2024 Recap

 On the whole retirement is going really well. I have a weekday schedule that includes exercise, financial education and reading. I'm not adverse to taking an afternoon nap and enjoy puttering out in the yard or down the basement. Always have something to do and always planning the next trip.

Good:

• Poughkeepsie CIA trips January and June (40th Anniversary)
  
• January Cassoulet at Westtown Fare and Restaurant in NY
  
• Cousins over (2/18 and 5/26)
• A new roof in April excellently installed
  
• May Trek Travel Bike Tour through the Loire Valley
• May Trip Extension to Munich to see family
• Daughter and Granddaughter 2 week May US visit (Zoo, Children's museum, bubbles and cousins) 
• Multiple Conference House Pavilion outings
• New Bikes, Trek 29ER Marlin Gen 4 with disc brakes and a Verve 3
  
• Summer and Fall Biking Mondays, New Springville Greenway, Fort Wadsworth to Cedar Grove paths and Bloomingdale Park.
  
• August San Francisco trip to see The Young One.
  
• Sumo tournaments
• Le Tour in July
  
• Snug Harbor Pruning lecture
  
• Greenbelt Native Plant Center volunteering (5/19, 6/18, 8/3, 10/2, 11/6, 11/14, 12/6, 12/10)
  
• Outings with friends to NYC to see elephants, The MET, Blue SI, Brick Farm NJ
  
• Fabulous 11 day trip to Iceland in October.
• Whole family home for Thanksgiving
  
• Spur of the moment New Years trip to London
• Read 53 books
• Watched all 53 Rupert Davies, 1960s Inspector Maigret BBC TV series.
  

Not So Good:

• PT in Q1
• Summer of Dahlia, a big disappointment, poor flower blooms (Pacific Jewel, Genova, American Pie) and bugs
  
• Iceland Northern Lights viewed with the naked eye, not as vivid as seen years ago in Alaska
  
• Phil Liggett retires from Cycling commentating
• new gutters, disappointing installation quality

Downright Evil: 

• People voting for a Celebrity President again
  
• Project 2025

Projects and Fixes

• 19" rack shelves for 2 bins of misc "I could do something with this" stuff
• repaired Sponge Bob clock
• repaired freezer door latch
• installed 5 new ethernet security cameras (wires inside walls) prior to new roof install
• Basement wall crack fixed, no longer leaking
  
• made Subaru bike carrier brackets
• Window insert for Portable AC in Nook window
   
• Solder repair for Patrice's copper birdbath
   
• Shortened new bike handlebars from 29" to 27"
   
• Hardware Cloth gutter guards
   
• Food Vacuum sealer tubing repair
• Collar ties and sistered rafter ties added to garage, one at front and one at back
   
• Sign stand for Santa on Vacation sign
  
  
  
  

2024 Books Read

 Most books read in a year, second most was in 2020.

 Murder in old Bombay by Nev March started in 2023, finished in 2024 so I won't count it here.

1. Oranges and Lemons, Christopher Fowler, Peculiar Crimes Unit book #20
2. Murder on the Links, Agatha Christie
3. Black Run, Antonio Manzini, Italian Alps and Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone.
4. Man with the Silver Saab, Alexander McCall Smith
5. Marked Man, Archer Mayor, Vermont Bureau of Investigation agent Joe Gunther 
6. Devil's Delight, M.C. Beaton 
7.  The Benson Murder Case, Philo Dough
8. Night Train to Lisbon, Pascal Mercier, strange and interesting, 2 stories in one. Third reading.
   
9. The Raging Storm, Anne Cleeves
10. The Old Knives,  Olen Steinhauer
11. Vendetta, Michael Dibdin (MD) Reread the Zen series this year
12. Bruno's Challenge, Martin Walker
13. Full Circle, Andrew Smith, A Doctor Who story, reread
    
14. The Face of Evil, Terrance Dicks, A Doctor Who story, reread
    
15. Dead Lagoon, MD
16. Monsieur Pamplemouse Afloat, Michael Bond (MB)
    
17. Martin Walker Short stories, just so so.
    
18. Antidote to Venom, Freeman Wills Croft
19. Cosi Fan Tutti, MD
20. A Long Finish, MD
21. And Then You Die, MD
22. Blood Rain, MD
23. Medusa, MD
24. Back to Bologna, MD
25. End Games, MD
26. Maigret's Pipe, Georges Simenon (GS)
27. Frozen Assets, Quintin Bates, Icelandic Detective Story
28. A Rich Full Death, MD, Not in the Zen series
29. Ramones, Carl Cafarelli
30. District VIII, Adam Lebor, Budapest murder mystery
31. Do Polar Bears get Lonely, New Scientist book, DNF
    
32. Saints of the Shadow Bible, Ian Rankin (IR), Inspector Rebus
    
33. Knots and Crosses, IR 
34. Mortal Causes, IR 
35. The Naming of the Dead, IR 
36. Maigret Enjoys himself, GS 
37. Maigret in Vichy, GS
38. Mr. Pamplemouse on Probation, MB 
39. Still Life, Louise Penny (LP), Three Pines mysteries 
40. A Fatal Grace, LP 
41. The Cruelest Month, LP
42. A Rule Against Murder, LP
43. And Then Came Paulette, Barbara Constantine
44. The Hangman, LP
45. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien, read in Iceland
46. Maigret Travels, GS
47. Pietr the Lett, GS 
48. The Brutal Telling, LP
49. A Christmas Resolution, Anne Perry
50. Deck the Donuts, Ginger Bolton, too wordy
51. Bury your Dead, LP Takes place partly in Quebec City and made me want to visit.
    
52. Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien, Slower read than "The Hobbit", got tired of reading it towards the end. Highly unlikely that I will move on to the next in the series.
    
53. A Trick of the Light, LP