OWEN
LANE, NORTH HILL
P
O BOX 83, THE VALLEY
AI-2640
ANGUILLA, BWI
Cellphones:
(264) 235 8654
(264) 235
7896
Email: idmitch@anguillanet.com
11 December,
2022
Dear family
and friends,
DON AND MAGGIE’S CHRISTMAS PHOTO LETTER, 2022
The year has been kind to us, and we hope it
has been to you, too. Maggie’s incipient
GERD and emphysema are both being held in check with treatment. Don’s failing heart and increasing blood
pressure are succumbing to medication. His
heart went from 70 to 60 to 50 to 40 beats a minute and then stabilised at
38. It seems we may have a few more
years with you than we anticipated at this time last year.
This year was our 50th wedding anniversary (22
April). How we made it to this milestone
is a mystery to us. We can only put it
down to having no children. That choice gave
us the chance to indulge our preferences and to live our lives relatively free
of stress. Don was able to concentrate
on one obsession after the other. Maggie
was able to concentrate on taking care of Don.
One of the highlights of the year was the visit
of Don’s nephew, Mitch with attachments, in January.
Mitch at the beach.
Then, Don’s niece Michelle and her family and
friends, Chantelle, Gage, Amy, and Charlie, in March.
Brian and Michelle at Shoal Bay beach.
Maggie’s brother Mac, sister Bridget, niece
Kitty and husband Fred, and great nieces and nephews, Leo, Carmen, and Joey joined
us in April, in time for the wedding anniversary.
Mac, Bridget, Kitty, and attachments come to visit from France
and the UK.
Don and Maggie on Sally’s veranda. Don’s fruit salad for desert.
Sally and Mary Ann treated Kitty’s children to
a US style Barbeque in the garden. the
adults dined more elegantly on the veranda.
Sister Alix and her Brian visited us in
Anguilla off and on a couple of additional times.
Locating Alix’s land boundary.
We also hosted a squad of Temple University
archaeology and anthropology students in our guest apartment. They worked on Elysia’s annual archaeological
dig at the Hughes’ Estate from May to June.
We are all looking forward to Elysia publishing her thesis when her
doctorate is confirmed.
Being both now dedicated retirees, our main
activity outside the home is having lunch two or three times a week at one of
our favourite restaurants. A hearty
lunch and two drinks are followed by a siesta until about 4:00pm, when we wake
up to check on emails and WhatsApps.
Maggie waiting for lunch to arrive at DaVida’s
The summer was long, hot, and very dry. Between January and July, our area in North
Hill received only 5 inches of rain.
Some of the fruit trees produced fruit, particularly the Papaya, Guava,
and Sugar Apples. The Barbados Cherries
and the Figs were not so happy. As you
see below, the front lawn, given it consists of Agaves, gravel, and concrete
did not complain.
Don and Maggie’s “front lawn” this summer.
The first bunch of red grape flowers this winter.
Friends Becky Haskins and Edson Charles got married,
and Don struggled to remember how to say a few words in public.
Don speaking at Becky and Edson’s wedding
Don, Maggie, Viviane, Rolf, Sally, Mary Ann, and Deknur waiting
for Becky to arrive for her wedding party.
Maggie with Megaera at table on our veranda.
Maggie’s 75th birthday dinner was at
Dick Foran’s favourite restaurant, Hibernia, in Island Harbour. Maggie and I were hosted by our walking group
and friends. To our amazement, Dick
arranged by long distance with Mary Pat to pay for all the drinks, which must
have cost him a fortune. As you see
below, we lifted our glasses in a toast to him, far away in Toronto. In the years before he gave up his lease here
in Anguilla and moved back to Canada, he always took us out to dinner at
Hibernia on Maggie’s birthday. So, this
was a lovely gesture on his part for old time’s sake.
Maggie’s 75th birthday dinner at Hibernia Restaurant.
Maggie’s birthday cake, a gift from Hibernia.
During the year, Don continuing to populate his
Blog with acerbic articles on every type of social issue that got him mad
enough to put pen to paper. They
attracted a satisfying number of complaints.
If you are desperate for something to read, you can find them here: https://donmitchellcbeqc.blogspot.com/
We hope the year 2023 will be good for all of
us. Let the new winter Covid surge be
mild. And, let the forecast recession
not be too long and too hard.
Meanwhile, have a Happy Christmas and a
prosperous New Year.
Don and
Maggie
