Anderson Christmas Letter 2003

 

 

Merry, merry, Everyone!                                                                                                              December 9, 2003

 

At right, you see a picture of the major project of our lives this year: building our new home! This picture was taken the first weekend in November just after it had snowed for the first (only?) time this year. We grabbed our jackets and raced up the hill as soon as we got up so we could get a few pictures before it all melted, which it did by noon.

 

We found this property in April 2003 and bought it by the first of June. Then we designed a house to put on it. We had plans in hand by the first week of July. By the middle of August, we had a loan, and on August 26th, we broke ground. We hope to be moved in around Spring Break (mid-March). We just put a golden yellow paint on the walls, and our contractor thinks we’re nuts because it is bright. If you want to see the plans, etc., go to http://www.marens.com/Evergreen.htm.

 

If you go to http://www.marens.com/PicturePages.htm, you can see pictures from our big trips this year: one to the Columbia Gorge in March, and the other to California, via Yellowstone National Park. The trip to Yellowstone was the first road-trip that Charles, Tigger the greyhound, and I have taken together. Tigger is charming in a car, in that he usually goes straight to sleep while the car is moving. He has earned at least a couple more long car trips due to his good behavior. He may even accompany us to the Adams Family Reunion next summer. J

 

We have to announce another new member of the family. This is Alot—named after the parking lot (“A”) that Charles found her in—cleaning Charles’s dirty, dirty head. She is a very fluffy black kitty with gold eyes. We figure she was maybe 3 months old when we got her in June (just before the long Yellowstone trip), which makes her about 9 months now. She’s a beauty. She’s also a pill. She likes to chase the other cats, sharpen her claws on the doorjambs, and play with the dog. She isn’t afraid of anything, despite everything Charles puts her through. We love her, and I think incumbent cats, Anne and Buttercup, have forgiven us.

 

Charles and I are still teaching at Western Oregon University, but we still have other various projects going on. I’m thinking of applying to an MFA program in creative writing, and Charles is trying to figure out how to get high-speed Internet out to our new property, which is in the literal woods, among other things.

 

Hope you all have a grand holiday.

 

Love,

 

Maren and Charles, Tigger, Anne, Buttercup, and Alot.

 

Back to marens.com