By the end of 1986, we finally settled on a location for our permanent retirement. Carol had visited Frank's former wife Betty Fairfax at the retirement center of Rossmoor near Walnut Creek, and Carol was favorably impressed. When I went with her to look by ourselves, the agent representing the Rossmoor resale office showed us more expensive housing than we could afford, and pictured Rossmoor in more luxurious terms than we wanted. We went away totally turned off.

But Betty put us in touch with her own real estate agent who showed us a number of more desirable and affordable places. One was being sold by a couple who planned to move to another retire ment center in Santa Rosa, but they didn't want to leave until the end of June, when their Santa Rosa apartment was due to be ready.

This condition had been a barrier for other prospects, so by the time we came along the sellers had dropped their price sig nificantly. It suited us perfectly to have the place guaranteed to be available when we were ready to move, without our having to pay rent before that time.

We had a grand yard sale before we left, disposing of those possessions we couldn't get into our new quarters. It was more painful to me, especially in retrospect, that I sold most of my religious books for a comparative pittance. But at the time I was in a mood to retire completely from the kind of life that had absorbed so many years and and so much of our attention.

This did not mean renouncing the convictions which led us into the ministry, nor changing all of our habits. We have been faithful in church attendance, mainly at the Lafayette UMC, when we have been in town. I have preached a few times and have attended meetings of one kind or another.

Our main domestic activities, though, have involved Carol's painting talents, and using the computer to produce family records like this one.

One such major undertaking was "County Cavan to California", based on a manuscript by my maternal grandfather's youngest sister, Alice McCabe Geiger. We had it printed locally, with my second cousin Jean Murray and her husband Tom splitting the cost. It has been distributed among the relatives and sent to a number of appropriate libraries.

Another was Carol's book, "Object Talks From A to Z", based on her drawings for children's sermons given in Redding and Farm ington. We combined to produce the verses for the drawings, and when I failed to write out my children's sermons, Carol created her own. The book was published by Standard Publishing Co. and has sold very well.

We have also taken advantage of our leisure to take several trips.

In October, 1986 we flew to Newark, N. J., where we rented a car and drove up to Canton, N. Y. to see Charles, Keiko and their four children at St. Lawrence College. Charles was a guest professor teaching Japanese there, to give their children the chance to learn English and live in the U. S. for two years.

The driving gave me an exposure to Eastern scenery and places that were new to me. We also visited some very interest ing friends and relatives of Carol's.

In April 1987 Carol and I drove to the top of Mt. Hamilton, where she had lived for six months as a 14 year old with her aunt Dorothy Chappell and uncle Fred, who was the astronomical photo grapher at Lick Observatory. It was my first visit there ever, and Carol's first since childhood. We saw a number of Fred's photographs on sale at the gift shop. (He is not given photo credits on these and other photos, because everything he did was credited to Lick).

The following month we drove across the U. S. via Ft. Laramie, where my mother's mother was born, and eastward through the middle of the country. One Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a boat ride on the Mississippi at Davenport, Iowa. In Kalamazoo we stayed with an old friend, Amy March DePree and her husband Har old, and in Bay Village Ohio we stayed with Carol's niece Robin Burrowes McNaught.

From there we went to Oberlin for Carol's 50th class reunion. We stayed in one of the dorms on the campus a few doors from one of her Oberlin roommates Martha Barry Mark and her hus band Allen. It was a great week, and I was much impressed with the spirit of the college, faculty and alumni.

After a visit with Carol's cousin Ethel Havens Shaw and her husband in Fredonia, N. Y., we drove across the St. Lawrence river and on the Canadian side to Niagara Falls. We stayed near the falls at a fairly primitive but comfortable and inexpensive motel, which gave us the benefits of the scenery without having to pay high tourist prices.

When we arrived again in Canton, N. Y. Charles greeted us with the news we had eagerly awaited: David had just called to report the arrival of baby Robin. Our delight was tempered a few minutes later by a second call from David, reporting that Robin had Down syndrome.

Earlier in the trip we had stayed with a couple Carol had known for a long time who had a retarded son who was then in his 40s, and memories of conversations about that situation were still vivid.

Needless to say, we will have special memories surrounding our learning of Robin's birth. However, thanks to the loving spirit and courage of her parents, we have much brighter memories of seeing her develop and sensing her very loveable nature.

On the way home, we visited the DeWolf mansion in Bristol, R. I., described in the "DeWolf book" by Rev. Calbraith Perry. We discovered the current caretakers were a distant DeWolf relative and her husband. She was very gracious in showing us around this fabulous house, which was on the market for $2 million. The owner was hoping a non profit group would buy it as a local museum.

In October 1987 we flew to Honolulu on what was planned to be the first leg of a trip to Australia and New Zealand.

But by the time we got to Honolulu, Carol began to be ill, with what proved to be cellulitis, a blood infection, in her left leg. The doctor there told us she should not continue walking on that leg. So we hastily arranged to come home, and after several weeks Carol was back on her feet, literally and figuratively.

We had a much better experience in May, 1988 when we joined a tour group to China and Hong Kong. In July we drove to Seattle for the wedding of my brother Dick's older son Robert Haynes DeWolf. I had the pleasure of officiating. The occasion also brought Dick DeWolf and Carol's youngest brother Dick Burrowes together for the first time. We all enjoyed a tour of the Skagit River power development where my father had worked on the first unit when I was an infant.

In September Carol and I took off again for New Zealand, after spending eight delightful days with old friends Bob and Lois Dewey in a luxurious home near Capt. Cook, Hawaii where they were "house sitting".

We visited my brother Frank and his wife Gloria in Auckland, NZ, then explored the North and South islands by bus and train. It was altogether delightful, but we came home determined to stay put for awhile before starting off again.