Wonder Years with Chris and Wendy

 Good-bye Susan May 31, 1956-December 23, 2024 What can I say about Susan, so you will know who she was?  Susan was a good friend and a wonderful mentor.  She was a leader and an innovator, a teacher, a scholar, a mother, a wife and an aunt.  She was a good friend and a wonderful mentor. Susan taught her students by example, encouraging them, guiding them and showing passion in her lessons.  She was a good friend and a wonderful mentor. I remember her laugh, her joy of life and her love of children, her family and her students.  I remember the display we made detailing the abuse of children and how we taught our students to be warriors for children's safety.  I remember how she always recognized when someone was doing well and she was quick to praise and slow to criticize.  She was a good friend and a wonderful mentor. I remember the books she wrote on art and teaching and story telling and weaving lessons together so all could understand.  I...

    Once again, I read over 100 books (160) this year and I have tried to pick my favorites in both fiction and nonfiction. This is not easy, since there are so many good books out there. Maybe some of your top books are also on my list. Let me know what you like or didn't like! FICTION The Color Purple  by Alice Walker This is a book I had read several years ago and decided to reread it last year because of the new movie/musical based on the book. For some reason, I had not remembered how humorous it was and enjoyed the writer’s voice much more this time around. I also could see the characters as I read based on the new movie which was fresh in my mind. While the events of the story are often tragic and Celie, the main character,  faces so many hardships, the story is much more uplifting than I remembered it. I especially liked the sewing of pants for women. Definitely a classic! Snow Falling on Cedars  by David Guterson Another book I reread last year bec...

Congratulations! You've navigated correctly to our private blog! Merry Christmas,  Happy Holidays & Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. You may have already seen previous posts, if not, please have a look if you have both the time and interest to see what's been going on in our lives. I won't try to summarize too much except to say that 2024 was an excellent first full year for us in our "new-to-us" condo built back in 2006. We've been blessed again with good health, good communities & connections, mobility & even financial security.  The biggest blessing though, is one that we tend to lose track of through the hustle & bustle of third millennium life. A couple of Sundays ago, enroute from visiting Lily & Wes in the Baltimore area, we got to stop and visit with Mike & Jen, our nephew & niece who live outside of Richmond. They have the most beautiful private Christmas decorations we have ever seen. Being in their home really p...

 Chris and I got to spend a day and a half in New York City in October, with the highlight being a Sting concert. At 73 years old, he gave a wonderful concert and we enjoyed some of our favorite songs with a great crowd. Due to a lucky break, we had seats close to the stage and had a great time vibing with the band and with Sting.  While in New York, we also got to see our nephew John (forgot to take pictures) and our niece Britt who are both living and working in New York right now. It was a delight to spend time with each of these young people.  October was also the month of the D'Arezzo reunion. All six of the siblings (Rick, Dan, Jim, Chris, Diane and Tom) and their partners were able to get together for a weekend and reminisce about past reunions and family fun times. This was the first siblings only reunion and the first time we were all together in several years.  Here's the whole group, first being serious and then being goofy. You decide which looks more nat...

 Late in August we headed out for a 3200 mile Road Trip, traveling from NC to Michigan, across Canada to Maine and Massachusetts and then home to NC. We visited friends, saw new places and enjoyed our time in the car. One thing we did while stacking up the miles was listen to a book by Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist who was once a foreign correspondent. It was a memoir his youth and his time as a correspondent. The audio book,  Chasing Hope,  was 17 hours long, so we didn't hear it all in the car, but it's definitely worth the read (or the listen).  Our first stop on this journey was to see our niece Evelyn and her family, including almost 1 year old, Paul. He might be the cutest baby in the whole state of Michigan, and we had a great time playing with him, going for walks and babysitting when Brian and Evelyn were busy. It was a wonderful weekend!   Our next stop was to visit with friends Marcy and Bill in Midland, then on together to Mackinac Is...

 Our first visitor in August was our wonderful grandson Wesley. We had a great time going to the beach, staying on an airbnb boat, visiting the NC Zoo and playing in our local pool! It was a super week, even if he did beat our pants off in Monopoly!      Later in August, we had a super visit from Laila and her two girls, Katie and Livvy. We visited the children's museum in Burlington, a great place for families, went to our local parks and played in the pool. We also made pizzas together and had a wonderful visit to Dinner Bell Farm where Katie got to hold a chicken! And finally, we had a welcome visit from our friend Joanne. We found a new historical museum, nestled into a woodsy area in a somewhat rundown Victorian house, we learned more about the history of our county. We had to share Joanne's visit with our other Peace Corps friend, Bobbi and her fiancé Rod. We also got to meet, for the first time as adults, two of Bobbi's daughters and one granddaughter. Altoget...