Happy Holidays! We hope things are going well with you, but whatever your news is, we’d love to hear it.

Our letter this year is more by topic than chronology.

IN SILVER CITY

We’ve been home and in our local area all year. Both our dogs are still with us. We read a lot, listen to a lot of music, and we watch some television, mainly in the evenings. Kelly balances his days between physical activity and more sedentary work at his computer.  He walks or plays ball with our dogs daily. Rosana spends more time following social media. We both enjoy getting in our hot tub almost every evening as a way to relax and soothe any sore muscles.

Rosana decided that she would like to adopt a pair of Siberian cats that needed a new home and volunteered to do this. After they arrived she discovered that she was allergic to them and so they were given to some friends. Kelly took pity on her sadness about this loss and carved a replacement cat for her birthday.

HEALTH

The dread Covid got us. Rosana had a pretty bad case but luckily Kelly had a mild case at about the same time. So he took care of routine things. She was sick enough for a while that she couldn’t even read!

Also, Rosana has been having problems with her balance. She fell twice: once hitting the back of her head on a sidewalk and once whacking her left knee hard enough that it still hurts weeks later. Her Primary Care Physician had her get a four-wheeled walker with a seat which she often sits in or walks with; she calls it her “hot wheels.”

OUR WORK

Rosana is working on an ebook called Science Fiction Daughter: Growing Up Weird with Cordwainer Smith. She plans to finish it in 2024.

Kelly posts on his www.naturalbuildingblog.com every other day and keeps up with maintaining his other websites. He is also working on a lovely tiny home based on a used fifth wheel trailer he bought for this purpose. The theme of this one is Tree of Life and he is nearly done with it, and it will soon be up for sale. See his webpage at https://hartworks.com/tree-of-life-sculpted-tiny-home/ for lots of photos and more description.

Kelly was interviewed on a local radio show, and as a result of this he was contacted by a woman who has started a non-profit organization with the mission of creating affordable, non-toxic housing for people who are compromised by environmental illnesses (see https://crookedforestinstitute.org ). The non-toxic aspect is especially pertinent to Kelly because his daughter suffers from exposure to mold, as did the woman who started the organization.Kelly is now an advisor for this group, and participated in a presentation about it at a local coffee shop, where he met a couple who are now consulting with him about developing their own property near Silver City.

One of Kelly’s wooden sculptural pieces at the local gallery that exhibits his work sold to a woman from San Diego who was visiting her uncle here. She  called and wanted to meet the artist and then came by the next day. They spent some time in the Tree of Life and she became tearful while immersed in all of the artwork. She offered to help market the home with a video at some point (marketing is her business).

LOCAL FRIENDS

A couple we knew in Crestone, B Sitkin and his wife Chinle Beaver, came to Silver and bought a place. They fit right in with a group which had been called the “Gang of Four,” which was us two with Candice Burke and George Carr from Orlando, so that became the “Gang of Six.” We generally meet for lunch every couple of weeks at places around town. One of our favorite spots is the Bear Mountain Lodge, out of town a little. Exquisite food! At right is Kelly celebrating his 80th birthday at Bear Mountain Lodge with the Gang of Six, Ajila, and her dog.

We have a variety of other friends here too, mainly Episcopalians Rosana knows and Permaculture people Kelly knows.

VISITS FROM AFAR

Kelly’s cousin Reese Cutler and his wife Kathleen came through here for a day in the spring. Reese demonstrated how he controls a drone to take photos of our house. Peter B Rice, whom we’ve known from when he was a child till now that he is in his 30s or 40s, pops in from Albuquerque now and then. Peter helped Kelly with some of the construction on the huge carport that is used to shelter his tiny home projects.

We had a longer visit in November from Kelly’s daughter Ajila, who was here for about ten days, including Kelly’s 80^th birthday. She had her French bulldog with her. Our dog Lilly and the little Frenchie played and played… Lilly was morose when they left. Ajila and Kelly collaborated on creating a lovely wooden marquetry design of some magnolia blossoms.

Kelly and Ajila get together via Facetime on their phones to play canasta most weeks. Rosana and her sister Marcia, who lives back east, talk via phone most weeks. And Rosana talks with Rohana McLaughlin from California most months.

In the spring, we were interviewed by a longtime Subud member Rachman Cantrell, as one of a series he was doing, with an emphasis on the spiritual group Subud which we have been part of for decades. You can see us talking about that:

FRIENDS WHO PASSED ON

Roland Jacopetti was our brother-in-law, married to Alexandra when we all lived at Sunshine Camp. Later, he was married to Anna Cummings Jacopetti, and she spoke warmly of him as a man who had his stuff together. Our next-door neighbor Ernie Maldonado was a very close friend who died this year. We miss him. And we heard recently from Elaine Shanafelt of Ashland that her husband Jerry died.

LOOKING AHEAD

We have plenty of work to do, plenty of friends to see, plenty of books to read, plenty of meals to cook… to paraphrase from Porgy and Bess, we’ve “got plenty of plenty!”