In August of 2000, I lost my baby, Jasmine (a.k.a. "Marker's Princess Jasmine"), to cancer at the age of 12. She was a Vizsla. The day before she went to Heaven, I took a couple more pictures. Here she is in the back seat of the car enjoying a ride with the windows open, here she is where we spent hours in the field were we used to run and frolic, and another sweet shot of such a precious girl. Here we are on Thanksgiving, 1998. She is missed along with her half brother, Piper (a.k.a CH Piper's Copper Gun, CD, TT), who went to heaven a couple of years earlier just short of the age of 12, to a different type of cancer. We miss spending both quiet and fun times together and the especially enjoyed walks and jogging together with "Mom." In 1999, I also fostered a 15-month old male Vizsla named "Nick" who debuted on the show circuit with Jasmine who was entered as a veteran at the Vizsla specialty show the same year. Here's a nice close-up.
SPORTS & FRIENDS
After my 2-year bout with epicondilytis (elbow tendonitis which started in the summer of 2000) my exercise is no longer limited -- I'm back to playing co-rec softball and volleyball (indoors for fall, winter, and spring and outdoor sand in the summer). Although my activiites take me away from the gardening I should be doing in the yard, I'm golfing better and am getting in my share of pilates and cardio workouts as well as a bit of weight lifting. I'm feeling much better and enjoy being so active (except with the housework is way behind)!
Golf -- I like to play in fun tournaments; nothing too serious! A couple of times I played in the man / woman alternate shot tournament. We actually took first place in 2001! Check it out here. We also have a closer shot where we actually were smiling (and the white ankles are out of sight! :-)
Softball -- I've played a couple of seasons with my church's softball team, the Carpenters. (I had some pictures, etc. of my old co-rec team (Packard Dairy Queen with folks from working in the UM Fleming building which disbanded in 1999, but don't have them handy anymore...It's too bad because there were some really fun ones -- I should have downloaded them from the website when I had the chance!).
And, if I can't play, I enjoy watching sports with my friends. Although it's years old now, click here to see me with Walt Harrison and Ken Fisher enjoy a day at Cleveland's Jacobs Field in 1997 before Walt left to become president of the University of Hartford in Connecticut." You can see the rest of our pix here. We even have a mock AP story to document our fun-filled day.
TRAVEL
In 2000, I went to see the fall colors of northern Michigan. Although there was a very unusal cold snap where there was snow the first weekend in October, here's a shot I took at the lower falls of the Taquamenon River in the Upper Penninsula.
WORK
When I worked in the VP for Government Relations office, we had some fun in 2001 when our VP turned the big 5-0. I coordinated a surprise party for Cynthia with months of planning work secretly preparing a memory book with lots of letters from her fans across and outside the state of Michigan. Here we are with the staff in her office after our suprise party and this was our setup days before the event. She surprised us by being truly surprised and a good time was certainly shared by all.
I guess turnabout is fair play -- the office "returned the favor" on my birthday that November.
Last edited: 29 July 2004
