CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS In our house there are four seasons:  Volleyball, Gardening, Travel, and Arts.  Of course, volleyball runs things for about 6 months of the year.  But then it’s essentially Jeanne’s time.  This year, our beloved Huskers came out with a largely young team and won the VB conference championship our first year in the Big Ten.   Rich’s gardens just get better and better.   This year he had a wall of flowers with whites forming a heart against a background of red.  For me—what a romantic! He opened up a new garden in the front yard and the grass garden he planted last year really took off.   Our travels took us first to Tanzania, a fabulous adventure.  Rich picked out 30 birds he most wanted to see—and he saw all those and about 130 more species.  We saw a kill and the results of 3 kills.  My favorite moment was seeing two lions sharing a warthog.  The meal was almost over but neither wanted to stop. So they were chewing sloooowly and uttering deep rumbling purrs.   Then we crossed Canada (starting at Niagara Falls) on the luxury train.  Fantastic scenery, fabulous wildlife—and the joy of slow travel with no phones or TV.  Just glorious soul-renewing scenery and great meals.   Another fun trip was only as far as Omaha…where we visited with b-i-l Hamish Bennett pursuing his new goal to accumulate 25,000 Masters points in bridge tourneys this year.  We were just too late to meet Warren Buffett and Bill Gates—but we’ll go earlier next year, since Hamish will be chasing yet another new goal.  Adrienne will join him as well.   Other family visits included sister Marilyn Elrod who went to Africa with us and a visit from Kristin and Ian for Thanksgiving. And lots of Kappa sisters met In Lawrence to share our 50 year college graduation. The chancellor herself handed pins to each person with gracious comments, which impressed us all.  But 50 YEARS?! Impossible!   The Art Season included Rich as a performer. We appear in a video for Fresh Start Home for women.  http://freshstarthome.org/ takes you to the video.  The narrative doesn’t explain what we are doing so our appearance is somewhat incomprehensible. But that’s show biz.  I made two commercials http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgn7XbQaidY and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JHNIu4yNEM  My movie BLOOD RITES will be released this year.  The regional premier of Hope Juber’s IT’S THE HOUSEWIVES brought Hope and Laurence Juber and Ellen Guylas (wrote The Bob Newhart Show) here. Laurence gave the cast a private 30 minute concert.  Fabulous.  Here’s Rich discussing calluses with him. And me playing air guitar -- for Laurence Juber, the first inductee in the Guitar Hall Of Fame.  I know he was impressed.   I was in BIG RIVER and The CRUCIBLE-- a splash of cold reality.  In the 60s I was Elizabeth Proctor at KU.  Now I was the oldest woman in the village.   In August I revised the book, re-titled it DESTINATION: LOVE –AND WHALES!, and put it up as an ebook on Amazon and Barnes & Noble for all e-readers —for only 99 cents!   Fun new cover and a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWIZsOqwzas.  Rich created a website for me, www.jeannekern.com  The latest issue of a British magazine published a review of the original—so my photo and a book review appear in the UK in –ta dah---a nudist magazine!  (To see why they were interested, read the book.) And remember to look at page 168 of Carolyn Parkhurst’s THE NOBODIES ALBUM. I took her to lunch this summer!   And so…we’re getting ready for our 10th Anniversary and our 10th Final Four together--hand in hand, side by side, looking eagerly toward more seasons together.  May your seasons and this holiday bring you great joy and a dash of foolishness as well.