Wow … did we have a White Christmas last year! The weather made travel for the holidays difficult. My stepdad Dave passed away shortly before Christmas due to complications of diabetes. My sister Anita wound up taking the train down to help Mom begin dealing with his affairs and Ron and I had to take his Ford F350 Diesel Dually in order to make our holiday trip. We took Anita home in the midst of a snowstorm and barely made it there and back to our place. (Photo is of Mom’s place in.)

Due to some family issues, Ron’s daughter Alicia, stayed with us for several weeks over Christmas. We had dinner and spent our actual Christmas with Ron’s family at his daughter Connee’s home. I made the time to do several homemade gifts, including hot-buttered rum mix using the recipe from my “out-laws” (former in-laws). I have not done nearly as much this year and even this letter is a bit late getting out.

Ron raced his dirt modified quite a bit this year and made a couple of trips out of state. His daughter Alicia joined him as pit crew when she could. Unfortunately, he kept having mechanical issues and ran into a couple of less than competent drivers on the track. He is doing some major overhauls this winter and will probably have it back out for “play days” in April or May.

Meanwhile, I finally got my certifications (CompTIA Security+ and Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician/MCDST) as required to continue as an IT Specialist for the federal

government. My employer was willing to send me to boot camp(s) at Unitek in Fremont, CA for roughly 10 days. I had a full hotel suite and transportation between the hotel and training site. The boot camps included testing and I passed them both with high (but not perfect) scores. I am seriously glad that is out of the way because I am considering a master’s program with Pacifica Graduate Institute in Applied Humanities some time in the next year or two. The program includes depth psychology, mythology, and practicums and team projects. They are offering it for the first time this year as a distance learning program and I want to both give them time to work out any bugs and myself time to get my life organized.

Relationships in the family have also been changing. We (Mom, Anita, and I in various combinations) all enjoyed a bunch of “girls only” activities, including a long weekend at Canon Beach for the sandcastle festival. My sister ended her 5-year relationship with her boyfriend and Mom reconnected with someone this past summer and they’ve moved in together. They worked together at

Montgomery Ward’s for many years. In addition, he and his girlfriend were active in the same RV club as Mom and Dave. We all loved Dave, but he hadn’t really been himself for several years due to all his health issues and Mom spent most of her time as a caregiver. It is great to see her appreciated and pampered again. She, Jerry and I all went to Victoria, BC using my timeshare this year. I was 10 years old the last time I visited. We

had a good time and our condo had a great view of the inner harbor, balconies and a fireplace. (Work was exceptionally busy and Ron wasn’t able to go this time.)

Ron hopes to file for his divorce this year. My biggest project is cataloging all my books and, hopefully, culling them! I bought myself the new Sony Touch Reader and just love it. I’ve purchased about 10 books and downloaded several hundred from Project Gutenberg. We still have our two cats, Murphy and Molly, our Pomeranian Katie, and my parrot Erin. Katie is having some health problems which started as seizures. She is now on medication and supplements and I am cooking her food for her. She is doing very well.