Elizabeth L. Harris 314 N. Fremont St. River Falls, Wis. 54022 December 1982 Dear Ones All:
God has truly blessed my year in all these ways and many more. In my “Coming in and going out” I have renewed old friendships and gained new ones, and am constantly enriched thereby. My “travelling about” has been enhanced by my new blue (what other color is there?)Lynk which I like more and more. We’ll see how it performs on snow and ice any day now.
“The Team” talked me into another term on the Northwest District United Methodist Women, which means lots of meetings and planning, as well as rewarding personal contacts. It also meant a five day trip to Philadelphia last spring. The Assembly is a major quadrennial event. I was one of the 10,000 there - a mountain top experience.
On the home front I’ve continued my tutoring in an expanded and exciting ecumenical Refugee Orientation Center here in River Falls. My only qualification for this job (other than my interest) is that I know more about the English language than my students, but with the patient supervision of a master teacher and good text books we make some progress. The life stories of these folks are filled with personal tragedy and harrowing experience, but their outlook is always hopeful and cheerful, giving the rest of us cause for much private reflection about so many things we take for granted.
Re: the nuclear question, just this: from Fate of the Earth by Jonathan Schell: “There is no hole big enough to hide all of nature in.”---and again---“We are not in possession of any spare earths.” Please, God, let us learn in time.
December is my month to be “Grandmother in Person” and I am looking forward to the holidays in Oregon and California. Bruce, coming later from Milwaukee, and Doug from Ukiah with his two youngsters will make my joy complete between Christmas and New Years. With Merry and family there will be eleven of us. Add a couple of dogs and a cat and I anticipate that there will probably be enough “joy” to energize my memory bank for quite a while into the months ahead.
Yes I am still weaving, and Oak Studio is still in existence. When do I find time? In between everything else, but not often as I wish. Through the kindness of a family friend, I am the recipient of a beautiful 22” Norwood loom, with lots of warp already on it. I’ve just begun to explore what it will do. One thing it does, standing there in the middle of my dining is to entice me away from other less interesting duties. I’ve named it The Temptress.
I wish for each of you the love and inner peace which is the message of the Christmas season.
God bless your year in 1983. As ever, Betty