Hello Everyone:

I have just returned from my 5th trip this year to Ohio to check on Mom's health. Since the middle of January, these trips have pretty much dictated the course of my life for all of l998. However, the situation has improved and at present Lois is still in the Convalescent Center in Dover. Mom became very ill in early January and we thought we were going to lose her. In late January, she was admitted to the Convalescent Center but, amazingly, she walked out on Mother's Day! Mom was resting at home from May until the middle of October when a changed medication led to hospitalization and once again, back to the Center. As of this date, Lois is eating better than at any time this past year, and although frail, she does walk occasionally to the dining room for dinner. She is quite a remarkable woman. Presently Mom is heading toward 89 -- her mother lived until 91 and that was 25 years ago! With all the new medicines, who knows??????

John, her husband, is very attentive and simply a wonderful human being. I was with him for nearly 3 weeks in this last visit and we had a good time, cooking, watching movies and just hanging out. John has a heart condition but does all the right things whereas Mom did her own thing, which always wasn't the best course with her diabetic condition. I expect to return to Ohio in February unless of course, there is an emergency.

Both Chris and Lisa and her family are doing just fine. First, a little about Chris. Chris continues at Etak, where he is a project engineer and manager. He recently attended the Comdex Convention in Las Vegas and was one of the reps in the Sony booth demonstrating the Sky Map laptop navigation system. Sony has bought Etak which is a big boost. You can check out some pictures from the show on my Website but more of that later. Chris has really tried to introduce me into the computer age, but progress is slow. I am too old to learn this new stuff -- (but it is fun!) On my birthday, Chris created a Website for me and we both have had a lot of fun with that and I am the beneficiary. Since we both have the same Internet provider and Chris has access to my account, he is able to make changes from Sunnyvale, where he lives. So, I send the stories, he revises them, adds pictures and as a result I am on the World Wide Web! So if you would like to see this and don't have a computer, go to one of your friends who are on the Internet and they can log on for your perusal. My email node is rickg@netwiz.net and my Web page address is http://www.netwiz.net/~rickg Chris and I went to Flagstaff, Arizona, this past summer for the Arizona Opera's production of Wagner's Ring. We did a lot of sightseeing and had a ball. Was really great having Chris around for 8 days. We are planning a 1999 trip to the East Coast and DC.

Lisa, Andre and the 2 grandkids are really in high gear. Lisa completed the Nursing program at Napa College, passed the State exam and is working at the prestigious UC San Francisco Medical Center. She is on the post-surgery ward in the Neurosurgery & Orthopedic floors. Lisa is thrilled with the job, and is learning a lot! New staff nurses are subjected to orientation for 6 weeks before they are turned loose and, even then, they are assigned a mentor for a 6-week program after this initial period. It's difficult, as a full week is three 12-hour shifts, but it seems to be working out. Since Andre's shifts are unusual in the fire fighting scheme of things, as are Lisa's work, there is a lot of coordination necessary for childcare, and the fact that Shirley lives close by, really helps the situation greatly. I get tossed in to the fray occasionally but the kids beat me down too easily so I am way back in reserve. Cole's left eye that was damaged 2 years ago is improving dramatically. A visit to the Doc this past week said something like 40% improvement. He is quite active in baseball, soccer and now karate. He certainly has a lot of his father's athletic prowess and his Mom is very athletic as well. Just a super kid! Cole has to wear a contact lens in his eye daily. Madison (Maddy), my granddaughter, is not to be denied! Cute as a button, just 3 and is attacking her brother whenever it suits her purposes. She too sweet but what can grandfather say? You can see a few pictures of them on my Web site.

Had 2 great visitors this year. The first was Elliot Marin, a friend from 1952, that I touched bases with when I was in N.Y.C. in l997. Elliott & I met through Lou Lopez in '52 at the famous Lake Placid resort where we both were golf caddies. Unfortunately, Elliot lost his wife in early 1998 and I invited him to California. We spent some time in California and the Lake Tahoe area and also played golf at Carmel (not me, Elliot did) at Pebble Beach --- only $340 per round(!) I did however drive the cart and was able to see it …without the cost. Then, in September, the Japanese family [the Yasunori's] I visited some time ago in Akashi, Japan visited the U.S. for the first time. They were in Vallejo for about 7 days. Only two family members came, the son Jun, who is a first year student at Hiroshima University and his mother, Noriko, who is fluent in English but claims that I use "funny words"! We had quite a time. Finally walked over the Golden Gate Bridge and had a ball running over the landscape in Northern California. Later, the folks visited another friend in the Central Valley in Turlock.

My only other adventure for the year was a trip up to Seattle for a fantastic performance of Wagner's Tristan Und Isolde, which was spectacular as two of the leading Wagnerian singers in the business were cast in the key roles. My companion, Ann Grove, went along as I am Ann's Director of Culture, because she has little time for these earthly pursuits as she is usually running 100 mile races and her physical therapy business here in Vallejo. [When she says she has to run to Vallejo to pick up something, she's not kidding!] Ann competed in the grueling 30-hour, 100-mile Western States Race this year, which is one of the premier races for ultra-endurance runners. I have problems driving that far. Anyway, I was on her support crew and 2 of the 3 folks in her group from Vallejo group finished. A 74-year-old man finished the race in 28 hours. The winners do it in about 16 hours! They are crazy.

Sister Gloria was out for a week's visit also and we had a great time visiting friends here in Vallejo. Like my time with Chris, it was really a fine week to have Gloria here to myself. I think she was happy to return to the East Coast, as she was turning into quite a California girl and that would be too much for her staid, conservative husband who is a bedrock Republican! (Just kidding!!). Bill is still skating with his ice hockey buddies at 75+. He is incredible.

Lastly, teamed up with a really interesting lady, Naomi Lange, from San Diego who sat next to Chris at the Flagstaff Ring production. She does far more opera than I ever do and is really fascinating as to the travels she has completed including a visit to Antarctica. We get together when she comes up to the opera in SFO. A lot of fun!! Yes, I am still doing a lot of the SFO Symphony...24 performances last year! Also continuing a full season with the SFO Opera and Ballet plus Berkeley Repertory theatre plus a few other activities, so I stay busy! Fortunately, (or unfortunately), without a mate, these activities are easy to attend. However, if I find that perfect super woman…who knows? (Please, don't look too hard!)

A good way to stay up with where I'm at is to look at my Web Page - I like to leave messages on the home page. Send me your email node if you are online. Will be in Chicago in March for a couple of operas and then back to Ohio in July for the 50th high school class reunion. Interestingly of the 24 who graduated in that class, there has been only one death. Hope you and everyone in your families is good. One word of advice: this year has witnessed a lot of medical traumas concerning my closest of friends. Don't put off doing what you want to do…do it now! Plus, please read "Tuesdays with Morrie". It will affect the way you think about your mortal being and the people you love. I wish the best for you and yours in 1999!

Cheers,

Rick Green