December 2006
Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!!
Phil and Barbara Owens

Greetings from out family to yours. 

This has been a year of projects for us.  Barb was on sabbatical and had lots of professional trips, while Phil maintained the house and hearth with a huge list of projects as well. 







        
<-- Left: Barb in Southern Ocean in Victoria, Australia

 <-- Right: Barb in Auckland Harbor off South Pacific, New Zealand

Barb’s travels included trip to Australia and New Zealand in January followed fast on its heels by a babysitting trip to Atlanta.  A quick trip to a one-day Chicago meeting allowed a terrific visit to her cousin Sue’s.  Among the other “biggies” were a June meeting in Bologna, Italy, with a side trip to Venice and birding in the Po Delta, a meeting at Microsoft near Seattle, a September weekend meeting in Canterbury, England and an October meeting in San Diego.

<-- Left: Barb in Adriatic near Venice, Italy

<-- Right:  Barb in English Channel near Sandwich, England



Cone Flowers


     

     Phil and Brush in Carver, MA

Meanwhile Phil visited his sister and helped her brush burning project, supervised the painting of the interior of our house in Texas that necessitated him moving all the thousands of books from the shelves, all the dishes from the pantry kitchen cupboards. He also worked hard on our native plant landscaping and on improving our view of the South San Gabriel River.


South San Gabriel View from the Deck
.


Chloe and Camille at Stop at Underground Lake in Tennessee
 on the way to Massachusetts

This summer Phil and Barb drove to Carver to his sister Belle’s to retrieve his Dad’s stamp collection.  Crazy us took our granddaughters along on the 1000+ mile car trip and tent camped in Phil’s sister Belle’s backyard.



We had a big Thanksgiving event (our seventh at the cabin in North Georgia).  This time we enjoyed the company of Gwyneth and Rob and Camille, now 8, and Chloe, 4, as well as Susannah, her friend Luis and her dog Duncan who had his first plane trip, and Rob’s folks.  Barb, Phil, Susannah, Luis and Duncan survived the 900 mile trip back to Texas by car.  The dog was by far the best traveler!




<--Luis, Susannah and Duncan at our Cabin

Phil and Barb continue to teach, sing in the church choir and enjoy good health and the blessings of a wonderful family.

May the blessings that surround the birth of the Christ Child be with you and your family this holiday season.
Join us as we pray for peace on earth.

  Barb: owensbtx@yahoo.com
  Phil: powens@austincc.edu

   www.twobagels.org
   www.southwestern.edu/~owensb
   www.austincc.edu/powens