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+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<meta name="viewport" content="width=80ch, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">
+<html>
+<head>
+  <meta charset="utf-8">
+  <title>2015 winter solstice letter</title>
+  <link rel="stylesheet" href="../style.css">
+</head>
+<body>
+
+<h1>2015 winter solstice letter</h1>
+
+<p>
+<a href="..">← back to memories list</a>
+<p>
+
+<hr>
+
+<p>
+Blaise sent this letter to friends and family to celebrate the winter holiday season, 2015.
+In addition to this html version, you can also download the letter as sent: <a href="./letter.pdf">PDF</a>.
+</p>
+
+<h2>Winter Solstice Greetings - 2015</h2>
+
+<p>
+Hello to all my friends and family.
+I hope that you are feeling peaceful, cozy, and happy in these unusually warm winter months.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Following time honored Thompson tradition I'm already slipping behind in my holiday greeting card schedule.
+I'm writing this the day \textit{after} winter solstice.
+Madison is unusually warm for the time of year.
+Outside it is very foggy and a large amount of rain is expected later.
+Previous snowfall has long since melted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I'm now well into my 5th year of graduate school.
+As of early December I've become the senior experimentalist on the femtosecond materials project.
+Older graduate students in the group are still around but are focusing exclusively on finishing their dissertations.
+Projects that I have been working on are finally being published.
+Writing papers is frustrating but enjoyable once done.
+Currently we are caught up to data collected 1.5 years ago, so there is much to do.
+I'm hopeful that 2016 can be a breakout year where we really can use these tools we've created to say something useful about solar materials.
+</p>
+
+<figure>
+  <img src="./me.JPG">
+</figure>
+
+<p>
+The picture above is me tubing on a Wright Group boating trip on lake Mendota.
+I was able to hold on for quite some time but did end up being thrown trying to do some tricks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I didn't take any large vacations this year.
+The family did spend some time at Towanda lake in northern Wisconsin.
+It was fun to return to a common childhood vacation location.
+While there we spread the ashes of Vehrzheen
+. It was a fitting goodbye - I'll never forget how much fun Vehrzheen and I had on that lake when we were young.
+The picture below was taken by me on the day we scattered her ashes.
+</p>
+
+<figure>
+  <img src="./loon_cropped.jpg">
+</figure>
+
+<p>
+I'm continuing to enjoy Madison.
+I have started contradancing again.
+I have gotten more serious about weight lifting and fitness as a hobby and have really enjoyed the facilities provided by the University.
+I continue to enjoy living downtown in the hustle and bustle of city life but I may be outgrowing my apartment with stuff.
+May move this fall if I can find a nice place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Have a fantastic 2016.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Blaise J Thompson <br>
+509 N Lake St. Apt 408 <br>
+Madison Wisconsin 53703 <br>
+<br>
+blaise@untzag.com
+</p>
+
+</body>
+</html>