Retire In Style Blog Too

Photography...Odgen Canyon, UT Fall Crush Wine Tasting Event, Carlton, Oregon...a very cool hobby! I cannot tell you how liberating it is to do something just because you love doing it.  My hobby is blogging.  I don't need anymore money really.  If I do make a little money when you click on an ad from Adsense, it is just icing on the cake.  That is what retirement allows you to do.  It gives you the freedom to spend the day learning to do something new and you don't have to quit your day job to do it. Golf...my husband's favorite! Take my husband for example.  He loved his job for 32 years but never missed it for even one day when he retired.  He has taken up golf as his retirement "job" and he pays attention to it as though he could make a living at it.  His mind and his health are dependent upon him "working" at getting better.  That is what I am talking about. So what will you do when you retire? Let me tell you the day can get scary borin...

I have never been willing to live without beauty.  My husband knows that, even if an item serves a perfectly logical purpose, I will have no part of it if the item is ugly.  Even my kitchen tools are beautiful, hard won, inexpensive and useful.  Living small does not mean living a cluttered, messy and dysfunctional lifestyle.  I guess that is why I love websites like Apartment Therapy and all that is related to it.  Re-nest is the branch of that site that I find myself visiting more and more often.  The tag line for the website is abundant design for green homes.   They are finding ways to create beautiful green small spaces.  I love the idea. A friend said she was finding it hard to visualize moving to a smaller place.  I had been talking about moving to a smaller condo here in Oregon as soon as real estate takes a turns for the better.  She thought she could not imagine how I would ever part with all my beautiful things.  I...

Mainstreet Homebrew Supply Company We have bumper stickers here in Portland that says "Keep Portland Weird!"  I don't know how really weird we are.  We do allow people to keep and even rent chickens inside the city limits. I find that unusual.   But weird did come to mind right away when we began talking about the new ruling by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission on home brewers and their right to compete in our state fair or even share their brew.  They would like for us to live up to the letter of the law and home brewers don't agree.    I began to think...maybe we are just a teeny tiny bit strange. OREGON BREWERS FESTIVAL...a little background! The Oregon Brewers Festival is back in town...Portland Metro area young people are learning to drink good quality beer...again.  Those of us that are not that young know good beer and we love this festival too. Yesterday this advanced aged beer lover headed downtown for an afternoon of relaxed tasting alon...

Flying Alone Did you know that eharmony relationships account for 2% of the marriages in the US every year.  A whopping 236 eharmony couples marry everyday.  Some of their most loyal clients are from the Christian and Jewish community.  This tells me that that key "compatibility" issue is as important to them as they say it is.  If you are thinking about connecting with a woman or man and you are a retired senior that has lost your mate or even divorced, you should read this story about my friend's experience. MY FRIEND WAS A WIDOW... at the age of 61.  Her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor shortly after they retired and within 3 years he was gone.  They had both been vibrant and full of fun.  After their children were raised they began saving for a 5th wheel motor home and had purchased a big pick-up truck to pull their dream retirement home.  Then the dream was turned to dust within a few short weeks. My friend had not driven across ...

Someone comment to me the other day that I was living the good life.   I paused for a minute before I realized I really was .  I live in a beautiful condominium located in the award winning neighborhood called Orenco Station here in Hillsboro, Oregon.  I love our life, location and amenities.  But is has not always been that way.  It has taken several years for us to get truly comfortable with condo life. Living in a very small space is not easy...especially if you are a boomer moving from a 4 bedroom 4 bath house and 2500-3000 square feet to a much smaller condo unit.  All you are doing is downsizing, right? I actually thought getting rid of the "stuff" would be the hardest part.  Silly me...! This is how it will go if you decided to do what we did.  It will turn out that living in a building owned by everyone in your condo group from the paint out is very trying and it has nothing to do with all that stuff you have crammed in the garage that nee...

Image take with iphone 2008, Rincon Country RV Resort Tucson, AZ When the slide out slides out on I-5 in the Siskiyous Mountains of southern Oregon, you need to know what is wrong! We didn't so I just kept getting up and sliding it back in...all the way to Portland. So here is the deal. When we took a corner a little too fast, the cargo shifted in the basement and a release for the clutch was bumped. So what was holding the slide out in did not! Check where yours is and be aware of what to do. It will save you a lot of grief. We have a wedge for the inside now that will keep the slide out in place no matter what but we are more aware of how we load the cargo bay. Just thought you would want to know. b

My husband and I just returned from a 5 day vacation at the beach here in Oregon.  Even though I raised my family in the era of Tom McCall, I still marvel at all he was able to accomplish for our state.  Access to our beaches is so complete we have come to take it for granted.  In the 26 miles between Lincoln City and Newport there are 9 state parks with parking and beach access.  The Central Oregon Coast from Lincoln City to Florence has a total of 37 state parks available for the public use.  It is amazing...or at least I think so. My family playing on the beach! The state of Oregon had a wonderful governor named Tom McCall during the 1960's.  He was a forward looking and determined son of rural farmers and was raised in a small remote community called Burns Oregon.  Among his many legacies the best remembered were his push to get a 55 mph speed limit during a gas crisis, a bottle bill (1971) that taught the rest of the nation abo...

I watched Cooking TV this morning as I drank my first cup of coffee...this show always inspired me.  The French Food at Home hostess, Laura Calder,  prepared a meal using halibut, roasted carrots and a side with chickpeas + olives to accompany a halibut steak cooked in browned butter.  This particular recipe fit with all those diet restriction I should be observing.  A perfect combination of legumes, fish, olive oil, and vegetables!  I will make extra so we can have some wonderful leftovers.   Halibut with Brown Butter, Crushed Chickpeas with Olives and Roasted Cumin Carrots French Food at Home with Laura Calder (check out the website for full informaton) Ingredients For the chickpeas 1 cup or 14-ounces dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans) 1 onion, quartered 1 bay leaf 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup pitted green olives Handful chopped fresh parsley leaves Zest and ju...

One sunny day at the Oregon Coast is worth one hundred anywhere else.  They are that rare and wonderful! July, 2010 One of Newport, Oregon many boat basins. One day is never enough! Cape Foul Weather near Otter Crest was the first geographical name Captain Cook gave to a location on the coast line.  Winds  blow over 100 mph here during winter storms.    One man wearing Zazzle shoes with fishing floats printed all over them. Stephany's Cafe, Newport, Oregon One cool car with two proud owners. Nye Beach, Newport, OR One picture is worth a thousand words!  Otter Crest from Cape Foul Weather, Or.   One beautiful hotel located on Nye Beach called Sylvia Beach Hotel .  The hotel is named after Sylvia Beach,  a promoter of independent writers during the early 20th Century.  The hotel is designed for book readers with each room taking on the identity of an author.  The Sylvia Beach Hotel has a particularly beautiful coastal panorama w...

Image via Wikipedia We will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary with our family at the beach this weekend.  The Oregon coast has always been a favorite with out family.  The weather will be around 68 degrees (high) on Saturday and Sunday.  Fog might roll in and out, the water temperature stays about the same the years around...around 40 degrees Fahrenheit.   A trip to the beach here can require warm coats and hats year around.  We will go to Lincoln City where we have rented a very large house.  There will 19 of us in the house on Saturday night.  An occasion like this calls for a gathering of all our family so every grandchild and child will be with us on those days.  We are renting the house through a business called Cottages by the Beach .  The reservations were made in the early spring because we were planning on going after July 4th.  Here in Oregon summer does not come until then and never has. Any rental for familie...

Photo from Yelp...carne asada at Peppers!  By Fuey S . Food is on my mind.  After a weekend of specially prepared meals I need to talk food. We ate Mexican food this noon at a  little restaurant here in Hillsboro, Oregon call Peppers .  It is one of our favorite stops for good Mexican food.  The ambiance is nothing to write home about...scuffed floor, kitchen totally open to viewing...but the bathroom is very clean and the food is just wonderful.  It fills everyday at noon.  There is a little bar and outside eating but the patio is next to 10th Street and very noisy.  City Search gave it 4.5 stars and Yelp gave it 4! We had a bbq rib "throw down" yesterday.  My son did his on the barbcue all day by piling a small mound of charcoal in the corner of the grill and placing a rack that held the ribs off to the side.  When the coals turned white  and began to be finished he added more charcoal.  I put mine in the oven for 3 hours a...

When Old is Good!  If the seat cover were denim it would be perfect!  I have been over at a website called Owning Cristina.  It is July 4th and the only thing I want to do today is send you over to look at all the images she has posted of American Flags.  I think you will like them.  The Post was called Red White and Blue !  Happy 4th of July! b

Image by Always at Home via Flickr Artwork at St. Helen's location. Want to know what I LOVE to do more than anything else?  I love to eat at a beautiful restaurant in the evening.  I want to get dressed up and be treated as though I really matter to the waiter.  He (always a he in my dreams) needs to look deeply into my eyes and ask we how I want my martini.  I dream about it a lot. Alas, in reality, we eat at brewpubs!!! On the plus side, Portland has a gajillion of these pubs so finding a nice location is not that hard.  We ate at the Cornelius Rd. McMenamins (former blogs)  this last week with family.  This is so ideal because on a warm day the children can play on the grass while adults visit at long tables.  On this particular evening it was chilly and raining so we were seated upstairs by an understanding host...we came in last and were seated first!  There was lots of room for a busy two year old to mess around.  People in Oreg...

If you are obese and planning to fly anywhere soon, you need to read this story.  This is absolutely the truth and just happened yesterday, July 1, 2010. Yesterday our family flew in from Tucson, AZ.  When they put their feet on the ground and smelled the beautiful Portland, OR air, they smiled.  Really, there is nothing like the smell of damp air and things growing.  It would have been a perfect little trip.  But here is the rest of the story. We're overloaded...YOU get off the plane!!! Their flight required a layover in Denver...not a long layover but none the less an unloading  and a reloading procedure was required.  When the take off time arrived they reloaded, sat down and had just taken off their shoes and the shoes of their two young daughters when a stewardess announced that there was a mechanical problem and they would need to return to the terminal. Not a big thing because who wants to fly on a broken plane, right? This is where it...

Link:  The Courage to be Happy! Sunday Scribblings (It Crossed My Mind) This is a post I wrote for It Crossed My Mind .  It turns out getting old is hard. Given that fact, I still think that our life is what we make of it.  If we are unhappy then we choose to be so.  Bad things happen to everyone but the very smart and strong find something to rejoice about in even the worst of situations.  I hope you find something you like in the post.  Just click on the link above. b Maddie and I Shanghai, China Related articles by Zemanta Grace Under Pressure (schott.blogs.nytimes.com) 10 Steps to Courageous Leadership (searchengineguide.com) Brave brains: Neural mechanisms of courage (physorg.com)