What a year an a half it has been. January 2020 we moved Louisa out, spent an absolutely fabulous week in Desert Springs, and I didn't think life could be any better, wondered what I'd done to be able to enjoy a place like that. On the way home we put money down on a house in Hurricane. Had plans to go to Uzbekistan with Alice, an Alaskan cruise with the whole family in June, and the south east in the summer. Then Covid hit and everything stopped. I was doing pretty good until the summer heat and the horrible news about covid and the election. I ended up depressed doing nothing but sitting on the couch playing games and eating. It has taken me til now to begin to feel a little better. We spent a lot of time in Hurricane. I can't believe our luck in finding a house in such a great location. Walking distance to the Desert Tortoise preserve, no houses in front or behind us, nice views of the sunset (a big plus), quiet, but easy access to everything. I've enjoyed it best when sharing it with others, the kids, my friends. Russ goes golfing every time he's down there. Mostly with Dan and Ev who also have a condo. I like walking out to the Virgin river gorge for sunsets. So we went to opening day baseball last night. It was great. The fans who were there were passionate and knowledgable. Very fun, we lost but it was a good game with some opportunities. Plus we have plans for this summer and now that it is almost ready to start I'm feeling hope and excitement I haven't had for a year.

Life is good

I am not very good at this :-) Getting ready for Christmas, buying the presents. I did cards again, not sure how much longer I'll do them. They are not as popular as they used to be. Big news is that we are buying a condo for Louisa. We were planning to rent it out for a year maybe while Louisa got more ready to move, but it turns out we can't do that, so she might just be moving out come January. I have felt that she needed to have some time on her own to grow and be more independent, but now that it is here I'm not sure I am ready for it myself. We went through the whole empty nest thing with the boys leaving and I was glad to have them move on when it came time for that. But to have Louisa move out means we really will have an empty nest, and at my age that isn't as exciting as it would have been years ago. And I worry if she'll really be able to handle it. But it is only a couple miles away, we can provide a lot of support. Eventually we'll try to get her a roommate, but it will need to be just the right person so I am in no hurry.

Came home after a little over a week in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia with Louisa. She wanted to visit Marlaina who lives in Virginia Beach. I went with her so she wasn't trying to change airplanes in an unfamiliar airport. Then I added in many things I've wanted to see that I didn't take the time to when I lived there 43 years ago. It was a great trip. I really like the east. I'm not sure what it would be like to really live there, but it sure feels like home when I visit. We ended up leaving some things out since I really was trying to fit in too much and I was fooling myself thinking I could do Shenendoah in a couple hours. It was wonderful to be there. We stayed in Skyland and I had completely lost my bearings there, but when I finally found the trail up the mountain, then my feet naturally went right to the employee area. We hiked Stony Man and standing on the summit with that gorgeous view of the valley and the mountains, I was overcome and when Louisa walked back I sat sobbing. It felt like I'd come full circle. My life took a pivotal turn there. Then later at Historic Jamestowne I talked with a volunteer who I realized was close to my age, he'd mentioned he'd graduated from University of Virginia in History. I asked what year and he said '79. Had I stayed and got my residency and gone to school there graduating in History like I had thought I might we could have been classmates....it was such an odd look at a kind of parallel life. I could have been him, sharing my knowledge with visitors to Jamestowne. Since last year when we went to Australia, I have been traveling a lot. 15 states (three new ones) in the US and 4 in Australia, two hemispheres, who knows how many miles. I'm enjoying it, but at the moment a little travel weary. I'm ready to stay home for awhile. However, Celia wants to do something next week. We have an anniversary trip already planned for January and Alice and I are working on getting to Kazakistan in April. I'm planning a baseball trip in May, and Lotti Wann has done some humanitarian work with a Park City group who has a trip planned for March that I'm interested in. So I'm not finished yet. :-)

So I'm going to try adding some photos. That seemed to work. Welcome to the world Kaiser. We love you bunches already

A wonderful year

Overall 2016 will be remembered as one with few hiccups and some wonderful trips. It has been nice this year to look back and not have any major job losses, large medical issues or other catastrophes affecting us or those we love. Caleb found a woman who seems to be a good match and we look forward to their wedding next Year. We have been blessed to have two of our boys purchase and move into homes. We had the wonderful addition of Vienna. My parents continue to receive the care they need to survive. The only negative came at the end of the year when we learned that we would be losing our beloved grandson Enoch to adoption. Though it broke my heart there are some good reasons to let him be adopted by his stepfather.

New Year, same story

It has been a year since I've posted. And the thing that is funny is that I was gone 5 of 6 weekends. This must be my time to travel. First I went to the Condor Release in the House Rock valley. The TA meet up is in early October this year was in Sedona. Russ came which made me happy. My trip with Alice was again in the fall. We went to NYC and then drove up through Connecticut to NH and Boston. What a trip. We made it count. I also had a trip to Escalante with the girls to find the circle of friends. Then I went to ASHA since it was in Denver- got to see Enoch. He gave me a hug to say goodbye. It has been crazy. I've worked in-between.

Gone almost 5 out of the last 6 weeks

It has been a very busy month and a half. It began with a trip over labor day to Colorado Springs, then our 2 week trip to Wisconsin, a short trip for me to Green River for the TA meet up and then a week along the Redwood Coast with Alice. Every single trip brought perspective, beauty and joy. Russ said to me, "If I get Friday off we could have a four day week for labor day, do you want to go see Enoch?" So I asked Jessica if she would let us visit and once we had that ok we began to plan. Of course both of us were asked to work all weekend. It would have been nice to be bringing in some money instead of spending it, but Enoch was worth it. Louisa came with us as we drove all Friday out to the Springs and camped outside of town. In the morning Jessica was working and didn't know when she'd be done, so we took our time enjoyed the balloon festival, found a farmers market while scouting for parks in Monument and bought some items from the locals. We met Jessica at Walmart and then went for a picnic lunch at the park. Enoch was a little shy at first but then let us hold him and helped him walk and smiled when we had to leave. It was all too short, but so good to see his smile and watch him totter and walk a little bit. Then I felt like taking it easy on the way back. We went to Great Sand Dunes NP. It would have been funner when I could walk more, but it was still fun to see. We camped out in the middle of the valley at a dried up seasonal lake. Then on to Mesa Verde where we camped in the park. It has been since the kids were little that we did Mesa Verde and it was wonderful to see the ruins again and see some of those I'd never been to before. Cliff Palace on the last tour of the day has the evening sunglow of red rock. Long House with the longer tour was enlightening and informative of the lives of those who lived there. It was a good trip. Then three days later Russ and I boarded the plane to chicago. I'm thinking the trip to Wisconsin was life changing, though I know how that has felt before and I always seem to fall back into old routines and comfortable zones. You can read my report on TA. Then two days later I am on my way to Green River for the TA annual meet up. I got what I wanted out of the trip and that was a great rafting trip through Gray Canyon. It had more rapids than I expected. Half the group followed in duckies and it was fun to watch them.. Then I made a return trip to Little Wild Horse. Ended up walking about 7 miles that day when I didn't want to go more than 3... but I made it. Then we enjoyed Amanda's wedding. And that week I actually had a patient to see. Then I took off to California for a week with Alice. We had plans to drive up the coast to see the Redwoods. It was a great week. We saw so much from the USS Hornet in Alemeda and little chinatown in Oakland, to the Stonegate Villa's in Legget and the Hippie town of Garberville, to those magnificent forest which were saved in the nick of time by foresighted and generous people who bought the land. Humbolt State Park and the Avenue of Giants and Bull Creek Flats Road to the Big Tree. Pierre Creek State Forest and the Newton Drury Parkway, the Redwood NP and the Bald Hills road to Lady Bird Johnson's grove. They were all magnificent. We also enjoyed the ocean vistas south of Crescent City, the waves and tide pools at Trinidad. And lastly the Indian restaurant in Santa Rosa. All such new and beautiful places, and so different from Chicago and Wisconsin I had a little bit of a disconnect. But it was good to share the time with Alice. I don't have anyone else like her in my life and it is good to love her.