Holiday Letter from Parichart & Peter

Happy Holidays!

Our biggest news in 2009 was Harris marrying Seher Erdogan. Seher is originally from Turkey, and has been in the US since attending Yale as an undergrad. She completed her M.Arc. this year, just before the wedding ceremony on May 29. Harris and Seher are both working (luckily!) in New Haven now. Seher's parents are planning a real wedding party in Turkey in August. We are sure looking forward to that and touring Turkey and Greece in the summer. (Although Seher's maiden name is the same as the Turkish Prime Minister's, they are not related.)

Way back last February, Parichart and I had a great trip to Thailand. After a couple of days in Bangkok and visiting with her brothers' families, we flew to Chiang Mai for a visit with her sister. Then we took off on a really fun tour of Northern Thailand: Chiang Rai, Phayao, Nan, Doi Phuka National Park, and Phitsanulok. We had never been to any of these towns before except for a brief stopover in P'lok, and really enjoyed our time in all of these places. Being afraid of global warming, Northern Thailand has more appeal as a possible retirement location for me. I wonder how many of the islands will be left in 50 years, but don’t get me started on that…. If you haven't yet seen all of our pictures from the trip, there are a bunch of albums here: picasaweb.google.com/PeterFordPhotos.

Actually there's no really good reason for us to retire in Thailand. Pari is happy enough in her retirement right here in the beautiful mountains of northeast Tennessee. I continue to do some database programming and web design in my comfortable office downstairs. Right now I've got a beautiful view of snow covered evergreens. And with the trails and lake right out the door, I'm generally content to stay right here on the mountain. (But I do like traveling once in a while.)

Maybe there's a trip to Thailand in our future in about another year. Hope to see some of you in country during our next visit! Bill (Preston), we should try to meet in Thailand instead of New Jersey!

Best Wishes for 2010!

Peter & Parichart