Hello 2017 and Happy New Year to everyone! Here's the 2016 recap...

This year’s letter is even later than usual, because we were traveling over the holidays (more on that later).

Work / Volunteering

Tess has been putting her organizing skills to the test this year by volunteeringtwice a month at SCRAP, a non-profit organization dedicated to “creative reuseand environmentally sustainable behavior”. Basically, it’s a secondhand storefor art materials and craft supplies, and it is probably Tess’ favorite place inPortland. Volunteers sort, package, and price donations, and this, of course, isone of Tess' strengths, but even she feels a bit overwhelmed by the volumesome days. She has now become their go-to yarn person -- no surprise there.For 2017, she is adding more volunteer time, as well as joining the SCRAP PDXAdvisory Council. Check them out at SCRAPPDX.org.

Another volunteer opportunity thatTess has started this year is with Alliance Française. AF is a worldwideFrancophile organization, and Tess is one of several people who proofreadthe local branch’s newsletter. This mostly means she gets to read a littleFrench, and we get the heads-up on various French-inspired events in PDX,such as the Beaujolais Nouveau “new wine” festival, now in our 4th year ofattending. This photo is Tess with the AF director at this year’s event.

Although it was a very challenging year for Intel, Don is still doing well andenjoying his job. On the personal side, he has been spending time on theexecution of his parents’ estate, and integrating his dad’s tools with his

own collection in the man cave. Also, he has been battling sciatica, which showed up in the back half of the year, andwhich curtailed a lot of his physical activities lately. Fortunately, after trying a lot of other therapies, a secondcortisone shot seems to have done the trick to bring him some relief.

Our Pets

The pets are all still with us, although Kodi has been showing her age more and more. She’s still doing really well forbeing about 17! Pierre & Chimay Blanche continue to tolerate each other most days, and once this year they evennapped WHILE TOUCHING. And there is photographic evidence.

In October, Tess was asked by a neighbor if she would be willing to foster some kittens! So, the guest room wastaken over for a couple of months by Tigger, Dorian, and Dobby. They are about 5 months old now, and Dobby hasbeen adopted by one of Tess’ friends, who lives just down the road, in Salem. Tigger and Dorian are about to go to

the Petsmart adoption site to find their own foreverhomes. Dobby is the one without any (white) socks,Tigger has an extremely bouncy personality, and Dorian isthe gray one. (Dorian… Gray. Get it?)

The House

One step forward: we pulled the trigger on the deckrebuild and now have a wonderful new deck, and it's allat the same level! It still needs the railing installedthough, which poor weekend weather has so far prevented.

The interior remodeling has been delayed yet another year by the need to first address a drainage problem in thefront yard, which leads to water seeping into the crawl space during our wet winters. We’ve been chasing this issuefor a couple of years, and we even had a possible solution installed this summer -- which ended up only taking care ofabout half the problem. So we (Don) did some excavating around the foundation this summer, and we think we havethe rest of the puzzle figured out. Now we are working with a landscape designer on a plan to fix the drainage in anattractive way, and redo the rest of the landscaping. Then we can finally get started on the inside of the house…

Travel & Fun Stuff

Florida

In March, we took a week to go to Florida and clean out Don’s parents’house, along with his brother and sister. Teamwork got the job done,and a lot of memories were found and shared. Don brought home abunch of his dad’s tools, which have come in handy a few times already!

Wine tasting for Tess' birthday

Alliance Française also has annual fundraising auctions, and at one ofthese Tess won a wine tasting for 10 at Willamette Valley Vineyards.This vineyard is about an hour’s drive away, so we rented a van anddriver, and took a group of friends out for wine tasting on a beautifulSunday in April to celebrate Tess’ birthday. Don’s birthday this year wasthe big 50, but given his recent losses, we decided against a big blowoutcelebration. Instead we combined it with our annual holiday party, postponed to late January, and had some of ourlongtime friends over to mark the occasion.

Don's Dad's interment & Red Sox game

Don went back to Boston in May to inter his Dad's ashes, together with his mother's, at the Veteran's Cemetery inBourne, MA. The interment date was the day before what would have been their 61st wedding anniversary. Themilitary service went well, and there was a very nice turnout of friends and family. Don was even able to take in aRed Sox game at Fenway with a few friends.

Memphis & Dot's 90th birthday

In July the party got started when Don's Aunt Dot, his father's oldest sister, turned90! So it was off to Memphis to celebrate! We had never been to Memphisbefore, and found it to be a fun and enjoyable city. Of course, we had 2 ofMemphis' best unofficial ambassadors to show us around, cousin Michele & Dot,as well as cousin Renee also came up from Florida for the event. It was great tosee all of them again.

It was a short trip, but we managed to take in a few of the sights, & made sure wehad some barbeque. We toured Sun Studios, where Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and CarlPerkins recorded their early hits. We also visited the Lorraine Motel & Civil RightsMuseum. This was one of the most moving and eye-opening museums we haveever been to. If you are ever in Memphis, it is by far the best, and quite possiblythe most important, thing to see while you are there.

Dancing w/ Matt

Because the internet is what it is, Tess signed up for a kickstarterproject by Where the Heck is Matt?, who is a guy who “travels allaround the world dancing badly with people”, and makescompilation videos of the results. Being a sponsor, Tess gotnotified when Matt came to Portland, and there we are dancing inKeller Fountain. (We’re in the red circle, in the upper right.)

Hiking

We did get out for one snowshoe hike, which is one more than last year. Also, thisyear we discovered a new way to hike: Urban Hiking. To be fair, the 4T Hike thatwe’ve done before (Trail, Tram, Trolley, and Train) also falls in this category, andthis year we repeated that one on a sunny June day. That hike doesn’t include anyof Portland’s public stairways, though.

The city of Portland is hilly. In some places, things simply get too vertical for anormal street. So early in the city’s development, a number of public stairwayswere created to do the job. Now, hiking routes through the city have beencompiled that incorporate these sometimes-hidden gems. We did several of thesehikes throughout the summer, some of them pretty strenuous -- each coveringhundreds of total steps. The other great thing we found about urban hikes is youalways end up at a local brewpub!

Don's hiking adventures were a bitlimited this year, compared to lastyear. He and his hiking buddyScott took a few days in August tohike the Timberline trail. It's a popular but challenging trail thatcircles Mt. Hood. The average elevation is 5,000' with a lot of up &down, as low as 2,000' and as high as 7,000'. They had some greatweather for the hike, if a bit cold. It got into the high 30's at night,which was a little colder than they expected.

Europe 2016

Years ago, we gave up traveling during the holidays. We had done it a few times, butbetween winter weather and the general hassle, we decided the best policy was tostay home. This year we made an exception: Tess’ friends in Manchester, Tim &Karen, invited us to come spend Christmas with them. Who could pass up Christmasin the UK? and they even promised a proper Christmas goose for dinner.

So off to merry old England we went. The trip was full of ups and downs, andreminded us why we set our policy in the first place. Our bags were lost for twodays. They were delivered barely in time for us to catch our train to Edinburgh. Wearrived there just a day before Atlantic storm “Barbara”, with winds gusting to 70mph and rain coming down in sheets. After we got back to Manchester, though,and dried out a bit, Tim & Karen took great care of us. We had a very nice andrelaxing Christmas and Boxing Day with them: the goose was delicious, crackerswere pulled, festive hats were worn, and much ale was consumed on the “Ale Trail”.

It works like this: you take a train out into the country, and pick astation to alight at. Since many of these train stations were built inthe Victorian era, many have old Victorian pubs that serve local“Real Ale” (and most of them are named “The Railway Pub”). So,you have a pint of ale, and then get on the next train headedtowards home, choose another station with a pub, and do it all overagain until you manage to make your way back.

After Boxing Day, it was off to London for a few days, then toAntwerp and their great winter market, and finally to Amsterdamfor New Years’ Eve! A’dam was one big party, with the streetspacked with people and fireworks everywhere. We headedtowards the main city fireworks, but at 11:30 or so it started to rain- and we were a good 30 min walk from our hotel. Finding a regulartaxi was impossible. Then we spotted a bicycle-cab, hopped in, andwhat a ride we got! In Amsterdam, cyclists ALWAYS have the right-of-way, and of course taxi drivers are pretty crazy in general: putthem together, and you get a unique transportation experience.This cabbie’s motto was, “you brake, you lose!” It was probably themost memorable and entertaining 15 minutes of the trip.

We came home with a couple of colds, and a historicamount of snow in PDX, so 2017 hasn’t had a greatstart -- but here’s hoping the rest of it treatseveryone well. One big change for 2017 is that thiswill be our final paper photo card & newsletter:the list to whom we send physical cards is down tosingle digits now, and we throw out a lot of leftovercards every year. So, if you want to receive nextyear’s letter, send your email address to us attessm@tessknits.com.

Love, Tess & Don Mattos