2009
Hello!
Well, a person could get used to: no housework, no yard work, no cooking. And we have! After more than a year and a half of "senior independent living" at "Avamere Court Apartments" it's working out very well for us. Yes, we still miss "Salemtowne," our neighbors there, and especially the view that went to the Cascade Mts. from our deck. But, it's a relief to have the downsizing behind us. Rather liberating to be free of a lot of "stuff."
We have tried to make the most of our new-found freedom from daily chores. We managed to take two cruises in the past year: to Hawaii by ship last December and to less-visited ports like Kodiak Island on an Alaskan cruise in July. In April we flew down to Tucson and stayed at our favorite Arizona place—the retirement town of "Green Valley." We enjoyed seeing our Green Valley friends once again and being able to have our morning coffee on our "casita" deck while admiring the Santa Rita Mountains across the valley. In spite of another dry winter, we found some desert blossoms to capture with the camera.
Closer to home, we continue to enjoy some of the nearby amenities such as the Archeology Society lectures and Hallie Ford Museum exhibits at Willamette University, and excellent theater productions in Salem and at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City where Karen is the Reference Librarian. A junket to the casino/hotels of Wendover, Nevada this fall confirmed our suspicion that the local Oregon Indian casinos are just as much fun as those farther a field. Some casinos are located along the Oregon Coast, so the scenery is better too!
We've used a good bit of our "free time" and our computers for other projects. Barbara is slowly making good on her promise to "digitize" her many boxes of family history memorabilia and then dispose of the paper copies. Glenn has done much better at his computer project—using E-Bay to sell the "collectibles" that no one in the family cares to acquire. It's no way to get rich—by the time Glenn has the sold items packed up and mailed, he figures he's earning about fifty cents an hour! In the process of selling off bits and pieces of our lives on E-Bay, we've learned some new terminology. It seems that by E-Bay's standards Glenn is now "antique" and Barbara is "vintage." In fact, the E-Bay description we wrote about Barbara's "Baby Dimples" doll (a gift to her about 1934) fits us pretty well: "There are some minor cracks on the face and legs, and some wear on the surface finish, but the padding is in good condition."
Mark and Karen have not made as many trips this year as in the past, but one they shared was in the "adventure" category. Against the advice of the U.S. State Department, they spent three weeks in late summer in Madagascar. (Don't know where that is? A clue—look just to the right of Africa.) They hired a reputable guide/driver and drove 3,000 miles, all over the island. Just about everything they saw there is rare and endangered; existing nowhere else on earth. To our relief, they didn't get sick or robbed either.
Right now, we have no travel plans. Glenn just had back surgery to relieve "spinal stenosis" which freely translated means "It hurts to walk very far." Once he's in fighting trim again (and if nothing else on our "antique" or "vintage" bodies malfunctions) we hope to resume seeing more of the world.
Our best wishes to you for a very good year ahead!
Barbara and Glenn
Barb & Glenn |
Karen & Barb |
Karen, Mark & Barb |
Mission San Xavier del Bac |
Mark at Boiler Bay, Oregon Coast |
Russian Orthodox Church |
Barb, after hiking to the face of |
Glenn on the Cannery dock |
A Ring-Tailed Lemur
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Should you want to print out this letter, just click on ChristmasLetter. OPEN the "PDF" page. There is a little printer icon in the upper left corner of the page. Just click on that and set up your printer as you wish before printing it out.
Take a look at our family's websites—all accessible from: www.mrhalliday.com.
E-mail address remains: gbhalliday2@yahoo.com
Phone: 503-371-1025
And yep, Barb's now on Facebook too.
