The Mid-Winter Report - Almost a Year!

As January comes to a close we're getting close to our one year anniversary. Most folks may not realize that the first trip Arch and I took out here (when we found our current abode) happened just after Martin Luther King's Birthday. Wow, 2009 was a very busy year!

This is our first winter in California. Basically what that means is rain. Now you may have heard on the news about the severe rains in Callie and how they're worried about mudslides in places like LA where there were fires. Yep, that is all true. It is rainy and they do need to worry about that. But, I'd like to take a minute to put into perspective the rains we're talking about here. In San Jose, at least, most rain is really somewhere between drizzle and a light April shower. (The later they call storms!) Rarely does SJ experience thunder and lightning. This winter things are extreme (think early spring say March in New England with sorta heavy rain for days in row and some thunderstorms passing through. No, I'm not talking about anything even approaching a Nor-easter!) That's it. That is winter in San Jose. From here out we're looking at drizzle with intermittent days of partially cloudy and say 6o's. Bring your sweater and an umbrella and you're set.

Focus on 2010

For most of the tail end of '09 and the start of this new decade we've been focusing on our house search. There are houses out there. Unfortunately, there are also people with bucket loads of cash who keep snapping up the houses we'd like to buy. We're sticking with it and doing our best to put together good offers. Eventually we'll find something that works out or at least that is our hope. Since we're mostly looking at short sales or bank owned property it is a very, very, slow and disappointing process. Ah, I love working with museums and children! In my next life I'm working for someone on Wall Street. :)

Art Opening!

Arch had his first opening in San Jose last night. Yeah! The Axis Gallery is an odd little space but it's great to have his art work out there. Arch has been selling works through another gallery in downtown but this show puts him in a position that is more of a "featured artist" which is helpful. Who knows maybe this will lead to more and bigger shows? We have fingers and toes crossed.

In addition to the show Arch received a grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation. With the grant he is able to get some great feedback on his web site and hopefully some additional contacts with galleries throughout the Bay Area.

All in all we've had a wonderful gray January with lots of interesting twists and turns. We send our birthday wishes to Inna, Chris, and Scott!

Love,

Sara, Nye, and Archil

Happy New Decade 2010!

Celebrating with Family

We had a wonderful time celebrating with family at various points along the east coast. We landed in NYC about 5 hours late and the proceeded across CT, MA and into NH for some festivities with much of the DeAngelis clan. As always we appreciated the warmth and hospitality at Matt and Suz's house. The Nye had some precious catch up time with Stella (their Chesapeake Bay Retriever who he considers a fast friend.) We were greeted by a nice white winter storm that cooperated with our travels. Just icing on the cake in preparation for Christmas itself.


Family Together

We were very fortunate to all be together for the holidays. Our original plan had been to leaveArch in CA for some much needed solo time so that he could paint. But at the last minute a client called asked him to come to NYC to work. Yippee! (Though he did spend most of his time back in New York working we were still happy for the added income and the excuse to be together!) We had the weekend in NH together and then dropped Arch off at the train station to go work again. While he was in NY we visited with Frank (aka Uncle Frank); Henry, Jillian, and Becky; and Chris, Laurie and Julie. It was a blast getting to see folks again and to enjoy the big 16" drifts of fluffy white snow in CT! (I do really love a white Christmas.)


Celebration!
Christmas is always bittersweet for me. Can't say why exactly, but that sensation goes way back to my childhood. As I've gotten older I appreciate the nuance and subtle "truths" that balance the holiday and give it that edge. Still I revel in the warmth of family and the wonderful giddiness of how our children experience the magic of this time of year. The glow of the lights, the packages under the tree, the toasts, and warm greetings were very special to me, perhaps because we are so very far away from family. I really enjoyed in a very special way sharing the holidays surrounded by sisters, brothers, and young children. Tempered by some losses this year I found myself enjoying the handmade ornaments on Nana's tree in a new way. We "gift" to each other and to ourselves these object that in some way capture for us something of our relationship to each other. Each object and image is a memory – bitter or sweet - they are a part of us. This little movie captures some of our favorite pictures from our adventures back east.

Thank you to to everyone!




Happy New Years- 2010 !!

Sometime before midnight, and after yet another delay, we landed safely in San Jose, CA on Monday the 28th. With so much celebration under our belt it took us days to recuperate in our beige cocoon. Q at least was very happy to have us home as was Nicodemus.

While there are numerous celebrations in the Bay Area or the New Years we were very happy just to snuggle up and enjoy some good nosh and pop the cork at 9 pm (NYC New Years which still feels like the official time to me!)

On New Years Day we slept in and then headed out on an adventure. Our first stop was San Juan Bautista Mission about an hour south of SJ. This mission which is one of the largest in the area and was established in 1797. It is situated right along the San Andreas fault. We have to admit being a bit naive about the CA Missions in part because neither Arch nor I are very strong on US history. Still it was fun to explore the grounds and the town. Nye delighted in ringing the bell of the on El Camino Real. This roughly translates into "The Royal Road" or "The Kings Road". El Camino Real is a 600-mile (966-kilometer) California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California's 21 mission (along with a number of support sites), 4 presideos, and several pueblos, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcala in San Diego in the south to Mission San Francisco Solano in Sonoma in the north.

San Juan Bautista as a town is a mixture of Spanish colonial and old west. On weekends it is becomes a major tourist destination. On New Year's thankfully it was quiet and sleepy with just the right mix of interesting features. The missions Rectory was open so we had a chance to explore the gardens and discuss the temperament of the cats with the local Padre. The gardens were lovely groves that were host to a beautiful flock of chickens. Actually chickens turned out to be something of a theme in the town!


Beach Time

Okay what would New Year Day in Callie be without a bit of time at the beach? Really we just had to go and explore a new location so that we could enjoy a New Years Day sunset. And what could be better than Sunset Beach State Park. As it turned out a lovely location with some humans but mostly lots of open space and sand. We ditched our shoes and rolled up our pants and enjoyed the chill waters on our toes.

Going to the beach is a favorite form of exploration. I look for birds, shells, and the guys race around! We explored close to a mile of the beach as the tide went out. On our return trip we were greeted by lovely purple sand dollars. We've never seen them alive before so this was a treat. The sand dollars (which are relatives of the sea stars and sea urchins) were trying to dig under the sand. In their wakes they left a very obvious mound of sand. We did our best to shift these rather fragile creatures out to where they would be safest upon the returning tide.

I have to say it is times like our adventures on New Years that I'm so happy to have this chance to explore California. In sweatshirts and sleeves we were able to go from an historic town to sundown at the beach. We thanked our lucky stars both for the time we have had with family and friends recently and for our chance to explore. Nye suggested that each of us take a memory stone from our beach trip so that we would remember our adventures. I love his idea, but I'll remember both today and the past couple of weeks vividly with or without my memory rock!

Sending our love and best wishes to family and friends!

Sara, Nye, and Archil