2004—Reconnoitering at Chankly
So we returned to the Valleys of the Mountains, beset with rather more discouragement than you might gather from the Christmas letter (which we sent out in January). After the Ralstons left, we had rented out their erstwhile space, upstairs in Chankly, to a cute young newlywed couple named Beynon, and we huddled down in the basement mother-in-law apartment to lick our wounds.
0013RedbudWestwHomesick, we’d planted an Eastern Redbud in the front… Not that our situation was all that squalid:
  • we had all the space we’d originally bargained for. Many aspects of Chankly were and remain lovely and convenient, if (in the manner of modern contruction) engineered commercially for limited duration of service; we just have to choke back our longstanding preference for old houses. We’d just enjoyed thirty years in a home built with lath and plaster by somebody who planned to spend the rest of his life there (and, indeed, did).

  • Our finances were turning out rather remarkably stable, as we found we could eke out our needs quite comfortably on the combination of our Social Security and the interest on our IRA savings.
0011ChestnutBackPorchw
…and a horse chestnut in back; also a nice red maple;
the ground-level windows belong to our basement apartment.
  • Church was grand, in many ways. We continued to rejoice in our Temple opportunities. At the local level, the Highlands Ward was (and its successor, the Fox “Pointe” Ward, remains) delightful. “Delight,” in case you wondered, entails lots and lots of young couples with exceedingly cute kids, and plenty of committed, hard-working leadership talent.

  • I’ve had time and means to weave together several fascinating strands of my family history fabric.

  • Valerie has continued to create quilts for all sorts of beloved beneficiaries, and

  • her collection of cookbooks approaches monumental status, even as it takes more character than I can muster to lose any weight while enjoying her daily production of marvels.
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