The Anderson Epistle

Dec 2022

It’s been a quiet year here in Lake Whidbeygon – aah, make that Whidbey Island. Covid isolations have relaxed a bit but we are still minimizing our travel, even with being vaxed and boosted.

We did risk a trip to Taos, New Mexico.  We’ve been to NM a couple of times (Santa Fe and spots nearby) but wanted to explore Taos. We visited their pueblo, took the tour and enjoyed learning about modern life there or rather preserved traditional life and buying some native-made craft objects.  We looked deep into the Canyon of the Rio Grande (I had forgotten that the Rio Grande starts in Colorado and flows mostly south through NM before flowing along the border with Mexico).  We took a narrow-gauge rail road trip through the mountains along the Colorado-New Mexico border – the longest still-running narrow-gauge RR in US (we rode the Silverton-Durango narrow-gauge RR a number of years ago).  This one has spectacular views and we especially enjoyed the aspen.  Without planning we, hit the peak of fall colors there.  Our hotel in Taos was right on the historic old town square.  We enjoyed lots of great food and the local art shops and museums.  Unfortunately, a couple of the best were closed.  It was a great trip to celebrate new, cautious freedom.

Of course we visited our grandchildren (Lise and Emil) in Seattle (and their parents).  Kat and Bill moved, a little over a year ago, into a larger house and now it’s easier for us to stay over on some of our trips to Seattle for visits as well as Seattle Symphony concerts and Seattle Rep plays (we subscribe to both). 

Our social group here on Whidbey (and nearby) consists of us and six other couples.  We’ve started use birthdays as the excuse for many of our gatherings – in warmer time, usually a joint picnic at a beach or in a park in the area.  When weather is less friendly, we meet at one of our houses or a nice restaurant (with outdoor seating when possible). Our conversation varies from the trivial, to the personal, to the scientific (some of us are scientists), or to the ills of the nation and world.  But it is always stimulating and enjoyable with lots of laughter and delightful food.

We continued to enjoy all the great music available here now that more is opening up with the reduced Covid risk (we still wear masks to these).  We subscribe to the Seattle Symphony (about 12-14 concerts per year) and the Whidbey Island Music Festival which brings world-class Baroque musicians to our island.  We also get great jazz and folk music at the several summer festivals in the area.  We subscribe to the Seattle Reparatory Theater for about eight plays a year.  All the events in Seattle allow us to visit Kat, Bill and our grandchildren often by driving down early.  Before the pandemic we used to spend a week at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in southern Oregon, but they are just starting to open up from Covid and the wildfire smoke, so we have not been there for three years, but we already have our tickets for next summer.

We had a few days of smoke here on Whidbey this summer but far less than on the eastern slope of the Cascades. 

Terry is still enjoying his part-time (from home) work on software for communication radios.  He used to fly back to Maryland four or five times a year to work more closely with the others on the team, but due to Covid has not for three years now, but with email, conference calls and the Internet he can still be a valued member of the team (and make a little money).

We enjoy our orchard (on the property before we bought) – two apple, two pear and one cherry tree.  The cheery is out-of-control and without a drone we can only pick a few of the lower branches, but the birds love it.  Terry makes about 40-50 pints of apple sauce from our apple trees (he gives a lot of it away to our friends here) and often the grandkids are with us at the right time to help.  Lise turns the crank on our apple peeler/slicer and both she and Emil enjoy washing the bobbing apples in the sink and watching the bubbling sauce.  In previous years we have never gotten eatable pears from our two trees but this year one of our tree gave use so much that we had a hard time eating it all before it spoiled.  I had to learn how to pick/refrigerate/then ripen pears and still have more to learn.

Jan has spent much of her time spring through fall working in the garden; subtracting plants that didn’t make it through last year’s colder weather and adding new hardier ones with the purpose of selecting evergreen plants that will require little to no maintenance while being inedible to deer. Much to Jan’s frustration, deer make themselves quite at home in our yard.  One doe even used a spot among our plants to sequester her fawn on several occasions.  One or two deer families stroll through our backyard every evening despite Jan’s attempts to make them unwelcome!! Jan was also able to expand our fern garden with the hope of finishing it next spring.  She’s still working toward the goal of having seasonal color all year round in order to have cut flowers available too. 

An interesting gift to Jan from Katherine last year was to take an online drawing class together.  While it was challenging, it reminded her of the pleasures of drawing.  Something she needs to dedicate more time for practice.  It’s also something she can share with the grandchildren when they come to visit.  Both Lise and Emil have a love of drawing.  Lise has become quite skilled and Emil has a strong interest too.  As always Jan experiences so much joy planning activities for and spending time with them!  We are so fortunate to live close enough to make this possible.

Before we moved into our Whidbey house full time, Kat and Bill and friends had great Thanksgiving celebrations at our Whidbey house.  After we moved, they continued the tradition by renting spacious vacation houses for their large gatherings and we would drop in for Thanksgiving Day.  This year they chose a house too far away for us to come for the day, so we celebrated by inviting some of our Whidbey friends to join us for dinner and had a great time.

Bill’s parents usually fly from Maine for a Christmas visit and celebration of our grandson Emil’s birthday. Bill’s brother and family also live in Seattle and so we all rent a large vacation house.  This year, like last year, we are staying on Orcus Island (a ferry ride away).  All the grandkids have a great time together as do the adults and we all enjoy great food and short hikes, if the weather is good.  Last year it snowed quite a lot while we were there.  The house had an outdoor hot tub on the deck overlooking the beautiful  bay which we enjoyed in spite of the cold air and snowy weather, watching out over the snow from the toasty water.  Lise (our granddaughter) would jump out and run through the snow before coming into the house.

Our Christmas plans are in flux right now.

If one counts a year’s time from Christmas 2021 to Christmas 2022, our year has been bracketed by snow. This year there will be snow and perhaps lots of it that may or may not prevent getting to the Orcas house.  Another unknown at the time of writing this is the fact that Katherine came down with Covid 5 days before we all are planning on gathering.  She’s fully vaccinated and boosted, so she’s having mild symptoms.  But the possibilities of infection moving through family members remains.  And her 4 yr old son had the disappointment of canceling his birthday party on the day Katherine came down with symptoms. 

Our usual Winter Solstice party has already been canceled due to expected heavy snow (for us – 4-6 inches) that day.

These uncertainties seem just typical of life as we have experienced it the last few years: changes in weather patterns and steps we take while living with the constant threat of covid.  But, the disruption and isolation has reinforced the need for being with friends and family that we used to take for granted and just how important it is to remain connected to each other.  We feel this need more strongly than ever this year and are so grateful for the times spent together.  And we miss more than ever those of you who are far away.  We’d love to hear from all of you and we hope that the future conditions will allow for more times together.

We which all of you a happy and warm Solstice, Christmas, New Year and other holidays…

Terry and Jan