Greetings of the Season from Susie and Jerry Stimpfle

Well it's time once again to give you the condensed version of what we did this year. Since its easier to remember what has just happened, I'll start with the present and work backwards. Our latest endeavor, which occupies much of our time, is planning a trip to India. The trip might have been over by now, because it was originally planned for November, but arthroscopic knee surgery for Jerry in October forced us to postpone the trip until February. So now, instead of helping with Christmas cards and holiday decorations, Jerry is pouring over India rail timetables and tour books.

My company held its annual meeting in Chicago in September so Jerry and I took the train. Our time in Chicago was short, but we managed to visit the Indian section of the city for a vegetarian dinner prepared in a "vegetarian only" kitchen. We enjoyed the atmosphere of the street and conversations with numerous people about our upcoming trip.

Jerry's mother visited us in late August just in time to help with tomato canning and the Kimmel family picnic at Sand Lake. As always we had beautiful weather for the picnic and plenty of good food. In July his sister, Nedra, came for a visit that was a little too early for melons or corn, but just in time for fresh gooseberry pie. I still dont know how that pie disappeared so quickly. Needless to say, we had a very hot, dry summer. Jerry watered the garden diligently, which helped most of the crops to survive. The pole lima beans loved the hot weather, but the cucumbers, melons and squash got pretty droopy during the heat of the day.

Juanita and Jerry discuss the garden

My sister, Barbara, was in Philadelphia for a nursing convention during the first week in July, so I flew to Philly. I was a little nervous about flying into Philadelphia on the 4th of July (on flight 1776 no less), but there were no incidents or delays. However I did have a surprise when I arrived. Mary's husband, Jim, met me at the baggage claim and dragged me off to a restaurant to get something to eat. As we trudged along with my luggage, I gazed down to the end of a moving sidewalk and could see someone waving her arms wildly. It was my cousin, Nancy. She was on her way to Rome and had a long wait between her flight from State College and the flight to Rome. Barbara, Mary, Nancy and I spent a couple of hours chatting and visiting while Jim tried to squeeze a word in here and there.

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Purple Hull Cow Peas, Eggplant, Tomatoes, Blackberries and Sweet Corn. Yum! Yum!

Jerry had his 45th high school class reunion in June. As usual, a couple of the gals in his class planned a great evening. Now we're looking forward to seeing some long, lost classmates at the 50th, which is supposed to be a two-day affair.

The Class of '57

The rest of the year was rather uneventful. I even checked the kitchen calendar to see if I missed anything, but all I found were dentist and doctor appointments, bridge games and tournaments (for Jerry), violin lessons and concerts (for me) and a few random bird sightings (I count birds). Our 3 cats are keeping warm by the fire and we have plenty of wood.

ZuZazz and his lunch

Susie with her sisters, Barbara, Mary and Sally.