The week got off to a good start, with my dental report that there's NOTHING wrong with my teeth. I have to go back to have my permanent retainer re-glued in 2 places, but there are no other problems. Yay for that--I get hysterical going to the dentist because of my childhood experiences of drilling without novacaine, if anyone can imagine that. What a nasty dentist Dr. Kyle was! He traumatized all three of us children but we moved on. More or less.
My car, with 21,000 miles on it, was making a horrible noise, rear end sounding like grinding brakes. I took it to the dealer in Burlington, where I bought it, and they kept it overnight. It was indeed the rear brakes, which were replaced under warranty. Another yay for me. Two trips to Burlington two days in a row is tiring, that's for sure, but I did have fun shopping while I was there. Once to Trader Joe's and once to Barnes & Noble. Two of my favorite spots. Did I spend a lot? Well, yes, but I had to make it worth the trip.
I went to Plattsburgh again yesterday to run errands, a quick trip with the dogs. Today was Lin & Raph's cider pressing. I went with Linda, we met Marylou there and had a great time. It was cold here this morning, 31 degrees, but it had warmed up by the time we were at the pressing and the sun was warm and bright. Linda & I took the ton of wild apples we'd picked--Ralph swears that wild apples make the most flavorful cider so he was pleased to see them. There was a guitar-playing singer there who had fun entertaining us all. Ralph makes guitars and he played one of them for a song, which we all liked. He sang a Stephen Foster song, which made me smile. My 5th grade teacher was the music teacher and she had us sing Stephen Foster songs all the time, but only the racist ones. According to her the best musician ever was Liberace. Of course, she didn't live long enough to catch the musicians of later years. But there never was another Liberace.
Tomorrow is the neighborhood breakfast at the Blue Heron. Minards, McDougalls, Linda & Erd., me, the Holts and maybe some others will be there. Should be nice but I bet it will be a tad cool on the screened porch at 9 a.m. Linda is making pancakes, Sue is making a strada, I'm taking juice and cider. It will be great--it's an annual thing.
The coming week has a few events. Monday I'm due in Keene Valley, where the library director thinks I'm going to volunteer to work in the archives. I don't know what I'll do about it, but I do know I won't go there every week. I don't want another voluntary obligation.
Tuesday I'm having my stovepipe cleaned. I haven't had a fire yet this season, am just waiting for the cleaning. What's up for the rest of the week? Probably lunch with Julie on Weds., a birthday dinner for Bill on Thursday at Linda's. That's it. Maybe yoga on Tuesday night with Sue, but maybe not.
Things are good, very good. Retirement is a great gift.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Late autumn coming along
We're usually approaching peak color by now but there's just a hint of some yellows and reds in the hills and woods right now. The weather has been fantastic, if you like dock days (I sure do). 80's and sunny and not very humid. Ahhhhh. Today it's 60 and sunny and probably signals the end of dock days, though the water is still very comfortable for swimming.
I've been doing well, still on permanent vacation. No, I have to remind myself, it's not a vacation, it's real life. I have a lot more fun entertaining and cooking dinners (well, I've only done 2) because I'm not working, so it's much, much less stress to plan, prepare, clean, and cook. Last night I had 4 friends eat dinner at camp, on the front porch with a great view of the lake, on a warm evening. It was really nice. I wanted to cook my turn at Sunday dinner at camp, too, but camp was full of other people that weekend so I had it at Joe & Martha's instead. It was eggplant parmesan, cooked two very different ways, one by me and one by Linda. Both were great, got lots of compliments, and it was a really nice time.
Joe & Martha are still here, so are Duncan & Sue and Linda & Erdvilas. Do I mind being the single person among couples? Not really. It would be fun to share time (and work) with someone but I so much enjoy being by myself that it all seems OK. And people are always very generous about including me (my mother would say "Well of course they do, that's because you're nice and they like you," which I suppose has a grain of truth to it). We're creeping up on October, which is Departure Time for everyone. What this means is that we all spend a lot of time together, lots of dinners at each others' camps and homes and it's a lot of fun. No, we don't get sick of each other or run out of things to talk about.
I have a dentist appointment tomorrow, ugh. Haven't been for a while and am past due for a cleaning. My permanent retainer (which is what you get when you have braces) is busted in 2 places and it will be expensive to get them fixed, but if I don't get them fixed the teeth will float back to their original places and why did I get braces anyway?
Since my cousin took my dock out on Labor Day, I spend my dock time with Linda on her dock. She has Dock Supreme and we have a wonderful time together so it's a treat. The location isn't as fantastic as our dock is, but there are hardly people left on the lake so it's quiet. And sooo pretty
I'm still reading a lot, hoping to carry that over to winter instead of my usual TV habit. I'm reading Jane Smiley's latest, which is a continuation of a family saga. It's sort of hard reading, not a fast-paced story at all but she's a good writer. I still have a long list of titles to get to but keep buying new titles both for my Kindle and in print. Sometimes I feel like reading a "real" book in print, other times I like reading on my Kindle. I get a ton of ebooks for $1.99 each from BookBub, which just fills up the Kindle without my ever getting to read them.
I did some actual cleaning the other day, threw out a lot of junk and rearranged things in the library at the back of the house. I have to get the heater there fixed so needed to make room for someone to get to it. I have a lot more of that kind of thing to do but it felt good to do even just a little bit.
I have lunch with friends often, about once a week, in Plattsburgh. I don't mind going to Plattsburgh sometimes, but man it seems like such a long drive. How did I do that all those years?
I've been picking wild apples in prep. for Lin's cider pressing party next week. Linda and I had great fun driving down a back, uninhabited road, picking lots of wild apples along the roadside. I had scoped out a bunch of trees, and can't help but keep noticing apple trees loaded with apples still. Must learn to notice something else.
Tonight is book group, Linda's last turn hosting. After this it will be Lin, Marylou and me for the winter. We still call it book group, and read a book each month. We sure don't spend much time talking about the book, but we've been getting together for 13 years and have become a good group. Getting smaller, but still nice.
The dogs are fine though a big pudgy because I haven't been walking them much lately and they get lunch every day. They take each other for walks pretty much every day, which is not great but they seem to stay out of trouble. Last night I was driving home from camp after dark and there was a huge porcupine in the road. Treasure took off when we got home and I was fearful that she had her heart set on meeting up with Porky, but that didn't happen.
Life is good, very good.
I've been doing well, still on permanent vacation. No, I have to remind myself, it's not a vacation, it's real life. I have a lot more fun entertaining and cooking dinners (well, I've only done 2) because I'm not working, so it's much, much less stress to plan, prepare, clean, and cook. Last night I had 4 friends eat dinner at camp, on the front porch with a great view of the lake, on a warm evening. It was really nice. I wanted to cook my turn at Sunday dinner at camp, too, but camp was full of other people that weekend so I had it at Joe & Martha's instead. It was eggplant parmesan, cooked two very different ways, one by me and one by Linda. Both were great, got lots of compliments, and it was a really nice time.
Joe & Martha are still here, so are Duncan & Sue and Linda & Erdvilas. Do I mind being the single person among couples? Not really. It would be fun to share time (and work) with someone but I so much enjoy being by myself that it all seems OK. And people are always very generous about including me (my mother would say "Well of course they do, that's because you're nice and they like you," which I suppose has a grain of truth to it). We're creeping up on October, which is Departure Time for everyone. What this means is that we all spend a lot of time together, lots of dinners at each others' camps and homes and it's a lot of fun. No, we don't get sick of each other or run out of things to talk about.
I have a dentist appointment tomorrow, ugh. Haven't been for a while and am past due for a cleaning. My permanent retainer (which is what you get when you have braces) is busted in 2 places and it will be expensive to get them fixed, but if I don't get them fixed the teeth will float back to their original places and why did I get braces anyway?
Since my cousin took my dock out on Labor Day, I spend my dock time with Linda on her dock. She has Dock Supreme and we have a wonderful time together so it's a treat. The location isn't as fantastic as our dock is, but there are hardly people left on the lake so it's quiet. And sooo pretty
I'm still reading a lot, hoping to carry that over to winter instead of my usual TV habit. I'm reading Jane Smiley's latest, which is a continuation of a family saga. It's sort of hard reading, not a fast-paced story at all but she's a good writer. I still have a long list of titles to get to but keep buying new titles both for my Kindle and in print. Sometimes I feel like reading a "real" book in print, other times I like reading on my Kindle. I get a ton of ebooks for $1.99 each from BookBub, which just fills up the Kindle without my ever getting to read them.
I did some actual cleaning the other day, threw out a lot of junk and rearranged things in the library at the back of the house. I have to get the heater there fixed so needed to make room for someone to get to it. I have a lot more of that kind of thing to do but it felt good to do even just a little bit.
I have lunch with friends often, about once a week, in Plattsburgh. I don't mind going to Plattsburgh sometimes, but man it seems like such a long drive. How did I do that all those years?
I've been picking wild apples in prep. for Lin's cider pressing party next week. Linda and I had great fun driving down a back, uninhabited road, picking lots of wild apples along the roadside. I had scoped out a bunch of trees, and can't help but keep noticing apple trees loaded with apples still. Must learn to notice something else.
Tonight is book group, Linda's last turn hosting. After this it will be Lin, Marylou and me for the winter. We still call it book group, and read a book each month. We sure don't spend much time talking about the book, but we've been getting together for 13 years and have become a good group. Getting smaller, but still nice.
The dogs are fine though a big pudgy because I haven't been walking them much lately and they get lunch every day. They take each other for walks pretty much every day, which is not great but they seem to stay out of trouble. Last night I was driving home from camp after dark and there was a huge porcupine in the road. Treasure took off when we got home and I was fearful that she had her heart set on meeting up with Porky, but that didn't happen.
Life is good, very good.
Wednesday, September 02, 2015
Tess and I like Dock Days
Lots of social life these days, plenty of time spent with Linda as well. I made pickles, using a recipe from long ago. My friend Barb and I used to make these pickles every year by the gallon, then eat the out of the jar. They're sort of like bread & butter pickles only much better.
This morning I'm having coffee with friends who are leaving the lake today. I'm hoping to convince them to return for Columbus Day and stay with me. Then I'll make another batch of pickles. Then I'll go to the dump. Then I'll sit on the dock, if the sun comes out. Tonight I'm having dinner with friends who invited my dogs to joins us. I'll only take Treasure--Tess is easily bored and stares at me when she thinks it's time to go home (and that is always sooner than I'm ready to go).
The weather has been good but we could use a little rain. The plants on my deck have pretty much died or pooped out. I didn't show much interest in them this year. The dogs picked the tomatoes. I ate a few cucumbers. The flowers looked nice for a while but I didn't deadhead them enough. Today is dump day--I have my garbage, boat house garbage, camp garbage and friends' garbage so it will definitely be worth the trip.
I've had a really good summer. My only complaint is that I thought I'd be more productive--but uh-oh, my social life got in the way. Most retired friends agree that we're less ambitious than we hope we'd be because we don't have to do anything today, there's always TOMORROW. I have a long list of things to get done around the house, and only 2 items have been checked off and completed.
Not much else going on. Dogs are all right. Tess is old. Treasure is good. The people I'm seeing tonight are waiting for a puppy from the same breeder I get my dogs from. She's expensive but boy oh boy these are nice dogs. I had a good visit with a cousin & his wife recently--they're big Lab fans and love love love to visit with my dogs. So my dogs love them. REALLY love them. They go bounding into camp (the dogs, not the cousins) and run to the front porch where Rob & Betsy are. PET ME PET ME PET ME. It's very sweet.
I've been reading quite a bit, nothing terribly notable but some good stuff. What a luxury and joy. Is retirement what I'd hope it would be? All that and more.
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