From The Beginning. . .

Costume Design & Creation

Winter 1982

Wednesday, December 15 Christmas, 1982 

Cards are beginning to arrive from far and near and I have hardly even thought about Christmas. This has been a year of many changes and I am, at the moment, caught up in the merry-go-round of one of those big and sudden changes. 

The first change is that my “year as parent” has passed. Sue stayed here winter quarter, then spent spring quarter – March to june – in the dorm at Univ. of Cin., and her summer in Florida. When she returned to UC this fall, she got an apartment for the year near campus, with a very nice roommate. We visit several times a month when we go to plays, ballet, and symphony together. We worked together on the Drama Workshop play, Solid Gold Cadillac. Sue was on the prop committee and had a walk-on part, and I was asst. stage manager and did the photography. My other theater venture this year was the acting role of Aunt Trina in I Remember Mama this fall, which I really enjoyed. 

School seemed especially difficult last year with little reward. Travelling from room to room, having to organize, pack up, and reorganize 5 times a day absolutely BURNED me out. When I came to Oak Hills in 1972 I had my own room.  Four or five years later Sally Sherman from the English Department was elevated to Department Supervisor.   She did many things to “put me down”and tried to get rid of me including poor evaluations and taking away my permanent room so I, the teacher, also had to travel to different rooms for each class.  I got the school to buy me a projector cart with 3 shelves to make myself a rolling “desk” and have wheeled that through the Oak Hills halls for the last several years. One morning last spring some of my teacher friends met me at the door saying “Carolyn, we have a surprise. Now, don’t be mad, it’s all done in fun.”  And it was a fun surprise.  The men in shop class had taken my cart and “tricked it out” like a bicycle, complete with handlebars, headlight, and basket on the front, a horn, etc, etc…  I embraced the joke and drove my bike-cart out into the hall tooting my way through the traffic from room to room.  That did put an exclamation point on the absurdity of my traveling situation after being there for ten years.  Maybe that’s why I got a permanent room.  Anyway, by June I was a nervous wreck. I spent my summer RESTING with impunity. It’s a good thing I did, because the big and sudden change happened mid August. Oak Hills’ Speech and Drama teacher (who had been there “forever”) was finally convinced to retire – at age 70! – and the supervisor with whom I had so much conflict took a leave of absence. Suddenly, 2 weeks before school started, I had my own room, became the speech teacher of Oak Hills and the Coach of the Speech and Debate activities, with all the after school rehearsals and weekend speech contests that that entails. I have truly enjoyed my work this fall – with one exception. It seems to constantly increase in quantity and it’s beginning to overwhelm me. One does need a little time for one’s self. 

It was a joy this year to touch base with Lois and Shearl Edler and Jean and Bob Hendershot in January, and the Hendershots, Sandra and Charles Leach and Suzanne 0*Dell in early August. In Nov. I journeyed to Toledo to enjoy Tom and Kayte Frushour’s hospitality and view the El Greco Exhibit at the Toledo Art Museum. They were in Cincy 2 weeks earlier to see me do Trina and to go to the Tower of London Exhibit at the Cin. Art Museum. 

I did a lot of sewing during my summer rest – built 8 outfits – including dresses, fall and winter suits. I’m sort of burned out in photography, so while I continue to snap some pictures, they don’t seem to get developed and printed. 

Remember the damage to my Firebird last summer caused by the “cool kid” in sunglasses in the well lit parking lot? Well, this past summer I got a Summons to court because he sued ME for damages!  My insurance company had paid for everything, but sued him for payment, and he was trying to come back to me and make me pay him.  The boy’s lawyer tried to cleverly confuse me in his questioning, but I ended up catching every trick and confusing him instead!  The judge could see the absurdity of the case, cut it short and said “case dismissed!”.  Bill and Sue were in the courtroom and afterwards praised me for my sharp thinking and reasoning like a lawyer .

The final change this year happened with my father. His eyes have lost much of their sight, though he can see shapes. A bout with the virus in May left him physically weak for most of the summer and his emphysema is highly sensitive to dog hair and natural wool. He is better now, but driving and golf are a thing of the past. Brownie, in her older age, is a dear, but has been fighting a staph infection for the last year and a half. Poor dog, she got infected from the dogs at the home where she stayed during my 7 week western vacation. 

And so, my comment last year that 1981 was a year of transition to a new stage in life seems indeed to have been prophetic. I hope all has been well with you during this past year and trust the coming year will be good to you in every way. May your life be filled with the quiet serenity and beauty reflected in the picture on my card, which looks so much like my Indiana woodland farm. 

Arry – Supporting Role

Fall, 1983-84 

I didn’t even try out for this part. At 53, I felt I couldn’t do the play and teach and go to speech competitions all at once. Shirley MacIntyre came over and brought wine to beg me to take the part. She suggested that I may be able to do it if I had help.

So Barb Sorensen, Bill Giles, and Lee Walsh helped me in so many ways, I was able to get it all done. Lee and Barb helped with my Speech Team and even went to competitions with me. Bill Giles lived at my house on the weekends and cooked dinners and took care of Brownie so that all I had to do was grade papers and learn lines. Without them, I couldn’t have taken on the role.

Christmas, 1983 

Even though we are experiencing relatively mild 40-60° weather, Thanksgiving holidays and 3 blizzards out west tell me it is time to compose my yearly epistle. 

This has been a relatively quiet, uneventful year with life loping along with gentle equanimity. The intense heavy workload of my new speech job and everything else before last Christmas caught up with me in January. A severe bout of the flu kept me in bed a week and “drug-out” for over 2 months. Then in June my doctor & I discovered several “colds” over the past year were really an intense allergy to smoke. It is almost at the “handicap” stage and has even changed my lifestyle somewhat since summer. Other than that I am healthy and happy! 

In theater I re-created my Mamay Yokum role in Lil Abner for a 15 min. scene at an anniversary review; and in June I did a 30 min. scene, again. playing Aunt Trina in I Remember Mama for the Community Theater contest. With my heavy fall speech contest and teaching load, I decided NOT to get involved in the fall TDW play, Morning’s at Seven. Then 2 weeks into production one of the lead women dropped out. Even though I did not go to tryouts, the director wined, dined and persuaded me into accepting the role of Arry. I learned over an hour’s worth of lines in 4 weeks working only weekends (3), 2 other rehearsals a week and 4 days during the week before the opening. It was all made possible with a lot of help from many friends. One baby sat Brownie, 2 others helped me learn lines; each weekend Bill came in and cooked and washed a week’s worth of dishes and helped me run lines to learn the part.  He called himself my “houseboy”.  Three or four others helped at school and with a speech contest that conflicted with one of our performance dates. It was an exhilarating experience and the highlight of my year. My one regret was that I couldn’t really enjoy working out this wonderful role in-depth because of the demands of school and the speech team. 

My speech work is enjoyable, and easier since I’ve learned the system, but very time consuming – especially the contest coaching and judging. I am “breaking in” a new literature course and serving on the county curriculum & textbook adoption committee. The Univ. is also reviewing new texts this year. The best part of all these activities is the new and renewed professional contacts and friendships so long neglected when I was squelched and harassed by my supervisor (who happily is still on leave of absence.) 

Most of the summer was spent sewing, thoroughly and methodically cleaning and working on my house (Yes! I burned the mortgage in July!) – and trying to survive the insufferable heat. Many nights I slept outside under the stars in a comfortable bed in the wide open hatchback of my car. 

It’s hard to believe Sue is already a junior at uc. Dad, now 92, has adjusted well to his partial sight loss and is as active as ever in Masonic work. He goes out 2 or 3 nights a week and almost every other Sat. I have a hard time catching him home to get in a visit! Brownie is healthy now and as dear as ever. 

The Christmas season is here once again and I look forward to hearing from you about your year — and sharing with you some of the highlights & low-lights – of my year. Of course the real highlight of my year was my trip to Greece in August. Some of the details of that marvelous adventure will come at the end of this letter for those of you interested in the “long version.”

Last January, besides deciding to go to Greece, I embarked on a new car shopping venture. The result was a special order Blue Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport station wagon. Though no larger than my Buick hatchback, it is much more spacious. I drove 8 people to a speech tournament in it last weekend; and I love the front wheel drive.

My work at school intensifies each fall as the speech classes and speech team traveling

to contests on Saturdays grows. Both the classes and team have doubled in size and number over last year. It’s exciting to have a growing program, but the work load is almost more than I can handle,–50 students working up individual 10 minute pro grams, each needing coaching and directing, 12 to 20 attending each contest, not to mention responsibilities for getting judges, transportation, fund raising, etc. etc. All this is in addition to the 4 classes I teach. I have been very candid about the need for assistants if they want a large class and contest program, but so far I feel my statements are falling on deaf ears. Well, if they do nothing, it will be their problem and the students’ loss — though it seems a shame to spend 4 or 5 years building a successful speech program only to have it “go down the tubes” when I retire.

Retire? Ah, yes, more good news. I had a conference with our retirement system counselor and discovered I can buy 5 years of my college teaching time into the Ohio Retirement System for half what I thought it was going to cost me! I had resigned my self to being able to afford only 3 years and then teach 5 more years to June, 1989. I will definitely not teach beyond that time, but it is nice to know I have the option to “hang it all up” any time after June of 1987! Then I will have time to indulge in all the things I love to do but can hardly even think about as speech and its contests consume me from September to March 1st.

The one and only real low-light of this letter and the year is that my dear English Bulldog Brownie died, lying at my feet on the Monday before Thanksgiving. She is – and will be – deeply missed. — And then the standard question already posed so often:

Will you replace her?” Brownie can’t be replaced. I can’t imagine another dog as dear and as intelligent as she; but will I get another Bulldog? Probably, though at this point there are many aspects to the if and when question. Only time will tell.

My 93 year old daddy is doing fine. In Nov. he not only raked all his leaves, but also raked the leaves for the neighbor across the street. He also did a Masonic installation in Nov.–45 minutes of speaking and memorization! And even though his eyesight is very bad, he – by guess and by gosh – carved the Thanksgiving Turkey.

GREECE– ADVENTURES AND HIGHLIGHTS

My traveling companion through Greece was Barbara Sorensen, a close, long time friend in my Drama Workshop Theater work. Bill Giles, who takes a yearly vacation trek to New York City each summer for 2 or 3 weeks, drove Barbara and me to the Big Apple in his Subaru on Sat July 28. We began our adventure with a marvelous dinner at the Swiftwater Inn. This quaint, charming Inn, situated in the Poconos of eastern Penn., is over 200 years old (1767). On Sunday in NYC we all three visited Marion Holt, my friend from Converse College days, and talked of the Spanish plays he is translating and getting produced off Broadway & in regional theater; then we “took in” the “Early Bones of Man” special anthropological exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Back at the motel late Sun. afternoon, I re-wrote my will. (This will have relevance, believe me!) That night Bill and I went to Il Cantino, a little Italian delicatessen and wine shop where opera singers – mostly aspiring, sometimes present, and a few past – congregate to listen, sing, share, and even sing along with 2 hours of planned and spontaneous opera singing. It was great fun. Franco Corelli – a famous tenor of the 50’s and 60’s – sat at the table next to ours and I got his autograph!

Our next adventure was just getting TO Greece! On Mon, July 30 we stood in line for our 10 A.M. check in at Kennedy Airport for 2 hours before the baggage machinery started moving. Our 2:30 flight did not leave until 8:30 P.M., so more waiting. We were fed an airline dinner and had just settled down for the night when the Captain came on the P.A. about 11 P.M. In a 10 min. explanation he said: “We had an oil leak in an engine and are flying back to Kennedy on 3 engines.” — 500+ people on a Boeing 707! Later he told us for your safety” (a nice euphemism for “Don’t panic, But–“)”the runway will be lined with firetrucks, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles when we land.” It sure was! Red, white, and blue flashing lights all over the place. (Remember my strange compulsion to re-write my will?? HMMM) Anyway, it was the smoothest landing I ever experienced. They put us in a barren holding area – only chairs and restrooms – no food. One of the first off the plane at 2 A.M., I spotted 4 flat cushions in a corner on the floor and made a bee-line for them, curled up and went sound asleep! When Barbara woke me up at 5, I found I had missed a near riot by angry passengers. We boarded our “new” 707 (which we got by “bumping” 150 Paris bound tourists back into a hotel and a 12 hour delay of their own,) and took off at 5:30A.M. By the way, this incident did make the New York Times, July 31st edition.

Finally we were off to Greece without further incident – except one – FOOD. Remember the meager airline dinner at 9 P.M. Mon? — No food in the holding area? Well, we got an airline continental breakfast (juice, coffee, 2 rolls) at 8 A.M. Tues. — and that was ALL!! We landed in Athens at 4 P.M. Tues. NYC time and finally got food in Glifada at 6:30 P.M. (That’s 1:30 A.M. Greece time). –Wed. Are you confused? Have you lost track of time, hours, Days!? We sure did – Our bodies surely did! And for 500 angry passengers by now the password was KILL!!! Surely nothing else could happen, could it? Just board a bus and collapse in bed in an Athens hotel, right? — Wrong!! 100 people in 2 of the 10 buses (one of them OURS, of course) were told “You are beginning your 7 day land tour of Greece — NOW!!” ONE A.M. in the morning!! (the redundancy is intentional). Our wonderful Greek guide, Helen, and fantastic bus driver, Demi, – these poor innocent employees of International Weekends — had to endure our well deserved though misdirected wrath. They quickly and wisely whisked us off to Glifada (a suburb of Athens) for food which appeased the raving mob down to a state of sleepy grumbling and we were off on a 100 mile journey to our hotel in Napflion on the Peloponnesos. We crossed and I “saw” the Corinth Canal at 3:00 A.M. in the dead of night. I have a nice black picture with a few white light dots in a row to prove it.

We began our first day in Greece after only 4 hours sleep. We quickly were shown — (Oh, far too quickly) Epidaurus and its theater. I had waited and yearned 30 years to experience this moment, and a moment is about all we got there – less than 45 min. Then on to Mycenae (Remember Agamemnon, Electra, Orestes, the Trojan War, etc, etc)– Gold! Stones fit together without mortar lasting 3500 years; lintel stones weighing 120 tons–it’s hard to believe what a fantastic civilization they had that long ago. And on to walk the streets of Ancient Corinth (Remember Paul and his letter to the Corinthians). The evening was capped with a walk along the harbor in Napflion and our first contact with Greek people independent of tour control. The Greeks are really wonderful people. What about getting around in a land with the Greek alphabet and the incomprehensible Greek Language? Don’t worry – most signs are in Greek and English; and I could hardly believe how many Greeks everywhere could speak English.

Sparta, too, was an adventure. The main attraction there, surprisingly, is Mistras, a Byzantine town of 40,000 on a high foothill to Mt. Taygatos. Started about 500 A.D., the town was finally abandoned in 1850 to rebuild the modern town of Sparta down on the plain again on top of the site of Ancient Sparta. Our guide told us how to dress for the churches – and failed to mention we would need mountain climbing gear (at least shoes) to get to them. The result was that I, and several others, fell. A badly skinned knee and dress sandals on those impossible mountain rocky paths — and Barbara with acrophobia made us quite a pair as we clung to each other stumbling down the mountainside in the mid-afternoon heat.

The next day it took us 2 hours to take a very scary bus ride over Mt. Taygatos. old hairpin, switchback roads built up almost sheer cliffs with drops of thousands of feet into deep canyons made our Rocky Mountains almost look like foothills. And yet the same day we whizzed along flat coastal roads stopping to cool off with a dip in the Mediterranean Sea. On Saturday, we walked the grounds and ruins of Ancient Olympia, site of the Grecian Olympic Games for 1300 years at the same time the Olympics were being held in Los Angeles. That ironic coincidence gave me a funny feeling. When the games were finally ended in Greece, wars, pillaging and earthquakes had laid waste the area. Then Mother Nature really took over and the site was underneath the river bed! They had to re-route the river and remove 10 to 15 feet of silt and sand to uncover the ruins.

By now most of the different tourist adventures had happened to us and the tour basically wound down into normal expected events — and so to highlights of the second week: an evening in Patras, as we drove along the mainland Greece southern coast where sheer mountain sides plunge into the sea, we passed the runner carrying the Olympic Torch for the upcoming games. We had just missed the lighting ceremony at Olympia.

From there, we went north through the mountains, past a forest fire, to the plains of Thessaly and the dramatic confrontation with 1500+ foot high sheer rocks of Meteora rising out of the plain. On the top of these rocks (seeming to grow right out of them) are monasteries built from 1200 to 1500 and once accessible only by a basket on the end of a rope pulled up the sheer cliff. Some monasteries are still inhabited. (See Nat’l. Geographic, July, 1984) On Mon. we saw Thermopolae and part of the giant complex known as the Oracle of Delphi built on the side of massive Mt. Parnassus.

Then on to Athens for all too short a time – 23 days. We experienced the Acropolis, its museum and, of course, the Parthenon; the Plaka, the “tiny village” of Athens at the base of the Acropolis before Athens became capital of Greece and grew to over ten million in population; the Agora, “downtown Athens” in the days of the Romans; and the National Museum with its rich treasure of statues and gold. In compensation for our brief glimpse of the huge theater complex at Epidaurus, Barbara and I spent almost 2 hours experiencing the Dionysian Theater – also at the base of the Acropolis. We each own an authentic Greek costume from plays we were in – and carried them all the way to Greece for just this moment. In front of all the other tourists we took our costumes out of our carry-all bags, put them on and–Voila!–There we were in authentic 500 B.C. costumes (with 20th cent. sneakers!) on the same stage where Aeschuylus, Sophocles and Euripides had their plays performed and judged in competition in the Dionysian Festival. We were able, in Athens, to experience a unique and interesting Greek custom. In small family restaurants you do not order your meal from a waitress. They give you a menu to review the prices, then you are invited back into the kitchen where you look at what is cooking on the stove and point out to the cook what you want. He says “Fine, go sit” and in a few minutes you are served your meal. We stayed at an exclusive hotel – The Chandris – but never ate there. We discovered one of these marvelous little restaurants, called a taverna, behind our hotel and did all of our eating there. By the time we left, we had become friends with the cook and his family that ran the restaurant.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we took a cruise to the islands of Mykonos, Rhodos, Crete, and Santorini. I can say I got to see the islands, and I enjoyed the cruise, but again there was never enough time to fully enjoy and experience each spot. I am determined to return and luxuriate for a week at Santorini (I LOVED Santorini); spend several days at Rhodos and Crete; and to see more of Mykonos and see Delos which I missed. Our last great day in Athens did allow us time and full enjoyment of what we saw. We had lunch at the restaurant on top of Mt. Lycabettus. We got up there by cable car and had a complete 360° panorama of this huge city. Best of all, the smog had cleared out and we got a beautiful clear view. Then with 2 tour friends and for only $15 each, we got a personally conducted taxi drive tour along the coastal road south from Athens to Sounion and the Greek temple to Posidon. We saw Christine Onassis’ home, crystal clear water with beautiful rocks underneath, and Byron (that is Lord Byron, the poet) carved in stone on the Posidon temple. Although painted graffiti is everywhere in Greece (about as bad as NYC) the Greeks revere and will not touch their ancient ruins and monuments. Sounion is an exception with names CARVED all over the temple rocks.

While our flight back on Tues was uneventful, our adventures were not over. Bill had discovered a marvelous little restaurant while we were gone which he described as “Cuban or something foreign like that.” He took us to breakfast there Wed. morning and —– perhaps you guessed it —- It was Greek! For an hour Barb and I talked with the owner and a friend who was flying back to Greece in a few days. It was almost like we really had not left Greece! From there we decided to go see the Trade Center in Lower Manhattan — and walked right into the parade for our Olympic Athletes. Bill, who lifts weights, piggy-backed me on his shoulders and I got a wonderful view and pictures of the parade and athletes. Tired of tourist crowds, we gave up on the World Trade Center and headed north to Lincoln Center, saw a vocal concert given by a friend of Bill’s, stopped at Il Cantino again, and then a late night night club. Three weary sets of bones collapsed into bed at 4 A.M. and drug out at 10 to pack up the car, have one last farewell breakfast at our Greek restaurant and head back home to REALITY!!!

But the memory lives on as I share in writing, in conversation, and in pictures the long held dream =- this fantasy come true.

Somehow it has been more difficult for me to get into the swing of writing this year’s Christmas letter, perhaps because it is not as up beat as my last letter about Greece. The fluffy flakes of the first snowfall this winter fluttered down outside my schoolroom window today, softening the harsh, hectic events of an ordinary stressful school day. The snowflakes also helped soften my view of the year – a year of loss and renewal, of illness and recovery.

Losing Brownie last year was only the beginning. Within one week in May my mother’s sister-in-law, my dear Aunt Verno died (that was very sad, but a blessing); a friend of Bill Giles, Mary Stewart Basden died of cancer at age 40 leaving 14 and 4 year old daughters (that was a real tragedy); and the superstition of threes was completed when a student I had just taught the previous semester was struck and killed by a car. Then at the end of September, my father’s 85 year old sister, my aunt Grace died. I am happy to say my 94 year old daddy continues to do well. We worry with each fall, sore throat, cold, or whatever, but he always bounces right back. He even conducted a masonic lodge installation this month, tho he said it would be his last.

Obviously, from the card and the enclosed picture, you already know of one renewal. The ink was not dry on last year’s letter before I went out Dec 18, was captivated by and bought a new English Bulldog puppy – only 5 weeks old. I brought her home in Jan. at age 9 weeks, and began a hectic winter/spring of raising and training a cute but very rambunctious puppy. Her name – Trojans Lady Hecuba. Actually she is anything but a “lady,” but “Hecuba,” Priams queen of Troy – the white witch of mythology – fits her quite well. The name came from the play I directed 8 years ago, He to Hecuba, and my trip to Greece where I experienced Mycenae & artifacts from the Trojan War. Hecuba can be very sweet and loving and I’m sure will calm down with age, but: right now she is very energetic, dominant and assertive. It’s a fight to the finish to see who will be boss. The trainer at Dog Obedience School once told me, “In a contest, Carolyn, You would get first prize – you do everything Hecuba tells you do do!”

All last spring was pretty much like “The Lost Weekend.” Besides raising and training Hecuba, we both were consumed with illness. Hecuba had inherited worms, mange and “cherry eye” from her mother; also had cysts, eating disorders, immune deficiency and sensitivity to insect bites. She went through 2 eye operations and I finally decided there were too many negatives to breed, so she got spayed. I’m happy to say her second 6 months of life have been much healthier. For my illness,

I was overtaken with emotional stress and physical exhaustion that crept up insidiously and was not caught until April when a visit to the Dr. revealed anemia and a stress ulcer topped off by discovery a month later that I also had depression! No Fun! Pills attacked the immediate physical/chemical problems, but, for the first time in my life, I worked with a psychiatrist. It was a very interesting experience and well worth it to restructure attitudes, values, and make some discoveries.

Most of the problems were (and are) job stress related, so now I have one primary goal –RETIRE!! It is a certainty for June 1, 1987 with a tiny thin chance it could happen this June. (Don’t hold your breath.) I continue to coach the speech team, but frankly do as little as possible for a district that has not passed a tax levy in 15 years!!, and subsidizes education on the backs of dedicated teachers who have not had a raise in 3 years and also face increased student and work loads next year. I could tell more, but why bother. You get the idea. Who wouldn’t be depressed!!

After my usual 5 weeks teaching summer school speech at the University of Cincinnati, I took a marvelous, fun vacation with Bill Giles. We went through West Virginia to Washington, D.C., New York City, and on to Saratoga Springs, New York. We lived 12 days in New York City camping out in a tent. We had a marvelous time – including 4 days when Barbara Sorensen flew up and joined us. I had not been back to Saratoga Springs since I left Skidmore College in 1962. So we drove up and spent the weekend there in the height of the racing season, something I never did the 3 years I taught there. Yaddo, Congress Park, downtown & Union Ave., the Spa, the old Skidmore Campus and the theater I taught in – and the old Victorian house I lived in—the memories flooded back. And it was fun to see and walk through the new Skidmore Campus and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center at the Spa, both only dreams on drawing boards when I left 23 years ago.

My year has been climaxed with a wonderful reunion with my cousin Fred Munier, his wife Robin, and son J.W. (Joseph Wadley, age 2 1/2) at Thanksgiving in Chicago. I hadn’t seen Fred in 15 years and for 6 years had completely lost track of him. Last Christmas I played “detective” with the help of the phone company and tracked him down in San Diego. Then K-Mart transferred him back to Chicago in Aug., making a visit possible. I flew to Chicago and spent Thanksgiving Holiday with them. We renewed friendship & talked about old times. We also learned that Fred was being transferred to Richmond, Virginia in the spring, so I planned a driving trip to see their new home in the spring.

I look to the future with much promise; to retirement when I can indulge in theater, photography, sewing, my farm, travel — all those wonderful things I used to do that the pressures of teaching in the past few years have seemed to override.

Season’s Greetings to one and all from one very happy and contented person. I’m running late with my Christmas letter because it has been such a full and happy year I hardly know where to start or what to put in, and because I haven’t had time to settle down and start writing–“But I’m retired so I should have all the time in the world – right?”– Wrong!! My days are so filled with things to do I can’t imagine how I ever had time to work a full time job. Needless to say, I am truly enjoying retirement and appreciate the many good wishes I’ve received. 

One of the major joys during this year has been contact by letters, visits, & phone calls with so many dear friends. My cousin Fred Munier & family visited in March with their new daughter, Suzanne, on their way to their new home in Richmond, Va. John & Bonnie Bowyer tried to visit in July, but I was in Alaska. And on that trip Bill Giles & I got to see Morris & Eleanor Dent, Myrian Baker, and Homer Ratcliff in California, and Marienne & Dave Skinner in Wisconsin. I enjoyed phone visits with Jean Hendershot, Marion Holt, Bert Keltner, Bill & Harriet Lovitt, among others, & wonderfully long letters this fall from Carol Bizzell, Terry K, and others. 

I lost dear friends, too. Suzanne O’Dell Hunt (no relation) died Dec. 3 last year, I learned my Manhattan Kansas roommate, Jo Clare Mangus died of a brain tumor 2 years ago, & Dick Ewing of Dayton had a heart attack in Oct. They will be sorely missed. I truly believe my decision to retire in ’86 instead of a year later was precipitated by the news about Suzanne and Jo Clare. That made me sit down with a calculator & hard figures to compare retirement income between ’86 & ’87. Let’s face it, a school district that hadn’t passed a levy in 15 years was not about to “buy me out” of even one year. They even laid off 20 teachers in a staff cut, added another teaching bell, & increased student load by 30-50 students a day! (Another big incentive to retire.) The net income difference of $100 per month was simply not worth what I knew the stress and work load would do to my health. One bout with depression, ulcers, etc. was enough, so in January I knew I would quit June 1, 1986. 

Soon after, one warm winter weekend, Barbara Sorensen (who went to Greece with me), Bill Giles, Hecuba & I went hiking the woods & hills of Mt. Airy Park. By the end of the hike we had decided to take a driving vacation to California in the summer. Neither Bill nor Barb had been to the SW or San Francisco, so I would have the fun of returning to many places I loved and also the enjoyment of playing tour guide as I showed & shared the wonders of these beautiful places with them. Alaska got “tacked on” later after the night Bill and Barb came over to look at slides & map the sw itinerary. Bill was over in the corner reminiscing with his box of Alaska slides taken when he was in the Army in Anchorage in 1954-5. Well, we were already on the west coast so why not just go on up to Alaska while we “were in the vicinity!” And so evolved our big 7+ week vacation. 

I spent the spring preparing for retirement & playing “travel agent” as I planned & booked our entire trip myself. I could write a book on the “Pitfalls of Preparing your Car for Alaska Driving.” Actually, only about 80 miles of the over 3000 Alaska/Canada wilderness highway miles we traveled were simply not paved, although several hundred miles were under construction and as such were a mess. By next summer they expect the entire Al-Can Highway and all major Alaska highways to be paved. In May I joined “Hands Across America” by walking out my back door through my backyard neighbor’s yard – and there was the line – 500 feet from my house! I retired June 1 to the usual reception, dinner, & presentations including my traveling cart bicycle, –all greatly appreciated–and on Friday, June 13, we started west in my station wagon crowned with 2 car-top carriers and a bed in the back.

THREE MUSKETEERS IN ARIZONA AND CALIFORNIA

Barbara Sorensen, Bill Giles & Carolyn Ruth Hunt 

LUM AND ABNER (Carolyn & Bill) HEAD FOR ALASKA 

Our Southwest itinerary took us to Albuquerque, New Mexico, Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, Sunset Volcano Crater Nat’l Mon., Grand Canyon (We were there the day of the helicopter/plane collision), Glen Canyon Dam with a raft trip down the calm part of the Colorado River in Glen Canyon, Bryce and Zion Nat’l Parks, Death Valley, Sequoia and Yosemite Parks, and ended up with a 3 day stay in San Francisco as Barbara visited her college roommate, Barbara Hill. Then Barb flew home and Bill & I took a “side trip” to Los Angeles to visit friends before heading north toward Alaska. Along the way we drove through Napa Valley, Avenue of the Giant Redwoods in Northern Calif, saw Crater Lake, Mt. St. Helens & on to Vancouver, B.C. Canada for a day at World’s Fair “Expo 86”.

Barbara especially loved the different wild flowers and Indian archeology. Bill was fascinated by the silence of the desert and could be seen peering thru binoculars at distant vistas, but was often “not seen” as he had taken off somewhere exploring and experiencing. I was struck by the flowers & green of the desert, and the snow and gushing cascades and waterfalls in the mountains. My previous trips had been in late July and August after snow melt when the deserts and waterfalls were dried up. Vancouver B.C. to Skagway, Alaska was the “Ferryboat” portion of our trip. Porpoises played alongside the ferry on the 1 hour ride from mainland B.C. to Vancouver Island. On the drive north along the shoreline from Naniamo were unique flowers, small fishing ports and people out digging clams. Then we plunged into snow capped mountains with tranquil lakes nestled at the bottom of steep valleys. Such beauty and luxuriant green trees were only broken by wide ugly patches of barren, debris filled mountainsides, the victim of mass commercial clear-cutting. 

At Port Hardy we accidentally found an entire aerie of bald eagles, one of the highlights of our trip. We watched (and I took pictures) for 45 minutes as they sat regally in the trees, glided majestically thru the air–then swiftly swooped down and snatched fish from the bay, only to lose the fish on the upflight as several other eagles greedily moved in to snatch away the prize. Then they would circle back to the group (about 20) on the shoreline that was fiddling & fussing & fighting at feeding time. 

The next morning we boarded the car ferry for 3 days of sailing. First day, B.C. Ferries sailed from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert, Canada, then we went on to Skagway for 2 days on the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry. They were more like cruise ships though certainly not as fancy as my Greek cruise ship or the Pacific Princess (Loveboat) which we steamed past at full speed. Bill was fascinated by his first cruise & I managed not to get seasick– until we got on land, then land & walls & ceilings undulated for 2 days.

Sailing up the Inside Passage, for hundreds of miles we saw high mountains plunge sharply down into the sea like fjords, each with several waterfalls and cascades tumbling down the mountainside. Prince Rupert had totem poles (half-face carved & hung on telephone poles). A walk thru Wrangell, Alaska revealed it to be a real frontier fishing town. From the boat we watched whales blow & breach, more porpoises, more & more snow on mountain tops & the rich blue ice of La Conte Glacier. We docked at Skagway at 5 AM in broad daylight. From this point on we had 19-20 hours of daylight; interesting, but it surely screws up your internal biological clock. Skagway is not only a real seaport, but downtown is a Nat’l Park restored to 1898 Klondike Gold Rush times. It was great at dawn with few people and I wanted to stay an hour or so and experience the early Klondike atmosphere 80 years ago before it got spoiled when jammed by tourists later. But Bill was adamant. He wanted to leave immediately, so I had to give in and we drove up the new road into the mountains following the old Chilkoot Trail with views of Dead Horse Gulch across the deep ravine. We drove right into the clouds & over the top of the mountains into the clear sunshine of Yukon, Canada. In a matter of 4 or 5 hours I had gone from sea level to over 10,000 feet. We stopped for a picnic lunch and I started feeling woozy. I got so sick that Bill had to take over driving all the way to Whitehorse, Yukon. By this time I was really sick so Bill got the hotel room and practically carried me up and rolled me into bed. Turns out, I had a severe case of altitude sickness brought on by the contrast from three days at sea to the sudden change in altitude. It took until noon the next day for me to return to normal.

To describe our 3 weeks in Alaska and the Yukon from this point on in a few paragraphs is just impossible. It would take a book. So what follows is a pastiche of impressions, sentence fragments & the pictures to give you a taste of this VAST frontier wilderness as it begins to emerge into our brassy 20th cent. (which I’m not so sure is progress). 

Imagine driving hundreds of miles thru wilderness, scrawny lodgepole pine, beautiful fireweed everywhere along roads and in fields; what we called “Bill Grass”-12″ tall with a beautiful 3″ wine/rose feather tuft floating & undulating in the wind; tundra & other unique flora. Broad endless valleys of swamps; rushing (or sluggish) rivers colored grey/ white from tons of glacial silt suspended in the water; hundreds of lakes-or were they wide sluggish rivers, it was hard to tell. Hundreds of miles of high, impressive snow covered mountains, often with glaciers snaking down valleys they are carving out themselves. 

Portage Glacier on Kenai Peninsula has retreated 3 miles since Bill last saw it in 1954. Homesteads along the road look much like backwoods cabins in W.Va. (including abandoned cars & junk in the yard!) Along the highway is a gas station and homespun place to eat about every 30-50 miles. All cooking is truly simple home cooked dishes. Most places the owner’s family is the entire work force and you are treated and chatted with more like a visitor than a customer. A large home generator grinds away out back to furnish power. And yet in Pine Valley, Yukon, in the middle of nowhere, we had TV in our rustic cabin! We had no problem finding places to stay; we preferred and tried to find mom & pop motels – less expensive, more genuine & more interesting. 

We also had the bed in the back of the station wagon. When we drove with Barbara, whoever was in the “back seat” had to lie in the bed. There were five windows in the station wagon and before we left I made screens to go over the windows so that we could leave the windows open to have ventilation and be safe from the giant Alaska mosquitoes. We also had a tent packed in one of the car top carriers, and by the time we could use it, in Bellingam, Washington, we were both too tired to pitch it. The car bed was so convenient and comfortable that we never did end up pitching the tent at all during the whole journey.

In contrast to our rustic stays, Anchorage is a very modern city of 250,000 (All of Alaska only has a little over 500,000 people). Airplanes are everywhere. Alaskans are more likely to own a family airplane than a car. 01d citizens of Anchorage bemoan the loss of the frontier atmosphere in their city — but that atmosphere still exists in Fairbanks. Ft. Richardson had changed so much Bill could hardly find anything, though he did spot the theater building where he acted in a USO play “Boy Meets Girl” directed by Sgt. Gubitosi–better known now as Robert Blake of TV/movie fame. Bill found his other Anchorage haunts of 1954-5–Episcopal Church, Servicemen’s YMCA, the 515 Cocktail Club–had not been destroyed by the 1964 earthquake and were in fact little changed in 30 years. An interesting spot near Anchorage is Eklutna, site of St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church which we visited twice. The 2 simple wooden churches hold 15th century icons brought from Russia 150+ years ago. The cemetery is most unique, filled with spirit houses 18″ to 30″ high, wood carved & painted with bright multi colored decorative designs. 

It was pouring rain in Denali on our way up to Fairbanks, and at the time we were planning to come back to Denali Mountain and State Park. There was a fairly steep hill under highway construction and the hill was littered with cars that got stuck in the mud. Bill looked at me, and I looked at him, “Do you think we could make it?” “If anyone can make it, you can” said Bill. So I took a good running charge up the hill and Bill coached: “keep it going! don’t let up!” as we drove past all of the other cars. We guessed that the tent we had carried for the whole journey without pitching it once came in handy as extra weight for the car to get up that hill. When we reached the top of the hill, we took a big sigh of relief. I knew then I’d never get back to Denali, but I also knew that I did not want to test fate and drive that mudslide again on our way back, so we decided that after Fairbanks, we would just get on the Al-Can Highway and head home.

The weather rain out for Mt. McKinley and Denali Nat’l Park was the big disappointment of our trip, but the wildlife we saw during our full 7 weeks was a real thrill. Besides Bald Eagles, porpoises and whales, we saw pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, marmots; ravens, clark’s Nutcracker and other birds; Beaver and dams in the wild, many moose (including a cow & her calf that stopped traffic at the main gate of Ft. Richardson near Anchorage), herds of Stone Sheep, bighorn sheep, Wapiti Elk, a porcupine, Ptarmegans (Alaska’s state bird), and herds of tame horses on open range wandering back & forth across the Alaska (Al-Can) Highway. Oh, yes, I can’t forget Alaska’s unofficial state bird – THE MOSQUITO!! Note picture of Bill on a RAID ATTACK!! (Many, many times a day! ) 

In Fairbanks the main campus of University of Alaska looks no different than any campus here on “the outside.” (That’s how Alaskans refer to the lower 48 states.) A 2 mile long junky suburban commercial/mall strip and a modern J.C. Penney store downtown are also like “the outside,” but a frontier atmosphere still pervades the rest of the town and area. The old gold mining “town” of Cripple Creek (now called Ester) still has its original bunkhouse hotel in operation. Across the “street” (read “a muddy space”) sits the Malamute Saloon of Robert W. Service fame. The original burned down 20 years ago but its exact replica was rebuilt. 3″ of sawdust on the floor & people smoking during the show we saw scared me, but no fire happened and the show was worth it. 

So now we were in Fairbanks, Alaska, our farthest point north and west, and 5,000 miles from Cincinnati. All we had to do was drive straight home!! The 1500 miles down the Alaska Highway from Fairbanks to Dawson Creek, B.C. Canada is a trip and vacation in itself. But by now we were getting weary of driving & sightseeing and couldn’t appreciate it fully. 80 miles of unpaved roads & several hundred miles of gravel topped seal coating & road construction, making for hard driving, didn’t help. The magnificent Canadian Rockies revived our spirits a bit, and we left the Alaska Highway headed for Jasper & Banff Nat’l Parks. The biggest surprise of the trip was acrophobic Bill riding the Jasper Tramway cable car to the top of Whistler’s Mountain (over 8000 ft.) The view from there, and then the drive down the Icefield Parkway through the breathtaking beauty of Jasper & Banff made a perfect climax to a true fantasy vacation that really happened.

We left Banff and drove across the Canadian and North Dakota Plains then angled down to Beloit, Wisconsin, where we had a wonderful visit with Marienne Kruse Skinner and her family. After that wonderful visit Bill and I got home the first weekend in August, did a one week turnaround and took off in his Subaru for 8 days in New York City before he had to face going back to teaching. Really crazy after driving 12,032 miles plus our coastal cruise, but I didn’t care — I was retired! 

I have spent the fall in my usual summer job of slowly “pushing back the frontiers of clutter” in my house and working on other projects like the 1600 pictures I took on the trip. A day in April & October were spent participating in an Ohio State Univ. research study on retirement and attitudes. Their probing questions offered much food for thought and could even change the thinking of some participants during the course of the study (2 years). I haven’t completely stopped working. I still teach my Univ. of Cincinnati speech class and this fall I took the speech coach contract at Oak Hills to help train my replacement through the intricacies of Ohio Speech League rules & practices. I love UC teaching but am glad the speech team job will end this year. 

Hecuba, my bulldog “puppy”, now 2 years old & 50 lbs, is still energetic and assertive, but has calmed down and become sweet and loving. 8 weeks this summer with professional dog handler Nancy Hiles, plus my being with her most of the time have solved my problems with her. Captured by unusual or animal sounds on TV, she will stare intently and quizzically at the screen images. Johnny Carson’s dog singing contest and nature shows are her favorite programs! We love to tromp thru the woods at Mt. Airy Park–or on my Indiana farm where she can run free. 

In August, fortunately the week I was home, my father had a fall when his feet got tangled in the hose as he was watering his garden – at age 95. He bruised his hip but is recovered and doing fine. He listens to ball games, eats out several days a week, and goes to church and on social visits regularly. He and Faye even drove to Tulsa, Okla. in May and take trips to Cleveland to see Faye’s daughter. 

My Christmas present from me to me this year has been a new Smith-Corona 6500 electronic typewriter and I am learning to use it on this letter. There should be few typographical errors (a first for me!) but please overlook places where the lines don’t quite ‘match up’, wierd right margins, etc. That’s also another reason my cards & letters are so late this year. Anyway, early or late, you know my thoughts and best wishes are with you for a healthy, happy year in 1987. 

It’s hard to believe that Christmas has rolled around again and one year has passed so quickly. I guess that old saying is true: “Time flies when you are having fun!” Yes, this first full year of retirement has really been fun.

I have had time to do my photography, taking and printing pictures for Drama Workshop plays and taking color prints of my major projects and trips. In October I got “back on the boards” with a small role in The Sting although I really have not had much time to devote to the rigors of rehearsal and performance.

From March 1-15 the world’s Figure Skating Championships were held here in Cincinnati and I attended them just as if I had traveled to Calgary or Hungary to do it. I bought 2 all-events tickets (15 months before!) so my seats were on the third row 1 section left of the judges. I boarded out my dog and “lived” at the coliseum and downtown from 9:30 AM to 11:30 PM for 2 weeks, watching most of the skating practice sessions and all the competition performances. I got to talk to Carol Heiss, Debbie Thomas, and several other competitors, and shot 7 rolls of color film, getting some fantastic action shots. It was like a fantasy come true to be able to immerse myself into the world of the top ice skating champions from all over the world — a real mountain top experience.

Four days later Hecuba and I drove to Richmond, Va. for a marvelous 10 day visit with my cousin Fred Munier and his family. We steeped ourselves in the history of the region, touring old homes, Williamsburg and Jamestown and much more. At Fred’s home, the most fun was watching Hecuba, usually a blustery bludgeon – especially with 4 year old Joey’s exuberance, so we had to watch closely to see she did not hurt him. Yet, amazingly, Hecuba would gently nuzzle and play with 14 month old Suzanne. At one point we lost Suzanne and Hecuba and looked down in Hecuba’s dog crate, to find the two of them, 2 happy playmates, deep inside the crate having a fine time loving on each other. My other trips included New York City in June with Bill where I saw many shows including Fences with James Earl Jones, and Les Miserables. I flew home for Dad’s 96th birthday, then Barbara Sorensen and I drove to Memphis Tenn. to see the Rameses Egyptian exhibit.

Since that time I’ve been kept close at home, involved in my major project for the year, which started in earnest in April with an architect. Large cracks in the north east corner of my house appeared while we were in Alaska, signaling sinking and a need to underpin the house. All my investigation for this and other needed maintenance led to major construction of a 2 room addition to the house, a new flat driveway and stone wall around its edge. The 2 new rooms are on the basement level. The existing garage became an exercise, recreation room. Then the garage door was closed in and a normal door now leads into a 16 x 18 all purpose workroom for carpentry, painting, potting plants and puttering, with one corner partitioned off for storage.

I’ve really enjoyed doing the many varied skills and jobs needed to complete a project like this: surveyor, draftsman, carpenter, painter, etc. Bill and I did the topo graphical survey of my property in May, the last weekend before the 17 year cicadas emerged and inundated Cincinnati and our neighborhood for 6 weeks! Then I transferred the notes into drawings and Bil1 drew in the contour lines. Architectural drawings were finalized in July, then Bill and I spent August rearranging, cleaning out, and preparing for the professional construction people. They started September 15– carpenters; a giant backhoe to dig the huge foundation hole out of the hill; bobcats, concrete trucks and pumpers; 2 ton dump trucks hauling out dirt, dumping 30 tons of stone for my wall, and bringing hot asphalt for the drive; all invaded my drive and small backyard, ending with more carpentry, roofing and drywall work. I had to constantly monitor the construction men to keep them from cutting corners, making mistakes, and especially destroying existing structures and plants.

Then I had a freak fall in October that tore up ligaments and chipped a bone in my foot and left me on crutches and a cane for 4 weeks. That drastically slowed my active participation for a month, but I still managed to plan and help run wire for all the electricity – though Bill did most of the work. The construction people left Nov. 7, and I happily played carpenter, putting up the siding and finishing final details on the outside. A lot needs to be done before the inside is finished and there is so much dirt in my house I may never get it clean again, but I’ve declared a moratorium for December and Christmas.

I joked that I spent so much money I would have to go back to work to pay for it. Then mid-Nov. I got a call from Univ. of Cincinnati to teach a couple of speech classes part time (TTh) in the Arts and Sciences College Communication Department starting Winter Quarter. I’ll still teach UC Evening College speech as I have for 22 years. Perfect timing for the perfect job.

Dad is doing quite well for 96, but is somewhat more unsteady on his feet and sometimes gets more recent memory events mixed up. Considering his difficulty in seeing and hearing, I think he has wonderful spirit and energy. And Faye takes such good care of him.

Bill has 2 or 3 years left to teach before he can afford to retire – and he’s not sure he’s going to make it. He’ll put it all aside when he makes his annual Christmas trek to Florida to see Susie and Sarasota and his brother’s family in West Palm Beach.

I hope all is well with you and yours, that your holidays are happy and 1988 will be a year filled with peace, joy and love.

The lights, the carols and songs, the cheer and parties; even the glut of TV Christmas shows, pages of advertising circulars in newspapers and the mail urging “Buy from us!”; the chill of winter, the threat of snow and an early Chanukah herald the advent of our Christmas holiday season. Time once again to “touch base” with dear friends far and near.

The new addition on my house has become affectionately known as “my perpetual project!” because it never seems to get finished. I was working away at a steady, slow but acceptable pace from January until last Memorial Day when I fell and broke my right arm at the wrist while I was mowing grass on my farm. I couldn’t do anything physical requiring dexterity for 5 weeks and, after the cast came off, pressure and twisting was out for another 5 weeks. I certainly did get caught up on my reading though. Anyway, the rooms are quite usable, although I should use the exercise room more. One good concentrated month doing finishing work on the walls, woodwork and other minor jobs should complete it. The trouble is, I don’t seem to get that uninterrupted time now that I’m “back working again.”

I have truly enjoyed my part-time teaching at Univ. of Cincinnati. this year — Mon. night Fall and Spring in Evening College and Tues & Thurs all year for 2 day school “Fundamentals of Speech” classes. I spend 3 hours a day for classes plus office hours and, of course, much time grading speeches and tests. Although a few of the freshmen and soph. students still behave like high school, the atmosphere at the University is so much more pleasant and stimulating. Even more so, the time flexibility and virtual freedom from arbitrary, unilateral administrative control is fantastic. Starting Winter quarter, I will be teaching an advanced course in “Persuasion”. The only negative to that is that I again have to spend a good portion of my December “vacation” reading the book, developing lectures, and typing up a syllabus and assignment sheets on my computer. Did I say part time job?????

Bill and I did not go on our western trip last summer. Because of my summer school speech class thru Jul 20 & Bill’s early opening date for his school (Aug 19!), we had less than 4 very rushed weeks to make the long trip. So we decided to postpone it until next summer-June 29 to Aug 13- giving us a more leisurely 6 weeks. I went West anyway for one week, flying to Las Vegas to visit my cousin Fred Munier and his family in their new home. They moved there from Richmond, Va. a year ago.

My Indiana farm partner, Paul Hageneau, had been wanting to sell out his half of our farm for over a year, but I wasn’t ready yet — until I broke my wrist. And so it developed that we sold the farm on land contract to Doug Kern in October. It’s a great deal since I will hold full ownership rights on my half for 4 more years-and then it will take an additional 4 years for my half to be fully bought out. In the meantime, I’ll have all the pleasures of my land with none of the maintenance worries — no more grass mowing.

In November Bill and I drove to Chicago one weekend to attend a SCICOP Convention (that’s Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal). I can’t remember the time I have been around and talked with so many creatively intellectual people – famous, infamous and unknown. It was an exhilarating and renewing experience and perfectly timed. I had just spent 4 weeks in October designing and cutting about 60 costume pieces for the period play Anne of the Thousand Days set in the 1530’s. I really enjoyed once again using my long dormant skills in this area. However, as so often happens, I ended up doing much more than I had bargained for and got stuck with a lot of the sewing as well. It was very satisfying on Thursday night dress rehearsal to just leave town! One of the smartest things I have ever done.

It did get me back into sewing for myself again – so much so that I just bought a new “serger” overlock type sewing machine to supplement my regular Viking. I have also acquired another new addition — an 8 year old miniature (almost toy) white poodle, Tootsie. She belonged to a man who called the veterinarian and said “Come get my dogs, I’m dying,” and he did, indeed, die. When no one claimed them, Ginny Weil rescued them from extinction. Belvedeer is still looking for a home, but I happily took Tootsie. Hecuba still doesn’t quite know what to make of her new playmate. They are a very unlikely pair – 55 lbs. of massive, muscular English Bulldog vs 10 dainty, spritely pounds of cuddly poodle.

Dad was 97 in June and was doing very well until August when he started having TIA (transitory ischemia attacks), sort of a cousin to strokes. Fortunately, they are only affecting his legs directly and leaving him very weak. He was in a wheel chair for 3 weeks in Nov., but in characteristic fashion, he has fought back and is now using a walker. We don’t expect it to get much better than that.

A number of people have asked to see and have copies of some of my “prize” pieces of photography. So this year I decided that I would share this gift with my special friends and family. The photograph I chose hangs in my own home and speaks to me of peace, serenity, the greatness of the mountains, seas, and sun in this earth and the relative roots of man as the lone fisherman plies his trade and others relax out on the water. The picture was taken in 1984, looking west at sunset through summer haze (hence the special rose/gray tones) over the harbor at Patras, Greece. I share it with you with wishes for a blessed Christmas, much happiness in the year to come, and many thoughts of Love.

Mother of Bette – Supporting Role

Spring 1989

Goodness, I can hardly believe it is already December 15, just 10 days to Christmas. But it is, and I guess the 6 inches of snow falling outside helps create a little genuine atmosphere of the old fashioned white Christmas.

I’m running late this year because this “retired” lady is, for the moment, juggling 2 jobs. Besides teaching 3 speech classes at University of Cincinnati, I am in the middle of directing a play for The Drama Workshop called WHODUNNIT? by Anthony Shaffer. Since I am also Executive Producer for TDW this year, I have collected my working production crew myself and am generally overseeing the entire production. I do have an excellent Administrative Producer handling all the business work and a great Tech Director, Bob Allen, to handle the many complex technical problems this play presents, one of which was cutting off a characters head in arena staging 3 feet from the audience. We had to do a cast of the characters head and face so that we could have a “copy” of the character’s head that fell to the floor and rolled away before blackout. If you are in or near the Cincinnati area, I do hope you will come see the play (Feb. 2, 3, 4, 9 & 10).

This entire year has, in fact, been most eventful. Last January my father received his 65 year Masonic pin, something he had been looking forward to for years. He was not well enough to go to Lewisburg, Ohio to receive it so the Masonic “top brass” from not only his lodge, but also the region and the state came to his house to make the presentation. I was there, and got some good pictures. Unfortunately, Faye believes the Masons are anti-Christian and was angry when I showed up for the ceremony. She tried to downplay its significance and has since encouraged Dad to pray to God for forgiveness for working in the Masons. Needless to say, my 98 year old Daddy no longer has much strength or will or short term memory. Faye takes good care of him and he does whatever she says.

In February, I wrecked Bill’s car (not serious, but bad enough — no one hurt) when I was driving it home from a visit with Dad in Dayton. At that same time, Bill was within a 4 week period of speaking not one word – to cure a granuloma growing right beside his vocal cords. The month of silence and subsequent allergy shots seemed to cure the problem. In March and April I was in rehearsal and performance for the play The Marriage of Bette and Boo, in which I played the part of the Brides mother Margaret – a major supporting role.

That was only over about a week when I had a mild heart attack on May 14. I drove myself to the hospital, had the tests, and when (at 2:00 AM) they said they were going to admit me – I said “No you are not!” I was alone, no one knew where I was, and I did not want to go into that hospital anyway. So I walked out, came home & called Bill, and the next day made arrangements for outpatient tests, class coverage, my dogs, etc. I’m on pills, have had to curtail and modify certain of my activities but otherwise I am once again feeling fine. Specifically, I had an Ischemic attack which left me with some Angina.

Well, enough of unpleasant news. The very best news of the year was my wonderful vacation out West. I do love to visit out there and just had to go back. Bill went with me, and Barbara Sorensen joined us for the last third of the trip when we visited zion, North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and the Anasazi Indian ruins in Canyon DeChelly, Aztec, Chaco Culture and Mesa Verde. A drive north along the Million Dollar Highway in Colorado to Black Canyon of the Gunnison, then across Colorado to Colorado Springs completed the trip. Barbara flew home and Bill and I drove home across the plains.

One of the highlights of the trip was the opportunity to visit with so many of my friends in the area of the trip. On the way out we spent time in the Denver area, Rocky Mtn. Nat’l Park, Leadville, and across Colorado to Arches Nat’t Park. From this point on, we generally avoided expressways, wandering thru back roads to some of the obscure national monuments and parks, especially in Utah. After a few days visit with my cousin Fred & family in Las Vegas, We went on to Los Angeles, up the Pacific Coast Highway to Monterey and San Francisco, thru Sacramento and the Gold Rush country to Yosemite, (we were there the 2 days the paraplegic was completing his climb up El Capitan), across into Nevada and down to Scotty’s Castle and Death Valley before picking Barbara up in Las Vegas.

This bare bones summary doesn’t begin to cover all the places, fun and adventure we had on the trip, which Bill called experientially intensive. Since then I have been working on pictures I took on the trip, teaching and starting work on my play. For relaxation and pure enjoyment, I have gone back to singing in my old Emmanuel Presby, choir. Hubert Kockritz retired as its director last May (after 60 years!). When I went back to the reunion, I wondered why I had not gone back sooner after my retirement.

Tootsie and Hecuba have become great companions and look so cute when they curl up together on the couch these cold days. Maybe next year I’l1 be less pressed for time and will again be able to include a Christmas picture – of these two rather incongruous companions. Perhaps they best bespeak the true spirit of Christmas as we once again renew the love and joy we feel with family and dear friends.

Director

Winter 1990

Every show we cut off someone’s head. The cast member would get offstage and the head would roll down the aisle. Bob Allen worked out this magic.

TDW – VP Production, Whodunnit, Father’s died 8/2, Jim Forte abuse, Bill’s Retirement Party, Bill & I in NYC, Amahl opera production, Maplethorpe trial.

Dear Family and Friends,

I’m starting my Christmas letter on Thanksgiving Day, looking out a window at palm trees, Italian cypress and olive trees; not exactly the post card version of trekking to “Grandma’s House – through the woods and over the snow.” But I’m here in Las Vegas, Nevada with my family – my cousin Fred Munier, his wife Robin, Joey, 7, and Suzanne, 5, happily relaxing for 6 days after a very rough year generally that had some really nice highlights.

“The Theater” dominated everything from November of last year thru June. By default more than anything else (no one else was willing to do the job), I ended up as Vice President of The Drama Workshop – in charge of production and producers. That on top of the fact I was directing the winter show, by far the most difficult of the season, Whodunnit. With a little creativity and constitution bending, I put together a production triumverate of a fantastic technical director, Bob Allen (more about him later), an ex-P & G executive to handle the business end of the production, and I coordinated everything along with directing the show. Whodunnit ran 2 weekends the first of February and was a success both on stage and at the box office. For all the intense work this monumental task entailed, it was still a very rewarding and satisfying experience filled with lots of fun. Everything would have been fine if I could have closed the show and quietly pulled back to rest and recouperate a bit from this very intense experience.

Unfortunately, the “roof sort of caved in” in February. Not only did I have to co produce the spring show for TDW (which drug out from its first of May performance dates into a mid-June production at the Community Theater Convention), but I did all this on top of coping with my father’s terminal decline and especially coping with my next door neighbor going into an active campaign to abusively harass me and (to quote him) “make my life miserable!” (He did!)

Dad’s wife Faye took care of my father night and day at his home from February until he died on Aug 2 at the age of 99. In between teaching my speech courses at UC, handling my theater work, and singing in the church choir when I could, I drove to Dayton 1 to 3 times a week to spend the afternoon with Dad and to relieve Faye. For all the negatives of my Father’s illness and passing, I was pleased to renew ties at the funeral with family I hadn’t seen in 1 to over 10 years. Leola Crowell, Bud Brown (no relation to mother), Violet McCane and others on Dad’s side of the family offered much support. And on my Mother’s side, it was wonderful to see and visit with Bruce Shue, Lee and Hazel Brown, Glenn and Francis Brown; and then in Oct to spend the evening with Glenn & Evelyn Brown, Francis & Ronnie Brown (Glenn & Evelyn’s sons) & their families.

Concurrently with all of this (and still on-going) is the harassment mess with my next door neighbor, Jim Forte. It started with a phone call to me out of the blue in mid January with him ordering me to rake the leaves in my yard, offering an ultimatum and threats profusely sprinkled with profanity, if I didn’t. I had raked my leaves in Nov., all except one 5′ x 15′ rectangle. As usual (for the last 24 years) my yard contained residual blown leaves which I always left until spring to rake. Actually the leaves were more of an excuse, I think, than the real problem, which is Jim himself. He fits the classic profile in psychology literature of an abuser. Anyway, since that day, I have amassed 13 pages detailing his abusive behavior and incidents including telephone harassment, illegal trespass, borderline harassment, disorderly conduct charges, 2 personal complaint court sessions, lawyer letters, etc. etc. In March I had a 6 foot privacy fence erected along our property line and fenced in the rest of the back yard. That didn’t stop his harassment, but it did make me feel safer and it has been wonderful for Hecuba and Tootsie to run free throughout the back yard. I guess it is hard to imagine self reliant, assertive Carolyn reduced to uncontrollable shaking, true fear and tears – but that is what has happened on several of the confrontations forced on me in our front yards. Through all this Bill has been my rock and my support, and hopefully next year I can report an end to this madness.

On to happier events during the year, like Bill’s retirement from teaching. During the spring it seemed time passed so slowly to June 1, but that wonderful day finally arrived. Mary Rouse, from Bill’s school, and I planned a semi-surprise retirement dinner for him. He only knew that Mary and her family were treating him to dinner in Cincinnati (he lives 50 miles northeast of Cincy) and I was invited. He walked out on to the Forest View Gardens Restaurant patio where our private before-dinner party was held. His Daddy, having driven in from Huntington, W.Va. with his wife Beulah, said: “Happy Retirement, Son!” Shock is a mild word for Bill’s complete surprise as he hugged his Daddy and greeted 18 other friends from Lynchburg and Cincinnati who came to help him celebrate retirement. After dinner the Gardens has a Broadway and Opera floor show and we followed that with a 1 hour show of our own for Bill: songs from Kismet & Showboat, tributes from a teacher and an ex-student, Bill singing “Old Man River” in his beautiful baritone voice, and a champagne toast climaxed with a “tie-burning ceremony”. (He gleefully burned the tie he had to wear for 13 years at school.) Nature took over the fire works about that time with an unbelievable lightning display that accompanied the June 2nd tornadoes that cut across Northern Hamilton County that night. Fortunately everyone in our party got home safely.

Bill and I drove to New York City for several days at the end of June. I saw 4 shows and we enjoyed late evenings at a couple of restaurant/bars that feature singers of opera, light opera and broadway shows. I got out the sewing machine in August & Sept. and finished 7 clothing pieces before fall quarter at University of Cincinnati started.

My latest project until mid-Dec. was stage managing a production of the opera, “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” Bill sang the lead king, Melchoir, Glenn Coven sang Caspar, and a member of our Immanuel chuch choir sang the bass king – who is black. When we started doing makeup for the opening night production, the bass king said “I can’t have makeup – I’m allergic”. Whaaat?!! The score says 3 kings and one of them is black. We were really at an impasse. What do we do now??? Finally Bill spoke up and said “What the heck. I’ll wear black makup”. And so Melchior, in our production, became the black king.

Besided singing Melchior in Amahl, Bill sang 2 recitatives and 2 solos for baritone in our church choir’s 1 hour Christmas portion of the Messiah Dec. 9. He has such a good voice. I melt & get goosebumps every time I hear him sing.

My letter would not be complete without some mention of the Robert Mapplethorpe (a famous photograper known for his nudes) controversy that hit Cincinnati this year from March thru October. I was “on the fringes” of the center of this controversy at both its beginning and its end. Bob Allen, my Whodunnit tech director, is CEO of the only corporate sponsor of this show in its entire U.S. tour. I was with him at the Contemporary Arts Center on its opening day – the day of the Grand Jury tour and the “police raid.” Then, in Sept., Bill tore up his ankle running for exercise & ended up on crutches for 3 weeks. Since he couldn’t do much else, & the trial started the next day, Bill attended every session for the full 2 weeks. I got to attend 4 representative sessions, including jury selection, prosecution case & defense case days. It was an exciting, educational, and enlightening experience – as good as LA Law any day! When the “Not Guilty” verdict came in, the Arts Center Board Chm. & Bob Allen, 2 apparently staid businessmen, were so loudly jubilant that the judge threw them out of court!

Well, it has been quite a year! I hope your year has been more equitable than mine and held more joy than sorrow. And I hope that for all of us for next year!

Director

November 1991

Russia Chorus Trip with Bill Giles and Glenn. Plays – ‘Night Mother & Grapes of Wrath

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s the Sunday before Thanksgiving but Christmas is in the air. The weather has turned cold with bursts of large swirling snowflakes making the air look like three dimensional white lace. Meanwhile, cities, businesses & TV crassly urge the season on early with lighting ceremonies, sales and decorations & media hype — hoping we’11 spend many of those non-existent dollars to raise us out of this “non-existent” recession! It’s sometimes hard to cut thru all the hype and dig out the true meanings and feelings of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

What a year! It has seemed like a life time – a happy, exciting lifetime with so many mountaintop experiences to crowd the memory in the year to come. I hope your past year was fulfilling and that your year to come will be filled with happiness and joy.

So much has happened since last Nov. it’s hard to tell where to start. I’m happy to say 1991 was mostly good and happy with a glitch or two as opposed to 1990 in which trials and sadness seemed to prevail.

I rejoice that Jim Forte, my abusive, harassing next door neighbor is gone! I couldn’t know it when I wrote last year, but our final incident had occurred in early Nov. in a king sized shouting match on the front sidewalk of our houses, with three witnesses. He played the bully as usual – threatened to take my sweet little 12 lb. toy poodle, Tootsie, and twist her head off, threatened me, cussed me out with every word in the book. —-But with witnesses, I stood up to him with volume, strength and sharp truthful answers. After my final retort – “It’s none of your business. You don’t even live here any more!”, I ran into the house with Tootsie in my arms. Then I realized that for the first time in 10 months, Forte had no answer and did not shout out any last word ———and that was THE END! Over as suddenly as it started. I waited for many apprehensive months before it became obvious he truly was gone. In Aug. the opportunity finally came for Amy, his ex-wife, and me to have a long talk, clear the air and restore our good rapport. So all’s well with the neighbors, now.

My major project last Jan and Feb was rewriting speech assignments and handout sheets to fit the new text book edition of the UC speech course. Spring Qtr. I revised and refined the work to a final copy. Then, by May 1st the “recession ax” hit at UC & they were making massive cuts. I got “laid off” from my day school job – one week after I had written my 2 huge checks for the furnace/A/C and the trip to Russia. That was a real blow. Fortunately, I still teach Evening College in Fall and Spring, having been there 26 years, and I just got called back to teach 2 day school courses this winter Qtr.–with no guarantees for Spring Qtr. But every little bit helps. This is a new course which again means writing a new syllabus, handouts, tests, etc., during the next 3 months.

AND NOW ABOUT RUSSIA: On Mon. April 22, I read in the paper, “Singers wanted to audition for a 2 week choral tour to Russia” etc. for very low travel expenses. I called Bill, then the conductor; we auditioned on Wed., started rehearsals on Sat.– and suddenly we were leaving for Russia in 8 weeks. We told Glenn Coven, he auditioned too and joined the chorus. In those 2 months, besides the usual trip preparations, we had to learn Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass in D Minor in Latin, (45 min), Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms in Hebrew (25 min), 10 Russian and Baltic songs in their various native languages, and new arrangements of 10 or 15 American songs — and I (who always sing soprano & have a “tin ear”) had to learn the ALTO part for all these. But I did it – anything to get to Russia.

The tour was with the Cincinnati International Touring Chorus (70 members), John Leman conducting. We sang 2 concerts in Moscow with the USSR Radio and TV Symphony playing for us and members of Moscow Univ. (Institute) Conservatory of Music Gneising Chorus singing with us. One concert was at Tchaikovsky Hall at the Conservatory – where Peter Tchaikovsky conducted and taught. We were supposed to have members of the Bolshoi Opera as our soloists, but, in true Russian fashion, the plans were fouled up. They were in NYC when we were in Moscow! John was smart enough to have all solos covered by our chorus members, but he did get an excellent Russian soprano for the Haydn. She lived 40 miles from Moscow and commuted for this event. We asked John, “How on earth did you find her at the last minute?” His answer: “Easy, I just went to the KGB!”

In Moscow for fun we had a party on a boat with members of the Gneising Chorus. Wonderful, stimulating conversation with new friends. It was truly magical. It was midnight and almost daylight. Truly, The Land of the Midnight Sun.

In Leningrad (I know, it,s St. Petersburg now, but it was Leningrad then) we sang with the world famous Glinka Cappella (chorus) at the Glinka Institute located just off Palace Square next to the Hermitage.

The last part of the trip we were in Tallinn, Estonia attending the Bridges of Song Festival. Every year Estonia has a week long regional song festival for the Baltic States and parts of Russia, but this year was special because it was world wide. Almost 400 Americans joined 20,000 other singers from the Baltic States, many different Russian states, Europe, Japan, etc. singing to an audience of 500,000. What a thrilling experience! We rehearsed everyone for 2 days and had the performance on Sunday, July 7. Rev. Robert Schuller conducted Sunday church service at the shell. After lunch (20,000 singers were efficiently fed lunch during the 3 days with Estonian pizza, subways, hot dogs & hamburgers.) most of the 20,000 chorus members marched in a parade 5 kilometers from downtown Tallinn to the festival amphitheater all in their various native dress. I skipped marching in the parade because of my heart, but Bill did it and said it was one of the most thrilling experiences of his life. Everyone cheered and screamed and threw flowers for the Americans. The Estonians REALLY LOVE America and all we stand for. Just watching all the different native costumes was a thrill for me. And then we sang – for 5 hours, from 4 to 9 PM. We closed the concert with the Estonian National Anthem “Mu Isamaa On Minu Arm” – My Native Land is My Love – a beautiful song. Imagine 20,000 people – arms linked and swaying in joy and brotherhood, singing with tears in our eyes from the love and spiritual high of the moment.

Jester Hairston was here. He is the “little old man” in the TV Sit-com Amen. But that was just an extra for him. His real career has been as a musician, composer and arranger. He conducted and sang the solo with our chorus of his published arrangement of the Amen Chorus – on his 90th Birthday! The Sunday Parade and final monster concert was only part of the festival. All week long the different countries had open houses and craft shows, and national choruses with international soloists performed choral works by Rachmaninoff, Verdi, Saint Saens, etc. etc. Bill was a member of a special professional chorus, under the direction of John Nelson, which sang the Mozart Requiem in St. Olaf’s Cathedral on Sat. The program opened with a Lithuanian chorus singing a new composition by a Baltic composer. This was a special occasion attended by the Patriarch (i.e. Pope) of the Russian Orthodox Church (he is a native Estonian), the President of Estonia, and 3 rows of Russian Communist dignitaries. They all sat in the rows immediately behind me – and of course I “got pictures.” TV cameras were everywhere beaming the major event to all of Europe, & 6 long black “official limousines” were crowded into the narrow medieval street in front of the church to transport all the dignitaries. After the concert we walked the narrow medieval streets of 01d Town Tallinn to the Town Square (1200-1400’s) from 10 to 12PM in virtual daylight. All over the square were small choruses quietly and sincerely singing their beautiful native songs–and a few American songs & arrangements. Our hosts, Urve and Andres, Bill and I wandered from group to group for an hour, Bill with tears in his eyes from the pure magic of the experience.

Equally as wonderful in Estonia were our living arrangements. Each group of 2 people stayed at the home of an Estonian host family. Some in our group had to sleep on a living room sofa or stay in a top floor high rise apartment with practically no water pressure and no hot water, so they went 4 days without a bath. And those Estonians live with these conditions year in and year out. But Bill and I hit the jackpot! Urve and Andres Marga live in a large 8 room house with her mother (who owns the home) and their 3 children Ott (Hoyt), Misha (Michael) and Maarja (Marie) in the suburb of Marivalja (seafield). Both are graduates of the Estonian Univ. at Tartu in Economics, and both work at good jobs making 300 rubles (that’s $10.00!!!) a month each. They own a car (15 years old), 2 TV’s, shelves & shelves of books, & had a bidet in their bathroom. Bill & I each had a separate room & they served us breakfast each morning & 2 dinners. They were so gracious as hosts, driving us everywhere we needed to be for the Festival — always on time!– & taking us by car and on foot on sightseeing tours around the city. They literally devoted 4 full days totally to us. When we arrived Thurs, afternoon, they presented us with a bouquet of Blue Cornflowers, the national flower of Estonia, and they were wearing t-shirts of Blue, Black and White wide stripes, the 3 colors of the Estonian national flag. They were truly proud native Estonians– and hated the Russians. In her Xmas card Urve wrote “Now our Republic is free. Our economic situation is very bad, but we hope that future is better.” Urve relied on the high school English she studied over 10 years ago and her ever present dictionary to converse with us – and did beautifully. Andres was afraid to talk but seemed to understand much of what we said. Their bright, well behaved children (ages 7,5 & 4) picked up many English phrases in the 4 short days.

I almost forgot to tell you about Tiina (about 23) and Anu (age 16), the 2 Estonian girls from Kivioli, Estonia who “adopted” me at the Festival. We sat together at the first rehearsal & became friends. How they did it, I’ll never know, but at every rehearsal thereafter & even for part of the performance, they found me out of all those 20,000 people. “Carolyn, you come sit with us.”, they insisted. They were excellent altos with a true ear for pitch and an invaluable help with the native language pronunciation. Their command of English and its pronunciation was exceptional and put me to shame as I stumbled thru their languages. And that is in spite of the fact I had studied hard on their songs and even refreshed my ability from 1969 to read the Cyrillic alphabet. They were fascinated with my cameras, especially my 2 new Nikons with telephoto lenses, and had never seen text highliters which I had to mark my music. They were thrilled when I gave them each a pink and a yellow highliter, & we also gave gifts to our hosts.

As you see, I could write a book about the entire 2 weeks, since I have just covered, with many omissions, only the concert portion of the tour. So many stories, so much to tell of Russia. If you watched the many special TV reports by all 3 networks from Russia in July during Pres. Bush’s visit to Moscow, then you know what I learned and experienced. It was all right on the mark! More to the point are the similarities & differences I found from my first trip to Russia in 1969. Religion is back: We attended a Russian Orthodox church service in the Novodevichy Monastary Cathedral of the Dormition (built 1600’s) on Sun. June 30; cars have multiplied 100 fold with all the attendant traffic jams and pollution; building construction techniques have improved & modernized; elevators are as tiny as ever. Free enterprise foreign ventures are appearing – and most deal only in “hard currency” (dollars, marks, etc). Of course, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut accept rubles. Our 2 boat hotels, owned and run by Swedish managers with Russian workers, were clean and efficient; but our last night in a real Russian hotel revealed it to be as grungy and backwardly inefficient as ever. The tourist spots are overrun with young entrepreneurs (ages 8-28+) selling postcards, army coats, watches, books, etc. all for very cheap prices, but always in dollars, never rubles. I bought a book in Leningrad for $5 that sold for $30 in Memphis, Tennessee at the Catherine the Great Exhibit (Yes, I went to that, too, with Barb Sorensen in mid July). Even in early July the formerly ubiquitous Communist Billboard art extolling Lenin, the worker & the party was practically non-existent and being replaced with Western style commercial billboards, advertising Pizza Hut, Pepsi, Phillips electronics, etc. Tour guides spoke freely, no longer under the control of Intourist propaganda and lies. The beautiful Balalaikas I heard often in 1969 were only to be found hanging out on Arbat Street for tourists to buy (yes, I did!); the Russians now play western guitars, instead. Finally, St. Basils Cathedral on Red Square, closed and swathed in scaffolding in 1969, was fully restored and open for viewing. For all the evils of Communism, it did restore and preserve so many ancient Russian historical buildings & artifacts that otherwise would have been lost.

One final story: In May a friend (Frank) gave me the name, address, & phone of a Russian friend of his in Leningrad. I called Seva and he met Glenn Coven and me for lunch at a German owned “hard currency” restaurant (Chaika – Russian for Seagull) for 2 hours of wonderful conversation followed by walking thru downtown Leningrad & visits to Berioska and Irish Free Store “hard currency” shops. Frank told Seva to buy what he wanted and needed at the stores. It was his wedding anniv. day so he bought his wife perfume, but the other articles were the simplest of basics like tooth paste and brushes. Seva met Frank in Russia, then came to Ohio to visit him for 6 weeks, traveling from Canada to Florida. Seva left his govt. job 2 years ago to risk forming his own free enterprise business as a stock exchange trader (more barter than money). As we talked at lunch, he told us that the previous Thurs 6/27, he, the mayor of Leningrad, Shevradnadze in Moscow, and others had met to form a new political party. Once home on 7/12, I read an article about this event in the Cin. Enquirer, deeply humbled that I had the opportunity to touch the edges of a significant historical event in the development of a new Russia. And it’s hard to relay the swings of emotion and tears I experienced during the week of the failed Coup in August. I was glued to the TV, taping everything I could all week.

I spent July organizing the 25 rolls of pictures from the trip.

In August & September, I produced and directed ‘Night Mother as a special Drama Workshop production. It is something I wanted to do for a long time. Bill helped me do the analysis of the characters and I enjoyed working with the cast.

In Sept Oct I helped Bill with phase one on the garage/addition construction to his house.

In October, Ted Weil directed and produced the Grapes of Wrath, through his own theater company, Falcon Productions. The actor playing the lead character, Ma Joad, dropped out two weeks before opening night. Ted asked me to replace her and I said yes. I had to learn the lines and the show in two weeks. Bill helped me with lines and acting, but now he is deeply in love with Judy – so who knows what the future holds. It was a very hectic month.

I sent no postcards from Russia. No time, and dealing with the ruble/dollar currency mess was a nightmare. Instead, your “postcards” are enclosed. I shot 5 rolls of slide film, and 20 rolls of print film with double prints (700 x 2 prints). Besides my common Christmas picture taken on the banks of the Moscow River with the gold towers of Cathedral Square in the Kremlin behind me (It,s one of the classic backdrops for news stories from Moscow), you have a specially selected picture from my double print file. You’ll find its story on the back of the print (or below).

Dear Family and Friends,

Once again the holiday season is upon us. Thanksgiving, coming this Thursday, blends to 4 weeks of “Commercial Christmas,” culminating in what to me is the “real” part of Christmas – communion and reunion with family and friends as we celebrate the true spirit and meaning of Christmas.

In July I went to the Rasor (my father’s mother) family reunion where family members were asking for copies of Uncle Clem’s biographical diary, written the first half of this century. I mused aloud that my Christmas letters, written and kept since the 1950’s, were sort of the same thing. Dorothy & Irene, having read recent letters, immediately said, “Yes, please compile them into a collection for our family history.” Because of this, the long version of this epistle may become a bit more detailed than usual. If you become bored with a paragraph, just skip it and move on. For friends near and seen more often, you will get a truncated version of some events complete copy on request – or call & chat!

Last year at this time I faced 1992 with great trepidation – and rightly so. Some very wonderful things have happened this year – but some very dark ones, too. Let’s dispense with the dark side first – and quickly (even though it consumed a major portion of the year.)

First, Bill has ended our relationship (I believe the current vernacular is “He dumped me!”) – and it has been a slow, gut wrenching process, taking one full year. One half of my attic was filled with his ‘stuff’ since 1975, and he just finished moving it all out yesterday. So now all concrete, physical ties are cut. He still has not decided if he wants to or can “be a friend” to me or not, but that’s his problem, not mine. If I have given you the impression that I am sort of an ‘irrelevant, passive bystander’ in this whole soap opera of events orchestrated by Bill and what he wants regardless of what I want or feel, you’ve got the picture. I could fill a book about this year. Actually, I have, as I have written close to 100 pages, some only for myself and some as I have gone thru therapy. I worked with one very expensive psychiatrist for six weeks & that was a real waste of money. Then I worked with a psychologist, trained in Transpersonal Communication, May thru October with much progress and insight. I was in depression, sometimes serious, sometimes intermittent, from last Thanksgiving into September. Though not completely “out of the woods” yet, I feel I have ‘passed over to the the other side, pretty much put the past behind me, and can get on with having control over and organizing my life.

An interesting adjunct to all this has been a plethora of ESP experiences occurring over the past year since last Thanksgiving. That’s a whole story in itself, sometimes interesting and exciting, sometimes unsettling, but (skeptics – including Bill – aside) undeniable and far beyond coincidence. It’s all detailed in my “Therapy Book.”

Concurrent with my depression and problems with Bill, I also had aggravating physical problems with my feet all year. I developed “painful heel syndrome” in my left foot the first of January. The malady is very well named. I walked & limped in pain for 6 months until a cortisone shot in June helped reduce the pain, but it’s still not normal or fully healed. Then in Mid-February a defective, uneven floor at Wendy’s caused me to fall and severely sprain my right ankle. I was on crutches 3 weeks & it took 2 months + to heal. Finally, in August, after walking for 2 weeks over cobblestones in Eastern Europe (another chorus trip), I got a spontaneous stress fracture of the 3rd metatarsal, left foot; walked (limped) on it for 2 weeks before it was diagnosed & then spent another 6 weeks in a Velcro walking cast, 4 weeks of that on crutches again. At least I could take the cast off to sleep and bathe. I am just now beginning to walk fairly normally for the first time in a year. So much for the dark side of my year.

I have spent the year attending social events, performances, singing in Immanuel church choir, traveling to Las Vegas and to Eastern Europe, and am now working on reorganizing my house, including painting & new carpet.

I taught speech courses at University of Cincinnati day school again in Winter & Spring quarters until Governor Voinovich’s slash and burn budget cuts on the Ohio higher education budget ended mine and many other jobs. Fortunately, I still have my UC Evening College speech class each Monday, each quarter, September through June. And last June, before UC ended, I started working (teaching) at a Sylvan Learning Center. I work with 3 students an hour 3 hours from 4-7 P.M. Tues thru Thurs. One big advantage to this job is that it contributes toward the 4 Social Security quarters I was short. I now have 2 covered and 2 more to go.

In March, I drove to Las Vegas in my car, pulling a U-Haul trailer to take some furniture & articles to my cousin Fred Munier. I had wanted to get these things to Las Vegas for 2 or 3 years, but in Aug, ’91, Bill asked if I could arrange a fall or spring trip to Las Vegas – and he would help drive out so he could go out in the desert in cooler weather & spend all day. WONDERFUL! I made arrangements for Nov., but my role in Grapes of Wrath and Bill’s involvement with Judy killed those plans. In Oct. We agreed to postpone the trip until March. By Dec. Bill was vehemently denying he ever agreed to go – let alone admit it was his idea in the first place. By January Judy had “dumped” Bill (I told you this was a soap opera!), he went into depression, & though he definitely did not want to do it, finally very reluctantly agreed to honor his original commitment to help me drive out and back.

Knowing, as Robert Frost says, that way leads on to way, and I may never take this drive again, I savored every viewing moment I could of the long monotonous, but beautifully expansive great plains in Okla. & Texas, as well as the desert and mountains in New Mexico and Arizona. Springtime in the desert was a whole new experience, so different from my many summer visits to those hot, parched lands. Great expanses of distant alluvial plains reflected a soft soothing green palate. Close up, various varieties of delicate desert flowers and green bushes appeared everywhere among the desert rocks & otherwise barren ground. Needless to say, I took many pictures.

The trip was also a psychological life saver for me to be around supportive family who truly love and care for me; so much so I was able to stop cold turkey the ativan pills I was taking for my depression & sleep less nights. OOPS! that was a mistake as I experienced some negative withdrawal side effects for a few days. Of course, I took my 3 books of photography of our Russian trip for Fred and Robin to see. While they were marveling at the pictures and our adventures on this wonderful trip, Robin wished aloud how she would love to go on a trip like this. I said: “Well, go with me this year to Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, & Vienna, Austria for 2 weeks.” “But I can’t sing.” That’s OK, non singers can accompany chorus members. Fred said: “Yes, Robin, go ahead & go.”, and so she did.

Before I get to our trip, I must tell you about Glenn – another very important piece of the puzzle in this year of dark and light experiences. Glenn Coven has been a ‘theater acquaintance’ of mine for over 20 years. We worked together on a number of musical productions, most especially the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors where I did make up, Bill sang Melchior, & Glenn sang the tenor role of Caspar. In those 22 years, Glenn had raised his family, but got divorced 4 years ago. Bill and I recruited Glenn for the Immanual Church opera production of Amahl 2 years ago, then coincidentally he went on the Russian chorus tour, traveling with Bill & me much of the time. In that year we moved from acquaintances to friends. Then, when we did Amahl last year, & Glenn saw how Bill was treating me, he truly rescued me from the situation by being with me and taking me out after every performance. And so we grew to be closer friends – and now companions during this year. Bill turned down a ‘scholarship’ free trip offer for our Eastern Europe choral tour, but Glenn accepted the offer with gleeful unbounded enthusiasm. And so we traveled Europe together and had a truly wonderful time filled with positive experiences. Robin was my roommate but ended up much of the time as companion of other non-singers on the tour as they had extra time to ‘tourist’ while we rehearsed and performed.

Let me say at the outset that the tour was really wonderful, filled with marvelous experiences, but it was completely different from the Russian tour. A hard, fast-paced, tiring tour, it required much grueling walking over rough, ever present cobblestones. My physical & emotional problems since Nov. left me not in the top physical shape I had been for Russia & the trusty Keds oxfords I had worn as ‘tourist shoes’ for years and years were woefully inadequate to buffer my already ‘aching feet’ from the brutal cobblestones. (Hence the stress fracture occurring the last day of the trip.)

We began our tour in Mikolov, Czechoslovakia, a small rural town in Czech grape country. It had an ancient town square with the ever present grotesque plague column (c. 1400-1500 erected to ‘commemorate the plague’). The ever present Castle on the Hill here had been burned and destroyed by the retreating Nazi’s in WWII, but was lovingly rebuilt in exact replica and is now the historical museum for the area. Plague columns, castles and churches on the hill, and accurate restoration of buildings, art, etc. destroyed by the Nazis are themes repeated throughout most of the towns touched by our tour.

The finer subtleties of the English language were often not grasped by the Czechs. We were the very first guests in a charming brand new hotel in Mikolov. Its name was translated to us by our guide, Tomas, as The Horny Crocodile. He laughed with us as we explained the difference between horned and horny. — And a sign in the upstairs hall urged guests to “Please close the door silently. Maybe somebody sleeps around.”

In Bruno, a medium sized industrial town about 70 miles north of Vienna, we spent 2 days with much rehearsing with the Bruno Symphony Orchestra that played for 4 of our 5 concerts. We had to walk everywhere, and Robin, I and 2 others got lost trying to find the rehearsal hall the first time. We got rescued by the police from a seamy part of town and they drove us to the rehearsal hall. We may have been late, but were the only ones to get there with a police escort!

I loved Prague. It gave me the feeling of being back in the middle ages with its multitude of wonderful, unique towers and steeples, and the Charles Bridge. Built 1200-1300, it is still in use though as a pedestrian bridge only. But we also rode in old time trolley cars on tracks to get around town, and on a modern high speed clean subway to get out to our hotel. After a Sunday night concert in Smetana Hall, we got to ‘tourist’ Monday and on Tues. Glenn’s daughter Denise came to Prague from her home in England with her new husband for a belated honeymoon & a wonderful visit with Glenn. I felt privileged to share their joy.

Back on the bus to Olomouc (pronounced Oh’-low-moats’!) for overnight in a medium Small university town with much charm and an interesting town square, town hall & plague column (again). But Wed & Thurs in Poland held the deepest meaning for me. Our visit to Auschwitz concentration camp was a very moving experience. I reverently tried to capture the essence of this monument to horror in my photography. The stark contrast of an elegant formal lunch at our Krakow hotel immediately after our visit rather left me with chills.

Our concert in Krakow took place in St. Mary’s Basilica, an all brick church built 1290–1397. It was home church for the Polish Cardinal who is now Pope John Paul. Krakow and St. Mary’s was my favorite as you can see by my pictures. I had to have 3 pictures so you could see the exterior and interior setting for the glorious 36×42 foot hand carved wood altar. (You also get a “personal postcard” from my packs of print doubles.) Unlike Warsaw & other Polish cities that were practically leveled by WWII, Krakow suffered relatively little war damage. Wawel Cathedral & Castle on the hill (above the town, of course) reflects all that is medieval, Gothic and Baroque in art and architecture. Wawel was the seat of Polish Kings until the govt. moved to Warsaw in 1600’s, but continued as the mausoleum and center for coronation of royalty. 24 hours was not enough time in Poland, but we had to press on to Budapest, Hungary.

The atmosphere of Budapest is more 19th century. Most Romanesque & Gothic structures are newly rebuilt. Genuine “old” buildings are from the 18th & 19th cent, and even the tenor of the city seems more modern Western. Our bus pulled into a modern Mobil Gas station that could just as easily have been outside Chicago as in Gyor, North Central Hungary – food mart and all! That is until you tried to buy something and needed Forints (not dollars or Krona) to do it. But Budapest, too, has its castle and cathedral (where we sang) on the hill in Buda, overlooking the Danube River.

Our trip ended with a concert in Baden, Austria, a spa 15 miles south of Vienna, and a day to see Vienna. but Glenn & I & 2 friends got 1 2/3 days in Vienna because we rented a car & went off from the tour on our own. Was that FUN! Such adventures-like starting to drive up on the pedestrian mall where cars are VERBOTTEN!! We sure got yelled at in German for that. I did all the driving and since driving in Vienna is a lot like driving in New York City, my past experience there was a big help. The library & bookstores have excellent pictorial books on Prague, Budapest & Vienna (tho none on Krakow) that you can get to see and read the usual tourist detail. This tour, so different from Russia, whisked us from small towns to the modern metropolis of Vienna, from the medieval 1200’s through various ages and back again into the almost 21st Century. I would like to go back and savor the medieval flavor of Czechoslovakia and Poland before the fast paced commercialism of the 21st century and our western culture sweeps in to destroy it.

Finally, two exciting events happened this fall: Tall Stacks and an election adventure.’ Cincinnati once again hosted a Tall Stacks festival Oct 15–18 and I attended 3 days. Seventeen river boats, most of them paddle wheelers, converged on our Ohio River shores and took us back 150 years in time. Lunch, dinner, and harbor cruises were sold out weeks in advance & a Civil War encampment was reconstructed in Newport, Kentucky. Seeing all those paddle wheel riverboats docking and traversing the Ohio all at one time was a sight to behold.

I must share my “Dan Quayle election story” with you. I went to Huntington the weekend before the election. On Sat. I heard that at 9:30 AM Sunday, Dan Quayle was going to go to Portsmouth, Ohio – where he had been born & raised – for an election rally & to attend church. That’s exactly the time I wanted to leave Huntington & go home thru Portsmouth. So Sun. morning I drove on to Rt. 52 where it starts at Chesapeake, Ohio for 46 miles of divided, 4 lane highway with many crossroads and a few limited access exchanges. At the first stoplight & crossroad, about 3 miles down the road, there was a state police car guarding the intersection, lights flashing. But all cars were proceeding normally on the highway. A state police car, local police, ambulance – whatever they could round up – was guarding every single crossroad from Huntington to Portsmouth. Then, a few miles down the road near South Point, I caught up with another state police car driving the road. Needless to say by this time I had my cruise control EXACTLY on the 55 mph speed limit, but I still passed the cop & another truck. Then the cop passed me – and we played leap frog until the Ashland Bridge as he sped up, slowed down, & doubled back to check on his crossroad guards. I had a private police escort for 2/3 the distance to Portsmouth. Later, I began to notice that as I passed each crossroad, the police car pulled around to block the entrance to the road – I was now a marked car! At the Ashland bridge I saw a couple of cars ahead of me drive on to the bridge & disappear, and my police escort roared off down the road.

In a few minutes I looked at eastbound traffic across the barrier. There were lots of cars in a normal traffic pattern. Then I looked at my westbound lanes on a long stretch ahead and behind me — and there was no one on this highway! I was completely alone. I got a real ‘twilight zone’ sensation from the isolation and silence. Really Weird!! Why were they keeping everybody else off the highway but me??? But I kept on driving my steady 55 and began to realize that by now I must be the “lead car” to the Dan Quayle motorcade – I with my Clinton/Gore sticker boldly shining out the back window! Approaching more crossroads near Portsmouth, all were now blocked with 3–10 cars held off the highway – but on I drove.

If you know Portsmouth, it’s a long bottleneck town with 2 east/west thru streets, each one way & many stop lights that take 20-25 minutes to get through. But not today! I went from one end to the other in less than 5 minutes, cops pulling cars over and off the road ahead of me & waving me on with gestures to run lights & even speed up. By now I could see the flashing lights of the motorcade behind me – and by the time I reached the other end of town where I continued West, and Quayle turned left down into town, they were less than 500 feet behind me. I’ll never understand how I got the “lead car” privilege – and never got stopped, but it certainly was an eerie, interesting and exciting adventure unfolding and playing out moment by moment before my very eyes & my curious anticipation of the next event.

And so the year is almost ended & I anticipate, on this Thanksgiving eve, a much happier day, shared with Glenn. I also anticipate, by extension, a much happier year to come; certainly one more stable, calm and organized. And in turn, I wish you, too, much happiness, joy and stability in the year to come.

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s Dec. 4 and I should be getting into the holiday spirit — and I want to. But working 25 hours a week at 2 jobs (I’m retired???) plus some other activities & projects makes it hard to relax into all the joys of the season. A year ago I wrote of loss and sadness, depression and physical ailments. I’m happy to say all that is behind me and the pendulum has swung back to greater equanimity in my life.

Between Nov. 192 and June, I read 9 books on the “behavioral dis-ease” of CoDependency. While I did not actively follow any of the many ‘cure programs’ each different author proposed, I did gain a deep insight into and greater understanding of my childhood, mother and dad, Bill & myself to help me move beyond the past to a more normal present and future. Over the past 2 years, I have written a Journal of almost 200 pages, and I almost feel “written out” as I start this shorter chronicle this year.

I finished my painting and new carpet in the living room last January. In March I flew to Las Vegas for Spring Break with Fred, Robin, and family in what is becoming a yearly ritual. I already have my discounted air tickets for LV for next March! T.S. Eliot said “April is the cruelest month…” but for me it was truly a major turning point and closure to the last 20 years of my life. First, Faye, Dad’s wife, sold his house in Dayton and moved in with her sister in Tipp City, Ohio. As Faye completely dismantled the house, I finally got most of my mother’s and even a few of my own personal items from the house that I had not been able to get since mother died in 1971. Concurrently, changing my behavior based on my co-Dependency study, and because of some other outside events, Bill changed his behavior more to his good persona, and started relating to me in a positive, friendly, caring fashion – as a friend only. He helped me move stuff from Dayton to Cincy, and I could never have accomplished that difficult feat without him.

Within 2 weeks of that move, in May, I bought a new car and got a new job. I replaced my ’88 Blue Chevy Celebrity station wagon with its almost identical GM cousin – a blue Buick Century sta.wagon – only with a more powerful motor! Then out of the blue, Sylvia Reid called me from the Cincinnati Historical Society at the Union Terminal Museum to ask if I would like to come work for her 15 hours a week as a costume technician repairing and restoring historical clothing – 1830 to present – donated to the museum. Of course I said YES!! That too, has a story. Judy Malone, my friend who works at the museum said. “How can Sylvia hire you? She just got fired from her job here in March!” Turns out Sylvia went to a rich benefactor friend, and got herself & my job funded independently for one year. Some museum employees were taking bets on how long I would last with her. I’ve been walking a tight rope the last 6 months, (again helped by my CoDependency study), & figure if I can make it through the next 2 weeks with her, I should be able to last til next May. Aside from that problem, working at the museum itself is truly exciting, and I love the work I do with the dresses. For 3 weeks in May/June I (who am supposedly retired!!) was working three jobs – Sylvan, UC & the Museum. I quit Sylvan, but still teach my UC speech class on Monday night, Fall, Winter, Spring quarters.

In July I started taking voice lessons again with a wonderful teacher, Anne Moss. I did 5 solos in late summer at church and camp, & will do 2 solos this month -(one in a Messiah performance and one in a paid job at another church), and am working on several other solo/duet pieces for the coming months. It is a shame I had to wait this late in life to find a voice coach who could help me “find my sound” and train me to create and control it. But I intend to enjoy every minute as long as it can last. At present I find this much more satisfying than acting or directing.

My vacation trip this year was attending a wedding in Puerto Rico! My good friend Barbara Sorensen’s daughter Veronne married Orlando Bustos in his mother’s home town of San Juan, Puerto Rico. So for one week I lived on the edges of “the lifestyles of the rich & famous”, staying at the Caribe Hilton Hotel, seeing oid San Juan & El Yunque rain forest, & attending this very international wedding – with guests from Chile, a Puerto Rico, Spain (including an ex-bullfighter), Geneva, Switzerland, as well as Cincinnati, Dayton and a small town from Illinois.

The area itself, along with some very dramatic tropical storm clouds, afforded me the opportunity to shoot some terrific photography. Picking my personal postcard for you from Puerto Rico was extremely difficult this year. The photo was taken at Fort San Cristobal. The unique sentry boxes are sort of a tourist logo for San Juan and Puerto Rico. The box out almost over the ocean was called the Devil’s sentry box – because Spanish sentries would be assigned there (sometimes for punishment), and then they would disappear for days at a time. Actually, they just jumped out the sentry box into the ocean, swam ashore, and went AWOL for a few days, then would mysteriously show up again for duty! Fort San Cristobal and its counterpart, El Morro, were built by the Spanish in the 1500’s to defend the island and port. They did their job very effectively for almost 400 years until USA invaded Puerto Rico from the south of the island during the Spanish-American war, and acquired the island.

I also got some dramatic and exciting photography on a one day cruise on the Ohio River on the West Virginia Belle riverboat in October. In the early morning, the Belle sailed through shifting fog banks, mists curling up from the water, and a bright sun stabbing through and playing around these ephemeral elements. Leaves, just starting to turn, showed vivid reds & yellows within a rich sea of green; the afternoon sky was a clear, warm, intense blue and the calm river reflected everything like a shimmering mirror. Ironically, with all this beauty, 2 of my best shots are of power plants!!

As the year ends, I think of friends lost — Aunt Hazel Brown, Bob Hendershot, and Delores Miles — and family ‘found’ – Cousin Cary and Lindsay Brown & Aunt Hazel’s other children – ; and friends and family who have visited me or “touched base” by phone or at camp this year. Tad Currie was here from Chicago in April; Robin Munier came to Cincy from Las Vegas in June for a National PTA Convention and it was great fun being special Cincinnati tour guide for her and her friends; Lindsay and her friend visited our Art and Union Terminal Museums in August, and it was wonderful to find that Lindsay and I have a common love for both historical clothing and photography.

I will spend Christmas with my good friends Barbara, Glenn, Pam and Rufus Smith — and as I raise my candle high during the singing of Silent Night on Christmas Eve, I will say a prayer for the health and happiness of all my dear friends far and near for this season and for the year to come.

Christmas, 1994 

We have just had the warmest November on record – and today a warm 60° & pouring rain, even thunder and lightning make it seem more like April than Christmas. But that time of year has come to “visit” and touch base with friends far and near. My year in 1994 has been uncharacteristically uneventful – in comparison to past years. Can you believe that stability in my life seems finally to have set in? 

I spent January into Feb. rewriting my U.C. Speech class syllabus, most of the handouts & both mid-term & final tests. Without warning at the end of last Nov. we were handed a new edition of our speech text – and it was drastically changed. That meant I had to analytically read most of the book and restructure the class and materials to it. While first drafts & corrections were hand written on yellow pads & the old handouts — thank heaven for word processors. I could just snap in a disc, recall the handout and make adjustments without total retyping. It was still a major chore. I have taught my UC Evening College class since Jan. 1966 – 29 years. I truly enjoy teaching the class and often wondered what it would take to get me to stop. Now I know! The next time they spring a new textbook on me so I have to revise every thing again, computer or not, I’l1 bid farewell and call it a career.

In Feb/March I decided to again join John Leman’s Cincinnati International Chorus for their summer tour (1) because they were going to Scandinavia & I had long wanted to go there; & (2) because it looked like this would be the last tour. It was. John has had Multiple Sclerosis & toured in spite of his affliction for 7 years, but it is now getting worse. He did most of his sightseeing in a wheelchair this time tho he still stood alone conducting chorus (sometimes orchestra) for almost 2 hours at each of five concerts. I don’t see how he did it. More about the trip itself later on. 

I took my annual spring break vacation trek to Las Vegas to visit Fred, Robin, Joey, & Suzanne Munier. The weather was not as great as past springs, but it was fun touring the new MGM Grand, Treasure Island, and Luxor “hotels” – read ‘entertainment centers.’ I liked the Luxor best & look forward to returning there this coming March. It may all be papier-mache, plaster & poured concrete imitations, but much historical research went into creating very authentic reproductions & scale models of the original objects in Egypt. Fred retired from KMart/Builder’s Square in Feb, & in June, for Joey’s 11th birthday, Fred & Joey flew to Ohio for a week’s visit with me in Cincinnati. We took a raft trip down the Little Miami River, saw the Union Terminal museums, Zoo, a baseball game, & spent an evening at a Kentucky riverboat cafe watching the sun set over the Ohio River and Cincinnati city skyline. That same week Susan Giles came north from Florida for the first time in 10 years, so I drove to Huntington (with Fred & Joey) to have dinner and a short but wonderful visit with her. 

But the adventures with the Muniers were not over. I now have to tell you a family story. — In 1904, my mother’s father, Granddaddy (Norman) Brown, purchased his 63 acre farm 1 mile east of Verona, Ohio in the NW corner of Montgomery County (Dayton) Ohio. Between 1904 & 1910-14 Granddaddy built a new large 8 room house with basement for his large family. Some of the windows, etc. from the “old house” were put in the new one — and then the old house was torn down. As children, Fred and I spent many a summer on the farm, Fred more than I. In 1944, Granddaddy sold the farm – & Fred (age 13) begged his daddy to buy it. Uncle Earl had neither the extra money nor, as a real ‘city boy’, the inclination to buy a farm, so the Heffelfingers across the road bought it. In Feb. 1994, exactly 50 years later, Fred retired AND Mary & son Carroll Heffelfinger died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the house! Is that Irony?! So the house & farm was put up for auction in August.

In July the Heffelfinger sisters graciously allowed me to do a complete photographic documentation of the house; (they had changed it very little). In Aug, while I was in Norway, the Munier Family drove to Ohio from Las Vegas, stayed at my house, and bid on the farm. They Lost. We all, then, spent the next 3 months trying to buy the house, barn & 5 surrounding acres from the man who won the outrageous bid. The man, unfortunately, is greedy with a heart of stone & tried to fleece Fred, asking more than twice the appraised value of the place & refusing to even negotiate. He could care less about “family tradition” and sentimentality. So now it looks like we have lost it again. So close, but yet so far. 

My job sewing on historical clothing at the Cincinnati Historical Society museum has ended. It was truly enjoyable work from June to Dec.’93; but I must tell you that when I went to work for Sylvia, the library staff upstairs was taking bets in an office pool on how long I would last with her. Nobody can stand working with the woman for very long. I took off for my UC course restructuring & came back in Feb, at reduced hours (down to 10 from 15). After spring break, it was even less. In June, when I went to show Fred & Joey the 19th century dress & cloak (deep beige with a tiny cream colored pinstripe, covered buttons) I had donated to the museum 5 years ago, I discovered she had ‘stored’ the box on the concrete floor! The clothes drew moisture from the cement & were damaged. True to form, she denied everything, but I had Fred as a witness – so then she just wanted to let them sit – and do nothing. I demanded the return of my donation so I could get the pieces repaired – as much as possible. Unfortunately, some of the damage is permanent. Needless to say, that ended my working relationship and I was happy to be away from her. 

For a while, in April, I tried to work out a way (while I was so close in Sweden and Denmark) to take another week beyond the tour and go back to Tallinn, Estonia. Since I could not get a traveling companion, I finally gave it up and put the money into a new living room bay window ( It is gorgeous and completely ‘opens up’ the room) & 5 other Andersen double hung w/storms windows. I can’t believe how warm and air tight my house is now. 

I am still taking voice lessons just because I enjoy it; going out to my camp & farm in Indiana on summer holidays & of course doing photography. Hecuba (age 10 and partially deaf) and Tootsie (age 15 and almost blind) are “old ladies” but good company. 

Hope all is well with you. May the Christmas season be filled with love & happiness for you that extends throughout the coming New Year. 

---

A note about Bill: Since he ‘dumped’ me in Nov ’91, he has “gone thru” 2 relationships. Judy went (tumultuously on & off) for 2 years to Sept ’93 & ended mutually. Within the month, Bill started dating Theresa, but this time making his friendship with me a definitely understood fact of his life. She moved in with (on?) him at Xmas last year and stayed ’til she left to attend Univ. of Dayton — at which time she just dumped Bill — in Sept.’94. Two of his other big relationships, that I know of, ended in Sept/Oct. It’s almost enough to make you believe in Astrology — or something! 

As for me, I have signed up with 2 different dating services and at least get some free dinners & interesting company. Don’t know if it will be worth the money (a LOT of it) or not, yet; but I sure am getting an education and it does help keep life interesting. Nothing ventured, nothing gained! 

Dear Family and Friends,

I am truly late with my letter this year – for a good reason as you will soon learn. A growing number of cards with wonderful notes and news have already arrived, plus 2 light snow falls and extra cold weather — all tell me the time to share with friends has come.

In my letter last year I spoke of a more uneventful, stable life. No wonder!! As I revealed to some of you in written notes added later to the letter — I suddenly discovered last Nov, ’94 I was in a fairly deep clinical depression that had been insidiously growing stronger since the beginning of that year. Once discovered, it took me a month to get a doctor’s appointment in Dec. Good thing it wasn’t acute appendicitis –and I wasn’t suicidal!

December to May was completely consumed with therapy and medication to get well again. I taught my UC speech class Monday nights, took voice lessons (truly my saving grace) & sang in church choirs Thursdays, attended music & theater events — and that is ALL I did for 6 months. The breakthrough to normal energy and motivation in life evolved in Apr. & May as I started to take charge of my life by effecting some changes. At the end of March, Immanuel choir gave a concert of Bach’s Contata BWV# 4. After that concert, I left the choir. Immanuel Presbyterian has completely changed. Their new minister is taking the church on a course too fundamental for me. Several other choir members left soon after I; in Aug. the choir director left for a full time teaching job in Georgia; and their excellent organist also moved on to another job. I joined the Westwood First Presbyterian Choir, only 5 blocks from my home.¹ Ann Marie Koukios is an excellent choir conductor & we do very exciting music — Elijah, 3 concerts in May, Messiah today and Christmas Eve, & Bach’s St John Passion this coming April. All these with various joint choirs. Very exciting.

Once recovered and well, I made huge strides in developing my voice over the summer and truly ‘found’ my vocal sound. In Sept. I sang 3 programs: a solo, A duet w/ a tenor at a church, and a 30 minute program for the Phi Beta performing arts fraternity of which I am a member.

My Indiana farm closed in sale to Doug Kern in Feb. While I no longer own it, I still have all the hiking and fun privileges I did before with none of the work, taxes, or headaches. In May I purchased a small cabin on the camp grounds (next to the farm). At 7′ x 12′ , I joked last summer that OJ Simpson had more space in jail than I. So I spent a lot of the summer commuting to Indiana, fixing up the cabin, and getting a wonderful builder to add a great deck to it in August. I hope by next summer to also add another 5 feet extension to the cabin itself giving me some breathing room inside.

My cousin Fred & family were here the end of June and we spent several days house hunting. They hope to put their Las Vegas house on the market by February, get it sold, and be able to move back to the Dayton area by next summer.

Cincinnati held their 3rd Tall Stacks Celebration for 5 days in October. The next one will be 1999. I signed up as a volunteer worker – and got free admission, discounts on merchandise and, best of all, 3 free riverboat cruises working as a “Boat Ambassador” – including one dinner cruise. The parade cruise was the most thrilling of all with 19 paddlewheel type boats from the huge American Queen to the tiny Andy Ann all traveling down river & jockeying for parade position at one time. Yes, I got some great photos.

In Nov. I totally tore down my dining room, had it painted then rebuilt it as a combination dining/computer room. It took 10 days to assemble 3 furniture pieces for desk and storage — and Friday I DID IT– I bought a whole computer system. My Xmas present to me. It’s an IBM Aptiva minitower w/ everything – 16 RAM, CD-rom, phone & fax modem built in, color printer and a color scanner, and loads of built in software. Yes, Jerry Herbner, I’ll be in contact as soon as I get my own internet address. Any one else that has E-mail or internet addresses, let me know. My word processor is nearing the end of its expected life – and, as a UC instructor, I can have free access to the internet, etc. – for life! I decided the time to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity is now. I had hoped to be able to use this letter to initiate the system – but there is just far too much complicated material to learn & not enough time. So this is the swan song letter for my word processor and you can expect a “prodigious production” as I have fun scanning photos, using different fonts and any other festive fun things I may learn during this next year.

Finally, in Jan. I start a 2nd new class at UC as a moderator/leader for “The Play’s the Thing” in the Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILR). During 8 weeks the class will read aloud & discuss issues and ideas in 3 or 4 plays. Another reason I need my computer. I’ll be able to create papers & handouts at home, send them from my computer directly to UC ILR office computer. They’ll make copies & have them ready for me before class. Isn’t that amazing! Like Tall Stacks, this, too, is a volunteer position, which didn’t turn me on, but I finally decided the enjoyment of the class itself and especially the new people I’d meet would be worth it.

Hecuba, age 11, and Tootsie, age 16, are truly old ladies. Most of the time Hecuba walks like a 90 yr old on a walker, & Tootsie, tho pretty perky, can hardly see. In spite of huge vet bills, they are wonderful companions and I dread that time when I must lose them.

So that’s my year. No big adventurous trip to exotic places this year, but smaller, perhaps more important, journeys — into next year with a 2nd new class and discovering the whole new world of cyberspace; thru last year with my singing, to Tall Stacks, to my new cabin and deck in Indiana; but most of all, back to health and happiness. I hope you and yours also have health and happiness now, and throughout the New Year, as well as the joy of love from family and friends in this Christmas Season.

1. Note, January 2022 – Little did I realize at the time I wrote this letter, that I was starting a lifelong friendship. Annette Roth was with me in the Immanuel choir, but her life centered around her young children, working at the EPA with her PhD in Chemistry, and Immanuel Choir. One day at 1st Presbyterian choir practice, she walked in and sat down beside me. She had left Immanuel for the same reasons I had and so we began, going forward, a lifelong friendship. We went to operas, symphonies, and other musical productions until I ended up in Long Term Care at Twin Towers.

I can’t believe it is Christmas time once again — already?? Time seems to fly by too fast, but perhaps that’s because its been such a busy and fulfilling year.

As you can tell, I am now writing my Christmas letter on the ‘new’ computer I got last Dec.; but you are not going to get the ‘prodigious production’ I promised last year. I’m still a real novice and have had too many problems with the computer to get fancy yet. The scanner I got was very bad, went back immediately and I still have not replaced it. I will someday when I have become more computer efficient. Just 3 weeks ago, 2 computer whiz students in my speech class spent 2 hours here, found the glitch in my computer configuration, put in new software, and got me on the Internet — FINALLY — after 11 months!! They still have to help me get proficient on E-Mail. You can E-Mail me at huntcr@MSN.com and it will probably go thru. Tests with my Munier cousins in Las Vegas have been successfully sent & received, but I guarantee nothing. Joseph, age 13, is also teaching me! I have successfully sent and received faxes on my separate 2nd phone line for the computer: 662-0911. Remember that free lifetime internet access thru U.C.? I installed the software last Dec. and have never gotten on or thru their system. They have something like 150 ports for 50 or 60 thousand people!!! I gave up and signed up with Microsoft Network (MSN). I’ve used the computer a lot this year for word processing for UC and other projects, but have been far too busy otherwise to play with it much.

Last January I came to the conclusion that my long adhered to policy of delayed gratification had reached the point of no return! And so, tho I joined the multitudes having high credit card and line of credit debt, I am thoroughly enjoying the fruits of my extravagance. Next year I’ll live ‘at the foot of the cross’ as my mother used to say.

In Jan. & Feb. I worked with Paul Brunner, my wonderful builder (and now friend), to complete many unfinished projects around my house. Things I would have to do anyway to sell it, so I figured I might as well enjoy them myself first. Then in March we started on a 6×15 ft. addition to my Indiana cabin. We just got the new roof on when, in May, a terrific storm speared a 4” limb right thru the roof, allowing rain to flood the inside. Paul fixed it immediately & we got it all cleaned up, but that was a bad week! The next day, on the way to teach my Clermont College speech class, I had to wreck my car to avoid a terrible collision. I climbed a 9” high curb at 35 mph to avoid crashing into a truck that suddenly turned in front of me. I was fine, but the tires, wheels & suspension on my car were destroyed. Hassles with the truck’s insurance company and my repair place kept me in a rental car for a month.

Sept. ‘95 to Sept.’96 was a wonderful year for singing. Besides my fall ‘95 programs, I sang 2 more duets with Glenn Coven, tenor, 2 solos, 2 oratorios, and went to Europe with the Cincinnati International Chorale (CIC) again. All during Feb. I commuted to Dayton, Ohio to sing my very favorite oratorio, Verdi’s Requiem, with the Dayton Philharmonic Chorus in March. That was a truly thrilling experience.

My teaching work for this year has been both frustrating and fulfilling. In March, I accepted a call to teach a speech class at Clermont College, a 2 year branch of UC on the far east side of town. It was similar in content but very different in student ability and attitude from my Evening College speech class. There were a few really good, nice students, but most complained and were unwilling to do a lot of the work, wandered in 10 to 20 minutes tardy – or had excessive absences, and, worst of all, were smart mouthed and openly challenging in class. It was a worse culture shock than going from Skidmore College to Courter Tech H.S. 35 years ago! Back then I worked thru my problem in one year and became a model teacher demonstrating special techniques for these classes citywide. But now, the 65 mile round trip 3 times a week for the low salary (not to mention my wreck) made this a very unprofitable venture. “I don’t have to put up with this stuff any more!” It was very satisfying to tell them not to consider me for any future classes there.

On the other side, my ILR and Evening College classes are extremely fulfilling and fun. ILR stands for Institute for Learning in Retirement and the ‘students’ are 55 years old plus – even into their 70’s+. What wonderful, fun people. In my class, The Play’s the Thing, we choose 3 or 4 plays, assign parts and read/semi-act out the play in class. A short report of the author precedes the reading, and a lively discussion of ideas generated by characters and theme of the play follows. No real homework, no tests, no pressure — just learning for FUN! Although the ‘job’ is volunteer, the pay in personal satisfaction is far greater than the negative job for pay at Clermont. And positive satisfaction makes the dollars well worth it at my Evening College speech class, as I start my 31st year in January.

From an overfilled and stressful spring, I moved right in to a packed summer schedule. The first of June, Bill Giles had a true family crisis. I had gone to Huntington in April to see Bill’s dad, who had alzheimers, and Beulah, Daddy’s wife. Then the first of June, Beulah had a heart attack Sun. at 3PM, and Bill’s Daddy, William F. Giles, died at 5AM the next morning. Fortunately, Beulah’s double by-pass surgery on Tues was successful and she is fine now! The memorial service in Huntington, which I attended, was postponed til mid-July, but it was a tense week in June. The following Monday, I started jury duty for 3 weeks. I sat on an aggravated assault case for 2 defendants that lasted a full week. The facts of the case were gruesome and unpleasant, but it was an extremely interesting experience. (Yes, we found them guilty).

All spring my bulldog Hecuba’s health had been declining, but no one was willing to help me decide and say “Yes, she should go.” It’s so hard to tell when you live with them every day. Finally, when Tom Grooms came to care for the dogs at noon during my jury duty, HE was kind enough to be honest and say it. Hecuba left this world with a peaceful shot on Friday, June 14, cradled in my arms. Tootsie, who is now totally blind, had a rough summer adjusting to Hecuba’s loss and to a different home in Aug. while I was in Europe. In Sept, I thought she, too, was going; but she rallied and is now doing very well for a 17 year old blind dog.

The last 2 weeks of jury duty were light enough to let me clean house and prepare for the arrival July 1st of my cousin Fred & family (Robin, Joseph, 13, & Suzanne, 10). For almost 3 weeks I was a ‘family of 5.’ We traveled around the area house hunting and vacationing together for a week. Then I said “OK, you are no longer ‘company”-you ‘live here’ now.” The arrangement worked perfectly and we all had a great time and nice visit. One real highlight was taking Joseph and Suzanne to see Verdi’s Otello, their first opera. Yes, they really liked it!

Paul finally finished the cabin in July & I luxuriated there one weekend before preparing for the trip to Europe. That involved trying to solve a health problem. In June, 1995, I joined a national osteoporosis study of the drug Roloxifin. I knew immediately that I was not on a placebo because of interaction with another drug I was taking at the time, which I had to stop. In Nov & Dec I got severe bursitis attacks in my right knee and hip, and in Jan some other side effects. The hip pain would not stop and cortizone couldn’t touch it and I really wanted to quit the study.

In January I learned that the Dayton Ohio Philharmonic Orchestra was going to perform Verdi’s Requim, one of my favorite pieces of music. I joined the chorus and for three months I drove over 100 miles each week to attend rehearsals. As Bill Giles and I always seem to gravitate to the best music, I found out he was also doing the same thing, driving from Martinsville. The final rehearsal and performance week in April, I made 4 trips to Dayton. Singing the performance was one of the highlights of my life, especially singing the “Dies Irea”. I was in heaven. My whole being was swelling with the joy and beauty that was surrounding me. The orchestra, the singers, the music itself, rising to a glorious, glorious climax, filled my being. And then bing! My bubble burst. I suddenly got a damned hot flash. I had to put up with this health problem in reality at the exact moment of my highest transcendence. Oh, was I mad. Okay, that does it! I’m quitting the Reloxifin study NOW. Actually, that’s when they convinced me to go 2 more months, through June, so the data from me would complete one year and be valid.

They convinced me to hang in there 2 more months to give them a year’s data, which I did. I wrote up 4 or 5 detailed pages about my reactions to the drug and then stopped it. While they admitted to the validity of the other side effects, they kept denying joint pain as a possibility. 2 days after I stopped the pills, the stabbing pain in the joint went away. By July the pain had returned, but it was completely different – more general in the whole hip area & running clear down my thigh and calf muscles to my foot. Sometimes I could hardly walk, so I got a series of exercises and another shot before I left for Europe. All that helped, but walking, standing still 40-80 minutes (when we sang), or sitting hours on the bus were all less than comfortable or really painful at times.

THE LAST CHORALE TRIP – HOLLAND & BELGIUM

So now let me take you with me to our Cincinnati International Chorale (CIC) trip to Holland, the city of Cologne, Germany, and Belgium. In addition to the 2 week CIC tour, I went along with Glenn Coven to visit his daughter Denise and her husband, David O’Dell, in England for another week. Gee! That all sounds wonderful. How was it?? And my stock answer is: “Other than ‘that’ Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play (tour)??”

Luckily, Glenn & I booked our own uneventful flight over and back on Delta. The tour flight was a nightmare of mechanical delays, long layovers, and unrestricted smoking on the Martin Air Flight overseas! We were in Europe 12 days – and had 16(!!) singing gigs (double of any previous CIC tour)! There were 10 booked performances, 3 long rehearsals, & 3 short spontaneous performances of our spirituals in churches we visited. The very best and most moving of these was singing Deep River and Hush in the Dom Cathedral in Cologne, Germany. The sound quality and reverb literally sent chills up your spine! The singing was wonderful; and doing it in all these different places — mostly churches, but also Het Loo Palace Chapel (where our audience had to stand, too, for our entire 40 minute concert); Kurhaus dining room (an upscale resort hotel on the beach where our pay was dinner and dancing) and the medieval square (with the flower carpet that is there only 4 days once every 4 years) in Brussels, Belgium –it was an unparalleled experience.

But the down side was that we had no time to see much and even less time to truly enjoy and savor what we did get to see. For instance, the enclosed picture from Holland (your personal post cards from the trip) was taken at an “open air” museum of homes and windmills brought to Zaanse Schanz and reconstructed for preservation. We went in ONE building, a ‘tourist trap’ (nice) shop where they demonstrated how they make wooden shoes. (It is template machines like we make duplicate keys). Then we had to take a rush walk thru the rest of the grounds with no time to go into any other museum homes before getting back on the bus. Total time there – a little over an hour. On to Volendam for a wonderful lunch but no time to appreciate the town, back on the bus to Amsterdam for a 3 hour rehearsal, dress in our ‘black and whites,’ and ride to Haarlem for a performance. After a ‘sound check’ and a quick look at the inside of this wonderful old church, we got ‘one whole hour’ to get a bite to eat on our own and take in what little we could of this marvelous old town and its square. Our full performance was 80+ minutes with a 15-20 minute intermission. Then, immediately back on the bus to go to our hotel. Younger and hardier souls went on into the night and early morning experiencing the pleasures of Amsterdam’s varied night life, but not I. The first Thursday there, we did get to savor Gouda (pronounced HOW’ da), its church and town square, for 2 hours while John Leman, our conducto , rehearsed the orchestra. At 1 PM we listened to a 45 min. organ concert in the church, and then we were supposed to have our FIRST rehearsal with the orchestra. But someone announced on the town square (which was packed for market day) that we would be singing, and a huge audience showed up – one of our largest! John arrived from lunch almost late – and was he shocked!! We all took a big gulp and went thru the program with no real perceptible glitches. It was scary, but also exhilarating.

In Amsterdam, I took 2 canal boat tours (one at night), saw the Rejksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum, but did not get to the Anne Frank House again (I saw it in 1965), which was a real disappointment. We had an extensive tour of the canals & new polders (the fields enclosed by the dykes) with in-depth information on how they were constructed and worked. Other towns we ‘skimmed’ were the Hague, Delft, Utrecht, Apeldoorn, and Maastricht in Holland. Then on to Cologne for one late afternoon and evening. The next day we left Cologne and drove for 5 hours thru the Ardennes on our way to Brussels. Elliot (who books these tours) had scheduled NOT ONE pit stop in 5 hours!! Finally, the top deck of the bus revolted and Ivan, our bus driver, found a place in the bushy woods of the Ardennes to stop along the road. Men and women poured off the bus and headed for the bushes to relieve themselves!!

In Belgium we had ‘bus drive-thru tours’ of Liege and Brussels, walking tours of Brussels’ Medieval Square, Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp. My second picture is of the medieval square in Bruges. These gabled houses from the 15th & 16th century are typical of those found throughout Holland and Belgium, though these are more brightly painted than most. Typical, too, are the myriad bicycles that you, as a pedestrian, are responsible to keep clear of! Bicycle hot-rodders are ubiquitous and dangerous to naive, unsuspecting pedestrians and tourists.

For the first week of the trip I fought my painful hip. As good exercise and the shot began to make it feel better, by the 2nd Thurs – I (along with several other people) picked up a very severe sinus infection. I was so sick, I could not sing our last concert in Antwerp. Monday, Glenn & I flew to England & on Tues. morning I was experiencing the British Socialized Medical system. Both the doctor and the cephalexin at the ‘chemist’ were FREE! I was really sick! Used up 2 giant boxes of tissues in one week, slept in the car all the way to Bath and to Wales, managed only 3 hours to tour the Roman Baths & 4 hours at St. David’s Cathedral, and that was it! Friday, the O’Dells walked us all over London (British Museum, Charing Cross Road, etc.). We finally got a bus to Victoria Theater where I happily sat down for a good dinner – and then saw the musical Jolson, a great show. Saturday I sent Glenn & Denise into London alone while I stayed in bed, missing a chance to see the new Globe Theater. A wonderful direct flight home to Cincy on Sun. ended with my getting my large, primary suitcase back completely smashed and mangled!!

A bad hip, poor tour planning, overbooked singing, a severe sickness, a smashed suitcase —”Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln……” No wonder these negatives overshadowed the good experiences! I was sick for 4 weeks plus, antibiotics notwith-standing (as were all the others). I got well just in time for UC and ILR to start in the fall. Also this fall I was Chairman of the Drama Workshop Playreading Committee (PRC). We held meetings almost every weekend for 2 months and I read about 50 or 60 plays. During that time I had to catalogue & ID my 23 rolls of film before the Oct. 26 picture party. On Oct 6, CIC did a performance of our program for the Presbyterian church in Worthington (Columbus) Ohio from which about 1/2 of our tour chorus people came. By that time, I was rested and well and sang better than I ever had, which was very satisfying. Our tape of that performance is beautiful and very professional.

So now the pictures are finished and in their albums ready for viewing, PRC is finished, ILR fall term is done, and UC speech class is over December 9. The best news is–my hip–so intensely painful in October again after the shot had worn off, and with even stronger debilitating pain in November — suddenly, magically?, became pain free the third week of November! Right on schedule 5 months after stopping the study.

So, as we enter this Christmas season, all seems right with the world. I certainly hope is is for you, too.

I talked to Dean’s brother, Freddie, last week.  (“Little” Freddie, as I always called him, is now about 38, and has 3 sons:  Jason, 17;  Justin, 15;  Jeremy, 12.  He is a law enforcement officer in Yukon, Okla.  But he will always be “Little Freddie – Age 10”  in my memory!!)   Dean is feeling better right now, and, experiencing ‘cabin fever’ from being cooped up so much, loaded his family in the car and drove from Jenks (Tulsa suburb) to Yukon (Oklahoma City suburb)  to visit Freddie & his family on November 30.

He has a rare cancer that attacks only the fat cells in the body.  Dean is a body builder and essentially has no fat — except at his lower buttocks where the cancer is lodged, encircling certain spine and leg nerves,etc.  Good news is the cancer has shrunk from chemo and radiation treatments.  Bad news is it has shrunk only from the inside, making it smaller, but it still has not gotten smaller ‘on the outside’, shrinking away from the nerves and whatever else it is wrapped around so they can operate and take it out.  He is taking another chemo & radiation series of treatments right now hoping to shrink the outside.  Dean’s 2nd wife, Dianna, is still controlling the phone, making it virtually impossible to contact him that way.  Fred still has not been able to call thru to him.  I have tried several times myself with no luck.  Mail is reaching him.  His address is:

Dean Munier        10920 S. Elgin Ave.       Jenks,  Oklahoma  74037

Dear Family and Friends,

The invigorating chill and warm Christmas lights reflecting on the glistening snow all serve to infuse the happy glow of Christmas Spirit in the air. Time to start my yearly letter. I just finished reading my ’96 letter – and Goodness! What a lot I did that year! I got tired just reading it. Ha. And I even left one big December activity out (explained later). This past year has been far less eventful with few lows or problems.

While I spent ’96 fulfilling all my “delayed gratification” desires, I made a 180 and spent ’97 getting rid of ‘stuff and ‘cleaning down’ as I called it. I dismantled my black and white photo darkroom, sold the enlarger and some supplies to Bill Giles, gave some away & stored others in a box. Then I spent 5 days over 4 months working in Bill’s larger & lighter darkroom (where I don’t get claustrophobia) on a photo project printing enlarged photos of the 40 or 50 negs I have of the 1974 tornado and its aftermath. I have created a special display album that (23 years later) has become quite a hit as people reminisce about its power, distruction and their own experiences. I still shoot color photos but let machines handle the processing!

In other cleaning down’ projects, I donated all my costume designs, patterns, class and teaching notes, bibliography, etc, to Sarah Gilfoy, a senior in Costume Design at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. She had won the TDW (Drama Workshop) Scholarship last year, and I felt that all that knowledge and pattern work would best be utilized and preserved thru her. And so closed another chapter sweeping note, half the entire attic is cleaned bare and loads of ‘stuff got dumped, recycled or donated to the Free Store, mostly from the basement, but also from closets & drawers throughout the house. The discouraging part is how much more is still left to go thru yet!

Concurrent with my clean down, from April to Nov., I got more building ‘projects’ completed by Paul Brunner around the house: new roof; new sewer run-off system so hopefully my basement addition room will no longer flood; and complete re-landscaping on the 10 ft. strip north of the house for 100 ft. (new walls, steps, a brick pavement walk ramp, flower bed units, etc.); terra cotta & slate tile on half the basement floor & new rug on the other half. I did about 1/2 the grouting of the floor tile myself in July.

I didn’t travel much this year. I flew to Las Vegas to visit w/ Muniers for 10 days in March. The first day I rented a car & took a wonderful scenic tour of Valley Of Fire National Monument 50 miles NE of Vegas. The full 1 day trip is nothing short of spectacular & should be on the “must see” list for anyone visiting Vegas. The beauty of nature there far outshines all the gaudy man-made artificiality on The Strip. The next day I got sick (again! – What’s with this going on vacation and getting sick??!!) with an intense infection & had another round of Dr. & antibiotics. Actually, since my Europe illness 16 months ago, I have had 5 or 6. bacterial or viral illness sessions. I had gone years with no infections, but that Europe session must have really done a number on weakening my immune system.

In April I went to Huntington to visit Beulah Giles & attend a Marshall University Class of 51-2-3 combined reunion luncheon. It was enjoyable and interesting, but not many people attended — no one I had known as friends in college. Too Bad. We had a wonderful FREE lunch, gifts of 2 expensive books, and 2 8×10 photos sent to us later. (I know! Now I’m supposed to, as a grateful alum, send money back to support the Univ. & its projects!) The only other travel I have done is ‘commutes’ around the area to Dayton, Columbus, Martinsville, and OF COURSE many trips to my wonderful cabin at camp March thru November.

My 2 biggest ventures this year are Brandy & “The Summer of the Elm Tree.” First, Brandy. The 1st of June I got a 2 year old pure bred Sheltie from the Sheltie Rescue program. (Photo enclosed for those of you who have not met her). She is large for a Sheltie (30 lbs) & people keep asking if she is a collie. Her only negative is, like all Shelties, she barks a lot, but otherwise she is smart, obedient, fun, a dainty lady – quite the opposite from Hecuba. We did 8 weeks of dog school in June/July for training and bonding. She was one of the best trained and behaved dogs in class. I am absolutely thrilled with her and love her to death! Believe it or not, Tootsie still ‘hung in there thru this year. She especially perked up when Brandy came. And Brandy ‘adopted’ her as her own personal little white ‘lamb. She would ‘herd’ Tootsie or stand straddle her to ‘protect her from the wolves. They’d do this funny dance’ as Tootsie would try to walk out from under Brandy, then B would step around trying to keep T under her. Really cute. Unfortunately, this last month, Tootsie got more & more emaciated and ‘out of it’. A visit to her groomer affirmed what I feared. So, Thurs, Dec 11, Bill accompanied me to the Vet, Paul dug her grave and made her a ‘pine box’, and we buried Tootsie by the cedar tree & new garden wall. Coping with all this has helped delay this letter.

Last summer I almost had a tragedy with a 100+ ft. tall Elm Tree, c. 150-200 yrs old, that grew on the property at my backyard fence line. I called Lisa in Feb. with concerns, and talked to her housemate cousin in May, voicing my fears the tree would fall on my house. “That’s just not very high on our list of priorities” was their answer. The first week I had Brandy, a large limb fell, only missing her by 5 ft. Then 2 tree experts said the tree was badly split, a fall was imminent, and my house in real danger. She refused to pick up certified letters, but I got a letter in her hand over the back fence. When I called again, (now July 10) asking for action, she accused me of harassing her. So I called the city. The inspector actually turned white when he saw the tree. (The trunk was almost 3 ft in diameter). They cut red tape, cited her over the phone & gave her only 3 (not 4) weeks to remove the tree. That day, 7/17, she did get the 2 halves tied together, but deferred felling date until the last day of the 3 weeks! Long story short – 10 days later we had a severe storm with a microburst of wind — and YES, it blew down!! Luckily, the wind direction (from N) & the rope guided the tree to fall South along the back property lines instead of West (the way it was leaning) on my house. Problems getting my fence repaired lasted til Sept, so my mind & energy was consumed all summer with the conflict, fears and problems caused by the Elm tree and its recalcitrant owner. The tree was taken down July 29, but trunk sections still litter her backyard & only half of them just got split and stacked for firewood this week, 5 months later.

I mentioned that I omitted a big activity from last December. It was 2 intense, hard working weeks of compiling a resume and dossier 1 1/2 inches thick to be submitted to the University of Cincinnati College of Evening & Continuing Education for promotion to Adjunct Assistant Professor. All the time & effort spent writing and assembling the packet just at Christmastime reminded me of one reason why I left full time college teaching years ago. But it was worth it as I got my promotion in September. The irony is that this past Sept – for the very first time – I really was not anxious or ready for speech class and the school year to start. I start my 32nd year teaching speech class in Jan. & have been teaching 42 years. I loved it – and was not ready to give it up — always wondering how I would know when to quit. Well, this year I just knew, so I think either Spring or Fall qtr. 1998 may well be my last.

I am still singing and taking voice lessons/coaching. Its another irony that just when I have found the ‘right’ teacher who is truly teaching me how to correctly use my voice – its at the point where my voice isn’t always able, physically, to be there, or tires more easily, not to mention the frustration of all those colds. I’ve done a number of solos & duets with Glenn Coven at his church & Faure Pie Jesu at Westwood Presby Church. The most fun was a special choir performance of Mozart’s Requiem Nov. 2. Best I’ve ever sung. I look forward to singing the Brahms’ Requiem in April with my Westwood choir.

That’s it for this year. I look forward to hearing from you. For those of you who faced adversity this year, my heart goes out to you. For those of us blessed with a good year, I count those blessings and treasure every healthy, happy day, hoping the New Year will bring more of the same.

Dear Bruce:

The E-mail works fine. It’s the recepient that is causing delays.
I logged in to get the mail Tues. eve. — and here it is Fri eve 3/20 before
I can get an answer back. The problem was my UC speech
class; I had to grade speeches and the final exam and got grades in
today. But no rest for the wicked. I now have to prepare for my class
in Institute for Learning in Retirement at UC “The Play’s the Thing” ,
Do 3 hours a day Thurs thru Sun 3/26-29 singing Brahms “Requiem”
or Mendelsohn’s “Elijah” rehearsals & performance. Then my speech
class starts again 3/30.
Thanks so much for the info. I considered what you told me and I
decided to get only one more farmhouse picture set for your branch of
the family – and give that to Jeffrey. I turned in the printing of the
farm ]
house pictures today and will get them next week. I figure, with every
thing else I have to do, it will take me until the end of April to get them
all catalogued, labeled and stuffed in the jackets for everyone. And then I
will do the revised info sheet to go with it – combining the one you have
with the one I wrote at Fred’s this month.
My schedule will be tight til Easter, April 10. After that, I will
call and we will talk about getting together with the basket and the baby
and getting pictures. Fondly, Cousin Carolyn

It’s December 17 and I am very late – just getting started on my Christmas letter & cards – while enjoying reading all the news from you ‘early birds.’ I know many of you won’t get this til after Xmas, but there is a good reason.

I wanted to start my Christmas letter right after Thanksgiving, but finishing out an overcommitted, super busy Oct/Nov. just kept delaying me. Then the first week in Dec. I started to get heart/chest pains. Symptoms persisted, so yesterday (12/16) I went in for an angiogram and, for all they could tell ahead of time, maybe an angioplasty. It took me a week just to get my U.C. grades in, close out several other commitments and, with no family around, line up ‘support personnel’ for this hospital/home care procedure. I offer many, many thanks to Bill Giles who came down for 2 days to take over care of my house, Brandy, and me when I came home; to Tom Grooms, Annette Roth, and Barbara Sorensen for active and moral support at the hospital; and to so many other concerned and caring friends in my time of need.

The good news is the angiogram showed my heart is strong and healthy — Dr. could not even find residual evidence of my 1989 mild heart attack — and my arteries are completely open, clear & flowing! Great!!?? So the ‘bad news’ is: “Now what is causing my fatigue, occasional dizziness, and especially the heart pains?” I am sure stress from a plate too full of things to do and responsibilities (and maybe age?) has a lot to do with it. Anyway, I guess this will have to be a ‘Perils of Pauline’ cliffhanger. Answers next year!

I guess I do do too much, but I thoroughly enjoy all of it. Last year I started thinking about retiring from teaching my UC speech class. This year it is a certainty – on June 7, 1999 with 34 years at UC and 43 years in teaching, I will finally fully retire. That will then only leave moderating my Play Reading class for the ILR (Institute for Learning in Retirement) in Spring (Apr/May) and Fall (Oct/Nov). And I just got a second person to Co-moderate with me, cutting that work load in half.

I continue to do weekly vocal coaching lessons and sing in the Westwood Presby Church and other special performance choirs. I sang Elijah with the Dayton Philharmonic chorus last March, Brahms’ Requiem and Poulenc Gloria at church, and Mozart Requiem again in Oct.; as well as a number of solo/program gigs throughout the year. One especially interesting activity this fall was being a ‘standardized patient’ for a Freshman Univ of Cin. Medical School Clinical Practice class. We are given scenarios to follow and must do improvi- zational acting based on the scenarios as the students practice asking us questions in mock patient inter- views. Its fun, medically educational, and pays $20 an hour (as opposed to ILR being completely volunteer)!

Finally, I am again secretary of Phi Beta professional performance arts fraternity, on Drama Workshop Board, and still take history photo shots of TDW plays. I am doing a big project for TDW reassembling their awards history with photos and computer generated season and show pages. Have also been working on the Brown Family History.

A special joy this past year has been my special visits with Rasor (Dad’s side) and Brown (Mother’s) family members. I flew to Las Vegas in March to visit my Munier family. Then they drove to Cincy in June. What wonderful visits! I treated the Muniers to a B&B Riverboat dinner cruise for Joseph’s 15th birthday. Then while Robin drove to Nashville for a PTA convention, Joseph, Suzanne (12), Fred and I went to Cincinnati Pops Riverbend concert, Zoo, and (best of all) visited with Brown family members around Dayton. (I audio-taped our visits filled with family stories with hopes of transcribing them into a written family history.) Then I drove J, S, & F down to Nashville where we met Robin and enjoyed 3 days of sightseeing. When I got back to Cincy late Thurs nite July 3, a phone message from my broker said “Call me about Capstead!” — a stock I had insisted he sell in April, but unfortunately he as insistently talked me out of selling. As an early precursor to the general market drop, this stock plunged on 6/30 — It had risen 2 points by the time I got to Bob after ‘the Fourth’ weekend, but he still sold it – and I lost $11,000!!! To make a long story short, I was furious he did not accede to my April sell request, I fired him, and my new broker is Fred’s broker in LAS VEGAS!!! Joseph (at 15) is very much into stocks, etc. He is attending the ‘financial school program’ at Clark Academy High School in LV; has been school representative to financial business luncheon meetings, and was the chosen ‘student subject’ of a 3 min TV news special report on the Clark ‘financial program.’ Instead of watching MTV, like many teenagers, Joseph plops himself in front of CNBC and watches the tape scroll of market quotations at the bottom of the screen!! (Not to be outdone, Suzanne is carving her own niche by taking piano lessons.) Anyway, in addition to good investment advice from Joseph, Steve, my new broker, has diversified my portfolio, got me into some good growth stocks and mutual funds, and converted 1/3 of my IRA money into a Roth. So, in addition to everything else these last 5 months, I have also been playing ‘money games.’

Last summer I remodeled my kitchen. It all started May 1st when the wall vent fan died. Then 3 days later my 35 year old electric range died (it was due). In addition, being sick from an infection and bronchitis from March to mid-May, and very pooped, convinced me it was time to finally join the 20th century and get a dishwasher. (I love it!! Why didn’t I do this sooner??) All that triggered the necessity for new wiring, plumbing, kitchen and hall flooring, etc, etc. So a broken $20.00 vent fan grew into a major several thousand dollar redo project.

At the beginning of June, I got a new white toy poodle, almost a ‘Tootsie clone.’ As another rescue venture, Cookie was 6 1/2 years old, had been a ‘puppy factory’ her whole life and had just weaned her last litter. Tho greatly loved by her owner, she had spent most of her life in a 4’x 5’ pen, not fully housebroken — trained to paper only. It took her all summer including 8 weeks of obedience training to adjust. Brandy went back to intermediate training, too. Taking ‘dog school’ together helped the 2 dogs bond and they are ‘real buddies’ now. Brandy has trained Cookie to play ‘tug’, wrestle and chase games. But this is my best story: One day in Sept., the dogs were outside in the back yard while I was busy working at the computer. Brandy started barking – not unusual; but 10 minutes of insistent distress barking finally drew me to the door. The driveway gate was open and Cookie was gone! A visual survey of backyards to the south revealed nothing, so Brandy and I went to the front yard with me loudly calling ‘Coooookieeeee’. Here came Cookie running around the north corner of the house. Brandy bolted and met her at the front steps. Then, body to body, nipping at her ear and emitting a scolding bark the whole way, Brandy quickly herded Cookie right back into the backyard where she belonged. I just stood there stunned in amazement. I didn’t have to scold. I didn’t have to do anything. Brandy had done it all.

I spent many weekends at my cabin at camp this summer. This fall the dogs loved walking the paths with me on my former farm, free and off lead. Finally, in October, I drove to Charleston, W. Va. to attend my 50th Stonewall Jackson High School reunion. It was the first time I had been back in 50 yrs. It was wonderful to remember and be remembered by old friends. Memories and incidents came flooding back. I took along my photo album with 12 pages of pictures from 1948. (Yes, I was a photographer way back then, too.) It became such a hit, they want to reproduce the photos in a special display for the next reunion. My high school is now a junior hi in a crime/drug area; my Lincoln Jr. Hi is now a Kroger grocery, and my Fernbank elementary school is now a Revco drug store!! I also got to have a wonderful visit staying with John & Bonnie Bowyer, renewing my W.Va. church group memories. I ended the trip Sunday being treated to a delicious lunch at Margaret and Dorsey Taylor’s while we reminisced about our wonderful halcyon days at Marshall College.

A Final Story: I drove over 1000 miles that weekend, including 200 miles to board each dog with its former owner. By Monday, I was dead tired and still had to teach speech class at UC till 9:10pm. Then 2 students stayed over for needed one-on-one work. Finally finished at 10:10pm., I offered to drive my student, Joe, to his car 1/2 mile away. As we walked out to my car in front of the building, I asked Joe if he could see any UC Campus Cop cars. I was just too tired to drive through UC on the ONE WAY campus drive, then over a mile around the campus, when I could reach the same place by backing up (the wrong way!) about 500 feet (very illegal), and then dropping down to Clifton Ave. on a short driveway. I backed up very slowly and carefully, and as I swung my back end around, there was the cop car sitting on my left at the stop sign! Oops! Busted! He followed me down the drive and did not turn on his lights to stop me until I got clear out on Clifton Ave. (a main 7 lane street).

Fortunately, he sympathized with my story — older, dead tired professor doing a good deed taking student to his car late at night. —-But he still had to give me a warning. He called in to HQ as I gave him my license, then went back to his cruiser. About 2 or 3 min later, another cop car drove up and stopped — lights blazing –and another! —and another—AND ANOTHER!!!! So there I was, 10:30 at night, sitting on Clifton Ave surrounded by FIVE cop cars — all their bright red, white and blue lights flashing away. Finally, after a few minutes, they began, one by one to peal away down the street. Only one was left as ‘my’ cop approached with the ticket. “I told those guys they had better leave before they scared you to death.” he said. I didn’t let him know Joe and I were in stitches, roaring with laughter at this crazy event. “Why?” I asked. He said they were required to call in for a backup on every stop for safely because there had been some assaults. “But the other 3??” “Well, it’s a slow night; no one had anything else to do,—-and it was shift change!!!”

I know I started out this letter revealing a serious health scare, & battled infections last spring, but really these are just blips in an otherwise happy, positive year filled with interesting & fulfilling activities and adventures — enhanced by being touched by warm and caring friends in so many different and wonderful ways.

Most of you know how tours in Europe (or anywhere for that matter) are run.  They are geared to see as many touristy places as possible in a very superficial way.  This Globus tour, while a very good one, was no different.  The best parts of our Italian vacation were the days at the beginning and end of the tour when we were on our own.  

During our 4 days in Rome (Sat-Tues) we stayed at a perfectly charming little hotel in the center of town almost next door to the Rome Opera House (closed and under scaffolding).  We could walk to almost everything.  Sat Afternoon Marienne and I struck out down the Via Quatra di Fontana to meet Pam, her life long friend and Delta airline hostess in town for the day, at the Spanish Steps.  We stopped for a delicious Gelato (ice cream) and wandered around lost for a while before we found the Trevi Fountain. At one of their busy piazza intersections, a police car came careening thru the traffic, its two tone siren blaring away. Hanging out of the 2 back side windows-almost to their waist-were two cops, each wildly waving a ‘ping-pong’ paddle imprinted with the word STOP.  It all happened too fast for a picture, but we roared in laughter because it looked exactly like a Keystone Kops silent film clip.

We spent almost all day Sunday wandering thru the ruins of all the different Roman forums.  I was amazed to see ancient walls from 2000 years ago thoroughly imbedded as an integral part of currently used apartments and business buildings!  I successfully fought off a pretty determined 10 yr. old gypsy girl trying to steal my wallet out of my fanny pack, as I screamed “Basta” (‘enough’ — its the only Italian word I could think of in the heat of the moment). It was loud enough to attract a handsome Italian man who came over and told her off in Italian – a real savior.

We did not go inside the Coliseum because that was listed as a major stop on our tour — Mistake! – Our guide passed it off as not worth seeing and skipped it.  But we luxuriated  for an hour at the San Pietro in Vincoli church, drinking in the beauty of Michangelo’s Moses sculpture. Italians have crazy hours and ignore or are very loose about laws and printed times.  The church with the angel used in “Tosca” opened 45 minutes after its scheduled time, (and then we found the angel was buried under scaffolding and tarps); the Art Museum showing a special El Greco exhibit was listed as closed on Monday, so we went Tues to discover that it had been open Mon, and was closed Tues!  So Wed. we left our tour, staying an extra hour at St. Peters. A half hour breathing in the beauty of the cathedral. The rest of the time trying to eat lunch outside in the foyer, but got chased off of the steps by the Swiss Guard.

We then took an adventurous bus ride back to the El Greco exhibit.  It was actually kind of scary. We walked out and caught a public bus with all kinds of people and had to watch to make sure nothing was stolen. The El Greco museum was finally open so we got to tour the exhibit. When we came out of the museum, we had researched taking public transportation. So we decided – what the heck – to take a taxi after that scary public bus ride. It was a good decision. The taxi took us right to our restaurant. We got extra time talking with the people at the restaurant. It made it a nice, relaxing, afternoon. It was well worth it!

And then our tour people came in. While they rode a bus from St. Peters to the hotel and maybe changed clothes, and then went back out to have another bus ride to the restaurant, all touristy stuff, they missed experiencing the real Italian streets, an art exhibit, and a leisurely end of the day at the restaurant. I like our adventures better!

The tour, Wed. thru the following Friday, was as memorable for what we missed as for what we saw.  

We got to see Pisa and its leaning tower, but missed Siena;  What we saw in Florence was great, but had to leave at 3PM because of a hotel change, denying us another afternoon and evening there.  2 hours in Milan only gave us time to superficially survey the Cathedral, (kind of like our choir tour trips) and practically run through the La Scala Opera museum.  I wanted more time in San Marco cathedral in Venice to drink in the beautiful mosaics, but we experienced “walking the planks” in San Marco Square when it was covered midday with the high tide water.  Ravenna was a 40 minute pit stop at a 12th century church just south of town while the gorgeous St. Vitale mosaics were skipped.  In Assisi, we missed seeing the renovated upper basilica destroyed by the earthquake two years ago by just 6 weeks, but the rest of the complex was very interesting.  I’ll always wonder how they restored those beautiful Giotto frescos.  A 2 hour tour of  Pompeii, a day at the Isle of Capri, and a hydrofoil ride to Naples completed the formal tour.  

The 5 wonderful days – Sat thru Wed – on our own in Sorrento were spent at the Sorrento Palace Hotel, a large complex with a 6 level contoured swimming pool with cascading falls between each level, and high enough up the mountain to give a fantastic view of the Bay of Naples and Mt. Vesuvius.  We learned it was built by the Italian Mafia with laundered money.  Sat, Sun, and Wed. Mariennne and I just relaxed and rested, lolling by the pool, drinking in the view, visiting with tour friends, and I tried out the weight room.  Globus offered many more bus tours which we ignored to ‘do our own thing’ on Mon and Tues.  Our 2 hour Pompeii tour had been wholly inadequate.  The guide lined the group up along a wall along the street and stood there and talked for almost 20 minutes.  I ignore guides for the most part.  I study intensively before I go so I have time to really SEE these wonderful places.  So I wandered behind that wall and found the Basilica.  I leisurely looked at everything, and came out to find the guide still talking, so I went across the street and  took in the Temple of Apollo.  Still talking; so I rested a bit.  Finally, totally ignoring these two wonderful spots I had found, he took us thru the Forum, to a restaurant, and the House of Vettii (that was wonderful).  But he also ignored the Roman Baths, House of the Faun, the Bordello, Large and small theaters, Gladiator Academy, etc. etc.  So Mon. Marienne and I took the train back to Naples and spent several hours at the National Archeological Museum, to see other Pompeii artifacts.  While there, it poured rain, after which we hopped the train back and got off at Pompeii to catch everything the first tour missed.  The rain was just passing Pompeii, and had driven many of the tourists out of the ‘city’.  So when we went in, there were very few people left wandering around, the clouds were roiling, lightning and thunder echoed in the background.  The atmosphere really gave us the shivvers, making us feel like Vesuvius might erupt again any minute.  It was truly thrilling. Tues was an even better day.  I  had booked a private driver to take us to Paestum (Greek temples and city from 400 B.C. with a wonderful museum.)  Paolo was a retired merchant seaman who had sailed all over the world, including the US and was a wonderful driver and guide.  Anytime and any place we wanted, he would stop for us to take pictures; what a luxury!  He took us to WWII sites and graveyard, gave us all the time we wanted at Paestum, drove thru Salerno (where we tried an Italian McDonald’s – pretty good!)  and then along the Amalfi Coast.  (Note photograph)  This was truly the highlight of our whole trip.  Near the end we had truly become friends, and he asked us what we were doing for dinner.  Having soup at the hotel dining room.  “I take you to dinner!”  he said.  Oh!  What a dinner.  He drove us to the top of the mountain to a cozy restaurant owned by a friend of his and off the tourist trail.  A REAL Italian restaurant where real Italians eat.  It sat on the edge of the cliff, and from our table by the window we could see the Bay on Naples on our left, and the Bay of Salerno on our right.  Behind us the pizza oven flamed (just like the one we saw at Pompeii) and we could watch the cook make our pizza .  Paolo had pizza, we had an appetizer and entree each, and we all enjoyed a bottle of the owner’s home made wine (Delicious!!)  Total of $18 for all 3 of us!!.  Moral:  ignore the tourist traps; see the Real Italy! 

I never send post cards on a trip like this.  Hopefully, this triptych and the enclosed personal photos are a better substitute.       

Arrivederci.

Picture: Restaurant Owner – Carolyn Ruth Hunt – Marienne K. Skinner – Paolo, our driver