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What's Up
Lately?
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Jim &
Karen’s (it’s almost) Christmas Letter (12/24/2023)
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| We’ve missed the last couple of years writing our
Christmas Letter, and I can’t offer any excuse other than
Jim’s inertia. I won’t try to cover the missing years; we’ll
just start from the beginning of this one, to the best of my
memory (apologizing ahead of time for the inevitable
lapses). |
We began the year with
Karen and the kitties (Mosquito, Rudy, and Turtle) at our
park model (trailer) in Mesa, AZ and Jim volunteering 4-days
a week at Tonto National Monument a little northwest of
Globe, AZ, about 65 miles from our place in Mesa. The plan
was to spend more time together (Jim coming home to Mesa on
days off). The plan was largely successful and we were able
to spend our wedding anniversary (26 years) and Karen’s
birthday (magic-65) together for the first time in several
years. We also had hoped to spend more time with our
grandchildren, but working weekends and days off during the
week, it just didn’t quite sync with their schedule.
We had managed to avoid Covid for the last two years, but
our luck ran out in February. Karen caught it from someone
at her weekly Euchre game early in the month and when Jim
came home on Monday, he caught it from her. We spent two
miserable weeks fighting it despite the fact that all of our
immunizations were up-to-date. Karen even was prescribed
Paxlovid, got better briefly, then relapsed. Anyway, we
recovered with no long-term ill-effects; so much for that
experience. |
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| Karen headed back to Durango in early April so she could
get an early start on her garden. What a winter to miss! It
was a record for winter snow in Colorado and spring was
late, but wet. Jim followed at the end of April, but the
next few weeks is one of the blurs… I know we were getting
the RV ready for our annual trip to Kerrville, TX, but
specifics escape me. I do know that we took off toward the
end of May and had a delightful 3-weeks at the 51st
annual Kerrville Folk Festival despite the fact we had
another RV-related “event” on the way. We were home for
about 3-weeks and then we were off again, this time headed
for the High Mountain Hay Fever Blue Grass Festival in
Westcliffe, CO. |
Summer whizzed by… son Mischa, Linette, and
grandkids Anna and Wes came for a visit. Grandma Karen was
amazing with the grandkids, spending hours on the river
across the street from our house with them playing in the
sand and Anna putting on her best impression of a fish.
Grandma and Grandpa even got a whole 2 days and nights with
the grandkids while Mischa and Linette went to northern
Colorado to watch one of the wild horse herds up that way.
RV fun continued. Mischa helped Jim remove the old
gas-absorption refrigerator in preparation for installing a
new residential refrigerator in the RV. The new refrigerator
arrived and installation proceeded with help from neighbors.
Everything in preparation for our impending departure in
September for 10-days in Flagstaff. Karen to do a 10-day
raft trip on the Colorado River from Lee’s Ferry to 210
miles downstream; Jim picking up daughter Kristin in Phoenix
to spend the week seeing National Monuments in the Flagstaff
area, and attending the Pickin’ in the Pines Bluegrass
Festival. |
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The trip to Flagstaff in the RV was not
without incident… of course. About 35 miles east of
Flagstaff, the left-rear inside tire exploded. More fun. Jim
sat on the side of the road for almost 10 hours waiting for
AAA road service to arrive (they never did). Karen had
driven the Prius to Flagstaff to be on time for the
introductory raft trip meeting that afternoon, so was able
to get a motel room, come out on the highway to pick Jim up,
and in the morning Jim drove back to the rest area where the
RV was waiting for the tow. Anyway, Karen had a great trip
on the river, Jim and Kristin enjoyed time together, and the
RV got repaired eventually.
So that almost gets us to the end of the year. Jim didn’t
feel that the volunteer gig at Tonto National Monument
offered enough challenge and decided to return to Big Bend
for the winter. Karen wanted to spend the winter in
Durango, and so we’re spending the winter apart… again. |
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Winter has arrived in Durango, but it’s sunny and warm at
Big Bend National Park. Jim isn’t feeling so enthused about
it this year after all, and swears that this is the last
year. Karen likewise is not happy with her idleness in
retirement and has decided she needs to do something. She
has done some volunteering associated with her master
gardener credential, but is firmly oriented toward service
and so has taken a part time job with the Durango Senior
Center. Part time gives her flexibility, and so she is
planning to take a few weeks off in February and bring
herself and the cats to Big Bend for a visit. Jim is eagerly
looking forward to that! It’s going to be a super-bloom year
given all the rain in October and November; it’s the last
week in December as I write this, and the Texas blue bonnets
(lupine) are already growing everywhere. Another month or so
and they’ll be flowering… early! |
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| View of Durango from Animas City Mountain |
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| That's about it for
now... I never seem to have enough time to get everything
onto these pages that I plan, but read on, check back here
from time to time, and I will update information here as
things change. Feedback
is always appreciated!!! |
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