REPORT FROM FLAG: MERRY CHRISTMAS 2011

REPORT FROM FLAG: Christmas 2011

Both Gretchen and I think that these years in Flagstaff have been the happiest years of our lives. We are doing what we want to do. Our health is good to excellent. We have enough money to live comfortably, and we are obligated to no one. In addition to our love for each other, a good part of our happiness is that we are busy doing what we enjoy.

Gretchen continues her jewelry making and ceramics work along with belonging to Soroptomist International of Flagstaff, a group of women who work for the welfare of women, and the AAUW. She is also a member of the Artists’ Coalition of Flagstaff. She is involved in many art shows and sells her jewelry through a store in Sedona called Stone Creations.

I edit a weekly column of gardening for the Arizona Daily Sun called Gardening Etcetera and tutor four students (Nepal, Vietnam, Poland, and Zimbabwe) at The Literacy Center. Along with another tutor I’m teaching the Nepalese woman to write. She didn’t know how to write in her own language, having never gone to school. Happily, I was dismissed as the editor of the Master Gardener Column for the Master Gardener Program in March because my supervisor alleged that she no longer had time to be involved in the column. The editor of the AZDS then allowed me to continue writing the column with a name change from Master Gardener Column to Gardening Etcetera. All of this meant that I was no longer obligated to anyone and that the scope of the column broadened which is why being sacked was a cause for happiness.
We had three delightful trips last year. The first was to the Gem and Mineral Show in Tucson in February. It got so cold that the fountains at the motel froze solid over night.

We don’t move from Flagstaff from March through to October because it is such a delightful place to live, and also it is the time to garden. In October we spent four days at Casa Escondida in Chimayó, New Mexico, in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains midway between Santa Fe and Taos. The name means “hidden house.” It is a lovely place to stay while exploring a fascinating countryside, especially with the autumnal colors

In November we went to California (Redondo Beach) for Thanksgiving with my children and granddaughter. We had a splendid time, saw some old friends, had dinner at the legendary Musso and Franks on Hollywood Boulevard, drove to Glendale to look at the homes in which I was born and raised, and enjoyed a magnificent feast prepared by Elizabeth and her husband Michael. Tim has retired from the LA County Fire Department and is moving to Hawaii. Paul is getting ready to buy a house and planning for retirement. Elizabeth and Michael are prospering. His business is doing well, and he co-authored a book on electrical grounding which will be published by McGraw-Hill. Our granddaughter, Dana Marie, Esq., is working for a law firm in Los Angeles and is the delight of everyone’s eyes.

I am sad to report the death of my former wife, Grace Marie, in March after long series of afflictions which she bore well.

Roxie is crippled more and more with arthritis but otherwise happy and healthy and continues to bring us great joy.

Politically and socially, Gretchen remains an ardent feminist, often accusing me of being too tepid, and I seem to drift even more to the left every time I hear some Republican open his mouth.

One thing that pisses both of us off is the use of the stupid, vapid, know-nothing, believe nothing phrase “Happy Holidays.” It is Christmas, the birth of the Christ Child, whom we celebrate. It is as Saint Matthew wrote: our Emmanuel, God with us, who brings us joy.

Love, Dana and Gretchen.

The first photograph is courtesy of Tom Bean, Flagstaff, AZ.