Christmas Letter (!)

Happy holidays to you all! Another Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Eid al-Adha - holidays at the start of winter, the darkest time of the year. 2009 has seemed to be a dark year in general (This damned recession! These damned wars!), so I am fervently hoping for a bright, kind 2010. It is amazing that the first decade of the 21st century will be in our rear view mirror.

Ken and I have had an active fall. Few people get to have not one but two vacation experiences that involved climbing 4' into a bed, but we did. Our train trip west for Matt's 40th birthday in September involved 3 nights on Amtrak, and a climb into a bunk that flops down from the wall. Our trip south to the Sajay, Midge and Jay's 38' catamaran, involved a climb into a bed with the night sky in our eyes. We are lucky indeed to have had these experiences. The British Virgin Islands are beautiful and I got to do one of my most favorite things: throwing myself into the beautiful waters of the Caribbean. Wowza! We have pictures of both trips to share, but will not do so without your request.

Ken has been away much of the fall at his client outside of Pittsburgh. I spent two weekends there with him, one in June and one in November, and have really acquired an affection for Pittsburgh. What a great city! Very walkable. Great food. Great shopping. The Strip District. The campuses. The neighborhoods. A wonderful tea shop. Fabulous - really - bakeries. In talking to the young people I am privileged to associate with, I am saying, 'consider Pittsburgh'. It seems to be in decent shape in terms of the economy, and housing is interesting and somewhat affordable. And Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh - very cool. He is just about done with this client, and hopefully, done for a while with being gone 5 days a week. Lonely for Jackie!

Other fall highlights:

• Labor Day on the Jersey shore - what a concept! A boardwalk. Surf Taco. Ocean. Beach.
• Walkway over the Hudson - totally amazing. http://walkway.org/ Check it out! You'll rush to visit us to walk it.
• The World Series!!!!! Yes, I've become a rabid Yankee fan and it is SOOOOOOO much fun to win. Go Yanks!
• College football on the east coast: we saw Army beat VMI and Columbia lose miserably to Harvard. Next, it's college hockey at the Military Academy at West Point.
• Theater: Metamorphoses and The Red Masquerade at SUNY New Paltz and A Little Night Music on Broadway. The latter, which actually opens today, will be a hit, I'm sure.
• Two concerts by the Community-College Chorale: Benjamin Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, Verleih uns Frieden by Mendelssohn, opera choruses, including The Witches' Chorus from MacBeth by Verdi. I loved most of the music, especially the Britten. Singing is fabulous.
• Opera - I went to the Met for the first time and saw From the House of the Dead by Janecek. Amazing, powerful, awesome. I went on a Monday night. How lucky we are to live so close to such excellence!

So, lovely readers - I hope your holiday is the best!