December 18, 1985

With snow in the mountains and winter in the air ... I bid you greetings from the Pacific Northwest ... Merry Christmas 1985!  "Mr. Procrastination'' waited until December 18th to inscribe to you my annual Christmas letter ... so if by the time you receive this, the hour of Christmas is past ... well ... then Happy New Year instead.

Thought, for a while, that Seattle was to get a white Christmas.  We were deluged with about 13-15 inches of snow at November's end.  The old timers here proclaimed "it's the most danged snow we've had here since the big one, WWII".  Since then the temperature seems to have averaged a biting cold 40° ... the great white layers of fluff have withered away.

Well ... the white stuff started ski season off on the right foot (or is that left? ... if you ski like me ... well ... let's just say I cross my ski tips so much that I've lost track of which foot is which).  After one season my new 200 ROSSIGNOL 3G's look like they've been rental skis for the past five years.  Towards the end of the season last year, I skied up at Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia.  With the Canadian currency exchange rate as it was, lift tickets were only $16.00 American ... such a deal, eh?

"New Wave", my kitten of last year, has grown in size but not in spirit.   She still seizes every opportunity to ambush you from behind the couch as you walk by ... she attacks anything that resembles a string.  I caught her consuming a banana out of my fruit basket earlier this year ... pretty weird!

I have officially entered the domestic era of homeownership.  Last spring I procured a 60 year old brick and cedar tudor ... leaded glass windows ... oak hardwood floors ... arched doorways ... mahogany woodwork ... coved ceilings.  With 2400 square feet and only 1/2 of it finished, I've ebbed away many an hour at stripping old paint off woodwork and staining it ... lots of work to do here for those of you with an idle hour or two!

The parental units visited me here in early June and I took them up to Victoria, B.C..   Sure is lots to do and see there.  I especially liked touring the old stone castles.

I met my current girlfriend, Peggy, in Grand Rapids while I was back on a two month project reorientation biz trip ... she now lives on the lake here in Seattle ... and ... well ... story continued next issue.

Stayed at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon ... it's where they filmed "The Shining".  I can still see Jack Nicholson's face saying "Here's ... Johnny" (if you saw the film that would make sense to you).  Bicycled around the San Juan Islands with the gang on the annual BOZO BIKE-A-THON ... saw a Supertramp concert ... been to a few plays ... the annual Seattle Arts Festival (Bumbershoot) ... displaced water at a hot tub party (did we really get 17 bodies in that thing?).

Well ... it's about that time ... "Mr. Procrastination" has to wrap up and mail out all his Christmas presents yet ... so ... until next year ... keep drinking those DOS EQUIS and wearing those cheap sunglasses ...