REPORT FROM FLAG: CHRISTMAS 2007
Dana and Gretchen Smith
After years of getting Christmas letters written in several different
familial voices boasting of accomplishments, great and small, Gretchen encouraged me to add to the pile. So, here we go.
We have snow, lots of snow, for Christmas. About two feet fell over the last few days. Not only that, the skies are crystalline blue, and the San Francisco Peaks are covered with snow. Perhaps, maybe, our drought is beginning to break.
Aside from falling down on the ice just outside the Campus Coffee Bean on my way to pick up coffee grounds for my garden, I’m doing well. I’d given up trying to walk on water several years ago, and now I’m giving up on ice, too. Apparently, ordination doesn’t count for either water or ice walking. I wasn’t hurt except for some sore muscles, joints, and ego.
Speaking of boasting, my LDL is down to 74. After my annual physical examination, the physician said, “It’s always a pleasure to see you, you’re so healthy. Drink more water.” She says that everyone because it’s so dry here. I already drink lots of water. As a matter of fact, nearly everyone up here “hydrates,” which is hydrologically correct speech for drinking water. If anything, Flagstaff is politically correct what with all the persnickety academics floating around.
Gretchen is as robust as ever except for the damaged rotator cuff on her left shoulder which comes from her lifetime as a flight attendant pushing carts on TWA airplanes, now typing on her computer, and working with clay as a potter. Other than that, she greets every day with “I’m awake.”
Her work with Raku jewelry is reaping dividends, like money. She had a show, called “Artsy Divas,” which was very successful, and she sells her work through Sundara, a local boutique. She’s won several prizes, such as a blue ribbon at the county fair. She’s been featured in the CCC publication On Course. She’s a member of the Artists’ Coalition of Flagstaff and has sold and shown her work at several venues. She’s still active in Soroptomists International of Flagstaff.
I continue to garden and write. I am currently the coordinating editor of the Master Gardener Column in the Arizona Daily Sun, our local newspaper. I won three blue ribbons at the county fair for my beans, artichoke, and beets. An artichoke on the Colorado Plateau is an achievement which defies the laws of nature. I haven’t tried any figs as yet, but our pine trees are doing well with additional watering. Our native grasses flourish, such as sheep fescue which actually makes a lovely mounding lawn and creeping red fescue which if left unmown forms swirls. They require an annual mowing with a weed whacker to cut of the seed stems, and both are water wise.
April 7 was my 80th birthday, and we had a grand celebration in California at Walt's Wharf in Seal Beach with my children, Tim, Paul, and Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s husband, Michael, and my granddaughter Dana Marie who is a law student at Loyola Law School. They are all doing well. A friend of ours, Clayton, and my former wife, Grace, were also guests. We spent several days in California visiting friends and family, and I enjoyed smelling the ocean air once again.
Roxie continues to bring us joy. With her lovely green eyes encased in naturally black eyeliner, luminous pink nose, and soft, wavy butterscotch hair she continues in good health. Along with lots of other people she grays a little more each year, but her merry disposition remains the same. She brings the continuous gifts of joy, faith, and love.
Last October we vacationed in northern New Mexico, staying at a charming B & B near Chimayo. Casa Escondido is well-named. After leaving Interstate 25 north of Albuquerque, we took a state route around Santa Fe, aptly named a relief route, then another state road, two county roads, a dirt road, and finally a narrow one lane dirt track to the B & B. It was a great retreat. From there we drove the high road through small Spanish villages to Taos. The villages are largely peopled by descendants of the Conquistadores with some families aware of an eight generation history. The road traversed the sere foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and in one section outside of Truchas (8,500 ft) through the pines. The contrast of the bare, juniper dotted foothills and the verdant, color bursting valleys, formed by creeks roaring out of the mountains, makes a New Mexico autumn rival a New England autumn.
We were both saying to each other that this is the best time of our years. We wish to share the joy of Christmas with you all, that joy which comes from God’s presence in the cradle at Bethlehem with the message that God is with us. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Dana and Gretchen
Christmas 2007
Dana and Gretchen Smith
After years of getting Christmas letters written in several different
familial voices boasting of accomplishments, great and small, Gretchen encouraged me to add to the pile. So, here we go.
We have snow, lots of snow, for Christmas. About two feet fell over the last few days. Not only that, the skies are crystalline blue, and the San Francisco Peaks are covered with snow. Perhaps, maybe, our drought is beginning to break.
Aside from falling down on the ice just outside the Campus Coffee Bean on my way to pick up coffee grounds for my garden, I’m doing well. I’d given up trying to walk on water several years ago, and now I’m giving up on ice, too. Apparently, ordination doesn’t count for either water or ice walking. I wasn’t hurt except for some sore muscles, joints, and ego.
Speaking of boasting, my LDL is down to 74. After my annual physical examination, the physician said, “It’s always a pleasure to see you, you’re so healthy. Drink more water.” She says that everyone because it’s so dry here. I already drink lots of water. As a matter of fact, nearly everyone up here “hydrates,” which is hydrologically correct speech for drinking water. If anything, Flagstaff is politically correct what with all the persnickety academics floating around.
Gretchen is as robust as ever except for the damaged rotator cuff on her left shoulder which comes from her lifetime as a flight attendant pushing carts on TWA airplanes, now typing on her computer, and working with clay as a potter. Other than that, she greets every day with “I’m awake.”
Her work with Raku jewelry is reaping dividends, like money. She had a show, called “Artsy Divas,” which was very successful, and she sells her work through Sundara, a local boutique. She’s won several prizes, such as a blue ribbon at the county fair. She’s been featured in the CCC publication On Course. She’s a member of the Artists’ Coalition of Flagstaff and has sold and shown her work at several venues. She’s still active in Soroptomists International of Flagstaff.
I continue to garden and write. I am currently the coordinating editor of the Master Gardener Column in the Arizona Daily Sun, our local newspaper. I won three blue ribbons at the county fair for my beans, artichoke, and beets. An artichoke on the Colorado Plateau is an achievement which defies the laws of nature. I haven’t tried any figs as yet, but our pine trees are doing well with additional watering. Our native grasses flourish, such as sheep fescue which actually makes a lovely mounding lawn and creeping red fescue which if left unmown forms swirls. They require an annual mowing with a weed whacker to cut of the seed stems, and both are water wise.
April 7 was my 80th birthday, and we had a grand celebration in California at Walt's Wharf in Seal Beach with my children, Tim, Paul, and Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s husband, Michael, and my granddaughter Dana Marie who is a law student at Loyola Law School. They are all doing well. A friend of ours, Clayton, and my former wife, Grace, were also guests. We spent several days in California visiting friends and family, and I enjoyed smelling the ocean air once again.
Roxie continues to bring us joy. With her lovely green eyes encased in naturally black eyeliner, luminous pink nose, and soft, wavy butterscotch hair she continues in good health. Along with lots of other people she grays a little more each year, but her merry disposition remains the same. She brings the continuous gifts of joy, faith, and love.
Last October we vacationed in northern New Mexico, staying at a charming B & B near Chimayo. Casa Escondido is well-named. After leaving Interstate 25 north of Albuquerque, we took a state route around Santa Fe, aptly named a relief route, then another state road, two county roads, a dirt road, and finally a narrow one lane dirt track to the B & B. It was a great retreat. From there we drove the high road through small Spanish villages to Taos. The villages are largely peopled by descendants of the Conquistadores with some families aware of an eight generation history. The road traversed the sere foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and in one section outside of Truchas (8,500 ft) through the pines. The contrast of the bare, juniper dotted foothills and the verdant, color bursting valleys, formed by creeks roaring out of the mountains, makes a New Mexico autumn rival a New England autumn.
We were both saying to each other that this is the best time of our years. We wish to share the joy of Christmas with you all, that joy which comes from God’s presence in the cradle at Bethlehem with the message that God is with us. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Dana and Gretchen
Christmas 2007
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