We want to share our happiness with all of you. We, Kitty Munson Cooper and Bart Bramley, are now living together after a wonderful first year.

Our plan is to spend winters at my condo in San Diego and to live the rest of the year in the West Hartford area of New England. Now that Bart has retired from his job, he no longer needs to be in Dallas. In the spring he will sell his house there, in order to buy one in Connecticut. We both have family in the Northeast so this makes sense for us.

We have known each other for over 50 years as friends; however we were always married to other people until somewhat recently when we were both widowed. We worked together at Digital Equipment in the Boston area during the mid 70s. Bart was at Kitty's first wedding since he was friends with both her and Henry. Plus we have seen each other at the thrice yearly bridge nationals for the last 51 years.

This past year we have traveled all over this country, both in Kitty's camper van for a Northwest national park trip and in Bart's car for a fall foliage trip around New England, as well as a few other trips to bridge tournaments. We both love road trips. We went to so many places and visited so many friends and family members that it is hard to get it all into this newsletter. Many of these photos were on Kitty's instagram and FaceBook accounts (clicking any photo with a bolded caption here will take you to Kitty's Instagram photos. Where you can view a few pictures before it demands that you log in).

2023 Chronology

After we got together last December, Bart continued his California road trip visiting many old friends, while Kitty continued to unpack boxes in her new condo. This included daily phone calls of course. Bart drove from the California redwood area to Salt Lake City in one day! Next he got stuck in the snow visiting friend Deana in the Denver area.

Meanwhile Kitty went off on a wonderful cruise to Hawaii in January with her girlfriends, Lynne and Judy, plus a few other new friends. They won the team trivia a few times and visited coffee and chocolate plantations and saw glorious scenery. They visited a dear friend in Lahaina whose house has since burnt down with the rest of the town on Maui. So sad.

Back from the cruise, Kitty flew to Dallas in February to be with Bart for a week or so. Then she went back to San Diego to go to a regional in Tucson to play with partner Markland Jones. Amazingly it snowed there, so Rockie saw snow for the first time. Kitty caught COVID again, and was barely cleared to go to the Nationals in New Orleans in March, staying with Bart of course.

New Orleans in March for the Nationals had wonderful food. Lots of oysters. Some Bridge success. Bart's team barely missed winning the final two day National Swiss so finished second. Kitty had a few low overalls. We drove back to Dallas from there with Bart displaying his fast driving skills and Kitty using google maps to avoid speed traps.

In April, we were back in San Diego. We enjoyed the Japanese friendship gardens at Balboa Park with Kitty's dear cousin Marty Beyer. At the regional, Bart played with friend Peter Weichsel while Kitty played with regular partner Lynne. Their team won the first event. Meanwhile it was Spring Break for schools in NYC so Kitty's son Paul and family came to California for a visit. Bart enjoyed meeting Jack, Julie and their mom Lindsay; and seeing Paul who he has known for many years, as well as meeting Jason Feldman's children.

In May, Kitty flew from Dallas to New York CIty for her granddaughter's 6th birthday as well as her 55th reunion at Brearley which included a family day. Julie loved the Art rooms there. We all saw Wicked together and Kitty also had a glorious museum day (Met, Guggenheim, the Sassoon exhibit, and the gallery with Woman in Gold)

Meanwhile Bart drove to Schaumburg, IL (near Chicago) for the US Open Bridge Team trials. His team lost early so he visited a friend in the upper peninsula getting a good look at Lake Superior for the first time. Then he joined Kitty back in Schaumburg when she started the US Mixed Bridge Team trials. Bart also played the Senior trials. Both Kitty and Bart lost in the semifinals. Oh well, maybe next time.

June was the start of our six week NorthWest camper van trip, visiting friends (Leslie, Henry, Steve and Lallie, Dave), family (Lindsay and Dave, Marlys, Laura and Kent, Marty, Andy and Toni Lee), the Redwoods, Columbia Gorge, and National Parks (Glacier, Yellowstone, Arches). In an amazing coincidence Bart's former MIT roommate Henry lives around the corner from Kitty's cousin's daughter Lindsay and family in Santa Cruz! Bart adapted to van life well and liked all of Kitty's relatives! Kitty liked all of Bart's friends, particularly John Garrison and Cassie in Sun Valley.

In July we got to Colorado to see two shows of Dead and Company's final tour in Boulder where they used drones instead of fireworks for the July 3 final show of the set. (click here for a video) We also visited friends Laird Davis, Varis Carey and Daniel Markofsky while in the Denver area.

In early July we arrived in Salt Lake City to see Kitty's brother Shipley and her new great nephew, Leah's son, Joao Felix, plus friends Rochelle and Art.

This newsletter has gotten way too long, so if you want to see the photos from the second half of our year and our foliage trip click here.

When Kitty had her accident in December of 2010, she lost several years of memories. It was these photo essays that helped her remember, so now she is rigorous about creating one every year!