Kia, cheap

While corresponding with Nate and Kia the following advertisement popped up: "We have the chepest Kia in your area. No hassel, quotes now! Just log on to cheapestKia.com" Well, they may have the cheapest Kia, but we have the best Kia. Greetings Nate and Kia from Grandpa Garold.

Nate Writes About Cute Baby Animals

One of my favorite parts of our trip to Costa Rica was visiting the Jaguar Rescue Center, where Kia volunteered for a while. Nate interviewed the owners and wrote a great article about the Center in the Costa Rican English language newspaper the Tico Times. Here is a link to his article: http://www.ticotimes.net/Weekend/Travel/Wildlife-rescue-center-welcomes-human-visitors-_Friday-January-20-2012. The end of the article has a link to the Center's website, where you can read about the history and mission of the center, as well as look at pictures of the adorable baby animals. You can see pictures of all the animals under the "Our Animal Guests" tab, and you can read descriptions about some of the animals under the "Adoption" tab.  

Which is your favorite animal guest at the Jaguar Rescue Center? Tell us in the comments!

Maybe if we're lucky Mom (Doni) will post pictures and videos of us holding baby monkeys from her phone. Mom?

Love to all the cute baby Davis animals,

Caitlin

Photo from Jaguar Rescue Center website.

Letter from Nate and Kia

Just got this great e-mail from Nate and Kia. Grandpa Garold

On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 4:05 PM, Nate Perkins wrote:Hey everybody,We thought we´d send a little update on what´s going on down here. We are currently in Antigua, Guatemala, which might be one of the top three highlights of the trip so far. The others would be Panama and the hollow fig tree in Santa Elena, I guess. It´s a beautiful colonial city full of old churches and ruins and little, friendly Mayan women. We found a really great hostel. There´s an excellent rooftop terrace that looks over the whole city, and we managed to end up with a fun group of people who happened to be here at the same time: a poet from Western Australia, Firefighters from Alaska and Idaho, rocknrollers from Portland, folks from Denmark and Norway and Germany. Yesterday we climbed up to the giant statue of the cross that sits on the hillside above the city, and we spent some time talking to traditional weavers. One woman told us that it takes a full month to weave a tablecloth like the one we have at home. Today was market day, so this morning went to buy vegetables and tortillas for breakfast. People talk about markets being colorful, but this was one of the most striking things I´ve ever seen. All of the women in traditional dress had their vegetables and bread and flowers out, and there were little kids running around and families playing. The woman we bought vegetables from thought my beard was so funny that she charged me 5 quetzales instead of 10. We think that you would all like it here very much. We spent the past few weeks in El Salvador and Honduras, which were both beautiful. All the people we met in both of those countries were so sincere and nice. Tomorrow we are headed to Samuc Champey, then Tikal, then Belize and up to Mexico, and we´ll be home on the 16th of Feb.We can´t wait to see everyone. Hope you are well, and we love you.Nate and Kia

In our family tree, we have a Quaker heritage through my mother's family. A well-known saying is "Hands to help, hearts to God." We have a cup with that motto on it. It was made by a wonderful Quaker couple Donnette met when she lived in Des Moines. We have several pieces they made, including a set of four cups with images and names of four of our favorite camping places drawn on them. Some of you have pie plates with a quote from the Shaker song: "'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free, 'tis a gift to come down where you want to be...." We also have a Shaker heritage on my mother's family line.

I have met the Quaker couple in Des Moines. As I bake with this pie plate, I usually think about them and their talent in forming these pieces, fireing them, and painting them. They have hands that help give me a gift of beauty. I am sure they have hearts to God as well.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about how wonderful our hands are. Each morning, I have to take three pills. I put the bottles on the bathroom counter, open one of the three, pour one pill into the palm of my hand and put the lid back on the bottle. Then I open the next bottle to pour one pill into my palm, but sometimes three or four come out. Because of the wonder of my hand, I can maniuplate the first pill and just one of the three new ones with my thumb until they are underneath my four, curled fingers. Then it is easy to pour the remaining errant pills back into the bottle and close the lid. I often have to repeat this for the last bottle as well. A simple task, but somehow it has set me to thinking about all I can do with my hands--such as find the correct keys on this computer to type this message, or scratch my nose when it itches, or knead bread, sew on a button, tie my shoe, clumsily pick out notes on my guitar, pick up a paint brush and put paint on where I want to put it, quicky turn the page on a book--so many things.

As I was thinking about this, I suddenly realized that there is one in our family who has never really been able to do many of these things. That's right--Fiona. I thought how frustrated I would be if I couldn't use my hands to do all the things I love to do. I think I would be angry. I think I would feel left out of so many things I consider to be so ordinary. I think I would be jealous of those who can.

Several times a week, Fiona calls me and many of the rest of you just to visit awhile. It is her way of keeping connected to the family. I have found these calls to be among the sweetest moments in the day. Sometimes I am busy, or watching a favorite t.v. show, or doing something else I think is so important. But when I stop to talk and listen to Fiona--when I ask her questions and spend the time to listen--I am always glad. Lately, she has been given complete responsibility for a Chocolate colored Lab who is over weight and needs to be exercized. It is fun to hear about how she is meeting this challenge. I wonder how she overcomes the difficulty of hands that don't work as well as mine to care for the dog.

I suggest that, if your telephone number is not on Fiona's cell phone and she is not calling you, maybe you could give her a call some evening and talk with her. She often calls me once she gets in bed at night. Her telephone number is: 1-216-570-1348.

I love you all. You each have wonderful individual gifts. Maybe we can help Fiona to realize what her special gifts are.

Love, Grandma

A Brief Pictoral History of Grandpa Garold's Santas

The increased artistry and sophistication of the "Santa" collection by carver Garold Davis and painter Norma Davis is evident in these photographs.

The first year's attempt, though very charming, was primitive in both the carving and painting techniques.

More carving detail in the features, the indication of individual hairs in the beard and tufts of fur in the trim, as well as costume details and subtle shading in the painting indicate a greater knowledge of the craft and significant increase in skill.

This Santa is quite detailed with gifts in the bag Santa carries on his back, bushy eyebrows, and experimentation in mixed media with the addition of a leather strap threaded through the pack and held in Santa's mittens.

Ten years later, notice the detail in the curly beard, the expression in the eyes, the intricate painting and the shiny varnish finish.

The Santa-creating team of Davis and Davis keeps coming up with a better Santa each year. If you own one of these remarkable Santas consider yourself lucky. If you don't have one, get one soon. I expect they will continue to increase in value as the quality of workmanship and demand for their Santas increase.

Hello admirers of the Grandpa Garold Herald! Since I am Grandpa Garold I thought maybe I should contribute something. As you can see from the pictures I am still doing some woodcarving. The little painted figure above is one that my friend Gary Browning and his wife Joan (pron. Joanne) got in Russia. Gary is (was until retirement) a Russian Professor. He is now a Patriarch in Russia (not in the Russian Orthodox Church, but in the LDS Church). I liked this little figure and asked them if I could borrow it. (You can learn a lot about carving by copying someone else's work.) Anyway, my copy is on the left and now it is on Grandma Norma's desk waiting for her to do the painting.

New York

Hello, all! I am home in Colorado from my winter break spent in New York with my boyfriend, Nigel. It was wonderful! I got to meet his parents, who were lovely. More about the trip here.

Here I am at the MoMA in front of an incredible Keith Haring piece.

Love,
Annika

Hey everybody! Kia and I are doing well in Central America. We are currently in Granada, Nicaragua and are having a great time. It's a beautiful city full of cool colonial architecture and giant cathedrals that look as though they're just about to crumble apart.

I thought I'd post an article from the Tico Times about a little island off the Caribbean coast of Panama where Kia and I stayed for a while. I wrote it, and Kia took one of the pictures. Unfortunately, we can't really get a hold of a print copy now that we've left Costa Rica, so a digital one will have to do.

Love you all and can't wait to see everyone at Chantry's wedding.

Love, love, love,
Nate