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A Letter from Mary (December 22, 2003) 
Like everyone, we easily get caught in the rut of day-to-day life and miss socializing with our Circle of Friends. I hope that this WEB site helps you to keep in touch with us.
Overall, we had a fantastic summer and a great fall. We are looking forward to a fun-filled winter with many outdoor activities.
This Thanksgiving, I took a moment to be thankful for our Circle of Friends and the great amount of day-to-day support and assistance that we receive from them. Thanksgiving this year was a special treat for us as we were fortunate enough to have my mom and dad visit his family and us along with Steve's brother Barry.
Our big breaking news is that we finally found, and purchased, a quaint, lakefront property in the southeastern quadrant of Quebec, Canada. That region of Quebec is commonly referred to as the “Eastern Townships.” As most of you know, for the past year I have been aggressively exploring lakefront real estate opportunities just over the Canadian border by Newport, Vermont. I took my sister Ann to see this particular cottage during her last visit with me. Like me, Ann fell in love with the place and opted to invest in it with us. Please take a look at our cottage on the "Photo Album" portion of this WEB Site. If any of our friends would like to learn more about the various waterfront real estate opportunities in this area of Canada, please let me know. I'd be more than happy to share my information and experience with you. Also, if you are interested in using our cottage please let me know. It is fully winterized and has year-round access. Aside from the obvious summer activities, there are several winter activities given the nearby ski areas and snowmobile trails.
I am still teaching some foreign language classes at Sam's school and also working 2 days at the school sap program.
Victoria (age 8) continues to take piano lessons and dance lessons. This fall Victoria played soccer in a local soccer league and she had a blast. She now has expressed an interest in playing basketball. She continues to be active in Girl Scouts too. This past week, Victoria resumed her weekly ski lessons at school. We are looking forward to a family ski vacation this winter. She would like to take some voice lessons but we will see how much time is left with all of her other activities and commitments.
Samuel (age 11) is like a teenager more and more with each passing day. Thankfully, Samuel is finally settling into the Montessori school that he is attending. He enjoys the weekends as they offer him the opportunity to socialize with his friends from public school. He still tends to gravitate toward quiet, creative play activities with his friends. His current interests include drama productions, reading, drawing and sketching, riding his bike, collecting Yu-Gi-Oh anime cards, playing games on his Nintendo Game Cube and playing on the computer. He enjoys drawing unique cartoon strips that he shares with his friends. Sam, like Victoria, is receiving weekly ski lessons. He really enjoys skiing with me. Sam occasionally plays the game Scrabble and demonstrates his ever-expanding vocabulary. Sam may resume taking music lessons. He likes to play the ocarina.
Sam and Victoria are typical siblings and continue to be the best of friends one moment and then tease each other the next.
Steve continues to grow and to regularly take on serious challenges in his position at work. This Thanksgiving marked the 1-year anniversary of Steve being on a high protein/low carbohydrate diet (the “Protein Power” diet). He has dramatically changed his eating habits. When he is not traveling on business, Steve regularly helps the kids with their homework and assists with the kids' never-ending eating schedule. It seems that no sooner do we put the food away and clean up the kitchen and then the kids are hungry again. Like me, Steve also chauffeurs Sam and Victoria around to their various activities. He always seems to find time to keep-up with his mastery of computers and other high tech gadgets.
Fishing continues to be a cohesive force in Steve's social life. He enjoys the opportunity to hook-up (no pun intended) with many of his friends while fishing. When time permits, Steve also enjoys tying custom saltwater flies for fly-fishing. He seems to really enjoy catching fish on custom patterns that he has tied. Steve was somewhat disappointed by his hectic work schedule this fall as it precluded him from hiking up into the White Mountains in NH to pursue a few trout on the fly-rod while admiring the spectacular fall foliage. I'm sure that he will make up for that lost opportunity next fishing season! The Canadian property was a fairly tough sell to Steve until he stood on the dock in late September and watched several local fishermen about 100 feet away pull-out huge bass from the lake. Likewise, once he learned that there was great salmon fishing and northern pike fishing nearby, his opinion tide swung around and he promptly got into the deal-making mode.
We still remain active in our local Unitarian Universalism Church. I was thrilled to find a Unitarian Universalism Church in the Town of North Hatley, Quebec; a short drive from our cottage in Canada.
We have also had some sad news with the loss of several friends to cancer this year and my own health scares, but overall we all are well and very grateful for all that we enjoy. I feel some deep new connections to life and its true meaning as I continue in my spiritual practices. I have found strength and growth in a bible study class. I continue to pursue my creative writing and also read many spiritual books.
I will strive to update this WEB site on a quarterly basis with our latest news, adventures and photos. We love hearing from all of you. Please feel free to e-mail us:
Mary: mary.yost@comcast.net
Steve: sgbesq@comcast.net