News
. We continue to be involved with Emmaus Christian Community -- our previous church community in New Jersey. Rob designed and developed the active website for the community, and he continues to maintain, enhance and administer it since the beginning of its 15-year lifetime to date.To all our family, friends, and other visitors,
Christmas and Year-End Greetings from Dover, New Hampshire! We hope everyone has had a happy, healthy year. We are both retired for several years now - but definitely not "retiring" types. Another year has gone by very quickly!
Major headlines for 2019 include reduced travel, work on the new house, and an assortment of nasty viruses.
One of the considerations in getting older is that, at some point, a person can be just one fall or one serious illness away from being in a very difficult situation, especially if, as bad timing might have it, this misfortune occurs during a blizzard or ice storm. A steep driveway and lots of stairs are not compatible with dealing with potential disabilities.
So ... in Fall 2017 we happened upon a really nice 55+ condominium community (we own the house, the association owns the "common" land) just around the corner from where we used to be, 1.7 miles away. No need to learn a new town, doctors, shopping, etc., which was perfect. We were too late in jumping at two house-buying opportunities there, so were primed and ready when another opened up in July 2018, and that time we were successful.
But, due to a suddently slow local housing market that began in late summer 2018, we ended up carrying our old house through much of this past 2018-2019 winter, which put a serious crimp in our budget. We were "camping out" in the new house on airbeds, TV tables and lawn chairs for several months, as we had to leave much of our furniture in the old house for real-estate staging purposes. We finally got a buyer, and closed on the old house in February, but not before we had to go there and shovel lots of snow all winter!
We certainly loved the old house and really miss it, but we're trying to "be practical" and stay reasonably well-positioned in terms of the reality of the ongoing progress of life. The old house will always be full of great memories and great music. Meanwhile, we just finished getting the interior of the new house painted, so it's now much more feeling like "ours".
Health-wise, no serious issues to report ... though, between us, it has not been our luckiest year for avoiding some truly nasty viruses that have been going around, ones that managed to knock us offline for many days, sometimes weeks at a time. It is always amazing how something too tiny to see can produce such misery.
Most of our other significant activites thoughout the year, as always, have revolved around our main passions: Irish traditional music (reels, jigs, hornpipes and other traditional dance music) and traditional Irish Set Dancing -- all together known affectionately as "trad".
The majority of the larger Irish-trad-related events (week-end or week-long events) feature an extensive variety of activities, including music sessions, dances, concerts, CD launches, lectures and workshops in traditional dancing, traditional musical instruments and music, Irish language and history, story-telling, etc. Many of these events are attended by lovers of Irish traditional culture from all over the world - even as far away as Japan and India! You don't have to be Irish! We would be happy to talk for hours on the subject or, better yet, have you join us!
In June, we organized and hosted our tenth céilí, attended by more than forty dancers and spectators from Boston to Portland, ME and lots of points in between. Rob has organized his own céilí band, the Seacoast Céilí Band - comprising some of the premier area Irish traditional musicians - which has played for each of these dance events over the past several years.
In July we attended our annual Catskills Irish Arts Week in East Durham, NY in the "Irish Alps", which was enjoyable as always -- our long-time annual summer vacation!
Sue continues to teach her own Seacoast Set Dancers group. Check out her website (designed by Sue, produced by Rob) where you can learn more about this form of Irish country social dancing. Sue also dances many weeks with groups of set dancers in the Boston area. Sue was invited to have her dance group provide entertainment at two fund-raising events in Maine this year.
Rob plays out at Irish traditional sessions several times per week in locations ranging from Portland, ME to central and northern NH to the Boston area, and plays frequently for set dancing at céilís locally and in the Boston area, as well as the occasional paying gig.
Hosting Irish traditional music/dance concerts in our home and other locations has been a major item on our list of activities for the past several years, but the house-concert scene in our region has been tapering down in the past few years -- declining attendance, unstable economy, difficulty in getting visas for Irish musician performers, and who-knows-what other mysterious factors -- so we did not host any concerts this year. We did attend and enjoy our share of concerts, though, and it was actually kind of nice to have the "time off"!
Church activities (mainly music ministry) have also been keeping us busy at our local parish St. Mary, in our hometown of Dover
No recap of our lives would be complete without prominent mention of cats! Our two shelter kitties -- we call them "the girls" -- have very different personalities, to say the least (see photos). The "brat" is Ceol (that's Irish for "music"), the "Tortie Point" Siamese, now almost 7 years old. She's very fast, gets her nose into everything and is basically fearless -- a real piece of work. She tries our patience for sure, but that is part of what makes her so loveable.
Orca, a black-and-white "tuxedo" kitty whose coloration pattern reminded us of the whale, is about 8.5 yrs old and was supposed to have been a role model for the younger Ceol, but we definnitely think it is working the other way around! We really believe that Ceol thinks she is one of the family, while she thinks Orca is just the "family cat"! Ceol is definitely the dominant one. W're experimenting with a small artificial tree this year, but with nothing dangling, due to the insatiable curiosity of Ceol!
In family news, Rob's brother Dennis lives in Maryland and is retired from ABC News in Washington, DC. Brother Tom also lives close by in Maryland, is retired from CNN in Washington and is now with ABC News. Sister Anne lives in, and has her pediatric medical practice in, Baltimore. Anne's daughters Eilleen and Margaret are working toward advanced degrees at the University of Maryland, and son Justin works for the city of Baltimore. Dennis' daughter Anna lives and works in New York City. All eight nieces and nephews are active with work, school, music, and numerous other pursuits.
We are always happy to have visitors from the "south" during the year. This year we had a visit from our neice Eilleen Lane from Maryland and then a visit from nephew Justin Lane and girlfriend Beth. We didn't get out very much this year -- other than the Catskills, a short trip to Florida to visit friends -- but we are planning a trip to Ireland in late February to attend The Gathering and maybe another music/dancing event or two while we're over.
Sue's brother Wayne and wife Cheryl live in New Jersey. Their Victorian house in Freehold, NJ is a showpiece frequently featured in architectural design magazines - Cheryl makes all the window treatments and quilts by hand!
Sue continued painting as a hobby, and is an active participant throughout the week in yoga, pilates, and core-conditioning classes. Rob typically swims 6,000-8,000 yards per week at either the local Dover city pool or at the University Of New Hampshire just down the road in Durham, NH.
This year we lost some long-time friends and acquaintences from our church communities and the world of Irish traditional music and dancing. They will be greatly missed. Other friends and acqaintences have been experiencing serious medical issues, and we wish them well.
We hope you will let us know and stop by for a visit, if you are in or near the area, and may you all have a blessed holiday season and a happy, healthy, peaceful 2019 ahead!
Sue & Rob
©2004- R. J. Dunlavey
and the "Girls" -- Ceol & Orca
December, 2019
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