Home Leaves 2016

At the beginning of 2015, Tom was no longer considered an expat as far as his contract is concerned. This means there are fewer perks including that the company no longer paid for an annual flight home. It didn't change anything for us. In fact, I went with the same or increased frequency. The two main trips of 2016 were in late May into early June and again in August. 

The first trip was scheduled in order to be among the crowd at Alicia's graduation from Boston College, receiving her Master of Social Work degree (MSW).

listening to the speeches

on the way to getting her diploma!

Congratulations, Alicia!

All graduated and now it's photo time! 

The Rogers grandparents were able to make the trip north for the occasion.  


 

Shane and Alicia

Tom and I spent a week in Westport, MA together before he had to return to work. Afterwards, my sister, Janis, came north to spend a few days with me. It was her first time to see the rebuilt cottage.  

We spent a day in Newport, RI. First stop, a mansion tour. We chose the Elms because not only can you see where the rich vacationed, there is also a behind the scenes servant tour. For fans of Downton Abbey, it is very interesting to see the downstairs scene.

inside the Elms

For any tennis fan, a Newport must is the International Tennis Hall of Fame. I've been there several times before, but I don't mind going again. 

I have a  photo of my mother and one of myself posing with this statue. Now all I need is one of our other sister, Karen, and the collection will be complete. 







Justine Henin was always a favorite of mine and it was a very sad day for me when she retired. I love this quote from Billie Jean King. Justine was inducted into the Hall of Fame this July. I would have loved to be there to watch, but sometimes living in Europe is inconvenient. 
 

Janis and I also took a road trip to see some of the Cape Cod lighthouses. 

This lighthouse was a disappointment. The website said you could tour the inside, but the days and times online were not accurate. No tours the day we were there. It's windy on the coast!

Nauset Light - part of Cape Cod National Seashore

The three sisters lighthouses are also part of Cape Cod National Seashore (part of the National Park Service). Two sisters, but three lighthouses. Once they were no longer in use, they were purchased for $1 and moved by an individual to this property to be preserved. 

missing Karen to make the photo complete.

Originally the three lighthouses signaled to boats where on the Cape they were. 

On our drive from MA back to PA, we had the pleasure of visiting with our niece, her husband and baby. It was the first time Janis met Madelyn Brooke Ryan who is absolutely adorable.  She was even wearing Swiss flags and St. Bernards on her shirt.  Awww!

mom (Cathy) and Madelyn

going for the hair or the earrings?

Great-Aunt Janis

dad (Mark) doubles as play equipment

It was a short, but very sweet visit. 

I was with my parents in Lititz for an early celebration of their 65th wedding anniversary! We went to a dinner theater and had a good time with many laughs.

unplanned color-coordination

statue outside New Bedford ferry station

I returned to the USA in August for a week of R&R with Tom in Westport. We got in two trips with the kayak and had local seafood most every day. We also took the ferry from New Bedford out to visit Phil and Jane Dietterich on Martha's Vineyard. 

wind on the ferry doesn't help a hairdo!

On our return, it was interesting to watch the bridge being turned to allow a ship out of the harbor.

As usual, my trips also involve appointments and projects that are not fun. This time it was inspecting our NJ house after the lousy tenants had vacated. I'm not including any of those pictures. The house could have been worse, but it was extremely dirty and they left many things behind that we now have to discard. At least we can move forward. 

A bonus on this trip was an evening spent with a college friend. I hadn't seen Ginny since our 30th reunion which was five years ago! I will miss the 35th reunion, but it was fun to catch up. We're getting old!






On my way through CT, I stopped at Karen's house both times. It's nice to visit and also break up the drive. I had a chance to see the Ryans again, but this time I neglected to take pictures of Madelyn's parents or grandparents! Oops!

 

Karen, David and I went to the Connecticut Open (part of the US Open tennis series) to see some women's tennis up close and personal. It was amazing how few people were there. Not great for the players, but not bad for us. We bought the cheapest tickets and sat wherever we wanted! 

main stadium - not a big crowd!

Some of the highlights:

A. Radwanska on the practice court

 

Genie Bouchard

Swiss Miss: Timea Bacinsky

  

Caroline Wozniacki played incredibly poorly while we were there rooting for her. It was painful to watch. I'm very glad she is doing much better in New York. 

Swiss Miss: Belinda Bencic

I always enjoy watching tennis live and this time was no different. It was just disappointing to watch both Swiss Misses lose!

 Bonus of the day in celebration of Girl's Day out:  photos with Genie Bouchard.

Karen and I with our new pal

There's never enough time to do everything I'd like and it's always hard to leave Westport. My last full day I finally made it to the beach. After I parked the car, I was in a bit of a panic because my parking permit no longer matches the license plate of the car (having just transferred to MA plates). I went in the later afternoon and luckily for me no one was checking. The water wasn't too cold, there wasn't much seaweed and the waves were just the right size = perfection!

sand sculpture on the town beach

After nearly all of August in the USA, it was time to return to Switzerland. As many of you already know, we're reaching the end of our time here. The next port of call will be Los Angeles which came as a surprise to us both. Since I will still be far from home, I'm expecting to again feel a bit like an expat although I do speak the language! I will continue to use this blog space to write about life in LA and post pictures of trips on that side of the world.