Hi, all!
The Thatchford holiday greeting comes a little tardy this year, but we've been so busy that we just didn't have time to jot down all we did in 2009.
Happy 2010, everyone!
Wally and I continue to relish our retirement. We're so active now that we have no idea how we ever found the time to work before! (Though, if the truth be known, Wally wasn't doing so much at his job toward the end.)
Personally, I'm volunteering a few times a week at our local public library and am getting down what the staff calls my "whisper voice." Even though no more than a handful of patrons have ever been disturbed enough to actually leave the premises, it seems the staff aren't particularly fond of either humming or good old fashioned hollerin'. I'm sure any of you with children know that nothing quite gets someone's attention so well as sneaking up behind them and letting out a nice earsplitting, "QUIET!!!" But I guess if the library wants to encourage rude, cell-phone using patrons, it's their funeral.
On the hubby front, Wally's golf game is coming along nicely. In fact, the man seems completely obsessed! My heart goes out to all you other "golf widows." Ever since he started his pricey hobby, he's out practicing a few times a week until 2 or 3 in the morning! It wouldn't bother me so much if we weren't also taking such a hit to our cash accounts. In case some of you out there are Golf Gals and wondering about yours truly, I'll let you know that I have no interest in learning to play a game that takes quite so much time, training, and money!
We had a bit of an adventure in our home this fall. While cleaning out the attic in November, Wally and I thought we'd located Osama bin Laden hiding behind our old cedar trunk. Unfortunately (or fortunately perhaps) it was only an old paint-by-numbers piece Wally had done of the old devil back in the 80's for a community college painting class. If anyone wants it, let us know, as we have no idea what to do with it or the ones of Stalin, Pol Pot, and Pete Rose.
Our kids are all doing wonderfully and are leading some quite busy lives of their own now!
Chester is still awaiting trial in that whole Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities debacle. Really, I know many people are making a big deal of this "scandal" (THEY say it's "the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the world"), but can't we really let bygones be bygones and get back to a normal life?
On a related note, Madoff Investment Securities had always been the sponsor for Chester's sons' soccer team, "The Three Card Montes" (undefeated in 2008!) and unfortunately the team had to go without jerseys this last season. As you can imagine, this became problematic once those winter winds started to blow in Michigan! With any luck, Murray's Bail Bonds in Old Town may put up the money in time for the spring season. Keep your fingers crossed!
The twins, Kerri and Shari, and their seven beautiful adopted Guinea-Bissau children, were once again the stars at the town's annual holiday pageant. Though I find it unfortunate that our town's mayor feels the need to be so "PC" and incorporate all the holidays into one pageant, the show turned out quite well. Written by the mayor's newest wife, the play opens in Bethlehem during Ramadan just as the local Synagogue is running out of oil for their sacred lamp. Three Druids drive in from the East in their biodiesel car, bearing Potato Latkes, a Crescent Roll, and a dwarf pine tree. On their way, they manage to free Santa (whose sleigh has gotten stuck in a sand dune), convince a farmer to let his chickens go free range, and help an African king gather the first fruits of his harvest. The kids were superb as tiny elfin rabbis, and the twins really shone as evolutionists Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley. Broadway, look out!
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but not so with our son Lester. We haven't heard from him all year, and boy are we glad!
Sadly, this year we lost Gus, our 1994 Chrysler LeBaron. Wally keeps insisting he left it on Parking Level 4 at the Arcadia Freedom Mall, but there has been no sign of it on that or any of the 18 levels of parking beneath America's 8th largest mall. Security has been on Orange Alert since July, but I'm not even sure he parked it in the East Quadrant structures. We have taken to driving his golf cart around town, and I'll let you know it's somewhat of a relief to know Wally's maximum speed is now 13 mph. Pedestrians rejoice! (Wally does keep talking about buying a Porsche Boxter with rear decklid shocks and a Maxfol exhaust system, but honestly, I don't even bother looking up from my gardening when he gets into that state.)
We also said goodbye to "Cheeky" this year. He was the loveable squirrel who regularly raided our bird feeder, that many of you may remember from past holiday newsletters. Unbeknownst to yours truly, our intrepid raider had developed a severe peanut allergy and passed away shortly after packing his cheeks full of some boiled Georgia "goobers" that I'd picked up especially for him on our last trip Down South. Wally is partly to blame, as he refused to use his CPR training on the distressed rodent and continued to watch yet another Wheel of Fortune rerun instead of helping out. Just a word of warning to all you animal lovers and a call for everyone to get out this year and learn CPR!
2009 did not hold the 35th anniversary vacation to Paris that I had mentioned in last year's missive, due to the rather fragile economy, but we did manage to make it out to see Balancing Rock at Gorman State Park. By the way, if any of you were planning to go see it this year, we might as well warn you that it was dynamited off its perch by some local pranksters, and it will be a full year until it is cemented back into place. You can see still the rock, though it's unfortunately lodged in the hood of a 1994 Chrysler LeBaron near the visitors' center.
I am still waiting to hear from some of you in regards to my new fruitcake recipe. I'm guessing that by now you've eaten them, and I'm anxious to hear how you like the substitution of normal raisins with golden raisins. A bold move, I know, but I'm dying to know how it turned out!
Well that's about all for the Thatchford house.
Wally and I hope that 2010 finds you healthy, wealthy, and wise with lots of peace and love in your home.
Well, actually I'm not sure what the heck Wally thinks because he won't turn that blasted TV off. But I'm sure if he could ever tear himself away from his best friends Vanna White and Pat Sajak, he would send his regards.
Let me know about that fruitcake!
Dolly and Wally Thatchford
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