Above the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers at Harper's Ferry, April 2010

We are grateful to Saint Valentine for offering us an “out” for neglecting our new year greetings. This way you can imagine us in the guise of (adorable?) cupids carrying messages of love and friendship out into the world! We are relishing a bit of February quiet as we find ourselves in weather-imposed hibernation mode. The wind is extremely brisk and the layers of fluffy white snow and icy rain from these past weeks have transformed into a treacherous grey mixture of frozen slush and ice! A great time to reflect and write a few lines about how we’re getting on!

The central theme of the past 12 months was our one-mile move to 45 West Gravers Lane in March. We are now living as first-time homeowners in a lovely neighborhood called Chestnut Hill in the northwest corner of our wonderful gritty Philadelphia. The house is 100+ years old (typical for around here). It’s a twin (another Philadelphia thing, meaning we share a central vertical wall with neighbors) and features a real yard with patio, a couple of old trees (one of which lost a major limb during a summer storm a few weeks after we moved in causing a power outage in the neighborhood), and enough space to play baseball and badminton and set up a sprinkler to cool off in the summer. Ice cream, post office, our bank, a real hardware store, our dentist, a beautiful park, a toy store, a branch of Philly’s Free Library, bakeries, coffee houses, bus stops, commuter rail stations, and the food coop are all within easy walking distance. Even the paint store is nearby which was very helpful as we spent many weekends and afternoons painting the rooms, closets, shelves, etc. in the house. Our big renovation project, however, was the kitchen, and if anyone needs kitchen renovation advice – aside from: don’t do it! – let us know. We’ve accumulated tons of now unnecessary knowledge about kitchens this year!

With the death of our guinea pigs earlier in 2010, Maya insisted our vague promise of a dog had to become reality – and we are all thrilled to have found a great family pooch. Our latest family member lies sleeping at my feet. Monty is doing lots of snoozing these days because he’s under treatment for heartworm, a condition we knew nothing about when we adopted him from the shelter. Heartworm is a pretty awful disease (no point going into the gory details – don’t google it unless you want to see some pretty icky pix). Fortunately, it’s easily preventable with a monthly pill, so once he’s cured, we’ll make sure he doesn’t get sick again. Anyway, Monty was brought up to a shelter in Pennsylvania from the SPCA in South Carolina. He’s a black and white mutt with a wonderful spirit who immediately connected with Maya. We named him Monty because our family vacation this past summer was a road trip to Montreal, where we had a fabulous visit with old California friends and got to give our French a workout (rather a mild workout as everything is translated into English, it seems!)

Monty his first week at home with us, August 2010

Maya and Theo with our friend Amit in Montreal, July 2010

Life for the rest of us is moving along smoothly. Maya is a tall 7^th grader, smack in the middle of Middle School which of course means constant drama, even within her little class of nine students. She was bitten by the soccer bug this fall and her skills as striker handed victory to her team: they finished top of their league this season.

One of Maya's many goals in her championship Spring soccer season

Tending our plot at Temple Ambler's campus community garden

She’s also showing lots of interest in piano and is honing her Spanish skills for a class trip to Costa Rica next month! Theo is in 3^rd grade and lovin’ it, he’s cheerful (as long as he’s not being asked to load the dishwasher), adores baseball and soccer (traditional and indoor), and runs with a pack of other 9-year-olds, one sillier than the other.

Luca, Sam and Theo: the Terrible Trio

Brad continues the trek to tenure at Temple University, he’s over half-way there, and the pressure at this point is all about getting published. So he's putting in overtime on the computer, writing up research he's been doing in the Philadelphia area as well as in Sacramento. He bikes to campus when he can and more often than not, spends half of the workday evenings busy teaching and at community meetings.

The big snow of winter 2010; it's been a cold, snowy winter 2011 too

Selling cookies at the Greene Street Friends School Fall Fair

Esther’s keeping the boat afloat on her end by focusing on kids and home. She continues to teach yoga, movement, and meditation in the city and at a local studio, and is writing a memoir about coming of age in West Africa. She is taking coursework that will allow her to specialize in working with and developing programs for "vital retired" older adults.

In the Florida Keys, celebrating Esther's birthday

Love and peace to all –

Esther, Brad, Maya & Theo