Winter '03

Dear Friends,

Time again for the Annual Cory Letter. This year has once again been one of change and adventure.

Earl’s web business continues to slowly grow. From his downstairs office he “Webmasters” 30 sites and supports networking and “IT” functions for several companies. This helps fill in the time when not working at Marin General Hospital. Of course, there are the occasional “honey-do” projects.

Chris’ was a victim of the Internet meltdown. She was laid-off in May. While collecting unemployment, she searched for a teaching position. In August she started at St. Joseph Notre Dame, a Catholic College Prep High School in Alameda, where she teaches Geometry and Algebra. This has dramatically cut into her tennis time!

Vibeké is still attending Santa Rosa College, working toward her goal as a surgical nurse. She is also a technician for a local veterinarian.

For Thanksgiving 2001, it was off to Mexico City to visit the Transcosos. Chris and Cristina spent several days gathering up ingredients for a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. This was a challenge in Mexico; just finding a meat thermometer for the turkey took two days. Fortunately, we brought along the cranberries and stuffing mix.

One weekend, we kidnapped Elias and headed off to Cuernavaca. (To get Elias to take a few days off is quite an event, in celebration, “Popo” sent up a great plume of smoke and ash.) On the trip we visited the Aztec city of Xochicalco. Before leaving for home, Chris went shopping in San Juan for mole. She brought back 6 different kinds, but more about that latter..

For a white Christmas, Vibeké went to Vancouver, BC to rendezvous with some friends from England. Earl and Chris drove all over the state visiting friends and relatives, ending with Christmas Goose at the Gregors.

Speaking of the Gregors, this year we saw several good plays with Marie at the Mark Taper Forum. The highlight was Copenhagen; Ed joined us for that one. Earl and Chris sat on the stage as part of the Gallery.

Bob and Adele came up from L.A. to celebrate the New Year. While they were here, we received news that Chris’ brother, Luis, died Dec 31 of complications from a fall the week before. It was nice to have close friends near by. Later in the year we rode our bikes in the Tour-de Cure, a fund-raising event for diabetes that Louie was planning at the time of his death.

Our only ski trip this year was a week at Steamboat Springs. Six of us shared a two-bedroom condo near the slopes. It was some of the best skiing we have ever had. We liked it so much, that we immediately made reservations for this coming January, but alas, Chris’ new career prevents us from going places outside of school holidays. (Except she plans to ditch school for the U.S. Open tennis tournament next year.)

Chris’ cousin, Margie, and her husband, Richard, joined us for our traditional St. Patrick’s Day Green Meal. They came over later in the year for a trip to Yoshi’s, a great Jazz club here at Jack London square.

In April we used the last of our free Southwest Tickets and took a long weekend to Washington, D.C. We arranged to meet with some college buddies, Chuck and Joan Roberson. We really appreciated them spending time to show us the sights of Washington.

We were able to visit the grounds of the White House, go to the top of the Washington Monument, visit the Senate, watch a demonstration on the mall, and go to a play at Ford’s Theater. Chuck and Joan gave us a tour of Alexandria, Arlington, and Georgetown, not to speak of the museums and restaurants. It was a very full four days.

We sipped into June with the Fourth Annual Cory Tequila and Mexican Food Tasting. 60 people managed to squeeze into our house to taste over 50 different tequilas. Don Rose once again supplied suitably engraved glasses for the occasion. Bob and Adele, Margie and Richard, and Paul and Iva joined us this year. The kitchen was full of people cooking up several of the Moles Chris brought back from Mexico and other Mexican epicurean delights.

The week before the Tequila Party, some good friends, Anne and Mark, decide to take off for Baja California in their newly purchased Westfalia Vanagon, “Westy”. Anne wanted to keep in touch with friends while away. She and Earl spent and evening creating TravelsWithWesty.com. He updated the site as Anne emailed photos and text along the way. They returned in August and moved into our downstairs apartment to await the many needed repairs on Westy. In the mean time Mark cooked great meals and Anne planned their next adventure. In September, they took off for New Orleans, Virginia, and the Florida Keys. They left their cat Squirt behind to fight with Drollie.

Our big trip this year was 2˝ weeks in Hawaii with Earl’s Mother and father. Phyllis and Claude had never been (they just can’t get their fifth-wheel to float that far.) We visited three islands, Oahu, Kauai, and Hawaii (The Big Island.) During the trip, we experience almost all modes of transportation; airplane, automobile, carriage, shuttle, canoe, boat, foot, swimming, submarine (yes, submarine) and helicopter.

The most exciting part was the helicopter trip over a live volcano. While cruising along at several hundred feet, Phyllis’ door sprung open. She claims that she wasn’t scared, but Chris observed that she looked even whiter than normal. After an emergency stop at a geo-thermal wellhead, the Pilot (who didn’t have a door) got out and closed hers. After the flight, we drove to Volcanoes National Park. In the evening, we parked along the roadside and walked three miles to the water’s edge to watch glowing lava flow into the sea and setting off great steam puffs.

Labor day weekend (Vibeké's birthday), we went camping near Fort Ross in Mendocino County with a group of diving friends. We had fresh abalone and Margaritas for dinner that night. Earl furnished the espresso in the morning.

Our nephew, Bryan Sands, entered kindergarten this year. The first weekend of October he was in his first Pacific Grove Butterfly Parade. Unexpectedly, the whole Cory clan showed up to cheer him on. It was the first time that Earl’s family had all been together for just a weekend, no marriages, funerals, or parties to interrupt the visiting.

Well that is a summary of our life in 2002. We look forward to hearing from you. We accept letters, phone calls, visits, e-mail, faxes, etc. If you are ever out our way, let us know so we can get together. Sunday, waffles anyone?