Happenings  -  2006     Return to Main Menu
 
January  - We called Phil at the Lodge in Canada one week early to know the snow conditions on Spruce Lake.  "Hardly any." said he.  So we did not take snow shoes or x-country skis.  Imagine our surprise at hopping off the train & finding 16 inches of snow to walk through on our way into the dome!  We plodded for an hour & a half.  The winter scenery was stunning.  Really.  Especially the walk through the woods on the portage trail.
    The dome is not insulated; 3/4 " of wood and shingles struggles to keep Old Man Winter outside.  Each dawn first man up started a fire that burned constantly until bedtime.  Hiked around on the lake visiting ice fishermen and checking out other camps.  Burned up the existing wood pile.  The simple meals we cooked all tasted really good.  Room temperature varied from 35 to 55 degrees for five days.  Read books, cut wood, imbibed, even talked a little.   It takes a non-normal outlook on life to enjoy an experience like this.  Orson & I are not normal.
We had a great time..
February  - From Canada to Guatemala!  What a change.  Sandy & I flew to Guatemala to visit Julio, once an 8 year old boy sponsored by Sandy through the Christian Foundation for Children & Aging.  Julio is now 20 and leaving the program.  Our purpose was to visit him and to learn more about the program & about Guatemala.  And we did.  We learned a lot - about Julio & CFCA & Guatemala.
   Lake Atitlan is a big, beautiful lake with volcanic mountains rising all around it.  The lake level is 5000' above sea level, giving the area a climate known as the "Land of Eternal Spring."  Julio's village sits on the lower edge of one of the mountains.  We stayed on the CFCA grounds, taking day trips around the area.  They kept us busy learning about the culture, meeting locals & getting to know their program.  Sandy & I are both very impressed with their humanitarian work.  Their slogan is "Offering hope. Restoring dignity. Worldwide."  If you are interested in helping others and want to know that your contribution is being used effectively, search out this group on the internet.  When we asked Bob Hentzen, co-founder, about Julio's situation, he fetched a folder, opened it, showed us what our contributions had been used for and told us to the penny how much of our money was still available for Julio & his family.
   We stayed for an extra week of R & R around the Atitlan area, sampling local coffees (sorry, no decaf) and local desserts and soaking up that marvelous spring-like weather.
April  - Staying home the entire month of March made us a little antsy, so we signed up with a local church to go for a week down to Gulfport, Mississippi and help clean up some of the mess that Katrina made.  18 people sat, slouched and co-mingled in 3 vans & a pickup for the 19 hour drive  from the Dairyland to the Gulf coast. 
When you look at a photo, never assume you have some true feeling about what you are seeing.  When you go there and see & smell & touch and listen to the people there, then you have some little pimple of an idea of what is was like.  But that is all.  Only those who have lived through it have the experience burned into their heart..

We walked across this bridge in Mostar.                 		August - December  - "Life is what happens while you're making other plans."  The email from Mike (our administrator at the school in Ukraine four years ago) would have shaken up our plans, if we had had any.  "Would you & Sandy like to teach in Sarajevo?"   So off we went again to Eastern Europe to teach for a year.  We loved teaching again..  QSI (Quality Schools International) in Sarajevo has students from about 20 different countries. They are children of embassy staff or corporate families placed thereby their country or company.  A few locals attend also. The lessons are all in English.  Sandy had a combined 4th - 5th grade class which would have been challenging enough, but one of her 5th graders has severe learning & emotional problems.  Denny taught all the sciences from 6th grade through 12th grade.
     For many delicious details of this experience check out our newsletter, "The Bosnian Bugle", which you can access from "Teaching in Bosnia" at the Main Menu.
September  - Daughter Molly announced that she and her husband are going to present the family & the world with another grandchild in the spring.