bodner044

Blogging has delivered so much more than I ever expected when I started posting a year ago.  Access to spectacular photography, most of it by ordinary people just like me.  Inspiration from prose, quotes and video embedded in posts.  A window into the joys and trials of others, with its incumbent responsibility to affirm and to support my fellow bloggers, as needed.  So, it felt really good when LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color invited me to join "I Like Thursdays", a 'posting party' that emphasizes positives.  This is for LeeAnna and the entire blogging community: I appreciate your diversity, your talent and the entertainment! So, I guess that's my first LIKE for the week! (Internet) Many posts I have read over the last few weeks have documented the delayed arrival of spring, and fickle winter storms.  Here in Montana, it's still winter in the mountains, but there are signs of spring in the valleys. As soon as some grass was revealed by the retreating s...

I am not one for loose ends.  Once I start something, I like to finish.  Dot the 'i', cross the 't'.  So our Phase I move-in this week is testing my limits. My running internal conversation goes something like this: Moose flag and moose metal sculpture near front porch "The snow is melting - everything looks like a mud pit - I can't show that on my blog." "What an opportunity to demonstrate you are letting go of perfection." "Despite all my efforts, the movers didn't get the piano onto the lower level." "The piano is undamaged and even sounds in tune". Piano originally belonged to my maternal great-grandfather Clem "Boxes basically everywhere.  Dining room chairs in the master bedroom until we get protectors on the legs.  Yikes!" "How blessed you are to have this house.  OK!" View from back deck Original paperwork from June 23, 2016 So, now that I have my attitude firmly planted on the positive end of t...

Durham, a historic city in North East England, is home to a Norman cathedral that became a center of pilgrimage in medieval England.  That's because the Cathedral contains the final resting place of St. Cuthbert.  The city also boasts an 11th century castle that has been the home of Durham University since 1832.  And all of this perched on a stunning rocky outcrop that looks down on the River Wear (pronounced like 'weird' but without the 'd').  But what you really need to know about Durham is this: Spousal Unit proposed to me here, right outside the main door of the Cathedral , 28 years ago. So, of course we brought my sister and her husband to the scene of the crime during their UK tour in June 2017 (see previous posts about their visit: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 ) Durham is only a short drive from my in-laws' house; we took advantage of the Park and Ride just outside the city center because the walk into town along the river offers peek-a-boo ...

Afternoon sky in North Dakota It's been a week of introspection.  Looking back, and forward.  A celebration and a bit of a self-assessment.  A (sometimes surprising) re-affirmation of my passions.  On the whole, an eminently satisfying catalog of a year well-lived, well-loved, and bountifully blessed: it has been 12 months since I retired and started documenting my voyage with this blog. Calypso Orchid I won't apologize for my method to outlining this post: I organized my notes around the objectives stated in my blog profile.  I re-read all 72 of my blog posts, beginning with the first.  I perused (ancient!) notes I kept leading up to retirement and for the first 9 months post-freedom.  After all, even the most ad-lib writers structure their prose in some fashion ... but in the end, I sat back and let my emotions speak to me.  Here is what I heard: Family game of Kings in the Corner 1. Letting go of perfection and structure is harder for me than I...