Newsletter
Welcome back to our new website! It is late in the year to be catching up with the Van Howds for 2009, and a longer period of time since we have written you our news, so we will try to bring you up to date and promise to update you regularly.
In 2008, January 26, we unveiled the 30 foot monument of "Three Kings" which depicts three Nelson Bighorn Rams native to the Eastern Sierra. It took place at the grand opening of the new Cabela megastore in the Reno, Nevada area at Boomtown. After a year of hard work and engineering, it withstood the big earthquake and many small aftershocks that centered at Verdi in the same area. Not a sign of a problem. You can see the monument here on the website and in the video clip.
In late February and March of this year we continued making our annual photo trek to Tanzania, Africa, Doug's 42nd trip to Africa, Nancy's 17th. But this year was very special because we had our son-in-law, Bill, and two older granddaughters, Heather (then 14) and Lyndie (then 12), with us. We spent two days in Amsterdam exploring via train the museums and windmills, many of which are still working and producing. One of special interest was a windmill which since the time of Rembrandt has ground the paints used by the old masters for their oil paintings. We went in search of Doug's painting of Yellowstone Falls, Queen Beatrix's favorite spot in America, presented to her in The Great Hall in Washington DC when Doug was White House artist. Her wish was for it to hang in a prominent museum in Amsterdam when it left the Great Hall. We found the Rijkes Museum under complete renovation and closed for the next two years, so we'll have to try again. The next ten days were full of excitement and surprises as we all photographed leopards, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, migrations in Tanzania, and had a wonderful time. It was made more special by the presence of our friends who joined us and our guide and trip host, Nigel Kinsley-Heath. Next year in 2010 we plan to take our daughter, Holly, who hasn't been to Africa since she was 9 years old.
Sadly, we missed seeing our Shikar friends in Cabo San Lucas because of the timing of the Shikar meetings this year. We are always sorry to miss any opportunity to be with this group of friends that comes from all over the world to work on projects to conserve wildlife around the world. This year we have lost several members, one of whom was Harry Tennyson. Many years ago, Doug was a part of a Black Rhino rescue headed by Harry that brought 8 rhinos to Texas to see if they would breed and could be brought back from near extinction. At last report that Doug received there were more than 130.
Note: Since this newsletter was written in September, we have lost one of our dearest friends and collectors, and a legend in the fishing industry, Captain William "Bill" Poole of San Diego. Our prayers are with you, Ingrid.
We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in June this year! In Van Howd fashion, we slipped away to spend three days in the Redwoods of Northern California. And would you believe it, in all our travels around the world, we had never been there. It was reminiscent of our honeymoon in 1959 where we left after the wedding in a Jeep truck and camper to explore the northwest for almost 3 months until I had to be back in school to finish my degree at Pepperdine University in mid September. Yes, we sat on Mom's front porch, looked at the dim stars in the night sky of Los Angeles, and wondered why we had come back. The wilderness had become home and still is "home" in our hearts. We can remember leaving with $500 in our wallet and returning with $200. You couldn't do that today, not even with credit cards! In August this year we made our way back to West Yellowstone for the 50th anniversary of the big earthquake that formed Quake Lake in 1959 while we were on our honeymoon. In our travels we had camped in Yellowstone Park. It was high season there, and when we came to West Yellowstone, all the campgrounds around were filled or closed. That night on August 17th when the big quake hit around 11:30pm, we were parked next to the lodge of friends. Campgrounds were we had tried to stay were destroyed and many died. People said we got off to a shaky start with our marriage, but it has been a great 50 years. We always said we would take three months and do it again, but our lives have become so busy, we never have been able to get away. I guess we replaced it with our trips to Africa, where Doug has been able to spend many wonderful years researching and understanding the wildlife and its surroundings.
We just received notification from Tom and Margaret Bath in Ely, Nevada, that their St. Bartholomew Memorial Gardens are finished with a beautiful setting for our St. Francis (St. Bartholomew) sculpture, and a dedication coming next May. Stop and see the memorial garden if you are in Ely on Highway 50.
Another must, if you are visiting the Wine Country in Northern California, is the Brassfield Estate Winery in the High Valley just north of Clear Lake, California. Our St. Francis sculpture is there to welcome all. The day in June when we visited, he had just hosted a Luau and was adorned with flower leis and had been the focal point of photographs with the winery guests. Jerry and Susan Brassfield are the owners and have been collecting our art for several years. Scattered throughout the winery grounds are several of Doug's life-size deer sculptures looking very natural in their new surroundings.
One very sad note to those who have know us well, in September we lost our close friend Apache, our Australian Shepherd. He would have been 14 in October. He is missed daily. It will be our first Christmas in many years that he has not been with us on our card.
If ever you are in the area, we look forward to having you visit the gallery and studios here in Northern California. We are located at the Auburn Airport where you can fly in and see us. Or if you are driving, we are off the Bell Road exit of Interstate 80 just East of Auburn.