ALL HANDS
(Mimi's comments in italics.)Christmas is over, the endless carols are dying, we may even get a respite from the $19.95 specials that we are being hurried into. That's one of the good things about being deaf. Not at all sure that it would be worth while being blind. (I watch television, which is particularly obnoxious at Christmas.)
Quiet is where I am in VT. Living with Mimi is exciting enough for my old age. (We argue a lot.) It is old, too. Eighty-one passed by last June. Not really crippled, but slowed and staggering. I drive, I keep house for Mimi, fix furniture, always ready to do a day's work per week. Got rid of my snowplow truck in favor of a snow blower, takes a trifle longer but is much easier on me to walk behind an easily repaired power blower than cope with a recalcitrant plow. And the walking with new knees goes very well. Only limited by lousy balance and soggy old muscles. Lots more wrong, but hardly worth explaining, let alone complaining. (If Peter stopped complaining, I'd worry about him.)
Big victory this year is that both of us have stopped smoking. Made it too. (I honestly thought I'd never be able to stop, but last January I had double pneumonia. Couldn't have smoked if I wanted to for about a month. I simply took the opportunity to not start again. The weight gain that comes with not smoking is no joke, however. That is my next challenge.)
The new year is nearly here. May you prosper and enjoy.
Other miscellaneous thoughts and comments. We are down to one dog and one cat (Who Peter feeds!!!) now. Our very old dog finally couldn't get around any more. The remaining dog is the one who adopted Peter when he came to live with me. They are completely inseparable.
The vegetable garden got bigger this last year, as did the flower beds. Peter's daughter Ann reminds me that I would not have to make the vegetable garden any bigger if I didn't keep using parts of it for flowers. She is, of course, completely correct, but somehow I don't think the problem is going to go away.
By the way - is there a rule that when we get to a certain age, all Christmas cards are accompanied by a photocopied letter? That certainly seems to be the case with people we know. We just dispense with the Christmas card. I throw in that thought not for the purpose of discouraging anyone, but rather to encourage the faint of heart. Please keep the letters coming, at least once a year.
Love to all
December 1997