Holiday Newsletter 2004

Greetings!

Hope you are all well and happy. We are! We have corresponded with most of you by email so we’ll try to keep this short - well, of reasonable length anyway.

This missive is coming from Mission, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. We are spending the season in a spot we hope will be as warm as Florida. The humidity here is low and our bodies require more lotion and definitely more drinking water. We’re parked at Bentsen Grove Resort until May 1^st when we begin our trek to the western states. There are so many activities here we’re not getting ’RV’ stuff done. (Read that as Paul hardly has time to check fluids, wash and wax, and keep everything else in tiptop shape.) Our days start with Regina at yoga and Paul at the exercise room with treadmill, stepper, and free weights. After a quick protein drink, we head to table tennis for two hours. The rest of the days vary with ceramics, keyboard practice, Red Hatters, Country Western Jam Sessions, bingo, darts, Friday night dances, Saturday sales, and Sunday sundaes. There’s not much time to shower, shave, and do the laundry. There are museums and wildlife areas we have yet to visit, too. We did take an afternoon to drive into Nuevo Progresso, Mexico.

When the school year ended we enjoyed time in Tallahassee visiting Rachel, friends, and doctors. After a month of surgery and second opinions, Regina has recovered and put aside all thoughts of breast cancer. We were around for Bob H’s retirement party and a visit with Sandy and Eric W, friends from Gainesville and UF days, who moved from Chicago to chair the Interior Design department at FSU.

Paul is still practicing on his keyboard and taking care of our computers. He’d like to have more time to complete the RV blue jobs. Those of you who have retired understand how busy one can get without a 9-5 job.

Rachel has opened an office for acupuncture and massage in Tallahassee. She is busy but would like to have more clients to fill her days. Besides keeping the office open, Rachel is also remodeling her house and keeping Buddy and TieDye exercised.

We enjoyed our summer very much even though it was abbreviated. Our June foray was to Moccasin Creek State Park with cousins Cindy, Dennis, and Julia. Such a week it was with hikes, tubing down the Chattahoochee in Helen (GA), campfires, and watching Dennis and Julia “fish”. At week’s end we spent a few days parked next to Ginny and Ron at Timber Ridge RV Resort. We began our bonsai experience after a shopping trip to Cleveland, GA.

Highlights of our summer trek: Acadia National Park, Corning and the Finger Lakes, fall foliage all through New England and New York, Shaker Village in New Hampshire, Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, the Amana Colonies in Iowa, and capitals of 11 states.

This was the summer of visits for Regina. We spent a week renewing friendships with former elementary school classmates in Sandusky, Ohio. We visited Rosie and Bob McD. on their farm and kennel; Sherrie and Tom R. (how does she keep the house so clean!); and Dee Agsten B. by phone. While in Sandusky, Regina also visited with aunts and cousins and friends: Margaret D., Janet T., and Bertha and Clarence S. (Regina was their flower girl). That was after visiting Joyce P. in Columbus (OH). Just wish there had been more time to spend in Ohio.

But that’s not all: we also spent a few hours over a meal catching up with Ginny (former Latin teacher) and Jimmy J. in Cummings (GA), Ed H. (former Latin student) and his wife Angelynne and charming daughter in Portsmouth (NH), Eileen N. (former Latin student and best friend of Rachel’s for a long time) and her husband Rene and adorable daughter Iris in Austin (TX).

Of course, Regina couldn’t miss out on spending some time with college friends: SAS and Bob J. in Goshen (NY), Connie Lee Brown W. in Des Moines (IA), and Donna and Bruce M. in Athens (TX) where we had our first up close and personal encounter with their herd of beef cattle. So can you tell that we headed for Ohio then east to the New England states and then southwest to Texas?

We spent a fantastic weekend in August with the Famiano family at Goddard Park in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. This was the first time we were able to attend the annual picnic so Paul’s mom and Victor, sister, niece and her two children flew up, also. The whole day was wonderful as was the week we visited with the family and had dinner with Marie and Gary R.. Sheila and Frank S. invited us to a barbecue with Sal, Ann, and more family. We drove down to Newport Beach with Mom and Victor and had a fantastic seafood lunch at a beach restaurant with Frank.

Every day is fun-filled and adventurous. Look for a book some day. Hope your holidays are joyful and the new year is filled with happiness.

Sincerely,

Paul and Regina