Another year gone by! All our babies are growing up – my oldest granddaughter, Kendall, is engaged to be married in September ’24. My whole family will be celebrating with a party on December 23rd, so we’ll get to spend Christmas together. This will be the first one without my father, who passed away in March at 98. He had a good long life, but we miss him. Happy New Year to all of you, and best wishes for 2024!!
My daughter’s book! It will be published soon and you can pre-order it now on Amazon, Bookshop.org, etc. Really thoughtful insights from my kid who was Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the Obama Administration, and founder of Code for America, a non-profit that continues to help cities with tech solutions to civic problems. Am I proud? You bet.
A wonderful trip to Paris and Rome with my friend Ellen!
Best wishes for a bright and happy New Year to all!
So exciting to be able to use my passport once more! I switched from studying French to working on my very basic Italian for a couple of months, and went to Sicily and Lake Como with my younger daughter and her husband for 2 weeks. Here’s me and a gelato in Ortigia, the old part of the Sicilian city of Siracusa, where we stayed before heading off to Bellagio. Wishing you all a wonderful summer!
Best wishes for 2022. I hope you are all still safe and sane. I loved your holiday cards and the photos of you and your kids – they cheered me when I had to cancel my trip
with my daughters to visit my Dad. That was a hard call, head over heart for sure. My father is 97 and immunocompromised, so we just couldn’t take the chance we’d bring Covid
from our various home towns to Tulsa, OK. We’ll re-schedule as soon as it seems safe. Meantime, we keep on keeping on!
Over 2,000 miles on the exercise bike I got when I became clear I would not be going back to the gym for a while.
Somewhat improved French, thanks to Rosetta Stone.
A completely refinished doorway and surround (33 windows = 132 corners!) and renovated foyer. (See previous blog post for “before” photo.)
A well-tended garden.
Soon after my second shot of the Moderna vaccine, my Dad fell and broke his hip. I flew down and spent a few days with him while he was still in the hospital in Tulsa, when the crowds at the airports were sparse and there were no lines at the TSA. Over Mother’s Day weekend, my daughters joined me in an Airbnb not far from Dad’s, and we all got to see how much his mobility had improved and enjoy his still-sharp wit. On that trip, there were more people flying but still few airport shops and restaurants open. To celebrate Dad’s 97th birthday recently, I made the trip once more. Great to see my father doing so well, but travel is no fun now – overcrowding and understaffing everywhere. Still, I am grateful to be able to GO again!
I hope you are all enjoying the summer, and staying healthy.
Clockwise from top: The Patriarch (my Dad); my sister Daphne; her grandson, Fox; Daphne’s daughter/Fox’s mother, Emily; my daughter Jennifer; my daughter Amy; and me.
Wishing you all good things in this New Year – Love, Barbara
As this long and difficult year draws to a close, I hope you are all safe and still (relatively) sane. These are some of the activities I’ve undertaken
in the last few months:
Donating blood
Volunteering with the gardening crew in Ft. Tryon Park
Chipping old paint off a door frame so I can refinish it.
Today people are receiving the first doses of the vaccine against Covid. Soon the Winter Solstice will herald the return of longer days. The darkness
will begin to recede. May there be light and joy in your holiday celebrations, different though they may be in 2020.
Best wishes to all,
Barbara
My hair’s getting kinda long. Zoom happy hours have taken the place of restaurant dinners with friends. Foreign travel? I’d just like to see Union Square again!
Recently my neighbors and I broke the monotony of “one day is much like another” with a stoop shoot. It was a fun afternoon of “physical distancing” (as my daughter Amy likes to say), but social interaction (from 6 feet apart). We all got a beautiful portrait out of it, for a tax-deductible gift to the Food Bank of New York. Here’s the scoop on a stoop shoot:
You can help New Yorkers in need and get a great portrait on your front steps. To reserve a session, donate $50 to Food Bank for New York City (https://www.foodbanknyc.org) and forward the receipt to [email protected].
$50 helps provide 250 meals to needy New Yorkers. In exchange, Jeff Zorabedian of JDZ Photography.com is offering a 20 minute Stoop Shoot in front of your home. Jeff will photograph you and your family from a safe distance.
Afterwards you’ll receive a link to an online gallery. Your session will include 1 high resolution file of your choice. You’ll also have the opportunity to order additional prints or files directly through the site.
For those of you who took childbirth education classes from Ellen Chuse, this is her son-in-law!
Hope you are all staying safe and sane!
