Another 92

Under chilly conditions, I shot a 92 today to tie my personal best. I had one birdie, a couple of pars and a bunch of bogeys. As usual, I had a couple of bad holes that really hurt my score. I dropped two balls in the water, but mostly played pretty well. I'm generally happy with a bogey. Gettting a birdie pretty much qualifies as a good round all by itself.

Coase family

Coase family
Originally uploaded by miner.

We were happy to hear from Charles and Eimer. They sent us this nice family picture with their children, Aisling (age 6), Sarah (almost 4) and Thomas (born in April). Lisa worked with Charles at Price Waterhouse in London many years ago.

Cold day on the course

It was just above freezing when we teed off this morning. Strangely, there was no frost -- I suppose the humidity was too low. I'm sure Amnesty International would consider it cruel and inhumane treatment if the US government forced Guantanamo detainees to play golf with temperatures in the low 30s, but this patriotic American actually pays money to play under these conditions. Several players in our group decided not to play at all, and a few quit after nine holes. Honestly, I considered giving up at the turn, but incredibly I managed to get a birdie on Azalea 9 so I had to press on. It was a tough day, but I'm very proud of finishing with a final score of 98 with no penalty strokes.

Ashley, Max and Michael

Ashley, Max and Michael
Originally uploaded by miner.

My niece and nephew, Ashley and Michael, with their new puppy, Max.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all! This is a summary of our year. For more details you can read our earlier blog entries.



2005 has been an interesting year of change for us. At the end of
January, Steve quit his job at Apple. The long hours and monthly
travel back to California had worn him out so he decided to take a
sabbatical. He's been keeping busy learning how to play golf. Our
retired neighbors have been very supportive, inviting him to play with
them for a nominal wager, just to keep it interesting. Steve's best round so far is a 92. Not
great, but not bad for his first year of playing. He
continues to volunteer at the Calabash Fire Department. He has driven the tanker truck to a
couple of structure fires and got to man the
hose on a few brush fires.



Lisa has also been active with the fire department. She's
the project coordinator for a federal grant that provided a fire
safety house to use for public instruction. The
safety house should be delivered sometime next spring. Lisa's main
interest is landscape design. She has created some designs for local customers and
teaches a degree course in computerized landscape design at Brunswick Community College.



We've done a fair bit of traveling this year. First, we went to Turks
and Caicos for a volleyball vacation. Unfortunately, we were caught in
an ice storm in Atlanta and then our luggage was misplaced for
a few days, but Steve did manage to play a lot of volleyball once we
got there. In March, we did a driving tour in Florida with
stops in Orlando, Sarasota, Naples, Ft. Myers and St. Augustine.
We had a great time in Washington, DC, where we were fortunate to
go on a private guided tour of the Capitol with an aide to Senator
Elizabeth Dole. Perhaps our favorite trip was when we celebrated our wedding
anniversary in Niagara Falls and then spent a few days with our friend
Maureeen, in Toronto. For short get-aways, we've been to Aiken, Augusta,
Hilton Head, Charleston and Savannah.



We were pleased to have some visitors come to stay with us. Steve's parents were here for a week in May. Neill played golf with Steve for
the first time and we all had a great time exploring the area. Then in
August, Lisa's friends Richard and Lorraine, and their
children, Rebekah and Mathew, visited from England for a few days during
their US holiday (that's "vacation" for you Yanks). This is a great
place for tourists, so let us know if you'd like to visit some time. The beach is wonderful, the ocean is warm and we can usually find an alligator to show off.



Bertie, our Basset Hound, is still going strong as he approaches his
twelfth birthday. He won the Longest Ears contest at our vet's open house. Heidi, our pretty Belgium Malinois, is now seven years
old. (We used to think she was a mutt, but we've since figured
out her breed.) The dogs have some good friends in the neighborhood who always
say hello and even feed them dog biscuits as they take daily walks.
Not a bad life.



Let us close by wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.



Steve and Lisa

and Bertie and Heidi

Another Personal Best

I shot a 92 in golf today, my personal best. My handicap is down to 26. I'm slowly making progress.

Night of a Thousand Candles

We attended one of our favorite Christmas events: The Nights of a Thousand Candles at Brookgreen Gardens. Pianist Rocky Fretz was the featured performer in the big tent where he played some jazzy versions of traditional Christmas songs. Other entertainment included Christmas carolers dressed in Dickensian costumes and a handbell choir from the First Presbyterian Church of Myrtle Beach. The paths through the sculpture gardens were lined with candles and several ponds had floating luminaries, creating an enchanting effect. It's a wonderful event. Dinner and refreshments are also available. Fridays and Saturdays from December 2 through December 17.