2020 Recap

 2020 has been a tough year, luckily we can work remotely, keeps us in money and keeps us busy. Have not been able to travel, but on the plus side we have saved some money this year. We don't dine out as much as some others do, but certainly missed sharing food with friends and family.

Gramps and me

Things Done:

• Trek Bike Travel Event in NJ
  
• Jay Rayner's Last Supper in March in NYC
  
• worked from home starting March 12
• watched Le Tour bike race in August, delay due to COVID
  
• made bacon
  
• made a fake book for storage
• made a temperature controlled outlet
• made a directional air diverter
• repurposed a refrigerator rack for caulk storage
• assembled jigsaw puzzles
• spent time in the backyard

 

 

 

Food Joints;

• one dinner in Summit, NJ, Fiorino Ristorante
• one dinner in NYC, Murray's Cheese Bar
  
• takeout pizza from Brothers
• takeout Thai from Forest Thai
  

Garden:

• 60 cloves of Garlic harvested, lost some to rot
• Harvested lots of kale in spring
  
• planted winter kale, celeriac and spinach. Kale grew well and we cut a lot in the fall, but it got white fly due to extremely warm fall weather, celeriac did not germinate and spinach was a poor performer
  
• No tomatoes planted this year
• planted garlic for next year on October 28, same as in 2019. Mulched half with shredded leaves.
• planted Grecian windflowers, black tulips and blue star tulips in the fall
  

House:

New Marshall bluetooth speaker, it's great

• reattached gutter/fascia on garage west end
• primed and painted basement window exterior sills
• resealed white oak on garden bench
  
• shored up the landing platform and basement steps
  
• replaced hot and cold washer hoses 
• started prepping my office ceiling
  

 Maybe next year:

• backyard gate
• garage cladding
  

 

2020 Books

 This year I read 17 more Inspector Maigret books, 3 more Dr. Fu Manchu stories and another Raymond Chandler novel. My numbers are high because the Maigret books are not very long, but very good. Over the summer I was reading after work instead of commuting which helped my book count also. In the fall as the days got shorted, I migrated to watching all of the  Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes series on you tube.

This year's books in order read;

1. How to Retire Happy, Wild and Free, Zelinski 
2. The Templar's last secret, Martin Walker
   
3. Hello Everyone, travel experiences written by a family friend.
   
4. Maigret in Court, Georges Simenon (GS)
5. Maigret and the Old People, GS
6. Aunti Poldi and the Sicilian Lions, Mario Giordano
7. Maigret and the Lazy Builder, GS
8. A Sea of Trouble, Donna Leon  Guido Brunetti mysteries taking place in Venice.
   
9. The Cask, Freeman Wills Croft, published in 1920 and starts with a dead body in a cask. The author worked on the railroad when he started writing and transportation timetables figured greatly in  this novel. Defiantly will try some of his others.
   
10. Maigret and the Good People of Montparnasse, GS
11. Maigret and the Sunday Caller, GS
12. Maigret and the Tramp, GS
13. The Return of Fu Manchu, Sax Rohmer  Looking for the first of the series. Not as rude to non-british folks as expected. A good story.
    
14. Willful Behaviour, Donna Leon
15. Maigret Defends Himself, GS
    
16. Death and the Dutch Uncle, Patricia Moyes. New author to me, quite good, will keep a look out for more.
17. Maigret's Patience, GS
18. In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson
    
19. Maigret's Pickpocket, GS
20. An Unkindness of Ravens, Ruth Rendel
21. The Treasure Hunt, Andrea Camilleri Inspector Montalbano
22. The Shadow of Fu Manchum Sax Rohmer
23. The Wrath of Fu Manchu, Sax Rohmer
24. Aunti Poldi and the Vinyards of Etna, Mario Giordano
25. The Crow Trap, Anne Cleeves A Vera novel
    
26. Maigret and the Nahour  Case, GS
27. Farewell my Lovely, Raymond Chandler Second Novel by Chandler, I only have the last 2 of his novels to read.
28. Maigret in Vichy, GS
29. Maigret Hesitates, GS
30. The Temptation of Forgiveness, Donna Leon
    
31. Maigret's Childhood Friend, GS
32. Maigret and the Killer, GS
33. Unto Us a Son is Given, Donna Leon
34. Maigret and the Wine Merchant, GS
35. Cabal, Michael Dibden From the Aurelio Zen series, takes place in and around the Vatican.
36. Thin Air, Anne Cleeves Not a Vera novel.
    
37. Maigret and the Loner, GS
38. The Jewels of Paradise, Donna Leon  Story about Caterina Pellegrin and some work she picks up in Venice. Not a Guido Brunetti novel.
39. The Last Unicorn, William deBuys NonFiction searching for an endangered species in Southeast Asia. Received by accident, not bad, a bit sad overall for many different reasons.
    
40. The Terracotta Dog, Andrea Camilleri
41. Wildfire, Anne Cleeves
42. The Voice of the Violin, Andrea Camilleri
43. Beating around the Bush, M. C. Beaton
44. A Farmers Diary, Sally Urwin
45. The Knowledge, Marth Grimes
46. A Maigret Christmas and other stories, GS
47. The Mistletoe Murders, P. D. James, short stories
48. Harbour Street, Anne Cleeves

Dream House II

 Scouting Tudor Homes, as I do and ran across this lovely little Tudor.

It sprawling, its got nooks and crannies and a medieval feel. I guess I have a leaning towards this style. See my original Dream House. Many have the exterior look, but lack any charm inside.

 

Main entry

The Great Hall, but not too great.

A snug little nook with fireplace. I'd get a lot of reading and/or napping there.

 

Dining room though left door, hall to the right.

 

Dining room with landscape view.

Kitchen with rear door.

Past the kitchen and down a few stairs to the family room with another fireplace. French doors open to a deck.

Crypt(that's what I would call it) under family room.

Garage with internal house access or front door access via stairs through arch to the left.

 Main Floor Master Bedroom over garage.

 

Hall, stairs to bedrooms, door to kitchen, steps down to front entrance.

 

 Upper hallway.

Upper Bedroom above Garage.

 

Top room in turret.

Upper Floor Back bedroom.

Balcony looking into Great Hall, AKA a Minstrels Gallery.

Room off Minstrels Gallery.

Rear view of the house.

Not local and not for sale, so not an option.

Past Trip: June 2012, French Alps, Chocolate and Cheese

 June 13 - 22, 2012 Chamonix, Montreux and Geneva

Highlights: 

• Chocolate
• Mountains
• Alpine Flowers
• Trains
  

Sights:

Chamonix: June 14 - 17

Aiguille du Midi at 3842 meters

Cable car to Bellevue at 1800 meters

Montenvers Mer de Glace and the Glacier Grotto and Glacier museum

Cable car to down to 400 steps down to the glacier grotto, a tunnel bored into the glacier every year. You can see the previous year's tunnels downstream.

Cable car to Brevent at 2525 meters

Montreux: June 17 - 20

 Chateau Chillion

Extensive small domestic castle on the lake, not far from Montreux.

 Took a day trip from Montreux to Broc and Gruyeres.

Broc

Masion Caillers Chocolate Factory

 Very good chocolate tour

Gruyeres

Gruyeres Cheese Factory, la Maison du Gruyeres, the robot in the aisle turns the cheese wheels daily.

Castle Gruyeres - Located at the top end of the town of Gruyeres, has great views is well furnished and has nice formal gardens.

I would have preferred to stay in the medieval walled town of Gruyeres than Montreux.

Vevey 

The next city over from Montreux. Spent most of the day there.

Alimentarium, a food and nutrition museum with many hands on exhibits geared towards children.

Funicular to top of Mt. Pelerin

 

Geneva: June 20 - 22

Maison Tavel, city's oldest private residence.

St. Peters Cathedral

plus view from tower

Boat Trip

Food:

Le Atmosphere, Chamonix Overlooking the river Arve

Chalet du Plan de Aiguille, short walk down from the middle gondola station had lunch.

Le Caliche, Chamonix

L'Impossible, Chamonix

Fondue lunch in Greuyers

Cafe Pacific lunch

Mai Thai, Montreux

La Caravane Passe, Geneva, Lebanese

Les Armunes, Old Town Geneva

Hotels:

Hotel Le Faucigny, In Chamonix, located near the Tourist information center, was central to all.

Bon-Port, Montreux, out of the way and just OK.

Hotel Bristol, Geneva. Half a block from the Pont du Mont-Blanc, walk-able to the train station.

Travel Info:

EWR to Geneva

EWR - LHR, left late arrived 6:40AM

LHR - Geneva arrived Geneva 11AM, waited awhile for shared van pickup, arrived Chamonix 1PM.

Geneva to EWR

Geneva - LHR, left hotel at noon.

LHR - EWR, flight cancelled at 6:15pm, Night at Hilton Hotel near airport

LHR - JFK 9:30 AM, taxi home from JFK

Trip Expenses:

Plane fares $627(M) + $1253(J&K) =     $1880

Airport transport to Chamonix (~1hr)     $131

Taxi JFK - Home $67                              $85

Rail Transport

Chamonix and Lake Geneva pass           $614

Hotels $616 + $810 + $1152                   $2578

Meals                                                       $827

Cash out:                                                 $1082

200E + 300chf +200chf + 300chf

 Total                                                        $7,838

2019 Recap

No medical ills this year, but was in a deep funk till I received an unexpected promotion in November. I was pushing for it, but was expecting excuses. Had a whole list of grievances ready that went unused. Nothing to complain about at work now it seems.

Things Done:

• Maker Space: Drill Press safety class, January
• 2 Cassoulet dinners (February and October)
• Maker Space: 3D Printing Class, March
• Repaired a Reel to Reel tape recorder
• Repaired a 8mm film projector
• NJ Farm Tour with lunch, May
• Eddie Izzard at the Beacon, May
• 2 Cousins gatherings (May on SI and August in NJ)
• Australian Visitors, June
• Participated in Travis 4th of July Parade, July
• Le Tour bike race, most of July
• Yesterday movie, July
• Spyscape Museum with James Bond exhibit, July
• NYC Tenement Museum, July
• Outstanding in the Fields, September in NJ
• London Trip, October
• Union Square Holiday Market, Bowling Green Holiday Market, December

Food Joints:

• Osaka (not the current name, just what we call it), our sushi place on SI
• Corner House BBQ, SI
• Meatball Shoppe, Manhattan
• Valhalla, Manhattan
• Cheese Grill, Manhattan
• Veselka, Ukrainian food,  Manhattan
• Surf, SI
• Barca, SI
• The Richmond, SI
• Mizuumi Ramen, SI
• Asbury Festhalle and Bier Garden, NJ

Garden:

• harvested 75 garlic bulbs
• Early tomato crop stolen by squirrels
• Later summer tomato crop outpaced squirrel's consumption
• Squash yellow and green were poor performers this yea
• Melange of new plants planted and forgotten noticed after they bloomed.
• planted garlic for next spring

House:

• Painted Living Room (Benjamin Moore Persian violet 1419), LR Shelves (BM yukon sky 1439) and front room (BM bistro blue 1421)
• bleach on driveway concrete to kill moss, too much CO2 in the air, but that is a good thing I am told. Once most scientists say it is too late to do anything about it, all of a sudden people will believe what most scientists say.
• Minor house and garage paint touch-ups
• A garage and basement clean out
• plus this stuff done earlier this year here and here.

Maybe Next Year:

• pig roast/work reunion BBQ
• smoke some bacon
• smoke/dry/cure some duck
• minor garage exterior siding replacement
• new backyard gate
• rolling 19 inch audio rack to consolidate equipment
• guitar effects box pedal board
• digitize some reel to reel and cassette tapes
• clean out basement