Christmas 2007

Wow! Has it been a year already? It’s been so busy, starting with a vacation right after New Year’s Day, making lateral moves at work, adding volunteer work, and joining a new large choir. Right when we could use another break, we are planned out through until NEXT year: we find ourselves preparing for performances of The Messiah and a Holiday Pops Concert with the Hartford Chorale, followed a week later by our Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at South Church. AND we’re hosting for Christmas (so stop on by!). Phew!

The year started with a 10 day cruise for Steve’s fortieth birthday. Mom A., Steve A. and Louise were able to join us along with about 25 other friends (Mom & Dad B. were already booked in Florida for the month – but we’ll get them on a ship yet!). The weather was warm and sunny in the Caribbean, the beaches were wonderful and a lot of time was spent by the pool soaking in the sun and enjoying “buckets” of beer. We stopped on five islands along the way: Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, St. Thomas & Dominica in the eastern Caribbean, and Curacao & Aruba way off down of the coast of Venezuela – gasoline was dirt cheap! Other than the kayak trip from hell in Aruba (where Steve A. got his “Aruba tattoo”) (ever kayak a mile against the current, against the wind, and with rain in your face?), the trip was a great time.

In the spring time, after our fabulous trip on the “beautiful and elegant Maasdam,” Paul & Steve joined The Hartford Chorale for a performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. We had the opportunity to sing this in 2006 with the CONCORA summer workshop, and were invited to help in the Hartford Chorale’s performance. The chorus has 150 members and is the primary chorus for the Hartford Symphony. The dress code for the Hartford Chorale is black tux, so before this performance, we had the pleasure of buying tuxes, which was a good thing because we are singing with the Chorale again this season. The performances for The Hartford Chorale this season are Handel’s Messiah at The Bushnell’s Belding Theater (12/1-2), The Holiday Pops concert at the new Hartford Convention Center on 12/15 and Missa Solemnis on April 16-17 in 2008.

This spring we purchased two Wilderness Systems Pongo 120 kayaks to take with us on weekends and on vacation. Of course it wasn’t just the boats, but the life jackets, paddles and roof rack system that had to be purchased. Some of this gear Steve found under the Christmas tree last year. The boats were picked up in the end of April, which was when the Farmington River was at its peak. Paul braved

the waters to take one out before the purchase was final. This year we had the opportunity to test out many of the local lakes and rivers in Connecticut. We spent a day paddling in the Farmington River into the Connecticut River just above Hartford. It was a nice sunny day and the trip down the Farmington to the Connecticut was great. It is simply amazing to be out on the Connecticut, which is very wide and has a strong current, but is not all that deep north of Hartford. The paddle up river back to where we started was a great workout. But the next time, we found it nice to paddle UP-stream as long as our strength would hold out and simply coast back downstream – we recommend this. J

The kayaks were also part of our vacation this summer. With friends we rented a condo within a gated community on Paugus Bay in Laconia, New Hampshire, off of Lake Winnipesaukee. Being the motorcycle capital of the state had nothing to do with our choice. The weather cooperated with us while we were there. It was sunny in the morning with showers in the late afternoon and evening, which worked out well – just like in our visits to Florida, rain means “cocktail hour!” We paddled in the morning and went sight seeing later in the day. The paddling was rough on Sunday with all of the lake traffic, by the end of the weekend the lake had much less motor traffic. The trip included the play You Can’t Take It With You and the opera Falstaff. We all thought the play was kind of dated, but most of us enjoyed the opera (Steve was caught napping). We also stopped in to visit Jim and Alison Buckwell. They own a wonderful house on a quiet lake in New Hampshire. It was a great vacation with the exception of the six hours spent in the emergency room with Paul. It turns out he had a kidney stone, which was finally removed in mid October.

Steve continues to work for RGIS. This year he transferred back into the Hartford District, which should have cut down his travel, but it hasn’t worked out that way yet. The new Waterbury/Hudson Valley “super district” is a sinking ship from which he jumped. Things have gotten so bad that Stop & Shop and CVS don’t want to see Steve’s old district supervising their inventories – an assignment taken over by his new district – there is no escape! But he thinks it’s great to be working with his old work friends (some of whom have been with the company 20 to 25 years). Paul is still with ESPN, but in February he joined the Owned Television Group. He has been working with the 10 television stations owned by Disney around the US. He has been to great places like, New York City, Philadelphia, Flint, Toledo, Houston, Chicago and LA.

For projects on the house we had two done this year. The first was to have the leak in the family roof repaired. This meant having everything stripped and rebuilt for the ground up, but there isn’t any more water coming from the ceiling on a rainy day. A part of this work we also had the chimneys reflashed and the outside wiring for the patio connected. The second project was a bit more major. We had wood floors put into the Family Room, Master Bedroom and Office. All the floors were done at the same time, so we had furniture and chotchke everywhere. Of course while all the stuff was out of the family room, we changed the color of the walls and we got rid of the horrendous popcorn ceiling there (who invented that stuff???) and in the bedroom (no longer do we risk it snowing when we flip open the sheets to make the bed). There is still a little touch up painting to be done, but isn’t that always the case?

Check out our website for pictures of 2007. http://members.cox.net/steveandpaul

I hope this Christmas letter finds everyone safe, healthy and happy. We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Paul and Steve