The Year in Review - 1993
Anne & Stewart French

1993 was a year of ups and downs for us. The year started rather badly when our cat, Bob, was diagnosed with diabetes. After a lengthy stay in the hospital, and attempts to regulate her with insulin we had her put to sleep. It was sad. But two things good came out of it.

In January we went to California and became godparents to Connor Brew, Bill and Jane's little boy. We also visited Anne's brother, Gil, while we were there. Anne had read up a lot on diabetes because of Bob's illness, and recognized some of the symptoms in her brother. He was subsequently diagnosed with diabetes, spent some time in the hospital, and has gotten it under control through an amazing dedication to exercise and diet.

The second good thing was that we got a new kitten from the shelter, Louie-KaBlooey. We named him that because he had a kennel-cold when we got him which caused him to spew boogers everywhere for a while. He is very friendly to humans, but treats our other cat, Murky, like a playtoy, and she doesn't like it one little bit.

In June we went to Delphos, Ohio, for Anne's 20 year high-school reunion. Anne had a great time catching up with her old, er, that is, classic friends. We got into town Friday night and met up with Cathy (George) Szalkowski, Marilyn (Merv) Klaus and Jo Duncan. While at dinner, Jo told us about the alumni band that Dan is now directing, and found out they were marching in Elida the next day. Later that night, we ended up at the Rustic, where other folks bound for the reunion had gathered. What a hoot! The bartender told us they had picked out the songs on the juke box in honor of our reunion, but they were playing stuff from the 50's! Jeez. Anne had a great time the next day watching the parade with George, and caught Jo, Dan, Lori Kramer and Kate Weber in action. We finally figured out that the double digits on the band member's backs were their graduation years, and one of the majorettes had a 64! We managed to finagle an invite over to Jo & Dan's for a pool party that afternoon too, and had a blast looking through Lori's old high school pictures. Finally to the reunion where Anne was glad to be able to catch up with Joan Albert (a compatriate computer jock, who, in her high school days, passed on to Anne any rumors she heard about how boys worked), but later Anne was not so glad that she, George & Merv got to revive their old Beatles act at the karaoke machine. Let's just say we're not quitting our day jobs.

On Labor Day we visited Stewart's brother, Morgan, and his family in Lake Charles, LA. We swam in their new pool. Stewart did a flip off the diving board onto a floaty and burst it open spewing plastic bits all over the pool. What a mess! Whenever we go there we eat our fill of seafood and this was no exception. We went to a fresh fish market and bought 10 lbs of spicy, steamed crab and ate and ate. It was wonderful.

In September we took a week long vacation bicycling in Vermont. We wanted to see the fall change of colors and balanced the timing between seeing the colors and having good biking temperatures. We just caught the beginnings of the color but the weather (after a brisk 30 degree start) warmed up into the 50s & 60s and was pretty much perfect. We flew in to Burlington and got a chance to see Anne's roommate from college, Inger, who showed us some of the neat brew-pubs of Burlington and invited us back on our way home. We biked 30-40 miles each day traveling through the country backroads of Vermont. The pumpkins were out, the weather was cool and clear, and the dairy farms had that pungeant dairy farm smell. We stayed in some great bed-and-breakfasts with four poster beds and one even had a fireplace right in the room. We thought we'd have a chance to lose some weight, what with all the exercise. Well, forget it! We pigged out on gourmet meals every night at the inns and had to bicycle hard to keep from gaining weight. We did find out that ªgently rolling hillsº means ªsteep vertical climbsº and verified the name ªGreen Mountain Stateº is appropriate. On the way back, we got to stay with Inger and Dick, and caught a fun gymnastics routine by their kids, Philip & Katy, but unfortunately Inger was in a car accident the morning we left. She's fine now, but may wonder about inviting us back.

Coincidentally, Anne's mother was involved in a car accident that same week so Anne went to stay with her in October. Anne's family had been taking turns visiting and helping Esther until they could get her a new car, and get her through the trauma that an accident can cause.

Stewart's folks flew in for a visit on Thanksgiving. They survived the flight attendants strike and arrived just in time for a freak ice storm (you probably caught footage of it during the Cowboys game). We had decided to barbeque the turkey in the grill out on the back porch and no amount of sleet and ice was going to stop us. It was funny seeing the sleet bounce off the top of the hot grill. The turkey turned out good too. The ice melts fast in Dallas, and, although it was thick on the streets Thursday and Friday, it was all but gone on Sunday when Morgan and Maxine left. In fact, it hit 70 degrees the next day.

We have been in good health and continue to exercise as much as we can stand, taking step aerobics classes and bicycling. The F-16 upgrade project at Texas Instruments still keeps us both busy, and we worked a lot of extra hours recently to make a successful preliminary delivery to Lockheed in November.

We're into the Christmas spirit now, getting a tree braced well enough to withstand a blur of fur named Louie running up & down it. Hope you have a peaceful and happy holiday.