This is the best recent photo of us. There are more photos below so this page may not load very quickly; be patient. Then think about getting broadband!
We hope everyone has an enjoyable Celebration of the Winter Solstice and the Changing of the Year - according to my sources, since last year was the Year of the Monkey, it must be the Year of the Rooster. Here is the full legalese Season's greetings (see also the theoretical Engineer's evaluation of Santa and the reindeer's big night - then close the window to return to the newsletter).
This is a compilation of some of the high spots of 2004. Some of the links below (which are not in the printed version) are to pictures, others are to the website mentioned; you'll have to close them if they open in a new window, or use your browser's "Back" button, or the keyboard shortcut <Alt> &<Left Arrow> to get back to this page after viewing them.
Stan is webmaster not only for the family home page, but also for Kiyomi's business CrossTech, and her nonprofit organization, Teachers International Exchange. In addition, he is co-webmaster for the Stanford-Palo Alto User Group (SPAUG) for PC's, and hosts a Web Page Creation and Maintenance Special Interest Group (SIG). I invite everyone interested in computers to visit the SPAUG site, especially ShareWhere, which lists interesting websites on the Internet. The Newsletter has a monthly column by our president that has a lot of useful, current information and advice. There are often summaries or even transcripts of the feature presentation.
Kiyomi's big job continued into the early part of this year, started when she was contracted by HP to take “trainers' training”, and then train groups of HP managers and executives in Japan. The subject was “high-velocity business results in a dynamic HP”. For them, it is a real paradigm shift. Kiyomi's job was to help them experience situations that would allow them to develop the new skills they require.
She has flown back and forth to Japan numerous times during the year to give the training, but it is the kind of work she really enjoys doing. This has been her major job, but of course she has taken on many other contracts for various organizations, giving training and conferences to people from government, education, and industry, both in Japan and the United States.
She also gave a presentation in conjunction with TIE and JTIE this November in Tokyo. The general subject was schools and the community working together. It was well-attended, with over 400 people attending the conference.
Aya is still our “Gap Kid”. She moved into an apartment in the San Francisco Marina area, from where she can bike, bus, or drive to work. From all reports, she really enjoys the work and the culture. Her department is Financial Planning and Analysis in the International Division. She is also the Essbase (Financial Reporting and Forecasting Application) administrator and has implemented the system into the international division, and hopefully she'll have more opportunities to travel to the various countries to provide training to those users. This year she got to go to England, a small town called Rugby. On her way home, she got to spend some time in London. Here's a picture of her (on the far right) with her friends celebrating Jodi's 30th birthday.
Alan is putting his TKD background and experience to good use. He's decided that teaching kids and adults is more rewarding and less stress than installing home theater systems; but still keeps his knowledge, skill and expertise up to date. He's a good resource if you're thinking about installing a new home theater or just upgrading what you have.
His love is a sweet Rottweiler female named “Kuma”. With his busy work schedule, he doesn't have as much time as they'd like to play with each other. Her “grandparents” often “baby”sit her - here's a recent picture of her enjoying Kiyomi's garden.
Our Christmas picture for this year was taken at our night at the opera. We attended a performance of Mozart's Così fan tutte (The School for Lovers), which was quite interesting. Fortunately the San Francisco Opera House provides supertitles in English, so we didn't have to translate the Italian libretto.
Well everything went according to schedule and plan, no problems with weather, connections, luggage or illness. The Grand Circle Travel company met us at Charles DeGaulle Airport and bussed us to Blois (pronounced blue-wah) for our pre-cruise extension chateau tour. Breakfasts were included, but lunch and dinners were out on the town at various interesting brasseries. Our stay in Blois (an old town on the Loire river) was enjoyable. We saw the old town (parts date back to Roman times - that's old!), and had side trips to various chateaux in the neighborhood, dating from the 12th to 14th century. Catherine of Medici lived in one, Henry was assassinated in one, the dividing line between free and occupied France in WWII went through one.
After Blois, we returned to Paris for 4 days at the Hotel Sofitel Left Bank, in sight of the Eiffel Tower (from some rooms, not ours). Our first morning was a city tour, to acquaint us with the sights of Paris. So we saw the main attractions from the bus. We got off the tour at the Louvre instead of returning to the hotel, and walked through the garden (we had visited the Louvre last time), then to the Place de Concorde, with the obelisk Napoleon brought back from Egypt, and to the Rodin museum. We enjoyed many of Rodin's sculptures both inside the museum, and outside in a delightful garden. We just kept walking past interesting buildings, monuments, statues, etc. until we got back to the hotel.
The next day we had a bus trip to idyllic Giverny, home of the impressionist painter Monet. His home has been turned into a museum, and his garden and pond (with the famous water lilies) have been maintained pretty much as it was when he painted them, and it was really beautiful, a sunny day, not too warm. He had an incredible collection of Japanese wood block prints - Kiyomi said better than many Japanese art galleries. For lunch, the locale was an old mill on a stream, a really beautiful setting, so peaceful.
The third day was more of Paris, heading out in the morning after breakfast to the Luxemburg garden, past the Fountain of the Medici, on over to the Opera house, stopping by an attractive brasserie for dinner, and then taking the bus back to the hotel.
We left Paris by the high speed train to Dijon in the Burgundy region for a wine country tour. We passed miles of grape vines, grapes slowly ripening in the sun, and one famous winery after another. We stopped by a chateau for lunch; the owner of the chateau was a jet plane collector, and had dozens of jets from several countries - we saw many French Dessaults, MiGs, British, and even some US fighters (including a Lockheed jet). We stopped by Chalon, where Kiyomi found a pair of Mephisto sandals she had been looking for.
Our ship, the River Cruiser MS Ravel, left from Chalon-sur-Saône, and stopped in Macon (France, not Georgia!), where on our morning tour we saw old buildings galore (the European idea of old is BEFORE America was discovered - some of the ruins were Roman, from almost 2,000 years ago). Lots of 12th-15th century buildings. Then we continued on the Rhône river, past slopes covered with the vines of the Chardonnay grape, heading for Lyon.
Lyon lies at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers. Lyon was interesting, many old buildings from the Roman times, as well as 12th-16th century, and some “modern” ones from the 17th-20th century. We docked near the University, and walked across University Bridge. They have “traboules” (secret passages) to get from one area to another, which were constructed long ago, but have been built up around. There are something like 300 in the city, some private, but some open to the public, if you know where they are. Our tour guide showed us, but we would not have noticed them otherwise. Some of the old Roman walls, and bath house ruins are still visible. We saw a “pink tower” left from the 13th century or so, built to watch out for fires or returning ships. A tower was a sign of wealth, as were large windows. The first three levels of the tower lead to apartments, but the upper three are just for lookout.
We also visited City Hall, medieval St. Jean Cathedral and the Basilica of Fourviere. We saw several buildings that had been painted as a street scene; apparently, the neighborhood thought the plain, unadorned building was ugly, so they had artists paint windows, doors, steps, storefronts, etc., to look like a real building. It was hard to tell from a distance that it was all an illusion. There was another building painted with the famous people of Lyon in the windows - the mayor, saints, king, famous ladies and gentlemen, etc. Another was a library, with books and documents.
In Tournon we had a special treat, GCT arranged for us to have a home-cooked dinner with a local family. We were quite fortunate that our host owns the Saint-Joseph winery, and shared some interesting wines with us. The dinner was excellent, too.
Of course, the ship served a French meal - escargots, salmon, duck, and crème brulee. The entrees had special sauces that made them really delicious. At one lunch, the theme was the endless varieties of French breads—from baguettes to boules. Another introduced us to the cheese specialties of each of France's regions.
One evening the crew put on a show that had all the passengers laughing. We had been told they had not had time to practice, and to forgive the amateur quality, but it was quite good and funny.
The ship stopped at Viviers, the gateway to Provence, where we enjoyed an orientation walk. Of interest were the old houses with the red tile roofs - each topped with a satellite dish! At the cathedral, a group was putting on a play of some sort, but since it was in French, we didn't get much meaning, although it was interesting to watch.
Oh yes, the French food was quite enjoyable. I love the chocolate éclairs, the chocolate crepes, the chocolate mousse, the chocolate coffee, the chocolate milk, the chocolate-filled croissants, the chocolate brownies, etc. And of course the piece of chocolate on the pillow before bed.
The ship stopped in Avignon, city of Popes (until the Vatican was created in Italy). We enjoyed a guided tour of the Palais des Papes (Papal Palace), and then wandered around the city, visiting interesting art galleries and buying characteristic Provence linens. We walked by the St-Bénézet Bridge of Avignon, which had a famous song written about dancing on it.
The next day we toured Arles, the cobbled city where van Gogh painted some of his finest works. During our morning walking tour, we explored the town's extensive Roman ruins, then after lunch on the ship, went to some museums and art galleries. We disembarked from the ship at Arles, then were taken by bus through Provence on our way to the Cote d'Azur. We stopped in Aix-en-Provence, birthplace of Paul Cézanne, and visited the World War II Rhône American Cemetery in Draguignan, where we paid our respects to the U.S. soldiers who fell here during the August 1944 invasion of southern France. This was the 60th celebration of the liberation, and the French are still grateful. In the late afternoon, we arrived at our hotel in Nice's Old Town, the Hotel Plaza.
Nice is famous for elegant hotels, fashionable seaside promenades, and famous sunny beaches—Nice more than merits her title as the grande dame of the Cote d'Azur. We strolled through the narrow, winding, ancient lanes, where the French Riviera phenomenon began more than a century ago as European aristocrats made this beautiful coastal city their favorite warm-weather escape. Later, artists like Dufy and Matisse captured the magic in their paintings, and writers and musicians came here for inspiration and beauty. We went up to the park above the harbor, where we had a lunch of fruit and vegetables we'd picked up in the farmer's market while overlooking the Mediterranean from the same hill as ancient Greeks and Romans did, more than two millennia ago.
We had a tour of glamorous Monaco where the Grimaldis have ruled since 1297. We saw the Place du Casino, home of the legendary Grand Casino, and visited the 19th-century Monaco Cathedral, and saw the final resting place of Princess Grace. The trip to Monaco took the “low road” along the coast, with the beautiful azure Mediterranean close by. On the trip back, we took the “middle road”, past the perfume factory at Eze, and numerous palatial mansions between quaint old towns.
We were delighted in the city's superb museums, but didn't have time to visit more than the Matisse Museum. The Russian Orthodox Cathedral, whose onion domes provide a striking contrast to the city's other landmarks, was very interesting and beautiful. Apparently there is a large Russian population. We enjoyed dinners with the locals and tourists at the Nice Flower Market, which converts to restaurants at night. During the day, the Cours Selaya has stalls brimming with fragrant blooms, pungent cheeses, fresh fruit, varied seafood, and colorful spices. We relaxed during our walks with a coffee, pastry and ice cream at one of the many cafes that are just steps from the glittering Mediterranean.
After a long process of deciding on what she wanted for our upstairs guest bathroom, and studying how to remodel bathrooms, Kiyomi tackled the bathroom in February. She, with a little help from Stan and Alan, completely remodeled the bathroom (leaving the basic infrastructure intact). The wallpaper was removed, the floor ripped out and redone in tile, the sink removed and replaced, the fixtures upgraded, the glass shower door replaced with a much-easier-to-clean curtain, the window blinds replaced with curtains, and a new mirror and light fixture installed. It looks much better now, and is easier to maintain. She had so much fun doing that, she redecorated the guest bedroom. It's now like an upscale hotel room - visit us and check it out!
Kiyomi read about the Feng Shui philosophy as applied to Japanese gardens, and decided to re-landscape our yard to conform to some of the principles and guidelines. She noticed many similarities with the Japanese-style gardens she enjoyed while young, and felt some of the philosophy was very familiar. She didn't feel constrained to unquestioningly follow the rules, but took advantage of the principles to improve the landscaping to be more harmonious and peaceful. She spent many hours drawing and planning the garden before picking up the shovel. Once she had a plan, she went to work. Her efforts are continuing as the plan is slowly realized, but the yard and gardens are already showing a dramatic improvement. Here's a picture of the fountain and new brick fence in the back yard. It is the focus as seen from our living room. The fountain is very soothing in the summer, with the tinkling sound. Visit us, and enjoy it with us!
Kiyomi celebrated her birthday (she's stopped counting, but not stopped celebrating) with Stan's parents, Aya, Alan, Jen, and Pat, Bob & Eric Ward at our favorite Chines restaurant, The Peking Duck. We had a feast, which everyone enjoyed.
Alan celebrated his birthday with a barbecue, and then went out with his friends later until much later.
Aya and her relatives and friends celebrated over several days. She had a party at home, at which her parents, grandparents, Alan and Jen celebrated. Then she met up with her friends for a big birthday bash (picture on the right).
Stan celebrated his 62nd birthday with Aya and Alan, having his favorite desserts, cherry pie and chocolate candy.
There was a major family reunion in Solvang (the Danish village near Santa Barbara) in February. Even Eric was there in spirit (photo in Pat's hand), although physically attending Northwestern. In back, Bob, Wilton, Robert, Stan, Alan and Ken; middle row, Pat, Eric, Anna, Connie, Kiyomi; front, Aya, Debbie, Judi, Lee. We all had a great time.
If you have comments or suggestions, or just want to chat,