What is retirement?

Retirement, is what you make it.  

I recently had a person ask me if I enjoyed watching all the TV programs during the day like they do.  I had another recently retired individual tell me that they hate it because "There's nothing to do".  

These answers amaze us.  The fact is that we are having the times of our lives.  There's no time to watch TV because there is so much to do.  Having additional time to spend with family and friends is an absolute blessing.   

Dave with Amber and Annabelle, who's always ready for a belly rub ( Annabelle the dog, not Amber, that is)

Although we've spent time traveling, and plan to leave again in a few days  to travel to the northeast, the fact is that there are plenty of things to do nearby. 

(Dave and Annabelle at St. George Island)

Here's something that is an added bonus.  Having the time to read the newspaper in the morning while having breakfast.

Volunteer work is one thing that is high on the list.  You can do things for others that mean so much.

Dave is designing a putting green in the back yard.  Judy, meanwhile, has an herb garden growing out there too, and is adding them to different recipes.  We found out that homemade salsa with cilantro from the garden was pretty good.  

Of course Dave can always be found doing interesting things, like using the leaf blower to get pine straw off of the roof.




We spent one afternoon listening to French music, and cooking a French cuisine dinner, changing the kitchen into a bistro for just the two of us.  

 Rainy days this past week? No problem- Judy actually did what she always said at work she wanted to do on rainy days: she made homemade soup and bread- without the bread machine.  Ten minutes of kneading bread dough is actually a long time when you are doing it.

And you can see what Dave and Annabelle did during one of the rainy afternoons.

And so, the rule on retirement is that there is no rule.  It is what you make it.  It's a time to enjoy yourself and do things that are fun for you.  You have reached a time in your life where if you decide you want to do something fun and unusual, you should go and do it.  Notice how Judy has made her vehicle into a zombie response vehicle.  Dave's reply?  "Well Judy, it's your car."  

Judy figures the signs on the doors and the windows should be conversation starters on the trip.  Dave is hopeful that no one will notice them.

We're now preparing for the open road.....

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Comic Con- Unbelievable

Comic Con- you've got to be kidding!

Judy ended up going to Comic Con on Sunday.  Our oldest granddaughter had been so looking forward to going to this event, as she is a real Walking Dead fan.  Her younger sister had been in the hospital last week with a very rare medical condition, and her parents didn't want to leave the little one to go to this convention, which was totally understandable.  The older one was  very disappointed that she wasn't going to be able to see Maggie from the program, so Dave bought the tickets with the understanding that Judy would go with her.

What an experience!  They had a "Speed Dating" activity scheduled for when they opened, so we figured if we got there before noon we would be all set, because neither one of us ( happily married grandmother and 12 year old granddaughter) needed to do any speed dating.  As I had never been to one of these conventions, I wasn't sure what to expect.  I thought it was just going to be a lot of vendors selling comic books, but I was wrong.

When we got there, we found a line that stretched around the end of the building.  We asked if it was the admission line, and were told that it was the autograph line, and that one had to first get their ticket and then get in the autograph line.  We were then directed to another long line, and told that it was the admission line.  We got into the admission line, and then found out that we had to go to the head of the line because our tickets had already been purchased, and we were just picking them up.  Bonus- head of the line- we'll get in quick now, right?  

Nope.  When we got to the head of the line, we were told that no further people were being admitted as they had a capacity crowd.  We stayed at the head of the line for 1 and 1/2 hours, until they gave us our tickets so we could get in.  During that time frame we saw many people who had come in costume for the costume competition.  We saw Superman, slave-girl Princess Lea, the crew from Wreck-t Ralph, storm troopers, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Riddler, Walking Dead costumed wanna be's and so many more that I had no clue who (or even what ) they were supposed to be.  They then announced that they weren't going to have the costume competition due to a "scheduling conflict".  This caused many disgruntled costumed attendees.  So now we were in a hot building jam-packed with people, a portion of them disgruntled.  This keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?

Our granddaughter's one desire was to meet Laura Cohan who plays Maggie on Walking Dead.  We got into the autograph line, but one of the staff workers said we may not get into the autograph room due to time constraints.  So close, I thought- we're so close.  When we were almost to the room, they announced that they no longer had any photographs to sign, and that each person would have to bring their own paper to be signed, and that seeing as time was running out, there could no longer be any posed photographs taken, but we could take candid ones. The family ahead of us in line were frantic as to what they were going to have signed.  Our granddaughter, the trouper that she is, simply pulled out the Walking Dead comic book that she had brought with her so that it could be signed.  She had also drawn a picture of Maggie to give to Laura Cohan.  

We made it to the autograph room!  Our granddaughter was able to meet Laura and give her the picture.

Giving Laura the picture.  Laura asked her to autograph the picture, while she signed the comic book

Laura Cohan with the drawing.

I drove home with a beaming, unbelievably happy girl.  It was worth every moment of the whole crazy experience.  However,  next time she'll go with her folks, and if the younger one needs to stay home, I'll stay there with her!

Next Adventure will be a sane one!!

EPCOT- going with first-timers

This was the first time that our granddaughters visited EPCOT. It was also the first time our daughter had been there since before she got married, which is going on 14 years.  So, we went there prepared for crowds and with 3 very excited females.  In keeping with our 2013 travel usual mode of operation, the day dawned dark and cloudy. (What the heck is this with the clouds and rain????)

At any rate, it didn't take us long to get through the entrance lines, and start our day at EPCOT.  If you haven't been there in a while, Spaceship Earth has a new narrator and  Captain EO is back and better than ever.  Our daughter missed Universe of Motion, Horizons and the Metropolitan Universe of Life, which are all gone now or have been updated to Test Track and the Mars mission.

Watching the grandkids see and explore this theme park made the day very enjoyable.  We kept hearing "That was awesome!"

20 years ago, one of the things that our kids liked to do was to catch the jumping waters outside of Captain EO.  It was gratifying to see that the next generation enjoyed it just as much, even when getting hit in the head with water.

Soarin'  is a fun adventure at The Land.  It is also very popular.  As the Fast Pass would have gotten us on the ride quicker, but 6 hours later, we decided to go "stand-by".  The stand-by line was 1 1/2 hours,  but they had activities to keep people from getting bored and grouchy.  There was a group of college kids in the line ahead of us, and it was interesting to see them pull out their Kindles and i-pads to keep them occupied while in line.  A true sign of the times- people can't go anywhere without their electronic devices.
Also, "Fast-Pass" is the way of life now as it appears that people can't just wander around the parks- they need to make sure that they are having correct time-management to see as much as possible.  We noticed that this did make for some grouchy parents and kids.

Posing for a picture outside the Maelstrom

A true "Day at Disney"- waiting in the lines

 It was an international cuisine day for them- lunch in Mexico, slushies from Africa, snacks from Germany, and pastries from France.  They tolerated the lines well, but didn't make it to Illuminations.

And so, it was another fun adventure.  

The question is- what's next?

Renaissance Festival

Not far from home, but back in time...

We are lucky to live in an area that has a Renaissance Festival every year.  If you have never been to one of these, it is a festival where you can see people dressed in what they feel is Renaissance era clothing, visit craft dealers,  and see various shows.  From what we saw, during the Renaissance era there was an abundance of female pirates that wore bustiers that almost caused overflowing ( if you get what I mean). Who knew?  If they are accurate, then the Gasparilla parade should have a lot more female pirate crewes.  They have multiple food vendors, where you can get the typical turkey leg, or soup in a bowl, but they also have other interesting things like Irish Nachos, Gyros, and pizza.

Friar Dave

It is definitely more fun to go to this festival in costume. It makes you feel like you are more part of the festival.  Friar Dave had ladies approaching him to have pictures taken with him.    

The Queen has various games and activities every day.  These may be human chess matches, or combat contests.  Here's the trick to enjoying yourself at these activities:

Volunteer your daughter (who decided to go in 21st century clothing) to be part of the match.  Don't let her back down or refuse to be part of the show.  This is an experience that she, and her daughters, will remember for a very long time.

Be very supportive of her as she receives her training.

Cheer loudly for her during her part of the activities.  And the fact of the matter is that she did enjoy herself.

They have a multitude of animals that you can meet and feed- a great opportunity for kids- especially if you have a pre-teen who wants to be a vet.    And so that parents won't be worried, of course they have a hand washing station and hand sanitizer.

This is a scary sight- the wild 8 year old granddaughter with a real bow and arrow.  In keeping with the spirit of the day, she did dress up!

Once we get our feet clean from today's activities, we'll be planning our next adventure this week- EPCOT Center

Island Adventures

We decided that we wanted to visit  a Gulf coast island in the panhandle, that was not over-developed, and this is the island that we chose- St. George Island.

We wanted to stay at an Inn that had a lot of beach character- definitely not a 4 star chain hotel, and the St George Inn was just what we were looking for, from the exterior weathered, peeling paint, to the lack of clocks and telephones in the rooms.  It has functional shutters on the windows for storms.  The Innkeepers were fantastic, the bed extremely comfortable.  This is an inn where you can leave and not worry about locking the door.  Our room was called Total Escape.

In continuing with the tradition established in Central America, when we arrived it was starting to cloud up and get windy and cold.  There were reports of rain in the forecast.

By the next morning the weather started to deteriorate.  It was cold and windy.  By noon there were lightning flashes everywhere and weather alerts of 1-3 inches of rain an hour.  Dave and Annabelle spent a long time on the porch watching the weather.  Judy brought her kindle with her and spent the time reading inside where it was dry and warm. The storm continued throughout the evening and night.  At 4:45 am, it got really bad, with the chairs being blown around on the porches.  Some really weird sounding wind, but no locomotive sounds.  Our Innkeepers stayed up the night checking the weather so that they could wake us if there was any danger.  There were several waterspouts close by in the Gulf, but none came to shore.

By mid-morning the weather had gotten much better so that we could explore the beach.  We found a number of jellyfish on the beach- this is the smallest one we saw, and as you can see, it's bigger than my foot.  This was the first time that we had seen them since we arrived, and we don't know if they were a casualty of the waves or the waterspouts.

Although the storm was over, the waves remained rough- surfing anyone?

We were finally able to wander along the beach.

Once the sun came out, one could see that it was a really nice beach.  This is the access across the street from the Inn.  It remained really cold and windy for the rest of our stay.

We decided to get in the car and do some exploring, only to discover that the car wouldn't start.  Thank goodness for AAA, because remember, we were on an island that had no service stations or towing companies.  We had to wait for a tow truck from the mainland.  Luckily, the car started up right away with a jump, and it was discussed that the problem had possibly been the rain and wind getting into the engine from the grill.  

There are new beachfront homes along both ends of the island.  These places are huge, and with the price of just the beach lot being up to 500K, I can't imagine the prices of these places. The most amazing thing to me was the fact that I could only count about 5 houses that had hurricane shutters.  How could you build one of these houses and not make sure it would be safe from storms?  It boggles the mind.

Eddy Teachs became our favorite place to eat on the island.  It was right across the street from the Inn, which was good during the rain, plus we really had a good time there.  This is James- he's the owner and a wannabe pirate.  He used to be an English teacher, but opened Eddy Teachs  in 2006.  Harry A's was also a good place to eat, and we had some great pizza from BJs.

Dave enjoying himself- notice the beard??
Notice the sweatshirt?  We were layering our clothes to keep warm.

St. George Island lighthouse.  Originally built in the 1850s, it was rebuilt in 1980.

St. George Island water tower and cell phone tower- it multi-tasks!

And so, as we headed home, we started to discuss- where should we go next?

Preparing for the next trip

Travel tips by Annabelle

Annabelle

     Sometimes my humans will take me along with them on their adventures.  I love to travel in the car, and think there's nothing better than hanging my head out of the window and letting my ears flap in the wind.  
    Those of us with four legs and permanent furry coats need to have travel preparations made for us too.  These are the things that I insist on to have a comfortable vacation:

1. I have my own suitcase to take- it even has a golden retriever name tag.  In it are some of my toys, a blanket, a soft sheet to cover furniture so that I won't leave any shedding hair, my snacks, a 20 foot lead (leash) so that I can be attached to a human or building and still have some meandering area, extra kibble to keep me healthy, and beach towels to dry me off after a romp in the surf.
2. I have my own special travel food and water dishes that also have a container with more of my kibble in it.  These dishes then connect together and have a handle so that even I can carry them.
3. I have heard that a change in water can really mess with a canine's digestive system, and I definitely don't want to go on a trip and get a case of bad puppy poops, so I make sure that I have containers of water that I am used to and won't bother me.
4. I always carry my  "Puppy Passport".  This has information on my microchip, my license, my shot record, information about my doctor's office, where I live and recent pictures of me.  If my humans didn't join me on a sudden adventure that I spontaneously decided to take, I want to make sure that we can find each other.  Naturally, I always wear my necklace (don't call it a collar!) with my license, my name, and information on where I live.  
5. The humans also make preparations so that I'm safe in the car.  There is a screen that separates the front seat from the back.  This keeps me from flying through the console in the event of sudden stops.  I also have a stylish harness style seat belt to keep me safe.  They make sure that the leg wells are padded in so that my legs can't fall off the seat, and they also stretch out my bed in the back seat so that can easily take a nap. 
6. Naturally, I always have a supply of clean-up bags for when I go for walks- a lady never wants to leave evidence of her body functions while on vacation or any other time.

     

I'm packed and ready to go! Now if I can just get those two packed up too, we'll be on our way.  

Coming up- the Florida Panhandle.

Did you know there is Senior Day at the movies?

Here's a new luxury- going to the movies during the week.  So now that we have the time, we've gone to a couple of epic movies ( which everyone else probably saw a few months ago) : Les Miserables and Lincoln.

There is  Senior Day at the movies, where your ticket is a reduced rate if you are 60.  I'm not sure if the increased noise before the movies is because there might be hearing issues, or if people just don't care if others hear them.  Luckily, they have quieted down as the lights go down. Maybe their voices are connected to the dimmer switch.

At any rate, These were 2 fantastic movies to see.  If you hadn't heard, Les Miserables filmed the singing in "raw time".  The performers did the singing as they filmed the scene- not in a recording studio.  They wore earphones so they could only hear a piano playing with them.  The other actors couldn't hear the music.  It made the music so much more emotional.  The orchestra music was edited in later.  Wow- what a difference from the musicals of the 1950's.

Lincoln, another Oscar nomination, paid some amazing attention to detail.  If you look at pictures of Mary Lincoln, she wore a necklace identical to the one Sally Field wore.  Daniel Day-Lewis became Lincoln.  The goofy wig Tommy Lee Jones wore?  Take a look at pictures of Thaddeus Stephens- same wig.

Next stop- St George Island in the Florida Panhandle- stay tuned.

A day at sea

So what kind of things can you do during a day at sea?

You can watch where you've been

It took me until the last day to figure out that the handles were to hold onto in case of rough seas.

There are Viking Evacuation Chutes  located by the lifeboats.  These are  "express  slides"  to get to the lifeboat in case it's in the water and you're on deck.

Casino:  most of the games are all digital now.  Judy came home with the same amount of money that she left with.

Library: for those that still read print books.

Have a nice lunch

Swimming, anyone?

Oh no- not more shopping!

The Happy Happy Washy Washy girls.  These 2 ladies were known as the Happy Happy Washy Washy girls because that was their job.  They would stop everyone entering the buffet restaurant and spray each passenger's hands with sanitizer, saying "Happy Happy, Washy Washy"  None of us got sick,so it appears that they are successful in their jobs.  I can't imagine saying those 4 words hundreds of times each day, but they do it with a smile.

The end of this trip- coming back under the Skyway bridge during the night.

More trips and adventures coming.