A New Year

Count us among the many who are glad to see 2015 confined to the attic of history.  The return of my wife's lymphoma was, of course, a stunning setback that forever stained the year.  A stem cell transplant involving an extended three month stay in Seattle gave Linda a new lease on life but several months of recovery remain as she regains her immunity and strength. 

We are once again at home by the shore of Lake Coeur d' Alene in northern Idaho and are happy to be  sleeping in our own bed.  Years like the past one are good for reminding you of just how special life's simple pleasures can be.  I approach snow shoveling and taking out the garbage with a smile these days.  Seattle was a good reminder of why we are done living in cities.  What was a necessity when we were working is no longer the case.  Neither of us miss the traffic or the noise.

Linda walking the sparsely populated winter beach of Lake Coeur d' Alene

As most of the country enjoys a warmer than usual winter, there is no shortage of snow or sub freezing temperatures in Idaho's panhandle.  Though we will probably have changed our minds by this time next year, it's kind of fun to "do" a real winter for the first time since 1973.  Snow shovels and winter coats have come a long way in forty years.

2016 is a leap year and, in case you've been off the planet, it's also a presidential election year.  Here's hoping we don't muck it up again.  Where is the new John Adams, Harry Truman or Abe Lincoln?  Heck, Richard Nixon is looking pretty damn good to me of late.  I guess we'll know soon enough if we're getting smarter or, as I suspect, dumber by the decade.

Now that the battle in Seattle has defeated the tenacious serpent that is cancer, I hope to be more diligent in keeping up with this blog.  Not only is it good therapy and fun for me it also is a surprisingly terrific method of finding long lost friends. May 2016 bring nothing but goodness to you all.