Retire In Style Blog Too

I just made up a word for the day. It has a meaning close to "a mess". I always called it the "diatrice," and I'm not sure if it's a word or how to spell it. I need you to work with me here. Keeping my world... well, really, my house, yard, and car, free of litter is hard for me. Procrastination can eat away at my time and prey on my mind. The piece of tissue on the floor, the stuff between my car seats, and the kitchen floor. I see it...I really do... but I suppose it is just not important to me. Sigh. There is a Swedish habit that my Swedish grandmother and her children practiced. They just put stuff away. When they were done raking, they put the rake away. When the cooking was done, they simply swept up the crumbs, washed the dishes, and put them away. Each morning, they were greeted by clean counters and a coffee pot that did NOT need washing. And the beds were made each and every day. A tuxedo bed (tucked in and smooth) was the aim.  I even see there is...

I was in my mid-sixties when I began blogging. Now I am 84 . My first blog was something about travel, and over the years, I have changed the title, domain (lost the old one), and found ways to connect with bloggers around the globe.  When Anuj Agarwat over at FeedSpot contacted me last week, I realized that maybe... just maybe... what I had written, or even what I might write, could be relevant to today's new retirees. I was chosen as one of the Top 100 Retirement Blogs. While I may be the 100th blog, it still seemed worth noting. Blogging has been a big part of my life for many years. But, as with all things, I grew tired of the whole thing. I seemed to me that I had said everything...twice or three times...and even though you might read it, I just didn't need to say it AGAIN! A New Lease on Life was the only way to define my emotional response.  The experience of getting older really isn't that fun. It is a bit like a birth experience. It was warm, safe, and comfortabl...

 I read a very good book! I usually tell you about what I am reading after a few pages. I wanted to tell you about it but I couldn't quite decide it I liked it or not...not at first. I took me 100 pages to get a handle on what it was all about. So here I am, better late than never! Remarkable Bright Creatures  was a puzzle to me. In fact I almost quit reading it because I didn't particularly like one of the main characters. He annoyed me no end and seemed to be shallow and dishonest. I have quit reading books for less than that. I gave a book to a friend that she refused to read after a few pages because "it had no redeeming characters." That was how I felt. And yet, after 100 pages I began to get what the author was after.  Remarkably   Bright   Creatures  is going to be made into a Netflix movies, was on the NYT bestseller list and has rave reviews. Then there was me, not in love at first sight. A book written with an octopus as a main character is just...

Drag Queen Charity event, Nob Hill, Portland,  Oregon and me!     Amanda and I were talking about the need to describe EVERYONE that is new to us with an identifier. She had hired a dog sitter and the young person was "they, them". Discripters are those words we use to tell of people...how they look, who they are or even what their importance is. Why do we do that? Logic would tell us that saying someone is "the/them" doesn't really tell you anything unless you have a fixed notion of what a "they/them" is. But doesn't that play into prejudice? Those of you that are younger probably have not have been raised in an isolated community like I was. My mother took great pride in telling me that she went to school with a black boy and his family were really nice. This was in the 1950's. She had been sent to board in Baker, Oregon to attend high school. Back in the day eastern Oregon was disconnected from the outside world.  Provincial  would be the wo...

My greenhouse.  Our chickens.  We gathered together to inter Earls ashes at Willamette National Cemetery.  Seriously, I am being very realistic about the times, this year, and you. It seems to me that things do not make you happy. A shadow is hanging over all of us. Bad things happen even to us.  There is ice in Hillsboro ...not the frozen kind. You know what I mean. I have not seen them. Is it true?  I belong to an organization that is simply asking for the delivery of groceries because people are afraid to leave their homes to shop. Children are so scared to go to school. It must be so hard for those people. Instead of feeling total indignation, I feel torn. One side of my head is thinking that if I were those people, I would want to go back to Mexico and home. I also know that they fled their country to seek a better life, and there is nothing to go back to. I ask myself, "What would I do?"  I am told by a pediatrician in the area that serves the Hispan...

  Opening day for the box in 2006 Did I mention that a woman drove through my library box in the middle of the night? It was the first "get out of my way" moment this week. There was a big bang, and when I looked out my front window, books and puzzles were strewn down the road. The fire dept, police, and paramedics showed up. My dog about had apoplexy. Everything is now cleaned up, and we are in recovery mode. It was way too much excitement for a retirement community. Debris from the box. My beautiful husband with his library box. Cow Paths I was raised in rural eastern Oregon, in a community of fewer than 800 people. It was a railroad town that served several large ranches. We bragged that one of the daughters of a rancher was a Pendleton Roundup Princess. Her father drove their Cadillac slowly through town each day when he picked her up from school. We did get out of the way when that car came driving through. No Ford pickup for her. Cattle were allowed to be free range wit...