By Popular Demand

Our annual Christmas letter went out in January, as usual. I didn’t intend to post it on la Blog but I cannot refuse the demands of my readers. (Dad, check your Paypal account.)

A Year In the Life - by Uppity & Kevin

A year has gone by and our letter is late –
But as we all know, for the good, one must wait.
All winter through summer we worked (some say slaved)
As trips and house projects need money be saved.

In June came a blog known as Uppity Rib;
No topic is safe from this young woman’s lib.
Like Gollum we sits and we types in the dark
We works on our precious, our internet mark.

A Breast Cancer 5K in summer we ran
For cures and awareness and mom in Spokane.
Our garden we planted and nurtured it well
Though how it would grow, time alone would soon tell.

At last came September: three weeks of vacation!
We packed up our bags and we left our great nation.
In Holland we landed, with windmills and dikes;
We walked Amsterdam all surrounded by bikes.
Anne Frank’s house, museums: Rembrandt & Van Gogh,
The Red Light streets tempted, but no time to go.

And then on to Deutschland - dark bier and rot wine!
We walked hand in hand on the banks of the Rhein.
Christmas stores, sausage and Night Watchmen, too,
And Neuschwanstein’s Castle, to us all brand new.

The Austrian hills were alive with the sound
Of luge rides and church bells and biergarten crowds.
Believe it or not, washing clothes feels like fun
When you hang them to dry in the Austrian sun.

So onward to Italy — pasta and cheese;
The wine poured all night and we always said “Please!”
First Venice: antiquities, glass blowing bright
A gondola ride in Italian moonlight.
In Florence we viewed Michaelangelo’s Dave,
The Duomo and bridge from the war that was saved.
Then Vatican City inside ancient Rome
The vast innerspace of St. Peter’s huge dome.
We toured the ruins and went back in time
Imagining how Rome had been in its prime.
Our last day of touring in old Italy
Was one restful day by the warm, deep blue sea.

Then Switzerland beckoned, it’s beauty perfection;
Our favoritest place, upon later reflection.
We walked its green valleys and scaled its white peaks
We could have remained there for many more weeks.

But further adventures awaited in France,
That beautiful country so full of romance.
In Beaune we learned much ‘bout the French and their wine
Then sampled a glass with cuisine that was fine.
And finally – Paris: the City of Light!
The Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Eiffel at night;
Rodin, the d’Orsay, and the grand old Versailles;
We packed it all in, then at last said good-bye.

The end of the trip found us weary but glad,
So grateful were we for the fun we had had.
The days filled with walking had made us quite slim,
But our hearts and our mem’ries were filled to the brim.

We flew to our home in Pacific Northwest
Where our own comfy bed we decided was best.
Our garden had made it, still full of big plants -
Tomatoes and carrots; no slugs, just some ants.

We resumed all the work we had planned for our house
To fix up the bathroom, evict the wee mouse.
Kevin is plugging the hole in the ground
That triggers the pump (how he curses the sound!).

And that’s all the news that is fit to be writ;
We blew our big wad on our long Europe trip.
So merry late Christmas and happy New Year -
Good luck in 07 – It’s already here!

Filed under EuroBlog, Gollum Lives |