We are living in Fayetteville, but, as we still do some consulting overseas, we have not totally retired. In 2009, for example, we worked in Cairo, Mali (west Africa), Krakow (Poland), Hsinchu (Taiwan) and Fukuoka (Japan).  We don't plan to live overseas again but enjoy the occasional work.

In 2006 we purchased a small Winneabago View RV, and have taken three  big trips (4 weeks to the west coast, 4 weeks to New England, and 5 weeks to the Pacific Northwest) so far, plus some smaller journeys around Arkansas, the Gulf Coast and Colorado.  

Ellis' parents are 89 and 93 and continue to live independently in their home in North Little Rock, but with some professional in-home care 30 hours a week.  We drive down (180 miles) to see them and help out on weekends about twice a month.

We both continue to enjoy life in a booming university town.   Several years ago we built a large garage with an upstairs hobby room (for the model trains, of course) and an exercise gym. Ellis works on the model railroad as often as he can. Kay is in a book club and enjoys yoga classes several times a week.  Ellis likes to join friends for breakfast at nearby "down home" restaurants, and attending university baseball games is a springtime passion.

We are in generally good health, but  Kay fell and fractured her jaw in Mali in January, and, after successful surgery, is on the mend but she is wearing braces on her teeth to help realign her jaw. 

Kay started taking piano lessons in 1953, and finally has the instrument she deserves!  We purchased a beautiful, totally rebuilt 1923 Steinway Grand.  

Andrew lives in Los Angeles where he received a graduate diploma in Film Scoring at USC in 2007.  His first degree was also in film scoring (Berklee College of Music in Boston) and he finished the music of a feature film with Sally Kellerman of MASH (the movie) fame. More about him on Andrew's web site.  He is Musical Director at Improv Olympics West, a comedy club in Hollywood where four evenings a week he is the pianist for improv comedy groups, and also often works at Second City LA.  During the day he scores movie projects and writes music for concert band.  His first two pieces were published by Grand Mesa Music in Colorado and he has others in the publishing pipeline.  He is going to the overseas job fair in February with thoughts of teaching overseas next year.

We are thrilled that Andrew is able to join us for a Christmas trip most  years.  Recent trips have included Vienna and Venice (2004), Paris (2005), Thailand, Laos, and Viet Nam (2006), Washington DC (2007), and NYC (2008).  We will meet up in San Miguel, Mexico, this winter.

Below: countries we've visited. (make your own map)