Year End 2022

 

The end of another year is here and I am still alive to tell about it. It has been a year of avoiding illness and resuming some activities. This is my annual report about 2022.

I am glad to say that my immediate family is intact, including me, my adult children and their children, plus Pete, the wonderful man in my life. I have lived through the third year of the Covid 19 pandemic, which meant sometimes wearing masks in public, sometimes participating in meetings and church services remotely on Zoom and staying at home a lot. But this year the pandemic didn’t seem as bad as before, so I had more opportunities to be with people than in 2021. By December we had a new word to describe the pestilence around us: tripledemic. We now have covid, flu and RSV (which does not stand for Revised Standard Version), whatever it is. All three conditions are with us so I quote the recent words of the leader of Ukraine, who said they/we are alive and kicking. Ukraine is in worse shape than we are, no thanks to the Russians. We are okay.

A large part of my life every summer has been spending time at Washington Island. This year daughter Sarah parked a new-to-her camper on the island campground in the woods for the family to use when she allows it. It is small for many people so when she was on the island she made space for only one more person to stay with her. Mostly when I was there, and I was there quite a bit of the summer, I stayed in one of the campground’s cabins as I have done other years, and I stayed in the camper when Sarah was living her life at home. It has many amenities but not a lot of space. That is true of the island we love too.

I did more than camping at Washington Island. I exhibited my artwork at the Art and Nature Center again this year in an all-summer exhibit by islanders and summer islanders. The center is in an old two room school building with one classroom set up with paintings and three-dimensional art for people to admire and buy, and one classroom arranged with items from the island’s natural environment, including live snakes in aquariums, a beehive and other natural things for children and adults to look at and enjoy. Also on the island I attended services at the Lutheran Church, where I connected with island people whom I have known over time.

Plenty of things were happening from time to time elsewhere. Pete and I took a tour of several days to Mackinac Island in June, where we toured the carless island in a horse drawn carriage and walked around and enjoyed the woodsy paths and posh environment of the Grand Hotel with its five course dinners and (of course) shops. The occasion was billed as the lilac festival, but I think I saw more geraniums.

Pete and I took some day trips with groups of seniors. In August we went on a day tour by boat on Lake Geneva with its large, beautiful homes built along the lakeshore about a hundred years ago by famous wealthy Chicago people. In August Pete and I took a day trip to the Kohler Andrae State Park near Sheboygan on the Lake Michigan shore and enjoyed walking on the dunes. Another day in summer we visited the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, which has cranes (birds) from all over the world. Apart from these senior group trips we attended several plays during the year at American Players Theater in Spring Green and in Madison at the Overture Center. These events were a pleasant return from the days when the covid scare kept events and people to a minimum.

Volunteering at the senior center and public library went on all year for me. The senior center brought back pre-covid programs and activities, so I helped. I serve on the Committee on Aging and the senior center’s Foundation Board. I participated in hanging two exhibits, one paintings and one photography, which show the work of Dane County residents over age 55. I submitted my colored pencil drawings in the painting exhibit. These month long displays on the senior center’s second floor are good opportunities for seniors to showcase their creativity for the public to admire.

At my nearby branch library I went back to doing the pick list all year. What’s that? It is a list of the library’s books and other items that a volunteer or staff person finds to fill hold requests to send to other libraries. This sharing of library materials provides better service for people. I am one of the volunteers who finds the items on the list when it is my turn. I have been doing this since I retired fourteen years ago. Just place a hold on an item in the library’s online catalog and it will arrive at your library in about a day if it is available. That’s the hold system.

In October Pete and I joyfully celebrated the sixth anniversary of meeting each other. We had dinner at Delany’s Steak House in Madison. I am very happy that this relationship has endured for six years and has remained loving and comfortable for both of us. We celebrated Pete’s eightieth birthday in October at Delany’s.

Sadly, I saw much less of my children who live away from Madison than in non-covid times. I look forward to times when we can do things together again. Sarah, John, Sherry, Laura and Ian are here in Madison where we have access to some time together. Sarah is continuing to recover from breast cancer-mandated radiation treatments dating back more than a year, so she is limited by how well she is feeling. Radiation saves lives but it takes a long time to heal. I am glad to see her every now and then. Her energy goes to her job where she works at home. John and Sherry have lovingly invited me to eat supper with them once a week. They are giving me their time. Dori, Mary and Libby are out of state. We had some family gatherings on Zoom on holidays, so we can be thankful for times like these. I look forward to a future when we can all be together in person.

That’s what happened in my world. May everyone live long and prosper.