Jim and Linda Soldier On
Jim and Linda continue trying to make up for lost time, criss-crossing the planet in their goal of seeing at least
50% of the bird species of the world. This year, when both passed
twin prime birthdays, they kept up the pace, with two foreign trips and more in the USA:
All this left our intrepid birders stuck in the 4800's. Maybe 2016 will be the year. Stay tuned.
Some trip photos:
In September, we traveled back to Houston for celebration of Marion's (Granny's) 93rd birthday with a family party.
We frittered away the rest of the year playing with grandchildren and celebrating various holidays.
Claire and Ron: Yet Another Adventure in Remodeling
Claire and Ron's remodeling of Rancho Relaxo, their weekend place near Philo in Mendocino County,
to have bedrooms and a bath on the second floor is finally finished worth the wait. The second floor now has room for four kids (more in a pinch), with a separater bedroom for chaperones. The second bath is a big deal.
Claire and Ron continue at the same jobs as before, at least for some time. They are talking about taking a break from work to concentrate on gardening at rancho relaxo. Claire works at Children's Hospital of Oakland (CHO for short) merged with UCSF Medical
Ron continues at Advent Software, now merged with SS&C, another financial tech firm.
Scarlet and Nico
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Nico in October
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Scarlet ready for Weird Hair Day
Nico has really changed this year, into a walking, talking (man, does he talk!), young boy. Both of these photos date from October, when the pre-school had a weird hair. This head shot of Scarlet was so good that we've put it into the Best of 2015 slideshow.
Charles and Amy
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Uncle Charles gives Nico a lift
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Kai and Amy at Charlie's Birthday Dinner
Charles has returned to the workforce, at the Rio Vista Public library, with a schedule that no one else can figure out. It is a long commute, though not by Bay Area standards, but against the grain, leaving plenty of time for podcasts.
Amy continues working as a midwife for Kaiser.
For the 13th year in California, Charles and Amy hosted the annual Iron Chef party. They assign each couple an ingredient, supposedly selected randomly, but somehow we got the same ingredient as Ron and Claire this year. This year, 40 people (more or less) competed for prizes in different categories, such as "most daring," "best use of ingredient," and the coveted "best in show."
We failed to place again, but at least
we got votes this time, at least one for Best in Show! We had the same ingredient as Ron and Claire: Peppermint. We opted for individual peppermint/chocolate cheesecakes, which were delicious. Ron and Claire came up with peppermint infused beef jerky, which earned them the prize for Most Daring.
Kai and Kiera
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Kai
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Kiera
Our older two grandchildren are growing up. As last year, both are in school at nearby Harding Elementary, a short walk from home.
The school has a lot of activities for parents as well as children. Charles works with the Dad's Club frequently.
Comensals
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Princess Moonbeam
No new additions to our roster of comensals this year. We still have Chipper and Cash to help us keep warm in bed. Claire's cat, Princess Moonbeam, who has accompanied her since Med school in Dallas, thru 7(!) moves, if we've counted right, finally reached the end of the road. She had a sweet disposition, and liked to be close to people. A very fine cat, indeed, to quote Dr. Johnson.
On to 2016
Standard apology for the lateness of this report, which isn't really all that late this year. Hope you have a wonderful 2016. We look forward to welcoming any visitors to our home in Oakland whenever we are there.
Drop us a line and let us know if you like this report. If you think we should simply use Twitter 
and Facebook 
instead, we'd like to know.
About the Quote
I think the best quote for the year is probably Yeats's Poem The Second Coming. However, we have used snips from that twice already. 2009 and 2004, though not directly, and we thought something else had to be better than a three-peat, no matter how appropriate. This quote, which Linda selected, reflects our approach to a time when "the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity."
