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Our highlight this year was spending a long
weekend in the north of Maine, watching the New England Forest Rally. We met
up again with people we’d befriended there last year, and made new friends –
in particular an Englishman, Simon Wright, who was driving. Beti also got to chat
with a Welshman from the Isle of Man, David Higgins, who is the reigning
rally champion. We’ll definitely be repeating the experience in 2012 –
perhaps marshalling, or helping out in some way. Dom and his buddy Billy came
with us, though this year they did not spend time with us!
Other than that, this has been a year of staying
close to home, spending money and time working on upgrading the house, so it
will be ready for sale as soon as house prices go back up. We need to
downsize, and get something small enough to retire into!
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  Ian: Still
works long hours trying to get lasers to power projectors for movie theatres.
But he still managed to have enough energy to work with Beti on a major
remodel of our huge bathroom. It took almost a year, but we can now safely
say it is complete, and a real showpiece! The mulberry pink fixtures - toilet,
Jacuzzi tub, and both vanity sinks - have all been replaced by crisp white ones.
The walls and floors are now neutral colors. The vanity counter is granite,
and the wall-sized mirror has been replaced by 3 smaller matching mirrors,
one of which hides a cabinet. All the lights
have been replaced – we now have pendant lights dangling from the ceiling on
brushed nickel fixtures. The platform around the Jacuzzi tub got completely
rebuilt and tiled. The shower now has a frameless glass door, 2 “stations,”
each with multiple jets, and a newly tiled floor. The windows have new white blinds
and “scarf” drapes. It’s all very elegant. To finish it off, Beti ran 2 thin
white stripes (from Stripeman, a car racing stripe
manufacturer!) around the room to cover up the remaining hint of raspberry
pink on the tiles.
In May Ian had plastic surgery to reduce
his “heavily hooded” eyelids. He can now see out of both eyes without having
to hold his eyelids up! For a while it looked as though he was very surprised
all the time, but now we’ve all got used to his new look.
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 Beti: Is pretty much retired these days, but still
volunteers a lot at her church as a Deacon, Clerk to the church council, and
is on the Pastoral Search Committee, as we search for a new Pastor. Our
wonderful Interim Pastor encourages readers to read with dramatic expression –
to bring the passages to life. He likes Deacons to practice with him before
the service. Under his tutelage Beti really enjoys doing the readings. Beti’s currently “gappy” waiting for a tooth implant, so tries not to smile
too much. The “flipper” (temporary tooth) is good for photo opportunities,
but not for speaking or eating!
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 Dominic: Graduated from High
School, but has no desire to go to college at the moment, though he
interviewed last week at a local college – HIS decision!.
He has a fulltime job as a dishwasher in an Exeter restaurant and bakery
which he takes very seriously. Beti is continually told “I saw Dom at Rogan’s
the other day – he came to talk to me. He’s such a nice boy!” which of course
makes her very proud. As a graduation gift, we gave him Ian’s old car, and
had Tucker replace the engine. It’s a sleek, silver, very powerful Chrysler
LHS, with the number plate being “KRTWZRD” – for “Carrot Wizard,” which, with
his long curly red hair has become his nickname. Now the car is back on the
road, Dom finds it difficult to make ends meet – insurance is very costly for
a male teen with a speeding record, and gasoline prices these days are high.
He continues to officially live with Ian and Beti, though spends most of his
spare time out at friends’ houses. He’s nothing if not sociable and has a
huge toothy smile! He’s still skinny as a rake, but now towers over Beti at
just about 6ft, and still growing. He walks with a very distinctive bouncy
walk – you can tell that he just loves life! Such a change from just a couple
of years ago.
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The Howard Family
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 Janice: Celebrated
her real 39th birthday this year. Was happily working as a
telemarketer in Dover, until the company “downsized”, closed the office, and moved
her to their Biddeford, Maine office. Her children lived with us for a large
part of the summer as she (successfully) searched for an apartment close to
work. We had a Summer Treat of some sort every week – the beach, the park,
the swimming pool, miniature golf, climbing the Fire Tower, the Water Park, etc.
and we had a daily visit from an extended family of wild turkeys, (4 adults
and 8 babies) who paraded round our house, before roosting on top of the
swing set! Janice found a nice large
apartment in a renovated Victorian house, where she, John and Geneva each have
their own bedrooms, and she has a kitchen and scullery as well as a laundry
room.
After a very short while in the Biddeford
office, Janice was promoted, and life seemed rosy – right up until December,
when paychecks began to bounce. Then just this week the company announced it
was bankrupt, and everyone was given their walking papers. Janice has already
found a new job, beginning on Jan 2nd, but it’s
entry level, and she’ll have to work her way up all over again, which I’m fully
confident she’ll do very quickly. In this job market, she’s very lucky to
have landed a job so quickly, but meanwhile her Christmas will be a bit bleak.
On medical advice, she finally quit smoking for good this summer. The effect
has been dramatic on her breathing issues. She’s taking a break from singing
competitions, as she just had surgery to remove scar tissue on her vocal
chords. Once healed, I’m looking forward to hearing her sing again, but can’t
imagine how it’ll sound – certainly not the Janis Joplin voice I’ve been used
to hearing from her!
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 John (12yrs): is now a Middle School student.
He loves his new school in Biddeford, and has become an avid reader. He has
just announced that he has a girlfriend and that they look very good
together. He does have the most beautiful dark brown eyes, and since his hair
cut, (losing the Mohawk) he is a very handsome young man. Like all youngsters
these days, he likes to spend as much time as possible on the computer and
electronic gaming devices. Like his cousin Gabriel, he is addicted to Legos. He is very solicitous of his younger sister. When
he’s with “Mimi” he likes to show off his cooking in the kitchen – he has
very good knife skills.
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 Geneva (7yrs): Gee is an
outgoing yet sensitive young lady. When she heard Jackie Evancho
singing “Nessun Dorma”
she actually had tears running down her cheeks – and when asked which book
she’d like for Christmas, her answer was “A bible”! (Or was that to please
me?) Educationally she is excelling at school, now in 2nd grade in
Biddeford. She is a very pretty girl, with an engaging smile, and so loving.
She told me that when I’m “even older”, she’s going
to come and live with me to look after me! Both John and Geneva love to sing
and dance - they get that from Janice!
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The
Tucker Family
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 Gabriel (10 yrs): continues to excel in academics, referring to himself as "academically awesome"! He thrives in
all the content areas and loves learning. He is thrilled that 5th grade dives
much deeper into science than in previous years and he enjoys taking what
he's learning in school and researching more on his own. He idolizes his Pappy
and desires to be as smart as he is one day. He is definitely Steph's child with his enthusiasm, energy, silly songs
and a sound effect for everything. His buddies think he's hysterical and has
been described as the class clown - while still maintaining great grades. He
plays any sport he can get his hands on but his true love is tackle football,
having just wrapped up his fifth season. He played Middle Linebacker
despite his small stature. Currently he's playing basketball and learning to
play percussion in the school band. Gabe still has a love for Legos but Steph is definitely seeing a Pre-teen appearing
before her eyes with a new found love for rap music, his long shaggy red
hair, requests for very expensive sneakers and a longing for more
independence from Mum. He's had a great year!
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 Tucker: continues to work for Bournival
as an Auto Technician for his 15th year and maintains all the cars in
our family, having just replaced the engine on Dom's car. He still eats,
sleeps and breathes Bruins hockey and Patriots football, so you can imagine
how thrilled he was to experience the Bruin's Stanley Cup victory this past
season. Steph’s high school friends, Chris and Jen Dolzadelli, came out from California for a visit in
February with their two kids. Steph and Tucker took them to New York
City for one night and everyone experienced real NYC pizza, but the Bratskellar Pub in Portsmouth, NH continues to be
the champion in pizza! Tucker and Chris hit it off over Modello
beers and El Jimador tequila. They continue to
text each other jabs about Bruins/Sharks hockey and 49ers/Patriots
football. He'd love to venture out to California for a visit in
2012.
He is very dedicated to Gabe's athletics and hasn't missed a single game,
with the exception of one due to car trouble. He worked on siding the house this summer with their long term
roommate, Gary. He got halfway around the house before Gabe's football
practices began in early August and consumed all free time he had.
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 Steph: continues to pursue her bachelor’s degree
in Organizational Management one class at a time in the evenings while
working full time in her 8th year at Heinemann and shuttling Gabe from one
practice to another. She enjoys volunteering when she has time and is the
resident party planner at Heinemann. (Takes after her Mom!) She has always
enjoyed cooking and experimenting with food, but has found a love for her
smoker which Tucker bought her a few years back. She is a mad scientist with
her smoker and most recently smoked the Thanksgiving turkey which turned out
amazing. Steph has done less traveling this year for work than last but
was out at Robert Redford’s Sundance Resort in Provo, UT for a week  this
summer hosting a summit for work and had the opportunity to bounce over to
the California Bay Area for a couple of nights to visit Jen and Chris. She
finally got to have dinner with her childhood best friend, Hilary, while
there. The two were inseperable as kids but hadn't seen each other in 15
years. The connection hadn't faded a bit and they spent the entire evening
laughing about "Remember when..." moments and reliving what a great
childhood they had together.
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We are looking forward to a family
Christmas – Janice and children will spend Christmas Eve here, as it’s too
far to drive here on Christmas Day. She and Dom and I will be attending the 11:00pm
Christmas Eve Candlelight service at church. Steph and family will arrive
Christmas morning, in time to open gifts. We’ll have a nice traditional
English turkey dinner. No parties this year – everyone else seems to be going
out of town! But I still have to bake (Ian’s orders) the sausage rolls, mince
pies, Cornish pasties and mushroom vol-au-vents for
snacking on. I have not made a Christmas cake or puddings this year – the
ingredients are in my pantry though, so I may bake one in January, ready for next
Christmas.
We have no set plans to visit the UK in
2012, though Ian has some business contacts in England whom he may have to
visit, so who knows – I might get to go with him. Other than that plans for
2012 will revolve around bringing our garden back to life after being
neglected while we worked on the house.
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We all hope that you have a wonderful
Christmas – good food, good drink, good company, good music and good
old-fashioned Christmas movies on TV!
With
love from
Ian,
Beti and Dominic Turner
Janice,
John and Geneva Howard
Stephanie
and Tucker (Bill) Tucker and Gabriel Turner
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