Merry Christmas  and  Happy Holidays
from the  Neergaards!


           Jan Willem              Arthur                            Dick                       Lois                            Peter                                       
                                                                                                                                 Cathy
                                               Sue                                    Richard           Lila        Ishraq                                               

       Samer                             Willem                                 Nick                  Steven                      

Notes from Dick and Lois
Our son Richard observes (below) that he's reached an age where his kids’ stories have become more interesting than his.  True in spades for us of yet another generation up. [See below for the stories of the “kids”].  Top family-news headlines:  Peter married Cathy Milligan in January, and they've now blessed us with our sixth grandchild.  Jan Willem has launched a new career:  he's charged with creating a company in the Netherlands for the design and manufacture of wind-turbine blades.


As for us on the senior level, traveling, other than our annual snowbirding pilgrimages to Hilton Head, has been pretty much limited to trips to the grocery store.   But life in Cincinnati was not without excitement.  Hurricane Ike wafted past us (yes, in Cincinnati Ohio!) leaving most of the region, including us, without power for over a week as we picked our way through tens of thousands of felled trees and power poles.  For pix of our exciting tree-clearing adventure, see: http://neergaard.org/rhn/TreeRemovalDamages/

All that wind blew us into a survival mode for a couple of weeks, never really a dire situation but a pain in the neck and blasting a good-sized hole in our summer.
During the rest of the year Cincinnati’s estimable opera and theater season provided a sparkling backdrop to an active social fabric, and we managed to keep the blood moving in our veins by playing (at) tennis as often as we could, mostly involving running about he court and shouting “Yours!” at one another.
NOW – to present the news of the more interesting and certainly more energetic members of our family, I’ve again succeeded in recruiting the youngsters themselves to compose their own sections to this letter [Yesssss!].   Here they are:     
 

Notes from the van der Werff’s – our Daughter Sue, her Husband Jan Willem, and our G’kids Willem & Nick
Catching pike.  That has been one of our goals this year. We live on a branch of the Amstel river [editor:  in a charming village south of  Amsterdam] (the water level of which sits about 6 feet above our driveway) and we know the pike is in there. This is worth mentioning because we have once more rearranged our lives, and now such little pursuits of happiness (for us, not for the pike) have become more rule than exception.
After a year and a half of constant travel with Suzlon [a global wind-farm company based in India] – virtually requiring commuting between Amsterdam and Chicago – I [Jan Willem] was recruited by a Dutch renewable-energy firm to start up a company to design and produce rotor blades for wind turbines.  We pondered naming it “Fan-tastic!” for a while, but settled on General Blade Technology.  The startup is going well in spite of the current economic conditions, since the growth of, and the interest of investors in, renewable energy remains huge.  Our current focus is to construct offshore installations to deliver wind energy.   These are currently located almost entirely in the North Sea.  As a consequence travel is reduced to daytrips to the UK and Denmark.

Sue has become an expert in KLM (yes, the Royal Dutch Airline) collectibles, such as the well-known little Delft houses (and their enjoyable contents [Geneva, or Dutch gin;  these houses used to be given out as promotions by KLM] ).  Some of them are extremely rare and highly sought-after.   In order to win these rare houses at auction, Sue has become a ferocious EBay sniper.    

On another front, the International School of Amsterdam has discovered Sue’s talents in bringing people together and has asked her serve as the liaison between teaching staff and parents.

At that same school, Nick and Willem are doing well in 4th and 6th grades respectively.  With Willem it’s clear that the teenage years are upon us……you know, like……whatever.   Despite this discombobulation he’s succeeding both in school and at wrestling, as is his younger brother Nick.   Both of these gentlemen enjoy spending time on the computer gaming with their friends in Evansville or Amsterdam.   Soon after we moved back to Holland, Willem and Nick went to sailing camp (zeilschool) in the summer and during Fall break [manly stuff that, in the cold and rain and wind of the North Sea;    “Cool!”, says Nick].    They earned their first official sailor's diploma, a big deal. 

And then of course there’s the pike.  Sitting on the engine cover of our old putt-putt boat we try hard to catch it……..and whether we catch it or not, either way is just fine. 
[For scenes of their village, Woerdense Verlaat, see:    http://neergaard.org/rhn/Oct07EuroTrip/#NL    ]

Amstel Canal - Where the Pike Are
             
          Sue                                   Jan Willem

 
Willem and Nick Get the Bird!

Notes from our Son Arthur
I’m continuing my career at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, working in device development.  “Device” in this context refers to electro-mechanical contraptions that help people use P&G’s products.  In their simplest form, these are the mop handles to which P&G’s Swiffer cleaning sheets attach, but progress cannot be denied, and electrical components have been added to other products as well to create such conveniences as plug-in air fresheners, battery powered-product pumps, micro-processors, etc.  The work covers diverse technologies, so it’s good fun.

In my spare time, I pursue my interest in shooting sports:  to wit, I’ve invented a new gun sight for competition use, and started a small company to manufacture and sell it.  While, so far, a lot more money has gone into the venture than income returned (mostly due to the legal fees associated with filing a patent), I remain optimistic that I will turn a profit eventually.  While it’s not likely ever to be enough that I can dispense with my “day job” at P&G, just the notion of a hobby that produces income rather than outlay of cash, is a pleasant novelty.  Of course, the satisfaction of running one’s own company is also a reward in itself.    [ See  http://neergaard.org/shootingsight/  ]

Good news is that my cat population remains stable at five, after several years of strays following me home seductively and getting adopted.  They continue to help run the household, including walking on my desk while I’m working, and trying to help me tykhdlkjshope on the computer.
Arthur
 
Notes from our Son Richard, his Wife Ishraq, and our G’kids Samer and Lila

Samer, Richard, Lila and Ishraq  
We are now at the age where our children are more interesting than we are, so let’s start with them.   The year kicked off with Lila (ten) achieving one of her lifetime dreams, becoming a flower girl at Peter and Cathy’s wedding.   So our thanks to the newlyweds! [See Peter’s section below].   Lila has become passionate about the piano and we are amazed every day how a little kid can learn so fast and do things we have no hope of as adults.   Samer (twelve) got his official diving license this year, and it was a highlight for me to dive with him in Egypt among morays and octopus. He’s pursuing his passion for technology and is on the path to becoming an engineer.   While this mainly involves rebuilding broken remote-control toys, we’re optimistic that one day he will Change the World.

By luck, both kids are turning out to be charming, joyful, and wonderful, way beyond our highest hopes. 
Diving Buddies
Richard and Samer
Samer is also very successful as an actor at school;   he’s been chosen as the main character in the annual school play - the Sultan, in Scheherazade.   Last year he played a very complex character as well [pictures on request!].

Ishraq is busy on the board of the International School of Istanbul, where she's redone their entire marketing program, and is on the board of the International Women’s Club, where she’s in charge of their charity program.   She’s also managing several family properties in Egypt that are in various stages of building, rebuilding and renting.  I [Richard] continue to keep Turkish dishes clean as General Manager of the Reckitt Benckiser subsidiary in Turkey.   Other than that, I just try to stay out of trouble and take my mind off the financial toilet-flushing with escapes on my Harley.   In this regard a highlight was a three-day motorcycle trip with friends across the Sinai, covering 1,500 km and removing me mentally to at least five galaxies away.   Some people still question whether I've ever fully returned.
 
[   You can see a video of the Harley adventure, and of other aspects of the Turkey/Egypt scene, at:     http://neergaard.org/rcn/IstanbulNews/IstanbulNews.html    ].


Notes from Our Son Peter, his wife Cathy, and our G’Kids Steven and Alexander

Steven and Lila in the Carriage en Route to the Wedding 

Blessed    

Cathy and Alex

                          
        Ring-Bearer Steven and Flower Girl Lila                                                           The Families                                   
As mentioned above, the year started with Cathy and me getting married, and culminated with the birth of our son Alex.

Even though we gave everyone quite short notice [editor:  three weeks!] for the January wedding, both Richard and Sue were able to fly back from Europe to take part in the ceremonies.   Richard even brought Lila with him to be our flower girl.   My son Steven was the ring bearer. Mom, dad and Arthur also drove in from Cincinnati for the festivities. It was a wonderful event held in an old train station that was long since converted into one of Pittsburgh’s finest restaurants, The Grand Concourse.

Aside from dealing with sleep deprivation [editor:  y’know… new baby?], everything is wonderful.  Alex continues to grow and develop – each day brings new adventures.  He’s already enjoying daily reading, music and pre-calculus courses [editor:  a-hem].   Pretty soon, his big brother Steven will be explaining to him how airplanes fly!

Steven (8 years old) is also rather busy.  He continues to do very well in school, and is now 80% of the way toward achieving his black belt in Tae Kwon Do.   His other extra curricular activities include tennis, soccer and cub scouts.  He also just loves the water and cannot wait until he is old enough to scuba dive.

Finally, things are going well for both Cathy and me at IBM.   I continue as the technical lead of a team that develops training courses for one of IBM’s flagship products, WebSphere.   Cathy spent the first part of the year managing worldwide technical events for IBM, achieved a new milestone in her project management career, and is now in the midst of taking a 6-month leave to spend time with Alex.   [Editor:  "Three cheers!"]

[Editor:  …..and they’ll all be with us for Christmas again this year – bless them!] 

            Most cordially, 

Dick and Lois
PS:  A copy of the printed version of this letter can be seen at:     http://neergaard.org/rhn/XmasLtr08.doc