bodner044

Welcome to the second installment of Angie’s Retirement Report. Spousal Unit would tease me if I said I had goals for retirement – wasn’t the point NOT to have a To Do List?   But I think the difference is the nature of the goals.   For example, we have begun a series of road trips to catch up with ‘seasoned’ friends before we head west.   Our visit to friends in Indiana   (Spousal Unit announced ‘it looks just like Ohio’ when he woke up from his nap in the car) took us back to memories of freshman year at Ball State University (Go Cardinals!)   My first roomie and I went in different directions after college, and yet, every time we get back together, it doesn’t matter how many years have gone by – we glide into a comfortable conversation like you slip into your favorite pair of sweats.   Wisteria Gates Detroit, the location of our first house, is like a phoenix rising from the ashes, and we reveled in experiencing the renaissance.   A friend who is a ...

How much time do you invest just observing the world around you? I am very fortunate that, at my recent retirement party, I was given a Spotting Scope by my peers.   The following Tuesday morning, sharp-eyed Spousal Unit, looking through the sliding glass doors, asked “What’s that in the pine tree?” (Note that the pine tree is about 25 yards from the house.) The Spotting Scope (and the World Wide Web) quickly determined it was a Cooper’s Hawk, hunting for other birds.   We happened to have family guests at the time, and without my hubby’s keen observation, this fantastic opportunity would have passed us by. During our recent trip to Cayman, I had numerous opportunities to be wowed by the environment.   Here are my two favorites that did not happen in the ocean. First, I was returning from the dive gear wash station to the condo, when my gaze was snagged by what seemed to be a piece of yellow silk on the ground.   Moving closer, I recognized it as a unique flower sp...

It began in Puerto Rico. On a family vacation in Rincon, we went to Playa Tres Palmas (Steps Beach), featuring one of the biggest elkhorn coral reefs in the Caribbean. Suited up with snorkels and fins, we floated the days away, and Number One Son (#1S) was enthralled.   If snorkeling had this much to offer, wouldn’t it be cool to scuba?   #1S turned 13 the next April (the age required for dives greater than 60 feet), and we began the dive certification process.   It culminated with our open water certification in the balmy waters of the White Star Quarry near Toledo, Ohio.   Throughout the process, I kept reminding myself about something our classroom instructor said on our first day: “under the water, you will see more wildlife in the first 10 minutes than you are ever going to see on a 20-mile hike through the woods.”   I needed that quote to get me through the trickier parts of the certification, such as underwater mask removal and replacement, and navigating...

We were waiting in the parking lot of the Save More Car Rental when I saw it.   The rooster.   Immediately I felt we had arrived.   It was not the walk down the portable staircase to the tarmac, or the humid air, or customs and immigration.   It was the rooster, pecking about in the gravel for a tasty morsel, or maybe for the gravel itself.   On Grand Cayman, the chickens are as ubiquitous as sand, sea and tourists.   Roosters, hens and chicks.   No one gives them a second look – undoubtedly they perform an important function of keeping the insect population under control.   For me, it is a sign that Cayman is still in large part native.   Rue the day that the wild chickens are banished from running free on the island, for that is the day that Cayman will have begun to lose its uniqueness.   (I walked across the street from our condo to find both of these roosters.  Their hens and chicks were more skittish and camera-shy.)

Welcome to the first installment of Angie’s Retirement Report.   I reckon this will be a regular feature on my blog – it’s a journey, right? So here goes. Drinks at "Eats" Hard to believe it’s already Day 9 of retirement.   Days do speed by when you don’t get up until 9 a.m.   I have enjoyed plentiful time with family, and a run through the park on a sunny day with Spousal Unit – what more could I want?   My sense of humor is in full force – maybe I was always too tired for my brain to produce humor.   Exhibit A: Spousal Unit: “I am going into the shower to make myself more beautiful." Me: “Good luck with that.” Spousal Unit: “Can you go back to dis-engaged and exhausted?” Kings in the Corner I am feeling rested and relaxed.   As Spousal Unit has pointed out to me on numerous occasions, I have paid my dues with hours worked over the last 28 years.   Let’s do a quick calculation: assuming an average of 45 weeks of work a year and 66 hours a week, that...

Today’s the day – launching my real blog and telling people where to find it. And why the image of the dandelion?   For me, it’s an ideal metaphor for letting go.   As a gardener, I have always waged war on the dandelion.   But today, I am accepting the ‘dandelions’ in my blog - it is not perfect, but it’s good enough.      “Accept what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be.”   Unknown

I am as giddy as a child with a new toy.   It’s untouched and it’s complex – it presents a world of possibilities!   It’s called a blog. I am feeling a sense of accomplishment that I am figuring it out.   I have never been a master of technology – I have relied on my (millennial) kids for help – so I am grateful to Blogger for making it easy and to blog writers that have gone before me for providing inspirational examples. As expected, the blog is testing my innate desire for perfection, which I have declared as the enemy.   Today, I forced myself to define a minimum set of requirements to proceed with my real blog.   Without it, I knew I would keep perfecting and perfecting and never launch.   So, with today’s progress, I am glad to say that I am very close to launching my real blog in place of this test bed.   “You must never feel badly about making mistakes … as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong...

You know the scene - your young child, with a heavy backpack weighing her down, turns slightly and casts one final look over her shoulder before she grasps the handrail and hoists herself onto the steps of the yellow bus, which are much too big for her little legs. That's how I feel right now - uncertain, but with a desire to try something new driving me forward.  For, you see, this is my first post ever.  Today, I am dipping my toes in the water of blogging, and I am equal parts excited and nervous.  I hope you will join me as I make my way through this unknown world.