We can no longer call this our “annual holiday letter”
inasmuch as it’s after the holidays and we didn’t write one last year.How about “belated attempt to stay in touch
letter’” or “better late than never letter?”In any case 2005 was another year of transition for the
Harmsworths.Unwilling or unable to put
down roots in
Texas
, we’re back
in
Montana
again, this time in
the beautiful
BitterrootValley
south of
Missoula
.Wendy’s mother Sherry and her husband Terry
moved here last winter.In June we sent
Sarah and Dave to stay with them while Wendy and I prepared our
Texas
house for sale.We joined them in July,
but I had to return to
Texas
to
finish packing and tie up loose ends.In
mid-September I rented a U-Haul truck, got it loaded with the help of some
friends (thanks, Goran, Sriram, Gan, Pavan, Shekar, Indran and Vasudevan!) and
drove 2100 miles in two very long days, staying overnight in Boulder at Wendy’s
brother Tom’s condo.We’re staying at
Sherry and Terry’s house until we can find and afford a place of our own.We’re very grateful for the lodging and for
the beautiful view out the west windows of the Valley and the
BitterrootMountains
.
The hardest thing about leaving
Texas
was saying goodbye to the many friends we’d made there in the past five years,
and also to my fifty-or-so cello and violin students.I’m teaching a few students here, and have
rented a studio in
Missoula
for
that purpose, but it’ll be a while before my schedule is full again.Just before leaving
Texas
I finished recording a cello CD with pianist Saida Kafarova, an album of pieces
originally written for other instruments, as well as for voice.We actually completed recording the day
before I moved.This made it impossible
to go back to the studio later and re-record the spots that were
less-than-perfect, so while the finished product is basically satisfactory, I’m
not sure whether I’m proud enough of it to release it commercially.Right now I’m finishing up the liner notes,
after which I’ll have to come to some decision about production and marketing.
Wendy continues to do her transcription work to help pay the
bills, but she’s hoping to find a fulltime job, perhaps one that will utilize
her past training in the sciences.This
is a real possibility, as the two largest employers in the Valley are the
National Institute of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratory in
Hamilton
,
and Corixa, a local pharmaceutical company recently purchased by
Glaxo-Smith-Kline.The big challenge
seems to be finding time to fill out job applications; the transcription work,
along with family duties and volunteer work (she’s now a den leader for Dave’s
cub scout troop and enjoys helping out at the kids’ schools) take up all her
time and then some.She did recently
manage to make some time to create Christmas presents for family members and
she and her mom, a past art teacher, had fun producing some ornaments out of
Sculpy (polymer clay) together.Her
recreational activities have also been curtailed as a result of her duties,
though she does try to exercise more regularly and gets out to walk the dogs
often.One of her greatest pleasures
this past fall was taking walks in the crisp morning air while soaking up the
fantastic mountain scenery and eating a ripe, tart apple just picked off one of
the many trees on the property.We did
manage to go cross-country skiing on a nearby mountain pass this past week and
had a good time though we also discovered some real problems with our ancient
equipment and as a result were provided with many moments of comic relief.I’m still hoping to drag her up to the cabin
in the near future, but don’t hold your breath.
Sarah
and Dave seem to be thriving in our new environment.The
Corvallis
schools are excellent, and both children are doing well there, Sarah in the
sixth grade (except for seventh-grade math) and Dave in first.Sarah’s almost as busy as her mom, continuing
with her violin study and participating in the local youth orchestra as well as
in a chamber group which I coach.She’s
taking weekly lessons from Margaret Baldridge, the violin professor at the
University
of
Montana
.On our way back from
Missoula
on Tuesday evenings we usually stop at the Hamilton House in Victor to fiddle
at a Celtic jam session.There are some
awesomely accomplished musicians at these sessions, but they have been very
welcoming to us newcomers.Sarah’s
current infatuation is with horses and she’s read everything she can get her
hands on about the subject.Most of our
neighbors are horses – no, wait, that’s true but it doesn’t sound quite right –
most of our neighbors have horses, and most of them are quite neigh-borly.She’s taking a weekly equestrian lesson and
loving it.This has worked out nicely in
so far as I am able to teach Sarah’s teacher cello lessons in exchange for the
riding lessons- hurray for the old barter system!In addition, Sarah and Dave are both involved
in Destination Imagination (DI), an after-school activity designed to foster
creative thinking and teamwork and Wendy is also serving as a volunteer in this
program.Sarah is discovering a great
talent and enthusiasm for drama, as the challenges that are offered in her DI
sessions require a great deal of theatrical improvisation.Both kids were taking gymnastics in
Texas
and continued this activity here in the fall, but it now looks as if
something’s gotta go, and it may be the gymnastics.So many activities, so little time.
In
addition to the above, Dave has been active in Cub Scouts and soccer.His team was coached by Grampa Terry, who
knows more about soccer than Dave probably wants to know.Dave’s big interest at present is
airplanes.He spends hours on Terry’s
flight simulator, checks out library books on airplanes constantly and the
house is littered with paper airplanes of all designs and descriptions.Grampa T. is taking flying lessons, and hopes
to build his own airplane in the near future.I’m sure he can expect plenty of help from Dave, who shows a great
interest in all things mechanical.Dave’s only problems of any significance are learning how to deal with
issues of a social nature.He does a
pretty good job of standing up for himself, and is steadily learning better
ways of handling the day-to-day conflicts that crop up on the school scene as
well as those with his big sister.Overall, he’s a pretty easygoing and gregarious fellow who seems to
adapt fairly easily to new situations.
So
as the year begins we have much to be thankful for; good health, a
mind-numbingly beautiful location, and loving and supportive family and
friends, including you.We hope to see
you and hear from you soon.
Sarah
and Dave seem to be thriving in our new environment. The
In
addition to the above, Dave has been active in Cub Scouts and soccer. His team was coached by Grampa Terry, who
knows more about soccer than Dave probably wants to know. Dave’s big interest at present is
airplanes. He spends hours on Terry’s
flight simulator, checks out library books on airplanes constantly and the
house is littered with paper airplanes of all designs and descriptions. Grampa T. is taking flying lessons, and hopes
to build his own airplane in the near future. I’m sure he can expect plenty of help from Dave, who shows a great
interest in all things mechanical. Dave’s only problems of any significance are learning how to deal with
issues of a social nature. He does a
pretty good job of standing up for himself, and is steadily learning better
ways of handling the day-to-day conflicts that crop up on the school scene as
well as those with his big sister. Overall, he’s a pretty easygoing and gregarious fellow who seems to
adapt fairly easily to new situations.
