Great to hear from all of you and see photos (yours were great, Zingrin)! Here's my two cents worth....

The view from our house Sunday morning. On a clear day we can see several layers of mountains or even see if there's been a snowfall up there. Tomorrow Eva and I hope to meet up with a couple thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.

A beautiful deserted beach near Dunedin, New Zealand.

The Holder fam with cousin Bevan standing in front of a hot lake in the crater of Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand. Ten years ago the mountain erupted and the lake evaporated, but we saw no volcanic activity that day. Imagine taking a 2 km ski lift, scrambling over miles of pumice stone, sliding down a glacier, and smelling the sulfuric lake all on one day's hike!

Most of you probably know that my family and I spent three months in New Zealand last year--visiting with relatives, making new friends, seeing the sights, and experiencing Christmas in the summer. It was a trip 12-15 years in the making and worth every penny and hour that went into the planning. As you can imagine, it was hard to tear ourselves away and return to Knoxville.

Though currently rather under-employed, I've now had over three years of experience in calligraphy and murals...and other odds and ends. You would hardly believe the variety of commissions I've had--everything from a super-detailed drawing of friends' 1920s house to a Christmas ornament for a baby, two 4' x 12' murals in a middle school library to several quotations on the walls above a college library circulation desk, watercolor designs on ceramic tiles that I've framed to a brilliant green canvas spotted with butterflies from around the world, verses lettered on kitchen walls to illuminated lettering on the vision statement of a Knoxville accounting firm, a friend's wedding invitation to a framed Michelangelo quotation (about carving his statues) in a plastic surgeon's office.... I've given away the additional variety of stationery and stained glass, painted piggy banks and a pencil portrait on a ceramic tile. And my newest [not yet for pay] project is designing and sewing unique purses.

Other activities this fall have included a couple of Bible studies and weekly rehearsals with the Knoxville Choral Society. It's good to be in a choir again, though I'm not looking forward to the four Christmas concerts the 3rd weekend in December!

It's been a weird year, to say the least.