December 18, 2009 - Part II

Home from shopping! Amazing! We finished the shopping for one granddaughter, and did some for the other two. As for the grandson, it's difficult to decide what to get a young man - 2.5 years old - that already has about every toy there is for boys. Maybe we'll buy him his own baseball team...

We are going to the bookstore later today so will check out books for him and some for one other granddaughter. Then, once they clear the parking lots, hopefully by Monday, we'll try to finish up before Christmas. Not buying much this year on request of the parents, which is fine with me. The less, the better! Bah Humbug! Off with ye, ye little wallet drainers! (Joking... I think...).

It is getting darker here which means the cloud cover is thickening up, which means the snow will begin any minute. Can't wait! NOT!

I am on a diet. Why? I'm a tad bit overweight, and I'm hoping that by losing 20 pounds I will be able to lower my blood pressure enough to stop taking the BP medicine. The less I fork out to pharmaceutical companies the better I like it. If I can stop taking the meds, I'll be med free! Plus, I have pants upstairs, hardly ever worn, that I will be able to start wearing once again. If I succeed, I will have more energy, and thus be able to do more for less.

Had dinner with some friends last night. They are headed to Italy. He, on the second of January to take a month long Italian immersion class to learn to speak the language better, his wife to follow in mid-February. He already speaks 6 different languages. Last year he went to Russia for a month long class on Russian. This was all paid for by the company he retired from because they "redeployed" him at the same time as he was going to retire. Part of the redeployment package was a nice sum for learning a new skill. He likes to travel, and so opted to go to two different countries and learn their languages.

He is originally from the Czech Republic, having escaped there back in 1962 at the age of 22. He lived for 25 years in Switzerland before coming to the states with his American wife, and settling in Richmond.

He went back to Europe a few years ago and visited a friend of his in Berlin. I asked him if he went into what used to be East Germany while there. His reply was that not only did he go, but he found the hotel he had stayed at in the early 60s while looking for a way to escape.

When he finally did, he left his family, everything he ever knew, behind. He did not return to Czech until long after the wall was torn down as he was afraid that if they found out who he was he would be arrested for deserting the army back then.

So, readers, whoever you be, be thankful for what we have, and be vigilant. So many men and women have given, and are giving, their lives so we might still be free. Don't make their lives a wasted contribution, here or abroad.

December 18, 2009 - Shopping Day!

Well, the snow, so they say, is on it's way here, due to arrive this afternoon, and stay through sometime Sunday. All told, we are supposed to receive around a foot, but we'll see. They keep raising the possible total for here. They started at 3"-7", then went to 9"-12", and the latest is 8"-13". I think the total will depend on where the storm goes. They are predicting up to 16" just a tad west of where we live, so if the storm wobbles a bit, we could end up with more. We'll see.

To prepare, I will dust off the snow shovel, park our vehicles in the driveway to keep them from being plowed under, and hope the snow is light an fluffy so I can shovel it. At my age it is not wise for one to shovel snow, so I will just attempt to push it out of the way without lifting it.

Since we have not done any Christmas shopping as yet, we will be leaving shortly in order to hopefully remedy much of that before the snow arrives. We have plenty of supplies, so we should be fine food wise, by will stop by Costco and pick up more apples. We believe as the saying goes, an apple a day makes one healthy, wealthy, and tired of chewing, or something like that. But, they have managed to help us be healthy for some time, and we hope the record continues for another 20 - 30 years, even if that is a lot of chewing.

At one time I used to really get excited about snow. At the beginning of fall this year I was getting excited about the possibility of some snow this year. However, the more I thought about it, the less excited I was, remembering all the shoveling, the dirt on the vehicles, the brown snow as it melted... so much for being excited. Oh, well...

Well, tis getting to be time I woke the wife and she made ready to go. I will report on our success later, once we are stuck in the house for a few hours.

December 17, 2009 - Swearing in and other things

Yesterday our friend from Denmark was sworn in as a citizen of the US. It was a bittersweet ceremony. He has MS and has reached the point where he must use a scooter in order to get around, and crutches when the scooter is not feasible. With the crutches, though, he tires quickly if having to go very far. However, his condition does not keep him from doing a lot of things, and he manages to still live alone with occasional assistance. I'm glad he was able to qualify for citizenship, as now he will be able to come and go with the knowledge he can stay as long as he wants.

I went to my writer's group meeting last night and was disappointed that only three other people besides myself, were in attendance. I have joined the Virginia Writers in order to network, that activity that puts one in contact with others with the same interests. I will also join the James River Writers after the first of the year. Adding these two organizations to my bio for when I contact agents and publishers will not hurt. And, who knows, I may actually find a publisher for my book(s) thru the contacts I meet.

On the art front, my wife sold a small painting. It was the first one since July at her gallery. We will be looking to find more places where she can display her work after the first of next year. Buyers are out there, they just don't seem to be coming to ArtWorks anymore. Why, we can't say, as we don't know. The Friday openings where they used to have good crowds have not been sustained, with the last several openings having very few people showing up. It hasn't been the weather, that much we do know. As for her paintings, last year she sold a lot of paintings, and had the quality not been there, she wouldn't have sold those. It's discouraging for her, and understandably so. I keep telling her it isn't her paintings, which it isn't, it's the lack of traffic there. To show that there are still buyers out there, we went into a different gallery in a different part of town, and the main show artist had sold over $50,000 worth in less than a month, and another one, who did basically the same, strange, subject matter over and over, using the same colours, has sold over $20,000. So we know the $ out there. We'll keep plugging away and see what happens. We're in for the long haul.

It's supposed to snow here tomorrow. I'll believe it when I see it. It's almost cold enough during the day, and is at night. I did see where it is snowing in Paris right now. What a beautiful sight that must be. It's about 9pm there right now, a great night to walk to the Eiffel and watch the different lights while enjoying the snow.

Thinking of that reminds me of one night when we were in Vienna. It was late October, and we had read that the temperatures at that time of year were normally in the fifties. Well, not the year we were there. We took clothes for the fifties and ended up having to buy hats and gloves to keep warm.

When we went out for dinner this particular night, we only wanted something light. So, the person working at the hotel told us there was a little place around the corner where we should be able to have some soup, which was about all we wanted. So, in we went. The waiter was very nice, and told us they had one table that was reserved, but we might have time to eat before the other party showed up. I assured him that we would eat quickly.

The place was small, and old. The tables were a mix of anything and everything, along with an assortment of chairs. Seeing all the reserved signs on the tables led me to believe they must have pretty good food there. So, I made reservations for Saturday night, our last night in Vienna, on the off chance they did.

However, for tonight, we dined on a bowl of broth with some pieces of sausage in it, some hard crusted bread, and a nice glass of Riesling. Perfect! We enjoyed it without eating fast, and still finished ahead of the next occupiers of the table.

When we left the restaurant it was starting to snow. It was dark out, and the lights were on. We decided to walk over to Stephansplatz, and enjoy the beautiful scenery and the falling snow. After walking around for a while window shopping in the cold, we realized we were getting hungry. We found a vendor stand selling brats, and so ordered 2 brats with mustard and a hard crust roll. We found a place by the fountain and sat there eating those hot brats with a dab of mustard, and a bite of the roll. Absolutely heavenly! I cannot remember a time when everything came together like that; the snow; the cold; the beauty of our surroundings; the fragrance of warm food in the cold air, the taste of the warm brat mixed with the mustard and roll... makes my mouth water now just thinking about it!

The next morning when we awoke, there was about 4 inches of snow on the ground. The roads, however were clear, as were the sidewalks. The sun was out, and melted most of the snow that day, but not before we were able to take some pictures.

As for Saturday night? We went and had a fantastic dinner of schnitzel and veggies, desert, and of course, a bottle of excellent Riesling.

December 15, 2009 - Why did I retire?

If I were like many other people, I never would have retired. For one thing, if I had a financial advisor, which I do not, and I had mentioned I wanted to retire, they would have fallen out of their seat laughing, and then asked, "Are you serious?" In other words, from a financial standpoint, I would have to work until I was over 100 years old in order to achieve "financial independence" as they say, or enough money to live the way I have been.

Well, the way I had been living may have been nice from a financial standpoint, but the part about having to get up every morning and drive to a job that was nice to have, but that I seldom enjoyed, was a high price for me to pay offsetting any purely financial gain I made.

So, I decided I had enough of the business world, and told myself that even in our financial position, which was okay for me anyway, I was not about to work a minute longer than I absolutely had to, which was when I hit 65 and 10 months. That was the point where I began to collect my SS. The amount would be enough to cover the necessities of living, but little else. We did have some money saved, and if we stayed close to home and lived like pets in a self imposed cage, it probably would last quiet some time.

The day arrived on June 30th. I actually did not leave the company I worked for until July 1st in order to stretch my health care until the end of July, and yet only pay half as much for the full month.

On my last day, as I walked out the door, it never sunk in that I wouldn't be back. Oh, there was a time a few months ago when I gave some serious thought to returning to work in order to get health coverage, but, fortunately, that did not work out. When I knew I was going to have an interview I went to Border's to find a book I could skim through and review some buzz words for the interview.

When I arrived at the IT section of the store, I stood frozen to the floor far enough away that I could not reach the shelf. My mind shut down tight and whispered to me... "There's no way I will ever allow you to fill me up with all that ever again!" I knew then I could not do it. I just did not have the heart, stomach, or desire, to reenter that which I couldn't wait to leave.

I must say, though, that the first 15 months of my retirement literally flew by. It was like, where did I ever find the time to work before? And yet, I never really got used to being retired, or realizing I was retired until I recently went back to the place I retired from to have lunch with a few acquaintances. As I was leaving, I realized how much I enjoyed not working, there, or anywhere. It was only after that that I really started to wake up in the morning knowing I was where I wanted to be right then... still in a nice warm bed next to my wife! And the day was all mine... usually.

The perceived recklessness of my decision has never been an issue with me. Shortly after I retired we left for Europe, spending eight weeks, traveling from Amsterdam, through France, into Spain, and taking a day trip to Tangiers, Morocco. This trip took a big chunk of the money we had saved up, but I didn't care. We had talked of doing this for years, and we did it while we could still move about. I have no regrets.

To prove that, we took a month this year and drove out west. I wanted to see some of the country, the Grand Canyon, and other places as well. So, we planned it out, and we did it!

With the economy as it is, things may become a little tight financially for us over the next few years. But the uncertainty of life has instilled in me that if one wants to do something, one should do it instead of waiting until "the right time", whatever that is. Because of this philosophy, we have travelled to many countries, seen many beautiful sights, paintings, and other things, eaten incredible food, and have many incredible memories.

In the long run, spending freely may come back to haunt me, but the one thing I will have that nothing, or no one, will ever be able to take away from me, are the memories my wife and I have given each other during our travels through life, and that is worth more than anything I have. Not only that, but we are now planning our next trip, or trips! How we will do it, well, we'll just have to wait and see, but we will do it.

December 14, 2009 - Birthday today and what went on yesterday

Today is my beautiful wife's birthday! "Happy Birthday, sweetheart!" (That's me, yelling to tell her that since it's difficult to hear in the utility room where she's doing the washing) "Is breakfast ready yet?" I ask... politely.

Yesterday evening, we had a very special event in our family. Our oldest son, Shawn, was baptized! This is not a small event. He is 43 years old, and it was something he chose to do, and was something we heartily supported him doing as it was something he really wanted.

We received a Sunday paper, probably by mistake since we don't subscribe, or as one person told us, it probably floated down to our driveway from someone else's what with all the rain we had. For the second time in less than a week we had a great deal of standing water in our yard. I fear that all the grass seed I put down in a few weeks ago has probably drowned by now. I guess I'll see come spring. It probably ended up in my driveway which is the only place where it seems to grow very well.

Back to the paper! I'm glad that there still are newspapers around considering that many are having a problem with loosing subscribers, advertisers, etc.. And I know that much of their income is derived from advertisers. In spite of that, I still wonder why do we end up with fourteen pounds of ads, and two ounces of news? I did use parts of the newspaper in spring to put around the roses and shrubs to prevent weeds from growing in there. That didn't work very well, either. They grew in the mulch I put over the newspaper. We do receive the daily paper, Monday through Sunday. That's so my wife can do the crossword puzzles so she can stay mentally sharp. I think it's obvious that I don't do them...

Yesterday it was cold with heavy rain most of the day. Until last evening when, believe it or not, it stopped, and within less than 20 minutes it was clear out! Literally! not a cloud in the sky! Amazing!

Yesterday was Sunday, and what is Sunday but one of the days when we grab our stack of current reading material and head to Starbucks! I told my wife that as nasty as it was out, they should reward us in some way for being such good customers. Once there, there were a few people inside, but not many. That changed during the course of the afternoon, but even so, the noise level did not deter us from our reading. And, Starbucks had those great cookies with the frosting on them! I became addicted to those last year, and then, suddenly, they stopped carrying them. I had to wait an entire year before they returned. And, I don't know if this is just a short time presence, or they will be there for a while. I guess we'll see.

Last night while I was taking my break from sleeping, I watched an ad about a DVD put together on a show called 'The Midnight Special", music from the seventies! Seeing all those bands and musicians from back them was interesting. I especially thought Rod Stewart in this suspenders, bright green shirt, and yellow, silky pants (at least that's what I remember - it was 2:30 am) and long dark hair, was something else. And then, on top of that, CBS Sunday morning had an interview with Paul McCartney (?). He's my age! But, he can still sing. He talked about the Beatles, and I thought back to where I had first heard them and what I was doing...

I was in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was 1962. I was in a place named "The Dixie Bar", dancing with a young Danish lady people referred to as "Monkey". We were dancing to, what else, one of the first Beatles songs I had ever heard. This was a good two years before they landed in America! When I heard them here I thought they were old hat, not realizing this was their first visit in the states, and that their music was not played here very often prior to that.

If you're like me and wonder why they referred to the young lady as "Monkey", well, unfortunately I learned that by asking others. The reply was, "Didn't you see the needle marks in her arms? She's a heroin junky!" I hadn't. A few days after that, she was arrested for prostitution because she did not have a card indicating she had a regular job. Back then, the Danish police felt that if a young lady did not have a job, she must be hooking to make a living, and it was prohibited. Sad to think of all the people who have given away their lives because of drugs or alcohol.

I will take my leave on that sad note, remembering that today is really a very happy day, for my wife and me. My wife, because it's her birthday, and me because I am privileged to be able to spend it with her. I intend on taking the redistributed wealth stimulus money I received from the "gubmint" and take my wife out for dinner... right... Hope she likes Big Macs...

December 13, 2009 Bits and pieces - some little miracles.

I woke up this morning, thankfully, and realized that I had slept through the entire night without waking up for one reason or another!

We won some money in the lottery yesterday. Afterward, we were out shopping, or my wife was, I was sitting on a bench enjoying the nice weather, and I started watching these young boys, cub scouts, ringing the bell near a Salvation Army collection kettle. They were really enthusiastic about it, showing each other the different ways they could ring the bells. It was fun watching them. When my wife returned, and we headed to another store, I told her I was so impressed with the young men's abilities I was going to place all our winnings in the kettle. She thought that was a good idea. So, as we walked towards the boys, I removed my wallet, and thoroughly enjoyed removing our winnings, rolling them up, and pushing the two dollars into the kettle! Hey! No comments! It was not much, but it was something.

We bought a Christmas tree yesterday. It's still on the porch. I guess at some point, preferably before Christmas, I'll have to put it up. I get to set it into the stand, and then drag it in through the door while it retaliates by dropping needles all over the place. After that, I get to put the electric lights on it and hope they all work. Then, my wife and anyone who has the urge, hangs all the coloured balls. Once that is completed, we all live happily ever after - until the day after Christmas when we reverse the process and the tree drops even more needles on the floor as I drag it out of the house.

Many times when I am doing something that requires little or no thinking, which is often, I remember things from the past. This morning, I was thinking of things that happened while we were in the company of our grandchildren.

The most recent was when our handsome grandson, Peyton Michael, was sitting on my lap. He stood up and looked at me and asked, "Grandpa, where's your hair?" To which I replied, "Unfortunately, it's all over the place."

One of our granddaughters, Devin Rose, has become a ten year old grammar teacher. We were in a restaurant recently waiting for a table. After several people ahead of us were seated, she looked at me and asked -

"When are we going to be seated?"

"Very shortly," I replied. "There's still a few people ahead of us."

She looked at me and said, "Grandpa, you use bad grammar."

"What do you mean?" I asked, faking indignation.

"You should have said 'There are several people ahead of us'".

To which I replied, "Well, what if there were only one?"

"Then you should have said 'There is still a person ahead of us'."

I knew then this was the kid I wanted to edit my writing!

At least I wasn't the only one she corrects. She and her father were having a discussion, and Devin said something, to which her father, Patrick, said "Are you implying....". Devin replied, "Don't you mean 'infer'?"

Then there was the time several years back, when we took our granddaughters swimming. I was, well, I weighed a tad bit more than I do now, oh all right!, I weighed much more than I do now, but anyway, they were in the water yelling for me to get in. So, I stripped off my shirt and jumped in. When I came up from under water, Shannon, who was around eight at the time took one look at me and said, "Grandpa! That's gross! Put your shirt back on!" It's so nice to loved...

And then there's Hannah. She is twelve now, going on 35, but in a very nice, interesting way. We were spending some time with her after we had dropped off Devin at her dance class. I asked Hannah what she wanted to do. She said she didn't know, and asked what we wanted to do. I told her, "I want to go to Paris." She piped right up from the back seat with, "That works!"

The beauty of grandchildren is that most of us do not have to spend the time making sure they are fed, clothed, and have a roof over their heads. Grandparents then have the pleasure, and luxury, of really listening to them, and watching them. Their expressions say so much. For me, grandchildren are the reward for raising our children.

Another great thing about them is the fact that they are honest about what they say to you. I have yet to encounter a comment from one of them that was spoken in anger, or maliciously, at least to me. It's almost too bad they have to grow up, become adults and see how shallow and false many adults are.

December 12, 2009 - The best laid plans...

One of the things I used to think about when I worked was having the time to spend doing what I wanted to do, which at the time was write and return to watercolor painting. I imagined myself spending the morning writing, and the afternoons sitting at my table turning out fantastic watercolor paintings with the hope of turning a bit of a profit when people saw how great they were.

Once retired, reality set it. I have not disciplined myself to write in the mornings, and paint in the afternoon. Excuses range from "I'm not ready yet" to "I'll start that next week," even though I realize that I may not have next week. Since I have retired, I have completed several drawings, and a single painting. The painting is okay, and it was done from a photo I took in Bayeux, France when we were there last year, but it is overly detailed, and I can't say I really like it enough to have it framed for selling.

Such is reality. We think one thing when we cannot do what we think about, but when given the time, how many of us actually do what we thought about? I guess this is where the word "passion" plays into our lives. I used to wonder why my sons, all gifted with really great ability in art, never did anything with it.

Our one son is now a chef. He is great at drawing cartoons. I have mentioned several times that there is no cartoon that I know of that involves a chef working in a restaurant, so why doesn't he apply his artistic ability into creating one? Now that I have the time to do what I want, but haven't, I've come to understand that in order to do things, and stick with it, one has to have a passion for it. I guess he just isn't as passionate about a comic strip about chefs as I am about having him do one. I need only to look at myself to see where his lack of drawing passion comes from.

Another son used to draw a lot when he was younger, but except for a few designs he has drawn, he has spent his time devoted to being a great policeman. He now has reached the point where he is instructing others to be good policemen.

Our third, and last son, received his degree in art from VCU. We have one of his amazing brush and ink paintings hanging in our living room. He did no preliminary drawing with this work, simply used a brush, and ink. Had I done anything like that there would be imprints of whiteout everywhere from the mistakes I made. But, even with his ability, and love of art, he prefers to run his comic store, immersing himself into the art and business of comics. He is hoping to be able to teach at VCU one day, if not as a professor, than as a person they refer to as an adjunct something-or-other.

I was never really one who tried to pressure any of our sons to do anything other than what they wanted to do. Their lives are not mine to live. The good part of all this is that they are doing what they want, and seem to be passionate about what they are doing. Passion is definitely something I did not have in my career, such as it was, in the world of IT. There were many days when I went to work where I had this desire to lift my terminal or laptop over my head and throw the thing through the window. But, having responsibilities, I did not do it. Oh, there were times I actually did enjoy it, but those were few and far between. Not only that, but after being in the field for several decades it was just doing the same thing over and over and over. The objective never really changed. Languages changed, terminology changed, but the fact remained - you have input, you process it to get a result, and the result is output. Simple. And boring. Except for learning, writing different stories, and creating art, all jobs are repetitive. I respect those who do have a passion about something and wish I had been able to have spent the greater part of my life being passionate about something as well.

Well, perhaps I will now start looking into actually doing what I keep saying I enjoy. I really do enjoy drawing and painting. I enjoy writing, and am writing, which is good. I need to reassess my wants, and establish some sort of schedule that will not allow me to make excuses for not doing things. I have a wealth of photos of people I want to draw. I only need to get off my ass, at least long enough to set it down at my table, and get busy! Unfortunately, it will have to be next week. Today is shopping day - grocery, Christmas, etc., etc., and later, over to a friends house for the evening...