CHRISTMAS 2021

2021 was busier than last year and felt somewhat more normal than 2020 once we got the vaccine and then the booster shot. However, we still anticipate more Covid fun and games in 2022 with the Omicron variant on the loose. We hope you have all stayed safe this year and stay safe in 2022.

GARY

Gary is still working for the national labs in Albuquerque and still likes it a lot. He continues to mostly telecommute. Mushing has been a solo activity on the trails along the Rio Grande, though he did manage 3 separate day trips to enjoy the snow with Carolyn & the dogs. He has still not returned to judo or folk dancing, he's hoping to return to both in the new year; last summer the only exercise he got was a daily swim. He is spending a lot of time training a few dogs up at Watermelon Ranch, the local no-kill dog rescue. Plans right now call for him to drop down to part time work when he turns 70. He says he's having too much fun to consider full time retirement at the moment.

Gary is trying to kindle some interest in mushing in New Mexico, but due to COVID he hasn't done much promoting other than creating a website (NMMusher.org).

CAROLYN

Carolyn continues to stay home. She reached out to the University of New Mexico a couple of times, but it appears they are only interested in hiring clinical supervisors full-time. She is currently taking a lot of classes in literacy as it pertains to her field in the hope that she can volunteer part-time. Meanwhile she continued to work on the house and especially the yard as we lost 7 trees to bark beetle last year, leaving a lot of empty space. She made multiple trips to local landscaping yards and Gary made multiple trips down our new path to the yard with a wheelbarrow carting well over a ton of landscaping material. Carolyn managed to put down the flagstones and distribute stones and do some planting.

She considered having a knee replacement this year but after some lengthy investigation and consultation with 2 surgeons, she decided her knee was not bad enough for surgery and chose physical therapy with gel injections into the knee every six months. This ended up being the right choice. She has maintained the gains she made in PT with low impact Jazzercise 6 days a week which includes strength training, and swimming in our pool in the summer, and some light walking when it is cool. Clearly an exercise diet was in order (as in LESS of it). She is able to attend Jazzercise classes in person wearing a mask and is thankfully making friends there.

PAT (Carolyn's mother)

Carolyn’s Mum was close to death in June due to a perforated gall bladder and sepsis. Carolyn managed to get over there for several days but it was VERY complicated and involved permission from the British Health Service to leave quarantine only for the purpose of visiting her Mum. There was daily testing and of course testing before leaving and coming back with a bunch of near misses of planes. It took 4 planes there and back and it was very exhausting. Pat managed to survive this ordeal (and so did Carolyn), and Pat actually just turned 92. But she has not really been the same since then. Carolyn still tries to FaceTime a couple of times a week but Pat is only able to chat about once a month due to fatigue after lunch there and the time difference (we are 7 hours behind). She is hoping to get over to Wales with her brother to see their Mum next year if the Omicron variant does not hose up their plans.

RYAN

Ryan is still living in Herndon Virginia near his aunt and uncle and working for the same contracting company as last year. He enjoys his work. Having gone insane (his words), he decided to become a pet owner. He got two cats from a local animal shelter and named them Kepler and Vega. He found out a few weeks later that they were actually born around his birthday and was able to celebrate both. When he is not working or tending his cats he spends his free time exercising in the gym, or gaming in one of his online communities.

GILLIAN

Gillian has been exhausted, but tenaciously continues to work on improving her health. It was discovered this year that she has hypothyroid, and is now getting treated. She's seeking new health professionals to address remaining issues, including a sleep study and a trauma specialist. She tries to refresh her programming knowledge when her energy allows. Though she misses Judo, the meteorologist and storm chaser in her enjoyed the thunderstorms this past summer. She spent several weeks in Colorado with friends, Sarah and Adam, and Sarah has also been here to visit. Her friend Rachel (from Chicago) is spending Christmas with us. Her long-distance relationship with her Australian boyfriend recently came to an end, a sad end to the year for Gillian.

GUSTY

Gusty “Gustopherson” Toft continues to amaze. Early in the season we had a 15 mile scooter run. He was pretty tired that night, and even into the next day, but he clearly loved it. He has become significantly less reactive to other dogs than when he was young, and still prefers mushing to eating. We typically run 5 miles per weekeday, and 8 on the weekends. We haven't attended any competitions because they've all been canceled. I suspect we're not going to be attending any this (2021-2022) season either for the same reason. Will we go next year? Dunno … most dogs retire at 6 or 7 years old.

VITA

Vita “Boo Boo” has become even slower, fatter, and more interested in napping. This year she had to have 2 (cracked) teeth extracted. She's still going out for a scootering session when the weather is cool, about 1/10 mile of running, 4/10 mile walking, and 5/10 mile lollygagging.

OTHER TRIPS

Other than Carolyn’s emergency trip to Britain and our trip to Virginia, we had a couple of other trips. Carolyn went to LA in July and stayed with her friend Estelle. She had some great reunions with people and a lot of beach time that she had sorely missed.

In September, Gary and Carolyn visited the Midwest, overlapping by a few days to see mutual friends. Gary went all the way up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and deep into Wisconsin to see old friends from high school and from college. When he got back to Illinois he visited with friends from his law school years & Bell Labs years & beyond. It was a sort of “This is Your Life” episode in slow motion for each of us. Carolyn stayed with her friend Cheryl most of the time, but also went to Springfield IL for the first time in 7 or 8 years to visit friends. Hopefully she will make another trip to Chicago in March for her birthday for the first time in 6 years.

VISITS TO NEW MEXICO

We were very happy to have some visitors this year. Gary’s cousins, Barry and Steve visited us in June along with a friend Mike who is moving here. In July Carolyn’s brother Bill and his family visited us from California for a few days. She had not seen them in a couple of years and they enjoyed visiting the local sights and hanging out in our pool. Barry returned in October for the balloon fiesta, as did Carolyn’s friend Estelle and her family. The second weekend was upended by weird wind weather but it was still a spectacular show.

WEATHER

Talking of weird weather, we have not yet had snow and have had some incredibly warm weather. Carolyn & Gillian have enjoyed walking in these unseasonably warm temperatures but this same weather has disrupted the overall weather patterns that contributed to the terrible recent tornadoes. And Gary, of course, is upset to not see any snow. A cross-country ski area just south of Colorado (“Enchanted Hills”) was destroyed 15 December by 100 mile an hour winds. In New Mexico, like much of the Southwest, is in a very serious drought, and the Rio Grande should be named the Rio Pequeno. Many private wells in local communities are running dry.

2022

We hope 2022 is more enjoyable than the previous 2 years but we are sadly doubtful. One good thing that has come out of the Covid pandemic has been a wide spread recognition of our own mortality. Sadly, we are reminded of this not only by Covid, but also the friends who have passed this year from other reasons. This has contributed to some wonderful connections this past year with friends and family and renewed friendships or brand new friendships. We have a guest room and also space for more beds. So please come and visit. The scenery here is spectacular right from the back of our house. Our pool is open from April until October. We will be very happy to see you. in the meantime, have a happy, healthy year ahead.

Here are some pictures from last year.

Here is Gillian with her friend Sarah, BFFs since grade school, posing in Colorado.

And here are the three New Mexicans posing at a pub's outdoor patio. .

Gary and Carolyn went to visit with son Ryan in Virginia and took a Segway tour of the area near the capital.

Here's Carolyn posing with her fur coats in front of our Christmas tree.

The local flora and fauna are quite distinct from what we've seen in either California or the Midwest. Here is a nice shot of some prickly pear cactus plants in bloom just off the trail by our house

It doesn't rain a lot in New Mexico, but it does rain some. When it does rain sometimes there is a stunning lightening display, and sometimes - as seen here - stunning rainbows.

And of course ... the sunsets. The sunset over Sandia Peak is the east view off our balcony ... the burning clouds are the view from the north.

This is a shot of the moon over Sandia Peak.

Finally, here is a shot of the so-called Rio Grande. The drought has left the river shallow and slow moving.