It was a busy year that started with lots of travels and then ended with lots of travails in the last quarter.
Good
- New Year's eve in London making pasta, UK, December 27 - January 3
- New to us Jaguar F-Pace, January
- TCM Film "20th Century" at the 92nd Street Y with Mary and Andrea
- Sophie's Bistro backroom cassoulet with G&D, February 15
- Planet Alignment with G&D
- MET with D&M, March 29
- Spring and Fall flower picking at Holland Ridge Farms
- Took the Trees New York class in May and passed the test. License came in July
- Cousins at The Mohlenhoff Institute, May 25
- Prague to Vienna Trek Bike Trip, June 5 - 13
- Munich Family visit, June 13 - 19
- Travis 4th of July Parade, Santa grilled reindeer sausages
- Warm weather bike rides
- Dinners from Keyport Fishery
- A few Conference House Park Pavilion visits
- 2025 Summer of Zinnias was better than 2024 Summer of Dahlias
- Oslo and Svalbard Expedition cruise, July15 - 30
- August Family visit, August 13, 17 to 26, both girls and the youngest one.
- August Cousins BBQ in Bogota, NJ
- Sophie's Bistro front room brunch with G&D, September 7
- Brits on the Beach at Ocean Grove with D&M, September 20
- Deutscher Club of Clark Club Oktoberfest with G&D, October 4
- Deutscher Club of Clark Christkindlmarkt with G&D, November 22
- Volunteered (16 times) at the Greenbelt Native Plant Center (GNPC), now renamed to Plant Ecology Center and Nursery (PECAN)
- Maintained the Lavender Trail at High Rock Park as a Super Steward Path Keeper, 12 visits. Performed Trail clearance, invasive plant removals and trash cleanup. Also helped build 2 puncheons on the white trail
- Helped prune trees along the New Springville Greenway (6/26) and closed trails at Wolfs Pond Park (9/6) with the NYCMTB bike club
- December Cousins gathering to mourn my sister's passing. Nice supportive gathering for a not very nice occasion.
- December Christmas Family visit. Munich and San Francisco contingents.
Not So Good
- Volvo XC90 broke down on the way to buy a replacement car
- Parade of Ships for Fleet Week was weak, 5/21
- People getting older requiring more care
- Chaos, chaos and more chaos from the current administration
- My sister's death, very not so good.
Projects and Fixes
- Finished basement sill insulation South East corner, January
- Replaced ball valve for outside water faucet, February
- Side shelf on a shelf for Go Bags storage, February
- Purple desk Lamp
- 2" trailer hitch on Subaru for bike rack, March
- side straps added to L.L. Bean pack for attaching poles or long handled tools
- Papier-mâché, Veber Grill for Santa in the 4th Of July Parade
- Dryer door hinge replacement, September
- Reset Fridge, had red error indicator, but no error code, October
- Fabricated brackets for BGE rotisserie, November
- Water Bottle Rocket Launch Platform, November
- External Washer Filter added for microplastics containment, November
- Reset washer, error code E04, new filter on discharge output was causing too much resistance and no water was getting pumped out, December
- Trapeze, December
Songs Learned
- All Right Now, Free, January
- Roxanne, Police, January
- Black Coffee, Julie London version, February
- California Dreaming, The Mamas and the Papas, March
- Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (bass), Traffic
- Psycho Killer (bass), Talking Heads
- Take Me To The River (bass), Talking heads
- Wild Horses, Rolling Stones
- Can't Put Your Arms Around a Melody, Johnny Thunders
- The Man Who Sold the World (Nirvana version), Bowie, April
- Changes (bass), Bowie
- Sunny, Bobby Hebb, July
- Black Magic Woman (bass), Santana
- Peg, Steely Dan, September
- Angie, Rolling Stones
- Papa Don't Take no Mess, James Brown, November
- Bad Company, Bad Company, November
