Charlotte and Smoot’s 2009 in Pictures
Jan 3, Ralph and Anne came for a visit. Anne with Cash Jan 5, Sandy, Kelly and Calvin Blackwell
Jan 10, we had a choir retreat.
Jan 15, a stack of baby turtles Jan 15, Cash in linen closet
Jan 23 & 24, Phoenix Comic Con Geek Panel with ST:NG Wil Wheaton & BSG Aaron Douglas; Star Trek Next Gen panel Wil, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner
Jan 24, Jason Shelton workshop Jan 25, the choir sang at Rev Susan’s installation
Feb 1, Superbowl party at the Leung’s
Feb 2, Cash ‘helped’ Smoot with paperwork and on Feb 6, he checked out the baby turtles in their tub.
On Sat, Feb 14 we drove to Pioneer Village. We were very surprised when the first thing we saw was a Nazi on a motorcycle! Turns out there were battle simulations not only of the Old West, but also of the Civil War and WWII. Smoot had an interesting chat with a former Nazi youth.
Feb 20, Connie and Richard came over and played on our Wii. Feb 26, as on many other days, the kittens ‘helped’ Smoot read the paper.
On Sat, Feb 28, we helped Ellie and Bob Murphy celebrate their 50th anniversary. On March 7, a small group of us choir members went to Prescott to help the UU church choir practice for the Sources performance at DA in May. It wasn’t all work; we ate Mexican food afterward.
On March 8, I took a photo of our three cats together, looking cute. On March 11, the choir surprised me with a St. Charlotte's Day celebration.
On March 21, 2009, the choir presented Cabaret with the Theme - Hittin' the Road. Richard and Smoot did a UU hotdog vendor skit - Make me one with everything! I was in The Rockettes of Ages who were joined by the other choir women for Chattanooga Choo Choo. Smoot sang with the tenors and basses for We Sail the Ocean Blue. I joined the women for Hit the Road, Jack and got flowers for being Cabaret CEO.
On Mar 23, Smoot judged at the ASU Science Fair. On April 1, Cash tried to pull an April Fools’ Day trick on the baby turtles!
On April 6, we had Kat, Kate, Kelly and Ron over for dinner and Wii. On April 11, we went to a post-Cabaret party at Bill and Joan’s.
On April 14, I snapped a photo of Cash playing in the bathroom sink, on the 17th a picture of Lady Turtle surveying her domain.
On Apr 19th, Gheer
checked out the baby turtles now in the bathtub, not noticing
his tail
was floating in the water. And on
Apr 24th the kittens checked out Lady Turtle while she made a progress
through
the house!
On
April 24, we went
to a Europa concert at Connie and Richard’s. And on April 25, I went to
the
Green Workshop at UUCP.
On April 30, we hosted a Sources practice at UUCP with singers from VUU and other churches in AZ, CA and NM. On May 1, we sang Sources: a UU Cantata at the opening ceremony of the PSW District Assembly being held in Mesa.
May 2nd was Free Comic Book Day. The Leungs helped me get books and Kat and Paula joined Smoot and me in the hunt, even braving the 501st!
On May 5th, we had a Star Trek viewing night at the Leungs. On May 8th, Smoot and I went to the premiere of the new Star Trek movie.
On May 9th, we went to Jon and Nando’s wedding and the party afterwards at Richard and Connie’s. Us with Sharon and Jesse.
Suzanne visited us from May 17-20. We went to the Chihuly glass sculpture exhibit at the Desert Botanical Gardens. Our luck, it was 106 that day! We broke a record for the most consecutive days over 100 in May. We also went to the Phoenix Art Museum and played on the Wii.
After Suzanne left, the kittens struck an artistic pose while they gazed out the guest room window. On May 25th, we,celebrated Memorial Day and Jon’s birthday at Connie and Richard’s.
On May 27th, Connie hosted the second annual Choir Appreciation Night after practice. Smoot’s award was for “2nd year Financial Advisor, Renovation Czar, caretaker of the Choir librarian.” Mine was for “Choir Librarian, Archivist, Sharing/Social Director & 2nd year as Cabaret CEO, photographer”
On June 4th, I snapped a photo of our Quail family with their new babies.
On June 5th, we had supper with Sharon and Jesse to see the beautiful stole she’d made in honor of Connie’s certification. The stole was presented to Connie that Sunday, June 7th. Because she’d said she wanted one, Smoot and I gave Connie a sage bush!
On June 7th, , we had another Star Trek viewing night at the Leungs with ST themed food including Klingon Rokeg blood pie and Gagh, and Bajoran Hasperat. On the way home, I took a picture of a cloud rainbow, something I’d never seen before.
On June 11, I snapped a cute photo of Cash trying to play with Lady Turtle through the glass door.
On June 15, the Leungs took us out for a sushi lunch to celebrate Smoot’s b’day early. On his actual b’day, he had to attend a church board meeting at which he had a celebration, until Jimmy dropped the cake on the floor and Smoot had to sweep it up! That night Smoot and I tried the new Italian restaurant near us and he got a free piece of keylime cheesecake and then had cake at home. Lots of cake eating that day!
On June 23rd there was a potluck for UUCP bloggers at the Leungs.
June 28th was Kate’s last Sunday with us. We helped her pack up her apt that afternoon and got another kitty tree out of it.
On June 30th we went with Julie and Marshal to Aladdin’s for lunch then played Wii afterward. Cash did his dog imitation and asked Julie for tubby rubs.
On July 1, we had a Star Trek viewing party at the Leungs with the Featherstons.
On July 4th we had an impromptu choir practice and party at Bonnie and Dave’s and watched fireworks from one of their decks.
At Susan L’s suggestion we did a Harry Potter-watching marathon leading up to the premiere of the new HP movie, Half Blood Prince. Around that same time Alan Horn moved down here to work with Smoot. We had our first HP viewing on July 10th. Alan joined us at the Leungs.
Friday, July 17, Susan, Elizabeth and Katherine began their weekly volunteer cataloging project starting with my Star Trek collection. They would catalog for an hour and play on our Wii for another hour. That night we had another HP viewing. And another that Sunday, July 19th. Elizabeth drew a cute HP picture for the event and gave it to me.
On Tuesday, July 28th, Sharon, Susan and Elizabeth and I went to the fabric arts exhibit at the Mesa Children’s Museum. On July 31, S, E and K came over for more cataloging and Wii.
On Aug 4th we celebrated our 36th anniversary. On Aug 14, Smoot and I joined Susan, Eliz and Katherine to taste cupcakes at Let Them Eat Cake.
On Aug 15th, I snapped a photo of Cash checking out the quail family. On Aug 19th we took Alan out for dinner and then for a visit to the train park. He left the next day.
On Aug 22, I took Susan and Elizabeth over to Lucienne and Bob Rusconi’s to see her artwork since E is a budding artist.
On Aug 23, a group of choir members went to visit Mark Schmitz as he convalesced from his illness. This was the start of Jerry’s Outreach Music Ministry.
On Aug 25, the Leung’s took Smoot and me to Manuel’s for an early b’day celebration.
On Aug 26th, I used b’day deals to get a free breakfast at Denney’s and a free sundae at 5 & Diner. That night was the first choir practice so my free Black Angus meal had to wait. I took my Star Wars cake to practice and celebrated with other August b’days, Duke, Diana, Heidi and Dante.
On Aug 30th we went to a potluck at the Leung’s. It was the official start to the Lego robot project for which Smoot was one of the mentors with Susan. Meetings were held almost every Sunday afternoon until the Dec 5th competition.
On Sept 5, Becca and Chad came to visit and saw my collections. We had lunch at Aladdin’s.
On Sept 7, Connie and Richard had us over for a Labor Day dinner. On Sept 11, I finally had my free b’day dinner at Black Angus.
On Sept 12, we went to the joint b’day party for Susan and Katherine at Tranquility Trail.
On Sept 16, we celebrated the first anniversary of our getting Cash and Bagheera. They’re much bigger than they were a year ago.
On Sept
17, we joined
Susan, Elizabeth and Katherine to see E’s art on display at a local
bank then
we had dinner afterward. Jimmy had to work.
On Sept 19, we had our fall choir retreat. Only the tenors had their full complement there.
Sept 25th was Katherine’s actual b’day and since it was a Friday, she, Elizabeth and Susan were schedule to come catalog and Wii. Jimmy was off that day so he could come over too. We had a surprise party for Katherine with a Star Trek cake and figures.
On Sept 27, Bill and Joan gave a choir party at their house and showed off their new kitchen. On Sunday, Oct 4th we went to Star Wars In Concert, a multi-media extravaganza in Glendale. It was a big splurge for us. The tickets were $80 each and the program was $30!
On Oct 9, Susan’s mother, Fran Bull came with S, E & K to catalog and Wii.
On Oct 10, we went to Bill’s 60th b’day party. On Oct 16, we had barbecue with Bonnie and Dave Cunningham to celebrate Smoot’s consulting gig in Austin. He left Sunday, Oct 18 for his first week there consulting for Cort.
On Sat Oct 17, a group of congregation members gathered at the Leung’s to make gifts for the people we carol. I was part of the ornament group as opposed to the pillow-making group.
On Oct 21, I spoke to the Unicare annual luncheon about our Sharing our Stories projects. Jerry talked about his Outreach Music Ministry.
On Oct
23, the Leungs treated me to a visit to
the
State Fair.
On Oct 28, I went in my red-eyed phantom costume to choir. Others dressed up too!
On Fri, Oct 30, Connie and Richard threw an early Halloween party to which I took Pauline and picked up Smoot at the airport to attend. On Sat, Oct 31, we celebrated Halloween with more ST viewing at the Leung’s but first showed up both in red-eyed phantom costumes.
On Nov 7, Mark Ansboury and his wife Kelly went to dinner with us, after seeing my collections.
On Nov 9, Smoot, Jency and Leonard got together in Austin to celebrate Leonard’s birthday.
On Nov 15, I wore one of my Next Gen uniforms and greeted people coming to the service encouraging them to come to our event. We did the Together Time to advertise the upcoming ST talk. I wore my TOS top for that!
Donna had written a play based on Devil in the Dark.
On Friday, Nov 20, Donna, Jimmy and I hosted Susan Sackett talking about Humanism in Star Trek.
On Nov 22, what would have been my mother’s 98th birthday, there was a pizza party at the Leung’s at which the robot team showed their presentation to their families and us.
We had two T’day celebrations, the first on Thursday, Nov 26 with the Leungs where we watched the DVD of the new ST movie and the second on Friday, Nov 27 with Paula and Pauline where we had the traditional turkey feast.
On Dec 4. Susan, Elizabeth and Kahterine came over and helped me set up my holiday decorations in the studio and my train.
On Dec 5, the robot competition was held at Supai Middle School.
We
delayed celebrating
JL’s Dec 4th b’day until after the robot competition. Then we went for
Thai
food and ice cream.
On Dec 6, we went to a Messiah Sing-along in which Connie, Emily and
Derek played.
On Dec 11, we went to the Volunteer Lunch Heidi hosted at UUCP. On Dec
12, we went to the Bunanza holiday party at TTAS.
On Dec 13, we went to Bob's 88th birthday party. In between all our
parties, I tried to work on our holiday cards.
On Dec 18, we had our holiday with the Leungs, exchanging presents and
looking at lights.
On Dec 19, we went caroling and then partied afterward.
On Dec 20, we went to Emily and Doug's new home for a holiday blessing
and party.
On Dec 21, Annie and Cash both decided to sit with Smoot. Cash was
especially cute when he rolled over on his back on Smoot's keyboard,
'helping' him work.
Smoot
and I decided our old dishwasher had died so
we got a
new one as our joint Christmas present to each other. The cats had to
check out
the box. (Smoot decided to go with what Consumer Reports recommended
and we got
the Kenmore.)
Then at our Christmas
eve service
the
choir gave me a Darth Vader helmet and cape and a Star
Trek t-shirt! They know my obsessions. : >
After he recovered, he
worked on the train set with the cats help.
On Dec 29, 2009, Alan Horn came to town and
because of his
allergies couldn’t stay in the house so lived and worked with Smoot in
the
studio. On Wed, Dec 30, Sandy Thompson hosted the traditional
Wed-after-Christmas party at her house. I wore my Star Trek shirt and
the
sweater Pauline had given me for Christmas.