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| Munich Christmas Market 2013 |
Christmastide
2013-2014 January 4, 2014
What a
wonderful year was had by the Swanson clan!
Rob and Stephanie are busily planning their upcoming April Wedding. Kirstin and Brian have the privilege of
watching and guiding Erin and Ian as they grow into their own personhood. Tara continues to develop her professional
and personal skills amazing us all with her creativity in creating original
crocheted dolls and animals for the children and grandchildren of her many friends
and relatives. Although just a hobby at
this point, I am hoping she thinks about marketing these talents into an online
business. All three Swanson offspring
currently work in one capacity or the other for the City of New York. Kirstin
is the Director of Development for Kingsborough Community College; Tara is in
the communications office of the Independent Budget Office, and Rob is working
for the Department of Sanitation. I
still work part time for the Department of Education in the Certification
Office. It keeps me in travel money.
And travel
was an important part of this past year.
In March I attended meetings outside Baltimore and got to visit friends
there. Late April and May found me in
England doing some genealogy research on the Conkling family which took me to
Nottingham where I visited the church in which my 8th
great-grandparents were wed in 1531. I visited with friends while there not
only in Nottingham, but in Coventry, London and Cookham. I also visited Bath and Winchester while I
was staying in Southampton. Getting a
Brit Rail pass was the best thing I did.
Travel pals Paul and Diane Schneider met me in Southampton; we sailed
back to NYC on the maiden voyage of the NCL Breakaway. It was a great trip. June
took me to Williamsburg, VA for another conference and some nice touring time
with friends. In late August I went to Nantucket with my
sister, Jean and cousin, Barbara. It was
a relaxing time with lots of good seafood.
In September, my newly retired sister, Joan Filippone and I were off to
Rome. The Eternal City was a great
treat! We climbed the Palatine Hill,
visited the Vatican, the Coliseum, the Forum and the Sistine Chapel. Our highlight had to be a private cooking
class near the Spanish Steps. We learned
how to make gnocchi, linguini and a wonderful butter and mint sauce for
ravioli. Joan got a lot of attention since all of the local guides…mostly male,
were under the impression that “Signora Filippone” was Italian and coming
home. I was along for the ride.
But the best
trip of the year had to be the Christmas Market cruise down the Rhine River
from Amsterdam to Basel. This trip was
three years in the making and did not disappoint. The cathedral in Cologne, the trip through
the Black Forests, the serendipitous lunches in Mainz and Strasbourg, the
Markets in every town we stopped in…all were wonderful and all were memorable.
My travelling companions: Charles and Karen Carlson, Diane and Paul Schneider
and Peter Weymar, were all easy to travel with and, we all enjoyed this trip so
much that we are planning another one in about a year.
Although I
did more than my share of travelling this year, I also continued to work on
hurricane relief here on Staten Island.
Up until this month, I chaired the Volunteer Housing Committee of the
Staten Island Long Term Recovery Committee.
In that capacity my committee identified and secured volunteer housing
sites for long term volunteers doing reconstruction work on Staten Island. This work continues, as does my volunteer
work at the Stapleton Soup Kitchen. We
served 183 for Christmas and 72 today when the temperature hovered at 20
degrees.
Needing to
close, I wish you a happy 2014, and pray the joy of Christmas follows you all
year long!
Geri Swanson
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