and have come to worship him.
If there are three words that capture 2017 they would be retirement, travel and drone! 2017 was a big year for us because Tim retired January 1, turning 64 shortly after. It was just the right time at his work to make this move. He has not been idle though. As they say, work gets in the way of what we want to do but then when we retire we are busier than ever!
Right off the bat we headed to Asia to visit friends (the Hastings, shown at left)
who have been asking us to visit them in Singapore,
and then combined that with a tour of Taiwan and a couple of days in Hong Kong.
With the Hastings (who hosted us for a week) we saw more of Singapore
than we had time for in our brief 2013
visit when Yan Hock and family hosted us.
This time we again saw Yan Hock and his family (picture at right),
visiting Yan Hock's new school
and touring
the island of Pulau Ubin which is much like Singapore was about 40 years ago,
rural rather than urban.
Yan Hock arranged for his co-worker Kyle who grew up on Pulau Ubin to give us
the tour, which was very interesting.
(Click on the small pictures to see a bigger version.)
Tim traveled on his own to his old stomping grounds to see his friend Jay and go to some Cleveland Indian games. We took 2 other big trips: the first to the ASA conference in Golden Colorado where we got to meet up with 2 nephews (Kurt and his wife in Denver and Ian in Gunnison) and friends (Carol and her husband and friends Esther and Jayson, all in Colorado Springs). Then in October we took a trip to celebrate our 40th anniversary--to Arizona (Phoenix and Prescott where Laura's parents used to live) and then to Texas to explore Austin (and meet up with friends, Karim and Sula and family and Evan and Alana.
Tim has put together a short video of the many places we traveled to this year. You won't see any drone footage until Colorado because he bought the drone in July. The 10 second (or less) clips are more or less in chronological order. If you want to see a few longer drone videos (and some miscellaneous videos), check out Tim's youtube channel where the newest seven videos are all from 2017. (You need a 4K monitor to fully appreciate the drone footage.) The other social media way to keep tabs on Tim is with his twitter account @DrTechTim.
So what are we up to besides travel? Tim continues to volunteer with the Cambridge Roundtable on Science and Religion and the American Scientific Affiliation and is talking to Hope International about helping them in some capacity as well. If you're in the Boston area, and have any interest in science and Christianity, consider attending the 2018 ASA annual meeting at Gordon College July 27-30!
Laura has been able to show (and sell) some of her batik artwork at
Gallery blink, which has been
a highlight for her and we both continue to volunteer time at our church.
The picture shows one of her batiks, titled Crossing the Road.
Our daughter Kate moved to Jamaica Plain in Boston and our son Matt lives here.
We are so glad to have them both close by. Tim's parents live just 2 miles away and
Tim has spent a lot of time visiting them and helping with some video/computer work and
leaf blowing (and now snow work!) as well as enjoying lots of stimulating conversations!
At right is a photo from our Christmas dinner gathering. Matt is taking it and we are standing in front of Ian's painting of Cape Cod. Laura and Tim, Kate and Brian, Beth and Kevin, Carol and Stan.
Blessings to you all for 2018. We hope our paths cross this year!
Laura (and for Tim)
Have a great New Year!