In January, 2012, I wrote an entry called "Doors Unopened" and I find it still applies today. I reject posting a great many ideas that come to mind for various reasons. So here is a list of the current rejects:
I won't write about the following subjects unless I get some great inspirations or queries to hear more about--
--My December cruisewas outstanding. I'm a big fan of cruises and I could write endlessly about the things I enjoy about them. We meet legions of interesting people and see great places. We always take several Gigs of photos. People who love to cruise have those too. People who don't love to cruise don't care, or hate the whole concept. I could live on a ship and never get bored. --My holiday with my family and grandchildren was superb. I never tire of talking to my grandchildren who are extra special to me. They light our lives in a million ways and I will always enjoy time spent with them. I think it is a great unspoken compliment to their parents that they can share their greatest contribution to the world with us. I think they can feel successful and accomplished as adults when they can leave the grandchildren to visit with us while they take some time off.
--The holiday display presented annually by Longwood Gardens always tops their previous efforts and makes the holidays extra special to set the stage for our celebrations. It too, produces tons of photos.
--The Terabyte hard drive that I needed to add to my desktop to store travel photos can be summed up in this sentence and one word--necessary.
--My new gym makes me feel good and gives my days structure. It centers me like nothing else.
--Religion and politics are still on my reject list. I just don't go there. People think what they think without my input. My opinions are in stone and I don't need to argue with anyone.
--My frustration with my constant quest to find "mature" slacks and workout pants will be restrained. See previous angst-- Venting on Vetting Jeans
--The number of books I read is numerous and anyone who wants to read book reviews can check Amazon. I try to keep up to date with a number of my favorite fiction authors and their current offerings such as John Grisham, Stuart Woods, Vince Flynn, Lee Child, Tess Gerritson and others. I'm too busy reading to write yet another review. Kudos to the public library, without whom I would go broke feeding my reading addiction.
The subject that I do find noteworthy is that of a gift that I received this year. I have a new Nook which is most interesting. Never having felt the need of an e-reader, I find that it has been a revelation. I thoroughly enjoy reading books with it and find that I can use the wireless connection to my local public library and check out epub books to my Nook without leaving my easy chair. When I finish reading it, I can return it wirelessly to the public library and delete it from my Nook. It automatically expires in 14 days so there are no overdue fees. It can store books, magazines, newspapers, music, photos, movies, and games like Sudoku and crossword puzzles. So I will have to load it with entertainment before I travel again.
I can purchase any number of things from Barnes and Noble online with their web connection as well as surf the web and check my e-mail. It is such a handy little toy that I never knew I needed. New paradigm.
Unique Christmas cards have always been a favorite for me and this one just arrived in the mail. It is hand-stitched by my daughter-in-law and my granddaughter. This is a keeper. The amount of time and effort that an item like this takes makes it very special to the person receiving it. I understand that each card they sent this year has a variation on this motif. The stitching is very meticulous.
The inside of the card is as neat as the outside. The green backing covers the back of the needlework that is on the face of the card.
It is an honor to receive such a special Christmas card, so it will have a special display spot in my house where we can see it daily throughout the season. It will also become part of my annual Christmas decorations display in my house.
Re-inventing ourselves is a life-long process; some times are more dramatic than other times. Ruts have a limited shelf life for me. I like to move on to new things and do a lot of stuff that change places I go and activities that appeal to me. Friends and acquaintances come and go, hobbies come and go, and life is as changing as waves on a shore. I love the ebb and flow of day-to-day events and seeing what is around the next corner.
Retirement is wonderful in the way that it opens so many doors, it is hard to choose the next door. Sometimes I like to sit myself down and have a chat with myself. Where am I going? What do I want to do next? I have a "meditation" chair where I sit and contemplate my future.
Recently I made a major change and we older people don't adjust to changes well as a rule. At least, that is what I heard someone near me say to another silver-haired gent with whom he was having a profound conversation. I was shamelessly eavesdropping. I have to agree, it takes a bit of assertive, maybe aggressive effort to decide what to do next and where to put my efforts. My major change was to move from one gym to another.
After two weeks of attending the new gym for two hours plus each morning, I find I am more than a little pleased with the decision for many reasons. I can already see the benefits of my efforts and it has almost become like reporting to work every morning. I try to follow a schedule and arrive at around the same time even though I don't pressure myself and I relax with it. It keeps me centered to have a routine to follow on weekdays. Three days a week, I work out on over 20 pieces of Life Fitness equipment, then I walk on a treadmill as fast as I can for three miles. On two days a week, I don't do the equipment, but I walk four miles and try to do that in one hour. It really works up a sweat so I can't forget to take along my towel.
I like the treadmills because they have individual TV screens and cable TV so I can watch CNN, or major networks, or movies, etc. Sometimes I set that on closed caption and watch the news channels in the morning while listening to my music on my own MP3 player. I am so occupied with my music and the headlines, I barely notice that I am exercising. My next change will probably be to expand into some new cardio machines like ellipticals, bikes or rowing machines. I like variety so I will try some new stuff again soon.
I don't know what it means, if anything, but I am seeing a lot of faces at the new gym that I used to see at my previous gym. How interesting.
I am meeting new people and I enjoy the conversations with other people who like to exercise. The early morning crowd includes many other retirees so I can relate to them and we have some things in common. However, it has a big age range which is good too. I don't want to exercise where there are only old people or even where there are only women. I think the decision to try a new location has been an exciting change and it inspires me to look for a lot of other new things to do.
I don't find it daunting as an older person to "change" things. I find it invigorating.
As I watch places like New Jersey, Staten Island, Manhattan, the Northeastern states, as well as New Orleans trying to cope with devastating storms, I think of the old story of the little boy with his finger in the dike.
In the story Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skateswritten by American author, Mary Maples Dodge in 1865, the boy puts his finger in the dike to avoid a catastrophe. This is an example of band aid surgery that we in the U.S. need to rethink. For the second year in a row, the Northeast is coping with a natural disaster and we need to plan ahead.
If we look to the "low countries" around the North Sea in Western Europe, such as the Netherlands, they have successfully dealt with existing with the sea and coping with regular floods.
That area of the world has been struggling to hold back the sea for thousands of years. If we look around the world to places such as Venice, they have always struggled to coexist with the surrounding water.
If we can learn anything from history, we have to assume natural disasters will happen again. We have to prepare for the distant future, not just next year by rebuilding in flood plains with no regard to the probability that it will happen again. Yes, this country is resilient and optimistic. We discuss and argue about everything which sometimes means nothing gets done. We paralyze ourselves with indecision. If we want the best of everything, we have to be willing to pay for it for all the people, not just a select few. The land of opportunity shouldn't mean the opportunity to take advantage of others.
It is a sad, sad situation that we see on news clips and we certainly don't want it to happen again. Hurricanes will continue and floods will continue. We can't stop the weather, so we in the U.S. will have to face reality and decide what is the goal regarding our coastlines and our own "low countries". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levee
We can't go back. What will be will be; we have to get ready. If we want to preserve our beaches and cities, we will have to analyze the situation and either commit to engineering ways to hold back the sea, or stop building on coastal areas. We will have to stop arguing about the cause and deal with our new reality. The U.S. needs to learn from other areas of the world who are experts at holding back the sea. http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/17-01/ff_dutch_delta?currentPage=all
This beast is mid-rutting season, haunting my neighborhood looking to get lucky. He chases "anything in skirts" and the ladies can't get away from him fast enough. They run behind fences, tree trunks, across streets and into the creek. She is elusive and he is randy.
I don't understand it. Why aren't the gals eager for a roll in the hay with this magnificent speciman of horniness? Did he not get the memo that dinner and a movie helps to set a mood? Did he send flowers, buy candy? How do they decide to get it on and do the deed? Is it always kind of like rape, or is there a perfect mate out there for everyone?
I actually observed this momentous occasion one afternoon when he found his true love. He must have spent five minutes carefully lapping her bottom. Then he jumps up to the area and bam. Like a one-shot cannon--slam, bam, thank you ma'am. One whack and he's done. Was it good for you too? Must have been, because they went their separate ways, no harm, no foul. He didn't hang around for breakfast.
I thought to myself, why am I being such a voyeur, peeping Tom sort of person, but I lived on a farm in my early life and got used to nature's ways. Never before having observed a white-tailed deer getting it on, I admit that I was spellbound to watch creation in my backyard. Then, I had to laugh when I saw the Lothario settle down for a long nap. Something connected to those testosterone genes that says nap required.
After a recent trip, we were asked by a U.S. Customs agent, "You didn't buy anything?" The things we had bought were too small and insignificant to even declare upon re-entering the country. My years of collecting are over even though I enjoy and treasure the mementos we already have of our travels. I'm too near the age of downsizing to keep accumulating trinkets even though the grandchildren love to play with my little tchotchkes. I keep some of the less fragile items in a box so they can look at them and they seem to enjoy touching and arranging them.
Each of my knickknacks has a story and amazingly, I remember where and why I bought them. One of the most memorable became a recent replay of an interesting story with my son and his family. This little plastic bird was shown in demonstrations in Paris at the top of the steps leading to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. We had traveled to Paris and London with our son when he was six so naturally the bird was something that appealed to him. They would wind up a rubber band inside the bird and release the bird to the air so that it would flap its wings and fly around. The rubber band has broken with age, and the crank that was attached to wind it has gone missing. However, it is still cute and carries a lot of memories of seeing it carried around Europe by a six-year-old. It has resided in my travel memories boxes for 30 years just waiting to be delightful again to another little four-year-old boy. My house is a treasure chest for the son of my son. My grandson carries around a cardboard box of a few of my indestructible tiny knickknacks. He likes to line them up on a table like little soldiers.
The NYTimes is keeping an account of stories of souvenirs that people have collected on their travels. My souvenirs are the typical tourist trinkets like stacking dolls from Russia or glass items from Venice and Blue Willow pottery from the Netherlands. I don't buy valuable things and we take tons of pictures to remind us of our travels rather than bringing back a houseful of collectibles. We have boxes of t-shirts that we collected from around the world, but we never wear them. I'm not sure why, but it never seems to be an appropriate time to wear them. Coffee mugs, shot glasses, and refrigerator magnets have found their way into our luggage quite often. I'm afraid the NYTimes wouldn't find my kitsch to be very interesting.
So we told the U.S. Customs agent that we spent all of our money just paying for the trip. It seemed to be more than satisfactory for the Customs agent.
