May
the spirit of Christmas dawn on your life each day of the New Year
Sunrise alpenglow on Pedernal
Lona and I wish you all the joys of the season and hope you have a great new year.
We began our last Christmas letter bemoaning the fact that we had to
abort our trip to Arizona and New Mexico due to my hamstring injury
(see: 08XmasLetter). That misfortune turned out to be a blessing,
because this May we took the trip -- took it in better depth, in more
comfort in a new truck, and with a better camera for the picture
taking. It was much more fun than it would have been in
2008. 
The scene above was taken from where we camped at Abiquiu
Lake, NM. Fans of Georgia O'keefe may recognize the shape of that
mountain. She included it in many of her paintings. She
said, "I believe if I paint Pedernal enough, God will give it to
me." Her ashes are scattered on that mountain, so I guess it
worked out for her.
We had several objectives on this trip. Seeing
the New Mexico country where Georgia O'Keefe lived and painted in her
later years was one of them. We also wanted to do a pretty
thorough exploration of Pueblos, both ancient and contemporary.
Of course May was chosen because that is when the cactus is in
bloom. We wanted to get beautiful scenery and wildflower pictures.
I have included thumbnails of
a few of my 997 pictures. If you poise your mouse over a thumbnail, a
description of the picture pops up. You can click on it to see a
larger picture. After viewing, hit the back button on your browser. 
I have tried very hard not to over do these pictures. These are a tiny sample, and they do not even scratch the surface of what we saw. It was a great trip.
Most of the rest of our year has been pretty usual. We do our best to stay fit and healthy. This year we took more all-day hikes in the mountains surrounding our valley than ever before.
We enjoy the cultural life of the Bay Area, especially our season
tickets to Opera San Jose. I continue my support of the
University of M0 in the Physics Leaders alumni support group and the
A&S Strategic Development Board. Generally, I go back to MO
only once, that to join other Physics Alumni in
our support of the department and its students. Over the years, I also have been supporting the efforts of the Dean of the College of Arts and Science to establish similar alumni groups in his other departments. This year, in a fit of temporary insanity, I volunteered to go back a second time to attend the meeting of
his Strategic Development Board, and make a
presentation about the Physics Leaders, its activities, and its
accomplishments. The presentation took a lot longer to prepare
than I had anticipated, but it was very well received and was worth the
effort.
Your friends,
Lona and Don
