Merry Christmas 2018

2018

Our 24th Annual "First Foot" party (google it) will be held on January 1st 2019 from 3-8pm.  Bring your Holiday leftovers and help us toast the New Year!!!!!  161 St Paul St #301 Burlington VT.

May Peace and Love prevail in this crazy world in 2019

I am just going to put
this here.  This hat is from 2004 BTW

Zuzu and Thomas
in Colorado Springs

From our House Boat growing up

Rod's studio mates

Favorite activity throwing rocks

 

Evergreen Cemetery New Haven VT

Tucson sunset

Another year, another flurry of activity and some great trips.  I just reread all of the Christmas letters that we have posted here over the years.  Such a great reminder of what is important during this magical season.  Family is right at the top closely followed by friends, travel, love and learning.

After two years we have officially settled into Burlington Vermont.  Our schedules do not overlap much at all AND we have two "dates" a week; yoga with Jane at the Y on Monday nights and a weekly Love and Justice vigil on Wednesday at First UU Society of Burlington (FUUSB) nights at 5:15 followed by choir rehearsal at 7:00pm.

ALERT THE MEDIA, Sarah has reclaimed her name of Sarah Hall Russell (nicknamed Sally at birth)

We both jumped in with two feet into the community of FUUSB.  Again not a lot of overlap except leading YUUTH group, attending the weekly vigil and choir.

Sarah co-chairs the Racial Justice Team and is a member of the Caring Network and Membership Ministry.  She also helps with the monthly Second Saturday Sanctuary Coffeehouse and Potluck.  Yup, this is a lot but it keeps her happy and busy and out socializing with people which makes the entire household very happy.

Rodney is a Worship Associate which means lots more people know who am than I know who they are. On a related but necessarily separate effort I have also been more politically active for the last two years than I have since the early days of the, now defunct, SDP in the UK. First UU can support whatever cause they want but have to draw the line at sponsoring individuals so we started a "Postcards to Voters" evening at the E1 Collective Studio where those of us in progressive states can help get the vote out in less progressive races. Looks liked it worked in the midterms.

From April through October we spent a lot of time and energy with work projects and changeovers at our family property on Lake Champlain.  It was a lot of work in the first year to clean it out, and get it in shape to rent to others as well as take advantage of weeks ourselves.  See blog post here about our property and the meaning of Fancy Roamer and do let me know if you are having a family reunion or gathering of a group of people (14+) and would like to rent the Fancy Roamer on Lake Champlain in Charlotte Vermont on Thompson's Point.  This summer we expect to do a lot less sweat work and a lot more enjoying this beautiful property.

Gathered Family for the
 Ordination in Syracuse

Stole for the Ordination
Designed by Sarah and Bethany

We travelled to Syracuse three/four times this year.  Christmas last year in 2017, March for Bethany Russell-Lowe's ordination, May for Bryan Russell-Lowe's graduation with his Masters from Syracuse University and Rodney only - May for pet sitting of Isbell, Shakes and Theo, during a certain candidating week at UUCT (Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson)

Proud of her Master of Arts

In February we travelled to Vero Beach to visit with Sarah's Mom and her husband Charlie.  It was the last time we saw her since she died August 16th of ALS.  She fought a valiant battle but in the end this dreaded disease won.  When we heard of her death we were at the Fancy Roamer  (our family camp on Thompson's Point Charlotte VT) and four of us were there and on the phone with the other three, to process this loss and continue our grief.  A Celebration of the Life of Virginia deGanahl Russell was held on October 20th in Brandon Vermont.  Almost all of our first cousins were there with spouses and many dear friends of Mom's and ours.  Her ashes are buried right next to Daddy in Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven Vermont.

4 Sarahs after Sarah 9 was born

4 first cousins - only women -
11 Men in this generation

Sarah made two additional trips to Vero, one in September and one in December. Rodney accompanied her on the December one where they cleared out almost all of the belongings that were still in Charlie's house.  A baby grand piano and a few other miscellaneous items remain but a CUBE of items are in transit to Vermont.

Rodney travelled twice to Tucson this year, and Sarah made the trip once.   Close your eyes and imagine this.  July 17th, a Mini Cooper packed to the gills, and Rodney and Isbell the dog who sat in the passenger seat for 4 days.  The other car was also packed to the gills with 2 complex cats, Shakes and Theo and Bryan and Bethany, guitars, litter boxes etc.  A 4 day road trip from South
Hero Vermont to Tucson Arizona was delayed only one day by a broken AC in B and B's car (fortunately it was fixed before they left and not a delay along the way).  Sarah was an emotional mess for 4 days with many of her loved ones in a car and her vivid imagination of them in car crashes along the way.  She insisted that friends and family occupy her with phone calls and company during those 4 days.  Thanks to all who complied!  Charles, Mike, Peg, Amy, Maryellen, Sally M., George, Judy, Joni, Noni, Suzy B, Suzy L, Bonnie, and everyone else who heard my irrational fear and did not dismiss it.

We made our way to Kansas City for the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly and for the honor of watching Bethany walk up on stage with the other Ministers in Preliminary Fellowship.

Proud parents of the
Minister in Preliminary Fellowship

 ASII family photo

July All Star 2 found ALL of us on Island.  Both of our children and spouses and our granddaughter made it the most magical week possible.  We all needed this week to recharge, prepare, renew, and visit with our spiritual Island community of 24 years.

Our second deGanahl reunion was held over Labor Day in Colorado Springs CO, hosted by Carrie Lowenstein and the deGanahls who live in Colorado, Nebraska and Arizona.  We met and heard from a line of the family "The Ted Walkers" who we had not known that well before this.  Bethany flew from Tucson and Chris and Meg and Zuzu flew from Burlington VT.  They got a twofer since Phish had a 3 day festival over the same time period in Denver.  We got some quality grandparent time and Zuzu got to meet her Colorado cousins of her same age.

In April we had a great few days working on food pantries and soup kitchens in NYC with FUUSB YUUTH. This was made all the more meaningful because some of the youth traveling with us had some reason to use these sort of services themselves in the past. We were working with YSOP and organization started and headed up by a Star Island friend of ours - we highly recommend them if you are organizing service trips for youth.

Our two kids have had quite the busy year this year. Chris and Meg moved into their new house (Still only 25 mins away). Bryan and Bethany bought a house and travelled to the opposite corner of the US and now live in Tucson, Arizona. Both our kids now have a pool (we never have) and a covered place for their cars (we waited 30 years).

The big trip of the year was in November with George and Judy to China. Beijing (Summer Palace, Tiananmen Sq, Forbidden City, Great Wall), Xi'An (City Wall, Terracotta Warriors), Chengdu (Panda Breeding Sanctuary), Lhasa (Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple), Chongqing (for 3 day cruise to the Three Gorges Dam), Hong Kong. The tourists attractions were amazing but was an eye opening trip in many more ways, and left us with so many more questions  about China than it answered. The one word we used more than any other was "gobsmacked". Every piece of civil engineering was huge and built in the 21st century. The big surprises other than the engineering was how clean it was, how green its was (in the sense of foliage even in big cities), how safe it was. Yes our initial impressions were tempered by talking with Westerners who had lived in the country for a while but it was all still extremely impressive. Rodney now reads every article that pops up with "China" in the title, because it really looks like the Chinese are about to leave The West and India in the dust. Our four home visits  with locals and talking with other Chinese along the way also showed a people proud of their country and it accomplishments.    

Cao Sao Tung - we visited
her school near
 the Terracotta Warriors

Hong Hong from Victoria Peak

Name Tags in Mandarin

Tiananmen Sq

On the Yangtze with the Captain

Potala Palace Tibet

Merry Christmas 2017

Lots of people to celebrate Bethany

Our new M Div

Future Starboard scribe on a Day Trip Visit to Star

3 Sarahs at Ruby and Will's reception

No live tree this year so a quilted one

New mug I use whenever it is clean

Zuzu at the Sheldon Museum

New UU Society at Church
Street tree lighting

So Serious and concentrating

Lots of Bike Riding with Sally
 this last summer

Hadrian's Wall hikers

GA Service at First UU Society 

Some of the family who

travelled to Antarctica 

Lexington Men's group on Camel's Hump

On the Wall

All for Sale at Rod's Studio

Wow another year has passed and we packed in a few activities

Travels - big ones were to India in April, Hiking Hadrian's Wall in August, and Antarctica in December.  Domestic ones were New Orleans by train in June and a quick trip to Nebraska in July for Sally's aunt's memorial service. We are promising ourselves we will stay in beautiful Vermont next summer. We missed too much time in our new home state in 2017.

Our plan is to get to continue to get to places while we are still able to, both physically and financially.

India was such a surprise and because it is such a big country we barely scratched the surface so we might have to go back at some point.  The people are amazing, the noises are amazing and the food was delightful.  We travelled with Overseas Adventure Travel for the 4th time and were once again incredibly pleased with the guide, Sujay, the small number of travelers and the fact that we got to have tea and ask questions of people in their day to day lives.  In Varanasi we asked if we could join a pilgrimage group in their celebratory dance at the Ganges and they heartily invited us in.  We talked to a young woman who had become engaged the day before in her arranged marriage and looked through her saris with her.  We visited and took pictures with students at a school, and Rod took an image of a Bengal Tiger.

We are still processing Antarctica with all of it's history of expeditions, it's flora (limited) and fauna and amazing vistas.  One night at sunset at 10:30pm we watched 300 whales blowing and some of the photographers on board got a couple of good images of them breaching.  Every day while there, we toured on zodiacs to a penguin colony or a volcano AND we polar plunged in 38 F water temperature with 32 F air temperature and lived to tell about it.  There were incredible naturalists on board the ship who were accessible to talk to and who lectured on their area of expertise. We loved the Silver Cloud which is one of their expedition ships and we were glad to be on this newly refitted ship as we crossed the Drake Passage (or Drake Lake and Drake Pleasant as the staff called it, we missed Drake Shake).

We took the opportunity to visit NYC a few times to visit friends using various routes and methods of getting there. Being retired with no deadlines the slow Vermont and upstate NY trains are great ways to travel. We decided to splurge for our 30 wedding anniversary and got tickets for Hamilton on Broadway and it deserved all the great reviews. We are also trying to visit all the major league ballparks and knocked off Yankee stadium and Citifield on one of the trips. Our habit is to support the local team while we are there, which was especially tough with our Yankee supporting friends who gave us Yankee baseball caps to wear (at least they were in memory of Jeter's last game at Fenway).

One year into living in Burlington VT we are both thrilled to have made the decision to move north closer to family AND a lifestyle of friendliness, outdoor activities and kinder drivers. We really miss our community of many years in Lexington MA, which can never be replaced.  "Make new friends but keep the old"!  We both sing in the UU choir, are youth advisors and help out when needed at the UU Society  (don't call it a church that ruffles a few feathers).  Rodney is a worship associate, and half of the congregation love his accent (which he is still proud to have a little of) the other half don't understand him (of which he is just as proud), The Society is incredibly socially active and we walk out our front steps after many services to join in a protest or a vigil at the head of Church Street.

This next year finds our children making some big changes.  Chris Meg and Zuzu sold and bought a house just prior to the Holidays and move mid January. We love our overnights with Zuzu and seeing them in the pews and RE rooms at the UU.  They both continue in very busy jobs and somehow balance that with being terrific parents to an opinionated, independent and loveable 4 year old. We take our role of spoiling grandchildren very seriously.

Bethany and Bryan are both in their last 6 months of internships and schooling in Syracuse and will find out late spring where they will move to during the summer. Bethany graduated with her MDiv in May and Bryan will be graduating from Syracuse U next May.  Bethany's ordination is March 18th at her Syracuse church and she is already researching neighborhoods and coffee shops of the possible cities where she may be called to serve.  Apparently this research calms her planning gene which skipped a generation over her parents. Lots of uncertainty which is calmed by three furry animals whose house they are allowed to occupy.  We just spent Christmas with them. Shakes is the king, Isbell is the princess and I guess Theo is the acrobat since he gets to the highest point in the room with great agility.

We try to not be too scared and paralyzed at the political climate and instead turn anxiety into action. Sally attends a weekly silent vigil at the UU, is on the racial justice task force and is educating herself about being an ally to marginalized groups.  Our Senior Minister often hits this anxiety head on in her sermons so that hour in the week feeds and heals our souls.

Rodney spends most days in his art studio which is a ten minute walk away in the artists section of town. He was chuffed to sell four pieces of his work during the September's annual Art Hop. He's going to be more deliberate about getting into shows and selling his stuff in 2018. If you want a portrait done of a loved one give him a call. Check out some of his things on his website. His old Men's group from Lexington came up with their spouses in October to belatedly celebrate his 60th birthday with a great weekend party and hike of Camel's Hump.

rodneylowe.wixsite.com/rmlart

Sally speaking - I do sometimes like or post too many memes or articles on Facebook in an effort to acknowledge to myself I am not alone.  I also try to listen to others who have a different view but this is definitely a growing edge.  IMHO if one-on-one conversations could happen between those holding different views and they really listened to each other, the world would be a better place AND I also believe world peace is possible so am proud to be labeled Pollyanna.  I HATE/AM AFRAID TO MAKE PHONE CALLS, and this year I got over that fear and called people in power to express my opinion and outrage.  I plan to step up to more challenges in 2018 and travel to some swing areas and knock on some doors and have "that conversation" to make a difference.

Rodney speaking - As we flip from year to year it's a good time to reflect on what has passed and what the future holds. It's all too easy for me to reflect on the ills of the world and the country but I always return to the blessings in my own life, and at the end of the day I am grateful for family, friends and good I see in strangers everyday. May 2018 dash all your worst fears and feed and sustain your highest hopes and aspirations. Happy New year everyone.

Two new Grandma Katie stockings in the extended family - three if you count Garrett's

It has been three years since there was a need for a Grandma Katie Christmas stocking.  I did not even realize that there are some unmet needs out there except my cousin Kit, who shares Grandma Katie, was visiting Vermont and the neuron fired.  Her daughter, the first of those first cousins,  just got married and her spouse might want one.  A few texts later Kit confirmed from Dusie, that yes, a stocking for Pete would be wonderful.  Unfortunately I mailed it in plenty of time but the USPS did not deliver it on time and Pete will have to use it in 2017 for the first time.  NEVER TRUST THE USPS and keep the receipt they give you so you can track your package (which I did not do).

In that conversation Judy (SIL) also expressed that she does not have one.  She has one that Mom knit her their first year of marriage, and has used that for 40 years, but it was not a Grandma Katie stocking.

It never occurred to me that she wanted one and as I wrote to her in the note for her stocking "All the important people in the world have two stockings, Crick, Me and now her".

So off I went to the yarn store, found the red green white and angora yarn for two stockings.  Honestly I love making them AND eventually my fingers will be too arthritic so someone in this next generation will have to learn the pattern.  We have two possibilities in the next generation and there will probably be a year in the future when there will be a need for 2-3 knitters as the next generation starts multiplying.

Another SIL is knitting her new son-in-law, Garrett, the stocking and found the exact pattern on Etsy.  WOW, just WOW.

I blogged about the stocking in 2007 when my nephew got his:  blog

UPDATE FROM 2018:  Here is the note Grandma Katie wrote me in the 1960s about my knitting.  I love her so much

Merry Christmas 2016 - catching up on 3 years worth

Russell and Lowe letter 2014 - 2016 (yes, three years worth)

We figured after two moves, one to a different state, that it is time for an update to our friends who are not on Facebook.  Over the past 16 months we have downsized twice, and followed the methodology of “The Art of DeCluttering”.  We have a NO JOY box still as we continue to dispense of those material items which no longer bring us Joy.

Our final move to Vermont was a quick decision but one we are both delighted with.  We had moved in Sept 2015 to a condo in Somerville MA and we loved the inside space but neither of us felt comfortable in the neighborhood.  We joined the UU church in Arlington MA and jumped in with both feet, however, we both realized that our ultimate destination would be Burlington VT and the UU church there.   Why would we attach/detach and then attach to another church?  With 4 brothers and their families and son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in VT we realized that being close to all that family for both of us is very important. If we could find a small condo in Burlington walkable to the UU church that would be ideal.  We quickly found the perfect place, a small condo, at 161 St Paul Street #301 Burlington VT 05401.  From our living room we have a view of a slice of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. Sally regularly posts pictures she takes of the sunset taken from the shared roof deck which has an even better view one floor above our unit.  We are three blocks from Lake Champlain, 5 minute walk to the Church St Marketplace and 10 minutes to the First UU Society of Burlington.  We think we may get down to one car very soon.  We will always keep Coniston in South Hero which is a 30 minute drive from downtown Burlington.  

As we write the pictures are half mounted on the walls and the books still sit in boxes awaiting bookshelves to be built. The move also triggered another serious round of downsizing. Goodbye to Rodney’s old exercise books and and university notes some of them going back to 1968. It was funny to read some of those old English essays and surprisingly interesting to read some of those old geography notes about places I have now actually visited or at least flown over.

Weddings have occupied many weekends in the last three years, the most precious being Bethany and Bryan’s in August 2015.  We also traveled to London, Minnesota and twice to Colorado for weddings of friends and family.  Two Star Island friends got married as well in Maryland and New Jersey.  Our most unique wedding was of the woman that Sally has mentored in the past and is now a friend, Mildred.  She is Hispanic and we were 2 of 5 caucasians at the wedding which was all in Spanish with very interesting and wonderful traditions.  

We have traveled, a lot, The big trips were:  Cuba (Nov 2016) Turkey (Oct 2015) and Morocco (Oct 2014).  We have discovered Grand Circle/Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) and we have not yet been disappointed by the guide or the tour, in fact all three trips have transformed us. Shorter trips were to Portland Oregon and a road trip to Columbus Ohio, both to attend the General Assembly of our Unitarian Universalist denomination.  The result is that we are more active in the Black Lives Matter movement.  As an aside, our speaker at Star Island this year was Chuck Collins who wrote “Born on Third Base”.  His talks and his book have caused us to get involved in income inequality.  

Extended family has been more present in the last few years as well.  The CO/MN weddings connected us closer to our first cousins who we grew up with in Colorado.  As well in August 2016 we had a deGanahl reunion of all Mom’s first cousins’ families.  It was held in Vermont and along with getting to know them, some for the first time, we had some wonderful events at Shelburne Farms, at our houses and an evening cruise on Lake Champlain.  The next one is scheduled for Colorado in 2 years.  In between, we are continuing to connect to that extended family.

Sally joined the Mystic Chorale in September 2015 and sang with them for 4 seasons.  Rod joined and sang for the Gospel season and Spring 2016.  Finding a group to sing with in addition to the Choir at church, will be important to keep this part of our lives fed.

We continue to be mesmerized grandparents as we watch Zuzu evolve into the most amazing little person.  90% of our camera roll is pictures of her.  Since we moved to VT we have had 3 sleepovers with her.  There is nothing like that three year old body yelling her name for you as she leaps into your arms.  Pretend play is very important right now and I just love the stories she comes up with.  One game was just putting beanie babies into a large orange pail, and taking them out, for at least an hour.

2016 was a year in which Rodney matured as an artist, moving from charcoals and graphite to oils. He now feels comfortable calling himself an artist and a realist. Highlights have included getting his own studio, getting recognized for “best drawing” in a local art show, he even ventured into a 4 day class for drawing and sculpting children. Trying to draw and sculpt an 18 month old, 3, 5 and 8 year live models just went to put the difficulties of drawing live adult models in perspective.

Sally continue to volunteer, knit and quilt.  When we moved to our Somerville condo, I put my quilting supplies into a rolling “kitchen” cart.  I can put it away in a closet and roll it out during a project.  As we write this I am knitting Grandma Katie’s Christmas stocking for extended family members who don’t have them yet.  Finding someone in the next generation will be important so that this pattern and tradition continue.  

As baseball fans we have started to visit all the ballparks in North America. We already have 5 under the belt from previous years, this year we added Indians, Orioles and Nationals (we are not going to humor the corporate sponsors by using those names). I can’t say that we are bringing luck to the home team whenever we go.

This has been a tough year politically and the resulting divisiveness of recent events.  We are active protecting our beliefs and values.  It was surreal to be in Cuba the night of the election and to try to find a Cuban newspaper the next day. We finally did buy one, but there are not newspapers lying around as we are used to.

Whenever we count our blessings, family and friends as always remain at the top of the list.  Our house in South Hero sleeps 10 so we are always welcome to visits either with us or you can stay there yourself without us.  May the uncertainty of our divisive politics dissipate and may LOVE prevail in our tattered and torn world.  It is worth imagining this today and tomorrow.