We have two new babies!  Gabriel Lee was born to brother-in-law Ralph's son Korey and wife Amanda in North Carolina August 9.

Tyler Christopher was born on September 15 to nephew Brian and wife Steffany in Texas.

Now Rita and Ralph have 6 grandchildren and Nancy's mother has 6 great grandchildren!  Rita is pretty much over the moon.

If you haven't visited in some time, you may not know that Nancy's father, David, died in February after a long illness.  Nancy's mother, Rae, has settled into her new apartment and is quickly becoming the social director of Carriage Inn!  She plays bingo several days a week and plays cards and dominoes almost every night.  She and another resident have been singing at center events and Rae has been in charge of a number of social events.  Although Rae found a home for Jaz (her LOUD and spoiled dog), the family moved and Jez (and 3 new puppies!) is back with mother.  She seems to have calmed down a bit and is a good mother.

We had a great time in Texas for Nancy's 40th high school reunion.  We visited with Rita and her brood, met Tyler, visited with Nancy's mom, and enjoyed visits with old friends and some of Bill's relatives.  It was 94 degrees when we left Dallas, so we were really glad to get back here to rain and cool weather!

We've been scanning like mad and some of the pixs are on the site!  We also got a new digital camera -- may have to go back to school to learn how to use it!  We're doing pretty well learning Apple's Tiger operating system, and have finally found new homes for our old computers, printers, scanner, and digital camera.

We know this photo has been up for a long time, but it's so gorgeous!  What we think is the absolute best month of the year on Whidbey is drawing to a close and our evenings are getting cooler -- winter isn't too far away.  We're still enjoying tomatoes, but the strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are done.  We also enjoyed juicy pears and apples (what the dog and deer left for us), and we'll be pressing for cider next week.  For some odd reason we didn't have any plums or peaches this year and very few cherries, but there was so much bounty we can't complain!

The latest update on brother-in-law Ralph:  Ralph's now almost 3 years out of heart transplant surgery and still doing just great.  Rita had surgery again on her knee and is out of the brace and walking unassisted.  She does too much and has swelling but is happy to be mostly healed.  Her grandkids Kaylee and brother Anthony are doing great -- Rita and Ralph's remodeling has given them each their own room and they love that.

Our "trip of a lifetime" sailing from Anchorage to Nome through the Bering Sea was amazing!  We enjoyed great weather for most of the trip and saw whales, bears, seals, eagles (yes, we have them here, but it was still cool), puffins, and a lot of other birds we can't remember.  The Eskimo villages were interesting, and the villagers were so gracious and hospitable.  The Russian government only let us spend one day there, so we visited a small city and a tiny Eskimo village.  On our unexpected "extra" day we visited Little Diomede, and that was quite an adventure!  The food was great and the naturalist crew taught us so much.  Our "entertainment" was a Yu'pik Eskimo storyteller who will be attending the Whidbey Island Writers Conference in 2006.

We'll have photos up before too long, we promise!  We've done a lot of scanning; however, it seems we've reached our limit on the website and have to figure out either how to free up more room or start paying for the web space (don't want to do that!).

After returning home, we got a communique that Cruise West is offering a repositioning cruise next fall from Russia to Japan, and we've decided to do it as a 60th birthday celebration for each other!  We will fly from Anchorage to Petropavlovsk, Russia and cruise through the Kuril Islands to the west side of Japan.  During the two weeks we will see a lot of the wildlife we saw in the Bering Sea, which will be exciting.  After landing in Japan, we will take the bullet train to Tokyo and fly home.  What a great trip, huh?!

You may remember that in 2003 we took a trip with Astronomy magazine to Chena Hot Springs, Alaska (60 miles north of Fairbanks) to experience the Aurora.  We finally scanned photos -- hope you enjoy them.

We're so glad you came to visit us on the web and hope you will visit us in person on Whidbey Island very soon!!

WHAT ELSE IS NEW WITH US
The writers association low-residency Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, which opened in August, has completed the first residency -- what an exciting time!  Students have returned to their homes in California, Oregon and Washington to begin the online courses during the semester.  The students bonded and one of their first "official" acts was to create a fundraiser for the scholarship fund.  Neat, huh?

Bill is still in physical therapy for his sprained back (altho we still have the yard to envy due to his hard work) so he can get back to playing golf, skiing, mountain climbing and hiking.  He thoroughly enjoyed his world economics seminar in July in Michigan at Hillsdale College.  He's just completed all his Island County Fair duties and is going to serve on the Fair Association Board.  Busy, busy.

  Also, don't forget to visit Glacier's Gallery for pictures of the spoiled girl!

THE FAMILY ALBUM    Stop in here for cute pictures of the kidlets.

TEXAS TECHSANS Nancy enjoyed the annual alumni event in Seattle and reconnecting with old friends from Lubbock.  It was uplifting to hear the Chancellor talk about the wonderful recreational and educational activities Tech students provided to Hurricane Katrina evacuees housed at Reese AFB.
 
INFORMATION ABOUT OUR LIVES AND WHERE WE LIVE

Activities Important To Us
 
St. Augustine's in-the-Woods Episcopal Parish
 
Whidbey Island Writers Conference

Where We Live

Yea!  You're Coming to Visit:  Information To Help As You Plan Your Trip

Some Info You May Have Missed. . .

Nancy's Writing

Enjoy your journey through our lives, and let us know what you think of our little bit of Paradise in the "Upper Left Hand Corner".

Our site was updated October 26, 2005