Time again for the annual letter from the Corys. As usual, this has been an interesting year for us. Vibeké is back from Venice Beach, Chris and Earl are still living in Hercules, and all have new Jobs.

The year has gone very well, we were able to go skiing several times last season and expect to do so again this year. Our Urban Assault Vehicle, a.k.a. Jeep Grand Cherokee has served us as both a ski-mobile and camper. After adding a bicycle rack to the kayak rack, we met Ed and Marie Gregor on the Sacramento Delta for the Fourth of July. With just a few minutes work, the kayak rack has been removed and the ski rack inserted. Now we are ready for a season of El Nińo Skiing.

Earl’s contract at Apple Computers finished (he was not able to save the company) and he returned to Marin General Hospital. He is also consulting at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Reno a few days a month. This keeps him on the move and out of trouble.

Chris started a new job in October at Vision Software in Oakland as a staff consultant. She spent the first month learning the new software and Java. (Java is not only the favorite drink in the Bay Area, but also a programming language.) Now she is traveling to help others learn to use her company’s software product. Her first trip was to Boston. She is having fun, but to top it off, she will be able to rack up those frequent flyer points so that we can enjoy or other passion, traveling.

This year we visited the Islands, sort of. In May the three of us went to Isla de Navidad to a wedding. (Do not let the name fool you, It is not really an island). A couple of years ago, Chris’ cousin, Ricky Zuńiga moved to a small fishing village, Barra de Navidad, near his mother’s, Xochitl, birthplace. It is near Manzanillo, half way between Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta and opened a sport fishing business. As luck would have it, he met Claudia and they decided to get married. They wanted a small wedding with only a few people, so the three of us, along with about thirty others from Southern California and hundreds from Mexico all descended on The Cabo Blanco Hotel. We spent the week eating, drinking, swimming, and fishing. That is, Chris and Vibeké, went fishing, Earl went w.w.webbing. While he was there, he started a web site for Ricky’s Sport Fishing business. If you get a chance, visit the web site at http://www.zpesca.com. On it you will see pictures of the trip and Chris with her 35lb Yellowfin Tuna.

On our way to the wedding, we stopped in Guadalajara and picked up our “mother in Mexico”, Ima Ortiz, her daughter Socorro and granddaughter Tatiana. All six of us piled into a Ford Sable (that’s what it was called in Mexico) and drove five hours (three hours Mexican time) to the sea. Later, more of the Ortiz clan, Lalo and Connie came down to relax on the beach. On or way back, we spent a few days visiting friends in Guadalajara, which means great restaurants, shopping bargains, and good tequila.

In April, most of the family met in Cupertino at a California Organ Donor meeting to honor our nephew Cory Heitz. Afterwards, everyone came to our house for some of Earl’s world famous Margaritas and a Bar-B-Que. Since we only have room for a couple of overnight guests at a time, Chris made reservations for everyone to stay in the quaint little town of Port Costa. The hotel was built during the gold rush and apparently not much had been done to it since. We were surprised to see everyone at 6am waiting for breakfast. It turns out that the walls were very thin and the hotel sits next to the railroad line between Oakland and Sacramento, enough said.

During the summer, we went to another island, Ireland to see the parts that we missed two years ago. Vibeké flew in from Los Angeles and London (after many P.A. announcements and searching the corridors) met us at Gatwick Airport. After purchasing Irish Whiskey at a duty free shop, we continued on to Dublin to pick up a car. We spent the night exploring the city and drove to Graiguenamanagh (Greg) the next day. We stayed in a 150-year-old stone cottage on the banks of the River Barrow, one of Irelands principal waterways. Running through the town is the River Duiske (Creek?) with the Duiske Crystal factory. The town has 1500 people and 13 pubs (Vibeké was able to visit almost every one, we only made it to about six.) It also has a four-star restaurant, The Granary, which we all enjoyed. From there we traveled around Southeast Ireland. One day we went to Waterford to visit the Crystal Factory and ended up helping the Irish economy. But, now we can drink our wine and champagne in style. During her wanderings about Greg, Vibeké met Thomas Brett and David Behan, two young gentlemen of the village. Before we left, they came over for chips, salsa, and tequila (we never leave home without them) and they made us a typical Irish meal. We invited them to visit us and they promised to be here soon.

The second week we met Josef and Feltina in Ballyferriter on the West End of the Dingle Peninsula. This is a beautiful area of the country, Irish speaking, with a lot of history. Vibeké especially enjoyed the ancient Celtic buildings and many stone crosses. One of the most impressive man-made sites we saw on our way to Dingle was the town of Cashel. In the center of the town is a “mountain” with a series of churches perched on top, The Rock of Cashel.

We spent two days just outside of Cook visiting with our friends Philip and Jill. We met them the last time on Mason Island. We supplied Philip with some Makers whiskey and he supplied us with some poteen (Irish Moonshine.)

After several bottles of California Wine, Earl talked Josef into translating the Z Pesca web site into German (does that mean that we can write off the trip?) Needless to say, we all had a great time visiting friends that we have made on our various trips. We still have to go back, there is more to see and there is still all that Guinness on Tap.

Next year we have no plans, maybe back to Hawaii with friends, anyone interested? Vibeké and her cousin Amber are planning on using some of Earl’s free SouthWest tickets to go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Next summer Earl’s parents are hosting the Cory/Corey Family Reunion in Pacific Grove.

But, we will be in Germany on Wednesday, 11-Aug-1999 to see the Total Eclipse of the Sun. Chris has invited everyone she knows. We have reserved three one-bedroom condos in the German Alps for the first week of Aug. Xochitl Zuńiga says that she is going for sure, we plan to take her to Rome to see the Vatican and on the way home to stop off in New York City to see the “Lady in the Harbor”. No trip would be complete without visiting Josef and Feltina in Fulda. They have sent us some very interesting material on the area and we are anxious to see it.

The other members of our household, Jeepers and Lilly are doing well. Jeepers has grown into a small, very affectionate cat.

This year we saw several good plays in San Francisco, Silvia and Shear Madness, but we enjoy the theater in Los Angeles more. The three of us have our season tickets to the Mark Taper Forum. Not only do we see fine theatre, it also give us an excuse to visit friends and family, be with Vibeké, and walk along the beach. The highlight of this season was Valley Song, don miss it when it comes around. For Chris’ birthday, we all rendezvoused in Los Angeles (Earl and Vibeké from Oakland, and Chris from Boston) to see Rent at the Ahmanson.

Speaking of Vibeké, she moved back up north from Venice Beach. In November she moved in with us for a few weeks, bringing along her menagerie, consisting of a dog, Sonny, two black cats, Kumba and Zeus, two kittens, Zeke and Duke, and some fish. Within three days, she found a job in Petaluma and a two-bedroom house in Santa Rosa for ten dollars a month less than Venice. She has had two jobs this year, both as receptionists for Veterinarians. She used this experience to become a Veterinarian Assistant at her new job. She plans to return to school this spring in Santa Rosa and continue in her business studies.

During one of our theatre trips to So Cal, we stopped off at Chris’ sister’s to see their new house. It is a great three-bedroom home with a dirt back yard that Diana and Whirl are in the process of landscaping. The only drawback is it is located in the Middle-of-Nowhere, CA (Menifee)

This year the Cory Wide Web expanded. We bought Vibeké a computer for school and made one for Earl’s father out of old parts that both Paul and Earl had lying around. We put both of them on-line with AOL. Now everyone in the family can communicate with everyone else via e-mail. Earl has everyone on his “buddy list”. Do not be surprised if you get an “instant message” from him in the middle of your e-mail. Listed below are the e-mail addresses of everyone. Write to us, tell us your address!

Claude, Earl’s father, had a full hip replacement in October and spent most of his recovery time in front of the keyboard, sending e-mail and playing games.

Chris has continued with tennis every chance she has. She has standing games on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday and during the week. But her new job is going to cut into this.

Earl continues to spend time on his genealogy work. He finally printed five copies of The Giles and Thomas Cor(e)y book and gave everyone in the family a copy. Claude and Phyllis took theirs to the Cory/Corey Family Reunion in Durango this summer and left it with someone who was interested. I guess we will have to print some more. He has contacted people over the Internet and gotten more information from CDs. The database is now up to 7916 people in 2856 families and is growing daily. He has added photographs of people that have been sent to him. Many of you have supplied corrections and updates, Thank You Very Much.

Well that’s a summary of our life in 1997. We are always happy to hear from you and what you and your family have been doing. We accept, letters, phone calls, visits, e-mail, faxes, etc. If you are ever out our way, let us know and we can get together. Napa anyone?