2018

Looking Back

2018 Photo Albums

Duke Family Update

New Zealand

New Braunfels

Bits 'n Bobs

The Videos

Callie's First Fish

At NOLA JazzFest

Gabby's First Ski

Daddy's Band

Night of the Stars

Gabby Dances

I think I share the same sentiment with many of you that this year as simply flown by and surely it can’t be almost Christmas Day once again? They say (who exactly?) it is sign of both getting older (certainly) and being very busy (without doubt). In any case, here we are again, looking back in a packed year filled with trips, adventures, ‘hellos’ and ‘goodbyes’, snow and ice, thrills and spills, true love. If we had pirates too it’s beginning to sound like The Princess Bride! Let’s start out where we left you late in 2017.

Christmas in New York! We’ve slowly joined Big Apple Appreciation Society and having last been there for a “Babymoon” in 2016, we decided to go back and pick up where we left off. We found a very reasonable hotel (the Lombardy) at the north end of Mid-Town, a few blocks east of 5th avenue and decamped there for about a week. We were delighted to us the new (ish) Uber Car Seat service rather than lug a car seat around with us, and suitably wrapped (luckily for us there was no snow during the trip) we started our exploration of the classic “to-do’s” in NYC. First up was a Christmas Marionette (please, we are not puppets!) show at the charming Swedish Cottage in Central Park, quickly followed by the spectacular Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall with the Rockettes and Santa (Gabby was spellbound). We decided to skip the 60-minute wait to skate at the Rockefeller Center and went instead to the equally impressive Bryant Park behind the New York Public Library (also a must see). Similarly, at least once, we recommend Santaland at Macy’s (book on line, Gabby’s first With Santa Photo and a chance to remind him that we would be in NYC on Christmas Eve and not in Covington… nudge nudge). Christmas Day, after presents of course, was spent outside (to the extend we could brave the cold) with a walking tour of Central Park and a brief homage to the shrine for John Lennon. We also took the chance to reward Calliana for being a model student by surprising her with tickets to see Hamilton – and yes, it really lives up to its reputation! On our past two trips, largely due to my poor planning, we’ve ended up at the Guggenheim only to find it closed. This time, not so, and it truly is a remarkable building with remarkable exhibits (go early in the day if you can).

It was a very merry Christmas and with a little sadness, we headed back to Covington just in time for New Year’s Eve, with Matt called upon for DJ duties and Rafi and Izzy’s New Year’s Eve Party! We also had a nice visit with Thijs and Marieke and family, our Dutch friends from back in the Thailand, who now live near the Audubon Park down in New Orleans. January wrapped up with both a wonderful event and a painful event. Wonderful was watching the Saints beat the Panthers at the Superdome in the Wildcard game, painful was the two-hour drive home with an infected root canal delivering the full might of nerve pain in a way that only a tooth can. Some few hours of surgery and some class-A pain killers and Matt was back in action. Now, perhaps in something somewhat incongruous in a warming climate, we had two days of school lost (and a burst external pipe) to severe cold weather (for us at least) when a light covering snow froze in place and with no equipment to clear it, we were essentially frozen in at home until it thawed. Once in every 10 years they said (twice in 3 months we replied!). We had pretty much thought to see the last of snow days at school when we moved south from Pennsylvania!

February turned in to a bit of a scary month with Jeab’s father being in to ICU in Bangkok and on a ventilator with not very good odds of making a recovering. Jeab dashed back home and rushed to his side and somewhat miraculously, within a few hours, Dad starts to respond to treatment. Within a week he’s discharged, frail yes, but back home. Matt was able to work flexible hours from home to look after Gabby but none of it would have been possible without the close-in help from Izzy, Michele, Geoff, Hila, Amy and Ken and Frances for those 9 days. Many thanks!

Music continues to be an important part of the family routine with Calliana’s growing proficiency in piano, school productions and adding back violin this year. Gabby, as you shall see later, not wanting to be outdone by Sissy, has also started to “jam’. Matt is enjoying a somewhat regular engagement now as lead singer/rhythm guitar for “Route 2 66” and following on from the fun in 2017, flew over to play for Jim Logan’s Retirement Gig at the now defunct (wasn’t due to us, I swear) Ula’s with Stan Franklin, Kellie, Jason and Kathy.

Matt also had a chance to go to a new destination, this time invited to a peer review of Chevron’s Kuwait-Saudi operations. Matt was impressed with both the operation and the Saudis and Kuwaitis he met on the trip, the highlight of which was visiting a tented Spring Camp in the sand and drilling fresh camel’s milk. I know what some of you might think, but these camels were like thoroughbred horses, fed on a diet of cucumbers and alfalfa. Might be hard to believe but the milk was light and creamy and somewhat sweet! Matt and a couple of his compatriots also had a local tailor make up a Dishdasha in the style local business men to hilarious effect.

March rolls around and spring is in the air in the south. The chill has left, and some early warm days means our first use of the pool (if we flip the heating on in the morning that is). Emboldened by her skating adventure in NYC, Calliana talked us in to a day trip to Baton Rouge to the nearest (60 mins) ice rink that isn’t seasonal here and Gabby got her first taste of it too. Calliana’s hard work paid off too as she won an award for her performance of the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean at the LAAPA show case in Covington.

For Spring Break this year (April-Easter) we continued our theme of going to new places and while we have seen a little of the Texas Hill Country the Thanksgiving before with the Fawthrops, this time we wanted to get deeper still. And what better way than renting a house by the Guadalupe River, north of New Braunfels for about 5 days. We took the opportunity by flying in to Houston to nip up north and spend a day and a night with Elsa and Joseph Cordera at Walden on the Lake in their lovely home up there. A little bit of hiking and a whole lot of laughing. A great start to the break. The weather was generally mild to warm for us so splashing about in the river became our daily routine. Matt also took Callie out on her first fly-fishing trip on the river with a guide and she caught 4 fish (Beginners luck!). There’s plenty of other things to do up there besides messing about on the water. A day spent in San Antonio at the Alamo and on the River Walk, as well as half a day at the impressive Natural Bridges Caverns added to the enjoyment and New Braunfels is also worth a wander. But that wasn’t all for the month. We took the plunge and spent a day at the very crowded and raucous NOLA Jazz Fest (I’m still trying to explain Big Freedia and “Bounce Music“ to Callie), meeting up with Hawkers and the Curthoys families. Sticking to the music theme, we were also impressed with the quality of talent on display when Callie played piano at school as part of Night of the Stars and performed some of the songs from Grease with the choir.

School gets out early in Louisiana so May is always an exciting month for Calliana. In addition to once again being selected for the Honor Roll, Callie was also inducted in to the National Junior Honors Society, completed her second Girls On The Run 5K, and performed in her school’s production of “Annie”. Not to be left out, Gabriella turned 2 and I took her to her first rugby match with a visit to see NOLA Gold, New Orleans Major League Rugby team, in the US’ inaugural professional rugby union season. Lastly, thanks to more hard work by Stacy Ladousier, we attended the 3rd Annual Mother’s Day gathering (complete with tee shirts this time) and the Pontchartrain Vineyards.

June was also shaping up to busy with Matt making the return to Houston to join the band playing at Unocal alum Dave Payne’s leaving bash, as well as Calliana spending a week at the Museum of Medicine Summer Camp (we all stayed with Patricia and Seb Bombarde – thanks!) and finishing the week off watching the Eagles. We were also saddened to see Emily, Andrew and Frances (Gabby’s BFF) Curthoys going off to live in Canada, and we wish them well.  Lastly, we took a trip up to a wet and muggy Washington, D.C., to watch Wales defeat South Africa (Gabby’s first International Rugby game). We managed pack a lot in though with a side trip to Capitol Hill, the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian.  And as with the last time we were there, we visited with Marrisa Morgan (before she moved on to go and live in Denver).

In keeping with the story of our lives in this industry we also wished a fond farewell to Izzy and Rafael in July as they moved on to Houston. The highlight of the month though was our trip to Wanaka in New Zealand for skiing.  Many of you will remember that we’ve had a place in Wanaka for about 15 years but the last 5 we’ve been unable to make the trek down there. With a direct flight from Houston to Auckland now available and Gabby being old enough to ski, we decided to brave the 16 hour flight (not including getting to Houston and from Auckland to Wanaka) and head down to one of our favourite places on (Middle) Earth. It was everything we’d hoped it would be. Gabby seemed to love the whole snow thing (especially eating it) and slotted right in in to the Ski-Kindy routine. Many improvements had been made at Cardrona for the better, and Wanaka, (while still retaining its charm) had several great new restaurants, a new recreation center and a new winery to explore. No trip would have been complete without several visits with Brian, Linzi, Olly and Megan, including High Tea for our Calliana who officially became a teenager on this trip. We were also treated to a lovely meal by our dear friend Peter Hart who had moved to Wanaka from Lake Hawea since we were last there. We also caught wind of upcoming land ownership laws that would have made it impossible for us to own anything other than what we already had, but we had always wanted to move a little closer to the water with a nicer view of the mountains. Luckily, we found such a section and managed to get the paperwork done with just a few weeks to spare. Our plan is to eventually sell the cottage and build a 3 bedroom home there and perhaps spend some of our retirement time in the Southern Hemisphere (most likely the summer months!). It was a great trip and we resolved to not wait so long next time!

It did seem that the summer (if not the southern heat) was over all too soon and Callie was back to school and Matt was once again making one or two short trips to Houston per month. One trip, happily, provided a chance to meet up with Mike Wracher for the first time in 20 something years. Mike been a flat mate in San Diego during Grad School and was in Houston, so a reunion was very much in order. On another trip that month, Matt realized a life-long dream to see the very impressive ELO in concert. Jeab flew over too but this was despite bad weather causing a redirection to Austin first! A final trip for all of us to Houston came about for another gig with the Route2 66 band. This also turned in to a massive reunion, with families Schmalz, Meyer and Clague, and Morgan from our Thailand days. Families Ramirez and Ponthiers from both Perth and Covington, numerous from Lagos including the Bombardes and Fawthrops, and the Shepstones from Sugarland Days. Finally, back in the spirit of NFL, Matt and Jeab got to see the Saints preseason runaway victory over the Rams (a match that may happen again on the way to the Super Bowl…..dare I tempt fate now that their 45-35 win in November gives them a tie break for home field advantage after winning the NFC South against Tampa Dec 9th).

Although no very Fall-like yet in LA (the state), it was indeed lovely out in the Bay Area so Matt took the opportunity as part of a work visit to spend a wonderful weekend, first back on Taft Avenue with Matt, then up to the River House at Guerneville, joined by Otto,  Anne,  Poog and Mike, but not before a good afternoon natter with Nana Julie back in Rockridge. Once at work in San Ramon Matt also had a wonderful evening catching up Nancy and Norm Jokerst. Then, upon returning to Covington, Matt was pleasantly surprised at his birthday dinner to be joined by the Ladousiers and the Hawkers.

October was still pretty warm here and was another full-on month with the mad scramble to get the paperwork submitted for the land purchase in New Zealand. Matt also had to push for some last minute (but it turned out hardly enough) training for the weekend MS150 and thanks to your generosity raised  $550 for MS research. We had a lovely visit form Keith and Sharon and the boys spent a fine afternoon at the singularly impressive WWII Museum in New Orleans. Also back across the Lake, Gabby thoroughly enjoyed Paw Patrol Live, and had her first ambulatory Trick or Treat with Nathan and Ken Werner as the not so scary Princes Aurora. Callie also go it to the spirit decorating a number of scary rooms with her friends at the library where she volunteers. One room’s theme was truly frightening for the teenagers. It had absolutely no internet!

Finally, it began to feel like winter here with an almost instantaneous switch from cooling to heating, and maybe only a handful of windows open days in between. Callie’s Robotics Team from Junior High were off to the regional finals where they won Robotics Competition Champions Award and on so moved on to the State Championship in December. Matt and Jeab made the mad dash to England for a little over 24 hours to attend a wonderfully rugby match of England vs All Blacks, made all the more special by getting to stay with Simon and Nova and girls once again, meeting with high school pal Neil Sherman who was actually at the game and also with  Jez whisking Fran away from the West Country to spend an evening with us before we headed back to the US. Phew!

The month was rounded out nicely with a Thanksgiving trip to in Pittsburgh. Some of you will know that we have essentially decided on the Burgh as our retirement stage 1 landing spot, after Matt stops working and while Gabby still has middle and high school to complete. We love our old neighbourhood, the schools and the city so this trip was intended to see if the magic was still there (it was) and if we might find a place to buy (we didn’t). It was a packed trip including going to many of our favourite restaurants and a trip to the theatre for Gabby to see Peppa Pig at the Byham. We saw about 9 houses with our friend and realtor Michele, got to spend a wonderful evening with former neighbours Karen and Suk and Maia as well as a wonderful afternoon with Bob, Mia and Cana Cooper and another one with Pear and Paul and Alysa. A big deal for Callie was to visit the playground at elementary school where she and 3 friends petitioned the school board to have a climbing set added to the playground. It was built after we moved but the Principle, Dr. Miller, very kindly welcomed Callie back for a tour. The Carnegie Science Center was a favourite of ours too so we had to make a call in there and we all went back to Matt’s old office for a visit, hosted by Melissa D’Angelo. No trip that time of year would be complete without a (very chilly) visit to the PPG Wintergarden and skating rink and we persuaded Callie (probably for the last time) to have her photo taken Gabby and Santa.

And seeing Santa (and not running away) was a good lead in for Gabby as she's old enough to get something very tangible out of the concept of Christmas, including writing letters to Santa, letting us know that she's a good girl, getting really excited about decorations and opening each day of the advent calendar. She checks every morning if there are any presents under the tree. Some of this is surely generated at the Tunes for Tots group she belong to and the whole charming group performed 6 numbers for us. Callie too has been busy in December with the State finals for her robotics club. Out of 60 teams who made it that, her team won the innovation award and came 4th overall. This means that they are first alternate for the nationals (and maybe a trip to Legoland in California!). She also had her Christmas performance at LAAPA with her piano coming along very well and going after a pretty tricky piece. She's also been in rehearsals for Peter Pan as one of the pirates (see, we had pirates after all!), and making it as far as a finalist for Student of the Year. Matt, through work, helped make 350 kids from New Orleans' Boys and Girls Club have a slightly happier Christmas at Saints practice facility. All that's left is to travel to Bangkok in time for Christmas and New Year to be with Jeab's parents and team up with the usual suspects.

Once again, we are bound marvel at our continuing good fortune to have such wonderfully supportive friends and family around the world. On balance, it’s been a great year and we are thankful that we’ve been able to share it at least in part with many of you. Our trials and tribulations pale in comparison to that which some of you have suffered these past 12 months and we hope that the coming months can help soften the sharp sadness of loss and grief. For our own part, the winds of change are blowing once more and a move seems more and more likely (hopefully before Callie starts 9th grade – High School for our non-US based chums!).  We also know that sadness and tragedy have struck many of you this past year, some even up until very recently, making it hard to have much of a merry Christmas at all. In the wider world, it hasn't exactly been a showcase for political civility and cooperation. Natural disasters have once again wreaked havoc in pretty much every continent. Still, perhaps we can take solace at the miraculous rescue fo the boys in the Thailand cave? The Korean peninsula seems to have got maybe a little safer?  We hope the comfort of surrounding family and friends can help you through these darkest hours.

Merry Christmas, and a truly Happy New Year to All.

Gabriella, Calliana, Jeab and Matt

Covington, December, 2018