As is tradition in every media – print, electronic, television, radio, extra-telepathy, etc – it is required that one puts together something that reflects on the past year. Seeing as how I’m not one that’s willing to tempt fate, here is the past year at Scribble Scribble and the Hughes household as pulled in part from our Christmas letter:
Is it here yet? No? How about now? No? Okay, well, since 2010 isn’t here just quite yet, it’s time for our annual letter to our friends and family. And by annual we mean once every three or four years.
The year 2009 was an interesting one here at the Hughes household, way up in the remoteness of Northeast Iowa. We keep running, gardening, eating, making cheese, knitting, and writing. Here’s some of the highlights:
February
On two weeks notice, Steph and I jetted away to Florida for a week at Walt Disney World. Had a great time and finally managed to get into Canada at the EPCOT World Showcase for dinner (Pumpkin Pie Sorbet is fantastic). Despite her every effort, I was successful in returning to Iowa with Steph. She has yet to forgive me for this.
June
Lots happened in June – for starters, we didn’t get evacuated for another 500 year flood. Good thing since having two of those in the past fifteen years has proven to be quite enough. It also meant that our five (yes, five) gardens remained intact.
Oh, we also celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss. (Steph informs me that this bit is very important and should probably be above the lack of floods. I’ll catch it in the editing process).
On the job front, I marked six years of employment at Luther.
August
Steph would have also marked six years on the job at Seed Savers Exchange, but decided that a recession was a perfect opportunity to go looking for a new job. And she found one. She’s now a Quality Assurance Engineer for Morse Data Corporation based out of Chicago. She gets to work at home and enjoys the job. Her biggest complaint is that one of her office mates is getting frisky and likes to sit on her lap. Human Feline Resources has said they’ll talk to Tim Tam.
September
Record potato harvest! Seriously, we filled the back of a pickup truck with the potatoes we harvested this year. On top of that, our four dozen tomato plants produced prolifically as did the squash and beans. The pantry is full. We also tried our hand at making homemade Apple Cider out at the farm with Steph’s parents. Yum.
October
I started this month off by hoping on a plane and flying to Martha’s Vineyard for Viable Paradise. VP is one of the top Sci-Fi/Fantasy workshops in the nation and I was extremely lucky to get accepted. I had the chance to spend a week meeting and learning from eight of the best writers and editors in the Science-Fiction and Fantasy field. I had an awesome time and made a lot of good friends.
So that’s it – 2009 in a nutshell. Will 2010 be any more exciting? Who knows? Tune in to our 2012 letter to find out!
Moose and Ink 