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Mid Year News 2009 from
Dave Hope and family |
In the Xmas 2008 newsletter I mentioned the
family was all getting together for the holiday. We did, and had a
really nice time. Then January arrived and with it the devastating
news that Ian required immediate major surgery for what turned out
to be colon cancer. I flew out and spent time with him during his
post op recovery until he was ready to return to work. As of today
he continues to progress quite well and is just over his 9th chemo
session with 3 more remaining. Since Gary and Lisa were also
deemed at possible risk they had to get checked out. Luckily all
was well with both of them. Lisa and Melanie flew over to visit
Ian on June 19th so I house sat her little dogs and cat for the
week. Lisa’s lap band procedure has been a huge success and she
has now lost (censored) since Oct and she is looking great.
We all managed to get past the March 6th
“anniversary” somehow. Warwick and I took off for the coast and
just walked, looked at the ocean and watched the boats. We had a
picnic lunch on the outer harbour wall of Dana Point and walked
some more. I think it helped a little. Lisa took a bottle of wine
and went to the beach for the day and Gary tried to go surfing,
but work got him and he had to put it off for a couple of days.
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Lisa and Ian in
Hawaii 2009 |
Over Easter the Gkids were out for spring
break and Lexi had a pool party attended by lots of cute little
girls and a handful of pimply faced wanabe men. Gary and I got
some good chuckles from some of the antics. We had a fairly quiet
day on Easter Sunday. Lisa and Melanie came over and we all hung
out either in the pool or on the deck. Sue cooked a big ham so we
had a nice evening meal along with way too much wine. Lexi’s high
school (Tesoro) softball team won the level 3 state 2009
championship so she has her first award.
My pets are both doing well and Warwick had
a "non anaesthetic" teeth cleaning recently, which only went well
once I went in to help out. He wasn't aggressive at all, just
totally non cooperative and the dentist vet couldn't handle him as
he kept shuffling backwards and wouldn't open his mouth. Once I
was there he was pretty good considering it was his first time. |
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I recently was invited by a few ex Intel
folk to join Facebook, so I did. It’s a good way to see what old
friends are up to but the silly chit chat annoys me quite a bit. I
have been a member of the old Brit site, Friends Reunited for
years which is more about finding friends than social networking.
However I note it is slowly turning into another Facebook, which I
think is a shame. Over the years I have been able to contact quite
a few of the BTH/AEI, TI, Rugby College, Grammar school and
Primary school folks. The one site I use a lot is the Genes
Reunited site and is probably the best site of its type for
researching family history which I spend quite some time working
on.
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Finally, the OR house sold, but under a
rather complex deal which meant I got half the asking price up
front and I hold a three year mortgage for the remainder. After
the 3 years I will get the outstanding amount in full. Since the
house had been on the market for so long I decided it was the best
deal out there. (probably the only one) However, it makes it very
difficult to buy anything here without taking on a large mortgage,
even though I know I will be able to pay it off in 3 years. Lots
of thinking still to do.
I have also not been able to sell the RV, so
sometime around the end of July/early Aug Gary and I will go up to
OR to collect it and drive it down. I found a place about 3 miles
away where I can store it. Not much else going on at the moment
except I need to go to the pet store and pickup Warwick's weekly
case of frozen raw food that he loves so much and then swing by
the Brit store to pick up a few things we are out of. Touch wood,
we have seen no signs of the "piggy" flu around here so we hope it
stays that way. L.A. is the closest it has come. Once Ian finishes
his chemo course I plan to visit him for a celebration.
Best wishes to everyone who still remember
us.
Dave and Family
blacknit*cox.net (replace the * with @) |
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Message from Di and
Pete Stephenson, Laneast, Cornwall. April 2007
Dear Felmersham & Radwell Friends |
We have been in our new house four weeks now, most of our boxes are
unpacked and we are wondering why we have brought so much “stuff”
with us! We now need to find the Cornwall equivalent of Emmaus!
Our house is situated just off the A30 and 8
miles West of Launceston, convenient for a coffee break for those of
you travelling to this wonderful county! Advanced warning may
produce scones, jam & clotted cream! The house lies East/West and so
we get amazing sunrises and sunsets; needless to say, those of you
who know Pete very well, will appreciate he enjoys the sunsets
immensely! We have a bigger garden than the Felmersham patch with a
small veggie plot…. which is proving a challenge, along with mole
whom we share it with!
I have been to the local churches – we have a
shared parish , so only services in Laneast Church every other week
and as it is a much smaller village than Radwell the congregation is
proportionally reduced! The Church of St Sidewell and St Gulval is
very pretty and was restored in 1948. The whole parish apparently
comprises 2552 acres of land and 3 acres of water and the population
in 2001 was 164 plus loads of sheep, cattle & horses! |
Laneast Sunrise |
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We have managed a
short walk on some of the Inny Valley Trail part of which crosses
the field behind our house and have climbed Rough Tor twice – that is
the second highest hill in Cornwall – at 1312 feet. The area
recently featured in a Time Team investigation and is scattered with
remains of Neolithic dwellings and cairns. The views from the top
are spectacular.
One of the many highlights since we have been
here has been to collect free range farm eggs from a local farmer,
who always has a tale to tell any “incomer” who will listen. He is a
wonderful man with a lovely Cornish accent willing to leisurely
pass the time of day with tales of the local foxes and black
pheasants.
We do have Cornish Pixies at the bottom of our
garden but only visible to those who truly believe and on that note
I will “luv ’ee un leave ’ee…..
Di Stephenson
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Laneast Sunset |
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