Month: October 2026

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4th Friday Retirement Adventures – October 2026

Retirement officially began for me August 1st, so each second and fourth Friday, I reflect on the first year of retirement in two-week windows and what it’s like in this new chapter of life. This idea of retirement reflection was sparked when members of my writing communities and personal friends asked me how I would spend my time and if I thought I would get bored. At the beginning of my first week off, I used a green spiral notebook to make a list of all the things I wanted to do — something enjoyable each week, blending in some new hobbies and routines as well.

My late father said this about retirement: You don’t retire FROM something, you retire TO something, and you’ll be busier than you’ve ever been. He was right, and I love doing what I want to do when I want to do it and having the flexibility to travel and engage in new hobbies – or stay home in comfortable clothes and enjoy more relaxed pace on the Johnson Funny Farm.

Here are eight of the most recent things I’ve enjoyed in my first three months of retirement:

51. Kindred Spirits October Book Club – We met at our favorite coffee shop last night to discuss Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth and The Songteller by Dolly Parton. We talked about the power of story, the refusal of women to be thrust into a particular identity determined by the world, and the perceptions of aging women in terms of freedoms and restraints. These two books paired nicely as nonfiction and fiction text selections. Our book club has remained six strong, and we’re nearing the end of our second year together.

50. Watercolor Poetry Postcards – One of my favorite things to do is enjoy a watercolor painting day a couple of times a month. I like the watercolor workbooks by Emily Lex because she simplifies the process of creating art. Recently, I’ve discovered the YouTube Easy Design painters, who take viewers step by step through techniques. This month, I created postcards for my November postcard poetry challenge and also Bible bookmarks for Christmas gift bag items collected by a faith-based women’s recovery program in a neighboring state.

49. Attending two Stafford Challenge Guest Poet Zooms – C. Marie Fuhrman was the October Guest Poet on the Stafford Challenge monthly lineup of poets that we get to write with throughout the year. She used poetry by Joy Harjo to inspire us to write our own poems in our one hour Zoom session for October. Dr. Deborah Grayson kicked off a Poetry as a Healing Art series this month and brought spectacular prompts for getting us geared up for writing. I always look forward to these monthly evening events – I gather my notebook and pen, make a cup of tea, and log in to see the faces of other poets from all across the globe as we write together.

48. Open Write with my EthicalELA writing community – I’ve belonged to the Ethicalela writing community for nine years now, and each month we write poetry together for a few days out of the month (excluding April, when we write poetry together every day in honor of the Bard’s Birthday month – a/k/a National Poetry Month). This month, I wrote four poems inspired by prompts shared by rotating hosts throughout our writing community. You can check out the Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com and click on Open Write to see what this community offers!

47. Making the Perfect Cup of Tea to drink while making mental notes about Things that Don’t Suck– For Christmas in 2025, I got one of those electric tea kettles that has the Digital Touch feature to make certain kinds of tea at their optimal temperatures. In Blue Ridge, Georgia in the fall of 2025, I picked up two tea mugs with the metal steeping strainer that lets us steep loose tea leaves directly in our cups for maximum coagulation with the water. When my late father returned from a mission trip to China in 2014, he’d brought back loose tea and given us a masterclass in how to steep it. It’s a retirement treat to be able to sit back with a cup and reflect on the day joyfully with at least the work demands removed from all the bad things happening in the world.

46. Daytime Movies – It’s always been a weekend thing or an evening thing for us unless we were on a break, but being able to take off in the day to go see a movie is a guilty pleasure!

45. Decoupaging Candles and Bookmarks with Wildflowers – It will take about 6 weeks for my own pressed plants and flowers to be ready for projects in the traditional plant press, and I don’t own a microwave plant press, so I found a Utah-based flower farm as a source for pressed wildflowers and ordered a selection based on birthday month flowers. These are the plants I’m using currently to create decoupaged candles and bookmarks. It’s fun to feel the energy of creativity and see the beautiful transformation of candles as I work. I also love how something as simple as a bookmark and a touch of greenery and some flower petals can create the loveliest page markers.

44. Plant Pressing – I hauled out the old plant press and gathered wildflowers and greenery from all across the Johnson Funny Farm, including my sister-in-law’s zinnia gardens. I pressed plants for using in decoupage projects.

Here are the previous things I’ve added to my list of 100 Things I’m Enjoying in Retirement. I’ve reversed the order, going backwards in time to the beginning.

43. Virtual Author Reading for Time in the Landscape

42. Author Reading for Anna Roseboro’s Book Study

41. Indie Bookstore Shopping

40. Dock Time on Jackson Lake in Georgia

39. Adopt a Dog

38. Train Ride to See Fall Foliage

37. Cabin for a Birthday Celebration in North Georgia

36. Fall Baking

35. Hosting Open Write

34. Kindred Spirits September Book Club

33. Mahjong in Blairsville, Georgia

32. Daytripping for Lunch and Small Town Adventuring

31. Hiking the Appalachian Trail

30. Camping at Vogel State Park

29. Lunch with Friends

28. Almost-Birthday Pedicures with my Sister-in-Law

27. Mahjongg Regular Group Formation

26. Stafford Challenge Writing Workshop

25. Stafford Challenge Small Group Zoom Meetings

24. Dolly Parton Tribute at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee

23. Labor Day Camping at F. D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia

22. Watercolor Postcards

21. Monthly Small Postcard Poetry Group

20. Office Cleanout

19. Re-Vamping the Reading Room

18. Barnes and Noble Virtual Book Club

17. Kindred Spirits Book Club

16. Novel Writing with Nick

15. Lounge Pants Spree

14. Porch Sitting

13. Fabric Postcards

12. Zinnia Arrangement

11. Mahjong 102 and Free Play

10. Wayfaring to Margaritaville for a concert

9. Wayfaring to FDR for camping

8. Cascadia Postcard Poetry Fest

7. Summer Reading Poetry Book Club

6. Local Bookstore Book Club

5. Friends of the Library Book Fair

4. Yoga

3. Morning Walking

2. Rag Quilting

1. Mahjong 101

The 100-Things-To-Do Retirement List Tanka

only twelve weeks in

at 51 list items

and still going strong…..

maybe this is why they say

folks are never busier…..

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October List Poetry

Yesterday, I shared a little about the Poetry as a Healing Art series that began this week as part of The Stafford Challenge. You can still sign up (registration is free) for the remaining sessions here at this link. Dr. Deborah E. Grayson led us in some prompts on Tuesday evening to inspire writing as therapy. One was a soundtrack of our lives, which I wrote about yesterday, and today I’ll share three more inspiring ideas from Tuesday evening’s session.

Dr. Grayson asked us to consider where we find healing and to write about those places in response to the “salty times” of our lives – such as divorce, death or illness of a loved one, or loss of a beloved pet. Many people responded that in addition to poetry, healing is found in scripture, in reading books, in art, in nature/gardening, and in playing or walking with pets. I agree with all of those and would add coffee and conversation with friends and loved ones as well. I love travel and seeing new places and parts of the world and find that travel often offers new perspectives that can bring healing.

She also inspired us to create a Prescription for Loneliness. My first go-to is reading. I find that when I read, I’m keeping company with characters and authors. My book club sisters and I meet each month to talk about our reading, and that’s a lovely time shared with others! Getting outside with my dogs also keeps me in good company when my husband is at work and would be #2 on my prescription list. I shouldn’t admit this, but Hallmark movies somehow make me feel like I’m a nicer person, and those have a medicinal effect on loneliness too. Grayson explained that all of these items on our brainstormed lists can be used in poetry, such as list poetry.

Finally, our concluding activity was to spend a few moments and write a list poem. We could use our Prescription for Loneliness ideas, our Playlist of our Life ideas, our places we find healing, or we could write one like poet Andrea Gibson made in the days before she died after a long battle with Ovarian Cancer in July 2025. Her poem was entitled A List of Things that Don’t Suck, to Make Your Day a Little Brighter. I’ll begin my own list with 3 that come to mind:

Things that Don’t Suck

A rescued dog who rolls belly-up in the grass, kicking his legs toward the sky in happiness in the autumn sunshine and you think you see him stop for a second to offer you a smile of gratitude.

A playlist of great songs made especially for you in retirement, sent to you by your daughter.

Retirement.

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October: Poetry as a Healing Art with Dr. Deborah E. Grayson

Last night was a fabulous kickoff of the Poetry as a Healing Art series that is being sponsored by The Stafford Challenge. These sessions are free, and you can visit this link to register for the remaining sessions if you are interested. Dr. Deborah Grayson led the first session and took us through the many ways that poetry can heal hurts, instill hope, and inspire creativity.

Of the many activities and prompts that she led us through, one of my favorites was making a soundtrack of our lives. The chat thread lit up with so many fabulous songs, and I’ll bet there were 200 songs listed by the entire group of participants in attendance.

Earlier in the day, my daughter sent me a Spotify playlist to enjoy in retirement, particularly while I’m working on creative ventures such as painting our decoupaging. You can click here to listen! She’s so thoughtful and creative, and she knows I love all these songs.

What a treat to have music and those in our lives who share lyrics – which is, of course, poetry – with us to celebrate the moments of our lives. Poetry IS a healing art, and one for which I remain ever so grateful.

For Mallory and everyone reading today, go to YouTube and listen to a song from my playlist just for you:

I Love by Tom T. Hall ~ enjoy it!

take the time today

to create a soundtrack of

your life ~ share a song!

‘

I took a picture right as my daughter shared the playlist, and she replied: perfect timing! She knew I would be in the middle of something creative right at that moment when she sent it.

Whatever you do today, enjoy some music!

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Recalibrating

The cold front rolled into middle Georgia on Friday night, inviting us to watch movies and be lazy with our three dogs for the weekend. It isn’t often that we’re quite this relaxed and lazy all weekend, but we gave in and did not resist the urge to pile up the blankets and fire up Netflix.

So we did.

Recalibrating

lazy dog weekends

piling up and sleeping in

~ recalibrating ~

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October 2026 Open Write Day 4 with Denise Krebs

Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

Denise Krebs of California is our host for the final day of the October 2026 Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com. You can read her full prompt here. She writes:

I invite you today to find a seventh book anywhere and join me in a fun discovery. 

Process

  1. Find the 7th book on a shelf or pile wherever you are, in a library, a bookshop, at home or school (any genre).
  2. Turn to page 7.
  3. Read the seventh line. 
  4. Let that line inspire a 7-line poem. The line can become part of your poem, or just a muse.

I looked to the seventh shelf, seventh book from the left, and plucked Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge by Gladys Taber and Barbara Webster from the bookcase. The seventh sentence: Even when the mortgage reared its ugly head, we never regretted it and now it is fine to know everything is paid for, our forty acres – although how can man own God’s earth? – and the 1690 farmhouse, and the barn, even the pond, and presumably that cricket chirping endlessly on the hearth is also ours.

I chose a tanka for today and can split the last two lines into two more if I decide on having 7.

Merely Caretakers

how can man own God’s

earth? impossible, for we’re

merely caretakers!

and let’s be real ~ we pretty

much suck at that simple task….

For more information on Gladys Taber and her cozy books, check out A Reader’s Almanac with Celeste on YouTube and search for Gladys Taber’s Cozy Seasonal Books episode. I tried to embed the link here, but sharing has been prohibited by the owner of the channel. Gladys Taber’s books are like stepping into a painting by Currier and Ives and living there for a little while in the days before the world went sour.

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October 2026 Day 3 Open Write

Matt Forrest Esenwine is a New Hampshire-based author of a dozen children’s books and our host today for the third day of the October 2026 Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com. You can visit the website and click on Open Write to read his full prompt.

Matt shares his process here:

Here’s all you do: pick an object, any object (most boring object ever – or not!), and begin thinking of ways to describe it. Once you have your list, scan through it and see what words/images/feelings you are drawn to. That’s your basis for your poem.

I’ve been decoupaging candles with pressed wildflowers lately – something my mother taught me how to do, and it keeps her memory close. I decided to write a haiku about the ones I have created. While I’ve been creating some flameless ones for my grandchildren from their birth month flowers to use as nightlights, I think smaller ones placed as seating card holders at a wedding reception would be a lovely wedding favor for guests to take home after gracing the tables with light during the gathering. They look wildly romantic, and the ones with faint pink take my breath away.

Wildflower Candle

decoupaged candle

glowing warmth of wildflowers

emanating light

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October 2026 Day 2 of Open Write


Today’s host of The Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com is Joel Garza, who inspires us to write a Cherita poem. You can read his full prompt here.

Joel shares, “My studies taught me that many poetic forms winnow down in length as they ramp up in meaning. A sonnet’s couplet, a sestina’s envoi, a haiku’s closing pivot, a villanelle’s quatrain – you get the idea & the impact: As the form gets smaller, the idea feels more potent, more provocative. There are exceptions. Exceptions like the cherita.”

I love narrative poems, and Garza reminds us that these are, essentially, stories in poetic form. He explains the process:

Remember that the cherita is a story. Aim for a tale that you need to tell (or maybe a tale that you’ve never told). Be as direct as possible in welcoming your reader – one line only. 

As you develop the story, be deliberate and succinct. Two lines only for this middle stanza. 

Finally, resolve with a comparatively expansive meditation on the meaning or mystery of this story. Knock yourself out — A whole three lines!

One line. Two lines. Then, three lines.

Jay

I looked to the directions, but I only needed the final stanza to tell my story. So I followed my gut and wrote what was inside.

The Rescue

my heart was heavy with dog loss grief

I contacted the rescue: make a good match

Meet Jay.

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October Open Write Day 1 of 4 with Anna Roseboro

Today is the first day of the October 2026 Open Write at Ethicalela, and Anna Roseboro of Michigan is our host. You can read her full prompt here as she inspires us to write about letter grades in education.

What A Grade Can’t Show

a grade can’t show
all that they know

those boxed-in letters
produce learning fretters

we’re labeling and lumping
praising and dumping

and when grades are the game
learning’s not the same

learners and scholars
wear different collars

there’s no motivation
at most learning stations

we’re the ones who need learning
on tides that need turning

….and now, let’s be real:
AI’s at the wheel…..

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Space X Launch from Williamson, Georgia

This strange shape in the sky yesterday morning had us wondering shortly before 7 a.m. what was happening ~ whether we’d had an alien invasion or were under chemical warfare or something. Turns out, it was the launch of Space X that occurred at 6:33 a.m., and our view at 6:50 looked a lot like a Japanese Koi fish just above the tree line in the southeastern sky. My husband had taken the dogs out and came to get me to come quickly and see the phenomenon. I grabbed my phone so I could take pictures and headed out into the balmy temperatures to check it out.

A quick search online told us we were safe, and we carried on with our day.

in the morning mist

beneath the space jellyfish

the mystery loomed