Newsletter - Xmas 2000

This newsletter is a 'round-up' of 2001.

It was released to an unsuspecting world on December 6th 2001, and a hardcopy version was included in our Christmas cards to 'offline' friends & family.

2001 Musings

Hi Everyone,

Lynne’s turn to do the Christmas newsletter this year.

We celebrated the New Year with a trip down the coast to Monterey - a wonderful few days exploring. Our trip coincided with the migration of the Monarch butterflies and we were able to see literally millions of them at one of their regular stopping off points, the aptly named Monarch Grove. We also took the chance to visit the famous Monterey Aquarium, and drive the Monterey/Carmel scenic 17-mile drive down Route 1 along the edge of Pebble Beach golf course.

Michele returned from Christmas in England, and the daily routine was re-established.

Personally:

2001 was the year of energy balancing, Feng Shui, getting the garden done and making a start on getting fit. We had a Feng Shui expert come in and look around the house and garden, giving us advice and suggestions for colours and object placements. Dave took copious notes which we still use for ideas. He wasn't quite so convinced about the energy balancing, though, so I did that alone. I don't propose to describe it here, but if anyone's interested I can get my soap box out. Suffice it to say that I feel great whether or not it has anything to do with getting my energies balanced....

The hard work of turning the garden around was entrusted to the friend of a work colleague. Terry volunteered to do the hard work of turning the wilderness (albeit a pocket-handkerchief one) into a pleasant place to while away a sunny afternoon (when the sea breeze drops for long enough). Thanks, Terry, for your help and suggestions. We've done very little other than to add the odd extra plant and shrub here and there and keep the lawn mowed. By far the most successful was a pineapple sage plant which, with its bright red flowers, proved extremely popular with the local humming birds. We see them regularly now, and are currently searching out plants to provide continued feeding opportunities for them.

As for getting fit, this came about because I realised how unfit I'd become. Last year, on joining Berkeley Morris, I had resolved to play rather than dance in their first season, so that I could become familiar with their repertoire and free up some of the musicians who might want to do more dancing. When I started to learn dancing the dances rather than playing for them, by the end of the dance I was struggling and out of breath. Not good. So, I resolved to make an effort to get back into shape, and enrolled at the nearest 24-hour fitness. Unfortunately for me, this seems to have turned into a typical 'I go on a diet and everybody else loses weight' story. Dave decided to join shortly afterwards, and seems to be taking it much more seriously. He's rapidly becoming a shadow of his former self....

The fitness thing didn't kick in until after our 2001 UK tour, so those of you we met up with in the summer wouldn't have seen the evidence of this!

Our 2001 UK tour was a great success. We had so much fun cruising around in the (far too big) motor caravan we hired, and meeting up with friends and family along the way. Warwick Folk Festival, as ever, was a joy of a weekend. Fabulous weather, music, company....

Other new stuff this year:

An unexpected visit from Jennie and Claire for my birthday, courtesy of some secret dealings by Dave. In retrospect I was determinedly oblivious to the now obvious signs that something was afoot. I'm pleased I didn't pursue any of the tentative last-minute meetings and slips of the tongue that might have given the game away..

This year's morris dancing season with Berkeley Morris started early with the hosting of the West Coast Ale. My first chance to get stuck in with the planning and meet other morris dancers from both local sides and those from as far away as Los Angeles and Vancouver.

Autumn saw the launch of our own website, following our internet connection installation at home, and Dave's debut as newsletter editor for the Treasure Island Yacht Club, which recently 'came home' to the Island after being closed several years ago. We're now non-boat-owning members of this very enthusiastic, ambitious club and are looking forward to playing a part in its re-establishment on the local boating/racing scene.

Autumn also saw the debut of a newly-formed ceilidh band for the emerging English ceilidh phenomenon in the Bay Area. Our first booking with the Bay Area Country Dance Society's English Ceilidh series was a great success (by all accounts) and we are now charged with finding a name for the band (not an easy task if previous experience is anything to go by). Suggestions, as always, gratefully received.

This Year's Halloween was a much more domestic affair. Michele did a very artistic job of carving a pumpkin to go outside the house. It seems that a lit pumpkin outside a house makes it fair game for trick or treating, so we were accosted by groups of trick or treaters of every age group from toddler upwards - all in fancy dress (including a very impressive Harry Potter). If we're still here next year, I shall definitely be getting more 'candy' in. It seems that it's expected for people to dress up even if they're staying at home!

Economically :

Spring saw the California power crisis biting, with utility bills up 300% - still not enough to encourage the public to think about conserving energy until much later in the year. It was unbelievably lucky for us that our utilities are rolled into the rent, and we only took a rise of 2.9% on our lease renewal in March! We were also lucky to escape most (not quite all) of the rolling blackouts imposed during this period. At work, the office is in the same sector as the hospital (and was therefore unaffected), and at home I think that the island is served by its own generators.

On top of the energy crisis, the great dot com expansion had reached its peak and began to collapse. This 'tightening of belts' progressively worsened throughout the year, and Whitecross was eventually adversely affected first with the demise of the San Francisco software development team in July (the day after Independence Day) and later (the day after Guy Fawkes day) with a further staff reduction which affected both the US and the UK. Whilst we, personally, managed to survive the first of the Whitecross cutbacks, I was a casualty of the second, so am now re-honing my domestic engineering skills and practising some home economies. Avis and Sprint are the first casualties of our collective personal belt tightening - it seems we were able with very little effort to reduce our cell phone charges by a third with no loss of service, and as for Avis - Dave took up an opportunity with a new credit card company which gives us free insurance on rental cars. Since (as 'frequent renters') this is our biggest rental car outlay, it should decrease our costs significantly. Amazing what you can do when needs must...

Still, every cloud has a silver lining, and this particular cloud gave me the opportunity for another brief trip back to England to change my now invalid H1 visa for an extended visitor's one (for me) and an F1 student visa (for Michele). We had an eight day mini-holiday, during which I was able to see family, friends and colleagues, unexpectedly attend the Warwick Folk Festival Stewards' party, attend an evening with Roy Bailey/Tony Benn and stock up on my curry quota (thanks Graham). Visits back home are a strange mixture of wonderful and frustrating. Wonderful because it's lovely to be back. Frustrating because there's never enough time to get around to see everyone. Thanks particularly to my sister Anne this time, who made a day trip up to London from Plymouth so that we could spend the day together, but apologies to Dad for not having time to get over to Wales.

Of course, a contributor and exacerbater of the economic situation over here was the September 11th bombing of the World Trade Center. The aftermath of this has really knocked business confidence, forcing the US into the recession no-one wanted to admit being in. All this is quite apart from the personal and private tragedies past, present and yet to come.

The media, however, is doing a creditable job of trying to keep the general public up-beat and 'spending'. The airlines in particular (of course) have been hard hit, and in an effort to keep people travelling and generate tourism to the US are offering excellent deals on round trip fares. So for those of you who are considering a visit, NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME on two counts: one, fares are low; two, if the economic situation doesn't pick up soon, we might not be here much longer!

Future plans:

Michele plans to complete her two-year stint at the International High School and return to England in June to study A levels. She's already begun the application process for Stratford College. This, therefore, is her final stretch. I think she's had a good time - she's certainly made some good friends and involved herself in the many drama productions of the school.

We're looking forward to having Claire out here for a couple of months during her 'year out' between school and university. She's hoping to do some voluntary work with animals, maybe at the zoo, the Marine Mammal Center or the ASPCA. Jennie, meanwhile, having caught the travelling bug from her backpacking trip in Australia, is hoping to get a job on the Cruise liners and see some of the rest of the world whilst getting paid for the privilege!

For Dave and me - we'll see how it goes with Whitecross over the next few months. If all else fails, we could be back in England in the summer, with a two-year US 'tour of duty' behind us. Alternatively (we hope), business will pick up in the New Year and we'll be back on track for another stretch. Either way, we're looking forward to it.

As Michele returns to England for Christmas, Dave and I are looking forward to six days in Mexico to see in the New Year - another small contribution to our effort to make the most of our time here. Further ahead in March, we're hoping to use up some of Dave's hard-earned Marriott Hotel points with a trip to New York to meet up with friends Paul and Jools who will be celebrating their wedding anniversary by returning to the 'scene of the crime'.

As for now:

San Francisco is looking festive with lights delineating all the important buildings, a twinkling star atop the Transamerica Pyramid and lights in all the trees on the sidewalks. The skating rink again takes up space at the front of the Embarcadero Center and the weather is closer than usual to what I'D expect for the Christmas season (i.e. cold and wet)!

Finally, wish me well in my debut with Michele's school's parent/teacher choir, hastily formed to contribute to the Christmas concert - a benefit for the September 11th fund. We're doing four seasonal numbers, and a combined one with the upper and middle school choirs and jazz band. Should be fun!

Wishing you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year,

Love and best wishes,

© Copyright Cooke-Shuttleworth Enterprises 2001


This newsletter is a 'round-up' of 2001. It was released to an unsuspecting world on December 6th 2001, and a hardcopy version was included in our Christmas cards to 'offline' friends & family.		*2001 Musings* Hi Everyone, Lynne’s turn to do the Christmas newsletter this year. We celebrated the New Year with a trip down the coast to Monterey - a wonderful few days exploring. Our trip coincided with the migration of the Monarch butterflies and we were able to see literally millions of them at one of their regular stopping off points, the aptly named Monarch Grove. We also took the chance to visit the famous Monterey Aquarium, and drive the Monterey/Carmel scenic 17-mile drive down Route 1 along the edge of Pebble Beach golf course. Michele returned from Christmas in England, and the daily routine was re-established. Personally: 2001 was the year of energy balancing, Feng Shui, getting the garden done and making a start on getting fit. We had a Feng Shui expert come in and look around the house and garden, giving us advice and suggestions for colours and object placements. Dave took copious notes which we still use for ideas. He wasn't quite so convinced about the energy balancing, though, so I did that alone. I don't propose to describe it here, but if anyone's interested I can get my soap box out. Suffice it to say that I feel great whether or not it has anything to do with getting my energies balanced.... The hard work of turning the garden around was entrusted to the friend of a work colleague. Terry volunteered to do the hard work of turning the wilderness (albeit a pocket-handkerchief one) into a pleasant place to while away a sunny afternoon (when the sea breeze drops for long enough). Thanks, Terry, for your help and suggestions. We've done very little other than to add the odd extra plant and shrub here and there and keep the lawn mowed. By far the most successful was a pineapple sage plant which, with its bright red flowers, proved extremely popular with the local humming birds. We see them regularly now, and are currently searching out plants to provide continued feeding opportunities for them. As for getting fit, this came about because I realised how unfit I'd become. Last year, on joining Berkeley Morris, I had resolved to play rather than dance in their first season, so that I could become familiar with their repertoire and free up some of the musicians who might want to do more dancing. When I started to learn dancing the dances rather than playing for them, by the end of the dance I was struggling and out of breath. Not good. So, I resolved to make an effort to get back into shape, and enrolled at the nearest 24-hour fitness. Unfortunately for me, this seems to have turned into a typical 'I go on a diet and everybody else loses weight' story. Dave decided to join shortly afterwards, and seems to be taking it much more seriously. He's rapidly becoming a shadow of his former self.... The fitness thing didn't kick in until after our 2001 UK tour, so those of you we met up with in the summer wouldn't have seen the evidence of this! Our 2001 UK tour was a great success. We had so much fun cruising around in the (far too big) motor caravan we hired, and meeting up with friends and family along the way. Warwick Folk Festival, as ever, was a joy of a weekend. Fabulous weather, music, company.... Other new stuff this year: An unexpected visit from Jennie and Claire for my birthday, courtesy of some secret dealings by Dave. In retrospect I was determinedly oblivious to the now obvious signs that something was afoot. I'm pleased I didn't pursue any of the tentative last-minute meetings and slips of the tongue that might have given the game away.. This year's morris dancing season with Berkeley Morris started early with the hosting of the West Coast Ale. My first chance to get stuck in with the planning and meet other morris dancers from both local sides and those from as far away as Los Angeles and Vancouver. Autumn saw the launch of our own website, following our internet connection installation at home, and Dave's debut as newsletter editor for the Treasure Island Yacht Club, which recently 'came home' to the Island after being closed several years ago. We're now non-boat-owning members of this very enthusiastic, ambitious club and are looking forward to playing a part in its re-establishment on the local boating/racing scene. Autumn also saw the debut of a newly-formed ceilidh band for the emerging English ceilidh phenomenon in the Bay Area. Our first booking with the Bay Area Country Dance Society's English Ceilidh series was a great success (by all accounts) and we are now charged with finding a name for the band (not an easy task if previous experience is anything to go by). Suggestions, as always, gratefully received. This Year's Halloween was a much more domestic affair. Michele did a very artistic job of carving a pumpkin to go outside the house. It seems that a lit pumpkin outside a house makes it fair game for trick or treating, so we were accosted by groups of trick or treaters of every age group from toddler upwards - all in fancy dress (including a very impressive Harry Potter). If we're still here next year, I shall definitely be getting more 'candy' in. It seems that it's expected for people to dress up even if they're staying at home! Economically : Spring saw the California power crisis biting, with utility bills up 300% - still not enough to encourage the public to think about conserving energy until much later in the year. It was unbelievably lucky for us that our utilities are rolled into the rent, and we only took a rise of 2.9% on our lease renewal in March! We were also lucky to escape most (not quite all) of the rolling blackouts imposed during this period. At work, the office is in the same sector as the hospital (and was therefore unaffected), and at home I think that the island is served by its own generators. On top of the energy crisis, the great dot com expansion had reached its peak and began to collapse. This 'tightening of belts' progressively worsened throughout the year, and Whitecross was eventually adversely affected first with the demise of the San Francisco software development team in July (the day after Independence Day) and later (the day after Guy Fawkes day) with a further staff reduction which affected both the US and the UK. Whilst we, personally, managed to survive the first of the Whitecross cutbacks, I was a casualty of the second, so am now re-honing my domestic engineering skills and practising some home economies. Avis and Sprint are the first casualties of our collective personal belt tightening - it seems we were able with very little effort to reduce our cell phone charges by a third with no loss of service, and as for Avis - Dave took up an opportunity with a new credit card company which gives us free insurance on rental cars. Since (as 'frequent renters') this is our biggest rental car outlay, it should decrease our costs significantly. Amazing what you can do when needs must... Still, every cloud has a silver lining, and this particular cloud gave me the opportunity for another brief trip back to England to change my now invalid H1 visa for an extended visitor's one (for me) and an F1 student visa (for Michele). We had an eight day mini-holiday, during which I was able to see family, friends and colleagues, unexpectedly attend the Warwick Folk Festival Stewards' party, attend an evening with Roy Bailey/Tony Benn and stock up on my curry quota (thanks Graham). Visits back home are a strange mixture of wonderful and frustrating. Wonderful because it's lovely to be back. Frustrating because there's never enough time to get around to see everyone. Thanks particularly to my sister Anne this time, who made a day trip up to London from Plymouth so that we could spend the day together, but apologies to Dad for not having time to get over to Wales. Of course, a contributor and exacerbater of the economic situation over here was the September 11th bombing of the World Trade Center. The aftermath of this has really knocked business confidence, forcing the US into the recession no-one wanted to admit being in. All this is quite apart from the personal and private tragedies past, present and yet to come. The media, however, is doing a creditable job of trying to keep the general public up-beat and 'spending'. The airlines in particular (of course) have been hard hit, and in an effort to keep people travelling and generate tourism to the US are offering excellent deals on round trip fares. So for those of you who are considering a visit, NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME on two counts: one, fares are low; two, if the economic situation doesn't pick up soon, we might not be here much longer! Future plans: Michele plans to complete her two-year stint at the International High School and return to England in June to study A levels. She's already begun the application process for Stratford College. This, therefore, is her final stretch. I think she's had a good time - she's certainly made some good friends and involved herself in the many drama productions of the school. We're looking forward to having Claire out here for a couple of months during her 'year out' between school and university. She's hoping to do some voluntary work with animals, maybe at the zoo, the Marine Mammal Center or the ASPCA. Jennie, meanwhile, having caught the travelling bug from her backpacking trip in Australia, is hoping to get a job on the Cruise liners and see some of the rest of the world whilst getting paid for the privilege! For Dave and me - we'll see how it goes with Whitecross over the next few months. If all else fails, we could be back in England in the summer, with a two-year US 'tour of duty' behind us. Alternatively (we hope), business will pick up in the New Year and we'll be back on track for another stretch. Either way, we're looking forward to it. As Michele returns to England for Christmas, Dave and I are looking forward to six days in Mexico to see in the New Year - another small contribution to our effort to make the most of our time here. Further ahead in March, we're hoping to use up some of Dave's hard-earned Marriott Hotel points with a trip to New York to meet up with friends Paul and Jools who will be celebrating their wedding anniversary by returning to the 'scene of the crime'. As for now: San Francisco is looking festive with lights delineating all the important buildings, a twinkling star atop the Transamerica Pyramid and lights in all the trees on the sidewalks. The skating rink again takes up space at the front of the Embarcadero Center and the weather is closer than usual to what I'D expect for the Christmas season (i.e. cold and wet)! Finally, wish me well in my debut with Michele's school's parent/teacher choir, hastily formed to contribute to the Christmas concert - a benefit for the September 11th fund. We're doing four seasonal numbers, and a combined one with the upper and middle school choirs and jazz band. Should be fun! Wishing you all the very best for Christmas and the New Year, Love and best wishes, © Copyright Cooke-Shuttleworth Enterprises 2001