Dear friends and relatives,

Hope this holiday season brings you and yours everything you could wish for. My life continues to shower me with wonderful, helpful people. As they have been doing for years now, my kids and grandkids each take one evening a week to take me out to dinner or make me a home-cooked meal. We spend the evening together while they catch me up on their lives. It’s the highlight of every week.

They are all doing very well. Dan continues his work with Ericsson as a cell phone field tech. Dawn is still an unemployed/self-employed web designer (her words). They live in Mounds View where they have learned the joys of older home ownership dealing with a broken air conditioner in the heat of the summer and a broken water main which damaged their basement. They also had fun though, and recently returning from one of their many train vacations this time visiting Portland, Oregon to ride a special passenger excursion train and to celebrate their 20^th  wedding anniversary.

Kathy started working full-time in March for the first time since the kids were little. She works for her previous company, Fingerhut, as a copywriter where she’s been contracting part-time for the last 3 years. Cam is working for an advertising agency in downtown Minneapolis as a web developer. Connor, 18, is a freshman at the University of Minnesota studying Chemical Engineering. He loves the U and playing saxophone in the U of M Marching Band. He is excited to be going to his first bowl game this year in Houston, TX on Dec. 28th. Kyla, 15, is a sophomore at Wayzata High School and plays clarinet in the WHS Marching Machine in the fall and Symphonic Band the rest of the year.

Dave switched companies this year and now works at Northland as a bill collector. He and Barb, whom he has been dating for 3 ½ years, took a trip to northern CA with a stop to visit Mike and Mary and family. Garth (20)  graduated a year ago from Minneapolis Media Institute where he studied music production. While he searches for the perfect job in his field, he is working at Jimmy John’s sandwich shop as a manager-in-training. Hannah (19)  is just about finished with her child development program at Hennepin Technical College and is interning at a day care facility at her school. She hopes to one day work in the day care field.

As for me, I continue to live at RidgePointe, an independent senior living facility, and am still enjoying it very much. I’m no longer the youngest senior there as new residents move in quite often. I keep extremely busy helping other residents with technology problems. Any time someone has a problem with their computer, phone or TV, they give me a call. I’m happy to help and do so with up to 4 requests a day!

Computer Interest Group. We meet every Friday morning for 2 hours. Mostly I’m concerned with keeping the meetings moving and coordinating guest speakers as well as maintaining their website.

As far as my travels go, I spent 2 ½ months in Texas, January through mid-March. It was nice to get away from the cold but it was too long. This winter, I’ll be going for just 6 weeks. Watch my family website http://roger-theresa.n0kfb.org/ for links to my upcoming 2013 Texas Trip blog.

Other travels took me to David’s cabin north of Alexandria several times over the summer. Then In September, I spent two weeks in Blue Earth working with my brother Jim, hauling corn and soybeans to the town elevator. It was exhausting work, but also a nice change from my routine at home. While there, I took lots of photos of the harvest and ten were chosen to hang in the RidgePointe gallery in the atrium. Many of the residents were farmers in another life so I get lots of comments and compliments about them.

As you may know, I graduated from St. Thomas in 1961 and as a result of having graduated over 50 years ago, I’m now a member of the Old Guard which helps to plan class reunion events and advise the school on other subjects. I spent a nice weekend earlier this fall touring the campus, going to a football game and being recognized as an “old” alum. It was exciting to hear that the football team made it to the national championship game. Too bad the outcome couldn’t have been different.

Well, today is Tuesday and that means I have a lot going on. At 9:00 a.m. there’s a coffee chat where management tells us what's happening. Then at 10:00 we have a lecture on Women in the WWII Air Corps - should be interesting. At 11:15 is the RidgePointe Resident Council meeting of which I am Treasurer. Finally 3:00 p.m. is our monthly birthday party complete with entertainment. And finally, this evening, Dan and Dawn will pick me up to go out to supper. Tuesday is definitely my busiest day.

One final note… Last spring, I retired from the Barbershop Harmony Society judging program in which I spent over 30 years. (You may recall that I quit singing in September of 2010.) I miss the camaraderie, but I sure don't miss all the work, long nights, and responsibility. I attended my former chorus’s final show of the season recently, but that's about all the singing stuff I do anymore.

I'm still exercising daily - either jogging, biking, or walking the halls (when the weather gets really bad). Winter has started. Snow earlier this week produced almost 600 accidents... time to head for Texas.

Best wishes for a peaceful holiday season,

Roger