2025 Recap

 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 

• Super Steward NYC Parks
• Natural Areas Conservancy Path Keeper 

• 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

1. All Right Now, Free, January
2. Roxanne, Police, January
3. Black Coffee, Julie London version, February
4. California Dreaming, The Mamas and the Papas, March
5. Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (bass), Traffic
6. Psycho Killer (bass), Talking Heads 
7. Take Me To The River (bass), Talking heads
8. Wild Horses, Rolling Stones
9. Can't Put Your Arms Around a Melody, Johnny Thunders 
10. The Man Who Sold the World (Nirvana version), Bowie, April
11. Changes (bass), Bowie
12. Sunny, Bobby Hebb, July
13. Black Magic Woman (bass), Santana
14. Peg, Steely Dan, September
15. Angie, Rolling Stones
16. Papa Don't Take no Mess, James Brown, November
17. Bad Company, Bad Company, November