It hardly seems like a year since we last “wrote” to many of you. Deanne’s mother always warned her “not to wish your life away” – usually because she thought it was taking too long to get to her birthday or Christmas or another “milestone.” Her mom said that as we aged time seemed to move faster. Hate to admit it, but appears she was right.

Not much to report for 2014 – probably not a bad thing. We continue our usual activities – going to the theater and the opera, playing golf, attending wine tastings, playing bocce ball and cards.

Our major trip this year was to Lake Tahoe at the end of May/beginning of June. We had good weather, and the scenery is magnificent. Reminded us of northern Minnesota – pine trees, blue lake and blue sky. We drove up on the California side – saw Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48. The last several miles into South Lake Tahoe consist of a winding road, with hairpin curves. A challenge because we’d already been driving about six hours. Our return trip was on the Nevada side, and we spent a couple of nights in Las Vegas. We would visit Lake Tahoe again, but might consider flying into Reno and skipping the four days of driving. We planned to take a boat ride on the lake, but because the water level has been dropping, the boat wouldn’t be going into the interesting inlets and bays. So we skipped it.

Other travel included our two annual trips to the Palm Springs area – in March/April for the KNC Championships (an LPGA major tournament) and in September for our birthdays/anniversary celebration. We also visited Las Vegas for the 4^th of July. The fireworks were nice, even though we had to stand on a cement bridge for more than half an hour waiting for them to start. We returned to Vegas at the beginning of November, when we rode on the new High Roller, basically a Ferris wheel with enclosed cars. And because of the time of year, only one other couple was in the car so we could walk around and see the views from all angles. On that trip we also visited the new Border Grill (loved the previous one at Mandalay Bay). This time we were lucky – Susan Feniger, one of the chef-owners, was there – working the ceviche bar – and she autographed one of her cookbooks and took a picture with us. We were not so lucky at Giada’s – Giada was there, but we missed her by minutes. Oh, and the food was good too. No trip to Minnesota this past year, but plan to return in 2015.

John’s theater group is back in business. They staged another murder mystery in March. It was a hit. John played a gay ventriloquist (the setting was a comedy club) and was one of the favorites. They plan to do another this spring.

We’re still staying reasonably healthy – no major setbacks. Deanne reached her goal weight in May – at Lake Tahoe. We lost a few friends this past year, an occurrence becoming much too frequent. But those sad occasions are offset by the births of a couple of new grandnieces and the wedding of one of our friends the Saturday after Christmas.

Hope this letter finds you and your loved ones healthy and living the life that you want.

Happy Holidays – no matter which you celebrate – and all the best in 2015

Deanne and John