Monthly Archives: December 2023

2023 Wrap-up

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Watchtower on Cornish Coastal Path

2023 was a pretty good year for us. We were healthy most of the year, did a lot of walking/hiking and finally felt comfortable going back to the gym after an absence of over 3 years, trying to replace some body fat with muscle mass.

We travelled a fair amount. International destinations included Italy, Sicily, Malta, Cornwall/UK and Turkey. Domestic destinations included Savannah, Colorado Springs, St Augustine, Boston once, DC twice and Charlottesville twice.

Our immediate family continues to mature and prosper. Stephen and Tanja live near us in Central Florida. Matt and Stephanie are still in the DC area of Virginia and Danielle is in Central Virginia near the mountains. Leon is a teenager now and got taller than both of us this year. Julian is getting close to both of those milestones. Ben is 7 and Jack turned two in late December.

We are continuing at a reducing pace with our consulting activities, coordinating in-person events this year in Orlando in June and Bursa, Türkiye in November.

More detail of 2023 in the pages below.

John and Paula

Our Family 2023

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The family continues to mature and prosper. We didn’t manage to get everyone in the same place at the same time this year for a group picture, but we got to spend time with everybody both in Florida and Virginia.

Christmas in Winter Springs: John, Bill, Paula, Leon, Danielle, Julian, Tanja, Lee, Stephen
Matt, Stephanie, Ben and Jack in New Smyrna Beach, Florida
Danielle and Abby on the Monticello Trail in Virginia
With Leon and Julian at Blue Springs on the St. Johns River
Boys on the Beach in New Smyrna
Having fun with grandsons Jack and Ben

Visitors and Visits 2023

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We are always pleased to have visitors, and John’s cousin Kathy and her husband Roy were the first in 2023 to visit us in New Smyrna Beach in January.

Kathy and Roy at New Smyrna Beach

The OFD (Originally from Dorchester) Gang that Paula grew up with visited in May.

The OFD Gang at New Smyrna Beach

Yui, our friend from Japan, her husband Martin and their daughter Mia visited in July.

Martin, Mia and Yui at New Smyrna Beach

We visited Colorado Springs in February to share memories and family stories with John’s cousin Paula and her husband Frank. We also saw John’s cousin Terri and her husband Howard. Sadly, Colorado Paula passed away later in the Spring. We miss her.

Colorado Paula, John and Frank documenting family history in Colorado Springs

Other visits we made included Rotunda West to see Bill and Lee as well as March and August road-trips to Virginia. On the March road-trip we stopped in Wilmington to see Janet and Ben. While we were in the DC area in March we visited Mt. Vernon with Matt and his Army buddy Scott and Scott’s family.

And we visited Florida Paula’s cousins Leslie and Pam in Bristol, UK later in July.

Leslie, Paula and Pam in Bristol, UK