Happy New Decade
Celebrating a special event at Amsterdam’s Palazzo.
Sharene and Harrison’s 2019 Christmas Update
Here we are at the beginning of 2020. Seems like just yesterday it was the turn of the century; now we are already two decades into the new one. Life moves fast but we always take a moment to recognize how lucky we are to be living in a place we love with those we love.
The year’s highlights:
- We’re healthy! We’re still biking and walking and going to the gym regularly. (Yay!) But our hearts go out to those close to us who are struggling with declining health every day.
- We went to Florida again last winter. We got a break from gray, cold Amsterdam and had lots of sunshine. We saw friends and family (one relative for the last time before she passed away). We saw lots of Florida, including Key West, which had a real Hawaii kind of vibe.
- For the fourth year in a row, Amelia joined us in late May to celebrate Harrison’s birthday. We started in Venice and took the train to Trieste, where we began a wonderful bike trip down the Coast of Istria in Croatia. Mostly good weather, beautiful scenery, interesting cities and towns, and of course great company.
- Harrison traveled to Iowa in June to join his cousins and other family for a melancholy but ultimately joyful celebration of life, and Sharene went to California in October to see family and friends, a visit that included her annual Girls’ Trip.
- We were honored to host two home concerts. The first was in January with Ralph Rousseau playing the rare viola da gamba in a unique program of meditative music. In December we returned to the piano jazz repertoire with Stephanie Trick & Paolo Alderighi. Stephanie, from St. Louis, and Paolo, from Milan, play four-hand piano arrangements of material ranging from ragtime and other early American jazz, to swing, and all the way to Broadway musicals and even the Beatles.
- We had lots of company of course—it’s what we do! Dear friends Rick & Maggie, who have been part of Harrison’s life for nearly 50 years, finally made it to Amsterdam, followed by their daughter Laurel two weeks later. Dave & Dorothy, also friends since Harrison’s years in Seattle, visited as well. Later in the year we hosted a fascinating group that included two of Harrison’s Stanford Business School classmates.
Favorite Films
We saw lots of movies, both in theaters and on Netflix. Some of our favorites that might have escaped your attention (in no particular order):
- Resistance Banker (Netflix): amazing and moving true story about Dutch resistance during World War II.
- The Game Changers (Netflix): fascinating and compelling look at the benefits of a plant-based diet.
- Yesterday: a must for anyone who loves the Beatles.
- The Rolling Stones Olé Olé Olé (Netflix): whether or not you love the Stones you’ll gain new respect for them.
- Two films about the extraordinary Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: RBG and On the Basis of Sex.
- Mary Poppins Returns: best musical we’ve seen in years.
- Hustlers: phenomenal performance by Jennifer Lopez and a different take on sex workers.
- Downton Abbey (the movie): a must for fans of the TV series.
- The Crown (Netflix series): the sets and costumes of Downton Abbey but history instead of fiction.
- The Professor and the Madman: surprisingly gripping story about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary.
- The Great Hack (Netflix): how data is weaponized to wage cultural and political wars and change election results.
- Liberated: The New Sexual Revolution (Netflix): disturbing look at current attitudes and behaviors of young people regarding sexuality.
- Ask Dr. Ruth: the incredible life of sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, still going strong at 90.
Photos
Sharene is the photographer in the family and takes lots of photos every month. At the end of the year we choose which of those photos best reflect our year, and Harrison reformats and captions them for this WordPress website. The following photos are arranged in galleries and almost all photos have both a caption and a longer description. Depending on whether you are reading this on a computer, tablet, or smartphone, you may see all the captions immediately, or you might have to roll your mouse over a photo to see the caption and/or description. Clicking or tapping on any photo should bring up a full-size photo or a slide show with arrows to move between photos. Enjoy!
February Trip to Florida
May Bike Trip
Joan’s Memorial in June
All surviving Lindner cousins (Harrison’s mother’s side), together with some of the spouses, joined Phil in Des Moines, Iowa, to celebrate the life of his wife, Joan, who passed away in April. The cousins from left: Beth, Harrison, Phil, David, Susan, Rick, Jean, George. Dan, the 9th cousin, sadly passed away in 2008.
Home Concerts
Our Garden
Our garden is tiny compared to what we had in Hawaii, but it’s Sharene’s pride and joy and the perfect size for our Amsterdam home. We use it almost every day from spring through late fall.
Visitors
Life in the Netherlands
Amsterdam Bikes
Amsterdam is the “City of Bikes”. Now and then we come across some great examples of “bike art”.
Sharene’s Fall Trip to California
Holiday Celebrations
Throughout our lives, we seem to have reinvented ourselves every 10 years or so. After seven years in Hawaii, we could see another reinvention coming and were already preparing to sell our business and home. We have now lived in Amsterdam for over seven years, but we don’t see ourselves leaving. It remains the perfect place for us at this stage of our lives.
In December we celebrated the 33rd anniversary of our first date in San Francisco. As we look back on our 33 years together, on 28 years of marriage, and on the year 2019, we are grateful to live in a home we love, surrounded by friends and beauty, and to continue our journey in a place that is right for us.
We wish all those in our circle of family and friends much love and good health in the coming year. And for the United States of America, where we were born and spent most of our lives, we wish and hope for a change in leadership, and we encourage our American family, friends, and other readers to do whatever you can (at the minimum, vote in the next election) to make that happen.
Harrison and Sharene
My Darlings,
May your next 33 years together be as sweet as the first 33. If ever two people were meant to go down the path of life together, it’s you.
Life here is good. I live like a monk, almost, and that’s the way I like it. So different from yours, yet similar, as to our free choices, thank goodness. Your home concerts intrigue me. What richness of spirit you bring into your home!
As to tiny t, as I call the withered fool, I will, indeed, do everything I can to make him disappear this year.
Stay well, hug often and I Love You. Bev
So happy you are doing so well. I turned 85 in 2019 and it is slowing me down but am still doing better than most my age. Traveling has become a burden so do not go much. The really good thing about this year is the stock market which I rely on and my IRA has become way more healthy the last three years. I love that. David is doing fine and we spend a goodly amount of time together especially going to sports games at the University.
Keep on enjoying life and staying well.
Love Lois
As always, fun to live along with your 2019!! I’ll forward to Alexa and Nicole!!
I love your annual letters. They’re so inspirational. I hope 2020 is filled with more exciting events
We were so happy and we felt so lucky, to get to stop by, at least for a few hours, this past summer, to see your beautiful home and lives, in Amsterdam! Thank you for sharing your lives from 2019 with us and we wish you both the very best of 2020! Wow that sounds like we should already be in the Jetson era!
Aloha with love, Cindy
I am getting used to this annual letter of yours. Thanks a lot for this one about 2019. Well I indeed also hope for change in 2020 as far as the leadership of the US is concerned. And please let us as mankind do something that keeps our planet alive, for all that nature has given us just as for granted. I am looking forward to meet you both again this brand new year. The hospitality is so warm and open and lovely. I miss it already when I close your front door after another happening (with as Harrison always mentions “hapjes”). Great guys, love you, see you, have a wonderful 2020 again in Amsterdam, a place to be and… to stay as long as…
Dearest fun & inspiring Sharene and Harrison
Such a treat to share your adventures with photos & all. Keep spreading that joy ! Wishing you continued good health lotsa good times and Love ❤️
Mucho hugs
Arie & K
Dear Friends,
Such a lovely annual letter which we so enjoy reading each year. Time goes by so swiftly, yet our friendship endures regardless of where we are. 33 years of friendship with Sharene and Harrison and at least 10 more with Sharene. Love the time we spend together on Skype and share vicariously through Facebook. So looking forward to spending some time with you this year and wish you both all the best the coming year has to offer. Love you lots, Mike and Jeanne
Fantastic how my friends improve with age, like fine wine. This was an enjoyable trip to take with you during 2019. Thank you for the time and effort to assemble and share. Fokko and I look forward to more good times in 2020. “When all seems dark around you, keep looking up at the stars!”. That is what we all do, and love surrounds us.
Always great to hear from you and so good to know that everything is well with you two! As you probably know I get “updates” every now and then from our mutual friends, some of whom have visited you. All the best for 2020!
Aloha, Bo-Göran
Dearest Sharen and Harrison,
it’s go great to read about your adventures and see lots of pix of you guys. I really am happy to see that you guys are always smiling and have found your place in Amsterdam. We wish you a very happy new year and lots of new memories 🙂
Lots of love,
Bogi&Cirill
Dearest Sharene & Harrison,
What a start of the New Year! After all the visits, guests, meals, hugs & kisses….we decided to take out time to read your annual newsletter, We sat ourselves down in front of the largest screen in the house, with tea, coffee, cakes and Tigger on our lap and starting casting it from a laptop. That was 11 o’clock this morning….we read, scrolled, clicked and tapped away, opened every picture to have a good look at all those beautiful peeps and pictures curious as we are, when we realised it was past lunch time! We just ‘binged’ on it and made a note in our brand new planners to do that again in 2021.
That much fun! So thanks for keeping us of the streets with this colourful, gripping Storybook !
We have just approached Netflix for a deal….
Wow, I was just thinking….I have known Harrison for over 45 years, and even thou not seeing him that often, it seems like he comes to mind a lot, remembering the conversations with him and of course the talent and compassion for others he always has…Then Sharene came into his life and meeting her I just knew they were a perfect match and so much alike….And being together over 33 years and married for 28 is fantastic…( I joke with them, but in some ways it is true) the Dorian Grays of the world). Seeing all the excellent photos of friends shows exactly what Harrison and Sharene are like….Love the movie list and will try and see some of those. Seeing all loving wonderful smiles from everyone in the photos is very uplifting and positive…..With out friends life would be very empty….Have a great New Year and thanks for the wonderful letter I look forward to it every year…Long time friend forever. Love, .Joe