100 things that made my year (2024)

In randomized order because the order I jotted them down clumped too many similar things together.

Eating cheese at the Guggisberg cheese factory

Sledding down the hill in Depew with Charlie during a snowstorm

Making hot sauce from the habaneros we grew

Making banana liqueur

Playing in the creeks in our woods with Charlie in all weather

Running into friends at the coffee shop, grocery store, on the subway, at restaurants, and at the park. In general, having a community of friends.

Visiting my family in Georgia, them getting to meet Charlie for the first time

Fixing the excavator toys at Depew

Making house falernum

Hearing the barred owls in our woods. Who cooks for you?

Meeting my best and oldest friend’s 18mo son, and having our sons meet

Picking and tasting wild muscadine grapes

A rare date night with Amanda during Christmas break

The Oklahoma Onion burger from Hamburger America

Hayden and Colin’s marriage celebration party

Learning how to turn bowls on the lathe, a goal of mine for five years

Hosting the Crisantes for Thanksgiving

Getting to see the joy on Charlie’s face as he got to steer an excavator and ride in a bulldozer

Traveling to the totality path to see the full solar eclipse

Many trips to the Cold Spring Tots Park

Cooking and eating dinner outside as often as possible

Learning how to tie flies

Turning more Christmas ornaments on the lathe

Going to the Bear Mountain Bridge: The First 100 Years documentary premiere

Visiting Colonial Homestead in Millersburg, Ohio

Rowing on the Hudson with Charlie

Trunk or Treat at Charlie’s daycare

Learning how to fish in the tenkara style

Book club with Chris and Jordan, discussing A Perfect Spy

Two solo flights with Charlie

Amanda making a cardboard ambulance that Charlie payed with in the living room for a week

Playing on the Peekskill soccer field with Charlie, kicking around an old ball we found

A New Year’s Day walk in the woods to distribute birdseed pinecones with Amanda and Charlie

The Garden Party and the Christmas Party at the Walls’

Vacationing in Groton Long Point with the Wasmer family

Fernando and his fiancee Gabriele visiting NYC and going to Double Chicken, Please with them.

Decorating the house for Christmas as a family

Looking at the moon and stars with Charlie whenever we can

Pizza dates with Charlie

Biking up and down the street with Charlie

Expanding the garden beds for a larger garden

Charlie catching his first fish, a little pumpkinseed

Charlie’s train adventure to Grand Central

Charlie pulling the air horn on a semi at the Touch a Truck event

Listening to Charlie talk about his day at school and his spooky stories

Serendipitously running into Colin at the Bleecker St subway station and commuting all the way back to Peekskill with him, two hours of nice chatting.

Making a tenkara spool on the lathe

Our garden’s abundance this year

Kayaking up Popolopen Creek with Jay and swimming in Hell Hole

Charlie serving us toy ice cream from his ice cream booth

Drawing with Charlie. In particular, drawing our own map of the park.

Building a sandbox in the backyard and playing in it with Charlie

Charlie playing really well with his cousin Nora at Christmas

Visiting the Stepping Stones Children’s Museum

Making pizza sauce for our tomatoes

Getting my lathe tool sharpening figured out

Trick or Treating with friends in Lake Peekskill

Bedtime books with Amanda and Charlie

Taking Charlie on his first camping trip with Grandma and Grandpa

Making rosin from pine sap I collected

Sketching fly pattern ideas

At work, moving into the lead role of the 51 engineering group

Swimming in the Rapids at Amicalola Creek

Charlie’s Hose Showers

Walking in the Groton Long Point Independence Day Parade

Redesigning this blog

The coffee plant in our living room producing coffee cherries

Charlie getting really into bath bombs (“Fancy bath”)

Apple picking at Fishkill Farms

Ice cream at the Blue Pig

Puttering with Charlie in the workshop

Cold Spring train trip with Jeremy, Miles, and Charlie

Charlie’s first back porch chiminea fire

Making dubbing wax blends with the rosin

Checking out bugs, snakes, toads, and frogs with Charlie

Laying on our backs on the porch as a family and looking at the clouds

Walking around Stony Point and visiting the lighthouse

Sandwich Fridays at Benny’s Brown Bag

Replacing the fence

Getting a Christmas tree from Emmet van Driesche in Massachusetts

Roasting a duck for a dinner party with the Walls

My father’s day bookmarks

Building the Little Free Library for Esther Place

Charlie’s backyard birthday party that turned into an inside party, but people still stuck around

Walks down by the river

Charlie asking to go on a bike ride in the rear seat on my bike that he wasn’t interested in before

Regular lunch dates with Amanda and prioritizing getting time together

Going to Jay’s reading at Stanza Books, and supporting friends in general

Playing with train tracks with Charlie in nearly every room in our house and the back porch

Catching wild brown trout at Amawalk and Boyd’s Corner on flies I tied myself

Making pikliz

Rebuilding the inside of my workshop to make it a nice, useable space. Insulated, added a heater, built a new bench, and added French cleats.

Setting up Amanda’s office and craft space in the basement

Building Charlie his own work bench and watching him use it

Amanda and Charlie baking together

Charlie wishing all of us a Merry Christmas individually

Adding in a sump and radon mitigation in the basement

Carbonating drinks with a CO2 tank

Making a baseball bat for Charlie on the lathe and seeing him have fun hitting it off of the tee

Early breakfast sandwich and coffee in Union Square Park

What I noticed about this list is that I am happiest when I’m making things or doing things with the people I love. More of that in 2025.

Other years: 2023, 2022, 2017