A Busy Week and a Funny

 

This has been a busy week. Who knew being retired can be so busy? At this point, most things I do are things I choose to do and the people I spend time with are people I choose.

We celebrated my older son's birthday at our family's new favorite restaurant and our three nonalcoholic drinks were so pretty I took a photo, see above. Mine is the pretty lavender color drink at the front, it had Rose in its name and was delicious.

The next day I had lunch with my two long time friends of 25 years who I met while we worked at the university. We went to a restaurant that has Greek and middle eastern foods. They even have a dish I love, flaming cheese, which makes me happy. In an earlier post I shared a photo of flaming cheese, with its three foot tall flames at our table. That Greek restaurant closed and now I have found a new one that offers that entertaining dish.

The day after that I attended Women's Bible Study at church with ten wonderful ladies. The age range is 30 to 80, I am guestimating. Two of the ladies immigrated to the USA from other countries, Jamaica and the Philippines, and we are a diverse group, united in our love for Jesus and for each other. The group leader brings her one year old daughter who is a friendly youngster, and her daughter even sat on my lap briefly, Those were treasured moments.

And a funny for you. Some readers like when I type out the words, Remember Life's Most Valuable Antiques Are Dear Old Friends.

 

Now this little old lady wants some quiet time at home.

Retirement and finances, for those thinking about retiring

I notice when I write about retirement those are among my most read posts. So today I am inspired to write what you might like to read. This post touches on retirement and income and is aimed at people who have not retired yet. I live in the USA so that is the retirement info I know.
If you are already retired leave us a comment telling us how you are doing.
Many people worry that they won't have enough money once they retire.
That could be true if you are in the USA and will only have social security for retirement income. If you will also have a pension and/or investments likes a 401(K) or a 403(B) through your job you may be in good shape financially for retirement. For 30 years I worked at a place that has pensions and that pension is one reason I stayed there. Lots of enjoyment in my job and with my co-workers but some blood, sweat and tears too! I retired from full time work a few years ago. If you are still young you might want to consider working at places that offer pensions, cuz I notice we get old fast. Ha ha!

If you live in the USA one good thing is that when you retire you will no longer pay into social security, so that is hundreds of dollars each month you will not have taken out of your check. Plus you will not have hundreds taken out for Medicare and money taken out for unemployment / disability insurance (in California they take money out for that). Plus where I worked charges $60 a month for parking which of course I no longer pay. That cost was due to my work place being on top of a wooded hill surrounded by forest and grass lands and they built multi-story parking buildings to save the forests, the parking being expensive to construct.
All this is to say that you may have more money in retirement than you thought you would have.
If you will only have social security as income, I hope you are saving money as a nest egg. If your job allows you to put pretax money in to a 401 retirement account be sure to do that. Some employers match the money you put in to a 401 account, that is a great incentive to put in the maximum you can. If it is pretax, that means that 100 dollars put in your 401 account will not result in take home pay of 100 dollars less, but a smaller amount will be taken from your paycheck, perhaps 90 dollars. Even 20 dollars a month in a 401 plan adds up over time. When our children were young and finances were tight, we managed to put in even a small amount like 20 dollars a month.
Hope you like the happy photos of Kermit in the snow and people hiking.
This post is about USA retirement. I am interested in people who live in other countries and how retirement works in your countries. If you don't live in the USA I would love to hear how retirement finances are good or bad in your country.

Volunteer visitor to senior citizens

Sometimes the above photo shows how I feel when I think of seniors stuck in a nursing or retirement home and who have no visitors.
I am posting this to give other bloggers an idea about a volunteer opportunity.
I am a senior citizen myself and have long heard about people living in retirement homes who have no visitors and are lonely. That sounds SAD beyond reflection to me.

For the year 2016 I decided to find a lonely person in one of those homes who I could visit and bring my version of sparkle and joy to. I have a nice collection of fun socks to wear, and bought these for one of the ladies I visit.

You can find a person to visit through your church, or through a volunteer center in your county or city. I signed up with a county program, was fingerprinted, interviewed, and sent to a retirement/memory care home. I think memory care is a upbeat way of saying Alzheimers or Dementia.
The neatest thing happened. The activities director introduced me to two ladies. One had a stroke and can't talk, and the other lady is active in all ways, and deals with Parkinsons disease successfully.
For the lady who had a stroke I bought some fun children's books and read them to her. Her favorite which she points to is about teddy bears and picnics. Since she visited Africa some years ago I bought a book about animals of Africa and she likes this book too.
The other gal and I do some volunteer work in the home's library, putting the books back on the shelves in the right places, and adding new books. We also sit and chat, I help her with her laptop, and we check on the two tomato and cucumber plants they let her grow. Last week she gave me a hug and said thank you for coming, you are a bright spot in my day. I said that she is a bright spot in my day too. Today I surprised her with the socks, and she said she had been wishing for some like this. She put them on and showed them to two people while I was visiting.
Let's spread the joy around.
"We can not all do great things, but we can all do small things with great love." Mother Theresa.

Wordless Wednesday Ocean and Retirement

The bay near our house in February 2016.

I have always enjoyed large bodies of water, growing up across the street from Lake Michigan, and now marveling at the changing moods of the Pacific Ocean near our home. Being retired means I walk along the ocean several times a week; the ocean is ever new and the air is so clean.

Linking up with Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday Camellias at Church and Retirement Volunteer

I took these photos of camellias growing at our church on February 5, 2016.

I saw this camellia on Sunday and couldn't resist bringing my camera with me a few days later to take photos to share with you blog friends.
Linking with Wordless Wednesday

I am starting my new volunteer path, being a visitor to one or two ladies at a retirement home. One I met on Wednesday February 24 and one I will meet today, March 2. I am looking forward to this new venture, and any tips you have on visiting with retirees in assisted living are greatly appreciated by me. The activity director said the gal I will meet today might enjoy me reading short stories to her.
I have a great book of compiled poems, "Poems to Learn by Heart", edited by Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of JFK, that could work.
Any other ideas?

Wordless Wednesday Birdbath, Frog and Petals

Frog in our pebble bird bath with plum tree blossoms. Quiet moments of beauty in these retirement days.
Linking with Wordless Wednesday

New books for me and retirement reading

Retirement has many things to recommend it and leisure time for reading is one of those things.
Last year I discovered my newest favorite author, Anthony Trollope, and in retirement I have time to enjoy reading his books, with plots which include love interests, the lives of humble people and nobility, people in love who are separated and yearn to marry, kind people and nasty people and many more themes. I read 9 of his books last year which is a real treat.
**********
I do buy books at a faster rate than I can read them, but it is a good feeling to stock up. Sort of like a squirrel gathering nuts.
Here are the ten books I added to our shelves within the period of a week. All are paper copies unless otherwise noted.
1-3.The first three books by Michael Dibdin, starring police detective Aurelio Zen. I read the first one right away, Ratking, which begins as Zen is a disgraced detective and is sent from Rome to Perugia to investigate a kidnapping.
4. Kindle book "Skywalker: Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trial" by Bill Walker. I think I got this free; today it is $1.99.

5. By Its Cover by Donna Leon. This is about no. 23 in her series about a police detective in Venice. Venice seems to be a character in these novels, and food too. Brunetti investigates rare books being stolen. I read this and it is excellent, like all the others in the series.
6. The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch. This is set in London in 1866 with the gentleman and amateur sleuth, Charles Lenox and is the third in the series.
7. Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson. Dark humor about her life and struggles with severe panic attacks. I am reading this one. Apparently her second book, Furiously Happy, reveals her mental health issues are even more difficult than what she shares here.
8. Ralph the Heir by Anthony Trollope. Folio edition with slipcase. Set in England in the 1870s, the owner of an estate wants to leave it to his natural son, but the estate is entailed to his nephew. Both young men are named Ralph. I think this will have humorous aspects. Trollope is my favorite author.
9. The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith. An Isabel Dalhousie novel set in Edinburgh.

10. My favorite purchase is "ESV Daily Reading Bible: The Bible in One Year." What a wonderful approach to help people like me read the Bible in one year. It makes it interesting as each day has readings from the Old Testament and the New, and I spend only 15 minutes reading the day's Scripture. The Scottish pastor, Robert M'Cheyne (1813-1843) who set up the readings left us a great gift. He lived only to age 30. What a brilliant legacy.
Oopsie, can a person accidentally buy books?
Yes, I have all the signs of a bookaholic.
Since writing this post a few days ago I visited the library and got 3 more books. Oopsie indeed.
11. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, about unleashing the creativity within us. I borrowed this book; the others were all purchased. I am reading this and it is rather disappointing.
These next two were purchased at the Friends of the Library used book store which is located in the library.
12. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. The author is Swedish, and he tells the tale of a man who escapes from his nursing home and has adventures involving nasty criminals, Sonya the elephant and is a "laugh out loud debut" according to the book cover.
13. The Hog's Back Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts. Written in 1933 by Crofts who lived 1879-1957, The British Library Crime Classics republished this one about a country house and mysterious deaths and disappearances.
Also, to let you know, I do not read all day. Ha ha. I keep busy outside the home, and write books and garden, attend women's Bible study, attend our Christian writers group, exercise at a health club 3 times a week, etc. but reading is a special quiet time for me.
I am signing up to volunteer at a nursing home. I will share more about this when I know more. Ah, the joys of retirement and choosing what we want to do, for the most part.

Retirement, books, and other good stuff

My husband and I are retired and love it. One thing I have noticed since retiring is how fast the days follow one another. One day it is Monday and then oops all of a sudden it is Thursday. Soon the weekend occurs. No more tension on Sunday night, or any evening, thinking about work the next day.
Less hurrying to get errands done in a rush on weekends or after work.
One of the sweetest things about retirement is that we can choose our companions and embrace people who make us smile.
I can explore different activities and joined a Women's Bible Study group, which has 10 members. That is a great way to get to know people in a deep way. We always share things we request prayers about.
In April I bought a coloring book for adults called "Enchanted Forest" and that is a nice relaxing activity and change of pace from reading, writing and a bit of tv watching. We only watch an hour and a half of tv a day. I gave the same coloring book to my sister for her birthday and I gave "Color Me Happy" to my stepmother for Christmas.
Another plus for being a retiree is that I go the health club three times a week to walk on the treadmill, and sometimes exercise in the pool.
And reading remains a great joy for dh and I, some things do not change.
This past week I bought three books, "Homer's Where The Heart Is" by Marjorie McGinn, "Is He Popenjoy?" by Anthony Trollope and "Midnight Cabernet" by Elaine Ambrose.

"Homer's Where the Heart Is' is the second book in a series. I read the first book by McGinn, "Things Can Only Get Feta" and found that the author is talented and adds humor to her descriptions of their first two years in Greece, when she and her husband rented a house in a small village in southern Greece. They chose to become friends with the Greek people and not other expats. The second book which I am reading now, "Homer's Where the Heart Is" has a great chapter on Patrick Leigh Fermor (one of the world's great adventure writers who lived near them) and another chapter on a young Greek Orthodox priest they got to know plus plenty of funny antics by their Jack Russell terrier.
I haven't read the other two books I bought yet, though using my crystal ball as seen through my love of Trollope, I am going to enjoy "Is He Popenjoy?" With a title like that, it promises some humor and Trollope always delivers romances that face difficulty. I heard that a Marquis gets punched in this one. "Midlife Cabernet" promises dark humor about life after 50 and this author is new to me.
Anyone else have comments on being retired?