Wanda's World

Hello, I hope you all had a great Christmas. I am trying out my first blogging experience so I hope I don't mess up this site. If I did, I apologize in advance and leave it to the experts to fix it. Wow, what a year 2009 has been. With the nerve racking wait of finding out if you were still employed by BI was quite a roller coaster ride. I must say that I am happy to report that I am still gainfully employed and still calling on Kaiser accounts. The bad news is if the stock market doesn't continue to rebound, I don't know when I will be able to retire. Life is good and I still continue to do volunteer work saving cats. This year I switched to another organization, Safe Cat Foundation, whose philosophy aligns more with what I am interested in doing. This group is truly amazing and trying to save cats is their main goal which is not what all rescue organizations are about, although they profess to be.

Nicole is still living in S CA and working at Sketchers. When she is not visiting us at home, she loves to travel and can be found in New York, Las Vegas or San Diego. She loves the lifestyle of S CA. Ryan is half way through with law school at UCLA. I have never seen this kid study as hard as he is now. I can't wait until he is done.

I wish you all the best and look forward to a fabulous New Year in 2010 and hope we will be able to have another reunion in the near future.

Happy Holidays,

Wanda

Merry Christmas

Hi, alumns,

This is my first blog, another adventure for me. I miss the group. It was the best there's ever been.

It is Christmas eve and everyone is home. Both boys are out of the Air Force, now. Doug is in community college, getting ready for Oregon State next fall. Chris is just out and deciding where he will go to school, Oregon or Colorado. Rebecca is a junior at Seattle Pacific. Everyone is doing well.

I am either temporarily or permanently out of work; am busy remodeling the house and helping friends and neighbors with home improvements and upkeep. Life is good.

Susan has a great job and keeps us fed. She is doing great.

Keep the faith. Vote Republican.

Tom

A Full and Wonderful Year

Hello Everybody,

What a great year this has been with many blessing and an abundance of joy.
Among the many joys of 2009 was meeting a very special lady in January. Maria Cynthia Hearst, who was born in Rome, Italy, is the archetypal Italian woman. She is full of life and joy and cheer and loves to sing. She is the widow of the late William Randolf Hearst, Jr., and stepmother to Patty Hearst. She has had an extraordinary life, and I love hearing her many stories about her incredible and star-studded life with "Randy." We have a very special friendship and have a lot of fun together.
I had many house guests this year. The new guest suite with its 5th bathroom on the third floor have been a great success, with more then 15 house guests using it this year, among them a number of my European friends, including a German family of three friends who stayed 5 days, others from Ireland, Denmark, Italy, and the UK. Six of my 13 godchildren, as well as other friends, cousins and other extended family members. My Cousin, and godson Scotty from New York State, stayed the longest. He arrived, after graduating from Seton Hall Law School in NJ, and stayed for 3 weeks in July to study for the 3-day (longest) California Bar Exam. Being in the "tower," as he calls it, gave him all the privacy and quiet he needed to study nonstop for the Nation's most difficult bar exam. He passed it, by the way, with flying colors, and he and his wife Jennifer have chosen to make California their permanent home. She will be coming from Manhattan, where she is an architect, early in January. They will be settling in the unsurpassed San Francisco Bay Area. I'm very happy to have them close.
I enjoyed two wonderful foreign trips this year, One was a 19-day cruise to South America through the Panama Canal (3rd time) and then to four central American countries and finally the Mexican Riviera. It was one of the best cruises I have ever been on. I had the pleasure of accompanying three of my favorite ladies. My cousin Gloria, and my friend of 45 years George Havach's wife Ellen, whom I know for 35 years, and my friend Chris Margret's wife Dianne, whom I know for 9 years through bringing Chris into Masonry. Neither of the girls husbands wanted to go on the cruise, and so the wives went without them. As the philosophers say, "No marriages are healthier than those that allow spaces in their togetherness." The four of us had a really great and memorable time.
In November I took my 9th annual trip to my beloved Rome, where I have an ever-growing circle of friends, I now have a regular apartment where I have stayed for the past 3 years. The landlord and his family have become my friends, as well and give me an extremely good rate and bottles of wine when I leave.
Nothing beats Rome for food and endless amazing sites to see. The people, with more than 3,000 years of experience, are the most intuitive at instantly recognizing the genuine people from the phonies. I have several favorite restaurants where I eat every year. Every time I go after a year's absence the chefs and waiters all come out to see me, saying, "Luigi is here, Luigi is here!" They give me many complementary dishes and put before me many bottles of cordials and after-dinner drinks, all on the house. It is all like magic. I also attend high-quality concerts every night held in major basilicas and churches of classical performers from around the world. I just love Rome and cannot get enough of it. In fact, I'm looking forward to my 2010 trip. My friend Maria Hearst wants to join me then. She has a large family in and around Rome.
There were many more very special and memorable events that occurred in 2009, but these are the highlights. I bought another motorcycle, a high-tech 1550cc Harley-Davidson, and will likely sell my old one. I was invested as Marshall in San Francisco Lodge 120, one of the four Masonic lodges to which I belong. I was also knighted into the court of honor in the Scottish Rite.
May Christmas and the coming New Year bring blessings in abundance, good health, and prosperity to all of you and your families.

Bev and Cousin Dino

Merrry Christmas from Larry

Dear Family and Friends:
“Highlights of the Andersons.”
For years Beverly has wanted to trace her fathers Homeland in Genoa, Italy to search her heritage. We decided that Bev should start the plans on her own since it would be difficult for Larry to travel that far. Then her friend May Dudley expressed an eager desire to join Bev, another close friend Phillip Pearce said he too was anxious to join them, so the die was cast. Three very close friends.
They left April 29 for Rome to join a tour: “The Flavors of Italy” which included Rome, Florence, Chianti and ending in Venice eating and toasting all the way. Then the exciting part began… three of them alone by train to Genoa, where her father sailed from in 1907 for America, never to return. The task was to trace and visit the remote village where her father migrated from (Sesto Gadano.) Not only did she find her father’s childhood home but a living cousin Dino and many more relatives. Also a complete list of her father’s 10 brothers and sisters complete with birth dates, marriage and death dates. She is in constant communication with Dino and knows another trip is bound to take place at some point. (So do her friend’s)

In August Larry went to see his sons in Oregon. This has become an annual thing and this year he drove; reason being it was better for bringing home the “catch”.
He stayed with son Jeff the first week then the two of them joined son Ron for a 5 day Salmon fishing trip out of Ilwaco, the Washington side close to the mouth of the Columbia River.
The ocean was calm the first two days and fishing was good, accept that most of the fish brought up were natives, which had to be released. Then the weather turned for the other days and so they fished the river; which was spotty at best, accept for the day they goofed off in Astoria.
Larry did come home with three good sized tasty salmon.
The other parts of the year have amounted to gardening, gym for him, and church. It may sound dull, but it has been quite busy and satisfying.
While his ability to get around hasn’t changed much at least it hasn’t gotten worse. It has become an accepted way of life.
Here at home we have the privilege of enjoying our grandchildren any day we want. 

Stay healthy everyone and have a good life.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Beverly and Larry 2009