CHRISTMAS '98

Presented By: Manuel L. Ponte, St. Louis, Missouri, USA www.GeoCities.com/azorean/AZOREAN_TIME.html

TOP: Whitney, the ENT doctor.... MIDDLE: Sarah and Elizabeth.... BOTTOM: Addison and Sarah....

CHRISTMAS, 1999

Katherine, being Irish, favors the green...

Dena and her father, Allen. Born on July 4, 1988, Dena has one of those birthdays we can't forget. Besides, she was born at 2:12 am on the 212th; Anniversary of the  United States Declaration of Independence. * KATHY'S SITE CLICK

THE ACCIDENTAL TOURISTS WHO KNOWS WHERE THE ROAD WILL LEAD US?...... It was natural for me not to want to leave Massachusetts, where I had grown up, gone to school, and had family and friends whom I liked. On the other hand, I could not hold back Manuel's career. As an immigrant he had to make it on his own - and I wanted him to succeed. Little did I know that my decision would lead into placesI had never expected to see, or to meet people who were totally unexpected, or who did not expect me... I remember for example in 1988 in Japan, when, with Mount Fuji in the background, a little, elderly Japanese man broke out of the trio he was with and said something in his language. Our escort, Manuel's friend, Toshi Arisaka, then laughingly told me what the old man wanted. He had never taken a photo with a redhead. Would I care to stand next to him and oblige him? I agreed, and at this moment I still wonder if he, or any of his relatives, ever developed that photo... Japan, however, was only one of the places that one were beyond my expectations. Amongst others, I can include: Scotland, England, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Venezuela. www.crossingwallstreet.com/archives/2007/04/

At Alamada, Portugal

With Frank Chen (Taiwan) at Frankfurt, Germany

Blarney? Where else, but Ireland?

Note: Before April 25, 1974, the bridge was known as the Salazar Bridge

Lisbon's - 25th of Abril Bridge Views

Heidelberg, Germany - As a girl in Boston Kathy often dreamt of meeting THE STUDENT PRINCE. She had to settle for an ordinary Azorean eventually,

Milan, Italy - One of my favorite cities in that country. The photos were shot at the Piazza il Duomo (The Cathedral Plaza) as well as inside the Galeria Vittorio Emanuelle. To say the restaurants in the U. S. food courts have a long way to go before they compare with those in the Galeria would not be exaggeration. * POETRY

ABOVE - Thanks to our friendship in St. Louis with Merle Buzzotta, we managed to visit her daughter Anne in Sussex during one of our English trips. Anne and her husband, Peter Fesseden, in turn, showed us the beautiful back country Essex and, just to give us a view of their living style, took us to the first Polo Game we have ever seen.

LEFT - I would classify this particular trip to Mexico City as a ?Trip from Hell. Walter Anthony and I visited Mexico City on business - The Pan American College of Ophthalmology was having its rotating annual meeting in that city. We agreed to bring our wives with us given the short distance between the Mexican capital and St. Louis. My wife Kathy made the most of it. Eva Anthony, on the other hand, was the perfect UGLY AMERICAN. The woman was not only patriotically and politically conservative in all her views. She was downright stupid. I swore that I would never travel in her company again, although Walter and I did visit Mexico on many other occasions..

At Napoli's Restaurant, San Angel Section, Mexico City

REMBERING FRANKFURT

F. Lyon de Castro, 2nd from right, purposely brought Ramon Espaxs Palau, his son Ramon Espaxs Royes, and myself before the mural advertising the last Worlds Fair to be held in Europe in the XXth Century. F. Lyon de Castro is a top Portuguese publisher. The Espaxs father and son are Spanish publishers located in Barcelona.

Kathy and I, believe it or not, at an Italian restaurant. When she got the habit to enjoy Italian food, she often seems to behave as if Italian food were the only good meals in Frankfurt.

The Espaxs (Father and son) here with me at a Spanish restaurant in Offenbach, where the staff couldnt speak a word of Spanish given their Yugoslavian backgrounds. We never found out if they had been Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, or Slovene. The food, however was quite good.

FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR - Small world, somehow. The people on this photo, starting with Walter F. Gauss (left, with briefacase) was born in 5 different countries: Switzerland, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, and the United States. They reside in three of those countries: Brazil, Spain, and the United States. I can't account for the two women in the background.

When all is said and done, however, after the world has been visited, interviewed, and a lot of new publications added to their libraries, the fact remains that the greatest reward comes about when one finally vacations amidst the family, as shown in the Easter Photo below.

The above photos were shot in our backyard in Olivette. Somehow we can not explain why the four Soffer grandchildren are not shown even though their parents, Mary Beth and Allen, appear on the top row (left). I feel, therefore that, even though I am repeating it, for I have displayed in other sections,  the photo of the entire family should be displayed. Granted that it was taken  a year after the shooting of thze photos above. But it does show what we all look like after Kathy and I had been married 50 years.

FINALLY: