Jamie lands 'dream job' - She and Christine will move to California later this year

Christine and Jamie at a park near their NJ home

Jamie is about to begin a new job as a game designer with Riot Games, the developer and publisher of the very popular League of Legends multi-player online video game.

Starting Sept. 27, Jamie will be part of a team that designs “skins,” which customize the appearance of characters in the game, and develops in-game and in-person events.

“This is a dream job for me,” said Jamie, who received the employment offer from Riot while recovering from surgery last month. She is recuperating nicely at home in Hamilton, N.J., where she and Christine moved this summer to be close to the surgical specialist.

Jamie will work remotely for the first few months. Then, the couple will move to Southern California, and Jamie will join her team at Riot’s headquarters in Santa Monica. The company will provide relocation assistance, and Jamie and Christine are now researching neighborhoods in Greater Los Angeles.

For the past two and a half years, Jamie worked as a software developer at Visible Body, which develops apps for medical professionals. Her office was in Newton Upper Falls, Mass., although the company switched to remote working in Spring 2020 due to the pandemic. Jamie previously worked at Boston Productions, a developer of interactive exhibits for museums.

The move to Southern California will be a new adventure for Jamie, who grew up in New Hampshire, and Christine, a New Jersey native.

Christine & Jamie make a move to New Jersey

Christine and Jamie (and their cats) have moved into an apartment in Hamilton Square, N.J., for what's most likely to be a six-month stay.

A combination of circumstances led the couple to relocate to Christine's native state. In March 2020, they moved from a suburban Boston apartment to the home of Jamie's father, Paul, in Nashua, N.H., in order to save money toward eventually buying their own place. That move coincided with the onset of the pandemic, and Jamie has been working remotely ever since. Paul retired this spring, and decided to put his home on the market and move to Florida. Meanwhile, Jamie has scheduled surgery with a specialist near Trenton, N.J., during August, which will require a stay of several weeks in the area.

So, rather than find another apartment in New England, Jamie and Christine looked for a place in the Garden State - and landed in the same town where Christine's older siblings, Marie and Danny, grew up. They were fortunate to find a newly renovated apartment in a building in a nice neighborhood, across the street from a large county park. 

They took a six-month lease, expecting that around yearend, Jamie will return to working in the Boston-area offices of medical-app developer Visible Body - or perhaps will have found a new job in the game-development field.

The first big snowstorm of 2021

Julie waves from the back door at Birch Street HQ

The beginning of February brought heavy snow to parts of the Northeast. The storm moved up the coast on Monday, Feb. 1, and the snowfall continued throughout Groundhog Day in parts of the region.

Among places of interest to our extended family, accumulations ranged from 2-6 inches around Baltimore to about a foot and a half in the northern Catskills. (The highest accumulations reported by the National Weather Service were 35 inches in Nazareth, PA, and Mount Arlington, NJ.) Coastal areas saw far less snow, mixed with rain. 

Cathy shared these views of her suburban Philadelphia neighborhood on Monday afternoon. Accumulations of about 8 inches were reported in the area.

At Birch Street Headquarters in New Jersey, Dan measured more than 14 inches on the ground on Tuesday afternoon, with occasional snow showers continuing.

In upstate New York, Andy and Wren had about 16 inches on their porch Tuesday morning, with light snow still falling. That was on top of about 5 inches already on the ground from occasional snow in recent weeks.

Southern New Hampshire had about 10 inches as of Tuesday morning. Here, one of Christine and Jamie's cats watches the snowfall on Monday evening.

Throughout the storm, Dan and Julie's backyard birdfeeder was very active. "It must be the only restaurant open for miles around," Dan remarked. As seen above, a female Cardinal, a Chickadee and a couple of sparrows were among the visitors. Others included Dark-Eyed Juncos, House Finches, Tufted Titmouses and two varieties of woodpecker. And, in the photo below, an American Goldfinch (the official state bird of New Jersey) stopped by briefly.

A very 2020 Christmas get-together

Keeping up holiday tradition as well as possible under the circumstances, Kathy hosted a virtual version of the annual Yonkers Christmas party on Dec. 27. Family members Zoomed in from up and down the East Coast to exchange Christmas greetings as well as wishes for a much better 2021.

In this checkerboard version of a family photo, we see (top row) Austin in Florida, Dan & Julie in New Jersey, Kathy in Yonkers, and Genevieve with Jack (and John off-screen) in Manhattan; (2nd row) Kevin, Kathy and Kevin in Yonkers, Vivien, CJ and baby Austin in New Jersey (Charlie was napping), Andy and Wren in Middleburgh, NY; (3rd row) Ellen and Owen on Cape Cod (with Lizzie offscreen), Beatrice upstairs from her mom, Christine (with Jamie offscreen) in New Hampshire and Marie in Virginia; and (bottom row) Kelsey and Patrick in northern Westchester (visiting Kelsey's parents), Brien in Yonkers and Mary (with Roger offscreen) in Malta, NY. Also taking part but not captured in this screenshot were Shanna, Rick and Lucy. 

Distanced Thanksgiving 2: Game Night

Lisa and Doug continued, in a fashion, their tradition of hosting a party on the day after Thanksgiving. Although unable to share crabcakes and ribs, family members enjoyed seeing and talking to each other and, as in years past, playing games together - this time via video conferencing service Zoom and online gaming sight Jackbox. Joining in from their homes were Dolores and Hugh, Julie and Dan, Cathy, Chris, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Christine, Jamie, Andy and Wren. The virtual gathering went on for some five hours.

Distanced Thanksgiving: Sharing greetings online

Holidays like Thanksgiving are made for getting together with the people you care about. But caring about people means keeping them safe, so amid the continuing pandemic, our family's gatherings were sharply limited this year. Making the best of the situation, we used technology to share holiday greetings from our separate homes.

Dan and Julie held an "open house" on Zoom, with various family members dropping in at different points in the day. Marie, Brian and Xander joined from Virginia; Christine and Jamie (with kittens) from New Hampshire; and Andy and Wren (with chickens) from upstate New York. From various points in Westchester came Kathy and Robert; Patrick and Kelsey (with puppy); plus Kevin and Kathy (with Jasper), Shanna, Rick, Lucy, Kevin and Brien. Genevieve and John, Bea and Jack zoomed in from Manhattan and Vivien, CJ, Charlie and Austin from New Jersey. Jamie's mom, Bonnie, and dad, Paul, also popped in with Thanksgiving greetings.

"It was wonderful seeing everyone and getting to relax and chat together, even if not in person," Dan said. "To get to visit with so many of our favorite people made the day feel special. And without the holiday traffic!"

Autumn leaves and family visits

Fall view from Andy & Wren's porch

Dan celebrated his late-October birthday by taking some days off work, and he and Julie hit the road to points north and east. They visited Andy and Wren in upstate New York, then Christine and Jamie in New Hampshire. Along the way they checked out the fall foliage, which was just a bit past peak but still very colorful. 

Relaxing at home

Just a few of the chickens

In Middleburg, N.Y., Dan and Julie toasted Andy and Wren's recent engagement and enjoyed their hospitality - including fresh eggs from their flock of chickens.

The four set out for a Sunday hike at a nearby geological feature called Vroman's Nose, but changed their minds when they found the trail crowded with maskless people. They drove around a bit looking at the scenery, then took a stroll in a community park in nearby Schoharie that includes a covered pedestrian bridge over Fox Creek. 

On Monday, Dan and Julie took a drive through the Berkshires and across central Massachusetts, then dipped into northeastern Connecticut. The weather was alternately rainy, foggy and just damp, foiling plans to stop for a walk in the woods near Stockbridge, Mass., but the autumn scenery was colorful even without the sun. They spent the night in Connecticut (due to Covid restrictions) before heading to New Hampshire the next morning. 

The weather dried out for their Tuesday visit with Christine and Jamie - and their kittens, now almost six months old. It was Dan and Julie's first chance to meet Morgana and Lavenza in person. After catching up over lunch, D&J and C&J headed out to explore the Andres Institute of Art sculpture park in nearby Brookline, N.H.

It was a chance to enjoy a fall hike in the woods and observe some art along the way. This work, called "Bones of the Earth," incorporated an existing rock outcropping. It was along the park's "Quarry Trail," which turned out to involve some rugged, rocky climbing.

Along a smoother trail were other installations, such as the very cute "Animals" and a trio of metal figures called "The Debate." There were very few people in the park on that Tuesday afternoon, and the group never encountered anyone else along the trails - making it a very relaxing, socially-distanced outing.

Friendly-looking "Animals"

Christine engages in "The Debate"

Afterward, the four returned to the house Jamie and Christine are sharing with Jamie's dad, Paul. Jamie grilled a rack of ribs with her own spice rub, making for a fine dinner. Dan then invoked birthday privilege to get Julie, Christine, Jamie and Paul to join him in a game of Rail Baron - which Christine was leading when all decided to call it a night.

It was raining again as Dan and Julie started the drive home, but the weather improved as they crossed Connecticut, and they had another chance to enjoy beautiful fall foliage along the Merritt Parkway to conclude their mini-vacation.

Christine and Jamie welcome kittens to their home

On the way to new home

Christine and Jamie became the owners of two kittens on Aug. 13. They are pedigree Bengal cats, sisters born in May.

The kittens came from a breeder in Massachusetts who gave them excellent care and provided C+J with extensive records of their health and their family history.

Called Morgana and Lavenza, the kittens took only a day or so to start feeling comfortable in their new home - and particularly in Christine's and Jamie's desk chairs. Soon they were exploring the house, playing with toys and trying out various perches.

Lavenza	Morgana

The Cat Fanciers Association describes the Bengal as "a medium to large domestic cat most renowned for its richly colored, highly contrasted coat of vivid spots or distinctive marbling ... Bengals are generally confident and devoted companions. ... Active and interactive, Bengals are curious and athletic and maintain a kitten-like energy and attitude well into their senior years. These affectionate cats engage their owners in play, learn tricks, learn house-rules, or just like to be close."

At work with Jamie

Catnap in Christine's lap

Morgana and Lavenza now have their own Instagram page! You can see more photos and follow their activities @velvetbengals

The natural and unnatural progress of Spring

Dan writes: As May passes into June, the azaleas and cherry blossoms have faded and the first roses are blooming here at Birch Street Web HQ. Julie and I are lucky to live in a neighborhood that's very pleasant for taking walks and watching the progress of everyone else's flowering plants and trees. The early magnolias were followed by the dogwoods, and now rhododenrons are in full bloom. For "sheltering in place," this isn't a bad place.

Some of our family members have decamped to their Noyac houses -- Kathy to hers, Genevieve, John, Bea and Jack to theirs -- where they can continue to work remotely and in somewhat more pleasant isolation.

Shanna, Rick and Lucy are safe at their New Jersey home, where this lovely family portrait was taken.

Likewise, Vivien, CJ and Charlie at their home in the Garden State. And yes, there was Easter this year, if not traditional Easter gatherings.

Dan and Julie have been having weekly get-togethers on Zoom with Julie's parents and a cast of family members that varies from week to week. Christine and Jamie, Andy and Shannon, Cathy, Christopher, Stephanie, Lisa, Elizabeth and Rebecca have all participated from time to time. This shot is from late April.

We hope it won't be too long before we can see each other in person again. But in the meantime, let's all stay safe and well, and keep in touch as best we can.

2019 Christmas family snapshots

We hope everyone in our extended family had a wonderful Christmas season. Here are just a handful of photos from the holidays. We'd love to post more if you send them our way (birchstreetweb@gmail.com). Happy New Year to all!

Lucy's first Christmas, with mom Shanna and dad Rick

Charlie with cousins Bea and Jack

Christmas on the Cape with Nolan (aka Capt. America) and Josie

Josie's first Christmas

Bea and Jack with grandma Kathy

Andy and Shannon with Julie and Dan on Christmas Day

Christine and Jamie playing with a Christmas gift from Julie and Dan

Christine, James visit Disney's worlds

Christine and James recently got to spend several days at Walt Disney World in Orlando, exploring the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot Center and Hollywood Studios.

They spent the most time at the Animal Kingdom park, viewing the wide variety of animals in recreated habitats - and exploring the just-opened World of Avatar section.

Based on the movie about the planet Pandora, that section mixes earthly-but-exotic with artificial-otherworldly flora and fauna, much of which glows in the dark. A river-raft ride includes a close look at Disney's most-advanced animatronic character ever, the Na'vi Shaman of Songs.

Here are just a few of the photos Christine took, plus a brief Disney video clip of that shaman.