Christmas 2016

                It was the worst of years; it was the best of years. (Please pardon me, Mr. Dickens)

I broke my heel stepping off stage in a between scenes blackout for final dress rehearsal the day after my 70th birthday.  Three months later, I got angry with some bittersweet growing out the top of one of our shrubs and, lacking the good sense to get some pruning shears, pulled the darned thing out from the middle of the shrub, falling backwards and broke my wrist. A subsequent bone density test determined I simply do not act my age.

                Still, from the time I could move around again until the weekend following  Thanksgiving I was completely involved in several theatrical productions in various theatres on the Cape. My favorite—always—was Driving Miss Daisy, which ran for four weeks and sold out every performance. This fall, I reprised a role I did in 1999 as the Grandmother in the original cast of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It’s nice to have a part I don’t age out of! The photo of me in the woods is my favorite character photo ever.

                I was able to get to Atlanta to visit with Mary Brown, who was my fourth grade student in 1968-69, and who lived with me summer of 1969 and has been my “daughter” ever since—even though she’s 57 now and a grandmother several times over. It was wonderful fun to reconnect with her children. I missed two of them, but we will get together before too long. On the way back north, I stopped in Washington, DC to see Ainsley for a few days, always such a special time. I am so pleased that we will spend Christmas with her in DC.

                When I got back to the Cape I knew I needed to get involved with the Zion Union Heritage Museum of African American History. I am so glad to be a part of that family now.

               

Jim spent a month in North Carolina with the Red Cross after the floods there. I am amazed at how he can put in so many long days when he is on assignment. At home he reads reads reads. He has several series that he follows. It seems the library calls a couple times a week to tell him another of his books is in.  As always, his memory puts mine to shame.

 

 

 

Grandmother seeking spirits in the woods

Supplies ready for distribution in North Carolina

Mary and Me—46 years later

 

Ainsley is still working in DC with the World Bank, although she is in the process of applying to graduate school for the fall of 2017. Our fingers are all crossed. She continues to travel the world, sometimes on her own, sometimes with the bank. She just returned from India, and has been sent to Kuwait City—and Las Vegas! On her own, she traveled through Europe with her good friend from Switzerland. We are so pleased that she is truly a “global citizen.”

               

 

 

 

 

As for Benji the cat—well, at 18 he is very skinny, eats what and when he likes, and continues to talk constantly. I like having his warmth next to me in bed. I feel guilty dislodging him from my lap when I have real work to do, so often I let the work slide. Nice to have an excuse. Lately, he often prefers to sit next to Jim—I guess it’s a testosterone thing.

 

 

               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here we wish you the best of holidays. I have intentionally left the election off—but I will be in D.C. January 21…

                                                                          Blessings and happiness,

 

 

Jim and Ainsley playing Big Bang Theory at her D.C. apartment