Ready, Set, GO!

I saw this on Twitter this morning. Even though it was a Tweet posted by an educator, it reminded me of the thought process some people have about retirement.

Did you feel like you had "arrived" when you retired? Or did you see a future beyond the gates of retirement and a whole world on the other side? It could be that what we see after that work life will simply be a self fulfilling prophecy. I do hope that you have or had many ideas to chose from. I think that is the key.

I suppose if you have always been an armchair kind of person you will not change now. But you can! That is the point.

The Point:  Don't ever feel that you have arrived...believe you can reach even higher! It just gets better and better.

Ready, Set, Go! Have fun!

Just a thought!

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Is there an Expiration Date?

My husband made plans with a funeral director this week for what we want when we die. It is all taken care of so I will never think about it again. By the way, this is not a sad thing at all. It is just doing a bit of planning so someone else won't have to do it years from now. I am sure I will have a lot of funny things to say about the plan in the future! Stay tuned!

Everyday living is how I would describe my life. There are many ordinary days strung together. I truly am in love with my way of life.

In an article called Everyday Miracles on  Retirement-Reflections, the writer asked the question:

What would you do if you believed you had less than five years to live?

She was given a possible diagnosis that would limit her life to just 5 more years. The fact that she is a newly retired woman living as though she had many years left. What would she do?

I paused for a second and it crossed my mind that, at our age, we really should be living as though we only have 5 more years to live. We should not waste time. That fact that we are taking care of those things that people of our age take care of is an indication we know life is finite.

I thought the writer of that article saw the possibility of only 5 more years in a whole different way and I like that. See, she was talking about living for 5 years not dying in 5 years. There is a big difference I believe.

As it turned out the diagnosis was wrong. She was not given an expiration date. But, in a strange way, that time she waited for her test results changed her life.

My first thought was, how hard would that be and then I remembered that I am living that stage of life where time is getting short. I am going to live my life as though I have 5 years to live even though I think I have a lot more...I have a lot to do.

I will let you know how it goes.

Be well.

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What does a snowbird's life LOOK like?

I know, it all sounds so wonderful...retirement, travel and maybe even a second home in Arizona or Florida. But don't you really having a hard time visualizing the life? If you have a great deal of money, it will look one way. If you don't, it will look another.

Our Tucson Arizona home...a park model on the corner!

Then there are those of us that live like we want to live. We probably even make choices that are less costly than they need to be but just fit our personalities. I thought maybe today I would give you a little glimpse into a very simple lifestyle. That is the one we live.

If you have any questions, just leave a comment! I you chose this lifestyle, how would you want to live?

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Our park model front porch after dark.

Flower Garden in front of our park model.

A special treat...golf at the Tubac Resort

The historic Presidio District near downtown Tucson

Outdoor plaza in the Presidio District

Just because!

Golfing with friends

My hand-me-down table and chairs...spray painted

Bocce Ball Tournament 

Taken on Arizona National Golf Course

Sightseeing in Tubac

Yes, it does snow and rain in Tucson Arizona

Rodeo Week Dance at the Elk's Club

Pink Martini concert, the Tucson Symphony

Our RV resort pool

Please DO-NOT Urinate on the golf course! It's creepy and illegal!

This really made me laugh. We received this email from our golf course in Arizona. It seems that some of the men cannot make it around 9 holes of golf without urinating so they have chosen the 7th hole as the designated unofficial urinal. The residents with homes on the course don't like it. It might even be a little creepy

This was not the first email has been sent out explaining to the men that they should not do this...it was one of those "once again with feeling...don't do that!" kind of messages. It went like this:

To all golfers: 

Again, it’s come to our attention that some members have urinated on the golf course. Please note we do have rest rooms available in the clubhouse and on hole #14. 

Arizona Golf Course...so many trees and
so many rules!

As before, if nature is calling please head to the closest facility. The folks who live on the course with their family do not want to see people relieving themselves in public.   

Here is the law regarding exposure: 

Arizona’s Laws on Indecent Exposure 

According to A.R.S. 13-1402: 

“Is peeing in public indecent exposure in AZ? 

Peeing in a public setting constitutes indecent exposure. An officer can arrest someone who is urinating by the side of a road because they are exposing themselves in an inappropriate manner. Although the offender may not know they are committing a sexual offense, the law still constitutes the exposure as sexual and indecent. 

Please DO-NOT Urinate on the course.Thank you!

I can tell that the golf course official writing the email was really mad...I corrected the misspellings and punctuation because that is what I do.

So, as you can see, it is not only creepy to pee on the golf course, it is also illegal! Wow...both creepy AND illegal.

We have the same problem here in Oregon on our golf course. Signs are posted asking the golfers to respect the neighborhood, etc. It has been an ongoing problem forever.

I recall an older lady calling the pro-shop to complain about a man peeing on a tree with in plain sight of her back window. She didn't know who it was but she could give them a vital piece of information...the man was left handed. I am sure that narrowed it down!

Is this a problem everywhere? I wonder.

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I Would Like to do That But I Just Don't Want To

We were sitting with neighbors last night talking about wine and other important things. The conversation turned to retirement and how we all worried about filling the days without a schedule and a job. Would we be bored? How would it feel to be without deadlines and big responsibilities?

Many people move from a work schedule to a very busy life full of "stuff". I am even told by women of my age that they would like to read or walk or even have coffee with me but they are simply "too busy". Isn't that interesting? How could that be?

As I was reading an article on a blog site called Your Entrepreneurial Spirit this morning, it finally all came into focus for me. In the introduction I found this paragraph:

He drew me a picture! What a wonderful day.

Sogyal Rinpoche, author of “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” coined the term “active laziness” to describe how we attempt to live life to the fullest by filling the hours with too many unimportant activities.... Your Entrepreneurial Spirit

In today's world we are encouraged to live a full life brimming with activities, exercise and volunteer work. If we are to be fulfilled we must always be living in the moment and savoring the experience...or so I am told. If we don't do that, we are not worthy!

That is all very good but here is the thing...I would really like to do that but I just don't want to...so there you have it.

My days are filled with joy and the best day is one that has some contact with another. I simply love that part of my life. And I think because it makes me happy, it actually lifts the other person up too.

I do not fill my day with "active laziness" now. I suppose at one time or another I felt a tiny bit of panic because I woke and looked at a day with a lot of empty space. On this blog I have talked about the importance of a routine when the days loomed long. But, if something better presented itself, I would drop that routine in a second. I am never "too busy" for someone that is interested in spending time with me.

How about you? Do you fill your day with unimportant details just because...? I am interested in how you feel about your life?

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I've Got This

The Oregonian posted their funniest cartoon today. Todays favorite was one from Non Sequitur. It features a group of people gathered around a grave with a tombstone that says simply "I've Got This". 

We have all walked up a path we knew nothing about. In the search for for a solution to a problem put before us, we have volunteer blithely. We put on a smug smile. After all we are sure that "We've got this". Then we journey to the brink.

Jeff in the cartoon above set out to find out how far one had to gone before a task turned from one demanding courage into the one that was just plain stupid. Jeff died in the quest. His tombstone tells it all. It is funny but it is also a little sad.

Boy do we have to be careful when we put ourselves into the line of fire with "I've got this!" because "not having it" can be a very bad thing.

The one that I have used many times before is "how hard could it be?". I remember heading out to see a cousin. He and his wife lived in a small community of about 900 people. I didn't have his address but I thought "how hard can it be?" Surely the gas station guy would know where Dale and Renee lived. Well, believe me, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

I said the same thing when we added a porch to our park model, when we added an Arizona room to the same structure, when we poured concrete (many time) and the list goes on. My husband runs and hides when I say "How hard could it be?".

I think Trump thought the same thing about being the President of the United States. After all, being President can't be complicated..."How hard can it be?" he thought. Then before long we heard him say "This is a lot harder than I thought it would be". I know how he feels.

...it's wireless. How hard could it be to not install wires?

I have learned that going on a quest without a plan is not a good plan and I should never say "how hard could it be?"

It is Friday and it is just a thought! What do you think?

On Gardening

I have always found a connection between growing a garden and raising my family. It may be that only a gardener would understand. It seems to me that taking care of the garden requires a love of gardening and a certain instinct for what the flowers and plants really need.

My husband and I share a garden so it sometimes becomes a tug of war. For many years he was sure that I was watering too much and was giving the plants too much food. I was positive that he let plants get stressed and hungry before he would give them what they needed.

In spite of our different views our garden did grow. Somewhere between the different philosophies was the perfect plan. In the end it seems we share a brain and it goes very smoothly now.

Auntie and Brayden

Family many years ago when
every grandchild was a baby!

We have raised a family and now have grandchildren and a great grandchild. It could that what we learned and took into our hearts during that time is why our garden grows with great gusto now. Like my children, the garden blooms and produces things that make us proud.

I like that.

So how does your garden grow?

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