January 2026

Greetings and Happy 2026 to everyone! We wanted to share with you what we have been up to during this past year. As we look back on 2025, we are grateful for a year where we were able to continue enjoying our interests while at the same time spending time with our cherished family and friends.

Time spent with our extended family is always a high point for us. We had many visits with cousins, nieces, and nephews this year. We spent a wonderful and meaningful Thanksgiving at the home of our nephew and niece, and their kids, in New York state, continuing a tradition that has always been a special time for us. The company with our extended family was superb and the food was, of course, delicious! It is one of our favorite holidays.

We are so proud of Kayla, who navigated a year of big transitions. She moved to a new apartment in the Baltimore area to start a new job and to be closer to her boyfriend, Pat, who lives near her. We are happy to report that the new position is going very well. Her cats, Nova and Autumn, made the move with her and are settling into their new home. Kayla is working as a Supports Planner/Social Worker at a local agency there, servicing an intellectually disabled and elderly population.

Mindy has been as active and creative as ever. She continues to enjoy her regular Mahjong and Canasta games with friends, which are always a highlight of her week. In addition, she has been helping to coach at Mahjong workshops led by a friend of hers. Her passion for polymer clay has also reached a new milestone. While she still displays her work at local craft shows, she has expanded her pursuits to teaching, sharing her skills by leading classes for others interested in learning about the art and craft of working with polymer clay. And she also has been taking collage, watercolor, and Mandala painting classes at the local library. Mindy continues to private speech clients as well.

A major highlight for Mike this year was attending the 50th reunions for the two high schools he attended in the DC area. Both reunions ended up being the same weekend, so it was a busy few days. He served on the committee for one of them and enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and also making some new ones. Mindy was a good sport and came along, and in fact helped out at the main event. She got to meet some very nice folks as well.

While we were in DC, we visited the National Air and Space Museum “Annex,” next to Dulles Airport, where we saw the Space Shuttle Discovery, the Concorde supersonic jet, and the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, and many, many other artifacts. The SR-71, famously known as the “Blackbird,” is a legendary long-range, high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft. It remains one of the most iconic pieces of aviation engineering. But really the main reason for going there was to see the Space Shuttle, and it did not disappoint!

Another interesting and fun experience was taking a behind-the-scenes tour of a mostly robotic Amazon fulfillment center in northern New Jersey; it was impressive to see the scale of the facility (it is huge!) and that level of automation up close. Mike also attended the Vintage Computer Festival again this year. This event takes place in Wall, NJ, on the former site of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America. Mike and a friend heard talks from famous industry pioneers and explored exhibits of historical equipment. This festival is a combination of interesting and historical computer technology as well as plenty of tech nostalgia.

Musically, it was a year of both celebration and bittersweet goodbyes. Mike enjoyed a performance by the legendary Herb Alpert, which was an amazing concert, and he also attended the final performance of the famous Wanamaker/Macy’s pipe organ. The store was permanently closing, so various organists played a selection of wonderful pieces, making it a truly memorable and moving farewell to a historic and enormous instrument.

In addition to his other activities, Mike was often out with his drone, continuing to capture new perspectives through photography and video, and attending local meetups with fellow drone enthusiasts.

It was also a big year for sports and “uncle duties”. Mike took his twin nephews to several exciting “firsts,” including their first Philadelphia Flyers game and their first professional soccer match with the Philadelphia Union. The sports adventures didn’t stop there; Mike, his brother, and his sister-in-law took the twins to their first NASCAR race at the Pocono Raceway. Mike didn’t know much about the details of the sport, and once he was “educated” by his nephew, he understood it much better! It was a very fun day.