Winter was pretty mild this year. I think we only had about five snowstorms, and none of them were that epic. Being stuck indoors on a cold day was the perfect excuse for some baking, of course. Out and about, Judy continued to exhibit her art. This year, she showed her work at the Mahopac library, and this summer, she entered her decorated hat in the Garden Club summer show. Judy also tried her hand at horse riding, unfortunately without much success.

I've continued to work on my model railway, starting work on the terminus station, called Pinezance. But since April, I've kind of put that to one side and been working on a couple of computer projects with the help of AI. More on that in a future update, perhaps?

Sadly, our big project for the year was repairing our pool, the shed roof, the steps, and most importantly, the pool liner itself. All of these needed fixing after many years of wear and tear. The roofer says that the shed will now "outlast us all," so at least that's one thing that won't need fixing again.

At least the garden hasn't let us down. Despite not giving it the attention it deserved, it's repaid our prior years' efforts many times over with all the beautiful displays of flowers and trees. Climate change has, however, sadly continued to affect the wildlife. A couple of migratory butterflies were completely missing from the yard this year, in particular the large Monarch has vanished completely. They occupies 22% less over wintering space in Mexico compared to 2021, due to habitat destruction or modification. More on that here.

The smog from the Canadian wildfires has also been horrible. One day, the sky was almost brown, and the air was too foul to go outside. On the plus side, it's been quite wet and fairly cool, so air conditioning and watering requirements have been kept to a minimum.

This year was also one in which we all got cake for our birthday, even Gwyn! Judy celebrated one of those milestone birthdays, turning 21 again! Speaking of milestones, this fall, on Veterans Day, is our 20th anniversary of meeting. You can bet we'll think of some way to celebrate that!

Baking

Art Shows

Flower Show

Horsing Around

Pinezance

Pool Construction

The Garden

Judy's Birthday

Gwyn's Birthday

Dan's Birthday