AKA My 2010 Christmas letter to my Welsh friends: (will add more photos soon!)

Nadolig 2010

Pob bendith i chi dros yr wyl,

I hope this season finds you and yours safe and happy. It has been an incredibly busy and very Welsh year for me. While I continue to volunteer with an older, mostly-homebound man (unless we take him out), I have also been driving regular dog rescue runssort of an underground railroaddogs, and sometimes cats, are rescued from bad situations and taken to the safety of a new home or shelter,with many people driving an hour or two and then passing the animals on to the next driver.

All year long, I was kept busy with my new duties as Chair of Publicity and Marketing for the North American Festival of Wales, which was held in Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest,i n September. Besides the work at home, it entailed two road trips to Portlandone in March and April and one in August and September. Both were 3-4 weeks and about 5500-6500 miles. In March, I combined my trip with a Board meeting of the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Project, in Wymore, Nebraska, and an Easter visit with our daughter, my aunt and cousins in Southern California.
If you are familiar with US geography, you will know this was not the most direct route to Oregon! I took my dachshund, Macsen, with me. (In the US Macsen rhymes with dachshund.) We had an enjoyable trip driving up the Coast through the Redwoods, and on the way home drove along the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, and followed the Lewis and Clark Trail through Washington, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota. We even slept two nights in a B&B shaped like a beagle!

But before that trip,we (my husband and I, not the dog!) attended a Burns Night supper (and ate haggis, again); three St. Davids Day eventsone with the Chicago Tafia; one in Racine, Wisconsin; and one here in Madison. Luckily, they were all scheduled different days! I had the pleasure of meeting Dafydd Wigley in Racine, as he was the guest of honor. He had family that immigrated to Racine.

In May, I attended the Wisconsin Welsh Weekend for Everyone, in Wales, Wisconsin. Saturday was full of family-friendly events, including a fabulous rugby demo by the womens rugby team from the university. I sort of understand the game now! Sunday we finished up with a wonderful gymanfa ganu in the Welsh Church.

I took some Tai Chi classes in May and went fishing for the first time with the man I volunteer with. Although we went four times during the summer, no one caught anything, but we had fun being on the lakes and taking in the views. We also took him out on a pontoon boat to watch the Fourth of July fireworks from the lake.

In June, I had another Board meeting in Nebraska, and stopped in Chicago on the way home to join the Tafia at a pub night and we watched the US premiere of the film, A Bit of Tom Jones.On returning home, I had to have surgery, unexpectedly, just before I was due to drive to Canada for my friends wedding! I made the trip anyway, and enjoyed the wedding, but could have done without the surgery! This was a couple I introduced in 2009 and they have since moved to Wales, which brings me to myJuly trip to Cardiff for Cwrs Cymraeg and my first National Eisteddfod.

I was gone about 3 weeksone week for Cwrs; one for the Eisteddfod; and one for visiting and sightseeing. What a fabulous experience it was to spend so much time on the maes, hearing Welsh spoken everywhere, and speaking as much as I could. I did feel sorry for the people who had to listen to learners all week, though! I was delighted to have my friend from Holyhead come down, as I would not have known what to see and do on the maesthere was just so much to take in! It was so much fun to see friends from Wales at the Eisteddfod! I also toured the Penderyn distillery (yum!), spent a day in Swansea and on the Gower, and shopped so much I had to borrow an old suitcase from my friend to bring everything home in!

I was home 2 weeks and I had to get ready to leave for Portland again, for the NAFOW. This time I combined the trip back with a visit to Mt. St. Helens (this was the 30 ^th anniversary of the eruption); a visit to my nephew on an island in Puget Sound; a quick trip to Vancouver, BC, to see the totem poles in Stanley Park (they were amazing); a drive through Yellowstone, where I not only saw Old Faithful go off, but got up close to a bison that decided to walk along the shoulder of the road right next to my car! Then I had a one-week stopover in Rapid City, South Dakota, where I attended a museum conference for the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Centre. It was very useful, but I ended up with pneumonia by time I got home.

By the end of September I was mostly well, and went on a one-day riverboat cruise down the Mississippi with the man I volunteer with. The next day I headed to Nebraska again for another Board meeting.

When I got home, I began working with an illiterate man that I worked with about year agohe had dictated a book to me and now it was published and he wanted to learn to read a short bit. We did that and he was great. I went to his book reading and talked about the whole process and read some as well.

All year long, we have been going to doggy playgroups and in October I went to six dog Halloween parties! Three of our dogs (a hound, a beagle, and one of the dachshunds) won $20 for their costumesthey were a hotdog, and Mustard and Ketchup!

In November, I joined a Womens Scrabble Club and have been enjoying playing over coffee and chit-chat. We also had our state Christmas Gymanfa Ganu, but I was very disappointedit was all English, except for four verses! Our local Cambrian Heritage Society had our fall meeting with 4 members sharing experiencesone talked about university student exchanges with schools in Wales; one talked about working on his Masters degree in Celtic Studies from Lampeter, mostly on-line; one told about his experiences directing cymanfoedd ganu in various states (he was NOT the one who directed the mostly-Saesneg one!); and one person talked about and modeled traditionalWelsh dress from the past.

I made one last road trip to Tennessee to see an ailing cousin and visit other relatives over Thanksgiving. It was quite cold here when I left (37F) but 75F there! I am glad I went, as my cousin is now in the hospital with his son at his side.

Since Ive been home, Ive continued the regular activities, including taking our friend to see the Nutcracker Ballet and helping with his Christmas shopping, wrapping and card-mailing. Now its my turn to get my holiday things done!

My husband left yesterday for 15 days in California to spend Christmas with our daughter. It was his turn to go and my turn to stay home. However, it is now very cold (minus 9F the other day and weve had one blizzard already!).

I hope your year has been as full of magical moments and friendship and adventure as mine has. If you dont hear from me for awhile, that is because 2011 will be just as crazy as 2010 was, but I am (mostly) enjoying all of it! I think of you all often as I travel lifeshighways and hope we see each other soon!

Gyda ddumuno iechyd a hapusrwydd i chi yn 2011,cyfarchion cynnes,