This was a memorable year for all of us.  On the day after New Years Bruce retired from a 32 year career in the federal government.  It was a great trip from beginning to end—challenging, rewarding, fun.  There was a real feeling of having accomplished something good.  But this wasn’t intended as a permanent retirement, just as a change of employment, as he returned to the same business two weeks later as a systems engineer for L-3 Communications.  L-3 is hardly a household word outside of the defense industry, but it traces back to the government systems group of the original RCA and before that to the Victor Talking Machine Company.  Bruce works in a small office down the street from where he used to be, is more directly engaged in technical activities than he had been of late, and enjoys a comfortable schedule which entails just one scheduled meeting every two weeks vs. the very full calendar of meetings (some useless) which described a typical day in his government job.

    Sue Anne continues to enjoy her varied “Don’t decide what to wear until you check the calendar” existence.  For a few hours per week she works at Oakland Manor in Columbia, a beautifully restored mansion built in 1811.  She assists at concerts, weddings, and other social events.  Another chunk of time during the week is spent on her feet, in the design room of a nearby, large and busy florist, where she has acquired a large dose of professional, hands-on training in floral design.  The day is physically demanding but rewarding, working with an enormous variety of gorgeous flowers and plants.  The latest work in her studio involves airbrush and acrylic paints in sort of a stream of consciousness, abstract construction à la ‘Paul Klee.’  Huh?  She’ll send you a repro next year.  Or you might see some of this on our Web site, bottomley.homepage.com, when we finally get it organized.

    During Bruce’s two weeks of actual retirement, he and Sue Anne drove Sarah back to Chicoutimi, Quebec, where she had spent the previous summer at the Center for the Study of the French Language of the University of Quebec.  They were successful in dodging the snowstorms on the 2000 mile round trip and enjoyed visiting this outpost of civilization,120 miles north of Quebec City, on the far side of a large natural reserve (i.e. wilderness).  The potential isolation of the place is illustrated by the signs at the edge of town which proclaim “Route Barrée” (road closed) when the lights are flashing.  But the city itself is a lively place, nicely situated along the Saguenay River.  They repeated the trip to bring Sarah home in the milder weather of springtime.  Bruce and Karin made another trip (by air) to Quebec City and Chicoutimi over the Thanksgiving weekend.  The weather was rather cold and wet, but the good food and the reunion with Sarah easily made up for it.

    Sarah spent the summer back at the University of Maryland taking her fall semester classes, and then she returned to Canada in September.  She’s due back home right after Christmas.  She will be bringing back her little French speaking kitten, Peanut.   (When Peanut comes to America, he will no doubt call himself Arachide. :-) )  Sarah will finish her BA in French next spring and has been accepted into grad school at Maryland to study Teaching English as a Foreign Language.  She has had a good bit of practice in this area, helping her Québecois friend Donald and his fellow student pilots with their English.  She also volunteered with an immigrant and refugee support organization here in Columbia, teaching English to a bunch of children who recently arrived from Bosnia.  Among her recent accomplishments she is proud of the yellow belt she earned in Tae Kwon Do while in Canada.

    The biggest event of the year was Karin’s wedding to Dan Tracy on September 12th.  It was a beautiful day for this garden ceremony, and Karin was a beautiful bride and Dan a handsome groom.  After a honeymoon trip to Costa Rica, they are now living in a townhouse which they bought here in Columbia.  Karin loves her job as a graphic artist for a design firm near Washington, designing Web pages and printed material, and Dan similarly enjoys working in the advertising department of a national chain of retirement communities.  We have posted a lot of pictures of the wedding on the Web.  You can visit the site at karinswedding.homepage.com.

    Over the summer the whole family pitched in to help Bruce’s folks move into the Harmony Hall retirement community here in Columbia.  They are enjoying it very much there.  As their move coincided with Karin and Dan’s townhouse purchase, much of Mom and Dad’s furniture quickly found a good home.

    The holiday season has already started as we write this letter, and we look forward to the cards and letters that arrive daily.  We close our letter with the wish for a joyful holiday and for much happiness in the next millennium to all our relatives and friends.