Martha says: I think we all need to feel we’re needed and that’s certainly true for me.  I’m thrilled that Bob has more time in retirement to help with daily chores and repairs so our house doesn’t need me as much as it used to. Knowing that grandkids grow up quickly, I schedule time to spend with each of them every week but they can all entertain themselves well now. “Bubi Days” may be increasingly more for me than for them.  Having our adult sons and daughters-in-law living nearby is a blessing and I treasure any time I can be of help to them.

When I met Bob’s sister Lee 50+ years ago, I didn’t know that my training as a nurse would be so important to her later in life.  Seven years ago a phone call from me saved her from a life-threatening infection and led to her moving from Western Massachusetts to the Boston area so we could be with her more frequently. I’ve directed her health care since then and this year it’s been a major responsibility for me.  I don’t know how the elderly avoid falling through the cracks in our broken health care system without a family member dedicated to helping them navigate.

When our smaller cat, Pumpkin, lost significant weight, the vet helped me start giving her Vitamin B injections at home once a month to stimulate her appetite. She’s eating now and still as active as before so we hope she’ll be with us for some time to come.  Bob has admitted that these are our last two cats.  Once they’re gone, we’ll be sad but his allergy means we should learn to live without cats for the first time in our lives.

I’ve been dedicated to staying fit, doing Jazzercise and lifting weights almost daily for decades.  The goal is to still be downhill skiing when I’m so old they no longer charge any money for my lift ticket.  This week I learned that Gunstock Mountain in New Hampshire stops charging at 70.  Now the problem is that global warming might make it extra hard to find adequate snow within a reasonable driving distance in New England. Jon and I were going to ski on Christmas morning but had to reschedule due to freezing rain. The season is already short.  Having December temperatures several degrees above average this year was discouraging.

Ten years ago when I became a grandmother, I said I’d be retiring from my volunteer position in the library at the New England Quilt Museum. Again, it’s nice to be needed, but how do you find someone to take over a volunteer position when the pool of candidates is small and ageing?  I’ve been there longer than anyone else including the staff.  I enjoy sharing my love of quilting with visitors and helping the MassQuilts team teach quilt owners about their family treasures. The Quilt Index includes more than 7,000 quilts from our project and updating those records is another volunteer job I’ve taken on.

Since our boys don’t need to inherit a pile of quilts from me, I’ve committed to making quilts that are a pleasure to work on but have a destination outside our house.  The pictures and stories of the 3 quilts I made this year are shared with this link.

Bob and I got vaccinated and then boosted immediately as we became eligible. We enjoyed having the kids all join us for our first of two weeks at Timberlock in August which was our 40^th year in a row!  After the cancelations of 2 weddings last year, we finally could safely drive to New Jersey for our grandniece Sara’s wedding in October where we saw lots of Bob’s family. It’s sad that I’ve not been back to Rochester to see my cousins and school friends for 2 years now.  Let’s hope that 2022 makes that safe and possible again.

Bob says: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... Actually, Charles Dickens said that, but it sure applies. 2021 has been all ups and downs (or swings and roundabouts), and the oscillations have been getting wilder. Or at least it seems that way to me.

Last year, I lost my middle sister, Gale. This year, I almost lost my eldest sister, Lee. She had been diagnosed with heart valve disease and needed an advanced replacement procedure in January. She was recovering from that when she was hit by a stroke (her second) in mid-May. Because of its unusual symptoms, it was misdiagnosed and left untreated. By late June, she was shaking uncontrollably, could not eat, and had lost twenty pounds in six weeks. Martha and I put her in a downtown Boston hospital, where a battery of tests failed to reveal the cause of the problem, but at least a palliative treatment was found. Later, the problem was diagnosed as a stroke too small to be seen, maybe in the brain stem.

In her condition, Lee couldn't return to living alone in her Burlington apartment. Martha insisted she move into assisted living near us for respite care. A further medical screw-up led to a relapse, and she was admitted to a hospital for the second time in August. It took another month to straighten out her medications and persuade her to stay in the assisted living facility for the long-term. Other medical emergencies, fortunately minor, have occurred periodically, which keeps Martha hopping. I've taken charge of Lee's finances, and I'm working with Ruth and Mark to stabilize her financial future. Her elderly cat, Gandalf, has been adopted by Jon and Larissa and is now enjoying the added stimulation of an active household.

Our small cat, Pumpkin, suddenly began losing weight last spring. She was diagnosed with advanced kidney disease. There's no cure, only palliative care; the vet's advice was to stuff her with as many calories and as much fluid as possible. In an effort to stimulate her appetite, I tried out Lee's now unneeded supply of fancy cat foods, and that seemed to work. So now I am feeding Pumpkin small portions of expensive cat food five or six times a day. Of course, our big cat, Pixel, thinks this is just groovy and is more than happy to participate in the cornucopia of interesting eats. (If I don't give him a share, he steals Pumpkin's.) This has shed new light on the saying, "Dogs have masters; cats have staff."

I still walk around the trails in Carlisle with my friend Jim and his now two Golden Doodles, Button and Zipper. Button is a sedate matron of ten, but Zipper is a puppy - awkward, energetic, ungainly, affectionate, and sometimes dangerous to a precariously balanced senior. Even with the weather turning frosty, I try to get outside as often as conditions will allow.

The computer refurbishing work has reached new levels of activity. Late last year, the Carlisle Schools generously decided to support my work by donating elderly PCs and Macs. It took me a year to place all the Macs from late 2020. The Schools provided another tranche of systems last month, just as Afghan refugees began to reach New England in significant numbers. Three-quarters of the laptops I received in November are already placed. In all, I've repaired, refurbished, placed, returned, or recycled close to 400 systems since I began keeping records in 2013 - half of them in the last three years. And neighbors and townspeople keep finding surplus systems in their closets, basements, attics, and barns.

My anime subbing group has also done well. The team did 40 separate projects this year, ranging from a black-and-white anime from 1965 to movies from recent times. The world-wide team - none of whom I have met - have been relatively unscathed by the pandemic, and I hope it stays that way. Still, I've started telling other fan-subbers who want my help that I can't take on any long-term commitments. The future is simply too uncertain.

The pandemic remains an omnipresent, crushing weight. I felt a brief moment of respite when Martha and I became "fully vaccinated" last spring. We were able to meet up with friends and even eat a meal inside a restaurant. (It was a religious experience.) Then came Delta. Again, booster shots seemed to offer a ray of hope. Now it's Omicron, and I'm back to wearing high-quality masks whenever I meet people or enter a building, and that's not very often.

Finally, an unexpected pleasure. In late summer, out of the blue, I got an email from a high-school classmate whom I haven't seen since 1964. We met up (outside) in September and discovered that we have lots of mutual interests, views, and experiences to share and remember. We'll be meeting again, as pandemic conditions allow. I'm not a particularly social person, but human contact is essential, and it's good to have more.

That's it. Pixel is at my feet, nudging me to feed him again, so I have to go.

Jonathan says: This has been a challenging year in some ways. We lost two beloved pets, Jade and Luke. Elijah started Kindergarten in the midst of a global pandemic. The horses remain challenging (and we expect that to continue given their ages and histories).