( image above) In front of the Miyajima Torii gate, near Hiroshima, Japan, 15 November 2023

2023 Year End Blog

For us, the year-end holidays are a time to express gratitude, consider our blessings and privileges, celebrate the many wonderful people and places in our lives—we are privileged. In parallel, we must acknowledge the very difficult times in which we live—the threats to democracy, racial justice, and reproductive freedom in the U.S., wars around the globe, and climate change and ecological instability, to say nothing about the Texas Legislature. In this year of personal changes for us, we have been focusing on connecting the local with the global, through what we hope are positive actions, engaging interactions, and building forward-focused relationships in different communities. We look to find ways to have greater impact in making the world a better place. We hope that you will reach back to us and share your activities and ideas about moving forward towards a better world, as well as your personal news, stories, and thoughts at this important time of year.

The mix of writing and photos that follows is meant to be an informative and efficient way to keep in touch and share news with our family and our wide circle of friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. Although posting photos and commentary will never be as personal as a handwritten letter or postcard, we want to convey our hope to keep connected to you, and give you a broader awareness of our experiences, commonalities and differences, hopes and aspirations. But if you feel like sending us a postcard or letter from time time, you can be sure we’d love that…but please note the new address for our mail service below!

Mark and Dana December, 2023

Celebrating the joys and challenges of 2023, and wishing you the best for the year ahead!

05/17/23 Sunrise looking at Mt Everest from the Hotel Everest View, near Khumjung, Nepal (altitude: 13,000 ft / 3,880 meters)

Dear Family & Friends,

A Quick Take of Some 2023 Highlights—first, here’s to our elders!

05/08/23 Nancy's 101st birthday

01/28/23 Tom at breakfast

…a few 2023 bullet points:

New Years 2023 brought major transitions! Last January and February, Mark first settled in Austin and then led a walking tour in Mexico, Dana finished his 11+ years at GRAM in early February on a high note, serving as guest curator of Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder. His solo road trip from Grand Rapids spanned over 1500 miles in four very full days, on a purposefully-plotted course planned to see art, architecture, and friends along the way in Chicago, Kansas City, MO, Lawrence, KS, Bartlesville and Oklahoma City, OK, and Fort Worth, TX to Austin. What transitions have you made this year? Any fun road trips?

Austin, Texas is once again our home base—and the center-city townhouse we’ve owned since 1997 is headquarters/launch pad as we navigate challenges and opportunities in our new lives. We have developed “home,” routines to keep us healthier and energized--for example, almost every day we ride our bikes two miles on the Hike and Bike trail to Barton Springs for a refreshing swim and other exercise. We are just getting started re-connecting with longtime friends and meeting new people, enjoying the art and cultural opportunities, studying Japanese, reading more, and slowly getting our home, office, and computers better organized. Our rental property, The Plant at Kyle, is nearby, and we are able to take short retreat breaks and gather family and friends from time to time. We’d love to hear about your everyday realities, and what home means to you!

We are travelling more than ever! Although it was a bit abrupt, five days after Dana pulled in the garage from Grand Rapids, we packed up and hopped a plane for three and a half months in Japan, India, Bhutan, and Nepal. Returning for summer, we enjoyed extended time with family and friends in Texas, Maine, New York and along the East Coast, and Colorado. October brought us to Southern Italy with nineteen of Mark’s Italian-American relatives to see their ancestral home towns of Sanza and Rovito, meeting newly-discovered relatives and learning about their family history. November found us back in Japan with a tour, and explorations in Hokkaido and Aomori to learn about the ancient Jomon culture and the indigenous Ainu peoples who are unique to that region. We enjoyed Thanksgiving back in Texas for a feast at The Plant at Kyle with Mark’s family, and spent a week at Christmas with Dana’s family in Portland, Maine. We’d love to hear where you’ve been lately!

Work+/-Life… now merged… has become a dynamic, energizing tension! In our new, semi-nomadic lifestyles, the lines are now blurred between the time and focus needed to manage our several small businesses and making the most of our “personal” lives. Sometimes it is a struggle for us—we can’t keep up with communication, creating content, lifelong learning as we hope to. Our rental property in the Texas hill country, The Plant at Kyle, is doing well, especially after some major upgrades including new interior lighting, restoring and painting the pool canopy, and replacing and repainting the wooden porch doors and screen frames. We research, design and lead custom- and group cultural tours for our company, Tiny World Tours, and this year offered seven group trips and private expeditions, spread across Japan, Bhutan, Nepal, Mexico, and Italy. Dana has initiated a consulting practice, conceived as a “cultural project studio,” to develop collaborations between museums, artists, and communities, with a focus on Japan. He is already helping some artists and their families donate art to museums in the U.S. and Japan, and working with museums and curators in those countries to develop exchanges, exhibition tours, and collaborations. This work intensify when we return for extended periods in the spring and fall.

Join us in 2024 for one of these events or expeditions!

Be part of a a day-long, multi-disciplinary celebration of the total solar eclipse at The Plant at Kyle! Our Total Solar Eclipse Celebration on April 8 features experiences focused on science, nature, and art including the unveiling of a new site-specific artwork by Eames Demetrios, performances by Deborah Hay, Doug Fitch & Tommy Nguyen, Polynesian Drum and Dance by Hula Halau Keepa, Indigenous Land, Sun, and Moon Ceremony by Kimbali Talking Medicine, and short informative talks. Space is limited, reserve your tickets here.

Total Solar Eclipse Event at The Plant at Kyle on 8 April 2024

This fall, explore a less-traveled part of Japan and its history with Tiny World Tours From the Ancient to the Contemporary: Cultures of Northern Japan, October 20-31.

We want to keep in touch! We always apprecicate hearing from family and friends near and far, and hope that you will share your news, reflections, and aspirations… we will be traveling a lot more in 2023. Keeping connected makes it more likely for our paths to cross!

2023 has been a big year for our families!

Mark’s Family (and friends) celebrating Thanksgiving (on the Saturday after) at The Plant at Kyle 11/25/23

A few of our family highlights…

We had several wonderful trips to Maine to be with Dana’s family Nancy turned 101 in May, settled into the Scarborough Terrace retirement community, where she actively participates in resident dialogues and enjoys reading novels, history, and biographies. Dana’s sister Sandy and her husband Ted are busy with their jobs however find pleasure on their boat (May to October) and working in their yard and garden (year round!)

We returned several times to the Little Diamond Island summer cottage that we share with Sandy and cousins Mark and Scott Johnston. Sadly Mark and Scott’s stepmother, Gail, passed away in July in Rhode Island, and we all attended a beautiful memorial service there, followed by a lively luncheon with Gail’s extended family and friends from across the country..

Mark’s family Mark’s father Tom and partner Mary Kevorkian continue to enjoy life in independent living at Austin’s Westminster Manor. Austin is often the focal point for our immediate family gatherings including our annual Thanksgiving traditional gathering at The Plant at Kyle. Mark’s sister Ellen lives in Berkeley, California, is an active runner and is a leader of the Pinkathon Challenge for Breast Cancer project. Mark’s brother Jim and his family live in San Antonio, where he works in fundraising at Trinity College. Alex and Andrew, our two nephews, at Rice University studying engineering, and spend their summers with internship jobs, travelling, and learning Chinese.

Successful Italy Tour with Mark’s Cozza family relatives Following an August visit to our Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York historic family neighborhood, in October Mark and Dana brought 19 Italian-American family members to visit our spectacular ancestral villages in Southern Italy (Sanza, Campania, and Rovito, Calabria). We were very warmly welcomed by our Italian relatives - and we’ll lead another Cozza family tour to these villages in August 2024! (please let Mark know if you’re interested). We expect our Italian Citizenship petition to be completed in June or July 2024.

Share your best family memories of the year…

People and Places important in our lives

lots of Photos and a few words…

(Click on a thumbnail to enlarge, and use your arrow key to move through the images.)

Austin Highlights

It’s been wonderful to return to Austin, where we’ve had a base since 1996. We moved back into the townhouse we’ve owned since 1998 on a tree-lined street at the edge of downtown near Shoal Creek and West 6th Street, and the Hike and Bike Trail. We take advantage of the nearby Public Library,, the large Whole Foods flagship store, and plenty of wonderful restaurants and bars, museums, architecture, and a lively street life. We love riding our bikes to Barton Springs each morning, allowing us to beat the heat in the summer months. Our rental property The Plant at Kyle, and important early building by Lake|Flato Architects, is 35 miles away, and we have been restoring and upgrading the facility and landscape, and enjoy it with family and friends when not rented. Though this year has had lots of international travel in 2023, we’ve spent about 16 weeks settling in to our “Austin Headquarters”..we still have lots of boxes to open, organizational projects, and ongoing downsizing… Oh well…

Maine Highlights

Dana traces his family roots in Maine back over 150 years, and his stepmother Nancy, and sister Sandy and cousin Scott and their families live in Portland area. This year we were able to visit family and friends several times, with longer visits in the in summer to the cottage on Little Diamond Island we share with family, while in the winter we rent an apartment in town. We enjoy the Portland Museum of Art and many restaurants, bookstores, and farmers markets in this charming historic city, and visit the many strong museums that are part of the Maine Art Trail and visiting friends along the coast.

Grand Rapids Highlights

After nearly a dozen years in Grand Rapids, that community will always be very important in our lives. In February this year, Dana completed his CEO role at GRAM, and his final project was to guest-curate the exhibition Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder from the Portland Museum of Art. In September, we were thrilled to return to Grand Rapids for a week of activities, including attending GRAM’s fundraiser, Autumn Affair, to spend time with GRAM’s new Director and CEO, Cindy Myers Foley, to experience GRAM’s new Creative Learning Center, and especially to reconnect with our many friends and colleagues, to take walks in our favorite parks, and see art. It was so great to catch up, to re-kindle relationships, and to meet new friends.

Japan Highlights

It was exciting to return to Japan twice in 2023, since COVID closures had forced us to several trips since our last visit in 2019. We planned extended stays which would allow us to lead four Tiny World Tours, see longtime friends, and do research and reconnaissance for future tours and possible collaborative partnerships. For example, we attended the wedding of Aya and Tim Rowe; ventured to see amazing art projects including as Enoura Observatory , Benesse Art Site, Isamu Noguchi’s Japanese Studio/Museum, and his monumental Moerenuma Park; explored the Shikoku, Kamakura, Aomori, and Hokkaido regions new to us; and enlisted guide Masa Fujiwara to better appreciate Kyoto culture and meet wonderful craftspeople and behind the scenes in temples and gardens. We also refreshed our Japanese language skills, became re-acquainted with favorite neighborhoods and cultural destinations and discover new experiences, with a focus on the ancient Jomon and indigenous Ainu peoples.

Mexico

In January, Mark spent a wonderful two weeks in Mexico, leading a tour, Walking Mexico: Towns, Gardens, and Markets with our delightful travel partner Joel Peláez Cruz. Destinations included Mexico City, the interior colonial cities of Queretaro, and San Miguel de Allende, the Surrealist garden Las Pozas in Xilitla, and charming towns, villages, markets, and Spanish missions rich in history, culture, art, and nature with many UNESCO-recognized sites. We’re planning a similar itinerary for January 2025, in case you are interested!

Bhutan Highlights

Bhutan has been a special destination for us since Mark’s first visit in 2018, and we have benefited from our friendship with guide, historian, host, and farmer Dorji, of Drukyul Holidays, whose deep knowledge and contagious enthusiasm for his country is amazing. Our 19-day May tour, Kcymaerxthaere Monuments in Bhutan and Nepal was focused on the Kcymaerxthaere works of polymath artist Eames Demetrius in those two countries, as well as landscape, spiritual, and historical highlights. In Western Bhutan, the itinerary included fortresses, monasteries, artist studios, archery competitions, and a hike to Tigers Nest Monastery (Taktsang), a preview of Dorji’s newest project, The Happiness Farm, a rural retreat in the mountains.

Nepal HighlighTs

Our Nepal experience, coordinated by our Sherpa guide Nima and Buddhist scholar Nabin Moktan, stretched from the bustling city of Kathmandu, including the Swayambhanath Temple, Boudhanath Stupa, and Pashupatinath Temple, and to the mountainous Solukhumbu region with views of Mount Everest to the lowland jungle of the Chitwan National Park. Our group visited numerous Kcymaerxthaere monuments created in the past five years, and participated in the completion of a new one at the Beni River in Junbesi..

Italy

Italy has played major role in the “People and Places” of our lives this year. Mark traces his maternal roots to Southern Italy, and for the past few years has been researching the Cozza family with Italian genealogists, and filed a petition for Italian citizenship for himself and 52 other family members, with a court review set in 2024. He has continued to meet, and deepen relationships with new relatives in the U.S., Canada, and Italy. Last summer, he attended ceremonies at the Society of the Madonna of the Snow, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a neighborhood to which many from his ancestral hometown of Sanza, Campania emigrated. Working with the geneologists, he designed a ten-day family expedition to visit the hill towns, meet many of their Italian relatives, and take dive deep in this “living history.” Next August, Tiny World Tours will present a follow-up tour which includes a visit to original Sanza Chapel Madonna of the Snow on Monte Cervati, and other festivities.

In case you don’t have it handy, here’s our contact info:

Mark Holzbach & Dana Friis-Hansen

NEW Mailing address (a mail forwarding service): 2028 E Ben White Blvd #240-8188, Austin, Texas 78741-6931, USA

Mark’s personal email: mholzbach@alum.mit.edu

Dana’s personal email: danafh@gmail.com

Mark’s personal cell for voice & text: 512-689-6777

Dana’s personal cell for voice & text: 512-653-8188

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS BELOW AND/OR COMMUNICATE WITH US PRIVATELY VIA MAIL / EMAIL, OR SCHEDULE A PHONE / LIVE VIDEO CATCH-UP CALL WITH US!

You are receiving this because you are on Mark and Dana’s “Friends and Family” mailing list. We also maintain mailing lists for Tiny World Tours and The Plant at Kyle. If you’d like to get on or off any of these mailing lists, or have any special interests or requests, please let Mark know.

If you are interested to see what we published on our recent past year end blogs, please check the links below:

Mark & Dana’s 2022 Year End Blog (December 2022)

Mark & Dana’s 2021 Year End Blog (December 2021)

Mark & Dana’s 2020 Year End Blog (December 2020)

Mark and Dana’s COVID Pandemic Reach-Out Blog (April 2020)