Happy Holidays from the Binkley Family

Thanksgiving this year was just wonderful with 30 Binkley/Padelford family members on Orcas Island - ages 18 months to 81.  Ten children including three teens, hiking Turtleback, playing games, watching movies in the Harvey’s rec room.  Politics was banned, all the sweeter for deeper conversation.  And then…

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It was a dark moonless night – on Orcas Island.  Thanksgiving family and friends have deserted the island and returned to the mainland.  All quiet, even the deer and racoons huddled in their hollers for the winter. 

 

T’was late, not a creature stirring, and a new song limerick popped in mind - Just wasn’t meant to be, what’s more to say, winds of change weren’t blowing her way, and then abruptly stopped.   Flipped a switch, changed channels. Bundled up, I took a brief walk, autumn chill in the air, and though shrouded in a cloak of ink, the stars were out and shining bright.  And I began to reflect on all our Binkley blessings – good health, purposeful work, close friends and family, financial security, and residing in one of the most beautiful and temperate places on earth, San Diego.  As the song by Alan Jackson goes, The older I get the more I think, we only have a minute better live it while you’re in it, ‘cause it’s gone in a blink! Losing my brother John in 2023 and before him his wife in 2022 underscores the line.  We are here for a moment let’s try to enjoy it and one another, life itself.

 

2024 was busy.  Five weddings – lovely brides, handsome grooms - four of them destinations including Seville, Spain and Killeavey, Northern Ireland.  Sam’s business HealthOnYou thrived as her online business picked up along with reorders from her 60 retail grocery store locations in Southern California.  Meanwhile, Zoelle passed the CPA exam and is now a licensed accountant in the state of California. She just recently submitted her resignation to Ernst & Young (“EY”) after working with them for five years.  She was recruited away to a biotech Private Equity firm in San Diego and starts her new job December 30.

 

Byron and Kara, Sagan (11) and Harry (8) live in Portland, OR.  Kara is a tenured professor in linguistics at Reed College, while Byron continues piloting his start up, SELLA, now with AI enhancements.  Sagan and Harry are in Chinese immersion school.  Sagan will travel to China with his 5th grade and graduating class in March.  Both kids play instruments: Sagan, electric guitar and Harry bass guitar.  (Kara plays acoustic guitar and sings while Byron keeps the beat!)  Both boys play recreational soccer, program simple computer games, and read, read, and read – books and more books.

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The big news is that Marshall was hired out of semiretirement to work at PennyMac, a NYSE public mortgage banking company located in West Lake Village, near LA.  They have moved from Orcas Island to Carpinteria, just south of Santa Barbara.  Pepper continues with her voice-over work, also acted in a principal role in “Childish,” a new play in Portland, Maine in May.  She is also headed to New York and La MaMa Experimental Theater in 2025 in a role in a new production of “Class Dismissed.” She participated in a development production of the play in 2023.  Their two children, Otis (9) and Joni (6) are becoming adjusted to urban life after living the dream of rural life and school on Orcas these past four and half years.  Joni is in kindergarten in an immersion Spanish program, and Otis is in 3rd grade, learning Spanish, but class is conducted in English.  Both are finding new friends, but miss their life on Orcas, friends, forest, and beach combing. Otis is learning violin and Joni is taking piano.  Otis is a dinosaur aficionado and said recently, “When I grow up, I want to be a paleontologist.”

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My birthday comes around every year on Halloween.  Pepper asked what I wanted.  I said, “to go trick or treating with Joni and Otis” in their new neighborhood.  And we did, to Sam’s and my utter delight!  Meanwhile, I am in a “writing cycle” for a new album.  I am considering a more stripped-down production, more folk, and some acoustic renditions of previously produced songs.  Stay tuned!  

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This next year is going to be filled with Binkley projects and, yes, more travel – Negril, Jamaica and possibly China and Tibet.  We continue to value above all else our friends, new and old, and hope to see more of you all in the coming months.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.

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Love,

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Nick, Sam and Zoelle