How to fill time in retirement

 I am happy to report that I completed the goals I sent for 2025 related to dining. In the past few years I was too focused on going to new places, and not returning to the places I really liked. So for 2025 (and probably 2026), I set the goal to eat at 12 New places and also to eat at 52 different places. I  did both. Before I go into the details of my dining experiences in 2025, I want to report that Taco City on A1A in south Cocoa Beach has closed the restaurant that has been there since 1980. I stopped and took this shot of the sign at the current location, but it was already closed. I did not eat there in 2025. I did eat tacos out nine different times. I went looking for some pictures of Taco City and found this one from 2002. Here are Barbara, Eric, Nancie, hidden person, BJ, Nancy and Allan. This team was working on a War Simulator project in Orlando. I think I treated them to lunch at Taco City. I see no beers so I assume it was a working lunch. Taco City was one of my...

 I had set my yearly book goal at 40 books this year. I should have known better . I just finished #35 and there are only two weeks left in the year. I don't think I am going to read 5 more books. Maybe two! Here is the latest five books I have read. All were greater than 400 pages.   I should have known better . The Day of the Jackal (#31) Written by Frederick Forsyth; published in 1971; 432 pages; BJ Score 3.0 (Great) This was another book on sale at B&N. I have read Forsyth before but not sure about this classic. It was a wonderful read and also let me brush up some on my French. When I started to read it, I was mistakenly thinking it was made into a movie with Robert Redford. Nope, that was Three Days of the Condor. This book was great and was about a plan to assassinate France's President Charles De Gaulle. The Widow (#32) Written by John Grisham; published in 2025; 416 pages; BJ Score 3.5 (Great to Excellent) Just like clockwork, every year there is ano...

 I will admit, that my digital hoarding has become such that I cannot remember any more the details of each photo I have stashed away on my hard drive. At my age, my data storage (aka brain) is deleting things to make room for new things. So let me go through another group of photos, not taken by me but either sent to me, scanned from a hard copy, or just pulled off the internet including from Facebook. Here we go, let us start with a few personal photos I have saved. Personal I actually found this photo in my sister Pat's yearbook and scanned it in. This was the Junior Miss pageant held at Middlebury Union High School. Patsy is sitting second from right, next to neighbor and friend Trudy. Well, I'll be damned, this is a photo I took. My friend Mac Monroe is pulling out some wine. His children rented a house for Thanksgiving and invited me over for the festivities. This would be the last time I see Mac as he passed within a year of this photo. My friend Nancy went to Korea with...