2007 Solstice Letter from Tom and Katherine

                                                                                                            December 30, 2007

Dear Friends,

2007 has not been an easy year although it has ended on a positive note – Tom is still with us and firing on all six cylinders.  In fact if it were not for the radiology and pathology reports we would think he was good for another twenty years. Most of you have received his Ruminations; if you are interested, the are posted to our website and you can find them at http://upislandeggs.com/Ruminations.htm

In June we had a marvelous trip to Italy, spending about three days each in Milan, Perugia, Assisi, and Pesaro, with a side trip to Gobbio. Tom loves the mountain towns but Katherine is convinced that any walk from the hotel through the town and back to the hotel is uphill the entire way. Italy has not fared well under the Euro and there is much more poverty and belt tightening than when we were last there six years ago. This was reflected in the food; we found many delightful eateries, but one had to look for them and the quality of the ingredients was down, even in the high end restaurants. Much to our surprise, we were very much taken by Assisi, the only community we have ever visited where one felt that religion had a positive influence.

Katherine's mother and sister came to chicken sit and explore the island while we were gone, for which we are most grateful. Being in Italy was great; getting there and back was not, even though we used up many of Tom's airline miles and flew business class both ways.  We can confirm that these days, flying is for the birds, but our birds deserve better.

Our friend, Gus Ben David, who has a marvelous private bird and reptile zoo on island (you should come and visit it, he has the largest boa in the US) needed the cage in which he kept Java finches for more exotic birds and gave his flock to us.  As a result, our sun room now has a marvelous group of inhabitants, about 20 birds total, half zebra finches and half Java finches, both of whom have started to reproduce. Much fun to watch and hear.

In early Spring, eighty day old chicks arrived and took up residence in our living room in a wading pool.  After the first two weeks, 50 of them went home to our friend Glenn, and their egg production, like ours, is perpetually sold out.  Our two flocks now number about 70, but quite a few of them are elderly (two are 8 years old!) so we expect to lose a few over the winter.

Katherine's big thing this year has been her active participation in WoW (World of Warcraft) a multiplayer (9,000,000) on line game that she relishes.  (Look for Wit and her pet pink battle ostrich on the Echo Isles server.)

The year ended, as it has for the past 28 years, with our annual Winter Solstice party. It is hard to tell whether we enjoy the preparation, particularly the cooking, or the party itself more.  We suspect the former holds sway. This year, since it was the day before Christmas eve, the crowd was a little smaller, about 130 people over the course of eight hours (noon to 8:00). We did the prep on Thursday, and cooked Friday and Saturday. On each day we were done by 2:00. so it was an easy run up to the party, Guests brought finger food and deserts. Of the stuff we cooked, 3 gallons of chili, 2 gallons of bean soup, 16 pounds of ham, 2 gallons of wild rice salad with dried fruit, two 34 inch long poached salmon, 4 dozen tamales (from San Antonio), and a huge bowl of spinach salad with grapefruit and pomegranate vanished.  A great time was had by all, and you are invited to next year's party on December 21st, 2008.

We wish you, and us, peace, health, joy, and tranquility in 2008.