We have enjoyed our first full year at Trinity Club Apartments in Trinity, FL. They have events twice a month for socializing. It has been a relaxed way of acquainting ourselv es with the neighbors. They have food trucks come periodically. We have a routine that we enjoy, as I walk Collette, our standard poodle who is a year and a half now, go to the fitness center and exercise for about two hours, and I am usually reading or studying something. Suzanne, as you can imagine, does the shopping, cleaning, cooking, and care of the dog. We continue to eat healthy and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
We enjoy our coffee. Recent research suggests caffeine acts like a personal trainer for our cells, stressing them just enough to activate the same longevity pathways triggered by hitting the gym or cutting calories.
Other regular activities include the Famer’s Market in Trinity and Dunedin. We usually go to the Chapel at Trinity on Saturday night, and if Bill and Joyce come from Palm Harbor on Sunday morning we go with them. They also have a First Wednesday worship event that we usually attend. I have been part of the events team, which has been very enjoyable and keeps me very much on the edges, which is where I still want to be. I often help with communion and baptism set up or tear down. The church begins the year with three weeks of prayer and fasting.
Suzanne has added a young lady, Becky, with whom she walks regularly.
I continue a book study group that has kept challenging me. It keeps me reading theology and philosophy. I completed a study of the synoptic gospels and of the writings of John. The next part of the New Testament will be the writings of Paul.
I have added AI to my life through Grok. It has been helpful to check data and converse about ideas. it has also been a new thing to do in retirement, which I keep finding ways to do that.
I write notes to the children of David on their birthdays. My approach is to share a bit about what I was doing when I was their age.
Sofie died this year, and I hope you enjoy the reflections.
We needed a new television set in the Spring 2025. It was sudden that our old TV suddenly gave out, and we replaced it with a Samsung, recently adding a Firestick to it, where it seems to us the picture is better, and the navigation is definitely easier.
We enjoy our Jeep Wrangler and 2004 350z, which will be getting some repair work done early in the year.
We have started ending our day with about 20 minutes of news on YouTube and live performances of various musicians, but always ending with Rod Stewart, who has some songs that are just the kind of relaxation we need.
We continue to watch TV Shows and Movies. I hope you can see that we like a wide variety. Among the most liked are: Sound of Music, You (suspense, murder), How I Met Your Mother (funny and it ended well), Castle (perfect cop/romance), Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (civil war era), Upload (SyFy, fun), Dune Part 2, Law Abiding Citizen, The Infiltrator, Wednesday (fun Adams Family), Wicked (but I did not like the direction this seems headed), Adolescence, Reacher, Squid Game, Love & Death, Untamed, Happy Gilmore 2
With health matters, as people at 74 and 78, I want to share a brief note. As mentioned above, my physical health continues strong. I have told people that there are days when I would like to challenge my 40 year-old-self when it comes to weights and yoga, since I was only beginning in those years. Suzanne had one of those simple memory tests at the close of last year and could not remember any of the three words given her. I thought it was just her nerves. However, we have joked about how I often have to play charades to guess what she wants to say. Sometimes she gets angry if she cannot remember, but she usually makes a joke out of it. I share all this carefully, because it is of concern to us and I invite your prayers.
A high value for me continues to be my writing, the two books I have completed being on Amazon. Here are examples.
I appreciated this note about my book on Karl Barth, which I encourage you to purchase, if not for yourself, for your pastor: Mathias Junell Shout-out by the way to Marty Folsom: your books on dogmatics are incredible! The gifts that keep on giving! And George Plasterer: your discussion on Barth’s doctrine of redemption is very enlightening in trying to make sense of Barth's eschatology. 🙏🙏
I have continued with updating lectionary reflections, Epiphany would be a good place to start, and theological reflections: Philosophical MeditationsMetaphysical and Ontological Reflections and Reflecting on Postmodernism
