SandynPat 2003 Holiday Card

Greetings from Sandy and Pat

(Our last year's tree)
December 2003 You can click on any picture to see it enlarged.

This was the year that we were going to stay home. We did stay long enough for the Chinese New Year and Street Fair. Then, in February, we went to the Florida State Button convention with friends and the traveling began. We started with a short visit with cousin Myrtle in Fort Lauderdale.

Then off to Orlando with a stop at Disney World, Splendid China, Bach Tower, the manitees, and Cypress Gardens.

We were awe-struck at Cape Kennedy, watching the launch of the Columbia. (...and so deeply saddened at the loss of this amazingly bright and talented crew during their re-entry.)

You can link to our Florida 2003 page

Then to Daytona Beach for BUTTONS! Sandy is enjoying this hobby a lot and helped on a GAR button display for our Calif. State Convention. While in Visalia, we took in the Swedish Festival at Kingsburg and stopped a few days to visit Karen and Reen at their ranch in Squaw Valley. Check out Pat driving the tractor!

Link to our Fresno and Kingsburg page for more pictures.

This has also been a year of political action for us. We only hope that the innocent people of the world can find an honorable peace.

After these trips we were happy to stay at home for a while and were especially pleased to have Keiichi and Katsue Tanaka join us for a short visit; maybe next time they can stay longer. We did a few things around the house... painting and, as always, puttering in the garden.

Bruce and Sharon Asakawa continue to add joy to our world with their love of gardening and all nature. We joined them at the Exotica Dinner and loved the taste treat of many unusual fruits as hors d*oeuvres.

Link to our Garden Compass Exotica Dinner at Quail Gardens page

We went to see Ralph Moore's Miniature Rose Farm. He's now 97 years old and still does all the planting himself. He has also written a book of poetry; what an amazing man. We saw the fields of Weeks & Star Roses, commercial rose growers. Link to our Garden Compass Rose Tour page.

We were home for June with Joan (Embry) and, once again, were awed by her talent in working with animals. The cougar with her and her husband, Dwayne Philsbury, was rescued from the wild when he was just a few months old.

Our paperweight club activities included seeing two favorite artists, Ken Rosenfeld and Mayuel Ward. Added only a few weights (& marbles) to our collection but still love to see all our club friends.

Sandy's dear friend and fellow teacher from Hilltop Elementary, Pat Mayo, passed away this year. She had celebrated her 80th birthday last May. She will be sorely missed by her many friends.

Pat's crops came in and we enjoyed the benefits at the dinner table. Our fruit trees were all in bloom as well. Pat got into the Picasso mode and found interesting faces in soups & salads whereby Sandy decided it was definitely time to travel again.

So, in October, we headed to Ohio for the Denison Homecoming festivities. We had a wonderful time renewing old friendships. Pat is always pleased to see M.K.Campbell, favorite art professor.

We were happy to spend a day visiting with Pat's Aunt Mary and enjoyed a nice lunch.
The next day, Pat's cousin Jim was able to join us for lunch and we had a great time talking about family and genealogy. Sandy loves to revisit the Heisey Glass Museum and always finds another treasure. The round steps in the picture dem- onstrate a new use for the old glass-smoothing grinding wheels.

We had hardly returned when we headed for Kona where we have a time share (picture at left). We toured the Parker Ranch, the Kona Coffee Company, many waterfalls and, of course, the volcano. We also enjoyed the snorkeling. A truly restful vacation. Well, that's the highlights of the year for us.

You can link to our Kona 2003 page.

Our church building has been sold for a good price and, although we are still looking for a permanent place to do God's work, we have a great (temporary) place to worship. Pat's health is terrific, 6 years cancer free. We stay active, water aerobics 3 times a week and other outings. Our daily lives are not exactly thrilling but we have so many wonderful things to be thankful for; hope you do, too.

Annie liked helping decorate the tree while Yukio watched.
Then both took a little nap.

Wishing you a happy holiday and the best for you in 2004.

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