Christmas 2012

It hardly seems possible that another year has seemingly zipped by. Actually it has gone by day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute. And what has happened to us is measured by how we utilized the minutes in those hours, days, and months of the past year. So what follows it that which has occurred to us during the past year.

Work

Margaret continues to work with Assessment Technology Inc.(ATI) as an educational trainer. As usual her work has taken her just over 47,000 miles and to 61 cities during the year - the most interesting of which was Hawaii in July. In her first trip to the island she was able to pack in a lot – a luau, Dole Plantation, lunch at the Giovanni Shrimp Truck, PolynesianCultural Center, and the beautiful North Shore of Oahu. Margaret has been fortunate in that her work travels allowed her to visit her family and friends in New England.

I changed locations last year in which to work as a tax preparer. I joined 1^st Choice Tax Services and had a very productive and interesting past year. 1^st Choice specializes in preparing tax returns for adoptive and foster care families so I did a number of returns for that clientele. I also inherited a client base from my predecessor and some of my former clients found me when an article in the local paper’s Moving Up column appeared in early February.

Travel

At the end of March while I was toiling in the tax garden Margaret decided to go to San Diego for a Girls Weekend with her sister Carol and cousins Beth and Catherine all from the east coast. They are hoping that this Girls’ Weekend becomes an annual event. While in San Diego they visited the Midway; Balboa Park; and Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala, California’s first mission. Brother Leonard was a great host and took them to Coronado Island and toured the San Diego area.

I traveled to North Dakota in mid-June, arriving in time to attend the Father’s Day picnic at my cousin Mavis and Duane Olsen’s farm. On June 23^rd I attended the wedding of Erika Wolf and Ian Feole. Erika is the youngest daughter of our friends Walter and Sarah Wolf from Center. The next day I was able to attend the Sunne Lutheran mid-summer picnic. The picnic is a Swedish tradition that marks the summer solstice.

That week I drove to Nebraska to meet up with Margaret who flew into Omaha on June 30^th. We spent a few days with her brother John in Lincoln and helped him with some projects in his house which he had just occupied at the end of last year. En route to Nebraska I overnighted in Mitchell, SD, and before leaving the next day visited the McGovern Library at Dakota Wesleyan University. It was a timely visit what with the recent death of George McGovern.

On July 3^rd we left Lincoln and drove to Sioux Falls, SD, where we visited Clare Becker. Clare and I had served in the Peace Corps together. While there Clare took us to St. Joseph’s Cathedral. It is a most impressive structure. We overnighted in Sioux Falls and the next day drove the rest of the way to Dorset, MN, to visit Margaret’s mother and great uncle Mike at their summer home. While we were there our friends Ann Rathke from Fargo, Al & Lorraine Schmidt from Beulah, and Rudy & Lucy Radke from Fargo came to Dorset for visits because Margaret’s time on her trip was so limited. The Schmidt’s and Radke’s joined us for dinner at Companeros the Mexican restaurant run by Mike’s son Rick and daughter-in-law Laura.

Margaret and I returned to the Bismarck area on July 9^th in time to attend the Regan Centennial festivities that weekend. The Regan Centennial was focused around an all school alumni event. The high school closed in 1970 and the grade school in 2003. I had attended Regan High School during my freshman and sophomore years in the early ‘60’s. The alumni event on Friday evening July 13^th provided me with an opportunity to visit with many people I had not seen in years. Many alumni from around the country returned for the event. For a community of less than 100 people the centennial organizers put on quite a party.

The first event was the Tractor Trek from Wilton to Regan on July 13^th. I helped my cousin Eldo get his dad’s 1947 Farmall International Model H ready for the trek. The next day he also had the tractor in the parade which was comprised of over 130 entries. Following the parade there was a performing stage and a tractor pull. On Sunday I attended the breakfast brunch and ecumenical church service which were the last events of the Centennial weekend. All the events provided the throng with time to socialize and catch up with their lives. However it was almost impossible to see and visit with everyone.

I stayed in ND until early August doing various fix up jobs around the farm. During that time I stayed with my cousin Archie in Bismarck as well as spending nights in the house at the farm. One task that I accomplished was to paint the house at the farm with the help of my friends the Wolfs. Before returning to Tucson I took a side trip to Williston to visit my cousin Debbie and her husband Don Wahus. I also saw Debbie’s sister Judy and her husband Doug Velenchenko who were visiting from Longview, WA. The visit was two-fold as I also wanted to see some of the oil development going on in the Bakken shale formation. They have adopted a slogan ”Rockin the Bakken” and indeed things are rocking in that area. I met my cousins at Tobacco Garden Bay a resort on the south side of Lake Sakakawea and we then drove back to Williston. The road we took has been well beaten down by all the truck traffic in the area and is typical of many of the areas roads. Also visible were many of the so called “man camps” that have been developed to house the oil field workers. All in all it was an eye opening side trip. On my way to Tobacco Garden I had stopped in Parshall to visit the Paul Broste RockMuseum. It is a museum built in 1966 of uncut native stone and features the rock collection of Paul Broste, a Parshall area farmer, artist and collector who homesteaded in that area in the early part of the 20^th Century.

After I had been home for a couple of weeks we took a short trip to Farmington, NM. Actually Margaret had training sessions in the White Mountains and in Glendale before and after Labor Day. We surprised our friends Al & Lorraine Schmidt from ND on their 40^th wedding anniversary. They came to Farmington to visit their daughter Lori and family who organized the event. While in Farmington we attended a Native American art show and decided to buy a water color painting done by Benson Halwood and accomplished Navajo artist from Chinle, AZ. The painting depicts a family of three with a woman on a paint horse trekking along a snow covered landscape at dusk with a view of what appears to be San Francisco peak in the background. That peak near Flagstaff is considered to be sacred by the Navajo.
Thanksgiving Margaret went to Florida to visit her family. It was a very quick trip but she wanted to make sure that she visited her nephew, Jordan, this year. Early next year Jordan is being deployed to Afghanistan for a year as part of the FL National Guard. So we ask that you keep him and all military personnel in your prayers.

Visitors

In January, over the MLK weekend, which coincided with my 65^th birthday, Walter and Sarah Wolf from Center, ND, spent four nights with us on a three week swing they were making through the western states. I took them on a whirlwind tour of the Tucson area and they attempted to ski on Mt. Lemmon. At the beginning of March we hosted Larry and Betty Falkenstein from Wilton for a night as they made a similar visit of western states. They had also attended the NASCAR race in Phoenix. Larry and Betty are our farm neighbors back in North Dakota. Margaret’s cousin Meriel Brodie from NC visited us this spring. It was great to see her again; it has been many years since they’ve gotten together.

Our Life in Tucson

After 25 years in Tucson we are involved in the Tucson community. Margaret volunteers for Literacy Volunteers of Tucson teaching English to non-native speakers. This has been very fulfilling and exciting to see the participants become more confident in their speaking and knowledge of English. A parent was able to volunteer for the first time in her child’s classroom, one person became a US Citizen, and several participants got library cards for the first time!  She has also volunteered her time with MOM (Market on the Move). This non-profit volunteer based organization sells produce that would otherwise be discarded. It’s great produce!  So for our friends in Southern Arizona, perhaps she’ll see you at St. Cyril’s Church the second Saturday of the month. I am still serving as treasurer for Lutheran Campus Ministry as well as secretary to the board of the Campus Christian Center located near the UA campus. We are also season ticket holder of the TSO (Tucson Symphony Orchestra) and attend Pops monthly concerts from January through March. This past year we saw the Bill Ganz Western Band as well as the Wicked Divas billed as the “bad girls of musical theater!”  This month we kicked off the new season by seeing Ann Hampton Callaway perform The Streisand Songbook. In the spring and fall before it gets too hot and when it starts to cool off we do like to attend the Symphonic Winds free outdoor concerts put on in Udall Park on Saturday evenings.

Wrapup

One cannot summarize the year without commenting on the past years political events. We have just come through another contentious presidential election and all the polarized feelings that were generated. Now we see the posturing going on in Congress concerning the so called “fiscal cliff” and one can only hold out hope that our politicians will eventually get things right. If you have doubts about that just go and see the movie Lincoln and reflect on what the country went through at the end of the Civil War.
The world, our country, and we as individuals and families face problems and tragedies every day. At this time of the year as we take stock of our lives and as time marches on we are thankful that for the most part our health remains reasonably good. However we are cognizant of the aging process and saddened on the occasions when we hear of the death of friends, family members, and acquaintances. But since death is a part of life we remember the promise of the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Life and remember that He is the Reason for the Season. May we extend a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.   
Pictures
Check  out the pictures -- just click on the "Photos (2011+) in the upper right side. On the Shutterfly page click the green "Pictures and Videos" link on the top of the page. You can also checkout the photobooks Margaret put together - Regan Centennial, Summer 2012, and Mark's 50th B-day.