Burns Family Christmas 2013

Hello to All!

Two years in a row!!!  It's been quite awhile since you've heard from us that frequently!                       
                                      

    

Last year Jeff was mid-pneumonia and that lasted well into January.  He used up all of his sick leave...just in time to retire...30+ years of teaching and age 62 qualified him for an "early out".  He spends his days trying to keep up with the house and cooking, reading, and a nap every so often.  The first major project has been the new landscaping of our front yard.  No More Lawn To Mow!  We now have a low maintenance, water conserving, dog park for Tolliver!  Indoor projects for this winter are too numerous to list but hopefully there will be progress before spring gets him back outdoors.  We look forward to spring and the leafing out and blooming of our new plants.
  

     

                     
Karen  moves closer to retirement and is hopeful she will join Jeff in June of 2015!  Her librarian position seems secure while public education sorts out its funding but every spring we get that uneasy feeling in our stomachs until she signs her contract for the next school year.  One would think we could get used to the uncertainty but not much has changed since she started teaching in 1975.  Always the avid reader she looks forward to adding gardening to her free time.  She enjoyed her two weeks of "no-tech" vacation at the Upper Ford (Yaak, MT) and we should be there again in August of 2014.  Celebrating her father's 90th birthday in November and having Jeff take over the kitchen have been two of her highlights this year.

         
Claire celebrated her 1st year anniversary with TOMS this fall.  She's in her VW Jetta most days traveling the Seattle/Tacoma area as well as the rest of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Claire wasn't planning on giving up her Mazda but a semi-truck sent her across four lanes of I-5, into another car, totaling her much loved vehicle.  We were very thankful she came away with just sore muscles (insurance covered her massages and the Cadillac rental car).  There were plenty of witnesses to put the blame on the trucker but she hopes to never have to go through that experience again.  Travel to California, Nevada, and Texas for TOMS and a long rest at the Upper Ford were her big trips this year while she saves for a major trip to Australia and the South Pacific. She underwent radio-frequency ablation and we can now say she is free of Barrett's Esophagus.  She and we have taken a major sigh of relief and are very thankful for the skilled hands of her surgeon and the amazing advances in technology.  She loves living in Capital Hill, enjoying all that Seattle has to offer.

Ian is our major mover!!!  He's living in Austin, Texas working for Habitat for Humanity through the Americorps program.  He's become an accomplished carpenter as he leads volunteer crews through the process of building homes.  He made the big decision to move when his "significant other " Annelie encouraged him to join her when she accepted an Americorps position in Austin.  Annelie has been a wonderful addition to all our lives.

        

She and Ian made the long journey to Texas and almost made it to Austin with a U-Haul trailer in tow.  The car transmission died in the middle of Texas and they eventually limped into Austin and have somehow survived without a vehicle.  They miss their friends and family but haven't made a decision about where they will live after their 10 month commitment to Americorps is up in July.  They were missed at our Thanksgiving table and this will be the first Christmas without Ian on Fox Island.  Annelie's parents will travel to Austin and take them both to New Orleans for New Years.  We were lucky to have them at the Upper Ford and Annelie is now a fly fisherman  catching her first Montana trout off the back porch.

My mother June will join Karen's father Paul in the nonagenarian club (90 years old this next June).
We are thankful to have Paul living close in Gig Harbor and we loved having Grandma Burns up at the Upper Ford for the whole two weeks.  They are both in excellent shape!

   

Pets keep us company though Tolliver is lucky to still be with us!

 

He managed to get into Ian & Annelie's holiday package!  We managed to save everything but one cookie and two pottery spoons.  One more addition to the book we will need to write about this dog...he's managed to devour numerous items... even a whole basketball!!!!!

All for this year... our best to all!

Burns Family Christmas 2012

Hello to All!!!

If we haven't been in touch... we'll try to get you updated!

..............................................S/SW Sunset from Paiute Trail, Fox Island WA

Three are healthy & one is sick. Jeff picked up a cold right before Thanksgiving and has been parked on the couch for most of December with pneumonia. He's been on sick leave since 12/10 and the doctors have given him the choice of taking care of himself at home or a holiday in the hospital. Home it is!!! He's on the mend but can't do much.... he's wrapped everything he can.... figured out how to put 10 lbs on everyone with his and Karen's cooking.... cleaned out the desk drawers.... updated our mailing list.... petted the three cats and scratched our dog Tolliver's rear end! Now he's determined to master Google Blogger so that we can get out a rare message from the Fox Island Burns'.

Starting with the youngest, Claire turned 23 last July. She has packed a lot into the last five years. She called the University of Washington her home for four years managing to hold down several part time retail jobs and traveling the globe. Internships are the latest twist in getting a career going and Claire managed to find the time for Somali immigrants at Harborview Medical Center, editing travel books for Rick Steves' Europe Through The Backdoor, and work for a public relations firm. She graduated from the UW with a degree in journalism and became the second family member to achieve her B.A. Cum Laude. Her plan was not to get serious about a career too soon and wanted to add more visa stamps to her passport. She set off to backpack Peru and Ecuador in November 2011 and came home with many travel adventures.

..........................................[ Claire at Machu Picchu, Peru 2011 ]

Job hunting kicked in upon her return and she landed a job in marketing & public relations. Claire's latest news is that she has a new job with TOMS Shoes. If your interested in reading about this 6 year old company here's the link http://www.toms.com/our-movement

Ian (25 last April) hasn't matched Claire in travel... but he hasn't been idle!!! He left the wind swept plains of Eastern Washington, graduating with his B.A. in English (the first in the family to graduate Cum Laude) from Central Washington University. He commuted from Fox Island to Seattle for a year internship with Fantagraphics Books and has been on their payroll for 2 years. He works with a great group of young people and we have become more knowledgeable about the comics publishing field.

Ian made it to the San Diego Comicon this year... working the company booth and meeting many artists and authors. He was off to Scotland and England in August... avoiding the London Olympics by a day!

............................................[Ian on top of Arthur's Seat - Edinburgh, Scotland 2012]

............................................[Early Evening Over Arthur's Seat & Edinburgh Castle, Scotland]

His love of music hasn't been idle either. He plays/composes in a variety of guitar styles from the hardest of hard rock to the swing of gypsy jazz. His latest musical adventure is taking African drumming lessons. He will become the curator of the "Burns Family Instrument Collection"! He recently moved into a house in West Seattle... guite the change from his tiny studio apartment in Belltown (downtown Seattle).

Both of our children enjoy the Seattle scene but when they come home for a visit they have noticed how quiet our lives are on Fox Island. We are lucky to have them so close! For those of you who have followed their health issues, we are very thankful for the world class care they have received in the Seattle/Tacoma area. Ian celebrated the last of his cleft palate repair with the completion of his teeth reconstruction and now sports a fine beard that covers up all the doctors hard work!!! His new smile is always out!!! Technology finally caught up with Claire's esophagus disease and she is in the process of having all of the bad tissue removed... replacing it with the healthy stuff. It's been 12 years of poking, prodding, and hospital stays and we are hopeful that she will be disease free very soon!!! Amazing!!!

................................................[Passport, 1975]

We figured out that we first met at the University of Denver 40 years ago this coming January. In July we celebrate our 38th "legal" anniversary! Our home isn't quite an "empty nest"... currently three cats and Tolliver the Dog keep us company. Karen joins the sextagenar set this January. She'll continue for at least two more years before she qualifies for retirement. She remains the librarian at Gig Harbor High School and manages to make the space a welcoming environment for all the students. She's teaching at a much calmer pace than her 25 years in elementary music. Her Dad, Paul (89), lives in Gig Harbor and we get lots of quality time with him. Karen and her dad have done some travel back to Illinois, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and Paul joins us every August when we head for Montana. Jeff will be retiring at the end of this school year. He'll hit the magic age of 62 this April with 30 years in teaching. He's ready!!! The "to do" list continues to grow and he looks forward to having time to catch up around the house and to explore our NW outdoors. Jeff's mother, June (89 next year), is still full of vim & vigor! She still lives in Troy, Montana and has been able to join us every August for two weeks at the Upper Ford cabin on the Yaak River in Montana. The tradition continues on as family and friends join us at our remote Montana retreat for huckleberry pancakes with maple syrup and bacon, strong coffee and non-stop chatter! We usually manage a meal or two of trout caught right off the back porch. We survive beautifully with out electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing.

With that we close.... All our best to you and yours,
Jeff, Karen, Ian & Claire Burns

...................................[ Yaak River, Northwest Montana ]

...........................................[Upper Ford Cabin, Yaak MT]

If you would like to share your email address then we can send you a link for the 2013 post.
We still hang on to our old email: orff@aol.com