Winter Wonderland

Greetings from beautiful Michigan!! Our winter wonderland is gorgeous today so I thought I'd show my loved ones who are in warm climates what they're missing!!:) We're having lots of snow this winter and part of the "wonderland" is wondering when we'll see the ground again! We've had lots of school closings which teachers and students love but parents are a bit tired of it. We're also wondering when school kids will get out for the summer--hopefully by the 4th of July!!! Rich and I are well. Rich probably spends about 50 hours a week in his barn and is delighting in that. I've been enjoying volunteering and taking care of Steve and Mary's two youngest--Ben was here this morning and we played with blocks and trucks for a few hours--Ben is 18 months. I'll pick up Ellie from pre-school on Friday and we'll do lunch and maybe go to the mall for a little while so that she can ride the carousel. (actually we both get to ride it:) Rich will celebrate his 64th birthday on Sunday. We celebrated his birthday plus a few others with the DeBoer family this past Sunday--Church was canceled due to an ice storm but everyone managed to get here for dinner. This Friday evening, the Klops and niece Sarah are coming to celebrate Rich's birthday a second time and then, Rich and I hope to go out for dinner on Sunday to celebrate! Three birthday parties--I really love him!!!
Blessings to all of you.

Pic One: Our home in winter.
Pic Two: Rich's barn where he spends hours!
Pic Three: Our camper-we're not staying in it yet.
Pic Four: Our backyard with empty birdfeeders.

Too Much Time in the Woods

Yesterday as I was walking through the woods with my trusty chainsaw and axe looking for some trees that were likely candidates for cutting down to make blanks for my woodturning, I looked up in a tree and this is what I saw!!!! I turned around and walked right out of there.

We haven't spent a lot of time traveling lately except back and forth to friends, relatives, and church unless you we can count walking in the woods and out to the shop and back, but it's time to update the blog if only to stay in contact and return greetings we received for the holidays.

It's finally January and Joy is a little depressed and bored because there are not as many social engagements to take up our time and Rich has taken a deep breath and a sigh of relief for exactly the same reason. What a pair. We had a wonderful holiday season but missed all of those who are so far away, especially the grandkids.

Joy is learning to knit for the umteenth time and having some success for the first time. She also is looking for a calligraphy teacher in the Grand Rapids area. She is working part time in the Calvin Bookstore and loves being back on campus to smooze and play dutch bingo with the students and all her friends. Volunteering was a little slow for the month of December but will certainly pick up during January. Joy got several books for Christmas so she will stay busy along with those and CSIs and Law and Orders.

I am still woodturning and Joy is very hopeful because "this is the longest you have stayed with one hobby". We had a party before Christmas and a group of friend from early Calvin College times came over and made wooden pens for Christmas, it was a great time. I helped a neighbor mill some oak and cherry trees into lumber so I picked up several truck loads of cuttoff slabs for platters and plates. Get you order in soon. Also, I am mentoring at a local high school material sciences class where they are introduced to woodturning. I am taking a little time out to help nephew Jonathan build an aquarium but I still get to woodturn while the epoxy is drying. I need to update my website so don't look now but take a peak in a few weeks at http://rjanema.com/

We don't have many long term plans for travel the rest of the year but will undoubtedly get around a bit. We had such a wonderful time with Earl and Cathy and the families last September and hope it works out again this summer. We will be campground hosts at Wilderness State Park in Mackinaw Michigan from the week before Memorial Day to June 30th and would love to see any of you up there. Let us know and we will help you pick out a good site. We aren't real good about making long term plans but kind of like to just take off.

My sister Winnie and husband Don have moved to Grand Rapids where Don has a new position as Minister of Congregational Life at a church here. Joy is looking forward to lots of socializing with Winnie and Don and I are working on plans for a little fishing. It will be good since Winnie and I have not lived in the same town since we were kids.

We wish you God's blessing for health and prosperity for the coming years.
Joy and Rich

The New Jersey Connection

We took a short side trip on the way to New Jersey and spent some time in Lancaster, PA. Great place with lots of wonderful quilts, furniture, etc. This is an Amish buggy, you can tell because it is gray. The Mennonite buggies are black. You have to be a little careful where you walk.







Not Joy's idea of "woman's work.












A good way to limit the number of trips to the store and the things you buy. The speed limit sign is not really necessary.










Joy's brother Bob and his wife Dot. They were great hostess and host. It is great to visit with them because we Bush supporters can gang up on Joy. Also, Bob has been around Joy enough to really know how to pull her chains. We will be back soon since they got rid of the futon and got a real bed in the guest bedroom.






Joy's niece Wendy and her family minus oldest son Ed and plus Allison's boyfriend Steve. Nephew Bob and his family were over for Sunday dinner also but they sneaked off early before we could get a pic.









Saturday was quite a day no matter which way you looked at it. Bob and Dot took us on a roving cousins tour. Wow, it started at 11am and finished about 5pm. We saw all the cousins by showing up at their houses and knocking on the door. Joy was in her glory and we won't talk about Rich. This is cousin Ruth.







cousin Eleanor













cousin Bet

We also visited cousin May Lou, cousin Peter, and cousin Ed but didn't have time for pictures.









We are home now for a while we think. Hoping for a visit from Cathy and Lucas in December.

All Tucked In For A Winter's Nap

We had a fine camping season and the Durango 5th wheel is all set in it's winter spot. Here's hoping the critters don't get too attached to if during the winter. The water has been drained and all the food stuffs are out so we just need to put antifreeze in the lines and disconnect the battery and store it. It was a fine home away from home and we indeed consider it our cottage on wheels.

We are very much comfortable with life in the camper and spent probably 60 or more days in it between May and September. I think I am beginning to realize that the life of an RV'r is one of constantly fixing the myriad of things that go wrong. We really appreciate our cars because they are relatively maintenance free but that is not the case for our camper. We they delivered the old Ford Model Ts they also included a few tools because they knew you would need them to be fixing the car but the 5th wheel did not come with any tools!! With out getting into a long litany of all the things that went wrong it is enough to say that we are now much more knowledgeable about the electric, water, suspension, tires systems than we were at the beginning of the season. Thanks to an RV dealer who is alway ready to give instructions and hints over the phone.

Now we are off to see the Bob De Boers in New Jersey with a short stop off in Amish country in Pennsylvania. We have been greatly saddened with the news that brother Roy De Boer has adrenal cancer for which they have no treatment. We are thankful that he has recover from some serious stroke-like symptoms and is home from the hospital now. We will stop by Their home in Fenton, MI to see Roy and Kristin on our way to New Jersey and again probably on our way home also. Please pray for Roy and his wife Kristin.

Flashbacks Weekend

(left to right: George Zuiderveen, Bob Noordeloos, Elaine Destigter, Joy Anema, Gretchen Zuiderveen, Ann Mary Dykstra, Angie Stegink, Leroy Stegink, Barb Noordeloos, Rich Anema, and Chuck Dykstra) Sorry about the picture quality but the camera computer had a hard time dealing with all the gray hair and bald heads.

Wow, what a weekend. My ears are still ringing or to quote Chuck Dykstra when a couple guys took a break, "Too many words in there!" Thanks to Gretchen and George Zuiderveen for hosting this event again they have a wonderful cottage filled with love. We all made wooden ballpoint pens with a mini-lathe; the women took their annual shopping trip and visited 3 stores in 3 hours but the haul was down a little from previous years; Hobo pies were a new experience for many of us; but a lot of other traditions were observed like the shopping, oatmeal, and of course the Trivial Pursuit contest. I won't gloat about who won the contest but only need to say the men kicked butt as usual. I'm glad because with the arrival of Joy and myself on the scene a few years ago it gave the women an advantage so I wasn't so popular with the men.

It is really remarkable that even though we don't all see each other all that much during the year we get together up at Grand Marais and pickup right where we left off. Thanks again George and Gretchen.

The Bookless Club

Well, we are off again but only for a long weekend. For the last several few years we have been reunited with some old college friends. All the guys at one time or another roomed together at Calvin College. 4 of us guys have known each other since grade school at Denver Christian. It started long ago as a book club but no one read the book so it became a bookless club. We all get together each October at Zuiderveen's cottage in Grand Marais in the upper peninsula of Michigan. We already have some old traditions like the men vs women in a wild version of Trivial Pursuit. It's a grand time and I will get some candid pics this year. We also want to stop by Wilderness State Park to say hi the the staff and drop off some bowl we made from the maple and oak they gave us. Welcome along for the ride.

Home Sweet Home

Well, we did it. We left Caledonia, MI on Aug 26th and we returned on Sept 19. It was a grand tour and a wonderful time with all of the family from Washington, Hawaii and Colorado. We travel through Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota,Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa.The trip back from Colorado was non-eventful and we are ready to take off for the Wabisis Park Church campout this weekend so far unless we decide we have had enough for the time being and just stay home.

I would post a picture but it would look just like the first one we posted thanks to Jonathan and the Nick De Boers and neighbor Elaine taking such good care of the homestead. The camper is a little worse for wear and plastered with bugs but it was a very comfortable home away from home.

Our thanks to all who so graciously hosted and entertained us but especially to Earl and Nora who welcomed us so warmly. The yard on Dayton Pl. in Kennewick was definitely our favorite campground. Thanks Uncle. To all who read our blog we wish the best. We will be taking a break for a few weeks now. October 5-7 will be our annual trip to the Zuiderveen's in Grand Marais, MI. Well write more about that later. In later October we hope to go to New Jersey to see Joy's brother Bob and family. God is good, even with a few trials and some tough times.