December 2006

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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.<= /span>

In January the fundra= ising 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.&nbs= p; 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 drawing= s), 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 Tw= in 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 18^th h= ole and were able to see two eagles, including one by the eventual winner, Karr= ie Webb, and a three-way playoff when the tournament ended in a tie. Earlier in the week, during the pr= o-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 f= riends 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 we= dding of John’s nephew in Virg= inia 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 indicati= on, 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 da= y 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 f= irst 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 th= e “retirement experiment.” We hoped t= hat 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 tak= es to function in a house – we thought we’d brought a lot of it wi= th us, but still needed things like mops, brooms, various cooking utensils, et= c.) and waiting around the house for deliveries, installations, repairs. Haven’t played much golf, bu= t 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’v= e 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 pl= ace.)

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 me= mories from 2006 and that 2007 will bring you good health and good times.

Deanne and John<= /o:p>

P.S. We have new email addresses in both Minnesota (DeanneCom@comcast.net) and Arizona (grecod@cox.net).