CHRISTMAS 2014 AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

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I think we have just set a record at being really late with our annual Christmas blog. No excuses. We have thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone else's letters and cards. So, belated happy holidays!



2014 started out with us in Guatemala celebrating the holiday with Matt, Megan and those two great kids Lola and Cash. Erika, Daniel and Jose were with us and we took a nice trip up to Lake Atitlan to visit the Mayan students that we sponsor. Megan's sister, Laura, and her children Jessie and AJ also overlapped with our visit so it was one busy and happy time together. Back in the states in March we were just about to fly off to SE Asia when we both got unfortunate news: Mary's dropped foot turned out to be ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, and John learned that his prostate cancer is spreading elsewhere in his body. So what did we do - we got on the airplane - and had very nice visits with John's brother Bruce and his family and his cousin's son, Eric and his family. Then we took the big hop to Hanoi, Vietnam for three weeks of travel there and in Thailand and Cambodia. Of all the memorable experiences, riding and bathing elephants in the River Kwai is right up there. John was really struck by the spirit of the people of Cambodia given their sad-sad recent history. The people of Vietnam are also amazing with the "American" war still a presence in their lives as it is in many Americans' lives, as well. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful country full of interesting people. Coming back to California we spent a few really nice days with old-time friend Diane Driessen and her partner.



Spring and summer went by in a blur that included fun in Florida with Megan's family that included Cash's baptism, John's trout fishing in Montana, a great visit from our English friends, the Wordleys, riding the Georgetown steam train with grandson Daniel and Erika, Mary being introduced as a special guest to the "Rockies" fans on July 4th, Lou Gehrig's 75th Anniversary day at an ALS event, going back to Edgar, Wis., where John grew up, for a reunion involving the characters in the book, The Logging Road Gang, written by his older brother Buzz, getting together with Wis. friends and relatives which included Daniel landing a 12 lb. rainbow trout in Lake Michigan, and looking up an old TNC friend, Mike Wright, in Chicago. Whew! That was huge and...fun!



The Fall found us visiting friends in Bozeman and camping in Glacier NP, MT and then back to Guatemala for the month of September. Matt arranged for a really fun car trip with Lola for several days in the remote highlands of Guatemala. We hiked (two-year old Lola is an amazing hiker) in the woods, swam, ate great food and saw amazing scenery. Fall is also hunting season and John bagged a nice antelope but not an elk. As all this was going on, John and his brothers were arranging for the sale of his beloved log cabin and most of their160 acres. The time had come. The new owner generously allowed the old Wisconsin hunting gang to use the place for one last deer hunt. Matt bagged a nice buck the first morning and seven deer were harvested. Halloween was spent in Austin where we celebrated Daniel's 9th birthday. While in Wisconsin we toured Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers, but we are NOT talking about how their season finished.



Winter-we are back in Colorado where, with the help of brother-in-law David, John finished a big "master-bedroom-soaking-tub" remodel that he had started before the "blur" began. For the forty-fifth consecutive year we were able to celebrate Christmas as a family which included two nights at a ski chalet in Winter Park owned by a generous friend.



Now sitting back we can once again focus on our health issues and about what the future holds. Actually not quite. In five days we are leaving on a trip to Chile and Antarctica. We are reasonably well and try to live one day at a time being grateful for our many blessings.



Love, Mary and John

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Photos

Thailand-River Kwai
Bathing the elephants and messing with each other

Coastal Viet Nam
Beautiful Halong Bay

Florida
Cash's Baptism

Lake Michigan
Daniel's 12-pound rainbow trout

Guatemala Highlands
Lola leading the hike

Antigua
Dressed up in Vietnamese costumes

Christmas 2014
The whole family in Boulder