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John and Kathy spent an awesome several days in
Ireland with Ameriprise' Chairman's Advisory Committee. Click here
to see pictures.
John, Kathy and Peter spent a fun week in
California in August. Pictures are in several
sets. Click on "Sets" to see other groups of photos. A
highlight was playing golf at the famous Spyglass course on
Monterey. We played so poorly, we didn't even bother to keep score,
but it was a spectacular day, there were deer everywhere, and we had
a terrific time!
Over Memorial Day weekend, John and some of the
boys went fishing with our dear friend Jim at the Lake Mansfield
Trout Club. Kathy took the train to Chicago.
We all had fun!
We visited both Boston
and New York City during February, just to see the kids who don't
live locally. Emily, Patrick and Peter are fine and we enjoyed a
visit to Boston's art museum. Mark was in Juilliard's cabaret, a
wonderful performance by his third year class. We had great fun
sharing dinner and Sunday brunch with Evan and Peiling. A quiet walk
over the Brooklyn Bridge and a stroll through Brooklyn's DUMBO
neighborhood were also highlights.
During MLK weekend in January, Paul and Mia
joined us for a train trip to Chicago. What fun! We saw more than
thirty bald eagles along the frozen Mississippi and loved visiting
the Aquarium, until it filled with strollers. John was reading a
book about the Chicago's World Columbian Exhibition of 1893, and
there was a beautiful photo exhibit of that White City at the Art
Institute of Chicago, well worth the time and entrance fee. Here
are the pictures.
This was one of our best winters yet for outdoor
activities! We loved skiing and sledding in Frontenac. Before Peter
went back to BU, we spent time at Frontenac
State Park's sledding hill.
On December 26, we boarded a flight from
Minneapolis to eventually land in Rome, Italy. Patrick, Peiling, and
Mia joined us for the week and we had a wonderful time! We've split
up the pictures into four segments: Florence,
Rome
1, Rome
2, and Rome
3. A video from New Year's Eve is here (Sorry, still working on
that). We uploaded a number of videos on YouTube (search "Junek
2009") but not all have made it yet. We'll keep working on
it. I hadn't realized until
I was with the kids that Flickr's slideshow has a button on the
lower right corner of the screen to make the pictures full screen, a
great improvement.
Christmas was a blast, with all the kids home and
Verne and his family joining us for Christmas dinner. Patrick,
Emily's fiancé, sent us a dozen lobsters, which we very happily
enjoyed on Christmas Eve. A video of Paul dunking the
lobsters is here. Other pictures are here.
As usual, fall has flown by! We've been on trips
to Boston,
New York, Vernon,
NJ, and Hawaii,
for different reasons. Links are to photographs of the various times
that we've uploaded to Flickr.com. Mark appeared in the Juilliard
black box theater in American Clock, a fairly unsuccessful play by
Arthur Miller. It covers a lengthy period during the Depression and
made us realize that we really aren't in one. We're very thankful
that several of us are gainfully employed!
One of the most memorable parts of our trip to
Lanai was watching a BASE jumper jump from the top of a cliff. We
were on a tour on a large inflatable boat around the south end of
the island when we came across a young man in an ocean kayak looking
at the cliffs above. He said his friend was going to jump off the
cliff. No one on our boat quite believed him, so we went on in our
search for dolphins. As we were returning, we noticed he now had a
video camera in hand, so we asked if we could stop to watch. We were
afraid we were about to watch a suicide! Finally, a tiny human shape
appeared at the top of the cliff - it was about 1,000 feet tall -
then he almost immediately jumped. We freaked! About 150 feet into
his fall, the parachute deployed and when we saw how gracefully he
landed in the water, we realized he had done this many, many times
before. About 300 times, we finally learned. We cheerfully towed
them back to where their car was parked and returned to our resort,
with a great story to remember. I didn't bring my camera on the boat
ride, but other Hawaii pictures
are here.
We had a lovely summer and pictures
from our lake house are here.
John's dear aunt Joan died at age 89 in early June and Kathy was
able to attend her memorial in Cleveland Heights. Her pictures of
the weekend are here.
Peter graduated June 12 and pictures from his poster are here.
Emily graduated from BU on May 17, a drizzly but
still delightful day. The night before, cousin Margaret hosted us
all at her lovely Boston apartment. Pictures from the weekend are here. We visited NYC to watch Mark in his final play of
his second year at Juilliard - Hedda Gabler. Mark played Jorgen
Tesman in this Ibsen play. Pictures of the weekend are here.
Spring was lovely and late. Some pictures of our
time in Frontenac are here.
John's gift to Kathy for their 27th wedding
anniversary was a
new camera, and pictures
from it begin here.
Christmas was wonderful, as always. How could it
not be when all the kids are home? Unfortunately, we had a bad
memory card and have no pictures at all. Sorry! We didn't travel this year, but
several of the kids are going on trips. We'll post their picture
links when they send them. The family's gift to mom was a kitten we
named Luna. Pictures of Luna and subsequently-added Lincoln are here.
Juilliard's parents' weekend was the second
weekend in December and we had a delightful time! Pictures from some
of Mark's classes are
here.
Thanksgiving was interesting and different, as we
spent it in New Jersey; pictures are here
and here.
And, yes, that is Daniel Radcliff, AKA Harry Potter, on Emily's
right. The weather wasn't great and we watched the lake freeze every
night and thaw every day. Anne, Margaret and Annie came down for an
afternoon.
An early November
snowfall encouraged Kathy to play in the backyard. October
photos were especially fun as the trees have been unusually
beautiful this year. A drive around Lake Pepin is delightful and easier to do now that
gas prices have fallen.
The Republican National Convention came to St.
Paul in early September and, though not Republicans, we were able to
get tickets for the final
evening. It was fun!
Kathy had a big birthday in August and we partied
hard. All the kids and their dates were here, making a party all
on its own. We had a wonderful time vacationing
in Frontenac in August. The spring was pretty quiet.
We changed our departure to Costa Rica to
December 28, and had a wonderful time there! Pictures are here.
The kids agreed that the best part was the raft trip, down Class IV
rapids. The zip line was also fun, but very scary. See
Emily here. We also went to a Costa Rican bullfight - where some
200 guys tease the bull, but do not hurt him. Paul's photos include
some from the bullfight
here. We spent the last 4 days at Playa
Conchal, a video
of kids is here.
Christmas didn't begin well. Kathy's dad died
on December 22 (his
obituary is here). He had
had Alzheimer's for many years. The busy-ness of
Christmas kept us moving, and it was wonderful that the kids were already here. Other than that, the holidays
were great fun. The YouTube video with Verne baring
his belly is here.
Thanksgiving
found us all together and focusing on what we'd do for our Christmas
picture. Our neighbors have a life-size bronze stag and we
contemplated putting a red nose on it and arranging ourselves around
Rudolph, but decided it just wasn't cool to deface someone else's
art. We'll let you know what we come up with. The Abbey Road
take-off didn't make the first cut, but was fun to do.
After Russia, the rest of October was pretty bland. We did have some excitement when the American
Queen, the first paddle-boat we've seen on the river, passed by
our beach about dusk one Saturday evening. We visited her as she
waited in Red Wing the next morning and, wouldn't you know, she
parked right where we usually park when we sidle up to the
"wall." Apparently, the high and fast waters on the
Mississippi have created sandbars that haven't been dredged yet so she could go
no further upstream than Red Wing.
Other October
photos are here.
In mid-October, John and Kathy went to St.
Petersburg, Russia, with some 120 Ameriprise advisers and other head
office staff. It was spectacular! Pictures
are here. September was terribly busy as several of us got back
into the swing of school. Evan, Peiling, Mark, and Tom all made
visits during the month. Photos
are here.
We spent two weeks at the Frontenac house on Lake
Pepin during August, but we were so busy we took very few
pictures.
John, Paul and Kathy aimed to ride all the way around Lake Pepin,
some 70 miles, but time ran out on us. We did do nearly
every inch of the trip, but on shorter rides. During a splendid July
weekend we visited Vernon and spent a wonderful time with all
the kids and friends. June in Minnesota was especially beautiful
and we enjoyed our river house immensely. Some pictures are
here.
May was a very busy month! Mark graduated
from Columbia on the 16th and Paul graduated
from Cornell on the 28th. We also celebrated Teresa's graduation
from St. Kate's and Cheryl's from Iowa State. We're proud of all
those graduates! Other May
pictures are here.
Mark directed Columbia's Varsity Show the last
weekend in April and, of
course, we went to see it. It was very
weird not seeing him on stage, but he claimed it was "his
baby" from beginning to end. Naturally, it was fabulous, and we
aren't the least bit prejudiced. Pictures from the short
weekend are here.
We've had a quiet winter in Lake... oops, no,
we're not there. It was a quiet winter in Minnesota, with little snow
or precipitation of any sort. We've done more bicycling than skiing
and were amazed, given the dryness, how much driftwood lands on a
Mississippi River beach when the water finally begins to drop. Peter
and the Rosemount High School Band went to China for Spring Break. His
photos are here.
Early on 12/26, we headed to the airport for the long trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We had
a marvelous time! Mom's
pictures
are here. Paul took many pictures on his new camera and they're
here. Peiling sent us her
photos when she got back to Oxford. We came back on the 31st to celebrate the Guthrie
Theater's first annual New Year's Eve party. That, too, was a blast,
though we clearly lowered the average age in the room considerably
(and I don't mean John and Kathy!) Pictures
are here.
Christmas was delightful, as always, and everyone
seemed pleased with their gifts. Mark and Emily sang with Kathy and
the church choir at the late Christmas Eve service, the dogs didn't
eat any of the gifts, and the extended family came for Christmas
dinner, including three-week old Leah and newly-engaged Matt and
Cheryl. Here are some
of the pictures.
Havel, former president of the Czech Republic,
wrote a play entitled Beggar's Opera, based on John Gay's original
opera of Mac the Knife, subsequently adapted as The Threepenny
Opera. As part of Havel's stay at Columbia University, they decided
to stage his play, albeit translated, much cut, and acted with
puppets. We went for the performance on the 2nd and Havel himself
attended. Mark, of course, was Macheath, the two-timing bard. Photos
of the evening are here.
The Junek diaspora reassembled in Minnesota for
Thanksgiving and Mama was delighted to put all the leaves back in
the dining room table and fill it with kids! We split our time
between Inver Grove Heights and Frontenac, with the kids playing
some sort of rugby-related game in the afternoon and celebrating Red
Wing's Christmas Stroll on Friday night. See
pictures here.
MEA weekend in October is the absolute best time
to visit New Jersey! Our cabin in Vernon remains a wonderful retreat
and Evan and Mark were able to join us for a delightful weekend. The
fall color was nearly neon, the Jolly Onion was happy to sell us
some art, and it was just a terrific time. Here
are the pictures.
The end of September found us visiting
Boston to watch Emily in the BU-Radcliff women's rugby game. BU
was defeated soundly, but the weather was glorious and we were
joined by Anne, Tony, Margaret, Wags, baby Jack and two of Evan's
friends, Steve and Scott.
In early September, Kathy played hooky for a week
and we went to Venice with Ameriprise'
Chairman's Advisory Council. It would have been wonderfully romantic
if we hadn't shared the trip with about 250 business associates.
Some of our pictures
are here.
We closed on the lake house in Frontenac on August 3rd
and spent most of John's two weeks of vacation in furniture stores. We did
have lots of fun and have found we not only love the house (we knew
we would!) but also historic Frontenac and charming Red Wing.
In mid-July we visited Nebraska City at delightful
Lied Lodge for another McPherson family reunion. Everyone was there
except Grandpa and our Mark, whose production schedule at Chautauqua
prevented his attendance. Some of the pictures
are here.
Here are some
photos of our new toys, and our excuse for purchasing the
lake/river house.
May
was a busy month: over Memorial
Day weekend we camped, and used rental boats from Ketter's, at Savanna Portage State Park
"up north" near
McGregor, MN. We had a number of celebrations
during the month and a very special Australian
dinner prepared by our interim pastor, John Hill.
Late April found us in NYC to see Mark in the Varsity Show and
spend the afternoon at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. After the show, long
time friends Jim and Andi and Mark joined us and several from the
cast at Sezz Medi for dinner. It was a delightful weekend! The pictures
are here. We also enjoyed the premier for the movie Prairie
Home Companion.
If you navigate the site using the buttons
on top, to enlarge a tiny photo, just click on it. Use your
browser's
"back" button to return to the page you were on. Our newer photos are
being
stored at Flickr.com. When you encounter a link to Flickr, you might
like to select "View as Slideshow." I like shortening the
time for each picture from 5 seconds down to 2 or 3. Click the Back
button to return. Enjoy!
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