Ho-ho-ho. Time for the annual humble-brag.
Let’s start with the good news. 2023 was great for our overall health and we are both loving retired life.
Pickles is starting to slow down just a little. She still loves her walks, her treats, and adores any humanoid instantly. She’s not satisfied until she says “hi” to everyone in the park. She’s always run with reckless abandon and it caught up to her this year when she went headfirst into a shrub and poked her right eye. It’s healing well now, but not without a fair amount of veterinary intervention. Tomorrow she gets to take her cone off. She’s excited about that.
Donna decided to get a series of 9 golf lessons at Redtail Golf Course and is striking the ball with authority these days. Just ask the guys who were trying to clear off the 3rd green at Sahalie! Just kidding, she didn’t do that, but she has hit long off the tee on some par 3’s. She got her first birdie before she got her first par which is rather unusual. I saw it myself and vowed not to let her beat me on any more holes the rest of the day.
She spends her days taking care of the garden and yard, having happy hour and other activities with friends, working on art projects in her shop and participating in a monthly music group (more on that later). We venture out together to estate sales, music events and whatever else suits us that week. Next year she’s signed up for a metalsmith class in the hopes of adding that skillset to her repertoire. She’s never at a loss for something to do.
Bill (that’s me) had a very enjoyable year in so many ways. I took a job umpiring baseball games for Lake Oswego Little League which kept me really busy from April through June. The grand finale was 7 All Star games at the District 4 Tournament for 10 and 11 year olds. I had a blast and learned a lot. During the summer I built a playhouse for the grandkids in the back yard and a few other things (see pictures). There was sawdust flying everywhere for a couple of months. Donna decked out the inside of the playhouse in her inimitable style.
I got out about once/week for some golf at Charbonneau with my buddy Glenn Smith while the weather was good. As if that weren’t enough fun for one year I signed up to referee basketball with PBOA and CYO and am now a first year referee (probationary status 1). They keep sending me paychecks so I must not suck too bad. BLEEP! WHITE 22, ON THE ARM, 2 SHOTS! It’s actually harder than it looks.
The year wasn’t all fun and glory however. We lost my cousin Mike Eady in August. Mike was a one of a kind guy. I wrote a blog post/tribute to him here. We miss him dearly. He was soooooo funny, a diehard Duck fan, and such a great writer. See a hilarious sample of his writing here.
We also lost my step brother Gary Hicks, a character if there ever was one. Gary had to deal with blindness his last year of life which was very difficult. I was able to get over there and assist him doing small things that were inconsequential to me, but made a big difference to him. Gary was my brother from another mother. I miss him and his very unique sense of humor.
Donna and I are anxiously awaiting the re-opening of the new Lake Oswego Municipal Golf Course! It’ll be an executive par 30 course, just right for us old geezers who like to get a par once in a while. No big plans for the coming year, just enjoying the hell of of not working and the anti-stress lifestyle associated with that.
On the music front, we both attend a monthly group of musicians hosted by our awesome neighbors across the street Patt and Don where we get to play a song or two to the crowd. Donna has a couple of duet partners (violin, piano) that she has a lot of fun collaborating with. We’re regulars now and look forward to our monthly “gig.” I did manage to add one recording to YouTube here.
Other than that we plan to continue to hit the estate sales because there’s no possible way we have enough stuff yet.
The Fam
On a sad note we went from having all of the grandkids around to 3/5. The Gilpin’s moved to Goodyear, AZ during the summer and headed for warmer weather. To heck with Oregon and Sherwood! We miss them and going to the GKs sporting events and other get-togethers.
The Grandkids, whoo-boy. They are growing up fast. Kaden is 15 (almost 16), a sophomore, driving and pitching JV for his high school in Goodyear, AZ and swings varsity when his team needs an extra arm. Karter is 13 and active in football and baseball and swimming in his new pool. They are the nicest boys ever. They make us proud every time we see them.
Emilia is 4 and like her dad, quite the character including back seat song critic. She played soccer this year and enjoys pre-school. We love everything about Emilia. She’s a sweetie.
Gwennie is also 4 and tried soccer this year and does dance lessons as well. She’s very focused on getting her dance routine right and does a great job. Her sister Ellie (2) as best we can tell spends a lot of time trying to keep up with Gwennie. The girls are a heavy dose of cute and going to be so much fun to watch them grow up in the coming years. Lucky us!
Images from 2023
View from my PDX Window 