Greetings!
It's been a busy and active year. Much the same, some not. Sherry continues at the local middle school teaching Spanish. Joe continues his work as a technical writer. Mat started high school in August. We all live and work within the same 3 mile radius, which makes the "commute" easy, and live close to downtown. We've been here 10 years now and hear that we've become rather famous around town as we tend to walk just about everywhere - not so typical in an American suburb?
We have managed to do some traveling this year, as well. Joe traveled on business to Munich, Cambridge, Chicago, Portland, and Austin. Joe and Mat also went to Munising in Upper Peninsula Michigan for the 4th of July.
Sherry and Meghan went to No. Ireland to celebrate a friend's wedding, and Meghan sang "on Angel's Wings" like an angel herself. The wedding was in Swatragh, and the reception in Ballymena - where Sherry's grandmother/kids' great-grandmother was born.
They also spent a bit of time in Belfast - quite near where Sherry's grandfather/kids' great-grandfather was born and where both grandparents lived just before they sailed for America in the 1920's. It was touching in many ways.And of course, a trip up to the Antrim Coast was in order for some sight-seeing and the Giant's Causeway - beautiful! (That's Scotland in the background....)
After way too little time in Ireland, they went home via Madrid. Lots of heat, walking, an intensely fabulous flamenco night, and an equally memorable evening singing karaoke in Madrid. ¡Fenomenal!
In late July, Joe, Sherry and Mat also fit in a trip to Sacramento for the Madrid-Torrejon High School Reunion - Joe's high school alma mater. The reunion is open to all of who attended the school in Madrid Spain (anywhere from 1957 to 1993) and meets somewhere in the US every three years; in our backyard this year. Sherry went all rah-rah and wore Joe's letter jacket (blame the jet leg...). It was fun!
Woo hoo!
As for the big "girls,"
when not galavanted around the globe, Meg continues to live in San Francisco, working with Starbucks, and now manages a store in the financial district. She met David this year and they're now happily galavanting around together! 
Emily is living and working at Isis Oasis, a beautiful retreat center and well - oasis - in Northern California, doing event management and leading celebrations. She's feeling a bit lighter these days as she cut her hair a few months ago, and no longer has those amazing dreadlocks.
On the four-legged front we were (and are) very saddened to have lost our beloved Theo in January.
We comfort ourselves to think he's running free somewhere over the Rainbow Bridge and we'll see him again one day. [--sigh--]
In early February, Sherry had a dream about a little brown dog, and Sukha found us on Valnetine's Day when we adopted her from a local shelter. We thought she was 1 year 6 mos old, while it turns out she was more likely 7 mos. old (rookies!). She's as sweet as her name and adoption date, and makes friends wherever she goes. More than makes up for the fact that she has required about 108X the amount of work and expense we had anticipated!
In April, while on our way to and from dog (and people) obedience classes at the shelter, Mat became acquainted with Mufasa the cat, and - yes- amid the chaos of training our new puppy and ourselves, we threw caution to the wind and adopted Mufasa as well.
Mufasa has been way easier than we thought, so in a way it's all balanced out.
Things have been pretty settled here at home this Fall. Mat played his first season of tackle football on the San Ramon Valley High School freshman team and enjoyed it alot.
That, and going to the homecoming dance with his friend Tori!
Meanwhile Joe has refereed "only" 30 soccer games (and counting),including a televised game with a crowd of 11,000 people. Sherry's adjusting to an additional class of Spanish students and has also been coaching a small peer mediation team of 8th graders - volunteers who want to practice more peaceful conflict resolution skills. In her spare time, she has tried to get in a few yoga classes and as many hikes as possible.
In late summer and fall we followed the election closely and when November finally came, Sherry cried for joy on election night, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Then some of us got together for a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner at Dan & Lorriane's house.
Wishing Peace and Joy to all in the Coming Year.
We comfort ourselves to think he's running free somewhere over the Rainbow Bridge and we'll see him again one day. [--sigh--]
In early February, Sherry had a dream about a little brown dog, and Sukha found us on Valnetine's Day when we adopted her from a local shelter. We thought she was 1 year 6 mos old, while it turns out she was more likely 7 mos. old (rookies!). She's as sweet as her name and adoption date, and makes friends wherever she goes. More than makes up for the fact that she has required about 108X the amount of work and expense we had anticipated!
In April, while on our way to and from dog (and people) obedience classes at the shelter, Mat became acquainted with Mufasa the cat, and - yes- amid the chaos of training our new puppy and ourselves, we threw caution to the wind and adopted Mufasa as well.
Mufasa has been way easier than we thought, so in a way it's all balanced out.
Things have been pretty settled here at home this Fall. Mat played his first season of tackle football on the San Ramon Valley High School freshman team and enjoyed it alot.
That, and going to the homecoming dance with his friend Tori!
Meanwhile Joe has refereed "only" 30 soccer games (and counting),including a televised game with a crowd of 11,000 people. Sherry's adjusting to an additional class of Spanish students and has also been coaching a small peer mediation team of 8th graders - volunteers who want to practice more peaceful conflict resolution skills. In her spare time, she has tried to get in a few yoga classes and as many hikes as possible.
In late summer and fall we followed the election closely and when November finally came, Sherry cried for joy on election night, and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Then some of us got together for a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner at Dan & Lorriane's house.
Now, as Solstice nears, we're thinking of family and friends near and far and...
Wishing Peace and Joy to all in the Coming Year.
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