MAY STAR

Nikki and husband live in Casper, Wyoming and they are very happy there. The Stark families now have email.

.LANCE & DEBBIE:

Lance and Debbie have a new email address: it is larsonled@aol.com. Debbie is working on Smuin genealogy.

BARBARA & FAMILY:

On December 22nd, Charlene, David and I flew to Orlando to visit Leesa and Darryl for Christmas. The same day and time, we took Haven and Kitty to the airport so that they could go to Billings for Christmas. They went loaded with suitcases full of presents. What a day! I can almost predict when it is going to snow. If I need to take someone to the airport, it will snow and stick. We called the airporter in advance and were told that they were not going to make the trip. So then we called a cab company and arranged for a large cab to pick us up. No problem, they said, there were plenty of cabs. Just call at 6:00 a.m. and they would come out. When we called at 6:00 they did not have any cabs. Neither did any other cab company. I hit the roof. There was no way I was going to drive in that weather. I don’t have snow tires or chains. Well, never say that you aren’t going to do something, because that is what we had to do. I drove to an airport park and ride by the airport and they shuttled us to the airport. Thank heavens, by then the roads were at least not quite as bad.

Darryl and Leesa picked us up at the airport.  David’s girlfriend had arrived a day earlier.

It is very different to be in Florida at Christmas time with all the palm trees and sun shine. We had a good time in Orlando.

The first day Leesa and Darryl took us to Disney World. We saw Animal Kingdom and part of Around the World exhibits. Everything was decorated for Christmas and each country featured their Christmas traditions.

One of the most enjoyable parts was going to the Comedy club and the Adventurer’s club. The Comedy Club players are really good. What made it even better is that they go by Disney standards and don’t use any questionable language.

Darryl is very generous. He even let Charlene and I drive his Lexus. She drove it on Christmas Eve when we were doing some last minute shopping and were caught in some really awful traffic. There were a lot of lost tempers, but Charlene was very calm and didn’t lose her cool.

I got to drive to Clearwater Beach in Southern Florida. The weather was just a little cool by Florida standards, which suited most of us just fine. David’s girlfriend is a shell collector and she is so cute. She just flew down to the beach when someone mentioned all the beautiful shells, and started scooping them up by the handful.

Charlene has a new apartment. Each apartment has been a step up. This apartment is gorgeous, partly due to the decorating talents of her room-mate, a lady who works with Charlene. Her children love Charlie and sometimes come in and try pressing open her eyelids to see if she is awake. She loves the children too, so this doesn’t bother her.

As I sit here typing, I am suffering from "Washington Guilts". This a condition that afflicts us here in Western Washington. It is caused by sitting inside when the sun shines and not getting outside and doing something, anything while the sun is still shining. (Oh, good, I can quit feeling guilty, it started raining.)

I had a great birthday. My girls and grandchildren are so good to me. Haven and Kitty took me out to dinner and a movie. Everyone called or sent cards and Valerie arranged for me and a friend to go to a mystery dinner. It was really fun. Club Broadway is an old Elks lodge which was built around 1890. The mystery begins when you are seated. The story this time was of a country singer who was electrocuted in his bathtub. The suspects were the agent, his singing partner and others. We were instructed to listen carefully to everything, because anyone in the room could be the killer or the next victim. (They ask for information in advance about all the dinner guests, such as occupation, etc.) The "Inspector" questions everyone and gives them a hard time. Even my friend, Louise, who is painfully shy began to really get into it. Well, it wasn’t too hard to guess the chief suspect, because every time the singer kissed anyone, they immediately died. But that was too easy, so I made up an elaborate scheme where the a woman in the audience was the sister of the country singer and had accomplices such as the pharmacist, electrician and the helicopter pilot (all real occupations of some of the guests). The singer’s name was Lotta, so my so my moral was that "a Lotta kissing is hazardous to your health.." I got the prize for the best script. I was also chosen as the killer by one group because I had access to the Howard Johnson hotel. (Pathways is holding a networking breakfast there.)My motive was that my large family was feuding with the singer’s family and we hated country music.

MARKAY, DENNIS & FAMILY:

It was a big shock to the family when Markay’s ex-husband, Richard, died recently. He and his wife, Mercy, had been visiting her relatives in the Philippines. She remained there to visit a little longer and he came to California to see friends. He died there in a hospital.

Markay and the children flew to Utah for his funeral. Almost all of Richard’s friends and family from all over the country were there for the funeral, even though it was very short notice. Haven and Kitty say it was nice to see their grown up cousins, with whom they have a lot in common. They say, "We love our aunts and cousins here, but it was nice to see people who look and act just like us."

Richard had spent all his money traveling around the world and had left his house in Wales, Utah in very poor condition.

The family in Billings is doing well. Dennis has had his art on the walls of a trendy cafe. Alice gets straight As, is on the honor roll and plays the cello in the orchestra. She baby-sits every weekend. Kate enjoys doing things with her large group of friends.

Richie has decided he is going to take on some of the cooking chores in the family. Markay says the house is always stocked with muffins, brownies or things he has made. He made chili last week.

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