Retire In Style Blog Too

I am asked over and over, “What did you do this weekend?” I have begun to wonder if I need to keep notes that list my daily accomplishments because I really do not know what I did…well I know but it takes a bit of time for me to conjure it all up. I aim to live purposefully but the dribs and drabs to not consume me.   I love my life and I find joy is every moment. On the other hand, I don’t feel especially important or interesting. And there you have it. I don’t count each day but a time that has filled my life since I have figured out my new statice as a widow. Yet I do measure my life. Each day is important in my existence even at 81. In fact, they may be more important now than ever…the days dwindle. I was cleaning one of my guest room, moving furniture and removing books and papers. Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass fell open in my hand…the page was chapter 4 of “Song of Myself”. He wrote: Trippers and askers surround me, People I meet, the effect upon me of my early life...

The Gold Lame prom dress! I wore this dress To a college dance where my boyfriend (future husband) was a Student. It was a big deal  Yes I still one of my prom dresses in my closet. It is a little lace gold lame number. I wore it to a high school prom in Huntington Oregon, pop 600 in 1958. My boy friend, later my husband, liked to be with me when I had a dress like that. I just liked to wear it as though it really was a part of my small town world. Now I am 81 years old and on most day I would still dress in a “prom dress”. I simply love beautiful clothes and, well, anything that is beautiful in my eyes. I was with a group of women on Thursday walking through the Mission Garden here in Tucson. It is a Native American garden with beautiful flowers ( red penstemon and orange sage). We all breathed the clear air and watched the skies over head for clouds bearing rain. It was chilly. A snack and some conversation followed the slow walk. One of the women is a recently retired teacher fr...

 The old buzzard stood by the fence He did not care What you thought Or said Or what pain you felt. Much like that giant bird Floating on the updraft With wings wide casting a big shadow, He let you know With the tip of a hat Or a smile half hidden That some day you may be A buzzard too… But not quite yet! Until then you would Care…. b+ *thank you Dianne Tolley over at On the Border

 I have a bird feeder. It is a 4 story wonder with little “windows” around the outside that let the birds get at the food. Those little windows have balconies that the birds that stand on while they gorge themselves.  But there was a problem…one of the windows fell out somewhere this winter and evidently disappeared into the soil. The fact that I didn’t notice until I was filling the feeder the second time is not relevant. But still a bit funny. Anyway, when I noticed the hole I went to my duck tape stash and grabbed a roll. I really didn’t notice that it had a zebra design on it until a piece was applied over the hole. The feeder was filled and it was hung in my mesquite tree so my precious birds could feast away. Now I may have not noticed that the hole was covered with zebra duck tape but I can tell you for sure the birds noticed. It turns out that birds are very suspicious of zebra striped duck tape! For reasons I cannot explain, I just thought you needed to know! Have a g...

 I’ve been thinking a lot about how far it is from here to New York City. Someone once said to me that they live so far away, they would not have any idea how even to get there. I could only think of Confucius. You remember, Confucius is the one that said, “A journey of 1000 miles begins with one step.” One of my stops in life: TRAVEL The Taj Mahal At the time we were living in a community in eastern Oregon called Ontario. It is found in the Treasure Valley where some of the richest land in our country can be found. It was a beautiful place in the spring. It was green in the summer with truck farms that grew vegetables. It was a place you could easily love because of people were warm and the community wrapped its arms around you. But occasionally a person wants to get out of town. And so I was talking about going to New York City with this person. I am a day-dreamer and she wasn’t. She said to me that she would have no idea how to even get to New York. How would you do that? Of cou...

  Tohono Chul Gift Shop (OLLI Field Trip…gardens and lunch) I have never ever really been alone…not alone in a house with myself and the knowledge that this life is what I have. As you can imagine, there is a certain amount of self  examination that has to be done. Being alive is simply not enough. My mind is so excited to learn more, create more, be more. But emotionally I have had to recover my self confidence. Simply figuring out who I am has turned out to be a real awakening. Up until now I was always in tune with what my husband was interested in and those he chose to surround himself with. Don’t misunderstand…I did love my life with him. It was a good thing. But now, I am not the same person. I realize so much about myself that is good and so much that has not been. While the past does not exist, it still is the benchmark that we all measure our future against. As humans we cannot continue to make the same mistakes over and over and expect a different outcome. When I ret...