SUBJECT: CHRISTMAS GREETINGS FROM WISCONSIN, 2004 FROM: <rwpark@loonfoot.com> TO: <cmpark@adelphia.net>, <DPARK66636@AOL.COM>, <Ponder@nbnet.nb.ca>, <jason@rhinelander.ca>, <organic@threetreecreekfarm.ca>, <barbmort@c4.net>, <sellalaska@yahoo.com>, <mardnan@skypoint.com>, <parkx032@gold.tc.umn.edu>, <BIGWHITEDO@AOL.COM>, <flossy7058@aol.com>, <dmcall5553@aol.com>, <dwpbgp@aol.com>, <wpark@mn.rr.com>, <parkdoob@socrates.Berkeley.edu>, <parkdoob@bigfoot.com>, <bove@skypoint.com>, <DoppStein@aol.com>, <elyhull@hotmail.com>, <drsts@comcast.net>, <bird@engr.wisc.edu>, <dhavens@wisc.edu> CC: <bpark1@wisc.edu>,<Ianparkjmm@yahoo.com> DATE: 12/26/2004 Dear friends and relatives far and wide, Here is a summary of Wisconsin Park family doings since last year's Christmas letter: Robert and Barbara Barbara is enjoying her retirement, having added classes in master gardening, beginning recorder and watercolor painting to her other activities, which include directing the choir at our Unitarian Universalist fellowship and serving on the Board for a new wellness center not far from the church. I am heading into the final year before retirement from my now half time position with the Wis. Dept. of Natural Resources, Bureau of Air Management. I continue to post more family photos on our family Web site which now has its own domain name, http://parkscrapbook.us, and to work on other Web sites such as the Voter Quoter site I created at http://voterquoter.madisonwi.us/ prior to the unfortunate presidential election in November. Robin, Mischa and Ian Robin continues to work for AT&T in San Jose, California and Mischa continues to work on his Ph.D. in linguists at UC-Berkeley. They live close enough to get together for special occasions such as birthdays. Barb and I visited them there for a week at the end of April and start of May, and helped Robin move into his new house. (He is now a homeowner!) Both are in Wisconsin for the holidays, along with Robin's dog Willow. I hope to scan and post some of the photos from Oaxaca in southeast Mexico that Mischa brought with him. He spent from late June to mid August there studying Huave, a dialect spoken by only a few thousand people. Ian is in his 4th year at UW-Whitewater where he is doing well as a fine arts major. His pots have evolved from two footed to three footed this year. He is close enough that he can bop up to Madison on the weekend now and then, and we went down to hear an Arlo Guthrie concert with him on his campus in October. Casey Barbara's daughter Casey stayed in Alaska for Christmas this year, where she has recently moved into a new house that her boyfriend Tim has been working on for several years. Barb and I visited her there in early May, and she and Barbara got together in Massachusetts in late May for the funeral of her grandfather, Mort Steinau. More trips and visits This year Barb and I celebrated Thanksgiving in Minneapolis at Warren's house with James, Warren's daughter Catherine and her husband Ben and 2 year old son Isaac from Cleveland, and with Patty's extended family from the Minneapolis area. Warren, Patty and Daniel will be coming here to Madison on Dec. 26 to celebrate Christmas with us this year. They will join Barb's cousin Margot, her 2 year old Tavery, and her father Bill, who are already here. Pictures of Tavery can be seen by going to Barb's Home Page at http://loonfoot.com/bspark/, clicking on Hull in the navigation bar on the left, clicking on Hull Family Photographs, entering a username of "selkirk" and a password of "cottage", then clicking on Tavery. (Captions still need to be added.) Some of the photos are from our visit to the Hull's cottage at Selkirk on Lake Ontario for the 4th of July, which was followed by a brief visit to Wesley and Irene Leonard in Ontario. Barb also saw Margot, Tavery and Bill in March when she visited them in Cambridge MA and Portland ME helping Bill as he recovered from a fall. Park Family Scrapbook Web site With the move of the Park Family Scrapbook to http://parkscrapbook.us, a user name of "allPark" is now needed for access to the Family Tree directory. The password there remains "pfr2001". I think the Scrapbook still has some links to fix in its new location. If you happen to see any, please email me at rwpark@loonfoot.com. (Note that I am discontinuing the use of my old email address, rwpark@juno.com.) Additions to the Scrapbook include photos of Isaac in People Galleries - E, Wilford's Great Grandchildren, at http://parkscrapbook.us/E/galleryE.htm, and additions to the Places Park Family Members Have Lived and Visited page at http://parkscrapbook.us/family_photos/places.htm such as the photos of England taken by Irene Leonard while she worked there between 1956 and 1958, Robin's new house in San Hose, James' new condo on 3rd Avenue in Minneapolis, Warren's and Patty's 2003 trip to Mexico, and Alaska photos from Barb's and my trip in May of this year. Best wishes to all for the new year. Robert Park