THE HERON NEWS
December 1998

ENTERTAINMENT

Dancing Feet:
Aarika has always had a desire to perform. It seems that now she's got dancing feet. She tried Ballet with the Parks and Rec Department. And though the IDEA was always appealing to her, it was not easy getting her to participate. Finally we tried Tap and Ballet with a different teacher but she was still having some difficulty. Her shy nature would not allow her to fully enjoy the classes. Then Aarika climbed out of her shell (read about this in singing away), and is now a complete ham on stage! She's danced in performances at: Capitola Mall, Santa Cruz Civic, and several retirement homes. Now that this season is over she's looking forward to new routines and costumes coming in January.

Singing Away:
Braden and Aarika have had practice and experience singing with their school classes. This year after Thanks Giving, Braden and Aarika's Grandpa invited them to sing on stage with his group (The Masters Of Harmony - 140+member Men's chorus). At the 1,200 seat La Mirada Theater there were two sold-out performances. Braden took the performances in stride. Aarika was timid in the first performance, but gained confidence in the second. REALLY GAINED CONFIDENCE and LOVED IT!

Detra was taking singing lessons and making good progress, but got discouraged when her asthma flared up (a visit to the hospital and all). She's still interested though and hopes to sing with the Sweet Adelines in the coming year.

SPORTS

Kicking It!
This fall was Braden's first foray into team sports. His under 8yr old team THE BOMBS was a rag-tag group of first and second graders. The first graders had difficulty making it through the after school practices as they had just started their first year of long days at school. They were often found laying on the field exhausted. They won their first game in a shut-out and this made "coaching" the team impossible. They got creamed in their second game, and that really brought them back to reality. For the rest of the season they worked hard. Braden was a great full-back, gaining confidence and skill each week. The highlight of the season was a game won in the pouring rain against their toughest opponent. All other teams in the league lacked the tenacity to play in the deluge. Throughout the season Braden proved to be a corner stone in the defense which helped his team to be victorious on numerous occasions.

In the Cold:
Devon continues to do his annual swim from Capitola Pier to Santa Cruz Pier each year. This year it was extended to be 6.5 miles. And as usual, he stopped swimming during the winter and gained more than his fair share of inches and pounds around the middle. Perhaps he'll get in the pool sooner this coming year.

Fun:
Detra and Devon help in the childrens classes at our church during one Saturday evening service each month. It's a joy to serve the Lord this way, working with children.

Detra and Devon also took some Waltz and Swing dancing classes at the 1st Presbyterian church. They have started getting out on DATES once again. (Trade babysitting - ya got to try it!)

NEWS and STORIES

BANG!
One evening Braden and Aarika had some friends vising. Upon hearing a moderately loud BANG, Detra and Devon went to Braden and Aarika's room to inquire about who was jumping off the bunk-bed. Braden very pensively said the noise was outside. Seeing nothing disturbed in the childrens room we left them playing. Devon noticed the fire was low and went outside to get some firewood. Once in the driveway he noted that a car in front of the neighbors house appeared to be damaged. His thought was that someone might have bumped his car parked in front of our house. Walking to where he could see into the front yard, he realized his car was missing. A closer look reveiled that the car in front of the neighbors house was his once Beautiful Green 1996 VW Jetta, now destroyed. The culprit left few traces. We were able to identify the Color and type of car from the debris, but were unable to locate the criminal or their vehicle.

Won't you be my Neighbor?
We're looking for a 3 Bedroom house to give us some room to breathe. A nice size lot is also an option. If all goes well you'll receive a CHANGE OF ADDRESS card sometime during the coming year. If you see anything interesting, let us know.

Troopers:
After losing the Jetta, Devon rented a car from "Rent-A-Wreck(TM)". It was a Lincoln Continental named "Christine" because the doors would randomly lock themselves. He received phone calls from his children asking when "Mac Daddy Devon in the Lincoln Town Car" was going to take them for a ride.
Devon is a TROOPER now. His replacement vehicle is a 1990 Isuzu Trooper, purchased from a friend. It's a 4wheel drive (know of any good offroading?) and has plenty of room inside. Our first outing in the car was to pickup our Christmas Tree.

The Black Book: Devon's memories-
For as long as I can remember, my mother has had The Black Book. It's a medium sized binder with yellow tattered address pages. The entries are corrected, appended, stricken, and annotated to indicate the location of loved ones throughout the planet. The phone numbers are often in the form of TE84459 indicating a bygone era when letters were used for the first two digits. I remember frantic searches when The Black Book had been misplaced, and I remember admonishments to be careful with that book. In recent years I've wondered if I should make a Black Book of my own. Being a "HiTECH" guy I've always had my phone numbers on the computer in a file. Easily searchable by any criteria. But something is missing when you you print up a list of that information. I was elated when Detra brought home a "Rolodex" card box. We have begun to add names and addresses and phone numbers to this box. Some of the cards have been amended already. I doubt the cards will ever show the tattered trails like my mothers book due to the fact that cards are easily replaced when out of date or updated too many times. But it's nice to know there's a place I can go to look at the names that bring back wonderful memories.

Work:
Devon is working at Cisco Systems and you can send him e-mail there: dheron@cisco.com.