Well, it has been another one of those years, hasn't it? Well, we're all still here, and that's good. Hope you are, too!
For most of last year we reverted to the traditions of cave people. The man left home as needed, armed with his spear (or in this case, his mask and hand sanitizer) to forage for provisions, while the little woman stayed home and tried to figure out what to do with the provisions that came back with him. We continued that through most of this year, but things have loosened up.
It started in January when we were able to get appointments to get vaccinated at a huge vaccination clinic event at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond.
We got the second dose (as prescribed) three weeks later. In fact, they wouldn't let us leave the venue until we had made our appointment for the second dose.
As was the case for most of 2020, our social events continued to be conducted online. That included family birthdays.
We also attended church online. Choir rehearsals were still via Zoom, with the performances recorded either at home or at the church with only one person at a time and masked, except for the actual recording, when the choir director was well away. We attended a few concerts online and meetings for various activities, including meeting with the management of Madroña Vineyards and some fans of their wines.
Peggy attended the Rose City Yarn Crawl virtually together (sort of) with daughter-in-law Alexa, visiting the yarn shops online from their respective homes, together and yet not, thanks to modern technology. Peggy bought the yarn for a fairly complicated project involving brioche knitting and finished this shawl.
With the vaccinations behind us, we felt safe enough to have Peter's family come and visit in person. We took advantage of having Peter there to move the loom from Peggy's "workroom" down to the living room, so the "workroom" could double as a guest room after purchasing and setting up a day bed with trundle where the loom had been. The loom is now in use and has produced some Finnish-style rag rugs for the house and trailer.
The new "guest room" has already been used once and will come in handy over the holidays, when we expect to have a houseful.
We also got out to do some camping with Charlie's brother, Jim. We didn't have to go too far. Our first trip was to Camp Sherman, just a little north of Sisters, so a nice, short drive. There were also some other people, but we only got together outside and distanced.
We had just bought a stroller for Rocky, because he's so slow on walks now. He's in amazing health for such an old dog, but he can hardly see where he's going, so he's hesitant to move very fast.He rides for a while, and then we let him out to sniff around and sometimes to walk for a bit. When he gets too slow for us, we put him back into the stroller.
The stroller goes over rough terain pretty well. Our second camping trip was to Suttle Lake, which is even closer to Sisters. We were able to hike all the way around the lake with the stroller, and Rocky walked about half of the distance, which is 3.6 miles. We even met someone coming the other way with a dog in a stroller!
When spring came and the weather was nice, Charlie started a little garden out in the backyard. We had a few nice vegetables from the garden, including some zucchini and chard.
It didn't replace foraging trips, but it was nice to have a little fresh stuff from the garden.
We also grew sprouts in the house. The sourdough starter begun in spring of 2020 is still being used once a week to make bread, and we are working our way through that 25 lb. bag of rye flour we bought about the same time.
Karen flew in for a visit in August, and Peter came down from Beaverton with his family. Everyone in the house had been vaccinated by that time except for Peter's two boys. We visited the park with the boys. We had some good meals. It was nice. Karen and Alexa went for a run.
The choir began to meet in person in August, as well, but with all the doors and windows open, only vaccinated people attending and everyone wearing a mask. We only rehearsed for an hour at a time. We sang at the 10:00 AM service most Sundays after that, but with no congregation, only the clergy and the people who were needed to read or to operate the video equipment. We practiced in another building before coming into the sanctuary, to minimize exposure to any virus.
In September, we became eligible for booster shots. We had hit eight months on the 18th since our second dose, and were beginning to get concerned that our immunity was wearing off. After finding no appointments anywhere before the middle of October, Peggy got on the phone with the local Covid hotline and found out that the weekly walk-in vaccination clinic at the downtown library was giving boosters, so we went down there and waited in line outside until it was our turn.
Feeling a little braver with the booster, we began attending the local concerts again. There have been two so far. Everyone has to be masked and vaccinated if they are eligible. They are asked to sit only with members from their own households. You drop your ticket into a basket.
In October we replaced our roof. We had thought it would last another year, and it hadn't leaked, but we were beginning to lose shingles when the wind was strong, which wasn't a good sign. We had the opportunity to get the roof checked, and the photos taken made it pretty clear it was time.
Peggy's second book went to the publisher in August and her 100 copies arrived a few days before Halloween. The book is Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook. It's available from book sellers worldwide as of December 7th. (We are selling the copies we have to people who want autographed copies.) The royalties go to St. Jude.
Peggy continues to write a new story every week and illustrate the story with the dolls. You can find the blog here: https://thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com. All the stories are there, all the way back to June 2018.
November 28th was the first Sunday in Advent. Members of the congregation who were vaccinated and wore masks could attend in person. It was nice to sing to an audience you could see.
Rocky is still with us as of the time we write this. He has had some health problems, primarily just injury-related, caused by going through the dog door the wrong way or not managing the stairs correctly. He turned 17 in August, and we really didn't expect him to be around this long, but he still seems to be enjoying life, especially food, walks and naps. Dusty is in the prime of life. We are doing well for our age.
The grandchildren are doing well. Daphne and Zachary caught the virus but weathered it well, and their parents were already vaccinated, so they didn't catch it. Soren and Johan had some potential exposure, but nothing seems to have come from it. Fortunately, they are now all vaccinated.
Daphne and Zachary have continued to participate in dance, and Daphne performed in the Ballet La Crosse production of Heidi, playing one of the school children. Here's Daphne:
And here's Zachary:
Soren and Johan have been in the business of losing teeth, not a bad thing at their age. They are growing up fast.
Alex is still living in Salt Lake City, but makes occasional trips to California to photograph people in LA.
Here’s how to get in touch with us:
Charlie: 435/729-0893 tupsu99@hotmail.com
Peggy: 435/714-0048 pudelfreund@juno.com
872 SE Airpark Dr., Bend, OR 97702
The Doll’s Storybook: https://thedollsstorybook.blogspot.com
Charlie & Peggy Stuart
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