Happy
Holidays 2009

Greetings, all.

It’s hard to believe that another year has passed
since we last engaged in this exercise.
The year has been busy as we continue to adapt to retirement and living
in Arizona.

Deanne officially retired December 31, 2008.  She has since been elected as president
of our community Women’s Nine Hole Golf Association.  Like many such positions, it involves
more time and energy than one expects.
The winter golf season has just started so the busiest months are
ahead.  In addition, she’s
also involved with a group of volunteers who help plan and stage various
activities for the community, including a fundraiser in January for a Phoenix school for
homeless children.

John is one of the founders of the Corte Bella Players, an
amateur theater group comprised of residents in our community.  He directed Murder at the Café Noir as a dinner theater presentation on
Halloween night.  The event sold out
quickly and was a big hit.  They
plan another mystery dinner theater presentation in April.

Both of us have been playing more golf, but not too much
together.  Deanne played in a Pink
Ribbon event in Sun City in October with a
couple of other women from Corte Bella, and their foursome took first prize in
their flight.  They did not expect
to win and were thrilled.  One member
of the foursome is a cancer survivor, which made the day even more special.

Our travels this past year included a week in Palm Desert,
five days in Minnesota and a week in Illinois in August (the trip to Illinois
was to attend the Solheim Cup), a few days in
Scottsdale to celebrate our 40th anniversary, and a trip to Las
Vegas over Thanksgiving.  There we
saw two Cirque du Soleil shows (Mystére and Ka)
and Cher.
We had so much fun we’re going back for Christmas when we plan to
see Bette Midler.   (When we
bought our Cher tickets, we learned that
Bette’s ending her Vegas run at the end of January.)

We’re still fairly healthy – Deanne is
struggling with lower back/sciatic nerve inflammation that comes and goes; John
has been going to Mayo to monitor the pressure in his eyes.  We continue to do little things to the
house (as well as make repairs we didn’t expect to make so soon to a new
house).   But, on the whole,
we’re pleased to be here, making new friends and having so much leisure
time.

Hope this letter finds all of you well.  Have a wonderful holiday and a new year
filled with all the pleasures you want.

Deanne & John