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, adventures, and routines as well.
My first item on the list was learning to play Mahjong to exercise my brain, and my list seems now to resemble seedlings that turn into plants with shoots that grow off in different directions and keep growing like hostas and irises and mint, taking over the whole back yard. Each new experience uncovers a whole uncharted world to discover and explore.
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 a more relaxed pace on the Johnson Funny Farm.
Here are 52-62 of the most recent things I’ve enjoyed in my first three months of retirement, plus a bullet list of 1-51 previous adventures – and I’m not even four full months into this new gig.
62. Play Mahjong in a Mahjong hall on an automatic shuffling table – The Velvet Wind in Asheville, NC offers group play and has both automatic and regular tables. It was a treat to play here, and the tiles were huge (great for aging eyes)! I don’t even know how to act anymore after such a treat. My mouth fell open like a kid in a candy shop. Watch this shuffler!
61. Play Mahjong in a mansion – Silvermont Mansion and Park is a community center on the National Registry of Historic Places in Brevard, NC. It was built in 1915 as a residence, but now it is a thriving hub that schedules events such as Reader’s Theater, meeting spaces, open studio for artists, basketball, mahjong and other games, and more. I called ahead to ask if we could play, and Brenda told us to come on and they’d shuffle us in. I played in a mansion last Monday!
60. Taking last minute turns to discover what I might have otherwise missed – My sister in law wanted to visit Brevard College, but our time ran short, so we drove past it but not through it. On the way home, I spotted Furman University up ahead on the right, and made a surprise decision to turn in and drive through. We were speechless at its beauty, so I parked the car. We got out and walked through the rose garden, saw the fountain and bell tower, and even visited the chapel when a student ambled in and started playing the majestic organ. You can hear a moment of awe in the video below.
59. Hiking in to see the waterfalls of Brevard, NC – I hiked short distances (and I do mean hike – we had to climb inclines) to find two of the many waterfalls around Brevard, Land of the Waterfalls. My sister in law and I were able to see Hooker Falls and High Falls on a recent trip, and we’ll return to see the others once we’ve caught our breath.
58. Seeing the White Squirrels of Brevard, NC – I spotted them! And they are most entertaining and anything but a hallucinogenic mushroom myth! A fellow postcard poet who lives near Brevard gave me tips on where to find them, and I not only did I get to see the white squirrels, I got to meet my fellow poet turned friend on the trip as well. We had lunch at the old Woolworth Walk diner and had our picture taken in front of the postcards in Malaprops! You can see the white squirrel scamper right up to me in the video below.
57. Book Store Shopping Trip – I took a trip with my sister-in-law to Brevard, NC to visit bookstores as we traveled and spent time in western North Carolina. We visited Highland Books in Brevard, NC; Malaprops in Asheville, NC; As the Page Turns in Traveler’s Rest, SC; 2nd & Charles in Greenville, SC, and also Mr. K’s Used Bookstore in Greenville, SC (the largest used bookstore in the state). We used technology to route our trip based on the bookstores that would be open at the time of our travel along our route home.
56. Designing and Creating Porch Goose Outfits – Porch geese are all the rage right now in outdoor decor. I recently sent a pair to my brother and sister in law as birthday gifts with fishing outfits for their dock on Lake Hickory at their North Carolina home. It’s a common practice in some second homes on St. Simons Island that if the owners are in town, they raise their personal flag on coming and going so that local friends have a secret code for who’s in the house. My brother and sister don’t have flags on their lake house (yet), but I thought the lake equivalent might be geese on the dock. While I don’t have a lot of company for porch decor here so deep in the country, I got a seven inch coffee station goose and made some outfits for it. As I was sewing, I thought of my granddaughters and their love of fashion and ended up packing a 7″ goose and sending them a box full of clothes. According to their mom, they are obsessed with it and taking turns dressing it. And I’m still sewing and naming geese outfits.
55. Creative Kitchen endeavors – I was going along in my days, happy to bring a plate of Halloween Oreos to the Mahjoween gathering a friend planned, but she reminded me that I was capable of more creativity in the kitchen and that I should resist temptation to settle for store-bought cookies. The porch geese witch hats inspired the treats I made: chocolate covered Bugles with small cookie wafers and a peanut butter chip as a hat buckle. Retirement brings time to get in the kitchen and experiment with food creations I never was able to pull off when I was working every day.
54. Oystershell and Sanddollar decoupage – I’ve been decoupaging pressed flowers and leaves, and so I’ve added tissue paper and napkins to the lineup. I’ve made oystershells and sand dollars to hang on the Christmas tree. Back in the 1970s, before we deemed it a bad thing to decorate using sea creatures that were once living, my mother used sand dollars to hang all over the tree with red ribbons. I found the box of them as we were cleaning out, and I’ve repurposed them. Since I can’t bring them back to life, I can breathe new life into them and continue to celebrate the lives they lived in the ocean.
53. Online Book Discussion of The Calamity Club – Kathryn Stockett, author of The Calamity Club, made an appearance as part of the Bookaccino virtual author event lineup to discuss her recent bestselling novel. I was so happy to be able to attend and take part in the discussion on the heels of just finishing the book.
52. Dumping the RV – For the first time ever, I dumped the gray and black tanks all by myself. I’m preparing to be able to take part in some solo Girl Camper events, and this less desirable part of travel is a necessary part to be able to join up with other women campers and take part in those opportunities to meet new people and see new places. I’ve done the duty!
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.
51. Kindred Spirits October Book Club
50. Watercolor Poetry Postcards
49. Attending two Stafford Challenge Guest Poet Zooms
48. Open Write with my EthicalELA writing community
47. Making the Perfect Cup of Tea to drink while making mental notes about Things that Don’t Suck
46. Daytime Movies
45. Decoupaging Candles and Bookmarks with Wildflowers
44. Plant Pressing
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
And I will continue watering seedlings of adventure and discovery to see what all grows!
