Happy New Year!

Well, I was going to write a separate end of year summary, but it occurred to me some folks may not have seen our “Off to Whidbey Island” blog written over the summer while we made the decision to move, so, I decided to just add this to the blog in case anyone wants to read it. If you do, it begins at: http://offtowhidbey.blogspot.com/ and includes most of our year to that (now infamous for us) date in June.

We’ve been on Whidbey Island, WA five months now, and despite the cold, darkness, rain, and today as I write, snow! we love it. Of course we still have at least another 5 months to go before warmer weather, so, as always, stay tuned.

Looks like I stopped the blog in September when we were about to attend the world-famous wooden boat show in Port Townsend and I was about to start marimba lessons, both of which we did. Here, a representative, one of thousands, of the boats at the show. The place was full of these exquisite beauties. If you like wood and boats as much as Dave does you shouldn’t miss it. http://www.woodenboat.org/festival/

Marimba: Here’s a video of my marimba teacher, Dana Moffett, teaching our class. Dana is one of the most upbeat, positive, fun individuals I’ve ever met. We ALWAYS leave lessons feeling we’ve done our best and, as important, we've had a LOT of fun! She’s in Zimbabwe until February, doing good deeds so lessons are on hold for awhile. You can read an article about her and her husband, two of Langley's Local heroes, here.

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Some of my beloved women friends from San Diego

visited in September, to see our new house, (here we are in our kitchen) and to just hang out at this beautiful old farm house above where we stayed, about halfway up the island.

Fall in the Pacific Northwest is something to behold. Having lived in California most of our lives, we’ve seen only snippets of Fall's beauty through the years. Here on the island we got the whole enchilada, and finally understand why people make such a big fuss about missing seasons when they move to California. There’s really nothing like Fall. Trees/shrubs were like this EVERYWHERE, even along freeways, in September, October, and part of November.

In late October, we traveled South to my home town of Victorville, CA, for my FIFTIETH high school reunion. What fun keeping up with these folks over the fifty years since we graduated having attended most reunions every 5 years since 1960. Watch an amusing video of a few of us playing 1960 local trivia here, and if you're interested (now now, some might be!), you can see the reunion WEB site here.

Dave's dad, Walt, and wife JoEn, made a brief visit in November to see our new home. Here's a photo of them in Langley, our town, with a view of the Puget Sound behind. No, that is NOT a fake background; it's the real thing!

We were to spend Thanksgiving in Eastern Washington where long-time friends own a cabin, but alas, the Pacific Northwest had its blizzard of the year then. We didn't drive for four days, but did walk to Langley every day for one thing or another, or simply just to experience (for us) a real snowstorm. Here are a couple of videos, one of blizzard day (Dave calls it our Dr. Zhivago movie), one of the day after,

and a photo of "shoe chains", much like tire chains,

we subsequently bought to avoid bad falls on the ice. For Thanksgiving, we ended up next door, 50 feet away, at our friend Diane's home where all of us nearby strays with no family gathered.

Earlier this month, we flew to Phoenix, AZ to see Kate graduate from her MBA program at Thunderbird School of Global Manatement, in Glendale AZ (home of endless malls!). She was in Panama a few months back to become aquainted with international business practices first hand. Here she is with a pal in a downpour in Panama; then a photo doing one of her case studies at school (doesn't she LOOK like an MBA!); and finally marching at graduation. She'll spend 3 weeks living with a family in Peru beginning Jan 1 (Saturday!) to learn Spanish up close and personal.

Ben is still in the Bay Area managing his housecleaning business and doing acupuncture once in awhile. We're trying to get him up here for a visit, and when we do, they'll be LOTS of photos of him!

Dave's major project for this and next year is to get his 500 ft. garage in workshop order so he can make boat # 2! (Grace the Boat has yet to see water ;+} ). Here are a few photos of the garage as things stand now.

A few other events with photos:

I left my little yellow scooter behind in PG, but just recently bought another one to ride on the island when weather permits. Here it is:

I've learned to SPIN. Dave bought me a beautiful new Lendrum spinning wheel for my birthday/our anniversary. Thought I'd NEVER spin, but you just can't avoid it here. It seems every person into fiber here spins. Here I am opening my present!

Several times a week, we walk to Langley (about 2 miles round trip). Three weeks or so ago, on our way home, I heard a screech and said, "My God, WHAT is that", looked around, and saw two eagles perched atop this tree. We're following them now hoping they'll make a nest, but have been told they've been there for at least two years without one. We'll see.

Rabbits are EVERYWHERE on the island, but particularly interesting are the ones along the path we walk into town. They're blonde, so we've nicknamed them the Playboy Bunnies, and call their warren the Playboy Mansion. The path is adjacent to the Fairgrounds, and legend has it they escaped one year from the cages at the fair.

So, those are some of the highlights of the rest of our year. I'll update again in Summer.

We miss Grace, my mom, (known to many of you as the Mother of all Drives), who passed away in March, and made all this, and other amazingly good things happen for our family. Loss of loved ones leaves us all a bit empty and less than we were. We send comforting thoughts to those missing relatives and friends lost this year and in years past, and keep you, near and far from this big island in the Pacific Northwest, in our hearts. We wish you the very best in 2011.

Di & Dave (in 24° weather as I type)