Hi Debby-I've not been silent, just busy! I work (and live at) a 5-star RV Resort here in Mesa, and we're gearing up for our winter season which officially starts December 1st. For the past 2 1/2 years I was the Activity Director which was unbelievably hard work but unbelievably fun at the same time. This season I switched jobs and I'm now the office manager which is not hard, but is unbelievably dull. As Activity Director, I found to my surprise that I have a talent for organizing and directing events and entertainment, and for speaking to large numbers of people. Go figure-I'm a ham at heart, especially with a microphone in my hand! Office work is just not my thing, I guess.
If you've never heard of an RV Resort, take a look at the company website http://www.cal-am.com/ and navigate to Sun Life RV Resort. We're small as resorts go, only about 760 sites with about 500 snowbirds who own a Resort Home (400 sq. ft. Park model trailer), and the remaining sites reserved by snowbirds who travel in their RVs. It's great living in the winter-the resort has outstanding amenities, but we get kind of toasty in the summer!
This is also the time when Larry and I gear up for the busy time with our card company Funny Bones slightly silly greeting cards. It's 16 years old, and our niche market is purebred dog owners. Right now we have cards for 21 breeds. I've done all the art and we print the cards here at home. Our website is http://www.funnybonescards.com/. We also have a line of cards that we're currently developing that is quite different because they are photographic and photo-digital art cards. Larry was a professional photographer and our son Matt has taken quite a few of the images we've used. I write the verses and do the digital dark room work in Photoshop. That little company is called Will Davis Studios and if you'd like to see some of the cards they are at www.greetingcarduniverse.com/willdavisstudios. The Will Davis cards are printed and shipped to our customers by Greeting Card Universe. By the end of October we should also have Will Davis and Funny Bones tote bags, mugs, tee shirts, etc. ready to go...I just need a few more hours in the day!
I hope this isn't perceived as shameless self-promotion! It's just what I do. When I read of some of our classmates' accomplishments, what I've done seems pretty trivial! I worked in advertising and publishing for most of my career, and needless to say, you don't get famous designing text books for adult literacy.
I'll make a visit to the website and catch up on things. By the way, the Memorial blog is very moving. Everyone is freeze-framed in my memories at 17 or 18, and knowing that some of us are already gone is sobering. And thank you again for all the work you have done keeping us connected. I'll try to take a more active role after the 1st of the year when Christmas is over and our card sales slow down.
If you think any of the above would be of interest, please include it on the website. I'll try not to be so verbose next time!
Regards,
Pat
Pat Narrow Rapple
