Year End 2025

 

Life in the last year has been good locally. This is my annual report on the year 2025. It was active and quiet for me here in Madison while tumultuous nationally with a president who made a lot of changes that didn’t help most people. That’s enough about national life. During the year I had plenty of activity.

I loved the summer days at Washington Island, sitting in the campground woods (yes, still a camper) and going to local musical events and the annual art exhibit at the Art and Nature Center. The island campground is pleasantly rustic with simple cabins for shelter and space to sit outside and enjoy the natural spaces. Multiple visits of four or five days ensued. Back at home in Madison I enjoyed the times during the year when I had supper weekly with John and Sherry at their home with them and their cats and dog; they are a blessing. Dori found time during the year to visit me once a month for a day. She has been very welcome. In addition to all this I continued  to be active at St. Dunstan’s Church where plenty of young families stay active. At least they seem young to me because they are under eighty. I seem to hang out with older people. Not a surprise.

I cut back on my volunteer activities; didn’t have as much energy as when I was younger. But I continued to help my neighborhood library one afternoon each week. Searching for materials on a list of library materials that people placed on hold has a special benefit and that is time spent finding them on top shelves, then bottom shelves where one gets down onto the floor to read the spine labels that are two inches off the floor. I do up-and-down exercise for a couple of hours and my old hips and knees get workouts. Who in a library thinks of exercise when coming to the library to find something? The volunteer for that day must find the materials people request; the items on the list then go to other libraries to fill their patrons’ requests. Not exciting, but helpful.

I drove myself to the Madison Senior Center weekly. “Writing Your Life” was a class to practice writing essays on suggested topics about our lives from Mark, a retired high school teacher. My  story that I liked best was about ice skating in Sturgeon Bay when I was young. I wrote with the classmates at the senior center for several years including 2025 and then took time off from it this fall. I also joined the Verona Senior Center for some of their programs, like short bus trips for events. PLATO offered classes that met weekly in various locations, where I liked historical content like “Biography,” presented by volunteers who seem to be mostly retired teachers and professors. They did research and presented what they had. It’s ongoing.

My artistic endeavors took time off. I didn’t exhibit anywhere, although I attended art fairs. This is a big change of seeing and not participating my artwork. A little more energy on my part would have helped my artistic endeavors. But it was easy to find plenty to do rather than sit and feel old. It’s time to get back to it and do more. My hands still work even if my hips mostly don’t.

This Christmas my adult grandchildren joined together for good times. Andrea and Jed came from Idaho with their baby Teddy who was born last summer. He is my first great-grandchild and being together with them was heartwarming. The grandchildren got together during the holidays for cousins’ gatherings. I love them all. Laura and Ian work hard at their Madison jobs all year, and I see them occasionally. Going to local plays with Laura is always a good time.

And then there is Facebook. This good even if some people don’t like it. Through it I stay in contact with many friends and former colleagues from past and present, especially family and friends from high school and places where I have lived with my deceased husband Rick and late boyfriend Pete. My nephew David is a pastor in Georgia who devotes his ministry to homeless people there; I would not know about it without his nearly daily Facebook accounts of the good things he and his church are doing there.

That’s the year we had. Let’s have another one.

Year End 2024

 

     Here we are at the end of another year. This is my report on happenings and activities for 2024. One big (for me) event overshadowed everything else. Death crept into my life. My dear Pete left this life quietly on his 82^nd birthday, August 10.

     Pete and I had wonderful times together for nearly eight years. He was good, caring, generous, smart and never argued, although we would disagree sometimes. I loved it when we were together. He was the introvert and I am the talker; he was the scientist and I am the liberal arts person. It all worked out very well for us while it lasted, for almost eight years.

    He was a great fan of plays so we continued to watch local professional productions. We also sat in his living room in front of his oversized television screen and watched dramatic series. We sat at my kitchen table and played Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit; usually I won Scrabble and He won Trivial Pursuit. We played a card game called Nerts that is big in his family. We didn’t have as many trips in the first months of this year as we had other years because he didn’t feel quite up to par as time went on.

     Pete and I enjoyed the first half of the year doing all this, and then summer came. Big change. He went to the hospital in early June, was diagnosed with bladder cancer and some infections, stayed most of the summer in the hospital and a few days in the nursing home, and faded away. I sat there with him every day except the times when I had visits to Washington Island as I do every year. The day he died I was away at the island. I called his nursing home to wish him a happy birthday, but a lady who answered told me that he could not speak but could hear me so I hung up; ten minutes later the same lady called back to say he had died. Our time together had ended. Alas.

     Life went on for the year. I went to Washington Island several times during the summer and again enjoyed the rustic cabin on the campground. Daughter Dori and her family of Steve, Robbie and Dhyana were there with me one of the times as we walked and sat in the woods; we were when I got the call about Pete’s death. I love being on the island. This year I did not exhibit my art there as I have in other years; the Art and Nature Center has good exhibits every summer, and I have participated in past summers.

     Other things happened. Tom and Carmen Colburn, lifetime family friends, came to Viroqua,Wisconsin, in October where Carmen had medical work done by her favorite doctor there. Brother David and Marcie live there so I went to Viroqua and we all visited and ate dinner in a local establishment, after which I drove Tom and Carmen back to Madison to catch their plane home to Texas. It was very good.

     I showed my colored pencil art in the annual exhibit of the Wisconsin Regional Art Program in March in Madison; attended my 64^th reunion of the Sturgeon Bay High School class of 1959; hosted our annual family get together in my back yard in June; continued with my volunteering at the local library and a few other places; and continue to have dinner weekly with John and Sherry. I took a day trip via tour bus to Chicago in August where I spent time at the Art Institute.

     The last few months of 2024 have been quiet and less active as I have learned once again to be alone much of the time. My friends at St. Dunstan’s Church have been a plus as I have lived with the big change. I am blessed with John, Sherry. Laura and Ian, nearby in Madison, are doing well, and Ian is graduating from UW-Madison one of these days with a degree in computer science. Congratulations to him. I wish I could be with my other adult children a bit more. I love our family.

Year End 2023

 

  2023 is coming to an end. A lot has happened in my little space in the world. We have no snow on the ground late in December. Unbelievable. This is my report on the ups and downs of the last year.

   Pete and I continued to enjoy good times together. Not everything involved him, such as my exhibiting in art shows and the times I spent at Washington Island, plus ongoing volunteering at the senior center and library branch near my home. When we were together Pete and I thoroughly enjoyed a lot of plays in Madison, Spring Green (American Players Theater), and Milwaukee. We ate and played together regularly, too, with plenty of day trips to points of interest. We also spent several days in Chicago and visited his sister in Minnesota. In October we celebrated the seventh anniversary of the day we met in 2016, with dinner. Our seven years together have been wonderful.

   A big event this year was the Covid-19 pandemic that afflicted me and many others. I became part of history when symptoms of a very bad cold took over my life for a week and a half in October. Much nasal congestion, coughing and sneezing but no fever. I stayed at home for a week and a half until I tested negative and my life resumed its routine. Pete wisely distanced himself from all this except for daily phone calls. He finally returned to my abode without catching Covid.

   As in other years I had great times during the summer. I went to Washington Island for as much time as I could get away from Madison, where once again I stayed at the campground alone in the woods. A couple of times I stayed in daughter Sarah’s camper trailer and other times I sheltered in campground cabins. Being in those woods is like meditation. I walked a lot on the woodsy roads, sat in my lawn chair and read, and went to services at the local Lutheran church where I know some of the people. I used the local library’s wi-fi when possible. I listened to jazz by Doc Westring and his little combo. Some of the local deer walked out onto the road every now and then, but they did not say hello. Pete did not come to the island with me since he seems to not see the charm of the woods.

   One very good thing for me on Washington Island was displaying my colored pencil drawings in the annual exhibit at the Art and Nature Center. It is for participating islanders, and I qualified due to the amount of time I spend on the island every year. This exhibit goes on all summer and includes paintings and various media. We are among many good artists. I have exhibited there for several years.

   Speaking of art exhibits, I was happy to exhibit colored pencil works again this spring in the large Wisconsin Regional Art Program show for Wisconsin artists at the Pyle Center in Madison. Besides that, I gave time and artwork to the Madison Senior Center, where student volunteers and I helped hang its annual show for Dane County seniors in May. No prizes for me in either event, but these are good exhibitions.

   What a delight! Family friends for all our lives, the Colburns came to Door County this summer after many years. My Allen brothers and I and the four Colburn adult children who are about our ages all grew up together and spent summers at our cottages in the woods of Clark Lake north of Sturgeon Bay. We and our parents were close friends. The occasion for their visit was distributing the ashes of newly deceased Johnny Colburn, their oldest, in Clark Lake. I went, as did my brother Eddy and wife Mary Lou, and we got together with many Colburns and descendants and friends for enjoyment and food, and, of course, a fish boil outdoors next to the bay of Sturgeon Bay. I came the first day a bit before the activity began and had a good visit with Sally and Richie. Over the years I have been in touch with Tom and Carmen Colburn more than the others.

   Pete and I had an enjoyable six-day vacation in Chicago in May, where we and our Road Scholar group visited museums and the Art Institute. We had a scenic boat trip on the Chicago River to see the downtown architecture, and we heard a lecture about the history of Chicago politics. Pete and I both were born in Chicago and lived our early years in the suburbs, but it was good to see the well-known sights again.

   I didn’t see my adult offspring much during the year other than John and Sherry who graciously gave me dinner at their home on Monday nights, with Laura and Ian present sometimes. The Covid pandemic has changed the occasions for getting together even though the disease seems to be waning. Libby, Dori, Steve, Robbie and Dana came to Madison to see me a few times. Sarah continues to recover from radiation treatment with cancer she had a couple of years ago, so we don’t see her as much as I would like. I didn’t see Mary and Gareth in Maryland at all in the last year. Alas. When and if life returns to normal, we can move around more.

   Life has continued to be busy as old age creeps up on me. Plenty of volunteer work at the senior center and library keeps me busy every week, and life is good in the company of the church group of ladies which I call the book group that hardly ever discusses the book. We get together online on Zoom and comment on politics and other life situations during our meetings. Did I say I am getting old? I’m only eighty-two and still getting around. I expect to be here for a while longer.

Ice Skating

 

I have loved ice skating for many years. I skated as a child for many years to and through my seventies. Winter meant skating. Skating was and is fun and good exercise. It also includes falls and bruises but I always thought they were just part of skating.

When we were small our father took my brothers and me ice skating when we lived in Lincolnwood, Illinois, somewhere near our home. We had our own skates and slid around until we got tired. That was the beginning of my love affair with this winter activity. We also did some skating on Clark’s Lake near our Door County cottage before we lived in Wisconsin. Skating on a lake that was bumpy and barely plowed was work but it was wonderful to be out on this lake in the woods.  Cold weather didn’t stop us as we raced around on our large-enough icy spot.

After our family moved to Sturgeon Bay when I was ten years old, we had the market square. It was a half block size parking lot that was between our school and the fire department garage. The kids and I sped around on our skates during those short snowy days after school and on weekends. We bundled up in our skates, winter coats, stocking hats and warm mittens, and every now and then warmed up in the warming house. That space is still there today but it no longer is a skating rink. It outlasted our school building that moved to other locations.

I remember playing crack the whip on the market square with a bunch of girls about my age. We held hands in a line and skated in a circular pattern, with one girl at one end swinging the line of girls until the girl at the other end was speeding around. Sooner or later the kids let go and the one at the far end went sailing across the rink and often fell. That happened to me once and I ended up flat on the ice with a bloody chin. I got up and skated again.

I grew up, moved to Green Bay, and had kids. Husband Rick was not a skater. The rest of us enjoyed a large rink at Astor Park in Green Bay. I drove us there whenever we had time. We put on our skates and joined the many kids and a few moms. The kids skated with little need for adult help.

At Astor Park I was delighted to see that Joyce, a mom I knew, was skating around the rink and teaching the kids there to figure skate. This good skater showed them some easy steps and moves. I think my Mary and Libby joined them. I watched the impromptu performances while I skated around holding hands with little Sarah. John said “no, thanks” and skated by himself.

Time went by. The kids grew up. Rick and I moved to Madison. I was still ice skating, this time at Elver Park, wearing knee pads and wrist pads to soften the falls. While I skated, some neighborhood kids there saw me and said things like, “Look, someone’s grandma is skating.” By that time I was past age sixty but still loved being on the ice. Unfortunately, in my seventies my balance became unsteady. The problem was getting back up. On a few occasions son John was skating and helped me get up after falling.

Finally I gave it up.

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.

My Pal Clancy

 

Clancy was my buddy in childhood. This brown and white energetic springer spaniel loved me regardless of what I did. Even though he was a dog, he was my perfect companion.

Was he a good dog? I didn’t know, but he and I were good to each other. I loved watching him jump in the deep snow, gobble his dog food like there was no tomorrow, and run along on our many walks together. Hugging him was great except when he didn’t want to.  When I was unhappy about something, he would sit with me and let me hug him, seemly forever. I never had friends like that, and even if I had had companions to cry with, I would have gone to Clancy.

Our family took him when we moved from Lincolnwood to Sturgeon Bay. We all spent many days in summers at our cottage in the woods at Clark’s Lake. When we were driving there, Clancy always howled loudly in the back seat as we approached. He was as eager as we were. Once there, he got busy chasing rabbits and exploring.

At home in Sturgeon Bay, my parents were at work thirty hours a day at their new business. I thought Clancy and Omar might be lonely so I sat with them in our garage to keep them company. The two dogs dug holes under the back fence and we had to bring them back home many times.

When I was about ten years old and Clancy was older in dog years, he got sick with distemper and lost all his pep and lay listlessly on the floor. Then I spent a lot of time sitting with him and giving back. Clancy survived the illness but never again was his former energetic self. We loved each other anyway. He died later when I was studying at the university.

A good friend can be a dog. My life would not have been the same without Clancy.

Year End 2021

It was a year to remember. This is my annual report for 2021. Life has continued.

This year I achieved the status of Old Person with the arrival of my 80^th birthday. I enjoyed another year of longevity with Pete Weiler by my side. We are still a couple after five years, and still single. Pete is good, generous, helpful, enjoyable and a wonderful companion. Having him with me mattered greatly during a year of staying at home much of the time due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I stayed home a lot but still found things to do.

Pete and I played card and board games, watched streaming programs and videos, brought home plenty of carryout meals and went on a few short trips around the state. We saw some American Players Theater professional plays in person or online, and we visited Ten Chimneys, the home of actors Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. We traveled to Milwaukee and took in an immersive exhibit of Van Gogh paintings which were greatly enlarged and projected onto walls.

One highlight of the year was granddaughter Andrea’s wedding to Jed. Our families got together on Labor Day weekend in the great outdoors of Spring Green and enjoyed all the festivities. It was wonderful to have all my adult children there and see this great couple tie the knot. They are living and working in Madison.

A less pleasant occurrence was the break-in at my home in June while I was vacationing at Washington Island (more about the island later). Someone broke windows and entered my home. Daughter-in-law Sherry discovered a broken bedroom window when she came to water my outdoor plants. She and my son John found drawers emptied onto the floor, contacted the police, and then called me. I am thankful for my loving family. Fortunately, very little was taken and apart from two broken windows there was no vandalism. Most of my valuables, which are minimal anyway, were not taken. Whoever did it might have chosen to rob someone who actually had something to steal besides a lot of original artwork. The burglar didn’t even take the drawerful of my (deceased) mother’s jewelry. We never found out who broke in. 

I took several trips of Washington Island during the summer. My island home is the local campground. In addition to staying there I showed three of my colored pencil drawings at the island Art and Nature Center’s annual exhibit for the summer. One of the island visits was tent camping with daughter Dori and her husband Steve and their son Robbie. I am getting old for camping in tents, but it was fun and went well. The other times at the island included housing in a cabin on the campground. I love being there in the woods. Pete did not accompany me to the island. 

The pandemic lessened my volunteer activities during much of the year. The library reopened for in person service in September so I went back then and resumed my usual duties. The senior center arranged to have committee meetings on Zoom; I am honored to be on the Committee on Aging and the Senior Center Foundation board. We did some other gatherings online as part of my volunteer tasks for the senior center.  Giving back to the community by volunteering is important in my life.

We had a year of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which I think of as a plague. A new President took office January 6 while protesters enacted a violent riot at the Capitol; we watched it with shock via television and the internet. Mass shootings ocurred in schools, shopping centers and even a Christmas parade. Businesses, churches, schools and workplaces closed their doors for much of the year while Covid raged and many people worked and studied at home via Zoom. Many have reopened with some requiring masks and vaccinations for participation. Wildfires consumed the American west. All these happenings contributed to my stresses and wondering where it all is going and what will happen next. That’s the news for the year.