Christmas 2014

It’s hard to believe we’re nearing the end of another year! I guess time flies when you’re old.

2014 started out with the sad loss of my sister, Barby (see post below). We are still waiting to hear what discoveries have come from the donation of her brain to UC Davis but we hope that doing this will in some way help all of us gain more insight into autism – its causes and its treatments. The PBS series on the brain that will mention her is due to be aired in April; we are all curious to see it.

Last winter in Sarasota deepened our connections down here. Listening to Skip Eaton and Al Fuller at the 5 O’clock, Ellie’s yoga class and Meditation Group, birding, the Sunday night drum circle – life is rich and we’re starting to make real friends, especially Skip and Mary. Of course we love our guests, and we got a pretty good group down here last year – John and Ginger, Paul and Wendy, Dorothy and Bill, Mark and Marty and Scott and Janet from Ann Arbor and we got Brian Hart’s family and Gary and Debbie and then Lea Kone, from upstate New York. Who am I forgetting? Please leave a comment below. And, if you’d like to make the list next year, please reserve your time on the calendar to the right of this post.

We had two fantastic trips last year (see posts below) to largely Spanish-speaking areas, so Ellie worked on Spanish and joined Johanna’s kitchen class in Ann Arbor. Although this year was a wash-out as far as the boat was concerned (long story – but can you say “blown head gasket”?) we still had a wonderful summer, hanging out with friends, going to Conditioning for Life Class (owe it all to Dan), and playing with the band for ellie and golf for Kevin. Kevin really enjoyed Radrick Farms this year and is swinging as well as ever. Ellie joined forces with bandmate, Dave Solo, and they formed a duo that played several times and even cut a CD in Mark Hauptschein’s studio (copies available on request). We also had a nice little trip to Boulder to see Patience and my cousin Anna. Boulder is cool and we plan to go back when it isn’t also freezing.

As for this winter in Sarasota, we’re pleased that John and Ginger will be renting nearby for three months and our old friend and music pal, Bill Scott, bought a place in Ellenton. We are already in rehearsal with Kevin playing U-Bass (a trick we picked up from Dave Solo), Ellie on vocals and percussion and Bill playing pretty much everything else and running the show.

Here is wishing all of our friends and family great happiness for the holidays and throughout 2015. Come and see us in Sarasota (November through April) or in Ann Arbor (May through October). Merry Christmas!