December 20, 1994
Season's greetings to all of you - and we hope you all had as good a year as we did. Judy's career is still improving, meaning she is busier than ever, working more hours than in the past. She is also booked far into the new year. My job is also going great. I am spending the majority of my time in Newport News, at CEBAF (a nuclear physics laboratory there), doing research. About 20 percent of my time I spend at the University of Maryland up outside of Washington D.C. (they DO pay my salary after all).
We both did a lot of travelling this year, mostly work for me, and vacation for Judy. In May we went to a nuclear physics conference in St. Petersburg Florida. The conference was a lot of fun, and the hotel was very posh. Judy spent some well-deserved time in the sun while I went to meetings most of the day. One day of the conference was even arranged for canoeing in the swamps. We saw several (maybe 2 dozen) alligators, making it a memorable trip! After the conference we stayed an extra day to go to Epcott Center (since we were in the neighborhood).
I was lucky enough to go to Europe 3 times this year - twice to CERN (the Centre European for Research Nuclaire - sort of like Mecca for nuclear and particle physicsts). Judy was able to go on the first trip, about 2 weeks in June which ended up having a fair amount of free time to sightsee around the Geneva Switzerland area. And of course Judy finally mastered the art of the stickshift, on the mountains of Switzerland. After driving on the narrow, twisty roads there, she has had no trouble driving my (stickshift) truck back home here. We also grabbed the opportunity to stop again in London on the way back, to stay with Lord and Lady Weatherall in St. James Palace. Besides having the opportunity to see the Queen (out the back window of St. James Palace, and no, she did not see us) and Prince Charles's watercolors, we also managed to go to the "London Dungeon" and the Museum of London. Two very different collections. Sort of like cmparing shopping in Macy's in New York City and shopping in the corner 7-11 .
Then in August I went back for another 2 weeks to CERN (unfortunately without Judy that time - she had to get in SOME work). In between I had a trip to the exotic and foreign IUCF (Indiana University Cyclotron Facility) in Bloomington Indiana. Actually, it is a fun town, not what one might expect for a midwestern small town.
And coming back from my second trip to Geneva, I was just in time to join Judy and the rest of her family in celebrating her parent's 50th wedding anniversary. That was a really neat celebration, with the entire family there to recall the past half century. Here Judy and I thought WE had been married for a little while now. (September marked our 4th anniversary.) In september I made my third trip to Europe- a short business trip (again, without Judy unfortunately) to Rome. My colleagues there did a wonderful job of showing off their city, and even arranged the hotel (right across the street from the Coliseum!). I had a great time and managed to get lots of useful work done.
We did take an honest-to-god vacation this year though. At Thanksgiving the two of us went out to California to visit family. We stayed with Judy's brother first in L.A., then Judy went to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, while I went to San Diego to visit my parents (Judy joined me there a few days later). It was 2 1/2 years since I last visited them out there, so we were long overdue.
Judy and I will be spending Christmas at home this year, with just the 2 dogs for company. We are both actually looking forward to it a lot - a few days of quiet to "cocoon" with each other and get lots of rest. We are planning on having afternoon naptime, watching videos, using the hot tub, and snuggling by the fireplace. I hope all of you have as good a Xmas!!
Last Updated 04/13/95.© 1996 PPSA