December | 2022 | John and Paula's Blog

2022 was better than 2020 and 2021, although that is not saying a lot. We managed to stay healthy most of the year and John got out of his leg brace in February.

Becoming more confident with international travel, we ventured to the Dominican Republic, Scotland and twice to England. Domestic destinations included Wyoming, Atlanta, Asheville, DC twice, Boston three times and Charlottesville twice.

Our immediate family continues to expand and mature. Stephen and Tanja live near us in Central Florida. Matt and Stephanie are still in the DC area. Danielle moved this year from San Diego to Charlottesville, Virginia. Leon is a teenager now and Julian is getting close to that milestone. Ben is 6 now and just got a new brother Jackson.

We are trying to stay close to both of our extended families, visiting Colorado Springs and Boston for reunion-like events.

We are continuing at a reducing pace with our consulting activities, with in-person events starting to return. That led us to Atlanta and London this year.

John and Paula

Danielle moved across the country to Charlottesville this year and moved into her new house in late November. We spent a couple of days there at Thanksgiving and came back for 10 days at Christmas. She got a running account at Lowes, which we made liberal use of for a range of projects.

Since we were there for 10 days at Christmas, though, it was necessary to entertain us with more than new home projects. She asked the locals what they recommended for activities. The first thing they asked was whether her parents drank. After she replied in the affirmative, they said “Oh, good, otherwise I wouldn’t know what to recommend.” Seems that Charlottesville has over 40 wineries, and dozens of breweries, cideries and meaderies. Thomas Jefferson takes the blame, for trying to establish a wine business able to compete with France a couple of hundred years ago. The Monticello Wine Trail is the thing now.