Happy New Year 2020! Three Year Summary

Can we have really let our letters go for three years? A lot to catch up on!
Ellis is about to graduate from Stanford with a Master's in Computer Science. They have some wacky quarter system there, so he graduates in March or something. Then he'll start his job at Facebook soon after. His sweetheart, Dev, also has a job in San Francisco. You can take the boy out of the Prairie, but you can't take the Prairie out of the... Nope. He's a California boy now. But that's okay because Michael and I don't mind visiting the west coast at all. In fact, we spent Christmas with Chandra and Lila in Seattle. Ellis came up to join us.

Fun in Seattle

Chandra and Lila have some news of their own. They are engaged. Plans are still in the making, but we think they will set a date soon for 2021.

Dylan and Ellis at Pink Salt

We got to see Dylan on both sides of our trip, but working in the restaurant business, he has a harder time getting away on holidays. Dylan is the sous chef for Pink Salt, a wonderful restaurant specializing in Thai street food. He and his chef, Palita, do a lot of pop ups in interesting places. Dylan also continues his own pop up project, The Dinner Table. If you're in the Chicago area, check out his schedule. He usually serves a rustic soup and bread in a local bar. Good times!

Michael continues his private practice in Watseka, but he has started thinking about opening a second office closer to home. But that will have to wait until he returns from China.
Yep. You read that right! Michael Hoag will be joining me in China where I will teach for the spring semester. Our College of Engineering has a partnership with Zhejiang University, and our department teaches Freshman Rhetoric to prepare ZJU students to come to UIUC later in their college career. We leave February first, and Michael will stay for three weeks. I'll be there until June, and he will join me for the last month of my stint.
For fun, we travel a bit, and for the past few years, we've sailed on Lake Superior. Our nephew, Justin, went along as first mate.

Captain Mike teaches Justin on the arts of wind.

We also take a backpacking trip in the Porkies in U. P. Michigan. The dogs go with us on the trail, but not on the boat. The dogs love the trail and keep us safe from bears.

Mary thanks her lucky stars that she did not win the election to County Board, or she may well have landed in the County Jail as her opponent, Ray Spencer, did. Though maybe not, since she probably wouldn't have forged an email from the State's Attorney and then forwarded it to the media, though you never know because power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Mary ran for County Board in 2018 and got her clock cleaned.

However, she is proud that she garnered 300 more votes than the number of her party's voters in her district. Also Ray spent a pretty penny on glossy mailings that he didn't need

when running unopposed.

Two silly snow dogs

Ursula's Happy Spot

View from a Tent