Mark and Claire's Page!

Family

Claire and I have been married since 1969. We met in Cleveland, while in school (Claire at Lake Erie College, Mark at Case Institute of Technology - now Case Western Reserve University). We started near Boston, lived in New Jersey for four years, then settled in Ohio.

Mark is a software developer currently working at NewFound Technologies, Inc., and Claire works in the Educational Resources Center (the library) at Columbus State Community College.

Our older daughter Karen, her husband Mike, and our four grandchildren Heather, Hannah, Keira, and Matthew, live in nearby Hilliard, Ohio. Our younger daughter Barbara and her wonder dog Aspen live in the trendy Arena District in Columbus. Karen is a research chemist at Battelle Memorial Institute, and Barbara works for Pizzutti, Inc., a large real estate development firm.

International Associations and Guests

An AFS exchange student from Norway lived with us in the 1985-86 school year. Kjersti Klausen (now Kjersti Vallotto) lives in Switzerland with her husband Emanuel and four children Matteo, Nils, Elia, and Smilla. We visited them in 2000, and she and Nils (at 6 monhs old!) visited us in Westerville once! We had such a good time with Kjersti that we began hosting adults in 1992. (Karen and Barbara were out of high school by that time.) Most of our guests are visiting profiessionals that come to the United States thrugh the Columbus International Program or the Columbus Visitors Council. Our most recent guests were Teimuraz Kochiashvili and Tariel Gvelisiani from Georgia (the former Soviet Republic of, not Geo'gia in the south!).

We have hosted guests (or friends) from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Georgia, Ghana, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Peru, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, the Ukraine, and maybe even some others. We already visited some of these folks in their home countries (see below), and hope to see more when we can.

Recent Travel Experiences

I won a marvelous Artist's Residency in Dresden, Germany, in 2005. I saw some nice things, but more importantly made some life-long friends there. I have returned once, and plan to return there as often as possible. Unfortunately, Claire's feet problems have put a crimp in our travel plans, but we hope we can travel again. However, Claire managed a business trip to Las Vegas in 2008, and of course I had to carry her luggage. And we drove to some nearby sites (see photo above). So far, we have been lucky enough to go to:

Photo Stuff

I first started dabbling in photography in high school in a friend's darkroom in Pittsburgh, but developed (no pun intended) a serious interest in the late 1970s. I started a camera club at work and joined the local camera club when the plant shut down. I participated in national and international activities through the Photographic Society of America. I began pursuing the so-called "fine arts" activities towards the end of the 90s. Now I'm a member of the Westbridge Camera Club in Columbus, Fotoklub Exakta in Dresden, the Ohio Art League, and the Roy G. Biv Gallery. I am still exploring the possibilities of black and white film photography, and I am enjoying myself immensely!

Some of my favorite photography organizations are:

Some Photos

Check out two of my photos:

Other Art

I have begun collecting some interesting Tarot cards. Check them out!

Poetry

I have a pretty brown eyed cow
who gives me milk and cheese
and now I'm sitting in my room
with hoof and mouth disease.

Our New Pet! --->

They aren't calling me lefty just yet. Nikita is an 800 pound Siberian. Nikita and his friends have unfortunately left their one time home near Johnstown, Ohio, but they sure were fun while they were here.