December 2025
Volume 32
Dale and Cindy reach new heights
Make room for Hazel
After Cindy had knee replacement surgery in January, the doctor told her that she would need to exercise her knee for it to heal. As everyone knows, knees get lots of exercise from mountain climbing, so we went on a trip to the Alps in May. In Salzburg, Austria we visited a fortress, visited the church where Mozart was baptized and later played the organ, and did the Sound of Music bike tour. We even kissed at the Gazebo where Liesl and Rolf kissed—which is very useful in knee recovery. From Austria, we headed to the In our Austrian clothes Dolomite mountain range in Italy. On the steps where they The nice thing about mountain-climbing in the Alps is sing Do-Re-Mi in the that they have cable-cars and gondolas to take you high Sound of Music into the mountains. Another nice thing in the Italian Alps is that they serve Italian food in the towns and have old churches to visit, both good for the knees. Our next stop was in the Bavarian region of Germany. The Germans provide a cable car all the way up their highest mountain which is called the Zugspitze. This is good because the Alps are really steep mountains. Our next stop was the Swiss Alps. We stayed in the village of Lauterbrun- In the Italian Alps nen, which is in a valley that has 72 waterfalls. Ten of the waterfalls are inside a mountain. We On the Zugspitze had to go in caves to see them. The Swiss people have lots of cows and cheese, and are known for their strong knees. The final “leg” of our tour took us to Chamonix, France where we got to go inside a glacier and on top of a 12,605 foot tall mountain called the Aiguille du Midi (or Eye of the Needle). Thank goodness for cable cars! The Alps are so steep that the Alpinists, as they call the mountain climbers there, need all sorts of ropes and special shoes and harnesses to climb the ice and snow covered mountains. Tightrope in Swiss Alps
Hazel Nicole McGuinn was born on October 20. Riki had been scheduled for a Caesarian at 10 a.m. on that date, but they called her at 5 a.m. asking where she was. They had changed the scheduled time the day before, but had forgotten to tell Riki and Marcus. Cindy and Dale rushed over to pick up Asa to get him fed and to school, and Riki and Marcus rushed to the hospital. On the good side, Riki didn’t have to wait long to get to the delivery room. Hazel came into the world at 8:38 a.m., 8 lbs. 13.7 oz, and 21.5 inches. High speed delivery Marcus teaches Government at Hickman High here in Columbia, and Riki is still bio -engineering at Environmental Dynamics. In addition to teaching,
Inside a glacier
Miscellaneous notes
• Cindy still volunteers regularly with the Como Mobile Aid Collective. Once
a week, after helping prepare the food, she loads up the car and drives around town passing out lunches to the unhoused. • Cindy read 25 books this year. Dale only read 17. • Dale harvested 473 pounds of vegetables this year. A wet spring helped produce 15 pounds of chanterelle mushrooms, 18 pounds of chicken of the woods mushrooms, and 36 pounds of blackberries and raspberries. Amazingly, Dale also got 42 pounds of cherry tomatoes from just two plants. • Cindy was lucky again this year to win True/False (documentary) Film Festival passes. This year, we started using the Letterbox App to keep track the films we watch. Dale has watched 70 films so far this year, Cindy 57. • Dale didn’t lose any major body parts this year, but did lose two teeth. They were getting loose in the sockets because there just wasn’t enough bone to hold them in tightly. The dentist yanked them out easily.
Asa, Marcus, Riki, & Hazel
Marcus is also taking classes to complete the James Madison Fellowship program that he started in 2023. He will finish in August. It will be his 2nd Masters Degree, his first in History and Political Science. Asa had to start a new pre-school Hazel in September because his old one was closing down. He did really well getting used to the new school. In addition to becoming a big brother, Asa has started learning video game skills from his Dad and is getting better and better. He also learned to ride a balance bike and is taking swim lessons. Asa can cast a fishing lure really far now, but he doesn’t like using a lure with hooks. Riki, Marcus, and Asa traveled to Omaha in February to see the art museum, the children’s museum, and the zoo. It was super cold at the zoo, but 4½ yr old speedster they had the indoor exhibits all to themselves. The fruit bats and pygmy hippos were great. In summer they traveled up to Door County and Madison, WI where they saw lots of lighthouses. At zoo in Omaha
More miscellaneous notes
The journey within
• In February, Richard Fuerst, one of Dale and Cindy’s oldest friends died.
The longest journey in anyone’s life is their journey to selfdiscovery. Dylan took a significant step in their life journey this year with a name change to Meadow and with becoming more open about their gender transition. Some things change, but many things remain the same. Meadow, as usual, is still involved in a plethora of activities. She again created two paintings for the Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge benefit this year. They auctioned off for $525 and With sweater she knit $400. Not bad for a nonprofessional. Technically, however, she is no longer a nonprofessional. She recently sold one of her paintings for $160, and has a website where she showcases paintings she has for sale. Check out meadows.world for a look. In addition to painting, Meadow plays piano and guitar, weaves, and knits. This is the first year she knitted something with yarn she herself dyed—the green shirt in the photo. In July, Meadow volunteered to help with the cleanup after the flooding in Chapel Hill, NC. She is also involved in other charitable and political activities. She helped organize Carrboro, North Carolina’s “Really, Really Free Market.” And she also started helping organize the Durham, NC Trans Women Picnic and made a website for it. Helping with flood recovery Meadow still works as an Information Technology Business Intelligence and Data Analyst for the Registrar’s Office at the University of North Carolina. We are proud to have 3 daughters in STEM fields.
Dale and Richard shared an apartment in college and, later, a house in Colorado. We were lucky to have a brief reunion with him and other college friends in 2024. Then in September Jan Bell, Cindy’s step-mom, passed away after several months in hospice care. • In August, Cindy attended the 50 year Kenmore High School reunion in Akron, Ohio. Unlike Cindy, many of her classmates have actually gotten older than 39. We also visited Jeff and Jo Ann Bell, and got to see Nathan Bell and Jan Bell. We enjoyed a 50 year reunion w/ Neva Hornbeck visit to the historic Hale Farm and Village with Jeff and Jo. • While in Ohio, we stopped by Cincinnati to visit Dale’s brother Ray and his family. While there we got to visit Loveland Castle With Ray & Beth Muckerman which, believe it or not, is 1 of 3 medieval style castles in Cincinnati. • Cindy and Dale have been to 28 of the National Parks in the past, and were lucky enough to visit two more—Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and Redwoods National Park in California. We reserved a Toyota Camry months in advance, but Avis gave us a giAt Crater Lake gantic Jeep Grand Cherokee. We had hoped to drive through one of the few remaining drivethru Redwood trees, but the width of the drivethru area was only 7 inches wider than the Grand Cherokee. Dale wouldn’t chance it, but Cindy was brave enough to try—and she succeeded! While in Oregon, we got to visit one of our old friends from Boulder, CO, Jenny Cole Flood, and her husband Bernie. 3.5 inches on each side
Boldly going in new directions Julie is in her second year of a Speech-Language Pathology master’s degree program while continuing to work fulltime as a training specialist at the Thompson Center for Autism. She completed her first clinical practicum at the Thompson Center, proudly reporting she made only one child cry. She’s now doing a practicum at Boone Hospital, working directly with adult patients. A few have told her she’s doing great, but she takes their compliments with a grain of salt since she’s the one assessing their cognitive skills. Tyler also made significant strides this year. He started a job as a loan coordinator at Veterans United, a mortgage lender specializing in VA home loans. The first four months were devoted entirely to training. The job comes with unexpected perks like employee groups dedicated to beekeeping or to an obscure Canadian game called crokinole, and free beer on tap every Friday afternoon. Tyler was retested for a seafood allergy he’s had since childhood, and it turns out he’s outgrown it. This opened the door for an enthusiastic rediscovery of seafood during their travels. Julie This year brought the loss of Julie’s longtime pet rabbit, Frankie, who passed away at age 13. He was a social, confident bunny with a love for bananas and face rubs. Julie will miss his soft fur, his habit of eating hay like spaghetti, Tyler and the way he used to race around the yard. All work and no play would never suit them. Julie and Tyler continue enjoying regular game nights with several groups of friends and still love cooking together. Their house kept them entertained too, whether it was discovering a mushroom growing out of the siding or taking their cat to the hospital after he snuck a cup of pork fat. They also traveled this year. Julie had work trips to New York City for a Broadway show, and Mesa, AZ to tour a Boeing Apache helicopter plant--both, of course, extremely grueling assignments. In November, they celebrated their five-year wedding anniversary with a trip to Japan. Despite sharing the country with what felt like every other tourist on the planet, they explored temples, fish markets, and stunning red maple scenery. They enjoyed the RIP Frankie Visiting Japan generous hospitality Japan is famous for.