December 2006

Dear Friends, far and near,

It doesn’t seem possible that another year is
nearly over.  Guess that’s
what happens when the days are full.
We’ve been so busy it’s difficult to remember what we did
this year. We do know that there were both happy and sad times.

In January the fundraising
gala for Ordway Circle
of Stars (of which Deanne had been president in 2005) raised over $400,000,
thanks to the work of many volunteers and the financial support of many
individuals and corporations.  Bebe
Neuwirth provided great entertainment.
We were joined by several good friends for the evening and though we
didn’t win the Lazare diamond (the prize in one of the raffle drawings), we
had a wonderful time.  It was fun to
present such a large check to the Ordway board.  Those funds will allow a lot of Twin
Cities school children to experience live theater.

In March we spent a week in Palm Desert
and attended the Kraft Nabisco Championships, one of the major tournaments for
the LPGA. On Sunday, we had seats in the bleachers on the 18th hole
and were able to see two eagles, including one by the eventual winner, Karrie
Webb, and a three-way playoff when the tournament ended in a tie.  Earlier in the week, during the pro-am,
we met Harmon Killebrew, who graciously let us take pictures with him.

Sadly, two days later we
received the call that Deanne’s Dad had died in Minnesota,
just a few days after returning from his annual winter sojourn in Texas.  He was 86, had lived a full life, and
was in fairly good health until the last few months.   Unfortunately, he seemed to start
a trend.  This year many of our
friends lost loved ones, and one of Deanne’s college friends died in July
from ALS.   More of our friends
are dealing with serious illness – guess that’s what happens as we
get older.  They say aging is not
for the faint of heart!

But this summer also had happy times.   The main theme was weddings
– including the July  wedding
of John’s nephew in Virginia
Beach.  We took
the opportunity to spend a weekend on the beach.  Beautiful weather (plenty warm and
humid) and so much fun to see the ocean and walk in the sand.  Also time to spend with John’s
family.  His father and uncle are 93
and 94, respectively, and still going strong.  (If family history is any indication,
guess we know which of us will be the survivor!)  We got back from that trip only to fly
off to Arizona
to close on our house.  It was hot
– record highs (in the high 110s!), but we got used to it.  Ironically, it was hotter in Minnesota the day we
returned!

In November we drove to Arizona for the
beginning of our first winter as snowbirds.  It took three days – with
overnight stays in Omaha, Oklahoma
City, and Sky City
(outside Albuquerque).  Fortunately, except for rain the first
night and high winds in Oklahoma, Texas, and New
Mexico, we had good weather.  And the weather in Phoenix was great – in the 80s the
first few days we were there.  It
has cooled down since then.

So far, so good on the “retirement
experiment.”  We hoped that
this would be like a long winter vacation – time to golf, read, go to the
movies – but we’ve been busy shopping (for all the stuff it takes
to function in a house – we thought we’d brought a lot of it with
us, but still needed things like mops, brooms, various cooking utensils, etc.)
and waiting around the house for deliveries, installations, repairs.  Haven’t played much golf, but we
hope that will improve after the New Year.
We have been trying to fit in some exercise every day – an
improvement over what we’d probably do during the Minnesota winter.

We’ve been to a few
social events in the community and met some of our neighbors.  Everyone is friendly and many are
newcomers as well.  We’ve also
taken in a few cultural events – a basket weaving fair at the Heard Museum
and the Arizona
stop of Doubt.  Both were well worth the long
drive.  (They say that in Phoenix one doesn’t
measure distance by miles, but by the time it takes to get from place to place.)

John has taken a winter leave from MnDot.  Deanne is taking on the challenges of
“telecommuting,” which are many – especially for the first
week or so when we had trouble accessing the internet.  Once that dilemma was resolved,
communication with the office was much easier.

Hope you have good memories
from 2006 and that 2007 will bring you good health and good times.

Deanne and John

P.S. We have new email
addresses in both Minnesota ([email-masked]) and Arizona ([email-masked]).