Retire In Style Blog Too

I am told I looked like  my mother. I was raised in a very small community. There were less than 700 people, and most were emigrants from Europe. My family was from Sweden. Our neighbor was from Greece. Italians, Scottish, Mexican were all woven into the fabric of our community. There was a handful of women, who simply came out of nowhere. They were just there—polished, dyed, and beautiful.  It was a railroad town and a place for miners who worked at the lime plant to make a home. Railroaders slept in hotels, or if they were lucky, they had a woman (polished, dyed, and beautiful) with a house on this end of the line, too.  I always thought Main St. was wonderful. There were three blocks of businesses. At one end was a telephone office, George's Grocery, and a movie theater. A gas station, Smoke House Bar, a cafe with a lounge, and then Grady's Bar were in the middle. At the western edge of downtown, we had a small mercantile, an ice cream shop, a drug store, a jewelry, an...

Early years in RV resort! Our motor home is parked next to our  first Park Model When it begins to cool in the evenings and the geese fly in formation, my mind turns to Arizona. Yearning for the desert air and vibrant blue sky is compel me to fly away. I do it every year and will as long as I am  allowed. Townhome near Tucson's Pantano Wash and bike trail. We started this way of life when we retired. First with a fifth-wheel trailer, later with a motor home, and finally in something permanent that evolved over the years.  First, it was a park model in an RV Resort, then a townhouse close to walking trails, and finally into a home on a small golf course.  Congress Hotel from window of near by hotel. Each time we moved, we upscaled and increased our monetary wealth. That is the way our mind works. It is as though we couldn't just have fun without working a lot. We painted and planted flowers and haunted thrift stores to find just the right furniture. We were always hav...

 It turns out that, if you are to be able to communicate, you need to PAY ATTENTION. There are those of us that continue to ignore events and never read a newspaper on purpose. That would be me. My excuse is that I have a visceral reaction to the news. Just one item can set me off! It all began way back...way, way back during the Johnson administration, Viet Nam era and the beginning of the troubled 60's and 70's. The news was never about progress or accomplishments. It was about the Democrats battling the Republicans. As a republican, I found it all very hard to swallow.  I was all about honor and respect and progress and, above all, intellect. I liked IKE . It just seemed to me that decisions that were made about war, long hair and young people in general were not smart. I then turned to JFK as a hope that maybe, just maybe, "different" might not be something to fear. We could learn from our mistakes and change. But enough!!! I am now 82 years old. It is time to let...

You loose...sorry! OK...so life is not perfect! What is a person going to do. When my husband passed away I went straight to anger and that feeling of rage continues for many months. Is that normal? I have no idea. What was my way probably was not anyone else's. I had know for many year that "Life is not perfect." This last weekend my friend died suddenly. His wife called because she had not heard from me. I was oblivious to the event. I'm not good at reading email and get myself reprimands for my bad habit. If there were a way to get rid of junk mail, I would probably be better. In this case it was so sad. I did not give her the support I wanted to give. I had to remind myself one more time...life is not perfect nor am I. I told you in my last post that I had been put in "time-out" by my car. I do not drive as safely as I should but then who does? Life is not perfect! There are mishaps with family, broken fences and money worries...life is not perfect. And ...

 I am the proud owner of a Tesla. Yes that electric car that has everyone talking is mine. Is it the car of the future or will that Chinese car beat it out in the end? At this point in time I just don't care. I own a Tesla and I am happy. BUT...Elon Musk does have a way of keeping his owners in line. After all, this car needs supervision and the learning curve has challenged me. The computer updates are amazing but if I screw it up, I will be put in "time out". Tesla gets sued when owners don't obey the rules and they wreck. Humans do that sort of thing. Last winter Tesla came out with a new "supervised autonomous driving" opportunity for owners. I started using it immediately. But like a lot of people I didn't do my homework. It seems that if you override the system or if the camera in the cab catches you not paying attention, a computer somewhere in this world knows and gets mad at you. Even though I was in love with the new program and felt safer in t...

 We bought a second home without any resources to furnish it. It was a leap of faith in the best of all worlds. In the worst of all worlds, it was a big mistake. The only thing we had on our side was that we were not too proud to use other people's leftovers. We moved into a small park model that did have minimal things and even some booze and dry goods. So we just used what was there and had fun in our new location. I didn't mind and my husband didn't even notice the lack of things. We were good. If the cornmeal didn't have weevils, I used it. The neighbors were horrified! Why, I told them is what I wonder today. I guess they asked. That was many years ago. But, even today, I am using the mismatched thing from the first park model. Now they are "quirky" and interesting. Mugs from a now-defunct restaurant hold pencils and the original set of 4 dishes sit in my cabinet. Discarded bedside table lamps were painted orange and one sits on the mantel and another bes...