The Canterburys - Christmas 2020
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"On Wednesdays we wear pink!"
In our usual
seats at DPAC in February and wearing pink in honor of the line from Mean
Girls the musical , back when it was still possible to attend live events.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
The Canterburys hope that like us, you
have made it to the end of this year-like-no-other as healthy and hale as you
were when it started.
Where even to begin to provide an
update on the kerfuffle we call "2020"? We are fortunate to have
emerged largely unscathed, with neither of us falling victim to COVID-19.
However, we have had multiple friends come down with the virus, fortunately to
bounce back. Sadly, the mother of a friend from Jerry's high school days, a
woman Jerry knew well when he was in high school, succumbed to the disease
during the early days of the pandemic. We keep the millions of victims of this
pandemic in our thoughts, as we know you do as well.
Since we are both retired with no
children, the impact of the pandemic has been less for us than for many others.
We count ourselves fortunate in that our personal impacts were limited, mostly
causing us to cancel travel plans for the year, or have events we planned to
attend canceled on us. Yet even so, before everything went south for the year,
we were able to do a few things.
We started the year on New Year's Day
with our annual polar plunge with friends into chilly Jordan Lake after running
a 5k (3.1-mile) race that morning.
We
were able to hold our annual Groundhog Day party this year as well, with lots
of fun with our friends.
Happy Groundhog Day!
Our 8th annual Groundhog Day party!
We continue to enjoy our membership at the
Durham Performing Arts Center (aka "DPAC") where we saw some
excellent shows before the pandemic, including:
|
Come from Away |
Rent |
Mean Girls |
We also saw a handful of musical concerts in the area.
|
Hillbenders |
Postmodern Jukebox |
O.A.R. |
Jerry is about two and a half years into a
graduate program which leads to a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership
degree. The degree is from an accredited online program, so he was able to
continue his studies even during the pandemic. He is currently working on his
dissertation and should finish the program in another year or so.
While three marathons Jerry had signed up for
were canceled, he was able to complete one marathon this year (his 13th
overall) as well as his first 50k (31-mile) ultramarathon race.
Nancy is active in local community groups. She
is a committee chair for the Women's Club of Raleigh, on the board of directors
for the TeamCBC bicycling club, and on the board of directors and fundraising
chair for the Cary Community Choir. She also volunteers each week at the SAFE
Haven cat rescue shelter.
Nancy also participates in three choirs during
the year. The groups were able to switch to Zoom-based practices. One group
even performed and recorded selections from the Hallelujah Chorus virtually for
the holiday season, their 50th holiday presentation of this classic,
which you can watch yourself here:
What did change for us in the pandemic?
Our planned vacations for the year
were deferred. May was intended to be a trip to New York City, where one of the
choirs in which Nancy is a member was slated to perform in Carnegie Hall. We
had also purchased Broadway show tickets for the trip, including for Hamilton,
Hadestown, and Come from Away. Such a trip will need to wait for
another day.
Our return trip to Alaska in June was
also postponed. This trip was centered around a marathon in Anchorage, but once
that was postponed, we postponed that trip for a future year as well.
In September, we had plans for a
beer-and-bicycling trip to Vermont with the usual members of Team Mimosa. As
you have likely surmised, that trip was postponed, especially given quarantine
rules in Vermont at the time.
College football season was impacted,
with no fan attendance at games, so we missed our annual visit to Columbus,
including the Ohio State Marching Band reunion.
We had planned to make our annual
pilgrimage to Florida this December but decided against that given the
escalating wave of COVID-19 cases.
The list of
canceled and postponed shows and concerts this year is extensive. Hopefully,
we'll still be able to see these in 2021 and after.
|
The Band's Visit |
Cowboy Mouth |
Lake Street Dive |
|
Escape to Margaritaville |
Chicago |
My Fair Lady |
|
Jesus Christ Superstar |
King Crimson |
Styx |
|
Ain't Too Proud |
Wicked |
1776 |
Our four(!) cats continue to live with
and amuse us. We had a scare in May when, during the height of lockdown, Spats
and Chaplin took turns visiting the emergency veterinarian for urinary tract
blockages. It was touch-and-go for a bit but they both came through like
champs. They both continue to eat much more than that should despite our best
efforts. The emergency vet said regarding Spats that she had never seen such a
food-motivated cat!
Chaplin (white) and Spats (tuxedo)
have been with us for six years now and are about eight years old. Jackson
(gray) is the old man of the clowder at 15 years old, having been with us since
he was a kitten. Tiger is the youngest and most active at about four years old.
Please hug all your friends and family
this holiday season and tell them you love them! We wish you the happiness and
joy you deserve this holiday season!
Nancy and Jerry Canterbury
https://www.facebook.com/jerrylcanterbury
https://www.facebook.com/nancy.canterbury
A rare photo of all four cats together!