Christmas 2007 Sue Anne & Bruce
                         
Well, we promised you last year (and the year before) that we would be firmly established in our house in New Hampshire before the next Christmas letter came around.  This time we came close.  Our house in Maryland has been on the market for a couple of months now, and we try to spend as much time as we can up north.  But there are reasons to come back to Maryland, some of which involve keeping that house in showpiece condition so that it shows well in a difficult market at a difficult time of the year.

Next year it’s New Hampshire for sure.  If you sent cards to us there this year, we’ll get them.  If you sent cards to us in Maryland, we’ll get them.  We are quite used to this multi-locality existence.  We have clothing in both places, tools in both places, a full set of toiletries in both places, even bathrobes.

Other than a rather continuous process of moving, what else have we been up to?  It’s been a busy year, as always.  Retirement is like that!  Many of our more memorable experiences did indeed occur at our place in New Hampshire, so let’s start with those.  The year began with what has become an annual tradition, the Robert Burns evening a couple of hours away in Hampstead.  Pipers, dancers, music, and Scottish food (including a haggis recipe that omits the nasty bits), along with the mandatory wee dram to commemorate the 1759 birth of Scotland’s Bard.  The church hall was filled with townsfolk and guests.  What better way to spend a cold January Saturday evening in New Hampshire?

Bruce was in NH later in the winter and joined with people in the nearby town of Newport when they turned out to mourn a fallen soldier.  The line stretched well out into the street and then up two flights of stairs in the town opera house.  Opera houses are common in the mill towns of northern New England, many lovingly restored and used for civic occasions such as this one, and for happier times as well.  We returned to Newport later in the year for a fun presentation of the 1936 play You Can't Take It With You by a local theater group.

In August our house was the scene of a reunion that brought together both sides of Sue Anne’s family.  Attendance peaked out in the mid-twenties, with relatives coming from Wisconsin, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and all over New England.  Ages ranged from 1 to 94.  Activities included food, drink, water sports, mountain climbing, antiquing, and lots of good conversation.  An unexpected highlight was a videotaped interview with a local historian concerning Sue Anne’s late aunt, Dr. Anne Wasson, who had been a key figure in the New London medical community.  Family activities continued with a return visit to NH by Sue Anne’s sister Aimée in early November, followed by Thanksgiving there with brother Ted and their mother.

As always, we made lots of trips to visit Sarah, Dan, Noelle (4½), and Roxy (2½) in Edmonton.  We know the place well by now.  The kids are great fun, and it’s wonderful to see them moving through so many stages of growth and development.  Karin and her little pug dog Edgar joined us on one of these trips, to the great delight of the kids.  The big news from Edmonton is that a third grandkid is on the way, due in March!  And further news is that Dan has been selected for promotion to Full Professor, a major accomplishment in the academic world, especially at his relatively young age.  Sarah and Dan will be coming back to Maryland for a week’s visit with friends and family in mid-December, after which we will all head back to Edmonton for the holidays.

Karin, the organizer and planner, put together a wonderful two-week trip to Italy in October for herself and husband Dan, Sue Anne and Bruce, and Dan’s mother Cathy.  We spent a week in Venice, staying in an apartment overlooking a canal, and then we rented cars and headed south to the Chianti area of Tuscany.  There we rented a villa with a beautiful view of hillsides, olive groves, and vineyards, and we took side trips that brought us to a number of nearby hilltop cities and to the stunning architecture of Florence.  It was the first time there for Cathy, of Italian background—we visited her namesake town of Vinci, birthplace of Leonardo—and a return trip to many places 40 years later for Sue Anne and Bruce.  We wrote up our adventures in a blog that we published most every day at a nearby Internet shop.  You can find links to this and some of our other doings at our family Web site, www.bottomleyweb.us.

It was also a busy year for Sue Anne’s artistic pursuits.  She very much enjoyed her classes in the techniques of fused glass at the local art center.  And she devoted all of July to her solo show Wool on the Walls at Resurgam Gallery in Baltimore.  As implied by the title, the show largely featured wall hangings created using rug hooking techniques, along with some three-dimensional wool pieces, fused glass, prints, and drawings.  Many different media, but with a very cohesive theme running through the entire show.  

Spring was a challenging time for us, as Bruce was diagnosed with the early stages of prostate cancer.  We were very fortunate that nearby Johns Hopkins Hospital is the world leader in research and treatment of this condition.  He had surgery there in early June—the only treatment that the doctors consider “a cure.”  The results were totally successful, recuperation was not difficult, and now life goes on as normal.  We both appreciate the support we received from friends and family alike.  It meant a lot.

Our Christmas decorations are in New Hampshire, and we’re in Maryland.  But there will still be a festive atmosphere here anyway.  A happy time of being together with our family.  We wish a joyous holiday season to all, and a terrific New Year 2008.  

Look for us next year at PO Box 66, Elkins, NH 03233, phone 603 526-2496.  Honest!  Our e-mail address remains bbb@acm.org.  Stay in touch.

And, special for this on-line edition of our letter, here’s a link to our home location in New Hampshire.