Years ago we started these Christmas letters with photo\u2026the first one that we have was in 1977, the year when Megan was born.\u00a0 All these years Pattie has written the letters then Bob edited them.\u00a0 In recent years the editing has taken the form of bullet points.\u00a0 A few times recently a full letter has also been available to those who want more than bullet points.\u00a0Pattie reads every word of every letter that family and friends send at Christmas and finds each letter a joy.\u00a0 Bob is more of a bullet points sort of person.\u00a0 You have the bullet points and now, the letter!<\/p>\n
Recently three new apostles were sustained by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.\u00a0 Shortly thereafter there was an article about each of these brothers.\u00a0 In one of them the apostle and his wife said that the Church was their life and their family their social life.\u00a0 Bob and Pattie are in that same circumstance.\u00a0 We are both busy at Church multiple days each week and we love every bit of social life we have with our children and grandchildren.\u00a0 Friends also bring great joy to our lives.\u00a0 We love all those associations.\u00a0 Life is good.<\/p>\n
This year we had three weeks of vacation.\u00a0 The first one was at the end of March when we went to Stowe to the Trapp Family Lodge where we stayed in a lovely guesthouse.\u00a0 The place was roomy and comfortable,\u00a0 wood stove and everything!\u00a0 We did not use the wood stove.\u00a0 We use one of those at home so NO NEED to use one on vacation, too.\u00a0Besides the other heat was sufficient.\u00a0 Pattie brought multiple projects with her and spent much of the time in the unit at the computer or at the kitchen stove.\u00a0 The last full day we were there she finally got to the swimming pool and found it very nice and was sorry she had not gone every day.\u00a0 (The main hold-back was the 41 stairs up from the guesthouse door.\u00a0The stone steps were wet, muddy, and sometimes icy which made the up-and-downs to the unit less than comfortable.\u00a0Towards the end of the week Pattie took one bag, box, or barrel back to the car (which was parked at the top of the 41 steps) with each trip out to make the move-out more comfortable.<\/p>\n
In September we went to Wells, Maine to a resort on Route 1 right next to Congdon Doughnuts!\u00a0 Congdon Doughnuts has spoiled us for any other doughnuts.\u00a0 We stopped twice to get a doughnut.\u00a0 Bob loved the giant honey buns. Pattie got a vanilla cream that nearly put her into a sugar coma\u2026impossible to eat all at once.\u00a0 The chocolate glazed cake doughnuts were superior to any we have eaten elsewhere.\u00a0 We probably won\u2019t go back to that same resort because we really CANNOT live next door to Congdon Doughnuts again.\u00a0 Too tempting.<\/p>\n
In October we went to Virginia Beach, Virginia.\u00a0 Pattie\u2019s sister Jessie and her husband Johnny came up from their home in North Carolina since they were so close (five hours\u2019 drive).\u00a0 Jessie and Johnny arrived the night before our unit was available.\u00a0 She got the great idea of getting a room for us then, too, so we were able to spend Friday night, all day Saturday, and much of Sunday together.\u00a0 It was wonderful.\u00a0 We were right on the Boardwalk which lent itself to lots of walking (Pattie) and biking (Bob).\u00a0 Pattie had donated to the Team Leah Bean at the Rett Foundation and committed to a 5K run-walk-crawl sometime during the month of October.\u00a0 She had attempted it one time before Virginia Beach but was a kilometer short.\u00a0 Saturday morning she happened to wake up early, took her water bottle, ipad and headphones, and \u201cstroller\u201d and headed out on the Boardwalk.\u00a0 She walked and walked, enjoying the beautiful sunrise and the softly breaking ocean waves just a few yards away.\u00a0 She passed several homeless people sleeping on benches.\u00a0 Some kind soul had come by and left a pair of new socks, and several other items by each of the bench-sleeping-people.\u00a0\u00a0 By the time the sun was fully up Pattie had turned around and started back to the resort.\u00a0 She had been using the \u201cMapMyWalk\u201d app on her phone so she could be sure of getting in the full 5K.\u00a0 There were several text messages before she returned, being a very slow walker.\u00a0 Having the stroller along made the walk so easy mentally because it was there in case a stop was needed and a regular bench was not available.\u00a0 By the time she returned she had done more than the 5k and felt very virtuous and satisfied.\u00a0 Any possible health benefit of the walk was negated by the pile of sausages she ate at the breakfast buffet!<\/p>\n
While in Virginia Beach Bob and Pattie took several hike at First Landing State Park and several others.\u00a0 Bob was able to bike at some of them.\u00a0 On the last day the hike was at a wildlife reserve very close to the North Carolina border.\u00a0 When Pattie went in to chat with the reserve officer about the various trails and which ones allowed for wheelchair\/stroller access, she received more information than she wanted.\u00a0 The nice young woman told her all about the trails including that the snakes had been very active the past few days but there was nothing to worry about as there were only two poisonous ones:\u00a0 copperheads and cottonmouths.\u00a0 These would not bother us if we just stopped and backed away\u2026.Yeah, right.\u00a0Pattie wanted to check THAT one out!\u00a0 Well, Bob did go for a hike.\u00a0 Pattie stayed in the car listening to a Michael Connelly audio book.\u00a0 When Bob returned to the car he had a big smile on his face.\u00a0 Pattie immediately guessed he had seen a snake.\u00a0 He pointed to the little bridge he had crossed just off the parking lot.\u00a0 Pattie looked over in time to see a small black snake crawl up through a crack in the bridge and then go back down another.\u00a0 That was as close as she wanted to get to any snake, poisonous or not!<\/p>\n
Last year Megan gave Pattie Megan\u2019s Cricut Expression to use until Megan needs it again.\u00a0 Pattie really got into using that piece of cutting equipment to make lovely and fun die-cuts for greeting cards and for the Sunday binders at Relief Society.\u00a0 So many things to make!\u00a0 Many more purchases of other paper crafting tools and LOTS of YouTube videos to hook her into different \u201cneeds\u201d.\u00a0 Around mid-year Pattie saw an advertisement for a Cricut Expression for sale in Lyme, NH.\u00a0 After a couple of months fritzing around with the owner (she was away, Pattie was away, etc) finally Pattie purchased that one so when she returns Megan\u2019s machine Pattie can still enjoy the Cricut and hours of cutting up paper.<\/p>\n
Pattie has also continued painting in watercolor though not as often due to all the paper crafting in other media.\u00a0 Knitting is still on her radar though less frequent hand-knitting.\u00a0 She learned of a Brother KH800 knitting machine for sale by a 94-year-old friend of a friend and since she had the cost in her savings account, she went for it.\u00a0 She discovered a new sponge bar was needed.\u00a0 She took the machine apart to clean and lubricate. Twice.\u00a0 Each time there were more parts left over….She did not seem to have a manual with the machine and found one on the internet to download but the scanning quality was very blurry and hard to read.\u00a0 Recently when she was cleaning out the workroom so a guest could stay there without so much crafting equipment and supplies strewn around she decided to move the corded-up knitting magazines and the lace carriage and other small knitting machine tools into a sturdy clear plastic container rather than the old cardboard box that came to Pattie when she paid for the machine.\u00a0 There, in the very bottom of the box, were the four manuals necessary to operate the machine.\u00a0 And presumably to clean and lubricate it.\u00a0 Hopefully, with the clear pictures and instructions, Pattie will find the homes for the leftover parts now!\u00a0 Just has not yet had time to do it.<\/p>\n
Bob has been having difficulty with a hip, a knee, and an ankle which have made distance hiking very difficult the last two years.\u00a0 He did spend a three-day trip with his two friends from Keene, NH.\u00a0 This was in the Stratton Mountain area.\u00a0 He had an enjoyable time with them and was not too much the worse for the wear when he came home.\u00a0 He had plantar fasciitis and went to physical therapy for it.\u00a0 They convinced him he needed new orthotics.\u00a0 When they came, he wore them one day and his off hip went crazy, and remains so\u2026though he is beginning to walk again.\u00a0 Most of his exercise this summer has been kayaking on Post Pond, in Lyme, NH, and other friendly ponds around the area.\u00a0 He loads the kayak into the back of the truck and off he goes for a couple of hours.\u00a0 On one of his last kayaking trips to Post Pond, Pattie went along to swim.\u00a0 She had a wonderful long swim, the last half of it with her dear friend Sarah who lives in Lyme.\u00a0 Biking was another of Bob\u2019s pasttimes this summer.\u00a0 Now that winter is coming, he will probably use the recumbent bike we have upstairs decorating the great room.<\/p>\n
An adventure for Bob this summer was a canoeing trip in Maine with a friend from the Ascutney ward.\u00a0 They had a nineteen-foot canoe into which they loaded everything but the kitchen sink (Lloyd\u2019s gear) and one backpack (Bob\u2019s).\u00a0 They had a good time together and returned a day and a half early.\u00a0 There was some reason for that\u2026weather, perhaps\u2026but the reason is lost to memory.<\/p>\n
In May Pattie\u2019s sister, Jessie, has a serious motorcycle accident and badly broke her right shoulder.\u00a0 Pattie went down for a wonderful three weeks \u201cto help out\u201d.\u00a0 It was more a vacation for Pattie than anything and so wonderful to spend time with Jessie and Johnny.\u00a0 Their home circumstance is fabulous:\u00a0 right on the Neuse River in a big bright friendly house with a giant vegetable garden and trees all around for privacy.\u00a0 One thing Pattie learned at this time is that when people are sick or hurt, they do love company but the company needs to be smart enough to leave after ten minutes or so.\u00a0 Badly hurt people don\u2019t have the energy for company spending four or five hours, especially when they bring their children and extra dogs.\u00a0 Wonderful as the company is, sick and hurt people need to be able to use what little energy they have to recover, not entertaining guests.<\/p>\n
Pattie continues teaching genealogy classes at Dartmouth College\u2019s Osher Foundation (formerly called Institute of Lifelong Education at Dartmouth\u2014ILEAD) and now also at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, NH.\u00a0 So Spring 2015 was busy with preparing to teach then teaching on Wednesdays in New London and Fridays in Hanover.\u00a0 Spring 2016 will be the same plus a class on \u201cExploring FamilySearch.Org\u201d in Hanover.\u00a0 If it goes well, perhaps she will teach it at Colby-Sawyer, too.<\/p>\n
Well, that is all the news that is fit to print\u2026.so we will stop here.\u00a0 Hopefully readers will not be too distressed by the changes from first-person to third-person telling or any of the other grammatical errors.<\/p>\n
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all family and friends!\u00a0 We hope every moment is satisfying and that you find joy and success all year long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Years ago we started these Christmas letters with photo\u2026the first one that we have was in 1977, the year when Megan was born.\u00a0 All these years Pattie has written the letters then Bob edited them.\u00a0 In recent years the editing … Continue reading