THE WALTONS IN SAN DIEGO BAY

Well, 2010 has begun!!
The Waltons (Eric, Sharon, John Paul, Dawn and Daniel) took a winter escape to San Diego Bay for some sailing in mid February. We hoped to relax and also see some whales off shore.

We chartered a great catamaran called a
Gemini 205Mc. Stable, fast, roomy. 3 micro-
staterooms, galley, head, hot/cold running water, refrigerator, etc. Super nice.

Took some studying to learn the systems, but
liked it from day one.

Dan; Eric; Sharon; John Paul

In our harbor.
Shelter Island Marina.









Close to the mouth of the bay.
So we could explore the bay, or
head out into the Pacific with ease.

Dan was Great "crew".

We needed to work together.

John Paul and Dawn on "watch"

We took a break to hike in

Torry Pines State Park

Beautiful scenery!!

GREAT FAMILY MEMORIES.

TELESCOPE PHOTOGRAPHY

I received a telescope (Meade; 90 mm) for my birthday, and I received a camera adapter for Christmas. So, I can share a photo of the moon (full moon; not very long or deep shadows; bad choice of time but the best I could do)

I have seen the rings of Sature, and the moons of Venus. Also the Orion nebula.

Kind of neat to be able to do that in my own back yard.

WALTONS FOR 2009

One of our goals for 2009 was to renew and deepen ties with family and friends. We started our year with a family trip to Puerto Rico. Dan, John-Paul, Dawn, Sharon and Eric shared a lovely condo and enjoyed some down time together.
In April, Sharon combined a music convention with a “Sisters’ Weekend” in the Highlands of North Carolina. Eric met the group again in Atlanta for some fun time with Sharon’s sister Silvia and family in Atlanta. Later, Eric headed to Virginia to help his brother David after his hip replacement surgery.

An Easter celebration at our home with John-Paul, Dawn and her parents and Aunt made that day special. Spring visitors to our home allowed us to reunite with family and friends. Sharon’s cousin Becky Hartley and husband Larry, Linda Prause and Bob, and the Ogawa family from Japan all honored us with some time in Columbus during various week-ends in the early spring and summer.

June found us heading to Minnesota where we spent time with Nancy Gwinn and her mother Sue Felts at their lovely summer cabin, visited with Eric’s grade school friend Dee and husband Norman Spilleth, and spent an evening with graduate school friends, Jean and John White.

During a relaxing two week stay at our favorite summer spot, Lakeside on Lake Erie, we were visited by Sharon’s sister Sue from Oregon who discovered that “time stops at Lakeside.” Daniel and friend Emma and John-Paul also spent a bit of time at Lakeside. Dawn and John-Paul treated the entire group to a lovely reunion brunch in their home.

A November trip to Salt Lake City for Eric’s AMTA convention gave us the opportunity to visit with old friends from all over the country who attend this conference. We ended our 2009 travels with a Thanksgiving trip to see David Walton in Virginia. We all enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast in Williamsburg followed by a short visit with Eric and David’s cousin Ann and her family.

We are now looking forward to the Christmas visit from our family and wishing you all a blessed Christmas and a wonderful 2010. Our dream is to see many more of you in 2010!


We started out the year with a family trip to western Puerto Rico.  It was a wonderful time to connect with family in a warm and peaceful place.



Sharon performed with her trio "Synchronicity" in a fundraiser for the local food bank.  Very successful and well received.



We traveled to Minnesota to visit old friends from long ago (as far back as grade school) of both Sharon and Eric.

Stayed at Nancy's wonderful cabin on a lake. 



We visited Dawn and John-Paul with Daniel and his girlfriend Emma and Sharon's sister Sue. 

Dawn and John-Paul have a beautiful home near Lake Erie in Lakewood, Ohio.  

They can jog along the lake daily.

Crusing the Rhine

We have just returned from a wonderful cruise on the Rhine (thanks Uniworld).

We stayed on a beautiful ship (the River Queen) and "lived on board" for 14 days.

Great food, well organized tours with learning and wonderful sights.

We started below sea level on a canal in The Netherlands.

Land claimed from the sea by pumping it dry into canals.

We traveled with good friends (the Cooks, Ron and Janice) from Columbus, but we met other great people along the way.

Many wonderful memories.

It was truly a delightful time.

Loved the charming villages that we were able to cruise to and visit.

Walton's Summer 08 Fun

We just love summer in Ohio!

We spent a week in beautiful and laid-back Lakeside.

Here we are playing cut-throat shuffleboard with Dawn and JP.

This is serious stuff ;-) Every inch matters!






Lakeside has a large number of Sunfish and Laser sailboats.

We can sail off into lake Erie and go for miles (Canada here we come!)

JP and I loved our sailing.






We were at the Bruce's cottage and JP and Dawn visited for 2 days.

It is a beautiful little cottage - very quaint.

Bob as a architect, has re-done such a large number of Lakeside cottages.

He has single-handedly beautified the entire town!

We also visited JP and Dawn's house in Lakewood.

It is only 3 blocks from the lake and an easy and delightful walk.

Silvia and Jim from Atlanta visited for the 4th of July.

Yes ... we did do the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!!!

Yikes! is it July already??i

ERIC'S TRIP TO INDIA

I attended the International Conference on Radio Science
ATMS meeting, Jodhpur, India

There was much ceremony at these meetings, and I was made to feel very welcome.

The streets of Jodhpur are filled with all types of cars, people and animals.
(even camels were not unusual)

The city is dominated by a HUGE fort from the 1200's
The Mehrangarh Fort (never captured)

Inside the fort is a wonderful palace all carved in red sandstone
(even the lattice-work screening)

After Jodhpur, we traveled to Bangalore

for the AMTA-INDIA meeting.

Our small scientific team representing the AMTA:
Myself, Don Bodner, Daniel van Rensburg and Janet O'Neil

Our host in Bangalore took us to a very interesting colonial era palace.

(Note the obvious British influence)

You can see ALL of my photos and some video clips at

http://picasaweb.google.com/7388FullWave

(just click)

Fall of 2007 for the Waltons

Well, Summer 2007 comes to an end.

Winter is coming!

We pull our boat out of the water on
a beautiful fall day.

Wish summer would never end,
and wish fall would never end.

The trees are just wonderful.
Next we visited St. Louis for
a technical meeting (Eric's work).

So ... of course we want to see (and go up in) the
St. Louis Gateway Arch.
I must admit, it really is impressive and beautiful.

Imagine the vision of the person who had this idea as a symbol of the city of
St. Louis (Gateway to the west!).

So simple yet so compelling a symbol.
It was so nice that my son Daniel
came to share the (partial) week with us.

Since I was getting an award, he especially wanted to be there.

Good kid.

THE WALTONS AT NIAGARA FALLS

We visited Niagara Falls this summer with my brother Dave.


It is hard to beleve that we have lived in Ohio for 30 years (gasp!)
and not seen Niagara Falls.

It really is exciting and fun.

We did all the tourist things.

Ride the Maid of the Mist.
No kidding, the Maid of the Mist
is really exciting.

The falls really are huge and noisy and

wet!!
It was a fun thing to do with my brother.

I think he liked getting wet.
We walked along the
raging (really!) river downstream of the falls.

It is a wonderful way to spend a weekend in
the summer.

Walton's summer of 2007

These are some posts for our friends and family;

We love our new daughter-in-law and her family.

Here is the new family; Eric, Dawn, Sharon, John Paul, and Daniel.

Wish we could get together like this more often.










Daniel (our San Francisco son)
works hard but sometimes takes a break.

Nothing like a hammock.

We love him and wish we could visit more often.

Note the cool shirt; Product logo designed by his
brother John Paul.

We recently did some sailing on Sandusky Bay. We chartered a beautiful 2006 Catalina 309. Shared the experience with john Paul and Dawn and their friends Dan and Monique.

As you can see, they both enjoyed the experience.

As I like to say; " Its "Jackie O", and not "Old man and the sea."

Dan Merk expecially enjoyed the "training" experience.

Here, we are demonstrating "Heave to", an expression that has nothing to do with seasickness (look it up).

We also had some "shore time." We really enjoyed the Sandusky Merry Go Round museum.

(go there and try not to smile!) See the video of Sharon on the ride!!

All in all, a winderful summer.