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Our Christmas Letter: A Busy Year!
Christmas · Germany · My Thoughts · Scotland

Our Christmas Letter: A Busy Year!

Featured Larada Horner-MillerLeave a comment
Our Christmas letter - header

Our Christmas letter overflows with our busy year! We traveled to Scotland in May and Germany in September. Throughout the rest of the year, we kept busy with our two passions: Lin’s gardens and my books!

May in Scotland

Lin & Larada in Scotland -

Edinburgh, Scotland – notice my nose!

Lin and I enjoyed two amazing trips this year: Scotland in May & Germany in September. In May, we went with two square dance couples on a 12-day tour, Backroads of Scotland, and we saw some amazing sites. 

We started in Edinburgh and went in a couple days early so we could visit the city on our own. I had a nasty fall, and my face ended up badly bruised and skinned, but I didn’t miss a beat! 

The tour took us to some amazing places: St. Andrews and it’s famous golf course and then on north to Inverness. The historic site of Culloden fascinated me with its brutal Scottish history. We went on to Loc Ness but didn’t see the monster. From Thurso, we rode a ferry to the Orkney Islands. We visited the village of Skara Brae and the mysterious Ring of Brodgar. We also revisited  a small chapel built by Italian prisoners during World War II. Lin and I originally saw it in 2019. The next day, we enjoyed a sunny day over the sea to the isle of Skye and saw “Hairy Coos,” the red long-haired cattle gracing the hillsides. On we went to Glencoe, another  site of historic significance. We ended our tour on the Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond and on to Glasgow.

We extended our trip in Glasgow and had a delightful time with an international friend of mine, Eleanor, from my meditation group. Eleanor and her husband, Jim, hosted an evening in their home with delicious food, hearty conversation and Jim entertaining us on the guitar. The next day, Jim and Eleanor showed us some of their favorite places in Glasgow! 

We connected with our Scottish heritage along the way! What a trip!

September in Germany

Reit im Winkl, Germany� - Our Christmas Newsletter

Reit im Winkl, Germany

Lin and I had signed up for a 14-day square dance trip to Germany with a square dance caller from Tucson in 2020 which was canceled because of COVID. We finally made it and what a fabulous trip! We flew into Munich and then stayed in Grassau, a small town ideally situated between all of our destinations, so we never had to change rooms! I liked that! We did day trips out of Grassau and returned each evening, square dancing often.

First, we visited Amerang Farmers’ Museum, and the next day we went to Berchtesgaden and went down in the Salt Mines, going down two slides to get to the bottom. We also visited Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s hideaway. How eerie it was to think he had been there.

A major highlight of the trip was visiting the Munich Oktoberfest! It’s a major carnival and beer party. I loved the oompah music and the enthusiasm of the participants. During the tour, we visited two of King Ludwig’s castles: one on Herrenchiemsee Island and the famous Neuschwanstein castle. I loved the village of Oberammergau where I bought Lin a cuckoo clock for his birthday. It was back to Munich the next day. Timed perfectly, we headed to the Marienplatz to see and hear the Glockenspiel. We ended up at the Hofbrauhaus and sat right across from the band—and enjoyed sauerkraut and sausage!

The next day it was on to Innsbruck, Austria. The mountains surround the city—no wonder it’s a winter sport paradise. Then we visited a beautiful mountain village: Reit im Winkl and enjoyed a Bavarian Traditional Schuhplattlers Show that night with dancers of all ages! They are keeping their traditional dances alive!

Next day, we headed to Salzburg, Austria and I felt Julie Andrews and the “Sound of Music” all around me. We visited the fortress on the hill and experienced the thrilling sound of the church bells when they rang out together  in the late afternoon. We ended the evening at a Salzburg Mozart Dinner Concert!  

Both of us would return in a heart beat we had such a great time!

Life at Home with the Millers

Lin's garden & Larada's new book

Lin continues to enjoy his garden! We hosted our second Annual Garden Party, and what a joy it was to show off all his hard work. Lin also enjoys his sports teams: the Liverpool soccer team and Philadelphia Eagles. We had the pleasure of going to the NFL Experience in Phoenix, AZ in February before the Super Bowl. His good friends, Bob and Linda, hosted us and we had a blast seeing the Super Bowl rings display, and Lin had his picture taken with the Eagles’ cheerleaders.

Larada continues to write and has released her seventh book, Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Christmas Memoir. She just finished recording an audiobook of it in her make-shift recording studio in their walk-in closet. She also received a second New Mexico/Arizona book award for Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better? in the self-help category. Larada and Lin also enjoys trips their family ranch as often as they can!

They continue to square dance as much as possible and still host the Hot August Nights square and round dance festival. They just did their 17th year!

Sad to say, they lost their cat, Jesse, this year. He was 20-years-old and had feline diabetes. Jesse had been failing for over a year. He died in October while Larada was at the ranch—what a loss for both of them!

Our Christmas letter summarizes our year every year and is a delight to write! I hope you enjoy reading it!

Do you do a Christmas letter? Do you like receiving them?

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Did the Coronavirus Change the World?
Coronavirus · My Thoughts

Did the Coronavirus Change the World?

Featured Larada Horner-Miller2 Comments
Way to change

Change is the only constant we can depend upon. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the consistent year-after-year happenings lulled me into complacency, making me believe 2020 would be a duplicate of 2019, a little different but with unknown adventures and a lot of the same ole same ole!

         As you know, 2020 and even the first quarter of 2021 have been grueling. I now look at the world and my past as pre-coronavirus and post-coronavirus. I’ve had over a year to labor long and hard over how I would allow this to affect me. Many others in the world have pondered this too.

         By now, you know me—a poem is brewing!

Growth & change

Growth and the Coronavirus Pandemic

April 18, 2021

Growth and 2020 in the same sentence

         Seems like an oxymoron.

                   Such contradiction

2020

         The worst year of my life

                   Yet growth?

                            Really?

I faced it

         I worked through it

Often I succumbed to outrageous emotions

         Fear

                   Anger

Then heartwarming feelings

         Empathy

                   Love

And went on.

So as I evaluate what happened,

         I can say,

                   “Yes, I grew! I’ve changed!”

                            Like so many of you.

Forced to stay at home, isolated

         I stopped my hectic schedule

                   I listened to life

                            I embraced nature

                                     In a deeper way

                                               I met me,

                                                        In a fresh way!

Yes, nature became the conduit of healing

         Lin’s luscious garden

         Birds attracted to his many feeders

         Jesse, my cat, and

                   His allegiance to me and our routine.

         A daily walk

                   Which feeds my soul

My God in all of this.

I didn’t want

         To grow

I didn’t ask

         For it

Thrust unknowingly

         On me

                   On our country

                            On our world

So what happened to me? What changed?

         I listened to

                   The meticulous flapping

                            Of the hummingbirds’ wings

                                     Hovering over bright red penstemon stem.

                   The hectic dinnertime feeding

                            At the bird feeders

                                     Wings fluttering,

                                               A storm of color and commotion

                   The quiet afternoon breezes

                            Singing through the piñon trees

                            Bouncing our chimes, creating a heavenly melody.

Yes, it happened.

         Did it happen for you?

*****

Let’s focus on the positive change from the pandemic. I found an article, “15 Reasons to Feel Positive about 2020” on the internet.

https://www.openarms.gov.au/about/news/2020/15-reasons-feel-positive-about-2020

Topping the list is “Nature is thriving—Sightings of wildlife have increased worldwide and a reduction in air pollution is giving the planet a chance to rejuvenate.” I love that because it coincides with my top idea—many people took up gardening, bird-watching, outdoor activity, and seeking refuge in nature.   

Look at how change occurred in our home!      

SpringWatch - our change in the world

SPRINGWATCH 2020

            Besides Lin’s gorgeous garden, we connected with nature when we found SpringWatch 2020, a TV show featuring wildlife and nature of Great Britain. Their 2020 version really focused on the effects of the pandemic on wildlife and encouraged people to find solace in nature. Originally SpringWatch airs on the BBC, but we watched it on BritBox.

            “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 series, starting on 25 May, did not come from a central base. Instead each presenter appeared from a location near their home, respecting government guidelines on social distancing.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springwatch#Series_16_(2020)

            We thoroughly enjoyed the gorgeous photography, witty story telling from the four main naturalists who hosted each episode. But our favorite part became the Mindfulness Ninety Seconds, where they encouraged the viewers to put down any distraction and simply enjoy the scenery. Then, for ninety seconds, we heard nature sounds and saw beautiful landscapes with a variety of animals. So refreshing!

            The show weaved a variety of topics through the hour-long presentation. One particular episode focused on the healing power of nature. Chris Packham, the primary host, suggested a book, The Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us by Emma Mitchell. Of course, I bought it and read it and learned a lot about nature’s curative powers.

            When SpringWatch ended, we didn’t want it to end, but we found out about AutumnWatch and WinterWatch. So we continued our celebration of British wildlife and nature.

GARDENING

  • Part of Lin’s Garden
  • My Favorite Rose Bush in Lin’s Garden

            Chris Packham on SpringWatch2020 and the other Watch shows commented often about the uptick in gardening in the UK, but it was worldwide.

            “Within six months, the home garden industry saw a quantum leap in sales and new customers, with revenues magically levitating 60%, a seismic event in a tranquil nonindustrial industry.”

https://www.mcall.com/opinion/mc-opi-gardening-popular-2020-covid-20201215-xdo63kfl2jdpljbnjinstfnvda-story.html

         I’ve told you before about Lin’s gorgeous garden. Well, he has expanded his garden, a change against my wishes. He promised when he first started gardening that he would limit the size of it, but every year I watched him edge out more and more. This spring he made a decisive step and has enlarged it to more than double. How can anyone be upset with having more flowers to look at? And he loves it so.

WALKING

  • The road when I started
  • Animals Tracks
  • The Road I Walk Now

         I started walking January 1, 2021 because of my lethargy in 2020. Usually I’m physically fit because of all my dance activities and exercised, but I became a couch potato last year. One night after showering, I looked at my legs one day and saw bumps. Gasping, I thought, “Cellulite!” For most of my life, I have kept active, but the cellulite bumps sprung up overnight.

         What to do? My answer—I had to do something, so walking was my answer. I started slowly and increased my time. I have the pleasure of walking a country road, free of noise, pollution and people. Today my butt cheeks hurt after my daily walk. I’m up to 45 minutes a day and going over 9000 steps daily. I know the optimal number is 10,000 steps a day, but I haven’t gotten there yet.

Zoomin’

THE WAY OF WRITING WITH NATALIE GOLDBERG

         March 6, 2021, I started an eight-week writing workshop online with one of my writing mentors, Natalie Goldberg. This was a dream come true! I first read, Writing Down the Bones, her first book in the late 80s then collected and read several more of hers.

         We met twice weekly—for three hours on Saturdays with Natalie and one hour on Wednesdays with her assistant. What a rewarding experience I’ve had.

         Natalie lived in New Mexico for many years, and I attended day workshops of hers, but I couldn’t afford her longer ones. This online class was very affordable and doable. Another change to my life from the pandemic and staying home.

MEETINGS

A big change came for all of my regular face-to-face meetings: recovery meetings and the board that runs the Albuquerque Square Dance Center. Zoom saved the day. I easily made the change to Zoom meetings and added some special ones like monthly chats with a roommate and friend from Colorado. The three of us hadn’t been together in thirty years. I’ve also had family reunion meetings and more. The sky is the limit with Zoom.

JESSE, MY CAT

Jesse, my cat, enjoying the change
Jesse, my cat, ready for a night of TV!

         When we danced and traveled so much, we had few rituals that Jesse knew. Now nightly, Jesse crawls up on the arm of our loveseat on my side, positioning himself for watching TV with us. Each morning he snuggles as close as possible to me during my Quiet Time. Daily at breakfast, he supervises our Cribbage game. Jesse has convinced Lin he knows who will win the game by where he lays—near my side or Lin’s.

         The world has changed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Too horrible to mention in many ways, but I wanted to highlight some of the positive changes.

         How about you? Have you had any positive changes this last year? If so, what were they? (Keep scrolling down to make comments!)

Previous Blog Posts You Might Have Missed

Just Another Square Dance Caller cover

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~One-Year Anniversary of the Release of Flippo’s Biography! Join me to celebrate on May 10, 2021 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM Email me at larada@icloud.com if you are interested!

~Here’s Christmas greetings from Flippo & Neeca, featuring his song, “When Its Christmas Time in Texas”: https://youtu.be/mpJCUGffU3A

ALL FOUR E-BOOK FORMATS OF FLIPPO’S BIOGRAPHY AVAILABLE NOW:

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Why Garden?
family · My Thoughts

Why Garden?

Featured Larada Horner-MillerLeave a comment

I write; my husband, Lin, gardens. My passion is words and stories; his is flowers and gardening. And a timely event happened today, we had a summer mountain hailstorm threatening his precious garden, but the damage was minimal.

Before we married, Lin had a couple of roses but that was it, and they died. Lin and I married October 22, 2011, and he didn’t do much with the garden the first couple of years of our marriage because we spent the month of July in Pagosa Springs, Colorado with another couple.

After a while, I missed my rose garden in my townhouse in Albuquerque. I had lived in a couple places there and had beautiful roses, so I suggested trying roses.

He lamented, “Roses don’t do well in the east mountains,”  thinking of his earlier experience. See Albuquerque is like Denver, Colorado, a mile high—5,280 feet. Tijeras is 6,322, and we are higher at above 7,000 feet, so my success with roses in Albuquerque didn’t necessarily mean they would grow in Tijeras.

So as luck would have it, Lin talked to a sales’ clerk who lived in the east mountains and gave him the success formula for growing roses in higher elevation, and it worked. So, Lin’s success with the roses encouraged him to try other plants.

Lin continued to study, bought magazines galore and gathered information on this newfound hobby, always fine tuning his floral explorations within our zone. I’ve come to learn there’s hardiness zones which identify your location and the plants that will grow there. We’re between zone 6-7 in the east mountains, but Albuquerque is zone 7, so there’s a major difference. Zone 6 can go down to -10 degrees Fahrenheit; zone 7 only goes down to the 0 degrees. That’s understandable! Because of our elevation we get more snow than Albuquerque. Also, Lin has to be cautious about his plant selection and check carefully on its zone.

If you’re wondering, here’s a place to put in your zip code and see what zone you live in:

https://shop.arborday.org/content.aspx?page=zone-lookup

In 2013, Lin experimented more with gardening possibilities. He had a few plants in pots and some in the ground, but life happened, and he put the beginning of a new passion on hold for a few years.

In 2016, Lin got bit by the gardening bug, and it has grown into a full time commitment he loves. See the pictures above of how he began.

At first, he had roses, then Lin’s circle of interest enlarged. He added New York Asters, a variety of lilies, Shasta daisies, salvia, lavender, sage, delphinium, coreopsis, peonies, alum and the list goes on.

Lin had criteria when he first started his expansion from the roses. He wanted to attract more hummingbirds to our large flock every year. He also wanted to provide for butterflies and bees, so any plant he put in this thoughtful garden had a purpose. His gardening interests piggybacked on his love of birds, butterflies and bees!

When he began, Lin added a variety of annuals which added a rich color to the landscape yet bloom once and die, but he decided over the years to add more perennials so they bloom over and over again. Now he just adds a few colorful annuals to spice up the color.

Each year he expanded after hours of research, trying his hand at a variety of new plants. Some succeeded and some went by the wayside.

Anytime I suggested a plant, Lin tried to add it. I had an amazing Butterfly Bush out my back door in Albuquerque that attracted butterflies and had a delicious fragrance, so he researched for a couple years trying to decide if one would grow up here. He planted one last year, and it has flowers this year. My Mom had red hot pokers in her front yard that were her mother’s plants. Lin never transplanted from Mom’s collection, but he did add some to his garden, and they are blooming this year.

The rabbits posed a possible threat to his lovely garden, so he put up a specific fence to keep them out, burying the chicken wire inches in the ground, and it’s worked. Lin has installed a watering system, relieving him of having to water by hand and also allowing him to leave and not worry about his garden.

Lin loves to use unusual items in his garden: he has a bathtub, a toilet and an old file cabinet as planters. He’s added several raised flower beds which help make weeding much easier. He has a whole flower bed (the outline of it is really the head board and foot board of an old bed from our ranch) full of sassy spring flowers: tulips, daffodils and crocus. To date, Lin’s rose garden has expanded to more than twenty bushes in a variety of colors. Here’s a video of his garden this year:

Last year, Lin created a side garden to the southeast of the big garden we call “Serenity Garden.” He transformed an ugly, unkempt space into a tranquil retreat to sit and enjoy God’s glorious creation. See what the Serenity garden looks like:

So why garden? For Lin, it has given him a venue to express his creativity. He doesn’t see himself as a creative person, but just look at the pictures and videos and you will disagree I’m sure.

In the early spring, he starts his gardening preparation. When summer comes, he’s out in his beautiful space he created and at peace with the world. It gives him something natural and special to focus on, and the rewards of seeing his design come to life with color and vibrancy are priceless.

As a willing observer, I have the luxury of enjoying his creation every day—the perks of being married to a passionate gardener who takes gardening to a new zenith every year.

Are you a gardener? Why do you garden? I’d be interested to hear your comments.

Check out my web site at https://www.laradasbooks.com

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Whitey & Gladys Puerling were playful friends of Flippo’s who created a Fan Club. I thought it would be fun to recreate this group. Would you like to join the Marshall Flippo Fan Club Facebook page? Read interesting posts about Flippo’s life. https://www.facebook.com/groups/328325644382769/

Do you want to pre-order the Marshall Flippo biography? You can select which paper format or e-book format you would like? Go here to order the version you want. Monthly SWAG Giveaways! https://goo.gl/forms/4D4hwbHdme1fvJc42