Oct
October turned out to be a month of travel. Eileen went to California to spend about 2 months with our oldest child, Day Anna Welch, to be her aide before and after a major surgery. Bruce travelled to Potsdam, Germany, as Secretary of Open Source Matters, the parent company of the Joomla! Content Management System, on which this very website is built. Details and photos to follow.
We made sure to visit Rachel before embarking on these trips. During this trip, the westbound tube of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) was being repaved, so we have to take US-460 instead of I-64 back to I-95 to get home. On the way, we stopped at the tourist attraction Virginia Diner, made famous when it appeared with Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network.
Sep
Bruce did the Great Rock Creek Capital Crescent Trail ride with E-bike Lovers of DC.
And, of course, we did the annual Girls Birthday Dinner with our friends the Colbys and Levines, this time at Trio Grill in Merrifield.
Eileen also really got into making sourdough focaccia, which her foodie friends literally "ate up".
Aug
Bruce took his annual trip to Indiana the first week of August. He first stopped in Cincinnati to visit his cousin, Steve, who he hadn't seen since 2021 (at Bruce's father's memorial ceremony in Troy, OH). Next, he spent 3 days in Connersville, where he delivered an antique dresser, made there in the early 1900's, to the Historic Connersville Museum. It will take them some time to restore the dresser, after which it will either be displayed in the museum or in the Canal House. The day after Bruce left for Fort Wayne, Central Indiana received record amounts of rainfall, causing the Whitewater River to significantly overflow its banks, flooding nearly the entire east side of Connersville, among other areas. Several small towns across Central Indiana were equally affected or worse.
Jul
Bruce and Eileen were lucky enough to get tickets for them and Andrew to see Lindsey Stirling at Wolf Trap, undoubtedly THE concert experience of the year and perhaps their lifetimes.
Eileen traveled to Finland to visit her brother. Bruce was not invited. Hmm...
Jun
Bruce turned 70 this month. Whoop-de-doo.
Bruce and Eileen went to see Orville Peck at Wolf Trap. Though they aren't avid country music lovers, it was a truly exceptional concert. Opening acts were August Ponthier and Kaitlin Butts, both were quite enjoyable. Later in the month, they saw St. Vincent perform at Wolf Trap with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), which lost its "permanent" home at the Kennedy Center when Trump planned its closing for 2 years, a decision that since has been re-evaluated.
Eileen participated with PFLAG in the DC Pride parade and festival. Bruce suffered some nasty contusions to both of his legs when the Archives Metro escalator tried to eat him alive on his way to meet Eileen for dinner at the end of the festival there!
May
Wow, getting back to this a bit sluggishly. Too many irons in the fire with my new position as Open Source Matters (OSM) Secretary.
As of May 8th, this website has all the photos in our library that date all the way back to 1993, the earliest time we have digital or digitized photos. So head over to the Photo Gallery to see a lot of photos I'm pretty sure you haven't seen before. Until this month, nothing prior to 2006 other than our house had photos here. You have a lot to catch up with!
Still waiting for Eileen to send me her photos for this year so far.
Apr
Bruce continued e-biking when weather kept it from being unpleasant (wet and/or chilly). Still plenty of nice days, also. The ride to start his season was the Fletcher's Boathouse ride, organized by E-Bike Lovers DC, MD, VA.
Eileen and Bruce went to Greenhill Winery (Middleburg, VA) as guests of their neighbors, the Kellmans. We had to back-off of the wine club memberships and start drinking more of it. I mean, isn't that one of the best parts of retirement?
Eileen really started getting into making sourdough bread. A friend of ours, Justė Židelytė, co-owner of the Maple Ave restaurant in Vienna, VA, gave Eileen some sourdough starter since, as her restaurant's premier chef, she knows good bread. It took a few bakes and alternative recipes for maintaining starter for Eileen to proclaim she made a perfect loaf. I thought even the first one was pretty perfect.
Eileen's Hicksville High School class began organizing its 50-year reunion and Eileen is on their committee. Bruce really enjoys being on his class' reunion committee, so he's glad to see her involved. Too bad (not really) they don't want a website like the one Bruce created many years ago for his HS class. It's a huge help, and it keeps everyone updated with whatever news classmates feel like sharing. Mostly, though, it is sadly almost all obituaryies.
Mar
With the warm weather, e-biking season is upon us (well, me anyways). Bruce takes the early 20-milers as season warm-up.
Eileen and Bruce went to Napa, CA, for a visit with Day and some "winerying." Hung out. Click here to see more photos of the Far Niente winery.
Then visited several small venues in the area, including several Hall sites (we are members). Also went on a group hot air balloon ride over the Napa Valley. That was a great way to start a day (at 6:00am). Click here to see more photos of the balloon ride.
They also went to see Rick Steves at GMU narrating a slideshow to the Fairfax City Symphony Orchestra. Great show! The video here shows Rick signing autographs in the lobby of the George Mason University Center for the Arts.
Bruce began his role as OSM Secretary on the 24th. He is now curating 8 Joomla sites he created and uses several others belonging to OSM to get the job done.
Eileen and Bruce visited Rachel. A short visit, but it's always wonderful to see her and dote on her. She's doing spectacularly!
Feb
Bruce is still on the Joomla! documentation team, but not contributing much other than opinion in biweekly meetings.
With the Architectural Review Committee changing of the guard, so to speak, Bruce's 2024 concept to create an online change request via the HOA website was suddenly back in the HOA's "to-do" column. It took several weeks to revive the old project and began the busiest non-work "work" period since he retired.
Bruce's friend from Connersville, Joe Minnerick, was elected president of the Historical Connersville, Inc. organization. Joe reached out to Bruce likely due to something he said on Facebook or in one of the group chats he's in; he asked if Bruce could create a website for the organization. They already had one, but maintenance of it became unsupported/able. Of course, Bruce stepped in to help a friend. Basically, it's just a re-rendering of the same design as their GoDaddy site, but with much finer control of everything and much lower cost. Click here to see more photos of the dresser.
Jan
Happy New Year!
Bruce has been officially retired for just over a year (Jan 2, 2025).
Bruce got involved with Fairfax Tree Rescuers (a.k.a. FairfaxPRISM) as their web developer.
We seem to have started to de-clutter, hopefully in earnest and for the long term.