LyallFamily.com 2011

Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year 2012!

CHRISTMAS 2011 This maybe the last edition of the “Reality News” Our children have grown up and are no longer as funny or entertaining as they once were. If they choose to answer our phone calls (who said caller ID was a good thing?) we cannot even tell if they truly have someone at the door, another call coming in or really need to go to the bathroom. We do enjoy the calls on Skype when they want to share a peek at a recent purchase or a meal creation...which may look delicious but then who can tell from just looking?!?! Truth be known we actually miss them, however as this is information they COULD and likely WOULD use against us, please just keep this comment to yourselves. The response to the “Save the Parents Fund” (SAP fund) was so under-whelming that we have been forced to move in with Noreen’s parents here in Mesa. Our sentence here is up in April when we will be released to migrate back to Medicine Hat. Six months of home arrest for good behaviour. Our trip down here was more leisurely than usual. We stopped at Arches National Park (Utah) that has magnificent views and interesting hiking trails. Our newly acquired Saga 250 scooter, which when trailered behind the 1987 Itasca Motorhome, made viewing of the scenery an open-air experience. Travelling at 30mph or 50km is a perfect speed for this type of transportation (Noreen’s opinion!). We also made a stop at Canyon de Chelly, a huge, remote canyon, where the US Cavalry finally rounded up the Navajo and sent them to Oklahoma. And we drove through the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest area of Arizona; a place Kirk Cervi and I visited 40 years ago. After Christmas we are going to Florida on money still left over from when we gave up our seats, in London, on the way back from Africa. We will see, among other things, the Kennedy Space Center, Epcot, the Everglades, and the Florida Keys. Richard has left the restaurant business and is now working for a lawn servicing company. They primarily hang Christmas lights and remove snow in the winter. He has had good results with an ablation treatment on his back (needles that cauterize the nerve endings and make the back numb). The doctor has given him the green light to try all of his former activities and he is now back snowboarding, skateboarding etc. Alec has quit his job of almost four years (with our blessing). The company had some really bad management problems and it was best for him to get out. He moved to Calgary and has been staying a Nana and Papa’s house but maybe off to Grande Cache, Alberta to run a crane at an open-pit coalmine. He will find out after Christmas. Well….That’s All Folks! We hope you all take care and have a great 2012. Don and Noreen (Formally known as those two poor saps)