2022 was my first full year without Steve. My spousal loss group, my girlfriends, my dog Rockie, family, and trips in my camper van saw me through it. Since most of the year was spent traveling: visiting friends and family, I will go chronological after a few highlights.

I've Moved

Our large house felt very empty and real estate prices were quite high, so I put our home on the market in June; was in contract after 11 days for more than double what we paid for it. Thank you dear Carly, neighbor and real estate agent extraordinaire!. My plan was to sell it, get rid of stuff (thank you Brad Frank for your Ebay skills), then put the rest in storage, and travel all summer in the camper van. My hope was real estate prices would be lower in the fall and I could buy a small condo in Pacific Beach for cash.

This came to pass. I now live in a gorgeous one bedroom condo overlooking Mission Bay. The complex has many facilities, my favorites being the hot tub and the sauna. Rockie loves that we are close to a park with a beach where she gathers with her friends at the end of most every day. The photos in the header and footer were taken from my balcony. I also have a new phone number; email me if you want it.

Bridge

I went to all three Nationals this year. The first was the hardest without Steve, The next a little better and by the third I was enjoying it again, although my game faded on the sixth day. I guess I have to accept that 5 days of serious match points is my maximum then I need a rest. On the final weekend, we had a second overall in the National Mixed Swiss Teams; I was playing with friend and a new partner, Mark Dahl, and teammates that included my dear friend Lynne Feldman.

I am seeing someone

At the Fall Bridge Nationals in Phoenix, I chatted with an old friend of 50 years, a widower, who I worked with in the mid 70s. He told me he was starting a road trip that included San Diego. I offered to show him my favorite places here and we had a lovely day together. Then we spent some time together at the Palm Springs Regional, including a Doobie Brothers concert. Yes I think we are "dating." It feels great.

My Genealogy Work

I slowed down a bit on my genetic genealogy case load and my blogging, but enjoyed the presentations I made this year. in April, the i4GG was in San Diego as usual (click here for those videos) where I talked about what's new at GEDmatch. It was wonderful to be at a live conference again! I also spoke about bio-ancestry (a better word than ethnicity) for the SCGS webinar series (click here) and put together the talk below for Verogen, which tried to make the tools at GEDmatch more approachable (click here). I have a number of talks scheduled for 2023 which will be listed on my presentations page soon; I will do one for i4GG which will be back in San Diego March 11-12.

Travels: Visiting Friends and Family

I spent most of this year, before moving into my bayside condo, traveling and visiting family and friends. So this part will be chronological and long...

In January I spent New Years Eve at my favorite RV park in Malibu on a hillside with fabulous ocean views where you can see both sunrise and sunset over water. Camping at the beach was one of my favorite distractions this past year. I also went camping with the Compadres, a group with some of my Lakeside friends, and played some terrible golf! I won one hole however.

In February, I traveled in the van to Monterey where Sally Woolsey was vacationing with her children and grandchildren (all of whom feel like family to me). We visited the aquarium and walked on the beach and played cards and had a fine time. Visited many of my favorite beach camping grounds on the way up and back. I also visited with Steve's second cousin once removed David in San Luis Obispo and stayed in Morro Bay. David, aka Doug, is the one whose genealogy work helped solve the case of the jewish sperm donor. That trip ended with a visit with my niece Nicola in L.A.

In March I attended the Reno Bridge Nationals in my van staying in the RV park I used to stay in with Steve, next to our good friends the Peters. The first major tournament without him was very difficult for me.

On the way home, I met up with the LA area Henry Munson descendants, Michael, Steven, and visitors Fatima, Nadia et al. in the farmers market on Fairfax Avenue.

March 30 was the one year anniversary of Steve's death so I took Rockie to "meet" him. At home in San Diego, I enjoyed the Van Gogh immersion experience with friends Markland and Barbara Jones

In late April, I flew to NYC to help my old friend Ellee Lewis escape rehab and set up her home for bed-ridden living. It was difficult. She is managing amazingly well now. The other event was my darling granddaughter Julie's 5th birthday in early May. Plus a quick visit to their Bellport summer home.

I also had lunch with my high school honey Alfie. Lovely to see how well he is doing but sadly there was no chemistry any more. Plus I had dinner at Friend of a Farmer, an old favorite on Irving Place, with my Munson third cousins, descended from Johann Munson, the brother of my great grandad Lauritz. Finally I got Paul and family out to New Jersey to visit his cousin Geddes and family, who had just moved there.

My 50th college reunion was in June. I was on the organizing committee, as usual, for my web skills. It was a great party. I am still very bonded to my freshman Cabot Hall dorm-mates, especially Marcia, Beatrice, and Margaret. Also, as usual, I met more fun people that I never knew back then. Thanks to Doug Hendron, Rick, Jim, and Marco we had a great outdoor sing in. The reunion was preceeded by a visit of some classmates to a favorite place, the Arnold Arboretum.

Before the reunion I went to Wolfeboro, NH and visited my grandparents grave and their summer home, which now belongs to my Dunau cousins. So many memories from summers there. Frank introduced me to a trail that now runs in the nature preserve behind the house.

My Summer Road Trip - July - September

After packing up the contents of the Lakeside house, with a wonderful day of help from my niece Nicola, who came down from LA, Rockie and I got in the van and went. The plan was to visit family and friends while making it to Providence for the Bridge Nationals on July 14, First stop was Bear Lake in the mountains North East of LA, which I had never visited before; a lovely man-made lake in dry pine woods. Then on to Utah to visit with my brother which included a performance of Sweeney Todd in Cedar City, UT. Great performance but what a horrible story!

Then onward to South Dakota to see cousin Jeanie. We stopped on the way at a remarkable statue of a Native American woman called Dignity overlooking the Missouri River. Jeanie shares my passion for family history. She is my second cousin once removed, descended from my grandad's brother Christian Munson. She is often the star of my blog posts because her ancestry is 100% Scandinavian. I call her my perfect cousin.

Next I visited cousin Casey Pierce in Iowa, another Christian Munson descendant. Then off to just outside of Chicago, to see my beloved first cousin once removed Susan Das. She is the daughter of the late George Pasquet and is also a family historian. The next day was a long drive to Ohio to see the Murrell clan where Rockie made great friends with Lori's dog Duke. We attended Sunday services at Tom Murrell's church and had a hearty breakfast with the family afterwards.

On all these visits, Rockie and I slept in the our van in the driveways of my various cousins. Every 3rd or 4th night we stayed in an RV park to empty the tanks and refill the water.

Then we drove across to New Hampshire to pick up the Nymphenburg china I had stored with Karen in Exeter. She is selling the house and moving to Australia! I enjoyed meeting her Axel and the goodbye party with her many local friends.

From there we went on to the Bridge Nationals in Providence where we enjoyed the luxury of a pet friendly hotel. Providence also included a meal with Sally's son Philip and his kids. As well as many oysters with teammates Mark and Pat. No successes to report at the tables however.

After the Nationals in July, we took the Orient Point ferry to Long Island and spent a week with my son Paul and grandchildren Jack and Julie in Bellport. Rockie and their golden doodle Brisco had a wonderful time together! And of course I loved being with my grandchildren. While working on a painting five year old Julie announced that she wanted to be an artist when she grew up, then added as an afterthought while looking at me sideways, "and also a mommy."

While on Long Island I also caught up with dear high school friend Karen Murphy Miller at their West Hampton beach condo. This completely reaffirmed my decision to live by the sea if I could.

Then we headed upstate in August to visit the Blooms and Steve's honorary sister Grace and Watkins Glen. Steve Bloom got me out to play pickleball, which was great fun. Followed by spending a week with Lance and Debbie at the Beyer Lake house in Webster, NY. So many memories there. Rockie tried unsuccessfully to herd some deer and to play with a groundhog!

Then we headed south visiting many finger lakes wineries ending in Ithaca where we visited Taughannock Falls, a favorite hike of the Bethes. Plus a walk in Stewart Park on Lake Cayuga with an old college friend of Steve's, Nat Silver, and dinner with the Teukolskys. Next off to the Hartford area to see cousin Carol Manfredi Spelman, descendant of Josie Munson, to help her go through some of her mother's photos and papers. Rockie was very taken with her partner Howard and went jogging with him quite happily.

Back to Bellport for a weekend where I watched my grandchildren take a tennis lesson. Then a few days in the Liberty Harbor RV park which included a trip to Ellis Island that I even blogged about. Finally lunch in New York with fellow genetic genealogist Dana Leeds.

Next we drove down the coast and took the Cape May ferry to visit friends R.J. and Janet Becker in Ocean City, Maryland. Somehow I took no pictures of them or any on my next stop, just outside of Washington DC, with second cousin Dick Larkin and his wife Celia. Dick is the one who got me started in genealogy at my dear Aunt Marian's funeral.

Then onward to the Pasquet farm in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley and a stay with cousin Anne Pasquet Mahoney (Aunt Marian's granddaughter), her husband Bill and their daughter Elise. Elise even took an Ancestry DNA test! While I was there we had a quick visit from Anne's sister Susan with husband Andrew Das who brought their mother Geegee Pasquet back to Anne. Sadly later this year Geegee passed away.

Then a fast trip across the midwest to Denver for a Camp Widow event on September 10, very rewarding and useful.  While there, I had a sushi dinner with Dave Caprera and Annie plus an enjoyable walk with Daniel, Grace's son.

Next a pleasant visit to Harvard classmate Margaret Dean Justice and husband's dream home near Salida in the San Luis Valley. I picked her up at the Denver airport and we drove south west through the scenic mountains in my camper van. We took some hikes and visited hot springs and saunas. One hot spring place was clothing optional (we wore bathing suits); I tried hard not to stare! Most meals were on their deck with its fabulous views, photo to the right. We even did some genealogy.

From Margaret's, a scenic drive north and west to I-70 and then on to Salt Lake City to see my brother and friend Rochelle. It was Rochelle who found Rockie by the side of the road last year.

From Salt Lake City I headed back to Lakeside to pick up bits and pieces that neighbor Suz had rescued as well as plants at Eileen's. Stayed in the driveway of Kris, the new garden club president. Then over to the coast where I had a month booked at the RV park on Mission Bay where Steve and I had stayed our first winter here. October would be spent looking for my new condo with my good friend Judy Rimer as my agent. I found it and moved in at the end of October.

November was spent moving in, getting rid of more stuff, and trying not to be overwhelmed by the 50 boxes (now down to 22). Then off to the Phoenix Bridge Nationals with partner Lynne and that is all reported above. This has gotten far too long, but I did not want to leave anyone out. Speaking of which, new friend Carol Frank has been a great addition to our gang.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!