Retire In Style Blog Too

Our senior life style keeps us busy with friends.  We travel to Arizona in the winter where we have founds friends from around the United States, Canada and even Ireland.  We are just in heaven! I have many, many friends here.  Several are close friends, others dear to my heart.  I cannot separate the two.  Today I decided that I could not wait to give my gift to two of my walking, golfing, talking, girl friends.  Mary and Carole are just a miracle for me...late in life I actually have found women that could have been sisters.  My friend, Virginia is spending Christmas in Portland with her family.  Her apron is waiting on her.  I am an only child so I am sure you can understand how amazed I am. My gifts were aprons I made this summer.  Now let me tell you, I am not a seamstress...my sewing is very imperfect but every stitch has a little bit of me in it...and there were lots of stitches put in, torn out and then put in again.  Mary a...

Sometimes the ghost of the moon peeks over the top of the Rincon Mountains during daylight hours.  When you click on the image and it appears in full scale, you will be able to see the moon in the middle just above the horizon.  Today it was just too beautiful not to photograph.  I would love to catch it at sunset when the mountains have that beautiful pink hue.  Erika Jean has one on her blog and I am very envious. In Tucson the mountains that surround us are listed in alphabetical order going clockwise around beginning with the Catalinas in the north.  The list reads like this:  Catalina, Rincon, Santa Ritas and the Tucson Mountains.  The views are gorgeous as the sun goes down.  The mountains turn from pink to purple.  Even though it may be very warm in the afternoon, by the time the sunsets this time of year, it will be in the low 60s.  Today we played golf at the Forty Niner Country Club on the east side of Tucson.  This cour...

Nancy Gibbs over at Time.com asked the question: So why is it that at least some aspects of the Great Recession of 2009 appear to have made people feel better. Gibbs posted an article yesterday saying that people are feeling very positive about their lives!  It seems that bad time are not dampening the spirits of people.  Could it be that when the "expectation bubble" burst people were relieved?    Even though people might be spending less for gifts this Christmas, it may be they are ready to return to the true meaning of our holiday spirit .  In the past expectations for more and more "things" under the tree had put pressure on the pocket books of families and credit cards had become their only choice.  Now they may find that expectations are less and therefore the pressure to spend more than they have has decreased.  I loved what  Gibbs had to say at the end of her article on the Happiness Paradox and the American Dream: It [happiness] gets big...

I am interested in seeing what might be good stuff for those of us that sag, wrinkle and leak from over use.  As we grow older we tend to find that more maintenance is required to keep us working.  Beauty treatments take up our time and beauty products and treatment promise miracles.   Sigh! I for one am only a beginner at eyebrow waxes and pedicures.  Both of these procedure spa treatments have become necessary because my glasses don't work like they should.  The need for a pedicure may also have something to do with my need to check and see if there is anything else I need to do while I am bent over to tie my shoes.  It is hard to bend over anymore.  These are both pretty harmless and inexpensive luxuries considering what "miracles" doctors are claiming to perform these days.  If you have enough money the sky is the limit. So when I saw a website with a review on a " Lifestyle Lift " I was very interested.  A very old, wrinkled and used up...

(for me) May you be at peace. May your heart remain open. May you awaken to the light of your own... true nature. May you be healed. May you be a source of healing for all beings. I just love November!  It is without a doubt the best month of the year.  Birthdays and Anniversaries and Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping....  Then there are golden leaves and chilly nights and snuggle up sweaters under the evening stars.  Actually June and December are not bad but November is my favorite.  My birthday is in  November.   Our anniversary is in November.  We celebrate in our family....a lot.  There are celebrations before, after, during and sometimes we celebrate one festivity on top of the other.  We love to celebrate.  We love to even THINK about celebrating.  This will be a busy week for us.  Tomorrow there will be golf on the Robert Trent Jones, Sr. designed course at the Rio Rico Country Club .  This course is lo...

My husband and I ate breakfast in the sun this morning. While our small park model does get the morning sun through the windows, lawn chairs on that side of the house are protected from the breeze so we eat there. You really cannot imagine how quiet it is here at that time of day. The air is cool (mid 50's) but the sun is very warm. We are located on one of the large washes here in Tucson. Pantano Wash runs for miles through the city and we are told it can be a raging torrent in the summer . Wild life is a very real part of our life and we live in peace with Road Runners, Rattle Snakes, Humming Birds, Cactus Wrens and Javalinas (Peccaries). Desert rats are a problem for vacant houses so we make sure they stay on the outside where they belong. Taking a kinder approach to those things that are dangerous or dirty is not easy for us. But we do try! The weather is getting cooler everyday. In spite of what those that live in colder climates believe, we do dress in blue jeans or ...

I just wanted to share a couple of pictures from our little park model here in the desert of Arizona. The bouganvilla grow all the year without any water at all. Even the blossoms that fall in our carport are beautiful. The saguaro is treasure worth it's weight in gold. Moving or touching these huge treasures would be against the law. Birds nest in it's arms and a wood pecker has made a hole in the side and babies are hatched there each year. We can hear them practicing their pecking even before they leave the nest. Have a wonderful day. b

I just visited with a mobile home park manager this morning. My husband and I took a mobile home in on a trade for our Motor Home. We will be selling it soon. The manager said that the company that operates the park will be moving new manufactured home in soon so we think the park will get a new look which will be good for the value . Vintage Mobile home looks like this inside. Stove, refrigerator, sleeper sofa, small table, washer/dryer and 1 double and one twin bed. 2 bedroom. Sorry...no Lucy! 1964 Star Craft Awing on both side offer shade and the mobile home faces south for warm summer sun. The idea that we would be able to use the mobile home somehow had been incubating in our head for a few weeks. The mobile home is in wonderful condition...I am the one that is feeling very old!! Bedroom has two windows and two closets. The mobile home is 10x54' and was built in 1964...can anyone say Lucille Ball ??? It is very clean. The refrigerator is very nice...looks like new. The...