A smashing success in 2015 was the 50th birthday celebration for Brooke (Barbara's youngest) on the side of Mount Rainier (her mountain--if anyone asks.) What a wonderful occasion staying in a mountain lodge, banquet on the deck, cocktail created just for Brooke (try the Gibson 5 0 if you get a chance), and Brooke looking so happy to have us all there so she could cook for us (with a little help from her friends).  While in Seattle area, we had another great month on Whidbey Island, with Brooke and Paula coming over to stay and spoil us with fresh seafood dinners. We supplied the venue, they the cooking--a perfect arrangement from our point of view!

     Over the past three years we have had our last "month with a kid," visiting and enjoying Patti and Jeff's environment in North Carolina, and then lots of travels for weddings, baptisms, birthdays, and sadly, funerals. When my Dad was this age, he said, "Time to circle the wagons, honey." How right he was. 
    We really do enjoy our home and activities here. Bob is happy to be playing golf year round and has a regular bunch of cronies that he enjoys as well. Barbara is active with Barbershop quartet, Mah Jongg, and the usual activities of running a household. Both of us have become active in the Astronomy Club which helps us keep our perspective!

         As the new year begins on a 70 degree day here in Arizona, we are grateful most of all for our connections to you, dear friends and family. Forgive our delay over the years in keeping up.  We love hearing from you any time all the time.  Here is the view from our back yard looking east toward the Catalinas.

      Following is something I put up on Facebook last week and I think the feelings are shared by both of us:  It is entirely possible that we  are as happy as we've ever been. Do not knock aging. It comes with quiet joys wrapped in packages that almost always come as a surprise. For us one of the biggest gifts is time ...not to be spent or worried over or filled, but to be welcomed each morning and rolled around in like a puppy at play. Breathe in the good of it; breathe out the disappointments and pain of it. It is passing more quickly now...did you notice? Be happy in it while you can.

With love and Happy New Year from:

Bob (bobgray32@gmail.com) and Barbara (bleewzg@gmail.com)

14369 N. Lost Arrow Dr., Oro Valley, AZ 85755
Cell phones only:  Bob (307) 690-2455, Barbara (307) 733-6544