Dear Friends and Family;
Life was full of exciting events and travel in 2008
Hilary gave birth to Nina Franza Czarda on October 1st in Honolulu. Nina, who made a dramatic and late entrance onto the world stage, weighed 8 lbs, 7 oz. and was 22 in. long. At birth, she had blonde / light brown hair, dark blue eyes and began expressing her opinions immediately. Nina, Hilary and Josh are doing well, spending Christmas with the East Coast contingent of relatives. Needless to say, we are delighted to be grandparents of such a fine girl.
Andrea and Bobby Previte "eloped" on February 23rd in New Hampshire during their joint fellowship at the McDowell Colony early in 2008. They celebrated their marriage with family and friends at reception / party, at a waterfront Brooklyn recording studio, in August. Musician friends provided the music, with the groom himself on drums and vocals. They spent September in a villa overlooking Lake Como, Italy as part of another arts fellowship. Bobby's work, The 23 Constellations of Joan Miro, had its American premiere at the Winter Garden in New York in October. Andrea was a producer for the multi-media event.
Jared continues to develop his practice as a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine and a licensed acupuncturist in New York. Seema is now at work on a novel, something she always wanted to do. Jared and Seema are delighted to have two nieces born in 2008: Nina and Sia, courtesy of Seema's brother and his wife.
Rich, now HTML Project Architect, continues to launch and support ecommerce websites for Charming Technical Services Direct/ Charming Shoppes, Inc. After he and Susan went to a very poorly attended concert by a fine singer/songwriter, Rich launched Tucson Music Scene, a website which aims [eventually and with the help of others] to list all live local music events under one electronic roof. Hopefully, folks, now able to find out about performances more easily, will come out and support their favorite artists. Rich became a small concert producer in early December when he sponsored a performance by Marina V, a Los Angeles based singer-songwriter. Two local singer/songwriters opened the concert, held in an art gallery. Rich turned 60 in March. He and Susan traveled to Hawaii to celebrate with Hilary and Josh. They traveled all over Oahu and spent a weekend in Maui, before having a fun birthday dinner arranged by Hilary and Josh at a Korean BBQ shack.
Susan became more involved with the Tucson community during 2008. She is Secretary of the Fox Tucson Theatre Board and a Board Member for La Pilita Museum, a community arts and history museum located in the Barrio Viejo district, which is rich in Mexican American heritage. Susan continues to volunteer in the NICU [neonatal intensive care unit] at University Medical Center, which she finds both rewarding and eye opening. For History Behind the Scenes, she spent most of the year working her aunt's [Jane Atherton Roman] archives. The data base for about 3100 documents is about ready to be tested -- finally.
Travel was a big part of 2008. Susan went to Ottawa for her annual ALHFAM professional conference and really enjoyed the city. She and Rich went to New York to celebrate Andrea and Bobby's marriage and enjoyed being back in the Big Apple. Susan returned to Hawaii in September for Nina's arrival -- and spent a month helping out and enjoying Honolulu, a very livable city. After all of that, she is happy to stay put for the holidays.
We wish you and yours all the very best for 2009
