Still having fun!

A teeter totter somewhere in Tuscany!

Wedding wonders and cooking classes.

Tagliatelle tasks Think Covid!  Where is the mask?

And wine, always wine

And then there was opera with lyrics in Italian on the phone!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/33Adb8hQzHr74uhC6

He cleans up well!

Dogs are still crazy and with us!

Alfie in the cone and Sweet Lizzie

Jake's family!

Ian's family

Ian and Aidan

Candace, Nya and Jake's Paige

Ian Donovan and Aliette!

Donovan

Nya

Aidan and the new FIFA 2023

Liesl's family

Cooper Grace and Jake's Kale all wore Santa hats

Liesl and Nate

Cooper and Grace

Liesl and nate

Not sure about the "new" shoulder pad trend

Judahs including Odysseus and Olive

Miscellaneous Christmas photos!

Mason and Aidan

Liesl testing the wine's lasting power

Ian Mark Kale

Candy cane duels Donovan vs Cooper. with Nya

Rylee and Aliette

Left to right back to front 

Jake Mason Cooper Paige Rylee Grace

 

Christmas 2022 ----TOGETHER AGAIN!

 Christmas 2022 …finally together again!

After more than two years of watching TV isolated at home (recommendations below!), we finally got to have a real family Christmas again.  But, things have changed.  Grandkids have grown.  Two almost 16 year olds and a 14 yr old have all gained the lower registers in their voices, most of the time.  The oldest boys have either topped 6 feet or are about to do so --- Looking down on both of us (one way or another)! We also have two other 13 yr old teen age grandsons, two preteen girls and an 8 yr old girl who wants to be a teen.  And then there’s the baby at 16 months.  My oh my!  Things have indeed changed.

 

This year saw us getting back to normal, or whatever is considered normal for us.  Dinners with friends, restaurants, shopping, massage (YAY!) …some still occurring only with masks, but it IS better! Travels resumed, somewhat.  First, we took our newly pretty T@B 400 camping in E. Washington for a friends and 5-6 family weekend at Lincoln Rock. It was a T@B rally, Liesl and Jake fams came, along with two other T@B owners we knew in town, and their families.  50 odd other T@Bs scattered around the park (odd indeed).  Lizzie (new 10 yr old rehome setter) had settled in with us quite well but was a bit shy of the crowd.  Alfie fit right in and found having all the gkids around quite fun, eating Bonbel cheeses whole, not quite leftover hamburgers and hotdogs, candybars (still in their wrappers), s’mores. potato chips, tacos, taco sauce, more chips.  Aaargh.  We left Lincoln Rock after the weekend to spend a few days in the mountains at Winthrop, WA.  Set up camp there, and the dog corral, only to have Alfie become VIOLENTLY ILL, pooping red melted wax (THAT was frightening), tinfoil and who knows what else.  Had to break camp (and clean up the site as well as we could!) and head 6-7 hours home stopping every hour for a potty break.  We really thought he would die.  He did not.  He hasn’t learned.  He has remembered how to raid all kitchen counters.  Somebody’s got a shock collar on again – for Christmas, right?!  The only casualty this season being a roll of mozzarella cheese slathered in pesto.

 

We had planned some camping trips in Canada once the border lockdown ended.  With plans all set, I posted our itinerary in the T@B Facebook page, asking for suggestions.  The responses were interesting.  “How brave!  How long do you have? Where do you keep your spare tire, is it easy to get to?”  Hmm, then a kind person commented on how, after all the fires and floods (!!!!!) last fall, most of the roads we wanted to travel were washed out.  As were the campsites which cheerily took our reservations but had no usable sites …Change of plans.  Then, no, can’t change plans.  All the sites we could get to safely were fully booked.  Instead, we went to a couple of state parks and enjoyed music at Fort Worden, stopping at Potlatch SP, on Hood Canal to drop the trailer for Nate and Liesl to use.   Hoping for better luck planning Canada this year! Time to start planning that!

 

As always, we spent time in Gearhart. Mark also went back to Pendleton for a day or two of Round-up.  While I dog sat, he caught up with childhood friends.  The rest of the summer was spent fighting moles, replanting plants that froze the winter before, planting more dahlias and peonies because, well, why not?  I also made tons and tons of sourdough bread and found my 50 year old wedding gift meat slicer works well on bread … Wonder if I can find a new “bread” blade for a KRUP slicer?  Will have to check on Amazon ...  I also decided that making Kombucha was becoming ridiculous since I never quite perfected the extra flavoring process.  Now I buy it all, and Mark has decided it isn’t too bad.  The laundry room smells better and now has a hydroponic system for growing herbs and lettuce instead of bubbling kombucha vats.  Heh. In 1967 you could have been thrown in jail for doing something like this and had much more interesting friends.

 

The other event this year was our long anticipated trip to Italy.  We planned this three years ago!  I started teaching myself Italian in 2019 to help facilitate this long wonderful trip in the fall of 2020.  Nope, didn’t happen!  The Italian work continued daily though for three years straight (as of today) and I proved I could survive there.  We finally took the trip in October with the only change in plans being the inclusion of our nephew’s wedding near Siena for three days.  We met in Florence and Siena with friends from home, cooking classes, opera events in our hotel (me singing perfectly in Italian from lyrics on my phone – yeah, right).  And then off to the wedding, a marvelous event with people from all over the world.  A fun time was had by all until the cooking class, the one where nobody wore masks in a small steamy room, raised its medusa -like pasta head?   Four days after that class, I and one of our friends had covid, four days after that, Mark was positive.  Because we were testing daily at the wedding, we quickly exited the scene when we turned positive.  Isolation in Italy was easy for us with a rented car, lovely hotel room with private balcony and exit, open air restaurants, food sources everywhere.  We headed south to explore Puglia (heel of the boot).  We saw parts of Italy we had only briefly glimpsed in 1973.  One horror: Lots and lots of dead olive trees – it’s gonna get more expensive as the climate change bugs further invade.  10 days later we were free and clear on a plane ride home.  Added bonus:  better able to fight covid in family crowds!

 

We were lucky enough to have everyone gather for Christmas Eve dinner.  Thanks to vaccines and actual Covid infections, we were all able to be together unmasked.  On to other stories.

 

Jake and Rylee arrived with FOUR kids in tow.  Mason 15+++, Kale 13, Paige 8, and Aliette 16 months.  This may have been one of Aliette’s first full introductions to the family.  She was NOT overwhelmed and fit in quite well.  No napping for her!!!  Jake’s practice is still booming, no changes there.  Rylee has yet to return to work, spending tons of time with Aliette and making their garden into a showplace.  Mason is learning to drive, sings in the elite concert choir at school (the only sophomore!) and is becoming a joy to have around.  Kale is very much into baseball, quite disappointed that the season doesn’t last all year.  Paige loves everything Barbie and any puppy that wanders by.  Aliette is a happy smiling little girl who very rarely cries.  She has been crawling around quite happily for a few months now and is beginning to walk a bit.  She sees me and seems to start singing, so we yowl together at times.  She has perfected the one finger touch goodbye for Mark, just in time as the other gkids are outgrowing it!

 

Ian and Candace are well.   They just got back from their annual week long trip to sunshine in Palm Desert. That started with a way to travel and still isolate in 2020.  This year, Ian joined a new law firm, Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala in Tacoma, as a partner.  Much shorter commute from Puyallup.  He is very VERY  VERY busy but quite happy to have a team of friends to work with rather than operate a small boutique setup in a larger firm.  Aidan soon to be 16 is a great goalkeeper with an elite soccer team out of Seattle.  He spent a weekend recently playing with his team in North Carolina at some tournament, apparently a preview for college coaches (He’s a sophomore!?).  He and Mark discuss all things soccer.  Donovan 14 is no longer a budding thespian, but has bloomed.  He played a number of roles in plays this past year, both musical and “plain.”  Lord Farquad in Shrek, played on his knees because the character is short, was the most memorable for me.  Ayana soon to be 12 is also a soccer star.  She plays mainly in midfield but is slipping back into center defense.  Next challenge this year is also taking on the WA state team. She is a strong intelligent player and person.  She plays in orchestra and does very well in school!

 

Liesl and Nate completed a major rehaul on their house this year, building a deck off their bedroom, enlarging a patio and outside fireplace, and installing many new windows to bring light into the house.  Nate is still (!!) with Amazon, having worked from home most of the last three years.  Liesl has expanded her work week to 3 days, mainly due to the high anxiety levels in the kids she counsels.  Who of us hasn’t joined that crowd?? Cooper 13 is still reading 1000 books daily, has just discovered Dungeons and Dragons, plays viola in the school and city youth orchestra and has been back to rock climbing.  Whew.  Grace at 11 ½ is continuing with her charming fantastical imagination; she is doing well in school and has a teacher this year who truly appreciates her, is still riding horses, is developing an interest in volleyball and is regularly baking cheesecakes.  Finally, she also plays trumpet in the school band.  Busy whirling dervish -  can’t get a good picture of her!!  They enjoyed a Judah family trip to Italy and Greece this summer.  Only one caught covid.  Heh

 

 

Now, a reward (?) for sticking with this letter to the end.  Seems like every time we “get together” with friends and family, the conversation always finds a way around to “What did you do last year?  Then, following in close formation the following obvious questions:  “what are you listening to, watching, or reading”. So here are the BRT (Bauer Racing Team) can’t miss selections.  We finally got good internet this year so we can add streaming to the DISH cable service.  I gotta hate everything Elon but his Starlink is much appreciated until something else comes along!  TV shows we have loved during the past three years of isolating include the shows below.  Not necessarily in order of appreciation!

 

Schitt’s Creek

The Detectorists

Ted Lasso

Resident Alien

So Help me Todd (writer and producer is Scott P, our nephew!)

The Patriot

Slow Horses

The Good Fight

Only Murders in the Building

Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

The Kominsky Method

Three Pines

Annika

Magpie Murders

The English (if only for the scenery)

All things Masterpiece Theatre and most PBS

Yellowstone?  Not so much except for the horses and scenery

 

Mark enjoys MSNBC and the podcasts Bagman and Ultra by Rachel Maddow, and The Oath with Chuck  Rosenberg 

 

I am sure thre are many many more, but these come to mind first.

 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good covid free YEAR

A Covid Christmas! Again!

 

 SO, 2021, ALMOST 2022.  What is there to say?  Not a lot.  Refer to last year’s missive (below) for what we did NOT do.  So, this year, what happened?

Top on the list, a new grandchild!!!  Jake and Rylee had Aliette Eloise Bauer in late August.  A long awaited very joyful addition.  Pictures below!  On to everything else!

 

Again, we did not really travel much this year.  Certainly not out of the country.  Our frustration with non-travel led us to sell everything we didn’t need (2 cars, boat, my office building etc) and spend all that saved money in strange ways.  First, we upgraded our tiny 15 foot T@B trailer to one that was 3 feet longer.  Uh, that gave the dogs a place to sleep that wasn’t on our feet, most of the time.  We took a couple of camping trips, nicely isolated and in the fresh air.  After picking the new T@B up in Boise, we drove home and visited a couple of “Harvest Host” camp sites along the way.  Two were vineyards, one was a golf course.  Nice outdoor spots to set up!  Next, we tried to recreate our honeymoon by camping in state parks along the Oregon coast to the California redwoods, then back up through central Oregon, barely missing forest fires along the way.  We didn’t get to Carmel, CA, but enjoyed our 12 days in the bigger version of the T@B, which we have named AD@GIO.  It is truly a slow dance movement with partners to get out of the bed and into the bathroom at 3 in the morning!  Our final camping trip was again to the Oregon Coast, Ft. Stevens State Park, where we decamped to the beach house when it rained too hard!  At that spot we set up a “massive” corral with snow fence to keep the dogs in if we let them out at night.  Our only problem was: what kept the dogs in so well also kept the squirrels in when they came to steal food from the table.  Talk about a crazy wrangle with frantic dogs chasing equally frantic squirrels all over the corral…..sigh.  We then sent her off to the beauty salon to cheer up her exterior.  Colorful and busy for gray times.

 

No other travels, but we did start to eat out in restaurants – outside at first and then, briefly inside.  Then we welcomed omicron and got wiser about that…..Sigh again.  We did get our vaccines in January and February, then boosted in October.  It helps to be on the cancer list at UW to speed along that process.  Don’t tell them I am now 4 years free of that little bugger, it might interfere with more future jabs if they know.  Anticipating more boosters as we age!

 

We did manage a few family get togethers this year, almost all outside, bundled and sitting across a blazing fire from each other.  The annual Easter duck races in the stream were a bit subdued. For Christmas, we all got tested and wore N95 or similar masks.  Still met outside and bundled well.  Still joyful.  On to other news!

 

Jake and Rylee finished their new house and moved in just in time to welcome Aliette.  We have enjoyed free use of their new pool, though only met up there outside due to covid.  Lots of fun times for everyone, though.  Mason (14 soon to be 15) was more than happy to start freshman year high school in person.  He is in the choir and doing well in his classes.  Kale (age 12) is in middle school and seems to be thriving back in the classroom.  Paige at 7 (almost 8) is full of fun and fancy, just starting some hip hop dance classes.  They are enjoying getting their new rooms in shape with bookcases, bulletin boards and LED lights everywhere.  Best Christmas present was remote powered model jet-skis which they race all over the cold cold pool, driving Kula and Phoebe (dogs) nuts

 

Ian and Candace have enjoyed their work from home time.  The kids have thrived with Candace’s school at home.  Ian’s court cases were mostly by zoom or an equivalent process.  He is now back in the office a few days a week, but it is a ghost town with limited staff on site.  Last Christmas vacation they spent a carefully isolated week in Palm Springs and have repeated that this year.  The massive snow and cold that hit Christmas day did cause a 5-6 hour delay in line waiting for the plane to be deiced, but they got there.  Now the question is:  Will they get home OR  will they want to get home??.  Aidan (14 almost 15) and Nya (10 almost 11) have continued with their soccer, outdoors, mostly masked and few parents on the sideline…works well!  Donovan (13 and ½) is a budding thespian and has had assorted roles, again masked and with some outside venues.  My favorite was when he played “the blood” in Game of Tiaras.  Cute, clever and fit his personality well. 

 

Liesl and Nate have kept working throughout this past 18-20 months.  Liesl had lots of remote therapy sessions with her clients, and some in person.  It is hard to counsel kids without a view at their body language.  She figures she had this covid thing early on in 2020, but was quick to get vaccinated and boosted.  Nate worked remotely for Amazon and found it was not pleasurable.  He is currently on leave but will be back to work soon!  His trips to China and India were, of course, cancelled early on.  Cooper (12) is keeping busy with Minecraft, fencing lessons and piano and viola lessons.  Aside from that, he reads about 1000 books weekly, has started in on Wheel of Time.  I gotta love this kid!  Gracie is still an imaginative joy.  She is also taking piano lessons but has added trumpet.  Hmmmm.  She also is reading Wheel of Time along with Liesl and the whole family is enjoying the tv series. Heh 

 

I guess the final family members are the dogs.  We lost Zenyatta this fall, Alfie was then a bit clingy.  But, wonder of wonders, Joan, our friend and breeder, had a 10 year old dog “Lizzie” she was interested in re-homing.  Lizzie joined the family a few weeks ago.  She and Alfie get along well, though she is unsure if she wants to play hard with him.  Mostly it is parallel play with the squeaky foxes.  She is also totally entranced with our laundry.  I think it is the smell of Tide which her breeder also used.  She has had 4 litters of pups and clean blankets were always in the puppy box.  Heh.  She can open my sock drawer to take a snort whenever she wants. I am getting used to re-tucking the pairs of socks

 

We ended the year isolated in Gearhart or our apartment over our shop.  We put on a new roof, painted the entire interior of our home (a 4-6 week project), get all new carpet soon and will refinish hardwood floors in March.  Moved back in the day before Christmas. For 2022, we are anticipating a family wedding in Tuscany next October (Yay Adriana and Whit!) with a week in Siena with friends and an extension to Puglia, hopefully with Jake, Rylee and Aliette.  Fingers crossed but we realize it may not happen. 

 

So, we and all kids and grandkids (except Aliette) are jabbed, some boosted   We look forward to normalizing visits.  Fingers crossed again and future hugs in mind. Best wishes to all of you for a GREAT New Year!

 

 

Kathie and Mark

Ad@gio and camping!

 

Jake and Rylee and Family

 

Ian and Candace photos here when they arrive!