With a sense of wonder and joy, we are reviewing the past year and looking forward with excitement to the future. We are delighted that our country is found again and beginning the long path to rebuilding. On the personal side, Karen is now married; Paul is a college graduate; Lee is retired; Helen continues as President of the League of Women Voters of Oakland; and Lee's parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
Karen was married to Nigel Dookhoo in August in a quiet ceremony. We are delighted to welcome Nigel to our family. He is a wonderful cook, a versatile athlete (volleyball, surfing, cricket, and tennis, to name a few) and all round wonderful partner for Karen. He is about to complete his teaching credential with a plan to become a high school English teacher. Karen continues teaching physics at Harvard-Westlake High School in Los
Angeles. Between grading papers, she is working on her masters degree in physics. In their free time, Karen and Nigel enjoy cooking and eating; and they have developed strong opinions of most of the farmers' markets in Los Angeles. Paul graduated as a computer science major from Pomona College in May. He spent the summer securing the computers, servers, and network for the Claremont Colleges joint library. After working summers for 4 years, he is now taking a short sabbatical at home. Between his cat Yoda and a good DSL Internet connection, we tend to only see him when he emerges from his room seeking food. He has evolved into a great gourmet cook and we look forward to his turn in our dinner cooking rotation.
Lee's company, CellPoint Diagnostics, relocated again - this time from La Jolla (with offices across the street from the ocean) to Mountain View. The 60-120 minute one-way drive became the tipping point, and he retired in April. Lee has been dividing his time between addressing long-deferred home projects, madly studying the financial crisis, and improving his photography. He has failed at his goal of "becoming bored" within six months of retirement. But he is getting better as a photographer. You can view some of his recent work at
aurich.com/photos
Helen is completing her fourth year as LWV Oakland President. She is heard frequently saying, "Four years is enough!" Lee has been enjoying the tremendous growth in her expertise and confidence during her two terms. She continues to foster kittens for the SPCA - socializing them and fattening them up to 2 pounds so that they can then be neutered and adopted.If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, we would love to see you.
Yours in peace,
Lee & Helen