It's
been a year of many transitions at the Canfields, as well as enjoyment
of the beauty of Eagle Rock Reserve with friends and family, and perfecting
our skills as empty nesters.
This
summer saw the arrival of our fourth and fifth grandchildren, Mark Ansel
Canfield to Karin and John Walker, and Esther Linnea Macke to Paige and
Tim.Could they be any cuter?
In
the course of these events, plus the celebration of Grandma Jane's 75th
birthday, one or bothof us (mostly
Deb, in the granny nanny mode) has been away from home for a total of twelve
weeks this year.Enough!
Deb
is cutting back on her tennis, both as a player and President of the Bozeman
Tennis Association.She finds volunteer
work for Bozeman's outstandingEagle
Mount water therapy program more rewarding, and her participation has grown
to several afternoons per week.
Chelsea
had a great year.She turned 21,
which she celebrated with a summer trip to her old haunts in Hawaii.She
got to see two of our other grandchildren, Rob and Kimi's daughters Arielle
and Maia.The big news is that she
got into nursing school - she will start classes at MSU in Bozeman this
spring, and then clinical work in Billings for the next two years.Finally,
she rewarded herself for working hard and saving money by buying her own
car - a nice 2000 Subaru Outback wagon that is infinitely better than the
clunkers that Dad was always coming up with.
According
to our grand plan, this is Dick's last year of full-time work. He thinks
that just because he turned 67 this year, it's OK for him to remove his
nose from the grindstone, at least some of the time.His
50th high school reunion is next summer!
We
are fortunate to have many good friends from the beautiful places we've
lived over the years, and we've very much enjoyed having several of them
visit this year.We've enjoyed their
visits to Montana just as much as they have, and look forward to turning
the tables when we get into the snowbird mode.
There
is never enough space in this Christmas letter for all the good pictures
- the rest are on Dick's family web site: http://solar.physics.montana.edu/canfield/family/.We
hope to have a chance to see you and yours in the coming year!
Dick
and Deb