2025 has been quite a ride and it will soon end. The year, at any rate. The ride, perhaps not.
My divorce is likely the biggest event of the year for me. But 2025 has been more, much more, than just the beginning to the legal end of my marriage. Several people have entered or re-entered my life since being served papers. I found myself in the company of people that I would never have thought I'd be spending time with and have experienced quite a bit this year that was new and/or unexpected.
There were countless final things done with my wife and first times without her. Traditions were laid to rest and new ones born. Many new places, many new people. Some adventure was had in the UK, majesty in Concord.
A modest look back at 2025 in pictures.
HONK! was fantastic and Boston has become an annual trip for me. I love this Trump's Cthulhuy coif.
A most unexpected find on a hike.
Thanksgiving this year was the first in 20 years or so that I didn't spend with my wife. Instead I spent the day at the homes of two kind and generous people. At one I got to see Piper's brother, Gibson.
While there I sampled a luscious mango turmeric ginger tart. Or was it a torte?
It was simply delicious and I befriended its maker. I now have someone to visit should I find myself in Evanston.
2025 was the year I attended my first Chicago International Puppet Festival. It was fantastic!
Back in October I moved out of our marital residence and over to Eken Park where I found that one of my neighbors was rather fond of Halloween.
My wife and I visited the Northside Lounge. Despite some awkward moments, we managed to have a decent time. I like the contrast in this rather spare photograph.
Our last trip together was to Milwaukee in May where we caught both nights of The Magnetic Fields. It was also the last time that we managed to spend any significant time together in something resembling harmony.
I made multiple trips to the lovely Morton Forest, a real treasure.
In a seemingly never ending parade of attempts to spend as little time at home as possible, I finally made a visit to The Cat's Brew.
My friend who lives just a couple blocks away has a neighbor with this wonderful greenhouse.
It's been great living so close to this friend as we now see each other fairly frequently and Piper has a new caretaker for times when I am out of town.
My trip to Boston saw me visit Walden Pond where I experienced the sublime.
While in England, I ran into this statue of Lucifer rather cunningly placed just outside the Ozzy Osbourne exhibit.
The same museum also had a really cool exhibit about disabled people of color.
At another museum I got to stand before a steam engine from 1799 that was designed and/or built by James Watt himself. A piece of the Industrial Revolution that transformed the world. It still works. Amazing!
There were some nice pubs over in the UK.
Inside the Craven Arms looked like Sherlock Holmes' drawing room.
While I continue to get used to my new digs and still need to buy bookshelves, I do not miss my wife's clutter which occupied so much of our home.
Earlier this month I made a return trip to the Christkindlmarkt in downtown Chicago.
I may have a marzipan addiction.
Chicago TARDIS was a blast again this year. My wife and I began attending in 2009 and, although she stopped going last year, it was this year that made me really feel like the tradition that we built together was truly over and now I had to make my own.
And so I have. I now meet my mother and a cousin at a nearby Greek restaurant. Making a visit at the Qamaria coffeehouse threatened to become a tradition but, since they opened an outpost here in Madison, I'll be going to the other Yemeni coffee place in Lombard.
I attended a panel hosted by the indelible Tony Whitt.
A gentleman and a scholar, Tony is the master of all things Target Novelizations. He approached me at another panel discussion to say thanks for attending his and chat for a bit.
My downstairs neighbor has a dog whom I caught staring at me one day.
My neighbor is a nice lady. She waves when either of us drive by the other. If the aromas from her kitchen are any indicator, she's also a fine cook. I am still getting acclimated to having downstairs neighbors as it has been a while since I've had any. But, if I am to have one, she is a good choice.
2025 may have marked the second anniversary of Grabby's death but she's never too far from my thoughts.
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