azetteDecember 2009G

2 Gazette 2009

James & Susan ThomasSydney & Morgan

1316 SW Mitchell LanePortland, OR 97239 - 2826

issue 29

jim@voicedoctor.net (503) 341-2555susan@voicedoctor.net (503) 341-0767

moogen@twinsis.us (503) 867-0796sydney@twinsis.us (503) 867-0798

house: (503) 892-2920

Family: www.voicedoctor.net/jim/

Medical: www.voicedoctor.net

Art: www.flybynightpro.com

girls: www.twinsis.us

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Le vélo et la vie ................................. 3Winter in Oregon ............................ 4Another year bites the dust! ............... 6Rajasthan ........................................10Norway .......................................... 14The Czech Republic ........................ 17Adventures .....................................20Morgan's Memories .......................22Thomas Family Portrait ..................25fun @ 15 .......................................26James’ Parents ...............................29In the Desert, on the Water .............30Edinburgh, London & Lakes ...........34Visiting Students .............................38Camping .......................................39Campfire girls ............................... 40La boda .........................................42American Cities .............................43New York City ..............................44Frenemies .......................................46Parting Shot ..................................48

Carpe diem2

C o n t e n t s

3 Gazette 2009

Le vélo et la vieby James

Nay! - I say Nay to a bicycle un-ridden or a wine un-tasted.

50 years came around and I celebrated by frequent flying

around the earth and by racing my bicycle around an oval track all summer. I consistently

placed last, but still seem to be alive.Ma joie de vivre.

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Winter in Oregon

OregonWinter Morgan & Sydney walking

when everyone was snow-bound in Portland.

Susan & Morgan cheering on Erica Madden & Sydney sledding in White River Canyon after two feet of new powder overnight.

in

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2008

Three girls shopping at City Market.

Warming up after snow-play - Susan, Sydney, Morgan & James in Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood.

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Another year bites the dust!by Susan

School and WorkWhen I took my last exam of this

term on December 9th, I officially made it over the hump. I have now fin-ished more than half my classes for my PhD. This term was especially hard, as one of my classes occurred three days a week in the middle of the morn-ing. It can certainly put a damper on productivity at work when you arrive, work for a few hours, leave for an hour or two, come back and then try and get back into the work groove. I have enjoyed all of my courses so far and really enjoyed my statistics class this term. I really have to thank my family and coworkers for picking up the slack while I attend classes and study.

Work continues to be fulfilling. This year Cathleen and I worked very hard on submitting as many grants as possible in order to guarantee that we had more than half time jobs next year. In mid November we received t wo of ou r g ra nts , which provides us with a reasonable amount of work for the next year. Both are exciting multi-center grants, which will allow us to work with a wonderful group of colleagues.

RunningDespite all the demands of work,

school and life, I did manage to com-plete two half-marathons again this year. Although my times seem to be getting slower, rather than faster, the satisfaction of completion and the fun of participating with all my crazy friends makes every mile worthwhile.

The Hippie Chick half-marathon in the spring found many of the usual characters; Kirsten, Valarie, Rachel, and Jeanette. This year we also enjoyed having April.

Fall brought the Girlfriends half, and only Kirsten and I were crazy enough to participate. It certainly was worth it. The bling necklace, the mas-sage and of course, the great chocolate fudge at the end.

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Since my sub two hour Hippie Chick still eludes me, Kirsten, Ra-chel, Valarie and I have committed to run again next year. We signed up at

12:01 am o n N o -v e m b e r 1s t a nd the race sold out in 1 hour. Who are all these c r a z y women?

At least I know I will have a spring filled with some forced exercise mixed in with all of the other chaos, and who knows maybe the fall half-marathon will be a girl’s only weekend some-where fun.

TravelBetween the girls gymnastics work

and family travel it seems like I have been on the road a lot this year. For the girls, I am taxi mom, VP of operations for the parent club, Bingo volunteer and leotard expert.

January found the girls and I in Hawaii for gymnastics meets and training. Although I spent time sight-seeing, I spent much of their practice time writing a grant which was due that same week.

Work took me to Chicago, Las Vegas and Scottsdale. In the spring, we went to New York visiting with friends (Rama, Frizzi and Logan) and family (Aunt Lane), while seeing the sites of NYC.

Our highlight trip was our family vacation to Norway and the Czech Re-

8 Gazette 2009

public with my parents. The weather left a lot to be desired as it was cold and rainy. It was great family time and we visited some great sites. Our trip through the Norwegian fjords seemed like a replay of trains, planes and automobiles as we first boarded

the train to Mrydal, another train to Flaam, then took a boat through the fjords, then a bus out of the fjords and finally back on the train to our final

destination of Bergen. Fortunately we had a sunny day as our boat trip would have not been quite as enjoyable.

Everything in Norway seemed really expensive for example a cup of regular coffee was $5-7, a beer was $10-15, a glass of wine was $15-20

and a small pizza or ham-burger about $20. I think it was the first time that I watched what I ate or drank on vacation. No shopping in Norway but it was fun to look.

The Czech republic was the complete opposite, food and beverages were back to being reasonable, even cheap. You could afford to go shopping for that special souvenir. De-spite the differences, we thoroughly enjoyed the culture and family heritage

that we experienced and I am sure my parents are still surprised that they survived a 2 week European vacation with us.

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In July, we took our exchange student Soo-Myung to Seattle and

spent a long weekend with John and Julia Paulino shopping, walking and dining.

We are staying home again this year for Christmas, but my parents are coming which will be delightful.

I have my honey-do list ready for my mom and my dad. At least someone

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RajasthanWorld travel - by James

India and I have become good buddies. I returned to Jaipur in January for the All-India ENT meeting where I learned about India Standard Time. Last year's copies of the Gazette were

passed around the chai stand for a few laughs and then Vivek and I set out to discover Rajasthan.

“Would you like to rent the cam-els for a few more days? Special deal, we can travel to Pakistan.” the camel owner suggested as only a camel sales-man can.

Actually, one day in the saddle of a camel is quite enough for a white man who is used to cars and planes. It was fascinating to travel through the desert and believe it to be deserted, only to have children appear out of nowhere and see a set of homes appear out of nowhere after blending into the rocks and sand. Then after another 20 minutes

a n -

other “town” appears out of nowhere in this desert of no roads.

I have joined Vivek on a trip through the desert in Rajasthan. We are on a set of camels, living a tourist's life. After an hour in the saddle, even my bicycle riding has not prepared my bottom for the rocking motion of these creatures. We are reminded that Pakistan really is not far away. Only a few yards off the road, lightly hidden in the bushes are a couple of rocket launchers that happened to be aimed westward. We are near the site of India's first nuclear

detonation so the unrest between two coun-

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tries is rath-e r v i s i b l e here.

O n e should ride on a camel f o r a f e w hours before purchasing a l o n g e r t r i p . T h e camels will not have any p r o b l e m , b u t y o u r judgement a b out t he du rabi l it y of your bot-

tom, accustomed to leather car seats - becomes improved and less colored by the persuasion of the camel salesman. We didn't sign up for the multi-day trip, but we did take the camel driv-ers up on their offer to camp in the desert at night. I was very impressed at my camel's ability to navigate where I could not see a thing, and I really appreciated the opportunity to ride on top of my bedroll which was much more comfortable than the saddle alone. There is a swooping sensation, up and down like an airplane follow-ing the earths contours, when riding the camel in the dark.

Travel is always a learning experi-ence. Earlier in the week, before the trek through Rajasthan, the introduc-tion to Indian Standard time started with my lecture in Jaipur.

Jaipur was the town in Rajasthan where I spent the night sleeping out-

side on a bench last year when I was locked out of my hotel. As an invited speaker to the National ENT meeting this time, I had a very nice bed in a culturally isolated 5 star hotel, so the trip started comfortably enough. In fact, the stark contrast of quiet in the central hall, marble everywhere, con-stant cleaning of the interior, morning pesticide spray in the halls compared to the street outside; crowded, piles of garbage, dust in the air, monkeys jumping around, reminds me of the great luck I have had in life. The luck to be born in America is certainly one place to start feeling lucky. The luck not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time in India.

My flight last year out of Mumbai was originally scheduled on 11/26, the day of the Mumbai attacks, but I had been lucky enough to move my flight up a few days and head for home earlier.

Jaipur had also been bombed since I visited the city last year, so I looked up my autorickshaw driver, Shoyab Qureshi, from last year and enjoyed a cup of chai. The milk in a large pot was constantly being brought to a boil again and again to keep it sterile. With no refrigeration, continuous reheating worked. After, we took a ride around town to see the sites of the bombings.

I am stil l mesmerized by the theatre that takes place on the city streets in India. In Portland, we have different makes of cars on the road, some motorcycles and perhaps the occasional bicycle, but at any given moment, on any given street in Jaipur, there were cars, buses, trucks, bikes,

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motorcycles, autorickshaws, wheel-chairs, camels, donkeys, sheep, pigs, chickens, pedestrians, all using the same roadway at the same time. Not at all neatly divided into road, bike lane and sidewalk. Rather a blanket spread out in the street is a retail store. A tree in the middle of the street is a shrine. It is a visual cacophony, though one that seems to work and seems to suggest that everything doesn't neces-sarily have to be neat and orderly to function.

Perhaps out of this disorder springs the concept of Indian Standard Time. My scientific talk had been scheduled for about 3 in the afternoon, but with the India Standard time concept, the morning lectures started late, each one went long (since we all have something important to say) and my 3 pm lecture was backing up to 5, 6 and at 7 pm it was time for the business meeting, so my lecture was postponed until the next day. I was given the first slot in the morning.

There I was at 9 am. At the po-dium with four or five hundred seats. Really. Me and hundreds of seats,

empty auditorium? When the first person showed up in the audience, they said not to worry, It is just India Standard time. I could just start when I felt enough people were in the audi-torium. Eventually I had an audience, by 9:40 am India Standard time my 3 pm lecture began.

At the end of the meeting, Vivek rented a car (with driver), joined me and we set out for a week exploring Rajasthan. It is reasonable in cost but not really reasonable judgement to rent a just car, because driving in India probably should not be attempted by the amateur. The sheer exhilaration of your driver passing large trucks at high speed with oncoming buses for added entertainment, reduces every ride at the amusement park to a G rating. Seat belts, what are they for? Accept-ing a certain fatalism, we explored the Raja's cities.

Each day brought a different city with a massive fort built by the local Rajas and a couple of centuries of his-tory. At the apex of our journey, we were within a few miles of Pakistan, sleeping out in the desert with camels

Vivek Pathek in the evening light on the porch of Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur

every one o f t h e m e mp t y. I ask myself, w h y n o t p r e p a r e a lecture, t r a v e l h a l f w a y around the world and then give a talk to an

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before we began our re-turn towards civilization.

Leading our privi-leged life, Vivek talked our way into the Umaid palace for a cup of coffee. That is one way to feel like a Raja, out on a patio watching the sun set over the city where most of the homes are washed in a blue dye.

On our final day of the Rajasthan trip we went down to the ghats for a blessing at the Hindu Brahmin shrine, later visiting the Sufi shrine to mix

religions up a bit.We ended the journey watching

Slumdog Millionaire, which I thought captured, in a celluloid fashion, much of the variety of life I have seen in India, though to Vivek, it seemed less accurate. When we discussed an ex-ample he felt was inaccurate, I assured Vivek that I had photos of young men refilling water bottles from a tap for “resale” to tourists.

Above: James wandering the streets in Push-kar after a blessing by a Brahmin priestLeft: my desert vehicleBelow: Sands in Khuri, south of Jaisalmer

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Norwayby James

Skagerrak - the straight between Norway and Denmark where I found myself swimming among the islands of Udøy and Landøy where my cousins still reside.

A medical meeting in Norway was the impetus to bring along family for a bit of personal history. Susan's parents wanted to see the same area, so I called up my cousin Kirsten Eskedahl and mentioned that we would love the opportunity to have a look around the islands where my grandfather Sigurd Christiansen was born.

All was in place as we arrived at the Portland International Airport. It

was a beautiful morning. My in-laws Richard and Donna, then Morgan, Sydney and Susan check in fine.

The Lufthansa agent says to me, "Sir, we have no reservation for you." We don't recognize the reservation number you are giving us. Perhaps it is a United Airlines number. You'll have to call United and see if they lost your reservation.

I call United. They say my ticket

Arild Petterson crossing the channel

Cousins Kirsten & Magrete Eskedahl hosted a picnic at my great, great grandmonthers home on Landoy Island.

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was never issued. Perhaps my memory was faulty and the ticket had never come through on my visa card, but it is difficult to prove much in the line at the airport with the minutes counting down. I eventually reached my travel agent and we tried to figure out what

happened but couldn't in the few mo-ments I had. I ended up buying a seat on the plane, otherwise my family was going to have to introduce themselves to my cousins on their own. And since I had arranged a boat connection to the islands for the following day, the plans would otherwise fall apart. At $3500 for my ticket, this was going to be an expensive trip. Little did I know how accurate this initiation would prove to be.

Arriving in Norway, we were first greeted by the incredible emer-ald green of the forest surrounding Oslo's airport. Then at the car rental counter we ended up in a van as there are no cars that seat 6 in Europe. On the highway south to Kristiansand, I stop for a highway robbery $5 cup of weak coffee. We arrive in Kristiansand around 10 pm, though it feels earlier. The summer equinox is only 5 days away. I have persuaded Richard and Donna to travel like I do without hav-ing every moment of the trip planned

Left: While others bundled up in winter jackets on the shore, my cousin Kirsten & I swam in the Skagerrak.

Below: Arild Petterson's home on Udøy - the white house with the Norwegian flag.

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out. As we walk around town, no hotel has rooms for six people (anytime), so we end up with 4 separate rooms at a bargain rate of $800 per night. If some one has told you that Norway is expensive and you smiled, then you really don't understand. For our $800 the hotel had scaffolding throughout, we had the bargain basement price and one of the four rooms was given to us for free.

The monetary hemorrhage didn't end there. We soon learned that $5 for a coffee is normal, not highway robbery. A mug of beer is $10-15, a glass of house wine $20 and a ham-burger is $25. It paid to stock up on calories with the included breakfasts at the hotels.

I remembered the route to Sigurd's hometown of Tregde from my visit 12 years ago and we found my cousin Arild Pettersen at the dock, whom I was meeting for the first time.

The sun was up in a sapphire sky and we set out on a tour around the islands. Arild is a ship builder and still works on Norway's west coast on two ships being built for the oil industry during the week. On the weekend he is back on the family island - Udøy. Landøy with my cousin Kirsten's

family home is across a small body of water and we will meet Kirsten there later. Arild, handing me a paper with a genealogy diagram, has done some family research and found our con-nection as cousins.

Kirsten has cooked a feast and we have an outdoor picnic in the long mid-summer light. Margrete, my 1st cousin twice removed (for you genealogists) took us hiking up the mountain on the center of Landøy. We also sat in the desks at the one room schoolhouse and were whisked back in time a hundred years.

After the weekend, we wound our way back to Oslo arriving in a city filled with Metallica fans. There were two metal concerts mid-week and all hotels were filled. We turned back toward Kristiansand, driving 50 miles out of Oslo when my navigation system finally found a business hotel along the Oslo fjord in a tiny village.

I did eventually find a hostel in Oslo after the concerts and was able to attend my meeting while the family went touring the west coast fjords - the Norway in a Nutshell tour. We spent the last night at an airport hotel where it only cost $50 just to catch the bus over to the terminal in the morning.

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The Czech Republicby James

We visited Moravian wine country, resided in Old Town Prague, poked through castles and wandered past my ancestral homes.

The Czech republic was a welcome financial relief for the second week of our summer vacation. Arriving in Prague, Tom Zahn, a genealogist

I had met over 10 yea rs a go, of fered us an introduction to Moravia for a little local his-tory, local wine and local beer. H e c r e a t e d Pathfinders, a business where

he and his wife Marie had traced my Czech family history, introduced me to several cousins and several villages in my ancestral tree, back in the 90's.

T h i s trip began with a day o f t o u r-ing Liech-t e n s t e i n estates in Mor av i a .

We decided to skip the public wine cellar tour. Our tour guide then drove down an alley and a door propped open led to an inquiry and an invita-tion into a family cellar. The vintner, Mr. Badger (the English translation

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of his surname - Burdycha) took us into his hand dug cellar, perhaps a 100 feet long into the hillside and supported with scrounged up bricks. An hour later, stamping our feet in the 55 degree cellar, 8 bottles of wine stood open on a barrel. Deciding to purchase a variety of his wines, he then insisted that we down a glass of his fortified juice that he aspirated out of a barrel - tasty but powerful.

Heading north into Bohemia, we started sampling beer beginning in Cerna Hora, onto the Zeliv monastery and then the pubs of Prague. We took some time to see the ca-thedrals, amble t he C h a r le s Bridge, photo-graph graffiti and discover the a l leys of Old Town.

No doubt, w e p a s s e d some distant r e l a t i ve s i n our peregrina-tions.

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Top left: Posing in front of beautiful graffiti in rainy PragueTop right: graffiti on the south bank of the Vltava - something akin to: “If only I had passed a moment sooner…”Bottom: Ancestral town, Hájek, where the girls Great, great, great grandfather, Václav Šimek was born in 1837. His son Filip Jakub Šimek lived there before immigrating to Baltimore, Maryland.

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Adventuresby Morgan & Sydney

Rain, Rain go away, come again another day. This is what filled our trip to Norway and the Czech Republic. This was an exciting trip with our par-

ents and grandparents with the first week in Norway and the next week in the Czech Republic.

NorwayThe first couple days in Norway

brought sightseeing to family land. We might add that it was also quite tiring and occasionally we fell asleep while eating lunch. Wherever we went, people would assume that we were Norwegian and start speaking to us in Norwegian (the blonde hair?).

We spent our time looking at old buildings, but no one building seemed to be the same. One of our favorite

things that we did while we were in Norway was visit the fjords. There were many beautiful things to see while being on water.

Czech RepublicEven though we visited many wine

and beer places, they was not top on our priority list. We would have pre-ferred shopping around Prague which turned out to be one of our favorite

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things. The city of Prague was old but still very pretty. One of our favorite places to see was the John Lennon wall. It was hidden very well and we happened to miss it the first time.

We did manage to get a few lucky days of sunshine. While we were sitting outside eating lunch in a small town, we saw a bus stop in the middle of the road with no people on it. We kept wonder-ing why it had stopped. In a few moments, we saw smoke coming out the back end of they bus the engine caught on fire. The driver

tried to put it out, but eventually the fire men came.

Our trip was a wonderful experi-ence and we really enjoyed spending time walking around all the little unique towns. Also it was a great delight to spend time with both our parents and grandparents.

HawaiiThe only way to get tan in winter

is well - go to HAWAII!!! This year for gymnastics we went to Hawaii for a week and competed in two meets! At our first meet as level 8’s, Morgan placed 1st and Sydney placed 2nd. While we were in Hawaii, we trained,

t h o u g h the gym had very little air c o n d i -t ion i n g and it was really, really hot.

Although training was the goal, we still had plenty of time for sightsee-ing. We swam in the waves, got shaved ice from Matsumoto’s, visited the North Shore, went to Pearl Harbor, went to Hanuman Bay and snorkeled. We sailed on a catamaran and finally we went to Diamond Head Mountain and claimed it. We also did a little bit of shopping.

Overall, our top three things while we were there were swimming in the water, shopping, and watching elite gymnasts compete.

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Morgan's Memoriesby Morgan

High schoolI am a freshman at Wilson high

school with all new teachers and no classes with Sydney. Throughout middle school we had all of our classes together, so this is a big change. I have made some new friends, but my best friends are still from middle school!

In high school we get about the same amount of homework. In study hall I finish most of my homework, which works well for gymnastics. Required classes are Biology, English, Modern World History and Geom-etry. As electives, I have French, Draw-Paint-Print (art) and study hall - no P.E. for me!

GymnasticsWe went to Ha-

waii and Montana for competitions, compet-ing as a level eight. In Montana, Regionals included the top 40% of the gymnasts from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska Mon-tana and Hawaii.

Gymnastics takes most of my time out-side of school; training 16 to 18 hours a week. I love practicing at Westside gymnastics!

At the end of January I strained

a ligament in my elbow attempting a shoot on the uneven bars. It took about 4 weeks to recover.

New YorkI went to New York for the first

time. We stayed with some friends and took the ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan every day. We saw the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn bridge, went sight-seeing and shopping. One day it poured down really hard and the next day it was beautiful.

RaftingOn the last week of summer break

we went rafting with Amy, Oscar, Sofia and Gabriel Polo as well as Stacy, David, Andrew and Zachary Shute

and Eva Just-enhoven. It was a lot of fun but super scary for Syd-ney and I. We were the only ones yelling at the top of our lungs.

The first day was most-ly calm rapids and that was rea l ly nice . Each day the r a p i d s g o t bi g g er a nd bi g g er. On

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the last day, we ran Oak Springs rap-ids. My dad, Eva, Andrew, Sydney and I got stuck on a rock at the top of the rapid, so Andrew and Eva had to get out and push us, because there was no way me and Sydney were going in that water. The water was cold and filled with bugs. Then, when me and

Sydney saw the rapid we freaked out. In the rapid, we screamed. My dad yelled, “High side!” High-side means you have to get on to the high side of the raft because we were going to tip. Luckily we stayed inside of the boat!

New roomThis summer Sydney and I slept in

the TV room while our rooms were re-modeled. It was only supposed to take a month, but somehow the remodel lasted the whole 3 months of summer.

I like my new room now because I got a bigger closet. I selected teal blue for the room, yellow for the closet and my new floor is cork. I am still waiting on my dad for a new bed and desk, but

I have already waited a year and I hop-ing this winter he will finish them up.

LifeThis year seemed to go by re-

ally quick. We did a lot of traveling, gymnastics, cleaning my room, and hanging with my friends. I still love to shop. My favorite stores are Pac Sun, American Eagle, and Zumiez.

For Halloween, my friends and I were all different colored zebras. It was really cool!

I am 15 this year and I got my permit this year, the first time I took the test I failed it so i went in the next day (New Years Eve) to take it again! This time i passed with 80%. I started to learn to drive on my dad’s Mini-Cooper! I only can reach up to 15 miles per hour so far!

Quotes“No one does anything for me

anymore.”“How could you be so stupid!”“I'll never forget!”“Sydney, carry this for me!”“Why suffer when you can moan,

whimper and complain?”

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Happy Holidays fromSydney, Susan, James & Morgan

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Thomas Family Portrait

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fun @ 15by Sydney

This year was a great year!!! There were many new and good things that happened. I finished Middle School and I am now at Wilson High School. Gymnastics is still going

really good. We also have done a lot of traveling from Hawaii for gymnastics to Norway for family history. Also, I enjoy spending time with my friends.

Although high school is different, it is new and fun. It's bigger than middle

school, but I really enjoy it. Many of the classes are the same as last year; English, History, Science, Art, French and Math. One of my favorites is math. This year I am in geometry, it is confusing but interesting.

Gymnastics is still a big part of my life. I am currently a level eight at Westside Gymnastics which I really enjoy. I love all my friends on the team.

We are very close and enjoy spending four hours a day, four days a week to-gether. Several of my teammates actu-ally go to my high school, so I end up spending ten hours a day with them. That's more than I see my parents.

This year we went to Hawaii for ten days. Sight-seeing, swimming and tanning were so much fun. I qualified for Regionals which were W

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ymna

sts o

n the

beac

h in H

awaii

27 Gazette 2009

in Whitefish, Montana, a very small town. Pretty much the only thing to do there was to shop at a small mall.

In 2010, we are going to Washing-ton and California for competitions. I am really excited for both of the meets.

In May, we went to New York for a couple of days. This was a great trip.

We did a little family history and shop-ping. We saw the Statue of Liberty which was cool to see it in person.

This summer we went on many vacations. We went to Norway and the Czech Republic. It was very in-teresting to see where my ancestors used to live.

One of the highlights of this sum-mer was a rafting trip with the Polo and Shute/Ali-son family. It was very fun. We went for 3 days. The first d ay wa s t he s l o w e s t a n d rainy. The sec-ond had big-ger rapids and a little less wet. But the third d ay wa s t he best. We went on many huge rapids. There wa s a lot of screaming. Al-though it was

Abov

e: 8t

h gra

de pr

omot

ion.

28 Gazette 2009

raining and cold it was so much fun and a great way to end the summer.

This year I did many fun things with my friends. For my friend’s birth-day we went and spent the weekend at the beach. We went whale watching and did tons of shopping. Also, at night we watched many movies.

One of my favorite things that I did with my friends was dressing as zebras on Halloween. Thank goodness I have a creative friend. My sister and

my friend Erica were talking in art class and came up with the idea. At first, I thought they were joking but it turned out they were serious. We went to Lippmans for zebra masks and colored them pink, blue, green and purple. Erica's mom dyed sweatshirts and sweatpants the same colors. I started painting stripes on my outfit but it took so long my mom ended up painting the rest. The night was great and tons of fun. I will never forget it and can't wait for next year.

This year has been a great year. I hope that 2010 can top it.

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Mat

ching

game

: Try

to m

atch

up Er

ica, S

ydne

y, M

orga

n & Lu

cie

with

the P

urpl

e Zeb

ra, P

ink Z

ebra

, Blue

Zeb

ra, &

Gre

en Z

ebra

29 Gazette 2009

James’ Parents

Lillian, my mother still lives at her home in Hanover, Penn-sylvania. She comes to visit once or twice a year and help us out in Portland. My father Charles continues to raise

horses, dogs & cats in the country with his wife Pam.

James’ parents

30 Gazette 2009

In the Desert, on the Waterby James

Three rafts, drifting for three days down the Deschutes River in August through desert beauty and desert rains, serene flat-water and roiling rapids.

Top: Desert wildflowersLower: A miniature tree.

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31 Gazette 2009

Friends David Shute and Stacy Allison organized the trip. For Os-car and Amy Polo, I believe it was their first float trip. Teenagers filled the boats and brought an electric energy to the camp - at least when it wasn't cold. Each family seemed to feel that their own kids could behave better, yet it didn't seem like anyone got out of hand. The desert was spectacular, offering up rain

Top: Desert wildflowersRight: Sophia Polo, David Shute and Stacy Allison on a contemplative section of the DeschutesLower: Amy Polo soaking up the sun and wind on a hike.

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and rainbows. Desert light rendered the dried plants of August as golden gems. With a slow pace through the canyon, we had time to walk and Stacy took the group bouldering up cliffs that the kids certainly believed were not climbable, yet they all made it to the top.

Unlike backpacking , rafting allowed for nice cook-stoves and hearty dinners. Little luxuries like chairs, horseshoes and Pictionary were brought along, certainly not typical backpackers accoutrements.

Then there were the rapids where people learned about high-siding to

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Top left: Morgan Thomas & Gabriel Polo pull while Sydney Thomas directs - they tangled with the river bank from time to time.Top right: The biggest rapids of the trip - we almost met our maker.Lower right: Eva Justenhoven trying out the kayakLower left: Susan Sienko & Oscar Polo relaxing while Zachary Shute pulls.

keep the rafts upright. The rapids seemed to instill just enough fear to keep everyone's adrenaline flowing.

34 Gazette 2009

Left

: The

Chur

chill

Arms

pub o

n Ke

nsing

ton C

hurc

h Str

eet i

n Lon

don

Edinburgh, London & Lakesby James

I fell asleep next to a stranger. Not that we touched too often, but we did compete occasionally for the arm rest. Even with my eye covers on, sleep was fitful. I find that studying French is conducive to sleep

and I listened to the French lessons on my iPod. I wake up to the pilot explaining why we are in a holding pattern at Heathrow (Londoners don't want to be awakened too early by landing jets) and there is a yogurt on my tray table. Despite the relative lack of comfort in the economy seats, I started the day in Portland, Oregon and the sun is now rising in London.

This year brought the privilege of flying almost every month, yet I can never get over the awesome feeling of awakening partway around the globe. Magic lives. To start the day in Portland and continue it in London is magic! No matter that the people speak the same language, no matter that everyone else seems oblivious to this magic, I am acutely aware of the gift of flight. I actually haven't been behind the wheel of a plane in many years, but I deeply respect the abilities of the men and women who levitate me around the world.

On this December trip, I had spent several hours staring out the window at the white mountains of the American west. There is a marvelous-ness to this scenery and I love return-ing home to Portland and the Cascade mountains, yet I find the pull to cities around the world slightly more than the natural splendors of nature. I love to photograph and experience outdoor landscapes, but something

draws me even more to the vibrancy of a city - the coffee perhaps?

I set out on foot wandering across London. Because I visited London only 8 weeks ago, I still have my Tube pass and I hop on like a local at Heathrow and disembark in Kens-ington. I have booked a room next to

35 Gazette 2009

Top r

ight:

Dick

en's

enth

usias

ts in

Roc

hest

er, K

ent

Bott

om: S

tree

ts of

Roc

hest

er, K

ent

durin

g the

Dick

ens f

estiv

al

Kensington Palace, home to a former Princess of Wales. I tend to book rooms online at Bed & Breakfasts. Arriving, I feel immediately at home, thousands of miles from Oregon. The princess's Kensington gardens are immense, open and filled with dogs and the people they drag along with them, all out meeting each other. On the weekend, batches of kids are play-ing football under watchful parental eyes. There are joggers and those cross country skiers, the ones with wheels wishing for snow.

I wander, coming upon young girls riding horseback, in London! I am suddenly in front of the American Embassy where hundreds (and later thousands) gather with placards pro-testing global warming. I wander until my feet are ready to drop off and I take the tube back to my walk-up, 5 flights of stairs up and looking out over the chimneys of Kensington.

During two trips to England this year, I end up lecturing about 9 hours. In December, at the invitation of Christella Antoni, I am in Nutford Hall at the University of London. There is a resonance in the old room that suggests there may well be ghosts

of lecturers long past listening in on this ongoing education.

I found London Walks tour com-pany to be just my cup of tea and I wandered with them throughout London, Hampstead, Rochester and other neighborhoods and towns. We visited pubs, festivals, movie locations and historical sites while the guide wove stories.

In October, Mr. Vasant Oswal in-

36 Gazette 2009

vited me to Middlesbrough as a guest lecturer for an ENT laser conference. He and his wife, Nirmal, shared their home town with me as well as a visit to the Lake District.

I found 24 hours to visit Edin-burgh, Scotland, a photographers heaven. Walking up Arthur's Seat in the late afternoon sun was incom-parable.

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Lake District Tree, England

Edinburgh & Arthur’s Seat, Scotland

37 Gazette 200937

Lake Windermere, South Lake District, Cumbria, UK

Sheep waiting to be written about, outside Beatrix Potter’s home

Edinburgh Skyline, Scotland

United Kingdom

38 Gazette 2009

Visiting Students

Mor

gan,

Sydn

ey, L

ucian

a, So

o-M

yung

During the summer, we hosted students visiting Portland. During July, Soo-Myung Kim was vis-iting from Ulsan, South Korea. We introduced

Soo-Myung to Seattle and camping in the woods and we sampled some Korean food.

August and September were filled when Eva Justenhoven joined us from Hamburg, Germany. A cellist, Eva brought music with her and an enthusi-asm for life.

StudentsEva

39 Gazette 2009

CampingDino's perfect machiatone

Soo-

Myu

ng, M

aria,

Sus

anLu

ciana

, Syd

ney,

Mor

gan

Jame

s & D

ino

Only the best Italian water in my espresso! Dino Cloward

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CampingMaria takes her turn at the Coleman.

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Campfire girls

by the campfire

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La boda

la boda

Antes 2009, I had never been south of San Diego. In March, I crossed the border for "la boda", a wedding in Mexico. Fermin Zubiaur, a former fellow, tied

the knot with Paty and introduced me to D.F. (Mexico City), Cuernavaca and how to really party - all night Mexican style. Baltazar Servin, my very first fellow showed me around his previous neighborhood in D.F. as well.

Gaze

tte 2

009

was p

rodu

ced b

y the

Thom

ases

as a

joint

fami

ly ad

vent

ure;

a mini

-less

on in

demo

crac

y and

dict

ator

ships

..

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American Cities

From Portland’s 45 degrees north to Sao Paulo, Brazil’s 23 degrees south, New York's fireworks to Panama's clouds, some of America's cities yielded their special beauty.

Portland, Oregon, USA

Sao Paulo, Brazil

New York, New York, USA

Panama City, Panama

American Cities

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New York City

45 Gazette 2009

Clockwise from top left: The Lady. Welcome to America. Theatre-goers. A hot couple. Rain in Williamsburg. Malwine Weber. Frizzi Linck. Fixie barista. Lux.

From the statue of Liberty to Williamsburg, we poked our heads around America's premier

city. Days were spent shopping for shoes, exploring histori-cal sites, drinking in the espresso and exposing ourselves to NY culture. Our gracious hosts Frizzi and Rama filled our evenings with wine, friendship and sustenance.

NewYork

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46 Gazette 2009

Frenemies

Frenemies

47 Gazette 2009

Frenemies

48 Gazette 2009

Parting Shotby Jim

All the best in 2010!