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it) for a caption.
Go to Hart Family website
December, 2010
Happy
2011 to Friends and Family Everywhere,
It is hard to believe
that another year has passed so
quickly (time does indeed appear to fly faster as we get older). Here are our monthly highlights for
2010:
January: “Pacific
Sunrise,
Atlantic
Sunset,
Same
Day” (one more checked off
Hal’s To-Do-Before-I-Die list) Erika and Alison flew
from Rhode Isl
and to Los Angeles early on New
Year’s Day, and the following day
the four of us embarked on a 2 week cruise down the coast of Mexico and
through
the Panama Canal to Miami. The weather
was glorious, the seas were calm, and we even got to check another
continent
off our list due to a brief stop in Cartagena, Colombia.
It’s a trip that we heartily recommend.
After three 2nd-place finishes
over the years, Hal finally won an onboard Blackjack tournament and
$500.
February: “St.
Hart’s
Day
XLII” Nothing more need be
said. St. Hart’s Day XLIII will be held
on Saturday, February 12, 2011. Hope to see you ther
e! Invitation
linked
from
http://Hart-site.net.
March: “Wearing
Out
&
Renewing
(Rekneeing?)” The knee that Hal had
surgically replaced in 2002 wore out in 2009 and had to be replaced. The knee revision (which is the “technical”
term for a replacement of a replacement) was done by a physician who
specializes in such surgeries and Hal’s recovery was near miraculous. He had 90 degree flex by the time he was
released from the hospital 2 days post-surgery, and walked a mile in
less than
a week! Materials
have
improved
so
that
the
problems
that
caused
the
first
one
to fail should not re-occur, and a somewhat
less
active lifestyle should help as well.
March also marked 5 years of retirement for Hal.
April: “Seniority” Another
milestone was reached in early April, as Hal turned 65 and became
eligible for
Medicare. He is now a “senior” by every
possible definition except his own.
May: “For
Minds
Not
Ready
to
Retire” May 1st
not only meant that Ruth has been retired for 5 years, but also marked
our 5th
anniversary with Omnilore, our learning-in-retirement organization. Hal continues as Coordinator of the
Shakespeare group, as equipment manager, and has taken over some web
duties
following the death of our Webmaster.
Ruth completed her 2nd (and final!) year as President
at the
end of October and is looking forward to “just” being a member,
although she
continues on the Curriculum Committee. Her
legacy is straightening out confused financial accounting during her
tenure and
leaving a healthy surplus. We both run
the program that generates each trimester’s schedule; someday we will
update it
to run on modern Macs.
June: “A
Passing” Sad news to report, as Ruth’s stepfather,
Dave Tiger, died a week after his 97th birthday. Erika drove down from Providence for the
funeral, and Ruth shortened our vacation in Palm Springs by a few days
to fly
to New York to spend some time with her mother.
Dave was healthy and able to live at home until a few months
before his
death.
July: “Just
Starting” In
July, we traveled to Nashville and San Francisco on consecutive long
weekends
to attend two weddings, the first for the daughter of one of Ruth’s
cousins,
the second for one of Ruth’s friends. In
Nashville, in addition to reconnecting with Ruth’s extended family, we
also saw a fantastic exhibition of Chihuly glass at the
Frist
Museum, spent a (surprisingly) entertaining afternoon at the Country
Music Hall
of Fame, and visited The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s home.
In San Francisco, we went to the SF Museum of
Modern Art and took a full-day drive home via the stunningly beautiful
coastal
route 1, stopping for lunch (as we always like to do) at Nepenthe in
Big Sur.
August: “Vegas
is
for
Seniors
too” For
the second consecutive year, we spent our anniversary in Las Vegas, in
the
timeshare we bought on our 25th an
niversary trip there. We’ve decided to make this an annual
vacation; 110 degrees in dry heat is actually quite tolerable. This year, we saw Mystere (Cirque du Soleil),
“Menopause the Musical”, and a concert featuring Bob Dylan and John
Mellencamp. We caught the “Bodies” and
“Titanic
Artifacts” exhibits at the Luxor, both very informative.
Hal gambled most mornings (cheap tables at
the MGM Grand next door), winning but not enough to cover expenses, and
played
golf once. Ruth sat by the pool with her
Kindle.
September:
“Boomeranging” September 1st
marked another transition, as Alison and her boyfriend Jay moved home. Both of them have been volunteering 4 hours a
day at the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate, Alison (left)
as a public policy intern and Jay in the retail store, both
hoping to eventually find full-time employment there.
Alison has also continued teaching SAT prep
classes with Revolution Prep, which provides good money but limited
hours. They brought their two tuxedo cats
and
miniature Chihuahua (right, 2.8 pounds!) with
them; fortunately, our house is large enough to accommodate them as
well as our
own 3 cats.
October: “Rallying” Ruth traveled to New
York to celebrate her mother Helen’s 90th birthday. Erika
came from
Providence. Although still adjusting to
Dave’s death, Helen remains mentally alert and physically healthy. Later in the month, we attended the Jon
Stewart/Stephen
Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity and/or
Fear in Washington DC. Although the
Rally was fun (see some of the signs
below, a highlight), the highlights were spending time with grad
school
friends (Mike & Roberta McClimens) in
Maryland who we hadn’t seen in quite some time and a couple of Hal’s
Carleton
friends (Bob Geyer, Ted Lutz, his wife
Willa).
November: “Cruising
(again)”
We
took our second 2-week cruise this year, this time
round-trip from Los Angeles to Hawaii.
We went with the Ric
h & Rita Trott with
whom we took our
first
cruise (to Mexico) in 1986; though we’re all considerably older now
(definitely
less partying) we had as much fun. Hal
and Rich played golf on three islands on three consecutive days (+ on the onboard golf simulator), and
we rented a car on the Big Island and drove as far up as we could get
on Mauna
Kea (where it was in the low 40s and rainy).
Since it takes 4 days at sea to get from LA to Hawaii, there was
a lot
of time for relaxing. Hal finished 3rd
& 4th in BJ tourneys, but won at the tables.
December: “Still
Active” Hal marked 10 years
of volunteering with Habitat, lowering knee risk, where he served as
Safety
Coordinator and a training instructor more than building houses
(3 days in Dec. only)
this year. Erika (left)
flew home for the holidays with one of her cats (Josh) who
is ailing and requires twice-daily medication.
She cleverly timed the trip to miss both the 6 consecutive days
of rain
in Los Angeles and the blizzard that hit Providence after Christmas! She will be here until January 4th;
hopefully all the snow will be melted by then.
In
conclusion, we notice the trend toward electronic holiday
letters. This letter (all photos
clickable to enlarge) and a few earlier ones are linked near the
top of http://Hart-site.net,
and
we
reserve
the
right
to
go
web-only
at
any
time.
Please
email Hal if you’re not sure he has your email address so we
can stay in touch.
Best
wishes for a happy and healthy 2011!
Hal, Ruth, Erika, & Alison
Hart
Erika’s
email: Erika@Alumni.Brown.edu
Ruth’s
email: Ruth.Hart@Cornell.edu
Hal’s
email: Hal.Hart@ACM.ORG
Family
website: http://Hart-site.net
GO TO TOP
OF LETTER
Go
to
Hart
Family
website (http://Hart-site.net)
and to Los Angeles early on New
Year’s Day, and the following day
the four of us embarked on a 2 week cruise down the coast of Mexico and
through
the Panama Canal to Miami. The weather
was glorious, the seas were calm, and we even got to check another
continent
off our list due to a brief stop in Cartagena, Colombia.
It’s a trip that we heartily recommend.
After three 2nd-place finishes
over the years, Hal finally won an onboard Blackjack tournament and
$500. 
e! Invitation
linked
from
http://Hart-site.net.
April: “Seniority” Another
milestone was reached in early April, as Hal turned 65 and became
eligible for
Medicare. He is now a “senior” by every
possible definition except his own.
May: “For
Minds
Not
Ready
to
Retire” May 1st
not only meant that Ruth has been retired for 5 years, but also marked
our 5th
anniversary with Omnilore, our learning-in-retirement organization. Hal continues as Coordinator of the
Shakespeare group, as equipment manager, and has taken over some web
duties
following the death of our Webmaster.
Ruth completed her 2nd (and final!) year as President
at the
end of October and is looking forward to “just” being a member,
although she
continues on the Curriculum Committee. Her
legacy is straightening out confused financial accounting during her
tenure and
leaving a healthy surplus. We both run
the program that generates each trimester’s schedule; someday we will
update it
to run on modern Macs. 
July: “Just
Starting” In
July, we traveled to Nashville and San Francisco on consecutive long
weekends
to attend two weddings, the first for the daughter of one of Ruth’s
cousins,
the second for one of Ruth’s friends. In
Nashville, in addition to reconnecting with Ruth’s extended family, we
also saw a fantastic exhibition of Chihuly glass at the
Frist
Museum, spent a (surprisingly) entertaining afternoon at the Country
Music Hall
of Fame, and visited The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s home.
In San Francisco, we went to the SF Museum of
Modern Art and took a full-day drive home via the stunningly beautiful
coastal
route 1, stopping for lunch (as we always like to do) at Nepenthe in
Big Sur.
