San Diego Sunshine Hits the Spot in February

Twice a year I am responsible to conduct a conference. This time we were at the Se hotel in San Diego. Tim joined me for the trip, and after the conference was over, we enjoyed our time together doing a little sightseeing.

Tim at Balboa Park

Beautiful gardens

Timken Greenhouse at Balboa Park

Look at the poster on the side of the building. The art it depicts is so outrageously contrasted by the beautiful artisanship of the building's facade. Why exactly is a bunch of colored wood lumped together considered art? It looks like something my kids once constructed behind our garage.

The USS Midway is now a touring vessel. In 1972, Tim's ship, the USS Hollister, escorted the Midway off the coast of Viet Nam.

Nw New baby panda at the San Diego zoo

WWII naval memorial

Georgeous views from our hotel suite at the Se Hotel

Honor Thy Father

Two of our sons, Jim and Jeremy, dropped by at 1:00 a.m. to decorate our front yard in honor of their Dad's birthday. But before they got too far, Gizmo's barking woke us, and the gig was up.

Tim Sr. says, "Thanks, boys, you made me feel ooohh sooooo special."

Catching Up

By the time I get home from work, the last thing I want to do is get on the computer, so I have not taken the time to post to this blog. I regret that because even as my kids have pretty much migrated to Facebook, and I dabble a bit, I still like reading blogs.

Summer went way too fast, but we managed a few short trips around the local country side to art shows, fairs, parks and to visit friends. A good bit of our summer was taken up by an overhaul of the garage. With everyone now out of the house, and all their "stuff" out of the garage, Dad decided to spruce it up and call it his own. He loves his new "man cave" and can find any tool in a second. No more magic words while hunting for a wrench or screw driver.

In July we made a quick trip to Chicago for Joshua's birthday, and celebrated with a great dinner at a wonderful Indian restaurant.

Norah threw some kisses to Grandpa during dinner.

Truman James was born to Tim and Marisa on September 10th, so we drove up to Madison, WI that weekend, and took Marisa's mom and Jimbo with us. Joshua, Rachel and Norah joined us there. We were ALL excited to meet Truman James for the first time.

Tim Jr. with his new son, Truman James

Marisa and Truman


Norah, Grandpa and Truman


Uncle Jim and Truman

Aunt Rachel and Truman (what a pro she is!!)

Norah loves her cousin, Truman

Uncle Joshua put his hat on Truman

Grandpa is meets Truman

Grandma is overjoyed to meet Truman.

Three weeks later we went back to Madison to see what we could do to help them catch up on laundry and to add to the stock of food Grandma Latini left in their freezer during her visit. Again, we had the pleasure of being joined by Rachel, Joshua and Norah. We could not believe how much Truman had grown!

"Tell me more about the super soaker water gun, Daddy. I'm gonna try that someday."

"Aunt Katie, when did you say you were coming up to meet me? Can you bring a German, Hebrew or Akkadian translation dictionary when you come?"

Uncle Jer and Uncle Jim, I'm getting ready for YOU!!

Grandpa LOVES his grandkids

That week we even managed a little time to explore some of Wisconsin around Madison. Jimbo would say they do not have rolling hills (that would be in Virginia). He says they have "undulations in the terrain," but the folks in Wisconsin call their hills "unglaciated mounds." These are enormous granite outcroppings with incredible vistas.

Here's Tim Sr. and Tim Jr. atop a mound. The horizon in the distance is 50 miles away. It was breathtaking.

The next day we went to see Frank Lloyd Wright's summer home, Taliesen. First we ate lunch at a beautiful restaurant he designed overlooking the Wisconsin River.


Then we toured the summer architectural school and Wright's private summer home. He was truly an artistic genius, but everything he built is falling apart. He worried more about how it looked than if it would stand up to weather or time. Whether it was furniture or lighting or buildings, he was too narcissistic to see the wisdom in form following function.

For example, FLW designed buildings without gutters so he could see the rain cascade in summer, and watch icicles grow in winter. Beautiful form, but obviously uncontrolled water destroys buildings.

Even with the engineering flaws, his designs are stunning and can today be married with sound architectural principals.

The back door to the theater at the school. The roof was cut to accommodate the tree. Beyond you can get an idea of the rolling hills and beautiful vistas that make up Wisconsin.

His attention to design was throughout every detail.

Taliesen means "Shining brow." He believed one should never build at the top of a hill, that the house should sit below the "brow" - and if you built at the top of a hill, you lost the hill.

Planters, lamps, walls, every detail was considered as part of the design.

And, now we're home thinking about the upcoming holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving. I wonder when I will find time for the next blog posting. If not soon, then may I say, "Happy New Year!"

Charlotte Graduates From Duke

This posting is a little late, but we figured you would want to see pics of Charlotte's graduation from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, MBA - Cross Continental Class of 2009 - on Saturday the ninth of May.

Of course we were incredibly proud of Charlotte - just as we have been for all of our childrens' accomplishments.

We traveled to Raleigh NC for the graduation, and met up with Katie, the Andersons (Hazel, Earl Jen and Dan ) and of course, Jim and Charlotte. We had a lovely weekend with everyone, and truly celebrated this momentous accomplishment.

As much as Dad and Jim were excited about the graduation, they were totally compelled by being at Wallace Wade Stadium (decked out for Oprah Winfrey's address to the graduating class on Sunday) and by Duke's basketball cathedral, Cameron Indoor Stadium. (Jim seemed to think it was like being at a holy shrine.)

Some of the pics are little fuzzy, but that's what happens when you're overcome with awe (or heat exhaustion. It was 91 that day, and we hiked all over the campus. It was tiring, but well worth it. What a beautiful campus - fantastic gothic architecture. Sorry, few pics.)

Katie, Jim and Dan.

Preparing Wallace Wade Stadium of Oprah's speech on Sunday.

Inside Cameron Indoor Stadium (basketball shrine) for Char's commencement ceremony.

We surmised that flag making must be a big industry in NC. Every place we went there seemed to be dozens of flags or banners. But, of course, the following banners are hallowed - or at least that is what Jim told me.

We all got a little choked up right at the start.

A small graduating class - many traveling from Germany for the Duke Goethe Executive MBA Class commencement.

Their Dean gave a much better speech than the commencement speaker. When the Dean spoke, it was apparant that his leadership helped make Fuqua such a quality school.

Yeah!!! Charlotte!!!!!

Congratulations to both Jim and Charlotte. You are quite a team.