Greetings and Happy New Year to all!
2025 was another busy year for us, including a major trip, and more than a few challenges.
The year started well, as we celebrated Kathleen’s 71st birthday in January with a long weekend trip to Bisbee, AZ., in the southeastern part of the state. The main attraction of the weekend was to see the sandhill cranes at Whitewater Draw Wildlife Refuge Area. Tens of thousands of these magnificent birds winter here. The best time to see them take flight from their night’s rest is at dawn, when the temperatures dip into the teens. It was a spectacular sight! We also enjoyed a wine tasting at a local vineyard, visiting a couple of breweries in Bisbee, and hikes in the Chiracahua Hills and the nearby San Pedro River.
Kathleen’s typical yearly swim/bike/run goals hit a wall:
Kathleen’s right hip pain that started at the end of 2024 increased, following one of her most active years (good thing some of those bucket list races are now checked off!). An MRI showed arthritis (runs in the family), loss of cartilage in the joint, as well as labrum degeneration (she doesn’t want to hear the “it sucks getting old” because this stuff even happens to young people). Since at that point her doctors weren’t suggesting hip replacement, she decided to do alternative treatments: Platelet Rich Plasma and Stem Cell injections (details in another post), which unfortunately were not successful. So, after much research by both of us, Kathleen scheduled hip replacement surgery for early March 2026 with Dr. Shane Martin, the director of The Joint Replacement Center of Scottsdale. She’ll continue prehabilitation exercises to better prepare her for surgery and, hopefully, ensure a faster recovery.
30+ year old house, so now what needs to be fixed?
Our washing machine broke at the end of December 2024, and it took until March to get it replaced because our (now) former homeowner’s insurance did nothing to help fix it, so we ended up buying one at Costco. Yeah, weekly trips to a laundromat in Catalina wasn’t high on Kathleen’s list of to-do’s, but, fortunately, it was convenient to where she does Flow Collection on the Cañada del Oro riverbed as a volunteer for Tucson’s Watershed Management Group…so, not all bad.
Kathleen’s volunteer work with the Arizona Trail Association
Kathleen has continued her role as a volunteer for the ATA, serving as the regional steward for Passages 4-6, a 50 mile section of the Arizona Trail located in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson. As a volunteer, Kathleen participates in numerous community outreach events, attends workshops to learn new skills, and leads ongoing trail maintenance and construction events (some of which Alastair joins). One of the ATAs current efforts is to remove the Arizona Trail from dirt roads in the Santa Ritas. So far we have built over 3 miles of new trail, and anticipate finishing all 11 miles of trail construction in the Spring of 2026!
A Career Memory for Kathleen
The majority of Kathleen’s career was in the computer gaming industry (shock, right?! …Alastair is the REAL gamer in the family). She started in 1990 as a freelance artist with a start up in Virginia, Legend Entertainment. Within a few years, Legend founder Mike Verdu entrusted her with multiple roles in his game, Mission Critical, which released November 1995. Kathleen served as storyboard artist, full motion video producer, wardrobe and set designer, and both on-camera and voice actor casting director and audio producer. The game earned several awards, including Best Introduction and Adventure Game of the Year from Computer Game Review. PC Gamer said, “The opening sequence, featuring actor Michael Dorn as Captain Dayna, is one of the most powerful and arresting set-up scenes ever created for a sci-fi adventure game.”
Orienteering
Alastair continues to get more involved in orienteering as a hobby, taking part in a dozen events, including Phoenix and San Diego, but still considers himself a beginner. The Tucson club is friendly and hosts regular events, some of which he volunteers for.
Travel
Our major trip of the year was 5 weeks in the fall (details in a separate post).
We first visited Kathleen’s family in Ohio, then flew to Edinburgh for a week, visiting Alastair’s dad and friends of the family. From there we took a train to Bristol, where we saw the Women’s World Cup Rugby Quarterfinals. Over the next several weeks we drove along the southern coast of England, staying in [multiple places] until we reached Brighton, where Alastair’s cousin Gordon and family and his Aunt Margaret live. Our final week included several days in Iceland and a short stop in Minneapolis.
Alastair continued in his 13th year at Roche, where he leads a team of engineers focused on oncology/pathology diagnostic research. Most of what he works on can’t be shared publicly, but he assures Kathleen that it’s very cool. As with every tech job, AI was a major focus this year.
Kathleen is in her 9th year working part-time as a Standardized Patient at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Clinical and Professional Skills Center. SPs help train students by portraying real-life patient scenarios that allow the students to practice and refine their skills, from taking medical histories to performing basic exams. Kathleen finds the work both rewarding and educational.
Alastair’s longstanding love for games continues unabated. He attended two game conferences this year (Meeplefest Mini and Meeplefest) and plans to do more of that in 2026. In person, top experiences were completing the short, fun romp of the Mechs v Minions campaign with his regular game group and getting to play a fully pimped out Foundations of Rome at a con. He continues online at Board Game Arena, logging over 250 games this year. Most played were old favorites – Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride – but Ark Nova began to rapidly take over at the tail end of the year. For video games, significant solo playtime went into indie darlings Dredge and Pacific Drive, while time online with friends was focused on No Man’s Sky, Icarus and Jumpspace.
We still live year-round in the Sonoran Desert and love the natural environment around us and the critters that share it with us. Our yard is mostly xeriscape, but we do grow some food (herbs, beans, squash, chili, lime), almost always with heavy protection from the hungry wildlife. We are, however, now having to consider living part or full time outside the USA due to the downward political spiral (thanks to 🍊 and his enablers).
We hope you are well!
With best wishes for a happy & healthy 2026.
Alastair & Kathleen