Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
Years start the same: "Now what?" Hard to say, so I looked to 2024 diaries to see how our most recent year went.
Health was complicated, from clearing cancer, COVID, back pain, Shingles, a broken elbow, and pacemaker service. We hope none of these repeat.
Travel included two National Parks, a National Wildlife Refuge, a ghost town, Jack London's ranch and an active Trotter farm. Of course there were family visits in Monterey, Los Gatos, Colorado, and Maryland. Plus a week doing Washington, DC attractions. Then there were friends in Virginia and in Sonora. Nothing European, but still interesting. Marianne is set on 2025 including a big Europe trip. I'm anxious about the excursion. In addition, we probably should do a few local trips, but where??
Home things filled in the between times, with Marianne's art, my garden work and flower photos, a dozen or two puzzles, chef-prepared meals, at home and out. And YouTube distractions (Iceland, Tesla, Ukraine, space launches, and a little news) Holidays came and went, mostly celebrated with Cambridge Avenue neighbors. And we worried about national and world events. I expect this will all repeat.
So, the 2025 plan: monitor health, travel a little and a lot, and fill in the rest of the time as usual. Good enough.
So, how did the first week of this plan go? No health developments or concerns. That's good.
Home events included cinnamon role breakfast on New Years Day and yet another chef-prepared dinner. Thanks Mrs. Chef!
Later in the week, I enjoyed some geezer time. First was a lunch with five guys who have adopted that term for their more-or-less-monthly lunches. It was a fun bunch, with only little age and health discussion, always a risk with my contemporaries. And political discussion was almost absent, even though one requirement for joining this group is a left lean.
My normal Cambridge Avenue activities include chats with Vern, the street's patriarch. Almost a year ago, he fell and broke a shoulder. It seemed at the time that he would never be very mobile again, but now he walks me home after our visits, at least halfway. That recovery at age 96, and the fact that his conversations remain interesting, is very encouraging. We all need models for aging.
Otherwise, normal activity includes art time for Marianne while I keep semi-busy redoing puzzles. (This particularly challenging one I had first done about this time in 2024. Years do repeat.)
My cameras had no shots of gardening or flowers, so I guess that hasn't happened. Nowadays, the only things I know for sure have happened are events with photo evidence. I have to remember to snap anything I want to remember. How about you?
No travel except via YouTube and Isak Finnbogason's virtual tour of Iceland's Westfjords and the village of Flateyri. Over the past year or two, I have been fascinated by Isak's video's of the country's newest volcanoes, but this was a little different. He took his drones off to the western coast on a sunny winter day, or as sunny as they come in Iceland. His flights over the rocky ridges towering over the fjords were as skillful as I have ever seen and his visual tour of the small fishing village of Flateryri was charming. (The berms were built a few years ago to protect against avalanches, after snow from the neighboring mountain valley had roared in and killed twenty townsfolk.)
I am writing this on January 6, remembering the day four years ago when the MAGA crowd fomented a revolution. It is discouraging that, in the end, the violence was rewarded with a reelection. We need to expand Canada, eh?
That was Week #1 for 2025. No plans for Week #2 ( or #3, #4, etc.)
Stay tuned.
John and Marianne