It occurred to me that some of you might be interested in an update that isn’t all about sailboats; Jean and I do have a “life” after all – sort of -- and I've been feeling a bit out of touch with a lot of our northern friends. I hope you all got our 2006 Christmas letter (if not, email me) and I’ll try to bring you up to date on events since then.
First comes Christmas, which is a major celebration here lasting through Three Kings Day. We had dinner with our friends Larry Sickenger and Jackie Armstrong and I enjoyed watching the Christmas Parade in Frederiksted.
We have had lots of company since then. Brian and Tammy, the colleagues who bought our house in La Crosse, visited in January. They stayed out at the Divi Carina Bay Resort but we still had lots of time to show them around the “big island.” We all had a good time.
Then Jean's sister Jennifer and her fiance, Brent, were here in Februrary. They spent their time on the beach and golfing. Brent is quite the avid golfer, and they played the Robert Trent Jones designed course at Carambola but preferred the seaside course at the Buccaneer Resort. (Most locals do too.) Jenny and Brent are getting married August 19; Jean is presiding over the service, so obviously we'll be up for the wedding.
Their visit overlapped with Alec's two month stay of telecommuting. He had worked that plan out with his supervisors at Stellent and they honored it even though Oracle bought them out. He did a lot of cycling, training daily and winning prizes in several races.
I guess he kept up with work too. He set up our own local area network and commented that our bandwidth was quite good during the day. He hopes to be able to visit next regatta season too, although I’m sure the visit won’t be quite so extended.
Elizabeth, Michael and Liam visited us in March; her best friend, Amy, and her family came along too. They were here to enjoy another St. Paddy’s Day parade, and spent some time on St. Thomas too. The parsonage was a little crowded with seven guests, but our big Ford van put in good duty. My plan to build a lean-to on the porch for sleeping didn’t work out too well. Alec anticipated the crowding and made plans to meet up with his significant other, Marcy, on Viequez during their visit. I was working and getting ready for regattas, so I didn’t get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked.
We had a little break, and then Jean's niece, Leah, and her boyfriend, Eric, arrived for a week’s stay. They were quiet for young people and didn’t require much from us old fogies. Leah like being warm and appreciated all the growing things. Eric is a photographer and liked experimenting with the marvelous light we have here.
I guess the lesson from all that is that you need to book early at the Kloss's B&B for next season! Of course we don’t know quite where that will be located. I was hoping we could stay in the parsonage until next year, but the church is getting ready to extend a Call to someone, so we may need to move sooner. Ugh. We’re not quite in a position to buy anything here yet, although we’ve seen some interesting places that Jean’s dad would have called “challenges.”
Jean is hoping to retire in January. She'll be 62 and able to draw both Social Security and her church pension but there may be two other openings for an interim pastor by then. She continues to volunteer two days a week at the St. George Botanical Garden and is busy with her own plants. At last count she had over 150 potted plants including some that qualify has small trees!
On the other hand, I have to work until at least 65 for health insurance, and as Jean points out, I "failed retirement" the year we were here and I was looking for work. So we'll see.
My job is much the same. I get frustrated with the parents and the school system. One mother made her son cry and almost had me in tears of frustration too. Her response was "things don't always go the way you want." The schools routinely retain a boy in the 7th grade three times without identifying any special education needs and then expel him when he turns 16. We have a new Commissioner of Human Services -- the former director of LSS -- who should be very good, but it's very hard to get things done, much less changed, down here. It took over two months to get my internet connection at work fixed, and right now all of the copiers in the building are broken. Reducing the prevalence of corporal punishment here is going to be my "crusade" but I don't know how far I'll get with it; I’m reminded that I don’t really understand the culture here.
So our adventure continues.
Hope all is well with you.
Stay in touch.
Jim & Jean