January
2012
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AVAILABLE HERE
Happy New Year
from the Rosner family!
This
was the year of digging in the dirt, as we renovated a large
portion of the back yard that hadn’t had much attention since
we moved in 28 years ago.
The need for a new side fence precipitated the remodel
of planting beds, lawn and patio – and displaced seven yards
of dirt that was hauled away.
Six aged trees came out and four new little Japanese
maples went in. Runaway
vines were removed and replaced with rhododendrons, gardenias
and groundcovers. We
decided to use several limestone blocks in a serpentine row
along the fence as an architectural feature (1906 quake rubble
from Stanford campus we’d unearthed in a previous front porch
project). Some of
the completed project is shown below. As for the veggie
garden, it was again hard to keep up with the beans, but not
so difficult to consume all the beautiful heirloom tomatoes
and Japanese eggplant. Our
winter garden is in full swing right now, with beets, snow
peas, kale, chard, bok choy and lettuce.
Ari
continues to live in Northeast Portland and work for Hollywood
Farmers Market, which in July took over management of a second
farmers market. He also remains involved in a number of
grassroots efforts relating to food in the city. Urban
Farm
Collective had
a terrific year, growing substantially; they now have ten
gardens, all collectively-managed, doing educational work and
growing tons (literally) of vegetables! In February he
joined the board of Oregon
Sustainable
Agriculture Land Trust (OSALT),
a non-profit that holds agricultural land in trust for
research and education on sustainable agriculture. With all
that going on, he doesn't have as much time for karaoke, but
still enjoys relaxing, cooking and eating with his friends and
girlfriend Gabbi.
This
is
Sonia’s third year as a doctoral
student in biology at Harvard. She completed her
qualifying exam in May and is now officially a Ph.D.
candidate. Her thesis work is focused on asthma and
(tentatively) entitled: "Airway Dynamics and the Role of
Zyxin." Sonia is still a member of the Harvard Taekwondo
Team, where she is now a red stripe (only 2 more color belts
to go!). She and her boyfriend, Kyle, a fellow doctoral
student, moved in together this July. They were able to find
a bit more time for fun this fall after completing their
qualifying exams: they went apple picking, visited a
Renaissance Fair, hiked in the White Mountains, and spent a
wonderful Thanksgiving with Aunt Marj in Chevy Chase.
All
four
of us joined Jeff’s family to celebrate our niece Lily’s Bat
Mitzvah in Madison, Wisconsin last March. In July we met in
Portland to hang with Ari and friends and enjoyed great food
and brews. Ari
and Sonia came to Palo Alto for the winter holidays – see our
“around the table” picture below.
Not
much
vacationing in 2011 overall – the landscaping project took
most of our free time. See Jeff and Ronda’s latest
work-related news via LinkedIn – yes, we’re both still
working...
Ronda’s
2011
media favorites: Movies
– “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” and “Midnight
in Paris”, Books – “Just Kids” by Patti Smith, “Hotel at the
Corner of Bitter and Sweet” by Jamie Ford, “The Particular
Sadness of Lemon Cake” by
Aimee Bender and “True Grit” by Charles Portis. Songs – “The Walk”
by Mayer Hawthorne, “Summer Day” by Sheryl Crow and “Paradise”
by Coldplay.
Enjoy health,
peace, and love during the coming year.