December 31:
We had lunch at a restaurant close to the beach in Half Moon Bay. Then
we had a quiet evening at the last day of the year with dinner at home
and two movies. We went to sleep before the day ended, but were woken by
a phone call from the parents in Europe at midnight. Ben spend the evening
with his girlfriend's family, and came home shortly after midnight.
December 30:
After a few days in the office this week, it was time for Diether to
sort out the personal belongings to move on for a new assignment, to think
about the many good days of challenge and success of the past work, and
to look forward to the excitment of new tasks.
December 26:
Around noon, we drove to our country cabin in Greenfield,
stopping for lunch in Soledad. When we arrived, we found frost damage to the
water system with a major crack in a pipe from the well. The pump, which
pressurizes the water for the cabin was completely frozen. Our min/max
thermometer had recorded temperatures as low as 14F (-10C). We never had
temperatures under 22F (-5C) before, and the insulation did not protect the
pipes against freezing at such low temperatures. After an inspection of the
cabin, we returned to Cupertino.
We will have to get the well service or the plumber for repairs.
December 25, Christmas Day:
We celebrated
the Holy Night in the German tradition by setting up the nativity scene
in our living room and exchanging gifts after dinner on December 24. On
Christmas day we celebrated by participating in a Christmas celebration
at Queen of Apostles parish, and having
a special dinner (a goose) with a good friend.
December 24:
After several nights of frost most of the citrus fruit in California
has been damaged by the cold. There is snow on the hills around the San
Francisco Bay Area. Some of the plants in our garden look a bit unhealthy,
but all the trees and the cactus seem to have survived. The lowest temperature
arond the house was 28F so far. However, we do not know yet, if we will
have a lemon harvest next summer.
December 20:
The weather forecast predicts a very cold night with hard frost. Jutta
and Diether buy insulation material for exposed water pipes at Orchard
Supply and Hardware in Sunnyvale. They install it around noon. Based on
a suggestion on the radio, Jutta and Diether buy Christmas tree lights
to keep the lemon trees in the backyard from freezing. The backyard now
looks very festive with lights and bedspreads covering the two trees.
December 19:
Jutta, Ben, and Diether continue to buy some Christmas gifts. It is
a nice sunny day, but relatively cold.
December 18:
Jutta has a routine physical examination in Palo Alto; on her way home
she buys some Christmas gifts.
December 17:
The laser work is finally performed. Because of eye dilation and the
high laser light intensity (an Ar-ion laser), reading will be difficult
for the next day or so.
December 12:
Jutta and Diether start preparations to spend the weekend in the country
close to Greenfield, when Diether notices "floaters" in his left eye. After
a phone call to the family physician, he is seen by two eye specialists,
who diagnose posterior vitreous detachment (PVD), an expected mid-age phenomenon
for highly myopic eyes. A laser welding is suggested for a peripheral spot,
but the laser is defect. Therefore rest at home is prescribed.
December 11:
Jutta and a friend attend a modern opera performance in San Francisco,
Ben works late on the setup of a school theater performance in the evening,
Diether has to complete two reports to email them overseas on schedule.
December 8:
After late night discussions with company people about the very successful
users' meeting, Diether almost misses his 7 AM return flight from Miami
to San Francisco, because the hotel staff forgets to make the promised
wake up call. At 6 AM east coast time, a friend, who takes the same flight,
phones from the lobby. After check-out, they take a taxi at 6:10 AM to
the airport, and arrive in time for the flight. Jutta picks them up in
San Francisco at 10:30 AM. In the afternoon, there are business discussions
at work in Sunnyvale.
December 3:
In the afternoon Diether takes a flight from San Francisco to Miami
to attend the ASH meeting. At least half of the passengers of the large
777 plane are conference participants. At the Miami airport he is met by
4 team members from other flights to share a taxi to the Miami Beach hotels.
The presentations at the meeting shows the excellent performance of the
products developed by our professional team.
November 7:
In the afternoon Jutta and Diether went to the open house of friends
from Woodside, and enjoyed talking to old and new friends.
November 6:
In the early evening, Jutta and Diether bought some hardware (for the
house, not the computer) at Home Depot. In the evening Ben's Monta Vista
football team played against Cupertino, and won 33 to 14. Fortunately it
was dry during the game, after it had rained quite a bit in the afternoon.
October 23 to 27:
Diether attended a conference on cell analysis in Quebec, Canada, and
met a lot of good friends. He also enjoyed visiting Quebec City. People
are very friendly, the French food and vines are delicious, and the opportunity
to speak some French was appreciated. If you need a recommendation for
a good, low price hotel in Quebec City, please write me.
October 17/18:
We went to
Greenfield to do some work. We started to cut some firewood for winter
from the dead oak-tree, which fell a few weeks ago. We covered the firewood
for winter to protect it from rain. Diether also sealed a large number
of leaks in the roof of a shed. The weather was outstanding with sunshine
and daytime temperatures up to 80F. In addition to doing some work, we
enjoyed the outdoors. Diether took some picture of autumn colors, with
some red leaves from poison oak shown here.
October 14:
Ben brings home a California State Excellence award in biology from
a test taken a while ago. We are all very proud of him.