azetteDecember 2008G

2 Gazette2008

Gazette is published intermittently,

often before Christmas but sometimes after

by fLy bY niGHt proDUCtions.

Subscriptions are free, but we like a card.

Total circulation: it's a guess

Family stuff: www.voicedoctor.net/jim/

Medical stuff: www.voicedoctor.net

Art: www.flybynightpro.com

girls website: www.twinsis.us

James & Susan ThomasSydney & Morgan

1316 SW Mitchell LanePortland, OR 97239 - 2826

(503) 341-2555 anytime, anywhere(503) 892-2920 landline

jim@voicedoctor.netsusan@voicedoctor.net

blue_moogs@twinsis.uspigs_will_fly@twinsis.us

Cove

r pho

to: M

ultno

mah

Falls

, Ore

gon

Below

: Jim

in a

Belgi

an ca

fe in

Ghe

nt.

Back

Cove

r: Sy

dney

& M

orga

n pigg

ybac

k acr

oss t

he H

ood R

iver f

oot-

brid

ge

C o n t e n t sLe Monde ........................................ 3

France ............................................. 4

Time Passes ..................................... 8

ID troubles again ............................. 9

Varanasi, India ...............................10

Travellers tales - Germany ..............14

Gymnastics & 8th Grade .............. 17

Morgan's Travel .............................18

Centerfold - the family ..................20

What I did this year! .....................22

The heavy key ................................25

New & Renewed Friends ...............28

Travel & Family ............................29

Susan's musings ............................32

Alberta ..........................................34

Woodworking .................................36

Remodeling 601 ............................ 37

Parting Shot .................................40

Carpe diem

3 Gazette2008

Michael Teixido, the jelly bean & I.

Le MondeBy James

Ca

rpe

via

m

No wine is good unless you drink it.

4 Gazette2008

Left

: L'ai

guill

e du D

ru in

the F

renc

h Alp

s abo

ve Ch

amon

ix

After we got the plans rolling, Marc and Thérèse not only invited us to their home on Lac du Bourget, but asked if we might not enjoy a few days at their chalet near Chamonix

in the Alps. We signed up for a late summer voyage to the Alps and east-ern France. With the dollar diving in value early in the year, we cashed in frequent flyer miles.

I do have a certain fascination with geography - mountains are quite an attraction - yet people are perhaps more my motivation to travel. People are the key to unlocking the pleasures of location. Thus, my destinations whether India, France or heading to my office in the morning, are to share time and engage with other people.

Arriving in Chamonix, the Euro-pean concept of catching a cable car up the mountain and then hiking back down appealed to Morgan & Sydney's sensibilities immediately. "Why would anyone walk up a hill?" Morgan asks.

After a few days wandering the mountain paths and sampling the cafes of Chamonix, we head to the Bouchayer's lake home and Susan's

FranceFamily travels - by Jim

Ten years ago, I visited Lyon to study laryngology with Dr. Marc Bouchayer: I spoke only English. Over the years, I have maintained contact with

many people through this annual Gazette including Marc and his wife Thérèse. Last year, they both wondered if we wouldn't like to visit France again. Since I have made it a hobby to learn French and now the girls have started French 1 at school, and Susan attended a French Immersion Montessori school; a return to south eastern France seemed a lovely idea.

5 Gazette2008

Top:

Thre

e lad

ies on

the t

rail a

bove

Cham

onix

Below

: A ga

ther

ing on

Lac d

u Bou

rget

. Sus

an Th

omas

, Thé

rèse

& M

arc B

ouch

ayer

, Guy

Corn

ut, A

nnie

Trol

liet-

Corn

ut, ja

mes T

hom

as French tongue seems to return from the depths of her memory as well.

One sunny, warm morning, we set out on a petite boat for a picnic along the steep western shore of Lac du Bourget, where the mountain dives so steeply into the lake, there is no road and even a preciptous foot path along the edge is closed in places from landslides. Our family, along with Marc, Thérèse and "le chien" - Arcos, filled the tiny boat. On this week-end, pleasure boats seem to fill each of the tiny alcoves that Marc has known since ch i ldhood. We finally find one that can accomo-date ours as a second boat. It is perhaps 15 meters long, pebbly and tucked beneath a cliff. The water is so clear, the girls have difficulty putting their feet into the water for a swim after they saw a fish swimming.

We set out cheese we had picked up atop a mountain while hiking in

rain the day before, some proscuitto and open a bottle of wine from just over the hill. We had dropped in on the wine maker the day before and picked up nearly a case of wines from grapes I had never heard of before - Altesse anyone?

While sharing our travel experi-ences, a train passes, several kilome-ters away along the opposite shore, dipping in and out of tunnels. Marc

recalls sitting on this beach, just a few years earlier, and hearing an explo-sion as the French resistance blew up one of the tunnels to block the train from passing south.

6 Gazette2008

We had just flown to Europe on Lufthansa, seamlessly traversing Germany, Switzerland and France

and I try to imagine the different world view of the mountains to the east that Morgan and Sydney are

perceiving on this morning, laying and soaking up the sun on this spot without a care in the world (with the exeption of being devoured by a fish should they actually venture into the lake) and the view that Marc could recall looking in the same direction across the water.

As this year 2008 winds to a close, we all seem to be noticing how quickly our lives can change, and what a significant impact, those we choose as our leaders can have on our lives. Clearly, if Morgan and Sydney return to this beach in 2076, the same interval of time between Marc's story and our afternoon in the sun, the view will likely have changed beyond our wildest imagination. To

p: Le

ft Le

s ven

tres

a la

plag

e - La

c du B

ourg

et, F

ranc

eTo

p Righ

t: Le

chien

Arc

os bo

uge s

a gue

ls pr

oche

à les

amus

e-gu

eules

Bott

om: S

usan

loun

ging o

n Mon

t Blan

c with

the

Aigu

illes

Rou

ges i

n the

back

-gr

ound

.

7 Gazette2008

Self Portrait: SydneySelf Portrait: Morgan

8 Gazette2008

2000

2008

Time Passesa photo moment - by Jim

Priest lake, Idaho.

9 Gazette2008

ID troubles againby Jim

21 again. I changed into my cycling spandex and cruised up to Euro-sized City Market on 22nd Avenue as I do nearly every evening after work.

Browsing the fish vendor's cases, the cheese cooler, and tonight, the butcher's cases; I found a whole chicken to roast for dinner. It seems the family has become accustomed to fresh food daily. I gathered into my bag a bundle of multihued or-ganic carrots and then I rounded up sweet onions - our daily necessity, we carmelize onions with everything. While passing the refrigerator, I spot-ted two Belgian beers, Triple Moine and Blanche Namur, which I had not sampled before. I tucked them into my satchel. Susan met me, arriving in her car to pick me up and "save me" the ride home (and get dinner

started earlier). Rachel, the relatively new check-

out lady, though I had seen her for a few weeks, wondered aloud if I had a drivers license.

Susan's jaw dropped.It's true, I don't always carry my

license when on my bike and I was wearing my team kit and helmet, but she wasn't wondering if a cyclist carried ID, she was checking out whether she was allowed to sell me the two beers in my bag.

Susan's eyes bulged, "He is not 21!"

So was I born in the 50's or is it a fake ID? ...

Prob

ably

not 2

1 he

re. P

hoto

take

n in H

ood R

iver, O

rego

n

10 Gazette2008

Varanasi, Indiaby James

M anish inquired whether a bike would be ok. Yes, I think bikes are ok. I ride every Saturday 100 km or more. Manish is the marketing rep-

resentative for Alembic pharmaceuticals, a very old Indian pharma company that quite fervently supports medical education in that conjugal relation between doctor and the marketing of drugs.

I have retuned to India in June, sharing what I know about voice disorders in a series of lectures to the four sides of India (Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi) and my hosts are willingly sharing India with me.

At my request, Manish has ar-ranged for visits to several ENT physicians in Varanasi tomorrow to see the lay of the land in a small Indian town (12 lakhs of people - 1.2 million for those who have only ever experienced the American system of counting. Indeed, there are many systems for life’s daily needs, but one must travel to realize there are so many solutions to almost any problem).

Take the problem of living and dying. There are a lot of people in the world (many of them in India) so there are consequently many people with this issue of life and death. However, death seems to remain hidden in America. There is only life. How often have you seen a dead person being carried down the street? My experience is that dead

people just disappear in the USA. I am a physician and yet, since my first year anatomy lab in 1981, I have certainly rarely come in close contact with a dead person. My time is passed among the living.

I ponder death from time to time. especially when my weekend bicycle ride passes through the green grass, immaculately groomed in a catholic cemetery, I often wonder if I will be shooed away by the caretaker, with all the signs about private property posted about. Yet it seems to me, graveyards are only for the living, to remind the living of their life and health. As certain as a scientist can be, I don’t think I will care one bit whether I decompose beneath the sea, in the ground or sit as ashes

Man

ish &

Jame

s Tho

mas

in Va

rana

ssi

memento mori

11 Gazette2008

in an urn, or perhaps spread with the wind to the four corners of this globe. I ponder death, but a graveyard is for the living and reminds me of how beautiful and lucky I am to be alive. So when the birds are singing amidst the trees in the cemetery, I am thinking of life.

In Kolkata, I perform an instruc-tional cadaver dissection in the pres-ence of my colleagues where I wonder how my life has crossed paths with this particular human I am operating on. The monsoon's heat and humid-ity and Kolkata's sea of humanity affect this feeling of a closer contact with death.

TraffficIn Varanasi, Manish shows up

with his bike, his motorcycle (no helmets required - I can rarely even find a seat belt in a car in India - "not necessary", I am repeatedly told). I swing my leg over the back of his Honda, hang on and head to the chowk.

Movement in India is a dynamic process. Yes a vehicle is a mass being propelled down the street by an in-ternal combustion engine, much as in the United States, but the similarity seems to end there.

There are sometimes lines in the middle of the road, but they are pure-ly decorative, if they have survived the oxen, cows, camels, donkeys, el-ephants, bicycles, trucks, buses, feet, rain, dust and general overuse of such a thing. And rear view mirrors are a device invented by a deaf person who didn’t know that only the blowing of

horns has meaning for drivers and other travelers. A mirror sticking out would only occupy that much more space that is unavailable. Imagine if every person in India needed an extra six inches on each side of themselves. Cities would be even more rambling than they already are.

Speed on the road is determined by the capacity of your engine, whether that be your heart and legs or a massive bus fully loaded with twice the designed capacity and a diesel engine spewing visible black carbon into the air. Passing occurs at nearly any cost and traffic occupies as much of the road as required. Only a vehicle of a larger mass coming in the opposing direction, or a cow standing warrants a weaving of the traffic back to the proper side of the road, which is the left here in ex-British India.

A motorcycle in Varanasi is a wonderfully fluid device in the hands of Manish as we weave around cars (cars are often clogged behind a cart or cycle rickshaw), around bicycles (slow), around pedestrians crossing the street, who know to stand stock still when vehicles are close. We de-viate back onto the extreme left side of the road when the monstrous bus blows his horn coming down our side of the road - at us. A bus can pass nearly anything at will. All will move out of the way. Many times, busses just seem to straddle the center of the road and only give way when a bus of equal mass comes from the opposing direction.

Manish taps out a lively melody on our horn and I gradually become less irritated with all the horns and

12 Gazette2008

come to realize, that as the passers on the road, rather than the passed, it is our responsibility to signal our overtaking of others or they might well veer into our intended path. The cacophony is continuous.

Cycle of Life and DeathLate in the afternoon, we park

the bike and walk the remaining meters to Dasaswamedh ghat. The Ganga river is 8 meters above its usual flood stage and there are only about 15 steps remaining on the ghat, but we sit, perspire in the drenching humidity and clap to the rhythm of what seems to be an accordion. The sun plunges each night, as if off a cliff near the Tropic of Cancer and shortly candles are lit to be sent down the

none too lazy current of the flooded Ganga. This brightly lit ghat has pale skinned tourists in loose fitting pants on boats with flashes of strobe lights going off throughout the ceremony. As well there are darker skinned Indian families that occupy whole boats to watch the ceremony from the water. I can’t imagine how much I stand out in the crowd. When a child comes up to me with hand out and “Hallo”, Manish says a word and the child wanders on as my protec-tion in the hands of a local becomes obvious.

The candles seem to represent death in the abstract way that Ameri-cans see death, they disappear rapidly down the river. Do they sink? Do they become flotsam on the rivers

banks in a farmers field? Do they reach the ocean? Are they all resting in a garbage heap on the bottom of the Ganga just downstream? Where does death go?

We finish the show and hop back on the bike, defying death myself without a helmet again. We weave, honk, make several turns and then shoot

Top:

Vara

nasi

's ch

owk,

Indi

aBe

low: D

asas

wame

dh gh

at, V

aran

asi, I

ndia

13 Gazette2008

down 3 foot wide, tortuous alley, filled with mostly pedestrians, but also some bicycles and a few motor-bikes like us for good measure. We honk and locals move ever so slightly so that we pass hundreds without ever touching someone. The alley is dark, pitch dark. Paved with stone, the monsoon starts up again, the mon-soon that has overfilled the Ganga, pelts down between the walls. I have my expensive Canon camera around my neck. My camera that quite prob-ably costs more than ten years salary of most of the people we are passing, not to mention the money in my pocket that is probably the annual salary of many. The alley’s ninety degree turns come with increasing frequency as we descend, presum-ably toward the river, but I cannot tell as I have lost nearly all sense of direction in the dark with the many twists and turns. For a short while we are behind a group carrying what appears to be a table top with a body on top covered with a cloth. Perhaps a funeral procession? We never seem to slip despite the glazed look of the wet stone pavers. We miss potholes, dogs, people and garbage.

We again reach Mother Ganga at Manikarnika ghat and dismount at the end of the road. Manish peers around a corner and says the floods have obscured the view of the ghat. We will have to climb up the stairs.

Is it ok?" I ask"T-K, achaa", Manish replies.It is still incredibly black. Steam

rises from tea pots on primus stoves, the burners providing the only light in the alley. Gaunt bodies huddle

from the monsoon under plastic tarps. On the stairs, crouching bodies are hidden by the murky dark of the monsoon. I grope up stairs, 18 inches wide, set against a wall, no hand rail and beneath my feet is not the familiar feel of stone, but perhaps soft garbage, pebbles, assorted things. A leg moves under my feet. Men squat resting all along the stairs on the wall side. Climbing, bodies move out of the way of my ascent. My head pops above the level of the roof and there is an inferno beside me, Dante’s inferno if I am not mistaken; a burning ghat. There are 8 funeral pyres on a 20 by 20 foot platform. It is difficult to look toward them for all the heat searing my face. I wonder if my clothing will catch fire, but the monsoon has solved that concern. Wood logs are stacked 3 high, set in a rectangle the size of a body. A leg protrudes from the end of one. It is too hot to look at the center of the fires. We cross the top, aside the brilliant and dancing flames and descend the other side, down to where the lower castes are burning.

No photos were taken here, only the retinal image of a brilliant light, an intense heat against the black monsoon sky, rain closing the world in on the living who are watching the dead depart, Mother Ganga in the background, inches away.

The cycle of life. Death is close always, hidden from sight maybe, but always close.

I get back on the cycle as we begin the slippery climb back between the living, to the lights and chaos of the streets of Varanasi.

14 Gazette2008

Abov

e: Ba

yern

: a vi

ew fr

om th

e Deu

tsch

e Bah

n with

the a

lps i

n the

back

grou

nd.

Below

: Leb

erkn

ödel

or “L

eber

” loo

king l

ike “k

nöde

l ”

Oppo

site

: Kris

tkind

l cele

brat

ion in

fron

t of K

öln Ca

thed

ral

Travellers tales - Germanyby Jim

The train pulled away from the Frankfurt airport station, stopping only at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (main train station) before almost flying to Bavaria. With stereotypi-

cal German engineering, the InterCity Express can top 200 km/hour on this section. There is only a hum at this speed; white fields, villages and hills passing outside. Inside there is little conversation.

German demeanor seems one of quiet introspection. Excessive conversation seems not to be taken lightly. Certainly if one wishes to read a book in peace and quiet, the Deutsche Bahn traveling across the snow covered fields of Bavaria is a great choice.

Nuremburg, Munich and Salz-bug, crisp in the winter air, were filled with Christmas Markets. Town by town, I learned I could set my watch by the trains, they are that precise. They pause for only a few moments at each station, so be prepared to embark and disembark promptly.

I have been studying a little German in preparation for this trip. However, struggling to parse the words, travelling alone, speaking so little, I soon wondered if I could still talk, though I ordered the occasional mug of smoked beer reasonably con-fidently, "Ein Rauchbier, bitte!"

Then again, I ordered nudelin at lunch in Nuremburg. Expecting a plate of noodles, my eyes opened widely at a giant plate of liver cut in strips that resemble noodles. My iron count is up.

After a few days of Bavarian his-

tory and brew, and a few "do re mi's" in Salzburg, I set out for my return to Frankfurt. I left a cafe a little short on time, jogged to the Munich Haupt-bahnhof, inadvertently mistook the Palace of Justice for the train station,

15 Gazette2008

later learning this was where Sophie Scholl spent her last day.

I circled the left luggage locker room three times before finding my locker among over 3000 others. Iden-tifing the platform for my train with 2 minutes to spare, before boarding, I confirmed with the conductor that this train was bound for Frankfurt.

He replied, "Ja, but you must change trains in Stuttgart."

In Stuttgart, I followed the crowd across the platform and though one of the first to board, I didn't understand how the reserved seating worked and didn't find a seat until after the train had departed and that took a search through four cars. Mission acccomplished, I settled back into my seat as the sun set, glistening off a Mercedes symbol mounted on top of a building.

Two hours later, we approached the Frankfurt airport. The next stop would be mine. As we left the airport, I began to pack away my reading material. My travel guide recommends that you listen for the stop before yours so you are prepared to get off at the right time. Some-times, one has as little as 60 - 120 seconds to dis-embark a German train.

It is only about a 15 minute ride from the Frankfurt airport to the city. Something strange was happening though, my ears compressed as we entered a tunnel. The train was really hum-ming along. At this rate, we are going to blow right through the train station... I looked up and the red sign at the front

of the car read 240 km/hour. My heart took a very firm beat.

The conductor passed and I skipped trying to ask my question in German.

"Are we stopping at the main Frankfurt station?", I asked.

"Nein, we only stop the airport, next stop is Köln in one hour."

Just because the conductor in Munich says the train is going to a city, and just because your previous train stopped in that city doesn't mean the train you are on is also go-ing to stop at the main city station. It might only go to the airport.

At least my plane wasn't leaving for another 12 hours - I like a little cushion when travelling.

I settled back down. Knowing the Germans as I was getting to this week, there would soon be another train departing back to Frankfurt. Within 15 minutes of getting off, I was heading back on another express. Just a little 2 hour, 250 mile detour on my way home.

Arriving late evening, I wan-dered around Frankfurt's Christmas Market for a while after finding my hotel. No typical German restaurant

16 Gazette2008

appealed to me on this November evening. I liked the wine list at one restaurant, but the doors were locked and I couldn't seem to get anyone's attention inside.

I returned to my hotel and right next door, the simple pizza parlor I had seen earlier on check in was still jammed with people. Crowds are a good sign. I went up the steps to check out the menu and an Italian looking fellow came outside and said, "Come on in! Don't stand out in the cold!"

Pizza didn't seem like "authentic German cuisine", on this, my trip to experience Germany. Peroni beer, shared tables, elbow to elbow with a raucous audience, Italian waiters. A couple was directed to sit next to me. She was from Hungary, work-ing in Frankfurt in real estate and he was from Eritrea, having started a small shop down the block, in this immigrant part of town, just north of the Hauptbahnhof. We conversed late into the evening, chatting, laugh-

ing, sharing stories with other tables as well.

I asked for my bill and my waiter said, "No bill, just tell the old man at the register what you ordered."

3 beers, a pizza, 2 hours of con-versation; 11 Euros.

I suddenly remind myself, today is Thanksiving back home. It's 6 pm back on the East Coast, people are probably sitting down with their turkeys just now.

Originally this was a business trip to lecture and operate in India, However, some of my talks had can-celled at the last minute, so instead of remaining in India, I departed Mum-bai several days earlier than initially planned to explore Bavaria. Today's papers were filled with the terrorist attack last night when I would have been heading to the Mumbai airport. My Italian/German/International dinner proved to be a great Thanks-giving dinner.

It's good to be alive.

Left

: Kris

tkind

l Mar

ket i

n Mün

chen

cent

ral s

quar

e (M

arien

plat

z) w

ith th

e Neu

es R

atha

us in

the b

ackg

roun

d.

Sapias, vina liques

17 Gazette2008

Gymnastics!This year I am a level 8. I have

learned new skills, for example, a front handspring, front pike, front tuck on f loor; a shoot to the high bar and a free hip to giants on bars; a front walkover round off and a cart-wheel backtuck on beam and a front handspring full on vault. I pract ice 16 or more hou r s a week.

We went to Sa lt Lake City and LA for gym-nastics meets. I am looking for-ward to Hawaii next year. In Utah I achieved first on bars, beam and all around and second on vault and floor. In June we went to the U.S. Gymnastics Olym-pic trials in Pennsylvania. It was really fun to see all the gymnasts who went to the Olympics. Of course, we watched the Olympics and this year was quite good.

8th grade!This year I am in 8th grade at Robert

Gray Middle School. I have all new teach-ers except French and I enjoy them all.

It’s all pretty much the same. I still have all the same friends and con-tinue to hang out with them in my little spare time. We still get a lot of homework in 8th grade and I get up at 6:30 A.M. to do it. How fun! This year I am tak-ing Art, Science, Mat h, French, Literature, Lan-guage Arts & So-cial Studies.

Gymnastics & 8th Gradeby Morgan

This year of 2008 was a wonderful year.

Top:

Land

scap

e Poi

ntilis

m Pi

ctur

e by M

orga

n in A

rt.

Bott

om: C

halki

ng up

!

18 Gazette2008

Morgan's Travelby Morgan

Travel!In January, at a meet in Utah we

stayed with the MacWilliam’s fam-ily. We went sledding together and played in the snow.

We went to LA only a month later in February where it was sunny and warm. With Tasha and her mom, we walked around UCLA, downtown LA, Santa Monica and the beach.

We visited our grandparents and family in Pennsylvania driv-ing over 1,000 miles in one week. At our grandparents farm we saw their animals. At Rehobeth Beach we swam in the water because it is really warm. We loved to jump the waves and boogey board! We did not put on sunscreen very well so we got really burnt and it hurt! We went to both days of the Olympic trials for the women gymnasts. It was really cool to see all the people who later made the USA Olympic Team! The first day we went with Sophia Teixido and her dad to see the trials, but the second day we went only with our

mom. We saw the 10 women named to the camp and we saw the men’s team named. Our dad did not go on this vacation.

In the beginning of August we went to Canmore, Alberta to spend time with my moms side of the fam-ily. We all stayed in condos and went

s w i m -m i n g t w i c e a day. We would go shopping ( w h i c h I love to do) bik-ing a nd h i k i n g . W h i l e we were there the we a t he r was per-

fect for shorts and a t-shirt.At the end of August for two

weeks we went to France and Bel-gium. In France, we spent half time at a friends mountain home and went hiking everyday (it was tiring). On the mountains there were these really good blue berries, tiny and delicious. We would go for a long hike then come back to town for dinner and gelato. The weather was nice but it was cold on the mountains we hiked on. After five days we drove to their

Bott

om: C

ow in

PaTo

p: Pl

aygr

ound

in Ca

nmor

e, Al

bert

a

19 Gazette2008

lake house. We went on a boat on the lake and it was quite nice. We went to different towns and saw a lot of cool things. The people we stayed with at the lake had the cutest dog!! In our free time we would play ping-pong, a game my sister and I love.

Next we went to Belgium and visited our friends there. When we were in Belgium we went to different cities with Karen. She was great for translating things for us. We went

to all the cities we loved the first time we were there. We went swimming a couple times in their pool and just

had a fun time.In November we went to Disney

World, Florida. We went with our grandparents and our cousin Ken-

dall. We went to all the different places like Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Universal Studios. My favorite ride was Sorin'. The weather was pretty nice, just a little cold. W hi le we were there we went on a lot of dif-ferent rides, saw many parades and saw many characters. It was really fun and a great experience.

I hope that this next year I have just as much fun!To

p lef

t: Hi

king i

n the

fren

ch al

ps.

To

p righ

t: Po

sing

with

Kar

en B

aert

in G

hent

, Belg

iumBo

ttom

Left

: Rou

en, F

ranc

e B

ottom

Righ

t: Ke

ndall

Bird

, Mor

gan,

Sydn

ey &

Pigle

t

20 Gazette2008

Centerfold - the familyHappy Holidays fromSusan, Sydney, Morgan & James

21 Gazette2008

Happy Holidays fromSusan, Sydney, Morgan & James

On l'aiguille du Midi, in front of Grandes Jorasses

22 Gazette2008

What I did this year!by Sydney

SchoolThis year I started 8th grade and

my last year at Robert Gray Middle School before going to high school. So far this year has been a great year. I like all my classes.

In art, the pointalism tree was one of my favorite assignments. We learned about it and then made our own painting. In French, I liked learning new vocabulary each week and doing the extra credit games on the internet. In science, learning about the big bang explosion and then writing a letter explaning it was interesting. In math, I liked learn-ing how to simplify equations with equation mats. In reading, getting to read my own book and giving retellings about a book that we read is exhilarating. In social studies I enjoyed making native masks from my own face. In Language arts I

gave an election speech about Kurt Schrader, while Morgan spoke for his opponent, Mike Erickson. School is only halfway over and I am enjoying it so far. I hope I enjoy the rest of the year.

GymnasticsLast season at state as a level 7, I

placed 2nd on Uneven bars and 6th in the All-around. This year I am a level 8 gymnast still at Westside Dance and Gymnastics Academy.

Gymnastics has brought me to different places including, Los Angles, which was so much fun walking around UCLA and Santa Monica. It also brought me to Utah for competing in the Olympic speed

23 Gazette2008

skating arena and later for sledding with Brynne and Colleen. While in Utah, I cheered for Georgia at a col-lege meet between my two favorite

teams, Georgia and Utah. Another big highlight was going

to Philadelphia to watch Nastia Li-ukin compete in the Olympic trials. Later, on T.V. it was amazing when she won the All-around. We also got to see her in the "Tour of Gymnastics Superstars" which came to Portland.

In the new year I am really ex-cited to be travelling to Hawaii for 10 days. We are training with HITS and competing at two different meets.

I still love gymnastics, training 16 to 18 hours a week plus compe-tions. I hope to continue gymnastics and have fun in the new year.

TravelingThis year I went a lot of places

including Pennsylvania, Alberta, France, Belgium and Florida.

I n P e n s y l v a i n a w e watched the U.S. Olympic tri-als and visited my dad’s family. After we played in the water at Re-hobeth Beach in Delaware and built animals in the sand.

In Canmore, Alberta we had a family reunion with my mom’s family celebrating Nana's birthday. We went swimming, hiking, shop-ing, biking and got up really early to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

In France and Belgium we went to visit a doctor my dad knows and to visit the Baerts, our Belgian friends. When we were in the french alps we hiked every day. We would take a gondola up and hike down. When we were in Beligum we went to a differnt town each day. Karen came with us and helped us with the language.

I also went to Disney World with my grandparents and my cousin Kendall because when my sister and I were four my grandparents took us. Now she is four, so they took all of us again in November. It was really fun. We saw a lot of characters and went on different rides. We went to each kingdom; Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios and Epcot. This year has been full of traveling and it has been so much fun. Hopefully it well be just as fun next yeat in 2009.

24 Gazette2008

Live your life to the fullest.

Sydney

25 Gazette2008

The heavy keyA night on the road - by Jim

Arriving in Jaipur with a little chip on my shoul-der (the travel agent engaged on my behalf had charged me a 100% markup on the price for

everything). Today was my fourth day in Rajasthan and I had again come to the conclusion that the Lonely Planet guidebook and my own intuition were far superior guides to a city than a man who claims to be an expert and charges “expert” rates.

The Bissau Palace is a former Raja's home, two stories tall, exterior hallways open to the air via repeat-ing white crenelated arches. Mirrors, glass and painted nautch girls, wild tigers or patterns completely cover interior walls, Raja style. No elec-tronic door locks here, a large iron key opens the padlock on the heavy wooden doors to my room.

After settling into my room, I turn the massive key in at the desk to wander. A lush garden beneath

the canopy of a spreading tree lends a vaguely tropical feeling. I could imagine sipping a drink and talking about the big game bagged on last weeks safari. Immediately outside the gates lies the other India. On a muddy dirt road, horns blaring, there are a dozen auto rickshaws with drivers milling about. I am looking for solitude, I think, and start to wander down the street immersed in my own thoughts. Nevertheless, I am accosted by a dark haired driver who

26 Gazette2008

walks up and starts convers-ing in a quite understandable American style English. I ac-k noledge h i s presence, still I am not ready to sign up for a tour.

"No tour", he says, "just a conversat ion. Where are you from?"

"The US. ""Where?" he inquires."Portland, Oregon.""Do you travel much?" He has a

question for my every response."Yes, I have traveled.""I have a lot of visitors from the

US and from Europe. Many are return visitors and some travel com-panies use me regularily."

"What are those words on your auto?" I ask.

Dutch. I can speak Dutch for the tourists or other languages if you like.

"Parlez-vous francais?" I venture."Oui, Ou voulez-vous allez?" as

he heads toward the point of gettimg me in the rickshaw.

"Comment appelez-vous?" I test him.

Shoyab. Shoyab Quershi.We continue in French, that

is perfectly understandable to me, then Spanish, so it doesn’t seem to me that he is bragging about his language skills.

"Will you have a cup of Chai with me?", he asks, "No pressure, just a friendly cup. My treat," he

assures me."Sure." It seems like a nice way

to relax.I wander down the street with

him to the first stand and enjoy hot chai from a very black pot where the Chai nearly boils over the top as it is prepared. Young men from the street gather round as if I am magnetic. I am away from the secu-rity of the hotel, on my own. Am I wandering down I path I shouldn’t go? Do I trust Shoyab? I enjoy the

conversation about everyday life and comparing our lives.

Soon I am in the auto-rickshaw heading off on a short trip to a lo-cal tower in the pink city of Jaipur through traffic beyond your wildest imagination - unless you already live

27 Gazette2008

in India.He tells me when to tip

someone, who guards each building, when to take off my shoes for a temple. Nothing like leaving someone 70 cents in change and being told that you are extremely generous.

We stop for bottled water from a cousin or some other business relation. Once on a tour, there are a great many business and family relationships that come into play.

"Would I look at some carpets and some gemstones?" he asked again.

"I really cannot buy anything" I replied.

"Still, you can look," he persisted. "These are my friends and family and if you do buy something, I will receive a percentage."

I exhausted the rug dealer and I didn't purchase a gem stone.

By late afternoon, we headed to a hospital in town I was supposed to visit, but hadn't been able to contact the doctor. It was 4 pm and the physician says it is ok, we operate every day until 11 pm so there are more surgeries to show me. He wasn't making up the quantity of surgery they perform. 40 cases a day in a 4 bed Operating Room, operating 7 days a week.

I thanked Shoyab, though he insisted on waiting until I was sure that I didn't need a ride back to the hotel later. After meeting the physi-cians and making evening plans, I returned back outside to pay Shoyab for the ride and quite extensive tour of his city.

"How much is your fee?" I asked."Whatever you feel is appropri-

ate." he replied.I persisted, but he insisted that

I decide on a fee. I thought about it. I pay $40 for an hour of French tutoring and he has taught me many words in Hindi and Urdu. He has spent almost 7 hours taking me to sights and bazaars, paid for the gas in the auto. I had a great time all day. I give him 2000 Rupees ($50 at Janu-arys exchange rate) and he said it was too much and gave it all back asking for a smaller amount. We settled for less. I'll be back in January and look Shoyab up again. There is a lot more to see in Jaipur.

We finish surgery at 11 pm, head out for dinner and I am finally dropped off at my hotel. I head to the desk at this converted Raja's home and no one is in. I ring the bell. No response. I wander around. I am ap-parently the last one in tonight and it is starting to look like I am not going to get into my room. I don't have a cell phone and who would I call anyway?

I lie down on a bench. The tem-perature is not too bad and no one seems to be walking around. Other than a little chill and having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I fitfully slept until 5:30 AM when the cook arrives. I get into my room at 6 am and the front desk guy

28 Gazette2008

New & Renewed Friendsby James

offers me a free breakfast - nice comp!I guess I can say I was homeless

for a night. It is a little inconvenient, but (from my view a few months later) perhaps a learning moment. It was an expensive night given what I got for it - I suppose my luggage was kept safe.

On a later trip to India in the summer, I was put up in five star hotels and on some days never even went outside. I could have been on a different planet.

India is a land of contrasts - don't forget your key!

Frizzi Lillian Linck

Fermin Zubiaur

Vivek Pathek

Antimo Cimino

SachinGandhi

Do

ppio

Esp

ress

o

Qu

atr

e Jo

ur

s Pa

rfa

its

Mic

ha

el Teixid

o

LIEVE DELSEUPHE

MilanAmin

SanjivBadhwar

VasantOswal

Dino

Cinnamon Rolls

Facebook

The L

ecture Circuit

Art of S

creaming

Italian LessonsPhoto

graphy

29 Gazette2008

Travel & Familyby Susan

The girls and I did a lot of travel-ing this year to spend time with fam-ily. In June we traveled to Pennsyl-vania to visit Jim’s family and attend

the US gymnastics Olympic trials. We packed a lot into one week by starting in Hanover and visiting with Jim’s parents, sibling, and nephew, Nick. We visited the Amish town of Lancaster and the new Gettysburg

museum, which was fantastic. It was then onto Willimington Delaware for a quick visit with friends, the Teixidos. The girls, Michael, Sophia

and I drove to Philadelphia to see the first night of the trials. It was a great experience for the girls and a new exposure for Sophia. The next day we headed to Rehoboth beach where we met up with Jim’s family. We had a great time at the beach, just hang-ing out and doing all the things that you do when at the Eastern Shore like eating pizza and French fries on the beach and jumping in the waves. Sophia stayed with us until Sunday when the girls and I headed back to Philadelphia to catch the second day of the trials. After, we drove back to Rehoboth to stay one

more day with Charissa, Emily and

Lillian. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone; however, I soon realized how different life is on the east coast. In the week I was there I put 1000 miles on the car I had rented in contrast to the 7000 miles I put on my car in one year. It was fun to see everyone and pack in as much as we did in the week.

August brought a family vacation with my family in Canmore, Alberta to celebrate my mothers “?” birthday. My parents and siblings own a con-To

p lef

t: Ba

ck ro

w: M

orga

n Tho

mas

, Pam

Thom

as, C

harle

s Tho

mas

. Fro

nt R

ow: S

ophia

Teixi

do, S

ydne

y Tho

mas

Righ

t: Lil

lian T

hom

as, S

ydne

y Tho

mas

, Mor

gan T

hom

as, C

hery

l Tho

mas

Bott

om: C

haris

sa B

owm

an, M

orga

n Tho

mas

, Syd

ney T

hom

as, E

mily

Bow

man

hold

ing Ch

ariss

a's da

ught

er , I

sabe

lla

30 Gazette2008

do there, which determined the destination. We d rove t he 14 hours each way, stopping in Spo-kane to visit Jim’s medical school roommate Russ and family, mid-way. The week was f illed with golfing and hik-ing for Jim, my brother Stephen and brother-in-law David. The girls, my sister Stephanie, niece Kendall, Aunt Pat and I spent time biking, shopping, swimming, and hiking. My mom and dad joined in whatever activities they were interested in par-ticipating in as some of our choices

were not going to be theirs. We spent a day in Banff and we took the gon-dola up to see the most spectacular views of the Rockies. I think the highlight for the girls was our white-water rafting adventure. All the girls, except Kendall who is only 4, and my dad did a ½ day rafting trip down the Kananaskis river. It was

exciting going down the class 3 rapids. We c u l m i n a t e d the visit with a birthday cel-ebration for my mom at 8:08 on 08/08/08.

November brought an-other vacation for the girl s and I with my family. As with

tradition, when a grandchild turns 4, my parents take them on a trip to Disney World, so this was Ken-dall’s year. Luckily for the girls, my parents decided they could come along to help out and give Kendall some friends to do things with. So the girls, Kendall and my parents spent a week in Disney World, see-ing the characters, doing the rides, visiting Epcot, Animal and Magic Kingdoms, and Universal Studios. Meanwhile, Stephen, Stephanie, David and I had an adult vacation at the Ginn resort. Stephen and David golfed and we all shopped at the many outlet malls having extensive sales for “black Friday”. On Thanks-

Top:

Raf

ting t

he K

anan

askis

Rive

r in A

lbert

aM

iddl

e: Do

nna S

ienk a

t 8:0

8 08

/08/

08Bo

ttom

: Hot

Tubb

ing - S

usan

Sien

ko, S

teph

en S

ienko

, Ste

phan

ie Si

enko

31 Gazette2008

giving, we all participated in a family golf game on the Watson course of the Ginn resort. Although I am not much of golfer it was a beautiful day and course, and even though I don’t really know how well I did, I almost got par on one whole, which to me was a big deal. It was a fun spending a week with my siblings and brother in law without any kids.

Homework, Homework, Homework

This year I went from taking baby steps to one big giant leap. Af-ter testing the waters last year with my statistics classes, I took the next step of signing up for and taking my GRE’s. I had decided if I did well enough then I would apply to graduate school. Since they are now computerized you know instantly how you did. So this meant an ap-plication and ultimate acceptance to the PhD program in Systems Science at Portland State University. I am sure many of you are saying, “what is systems science?” Systems science is the study of relationships or how complex entities interact. The program is interdisciplinary

incorporating the natural and social sciences, engineering and business. I am in the multidisciplinary track, which allows me the opportunity to take classes from four separate areas. Right now my focus is systems, statis-tics and research design, biomedical ethics and biology/engineering. It is quite eclectic right now but hopefully as I take more classes I will become more focused and I will have some general direction as to where I am going.This term I took 2 classes, systems approach and biomedical ethics. Both classes were extremely interesting; however it meant 8 hours of classes per week followed by a gazillion hours of homework. I found myself saying over and over, “ I would love to, but, I need to do homework”. The girls and Jim have been very supportive of my decision so far and my goal is to be finished before the girls’ graduate high school, since we really don’t want to pay for three college educations at the same time. I am sure that the sacrifices now will be worth it in the long run as I expand my knowledge and broaden

Top:

Knit

& Ca

bood

le Ya

rn S

hop:

in Ca

nmor

e Albe

rta -

Ken

dall B

ird, R

ichar

d Sien

ko, M

orga

n Tho

mas

, Syd

ney T

hom

as

32 Gazette2008

Susan's musingsby Susan

Last year, after a successful completion of my first half marathon I decided finishing just wasn’t enough, the new goal needed to be to finish in less than 2 hours. Jeanette

and I also had found some more crazy friends and family (thanks Steph) that agreed that participating in a 1/2 marathon would be a cool goal.

On a cool but nice morning in May, friends Jeanette, Rachel, Vala-rie, Kirsten, and my sister Stephanie and her friend Caroline set off to meet the goals of the day whether it be to finish or to do it in a specific time. This year the “bling” was a beautiful silver necklace, something

you could wear again to show your athletic prowess. It was a very suc-cessful day with everyone finishing; however, despite my efforts (and even pushing Caroline out of the way, her story, of course) I did not meet my

goal. Finish time: 2 hours and 30 seconds. The walk up the last hill did me in and thus I was close, but no cigar. I would have to try again next year to see if I could meet my sub 2 hour goal. My friend Kirsten, however had a different goal for this year, since she was turning 40, she would do one ½ marathon for every decade. Since Hippie Chick was the second, she would have two more to go. While committing to four seemed crazy, committing to one more cer-tainly seemed doable. I decided her last ½ marathon, the Girlfriends ½ marathon in October seemed like a reasonable goal. Fortunately for us Valarie was game also, so the three

Left

: Ste

phan

ie Si

enko

& S

usan

Sien

ko in

the H

ippi

e Chic

ks R

un

Righ

t: Su

san S

ienko

& K

irste

n Zilk

e finis

hing t

he G

irlfr

iends

Run

in Po

rtlan

d, O

R

33 Gazette2008

of use once again participated in our forced exercise program. What I soon learned, however was that school and work can certainly get in the way of training. The three of us trained to the best of our abilities but by the day decided the goal was

to just cross the finish line and get our “bling” of the day. We set off after a fun warmup session and the first mile seemed easy and somewhat fast. Kirsten and I continued our pace and at 48 minutes had finished six miles, at this point I was think-ing that I better slow down or I would never finish. Kirsten however had different ideas and thought we

should continue our pace as long as we could and then slow down. With her constant encouragement we kept going at a slower but still fairly fast pace. By the 11 mile point we realized that even if we walked the last 2 miles we could still finish in less than 2 hours. This was very encouraging and motivated us to keep running, well most of the time anyway. As we could see the finishing clock as we rounded the last corner we realized that we had done it, we crossed the line in 1:54:33, running an 8:44 minute mile throughout the race. Our support of each other had allowed us both to reach our goals. Yet despite this success, a sub 2 hour Hippie Chick still eludes us. So once again, Jeanette, Rachel, Valarie, Kirsten and I will set our goals for next years Hippie Chick. Next year, instead of having my sister and her friend Caroline joining us, we will have Jim’s sister Cheryl who will be another one of those crazy women out their trying to achieve their goals and thinking that they are really not getting old, are they?

Top:

All m

y run

ning c

ompa

nions

in th

e Girl

frien

ds 1

/2 m

arat

hon.

Bott

om: S

ydne

y & S

usan

face

to fa

ce in

Fran

ce on

Lac d

u Bou

rget

.

34 Gazette2008

Albertaby Jim

35 Gazette2008

36 Gazette2008

Coffee table from ebony

Woodworkingby Jim

Wo o d I have c o l -

lected for a few years finally came together in the form of a dining room table. It is a single slab of Bubinga for the 16 foot table top and a second slab from the same tree was used for the legs. I divided the table into three sections. One 6 foot section each for Morgan and Sydney when they move to their own homes someday and a short 4 foot section for Susan & I should we "downsize" dur-ing our mature years.

37 Gazette2008

Produced on my lap, on a Macintosh M

acBook Pro . Printed on a Tectronix Phaser 8400 duplex wax color printer. Fonts include Sand (cover), P

arisan (Titles), Park A

venue (Drop Caps),

Adobe Garram

ond Pro (text), Teckton Pro (byline & captions), Black(footers). Bound as usual at Kinko©

s. Digital photos shot on a Nikon EOS 5.

Remodeling 601by Jim

Never stopping for a rest, Susan thought that a window seat would be great for relaxing in the TV/Sewing room. Get rid of the closets

so there is more space. And the room was always drafty, so why not change the fireplace to a wood stove. We could even insulate the room if we replaced the walls. I thought, why not replace the wiring while we are at it, so we can ground things.

I tapped on the walls and there was no drywall. It seemed like very thin wood. I had removed paint from all the doors in the house earlier this year and all were Douglas f ir, Phillipine Mahogany or some other beautiful wood.

I purchased a very expensive (good thing Susan still doesn't know the pr ice) German crafted vacuum cleaner by Festool, really one of the best tools I have purchased. Actually it is a set that includes two sanders with the vacuum integrated. Now I can sand inside the house with no dust; heavenly. The tools are very precise in their mechanisms as well and I have been able to lift off paint even from thin veneer, which is what I found beneath the paint in the sewing room.

All four walls and the doors were made from a wood I had never seen before. Visually it resembled a hardwood with some of the color of walnut, but was softer and much more figured with two tones of beige and black. Phil at Moxon hardwoods identified it as Red Gum. He says it was very popular from the 1920's to

38 Gazette2008

the 1950's and hard to obtain now. Rather than remodel, we ended

up with a restoration in this room. The paint is coming off and the wood has a highly variegated figuring. While we are at it, we did remove the panelling to upgrade to grounded

electrical wiring, seal the air leaks and add insulation. It is still a work in progress at the end of the year.

OutdoorsOur contractor who promised

a one month sandblasting project

39 Gazette2008

to remove exterior paint from stone started in November 2007 and indeed finished the next month; December (2008 just one year later). Our neighbors are still talking to us (I think), despite excessive noise and one young employee who cleaned up after blasting, by blowing all the sand off my roof out onto the street, much of it landing on the neighbor's driveway.

Our house remains a treasure chest full of character for a wood-worker and sleuth willing to look for the hidden gems. We even found an old linoleum tile underneath the stairs and it is identical in color and character to the Marmoleum that Susan chose last year for installation in the kitchen.

A little follow up on the kitchen remodel finished early this year. The cabinetmaker declared bankruptcy

two months after completion of our project.

And the Sandblaster above, he didn't cover the windows while blast-ing and etched ramdom patterns into 13 windows - so techincally we aren't even done with the blasting yet.

Stone masons arrived in Novem-ber to re-point the mortar that had been loosened by the blasting of the paint. They got the scaffolding up and we were hit by the most severe winter storm since 1968. Tempera-tures were in the teens and 18 inches of snow fell, drifting with the wind to three feet deep. Work has ground to a halt, but it was a white Christmas this year (and not from blast clouds of white paint).

Well, if you will excuse me, I have to get back to remodeling before it is time to start writing next year's Gazette.

40 Gazette2008

Parting Shotlife's good