It has been several years (decades) since we have sent greetings by snail mail, but we do appreciate having received some of your cards and letters and we do like to keep up with old friends. We have gone totally digital so here is our year in summary and a link to an album of select photos from our year. We wish for you a wondrous year of new and rewarding experiences, although we know it will be a mixed bag, as one of our teachers loves to re Favorite Annual Event: We kicked off the year as usual with our 10th consecutive Palm Springs International Film Festival, which we attended with friends, Butchers, Rylett's, Jann McGuire and Lyn Woltjer. Twelve great movies in 4 days!! Family Times:: * A surprise visit from grandchildren and great grandsons Nick & Gina, Tyler and Jack from Colorado, along with daughter and son-in-law Leslea and Jim Sullivan from Minnesota. * Two great visits with brother-in-law Dave Block from Kentucky. * A fun trip to Portland for hiking and kayaking with Eric, Tina, Katy and Grace. * A sad trip to Minnesota for Milan to celebrate his Aunt Thelma's end-of-life, but it was good to connect with seldom seen cousins. Friends: * We continue to appreciate and enjoy Happy Hours, movies, birthday celebrations and holidays with our gang. * March is always a highlight with the return of Leslie Temanson from Thailand. It's our Party Season! Also made a trip to Northern California with Leslie to see mutual friends Mike & Pat Hayes and Helen & Gordon Anderson and to visit old haunts in San Francisco; Volunteer Activities: * Linda spent many hours with Corazon doing staff training & board planning (with a little help from Milan). * Both of us attended the annual Corazon fundraising event and Christmas party for 500+ community families in Tijuana. * Milan refurbished 10+ computers for Corazon's computer learning lab and student scholarship program, plus took 170 photos of students for this year's fundraiser. * Linda facilitated a planning session for the Redlands Art Association board. * Milan served for his second year on the Braemar Board, and Linda helped transform our Braemar Coop with beautiful new landscaping around our buildings. Travel: The highlight of our year was planning and leading a three-week trip to Milan, Venice, Barcelona, Provence and Paris with good friends Roger & Maxine Butcher, Tomi Olson and Randi Evans. It was especially meaningful as Milan was approaching his 80th year, and we celebrated our 40th anniversary, dining on the Seine in Paris overlooking Notre Dame at night. Other Activities:: * Linda had her largest number of Tai Chi students ever (50). * Milan continued with his weekly writing class. * Our Tuesday evening "spirit" group, going for 30-some years, continued to keep us grateful for life as it is. * Linda wrote her spiritual memoirs. * Both of us continued to work out 3 times a week and had a personal trainer for the first time ever. * Politically, we supported Bernie, then shifted to Hillary, then watched with dismay the rise of "Trumpdom.". Favorite movies: Moonlight, Fences, Manchester By the Sea, Loving, LaLa Land. Recommended TV series: Larkrise to Candleford, Crown, Rectify, A Place to Call Home. Most important book we read and recommend: Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything (THE seminal publication on climate change in our opinion) AND HERE IS THE LINK TO OUR 2016 PHOTO ALBUM IN GOOGLE PHOTOS: https://goo.gl/photos/peZB8BSskaf9JHYz8 Linda and Milan Hamilton 80 North Center Street Redlands, CA 92373 909-735-5163 (Home) Mobile numbers: Linda: (909) 382-1409 Milan: (909) 556-5815 E-mail: <mailto:lindaandmilan@gmail.com> lindaandmilan@gmail.com