December 2021

 

Greetings from Friendswood, TX

            It's been another odd year, it seems like nothing is happening and everything is happening all at the same time, with everything trying to get from the new normal back to the old normal but not too quickly or we'll be back at the new normal?.

            Phelan is now 7, he's in 1^st Grade at Walter Hall Elementary School in the E-STEM Magnet Program.  He's in Ms. Schultz class, Phelan is enjoying making friends and learning cool things.  He's spending all his spare time playing MineCraft and Magic the Gathering, or watching other people play MineCraft on YouTube.  He's reading longer books this year as well as riding a bicycle and he's figured out how to swim this past summer. We like to play outside and take our dog out for walks every evening.  He's joined a Cub Scout pack, and has had a great time making a Rocket, a Robot, a boat, and going camping. 

            Megan is 14, and believe it or not, in High School now. She spends a lot of time online and is getting straight A's in her course work.  She has to ride her bicycle to and from school every day.  Megan volunteered for the Pediatric Trial of Novamax covid-19 vaccine, Covavax, and received her 2 shots either in May or September.

            Winston's still at Boeing, and has been working back in the office since March.  The Space Launch System is getting ready for its first Launch, so that's pretty exciting and fairly busy making sure all the ducks are in the right row.

            Ah-Ma lives with us and has been cooking us delicious meals and helps looking after Phelan.  This summer She and Phelan went and visited from Virginia to Maine, to see his Cousins.  For the few months we've started looking for a home for her and Ah-Gong to live in our neighborhood.  With the housing market as hot as it's been, it's been alternatingly too expensive or gone before we have a chance to make an offer. We hope our patience will soon bear fruit.

            Our cats Pepper and Pakhet have been completely unaffected by events and continue to live their best life.  Kaito enjoys being near us, and fiercely disagreeing with anyone else that is within 100 yards of our house, (this unfortunately often means our next door neighbors will often find Kaito yapping at them).  He really enjoys being on laps, running real fast and licking everything. Sunny the bearded dragon and Lunar Eclipse have been rehomed to Miss Sarah at Friendswood Music and More, where they enhance the experience of the students there.

            We put minimal effort into the garden this year, but were rewarded with Purple Yams, Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, and some Chili Peppers.  We had a big freeze in February the claimed our Citrus Trees, though our Lemon Tree has sent up new growth, so we remain hopeful we'll have lemons again soon. 

            Travelwise, we made 2 trips this year.  This Summer while Phelan was away, Megan's cousin Jacqueline from Virginia Beach visited.  After attending Space Center University (Johnson's Space Center's version of Space Camp). The three of us took a week long Texas road trip.  We visited San Antonio, and Dallas.  And while there saw the Alamo, Riverwalk, SeaWorld Enchanted Rock, Natural Bridge Caverns and Wild Animal Park, Lake Parker State Park, Aloha Skating Rink, and Six Flags.  And we visited Winston's cousin Connie in Dallas and took her with us to Six Flags.

            Then for Labor Day weekend we visited Ah Zhou in Baltimore because her health was failing, and while we were there, she passed away peacefully in her sleep just shy of turning 98.  We were grateful to have been able to see her one last time.   She lived a very full life and will be remembered for her energic lifestyle and prodigious production of quilts (And her industrial sewing setup in the basement). 

            We haven't had a chance to reschedule our cancelled Caribbean cruise from last July but plan on making those arrangements in the next couple of months, not sure what target sailing date just yet, but probably later rather than sooner.

            And we made a few day trips to Galveston Island, Big Thicket National Preserve, Sheldon Lake State Park, Wallisville Lake Project, Armand Bayou Nature Center.

            We did a remote Trash Bash this year and cleaned up the Cedar Gully by our neighborhood. As well as volunteering for Clear Creek Cleanup where we helped clean the Nassau Bay Peninsula Wildlife Park

            In April, Winston's cousin Elaine visited along with Emilia on their way to the Pacific Northwest from Maryland.  We went to the Lone Star Flight Museum

            On the home improvement front we put down LVP in Megan's bedroom, had our roof fixed and roots removed from our plumbing.   We still need to replace our fencing at some point and our whole roof is due to be replaced in the near future, and maybe get solar panels installed at the same time?

            We acquired still more Lego sets this year, the majority of which were MineCraft  themed for Phelan, but also the Space Shuttle Discovery.  As well as a large number of the latest Magic the Gathering cards and decks.

            For Halloween this year, Phelan was a Bat (reused Megan's old costume) Megan was a plague doctor, so both were, albeit unintentionally, Covid adjacent. We carved 5 pumpkins this year, One of Phelan, one of Megan, one of Julie from 20 years ago.  Megan carved the character Kanna from "Your Turn to Die", and Phelan carved a ghost.

            For Christmas this year we plan to go rent an AirBnB and stay in Corpus Christi with Bo, Mina, Arsheda and Artiman, and spend some time on the beach and see some birds.

            We feel fortunate this year to not have contracted Covid-19 and wish you and yours a happy, healthy and better new year

                                                                                                With Love,

                                                Winston, Megan, & Phelan

 

P.S. As always, we will try to post more photos at http://basil2.homeip.net/~basil/Photo.html