It seems just yesterday that Terry and I were clambering up rickety ladders to remove the Christmas lights from the eaves of the house, and here we are, one year later, doing it again. So easy it would be, to concede the perception of time flying by. But a lot took place in those twelve months between the rituals of packing away the strings of lights last January and repeating the process now. We were blessed with quality time with family and good friends, some dazzling ski runs, and a few unsurpassed days camping, cragging and biking. We remodeled a bathroom; planted a vegetable garden; paid our taxes; took the trash out every Wednesday night; started a snowball fight; attended art shows; paid bills; fed pets; spent too much time at the grocery store; celebrated birthdays; went climbing on our wedding anniversary; watched my grandson execute a perfect belly flop (I gave him a 10)... Not a bad year.________________________________________
Heather is merrily on the go these days as a 3rd Grade teacher and devoted mother and wife. She and Conrad have been married for five years now, and they’ve built a nurturing life for themselves and my grandson, Logan. Many of their weekends have been spent on home projects, and with Heather’s green thumb, rest assured the yard is a cornucopia of flora and blooms.
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Allie is working on wrapping up her interior design program at FIDM in Los Angeles. She’s been living in L.A. for over a year now, and has acclimatized favorably to big city life. In fact she has acquired an uncanny ability in locating empty parking spaces: a rare commodity in her neighborhood. This April, she turns 21 (yikes!).
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Randi, who turned 23 on Christmas Day, is finishing her BFA in Art this spring at Cal State Long Beach. Last year she showcased her art at several events, and traveled to New York City with some of her classmates; visiting art museums; sampling the night life. A number of her paintings adorn the walls of our home: one advantage of having an artist in the house.
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Doug is the consummate Busy Guy. He practically lives on a bicycle, both mountain and road bikes, and also delves into skiing; snowboarding; rock climbing. Last fall, he was promoted to assistant manager of Jax Bicycles in Irvine, and he’s also currently finishing his second year at Fullerton College. He will be 20 in March.
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I’ve heard people say over the years how wonderful it is to be a grandparent. Now I know what they mean, and I’ll grant you it is pretty cool. Logan, who turned two last August, saw a lot of “firsts” in 2010. He experienced his first toboggan run in Big Bear when Heather & Conrad stayed with us at the Sauter Cabin. He also went on his first campout at Joshua Tree, and scaled his first boulder. During the summer, he stayed with us while Mommy & Daddy enjoyed a kid-less, weekend getaway. He and I sat at the breakfast counter Sunday morning, me with my coffee, Logan with his milk, and while Terry whipped up some blueberry pancakes, I showed him how to tie a figure eight knot; bowline on a coil; clove hitch. We went over the call signals: On belay; Off belay. The training resumed later in the year at Joshua Tree, where we covered Bouldering 101. This was well worth the effort: Logan utilized these new skills to figure out how to scamper out of his crib, and in doing so, established a new bouldering problem (V0) called The Great Escape. There’s no goin’ back now, Mom.
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Mom and Darrell are doing fine in Willow Valley, Arizona, where they’ve been living for twenty years now. I drove out Mother’s Day weekend and had Sunday brunch with them at Mom’s favorite Mexican restaurant. Ever since they sold the motor home, they don’t travel as much. There’s been talk of moving back to SoCal, to be closer to family, which would be cool. Not only would I be able to see them more often, but they’d be able watch their great-grandkids grow up.
Terry’s mom, Mary Ann, lives in Visalia, and she’s doing fine as well. Terry spent Mother’s Day weekend with her, and the two of us also paid a visit during our summer road trip.
Meanwhile, on the Big Island of Hawaii, the indomitable Bob Barry thrives on the slopes of Mauna Loa, living in paradise with his wife, Patti. As some of you already know, Bob is my biological father, and even though we met just five years ago, we have formed a lasting friendship.
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While California wallows in dire fiscal straits, wreaking havoc on public education, Terry remains indisputably devoted to her students. She taught 5th Grade again last school year (2009-10), and then during the summer, worked a summer school principal post. Her 2010-11 class is a 4/5 combo. 
And something new for this school year: she is conducting parenting workshops (for no pay) for parents who complain that they continually fight with their children to do homework. In the meantime, my development of the Stealth Teacher Taser continues. Also in the meantime, while the state may be broke, it is still hell-bent on leading the nation in renewable energy and cutting CO2 emissions. 
Last year I became more involved in procuring renewable power for Riverside. The city met its goal of 20% green for 2010. By 2020, we’ll be at 33%. Of the new projects under development, the most intriguing is the La Paz Solar Tower, slated to be built in Arizona. Enviro-Mission, an Australian firm led by entrepreneur Roger Davey, is the designer/builder, and Riverside is in for a share of the plant’s output. Check it out… http://www.enviromission.com.au/EVM/content/movies/discoverychannel.html
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Last winter’s El Niño brought loads of snow to the California mountains. However a silly little crash on my first day skiing (a snowboarder backed into my path) resulted in a knee injury that would cause me grief for the next six months. My doctor ordered an MRI: told me my knee would be okay, I was just getting old (and you know you’re old when your doc reminds you of Doogie Howser). He advocated no skiing; no running; yada yada. So I stopped running. And the few times I did hit the slopes, I had to ice the knee afterwards. For spring break in April, we rented a condo in Mammoth, to which Allie & Co. also came along. But spring skiing, it was not. A late-winter storm rolled in, leading to Arctic temperatures, but some of the best skiing I’ve done in a long time. There’s nothing like swooshing down through the trees on fresh powder, and at the end of the day, relaxing by the fireplace with a mug of hot buttered rum—and an ice pack on your knee.
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Cycling was the one activity that didn’t bother my knee, so it became our primary means for outdoor fun and exercise. From the house, it is 24 miles to the beach via the Santa Ana River Trail. And with all the rain last winter, the nearby Chino Hills were spectacularly green and festooned with spring wildflowers: single-track heaven on a mountain bike. Occasionally Doug would join us, though he always leaves us in the dust. I suppose the fact that he logs 100+ miles per week—and, okay, he’s a little bit younger—may have something to do with it. One of our more memorable rides was in the White Mountains last spring, among the ancient bristlecone pines, riding up to 11,000 feet with the snowy Sierra Nevada as a backdrop. It was nothing short of magic.
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Though we didn’t rack up a whole lotta climbing days last year, we did manage to visit many of our favorite haunts. Doug led a 10a at Holcomb Pinnacles, which is impressive—it was only his second lead, ever. I’m still active with the Southern California Mountaineers Association, though as all of our SCMA compadres can attest, we didn’t show up for many club trips last year. But we miss you all—there are no better camp mates—and we’ll make a better effort to join the party more often in 2011.
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Over the summer we rented a camper van, loaded it up with mountain bikes and climbing gear and hit the road to NorCal and Oregon for two weeks. Along the way we visited my sister Maggi; Terry’s siblings, Maureen, Beth, Pat and Kathy; Ter’s mom, Mary Ann; and our gracious friends, Richard & Bobbi and Meg & Stan, all of which contributed to making our vacation a great adventure. We kayaked a stretch of the Sacramento River; basked in sunshine in the Columbia River Gorge; did some incredible mountain biking in Bend; witnessed a gorgeous sunset at Crater Lake; and climbed at Smith Rock and Lover’s Leap, two stone venues I’ve always wanted to visit and finally got the chance.
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Before we knew it, summer was over and the fall holiday season was upon us. We hosted two Thanksgivings—this time our dog was thwarted from snagging the turkey—a Christmas dinner, and Terry’s school staff party. It was the little kids, Logan and his two cousins, Colin and Trey, who stole the spotlight at Thanksgiving with their energetic merriment. 
And watching Logan open his Christmas presents was joyful—the wonder and magic of Christmas is alive in his eyes, and indeed mine as well. Terry’s brother, Dan “Iron Chef” Mulcahy, drove in from New Mexico the Saturday before Christmas and cooked an extraordinary meal for us. On Christmas Eve, Terry served up a scrumptious lobster dinner—Randi’s 
birthday dinner—and then Christmas evening was spent in Los Angeles with Terry’s brother, Mark, and his wife Ves. Needless to say, I ate too much that week.
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We rang in the New Year from Truckee, along with Randi, Mark & Ves, and their 12-year-old nephew, Martin. So far, the Sierras are having a good snow season. We spent the last glorious day of 2010 skiing at Squaw Valley—where they had a major power outage in the morning, effectively shutting down many of the lifts for a few hours. Fortunately I have deep, magnanimous patience for this sort of thing (not!).
After a day on the slopes, we convened for a New Years Eve dinner at the River Ranch Lodge, where Ves negotiated for a table with a prime view of the Truckee River coursing through a wintry wonderland. Back at the 
house, we celebrated midnight. Then it began to snow, falling on and off through New Years Day. Getting up to Tahoe had been a piece of cake, but the drive home took fifteen hours. Snow and ice had shut down I-5 over the Grapevine, forcing us—and tens of thousands of other holiday drivers and 18-wheelers—to detour around to Bakersfield, up through Tehachapi and Lancaster, with intermittent snow flurries most of the way. Yep, it was a lonnng day.
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That pretty much sums up the past year. Between now and the next time we climb the rickety ladder to remove the Christmas lights from the house, may all our family and friends have a happy and fruitful year, full of love, peace and good Karma.
—Ron & Terry
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PHOTOS ---
You can access more photos via the Flickr link below. It will take you to a folder called “Best of 2010”. Click on one of the sets, then click on “slideshow” at upper right. Spacebar is the Play-Pause control. Hit right arrow key for next slide; left arrow key to go back. The up arrow key will display the photo caption; the down arrow key will hide it. Lower right of screen is the Full Screen button. At end of slideshow, hit Escape or click on the mouse. This will allow you to return to the set, then navigate back to “Best of 2010” and select another set to view. Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/91696789@N00/collections/72157625824761819/
