We have our email cache with which to reconstruct our year -- that and digital photographs, and a spent and exhausted calendar. The first thing on record is the 5-day power-outage in January, the second day of which our generator broke. While the indoor temperature dropped toward freezing, Tom's resistance to Diane's long-standing recommendation that we install a wood-burning stove likewise plummeted. We're enjoying the new stove and cook on it regularly.

Tom's been busy: he managed to get an historic structure taken off of the National Park Service's demolition list, launched the 2nd Edition of his DVD and got it broadcast on PBS (5 times so far) in Fresno, gave keynote speeches for the unveiling of a Yosemite quarter from the U.S. Mint and for the Yosemite Conservancy's Fall Gathering, and for five months of Mondays presented his live program "Vintage Songs Of Yosemite" for the Yosemite Theatre in Yosemite Valley. That's a lot of Yosemite stuff; along with his ongoing  historical research on Wawona and muttering about someday writing a book, he continues to avoid any real exercise.

Diane noticed a couple of potentially available homes in Wawona, inspiring our experiment to see if our house in Fish Camp would buy us into Wawona (a long-time pipedream of ours). Didn't work...so we remain contentedly in our kittified tree-house. Diane took a couple of semi-solo camping trips to the Tuolumne Meadows area, culminating with a stay in the rustic-historic Tioga Pass Resort, joined by Tom. We spent the night enjoying what turned out to be the ruckus created by our neighbors trying to catch the mouse in their room -- had we known the source of the problem, we would have invited the mouse over for drinks. Alas. Diane endured another Fall Semester teaching at the local junior college -- while she had many fine students, for a vocal minority of them the learning curve remains predictable; they 1) Read the syllabus and go into denial about it and then forget all about it; 2) Adopt belligerence upon the realization that getting an "A" isn't an entitlement merely for being wonderful; 3) Panic upon the realization that the syllabus is actually being followed; 4) Hurl vitriolic accusations, mope, glower, glare, and make Diane want to quit teaching; 5) Glory in the fact that their final grades were hard-earned and deserved, and 6) Praise Diane for being a great teacher.

We ended the year with a grand climax: Tom's employer invited us both to be the "Visiting Squire and Lady" at the famous annual  "Bracebridge Dinner" at The Ahwahnee in Yosemite Valley. We were put into costumes, paraded through the dining room and seated on stage at the head table for an evening of first-class music, entertainment, and cuisine. They also provided the best table in the house for Tom's dad, two of Tom's friends from kindergarten -- Doug & Randy (& wife Valrie), one of Tom's oldest Wawona friends -- Larry (& Jill), and Diane's pre-school pal Jim (& Lissa). We were given a room on the 6th Floor of The Ahwahnee, the former residence of Don & Mary Tresidder who ran the Yosemite Park & Curry Co. in yon days of yore. Next day (Tom's birthday) we had a fine breakfast with all of our friends while outside a new frosting of snow glittered on the trees and cliffs. Unforgettable. When we get the official portrait, we'll add it to this webpage. 

We wish you all the best in 2011 !

Diane & Tom Bopp

Photos by Nancy Robbins:

Our Distinguished Guests, with Diane & Tom in Bracebridge costume (and stage makeup)

In our Finery, 12/20/2010