2012

February 2012. Visiting Matt's nephew at UConn (University of Connecticut) on a sunny, but freezing winter day. L to R: Stuart (Matt's brother), John (Matt's nephew), and Matt.

February 2012. Sunday brunch at The Friendly Toast in Kendall Square (Cambridge, MA) with our good friends, John Franklin and Chen Jianchen.

February 2012. Matt fell victim to an abrupt and painful small bowel obstruction at the end of February, requiring emergency surgery...but he came through like a champ.

March 2012. A few days after surgery, he was up and shuffling, perhaps for when he really needs a walker!

March 2012. Carol (Karen's business partner) and Karen having a celebratory lunch for Karen's birthday at Live Alive in Cambridge.

March 2012. Karen's parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration, Gila Mt. RV Park, Yuma, AZ. Willie and Wanda with their children and spouses. Rick Moeller, Willie and Wanda Moeller, Karen and Matt Beck, and Annette and Craig Harrison. More pics from the celebration are located in the People section (see links at upper right corner of the page).

March 2012. Friends and relatives from all over came to help celebrate, Wanda and Willie Moeller's 50th Wedding Anniversary. Including Matt's dad, Dean, who drove over from Palm Springs. Matt and Karen with Dean Beck (Matt's father).

April 2012. Headed home through Davis square. Perfet light for photographing the Rosebud Diner.

May 2012. Hiking through the woods in Portsmouth, NH.

May 2012. Piscataqua River harbor in downtown Portsmouth, NH.

June 2012. An awesome view of Boston taken from the 26th floor of a building where I was attending a charity fundraiser.

July 2012. Walk along the Charles River with Matt's brother, Stuart, and his wife, Joanne.

July 2012. The annual sandcastle contest at Revere Beach, MA, 20 minutes from our house.

July 2012. This is an 1890 Firehouse that we discovered along our walk in the Middlesex Fells Reservoir.

July 2012. Matt, Stuart, Joanne and Karen walk through the Middlesex Falls Reservation in preparation for the Jimmy Fund 1/2 marathon walk. At this point in the journey, some discussion occurred about whether we were lost or not.

July 2012. Matt, his brother Stuart (and cousin Nico), at the beginning of the Franconia trail in the White Mountains.

July 2012. Matt and Stuart take a break on their journey between 2 mountains in the White Mountain range in NH.

July 2012. An attempt to capture both the beauty and complexity of hiking between two peaks in the White Mountains.

August 2012. An antique car from the British car exhibit at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum.

August 2012. Matt's stepdad, Wayne, and his mother Barbara outside the Larz Anderson Auto Museum.

August 2012. Matt's nephew, Ryan, his mom, Barbara, Matt and his brother Stuart at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Boston.

August 2012. Matt and his brother Stuart take a break along the edge of Walden Pond. THE Walden Pond. Yes, that one. The one from the book.

August 2012. The beach at Walden's Pond. Probably a slightly different view than what Thoreau experienced.

August 2012. Time for a trade in. We sat down and did the math. The old Honda was costing us more in repairs than a new car so we took the plunge. Nothing fancy, but she gets me around town with decent gas mileage.

September 2012. No, this is not one of the evil cats that rule our lives. This is a sleepy lion we saw at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston.

September 2012. This is one of the evil cats that rule our lives. Hobbes turned 19 this year (that's over 90 is cat years). He's a doddering old fool who is never happy unless he's pinned Matt to the living room chair so he can get a lap to warm his creaky old bones.

September 2012. This is the other evil cat that rule our lives. Sammi turned 18 this year. Don't let her sweet looks fool you. We call her Samurai Sammi for a reason. She has recently gone deaf, but she compensates by meowing at the top of her lungs. Good girl. :)

September 2012. After entering the Zoorassic Park exhibit at the Franklin Park Zoo, we were forced to sneak past the spitting dinosaur. Supposedly, this dude really existed and spat his way to glory.

September 2012. A rare iPhone glamor shot of the elusive creature that Karen married, known as "smoochie".

September 2012. Stuart, Matt and Joanne finish another Jimmy Fund 1/2 Marathon Walk to raise money for cancer research.

September 2012. We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in Barcelona and had a wonderful time. More pics from our trip to Barcelona are in the Travel section (see links at upper right corner of the page).

October 2012. So ... while Matt diligently rakes leaves, Karen gets sidetracked from the yard work and starts photographing the last of the flowers.

October 2012. While this does not represent a typical dinner that Matt enjoys during his trips to China, they do seem to occur more frequently than you might expect.

October 2012. A family takes a quiet Sunday drive... ON A LAKE. In China. Next to the hotel Matt stays at. What a great world we live in.

October 2012. On Matt's return home from China, he was dismayed to discover that even this poor machine was out of work. Times are tough all over.

October 2012. While Matt was in China, Karen took a weekend long jewelry making workshop and came away with a very nice textured ring and pendant. We started with flat metal and learned how to cut, texture, and shape metal, how to solder, and how to make bezels to hold stones. Fun, but you really need bifocals for this type of work!

November 2012. At the 16th annual "3-Movies-In-1-Day" event, friends and family gather to support Matt's movie addiction. This was in celebration of turning 38 for the... 12th time?