Christmas Letter 2013

To read on the web, go to http://tayaratravels.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-letter-2013.html

Christmas Letter, December 18, 2013

Dear Friends,

There is a saying among travelers that "good trips make bad stories", and vice versa. One may apply that to years, also: we've had a good year, but not one that makes an exciting Christmas letter. We pursed our respective obsessions (motorcycling, blue grass) and avoided further medical adventures. So I will keep this fairly short.

Bettie and I together, and I separately, enjoyed some quality time on two wheels. I did my first (and likely only) "track day", in which one rides at speed around a (more or less) controlled race track, pushing his bike and skills beyond what is prudent on public roads. It was exciting and educational, but not something to make a habit of. Best left to young people who have not fully developed all lobes of their brains. (Though many of you will conclude that I have lost some of mine.)

We spent two weeks in North Carolina, riding among other roads "The Tail of the Dragon", a mandatory bucket list item for all motorcyclists. NC was pure delight for our sport: quiet curvy roads, beautiful scenery, good food. However, ... the heart lies in the West.

And so ...





Our other major expedition was to Taos, riding the mountains and mesas of New Mexico. And eating even better food. And then there were trips to the Texas Hill Country, Arkansas Ozarks, ...
I don't have gorgeous photos, because I'm too lazy and/or greedy for riding time to stop and take many.

We are active in our local BMW Motorcycle Club, helping out in assorted computer and social media capacities. Recently I became "RideMeister" so I get to scout and plan the Club's day rides, about once a month. We also added a third member to our motorcycle fleet, a reacquisition of the small dual-sport bike I rode, when just starting my two-wheeled career.

Allen's Landing Band, did their usual once-a-month gig at Hickory Hollow, plus several corporate and private engagements. The membership is up to six musicians now, and all that keeps Bettie pretty busy.


The high point was another show at the Mucky Duck.

The year had its sadness and loss. We lost two friends, one a talented musician and former member of Betti's band. Another, a long-time family friend and spirited lady, two months short of one hundred.

Looking forward, I will borrow a little glamour from 2014: in February we plan a trip to Costa Rica with our Denver friends, our first international trip in several years. We'll have that to tell you about next Christmas.

Christmas Letter 2012

To read this letter on the web, go to http://tayaratravels.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-letter-2012.html
Dear Friends, 

30 December, 2012

We hope our Christmas letter finds you agreeing along with us that it was a good year (better than 2011 for us!). More travel, new experiences, time with friends, and good health. I do somewhat feel the poverty of source material relative to letters past. Our interests have been focused on bluegrass bands and motorcycles. A joy for those personally involved, but less compelling to a general audience. Well, we have to make the best of it.

Christmas News Letter, 2010

If you can’t read this in email, see the full newsletter with photos online at
http://tayaratravels.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-news-letter-2010.html

Season's Greetings to you on this last day of 2010. We hope this finds you well and happy.Our year has revolved around two passions: music and motorcycles.

Allen's Landing Band is going strong, with frequent performances at Hickory Hollow and a show at a higher profile venue, McGonigel's Mucky Duck.

 

Bettie is now writing songs as well as performing, and the band hopes to make an all-original CD next year.

Motorcycles are taking a growing part of our lives. I've ridden nearly 30,000 miles in the two years since I began. When people ask why I like motorcycles so much, I answer that if you have to ask, you'll never understand. If you enjoy dance, think of that; or downhill skiing; or horseback riding. It combines adventure, challenge, excitement, pleasure, discomfort, and fear in constantly varying proportions.

Amazingly most of those 30K miles have been in day-trips within a hundred miles of Houston. (Want to know about back roads? Ask me.) My one big step-out from Houston was a ride to Colorado (see trip blog) in August with a fellow fanatic. We rode 3200 miles in 8 days, and it wasn't enough.

 

But the big news is that Bettie saw all the fun I'm having and jumped in herself. She took the motorcycle rider school in October and bought a learner bike, a Honda Nighthawk 250.

Only a month later she felt she was ready to move up, and traded for a new BMW G650GS. This is an "enduro" bike similar to my own, but a bit lower, lighter, and more manageable. 

We are in the steps now of adding this and that to make it capable of long trips. We recently did our first overnight to Rockport

and we plan go west (New Mexico and beyond) sometime in the spring.

Together, we've bought/traded five bikes in two years. Some people might feel that to be excessive; they would be wrong. A true motorcyclist would only ask "why didn't you keep the other three?" All of this takes the place of the international trips typical of our previous years. In a way we feel quite smug: we are not troubled by "enhanced pat downs", x-ray strip-searches , crowded tourist class cabins, cancelled flights, etc so common to air travel these days. There is wisdom in the old Firesign Theater (remember them?) line about "getting high on the real things: a clean windshield and a full tank of gas."

Other activities continue as before, things we've described in our letters from 2009 and 2008, so I won't repeat.

And may 2011 be happy for you all.

Leigh and Bettie Anderson

Christmas Newsletter, 2009

If you can’t read this in email, see the full newsletter with photos online at
http://tayara.com/travels/archives/491

 

Dear Friends,

Bettie and I enjoyed the last year of the “ought's” making music, riding motorcycles, and sailing before the mast.

Music

For Bettie, the year was all about bluegrass music and Allen’s Landing Band (www.allenslandingband.com).

The band changed staff, now with Bettie, Renna, and Bobby; the harmonies are a bit different with two female voices, but just as engaging. They are in the process of acquiring a fancy Bose portable sound system so they can perform at larger venues. An unusual   upcoming gig features them in a wedding ceremony; you would be surprised how few bluegrass songs don’t center on dead mothers or murdered lovers. Below is a (poor quality) photo of a recent performance at Hickory Hollow here in Houston. (The fourth person is Kelly Lancaster on mandolin.) 

You can follow the band on Facebook.

Motorcycles

In describing my motorcycle spiritual evolution, I am (sadly) aware that most normal human beings are unaccountably not obsessed with the sport, so I will keep this brief. Last year I started with a small “dual-sport” Yamaha 250XT and headed for the national forest. Encounters with several trees with bad attitudes persuaded me that the open road is more attractive than trail riding, so early this year the Yamaha was traded for a small “cruiser”, a Honda Shadow 600cc, sort of a Harley-wannabee. It was a good bike, and I learned a lot riding it. In particular I learned I preferred the ruggedness of a dual-sport: a bike that turns pot-holes and speed-bumps into personal ski jumps. But I needed one with highway power, so after agonizing for months (Bettie can provide heart-rending details), I finally settled on a BMW F650GS, an 800cc parallel-twin in the BMW “enduro” line. Theoretically, it is a bike one could ride from here to Tierra del Fuego. Here it is shortly after taking delivery.

So far I am resisting the urge to strike off for Tierra del Fuego and am satisfying myself with delights closer to home such as Texas road food restaurants in the Houston hinterland

and beauties of the Texas Hill Country.

 

Sailing

Our long-time friend Janusz recently retired to pursue his dream of sailing. After preparing his sloop Wereda, he headed south to the ABC’s (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao). His passage down was more arduous than expected, and while he was taking rest in Curacao, we joined him for two weeks.

We shipped aboard Wereda, intending to try our land-lubberly mettle against blue water and tropical heat. In life, learning what you are not is as important as learning what you are, and we discovered we are not sailors. After a week we abandoned ship for an air-conditioned and reassuringly stationary hotel in Willemstad, lucking into a fabulous situation on Curacao’s equivalent of the Grand Canal.

Curacao is a large island of Dutch, African, Spanish, Latin American, Portuguese, and Jewish influence, with much of historical and geographic interest beyond the obligatory sand and sea. We enjoyed touring it thoroughly by car. Here are photo albums of our trip, created by Janusz: part one, part two.

Et Cetera

Other stuff continues as in previous years. We are still involved with Houston Early Music (on the board and running the web site); Bettie is president of our homeowners’ association; I am active in Houston Investors Association (web site and a SIG on investing fundamentals) and another Houston investors club; and I also do the website for the ROMEO Rice University alumni group (don’t ask what the acronym stands for).

And here are online photo albums with a few views of our year. (Click to open).

XmasLetter2009

 

We hope this Christmas season finds you in good health and spirits.

Christmas Newsletter, 2008

Houston, January 2009

 

Admittedly, this newsletter is a little late -- by about 3 years.  It has been a disgracefully long time since we offered a newsletter to friends, not since the letter of 2005 announcing our plans to retire. Here is a partial but illustrated accounting.