2022 Recap

 Another year of Covid, but still good outweighed the bad

Good

• retired in August
  
• a granddaughter in September
  
• a trip to Munich after Oktoberfest
• tulip picking at Holland Ridge farm
• a new tax man
  
• viewing NYC parade of ships (Fleet week)
  
• sumo tournaments
• Le Tour
• consistent 5 days a week exercise routine post retirement
  
• Foraging class at the Conference House as a BD gift
• trips to Conference House and Mt. Loretto parks
• get together with friends (K&M)
• get together with a cousin and his wife (J&Y)
• touched base with people from past workplaces.
  
• expanded take out (sushi, ramen, Chinese, shake shack)
• trips to Keyport Fishery
• 42 garlic bulbs harvested
• seeing seals off the Staten Island's coast with friends (G&D)
  

Bad

• Continued Covid
• People not wearing masks
• Uncle in Michigan aging and getting lost
• Ukraine war
  
• Volunteering postponed
• Supreme Court tossing out precedent (Roe v Wade)
  
• a trip to Michigan to sort out an Uncle's single wide trailer
• Spotted Lantern flies
  
• the economy
  

Fixed/Made/Improved

• small metal shelf under basement stairs
• replaced dryer control panel face-plate
• replaced kitchen sink spray hose
• re-glued 2 dining room chair legs
• extended life of backyard gate
  
• new toilet fill valves and flappers up and down
• kitchen faucet seals replaced
• bottle opener from railroad spike
• made a gallon of mead (just OK, maybe it will improve with age)
• made a 2'x2' soil screener
• made a small wood shelf
• cleaned and lubricated a bathroom vent fan motor
• created a gingerbread house, with just simple royal icing decorations
• made broom attachment for a Scott's garden handle
• made another carpenter bee trap
• re-soldered distortion box wires
• installed guard for table saw
• cleaned and repainted Japanese Lanterns
• fixed an old white-noise sleep bear
• made a personal fan using a box fan
• refinished BBQ grill handle and BBQ table top
• ash basket for grill, easier to clean out ash prior to each use
  
• planted 2 new peony(dwarf and blueish) and tulips
  

Songs Learnt

• Black coffee, Julie London
• a  few Grateful Dead songs
• Carpe diem, Aldebert
  
• Two of us, When I'm 64, Yellow Submarine, Beatles
• Miles Beyond, Mahavishnu Orchestra
• Josie, Steely Dan
• Caught in a dream, Be my Lover, Alice Coopoer
  

 

2022 Books

 This year there were some new characters and a new series to read, the Ian Fleming James Bond collection.

 Mr. Croft and Mr. Bude(real name Ernest Carpenter Elmore) were crime writers in the early 1900s and it is interesting to compare how investigations were done in the old days, in books anyway.

Most of the books this year were murder mysteries/investigations and for the most part were set in Italy (17 of 39 by authors Donna Leon, Andrea Camilleri andAntonio Manzini). 

I believe I read Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene again this year, though I did not write it down. It may have been over the summer. If I did it will have been the 13th reading.

1.     Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman

2.     The Talent of Mr. Varge, Alexander McCall Smith (AMS)

3.     Drawing Conclusions, Donna Leon (DL), Inspector Guido Brunetti

4.     Full Dark House, Christopher Fowler, A Peculiar Crimes Unit Novel

5.     The Seagull, Ann Cleaves

6.     Falling in love, DL

7.     The Wings of the Sphinx, Andrea Camilleri (AC), Inspector Montalbano

8.     The Hog’s Back Mystery, Freeman Wills Croft, Inspector French

9.     Black Diamond, Martin Walker (MW)

10.  The Track of Sand, AC

11.  Trace Elements, DL

12.  Potters Field, AC

13.  The Devil’s Cave, MW

14.  Adams Rib, Antonio Manzini (AM), Inspector Rocco Schiavone, pot smoking inspector based on Inspector Montalbano

15.  Scarlet Fever, Rita Mae Brown, DNF

16.  Out of Season, AM

17.  Aunt Poldi and the Lost Madonna, Mario Giordano (MG)

18.  Dance of the Seagull, AC

19.  Upstream, Dan Heath

20.  Angela’s Smile, AC

21.  The Sussex Downs Murder, John Bude, 1930s novel

22.  Casino Royale, Ian Fleming (IF)

23.  Live and Let Die, IF

24.  Transience Destiny, DL

25.  A Voice in the Night, AC

26.  Moonraker, IF

27.  Pyramid of Mud, AC

28.  Death of Sea, AC

29.  Hello Everyone Again, Gail’s book

30.  The Overnight Kidnapping, AC

31.  Diamonds are Forever, IF

32.  The Resistance Man, MW

33.  From Russia with Love, IF

34.  We Took to the Woods, L. D. Rich, book from Allie

35.  Unexplained Deaths, Bruce Goldfarb, about Frances Glessner Lee (1878-1962) and her crime scene dioramas

36.  Sumo, David Benjamin

37.  Monsieur Pamplemousses, Michael Bond, first book in the series

38.  The Other End of the Line, AC

39.  Montalbano’s First Case and Other Stories, AC