U-Wood’s 2021 Holiday Letter

Covid-19 upended any plans we might have had for out-of-state trips in 2021. We stayed home, mostly, though we visited Oregon friends and places, and a few visitors from afar made brief appearances.

And our close neighbors were constant companions.

Dinner with the Salings, two doors down and across the street, is always fun. Susan cooked regularly for us during June’s convalescence from knee-replacement surgery in October and also at many other times. We could never resist her invitations. John and Jer played Go on Friday afternoons throughout the year.

Susan, Jer, and John, sated.

Ice storms coated our house in February
and broke many limbs off our large ash
tree.

We had home-and-away visits with the Graves, members of our Proust reading group, who live close by. Like Susan Saling, Mary loves to cook, and we love her cooking. Dan and Mary adore music and books, and we do too.

Jer & June, Mary & Dan Graves

A rented cabin along the Metolius River, near Sisters, Oregon, offered a three-day August respite from the stay-at-home blahs. Earlier in the summer, June went on a writing retreat at the Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport, Oregon.

Evening light along the Metolius in August

In September, several of our long-time friends got together at Champoeg Park between Portland and Salem. Left to right: us, Jenny Orr (who organized the picnic), Hilary Hutchinson, Willa Campbell (from Iowa), and Denise Smith.

Good friends, good visit

Jer’s niece Ruth Cannava, from New Hampshire, visited us this summer. So did our Tucson, Arizona, friend Yvonna Roepke.

Niece Ruth: we are always startled when she addresses us as Aunt and Uncle. Some relationships don’t fall into the tidy titles.

Rick Craycraft and Jan Underwood wore masks when they visited us on Jer’s birthday in October. Jan was finishing work on a new novel, Fault Lines, which appeared on Amazon in December. Rick, a carpenter by trade, hikes, climbs mountains, and roots for the Oregon Ducks, as does Jer. Jan and Rick, who live three miles from us, try to visit us on Friday mornings so we can catch up on gossip and rail against the state of the world.

Jan was setting up the Zoom with Sam in California. She did it well, without much help from her friends.

Sam Underwood, our grandson, drove from San Mateo, California, to have Thanksgiving dinner with us. A chemist by training and profession, he enjoys hiking and camping.

The hiker, with gear

June is busy with art and writing projects, and Jer, who turned 80 this year, still occasionally edits Wikipedia.

Ink work on Japanese paper — laid out on plastic to dry.

Lilies in July

Swamp Sunflower in November

Day Lily in summer

Violas in April

Studio Garden in May

Marilyn, Jer’s cousin, visited with Jan and us in July as we were all vaxxed and relaxed.

Jan: “Are you sure of that, Mom?”

Deck Garden in February

Deck Garden in October

Happy holidays to one and all. – J & J