to an old growth hemlock stand, a quartz quarry, and the S.J. Bargh Resevoir.
The Mianus River Park in Stamford and Greenwich, CT has a maze of trails along the river and surrounding area. Both are fun to spend some time hiking.
Nestled in the heart of the Hudson River Valley, the Storm King Art Center is the premier outdoor scupture park, with very impressive works from artists like Calder and di Suvero.
Julie and Joie de Vivre by Mark di Suvero at the Storm King Art Center- Mountainville, NY
a Pair of Mallard Duck Couples at the Mianus River Park - Stamford, CT
Julie on the trail at the Mianus River Park - Stamford, CT
At the end of November, Winston had a job interview in Texas, he took some time to visit family in the area. Aunt Lih, cousin Michelle and Robert.
Winston also drove by his old house and elementary school where he attended kindergarten.
Cousin Michelle, Aunt Lih, Cousin Robert - Friendswood, TX
Winston's old home when he was 5 - Friendswood, TX
Day before Thanksgiving, was Winston's 30th Birthday. And we had a Carvel ice cream cake for him!
Winston and his Carvel ice cream cake for his 30th Birthday - New Canaan, CT
Basil and Joules are adjusting well to living in the Northeast, they loved watching leaves blowing across the yard. However they do miss the covered porch of apartment life. Here is a collection of their photos from this year.
Joules and Basil - Atlanta, GA
Joules and Basil - Atlanta, GA
Joules and Basil - Atlanta, GA
Basil - Atlanta, GA
Joules and Basil - Atlanta, GA
Joules - Atlanta, GA
Basil and Joules - Atlanta, GA
Joules and Basil near Otter Creek en route to Connecticut - Peaks of Otter, VA
Joules and Basil - Stamford, CT
Basil and Joules - Stamford, CT
Winston and Julie Prior to losing weight - Gainsville, GA
Since moving from Atlanta, we longer had access to the apartment complex's gym. So we've taken up jogging 3-4 miles, 4 times a week. That along with watching what we eat (basically less), has resulted in Julie losing 50 pounds, and Winston losing 20 pounds since around April of this year.
Winston and Julie after losing weight - Meadows of Dan, VA
In our bid to help the environment, we have taken up vermicomposting. For those of you not familiar with the concept: What it is, is using worms (red wigglers) to consume your organic kitchen waste. Fruit cores, vegetable peels and what not. (no meats or fats). The worms turn the waste into castings, which can then been used as enriched soil for plantings. We learned about it at the Fernbank Science center, and we started in October; we'll let you know how it's going. So far we seem to have raised a swarm of fruit flies. Apparently that's cause we're feeding the worms too much.
We don't know how long we'll be in Connecticut. As soon as Winston finds a job, we'll most likely be relocating again. But meanwhile, we're enjoying the snow and cozy New England atmosphere, so from all of us here, to you and yours: Happy Holidays!
Snowman and snow covered house - Stamford, CT