Greetings Hood Sisters of ’63.  Thanks for all your news.  It seems we are at the traveling stage in life.  Jane McCann Walsh has been a cruising gal.  She and a friend did a riverboat cruise in Southern Europe and topped it off with a few days in Paris.  She also cruised the British Isles, visiting major cities and spending some time in London.  She also cruised from Barcelona to Lisbon with several days stays on both ends.  Go Girl!  She says she has developed new appreciation for Jack Davis’ Art Appreciation lectures.  Ann Carpentar Lindau-Martin reported that her husband, Roy Lindau, died in 2009, she has married Jim Martin and these two retirees are getting used to their move from NY to Florida-Lakewood Ranch near Sarasota.  They are looking forward to their upcoming trip to France and Italy. More trips from Verna Larson Lyons,  include a great one to New York to visit a cousin and attend a Buddhist wedding of a Tibetan friend, then on to Boston where they rented a car and drove all over Vermont, Montreal and Quebec City then back to the US by way of Maine and New Hampshire.  She and her husband also went to her niece’s wedding at Lake Tahoe after visiting their son, Matt, in Redondo Beach, met up with son, Tim, and had a family reunion with their whole family at Squaw Valley while in the area for the wedding.  Our class representative at the inauguration of Hood’s new president, Sally Schaeffer Morse, and Al, had a wonderful river cruise out of Amsterdam.  She still spends lots of time doing church activities and helping with her grandchildren and their pets as she did recently while the parents took a trip.  She’s looking forward to seeing all of us next June.  I love getting replies from Pat Taylor Santelli who always sends lots of news and is funny as heck.  She never has a dull moment. They sold their sailboat and bought a cabin cruiser so she can get over to CT where two of her children and five of her grandchildren live.  She and those offspring spent a lot of time on the water visiting several islands and sucking up some vitamin D.  They visited a lot of places along the coasts of CT, RI and NY and spent some not so quiet time in beach bars. I wish I could tell details!  Pat also had a brief visit at her home in Oyster Bay with Alix Rockwell Hill Jacobs, her partner in many Hood crimes, and a friend of Alix’s who lives in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains on an oasis.  They had a tour of Teddy Roosevelt’s house, Sagamore Hill, the restoration of which cost $11 million, Pat says, wasted money.  Pat is suffering from wanderlust and has a big list of places she must see, like I do, before time runs out.  MaryVerdella Wagner Nelson and Paul spent a great deal of time at their cabin in Rangeley, Maine, where their son, daughter and her husband and three boys, descended on them whenever they could get away from their homes near Boston.  They also spent their regular week at a condo on the Vineyard where they annually meet up with a lot of friends.  Back in Boston, their visitors are non-stop.  Bobbi Sterling Kemmerling is so excited because her oldest son is making her a great grandmother come January.  As for me, Dottie Snyder Engle, I’ve been a travel hog.  In June, daughter Robin and I flew into Denver, just missing Brenda Eklund Pearson,  and had a brief visit with Linda Myers Gray, her husband John, son Jeff and granddaughter, Gracie.  Jeff was there from SD getting a new prosthesis.  Linda gave us a snack and took us shopping.  After leaving the Grays, we drove to meet son Ryan for dinner.  Then I drove Robin 3000 miles around the Southwest visiting many national parks and other great places including Moab, Sedona and the US Air Force Academy. Our funniest experience was stopping at a little, closed motel in the dark, miles from nowhere, borrowing a key, using a bathroom, leaving a tip and a thank you note.  In August, Ron and I had our annual beach trip to the Outer Banks of NC with four other couples, and in September he and I flew to Seattle and toured some of Washington and Oregon.  We had a great dinner with a former next door neighbor gal who lives in Newcastle, east of Seattle, and her whole family, who lived here, was there for a reunion.  We planned to surprise George Raveling, a former assistant basketball coach at the U of MD who is the Global Marketing Director for Basketball of Nike, in Beaverton.  The surprise was on us, as he now works out of LA.  Cindy Klopp Butler and husband Keith had a great visit with us in September.  Cindy said they had the best Canadian summer ever.  She was able to spend time with her children and grand children.  After visiting us,  they went to VA and PA.  Our son moved back from CO to MD this fall, after 15 years and had nothing but bad luck with housing and jobs.  The last blow was that his former live in girlfriend of five years was killed in a motorcycle accident in OH in September.  No wonder I dye my hair!  I’m looking forward to seeing you at our house  on June 10, 2016.  Let’s make it memorable!