The photo above is sunrise over the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, as seen during our eastern Mediterranean cruise. More on that below….
Click on any picture below to see it in a larger size.
Dear friends and family,
2025 was a good year for us; we hope that it was a good year for you as well!
We both continue to be retired but remain quite busy with our involvements in nonprofit organizations.
- Both of us continue to be significantly involved with the Union Gospel Mission of Portland (UGM). Dan continues to serve on the Board of Directors and is the board’s Strategy Chair. Nancy continues to contribute to UGM’s LifeChange for Women program by mentoring, cooking, and working in the Learning Center. This year, the mission opened its new Angela’s House facility, doubling the capacity for women and children.
- Nancy also continues to volunteer with Women of Vision, an affiliate of World Vision. This year, Nancy increased her support of World Vision by becoming a World Vision advocate, meeting with our congressional representatives to advocate for effective foreign aid. As part of this, Nancy attended the World Vision Advocacy Conference in Washington D.C.
- Dan continues to be the webmaster for the Watercolor Society of Oregon . This year he continued to spend more time working on the website than painting!
We both continue to work on our golf games; a seemingly eternal quest…. At times good golf seems tantalizing close, but at other times consistency seems frustratingly difficult to achieve….
During our travels this year, Dan reached the milestone of 2 million miles flown on United Airlines! The airline recognized him during the flight with some small gifts, a visit from the captain, and photos in the cockpit after landing.
Our 2025 travels started with two weeks in Scottsdale, Arizona to get some sun and to golf and hike, escaping the incessant clouds and rain of winter at home in Portland, Oregon.
In April, we took an Eastern Mediterranean cruise on Viking, starting in Athens and ending in Istanbul. Neither of us had been to either Greece or Turkey before, and it was a very worthwhile adventure.
In June, we visited Dan’s mother and sister near Washington D.C. Dan’s Pittsburgh cousins joined us for a great weekend.
In early September, we made our annual trip to Park City, Utah, primarily for golf and hiking.
In early November, we visited Las Vegas for the first time in awhile. We enjoyed great golfing and hiking in unseasonably warm fall weather.
Other trips included returning to the Washington D.C. area for Thanksgiving, and the Watercolor Society of Oregon convention in The Dalles, Oregon.
Around home, we continued to explore Oregon with our first visit to the Oregon Garden and our annual visit to the Oregon coast. One doesn’t go to the Oregon coast in August for sun, warmth and swimming! Our visit was cloudy and windy with temperatures in the 50s!
Our year also included major home renovation projects for our primary bathroom and our garage. The bathroom project lasted 14 weeks, but we are very happy with the result. The garage project is still ongoing as of December; fortunately it’s significantly shorter and less invasive. We will be glad to not have contractors in the house nearly every day!
For 2026, our current plans include a winter trip to Scottsdale, a visit to Madrid, a return to Park City, a fall trip to Hilton Head, and visits to Virginia. Hopefully also more and better golf and watercolor painting….
Merry Christmas to all, and best wishes for a great 2026!